LiberAmoris

Miss Ida is a heady, sweet floral that's perfect for a humid, lush summer night. It's really almost a candied floral on me, with the French vanilla and gardenia really producing a wallop of vanilla-ed tropical blooms. This would be right at home with the Tiki scents. I do get both jasmine and lemon verbena, and they're lovely here, but I love BPAL's jasmines and lemon verbena is usually my friend as long as she's not the star of the show. The star of the show here is the gardenia, and it's in full regalia.

Nymphes de Pave would be perfect for those who love white fig or honey—both notes are fairly strong on me, with bourbon vanilla and rose otto trailing. This goes on like a sister scent to Crib Girls, slightly more demure. I also get a slightly astringent, slightly sour note when wet, but it dries down to a figgy honey, very soft and subtle. This isn't one I reach for often, but I'm glad I have it, and it layers beautifully with any hair gloss that has honey in it.

I wish ylang ylang wore well on my skin. The Witch Queen is beautiful, and if ylang ylang bloomed on me, I'd hoard this until the end of time. The plum and red musk and tuberose are gorgeous together, and the lily is well balanced. The beeswax and purple incense smoke give it depth and mystery. This is a deep, plummy, smoldering, sexy scent. I might keep it a bit longer to see if it mellows a little more, because I'm still not ready to quite concede! But if you love ylang ylang and plum, this is your oil.

Badgers is so pretty. Like Porcelina, this also reminds me of Tombstone, but the florals in Badger push it in a gentler direction. Everything feels so soft here: the patchouli and leather and sarsaparilla together smell like worn, sun-weathered leather. The honeysuckle and French vanilla bring sweetness and a shot of something summery. It dries down to something like the love child of Tombstone and Prosperous Flowers of the Elegant Twelve Seasons. It's a few years old, and it's only gotten better with aging—the honeysuckle has come down a bit, and the patch and leather are more buttery and mellow. Perfect for a slow summer Sunday.

Available now, the Lunacy LE Terra Caloris: red musk flickering with hot red amber, red pepper, scorched thyme, frankincense, green cardamom, and Ceylon cinnamon.

L’Essence du Chagrin is a pretty lavendery chypre, a little astringent and even a bit soapy at first, but drying down to a fresh and woodsy soft lavender. I get very little vanilla. The lime adds brightness, but it burns off quickly. It really does have a melancholy feel to it, although the lavender makes it also feel very calming.

There's definitely a dapper men's cologne vibe going on, and the lavender in this blend makes it lean toward fougere...so I can also see the comparisons with Old Scratch. Very nice.

Seconding Fairy Thorn! It's beautiful.

Hi Ceetee, I fly quite often for work, both internationally and domestically, and bring BPAL bottles with me all the time in my carry-on. I've also taken them with me in checked luggage. I've never had any problems, but may have just been lucky. To travel with them, I just tighten the cap as much as I can without risking cracking it, then drop it in a sealed plastic bag. I've never applied mid-flight, but imagine that would be fine as long as there's no turbulence.

I'd also recommend Glaucous Snow. It was a LE, but you may be able to find a bottle in swaps/sales. It's really beautiful. Description is: Snowballs of blue lilac, lotus root, Roman chamomile, sandalwood, and cade.

Tiki Queen is the kind of scent that would draw bees. Sweet tuberose and monoi, smooth white coconut and vanilla, and white musk at the bottom. The hibiscus, neroli, and ylang ylang are all very subtle. It's so summery and lovely, another perfect scent for a tropical vacation or just a Monday in June.

Ysabel is another beauty that I'm late in reviewing. On me it's red carnation and red rose, equally balanced, then the cedar. The other notes fall behind like a velvet backdrop: the musk, the clove, the incense, and the lightest bit of pomegranate. It bears a resemblance to Red Rose (rather than Rose Red, in my opinion) but has it's own thing going on...the cedar and clove are really distinctive here. After years of mellowing out in the bottle, it's super smooth, like liquid incense. I should wear this more often.

I bust out Tiki Princess every summer because it smells like being on vacation somewhere warm and beautiful (maybe I should wear it in the winter as well?!). It reminds me of a welcome drink that Hawaiian hotels sometimes give to guests when they first arrive, plus the smell of flowers wafting on the breeze. So summery and fun. Once it dries down, I smell mostly the white coconut which is truly cold and frothy, plus white flowers and an underpinning of something that smells a bit like shea. It does remind me a bit of Obatala, but Tiki Princess is sweeter and floral. It's beautiful and lighthearted in equal measure.

I've had Zenobia since it released but never got around to reviewing it...I should have! It's really wonderful, and time has only made it better. Agree that it smells a little like Bathos. The clove and orris are strong here, and then it's mellow patchouli and frankincense, with the balsam and hysop rounding it out with an herbal sweetness. The saffron gives it character and spunk. Overall, it smells like clovey, dark purple incense and is beautiful, well-blended, and super relaxing. Another point in favor of aging, because I'm sure this smelled good when I first tried it, but has definitely become smoother over time.

This is my beloved Snake Charmer in a lighter, more summery weight! If I sniff and try to parse the notes, I think I can pull amber from plum and labdanum from benzoin and ambrette. I can definitely pick up the black coconut, which is the coconut that skews in the direction of husky incense rather than suntan lotion. But overall this is like an enchanted Snake Oil, like Snake Oil pulled through Arabian musk and amber and plum. It's addictive and sexy. The throw is close and the scent disappears within a few hours in my hair, but it resurrects with a little touchup on dry hair. I don't need more hair gloss in my collection, but ordered two bottles and do not regret it.

