porcelina

i love love love the scent of beeswax, so naturally i had to try liberty. it's very prominent here! there's also frankincense and smoke, which gives it a nice incensey quality. unnnnfortunately, the florals have to come out and ruin everything. they kind of take over and make it hard to smell anything else. i blame the magnolia!

my overall impression is soft, fluffy brown fur. there's coffee, but it's not a foody kind of coffee, with the woods and the smokey khus. the mallow makes everything sweet and cuddly. honestly, atlas makes me want to curl up and go to sleep. it is cozy and warm. aahhh.

this is much greener than i was expecting! i think i thought faiza would be darker, more resinous, like snake charmer or something… but it's quite different. faiza is a dark, spicy green floral for people who normally don't like florals. the black musk, honey and amber keep it from going into CRAZY EXOTIC BOUQUET mode and the greenery here is dark and intense, more like a jungle than a rose garden. i wonder how this will age?

neutral is really, um, neutral. it's a pretty, clean, very simple skin musk, just like it says. i think this will layer really well with other blends- it's a lovely musk, soft and slightly sweet without any powderiness that sometimes accompanies its brethren.

oof. this should work- fruit black currant, earth mushroom and myrrh? but it doesn't. it's bad... very bad. under the vague fruitiness is a bitter, medicinal scent that just overpowers everything and ruins the whole thing. i can smell the black currant and the myrhh and how this should, theoretically, smell good, but... no. it all goes horribly wrong. i honestly can't wait to wash this off.

dragon moon was an impulse purchase; i wasn't even aware of bpal's existence back in 2006, so this is one of the older bottles in my collection! i get a lot of pulpy, plenty bamboo from this at first. then the cherry blossom comes in- one of the few florals i truly enjoy, and i don't have a lot of blends that contain it. this is really fresh and sweet and spring-like. i don't get a lot of dragon's blood (maybe as a faint, floral sweetness in the background?) or sandalwood. it's very pretty- i will be wearing this in the springtime for sure!

oooh my. this is gorgeous stuff. whatever musk this is, it's amazing- "deep, rich, sweet and dark" is exactly how i'd describe it. luna negra is smooth, sweet and resinous. it reminds me of snake charmer and WILF and other dark, musky, complex oils. to be fair, i have a lot of scents like this in my collection, but i feel like the berries here add a fruity sweetness that makes luna negra unique. yum.

i get mostly fizzy, nose-tickling champagne from this one, and not much else! it's pleasantly sweet and sparkly, but i was hoping for more of the tobacco note i love so much.

whoo, ennui is DARK and kind of bitter. there's definitely some vetiver going on here- a really strong, black vetiver. there's dark, dark chocolate- maybe like raw cacao beans; this is not at all a foody blend. unnnfortunately for me, as it fades, i'm left with mostly vetiver, which i amp like crazy and which is, sadly, not my favorite note. but i like this blend, and more than that i like the idea of it- so i think i'll hang onto it to see how it ages.

i will always be grateful to the awesome bpaler who sold me my bottle of champagne & party hats, because it is such a great scent and it makes me sooo happy! it just smells so... celebratory! the champagne here is sweet and fizzy. how does a perfume smell fizzy? i will never know. it's effervescent, bubbly, sparkling- everything champagne should be! and it's combined with cake, and not just any cake- this is most definitely a delicious white cake with creamy white frosting and pink icing and sprinkles. it smells like a very happy birthday. in fact, i think i will make it my official birthday perfume!

i'm so glad i got to try this in person at c2e2 because i never would have bought it otherwise. the grains here are definitely fresh and grassy as opposed to dry or bready. it's not a foodie scent- it's a fresh, outdoorsy, rural kind of scent- rolling fields of healthy, growing plants. it smells alive and fresh and green- it's earthy and organic, in the same vein as one of my other favorites, graveyard dirt. this is a great scent for a spring day, when the ground is damp and everything is full of life.

i loooove crib girls. the honeys are sweet beautiful and there is a hint of citrus and fruitiness. i don't get a lot of cardamom, but there is a sense of spice. it fades a little too quickly, but i can live with that. it has a pretty decent trow, while it lasts, but it's not over-powering, just light and sweet. YUM!

i love lemon-scented sticky bat, because it reminds me of a dearly departed chaos theory that i, uh, accidentally spilled all over my husband's iphone. i previously would not have been interested at ALL in a lemon scent, but my mind was opened, and i needed to find a substitute- and then lemon-scented sticky bat (it's so fun to say) came into my life, and i fell into a pool of sweet sugary lemon candy goodness, and it was awesome. this tastes like lemon gibralters, the old-fashioned candy i received a sample of in a swap one time- sweet, sugary, not creamy in an actual cream sort of way, but in a soft, powdered sugar sense... but not powdery. it's definitely sticky. it's more sweet lemon candy than lemonade. it's delicious and refreshing and perfect for summer.

velvet bandito has been a favorite of mine since i first tried it a couple of years ago, so i don't know why i never got around to reviewing it! it's sooo nice, like slightly musky clove cigarettes. (oh, how i miss cloves. ) it's soft and comforting, but kind of spicy and sexy at the same time, and it seems to last quite a while! i love this stuff.

