freyasfae

This is sticky, sweet pine resin, and man does it throw. As it was drying, I liked it close to the wrist, but once I smelled it swirling around me, it started to smell like aftershave - the kind in an old house of a strange relative, in a glass bottle with a metal top that is rusting - it's probably been barely used since the 40s. I had to wash it off, I didn't get any of the air, earth, and moss.

Very lemony citrus, sharp with the grapefruit, and the musk comes out more on the dry down. I prefer Whitechapel as its more of a delicate citrus, but this is a great scent for someone looking for a bold citrus.

Soap, soap, soap. Funny when I read reviews about some of my favorite florals, a lot of reviewers mention soapy, and yet they are never soapy on me (or at least in a bad way), but this is just soapy, soapy, soapy. It does have A LOT of throw and wear.

Suprisingly sweet on me considering the presence of herbs and arrow shafts which I assume is the shea. Not overall, a scent I need a bottle of, but I do like the scent.

This really is a beautiful Christmas scent, but the pitch pine is just too intense for my personal tastes. This is something I would like as a candle, but not on my skin.

Well, patchouli is a no for me. Worse, it gets medicinal on me which could be due to maybe some benzoin or vetiver...I haven't quite figured it out. It's just not something my skin chemistry likes. It does have a light, dry quality to it that is appealing, except when on me.

The chocolate and coconut is pretty strong in the bottle and when wet on me, but it fades pretty quickly and I am left with a more floral scent with chocolatey coconut undertones. I never thought chocolate would be a note that I enjoy, but I am finding in these unique BPAL combos, I really enjoy it. This is like white chocolate coconut in a mist of florals. Lovely. I can't express how much this evokes the Last Unicorn for me, it's an innocent and sad scent. The notes would seem to make it light, but it has a lot of depth like the story itself. Stays close to the skin though so it needs slathering.

I was surprised that such a incense-y scent was receptive to me and my skin, but then I looked up what galangal is and realized that was probably it. Galangal is a part of the ginger family, and my skin and my nose love ginger - in this case, galangal gives this incense based fragrance a citrusy element, but that does quickly fade into, and I am left with a mostly woodsy incense-y fragrance that is light and dry...then starts to dry to slightly medicinal. My skin hates frankincense and sometimes likes to duke it out with cedar, so another one bites the dust. Swaps!

I tried Black Annis last night, and it is dirty, wicked sexy like a praying mantis or black widow who kills her mate after copulation. I love it.

Dark fruits can be iffy on me, and this one is better than most, but once it dried down it was mostly a generic perfume on me. Not necessarily a bad thing as a generic perfume from BPAL is still rad, but considering my huge collection, I think this one can go to swaps. Also, this is probably the first scent I haven't loved from Rappiccini's Garden which are just divine on me - the dirt, green, and herbs with a lingering toxicity, excellent, but this one is still pretty darn good.

Wet this has that coconutty, snow scent that many ascribe to Snow White, but ended up totally lost on me. Once on, it immediately goes piney, but the sweet, coconutty snow lingers around, so the pine doesn't become too stark. I don't necessarily associate it with outside the snow or even inside looking out on the snow, but an early reviewer described it perfectly as the winter fairies in Fantasia, and I must agree: I am going to try and find a bottle of this!

I got this as an imp in an Ebay lot and most of the scents were spicy/incense scents which I learned are not for me. This one passed the initial test of I don't flat out hate it, but I decided to revisit it today, and oh boy, this is smoldering, sexy, wicked fun. I won't be getting a bottle yet, but I am saving the imp for next October, my favorite month of the year, where I will wear it when the first cool wind starts coming in, hinting of the winter and watching horror movies.

Received this as a frimp from a forum sale. This is not a foodie vanilla, as the vanilla sneaks in and swirls about. I suspect my skin must amp sandalwood because this was spicy sandalwood on me, laced with vanilla to soften it. I smelled some of the frost in the imp, but on my skin, nope, nada. Like Ina Garten Davita said, I do associate it with Winter, but not in an outside way, but in a curled up my log cabin with my fur (faux) throw, staring out a frosted windowpane, a cup of tea in my hands. If I had to give a color palette, it would be this: (via Design-Seeds.com) On my 1-5 BPAL scale, I am right on the fence with this one at a 3. I think I will store it until next winter and revisit it then.

Perversion is my go-to sexy time scent! I just sniff it and feel sexy. The perfect scent to wear to your next bondage ball, dungeon adventure or sojourn to your favorite pleasure dome. Smoky rum and black tobacco with a whisper of steamy leather with a splash of crystalline chardonnay, layered over a sensual, sweet, and deceptively magnetic base of tonka.

