Mermaid-on-Land

Lab frimp! The hops are very sweet and floral smelling right on application, they are almost bubble gum-like for a second before settling. That is most of what I get to start. There is a bit of the dusty leather but not much. There's also an undertone that reminds me of the 'thin oil' or bronze note in The Robotic Scarab, that I really like. I never really get the mineral or metallic qualities that everyone else seems to. This is very pretty and not nearly as masculine as I'd pictured from the description. This dwarf is a total girl-next-door type that probably sings Taylor Swift songs in the mines.... I applied quite a bit so it began very strong. It became less noticeable over the course of a couple hours so sadly it didn't last as long as I'd have liked. However I liked this a lot more than I thought, it stood out as very unique! I've never looked much at the RPG line but this was cool.

Very gardeny when first applied, I can see how this relates to the queen's rose garden from Alice in Wonderland lol. It’s also quite strong on rosewood which is a note I’ve loved since I tried Ouija. It’s not overly ROSE rose, but a nice combo of cherry-rose-rosewood with a bite of lavender. Unique. It’s a sweet fresh powdery floral that’s pretty unlike any others I’ve tried, though the lavender recalls Lurid a tiny bit. 15 minutes into wearing, lavender beginning to dominate and goes a bit powdery, but then rosewood comes up to meet it and it creates a lovely spiciness. The overall color impression I get is a dusty medium purple and red velvet. I quite like this, it’s unlike anything I already have! Sadly there’s not as much throw as I’d like and it doesn’t last longer than 6 hours before fading to a skin scent, but it's really unique and cool!

Cool! I was expecting something leafy fresh and super herbal but this has an underlying burnt smoky note that I can really get behind! A bit of darkness because this is an *evil* plant 😈 is it maybe creosote? It reminds me just a touch of Smokestack but more pleasant. There may be a sliiiight touch of eucalyptus which I haven't liked in similar scents but it's only ever very faintly there and only if I look for it so I don't mind it. It smells really good and I love the things that make it not 'just' herbal because I'm not so much a straight herbal person, I like other stuff added. Other than these impressions I have no idea, the description doesn't list notes and my nose isn't quite educated enough to pick them out with any authority. Not much throw sadly and doesn't last long even with slathering as much as I do

I mostly smell an oak note that reminds me of Black Annis. Another wood, similar to the dryest aspects of Ouija, comes through as well. The farther drydown reveals the dark tobacco sweetened by vanilla. I dk, need to test again. It was very masculine for me. One of the woods is so light it's almost citrusy... I think my chemistry was off the first test day, because the second try was much nicer. The tobacco was smoky and heavy and the vanilla was rich and sweetened it nicely. The woods gave the effect of the box holding the mechanism. Beautiful woods and the heavy darker sweetness and depth of tobacco and vanilla. THIS is what I had expected the first time I tried. The wood notes lend an image of an old desk in a Victorian study. After a couple of wearings I really love this one!

Very fresh and windy, this is an airy scent without being imperceptible or too light. It has a similar wine and leather aspect to Wanda, with a very rounded grapey wine note that's fresh and not overly sweet, and the leather is somewhat newish and reminds me of a shoe store. There's a mild powderiness from the ambergris and the rest is mostly that airy ozonic quality. There's also a hint of greenery from the ivy. I didn't get much of the burnt smell, and only a tiny bit of metal in the beginning. It's definitely one that is gender neutral. There was also something about how the wine and ivy mixed that reminded me a bit of Nosferatu's wine and herbs.

Ehhh as far as pirate scents go I prefer Anne Bonny. It had more leather and gun powder and salt soaked woods to add interest to the ocean scent. This is pretty much a salt water scent with a tiny tiny hint of wood. Maybe I get a little of the bay rum but I've never been able to smell it clearly in any scent I've tried with it, it seems to be one that vanishes on me. Either that or it's what smells cologne-like in a few of them. Oh well, it smells pleasant but too cologneish on me, and while I definitely like a few masculine-leaning scents, this one doesn't really stand out much.

Beeeeeergamot when I first apply. Bergamot with the astringency of tea. Sweet lemon cookie. With a tiny bit of the lavender from the fougere. Eventually the tea fades to the background a bit and the vanilla comes out to the forefront. I love vanilla notes, which is very fortunate for me because my skin chemistry also loves vanilla notes and tends to push them front and center on a scent. The musk tempers the sweetness of the vanilla a bit i think, but it's not noticeable so much in its own right, more so as an accent. The fougere was most noticeable upfront with the bergamot, it doesn't stick around on me so much. I like to wear this on days I want a lighter, only slightly sweet perfume. It's a good balance of 'earl grey tea with milk' and a slight bit of vanilla. It's soft and fresh on me and not at all sinister like the description lol.

