whisperstilled

Sharp floral with lavender. I can't say I find it very relaxing - I'd still lean toward a lavender/vanilla combo like Daybreak, TKO, or The Serpentine!

Yep, the lab's dirt note all the way, plus some vetiver and coconut!

"I think," he pronounced, gloomily, "that our kind, we like the cigarettes so much because they remind us of the offerings that once they burned for us, the smoke rising up as they sought our approval or our favor." Cigarette smoke overlapping with the resonance of long-forgotten incenses. American Gods has been more hits than misses for me, so high hopes for this one. Wet: Wow. Yikes. Sharp, medicinal cigarette smoke, kind of like a clove cigarette. Smells like literal medicine from a medicine cabinet. Like Victorian medicine. Like camphor. Dry: Okay, sweetening up and becoming less terrifying as it dries and the resins start to come up. This is dry, burning stick incense over a softer resin like myrrh or frankincense. I'm tempted to say it reminds me of nag champa, though it's been so long since I smelled the real thing that I will defer to others with better incense experience to pinpoint the actual base. It's still too harsh and sour for my taste, but smokey incense fans will love this one. I feel like this would layer well, but that sharp cigarette smoke base is just a no go for me without something to soften it.

Smells like a really good floral cocktail, I'm guessing because of the mix of floral and herbal qualities. They give it just enough bite to make it not oversweet. A little too much patchouli for me, but still gorgeous.

This is killer. Yes it's coconut TKO, but it also has the soft, sweet quality of The Serpentine. Yum!

Cool aquatic moss. Reminds me of Glasgow or In Reilig Oran, ocean spray, lightly floral, and beautifully balanced. Gorgeous!

It does have an unfortunate cough syrup quality after aging. Initially the peppermint was strong enough to overwhelm it, but six months on the orange is too syrupy sweet.

The comparison to sweetened condensed milk is extremely apt. This is a unique scent for BPAL - while it reminds me of some of their other creamy scents, it has a saltiness, probably from the blood note, that makes it stand out. Pretty sure the blood is Dragon's Blood, however. Too sweet for me, but really interesting.

"You got to understand the god thing. It's not magic. It's about being you, but the you that people believe in. It's about being the concentrated, magnified, essence of you. It's about becoming thunder, or the power of a running horse, or wisdom. You take all the belief and become bigger, cooler, more than human. You crystallize." This is the scent of the absolute: this is the perfected manifestation of the absolute essence of not who you are, but what you represent to others. This is You as Symbol, your spirit separated and combined, distilled and condensed into one archetype. Skin musk and 20-year aged frankincense, a sprig of asphodel, a splash of soma, a lightning-streak of sharp ozone, and a stream of ambrosia. My first ever first review! Wet: Green, bright, and musky. Ooh, this is some good stuff. There's a sharpness here I just love, and the frankincense adds a spicy resin background. The ozone is definitely there, but in a way I love, and oh my god, this is the closest scent I've come across to my much-beloved by very HTF bb Sarah from the old Literary Vampire collection. It has the same musk-ozone combination, plus a boost of greens. Dry: 'Ambrosia,' whatever it is, might be faintly alcoholic - there's a little bit of that in the background of the scent. Really, though, this is ozone/musk/green with a thread of frankincense. Resin after a rain, we'll call it. I love this one. I need a bottle post haste. Clean, sweet, perfect for summertime.

I never know how these ultra-complex bpal scents will turn out, but based on the thick, almost black sanguine color of this one in the bottle, I'm intrigued. Wet: Blood Countess. This scent could easily dupe for Blood Countess, or perhaps the baby of Blood Countess and Horreur Sympathique. I swear I get smokey patchouli with the wine even though it isn't in the notes, which must be the oudh and cardamom. I get a faint breath of opium, but this is fundamentally an absolutely black spiced wine scent. Dry: The red musk definitely comes out more on the drydown and does a great job of balancing the wine. The drydown is much nicer than the first wet blast of scent. I think this one deserves a full-day test, but it definitely makes a heck of an impression. A scent for nighttime for sure.

Got this as a tester from my decant circle! I likely wouldn't have tried it otherwise due to my pine/apple fears, but I've got high hopes for the rosewood. Wet: Sharp pinesol-like lemon-pine and apple. Dry: I have negative scent memory associations with this kind of harsh pine, so not wearable for me, but definitely wintry and lush. Pineheads, this one's for you!

2017 Version In Imp: Vanilla musk and amber, with a breath of carnation. Rich and decadent. Wet: Earthier and somehow...foodier than I expected? It shares several notes with my much-beloved Morocco but is a thicker, denser scent. I get mostly amber and super sweet vanilla, with a cakey quality. Dry: More than anything this reminds me of some of the lab's spiced cake scents. More Christmassy than sexy, but still very pleasant.

