porcelina

the first thing i detect is sweet, sweet icing, as soon as it hits my skin. then- warm, toasty gingerbread and a wide selection of sweet, colorful candies. a hint of chocolate, a breath of mint, sugar and spice. it reminds me of last year's kingdom of sweets, but with a blast of toasty gingerbread. i agree with heavenlyrabbit- it smells like a boxed of christmas cookies and other assorted holiday baked goods!

yummmm.

 

i swear i get a faint spice note from oak moon, somewhere.

 

mostly, though, it is gorgeous, living greenery, magnificent oak wood and a hint of nutty acorns, bursting with sweet sap. the lunar oils smooth everything out into a glorious perfume.

just a bit less awesome than i thought it would be. i am not sure where the blend goes wrong, but it's dustier and more powdery than i expected. i expected resins, wood and leather, and i got it, but the floral is a bit much for my tastes and the champaca makes it go all head shop on me. it's also more feminine than i expected it to be. i like it, but i don't love it.

yum! a true pumpkin scent, cooked down all sweet and delicious with spices and sugar. i am considering layering it with pumpkin masala rooibos to give it an extra blast of pumpkin. delicious!

 

it's a really strong scent- it seems to linger in my nose even after i stopped trying to sniff it.

where is the pumpkin? is there pumpkin??

 

i sort of get a note that my brain interprets as pumpkin but i'm not sure if it's really there or if the name and general spiciness created it for me.

 

in all honesty, i was SUPER excited when i saw pumpkin masala rooibos in the yule update but then when i smelled it at wcwc i kind of wasn't crazy about it. but i ordered it anyway and i'm glad i did because now that i have had a chance to properly evaluate it, i like it!

 

sticky-sweetness, earthy rooibos tea and lots of delicious spice. the spice and sugarr is almost overwhelming! it's quite a strong scent, but a really good one. it's appropriate for the holidays, but not to the point that it couldn't be worn all year.

i smelled this at wcwc finally, after ignoring it in the yule offerings for a couple of years! i am glad i finally got to try it.

 

it smells like cold, fresh air, pine and dirt, with sweet florals (but not perfumey florals, more like real growing plant florals) and just the tiniest hint of spiced cookies. the combination feels unconventional but the scent is very evocative and pretty much perfect for the yule season. i can see myself wearing this a lot next xmastime!

i will be *eternally* happy that i was able to swap for this lovely little number!

 

it's so good. omg. i have a TON of leather scents in my collection, and i adore leather, but i was kinda worried that fetish.goth would end up being overwhelmingly leather and it just wouldn't stand out from the crowd. WRONG. sure, the leather is there, but if anything it takes a backdrop to the beautiful patchouli, musk and resins. gorgeous stuff. it reminds me a bit of schwarzer mond, but dirtier, and of course with one of the loveliest leather notes i have smelled within the bpal catalog. sexy musky resinous goodness. mmm!

YUM.

 

i am not sure what exactly is in here but i love it. i can't decide if the grass is, like, regular lawn grass or sweetgrass, or if it's regular lawn grass with a touch of smoke, reminding me of this amazing sweetgrass incense i have. that's kind of what it smells like. green grass, wisps of smoke, just a touch of sticky candy. it smells fresh and sweet and perfect for a summer morning. i would totally wear this to a carnival or county fair.

kitty haunted me for a while because i REALLY thought i had ordered her but then it turned out i hadn't and all the courtesans came down. it took me a while to track down a bottle but i did! she's here and she smells awesome!

 

it all honesty, i am not sure what orchids smell like. i know that i am not keen on florals, generally, but whatever is in here works. the vanilla is creamy, the strawberry is juicy-sweet, and it all plays against a gorgeous velvety backdrop of honey and sandalwood and what i assume are orchids. very sweet, a little creamy, maybe just right for certain moods.

OMG gorgeous.

 

i have been coveting old moon since i smelled the prototype at december wcwc and immediately went home to order two bottles. now that it is here and in my possession, i can confirm that it is still a beautiful scent.

 

i don't get a lot of leather. maybe a hint, of old, worn, faded leather book covers. mostly it is old books and sweet musk- a softer, gentler, more personal version of my all-time favorite lurid library. it reminds me a little of dee as well, or a sweeter aziraphale.

 

it wears quite close to the skin and just has the most amazing scent- clean musk (without being soapy) and old books distilled into a beautiful perfume. i am not sure others would be able to guess the notes without hearing them beforehand- they would just think you smelled wonderful. i could easily see old moon being a go-to, in-the-morning, not-sure-what-to-wear-and-don't-particularly-want-to-smell-like-cookies-or-church-or-dirt-or-blood-today kinda scent (yes, even i have those days). mmm.

i am so glad i got to unexpectedly try pumpkin hard candy! it is warm, buttery pumpkin atop sweet citrus candy. it actually reminds me a little of pumpkin queen, but without spice and with less depth. it's very sweet, fun and light-hearted. yum!

i can't believe i hadn't tested this yet. it is soo lovely. it reminds me of obatala, and maybe haloes, and maybe opuhi, and maybe tiki princess. it's a soft, sweet, creamy coconut with hints of that beautiful "golden incense" note that i love so much. very light and pretty!

in the bottle, the red musk combined with maybe the anise and something else remind me of my beloved elephantine colossus. on my skin, though, it's something different!

 

there is, of course, a lot of musk, with the sweet resinous amber to back it up. the red musk, which is SUPER strong in the bottle, is softer and less of a stand-out on my skin. there is a slight, ticklish dryness from the cedar and orris and chamomile.

