filigree_shadow

I get a big blast of lavender, but only right at first. It calms down very quickly. Then I can smell geranium, and then it goes through a strange phase where it smells identical to soap, and then the whole shebang turns into kind of a dark, resiny powder scent with an odd high-pitched characteristic that I can really only describe as the scent equivalent of a buzzing or a whine. And that's where it stays. How weird. I sense that strange doings are afoot. I believe my skin chemistry has no idea what to do with this oil, as it appears to have freaked out. OOOOoooh, wait, it has olibanum in it. Yeah, see, I should have noticed that earlier. There's your problem right there. That note doesn't play nicely with me. I'm sure this smells lovely on someone else, but it's not gonna work for me.

This smells like a deep, rich, and kind of dry blend of musk, patchouli, and oakmoss, with something sweet over the top that reminds me of vanilla. It's really nice. Doesn't smell old and decrepit at all. Smells kind of luxurious to me. I think it's a tad too masculine for me, personally, so I handed the decant over to my husband to try. On him the cypress is a lot stronger. HA! This one smells better on me. This is seriously like one of two out of all the BPAL oils we've tried that smells better on me, with my weirdo skin chemistry.

I'm not quite sure what a couple of those notes smell like, but I do know I like this. It smells kind of like a spicy caramel scent on me, with a kick of copal. It's unusual but for some reason it's comforting to me. The tequila part of it doesn't smell alcoholic or kind of sour like some alcoholic notes sometimes do on me -- it just smells sweet and a little rich. I waffled about getting a bottle of this about 12 times, and then ended up not doing it. I'm still not sure why I didn't. Every time I sniff it I love it. My husband likes it a lot. It's different from anything else I have. Probably should have gotten a bottle.

This product is fricking awesome. I use it in the bath, I use it in the shower, I dump a couple of drops into lotion... take your pick! Totally silky and beautiful, and in every way possible it's my favorite bath oil ever. I've even put it in my hair. I think my favorite way to use it is to use it as a moisturizer before I get out of the shower. At first I thought I should stand under the shower and sort of rinse after putting it on my skin, but I discovered that for one there is no need to rinse, and for two it seems like the hot water changes the scent of it a little bit. At first I thought that was just my imagination, but after several experiments I think it really does. So I just rub it all over my arms and shoulders and don't rinse.

I'm not sure how to review this one because it smells very strongly of frankincense on me, and every time I sniff it trying to figure out what it smells like all I can think of is church and Grandma. Rose petals... er, maybe? Saffron? I don't know. Church and Grandma. That's pretty much it. See, this is why I can't wear frankincense scents. I certainly don't dislike it, because my grandma was super awesome. But being constantly reminded of Grandma in a church setting makes me feel... guilty. LOL, Oh, Catholic upbringing, you strike again.

Soft, whispery, shadowy florals. Sweet and feminine, but not at all heady. It smells complex and intriguing. Seems like more of an evening scent than a morning one -- it's not bright and cheerful, it's mysterious. Very pretty. I only have a decant, and that's probably enough for me since I don't wear florals much, but I really won't want to give up my decant.

I don't really get any creaminess or honey from this, just red musk. I like red musk, but it's so strong on me that I like a little bit blended with other notes. This one is almost like a red musk single note on me. Not very soft, just very musky. ETA: OH. Oops. My decant has been sitting there for a few weeks, and I decided to try swirling it around a bunch before trying it again, and now it smells a lot different. Beautiful and very soft and creamy. WOW, I'm really glad I did that because now I realized I like it a lot. Seriously, it smells a LOT different. Goodness. Had to check and make sure it was the same decant. This smells awesome.

When I first put this on, it smelled solely like carnations. Very true to the actual flower. Like I just put my nose in a carnation. Then over the next 20 minutes as it dried, the patchouli and wood notes came out, making it a deeper and drier scent. It ends up smelling mostly masculine to me, with a rather prim overtone. Honestly, I'm not sure that I've smelled a BPAL oil that was similar to this one -- at this point, after sniffing/testing/wearing a few hundred over the past several years, it's not that often that I smell a BPAL oil without being reminded of another one. This one is distinctive. I can't remember another one that has a cologne + carnation scent. I'm not sure my husband could pull this off, but... I could. And I will.

