sunlitgarden

In the decant: This smells very "essence of BPAL". Kind of how my imp boxes always end up smelling. I can smell the musk and coffee primarily, with some cassia also. It's a bit sweeter than I was expecting. On my skin: I see what people meant by this being somehow "delicate". Normally, with notes like red musk and cassia it's kind of like a BOOM to my nose, but this isn't really like that. It's gentler than I was expecting. Some scents with coffee notes have smelled not so great on me (like stale grounds) but this is behaving better with my chemistry. It's sort of a rich, warm spiced coffee at first, almost like a non-chocolate and non-foody El Dia de los Reyes. As it dries it starts to get a little powdery. On me myrrh can be either strong and bitter or sweet and powdery, and this is the latter variety. There is something almost floral about how this smells on my skin, which confuses me because there are no florals listed. As it dries I lose the coffee and cassia and am left with more of a powdery-musky base that still smells "floral-like". Overall, I like this. It's very much a "BPAL-y" scent (as opposed to some I've tried that remind me of more mainstream perfumes) which is appropriate for an anniversary scent! But I liked the decant/wet stages better than the dry stage, which is too bad because the dry stage is what ends up lasting by far the longest.

I'm still getting over a cold and a little bit congested, but I think I can smell well enough to try/review this... In the decant: Hmm. This is a tough one to describe. My first thought was some kind of fancy black tea blend, so I definitely smell that black tea note. It's like sniffing a bag or jar of loose-leaf tea and smelling the tea and whatever other bits are in there. In this case, the "bits" are sweet, a bit spiced (Like a tea that has pieces of orange and cloves, though I don't smell either of those notes in particular) and also the kind of "pleasantly musty" scent that I get from ambergris. On my skin: This is really interesting. It's pleasant in a way that is, again, hard to describe, and not really like any other scents I have. I think it's mainly the tea and ambergris, which is not a combination I would have ever thought of. In some scents ambergris can be overly salty smelling on me but I don't smell any salt here. It's like a pleasant musty-musky tea. Weird but really appealing somehow. I don't think I need more than a decant's worth of this, but I think I will definitely be hanging onto the decant. It's a completely unique scent in my collection.

I am still a teeny bit congested from a cold, but I think I can smell well enough to resume testing...I need to finish trying these decants before the Anniversaries come down! In the decant: This makes me think of a bright yellowish-orange. "Creamsicle" is the first thought I had--sweet orange and vanilla. On my skin: The orange is making me salivate. O_o It's still mostly a sweet orange to me but the other notes are keeping it from being too obviously foody or gourmand. This is really, really nice. I love King Mandarin (the SN is the bottle I've come closest to finishing without spilling any out of all my bottles) and it is wonderful here. I was worried that the saffron might make it smell medicinal because I had that problem with Love's Philosophy, but thankfully it doesn't do that here.

This is the first Smooch I've used, and I like the scrub a lot. With the large sugar crystals it's pretty scrubby. I have to be careful not to scrub too hard with it on my face or it may hurt after the shower. It has a nice texture though and leaves my skin feeling smooth. It smells nice in the jar and while I'm using it, but the smell doesn't linger for very long on my skin. I haven't really tried to analyze the notes super closely but it's mostly a sweet rose, slightly fruity, that reminds me of my childhood, particularly a toy I had that was this machine thing that folded paper strips into a rose shape -- the strips were rose scented and certain rose notes remind me of it. This is one of them. Though BPTP recommended using this product within 30 days, I've been using it for a few months (and have used maybe half the jar) and it still seems to be fine. It might smell a bit less strongly than when I first opened it but I haven't noticed much difference. I will be sad when this thing is gone and I hope they bring it back again!

2015 version: On me this is mostly sweet orange. It's sweet like candy but it's not a hard boiled-sugar candy, it has a sweetness and creaminess to it that reminds me of a creamsicle or the scent of fresh baked waffle cones or fortune cookies like when I walk past an ice cream parlor or the fortune cookie factory in Chinatown. I get a little bit of herbal-ness from the anise and lavender but it's mostly the sweet-creamy orange. It's really cheerful and uplifting.