This smells honey-vanilla and almost peachy close to skin, very sweet and clean. The throw is something else entirely, a very similar (and hella strong) musk to Bastet, which I kinda compare to the smell of a pet's coat that's been sitting in the sun. So far, not sure here. Eventually the musk settles a bit and what's left is lovely. It's a warm, musky honey-vanilla, saturated, almost sticky in texture. It reminds me of the sweetness of Blood Kiss, and the musk that's in here (again) very much reminds me of Bastet. It's strong and more on the animalic side. It's throw is great, and the wear length is great as well. Trying this, i suddenly realize I have no idea what amber smells like in a scent. I can't pick it out in this or anything else. It has to be mixed in there somewhere but I dk where? I don't turn amber powdery so I'm not sure what it actually smells like. Anyway I quite like this! Gotta wear it a few more times and see how often I reach for it but I like how the honey and vanilla combine with the musk. On a second wearing, omg I'm in love, def in my top faves! Also I think I'm starting to notice the amber now.

Omfg this is BEAUTIFUL. It's a musk-floral aquatic. This is simple but captivating. It's got a nice strong throw and do I smell a hint of gardenia? (oh wait *checks list* it's muguet. No wonder I like this) The ambergris is giving it that musky, soft, nearly powdery quality, I think. It's the best I've been able to smell ambergris so far and I love it! This is not the light clear clean ocean scent I was expecting. I thought it would be very light and unnoticeable but the sillage is fantastic and I'm kicking myself for procrastinating so long on trying it. It's ethereal and mysterious, a garden maze in full bloom at night shrouded in heavy mist. I keep sniffing my wrist compulsively. Damn it why are LE's so pretty?! I have zero chance of ever finding more of this, it's from 2012 *pouts*

Very oceany with a dragon's blood scent overlying it. If Dragon's Tears is a dragon's blood scent with an undercurrent of saltwater aquatic, this is a saltwater aquatic scent with an undercurrent of dragons blood. The aquatic seems to be the most prominent note. The dragon's blood starts off fresh and light, the "cherry-floral" side that I see in so many reviews, and over the course of the dry down it deepens into a more resinous aspect and competes more strongly with the aquatic notes. I enjoyed it but want to wear it again to get a better sense of it.

It smells like seawater mixed with cream, which doesn't sound appetizing lol but scent-wise it works! Throw is great. It's a sweet, almost gentle aquatic, as though the addition of cream smooths off all the rough edges. I can see how it might veer into dryer sheet territory for some but on me it stays just on the right side of it. For a little while all I could smell was the aquatic in the throw but a little ways into drydown it balances out perfectly. The color impression is a deep but desaturated blue and off white. I think this is almost cuddly, and like, the closest an aquatic can get to seeming warm (blanket warm, not tropical beach warm, it's not tropical at all) Very unique!

Pure dude's aftershave on me, and way too sharp, like a guy who over-sprayed axe. Swapped away to a co-worker who loves fresh aquatic scents and it wore really well on her tho! She brought out all the subtly floral notes and complexity of the scent. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ skin chemistry is weird. Oh well, I have plenty of other nice aquatics I can enjoy 😊

Ooooh this is nice right on application. It's a deep, dark, cherry-tinged wood scent. There's a depth that's almost chocolatey without being actually chocolate or foody. Maybe it's the tobacco note everyone's mentioning. It's rich and heavy, with a chewy solid quality. The cherry is not cough syrupy or artificial at all. It's really integrated with the dark woods and mahogany. It's sweet but not overly so. Overall the color reminds me of a reddish gleam coming from a polished, lacquered dark wood. The woods disappear behind the cherry note a couple minutes in which disappointed me a bit but oh well. I still like it. Gets a vague medicinal tinge as the woods fade. Eventually dries to a dark cherry frangrance with mahogany undertones. Doesn't last as long as I'd like but was very nice while it stuck around. Gonna test further to see how much I reach for it.

Very light, watery herbal notes. I can barely smell it with my nose pressed to my wrist. When I do smell it I get an almost lettucey note. Meh. Light scents aren't my thing. My chemistry does nothing for them and they don't grab my attention at all. There's something powdery and perhaps a bit soapy on me, it unfortunately reminds me of an old deodorant I used to hate. Hmm. This might not work so great on me. It's got a hint of mintiness too. Later on the lettuce/vegetal note fades and it's a teensy bit more floral but not sweet. Springy. Calm. Like slight ripples on a pond surrounded by greenery on a warm day in May. Or looking at a Monet painting. Yeah that's it. It's oddly impressionist. I do feel pretty chill and calm but I'm not sure if that's placebo effect haha. I'm quite susceptible to being influenced by the descriptions of these scents so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Eventually this develops (and then completely changes to) the same odd stale note that happened with Prague. Some light floral apparently does not like me.

