Lucchesa

I had an imp of Thanatopsis early in my BPAL journey but misplaced it, and I recently acquired a replacement. It's wonderful! Golden Priapus is one of my favorite GCs, and Thanatopsis is definitely a close relation, with musk instead of the vanilla. So it goes on all sharp juniper and pine, but the sharp note is quick to fade. What remains is a soul-filling sweet musky pine that stays true for a long time. I can see using this around the holidays if you like to smell like evergreen boughs. I'll wear it any time I don't want to clash with the great outdoors. I think this would be equally good on a guy - maybe even better!

Titania is pretty as all get-out. It's a sweet, fruity floral - the pale fruits give it a more ethereal feel, so it's not the full-bodied, dripping down your face sweetness of a ripe orange-colored peach but the more restrained elegance of white peach, and the same with the grape. Sweet pea is the flower I can make out most. If you fear rose, I'm not getting a lot of it here. I honestly couldn't tell you what snapdragon smells like. This is a lovely spring-summer blend, but as I have more lovely spring-summer blends than I have spring-summer here in the Pacific Northwest and Titania doesn't last on me like it seems to on some people, it will go to swaps.

I was super excited to try this for the name/concept alone. I was surprised to find it such an innocent-seeming scent, though! I didn't really get any lemon balm at all, and I *still* can't tell you what carrot seed smells like. I was hoping they and the benzoin and ambergris would dirty things up a bit. On me, I get mainly sweet white florals with a little ambergris, but the ambergris that smells like perfume, not the ambergris that smells like kinky sex on the beach. It definitely gets more interesting and complex on drydown, but it's still too floral to win my heart.

I wonder how literal Beth got with this one. I know she usually uses a great deal of poetic license, but there is definitely rose in here, and I'm thinking lily too, and an aquatic note -- anguish moist and fever dew? Could the green note everyone mentions be a sedge of some sort? I was hoping a scent "rife with mystery and foreboding" would be a little darker, not a pale aquatic floral with the rose a little sharp, but it works with the poem. Perfectly, in fact. A previous reviewer thought it was close to the Waterhouse, but I think it captures the feel of the Dicksee study:

Some Heraldry, when it first hits my skin, is high-end soap for at least ten minutes. I'm not sure which component is behaving that way -- incense ash? That's one I'm not familiar with. Eventually, though, it settles down into a lovely unisex blend. I wouldn't call it masculine on me; it's right in the middle of the continuum and I think would be equally nice on a man or a woman. I agree with Joyleaf_ that it's difficult to prise apart the notes. Both the tobacco and the leather are mellow; this is not a scent with a lot of sharp edges. It does wear close to the skin, but I think it will age nicely.

I don't love the way Somnus smells on me (jasmine?), which means that it's not my first choice for a sleep blend, as there are plenty of BPAL options that smell marvelous. For my sole test, I did get to sleep quickly, but I had intense dreams. I am going to try sprout's sock trick, and if that's not effective, this one goes to swaps.

I'm a huge fan of Wrath, which I feel perfectly captures the feeling of righteous anger. Rage, on my skin at least, doesn't seem to match its name nearly as well. It's very fruity, a little floral. Dragon's blood always has the potential to turn cloying on my skin. I love the combination of citrus and rose geranium, but neither note is very distinct here. And it's very faint after 90 minutes. I'm very glad I got to try this one, but I don't think I will wear it.

An ancient formula that inspires unrepentant decadence, lechery and debauch. Y'all are pretty convinced that there's gardenia in here. Gardenia is one white floral that is consistently good on me. This... isn't. So, if there is gardenia in here, there's also jasmine, or tuberose or ylang-ylang or some flower that reads as cloying on my skin. There may be some brown sugar or molasses and spices from a souk somewhere wafting in on the breeze. After an hour, this was finally a scent I was comfortable wearing, a kind of sweet vanilla floral with a touch of spice. I'm delighted I got to try it for the name alone, but I'm going to pass this along to someone whose skin chemistry will love it wet and dry.

