whisperstilled

Sweet bay rum and sandalwood. How could it be anything but wonderful? Ugh, this is an exceptional scent. I thought it might be a little too sharp for me, but not at all - there is a richness and sweetness here, and the two scents perfectly complement each other. This is the sort of scent I imagine an elegant and dangerous woman might wear. It's more Irene Adler to me than Victorian gentleman. Major heart eyes, I did not expect to like this one so much at ALL, going on the wishlist for hoarding immediately. I'm huffing my arm like crazy.

I've had my eye on this one for...eh...a million years? I've wanted to try as many of the Laces as I could get my hands on since I started with BPAL, and I somehow missed this one when it was released. In Bottle: Astringent tea plus something slightly sweet. I think the sharpness is coming from the cognac and woodmoss. Maybe a hint of coconut? Wet: Cognac and opium. Oooh. I like. This is my favorite opium note from the lab. I still only get coconut in the back, mostly opium and tea and cognac. Drying: Sweetening up. Vanilla now, I think, and the resiny frankincense dominating over the opium note. The cognac and that sharp alcoholic quality is burning off. Dry: Coconut and vanilla are now at the fore, with a breath of tea and medicinal opium. This scent. Is weird. But I like it? Not a ton of throw, but enough. I think this one deserves a full day wear to see how it settles. All in all, really well blended and pretty complex.

In Bottle: Sweet cherry and vanilla. Something almost chocolatey about it. Wet: Honey, heavy and sweet. The cherry isn't actually very strong here, I'm getting honeyed vanilla and a bit of almond, and something a bit plastic. Dry: A surprisingly faint scent, very sweet and foody. Mostly I get the vanilla, but it's the lab's slightly plastic one.

Rediscovered this one in the imp pile, and finally getting around to test! Wet: Ooh. Strong wet rose, and not in a good way. Something underneath is not working here. Cherries? Maybe it's the ambeer combining with the other floral notes, but something in the vanilla has gone weirdly fruity. Drying: Nope. Dry: Some of the weirdness is burning off, but this one s maybe too well blended, and these notes, which sounded great on paper, are intensely not working on the skin. Sickly sweet.

This came as a frimp in my BPTP order, and I'm very excited to try it! Wet: Um... awesome. This is what I wanted Pumpkin Latte/Chai to be. It lacks the coffee, but has spice and buttery chocolate and pumpkin, and I barely ever wear foodie scents anymore, but holy crap this is good. Drying: Some of the foodiness is wisping away, and the pumpkin is coming to the fore a bit more, fresh and wet. That buttery quality is definitely still there though. Dry: Damn. That sweetness I liked so much really does fade, as other reviewers have stated. but for me that makes the scent less interesting and more of a dry pumpkin. For the right person, though, this is a wonderfully blended and very unusual pumpkin scent.

I've been wanting to try this baby since I first got into BPAL, and I finally got my hands on a decant. In decant: A weird sweet mustiness, and oil? Let's see how this goes. Wet: Something sharp and sweet at the same time. Beeswax for sure, and the resin sweetening things. Wood, definitely, and no leather. Drying: What an odd duck! This reminds me of some other conceptual BPAL scents, but of course none of the names come to mind right now. I would say it's closest to Liberty, if anything. Strong beeswax/candle wax. Dry: This is truly a bizarre one. I can't figure out if I like it or not, but it's definitely an unusual scent to be tried. On the drydown it mellows its weirdness a little and the leather rises up, bringing this a bit closer to some of the Phoenix Steamworks scents, and actually becomes a lot nicer. Not one I need a full bottle of, but kind of fascinating.

I seem to have been lucky enough to get this one well after Thanksgiving/Cyber Monday, thanks to Ted's kindness for throwing it into my BPTP order! I dig cedar, so I've got high hopes for this one. Wet: An odd, musty cedar. Not strong at all! I'm immensely surprised, I expected this to be a very strong scent and I'm barely getting honey and cedar, and maybe a breath of florals. Drying: I essentially have to put my nose on top of this scent to get anything at all, and all I'm getting is wood. I think the saffron may be peeking out with a touch of spice. So faint though. Dry: This has to be one of the lowest throw BPAL's I've ever tried. Maybe it just happens to be the imp I got my hands on though!