Pollen note that i notice from slippery poppy tincture. It almost but not quite reminds me of honey. Combined with a light, golden, frankincense-like resin scent. If there are any herbs, there's a small hint of them chopped up and mixed into some kind of oil (maybe even olive oil?). It's not *herbal* but they're subtly there. Balsam keeps it light. The scent is light in general. Not light as in barely scented but light as in not heavy in feel. It's actually fairly strong. It almost has a cologne-like note so I think this would easily work for a guy as well, it's fairly unisex. Very golden. Pretty but not *me*.

Ok so I loved carnation and plum in two different scents separately so I wanted to try this to see how they are together. On application I mostly get a smooth but somewhat spicy floral. The musk is a pretty accent and I can actually sort of detect it here, whereas I usually can't pick it out. The plum is extremely subtle on me tho. It's not juicy and sweet, it's almost a dried plum. It's close to a straightforward floral on me. Until I looked up the notes I had thought there might even be rose. I like it but I'm not crazy about it so I think I'm good with an imp. The throw started off well and dropped off steadily over about 4 hours. What is left is a rather non-sweet plum with a bit of musk. It would be great for someone who wants a plum scent that's not foody or fruity at all!

...Her scent is a deep red merlot with a faint hint of leather, sexual musk and body heat over crushed roses, violets and myrtle. Omg yum. I put this on and right away I get a juicy vibrant very *grapey* wine. The wine is on the sweeter side but only slightly, and not in a dessert way, more in a fresh/fruit way. It's not extremely boozy but more so than any other scent has been on me (I don't mind though, it doesn't smell like I spilled a bottle of wine on myself either lol) It has the same humid quality as some scents like Eros and Hell's Belle, but not warm like those scents, it's almost on the cooler side. The hint of florals I get is mostly what I think is the myrtle and a hint of rose, I don't overly notice any lilac. The leather makes an appearance about 5 minutes in and balances nicely with the wine. This is gonna sound terrible but it's shoe-store leather on me. Very clean, new leather jacket-ish. First leather scent I've tried and I really liked it as a note! It's actually very fresh for being a heavy scent, not cloying at all. The throw is strong and fairly noticeable, although it oddly disappears off my wrist a couple hours after application. I can't sniff my wrist directly but the scent still drifts around me. Going on the favorites list I think!

Ermagherd, I tried this months ago and totally forgot to review it! Loved it, it was awesome and I felt like a cool witch crafting spells in a tiny cottage wearing this. The moth dust was a really interesting and predominant note. The scent was herbal with an earthy/woody grounding. The flowers came through with a subtle sweetness, I picture white chilly florals, not warm saturated ones. The cold iron note was noticeable as well. Yeah I wanted to go around singing "I put a spell on you" 😬 This variety of herbal, with a solid base of earth/wood and a hint of sweet floral, works better on me than straight up herbal, which isn't quite my style. This was beautiful and I quite enjoy it! 😝

Saltwater-soaked woods and maybe a kick of gunpowder are the most noticeable aspects of the throw here for me. There's very little scent near the wrist pretty soon on application, I mostly notice it as I move around and detect it subtly, not with a direct sniff. This oil makes me feel like a badass pirate and just yes. A couple hours in I notice the skin scent has developed the sassafras note. Such an unusual note, I have a definite soft spot for it in perfumes. It is sweet and mixed with resins here. That eventually fades to a lingering sweetness while the saltwater and wood remain predominant in the throw. I like this one if only for the feeling that I project a piratey aura! Not a "signature scent" for me, but definitely something fun for days I want something unique!

Right on application it's watery-sweet and VERY cucumber scented. It's sweeter than I expected, and much less grassy than I thought it would be. There's perhaps a delicate watery floral in here, only very slight... oh no wait, there's the grass note. The smell of a freshly mowed lawn comes up STRONG and very suddenly. It's very much like lying in a field of grass (without the itching because I'm really allergic haha). The color association I get here is pale translucent green with flecks of dark grass. The grass note sticks around for not quite an hour before fading back a bit, then continues to dance between being very upfront and almost unnoticeable past the juicy sweetness of the cucumber. It's springy and fresh, a scent category I like in theory but which is not quite my style. This would be a good scent for a slightly breezy but pleasant day in March. I'm not sure how much I'll wear it tho, I think an imp is quite enough for me. This faded quite fast and had a low throw, not unexpected for a light scent on me.

