queenshaboo

I'm a HUGE amber fan, in fact 90% of all the perfumes I buy now are resin (and wood) based, I'm totally off florals and never really got into fresh/ aquatic/ ozone/ citrus notes; however I'm not a huge fan of this amber. I'm smelling just too much synthetic musk (which gives it that dry sweetness) and very definitely CASSIA, which is much more 'dusty' and less biting than real cinnamon. For some reason The Lion has an odd note that reminds me so much of red Thai curry paste (lemongrass?? galangal?) and which I find offputting. That and the syn musk prevent this from being the amber one for me. The synthetic musk just takes over on my skin and dries down to a weird dusty nothingness, very much like Wicked. I prefer a higher percentage of benzoin in my amber, or for it to be darker and more mysterious like Alkemia'natural amber 'single note' or Solstice Scents resin blends like Conjure Dark. I'll probably layer it with some of the Lutens middle eastern inspired scents like Fumerie Turque/ Chergui and Arabie, none of which I like as much as Solstice scents/Alkemia but which would probably layer really nicely with this.

On me it's a mixture of leather, lavender, soap, men's cologne and musk. Wish I got the 'vanilla sweetness' that others are getting but all I get is a lot of synthetic musk. BPAL's lavender note seems to be consistently soapy to my nose, more's the pity because I love lavender. The leather is nice though. Basically if you ever wondered what a Victorian dandy; (or a Georgian roue), would smell like, this is probably it.

Haven't had much luck so far with the Lupers but this and Danse de la Mort are the standouts. On me all the notes blend seamlessly, except the cinnamon is very subtle, only lending a slight spiciness to the sweet honey (I love the honey note in this! sweet with wafts of powderiness that lend depth). The tobacco and leather classy things up quite a bit, making it smell like expensive French perfume of the very best kind. The leather is that rich buttery suede scent you find in buttery soft kidskin jackets the colour of caramel. This is very definitely a perfectly unisex fragrance but on the sweet, sophisticated side. I'd love to see what it smelled like on a guy!

Woah this is the strangest blend! There's a sharp camphor-y, rubbing alcohol note at the start, all the notes are jangled up and don't play nicely with each other at all but as it dries the candy sweetness is toned down and the leather, tobacco and whiskey get stronger, I like this phase more but not sure if I like it enough to wear. If you do like it though this one has amazing throw.

Out of the bottle: jasmine and tea, bergamot/ citrus note Wet: strong white soapy jasmine, the leather is very very faint, can't detect the musk at all Dry: soap soap and more soap This smells like if a bar of Imperial Leather soap and cheap 99c store jasmine soap had a baby.

A bit disappointed actually, I was hoping for a dark gothic rose scent but on me it's very very sweet, definitely a pink rose which I'm not too fond of, and I'm a massive rose fan! I definitely got strong whiffs of burnt sugar wet and dry it's just sweet syrup without any rose at all, very similar to verystarry's experience. Didn't get any tobacco and yet I normally amp tobacco so I'm not sure what happened here.

Wet the opium tar is front and centre, it's very exotic and makes this perfume, on me, smell like a lighter, less sweet version of Alkemia's As Dark Things are Meant to be Loved. The opium here floats on a softer, drier powdery amber, the amber in Alkemia is richer and warmer; if it was a colour it would be a dark chocolately ochre, here it's white. The tobacco is hard to separate out but it just lends a nice unisex edge, preventing the mix from becoming too sweet and the sandalwood is subdued but spicy, just not as strong on my skin as I expected. On the dry down however the sandalwood gets stronger, and combines with the amber to make a heady spicy and slightly powdery woody sweetness which is truly lovely. I swear I smell a floral note here too, maybe just a hint of rose? All in all a very sophisticated exotic oriental wood scent, if you love Opium you'll love this! I just bought an FB of As Dark Things though and it's just too similar to justify getting this one as well, d'oh!

Woah on first opening the imp all I smell is Ammonia/ Cat pee, which is the juniper and cypress not playing nicely in my nose. Scared but swiped on lightly. Strong notes of Pine-sol although thankfully the cat pee is gone, dries down to a very watery rose which is quite nice but the initial cat pee is a deal breaker for me. Probably be suitable as a non binary/ asexual type of perfume? Definitely not my cup of tea, I've learned that I hate juniper (and cypress) except when it's in my drink.

Got this as a frimp. Really like jasmine and really like rose and wet I get both of those in one heady combination. In my culture (indian/ middle eastern) jasmine is the king of flowers while rose is the queen so a combination of both is thought to create a greater whole . Not sure if this is why the rose and jasmine stay nice and true on my skin but it's a heady combo that reminds me of Joy (which I love! I'm also an older, drunk, neurotic woman so maybe I'm just the target market lol. In any case I don't get any of the smoky note that others speak of. There's a middle phase where the myrrh is just starting to come out and it goes all dark and straight into the realm of the divine. I can actually see a dusky skinned haughty eastern queen clad in gold sashaying down a dusty red road. LOVE. After 10 mins though the myrrh overpowers the flowers and it's still nice but I don't think I'll get a bottle because I have a feeling where BPAL will shine for me is in the leather/ tobacco/ sandalwood based florals so I'd rather try the Tales of the Imagination and Devil's Lovers first. *UPDATE* ooh the smokiness is coming out now, I quite like it. But still prefer tobacco over myrrh.

Weird. Out of the bottle and wet, I don't smell roses, lilac or wisteria at all, just jasmine and gardenia (or maybe tuberose?). After a few minutes I imagine it starts smelling of slight rose and lilac and wisteria except it's not like any wisteria I've ever smelt (irl wisteria reminds me of purple sweet pea but lighter and less exotic) and the lilac lacks that clear piercing sweetness that the fresh flowers have; so it remains reminiscent of gardenia/ tuberose drugstore perfume to me. I've always thought of myself as a floral girl but I'm starting to think maybe I'm not because I really don't like this floral. I don't smell much real rose or lilac or wisteria at all. Even In the dry down all I get is incense and overripe gardenia. I only bought this because I expected it to be more rosy and if it smelled like it's constituent ingredients are supposed to I would love it but the more I smell it the more objectionable it gets

First ever BPAL purchase so here goes: -Starts off with strong tea and lemon, it's very very similar to my favourite tea Lady Grey (no not Earl Grey, if you haven't tried Lady Grey and you love Mother Ghost you owe it to yourself to get a box today!) -Goes powdery all of a sudden with a waft of rose and soft dry florals. This phase is reminiscent of the "expensive lady like perfume" others have noted; it reminds me a bit of Coco Chanel but much nicer because not so synthetic and aldehyde-y. -The lemon reappears, but deeper, so now I know that it's actually the lemon note of the benzoin that is reasserting itself. It brings up scent memories of my dearly departed grandmother burning raw benzoin resin to purify the mosque at prayer time when I was little and the taste of her leathery skin when I had to honour her corpse with a kiss at her funeral. This is the "cold ghost" phase to me. - The vanilla orchid and musk come out to play; with the tea leaf twinkling in and out at intervals. Mellowing out now, a lot of musk, vanilla and labdanum but so well balanced with the cold benzoin and tea.. oh man I was worried because I got my FB blind but I'm so glad I did because I absolutely love this!