forspecial_plate

A breakdown, for my own benefit (to narrow down choices). Blue Ghost Blues....A ward against evil: bay rum, whiskey, cigar smoke, black pepper, and salt I want to try this for sure. Maybe a decant or partial bottle. Dia De Los Muertos......dry, crackling leaves, the incense smoke of altars honoring Death and the Dead, funeral bouquets, the candies, chocolates, foods and tobacco of the ofrenda, amaranth, sweet cactus blossom and desert cereus I've never tried this and always wanted to. Or maybe I smelled it briefly at Moonarcana's house. Still, I would like a decant if I can find one. Midnight Bonfire......night-blooming jasmine, smoldering maple leaves, a cluster of patchouli and blackened ti leaf, black sage, and pinewood smoke If I'm doing decants, I should throw in this. It has a good chance of being very nice and cozy for fall. The jasmine sounds a little out of place but maybe I'm just not imagining it the way it really is. Pumpkin Crème Brulee.....With vanilla bean scrapings Possible decant but there are other Pumpkin scents I'm more interested in.......Like....... Pumpkin Musk and Black Oudh......A strangely romantic, disturbingly erotic perfume Disturbingly erotic? Sign me up for a decant. I thought seriously about a bottle but oudh doesn't always smell good to me. It's best when it just fades into the background, IMO. Pumpkin Tobacco......Sweet black tobacco infused with dried pumpkin and soaked in bourbon I really want to wear tobacco notes but I'm not sure they always work for me. Everything about this sounds fabulous. Why am I hesitating? Probably a decant. Scarecrow Turned Philosopher.....Corn husks waving on an autumn breeze, beams of amber sunlight, hay bales, and late summer wildflowers I am all over this concept, but I'm not sure about wildflowers. I don't love all floral notes, so this would be a risk. That's what decants are for, right? : ) Masque of the Red Death....... A Multitude of Dreams......A blackened lavender mist, thick with opoponax, licorice root, and benzoin Sounds somewhat promising, although I'm a little more picky with my incense scents these days (which is what this sounds like to me....incense). I like them if they are soft and elegant, not too strong. I don't like to smell like a big actual incense stick (but there was a time that was what I wanted). Possible decant, but not high priority. Pickman Gallery 2018....... A Young Boy and His Brother Seated on a Goat.......Polished mahogany, copal resin, Java sandalwood, teakwood, and Sumantran patchouli This could be really good or not so good on me, just based on my experience with these notes. Copal tends to smell like cheap aftershave on me and not in a good way. My partner liked the sound of this one but I know certain scents make him wheeze and this sounded like one of those to me. I might get a decant just to satisfy my curiosity and his. Cabras......Black pine, white sage, creeping ivy, and wild juniper Sounds like a lot of green, pine and juniper.....I stopped buying these kinds of scents quite a while ago, maybe it's time to try again? The more I look at the notes, and the painting, the more curious I am getting. Lithograph of a Mountain Goat.......White sandalwood, black pepper, muguet, agarwood, labdanum, and 3-year aged patchouli I love patchouli and labdanum, and so I am curious about this. I don't think I particularly care for the other notes, especially muguet. But - somehow I think this might be good for my partner, or me. Possible decant. Studie Einer Ziege.....Sweet labdanum with clove, tobacco absolute, and guiac wood I actually had this in my cart and removed it before checkout. Again, I love labdanum. But the other notes sound very familiar to me, like I have a dozen other scents with these notes and don't even wear them that much (clove, tobacco..). I might have to get a decant and I may end up loving it. I'm in a mood today, so my judgment may not be the best. Two Sheep and Two Goats Resting Together in a Field......Sweet vetiver, bourbon vanilla, and wool I had this in mind for my partner but changed that to Jupiter Nourished at the last minute. I might still need to try a decant of this, either for him or me. Venus Pandemos.....Hay, rose otto, red benzoin, torch smoke, and pink carnation This could be really good, but it sounds very powdery and might be soapy as well. Possible decant. Zoe and the Goat......Caramelized patchouli, cream, and thick golden honey I picked Jupiter Nourished over this, hope I didn't make the wrong choice. Possible decant. Pile of Leaves....... Dead Leaves and Maple Sap.......possible decant, I love Burning Leaves by CBIHP, which is basically the same thing except with smoke added. Dead Leaves and Scotch.....possible decant, sounds unbelievably cozy for a chilly fall day. Dead Leaves and Vanilla Incense......I had this in the cart and took it back out. It sounds a little close to Hope and Fear Set Free, which I love. But - would I need both? Decant or partial bottle, probably. Dead Leaves, Black Tea, and Tobacco Leaf......I had this in the cart too. But, I already have a few scents with tobacco. I am not sure. It might be really great. Possible decant or partial bottle. Dead Leaves, Blackberry, and Red Patchouli.......how thorough do I want to be with the dead leaves? I don't want to miss a good one, like I know I have in the past. Maybe decant. Dead Leaves, Bourbon Vetiver, Nagarmotha, and Vanilla Absolute.......see above, possible decant. Dead Leaves, Sweet Oakmoss, White Sage, and Chaparral........see above again, possible decant. DECANTS: Blue Ghost Blues Pumpkin Musk and Black Oudh Pumpkin Tobacco Scarecrow Turned Philosopher A Young Boy and His Brother Seated on a Goat Lithograph of a Mountain Goat Studie Einer Ziege Two Sheep and Two Goats Resting Together in a Field Venus Pandemos Dead Leaves and Scotch Dead Leaves and Vanilla Incense Dead Leaves, Black Tea, and Tobacco Leaf Dead Leaves, Bourbon Vetiver, Nagarmotha, and Vanilla Absolute

