Bonfire

[pixlie]

The perfume of withering leaves, their brittle forms surrendering to the flame,

releasing a sigh of bitter smoke that is flickering with the ghosts of summer’s memory.

 

Bottle: very piney on first sniff
On my skin is has a wonderful transformation from wet to dry that smells like the stages of a wildfire. First I get a forest scent, but then the smoke emerges with a warmth behind it. Finally I'm left with a smoldering cedar fire scent.

[GypsyRoseRed]

This is a bonfire with flaming tree branches and logs, releasing the scent of burning bark and leaves into the air along with the leaping, crackling flames.

[Zii]

I tried this at NYCC and it is scarily like what it says it is, to the point where I couldn't buy it. It smells EXACTLY like really bitter heavy woodsmoke, and I could never see myself layering it or using it, despite really being a fan of the notion. It was just too bitter and heavy and smelled like it would drown out everything if I layered it. If I really want to smell like this, I'll spend a weekend making charcoal in Vermont with my dad.

[DevilsCandyCane]

Major sadface about this one. I *love* smoke scents, Hand of Glory is probably my favourite BPAL in the entire world, I love the subtle bonfire smoke of Samhain/Samhainophobia and when I could tolerate caffeine I used to adore Lapsang Souchong tea - that was what I was hoping for from Bonfire, that last night of Glastonbury campfire smell. In the bottle it's OMG BITTER AND GREEN, reminds me a little of The Death of Autumn but amped times a million, bitter green and ick. When it dries that goes, but the smoke scent left is very, very dirty and acrid. I tried a little layering, and a bizarre choice that kinda worked was Eden - the sweetness smoothed over the acrid yuck of Bonfire, but even so it didn't make anything I would ever wear, so off to swaps with it

[Numanoid]

In Bottle: Oooh... very spot on with the bonfire smell. To me, this is more like the fire is dying out a bit. Maybe I detect a bit of pine.

 

On Skin: Glad that pine is gone. I get a lovely soft....yeah, crackling burning wood scent. It is actually soft....dying embers!

 

Dry down: Stays the same....this is very lovely. As someone mentioned, I think it reminds me more of Christmas, since that time of year, we use our fireplace a lot and this is the smell I get after the fire has burned out and that soft smoke is hanging in the air. Surprisingly low throw on me, which is good. I think this would be too oppressive otherwise.

 

This is very beautiful alone, but I think this would layer real well with other scents like cranberry or chocolate to really give it that festive feel!!

[heyjjudette]

I'm going to make this short and sweet so I can get back to sniffing my wrist.

 

This meets the mark in smelling like a pure bonfire. I've been searching for a straight up bonfire scent and I finally have it. It immediately takes me to the woods, fall, summer, any season. I've never been this much in love with a scent since Marianne. Thanks bpal 😍😍😍

[Julia]

I'm afraid to test this on my skin. In the bottle it wavers between a sweet, spicy bonfire scent and barbecue potato chips. I'm going to brave it on my next day off and see if it's more of a layering scent.

[VioletChaos]

This is just one of those scents where I yell "How does she DO IT???" because how can Beth (or any mere mortal) take something as ephemeral as the smell of a fire and make it into a fixed substance like a perfume???

 

It's witchcraft, I tell you!

 

But seriously, this has the smokiness of a good Lapsang Souchong tea but if that tea was ON FIRE instead of in a cup, brewing with water. It's really just an incredible thing.

 

I don't know exactly how I'll use this, though I might try layering it with something rich and sweet like Bliss and see where it goes (hey, I love chocolate with smoky bits of bacon to eat- maybe I'll love smoky chocolate perfume, too!)

 

But anyway, this was the Single Note of the whole bunch that definitely blew my mind with it's hyper-realness.

[strahlend]

first sniff – smells smokey and woody like vetiver and liquid smoke. Reminds me of Agnus Nutter or something similar.

Skin testing – goes on smelling like strong campfire smoke. Pungent. Strong. Like being nose to nose with a campfire of a wood I can't quite name. This is a real wood and real smoke scent, which is amazing. It's just so strong and so intense that it feels almost too on the nose, so to speak. My partner, however, loves smokey wood scents and perked right up when I mentioned this scent and is happily skin testing right now. If he decides to get a bottle I certainly wouldn't mind smelling it on him, it's just not for me.