In the bottle and fresh onto my skin, I have what smells like a lemony white frosting. Once it starts to dry a little it's bergamot from the Earl Grey with some buttery cookies. It isn't overly heavy on the butter though. I actually just remembered some cookies I used to be fond of but haven't thought of in ages - Key Lime or Lemon tea cookies, shortbread style with powdered sugar on them. That's what this makes me think of, only the citrus variant is bergamot. I get a teeny bit of something smoky, which the black tea note sometimes does on me. I'm not fond of smoky notes but that stage didn't last long, and I had to sniff my wrist closely to smell it. Then this becomes a really nice, light tea and cookies scent. I like this because it's not as overly rich and buttery as some blends are, which are fun but can sometimes get to be a bit too much for me. Glad I got a bottle of this!

In the decant: Hmm. I'm not even really sure how to describe what I am smelling here. "Bittersweet"? There's definitely musk. There are a lot of musks used in BPAL, I know, but of the three I smell most commonly (white/red/black) this is closest to white, but it smells "dirty" almost? Not in a metaphorical way--literally kind of like dirt, but not wet soil, dry soil. There are sweet florals, but something (I think the neroli) is keeping the whole thing from going too overly sweet. It gives it kind of a bitter undertone actually, bitter in the back of my throat. On my skin: I get a lot of bitter neroli right away, but then that starts to back off and I get more of the sweet notes. The throw is floral and sweet and makes me think of flowers and honey being sold in a market. I didn't like this right away when I put it on, but I am liking it as it dries. I think this is one of the scents where I like the throw-scent better than the "sniffing my arm closely" scent. Which is okay, really, I should probably be sniffing my arm less in general, most people think it's weird. It's just that I get more of the bitter neroli when I sniff my arm closely, whereas all the notes are blended better in the whiffs I get of it and it's a lot sweeter. I think I like this better than The Bride for honey/magnolia/musk; that scent was quite light on me but this one packs more of a punch. Overall, this seems rather Lupercalia-like to me, with the musk and flowers. If you tend to love those sorts of scents you'll probably like this one too!

I have no idea what an arctic poppy smells like. I'm excited to try this one! In the decant: I smell an evergreen note, maybe juniper, pine or fir. It's a little bit sweet and also smells "bright"...maybe something citrus? Elemi? This has few notes listed, so I'm just guessing here. On my skin: Hmm, I think I'm getting some of the ozoney snow note here, along with some of that evergreen. The ozone note doesn't last long on me though and then fades away, but there's still a coolness to this scent. It's still smelling "bright" as well. I can't identify a specific citrus note but it's closer to lemon than orange. There's a tiny bit of smokiness but it's not overpowering at all. I've only been familiar with the poppy note as "opium" before this, which I don't really like, but I like this. It's reminding me a little of a candle I bought from Bath and Body Works this year called Autumn Sunshine, which has notes of orange, mandarin, fir needle and amber. It's not exactly the same, but it has a same sort of feeling with the evergreen, citrus and "brightness". I'm not sure if there's amber here, but I think there's some sort of resin giving it a "smoothness". It is kind of reminding me of the white frankincense note in The Contrast. Dry, this smells similar to Old Moon 2008 on me, which I wore recently. I still have the cool evergreen but It starts to smell a little fruitier. It's that slightly spicy cool evergreen scent with possibly a bit of berry? I really like this overall! This is pretty different from any other scents I own, but probably closest to Old Moon 2008.

Although it's not listed in the notes, I and some others smelled clove (or at least its doppelganger) in Peter Quint (2012 Yules). It's a manly clove!

Last year's Fresh and Blooming As a Rose from BPTP (White roses, white amber, and snowflakes) has the sweet snow note.

This is a wonderful rose scent! It smells just like sticking my face into a huge fluffy rose that still has some dew on it. It's making me think of one of the roses that has pink petals with some yellow on the ends and that have an almost "peachy" scent to them. I had forgotten that "pink" was in the description, but still thought this smelled "pink" before I checked it. It isn't quite as dark or rich or almost wine-like as the red roses, but it is also not as soft, girly or sweet as some of the other pink rose scents. There's a sort of tartness to it. I am not smelling any kind of green stem or leaf note -- it's just the flower. I got more of the dew sort of note when it was freshly applied, and it fades away a bit as the scent dries. It's not super aquatic or effervescent like Somewhere or Other was. It's just more of a slight feeling of cool freshness. I need to compare this directly against similar scents like The Rose to decide if I need a bottle of this in addition (because I have a lot of rose perfumes), but it's REALLY nice and should not be overlooked if you are a rose lover!

