Blood onmy hands

In the bottle, this is mostly rich frankincense and sweet, smooth cedar. It reminded me of Cathedral and, once I slathered it on my husband, it smelled almost exactly like Cathedral for about ten minutes. As it dries down, it starts to smell intensely of woodsmoke with a tiny hint of sharp black leather. It's like I threw a strip of leather on to a bonfire. I like most of bpal's leather blends (De Sade, The Red Rider, The Traveller, Bow & Crown of Coquest, and on and on), but this leather accord doesn't smell good to me at all. I was hoping this would be a clean sort of black leather and sweet violet, but this smoky, perfumey leather isn't working for me at all... Manilus smells very harsh, smoky, and unpleasant to me.

Areia is difficult for me to describe, because it smells so strange on me. I can definitely pick out the cherry at first, something a bit spicy (maybe slightly like a very muted cinnamon, but not quite), and a strange dry wood smell that's a bit salty and a bit smoky. Something about it is almost plastic-y and unpleasant as it dries down. I think I can pick out a hint of red rose after a while, but I'd never notice it if I wasn't actively looking for it. Mostly this is a weird, dry, smoky wood and slightly spiced, plastic-y fruitiness. I was hoping that the dragon's blood, cherry, and red musk would combine into this rich, heavy, super-red, sexy scent, but I can't smell any red musk and I don't get much dragon's blood. The scent is surprisingly light and doesn't have much throw at all on me, even when I slather it on. I don't really this scent at all, so I'm glad it's not stronger...

This is probably the Lupercalia blend that I was most excited for, as I hoped it would be kinda like Harimise (one of my favorite blends ever - such a unique mix of clean & sweet), with its nutty notes mixed with floral and clean tones. Unfortunately, it's nothing like Harimise and I can't really smell the notes that I was most looking forward to. In the bottle and on my skin, this is mostly lavender and bergamot. The lavender is cool, floral, and slightly soapy, and the bergamot is lemony and a bit sour. Not good. As it dries down, I'm getting hints of the herbal thyme, but none of the nutty notes, tonka, or clove. Copulating Mice leans unpleasantly towards being soapy and too sour on my skin . Very crushed that this doesn't work on me... maybe it will improve with age.

The Ring is a really strange scent. I get mostly perfumey skin musk, baby powdery amber, and dusty, dry hay. I can smell whiffs of earthy patchouli every once in a while, but it mostly lends a dirty feel to the hay note. The overall blend is very dry smelling on my skin, and not all that pleasant. As it dries down, I can smell a hint of cool mint, and it doesn't pair well with the hay, in my opinion... everything feels mismatched here to me.

I love amber notes from other companies, but bpal's amber notes almost always turn to baby powder on my skin. The mix of amber + musk here goes very powdery on me. So I get baby powder, rich red rose, and a hint of tart orange and sour red currant. Too powdery and the fruit is too tart and dry for my tastes. Versailles (Wanderlust GC blend) is a lot better, in my opinion, for roses, orange citrus, and a gold feel...

In the bottle and on my skin, this is heavy, buttery, sweet (can be a bit cloying) coconut cream. I love coconut scents lately, so I like this, but I was really hoping for some of the anise and hazelnut, and for the amber to give it less of a foodie edge. And I don't smell any of the other listed notes at all. Not even a hint of anything non-coconut. Harigata II is buttery, intensely sweet coconut cream from start to finish, with no anise, amber, or hazelnut to be found. I'll like this for layering with other scents, but it's honestly a bit of a letdown that I can't smell any of the other notes.

I like red musk (though it's a bit overpowering on my skin), gardenia, and tonka, and the other notes in this are all iffy for me. On me, the red musk instantly amps up and is the dominating note for about a half hour. The narcissus adds a sharp, perfumey, chemical-floral undertone and the chamomile and red patch give it more of a sour, bitter edge that makes it rather unpleasant. The gardenia is there, but the other notes turn it into a sharp floral that I'm not really enjoying. The drydown of The Arbor is just very floral, heavy, and perfumey-sharp on my skin with sour, earthy edges. I usually can't pick out the tonka in bpal blends, and I don't smell it here either. All in all, this isn't a keeper for me. There are red musk blends and floral blends that I like a lot more than this'n.

