filigree_shadow

It seems like mostly a salty ocean scent, but much sweeter than those kinds of scents usually are. It has a nice green-ness that isn't overwhelming at all. A little bit mossy/kelpy but not too much at all. It adds to the scent nicely. There's a pretty dryness in the scent, and I'm not sure where that's coming from. It doesn't smell like ocean water, it smells like standing on the shore in a garden. Not sure exactly what flower I'm smelling here (doesn't smell like plum blossom to me), but it's lovely. This isn't the sort of scent I usually wear, but I do like it better than most oceanic scents.

Hmmm. I believe this may be my favorite BPAL incense scent. Until now I've always like Al-Azif best, but this one is... more comforting, maybe? It smells familiar, warm, and inviting. I am getting none of that grape scent other reviewers have mentioned. There's a sweetness to it, but it doesn't smell like grapes to me. I'm quite picky about incense (don't like the sweet stuff, and I don't like it when it's too hazy), but this is a good one. I really like the wood that's with it. It's a dry wood, not like cedar or anything. More like a big old hunk of dry old oak that's on a fire. Yeah, I like this a lot.

This is mostly rose at first. I don't mean a rose scent. I mean it smells exactly like a rose. The flower. Then as it warms up I get more violet and a little ambergris. At first I thought it was going to be just a rose perfume, but that's definitely not what it's doing. It's all blending together very well. I could swear I can smell just a hint of bourbon vanilla, too. It's very pretty. Not a straight-up floral, but mainly floral. It seems a little brighter and sweeter than rose scents usually are -- I bet that's from the mimosa and violet, but I'm not sure. I like it.

A very faintly lemony floral at the beginning... and it reminds me of tea, for some reason. There's a crispness to it. Maybe that's from the juniper? I'm not sure. I don't really smell any carnation, but the peony is lovely. Mostly I can only smell the floral notes right at first, and then it doesn't seem like a floral much at all. It changes a lot. It ends up smelling like a dry, slightly sweet sandalwood and amber combination. I was looking forward to finding out what grey amber smells like (I was thinking maybe smoky?) but I can't really tell. It does smell perfumey, as amber often does on me, but it doesn't seem hazy or smoky. I'm glad that it's not turning powdery on me like black amber does. Although I like the scent, this isn't one I'd buy a bottle of because I put on quite a lot for a test but I can barely smell it. If it were stronger I think I'd like it better. It smells great as a skin scent but I like to be able to smell my perfume without having my nose right on my wrist.

Lots of clove at first, but after a while that settles down. It smells mostly like a dark patchouli -- not dirty, just dark -- with that lovely mahogany wood giving it a more elegant feel than it usually has. I usually think of patchouli as being a deep scent, but it seems more dry in this one. It's clearly not just patchouli, but I wouldn't have been able to identify what else was in this (other than some sort of spice). I thought the clove would mess this one up for me, but it didn't. I like it.

Lavender, Balkan tobacco, black musk, dark vanilla, and golden copaifera. I have trouble with lavender being much too loud on me, and it's doing that here too. It's very unfortunate because underneath the lavender it smells wonderful. But I can't get to that wonderfulness due to the lavender cloud hovering over the rest of the scent. I might hand this one over to my husband and see how he likes it. He can wear lavender much better than I can.

Lovely! I guess this must be stronger on my skin than it is on other people who have reviewed it, because I can smell it nice and strong. I don't think it's faint at all. It's a pretty, creamy rose scent with a pleasant dry aspect underneath it. It does smell yellow, and I think this is the only yellow floral scent I've liked so far. It smells warm and golden. Also, this is not a girl's innocent floral perfume; it's elegant and sophisticated, and I like that a lot. Very nice.

Hmm. This smells like neither lily nor rose to me but some new wonderful luscious species of flower that's a cross between the two. It has rose's velvety-ness and lily's boldness. Sweetgrass and juniper, while not at all my favorite notes, add beautifully to this scent. They give it a touch of greenness that makes me think of flower stems. This scent isn't just flower petals, it's the whole flower. When it's completely dry the rose is the most noticeable note, and it's a lovely rose. Nothing weird or soapy or artificial about it. Just soft and perfect. Beautiful. Sepulcher is so pretty.

