BPAL Reviews XLIII
Yesterday, Sargon asked me to put together a box of boy-flavored BPAL for him to play with.
Ponder that. Sargon. A man. Willingly subjecting himself to my perfumed mercies. I am so incredibly tickled.
So I spent part of today in the company of the lovely bat_cheva, chatting randomly and pulling out about 35 dudely scents for him to try.
Now he smells like Schwarzer Mond.
Why, yes, I do spoil him.
Anyway, to celebrate, and to get me back on my Thursday BPAL-posting schedule (shut up, it's Thursday still, because I haven't slept yet) below the cut are a handful of random reviews: Omen, Vice, Bliss, Anathema, Aureus, Lampades, Mag Mell, Old London, Les Bijoux, Zephyr, and Lysander.
Omen, Lab description: "Deep, mysterious, and full of dark portents: oakmoss, juniper berry, myrrh and patchouli."
This is deep and rich: green moss and the thick aroma of rich patchouli over the clean sweetness of juniper and the gentle brush of myrrh. In the bottle it smells like a less headache-inducing version of those colognes that I like so much - woodsy, masculine, deep.
On, it gets greener, moss and juniper mingling over the patchouli's throbbing base note. This is standing with toes sunk deep in forest loam, surrounded by the ripe scent of temperate rainforest. The myrrh gives it a touch of mystery, as though there's a chapel not far off, surrounded by the sleeping trees. It's the scent of a hidden place.
The myrrh reaches out in the throw, too, which is extraordinary, a wonderful balance between incense and greenery. This isn't a combination I've smelled before, and it's quite evocative. There is something dark and portentous about it, something ominous.
The drydown is fairly dangerous, a murky, powerful mix of myrrh, moss, and patchouli's dark kiss.
God. I just realized this would have been the perfect scent for a character from years and years back. Wow.
This is definitely masculine, and it's also beautiful.
Vice, Lab description: "Voluptuous and indulgent! A deep chocolate scent, with black cherry and orange blossom"
Chocolate! Chocolate with a hint of sweet cherry and just a little perfume. This smells very good, though I have to point out that when you really stop to think about it, chocolate actually smells pretty fragging horrible.
This has more cherry once it warms up - it's the smell of the sugar goo inside a cordial cherry. The throw has a hint of floral in it. All together, it smells rather like . . . bubble gum.
Go figure.
It's candylike, sweet, and very sugary. Not a scent I'd recommend for those afraid of foody, sweet smells, but one I could unhesitatingly recommend for someone looking to work their way through the Lab's sweet scents. This is a nice one. The chocolate isn't overpowering once it's on the skin, and it actually is more cherry and orange blossom than anything else.
Bliss, Lab description: "A shot of pure, self-indulgent euphoria! A scent that is very, very wicked in its own way: the serotonin-slathered scent of pure milk chocolate."
Oh my God, it smells exactly like hot chocolate. YUM.
On, it's not as overpowering as I had feared, but it does have a noticeable throw and some real staying power. This is a single-note scent. There is nothing else here to interfere with the chocolatey sinfulness. Just rich, creamy chocolate radiating in layers you could spread with a knife.
Bizarre that an oil that smells so perfectly chocolatey should be absolutely clear, but there you have it. This doesn't look as potent as it is.
Wear with caution; this is one scent that could cause people to start nibbling. Hell, I'm about to nibble on myself. The scent is so pure that I cannot convince my lizard-brain that there isn't, in fact, any chocolate in the room.
Anathema, Lab description: "A scent as heavy as thunder from the Vatican, with notes that inspire every sin and excess. Black opium, with vetivert and honeysuckle."
This is a richly perfumey, highly charged scent. All three notes are obvious in the bottle, the perfumed, poisonous haze of opium, the razz of vetiver, the glow of honeysuckle.
Once it warms up it acquires depth like layers of smoky haze; the vetiver remains grassy and clear, it always reminds me of the smell of the dried florals section of a hobby store. Under it is the opium, which warms to a tarry, rich scent redolent of incense and indolence. The honeysuckle gives this a fleshy sweetness that takes it straight to delightfully depraved.
Anathema? Yes. But it's the scent of one who has deliberately stepped outside the bounds, and found more enlightenment there than within the safe confinement of moral rectitude.
I'm the first person ever to use "rectitude" in a perfume review. I'd bet money on it.
This would be dangerous on either gender. It's delightful.
