theseagrows

this is indeed a very bright, orangey happy scent! starts off with a burst of orange blossom, after which a very juicy pear comes through. it smells almost like an apple jolly rancher, or a pear one, if they made it in a pear flavor. smells a lot like hard candies and the scent is very true to it's description in being bright, sunny and happy. i seem to really be amping that pear though and it's turning a bit plasticky, and giving me a headache unfortunately. i'm glad i got to try it though, the idea behind this is so lovely and sweet.

i am getting the white sage and chaparral at first, but it's softened a bit, probably by the honey. a couple minute later something a bit brighter comes out, maybe cedar and fig? for some reason the cedar is not turning to pencil shavings, yay! i get more and more fig, and this is a bright, green fig moreso than a sweet fig. and now i am getting something fruity and plummy which is turning plasticky. and no carnation whatsoever i think it ends up being a fruity, plasticky fig with white sage in the forefront, and it just smells so very odd on me, unfortunately.

this is a bright lime-y almond with a hint of nuttiness. soon after it gets a more absinthe feel and turns a bit medicinal. it gets even more medicinal and starts to smell like the dreaded bathroom cleaner (this hasn't happened to me in so long!) i think perhaps the combination of lilies and anise are the culprit there, unfortunately.

umm hmm, this starts off as pure buttered popcorn on me! perhaps it's the wax and ice cream, sometimes wax/candle notes and foody notes turn very strange on me. it smells kind of like toast too, guess that's the smoke. after a bit longer, the butteriness wears off and i get wax, smoke and vanilla, and as often is the case this wax turns very strange on me. it's kind of unsettling. after awhile, the wax does seem to calm down a bit and it's more of a smoky spicy scent with a hint of candle wax, but the wax is still too strange for me to be able to wear.

this starts off with a bit of a sweet fougere scent and dries down to the most gorgeous vanilla-myrrh, this on me at least, is reminiscent of guerlain scents! it's warm and enveloping and i definitely need a bottle.

The stars off with what I think is white sandalwood and tobacco. maaaybe a hint of bergamot but I really don't seem to get much else. it's really mostly just strong tobacco and some white Sandalwood.

this starts off light and kind of zingy and effervescent. it definitely gets off the feeling of tea and wasabi, like a cool spiciness, almost. it tickles your nose if you breathe deep. I don't get tons of honey here, this is mostly a green scent on me.

this starts off with slightly sour roses and balsam, with the pink pepper and berries coming out afterwards. this smells kind of like potpourri on me and the roses are the kind that tend to turn a bit sour for some reason. after awhile it's a slightly sweet and sour pink rose, primarily, and the of the notes don't seem to be there.

oh wowwww this starts off beautifully it's honey, but not the usual bpal honey note, that is used in O, because that does not work on me, but beautiful, light almost slightly floral honey, which i think is coming from the massoia bark, perhaps. a little bit later i get beeswax and amber i think too, deepening the scent a bit. wow i love this SO much so far, i am really hoping nothing turns odd with my skin chemistry! it reminds me of some of the l'occitane honey scents, which i love. i have this shower gel by them that smells very reminiscent of this and it's one of my favorites. this is a love at first sniff. i need a bottle of this!

this has a very "vintage perfume" feel to me. it starts off with a oudh, patchouli and a hint of something floral sweet, probably star anise and narcissus. it has a damp wood type smell underlying it all. a bit later the leather comes out along with tea and then champaca. it starts off kind of like a resiny wood and morphs into a leather with sweetness scent. the cedar is turning slighly weird on me, but not too bad. i don't get tons of rose in this, but i guess it is there. i love the leather with the floral, it's very interesting. i've tried other bpal rose/leather blends that don't work on me but this one seems to be working, yay, though it is not super rosy, in case i am giving the wrong impression.

ohmigod I looove this. it's a creamy coconut scent with hints of the ginger and orange pekoe. it's very warm and sultry and a little bit sweet. I cannot stop smelling my arm and I need a big bottle!!

oh wow I love this! I love neroli, orange blossom and honey and that is just what this is. slightly honeyed neroli, so lovely. sometimes bpal's honey note can be strange on me but it behaves here, thankfully. it's still warm in California (mid-October) and this seems like a perfect scent for a warm summer night. perfect for tonight.

The fiery, volatile scent of cinnamon, thickened by myrrh, honeysuckle, and copal. this starts off kinda foody, like cinnamon gingerbread or something. a minute or two later the cinnamon gets even bolder and spicier and less foody smelling. after a few more minutes i get a hint of copal. this is very fall-like, due to the cinnamon. i really don't seem to get much honeysuckle either and the myrrh seems fairly subtle, but sometimes i am not good at picking out myrrh either, so. it's definitely a warm, spicy fall scent-very comforting.

i am not a big snake oil fan, it just doesn't work for me, but i sure do love a lot of the snake pits! starting off i get a musky scent with slight baby powder, which is how snake oil smells on me, but more baby powder, with a slight nuttiness from the almond. this isn't a sweet-cherry almond, but rather a dryer, nuttier one. the myrrh comes out a little later and the almond gets much nuttier. i sense no mandarin in this. this is like nuts and baby powder on me with a strange sharpness that burns the nostrils. it just doesn't work for me unfortunately.