I bought a partial of Palmyra in hopes that it would be a spicy leather incense scent and was disappointed. I couldn't make out any cinnamon at all, and the leather, frank and myrrh were all faint on me. I retested today before putting it on my swaplist and decided to think of it as an amber-sandalwood blend instead. I slathered, and I got good throw (for me at least) for a couple hours, and it lasted the rest of the day as a skin scent. Palmyra is much closer to Jacob's Ladder on me than to any of my leather blends -- kind of a masculine counterpart to Jacob's Ladder, which is quite feminine on my skin. By focusing on what I was getting (amber and sandalwood against a quiet background of resins, vanilla and leather) instead of what I wasn't getting (cinnamon), I appreciated the scent a lot more. In fact, I enjoyed the heck out of it today. It's off the chopping block.

I love Blood and Judgement. I'm not getting any of the sharpness some reviewers mention; I think it may simply have aged away. There is a lot of almond at first (which I love), but it is also the first note to fade away, leaving a snuggly blend of well-worn leathers, tonka and amber. I don't get any throw from this, though it lasts a while as a skin scent. Super comforting.

Have you tried RPG Neutral? You could layer it with a favorite honey scent.

In the imp, this was all about the jasmine. I gritted my teeth and applied it anyway and was pleasantly surprised because on my skin, New Orleans is really interesting. I get more of the honeysuckle keeping the jasmine in line, and I get a fair amount of spice reminiscent of the Lab's bay rum note. I don't actually make out any lemon, but it may also be reining in the jasmine. I quite like this one and will definitely keep the imp.

I rarely wear straight-up florals. Queen Gertrude is a straight-up floral dominated by violet, which may be lovely on you but is iffy at best on me. On my skin, it reads as "mature" floral. In other words, I'm 50 and don't feel old enough to rock Queen Gertrude. But if florals work for you, this might be an excellent "don't f*#k with me" scent for a workplace situation. Aloof and in charge.

I can't believe I've never reviewed Elf. It was my first RPG bottle purchase and is one of my very favorite impable GCs. Wet on my skin, Elf starts out with sharp evergreens -- I would guess juniper, maybe pine or fir, though they are not listed notes. Within 20 minutes, the evergreens soften (and aging should mellow them further -- I don't remember such sharpness in the imp of indeterminate age I had previous to buying the bottle last August). The golden musk and honeycomb emerge (think the gorgeous honey musk of the Bride) with some light, wild florals -- violet is problematic on me, and I'm not familiar with Parma violet specifically but I get no recognizable violet at all. The berry is a hint of tart fruit, and it all merges into this magical blend, like walking through dappled sunlight in a late spring woods, while knowing the secrets of all the plant life you pass and having the ability to take out a foe with a well-aimed arrow at 100 paces. Gorgeous. I wore Elf to a teen production of Into the Woods last night. I applied at 5 and it was still perceptible at 7:30 this morning.

I can't believe there are so few reviews for Bard. It's my second-favorite RPG scent (behind Elf), and I wear it without layering. Bard has some problem notes for me -- bay rum has burned my skin in the past, white musk can be screechy on me. But they all play together beautifully here. I think it's the white musk that lends a silvery tone to Bard, where I think of Elf as golden. Honey and musk are the principal notes on me, with the rum and its spices, the woods, and the metallic note all perceptible in the background as it dries down. I get the comparisons to Lights of Men's Lives, which is in my top 3 impable GCs, but on me it's different. Lights of Men's Lives is deeper, smokier. Bard is more extroverted -- I get more throw with Bard than I do with most BPAL, and thanks to the honey, it lasts a long time. Today I'm wearing Bard because I have to give a talk I haven't prepared as thoroughly as I would like, so I need the charisma boost. It's a scent that never fails to put a smile on my face.

A lovely, foodie, soft vanilla-pear scent. The pear here does not veer into the artificial, the way The Vine did on me. This is very quiet, with no throw at all, and like so many scents described as "ghostly," it fades quickly on my skin.

Ignore the name -- there is nothing floral about this scent. Leather, patchouli, vanilla. This is a total keeper for me. Soft brown leather, some woods, a little sweetness from the honey, a little dry earthiness from the saffron -- unisex leaning towards the masculine, sexy, warm, snuggly. This is predominantly a leather scent on me, but the supporting cast is marvelous, nothing overacts, it works beautifully on my skin.