[SerendipityHQ]

BOON-FIIIRE!
Burninating the countryside,
Burninating the peasants,
Burninating all the peoples,
And their thatched-roof COTTAGES!

So yeah. I've been looking for smell that approximates the smell of leaf-burning/wood burning fireplaces for a while but 'Leaf' on me, apparently means 'Stinky Bandaid feet cologne' so I decided to go out on a limb and try Bonfire. Let's do this.

 

In the bottle: Peppery. I can smell that weird acetone base smell that is the usual harbinger of Stinky Bandaid Feet Cologne. Under that there's a true woody smell but I am sceptical.

Wet: First five minutes edges closer to acetone and then- hard right turn into BURNINATING. Yes! Fiiire! I feel like Jimmy Hendrix worshiping his flaming guitar. This legitimately smells like super hearty, burnination and woodsmoke. The acetone is long gone and it smells exactly like what it says on the tin- pure smouldering bonfire. I don't get pine- more of a slight ceder smell.

Dry: A burning leaf pile with some sticks in it. This definitely smells like stepping outside on an autumn day when your neighbor has a fire going. It isn't overwhelming though- just really pleasent and exactly what I was looking for. It has a pretty mild throw for something that starts off so assertive and as it drys down further it isn't gone per se but gets really subtle. Great layering scent and smells like exactly what it's meant to.

Edited November 11, 2014 by SerendipityHQ

[radiantfracture]

In the bottle: pine pitch and sweet smoke -- the edge of something cologney - cedar, maybe?

 

Wet: Hot sapwood splitting in a fire; a sharp tingling on my skin -- pepper. Hot pitch and fragrant wood.

 

Drydown: This rounds into something almost waxy. The smoke hovers, very faint, behind the hot sap and pepper.

 

Much later: Creosote and ashes.

 

The smokiness isn't at all forward on me until the very end.

 

This was more complicated on me than I expected!

[zankoku_zen]

Smoky woody bacon, why hello there vetiver you sly devil you.

 

It dries down to a woodsmoke, almost peat-y, slightly pine woodsmoke. Very masculine.

 

I wouldn't wear this as a perfume. But if you wanted to make a smokier, more werewolf appropriate, version of a more civilized blend out there, I'd use this for layering.

 

Smoke, wood, ash.

[Little Bird]

Bonfire smells like the charred, smoky bbq variety of vetiver that bpal sometimes uses. It makes me think of cedar planks, bbq sauce, woodsmoke and ash. It's intensely smoky, as expected, and is too much for me to pull off.

[thekittenkat]

1st, my brief meta from DSWC:

 

CS: smells like wood fire

W: very much a wood fire

D: smokey wood fire--not for me

 

Now for a more in-depth review:

 

In the decant: This smells very much like a forest fire that is dying down. There's green plant/tree notes and dried woods/leaves notes faintly mixed in and amongst the dominant smoke note.

 

Wet: Much as on cold sniff, but there's less smoke as the fire burns down, and more of the dead wood smell.

 

The dry-down: The scent is now reminiscent of dried firewood, but with a smokey note still floating over all. There's a hint of the ashes left behind from a bonfire, also. As I suspected from the will call testing, this is too associated with my own scent memories of having been in a house fire. It doesn't remind me of St. John's Eve, as that's a different smoke note.

[Jangzonrice]

in imp: pine, vetiver, and burning smoke

 

will update when I get to try it on!

[schneagl]

In the bottle: Newly lit fire with smoke and something acrid, like lighter fluid.

Wet on my skin: Embers and smoke, charcoal, and a plant note that I can't identify.

Drydown: Sour ash, smoke, and coals, and charring wood.

Later on: A sweet note, like smoky bubble gum. Really.

This is a fun one! It has a light throw, and lasted for a few hours with a long turndown. I wasn't quite expecting the acrid part, but otherwise it's the life cycle of a fire. Haven't tried layering it yet with anything, but there's some interesting potential here.

[ninjakoi]

Ok, I'm happy to see schneagl say "smoky bubblegum" because I thought I was losing my mind or had accidentally put it on top of Devil's Night or something. But no, that's totally what I get after a couple hours. At first sniff, it was very piney. Stayed very piney for a while. I actually went outside and sniffed it, just in case I was smelling my Christmas tree in the background and confusing it for Bonfire. But now, after a couple hours, it smells like chewing pink bubblegum around a dying campfire.