While this oil is wet, some combination of the notes (probably fruit notes) smells like air freshener. Thankfully that doesn't last. It was a little too bright and sweet for me there at the beginning. As it dries, the scent deepens and takes on a luxurious richness. The peach and starfruit are still making themselves known, but they're not as overpowering as they were. It mostly smells like a creamy cocoa and honey scent, with some timid spices. I like the ginger in it. I think the fruits are keeping this one from being my favorite, which is weird because I usually love peach. But I'd really like to smell just that cocoa/honey/spice combination, so the peach is annoying me a little. Yes, I am annoyed at a perfume note. I'm not sure whether I should feel ashamed of myself or proud of myself because of that. Anyway, I still like the orange-label version of 13 the best, but this is a good one too.

I can smell some spice in this right at first, but surprisingly all I can smell after about 10 minutes or so is a sweet fruity-floral scent. That's weird because generally I can smell the spice in a perfume long after the other notes have disappeared. It's not a bad scent; it's one of those ones that's neither offensive nor remarkable. It doesn't smell fiery at all to me. I guess it does smell like a red scent, but that's mostly because it smells like a red fruit. This isn't what I was expecting for this scent. I was sort of hoping for sensual but I got cute out of it. Ah well. There are plenty of others.

It has taken me months to get around to trying Kanishta. I was scared off by the jasmine, even though the other notes sounded good. Fool! I was a FOOL! This smells sooooo good. It's a little too sweet and incense-like hazy right at first, but once it settles into its scent it's wonderful. It's mysterious and sexy, and a little bit slinky but womanly too. Just the perfect combination of naughty and feminine. The florals are just a wee bit heady, and I usually don't like that, but it works in this one. There's a sweetness in it that I would have sworn was from some type of dark fruit, but I don't know what's causing that. Wow. I love this. Ugh, I'm so dumb! I can't believe I didn't even try it back when I could have bought a bottle from the Lab. Curses.

The saffron and musk in this blend are amazing. The combination smells really good. I'm not fond of rosemary at all, and I don't like it in this scent, but I do like the rest of it. If it didn't have that rosemary in it I probably would have wanted a bottle of Khandita. But it has an herbal edge that I don't care for. I totally get it being part of the entire scent because it really does make the scent angrier and harsher. It's just not for me.

This smells exactly like lily of the valley at first, except a bit powdery. As it's drying the sandalwood and musk come out a bit more so it's not such a strong floral scent. I hesitate to say this, but... this reminds me of Love's Baby Soft. It's more grown-up and pretty, but on me it's that same sort of scent. I hate it that my skin took all those lovely BPAL notes and turned it into Love's Baby Soft, but unfortunately that's pretty much what I got out of it.

Hunh. Strange. I'm testing this oil right now, and it smells kind of like Queen of Spades. That same plummy-spicy-floral scent. OH NO!!! I just got out my Queen of Spades vial to test it side-by-side and I spilled it all over my hand! And drops on my pants! I'm such a butterfingers. OK, no, forget it, Hanging Gardens doesn't smell much like Queen of Spades. It smells like what I thought I remembered QoS smelling like, but it has none of the richness or haziness. Trust me. I'm smelling a whole lot of QoS right now. Oh the horror! Spilled Queen of Spades all for the sake of a review! Dammit. Anyway, The Hanging Gardens is a pretty fruity floral. I'm too upset right now to write anything else.

I waited far too long to write this review. I should have written it last February or March. But now, after I've gone through nearly an entire 5ml of Dorian (the only 5ml I've come close to using up), when I sniff it to write a review, all I smell is... Dorian. It smells like extremely creamy, sugary tea. The tea is not strong at all. It's heavy on the sugar, with a gorgeous creamy undertone and a hint of a cirtusy overtone. It's delectable. Delicious. Dreamy. It's also my default scent. Like, if I'm trying to pick something to wear for the day and I can't decide, this is the one I choose. I'm always in the mood for it. It's perfect for work, for school, for bedtime, everything. I travel with it, I keep some in my purse... I never want to be without this perfume. To say that I love it would be something of an understatement. This is the one that made my very proper, extremely gentlemanly former boss stop in his tracks. He's the type of guy who would never ask a woman something as personal as what perfume she was wearing because it might possibly be interpreted as inappropriate, but he looked like he couldn't help himself. There was a lot of stuttering and blushing involved, and he had a halfway unfocused, incredulous look on his face. It was one of the cutest things I've ever seen. And I adore the fact that Beth made this beautiful scent for her beloved. What a magnificent gift.

Door 13 smells like white musk and ozone to me. (White musk smells a bit lemony on me. Not overly so, just a hint.) It doesn't smell aquatic per se, but it has that stingy metallic scent that I sometimes get from ozone. It smells chilly but not cold -- it's nothing like the snow notes in Yule blends. Just that austere chilliness you can get from a metallic scent. But it's soft around the edges. It's not like a metal spike. Although this isn't the sort of scent I wear, I definitely like that quality of being soft around the edges. It's very appealing.

