Ghoulish

[Ajila]

This season's Ridiculous Scent! Creepy like Creepy and as spooky as Spooky, this is the scent of a black cherry and coconut amaretto confection gently laced with saffron.

In the bottle - A soft armaretto/cherry scent

Wet on me - The coconut comes through and the whole takes on a slightly boozy/slightly ashtray edge

Dry on me - It disappears quite quickly into a faint, slightly almondy musk scent

Overall - I love it wet and dry it's pleasent enough, but it's pretty faint

[filigree_shadow]

Ghoulish, you jerk! What the hell?!

 

OK, the first time I tried this, it was medicinal cherry right at first but quickly settled down into a sweet pink fluffy sort of scent with a feel very similar to Velvet Unicorn. Quite nice. Velvet Unicorn is one of my favorites, and I liked Ghoulish a lot.

 

So today I'm pawing through my decants and I see Ghoulish, and I get all happy and smiley and swipe a bunch all over my wrists. I wait through the medicinal cherry phase and... practically an amaretto single note with a hint of coconut. Balls. Not what I was expecting at all. I don't know why it had to go and change on me, but it did.

 

I actually do like it, but I wasn't really in an amaretto+coconut mood when I put it on, so it's not what I wanted.

[pandorasmuse]

In the decant: Wow! Lots of cherries, lots of almond. Not really getting much coconut, except right at the very end.

 

Wet: Very very strong. Lots of cherries.

 

Drydown: Super-cherries! This is fun, but there’s no way I’d ever use up a bottle. A little of this goes a very long way, and it laaaaaaaaasts. I may or may not keep the decant—I have to think about it, and maybe wear it at least once more.

[surf-tormented]

It's really icky on me. But to be truthful, I don't like almond or coconut notes as a rule. I was pretty sure this was a no-go on me. It was. All sunscreen and tropical smelliness with the added annoyance of strong stale nut. I am not really sure why people go crazy over this. I can't even put a drop of this on myself without rushing to clean it off ten minutes later.

[grrrlennyl]

Ghoulish

 

On: Um...wow. This is straight-up maraschino cherries and amaretto on me. Very heady and thick.

Half an hour in: There is a hint of coconut now, but mostly dark, sweet cherries and amaretto.

1.5 hours in: Still about the same, but powdery.

3 hours in: A slightly syrupy, sweet scent.

4 hours in: Generally foody and sweet.

Overall: This was overwhelming on me at first, but definitely calmed down. It isn't really "me", though.

[Larinessa]

This is my first review, so bear with me on this.... This is hands down my favorite BPAL scent, I am a cherry freak so this is right up my ally. Fresh out of the bottle I get sweet Marachino cherries with almond extract, and something vaugely spicy which I am guessing is the saffron. On my skin it warms up, and the saffron comes out, along with the coconut. The cherry is still present, but moves to the background more as an accent rather then the primary. This makes me feel like I am wrapped in a fuzzy pink blanket, soft and warm. Instant love. If anyone wants to unload their bottles, send em my direction, I will be happy to give them a home!

[thekittenkat]

In the bottle: Cherry and amaretto. Yum.

 

Wet: Amaretto and cherry. What can I say?

 

The dry-down: It's a cherry-flavoured amaretto drink, not even on the rocks, just straight, with only the smallest hints of saffron. Love it, but wouldn't wear it when I'm driving.

[Girl with the Curious Nose]

Upon reading this description I mentally dismissed Ghoulish; why? Because it features my fragrance nemesis: Coconut. Coconut and I DO NOT get along the majority of the time, I find it sickly, over-powering and often cheap smelling.

 

In Ghoulish, however, coconut has met it's match! Heady almond steals the show with it's sweet friend cherry. The coconut is there but it's subtle, quite and subdued. It's like drinking amaretto from a crystal liquor glass and nibbling on a cherry-topped coconut macaroon, it's sweet and desert-like but in a more sophisticated way than you'd expect.

 

Ghoulish is lovely...unexpectedly so

[Gin]

Ghoulish starts off as super loud maraschino cherries, and the next thing I know, it's gone and I'm left with very light coconut.

[yakiguri]

From wet through drydown, Ghoulish is yummy nummy creamy coconutty almonds with a dollop of dark cherry. The saffron adds a little bit of warm spice as it dries. Weenies are usually my worst LE blends but the foody ones seem to be my best bet out of the batch. Glad to have a bottle of this, though I wish sillage and staying power was just a leetle longer.

[Honey]

Imp: Chocolate, maraschino cherries and amaretto. Very sweet and boozy.

 

Wet: Boozy cherry and amaretto pralines with the faintest hint of coconut (but I guess you only smell it when you know it has to be there).

 

Dry: Dries down to a boozy sweet chocolate smell. Very much like marzipan chocolate now. Fades rather quickly though. Alas, for this is a cherry scent I actually liked.