 

it fades to a sweet, musky skin scent. my husband loves it on me! if you like musks and resins, this is a must-try.

yum! sweet, syrupy peaches and sparkling champagne. a delicious bellini (i think that's actually made with prosecco, but whatever) in bpal form.

 

this will be very wearable in the summer. it smells fresh and sparkling and cheery, like a morning champagne brunch. my only complaint is that it fades rather quickly on my skin.

YUMMY!

mango lychee champagne smells sparkly and sugary and delicious. the first image that pops in my head is that of sugary pink and orange candies. as it dries, it becomes a soft, sweet champagne scent with just a touch of fizz and juicy, fruity notes. the fruitiness actually reminds me a little bit of tweedledee, but fresher and with the added champagne pop. i would totally drink this.

i cannot speak to any ritual purposes because, well, i don't really know anything about that. but i can tell you that TAL Yule, at the very least, smells wonderful!

it's appropriate for the holiday season without smelling like a candle or a room spray or any other generic holiday crap. it smells like pine and fir, with touches of cinnamon, with delicious myrrh underneath it all. it smells wild and fresh, but also resinous and spicy. i'm very happy to have a bottle of it in my collection!

chill white musk- there is mint but it doesn't smell like mint, it smells like cold air, or maybe cold skin, kinda like The Vampire Bride. there's the autumn leaves note from october and a bit of sweet vanilla. it reminds me a little of the last unicorn (this is a good thing!).

 

this is like a crisp autumn morning with frost on bright red leaves.

PINE. PINE PINE PINE PINE PINE. not fresh crisp mountain air laundry detergent kinda pine, but thick, dark, deep, resinous pine pitch. the darkest of ancient pine forests! this is intense!

 

there is smoke too, so there is a fire burning in this scary pine forest and i am wearing it all as a perfume. and then there are resins so some strange kinda magic is going on in this scary ancient forest. and it's beautiful, and then… it goes away. seriously. poof. it fades, and i am left with the barest hint of deliciousness.

 

there is no earthly reason why this scent shouldn't work on me. the notes are all spot-on. but… it goes away. where did it go?! i am so sad that this does not work for me!

what on earth am i smelling here? what the hell does laudanum smell like? is that the medicinal note i'm picking up on?

 

there's crisp white linen with something sharp and medicinal. there is a dead sexy tobacco musk, can i get this as a single note please?!

 

it's really cool and unique until my skin destroys it and turns it into a cheap "fresh laundry" candle.

oh sprinklecake! i want so badly to like you because you have the cutest name and the sweetest description. but sweet sugary sparkly princess cupcake scents and me are not to be.

 

on first application i get a blast of rich, vanilla cake (more like cake batter) and lemon sugar with lots of thick, creamy frosting. if this lasted, i could have found a good scent for the rare occasion when i decide i want to smell like a great big birthday cake! but it fades oh-so-quickly and i am left with a fake plastic cake.

this is the sexy patchouli from banshee beat with a delicious blast of boomslang-style cocoa. if you like banshee beat, or boomslang, or the black temple burlesque troop, this is worth a try for sure. sexy vanilla, cocoa and earthy patchouli with just a hint of tobacco sweetness. i'm glad i bought two bottles because i could see this being a classic everyday scent for me.

 

by the way, SHAKE OR ROLL IT BEFORE YOU WEAR IT. tried it without mixing before and it was totally different (all patchouli, no yummy chocolate). i like it much better now!

my initial reaction to elegy ix was not a positive one. in fact my first thought was AAH WASH IT OFF NOW!!!!! there was something super strong and sharp when i initially put it on. but then i calmed down and read over the notes and the real scent started to emerge.

 

this is like, autumn forest concentrate! amazingly, the fir does NOT take over like piney notes usually do to me in every perfume ever. there is fir, there is wood, there are leaves and nuts and sweet honey. once it calms down, it's actually quite nice. i get the comparisons to samhain- this is like that, but without the spice (which pretty much takes over samhain on my skin). i am very happy to have this in my collection!

in the bottle it smells like… cookies?? i am thinking this is a combination of the often buttery pumpkin note and bourbon vanilla.

 

on my skin it starts out as buttery cookies but gradually the wood and the linen note i love from herr drosselmeyer emerges. this is not a pumpkin spice scent! i really like it, it's sweet and creamy without actually smelling like baked goods (after the initial OMG COOKIES stage passes). the wood and vanilla reminds me a bit of my beloved antikythera mechanism!

 

edit: i am so sad. the pumpkin has faded to a plasticky mess. i cannot wear ANYTHING even remotely foodie! i hate you, skin chemistry.

this is dark, earthy and malicious. the vetiver is most prominent, all smoky and smoldering with an oddly metallic tang on top of the blackest of black patchouli. the metallic note seems to die as it dries.

 

the musk underneath is really sexy with the ambrette seed and slightly sweet peru balsam.

 

unfortunately the final dry-down is unpleasantly animalistic (in a, like, fecal kind of way... ) and the metal comes back. oof. i don't think my skin likes ambergris accord.

this starts off with a dry apple scent- almost like apple, white musk and light, papery florals? it reminds me of a bath & body works apple spray, which is not what i want to smell like when i'm wearing my lovely bpals! after the first initial blast is over, it's a lightly sweet apple scent with hints of moonflower. i don't mind it, but it's not anything special on me.

 

my husband thinks it smells like dish soap.