Blood onmy hands

This is what I wanted 7 Word Story: Gluttony to smell like with the similar notes of salty aquatic, lavender and incense. The aquatic doesn't go soapy on me here and has that salty, tangy cologne scent to it. The lavender comes in cool and creamy, and smells like a nice lavender cologne. After about a half hour, the red musk takes over and reminds me of fruity, deep red wine and incense. The lavender cologne adds a cool, airy edge to the red musk, though. The decant is probably enough for me, but I do like this blend.

I get no incense or lavender it's all salty, soapy aquatic and floral osmanthus. I like the edge of saltiness, but the drydown is too soapy and makes me smell like a floral scented laundry soap.

I don't really enjoy the lab's oudh and iris is a death note for me, so this was pretty much a guaranteed fail. As has already been said, the oudh has a fecal quality to it, along with a strange ashiness on my skin, mixed with the sharp, perfumey white floral iris and bright, sharp metal. I don't get the frankincense. It's like a bad drugstore cologne spritzed in a dirty restroom with a handful of ashes thrown in somewhere. A total scrubber.

I wish that this smelled like pine sap on me (I grew up in the middle of a pine forest and have been trying to find a scent that captures that sap smell for over 15 years now with no luck), but this is a really sour evergreen and sharp, soapy ozone on my skin I had to scrub it off after an hour, because the evergreen note is so unpleasant.

The honey in this is bright and has a perfumey/musky edge to it. I'm also getting the fruitiness that others have mentioned, which almost smells like a hint of cherry on my skin. I don't get the herbs, but the whole thing is sort of clean smelling on me, like a honey and metallic cologne in the drydown. I like thicker, heavier, sweeter honeys.

Minty evergreen with an edge of powdery black musk and resinous opoponax. It reminds me of a darker Ded Moroz.

This smells like Vicks VapoRub and spring floral laundry soap on me. Very soapy, cold, and medicinal.

I get no vanilla or sugar from my bottle. It's all cherry cough syrup all the time, with a slightly dry smelling soapiness in the drydown that I'm guessing is the fog note. Fades really quickly and doesn't have much throw.

I only went with a decant of this one, because I was pretty sure that it was going to be all floral and no vanilla on me, and that wound up being a good call. It's a sharp white floral with a sharp, green edge to it on my skin. It goes slightly soapy in the drydown and has a perfumey, almost white musk-ish tone to it. Not a fan at all.

I actually don't like Snake Oil (turns to baby powder and a weird, dirty hair smell on me), but I often enjoy it in blends, and I looooove Snake Skin. I like this a lot more than Western Diamondback, as the vanilla of Snake Oil seems to come out more, the leather is much smoother, and it doesn't have any other notes to muck it up. This is the slinky musk of Snake Oil, the deep vanilla, and a smooth, sexy black leather. No powder or dirtiness or sharpness on my skin. Maybe a little black leather smokiness, but not a lot. I'm thinking I should have purchased more than one bottle of this beauty.

I agree with others who have said that this doesn't smell like the white chocolate note. It smells like a sweet milk chocolate powder (like the mix for making hot cocoa) with a syrupy, green pear laying in the middle of it. The pear does stick around for me, but it's about 80% chocolate and 20% pear. I like this, but I don't know if it's a keeper, because I have ten other Chocolate Box scents that I like more and that have better throw on my skin... I wish that I could get this pear as a single note, though, because it's not the sickly-sweet pear gummi scent that I usually get from bpal's pear notes. It has a green, true edge to it that I really like.

I tested this fresh from the mailbox and liked it ('red musk and smoky incense' were my original notes), but I tried to wear it a couple times afterwards as a full wear with no other competing fragrances, and it didn't smell so good to me anymore. I wore Ill Omen to a party and asked for opinions and was told that I smelled like "pine needles and soap." I was getting that sour pine impression too, along with baby powdery amber. Oddly, it didn't even give off a strong red musk note when I slathered it on. Powdery amber/labdanum, dusty frankincense, and pine?

When I first apply this, it smells like honey flavored dusting powder, hot cocoa powder, and marshmallow cream. The drydown reminds me a lot of Boo's cool sweet cream, but like Boo eating a rice krispy treat. It's more buttery marshmallows than milky to me, and I only get the honey for a few minutes on first application. Still, I like this. An over-the-top, sweet, buttery marshmallow works for me.

This smells like Bath & Body Works, but in a good way. It smells like B&BW from 18 years ago and not their newer stuff that's all crammed full of bad, cheap synthetic musk notes. First on, Diligent Instruction reminded me of the original B&BW Sun Ripened Raspberry lotion, and the drydown smells more like their original Sugar Plum Fairy, which is a fragrance that I've missed for, well, 18 years. I remember going into their store and my sister picking out the Raspberry and then buying several bottles of the Plum for me to take home with me. I hoarded the last drops of that lotion. Anyhow. This smells like the sweetest, sugar dusted fruit (I still think sugarplum and raspberry more than strawberry) and so much wonderful creaminess. It's like a hint of bubblegum, pink cotton candy, fluffs of vanilla cream and marshmallow underneath those sugar dusted fruits. It definitely leans gourmand and creamy on my skin. Warm and dry more than milky, though it does have a definite creaminess. It makes me think of Christmas and creamy lotion, because of the association that I have with that lotion, lol. I love this and it makes me feel nostalgic and miss my sister...

