In The Forest

[poissonrogue]

A wild, passion-inflamed skin musk with black pine pitch, brown leather, black clove, copal, white sage, oakmoss, patchouli, and saffron.

In the Forest is by far my favorite scent from BPAL.
In the bottle, it smells of mostly of leather. The leather in this is soft, warm, and worn, not at all chemical or shiny. It also has a faint resinous smell that translates to something like molasses, but without the cloying sweetness. It's a very well blended scent, and except for the leather it is impossible for me to pick out individual notes.
On my skin this stays fairly true to the bottle scent, with the leather dying down a bit and the resins coming out a bit more as time goes on. Eventually it does get a bit powdery thanks to the resins, but not in an old lady sort of way.
I can definitely smell this on my skin the next morning and on my jacket for days afterwords if I wear this, so it is seriously long lasting. At the same time, it wears quite close to the body- there's not a whole lot of throw to this one. This one of only a few scents on me that manages to last the whole day without suffocating those around me.
All in all, definitely a 5/5.

[MCS4096]

Um... so for some reason I thought I remembered this blend had apple in it I put it on and thought "WHEEEEW, that's not apple!"

 

I am getting a strong strong strong chemical smell from this one, almost like an industrial cleaner. I wonder if it's a combo of pine pitch and sage. I'm a huge fan of all leather notes so I dont think it's that.

 

As it dries that chemically aspect calms down. I'm getting mostly leather and a high pitched, astringent smell that must be primarily sage. I dont get much clove and the patch is very well behaved.

[anaengel]

This has aged quite a bit since I first got it. My main memory from when I first got it was that it was screechy chemical leather. That memory kept making me avoid wearing it, but I couldn't even contemplate getting rid of it. I'm so glad I didn't.

In the bottle, it still has that chemically component, but it isn't eye-piercing. I almost didn't put it on again, but went past it. Once it came on, it went to a faded/worn dark leather. I was occasionally getting whiffs of lemon also, but it's more the leather and something grounding. It pretty much stays that way the rest of the day. Occasionally, I'll get the oakmoss trying to come out, but it gets knocked back by the leather. Not once do I get any other scents coming out. Unless I sniff really quick multiple times at the same spot. Then, I very faintly get the patchouli hiding VERY close to my skin.

This is a long lasting scent that DOES last through soap and dishes. I am very glad I have it after all this time and will finally find times to wear it again, even if it is only behaved during that week and in extreme cold. It's worth the effort for when it is good.