I didn't like this at first but I really like it now. When I first got it, I there was a waxy and bitter aspect that I didn't think I could get past. I put it away for a while. Tried it again today, and it's a lovely dry woodsy patchouli, with a hint of herbal sweetness that gives it a playful bubblegum hint that I love. It's somewhere in the family of Plunder without all the spices, or that Luper from a couple years back, something Whist, that also had patchouli. I like this but I realized I'm not even into tarot at all, and Weenies are coming soon, so....I'll enjoy the decant.

Sweet amber and rosewood, wet oak beams, smoky vanilla husk, ambrette seed, and hinoki wood. I'm in heaven....this is (so far) simply a lovely rosewood amber with a slight bit of complex backdrop of the other notes. In the first few seconds it smells very much like baby-oil but that is very short. After that it just kind of smolders sweetly on my skin for hours. I'm not getting a lot of wood which is surprising. Nothing more to say, this just works for me!

This brings to mind new shoots reaching out of clean earth, very fresh, a fabulous slant on mossy vetiver Looong into the drydown there's a breath of delicate floral dancing just at the edges, very sophisticated floral vetiver but very light at this point Yes I said vetiver twice, if you don't like it this might not be the scent to turn that around (but then again, maybe it could?) For the record my partner just said it reminds him of his grandfather's aftershave, which is quite different from my impressions!

Like LiberAmoris, I was surprised by this, it really doesn't smell like I expected these 2 notes to smell together. It's clean, herbal, snappy but also warm and somewhat spicey. I kind of wish I bought 2 bottles because I wear it to the gym, it doesn't really smell like a perfume, more like a spa sort of scent, and it's the hair gloss I wear the most out of the 4 that I own. The strength or throw is perfect and doesn't interfere with whatever oil I want to wear, and it goes with a lot of different scents. I love it!

Breath of God fans......I'm wearing An Encounter of Three today, from the current Lupercalia scents, and it does remind me of Breath of God, not exactly like it but definitely in the same family.

FIRE FOR THY STEPMOTHER’S DAUGHTERS Vasilissa ran to the yard, and behind her she heard the old witch shouting to the locks and the gate. The locks opened, the gate swung wide, and she ran out on to the lawn. The Baba Yaga seized from the wall one of the skulls with burning eyes and flung it after her. "There," she howled, "is the fire for thy stepmother's daughters. Take it. That is what they sent thee here for, and may they have joy of it!" Flaming coals, hellfire, and blackened bone. First of all, Djinn is one of my favorite bpal scents, so I was definitely intrigued by the notes listed for this scent, and I even thought I had an idea of what it might smell like. How wrong I was! This goes on like a fruity floral, almost like lotus. If I sniff up close I can tell there's some fire and coals to the scent, but for whatever reason, my brain translates it into dusky, fruity floral. It's a little spicy, too, which becomes more apparent as it dries. How in the world does that fit this scent, given the notes, you might ask? Well, it works. It's a low and smoldering scent, very subtle but definitely 'there'. I'm sure this will vary from person to person, though (it might be really strong to someone else). But for me, it's subtle. Even though it's very floral, it has the mood of glowing coals. I think the 'blackened bone' comes out as it dries. It becomes kind of sneezy and spicy, and I wonder if it actually has a little black pepper, which is a note I don't care a lot for. Overall the scent doesn't change much from wet to dry, though. This reminds me of Corazon, without the herbs. They both have that low, smoldering, subtle quality. Stepmother's Daughters is a really fascinating scent. After having it on for a few hours, I started to get a little weary of it, so I'm not sure how often I will actually wear it, but it was really interesting to try. I don't know where I would wear this......definitely not to work. I'm really interested to read other reviews, because I know some people are really going to like this one.