Apple scents almost never last on me but I have trouble saying no to trying any foody blends so I got a decant of this. In the decant: Sweet apple! This is what I would call the "red apple" note, very sweet. (Think BBW Winter Candy Apple.) I can smell some caramel too. I don't really smell the usual buttery cookie note in the decant, but this is definitely a caramel coated red apple! On my skin: Still getting a mix of the apple and caramel. The apple smells a bit less "red" now, there's a bit of freshness that I associate more with a green apple. The apple here smells raw, not cooked like in apple pie. Sometimes I find that caramel smells kind of stale or burnt on me but it's not doing that here! Because making my own caramel is more fussy than my usual cooking limits I usually just buy a tub of caramel sauce from the grocery store and dip apple slices in it. This is making me think of doing that. I'm still not getting a cookie note, though. Dry, it smells a bit more spiced. I wanted a bit of vanilla/butter with the "cookie" aspect that I'm not really getting here, but it still smells really good and is one of the more successful apple scents I've tried. The apple doesn't disappear immediately. Years ago I had a bottle of Candy Corn Coated Candy Apple and my skin just ate it up. This is closer to what I was hoping for from that blend. After a while (20 minutes maybe?) I am starting to get a bit of the cookie note, but still pretty faint compared to something like the definite baked goods smell of Frosted Pumpkin Spice Cookie. Overall verdict is this is great for the caramel apple part but not so good if you were hoping for more cookie. (Though some other reviewers mentioned more cookie, so maybe it's chemistry-dependent).

In the decant: Yum! I smell sugar, spices like cinnamon (pumpkin pie spice?), and a little bit of the pumpkin note that my brain tends to parse as "orange", like in Pumpkin Hard Candy, which was included as a frimp with one of my BPTP orders at some point. On my skin: Similar sugar and spice blend, with a bit more of that "orange" note coming out. It's in the same family of scents as Pumpkin V 2012 and 2015's Frosted Pumpkin Spice Cookie, although Pumpkin V is more creamy with all the vanilla and I remember FPSC having more rich "cookie" to it (though I'm not sure where my decant is to compare them side by side). This is still in the foody category but I don't find it as "heavy" as either of those blends (though I do love both of those also). There's a little bit of creaminess to it but not as much. It also reminds me of Gingerbread Poppet (2010 is the year I have) and the spices used in that and its small amount of "frosting". I'm not getting much pumpkin - mostly the spices and sugar. The throw is pretty strong on this one. Overall, I have enough similar blends that I don't think I need a bottle of this (especially because a little seems to be going a long way), but it's a very nice alternative for "sugar and spice" if you can't get ahold of those!

There used to be a bar (sadly it closed) that, amongst other things, had cocktails made from various vodkas they infused. One was with cucumber vodka. I don't remember what else was in it, but sniffing this decant reminds me of that. Not the booze, but this is somewhat sweet from the mint and tea yet cool, with the cucumber smelling somewhere between aquatic and vegetal. On my skin there's an almost "lemony" note that comes out right away but I think it's part of the green tea, I've smelled it before. Some green tea can have a floral taste and this is like that kind of green tea. Although not listed it smells like there might be some kind of floral in here like peony, but maybe that's also part of the tea. (That part of it reminds me of The Dormouse.) On me this is somewhat like a variation of The Dormouse with the cool cucumber. Overall, I prefer The Dormouse, but this is a nice, light tea blend.