Boozy vetiver when it's wet, and then it sweetens up for a while, and then... it ends up smelling like an earthy (but not like dirt), dry, sweet dark musk when it's fully dry. It's unusual and although it's not what I'd call pretty, it's quite alluring. See, this is one of those ones that I enjoy a lot personally but I'm a little afraid to wear outside of my house in case someone near me doesn't like it. It seems like it's a love it or hate it kind of deal. My husband crinkled his nose at it when it was wet and said, "It's better now," when it was dry. I don't think he likes it much. I do. But I suppose I probably shouldn't wear it if he objects to it.

I wasn't sure about this one but I wanted to try it because it sounded very pretty. It is pretty -- it's an aquatic floral that has a nice, clear, crisp overtone -- but WHOA is it ever strong on me. I'm testing four different BPAL oils on my arms right now and this one overpowers all the others. After about 30 minutes of it, I was kinda tired of smelling it. It's nice, but I don't think it's for me.

Cute, pink, sweet, and strong. If I didn't already have a couple of cute pink scents in my BPAL stash, I'd be all over this one. I see what people mean about the Crunch Berries. That is pretty much what it smells like.

Ghoulish, you jerk! What the hell?! OK, the first time I tried this, it was medicinal cherry right at first but quickly settled down into a sweet pink fluffy sort of scent with a feel very similar to Velvet Unicorn. Quite nice. Velvet Unicorn is one of my favorites, and I liked Ghoulish a lot. So today I'm pawing through my decants and I see Ghoulish, and I get all happy and smiley and swipe a bunch all over my wrists. I wait through the medicinal cherry phase and... practically an amaretto single note with a hint of coconut. Balls. Not what I was expecting at all. I don't know why it had to go and change on me, but it did. I actually do like it, but I wasn't really in an amaretto+coconut mood when I put it on, so it's not what I wanted.

Yup. Same for me. It started out with a promising pumpkiny scent and then turned into WHOA CINNAMON. There's a faint undercurrent of something that smells cookie-like. But as for the blackberry? Not much. And I could only smell something that was definitely a pumpkin note right at the beginning. It's definitely not bad. Not at all. It smells good, and I like it. It's just that I was expecting some sort of sweet fruity pumpkin scent and I got cinnamon biscuits with the barest hint of fruit jam.

I usually like the Chinese New Year scents, and I definitely like this one. It smells fruity and bright and happy. Not much wood or dryness in there -- just a little bit. And the ctirus scents don't smell acidic at all -- they're nice and juicy-smelling. I always try these New Year scents and I always like them, but Fire Pig is still my favorite. I always wind up comparing them to Fire Pig and thinking the new one just doesn't smell quite right because I keep wanting to smell Fire Pig.

I haven't smelled Antique Lace in at least a couple of years, but when I sniffed Joyful Moon that was the first thing I thought of. The vanilla in this reminds me of that one, and the musk is very pretty with the florals. It's a very feminine, pretty scent. I think this one works on me a little better than Antique Lace did -- they're both very pretty but just don't really seem to suit me personally.

Hunh. Okay, here's the thing -- I haven't worn Formula 54 in about 3 years. I had a tiny vial of it a while ago but sent it off to a friend of mine because it was one of those rares that you have but never wear because it's so rare, and she said she'd wear it and love it. So it's been a while since I smelled that. But, when I'm sniffing this one dry, I'm thinking of Formula 54. I know, I know... that one had cognac, this one has wine. There's no clove listed in the notes for this. But it seems like it has that same deep, decadent, slightly spicy cherry-like and alcoholic scent to it. I normally don't like wine scents because they tend to smell bitter and acidic on me (and sometimes dry, bitter, and acidic, which is even worse), but after the first blast of wine you get when this oil is wet, it changes into something a lot fruitier and not bitter at all. And to be honest, I really can't remember what Formula 54 smelled like. But if you told me this was it, I'd believe you. That's how much it reminds me of that scent. And hey, this one is way easier to find! Someone ought to switch out the labels on me and I'll run around thinking I'm wearing something rare and luxurious.