Bumping this thread because it's missing about 6 years of BPAL. I checked it this morning in a panic when I realized how behind I was in getting ready for an important meeting at my son's school, and I wanted that extra dose of confidence -- not sexual but strong, competent, protective maternal advocate. I saw High John the Conqueror listed here several times and wore that, but it was the wrong choice for me. The meeting went very well -- the school bent on the "we can't offer those accommodations" email they had sent earlier -- but I was wearing an unfamiliar floral, when what I needed was something that felt like a second skin only better. In retrospect, I should have worn Bast or Mithras - I just didn't think of it, my head went totally blank when I had 2 minutes to choose a scent this morning. Both channeling ancient powers, both scents I feel 100% comfortable in. GCs, The Lion, Bastet, Van Van and Veritas would have done me proud. Black Rider, Black Tower. I thought of Bard or Paladin, too. I know I've written several reviews where I say a scent gives me confidence, but for some reason that's not the sort of thing I put in my scent notes. But when I'm in this situation in the future, I need to wear something I've worn often, that feels right to me. I've worn Wrath (which I love) for a work meeting where I felt I was in danger of getting fucked over, and it worked splendidly, but righteous anger wasn't the vibe I needed for the school. What are your strong, confident, competent scents?

High John the Conqueror was frequently mentioned on the Bravery, Courage, Confidence recommendations thread and something I liked enough to keep in my imp box, so I wore it to a meeting this morning with my son's school counselor, school resource coordinator and therapist to give me a little extra boost. The meeting went very well -- after getting an email saying, "We can't make these accommodations," it turns out the reality is more like "We can't write down that we're offering these accommodations, but we can help your son." So all to the good there. Scent-wise, High John is a light floral on me, a springtime scent - not something I would choose except for its voodoo properties. And after reading the thread more carefully, I think next time I will choose The Lion or Bast or Bastet or Van Van, something I am personally more familiar with and that is more in my scent family comfort zone.

I was surprised, after testing blind, that there was no bergamot or other citrus in Saint-Germain. It is very bright and a little sharp when wet, but it does not strike me as overly masculine. I wouldn't have thought to put these notes together, but they work really well on me. Carnation is always a favorite floral of mine, but it's subdued here by the amber and mosses; it's the lavender that really gets to shine, and it lasts longer on me than lavender usually does. I would wear this one when I want to feel elegant and above the fray.

All good stuff in here -- musky cinnamon and leather, cozy, sexy, yum. Then it disappeared. I put on some unscented lotion and tried again, and this time it stuck around a lot longer, but definitely as a skin scent. I like Count Dracula a lot and was delighted to get to test it, but I have other scents that check these boxes for me, so I will probably let this go to someone else who wants to try it.

I like Event Horizon much better than Darkness, which I tested yesterday. The opium is still strong, but the blend does not become as cloyingly floral as it does in Darkness. After playing a big role in the opening, the orchid is content to let the opium and resins take center stage. It's still sweet -- it's that lovely syrupy opoponax and vanilla-y benzoin -- and dark and heavy with good wear length, but it's not so oppressively floral on me. This one is a keeper.

Honey!!! That's all I smell from Door at first, then honey and herbs. A faint tinge of tobacco from the nicotiana? Not sure what cistus smells like, but this is gorgeous, one of the Lab's beautiful meadow in springtime sort of blends. Golden sunshine in a vial. I won't need a bottle right away because I have a brand new bottle of Against Idleness and Mischief, which shares the honey and chamomile notes. I will death match them one of these days, but there's definitely a family resemblance.

I was really bummed out when Grand Guignol was discontinued, but now that I've tried Depraved, I think I like it even better. The patchouli cuts the sweetness of the apricot better than the brandy. It's earthier, dirtier, sexier. It's definitely apricot and definitely a pretty dark patchouli, but it's more than the sum of its parts. And it lasts really well. I love it!

I don't wear opium much because it tends to be heavy on me. Darkness is really heady opium and narcissus, melded as if into a single note. The myrrh is there but stays in the background, which is a shame IMO. I can appreciate the loveliness here, and it lasts a really long time, but for me it's a little too sweet, a little too floral, a little too sultry, a little too mature (at 50, I don't feel nearly old enough to carry off this scent).