All of the notes in this sound good to me (leather, violet, and beeswax especially sounded like a kickass girl fragrance), but the scent is a powdery failure on me. It goes so powdery that I was wondering if there was amber or an actual baby powder note in there that I missed, but I guess the violet and Egyptian musk are probably the culprits. First on, the mixture of violet and beeswax is actually a bit cloying on me, like violet candies and honey-vanilla scented yankee candle. Then, as it dries down, I get tons of baby powder, a bit of sweet myrrh, and a hint of violet candies. I'm really disappointed that I can't pick out the leather at all. Time Does Not Bring Relief is sadly just too powdery and cloying on my skin... fades really quickly, too.

I can't pick out the anise that other people have with this blend, which is a bit of a letdown, because I love anise/black licorice. This is more like a really light, citrussy champagne and green tea smell on my skin (sort of like fizzy, boozy Embalming Fluid, but really light and subtle on my skin). My husband smelled this on me and said it smells like "weird lemonade." :/

I don't like bpal's champagne note (either smells like cleaning fluid or it goes cloying and pukey smelling on me) and I usually can't wear opium either (too sharp), so this scent didn't really have a chance with me. I thought that it would be similar to Stardust, which also has champagne and poppy, but this is sweeter and not as sharp as Stardust is on my skin. The champagne is sweet (too sweet) and slightly citrussy & fizzy at first, and the opium is like sharp, hazy white smoke hiding underneath the booze. The scent goes on strong, but is pretty light and subtle by the half hour mark. Not for me...

I only had a tiny amount of this one to test, so I couldn't properly slather, but I'm not really blown away by this scent. I'm not great with a lot of floral blends, and this just smells like a vague fruity-floral blend on my skin. I usually amp up red musk, but I couldn't smell any red musk here. And I usually like lily, but this scent is a bit more perfumey than lily usually is on me. It's like creamy lily + sharp, perfumey white floral muskiness. I get a bit of watery, clean, fruity sweetness as well. And the drydown is clean fruity-floral plus baby powder on my skin. It only lasted about a half hour on me, but that might be more because I had so little of it to actually wear. Parker Lily smells more like a classic drugstore floral perfume to me, and thankfully not something I'll need more of.

This is mostly evergreen and woodsmoke to my nose, with a little extra sweetness from the berry. I don't know if I really like the smoky wood note, and I was kinda hoping that this would be more spicy and foodie smelling. I prefer Krampusumzüge (snow and Christmas trees) and Pete Lala's Cafe (pine, soft leather, and vanilla-like sweetness) for pine scents.

My absolute favorite black licorice scent is Le Père Fouettard. The black leather cuts through the sweetness, but I still get tons of bold black licorice and something like a deep, sweet vanilla. It's one of my go-to perfumes when I want something that smells dark, sexy, and exotic.

The blends that are heavy on the green tea for me are Shanghai and Embalming Fluid, with Shanghai being the more lemony of the two. Nostrum Remedium might be one to try. I get a strong tea smell from it sometimes. And Maiden is good for trying bpal's white tea note. It's a sharp, clean, almost citrussy tea smell on me.

This is all creamy, sweet coconut to my nose. I think I need something to balance the sweetness, because this is kinda cloying on me. Reminds me of coconut scented sun lotion...

I don't have much to say about this one. I get a green, slightly soapy apple that makes me think of shampoo. It reminds me of the apple blossom note in a lot of blends. I don't like it, but it fades in about five minutes on me, so no harm done, lol.

This is a lot like the released version of Hod at first (spicy, sweet, comforting, heavenly), but the drydown has a clean, perfumey white floral feel on me that makes this sharper, and it slowly starts to turn more and more to baby powder. I love the released version of Hod (in my bpal top ten), but this one seems to have something in it that isn't working for me.

How cute <3. I like that the Chocolate labels are the same as the ones in the chocolate box image on the site.

