Mermaid-on-Land

First impression is that this is a brightly red floral. A stemmy, polleny, stameny floral, not just the petals, it has that greenery in it too. In the background is the bright sweet tartness of the acai berry. The honey sweetens it just a bit without being overtly noticeable. This is springy, fresh, and lovely. It's a bright happy scent, it reminds me of a cool breeze on a fresh day through a field of flowers. Spring as it just barely begins to round the corner to summer. It's the spirit of April, bottled, (an April I've never experienced first-hand living in a desert but it's the idea of April). The poppies are a top/middle note. When they begin to fade it becomes slightly tart honey-sweetened acai. The throw is great and it lasts pretty much average for me, about 7ish hours or so. The color association is bright poppy red with slight orange undertone and the bright green of the stems. This was a surprise hit for me. I didn't expect to like this one nearly as much as I do!

So excited to try this one! Mostly because I've been fascinated by the idea since a character in a book series I used to love drank some on a dare. So, I love the smell of anise because of a family recipe for christmas cookies, but that's a sugary sweet anise. This kind of anise is more the type to punch you in the nose, not bake you cookies. I hadn't realized how strong/sharp this spice is when not mixed into cookie dough. But I still really enjoyed it! I didn't find this to be foody at all. It was quite herbal and strong and sharp. The mint softened it a little and the anise stood out quite a bit at first. The lemon was sharp and tangy at the edges in the beginning, but I have a problem with citrus, it either fades to soap on me or disappears entirely. So it did go a bit soapy but it was very clean smelling and I didn't really mind. The color association is (as advertised) very green, almost luminous and sparkling clear chartreuse. This to me is a VERY unique scent, unlike anything I've smelled in perfume before. Sadly it disappeared on me in like a couple hours. And had almost no throw within a second of application. However, based just on the smell, I'm almost tempted to want to get a big bottle just to reapply all day anyway! I really loved this one but damn if it's just too subtle on me

Ooooooh I'm loving this so far! Right out of the vial it's very medicinal, in a nose-tingling type of way. This quickly settled down but still has that edge to it. It actually smells vaguely antiseptic somehow, but not in a current way. A previous review said that it smells 'OLD, like being transported to another time', and that explains it perfectly. It makes me feel like I've visited a Victorian doctor's office haha but, like, in a good (wearable) way? The sassafras gives it a definite root beer feel, but like old fashioned root beer that you would've bought at the general store for a penny, before it was made exclusively by Pepsi/Coke. (random fact I found out: these types of medications used to be given to kids using sassafras flavoring to disguise the bitter taste, I wonder if that was the inspiration here!) It's not sweet to me, at least not totally, and not at all foody despite the root beer comparison. I think sassafras is on my list of favorite notes now. I get a hint of nutmeg. The throw is good, I can smell it fairly well standing/moving by my desk. Also a coworker told me she liked my perfume and said I smell "sweet and sassy" lol, so the throw is noticeable. It mellows and sweetens as it dries, and the myrrh comes out a bit. It lasted a good 12 hours or so, losing it's throw around the 6 hour mark. This tends to get categorized as a masculine scent, but I would classify it as more unisex in my opinion, and it doesn't smell cologne-y at all. It's extremely unique and evocative. This is actually my overall favorite perfume out of all the ones I've tried so far!

I was very excited to try this one! It's been my favorite poem since high school, and I even once did a pastel copy of the Waterhouse painting as a school project, so this went immediately on my wishlist when I saw it lol. Ooh it smells a bit clear-spicy right out of the imp, I think that's the ginger. It's not candied ginger (for some reason that's what I was expecting) just nicely spicy. It gives it that "mirror-bright" feel. And it's a definite aquatic floral. This is really pretty and crystalline. The gardenia here is reminding me of the floral note in Sacred Whore of Babylon. The overall perfume is fresh but not overly light. I definitely smell the concept of a pool of water before a storm, you can kinda smell that ozoney scent far off, just a tiny hint. The color vibe is turquoise and off-white. Ok now the gardenia’s gone sort of sweet and powdered sugar-y, the same as in Sacred Whore. The ginger and aquatics stop it from being sweetness overload but it doesn't have the fresh vibe as much now. Oh dang, there it goes. Gardenia won and now I smell like floral powdered-sugar icing. Apparently gardenias are a Kanye West note on me: "Hey ginger, ima let u finish, but gardenias are the sweetest floral of all time" A couple hours after the gardenia takeover the throw loses power and it starts to fade. This wasn't as long lasting as some other ones on me. I really like this for the first couple hours! It perfectly evokes the poem. Kinda wish the gardenias didn't take over but I'll keep the imp and enjoy using it for the awesome concept!