[ltrittipoe]

So much amaretto! A lovely liqueor, a little maraschino cherry but mostly boozy amaretto. As it dries down on me, I get the chocolate from chocolate covered cherries, with the amaretto. Absolutely like eating from a box of chocolate covered cherries, sipping a snifter of warmed Amaretto. Delicious.

[bpalscentsual]

Amaretto cherry. Very dark and lovely. This is not a kids' cherry scent at all, definitely for grown-ups. I get a hint of 'confection' underneath everything, almost of a Pop-Tarts flavor, but no, this is all amaretto cherry all the time, and it's amazing. Must. Find. More.

 

[ObliqueRed]

I get very little booze on this, just a huge, juicy, mouthwatering blast of CHERRY!! that very quickly fades and quiets down to a soft, sweet, deliciousness. Different but actually really nice and adding some fun variety to my keeper box.

[Lorna Brigid]

Ghoulish is candy to me!

Smells just like cherry and saffron hard candies melted down.

When this is on my skin I picture being in a big candy shop surrounded by crystal and powdered sugar, and rock candies and lollipops everywhere!

Weird, huh??

I guess that goes with all the candy collected from trick-or-treating.

[vanilla323]

I tested this a while ago but I do remember it was very light and had little to no throw. But what I wrote as my notes was that it was mostly saffron and cherry but so light it was heartbreaking. I was very excited to try this scent but sadly it did nothing for me. Weird how light it was. I can't even elaborate more on my review because there wasn't much happening at all.

[donkehpoo]

Wet: Amaretto and cherries!

 

Dry: The coconut has appeared, though it has more of a toasted coconut kind of smell to it. This is mostly just coconuts and amaretto now; the cherry scent has mostly faded, but there's still some sweetness left over.

 

Yum!

[JakkieTreehorn]

In the bottle this is maraschino cherry and amaretto, which I am completely in love with. It is the same wet but loses some of that as it dries. Wear length and throw are not great which is disappointing but I love this so much I have no problem reapplying it throughout the day! This would be up in my top 5 if it had longer wear length but still one of my favorites!

Edited February 27, 2021 by JakkieTreehorn

[Amorphous Red]

This is for Ghoulish 2018 in HG format

 

Applied to skin: a strong astringent cherry with nutty undertones. The cherry dissapates very quickly, as does the nuttiness. In this stage there is an ever so slight creamy whisper, for the a brief moment then my skin devours everything. What is left is a very very faint smartees candy scent. A very light powdery candy.

 

When sprayed on fabric the exact same dry down. It does not stick around as well on the fabric however (on skin it is faint but still present)

 

Over all it comes out swinging, quickly loses fervor and quietly retreats into the background.

[reynardine]

I tried a decant of this a few years back, and the 2018 version is very similar. Very boozy in feel. The saffron amped on my skin, which rather ruined the effect. Pass.

[Soupy Twist]

2018 perfume oil:

 

Maraschino cherry in the bottle. Goes on as an intense, concentrated, almost liqueur black cherry. Wet there’s coconut and something slightly dusty — maybe the saffron? A little stale amaretto creeps in as it dries, but the entire thing fades quickly, which the Lab’s almond always does on my skin. I like it, but I didn’t expect it to last.

[doomsday_disco]

2018 version.

Ghoulish is mostly about the black cherry and amaretto at first (emphasis on the amaretto), with the coconut making an appearance after a few minutes. The cherry and almond quickly calm down, and the saffron in this is indeed gentle, but comes out more over time. This one is light and stays close to the skin, but it is stronger than Yipe is on me (to compare it to another cherry scent). I end up getting more amaretto than cherry.

It's nice, but I wish it were stronger. I was hoping this would pair well with Dragon Bouffant HG, but I feel like the cherry in this is too short-lived.

[Lucchesa]

2018 version.  My grandmother used to make sticky coconut-almond macaroons with almond extract and a slice of maraschino cherry on top.  Wet, this is that.  At first it's all sweet cherry amaretto (which would be a lovely thing).  I know a lot of people think BPAL's almond note smells like cherry anyway, but here it really really does.  Almond notes never stick around long on my skin, though the cherry keeps this one anchored a little longer than usual.  The coconut is gentle, and I don't get any saffron for the first half hour or so, then it comes out and makes this blend less ridiculously foody.  (I know, saffron is food, but it has an earthy, dusty feel, kind of grounding, not sweet.)   Throw is low and wear length is maybe less than average, but that may improve with aging.  I do love cherry and almond notes, and I quite like this!

[forspecial_plate]

Decant from 2010, guess I never wrote a review... 

 

I can tell this is faded just slightly, but it smells mostly the same and is more than strong enough on me.  

 

For about 15-30 minutes it smells like a crumbly almond cookie with a hint of cherry and very slight coconut.  I don't like the crumbly aspect.  But after a while, it smooths out a lot, and it's more of a syrupy cherry+coconut with some almond.  I've never learned to pick out saffron so I can't comment on that.  This is a nice, cute Halloween scent that I enjoy (guess I haven't worn it that much, since my decant is over 10 yrs old now!).  I do like it and I revisit it every year.  I'm just a really light applier, lol!