This smells very pleasant but it smells like an atmosphere scent and not a perfume for me. Like a candle or room spray. I'm blaming the ambergris and I'm starting to think it's a note I should just avoid altogether. I might possibly wear this in the fall when the weather turns cooler.

Agreed, Soupy Twist.......the opening is really kind of funky and I thought I made a mistake here......orange blossom is really iffy with me (even though I want to love it and pretty much refuse to give up)......sometimes it's ok, sometimes I don't like it. After a short while, maybe 10 minutes, this calms down a lot and turns into this delightful herbal somewhat fruity blend that will smell really good when the weather starts to warm up (which I am so ready for...). This might be one of those scents that I dislike at first and grow to LOVE (I think I already do love it). I put on some more so I can experience that weird opening again, and transformation into....I'm not sure how to describe, but it's just herbal fruity loveliness. I'm not detecting individual notes here. That funky opening phase kind of provides a weird undercurrent that is just so intriguing, kind of a raspy feeling? It keeps me wanting to sniff this up close. I do have a Chaos Theory IV that I've always thought of as orange blossom spice marshmallow, and I like it but it's a little too strong sometimes. This is kind of close to that but even more wearable. I'm not sure I need both? Bottle upgrade possibly? It also kind of reminds me of Habit Rouge, which I only just realized. Edit to add: I don't detect much bergamot, but I do pick up a hint of white floral which makes sense since orange blossom is a white floral I think? Some of you might amp that part

Cross-posted in Bpal Chatter.. Fortuna Annonaria smells just like Comme des Garcons Black, from memory.

A coworker used to use that and it always reminded me of Plunder, or possibly Baron Samedi.

Blood-spattered cotton candy. I know some people are curious about this, so I'll give it a shot. I got it yesterday and wore it all day, applied twice, and wearing it today also. The cotton candy comes in at the very beginning, but after a short while I found that the blood note took center stage. I am having trouble thinking of how to describe it. It's complex and incensey with hints of fruit or berry maybe? I do think there's some dragon's blood in there, but I did compare it to Dragon's Blood (gc) and Blood (gc) and it's definitely not floral like DB, and it's not clovey like Blood either. I would describe the blood as rich, kind of juicy, a little sweet and fruity, and I think there might possibly be some red musk in there (I could be wrong about that). I can't wait to read some other reviews and opinions. I really like it! I could wear this with all kinds of different things, Mme Moriarty and Midnight on the Midway come to mind. Edit: As the day goes by, I keep thinking, maybe I AM smelling the cotton candy note, more than I thought. Because this seems familiar but for some reason hard to describe. If so, it would be a more incensey cotton candy and not a straightforward sugary note. It is fab.....

Is there any room at your head, Willy? Or any room at your feet? Or any room at your side, Willy, wherein that I may creep? A scent of unendurable grief and longing: pale orris root and honeyed white lily chilled by wild carrot and cognac, pulled into a winding sheet of white jasmine, tobacco flower, tuberose, and patchouli. First impression: strong white floral, reminds me of the little bathroom soaps that are for decoration only (soapy, but really nice soap). I didn't like it at first. After a couple minutes, when I bring my wrist up to my nose, I can smell a very strong booze note, the cognac I suppose, that worried me at first. After a while, the booze faded back a lot, and I get a balanced floral/booze/patchouli combo. I don't think the patchouli is super strong, but I like patchouli and sometimes don't even notice it. It's here but just giving an earthy base to the powdery floral and chilly booze notes. If you amp patchouli and don't like it, there might be enough here to turn you off. I was hoping for a little more sweetness from the tuberose and jasmine, but it's mostly austere orris and lily to me. I think the tobacco flower is contributing to the soapiness. Summary: chilly white floral with booze, soapy and a little powdery, with an earthy patchouli base. I wish it was just a little sweeter but it is very ghostly, reminds me of something else from bpal - maybe Sepulcher? But I couldn't wear that, it was just too high-pitched and soapy. This is more balanced, I like it.