i'm sooo happy my husband hunted this down for me! it was my favorite birthday present this year! we actually went to c2e2 last year, but by the time we got to the bpal booth, the anti-saloon league was all gone! it smells awesome in the bottle... just fantastically creamy and delicious. once applied, the root beer comes out and it smells like a root beer float. or root beer ice cream. or root beer candy and cream. any combination thereof. no matter how you look at it, this is great! but somehow, it manages to avoid being a super foody scent- this is more gourmand than foody; it smells more like a sexy-root beer based perfume than an actual beverage, and that is the edge that makes it awesome. my only complaint is that it fades more quickly than i like. but that's okay... i'll just keep slathering.

fledgling raptor moon is really soft and gentle! thankfully, it's not powdery, as these scents often are. i can pick out the lovely aged patchouli if i try, but overall this is really well-blended. it smells light brown and fluffy, if that makes any sense. woodsy, warm, sweet with a hint of spice.

theoretically, i should really like the hag. sadly, the rum ruins it! why, rum? i like to drink you. i would like to smell you in perfume. but rum always turns into this vaguely sweet, almost buttery, flat plasticky scent on me and it ruins everything it touches! (bay rum is the exception- i love bay rum. but while the hag contains both bay leaves and rum, this is NOT the same thing.) booo. i can smell how nicely dark and musky this could be if the rum would play nice. sigh.

in the bottle: FRUIT and dried flowers (kind of like potpourri). on the skin, the flowers turn fresh and vibrant. this has a strong throw, and i can smell it over all of the other bpals i am testing right now, even when i'm trying not to. the plum and pomegranate are lovely, bright and juicy, but the tuberose and lily are just too strong and this quickly passes into GIANT FLOWERY BOUQUET perfume territory for me. it's not even that i don't like it- it's kind of nice. i just don't think i could ever, ever see myself wearing lola.

ded moroz is beautiful! the first thing i get is the snow note- fresh, cool, just a teeny bit minty. other than that, it's reeeeally hard to pick out individual notes here, because it all blends together in a really delicious way. my overall sensory impression is golden light, pale woods and fresh snow. it's beautiful and chilly, sweet and serene. the woods and resins here are not dark and overpowering- the snow keeps everything fresh and bright.

olisbos is gorgeous stuff. i was concerned about the olive oil, but i don't smell like italian food, or even olives- i can pick out the note, but i can't describe it. it's smooth and slick against the wood and the leather. this is a fantastic leather note, too- soft and faded, more like suede than a black leather jacket or shiny new boots. if you are a fan of leather in perfume, i think you will love this. it might be better than the red rider (my previous leathery favorite). i want to roll around in a vat of this stuff! MMM.

wow. in the bottle i get SUPER spicy clove, with a hint of smoke. it's a very autumnal scent. on the skin, the clove comes to the forefront. it's lovely and sweet-spicy; it's easily the best clove i've come across in a perfume. the black musk here is soft and subtle and very wearable, and the light smokiness is like a fire burning far away. over time, the clove and musk blend together beautifully. i remember when i first tried hell-gate, it seemed quite powdery to me. it could be that the musk has improved with age, or that whatever else lent that note to the blend (the feathers?) has faded. either way, this is really gorgeous and i think it'll get a lot of wear from me this fall.

in the bottle: STRONG leather and sharp violet leaf. on my skin, the frankincense and woods are more noticeable, with dusty cedar and sandalwood at the forefront. at first, it's mostly a dry scent, and at times i think it smells somewhat chemical. that fades after a time, but manilus retains a slightly bitter edge, even as it dries and becomes softer and more resinous. i like this, and i think it will age well. the leather does not overpower once it's on my skin, and the notes eventually blend to be a dark, powerful scent (a little goes a long way).

aside from the damask rose, there are no "iffy" notes here- i have high hopes for ninon! the first thing i notice is the hay and amber, reminding me of hay moon (which i happen to have 3 bottles of...)- the overall scent is dry and golden. as it dries, the rose comes out and sweetens everything, but does not overpower or turn this into a floral perfume, and the honey musk makes a gorgeous base for the earthier notes. the final dry-down is quite sweet. to me, this is a more feminine, perfumey version of hay moon.

in the bottle: SUPER powdery musk & dry, dusty tobacco. no leather to speak of. on my skin, the leather starts to come out, but it blends really well and doesn't overpower with that bold, slick, shiny black leather note that i get a lot in perfume. the tobacco is sweet but dry. the musk, though... it's really powdery, and i'm not sure how i feel about it. it's not a very masculine scent, despite what you might think. it's quite soft and sweet- not exactly feminine, but quite gender neutral. the powder is starting to calm down as the oil dries. it's quite a powerful scent, and a little goes a long way. applied with a light touch, this would be a good choice for a casual, everyday perfume.

i'm kind of surprised i like this one. i mean, chocolate and flowers? why? but it works beautifully. the white chocolate is pale, creamy and cool, when mixed with the coconut- it is way more perfumey than candy, and i mean that in a good way. the lilac petals add a light floral sweetness and it is all tempered by cool, refreshing lettuce. it's all very well-blended, to the extent that individual notes are difficult to pick out. it's cool, pale, shimmery, creamy, beautiful. i think a unicorn might actually smell like this.