I'm really liking this so far! It smells dusty and velvety early on, I'm getting more of the wood than flowers but what florals I do smell are mostly rose. A coworker loved my perfume today, she even commented that the throw is very different from how it smells close to the wrist. It's more of the wood notes close to the wrist, of which I think rosewood is most dominant, and flowers far away. It has a haunting quality to it that I really enjoy, I think it might be the dusty rosewood? The flowers seem dried rather than really fresh. I mostly get the rose and lilac, I'm not sure what osmanthus smells like so I'm not noticing that. The rose here reminded me of the attar of rose note from Obsidian Widow actually. The throw is fantastic, and this seems to last pretty well, about 7 hours. The color association for me is very desaturated light lilac blues and purples. In someone's review they said it reminded them of standing in the secret garden. I actually think it reminds me more of investigating old rooms in Misselthwaite Manor. It somehow does have a definite Victorian vibe. The spirits have spoken, Ouija is a yes

Right on application, this smells like overwhelming flowers and musk. After it calms down a bit the musk takes over for the next hour or two. It's a similar musk to The Night-Raven on me, it smells sharp-dusty-thin. At this stage it reminds me quite strongly of Design perfume. The tangerine eventually emerges to sweeten it a bit but it's still very musk dominant at this point. I think my mom, who's a huge fan of musk scents, would love this one, I might have her try it! Eventually the rose makes an appearance as well. And the bergamot hangs out subtly in the background. It's a bright, clear scent, but also very classy and regal. The color association for me is jewel-toned blues and oranges with gilded edges. For some reason it strikes me as, like, of course this is how the city of Moscow would smell as perfume, even if I had no idea, before trying it, how I would expect the city to smell in perfume form. Stuff like that is the reason I love BPAL perfumes! They're so evocative of their concepts. Eventually the musk fades and it's mostly bergamot with soft florals (lilies and jasmine? I'm not great at picking out florals yet)

Ok so right on application I mostly get vanilla. A lot of reviews I read found this to have a chilly, wintery snow feeling, but for me it's actually warm and snuggly, like sitting inside wrapped up in a cream-toned fleece blanket on drizzly day. I don't get much of the complexities of the scent described in other reviews though. My chemistry really seems to amp vanilla, particularly if it's paired with really light notes, so this basically ends up just purely sweet, innocent vanilla on me. Ok well the flowers eventually appear. Softly. Just a little on the background. I think there's a slight light musk as well. No pineapple, almond, cake, or snow. This scent is baby-soft, but not powdery. It's almost like the texture of fluffy snow without the chill. The throw is subtle but there. It's not very strong. As far as light, sweet scents go, I think Alice is by far still my favorite. Although I'm happy I got to try this since everyone raves about it, I don't think it's quite my style. It's very pretty. Just a little soft for my taste.

The color of the oil is perfect for the name, it's a clear ashy brown. On application my first thought is, 'oh dear it smells like Djinn' I'm getting the same cigarette note. A few minutes later, that cigarette note is fading and turning into more of a sweetly smoky smell. Ok that I'm cool with. There's a kinda cola-ish note that's almost but not quite sassafrasy. Hey this might be a wearable smoky perfu- wait... is that... Damn it eucalyptus YOU DON'T EVEN GO HERE! Luckily about 10 minutes later it listens to me and disappears (unlike in Djinn, where it was all I could smell. I would actually say this is very similar to Djinn but more wearable to me). I start to get some of the scorched cumin from Dracul that I liked, but without the sweetness that made that so wearable on me. I'm also maybe getting some of the toasted spices other reviews mentioned. It all kinda has an incensey vibe without being really incense smelling. I don't get burned plastic or chemical smells, and I'm not 100% sure what creosote smells like but I do get a definite burning smoky note. This is far more masculine and cologne-smelling on me than any of the other blends I've tried that have been reviewed that way, I think it's way too "dude" for me to pull off actually. I might try it once more with a whole lot less swiped on, I tend to apply really enthusiastically and I think this one was too strong for that.