If anyone loves Kingsport, I recommend you at least try The Wood-Pile from the current 2017 Yules. While they're not exactly alike, they sure are alike in character. The Wood-Pile doesn't have as much of a hazy incensey vibe but the sweet aquatic part is very similar to my nose.

I agree this is chic and elegant, I just wanted to add I smell the ghost of a flower in this scent. I grabbed my decant and couldn't remember anything about it, put it on, and thought there was rose in it. Then I looked up the review and thought it was strange, there aren't any floral notes listed. Now I can still smell kind of an airy white floral floating around at the edges of the scent. Maybe it's the cashmeran playing tricks. I do remember there was something borderline sour about it when I first got it, that aspect has smoothed out somewhat and I don't know what was doing that. I like it now.

Not much to add, and I don't have much experience with different massage oils, but this does work well as far as smoothness on the skin and lasts a long time (I tried on the bf). The scent is really nice, I get mostly warm orange with sandalwood and myrrh (the myrrh comes out stronger after a while, yes I basically used this as a perfume today). I love patchouli and many times for me it just fades into a low hum in the background, and that is what's happening here. Overall I enjoy this.

This is strongly herbal, almost too herbal, but the patchouli makes it very nice. I am a big patchouli fan and this is a nice and different bpal patchouli. It definitely has some age going on and I really have barely worn it, I'm glad I dug it out today - very grey and cold outside with snow flurries, and this is a nice kind of dreary but warm scent to fit the mood. I get the slight metallic aspect that others noted. And yes, also rooty.

Finally, I got to try this! Decant of the 2017 version. Spice and sugar! Warm and toasty, a little raspy and dry. Dries down to something like a spicy Sugar Skull. Pretty much just what I expected and wanted from this!

I get it now....at first I was mostly picking up on the 'oil' aspect that some other people mentioned above, and I couldn't identify anything 'ambery' about this. I came back to it today after resting for a few weeks. Now I'm getting mostly labdanum, which to me has a really strange scent, like a deep wine resin scent, but it's definitely ambery. This smells great and I'm glad I kept trying it until it worked! It's like a stripped down amber scent profile without any vanilla or any of the 'sweet' parts. I think that people who can't wear amber because it turns to powder, might have better luck with this because it's like the parts of amber that aren't powdery (I could be wrong about that).

This smells to me like apple + water + a big tin tub. It's all apple at first but after it dries, this metallic note comes out that reminds me a little of The Blockhead. But this is clean new metal, not rusted. The water part reminds me a little of Sea of Glass. This is very clean and refreshing. A great apple scent!

This is beautiful, I love it so much. Rose doesn't always work well for me but in this scent it's very balanced with all the other notes. I love everything about this. The familiar bpal pumpkin note is stronger at first but then it fades a bit and the other notes all come out. There's a hint of lemon which I don't know where is coming from but it is so lovely. I love rosewood and I think it helps balance the rose note. Altogether one of my favorite pumpkin patch scents.

I recommend Djinn

I didn't like this at first. I thought it was too high-pitched, and too much like a couple other aquatics I've worn. But after giving it another full wear I discovered I love it. There's some kind of chic smokiness underneath the sea spray. I love sarsaparilla and patchouli, but they are just part of the overall blend here. I love this, and also I got a compliment for it.

Hi, welcome back! Long time no see! I second Alice, that scent came to mind immediately. For me, it's more floral at first, and the creamy part comes out after a little while. Welcome back : )

Both previous reviews used the word "bitter" and I agree - there is a bitter aspect to this scent. The dead leaves note is sharp and strong at first, but the sharpness backs off a lot after a few minutes. All the notes are here, but so well-blended it's hard to pick apart individual notes. I agree that it's outdoorsy. This isn't aquatic, but something about it smells salty somehow - like salt encrusted dead leaves. And the bitter, medicinal quality - that could be blackcurrant, tobacco tar, or both notes combined. For me this wasn't easy to like, I had to grow to like it. It's very appropriate for fall and I'll be keeping it and wearing it again. I have a feeling I'll grow to like it even more as it ages. Today I layered it over a non-bpal amber scent (Amber 114), and it went really nicely with the amber, and almost starts to remind me of Death of Autumn. But on its own, DLBC&TT is much less complex.