Yes, licorice for sure. Unfortunately kind of a bitter-smelling licorice on my skin. I don't think my skin chemistry likes the licorice and incense combination. The coconut and rum do freshen it up a bit, but underneath that it smells a little chalky and... dirty. I don't think this one is going to work out for me, but generally I don't have tons of luck with licorice scents anyway.

I can't smell any rose in this, but it is a plummy, sweet scent. Very snuggly indeed. I love the plum with the vanilla musk -- it smells so cute and soft. This is definitely a comforting and happy scent for me. I really like it a lot and hope I'll be able to find more of it.

On my skin, it smells mainly like oakmoss and pepper. Aaaaaand that's pretty much it. There's a wee bit of smooth sweetness in there too, but to be honest I can't tell if that's from rice flower or honey because I can't pick out either of them. Not sure about the sandalwood -- that's usually not a strong note on me. It smells very nice, and I definitely like it. For me, it's a bit too masculine. My husband wears BPAL oils all the time, and this smells like one of the ones he'd wear, so I associate scents like this with men. I think it would be perfectly fine on a woman, just not me.

On me, this smells very similar to Velvet Unicorn. Pink, fluffy, and fruity. Not too musky, although it does have a pleasant musk/wood undertone that keeps it from being overly PINK. And just a little bit of bubbliness. Very cute and adorable. I like this one a whole lot.

It smells deep and earthy at first, but then after about five minutes it smells like a metallic pear. On my skin, it ends up smelling like a strange soapy pear scent. I had been hoping for more of the patchouli and mahogany, but that's not what I'm getting. I just asked my husband to verify, and he said, "Yep. Smells like some sort of sweet soap."

This smells good on me, but it doesn't smell like anything in particular. When I first put it on, I thought it smelled like a fairly unremarkable floral scent. Nothing was dominant, it just smelled like perfume. It was nice, but not a stand-out. Then after an hour or so, what seemed to be left was a pretty balanced blend of jasmine and red musk. Also nice, but still not a stand-out. Mostly musky with a vaguely floral overtone. I usually think of my perfumes like this: Tamora is the peach one. Dorian is the tea one. Ashlultum is the lilac one. Voodoo is the patchouli one. You know? Like often I'm in the mood for some particular note, so I tend to keep perfumes that have a certain dominant note that I like. This one doesn't seem to have anything dominant, it just smells like perfume. So... probably not a keeper for me, even though I do like it.

This was very pink and sweet at first, but after 30 minutes or so, the star anise is definitely the dominant note. It's not harsh or as loud as it usually is on me, it's smooth and sweet and soft. I'm not a huge fan of licorice, and I'm very picky about anise or anything that smells like licorice. I think the only BPAL blend I've kept that has this in it is Le Père Fouettard, and in that one the leather is as loud as the anise so it balances it out. This, though... I don't think I've ever smelled anise that was quite this pretty. I'll definitely be hanging on to my decant.

From the notes, I thought this might be the sort of floral I can wear (I don't like heavy florals), but... no. There's something weird about this scent. There's an odd sweetness to it that's a bit high-pitched and sharp. Frankincense, possibly? I'm thinking it's the frankincense + blood orange combo that's doin' me wrong here. I like the musks, and to be honest the florals aren't bad at all. But it's just that weird sweet smoky overtone that's not working for me. I generally don't have great luck with frankincense, but if it's only a little bit sometimes it's okay. Not this one, though.

I like lilac, and I like this. Lilacs can get a bit heady for me, but it's smoothed out nicely with the vanilla and tonka. And there's definitely a woody (har har har) feel to it as well. Quite lovely. Definitely keeping my decant. Might possibly want more. I already have a BPAL lilac blend that I like a lot (Ashlultum), but this one is sufficiently different that it's probably okay for me to have both!