Aureus, Lab description: "True, perfect golden light, refined into an incomparably glorious scent."
Notice there are no notes listed? That means I am guessing at what I smell.
Patchouli, sandalwood, and amber seem to be front in this. Once it's applied, the smell widens out. That's not patchouli, that's cedar mixed with amber. I'm still not convinced that there's no patchouli in it, but cedar is emerging as a definite note.
This is light, but it is not a light scent. It's heavy, somber, and ecclesiastical, and if I had to characterize it, it would be as a shaft of hazy sunlight in a very dark room. It is warm, dusty, and has a definite depth.
I like this. It's shadowy, smooth, pretty, not too strong, and with a very pretty throw that's soft patchouli and cedar.
Lampades, Lab description: "The Lampades are the darkly beautiful nymphs of the underworld, also called the Lethe Nymphae Avernales. They are the daughters of the Gods that govern the many rivers of Hades. The Lampades are Hecate’s torch-bearers and accompany the Goddess on her hunts, quests and revels. Their scent is the crisp, inviting bittersweet tang of cranberry with smoky dark lilies, heady, sensual musk, a tingle of ginger and a brush of Mediterranean spices."
Berries and a very rich, almost sooty musk are all I can smell in the bottle. It's sweet and florid, but not candylike at all.
It goes on a bit darker - this musk is very rich and very dark, and the cranberry complements it perfectly. There is, indeed, a hint of spice here, but it's a very raw and herbal spice, quite unusual. This is an utterly unique scent, quite dark and deep despite the fruity topnote.
Rich, layered, and increasingly shadowy, it dries to a really interesting mix of dark and light.
Mag Mell, Lab description: "The Plane of Joy, eternal reward for a lifetime of valor and glory. A place of eternal youth and beauty, strength and honor, music and revelry. The warmth of amber, the puissance of white ginger and the clarity of verbena, with fresh green grass, lush sage and cleansing droplets of summer rain."
A light scent in the bottle, perfumey and rich with the scent of amber and ginger, sweet lemon verbena, and the clean greenness of sage and meadows. On longer sniff, the verbena is really more prominent than I'd thought.
I've been having problems with this note cropping up in smells I might otherwise enjoy - it's simply too overpowering, its fragrant and rich lemon-herbal rush overwhelms everything else in whatever scent it's in. It doesn't do well on me, not as badly as chrysanthemum or carnation, but it's still not pleasant. I don't care for citrus scents to begin with, and it's a shame that any scent with verbena in it goes straight to lemon. Especially considering that verbena comes in other varieties.
Once that dies off, it's a very nice amber and ginger scent with a hint of rain, an unusual touch that I like very well. It's not worth the creeping verbena-beast for me, but someone with a tolerance for lemon might enjoy investigating this one.
Old London, Lab description: "Venerable Victorian Tea Rose… twisted, blackened and emboldened with wickedness."
This is a sweet, slightly dry tea rose scent, very delicate. I'm not getting wickedness from this, only silky-smooth rose with a hint underneath of something slightly herbal and astringent. Tea, perhaps.
It's a pretty scent, and one I can unhesitatingly recommend for fans of rose blends, as this is a truly delightful rose. It never really lives up to the dirty and twisted thing, but it is a very nice rose blend with just a hint of subtlety.
Les Bijoux, Lab description: "Skin musk and honey, blood-red rose, orange blossom, white peach, red apple, frankincense and myrrh."
Oh! Oh! Peach, apple, rose! Light musk, and the faint tingle of incense!
On, a rose covered in nectar, fruit and flower combined, a heady rush of scent both fresh and sticky, soft and lushly gorgeous!
This is a light scent, not heavy at all, but it has a liquid weight, a gravity, lent to it by the honey, which is not up front but rather behind everything. Rose and apple have to be the most prominent scents here, all twined with musk. It's definitely a very feminine scent, almost unbearably so.
I frankly favor dark, earthy scents, and this is fruity, light, and sweet, but it's divine. The unexpected combination of roses and fruits seems perfectly logical in retrospect.
As it wears, it becomes closer, the distance closing as the throw diminishes. It draws you in. There is, up close, something animal and a little feral about it, a hint of rank, bestial sweat under the so-light rose and apple. It changes radically from bottle to drydown. The topnote stays steadily apple with a chaser of rose and honey, and after a brief phase where the notes were all fighting so hard I couldn't smell most of them at all, the slightly sour scent vanishes and it settles to a beautiful gentle fruit scent with just the faintest hint of roses. Incense and honey provide depth, but as influence only. They can't be smelled outright.
