Teamama

I just realized I have never reviewed Fallen, which I adore. It is gorgeous, & for lack of a better word, "stately." All of the BPAL violet blends that work on me so far seen to be at least a little formal. I don't yet have a violet that goes with, say, heading out for thrift shopping & banh mi sammiches. Wet: sweet, violet-forward, taller & more slender than me. Slowly the amber, musk & vetiver emerge. Perfectly-groomed, but not fussy. The sandalwood is very reserved, I don't notice it much. Fallen shops vintage, not thrift. On dry-down, the violet is still the most prominent note, over a rich, sweet but dry base of amber, light vetiver, & musk. Fallen got her masters degree. Fallen volunteers more, & donates to worthy causes more than I do. Fallen has sex more frequently than me. Fallen intimidates & seduces me.

I got my bottle via Etsy. I love the color & quality. It's rich, lots of depth of color & coverage. I applied 3 thin coats & a top coat on Sunday, it still looks great on Friday.

Spirit Board: A wonderful surprise. I didn't get a decant because bois de rose is risky on me. Sometimes my skin just turns that note to varnish. I was gifted a bottle by a lovely forumite, and it is turning out to be a winner. In the bottle: Syrupy wood, almost lemony. Flowers? Tea? Undetectable. Wet: Rich, not as woody as I had imagined it would be. Lilac & dried rose are present and accounted for. Tea, maybe. Kind of dry, a little bit soapy. Still hoping for wood. Dry: Finally, some wood! Sweet woody floral, with a hint of tea. Very nice. Fortunately, the redwood, flowers & black tea keep the bois de rose in balance.

Oh my, this is lovely! In the bottle: It smells like what you wish the center of chocolate covered cherries tasted like. The best combination of candied cherries & cream, with a wee smidge of bourbon. Wet on skin: The first minute was a whole lotta the most realistic bourbon scent I've ever encountered. That dissipated pretty quickly, leaving a heady rose-cherry-cream booziness. I couldn't find the orris. Dry: Excellent sugary rose, with a little powder from the orris & the memory of cherry. Maybe a smidge of vanilla? I feel lucky to have gotten to test VL. It's a standout in the family of BPAL's sugared florals (like Hope & Faith, or Love,) that are super-wearable for me. I will hunt for a bottle of my own.

Mod Note: There is a review topic for Day of the Skulls release years 2008 and 2013 located here. Per our Review sub-forum topic policy, a new review topic has been created for the 2017 release due to slightly different name: Day of Skulls versus Day of the Skulls. The scent description is the same for both review topics/releases. In Bolivia, many people hold to the tradition of keeping the skulls of their ancestors with them in their homes, caring for their remains. It is believed that each person has seven souls, and one of those souls stays with the skull after death, enabling a spirit to grant protection and prophetic dreams to their descendants, and to bless their families with good health and prosperity. The Bolivian Fiesta de las Natitas, or Dia de los Natitas, is a day of honor for these ancestors. Their skulls are dressed with fragrant blossoms, and offerings of cocoa leaves, alcohol, and cigarettes are made. White sandalwood, beeswax, and frankincense crowned by hydrangea, rose, and kantuta blossoms, dressed with tobacco, cocoa leaves and flowers from the sacred Cactus of the Four Winds. Day of Skulls! Beeswax sandalwood tobacco floral incense cocoa magic! I didn't know about this blend. It wasn't on my radar & I got a decant on a whim. Now I am totally obsessed. The interplay between the different notes is intoxicating. The kantuta flowers are a revelation, so lush & enticing. Wet, the flowers & beeswax take center stage, mostly the kantuta, which is new to me. The rose & hydrangea didn't really register for me at this point. The cocoa & tobacco are present, but not emphatic. The frankincense & sandalwood come & go. As it dries down, the tobacco & woods are more noticeable, the beeswax also gets more rounded as the flowers move out of the spotlight. I love this blend!

^^ What Wench457 said. This was a sleeper hit for me, as in gobsmacked. Neither Dorian (fresh,) nor Antique Lace '17 are magic on my skin (hair is another matter.) Wet: lavender tea with vanilla, with a keen edge from the pink pepper to keep it from edging into the territory of a soft-focus Victoria magazine feature on bone china from 1990. Dry: Everything that is excellent about Dorian & Antique Lace. Plus they smell as good on my skin as they do in my hair this time. Plus pink pepper. 100% fantastic. Nice throw, plus great longevity. I bought some, & swapped away my AL '17 to get more.

I am officially jealous of everybody that can wear Cotton Phoenix well. It smells magical in the decant, exactly like the description. Once applied to my skin, the magic is thrown into disarray. My skin amps the almond milk so it's all marzipan, with a faint side of Snake Oil. The almond starts to ease up after about 15 minutes, which reveals that my skin chemistry has turned the cotton blossom musk to soap. Net result: Snake Oil dryer sheets. Phooey! No bottle for me.

Forum purchase. Fantastic! Lady Cecily's musky fur is very similar to the musk in Reapers Gonna Reap. Strong florals blend beautifully with the musk. Strong throw at first. I may have to look for another bottle.

This is one of the complex BPAL blends that reveals the individual notes slowly, like an unfolding flower. In the bottle: indolic apples. And I mean "barnsmell" indolic. Wet: something like camphor, sweet jasmine, musk, myrrh, apples & citrus. As it dries, I can pick out thyme. I can't pick out sandalwood yet. The jasmine diffuses, letting the other notes expand. The musk & myrrh take center stage. Powerful throw for the first 10 minutes, then it settles down to a medium throw for a couple of hours. Not long lasting, by the 3 hour mark it's mostly gone. Sweet, complicated, warm. I'm glad I got a bottle.

