Blood and Judgment So Well Commeddled

[Little Bird]

A scent of kindness and devotion, friendship and loyalty: soft brown leather and brushed suede with bourbon vanilla, toasted almond, tonka bean, and amber.

 

The almond kills this scent for me. It's like a sickly-sweet cherry cough syrup smell. A little bit of powdery amber comes in during the drydown, but I can't really smell the leather at all.

[mistressfizz]

Sniff: ALMOND. AND MORE ALMOND.

 

Wet: Nutty, sharp, a bit vanilla sweet, but most definitely dominated by the almond. It's cloying at this stage, I had to shake the scent out of my head a few times.

 

Dry: Gets softer and dusty as it dries. The almond burns off and leaves a lingering waft of leather and amber.

 

I wasn't expecting the almond to overpower this blend so much. It would be nicer for me, if the elements were just a bit more balanced.

[agirlnamedfury]

The scent description is a list of notes I love, so this should be a home run for me... but somehow I don't really dig it all that much? Rather than the warm leather, vanilla, and almond I should be getting, something about this is cold and almost bitter. Amber can be hit or miss for me, so maybe that's what ruining it?

 

I may have to try this one another time or two...

[yakiguri]

I'm also getting the initial blast of high octane gasoline, which then swerves quickly into plastic before FINALLY into a soft-ish cherry-tinged leather. It's still way sharper than I'd like, but I'm confident that aging will turn this into something GLORIOUS. Will revisit at the end of the year.

[lucycat]

In the bottle: Suede and almond.

 

At first, this is strong, brand-new suede. I get a strong impression of brown suede, as well as brown leather. The almond is so sweet that it’s almost sharp. Almond never lasts long on the skin, though, and after just a little while this becomes mellower and softer. The vanilla, the tonka, and the amber come forward, so the blend remains sweet without that sharp quality it had at first.

 

A soft and snuggly skin scent with little throw.

[ramblingrambler]

Oh, goodness. I think this might replace Red Lace as my favorite BPAL fragrance. They're nothing alike, I know, but Blood & Judgment is so incredibly good.

 

I have two bottles stored away for aging, and I just resurrected one today. It's delicious. In the bottle, it's slightly peppery leather with a sweet undertone. Wet, however, it's almost a leather single note. I was worried it wouldn't fade and bloom into other notes, as leather stayed prominent for at least 45 minutes, but afterward... Oh. Oh, my! It is the most delectable soft brown leather background to a gorgeous sweet, soft bouquet of Tonka, almond, and amber in equal proportions so well blended!

 

It is so worth the 45 minutes of pure leather to get to the six hours of pure bliss. Extreme dry down reminds me slightly of Dorian's dry down: a soft cloud fading into wisps of nothing.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: REALLY intense almond! And all sorts of other good smells that I can't describe. It's immediately a comforting scent. I get a dusty sort of suede, soft and worn. And really warm Tonka and amber. Lovely! Different. Completely unisex, I don't think it leans either way.

 

Dry: My skin totally eats this! It's such a strong scent, but somehow between one minute and the next it disappeared on me! I'm left with just a vague warm, slightly suedey sweetness. A barely there, snuggly skin scent. It's nice but I have to stuff my face right into my elbow to smell it at all, so I am not sure if I would get any wear out of it. Glad to have tried it though!

[Lucchesa]

I love Blood and Judgement. I'm not getting any of the sharpness some reviewers mention; I think it may simply have aged away. There is a lot of almond at first (which I love), but it is also the first note to fade away, leaving a snuggly blend of well-worn leathers, tonka and amber. I don't get any throw from this, though it lasts a while as a skin scent. Super comforting.

[tinyvulture]

This is a decant from 2015, and the scent is faint. I’m getting leather and almond. The leather is the strongest note; the almond is subtle, coming and going  I can’t pick out any of the other good stuff like vanilla, tonka, or amber.  At this point in the aging, it seems like a straightforward leather scent, not nuanced as I’m sure it must have been when made.

 

[fairybites]

It's mostly leather on me! Got some amber and bourbon vanilla, but they faded pretty quickly. At least the leather in here is nice, maybe brown leather is the only kind that works on me. I was really looking forward to the almond, but it didn't appear at all. I might keep this around for layering, but I doubt I'll upgrade.

[alyelle]

A decant from 2015, which I've never quite disliked enough to sell. I decided to age it and see what happened; results below from several yearly wear tests.

 

In the imp: Originally leather and tonka dominant, with a strange fir-like smell. Over the years, emerging notes of almond and tonka, and lately, a hint of vanilla.

 

Wet: A cold and slightly damp leather, with vanilla overtones. I've never had any hint of amber from this; in the early days, you could detect bourbon but now, much less so. The almond was previously quite bitter but has now rounded out, and the suede has definitely come into its own as this has aged.

 

Dry: My earliest wear in 2015 noted this as soft, with an imperceptible throw; I twice forgot I was wearing it. Aging has improved its strength and staying power - although it remains reasonably mild, it is discernible, and lasts around 6 or so hours. Shorter-lived than a lot of my scents but lovely. I will now put this into a regular rotation, it's a comforting wintery scent that suits this year.

 

Stars: ★★★½