Because of the ingredients and the way my brain works I'm probably always going to smell this and think "Snow White." As in, Kristin Kreuk or Monica Keena. You know. Sexy. It's delicate, beautiful, and just exactly ripe. Ripe, my friends, but not picked. If you pointed a gun at my head and made me pick a scent to rub on my next virgin sacrifice's collarbones, this would be it.
Zephyr, Lab description: "A gentle white scent, breezes laced with the scent of springtime blooms and citrus. Lemon, lemon verbena, neroli, white musk, white florals, white sandalwood, China musk, bergamot and a drop of vanilla."
Umm . . . Dorian, hello? This has the lemon, vanilla, and musk of Dorian, atop a bed of clean florals and sandalwood. Very, very pretty! A feminine version, if you will.
On, though, the difference is pronounced. The lemon is herbal, very much like verbena, yes. I can smell the neroli and some of the other flowers, but they're all mixed up with the sweet sandalwood and the bergamot, with the vanilla giving it just a lick of creamy warmth.
This is a light, clean scent, barely there even though I slathered, with a throw that's quite delicate and delightful. Up close, it's a little powdery, but the lemon keeps it fresh. This reminds me of clothespinning clean bedding on a windy day; it's soft and appealing, with just a touch of sexy like a smile tossed over one shoulder. I'm loving it. It would make a wonderful linen spray.
As the florals subside, the resemblance to Dorian peeks out. This is like Dorian's sunny little sister, a sweet girl named Agnes or something. Again, the white sandalwood proves that the regular variety has no manners on me at all. This sticks around, but never turns to that repulsive, muddy scent I get from other sandalwood. It's very pure and chaste, while still hinting at that rosy-cheeked girliness. Innocent, you could say.
Very delicate, and very light. A bit traditional and yet appealing, intriguing yet quite inoffensive, which would make it a good choice to recruit someone who enjoys mainstream perfumes but is wanting to try something a little different and not crappy.
Ironically, it becomes more gender-neutral the drier it gets. Now that I've had time to consider, I could see a very refined man wearing this to good effect; men's perfumes used to be much more like what we consider "feminine" perfumes to be today, and far less like paint thinner.
Lysander, Lab description: "The course of true love never did run smooth. Lilac musk, tonka, wood violet, and urbane lime rind, with a Venus-kissed tangle of myrtle, blackberry leaf, and benzoin."
Oh! Yes! This smells lovely! It's chiefly lime and tonka in the bottle, with some gentle florals sweetening it. It's masculine but light, not heavy.
On, it's musky and light, and the sharp lime quickly settles to a warm, tonka and musk based scent with a subtle floral influence. It's still very masculine, but it's also rather pretty. I can see a lot of men wanting to try this one out - it's warm without being cloying and refined without being fussy. Recommended!
I will close by asking you to share your manly scent recommendations, if you have any. What do you put on your guy? Or maybe that should be "What would you put on your guy if he'd let you?"
Tiny scent icons are courtesy of Penance's BPAL Icons, Diana's BPAL icons, and Storme's BPAL icons.
Ponder that. Sargon. A man. Willingly subjecting himself to my perfumed mercies. I am so incredibly tickled.
So I spent part of today in the company of the lovely bat_cheva, chatting randomly and pulling out about 35 dudely scents for him to try.
Now he smells like Schwarzer Mond.
Why, yes, I do spoil him.
Anyway, to celebrate, and to get me back on my Thursday BPAL-posting schedule (shut up, it's Thursday still, because I haven't slept yet) below the cut are a handful of random reviews: Omen, Vice, Bliss, Anathema, Aureus, Lampades, Mag Mell, Old London, Les Bijoux, Zephyr, and Lysander.
Omen, Lab description: "Deep, mysterious, and full of dark portents: oakmoss, juniper berry, myrrh and patchouli."
This is deep and rich: green moss and the thick aroma of rich patchouli over the clean sweetness of juniper and the gentle brush of myrrh. In the bottle it smells like a less headache-inducing version of those colognes that I like so much - woodsy, masculine, deep.
On, it gets greener, moss and juniper mingling over the patchouli's throbbing base note. This is standing with toes sunk deep in forest loam, surrounded by the ripe scent of temperate rainforest. The myrrh gives it a touch of mystery, as though there's a chapel not far off, surrounded by the sleeping trees. It's the scent of a hidden place.