Hmm. I recognize notes from Absinthe and Laudanum, both of which I loved. Mostly the sweet sassafras/nutmeg of laudanum minus the tingly-nosed medicinal effect I liked so much, and the anise of absinthe which appeared and disappeared pretty fast here, much like in the original. Then I end up getting the soft oriental perfume, just a touch. Eventually it all dries to sweet but indistinct before fading on me. The throw started off good but dropped over the course of a couple hours. I like Laudanum and Absinthe better by themselves than the hints of each I get here. I was mostly hopeful about combining them with the ozone notes. But sadly, I actually got no ozone. I didn't dislike it but I guess I liked its components better by themselves than the combination.

Wow whoever said peanut butter cookies was dead on, that's exactly what I smell on immediate application! The dirt develops into the dominant scent quickly after application and stays there pretty strong for about a half hour. The dirt reminds me of the red dirt note in Crimson Peak a tiny bit. About 45 minutes in, the 'perfume' note amps aggressively for a couple minutes. (I was standing on an escalator and thought to myself, 'Whoa the guy in front of me is wearing something strong!' Then I realized it was me 😂) About an hour in, it settles into a really nice scent, a pretty even blend of the perfume and dirt. The ginger note everyone mentioned in previous reviews showed up a bit a couple hours in but not strongly on me, and it didn't stick around long. This stays fairly strong on throw for a while, I was able to smell it easily while moving around. Lasts an average amount of time. I want to try it again just to get a better idea of what all is in the 'noir heroine's perfume' note, I really couldn't tell.

Did I get the same oil everyone else reviewed? *does double take, label is same* I mean, it was discontinued a couple years ago, maybe it's mellowed a lot with age? I actually hesitated to try this so I tested a couple other scents first, just because the reviews were either love it or hate it (with a lot falling onto the second category) but it really didn't smell at all like what I expected given all that. It was a nice, strong violet, fairly similar to the one in Bruised Violet Compound. Sweet and powdery. The vetiver gave it some depth without being overpowering. I think I really like vetiver actually. It seems to work well with my chemistry so far. This perfume wasn't heavy or dark though, it was actually pretty fresh smelling. The vetiver gives a freshness and planty depth to the powder of the violet. It brought up a scent memory of a morning on vacation to Disneyland with my family. Waiting for the tram in front of the hotel in the cool, misty morning, before the day gets really hot. I've always loved that exact time of day in that exact place, and the fact that this reminds me of it, I kinda want to track down every bottle left and just swim in the stuff! (Why did I have to go and fall in love with a discontinued scent, damn it?) The color feeling is soft blue-toned purple and cool mint green.

This starts off with the scent from the description, hot winds and barren fields. In like seconds, it sweetens to what my city-girl nose would picture hay to smell like (never actually smelled it in person lol). It's grassy and sweet but dry at the same time. It fades fairly quickly to a men's cologne-type smell then disappears altogether. Not much throw. I don't think this one worked particularly well with my chemistry. It wasn't bad, it just didn't really get the full effect on me. *Shrugs* oh well, can't win them all. I mostly just wanted to try it for the scent of 'hot winds in desolate sun-scorched fields' like that's so cool, how do they DO that? It really did smell like that for a couple seconds!