I love a lot of BPAL scents with phlox, so I knew I had to try this. it's a light, pink-white floral that is mostly reminiscent of lilac, like a softer, subtler, slightly sugary lilac. this is a perfect springtime scent, smells like a bouquet of flowers!

i just sprayed this around the room and it's a light, fresh floral scent. i think it'd be perfect in spring or summer. it's mostly mimosa, iris and white musk, from what i can tell. i don't seem to get much vanilla or benzoin really. a very pretty, ethereal scent, very evocative of delicate butterfly wings and springtime gardens.

this starts off with a blast of orange blossom and then I think I'm sensing the ambrette and hints of tonka and sandalwood. the sandalwood goes a bit sour on me as it often does, but not too bad. it's mostly just orange blossom as the dominant note though. almost an orange blossom single note.

Blackened vanilla absolute with tobacco leaf, Ceylon cinnamon, orange-bark myrrh, and orange blossom. this is very orangey in the bottle, then on my skin it's an orangey vanilla with tobacco and a hint of cinnamon. it's very suited to the transitional time between late summer and early fall. I seem to amp the orange even more over time, a bit too much for my liking unfortunately. however, after being on my skin for about half an hour, the vanilla and tobacco come forth more and this is so pretty. it is reminiscent of two other BPALs I own yet still unique- bakeneko and the thirteen from October 2006. this one was the star of the four butterfly scents I tried, definitely.

damn, this one starts out pretty sour on me, i think due to the combination of frankincense, pepper and vetiver, which my skin seems to be amping. why oh why am i not amping the lovely saffron, iris, honey and clove?! i'd probably like it much better that way. yeah i am getting pencil shavings (thanks frankincense, and maybe vetiver) with a little bit of black currant and pepper. it ends up being mostly black currant and frankincense and it still has that pencil shaving-scent that i often get with the BPAL frankincense note, unfortunately.

starts off all oudh and patchouli. hmm, i was hoping for more vanilla and champaca, but oh well. i am definitely getting that pencil-shavings note from this...which can happen with BPAL's frankincense, sandalwood and patchouli notes. must be the patchouli or pepperwood if i had to guess. after a few minutes a woody sweetness comes through-maybe the copaiba balsam? gee i seem to be amping every note but the 2 i was most excited about. this scent is very earthy and woody, with a bit of dampness, and it's a bit too earthy for my tastes.

immediately i smell red musk and i think what must be saffron and chypre. something kind of leathery-green that unsweetens the red musk a bit, which i like quite a bit. ooh this is nice. later on the red currant comes out sweetening it up more, along with vanilla. i actually liked it better before that, when it was more masculine/unisex, though i still like it now. that note that i read as leathery is just gorgeous but subtler than leather often can be. so glad i tried this one! gonna keep my imp, for sure

hm i definitely get rose and something soft and honey-ish though it doesn't seem like straight up honey. there is also something a bit sour here. depending on the blend, bpal's rose notes can go oddly sour on me and other times they are beautiful and make up some of my favorite scents. anyway, this is one of the more sour ones. unless it's one of the other notes causing this, but it doesn't seem like it to me. i get something almost herbal and piney?! not sure if that's the mastic, but i do seem to remember that scents with mastic don't seem to work for me. though i usually think of it as a sweeter note than this, but maybe i got notes mixed up somewhere, which happens with me, sorry. so yeah, oddly this is a slightly honeyed piney-rose on me. not really my cup of tea but always glad to try new scents, especially rose scents!

got this as a frimp! this goes kind of sour on me, i'll say right off, because it pretty much happens right off. plum tends to turn plasticky on me, but i think the rose geranium is the culprit in the sourness this time. (both can turn sour, rose can be wonderful or horrible on me and i am just not really a big fan of strong geranium) i do smell some blue/purpley musk, maybe a hint of jasmine and patchouli. oh now the plum is coming out, after about 10 minutes, and turning plasticky as usual. so this is a dark-sour-plasticky floral on me. the notes sound lovely, if your skin can do them, but my skin just can't :/

this starts off with red musk which slowly gives way to tobacco, nutmeg, orchid and hemlock in the background, but it's pretty red musk prominent overall. it reminds me of smut a bit, but just the red musk. and i haven't tried smut in a long time so i could be completely wrong anyway the labdanum comes out more giving this a kind of leathery quality (at least, i think it's labdanum) along with the musk, it's gotten more unisex/masculine now. also the nutmeg and orchid seem to have disappeared and the hemlock is more prominent adding a slight herbal/greenness way in the back. i like this but don't love it, however, i think i'd like to smell it on my boyfriend.

i got a sniffie of this in a swap, yay. it starts off as nose-tingling lilac tea and ginger. it's very springlike and reminds me of fresh flowers in a garden drenched in spring rain. some more florals come through, i think probably the wisteria and delphinium as they are bright and springlike. i do not seem to get much musk or lavender. after being on my skin about 20 minutes, i think the musk comes through, grounding the scent a bit more. this is a nice bright floral for spring, for those who like that kind of scent.