Just what it says on the tin! Lipsmackers and SHARP fresh black leather. Interesting, though not for me, I'm glad I had a chance to try it.

Wet: Sugary vanilla mint and definite bright rose. A minty, sweet floral. Smells a little like the toothpaste they use at the dentist's office. Dry: Strangely bubblegum like as it dries. Weird!

2017 Version So thrilled to get a chance to try all the ladies! I always wanted to try more of them during the first release, and Gwyneth has been on my to-try list for a while. In imp: Sharply sweet lily and the lab's skin musk which I love so well. Wet: Lily, sage, rose, and skin musk. Not really getting any tonka. The orchid and coconut are coming out just a little now. Dry: A pleasing floral with all the flowers nicely blended. Not a jawdropper, but very pleasing.

Gut reaction? This reminds me strongly of a face cream I remember my grandmother using. Sweet roses and vanilla, with the oudh and white incense lending a strange background note. The labdanum gives it a slightly medicinal quality. Too sweet and rosy for me, unfortunately.

All I can do is second everything everyone else has said. The rare scent that lives up to the hype for a leather-and-musk fan like me. I'll be throwing some in my hair tonight to see what kind of staying power it has, but this is incredible.

Perhaps the scent I was most excited to try from this set. It has that telling cocoa sludge in the bottle that I love so much. Wet: Spicy, rich chocolate and honey. Um. This is amazing. Like Boomslang, but sharper and brighter. The myrhh also brings the incense, and all around this reminds me of Morocco and Boomslang crossed. Dry: So this it's incredible. The cocoa is just a smooth backdrop to the cardamom, honey, and myrrh. The amber dries everything a little and makes it a touch dusty without being soapy. Holy smokes this is incredible. I only wish the throw was stronger!

I always like cofee notes more in theory than in practice, but the description on this one was just so alluring that I had to try it. Wet: Sweet coffee, unsurprisingly, but surprisingly complex due to the ambrette seed. Reminds me a little of a chicory coffee. Dry: This is a dark European coffee, almost black, with a ton of sugar. A little like 'rocket fuel' coffee. If you're a fan of Cafe Mille from the OLLA set, you'll love this one.

Wet: The lab's leaf note, a touch of honey and something musky and dark. Ooh. Definitely cologne-like, but sweeter and softer than I was expecting. Definitely second the comparison to Buck Moon. Also reminds me a little of Sarah, a favorite of mine - that furry/feathery musk note of that lab's. Dry: The closest comparison I can think of, oddly enough, is Robotic Scarab, even though they share almost no notes in common. It's a smoky sweet cologne quality, I think, that connects them in my mind. I don't know when I'd wear this, but it's strangely comforting. I'll definitely be keeping my decant.

Wet: 'Crisp' is right, this is a bright, fresh juniper floral, the musk making it even brighter. Dry: Distinctively a dandelion and white musk scent, with the juniper brightening. Not much warm ambrette seed here. A sharp, sweet floral. Not to my personal taste, but definitely more complex than just your average 'floral' scent.

As nag champa-y and soapy as you might want. Usually we use 'soapy' as an epithet with perfume, but this will definitely make you smell like clean soap bubble incense, if that's your thing!

In Decant: Sweet! Sweet incense, probably the myrrh and the dreaded 'blood' note, plus those rose petals, wildflowers, and honey. This is one crazy noisy scent, as you might expect from the notes. Wet: Reminds me of a sweet green tea for some reason. No incense so far on the skin. Honey and green sweetness. Surprisingly pleasant given that crazy list of notes. Dry: There's a hint of the complexity of the description on the skin, but nowhere near as much as I get sniffing straight from the decant. Worn, this is primarily green and sweet, with just a breath of incense. Cinammon usually sets my skin on fire, and I'm only getting the vaguest breath of it here.

Wet: Sandalwood and leather with a hint of green tobacco underneath lending sweetness. Yum. Dry: Reminds me strongly of a number of BPAL's 'cowboy' scents, but for whatever reason, it brings Crowley to mind most strongly. I think there's a risk of it going powdery given time, but this has everything of the really great BPAL leather scents. Comparisons to Fighter and Paladin are very apt.

Been wanting to try this one since the original run! In the bottle, it's pure cigar box, flimsy wood and deep tobacco. Wet: Hot DAMN. If the incense holds out with this one, it's a definite keeper. In the St. Clare family of woods/incense/tobacco that I adore so very much. The description sounds harsh, but the incense rounds this one out for me, as it so often does. Drying: Just enough sharpness to be interesting, tobacco not overpowering, and something dark beneath it all - the bunn? Dry: Ugh, this actually sweetens up and gets better as it dries. An absolute keeper. This will be a go-to fall scent for me, I can tell.