Wet: Strong rose, maybe sandalwood? Definitely bergamot and something herbal, possibly the myrtle. There is absolutely a lot going on here, as other reviewers have stated. Loving the bargamot/rose combination, which I wouldn't have expected. Drying: This really is a jumble. The rose is still strong. I really don't get any hazlenut, but the other notes manage to balance out the always-overpowering rose. Dry: Uh oh. Beautiful bergamot has started to turn to powder, and I'm getting that unfortunate baby powder thing some rose scents do on my skin. Boo! This one had a really interesting beginning. On the plus side, the sweeter notes finally peek out on the drydown.

This has so many notes I adore I don't know how I haven't tried it before! I'm testing a ten-year aged imp, which I'm lucky enough to have found in a pile of untested GCs. In imp: Poppy and something dark and sweet. The orchid, I think, and the currant. Wet: That wonderful opium quality of dark poppy up close, and orchid wafting from my arm as I type. Delectable. Drying: Getting very little currant or fruit from this as it dries. This is an intense, dark floral, and I love it. Dry: The throw isn't great, and the labdanum comes in to dry things up a bit, but this is still spectacularly on point for me - a dark, sexy opium floral. It lacks the lightness of my personal favorite BPAL scent, John Seward, but has that same intense, syrupy poppy quality. Awesome. I absolutely need a bottle of this.

In the imp, sharply metallic. Wet: The balsam and musk are very strong and sharp, backed by the metal notes. This may be a little too oily and bright even for me. Dry: Mellows into a nicer musk as it dries, closer to my Phoenix Steamworks favorite, Robotic Scarab. The tobacco comes out on the drydown and sweetens things in a pleasing way. I don't know if this would work on me, but I can see it being divine on the right person.

A fairy enough was kind enough to grab me a bottle, for which I'm terrible grateful! In Bottle: Soft cocoa powder. Definitely reminding me of Candy Butcher, as I'd heard. Powdery and lovely. No coconut yet, but definitely sandalwood. Wet: This is so much like original release Candy Butcher I don't know if I could tell them apart. All cocoa right now, dark and getting a little wetter. Checking the notes, it must be the musk that's sweetening the chocolate. I smell like a very expensive truffle. Drying: Getting even softer. Right now, I think this is a bit sweet for my tastes. I wish the sandalwood was making more of an appearance to balance everything out. Just the faintest whiff of coconut giving it a little bit of a Mounds bar feel. Dry: (5 mins.) The cocoa has gotten a bit more powdery on the drydown, but it's still pretty much candy butcher all the way. Not much musk in here, aside from the sweetness. I definitely recommend this to lovers of sexy cocoa scents - as a devotee of Boomslang, I was looking for something a little drier and more in that vein, which is not this.

In Bottle: Mmm, coffee and booze.There is a little bit of a cakey, ladyfingers thing happening here for the tiramisu, and something creamy. Wet: Wow. This really does smell shockingly like Tiramisu when wet. Coffee, cream, cake, and rum. Awesome. Way better than I would have expected in the bottle - I'm not much of a foodie scent person these days, but tiramisu is my favorite, and this is it. Drying: A considerably softer scent than I would have expected as it dries. I really thought this one would be more in-your-face, but it's hanging back a little, which is good, considering the last time I wore a coffee scent someone asked me what smelled like maple syrup. The booze is drying off, and it's becoming more of a ladylike cakes and coffee scent. Dry: Uh oh. Something bad happens to this dry - something chemically and not so great. It's almost got a weird fruity quality now. It smells like dry coffee grounds and something sharp and almost cherry-like. All the cake and cream are gone. What a shame! Into the swaps.

I sniffed this one in the bottle and found myself disappointed there wasn't more tea, so I haven't tested it until now. In Bottle: Black tea and something foody with clove. The clove and tobacco are much stronger than I would have hoped, and it's lending the tea a weird pickled quality. Clove cigarettes, tea, and an almost anise-like quality. Wet: There's the cake! Still very much a background note. The waft on this is insanely like black licorice. Dry: So far this reminds me most strongly of Left His Nurse While In A Crowd. That cake+something anisey and dark thing is strong with this one. I imagine if you like clove or sweet tobacco, this will do it for you. I was hoping for something much more focused on the black tea, but I think on someone who likes those two notes more than me, this could be a pretty sexy, masculine scent. Checked the other reviews, and it looks like I'm not the only one who was surprised to find anise in this. Wish it had been in the notes list! I would have probably skipped.