In the decant: Evergreen and...Apple cider spices? I would probably have guessed this was a Yule. If I keep sniffing it, I do get some whiffs of florals and a kind of herbalness. It's one of those blends that's kind of hard to pin down just by sniffing in the decant--I get "bits" of different notes on different sniffs. On my skin: After a minute or so this resolves into a somewhat spicy lavender. Maybe "spicy" is the wrong word -- it doesn't smell like any actual spices, but it's aromatic in the same way spices are aromatic if that makes any sense. I think it's the woods mixing with the lavender. When I first put this on I thought it smelled somewhat like a potpourri blend, but THEN it started to smell more like a manly aftershave or cologne, and NOW it's kind of a mix between those two, which is interesting. I feel like this scent is the baby of Mr. Yule and Mrs. Luper, or something. The woods and sweet floral notes are combining in a slightly odd, but pleasant way. I agree with the other reviewers who say it smells relaxing. I didn't buy a bottle, but I'm glad I tried it.

In the decant, this smells both sweet and tart, and a bit powdery. It reminds me of a candy like (American) Smarties or Sweet Tarts, with that mix of powdery-sweet-tart and a bit fruity. On my skin: Whatever the "tart" element is, it's less present on my skin. On my skin it's still sweet and powdery and a bit fruity. It smells somewhat like violet, if violet actually worked on me (which it generally doesn't, though orris does). Actually, it's kind of making me think of some violet pastille candy, but a bit tarter. I can detect the coconut here but it's not really a "beachy" or suntan coconut. It's somewhat like the coconut in Black Pearl (which makes sense since it's another "pearl") and Aphrogenes. Actually, this is reminding me a lot of Aphrogenes minus the cherry blossom and sandalwood, which makes sense since they share a number of notes (orris, iris, coconut). It's the same sort of pretty, delicate "white" scent. I like this, but it didn't stand out enough for me to buy a bottle.

I don't know how hard it is to find now, but Old Moon 2008 is a good evergreen+berries scent

I love VBN (have it in my shower right now!) and I haven't found an exact dupe yet; it's one of the few body sprays I still use. BBW describes the notes as: Top Notes: Natural Vanilla, Sweet Buttery Cream Mid Notes: Caramel, Hint of Chocolate Dry Notes: Soft Musk, Sugar Cookie Stekkjarstaur (for the creamy vanilla) and Sugar Cookie 2008 (for, well, the sugar cookie) have been the closest BPALs I've tried so far.

In the decant: I wasn't very familiar with wisteria as a note until recently aside from being a floral -- wisteria is blooming here and I've made a point of smelling it frequently. So now I have a better idea of what it smells like. I'd put it into the same general category as orris and violet - sweet and powdery though it is definitely still recognizable as a flower. I definitely smell the wisteria in here, as well as the frankincense. I still don't feel like I know what "blue musk" smells like. I think the lemon peel is giving this scent a bit of "brightness" though I'm not smelling it strongly in the decant. On my skin: Hmm, this is fainter than I was expecting. I'm mainly getting the wisteria with some incense in the background. Again, the lemon peel isn't strong or dominant, but I do smell it a little. Unfortunately, as it dries this scent is kind of smelling "bathroom air freshener" to me. Fortunately, that association fades after a few minutes. I'm getting more frankincense as it dries, made somewhat soft, sweet and powdery by the musk and wisteria. Overall, this scent is pretty gentle. It's okay on me, but I don't like it enough to buy a bottle.

In the decant: First whiff is mostly sweet vanilla cream, then I get a lot of a sweet, candy-like lotus. On my skin: I smell some sandalwood now -- didn't really smell any in the decant. The vanilla cream + sweet floral + sandalwood combination is reminding me of Mouse's Long and Sad Tale when it was fresher and the sweet pea note was stronger (now that my bottle is almost 6 years old the sweet pea has faded somewhat). This is nice... but I think I actually prefer Mouse's Long and Sad Tale for the sweet floral + sandalwood + vanilla combination. The sweet vanilla cream is nice here, but I have a bottle of Stekkjarstaur. If I didn't already have scents that filled the niches that Volcano has, I would probably be wanting a bottle, but I think my collection has scents similar enough to this that I don't need it.

