Aviatrix

Welcome to the wonderful world of BPAL! I'm not very good at this, but I can try and give you a few General Catalog recommendations that are easy to obtain: Katharina A strong, willful blend with a soft, utterly lovely soul: white musk with a trickle of bright, sharp apricot and orange blossom. Morgause A bouquet of five night-blooming flowers deepened by dusky violet, purple fruits and the barest breath of medieval incenses. The Mouse's Long and Sad Tale Vanilla, two ambers, sweet pea and white sandalwood. Mata Hari Her scent is striking and bold with a delicate yet dark undertone: five roses with soft jasmine, warmed by vanilla, fig, tonka bean and mahogany, spiced with a drop of coffee bean. Intrigue Black palm, with cocoa, fig and shadowy wooded notes. Veil White sandalwood, lilac, gardenia, violet, orris, lavender and ylang ylang. Dorian A Victorian fougere with three pale musks and dark, sugared vanilla tea. Spellbound An irresistibly sexual, utterly rapturous blend of three roses, radiant amber, and sensual red musk. I hope you find lots of scents to love in the time to come

The rose is the strongest note in this one to my nose. It is followed by the saffron, and the frankincense remains in the background. I am not getting much candle smoke, sadly. It is a rather pretty, and Gothic!, blend which definitely leads you to think of old dusty attics with dried flowers draped over old velvet or something. Actually, I am getting some of the same vibes as from Eve (OLLA), only the rose is stronger in this one. But they are definitely in the same family, so if you missed out on Eve, you might want to give this one a try!

The sugared violets are definitely the strongest note on me! I won't complain, because I love sugared violets I'm not actually getting the chocolate, except perhaps as a creaminess in the background of the scent. A very pretty blend, if a little heavy on the floral.

On my skin, this is a very lemony tea scent - I don't actually get much cardamom tea from it, more like earl grey tea... I can faintly perceive the wooden notes, too, but not by much. I have never been good at distinguishing oakmoss, so I don't know about that. It's probably there, grounding the scent in the background. It's pleasant enough if you enjoy tea scents I'm curious to see how it ages in a few months!

This one goes on my skin as strong, vegetably-ness, but unfortunately fades very quickly until there is only a very faint remains of some greenness left

This one reminds me a LOT of Boo when on my skin! It must be the same milk/cream note It's pretty much straight up milk; not getting anything else. It's creamy and sweet and heavy. It's quite pleasant if you enjoy milk, but I already have Boo, which satisfies my cream cravings, so I don't need a bottle of this. But I would definitely recommend giving it a try if you enjoy the lab's milk note!

This starts off as indeed sparkly apple softened by musk. Fairly quickly, though, the apple all but disappears on my skin, and there is just the remnants of the musk left to sniff. It retains some of the tartness of the apple, but it isn't really recognizable as "apple" to me. Which is a shame, because it's such a fun scent while wet! I guess I am still looking for my perfect apple scent, then...

On me this is predominantly plums with a background of wildflowers. It is a little green, but mostly sweet floral. The cream is there to smooth out the whole scent and make it deliciously, well, creamy. It also has a nice warmth to it which I believe is the plums. It has decent throw on me, and no one note is dominating any of the others. I quite like it. Actually, I might hunt down a full bottle. I love creamy scents, and this one is really gorgeous! I'd recommend it if you like such scents as Reflected Vulva.

This was a pleasant surprise for me! It has the classic, sharp, but still pleasant and wearable, Lab snow note with a touch of flowers underneath. Not sure which flowers, but flowers it is The Lab has had several scents with the same concept over the years; snow + some kind of flower (like Almond Blossom and Dust of Snow), and to me Cloth of Gold is the one that has worked the best so far. It doesn't overwhelm, but still remains fresh and interesting throughout and it dries down to a faint little floral that stays for many hours on my skin. The snow doesn't last very long, unfortunately, though. If you like the Lab's snow note, you will probably like this one, too! I would also recommend it if you like fresh floral perfumes.