Initial review (one of the first BPAL perfumes I tried): omg the vetiver is veeeeeery strong. At least I think it's vetiver? I've never smelled that note before. Is it too strong? (I've read reviews that people either love or hate vetiver, I'm a little intimidated ) Anyway eventually it settled down and the cherry and vanilla notes came out a bit more. Very sweet but it still kept a good bit of the underlying darker complexity from the clove, wine, poppy and vetiver though. Smells really good and comes thru very strong on me. Good throw and lasted a long time, all day practically. After a couple months of reviewing: This is lovely. Very sweet with a dark twist. I kind of get a slightly similar feel from Centzon Totochtin for some reason, though I think Blood Kiss is more complex. I think it's the sweet, heavier foody scents (cocoa vs vanilla/honey) with the wine and "blood" inspired scents giving me that impression. This is definitely a very sweet type of wine in this blend. The honey and vanilla make it very rich and somewhat foody. The cherry is not cough syrupy (Yay! Cherry can either be good or bad on me, and this is great!) The vetiver that I found intimidating on the first wearing has quickly become a favorite base note of mine. It gives this scent a nice dark twist along with the spiciness of the clove and the depth of the wine. The poppy is the same sweet bright-red floral I loved in Slippery Poppy Tincture, blending with the cherries nicely. This is one of the first BPALs I tried and still a favorite!

This smells a little cinnamony when first applied. Maybe that's the clove? It's smoky/peppery/spicy. I quite like it. But I'm having a hard time describing it. I definitely smell the myrrh-like oppoponax in the background. The pepper is a unique note that's noticeable. It's pretty but perhaps leaning a bit cologne-ish. But not too much for me to wear, I don't think. It's a dark scent, fitting the name, but elegant too, I think. A refined, well, *classy* demon lol. It's resiny with spices. Good throw and lasted a good amount of time. I could detect it as I moved around. The dry-down is mostly to oppoponax, which behaves a lot like myrrh on me. A previous review described it as opening a wooden spice chest and I can't get the association out of my mind so I'll just second that haha On a second wearing I mostly notice the pepper and clove giving it a spice and a smooth musk in the background. The neroli isn't terribly noticeable but lends it a hint of sweetness. The pepper comes across more spiky in the beginning (it veers a little close to making me want to sneeze!) but smooths out over time. It's a very *dry* scent; it almost made my nose feel dry to smell it. Like air in a desert. I like this and get a better sense of it on the second wearing. I'm discovering I like musk based scents as well!

Meh. I liked Windward Passage better for a stormy ocean scent. This one is a lot simpler on me, I think I'm just not bringing all it's notes out well with my chemistry. It's got pretty good throw and lasting power though. It is ozoney and fresh, but also a bit minty on me somehow. Sometimes I like mint, but in Lightning it veers a bit toothpaste-ish on me. The water is only very slightly saltwatery but not as ocean-like as Windward Passage. It's not as intense as I was expecting; it seems more toned down than, for instance, Hurricane. I wanted to like it based on the description but there are other similar scents I like a bit better, this one was too subtle for my taste.

Ok mostly what I notice first is the cassia and quince. This is a spicy cinnamon-y scent without being cooking cinnamon. It's holiday-ish to me, the cassia reminds me of the scented pine cones so I wore it while decorating the house. The quince gives it a fruit-juicy edge, reminding me of almost a fruit punch cider. I've never smelled quince (or eaten it) but after looking it up, apparently it smells like a cross of apple and pear, which makes sense where I get the apple cider vibe from. I think the prune combines with that general fruit scent and adds a bit of richness. The black ginger is probably combining with the cassia lending it some bite. The rum doesn't make an appearance on me. Overall I like this. It's somewhat foody but quite spicy. The wear length is average, so is the throw. Eventually the spice wears off and its mostly just the fruit. Wait a second. After re-reading the scent description before posting I realized, it's not CASSIA. It's CASSIS. As in currant berries…? But…but…I smell cinnamon! Well, my review still stands. I would swear I smell cinnamon. Must just be the ginger creating the impression. I guess the cassis is combining with the other fruit notes to add to the 'fruit punch cider' effect.

Everything's blending and smelling the same to me, is this Sacred Whore? Hell's Belle? Lady of Shallot? It's gingery but without the freshness of Lady, orangey but missing the humid sweetness of Belle, and gardenia-like but without the indolent quality of Sacred Whore. It's like their tropical cousin? It was good but honestly I enjoyed all three of the other ones i listed better. I'm not really sure why I'm noticing such similarities between all four, they don't share too many listed notes in common, but that's what I'm getting. It was a bit simple for my taste. Too light and carefree; I tend to like a darker edge to my scents. I dk I think I need a testing break. My nose is confused and overwhelmed and probably hiding in a corner somewhere begging me to give it a break. I'll probably come back to this again at some point, when I'm not overwhelmed testing new stuff and running out of descriptions.