My favorite of all the new AG blends. Similar to The Cat, but without the honey. Cuddly for sure. Cardamom, cedar, vanilla musk. Heaven. Long wear, stays close to the skin.

The tobacco is a minor player on me, but of course ymmv. I have only experienced 2017 Day of Skulls. The florals are strongly present at first for me.

Day of Skulls is my new fave Beeswax blend. It's a complex blend, with a lot going on, but the beeswax note is a standout. It hits this beekeeper's daughter right in the scent-memory zone. Specifically, the heady smell of a box of sheets of beeswax foundation, ready to put into frames. Don't miss this waxy treat!

Disastrous Twilight is one of those complicated blends that is hard to pick apart & describe. My take is that it's a gorgeous resinous blend that dries down to a skin scent. I overcome my fear of orris & ordered a decant--instant love. Also, I will now probably blind-bottle any blend containing "star-touched blue amber."

I love Harlot & her sexy cinnamon ways already, so this blend was a must for me. Wet, Pumpkin Spice Harlot is very similar to Harlot, WITH TEH CINNAMON DIALED UP TO ELEVEN!! Thankfully that only lasts a few minutes. Dry, the roses are sweet, & there is a subtly fruity note rather like apples and rose hips. The spices include Harlot's signature cinnamon, as well as a touch of mace & nutmeg. My experience is that PS Harlot is sweeter than the cinnamon-only original Harlot, ymmv. Harlot is in my top 10 GC's. Pumpkin Spice Harlot is a welcome seasonal treat.

I don't remember spotting Aureus, The Coiled Serpent, Old Demons of the First Class, Aziraphale, or Looming Spectre of Inutterable Horror yet. Not sweet.

On this Rose-lover, Snooty becomes a rose-sandalwood-oud blend, with whispers of bergamot at the beginning, & shadows of plum after it dries down. Not too sweet. An excellent balance of floral & wood. Sheer pleasure!

Subtle herbs & flowers. Delicate, sweet. This is in the "warm forest magic" family that my daughter loves: if you like Elf or Fire Monkey, Leanan Sidhe is probably for you.

Wolf's Heart is my #1 for coziness, hands down. Hygge in a bottle. Musk, honey & amber are all cozy to me, so my main cozies tend to be sweet scents that feature those notes. I second Morocco, O, Haunted, Wulric, The Small Brown Cat & Brown Jenkin. I'd add The Little Wooden Doll, Coyote, Against Idleness and Mischief, The Cat, & Reapers Gonna Reap.

Welcome! I found that Imps were the best way for me to find the blends that work best for my skin chemistry. The wood notes that are magical for me might be the ones that trigger a headache for you, so I'm going to chicken out on recommending anything except The Cat. It's something cedar lovers should definitely sample <3 <3 <3. Imp packs from the Lab are a good investment. The Lab also throws in additional imp's ear samples ("frimps,") with each order. My first order from the Lab was 3 Imp Packs: Patchouli, Spice & Woody. My first bottle order was for two blends from the Patchouli set & one that was a frimp in my first order. The "Sales" section of the forum is another good way to dive in and find out whether a blend whose description intrigues you is bottle material. Some forum sellers with a large stock of imps offer great discounts. Have fun!

So much goodness! OK, this IS in the same family as Follow Me Boy, but it's more sophisticated & delicate, plus cream. The vanilla cream seems exactly like the note from Volcano in Springtime. The jasmine reminds me of the fresh headiness of jasmine in bloom. The star anise is low key on me. 100% my jam, total love.

On me, The Carousel is very strong while wet. As it dries, it quiets, and reveals all its layers. Amber, cinnamon, honey, moss & flowers are what I notice the most. Ozone, thankfully, just peeks around the edges after a couple of hours. Complex & sweet, along the lines of Kubla Khan. Enjoyable, wearable, glad I got a bottle.

Check the forum Sales section: I saw a partial & some imps in various posts there. I'm finding Alisz to be Lick It + light roses.

Gentle tea rose, lilac, Calla Lily, and Somalian Rose layered over golden Peruvian amber, Spanish moss, red sandalwood, rosewood, and myrrh, with the lightest touch of Mandarin. I love Viola. An excellent fragrance, honoring one of my favourite Shakespearean cross- dressing heroines. This tea rose really is Gentle, or else the Somalian rose is able to correct my skin's usual trick of turning tea rose soapy. The roses, lilac, & Calla Lily are the main event while wet. I have to huff to find the amber, moss & myrrh. As it dries, the resins & woods emerge a little more, contributing balance to a soft, rich floral blend. Viola is engaging, sweet, complex, & wearable.

Oh, this is lovely! Different than my other beloved frankincense blends, very calming & centering. The frankincense & heliotrope take center stage at first. It's the delicate, dry frankincense that I love from Tzadikim Nistarim. The carnation is present, but I can't identify chamomile or angelica. *** This is where my review ceases to be useful, unless you share my clove-amping problem. My skin can make even the tiniest amount of BPAL carnation or clove overwhelm all other notes in a blend. Veritas was a strong candidate for my bottle list. Alas, after about 10 minutes the carnation started to turn into single-note clove. Predictable, but still disappointing. Not for me, worse luck.

A tawny gold holographic that shifts from bronze to green and back again. Gorgeous! So much holo! This is my first foray into the Post's claw polishes, and I am totally sold. One coat produces a tawny holo shimmer, almost neutral at an angle, but dazzling in direct light. Two coats is intoxicating, three-dimensional star showers of bronze champagne. Don't miss this one, it's magic.