Don't even need to test on the skin. Strangely green and aquatic, weirdly sweet.

In imp: Red hots! The almond is really interesting here. Wet: Spicy almonds. Strangely wet. Not loving the neroli in this, it's giving a rather foody scent a very weird, sickening floral background. Dry: Yeah, this is an odd note combo. I like neroli in the right blend, but it took over here. On the plus side, this is the first cinnamon scent I can remember that didn't immediately make my skin burst into flames!

Wet: Apple apple apple, as others have pointed out. It really does smell like an apple candle, but there's enough juiciness to it to keep it pleasant. Drying: The musk is barely there, but now I'm getting the hyacinth. I usually avoid apple blends like the plague, and I hate dragon's blood, but the other notes are so well blended that I'm digging this. Dry: Dragon's blood is beginning to peep out, and this bad boy is getting nasty. The apple really does deepen into something a little darker and more complex, although I still smell zero white musk. Not my fave, but I liked this way more than I expected to.

Anise and opium, the anise much too strong for me. Like others from this set, when I initially tested it the opium was much stronger. Right now my arm smells like black licorice, opium, and a touch of neroli. It's not an ideal combo.

Uh oh. Pine sol all the way wet. Nope!

In Imp: Sweet and smoky. Not what I expected at all! Something floral and sharp, and yes, something far in the background that smells like cheap spiced rum. Wet: I definitely get the spicy woods, but not so much the perfume. There might be something aquatic in there, but it's way in the back. Drying: I was hoping for more rum out of this, and it's peeking through the woods on the drydown. Whatever was floral in the imp, the 'perfume' I imagine, disappeared on the skin immediately. Dry: How bizarre. This reminds me most strongly of the Marquis de Carabas on the drydown, and I believe it has some notes in common. A little too sharp woods on me, but this would be really sexy on the right person.

In Imp: There's the lab's soil note, softer than usual here. Wet: Florals and dirt. Very, very close to the skin. Drying: I agree with the 'woody earth' assessment. It's reminding me a lot of Mandrake, which I also tried today. Dry: The lab's dirt note isn't my thing, but if you love Graveyard Dirt and Mandrake, this is the GC for you!

I keep waiting for my vetiver hatred to be proven wrong, and it just never happens. This does get sweeter and more like firewood on the drydown, but the ashes and smoke aren't my thing.

In Imp: Heady, heavy florals over opium. Wet: Tuberose and lily are absolutely dominating. No orchid really. Drying: Lily, maybe a little orchid. This is way sweet for me - not even the jasmine can save it. Dry: Disappeared! How odd. I remember testing this at the time of release and the opium being much more dominant - now it's all florals, if that's your thing.

A plant of true arcane power, mandrake has been used in a multitude of ways by witches, magicians and thaumaturgists for eons to many, many vastly different ends. Whole pieces are carried for protection, or are used in poppet magick. Ground herb can be utilized in spells for money, lust or defense. The lore of the mandrake does not limit it to magickal use. The root was chewed as a simple anasthesia, and it has been widely employed as a sleep drug. In Imp: Green and strange, even aquatic. What? Wet: Green, more mellow. I'm surprised - I didn't expect this scent to be my cup of tea, but it's nice. Dry: There's that fresh root scent everyone's been talking about! Very earthy - I can almost smell BPAL's soil note in this. Not for me, but not bad.

In Imp: Opium, strong vetiver. This is the 'peanut' vetiver I despise. Wet: Vetiver. Smoky and harsh. I was so hoping to get some opium from this one. Drying: Warming, getting a little of the opium and sweet honeysuckle, but that vetiver is just ashes in my mouth. Dry: It is heady, and if you like vetiver, you'll love this scent. Not for me, though. The honeysuckle and opium just aren't enough - vetiver is the top note here, not the grounding base.

I'm a big fan of most of the Phoenix Steamworks line, but somehow I've never tried this one! Got a fresh imp from the lab in my last order. In imp: Sage, metal, something musky, and something sweet in the backdrop that I assume is the incense. Wet: Sage, incense, and the bright metal. Actually surprisingly well-blended, this one. Drying: Oh no! This note combination seems to be turning into soap as it dries. Not sure what it is that's doing it - probably the incense and 'metal' minerality. Dry: The incense is starting to peep out again, thankfully. The sage has mostly disappeared. Still smells like Irish Spring soap though.