Straight onto skin: Eeeek! Cherry cough syrup! Wow, if I hadn't already slathered it all over both wrists by the time I smelled the cough syrup I might have put this one off for a couple of tests. But I've committed now... so, here we go. The very strong, sweet cherry smell quickly begins to be tempered by what I initially thought was cinnamon (after checking the notes, it's apparently cardamom, nose fail) and eventually gets a bit darker when the patchouli and cassis kick in. I had to look up cassis, so I found out it's black currant. There is definitely another darker, berry-like smell mingling with the cherry. The verbena shows up last and give the whole thing the 'glowing, otherworldly' vibe from the description. I was really impressed with that, every time I think something in the description is just there for effect, it turns out it's actually somehow captured in the scent. I thought with the cherry it might be similar enough to Blood Kiss but I think I may like it better The throw started out very strong at first, and began declining slowly after around 3 hours of wear. I kept catching sniffs of the scent moving around. 7 hours later and it's mostly a skin scent. Also, sometime about this perfume seems very familiar to me, some random memory it's bringing to mind that I can't figure out, it drove me nuts all day trying to think of it. Oh and in a review someone also said it smells like a craft store and I get that too. Like Michaels at Christmas, in a good way. Love it!

Based on a Romany incense blend reputed to induce sexual dreams: Somalian rose, Moroccan rose and Bulgar rose with a sultry dribble of cinnamon. Oooooh this smells good on application! I never really gave much thought to roses before discovering BPAL. I never really thought they were for me. But I've liked every scent I've tried so far that had roses in it so I think I've been converted. This is fresh and dewy roses on first application. Then over a couple minutes the cinnamon blooms and mingles with the rose scent. They combine into something more complex than just 'cinnamon and rose' that I really like. This is sweetly spicy and freshly rosy. Color feel is deep purple and red. The throw is pretty good in the beginning but lessens quite a bit on dry down. It faded really fast on me sadly. Oh well, I like this one enough to try slathering it the next time I wear it and see how that works to get it to stay!

This smells good right out of the vial. I get mostly the lavender and black current, and a twist of ozone. The musk, I think, is rounding out the scent in the background, and I really don't get much of the resins, I think they are sweetening things a bit in the background. After a few minutes I get the impression of clean laundry with lavender sachets that someone mentioned in another review but it doesn't stay like that too long on me. Eventually the scent separates into a distinct throw and skin scent. I like the black current that I get in the sillage, it's tart and pretty. Every time I try to sniff my wrist to get more of it I end up with all lavender powder though haha. I like both of them but I like the currant part from the throw more. The lavender is herbal, planty, sweet, and powdery, more so than freshly floral. I think the lavender is what gives it the "hazy" aspect from the description. I like this one, it's somehow fresh, tart, and soft and the same time. The sillage is pretty great, I was able to smell it just moving around for hours and it stayed quite strong. The colors to me are deep amethyst purple accented with hazy white.

Ok, so right on application I smell mostly frankincense. That stays dominant for about 5 minutes til the other scents start to emerge. I definitely get the gleaming metal undertone and a very clean, light leather. This is the first leather scent I've tried and I like it. It's not 'walking past a leather store in the mall' strong, just a nice clean component adding to the scent. I get a shiny golden-bronze color feel. There's a somewhat masculine vibe to this, it smells a bit like aftershave or something for a couple minutes but that goes away. There are no sweet notes for me to amp, but I don't mind that. I can smell quite a bit of the anise in the background; it's a softer, less bitey anise than in Absinthe. The throw is good, I can smell it while moving around. I really like this, it's interesting. Unique. When I walked downstairs after putting it on my mom asked (from across the room) "what perfume are you wearing? It smells good, very clean." I think that's a good description. Shiny, squeaky-clean, burnished brass and leather. I feel like a badass steampunk girl building mechanical creatures in a workshop or something . The throw diminishes over the course of wear, beginning to drop about 3-4 hours in.