[agirlnamedfury]

My first Single Note!

 

Just got this in the mail today, immediately dabbed some on a wrist, and omfg -- I'm in love. Definitely true to the name, but it's also very complex and... "foresty" for lack of a better word, not just smoky. Curious to layer this with other scents, though I'm not sure what yet.

 

In any case, I can't stop sniffing this one.

[tinyvulture]

Holy smoky BBQ!

 

The cold forest note in the background is a nice contrast with the heat of acrid, thick, murky smoke and charred logs. Totally smells like when you walk outdoors on a cold night and you can smell all your neighbors' fireplaces.

 

I'm not sure I'll wear this on its own because I'll smell like BBQ potato chips, but I think it will be fun to experiment with layering with other scents. It should go well with something sweet and vanilla.

[milo]

Smoke at first, but it doesn't really smell like wood smoke to me, more a charred bacon smell. Kind of smells like charred wood after awhile, that's been put out with water. Evocative, but not something that I would wear.

[familiarpatterns]

I was so excited for this but it was the first one I've ever had to wash off

On my skin was just extremely soapy burnt meat D: stupid skin chemistry

[porcelina]

This is probably one of the best woodsmoke/bonfire scents I've ever tried. It's like a variety of woods burning into beautifully-smelling smoke. I really love it. I think I could layer this with Pile of Fallen Leaves to get my perfect burning leaves scent.

[gentle-twig]

2015 Version

 

In bottle: Smoke with the cool note from Yggdrasil (eucalyptus?)

 

Wet on skin: Crisp evergreen notes with smoke. I've seen some speculation that this is the signature smoky opening of BPAL vetiver, but it doesn't quite smell like that to me. More of a classic woodsmoke.

 

Dry on skin: The evergreen notes and smoke are still there, with the smoke gaining speed, but there are also more notes appearing. A new wood (sandalwood? I feel like sandalwood smells wildly different to me in different blends, so I'm not entirely sure) peaks up, lending kind of a sauna vibe to the mix (in a good way, not in a sweaty way). The smoke has a lot of throw and I can smell it clearly without sniffing my arm. I only used one drop, so this is some powerful stuff.

 

Later: A bouquet of smoking woods (mostly evergreen)

 

This is my least favorite of the Weenies I ordered, but it's certainly not bad. I just wish it had a little more depth (a strange thing to say about such a woody blend). That said, I did just take it out of the mailbox so maybe a little aging can help that out.

[Xaila]

I've been after a nice "fireplace-y" scent for ages and was excited to see that this exists. I've pretty much had nothing but bad luck with this kind of thing so I was kind of anxious at the blind bottle order.

 

In bottle: I was surprised how green this smelled. I got a lot of evergreen smell. Very sharp green with something a little herbal and a smoky undertone.

 

Wet on skin: When I tried this as soon as I unboxed it, I got the dread BACON. I have no clue what does this. I have a suspicion it's vetiver but I can't be sure. I was worried at this point but let it settle for a few days. It's a good thing I did, because the BACON effect seems to have mostly vanished. Now I mostly get smoky and woodsy with the evergreen, which isn't as sharp as in the bottle. It almost smells like cedar?

 

Dry on skin: A spicy-woodsy scent mostly dominates now, with the smoky and evergreen background. Oddly this doesn't have the throw on me I thought it would. It's very much an outdoors scent rather than "fireplace-y"...you really do get a forest sense from this. I'm also reminded of BBQ smoker chips.

 

Overall: I definitely want to hold onto this and see how it ages. Smoke is very hit or miss with me and the appearance of the dreaded bacon smell got me a little worried, but I actually think this will turn out well. I love evocative things like this but I'm not sure I'd wear it out.

[Nicnivin]

This is another scent that smells incredible on my husband, but gets a bit acrid and harsh on me. He gets the woodsy, campfire smokiness, whereas I get charcoal briquettes and ash.

That said, something magical happens when I layer it with a sweeter scent like Velvet or The Second of Three Spirits: it cuts the sweetness and deepens the scent to something a bit darker, which I love.