Mikado Saloon is so good. I'm a BPAL ambergris accord fan...on me it smells a little like salted caramel with a tinge of something oceanic—salty amber with a touch of ozone. I love it because it's like a perfume note playing Twister: aquatic, mineral, resin, gourmand. It's very satisfying to have all those grace notes! And in Mikado Saloon, the ambergris accord takes the lead. After ambergris, I pick up the leather and bourbon vanilla in equal measure, and the dark musk is at the bottom, like something syrupy and dark making everything smooth as silk. I always worry that a leather note will amp on me, but here it's beautifully restrained, truly well-worn. In my hair this smells like a slightly less aquatic, darker Lyonesse with a kiss of leather. I absolutely adore this hair gloss and am so happy to have it in my collection.

Pearl hair gloss is a lovely, very light white floral in my hair. The strongest notes are tiare and the vanilla orchid, and overall it comes across like tiare and a whisper of white flowers. There is little to no throw, but when I hold my hair to my nose, I can smell it lingering there. This is very subdued and pretty and will be great to wear to work this summer...I can't imagine this scent bothering anyone, and it stays very close to me. I also think this would be a fantastic hair gloss to bring on a tropical vacation!

About Midnight is another blend that reminds me of lovely incense. Here, a dry vanilla and sandalwood is rounded out by the holy balsam, cedar, and frankincense. The overall effect is a frankincense-sweet but dry sandalwood with spice and cedar. There's a phantom note that sometimes appears and smells a bit like coconut to me, but I love coconut and it's just the barest suggestion, so it's all good. I love how relaxing and warm this is, and it seems like the kind of blend that will only get better with aging.

Sinus Amoris took a few wears for me to love it, but I'm there. The first couple of times I applied, I just couldn't get past the powdery, almost soapy intersection of the champaca and myrrh. And then I tried it once more, and walked through a cloud of my own sillage as I doubled back across my path ... there it was, a lovely, vanilla/red sandalwood incense, like something you'd get in a paper packet at a souk for a price that seems dear even in conversion, and on a slow afternoon when you come across it in a drawer years after returning home, you burn it and it proves to be worth every cent and then some. I'm not sure if my nose adjusted or the scent settled down nicely, but now it just smells like that beautiful incense each time I wear it.

There's something so relaxing about this blend, and yet it doesn't put me to sleep. I think it would be ideal for red sandalwood lovers who are looking for a meditation or yoga scent. I'm so glad I took the plunge and ordered a bottle!

I love The Antikythera Mechanism perfume oil, so when the hair gloss won the poll, this was a done deal. And it doesn't disappoint. Black vanilla, woods, and tobacco? It's like heaven. There's something about that black vanilla that just really brings it home—it's almost cake-y, it's so dense and chewy. The woods are lovely but restrained, and the tobacco gives this a whiff of danger. Layered with AM perfume oil, it's a knockout combo.

Nectar skews honeysuckle-heavy on me, and very sweet. It's like candied flowers! I don't know that I could pick camellia or columbine out of a perfume lineup, but the overall effect here is floral and sweet. Unlike some of the other flowery hair glosses, this smells like summer to me instead of spring, when blossoms droop with pollen and the sugars are so palpable that you can almost taste them in the air (like a butterfly must!). Although Nectar isn't a hair gloss I reach for often, I'm really glad I have it and it layers beautifully with Venus Erycina.

I've enjoyed all the fruity hair glosses I've tried, and White Peach and Incense is no exception. First and foremost, this is a light, white peach. The champaca flower and frankincense are also on the light side, so the end result is very wearable for those of us who work in environments where strong personal scents are discouraged. There's something here that also smells a little like fresh laundry.

Compared to the other peachy HGs I've tried, this is really different from the bright, golden, almost overripe peach of Golden Peach and Bergamot and the sweet, floral Peach Nectar and Vanilla Orchid. White Peach and Incense is drier, cleaner, almost luminous in comparison. A peach you could see light through.

Peach VIII is just gorgeous. The whipped jasmine cream alone. This is creamy peach blossom and jasmine on me, with vanilla orchid and white frankincense pinning everything together. If some subtle, talented candymaker made pastilles inspired by springtime, it would smell like this. I may have to wear this again tomorrow.

When I first tested Occupy Wall Street, the patchouli skewed a little astringent and vegetal on me, even though I liked the vibe of the blend. Three and a half years later, the patchouli is still assertive, with all the earthiness and rawness that I remember from when I first tried it, but the edges have been rounded off a bit. The cocoa, tobacco, and vanilla are still very faint.

This is definitely the kind of patch that freaks some people out. I happen to love a good gritty patch. To me, this kind of 'unrefined' patchouli smells leafy, murky, and a tiny bit minty and vetiver-y, like if a plant sipped up resins through a green straw. And then there's a weird, satisfying undercurrent of mossy, nearly algae-ish, wet bracken—like a combination of water damage on books inside and something swampy/mildewy outside. It smells like the push of living and the muck of decay, and there's just something compelling in the interplay that makes me feel more connected to both. I understand that I'm likely in the minority of people who find this appealing!

New here...hope i'm posting in the right place.

I'm also looking for a rose scent. I don't want powdery, or anything crazy sweet, but more like the actual scent of a beautiful rose from the garden. Also somethiing from GC so it's easy to find. Any suggestions? TIA

You might like The Rose, from the Marchen collection. It's very lifelike and smells just like a rose from a garden.

I've had Psychological Horror for years and bust it out from time to time when I want a powdery, lovely skin musk. This is definitely powdery, but it's a Hitchcock blonde kind of powdery—classic, clean, with something absolutely not quite right underneath. I also get violet, like some other reviewers, and maybe orris? I have to be in the right mood for this one, but when I am, I absolutely love it.