The myrrh reaches out in the throw, too, which is extraordinary, a wonderful balance between incense and greenery. This isn't a combination I've smelled before, and it's quite evocative. There is something dark and portentous about it, something ominous.
The drydown is fairly dangerous, a murky, powerful mix of myrrh, moss, and patchouli's dark kiss.
God. I just realized this would have been the perfect scent for a character from years and years back. Wow.
This is definitely masculine, and it's also beautiful.
Vice, Lab description: "Voluptuous and indulgent! A deep chocolate scent, with black cherry and orange blossom"
Chocolate! Chocolate with a hint of sweet cherry and just a little perfume. This smells very good, though I have to point out that when you really stop to think about it, chocolate actually smells pretty fragging horrible.
This has more cherry once it warms up - it's the smell of the sugar goo inside a cordial cherry. The throw has a hint of floral in it. All together, it smells rather like . . . bubble gum.
Go figure.
It's candylike, sweet, and very sugary. Not a scent I'd recommend for those afraid of foody, sweet smells, but one I could unhesitatingly recommend for someone looking to work their way through the Lab's sweet scents. This is a nice one. The chocolate isn't overpowering once it's on the skin, and it actually is more cherry and orange blossom than anything else.
Bliss, Lab description: "A shot of pure, self-indulgent euphoria! A scent that is very, very wicked in its own way: the serotonin-slathered scent of pure milk chocolate."
Oh my God, it smells exactly like hot chocolate. YUM.
On, it's not as overpowering as I had feared, but it does have a noticeable throw and some real staying power. This is a single-note scent. There is nothing else here to interfere with the chocolatey sinfulness. Just rich, creamy chocolate radiating in layers you could spread with a knife.
Bizarre that an oil that smells so perfectly chocolatey should be absolutely clear, but there you have it. This doesn't look as potent as it is.
Wear with caution; this is one scent that could cause people to start nibbling. Hell, I'm about to nibble on myself. The scent is so pure that I cannot convince my lizard-brain that there isn't, in fact, any chocolate in the room.
Anathema, Lab description: "A scent as heavy as thunder from the Vatican, with notes that inspire every sin and excess. Black opium, with vetivert and honeysuckle."
This is a richly perfumey, highly charged scent. All three notes are obvious in the bottle, the perfumed, poisonous haze of opium, the razz of vetiver, the glow of honeysuckle.
Once it warms up it acquires depth like layers of smoky haze; the vetiver remains grassy and clear, it always reminds me of the smell of the dried florals section of a hobby store. Under it is the opium, which warms to a tarry, rich scent redolent of incense and indolence. The honeysuckle gives this a fleshy sweetness that takes it straight to delightfully depraved.
Anathema? Yes. But it's the scent of one who has deliberately stepped outside the bounds, and found more enlightenment there than within the safe confinement of moral rectitude.
I'm the first person ever to use "rectitude" in a perfume review. I'd bet money on it.
This would be dangerous on either gender. It's delightful.
Aureus, Lab description: "True, perfect golden light, refined into an incomparably glorious scent."
Notice there are no notes listed? That means I am guessing at what I smell.
Patchouli, sandalwood, and amber seem to be front in this. Once it's applied, the smell widens out. That's not patchouli, that's cedar mixed with amber. I'm still not convinced that there's no patchouli in it, but cedar is emerging as a definite note.
This is light, but it is not a light scent. It's heavy, somber, and ecclesiastical, and if I had to characterize it, it would be as a shaft of hazy sunlight in a very dark room. It is warm, dusty, and has a definite depth.
I like this. It's shadowy, smooth, pretty, not too strong, and with a very pretty throw that's soft patchouli and cedar.
Lampades, Lab description: "The Lampades are the darkly beautiful nymphs of the underworld, also called the Lethe Nymphae Avernales. They are the daughters of the Gods that govern the many rivers of Hades. The Lampades are Hecate’s torch-bearers and accompany the Goddess on her hunts, quests and revels. Their scent is the crisp, inviting bittersweet tang of cranberry with smoky dark lilies, heady, sensual musk, a tingle of ginger and a brush of Mediterranean spices."
Berries and a very rich, almost sooty musk are all I can smell in the bottle. It's sweet and florid, but not candylike at all.