A dark purple river swelling with tears of rain, damp violets, and specks of bone thick with green scents that speak of mortality: black dried fruits, opopponax, moss, violet leaf and petal, tobacco absolute, saltwater accord, niaouli, and brushed sage. I could swear there were autumn leaves in this scent! It has a definite autumnal feel like walking over crushed, dry leaves - but kind of spicy, at the same time, which must be a combination of the dried fruits and the tobacco. It is most yummy, and aside from Samhain, is probably the most autumn-y scent I have tried. I love it! I am not getting much in the way of violet, which is a shame, because I love violets. Maybe I will do a more thorough testing of this one - I am definitely intrigued! I would recommend it if you enjoy dry, kind of spiced autumn scents, and actually if you like leaves scents, too, even though leaves are not listed as a note.

This was one of the Carnavals I was most excited to try, and it did not disappoint, although it is a little different from what I imagined. I think I imagined the opium smoke to be very dominant, and it really isn't. It just sort of makes the whole blend a little dark and smoky, along with the dark musk. It's really what I would categorize as a dark floral perfume, with the lemon flower being the most prominent on me. So it's also a little fruity. There is also a background touch of coconut to the whole thing. It keeps fairly close to the skin, but not so close you have to huff your wrist to get any hint of it I might actually try to get a hold of a bottle of this one, it's very beautiful and mysterious, but still a recognizable floral. Floral with a twist, maybe! If you also enjoyed Midnight on the Midway, you will probably like this one, too. It also feels a little reminiscent of Bewitched, with the slight fruitiness and deep, dark muskiness. Though this one is a little less playful than Bewitched, but they could be cousins.

I am getting a fresh and powerful mix of violets and green tea, with the green tea being at the front. In the back is a sweet blanket of vanilla, and the musk makes it all a little snuggly. The violet and tea combo is surprisingly pretty and wearable, and overall this one fits the concept and is very nice! It's hard to categorize it, really, but I'd say you might like it if you enjoy fresh florals or tea scents

I am getting mostly incense and coconut bark on my skin. There is a subtle floralness to it as well, which I assume is from the spider lilies. I am not getting much in the way of betel nuts, and I wouldn't know what banana leaves smell like It is very beautiful! To me it seems like a sister scent to Midnight on the Midway, with a similar sweet incense, except this one has a decidedly tropical atmosphere to it. So, a kind of tropical Midnight on the Midway? At the same time it is very unlike any other BPALs I have tried. Coconut can be very iffy on me (Obatala goes to total plastic, for example), but this coconut bark works wonderfully, a pretty and realistic dry coconut shavings scent that I'm not really sure what else to compare with... It is very evocative of something exotic and mysterious, while also totally wearable. It's not a very powerful scent, it stays close to the skin, but every so often you get a little whiff of the wax and the incense when you are going about your daily life. I am definitely glad I sprang for a bottle unsniffed, it was not a disappoinment! I would recommend it if you liked Midnight on the Midway and am looking for something in that vein, or if you enjoy tropical blends, or if you're simply looking to try something that is completely unique

The sandalwood and cypress are by far the strongest notes on me. If there are roses in this, I am not really sensing them. I am thinking the dry leaves are in here, lending a dry quality to the whole scent. Yes, overall, I think the word here would be "dry". Dry woods, dry leaves, (dry roses) swirling in and out of each other. It's an almost meditative blend that makes you think of new fallen foliage and old tree stumps and bark in the early autumn. Like sitting alone for a quiet moment on an old tree stump in the woods as the sun's last rays cast a golden glow on everything in the late afternoon. It is still warm, but autumn is approaching. I am not sure I will be wearing this very often, but I'm very happy to have experienced it, because it's a beautiful little journey in scent

This starts out with a strong snow note; slightly piney and minty, with a touch of ozone. It's the classical Lab snow note, and I quite like it. It's paired up with ripe fruits and almond, but they stay in the background, sweetening up the scent. After a while the snow fades somewhat, and the whole blend becomes warmer and sweeter. It also becomes rather faint. I will give this one a few more tests before deciding what to do with my bottle. It's quite nice, but also rather faint...