The Kingdom of Sweets is orange pixie sticks candy on me. It's dry, powdery (not baby powdery, but definitely a dry candy powder), and candy-sweet orange. Nothing juicy about it at all. I don't get any of the mint or anything but powdery orange candy. I don't find this very wearable... too sweet, dry, and simple for me.

This mostly just smells like cinnamony cider spice and not too much apple or fruit to me, but I still like this and think it's a cozy scent that's great for winter. It's slightly drying, but most bar soaps are on my skin.

Got a sample slice of this to test. The pom seems to work better for me in soap-form than it does in oil form (perfume oil pom turns bitter and powdery-dry on my skin). This smells tart and slightly candy-sweet, but still has a bright, juicy, fruity feel to it. It makes a good hand soap, though I do find it slightly drying.

I was excited to try this, because I love cocoa/chocolate scents, milk, and unusual spices. Unfortunately, I don't get much chocolate from this and the spice is very strong, but not all that unique or exciting. I don't get the woods that other people have mentioned either. For a while when I first put this on, it reminded me of Possets' Haute Love (chocolate covered ginger scent), but the spice was sharper and the chocolate not as pronounced. I don't get anything like horseradish, black pepper, mustard, or the listed notes. This is like sharp, hot ginger and a bit of cinnamon on me. After about fifteen minutes, I don't smell any chocolate and there's nothing candy-like about this scent. It's actually slightly off and soured on me, and reminds me of bpal's pukey champagne notes, oddly. It's strong and unpleasantly soured and sharply spicy on my skin. The only thing I really like about this scent is the bottle label

It seems like a lot more people post looking for recs than they do recommending things, so it's easy to lose posts as people add more to the mix without responding to anyone. You could try recommending some things to people . Or, if you are worried about potentially being skipped over, this is what jumps out at me when I read your previous post: Versailles: "Grand, courtly and robust: a glittering, golden scent that would do Louis XIV proud. Gilded red and gold citrus with amber, ruby roses, jasmine and orris." Because it's a scent that always reminds me of rubies and it has the old city/history thing going for it. Perhaps also - Florence: "The pearl of the Italian Renaissance. Elegant iris, bright berries, gilded amber and velvety spices." For the same reasons as Versailles, though I get less of the bright red ruby feel from it. Roses, Pearls, and Diamonds is another scent that comes to mind, only for the ruby slippers aspect. And there's the whole Illyria section for Shakespeare inspired scents, though I'm not sure which would jump out at me. Maybe one of the more spring-y scents with watery florals?

I find these to be the bpal masculine blends with strong lavender notes: Casanova: "A rakish blend of leather, anise, lavender, bergamot and amber with tonka, lemon peel and lusty patchouli." Old Scratch: "a lavender fougere with tonka, amber, rosewood and a whiff of diabolical patchouli." Wilde: "A sophisticated traditional gentleman's cologne, with just the slightest taint of patchouli's passion, tonka bean's decadence, the philanthropy of bergamot, moss' cynicism, the sharp wit of lavender, and the hopeless romantic longing of jasmine and thyme."

I could really picture you smelling like Story Time at Dark Delicacies (available at darkdel.com): "Heavy oak shelving, cracked leather bindings, incense-soaked parchment, ancient inks, baneful aromatic herbs, and crumbs of spilled sugar-glazed lemon butter cookies that have been accidentally dragged from the kiddie section of the store." Dee is my favorite for a bookish scent in the GC lineup: "His scent is soft English leather, rosewood and tonka with a hint of incense, parchment and soft woods." Maybe Jazz Funeral (for the morbid side and the musical side, and the floral gives it a romantic edge, I find): "Bittersweet bay rum, bourbon, and a host of funeral flowers with a touch of graveyard dirt, magnolia and Spanish Moss." Dragon's Bone (notes: dragon's blood resin with white sandalwood, dusty orris and crisp blondewood) or Bony Moon for a bone scent? And if you're interested in berry scents, you might want to check out Akuma, Bewitched, Blue Fire, Florence, Glasgow, Hollywood Babylon, The Jersey Devil, Red Tide, and Slippery Poppy Tincture...