El Segundo Blue

[Little Bird]

The El Segundo Blue butterfly is endangered, and only three colonies remain: one at Los Angeles International Airport, one at an oil refinery, and one on a tiny patch of SoCal beach.

Sand and sea salt, murky beach water, a gust of peony, and a drop of petroleum.

Bpal's aquatics tend to go soapy on me, and this one does too, but the sharp salt and dark, murky notes are keeping it interesting for me. I smell this and can't help but think of "Duma Key," which is my favorite Stephen King novel. It's like a haunted beach along the ocean, with a storm rolling in and the twang of sharp, salty ozone in the air. The peony, I think, adds a rich, round sweetness to the scent, sort of a juicy, heady floral in the storm. I'm actually shocked by how much I've been enjoying El Segundo Blue. I think this is my favorite bpal aquatic ever. It manages to feel beautiful, but dark and creepy, at the same time.

 

[zankoku_zen]

Sea salt, seawater, peony and a whiff of blueberry, I swear. This is a like a blueberry went to swim in the sea, I swear. Good throw, good wear length.

[sth0]

There is something about most BPAL aquatics that smells like a gourmand or cloying dryer sheet perfume. I have had luck with Shunga aquatics smelling fresh and clean.

 

This one is unfortunately a lot like Mermaid, Oceanus Procellum, etc. It smells like salty (almost almondy) dryer sheets. Oh, it makes me so sad I had high hopes. If you want a cleaner, less cloying scent from this collection, Echo Azure is my winner!

[Needlebeak]

Smells slightly foody in the vial - like sugared almonds. On my skin however, it becomes linear laundry detergent/dryer sheets. I think BPAL's aquatics simply don't work on me. Shame because the notes on this one sound fantastic.

Edited August 27, 2018 by Needlebeak

[biggnerd]

I choose this as my first review because the scent experience was consistent for me throughout my sniffing: salty popcorn and dryer sheets.

[doomsday_disco]

In the decant: I smell salty seawater, a somewhat buttery note which was also found in Serving Gill (kelp maybe?), the fresh peony from The Dormouse, and some sand. I am not able to pick out the petroleum.

 

Wet: The sea salt, sand, and beach water notes are prominent, along with whatever the buttery note is that is also in Serving Gill. Then the peony note emerges, and it’s like the flower’s scent is being carried on the salty breeze. I don’t really get the petroleum at the moment, and I was curious about its presence in the scent, but there is something in this that makes me think of the asphalt and rain of Waiting -- perhaps it’s just the aquatic notes mingling with the sand.

 

Dry: The buttery note of mystery has calmed down somewhat, but it is still present, and it is now mostly a salty aquatic with some sand and peony on me. I do get a bit of a dryer sheet vibe from this, the same that I get from Waiting in the end, even though I enjoy that scent as a sleep scent.

 

Verdict: Aquatics and my skin chemistry don’t really get along, so I did not have high hopes for this and was mainly just curious about the peony and petroleum. This one did not turn to soap but is somewhat reminiscent of dryer sheets on me. It’s better than a lot of aquatics are on me, but still not something I would wear.

[Lady_Fire]

This is straight up Tide laundry detergent on me. If you tossed me a fresh from the dryer shirt and I sniffed it, I wouldn't notice any different to this. Fresh, clean and aquatic, verging on masculine to my nose.

[Lucchesa]

A fabulous friend gave this decant to me.  I had shied away due to aquatics never working on me.  This came close, but in the end, the laundry detergent effect won out.  But if you can do aquatics at all, this is a really interesting blend, and on me it had great throw and wear length.  It starts with that almost chewy sea salt note from Eyeball Seaboar, which I love.  Then I got the pale pink floral note of the peony, and finally the inky petroleum.  But the dryer sheets were there too, and they eventually dominate the experience on my skin.  Still, I'm super glad I got to try this, and I'm going to be looking for more sea salt blends.