2008 version! On me, it's strong, spiced cake and a whirl of licorice, grounded with the leather. It's dark, but still totally wearable, and doesn't have a huge throw on my skin. I compared it to the 2013 version, and the 2008 version is heavier on the cake, and the licorice sits a bit more in the background than in the 2013 version. They are both delicious, though, so it depends completely on which notes you like best I would recommend it if you want to try a different kind of Yule, slightly darker and sleeker, but still with a hint of foodiness.

Although there are no flowers in it, Noh Mask and Maple Leaves is a very strong maple scent on me. Very pretty. Maybe you can layer, like others have suggested Good luck on experimenting with the BPALz!

This reminded me instantly of Ava (Only Lovers Left Alive)! The flowers blend together most beautifully, if slightly heady. I think I'm able to mainly distinguish the vanilla orchid and the tuberose, but it's hard to make out individual flowers. Thankfully I'm not getting the patchouli (could definitely be because it's categorized as "white patchouli", which I've never tried before….?) Butterfly musk just sounds so beautiful and evocative, but I'm not really getting much musk from this. Overall, it's a very pretty floral with a really dreamy feel to it. I can't stop sniffing my wrist! I would definitely look for a full bottle if I didn't already have Ava, because they are so similar to my nose. Likewise, it reminds me a bit of The Girl. Highly recommended - if you like florals, of course. If floral is not your thing, you should probably steer clear

This one is pretty powerful on my skin. Woah! I'm getting a whole lot of sweet maple, which I'm rather happy about - I love maple, and it's so underutilized in BPALs in my opinion. The different woods are underneath grounding the whole scent and there is a slightly spicy vibe from the clove. Mostly it's just maple, though. I quite like it, but not enough for a big bottle purchase. I love what the scent evokes, though, and would definitely recommend it if you like maple or are curious about it. It's very atmospheric. I would even say it would be perfect for autumn and halloween as it has a kind of syrupy (but not cloying!) touch that reminds me of pies in autumn.

On me, the apple blossom is the strongest note, with a heavy undercurrent of sugar - yum! I get a little bit of a citrusy feel from it (orange peel, probably?), and I'm not sure what guava smells like, so I can't comment on that. It probably blends in with the apple blossom to give the scent a sweet, fruity vibe. It isn't terribly powerful on my skin, and after a while I have to sniff really close to the skin to detect it at all, which is a shame, because it's a pretty little scent. I enjoy sweet, sugary and fruity scents, and Xanthe is just that! Not a very complicated scent, but very fun and festive - perfect for a carnival! I would probably have gone for a bottle of it were it not for the fact that it fades so quickly on me.

Wood Horse was a really interesting Asian blend - on me it smelled like bright citrus fruits and rice cakes. Like….actual, realistic rice cakes!

A nice, sweet mint with a touch of something sugary - probably vanilla. The mint wears off rather quickly, and what's left is an extremely faint, sweet perfume that's difficult to place... I did a side-by-side comparison with Waltz of the Snowflakes, since the two are very similar to me, at least during the wet stage. I do think I prefer Waltz, however, because it remains stronger and lasts longer on me. Winter-Time is very pleasant, and ironically rather warm, though. Just a shame it doesn't last.

While not truly similar, I find that Snow White shares some vibes with Mouse's Long and Sad Tale. But without the coconutty feel of Snow White, though. It's still a light, pretty, slightly floral vanilla, though. Likewise with Alice...

Good autumn-y GC scents are Jack (currently out of stock, but should be back for you to get a hold of it next year ) and Bewitched, which is maybe more of a late summer scent with dark berries. But I think both evoke autumn in their own way. Also, congratulations on getting hand-fasted!

I immediately thought of Vain Sorceress: "Mad with power, madly in love, or just mad: a dark, spellbinding, seductively narcissistic mix of tuberose, blackened vanilla musk, caraway, white gardenia, red amber, black velvet accord, and jasmine sambac." It even has the "black velvet accord" that is reminiscent of theater curtains