Hoiru is very light and soft. It doesn't have much throw and only lasts about two hours on my skin. The amber and cashmere, I think, meld together in a soft, powdery, warm skin scent, with the vanilla and coconut giving it a creamy, sweet edge. It reminds me of white sandalwood. I can't pick out the leather, patchouli or tea, which I expected to be stronger, but the whole thing is very light and difficult to discern notes from.

This is my favorite of the Pleasures series, but I don't like it enough to upgrade from a decant to a full bottle either. I think that The Black Rider (which is black leather, opoponax, tobacco and black amber) is better for a similar blend. And that one is a GC blend and only $17.50 a bottle. The leather here is black, shiny, new, and slightly chemical smelling (like a 'new car' scented air freshener), the black amber goes powdery on me, and the myrrh is thick, sweet, and resinous, and similar to the opoponax in Black Rider. The Black Rider is richer, less 'new' smelling and slightly smoky on me instead of powdery. I like this, but there are leather bpals that I like a lot more.

V is mainly red sandalwood on me. It's warm, powdery woods and sandalwood incense, made a bit sweeter and more powdery from the orris. I get a little bit of black tobacco and earthy, dry patchouli in the background, but the woods and sweet powder definitely dominate. This reminds me of Mythological Scene, which was also red sandalwood, orris, leather and patchouli. This is a bit more earthy and doesn't have the citrus edge of Mythological Scene, though.

I wish that this were like French Tobacco or Bulgarian Tobacco on me, but this is mainly a powdery, amber-like benzoin and sweet honey with hints of cinnamon on me. The leather doesn't even make it through the powdery, sweet veil. I get a hint of smokiness, like woodsmoke, which I guess is the smoked part of the honey. Goes very powdery on me in the drydown and fades quickly, even with the cinnamon, which usually amps way up on my skin.

I don't get any leather from this. It's a very fresh, bright, sharp jasmine on my skin. The white tea has a citrusy, lemony edge, the jasmine is bright, perfumey, and slightly soapy, and the white musk is perfumey and gives me a headache. I like a sweeter, more gourmand, honeyed type of jasmine.

I'm confused by this scent, because I usually love the lab's leather blends and I loved the white tobacco in Pediophobia, but this doesn't smell like anything else that I own. The Pleasures series is going strange and chemical-y on my skin, which isn't an issue I've really had with any of bpal's other leather scents. II sounded similar to The White Rider (which is one of my favorite GC blends), but where White Rider is all soft, suede-like white leather and lovely vanilla-sandalwood, II seems to be overtaken by a really gritty, dirty, ashy tobacco, and the leather comes off as sour and a bit smoky on my skin (or the tobacco is going smoky). It's not like the black leather of The Manuscript or Brom Bones, which I enjoyed. It's chemical, sharp, cold, and perfumey. In the drydown, a powdery sandalwood tries to soften it, but I'm just not enjoying this one. If you want a lovely leather and sandalwood, I'd recommend The White Rider over this, and The White Rider is only $17.50 for 5mls to II's $24 a bottle.

This smells similar to the previous Hunger Moons to me. It's got the sharp, clean, lemony verbena, ozone that keeps threatening to turn soapy, and super powdery white sandalwood. Clean, sharp, powdery lemons. The only difference is that I get a whiff of the pine from this one, but it smells like sharp, green pine rather than smoky pitch.

Sour, dark berries mixed with a very cold, mentholic pine note. It's sort of medicinal, and very much reminds me of berry-pine scented air fresheners. The mulberry has a sour edge, but mostly smells very artificial. I might try this as a room scent, but it's a no as a perfume for me. I don't get any resins or myrrh.

Lemon scented dish soap with a hint of herbal rose geranium. Bpal's ozone always turns to soap on my skin.

On me, this smells like cinnamon-spiked cider and orange cinnamon tea with dusty flour and sparkling sugars. It's like someone set out hot cider and tea to sip on while everyone gets together to make and decorate Christmas cookies. There's a hint of warm, sugary smokiness in the drydown, like someone left a batch of the cookies in the oven for too long. I like how fun and festive this is. Cinnamon easily overwhelms me, but the cinnamon here is held in check by the sweet notes, and the sweet notes are held in check by a little bitterness from the tea. Very pretty.

It took me three years to track down a bottle of this and Yule Cookies (why didn't I buy them when they were originally available? no one knows). I love them both, but I especially love Braving the Ice. I usually find bpal's pomegranate to be way too tart and dry smelling, but the "pomegranate cream" here is just gorgeous on me. Sweet, red fruitiness and so much lovely vanilla cream. The mint in this adds a pleasant chill without really smelling of mint. The cookies and the pomegranate show up, though, smelling like fresh-from-the-oven fruit tarts, warm and bubbling over with red berry filling. Then the cream, sugar and mint chill smell like someone set out chilled whipped cream and vanilla ice cream to top off those fruit tarts. Red berry fruit tarts, warm and fresh from the oven, and a side of whipped cream and vanilla ice cream. I love love love the creaminess of this blend. One of my favorite bpal gourmands