In the decant: Oil is a light red color. I'm not particular with the note "white incense" in particular but the color leads me to wonder if there's a bit of dragon's blood in this. In the imp it kind of smells like it could be, at least partially, but it's not the floral type of dragon's blood that I smelled in Dragon's Boner. The lemon peel is not too strong, and is mostly just making the scent smell more sour or tart, bitter almost. On my skin: This has a sort of "greenness" to it. This incense is not really like smelling a box of sticks. It's more like opening a jar of resin chunks and sniffing those, or walking into a shop that sells a lot of different kinds (I was in one recently so the scent is fairly fresh in my mind). This lemon peel is definitely not lemon candy or lemon cleaner. It is giving the scent a sort of clean or refreshing edge to it though that keeps the incense from being overly heavy. Overall, this is okay, but it's not my favorite. The Contrast is still my favorite incensey scent from this update.

In the decant: I'm primarily getting florals with a bit of astringency. Something reminds me of sunscreen? I can smell the plum in there too if I think about it. On my skin: Still primarily floral. I smelled some wisteria the other day, and I can detect it in here definitely, but I find it a tough floral to describe. I think I am smelling the wood in the background but it's mainly floral on me. Drying, this is smelling a bit like a nice floral soap. There's something "clean" about it. It's starting to remind me of fabric softener or scented laundry detergent. Not in a bad way, it's kind of comforting. I don't use scented laundry products since my SO abhors them, but I still find them kind of snuggly. It's kind of reminding me of doing laundry at my grandma's house when I was staying there when I was younger... those are mostly good memories. Dry, I get a little more wood, but it's still fairly powdery/soapy-smelling. It's still kind of snuggly and comforting, though. Still, I don't see myself wearing this enough to need more than a decant.

In the decant: This smells good! I mostly smell the dragon's blood and the cream/honey with maybe some subtle floral in there. I like the fruit blossoms because they tend to be gentle and not cloying. On my skin: I haven't tried Dragon's Milk in a while, but I remember it being somewhat similar to this. Which is not a big surprise as they share several notes (except that this one has the pear blossom and cream instead of vanilla). Dragon's blood resin often has a kind of floral quality to my nose anyway, and here it seems to be combining with the pear blossom to give a light, lilac-ish springy floral. It's kind of like a combination of Dragon's Milk and the (sadly DCed) Dragon's Eye. As it starts to dry down, this is having an almost scorched or toasty smell to it on my skin. I can't remember if I've gotten this from other dragon's blood scents in the past, but maybe. That smell seems to come and go...sometimes I smell it and sometimes I don't. Dry, the floral notes have mostly faded out and leave behind the resin, cream and honey. I do like this, but I think overall I prefer Dragon's Milk.

In the decant: A sweet, light rose with a slightly effervescent note. On my skin: getting more of that effervescent note. If you put rose syrup into club soda it might smell something like this. The effervescent note reminds me of a Tunisian frankincense oil a local shop sells, but maybe a bit... saltier? Yes, as this dries a bit it's kind of smelling salty + light rose. A bit odd of a combination but not unpleasant. I was expecting something more dewy, I guess, rather than salty for the mist. Okay, dry, the "salt" note seems to be gone (I'm guessing that was some skin chemistry thing since other people haven't mentioned it). It's still more like the fizzy champagne or soda note, primarily. Dry the rose itself seems to have mostly faded away and I'm mostly just getting that bubbly note. Unfortunately, it seems like my skin is eating major components of most of the Lupers I've been trying this year, including this one.

I was excited to try this scent because of the rose and lychee, primarily. In the decant: Hmm, interesting. There's a contrast here between the cedar, which smells rich and "solid" or "massive" side, with the lighter and sweeter rose and lychee. The cedar smells more like old wood here than the fresh "pencil" or "Home Depot" type scent that it sometimes smells like. On my skin: Mostly the cedar with some rose (and maybe some lychee?) in the background. "Massive" is still the word that is in my head, like a big wooden pillar. I'm not getting much honey but I think it is serving to sweeten the scent a bit. As it dries, it is starting to smell a bit on the spicy side. I am not sure if this is from the carnation, or the cedar, or both. It's mostly a spicy wood with a little bit of rose. I'm surprised the other reviews are mentioning mostly rose and not much cedar, because I'm definitely getting a lot of cedar, and I smell it in the decant as well as my skin -- maybe a batch variation?