filigree_shadow

Beautiful soft red rose petals and sweet plums. That's what it smells like. I've tried so many rose blends from BPAL hoping to find the perfect one. I'm not in the mood for rose very often, and I'm really picky about rose notes. I only like the dewy soft petaly ones, not the green or loud or thorny ones. Until now my favorites were Moon Rose and Peacock Queen. This is the kind of rose I like, and putting it with plum is brilliant. I love the Lab's plum note. I'm pretty sure this one takes the prize as my favorite rose blend.

When this came out I didn't try it because I thought it would probably be like Bonfire Night. Nope. This is kind of a slightly nutty cakey scent with a really nice smoothness from the beer that doesn't really smell boozey. Not really much incense either -- it's mostly a foodie scent. I'm a big fan of cake scents, and I seriously like this a lot. It doesn't seem to be very strong on me, though. I put on my regular testing amount and couldn't smell it very well, so I put on more. It's still not very strong. So I'll stick to Huesos de Santo and Cake Smash, but this one smells great too. I just wish it were stronger.

I don't smell much milk in this, mostly a soft but salty aquatic. It smells clean and fresh, but not startlingly watery like some aquatics do. It's softer and kind of breezy. I don't usually wear scents like this, but for me this is definitely one of the more wearable aquatics. You don't smell it and think that it smells like one of those sporty aquatic men's colognes. It's more like you sniff it and think it smells somehow familiar and nice and fresh.

Not what I was expecting at all. It smells like a powdery, sweet, soft violet on me. I don't really smell much in the way of orange or nectarine.

I'll always try anything that has vanilla orchid listed in the notes. This is a good one. Soft, gentle, feminine floral. Not heady or cloying at all. Just pretty. The amber isn't powdery, and none of the floral notes are obnoxious. It smells rather elegant. I like it.

This smells creamy, milky, and soft on me. Normally I amp soil notes in a huge, huge way, but I don't smell it in this. That's a big plus for me. It's not really very floral, either. Mostly, honey, milk, and musk. It's much more wearable than the original Milk Moon was on me -- it smells sorta like a softer, toned-down version of that. In fact, after I got a bottle of this one, I was finally able to give up my old Milk Moon 05 bottle.

This is a lot softer and more floaty than I thought it would be. The lotus isn't strong on me (which is good because that's my least favorite note in the list), mostly it smells like soft, gentle bamboo. It's not bold, it just smells kind of clean and pretty. I don't smell any cassia bud either, which is weird for me. Usually I am spice notes. This reminds me of the BPAL blends that are supposed to smell like cotton and bunnies. That's how soft it is on me.

This smells sweet and resiny and dark. And woody and musky. There, is that vague enough for ya? I'm not sure I can pick out any particular note, but the resins smell a little bit sticky, which is how I like resins to smell. It smells masculine to me though, so I'll pass it over to my husband and see what he thinks.

This starts out very perfumey on me -- narcissus tends to be a perfumey sort of flower for me. The vanilla in it is really nice, but it never overpowers the perfumey floral scent. I sorta like it, but it just stays a little too floral for me.

This smells like dirt on me. Very very strong dark dirt. Nothing else.

This basically smells like all four listed notes equally. Kind of a woody plum wine. I like it, but I already have a lot of plum scents, and wine isn't my favorite note. So I'll just stick with the plum ones I already have.

On me this smells like Mme. Moriarty with tea and some sweet light fruits. It's basically a cuter, brighter version. Very pretty.

I was worried this would be one of those in-your-face florals, but it's more complex than that. It is floral, yes, but it's sweet and has a very nice oakmoss base. Not your run-of-the-mill floral, that's for sure. Just enough fruit in it to keep it interesting. Pretty.

This smells mostly like a tomato plant and sweet fruity mangoes, with a little bit of musk. The tomato part of it is kind of leafy and is pretty strong on me. Unusual scent.

Lotus. Kind of a bubble-gummy jasmine. I don't like lotus or jasmine, but I can sometimes handle them in small doses, but this is not small doses. Plus it has a powdery amber in it. Ugh. This is really not working for me at all. I very rarely wash off a perfume, but this one... eek.

Pretty, sweet floral. And I can smell the ambergris in it, too. It smells nice and faintly rosey on me for about five minutes, and then it smells like pretty floral soap. I hate to say that, and I think this is only the third or fourth time I've ever reviewed an oil and said it smelled like soap, but I don't have a choice. It's not just that it smells kinda like some of those floral notes they often put in soap, I mean I can smell actual soap here. Like what unscented soap smells like. Honestly? I don't much mind smelling like soap. I like smelling clean. But this isn't my favorite combination of floral notes ever, so I'll be passing along the decant.

I thought I would love this because of the notes listed, but something in this is going wildly stingingly perfumey on me. I like the plum and myrrh, but I don't really like the overly perfumey bit. It smells dark and haughty, and that's not really my kind of scent.

Not sure what in this is being problematic, but something definitely is. This smells like children's cough syrup on me. I think possibly pink pepper and blackberry is an unfortunate combination on my skin.

Whoa, lots of heady floral here. Kind of a smoky heady floral. The narcissus is a little too strong in this for me.

Oh. That's leather? I thought I smelled some vetiver in this. Maybe that's the hellfire part? Mostly a very dark peppery leather scent, with some of that hellfire that smells like vetiver to me. There's a little smidgen of something that's probably lime in there, but I think this decant is kinda old at this point and the lime has probably faded somewhat.

Powdery honey, with a faint and very mild and pleasant herby note (chamomile?). I have problems with some honey notes smelling like play-doh on me, and this one doesn't. This smells great. Really like this one.

I expected something fabulously foodie out of this, but... lemony herb. With a slight whiff of pie crust. Weird, and not all that pleasant on my skin. When it's dry it smells sorta like lemon and graham crackers. I read the other reviews and got depressed because it sounds like it's great on other people. Stupid skin chemistry. Oh well. I have other great BPAL foodie scents.

A dribble of absinthe? I smell more than a dribble. With lemon and absinthe in this, this is a very sweet sour scent. Very bright and bold. But the vanilla and chocolate in it smooth it out underneath so it's not one of those MY EYEBALLS ARE BURNING sorts of scents. It's not that bold. Cute and happy, and unusual. I like this. I don't know how often I'd wear it, but I really do like it.

Oh. I saw "mud" in the notes but I was kinda hoping that was just for fun and not real. Nope. Smells like dirt. Mud and grass. I might smell a smidgen of leather and lemon, but mostly? This smells like mud and grass. Really, really not my thing.

Unexpectedly delightful. It doesn't smell rotting or moldy to me. Clean, and something green and kinda squishy, like cucumber, not like grass. Faintly floral and faintly aquatic, but mostly bright green. I thought this would smell like a musty old attic or something, but it doesn't at all. Very nice spring scent!