Well, this confirms incense in anything is an automatic dislike for me - even with notes I like such as moss and dry earth. The drydown got more moss and dirt, but the throw was still incense for me.

2010 - got as an imp from a Sqwook's sells in my continuing quest for the right snow scent for me I tried Snow White, and it was much too sweet to my chagrin so I like the notes of pine/fir here (which my skin loves) to balance the sweeter snow scent. The tuberoses are still very prominent (my skin tends to amp florals in general), but I am not really getting much in the way of mint/menthol which is a bummer. It may be due to aging which considering the previous review may be the case - the mint fades over time. I do like, but it's not quite the BPAL winter scent I am looking for. The quest continues.

Received this in an Ebay imp lot. A lot of the scents were spices like Umbra which I have learned I am generally not a fan of. However, Umbra is one of the ones my skin favored more...and the patchouli didn't go awful on me, mainly because the cedar and vetiver brought in a woodsy note to the spice. The cinnamon was very subtle on my skin. Glad I got to try and find a spice that I don't hate. It's not a bottle for me, but it gives me hope for other spices!

It smelled sour to me in the imp, then was sour when wet - I think it is due to the honeysuckle which is a death note on me - it usually ends up sweet and sour on me, but in this blend, there is no sweet - I think because the greenness cuts down the sweet, so it's just sour on me. To the swap box.

Whoa, carnation lovers if you haven't tried the Yule 2015 - Hurðaskellir, yet then you should - it is "booming carnation" like it says. I thought I liked carnation, unconditionally, but I realize the carnations I do like are blended with other florals or some sort of sweet scents like sugar and honey. Some of my favorite carnations so far are: Alice High Strung Daisies The Reaper and the Flowers Though, I tried Prurience awhile back which is a spicy carnation and didn't seem to mind it. I will have to retest...

Whoa, that carnation is spicy and strong - it is definitely booming and the patouchli is definitely disruptive. I don't know how they BPAL does it. I wish the mint, fir, and lavender came through stronger on me, but it is mostly booming carnation laced with patchouli on me. I like my carnation softened or sweetened like in Alice - this really isn't for me, but is most definitely a compelling scent and very much a carnation lovers scent.

Ooooh, this was one of those BPAL's that was very much what I expected from the description - lovely kitchen herbs and a hint of wooden spoon. It's very subtle and really needs to be slathered on and reapplied midday, but worth it. Right now, I am on the fence about whether or not I want to go ahead and purchase a bottle (I received this one as a Yule 2015 decant). It's a perfect kitchen witch scent - so I am leaning towards yes...

This one was a fun run in skin chemistry for me. On my beau it smelled like leather, while on my BPAL buddy it smelled more sandalwood and incense shop, on me it was mostly woodsy and the amber came out on the drydown. It was fine on me, but I preferred it on my beau, but as my BPAL buddy loves these kinds of scents, we ended up swapping imps instead. Fenris Wolf for the Lady of Shalott. Conclusion: All around well-balanced dry spicy woods scent that works well for gals or guys.

This is almost a single note chocolate, it's so pure milk chocolate. Being that it is pure milk chocolate, it is also very sweet. I got this in an Ebay lot, and while I don't think I would wear it as a single scent, I think it will be fun to layer with some other scents.

2015 - I got this in a Yule decant circle I wanted to give this one a shot because I almost liked Bliss on me, but it was ultimately too sweet (which I don't particularly care for milk chocolate anyway so it was true to form), and because I was hoping it would smell like the Mexican hot chocolate I get in Santa Fe. Well, it's not quite that, but it is still delish. El dia de los reyes lacks the chilli powder kick of Mexican hot chocolate - it smells more like someone took some Swiss Miss, but doctored it up to make it not so cloying. Thus, it's got this sort of nostalgia of Swiss Miss, but grown up with spicy cinnamon and a touch of coffee. I won't be buying a bottle of it, but I will definitely use up the imp, especially on days like today where it is dreary, rainy, and wet outside, and I want to feel dry, warm, and cozy. It also has excellent throw, I am sitting at my office desk ensconced (but not overwhelmed) by cinnamon-y cocoa powder. Also, this scent is so convincingly foodie that my dog was fascinated by it and after prolonged sniffing of my wrists, attempted to lick it off me.

This scent is more evocative of the title than the description for me - it's a little somber and haunting, but there's also a sort of comforting nostalgia there. They wet to drydown isn't as different on this scent as it is for me with most BPALs. In sum: A dry woody floral with pepper lingering in the background. Beautiful and more haunting than screeching - I like it as a winter floral. On my BPAL scale of 1-5, it gets a three - almost there, but something isn't quite right. I think it's just I have some scents with similar qualities that rate just a little higher for me.