Ok, I need a bubbly, happy, light-hearted scent today, so I'm gonna try out Delirium. It's a clear thin oil. On application, I immediately get the rose and lemon. I always manage to forget how distinct of a floral rose is, and this is quite strongly in the "fresh rose" category for me. It's very planty and dewy and cool. The lemon is tart and bitter, balancing pretty evenly with the rose. Apple is an underlying sweetness, much more Fuji than Granny Smith, and I don't get it as strongly as the other scents. I think it's a pretty perfect evocation of the concept and description, it's 'merrily mad, bubbly and contrary'. The throw is surprisingly good for such light scents. Like, I can smell the sillage from my wrist just while texting. The color association is pinky red and yellow (obvious color association is obvious). After a couple hours most of the bite of the lemon fades and I'm left with a sweet rose with a very slight tang. Actually it doesn't fade entirely, it drifts in and out. I'm shocked the lemon sticks around, citrus usually vanishes on me immediately! The staying power pretty good, I can still smell this about 12 hours later. I really liked this one, it's fun and light and energetic.

I'm not quite sure what I expected from a dead leaf scent, considering I live somewhere that doesn't really get a *real* fall with changing leaves and all. Maybe something earthy, brittle, dry, a little dusty? The dead leaf note ended up smelling vegetal, peppery, and a bit musky. That surprised me a little. One review said bell pepper and I kind of agree lol. It took about an hour or so for the bourbon vanilla and myrrh to make an appearance. Once they did, the scent sweetened considerably. I really like the bourbon vanilla, it's a darker, less sweet version of regular vanilla. And the myrrh is resiny and sweet. This has average throw and staying power. Every autumn I kinda wish I lived somewhere with a ton of trees to see the leaves turn, and I think if I did this scent would have more fall associations for me than it does. I like this but I'm not crazy about it, so I think I'm good with a decant. The far drydown is mostly sweet myrrh and reminds me a bit of the drydown of laudanum.

Ok, so I basically tried this one because of the name and the fact that it seems to be considered a classic. I'm not a huge fan of 'light' scents. They fade fast on me and have no throw with my chemistry. Plus my personality doesn't really run towards subtle anyway lol. This is lemon very strongly at first but that fades within like 2 or 3 minutes. Now I mostly smell the aloe with a bit of green tea and possibly the musk. This is airy and refreshing, but I can already feel it fading. It's nice but not quite 'me' I think. The color vibe from this is a pale yellow-green for me. Well... actually I maybe, kinda take it back. About an hour in, it develops a surprisingly good throw! Not as much as a heavier perfume but pretty good for a light scent with my chemistry. I might change my mind. I mostly smell the aloe, tea and musk at this point (citrus *never* stays on me). I think I'll wait for a super hot day and retest. I wrote this off too fast, it's growing on me. Again, not quite 'me', but I occasionally like to change it up and wear something totally not my usual style and this imp would work for that. It has a cool, detached vibe, like someone no-nonsense with a platinum bob wearing a crisp white blouse to a business meeting.

Ok so for this one I don't get any currant that I notice. I can't quite pick out the patchouli and moss per say but I definitley smell something in addition to flowers. I really get the dill note mentioned in a bunch of other reviews. I was so confused what the dill was until I read some reviews that mention it. I knew it smelled like something but couldn't quite figure out what. Violets are apparently a bit powdery on me. I don't really mind scents that are 'powdery' though. The color I get from this is pale purple with a blue undertone, with green/brown at the edges. I don't quite get the dark vibe other ppl are, but it's definitely an earthy, heavy floral vs a fresh, light floral. The throw is fantastic. After wearing for a couple hours, it's kind of all combining and blending and I get the sense of a "bruised" violet. Oh and at about 10 hours it's still going STRONG. This lasts a while. The scent keeps reminding me very strongly of... something... but I can't put my finger on what...? Oddly evocative and I'll update when I figure out what it is lol.

This is the most viscous and pigmented oil I've tried so far. I'm a little nervous to have worn a white shirt today This is very red right on application that sinks in yellow-orange and eventually absorbs/dries clear. I get quite a bit of the snow coming up right away along with something earthy and metallic. Soon the snow becomes a powdery mint (kind of reminds me of those See's candies at Christmas). It sweetens once the woods (or maybe another note, I'm not sure?) come in and actually ends up quite a bit sweeter than it started. The throw is very strong yay! It's actually quite sweet by now. At one point the throw for a couple minutes smelled exactly like my mom's holiday pizzelles. Sweet and slightly anise-y. Not what I expected given the decayed wood description but I quite like this. It's very wearable and the clay scent is subtle, giving it a slight deep earthiness. At the dry down like 8 hours in, the snow note comes back along with a bit of musky sweetness. This has *really* strong throw and lasted AGES on me. I really like this one! It has the strongest throw of any I've tried so far.