I've been putting off writing a review of this because I can't tell what's in it. Some other reviewers mention an aquatic note, and I can't smell that. Some also mention specific flowers, and I can't tell which floral notes specifically are in this. Nothing really stands out. It reminds me of Queen of Spades (although it's not as sweet as QoS) and Frumious Bandersnatch, which makes me think there's some plum in it. It also has a very velvety floral feel, which makes me think of roses. But I can't really discern a true rose scent in it. It has a little bit of spiciness -- not like cinnamon, just a mild kick -- and that makes me think of carnation. Underneath that, there's a musk. I have no idea what kind of musk, but I know it doesn't smell like red musk or white musk. It's quite light on me, not overwhelming at all. The floral notes aren't heady or cloying, just pretty. All in all, it seems like a gently floral musky plum scent. It's really lovely.

I don't usually like lavender, and I like jasmine even less. But I continue to at least try all BPAL oils because occasionally something that really shouldn't work on me does. Twilight, however, is not one of those. It smells pretty much exactly like lavender and jasmine. Usually both lavender and jasmine amp unreasonably strong on me, so I thought by trying Twilight I'd be able to finally figure out which one is stronger because it would stomp on the other one. But, no. They continue to vex me. I can smell them both basically equally strongly.

Opium has been going funky on me lately and I used to love it. But recently perfume with opium has been developing a distinct band-aid-like scent on my skin, which is really irritating. So let's see how this one does. OK, so far it smells like the usual kind of stinging opium scent, perfumey, maybe a touch of myrrh, and.... NO NO NO NO!!! No band-aids! Don't do it! Awwww, dammit. Stupid skin. Well, crap. So much for that one. I know I liked Darkness a year ago, but right now it's not so good. Maybe at some point in the future my skin chemistry will stop being a jerk and I can update my review.

I often like white florals, and I really like this one. The Calla lily is very pretty, and it seems like there's something faintly mossy underneath it. I guess that's the ivy? This smells so pure and innocent. Kind of floaty, too. I think people who express themselves better than I do call that "ethereal." To me, it's floaty. A bit wispy. Quite evocative of a ghost, to be honest. I'm not sure why I don't have a bottle of this yet. Probably because it's not very strong on me. However, when I run out of White Moon I'm sure I'll want a bottle of The Ghost. I'll always want to have a beautiful white floral in my BPAL box.

Goneril smells like a clean floral to me. Not heady or dewy or green or cloying, just... clean. I think the scent is just fine but I'm glad it doesn't suit me because I couldn't stand the character Goneril. I disliked her enough that I wouldn't have bought a bottle of this even if I liked it due to the name. (It's bad enough that I like BPAL's Regan!)

I'm not sure what I'm smelling in this. At first it seems sporty, like an ozone or aquatic cologne scent. Then as it's drying it turns kind of green, sort of like herbs. It ends up reminding me a lot of Mountain Fresh Dove soap. I'm not saying it smells like soap, because it doesn't, it smells like the fragrance they put in that soap. It's a clean, fresh scent. Not the sort of thing I usually wear, but I certainly don't dislike the scent. It's the sort of fragrance I prefer in bath products rather than perfume.

Interesting. I thought I'd hate this because sweet pea is usually awful on me, but I don't hate it at all. It smells like a sweet hazy rose scent to me. Not very strongly of any one flower; they're blended very well. It's soft, and not nearly as heady as I was expecting. I don't wear this type of scent myself, but I'm quite pleased to find out that sweet pea isn't always horrendous on me.

Lots of berries. Tons. It's light and sweet and cute. It's so sweet and strong on berries that it reminds me a lot of Midwinter's Eve. Especially from a distance. Close up, Jester has a very slight chalkiness (I sometimes get that with particular berry notes), and MWE doesn't have that chalkiness. So I'm sticking with MWE for this type of scent. However, when I run out of that one, I'll be looking to Jester to supply my sweet berry fix.

This is an excellent scent for a man, and whenever I get a frimp of this one I pass it over to my husband right away. It smells good on both of us, but it suits him a lot better than it suits me. Mostly it seems like a warm leather and wood scent, and it's fairly rugged. I wouldn't say it's "gentlemanly," but it's not like a cowboy either. The ebony and teak are brilliant in this one. They smell fantastic and they make the scent seem sophisticated than the usual leather scent. I could have sworn there was a little drop of vanilla in here -- there's something in it that's a bit sweet. All in all this is a fabulous scent, and I love it when my husband wears this one.