Three Pairs of Shoes

[Silvertree]

Three battered leather accords scuffed with smoked vanilla, tobacco absolute, beeswax, and balsam

[frizzlechicken]

I love this but it is definitely for leather lovers! It smells like being in a closet full of dusty leather shoes, with a touch of waxy smoke (not heavy smoke though). It really reminds me of going into an old attic or an old costume shop. It’s one of the more unique blends I think I’ve ever gotten from BPAL. Highly recommend if this sounds at all up your alley.

[dancingchair]

So much leather, but in a good way. Three pairs of well-worn leather shoes. The other notes only work to support the leather. I can't really pick them out. Something in here (the balsam, perhaps) is almost giving an aquatic effect? One of the pairs of shoes might be muddy. I also get shoe polish, especially during the wet phase.

 

Atmospheric with lots of good, good leather.

[MamaMoth]

whoa leather.  so much leather, so much.

i should have expected that, really, but i was hoping the other notes might have more presence because it's like an itemized list of things what i love.  but everything else in this is just working to give the leather character. 

 

that being said, i don't hate it, even though leather is not an absolute favorite of mine. this is a nice worn, scruffy, brown leather, which is my preferred kind. it has a watery kind of quality at first, but that goes away as it warms up. 

 

hours later and it reminds me of Ü a bit... less dusty, more leathery, and a bit moreish in general. this i can get behind.  i'll give this some time, as i think it has some maturing to do as the components mesh, and it may grow on me. 

[Tamarinda]

In the bottle: LEATHER. And something sweet?

 

Wet: Leather and an unclear sweetness.

 

Dry: A smooth, potent leather with a bit of vanilla and the barest hint of other notes. I expect age will bring them out beautifully.

 

I've had my bottle for a week now and at first it was POW LEATHER but as it has sat, recovering from the trek across the country, it's started letting more of its personality out.

 

This perfume reminds me of a shop I used to go to as a teen. It was one of the places where  you would go to in the 1990s in LA county to buy Doc Martins and other quality boots. It was a really lovely little shop somewhere off an unremembered freeway, and they never treated us like we were criminals or hoodlums, which was a nice change to the standard experience of being young and brown in pete wilson's California. I bought this perfume on a whim and I'm glad I did because to me, this is so nostalgic. It's the smell of new shoe excitement and the relief of being treated with dignity. It kinda makes me want to cry. Thanks BPAL  💕

[elissamay]

I'll preface by saying leather is not one of my absolute favorite notes. I enjoy it in a blend.

 

Wet on the skin, this slapped me in the face as Band-Aids, hospital ward sharp. Antiseptic, even.

 

Knowing leather isn't totally my thing, I let it dry and warm up. Once the balsam starts to come out, it totally changed. The antiseptic quality became more herbal. Vanilla and beeswax followed the warmed balsam, sweetening the sharpness. I don't really find the tobacco but I think I would miss it if it wasn't there to ground the vanilla. At this point, well warmed and drying down, the leather becomes supple and soft, like well-loved cowhide boots, an English saddle, or a favorite leather satchel. (No barnyard here, lest the "boots" and "saddle" send you that direction.)

 

If you love leather, I expect you would love this one. I am going to return to this one in a few weeks and see how it's all melding together.

[Threemoons]

Okay, this is absolutely, 100%, NYC half-storefont shoe-shine and repair shop.  Leather old and new, resin, and even that sort of odd dry-cleaner chemical smell.  I absolutely love it.  Has a long development on the skin but that is what I wind up with. No vanilla, nothing sweet, just this insanely wonderful 100% replica of shoeshine/repair places.  No other way to describe it.  Getting a backup.

[puellacaerulea]

Yep, that's leather. This is well-worn leather first and foremost -- I can't quite pick out the tobacco and smoked vanilla, but there's a resinous, cool undertone to the leather notes that makes me think of soft, well-worn leather that's been sitting out in the cold for some time. It is a bit reminiscent of Ü, but the balsams and vanillic notes are more pronounced in that scent. This is sort of like Ü's more rugged cousin.

[Casablanca]

Complex, multi-layered boot-leather blast from the second of application. 

 

This is the soul (and sole) of a boot.

[Lucchesa]

Leather, leather, leather.  I want there to be beeswax.  And balsam and tobacco and smoked vanilla, all among my favorite notes.  Nope.  Just leather.  Nice leather, but leather.  I'll hang onto this decant and see if any of the secondary notes develop with time.

[roseus]

In the imp all I got was fresh, fresh leather. But on my skin the beeswax takes right over! It eventually settles down a bit, letting the smoked vanilla come out along with the tobacco and the leather. The leather retains a bit of that 'fresh', sort of chemical scent that threatens to give me a headache, but the beeswax keeps it in check. It's a really interesting scent, and I bet a bit of aging would do wonders. 

[Angelshair]

I’m so intrigued by everyone else saying it smells like straight up leather, I don’t get leather at all! 
 

In the bottle it smells like what I can only describe as a garden centre on a hot summers day. The big plastic bags of soil, the humidity from the plants, the smell of the aquarium at the back of the store. Maybe it could be the way the leather note interacts with the balsam is the reason my brain thinks of a garden centre.

 

After about five minutes of applying a sweet beeswax blooms. I’m not the biggest fan of beeswax but this one isn’t as in your face as others I’ve come across. It’s actually quite nice. 

 

Over all my experience was not what I expected from the note description. It’s certainly not a bad perfume though but I do think the scent may change drastically if I give it time to age.

[zankoku_zen]

Black leather and a touch of beeswax. Medium throw and wear length. 

[Little Bird]

I've been missing Quincey Morris for years now (notes of tobacco, vanilla, white pear, cedar, rugged musk, and saddle leather), and Three Pairs of Shoes has finally filled that empty space in my heart and in my perfume collection.  I haven't tried Morris in years, but was instantly reminded of it.  The sweet vanilla with incredibly smooth, dark, warm tobacco and the most beautiful, soft, supple leather note.  I think that bpal does the most wonderful leather blends and this one is so soft, sweet and cuddly.  And I mean soft in feel and impression, not throw, because it lasts all day on me and has great throw.  I'm considering backups.

[Viiinylflowers]

This smells like a concentrated version of mashing your face into a big ol pile of both new and used kinda funky dirty leather boots and taking a deep whiff.  Theres something bashfully fetish like about it, that boot accord is just very odd in that way, a little gross while also being good haha.  
 

There’s kind of a shoe polish scent is in there too, like this invisible background of a shoe shop or a shoe closet piled high w new and old and some half attempted restored leather boots.  
 

It has a similar industrial appeal to how gasoline smells good, but the leather is still just too concentrated for me to really wear this outside of as a short term curiosity here and there.  (Edit ok why is this formatting like this lol I can’t get it to stop I’m sorry) 

 

It settles down the longer I wear it and that’s when the softer notes come into play but it’s a long game and I can’t make it that long w the intense leather accords till then.  
 

i do however find this super cool as a unique scent in my collection, so I’m quite happy to have it : D  a nice weird heavy leather scent that I appreciate in a similar way as rivet goth.  
 

Edited April 12, 2023 by Viiinylflowers
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