I really get the cake right on application. This is definitely a foodie fragrance. It's a dense, sweet, crumbly texture in my mind. After like 10 minutes the currants come out and balance it very nicely. It has a sweet but spicy, almost incense-like quality too. I kinda want to say I even smell saffron? The spice note actually started a bit medicinal in a similar way to Laudanum so I think it might have nutmeg too. The spices give it an old fashioned vibe, the way I would imagine sweets from another era, where it wasn't just pure sugar flavor. The throw is good, average to strong. Eat Me smells different close to the wrist versus far away. The sillage is sweeter, while close to the wrist is spicier. The color vibe is ivory with dark berry and purple accents. It all dries down to a vanilla sweet cake that lasts for AGES on me. It's still on my wrist a bit the next day. I liked this one, I am really enjoying all the Alice in Wonderland scents so far!

I first get nothing but flowers. Heady, rich, sweet flowers. They actually remind me of the star jasmine growing on my back wall. I love love love the scent of those flowers when I step outside! Eventually I get the bay rum/bourbon notes beginning to come out and add depth and, not quite spice, but tanginess, to the sweet floral notes. I think I can barely pick out the moss and dirt, grounding it a bit. Eventually all that's left is the bay rum. This loses throw pretty fast once the flowers disappear, and by the end of the day it's really faded. I love that initial floral smell and the mixing with the rum, bourbon, moss, and dirt. I might try slathering it on next time to see if that gets it to stay a little longer. Even if it doesn't I really like the scent and I'll definitely use my imp!

For something with a name like Sacred Whore of Babylon, I'd have expected something less innocent than how this turned out on me. It eventually ended up mostly powdered sugar! Right out of the bottle it was sweetly floral. No specifics are listed in the description and I suck at telling floral notes apart so far, but the consensus in the reviews seems to be gardenia. Now that the gardenia flowers have faded a bit I smell exactly like powdered sugar lol. Not that I'm complaining, I somehow smell almost exactly like walking past the bakeries on Main Street in Disneyland and I'm loving that vibe! That's more the throw, closer to the wrist it's a little more floral still. I'll enjoy using up the imp I think. The throw is still great 6 hours later. At some point it loses the powdered sugar in favor of a honeyed floral (not sure what kind, again I'm not really familiar with flowers. If I had to guess I'd say maybe honeysuckle? It's sweet and honey smelling). Editing to add that I love this and come back to it quite a bit. Gardenias smell like a floral powdered sugar on me and mixed with the other notes, the scent is lovely. This is a heavy, sweet scent, somewhat indolent and very much in keeping with the concept, I think. It's also oddly comforting in a way? Anyway, it's a fave of mine and one I wear often.

Haha I'm a total dork. I ordered this one thinking of Nosferatu with the wine notes (I totally got my vampires mixed up Oops lol). So I was kind of intimidated to try this one. A lot of reviews mentioned it was very masculine and I wasn't sure it would work on me. But the notes sounded interesting and I still wanted to try it. Right away when applied, this smells like burning smoky incense and spice with quite a bit of the orange blossom. No pine on me at all. I get no pine notes which is surprising since so many reviews say that's the dominant note. This has fantastic throw. I really like the cumin, it adds depth to the scent. Eventually the burning note begins to go away (no, stay! Come back!) This doesn't seem WAY overly masculine on me, at least I don't think. The floral orange blossom adds sweetness and I think it's very wearable on me. It starts getting more freshness from the mint later on. No musk that I've noticed and still no pine. I wonder if tobacco is the burning note I liked. I somehow expected that to smell like cigarettes and was prepared to dislike it, as I hate the smell of cigarettes. But I liked the burning note in this. Now towards the end it's more oranges than orange blossom. I like it actually, it's quite strong on me and I feel mysterious wearing it