It goes on a bit darker - this musk is very rich and very dark, and the cranberry complements it perfectly. There is, indeed, a hint of spice here, but it's a very raw and herbal spice, quite unusual. This is an utterly unique scent, quite dark and deep despite the fruity topnote.
Rich, layered, and increasingly shadowy, it dries to a really interesting mix of dark and light.
Mag Mell, Lab description: "The Plane of Joy, eternal reward for a lifetime of valor and glory. A place of eternal youth and beauty, strength and honor, music and revelry. The warmth of amber, the puissance of white ginger and the clarity of verbena, with fresh green grass, lush sage and cleansing droplets of summer rain."
A light scent in the bottle, perfumey and rich with the scent of amber and ginger, sweet lemon verbena, and the clean greenness of sage and meadows. On longer sniff, the verbena is really more prominent than I'd thought.
I've been having problems with this note cropping up in smells I might otherwise enjoy - it's simply too overpowering, its fragrant and rich lemon-herbal rush overwhelms everything else in whatever scent it's in. It doesn't do well on me, not as badly as chrysanthemum or carnation, but it's still not pleasant. I don't care for citrus scents to begin with, and it's a shame that any scent with verbena in it goes straight to lemon. Especially considering that verbena comes in other varieties.
Once that dies off, it's a very nice amber and ginger scent with a hint of rain, an unusual touch that I like very well. It's not worth the creeping verbena-beast for me, but someone with a tolerance for lemon might enjoy investigating this one.
Old London, Lab description: "Venerable Victorian Tea Rose… twisted, blackened and emboldened with wickedness."
This is a sweet, slightly dry tea rose scent, very delicate. I'm not getting wickedness from this, only silky-smooth rose with a hint underneath of something slightly herbal and astringent. Tea, perhaps.
It's a pretty scent, and one I can unhesitatingly recommend for fans of rose blends, as this is a truly delightful rose. It never really lives up to the dirty and twisted thing, but it is a very nice rose blend with just a hint of subtlety.
Les Bijoux, Lab description: "Skin musk and honey, blood-red rose, orange blossom, white peach, red apple, frankincense and myrrh."
Oh! Oh! Peach, apple, rose! Light musk, and the faint tingle of incense!
On, a rose covered in nectar, fruit and flower combined, a heady rush of scent both fresh and sticky, soft and lushly gorgeous!
This is a light scent, not heavy at all, but it has a liquid weight, a gravity, lent to it by the honey, which is not up front but rather behind everything. Rose and apple have to be the most prominent scents here, all twined with musk. It's definitely a very feminine scent, almost unbearably so.
I frankly favor dark, earthy scents, and this is fruity, light, and sweet, but it's divine. The unexpected combination of roses and fruits seems perfectly logical in retrospect.
As it wears, it becomes closer, the distance closing as the throw diminishes. It draws you in. There is, up close, something animal and a little feral about it, a hint of rank, bestial sweat under the so-light rose and apple. It changes radically from bottle to drydown. The topnote stays steadily apple with a chaser of rose and honey, and after a brief phase where the notes were all fighting so hard I couldn't smell most of them at all, the slightly sour scent vanishes and it settles to a beautiful gentle fruit scent with just the faintest hint of roses. Incense and honey provide depth, but as influence only. They can't be smelled outright.
Because of the ingredients and the way my brain works I'm probably always going to smell this and think "Snow White." As in, Kristin Kreuk or Monica Keena. You know. Sexy. It's delicate, beautiful, and just exactly ripe. Ripe, my friends, but not picked. If you pointed a gun at my head and made me pick a scent to rub on my next virgin sacrifice's collarbones, this would be it.
Zephyr, Lab description: "A gentle white scent, breezes laced with the scent of springtime blooms and citrus. Lemon, lemon verbena, neroli, white musk, white florals, white sandalwood, China musk, bergamot and a drop of vanilla."
Umm . . . Dorian, hello? This has the lemon, vanilla, and musk of Dorian, atop a bed of clean florals and sandalwood. Very, very pretty! A feminine version, if you will.
On, though, the difference is pronounced. The lemon is herbal, very much like verbena, yes. I can smell the neroli and some of the other flowers, but they're all mixed up with the sweet sandalwood and the bergamot, with the vanilla giving it just a lick of creamy warmth.
This is a light, clean scent, barely there even though I slathered, with a throw that's quite delicate and delightful. Up close, it's a little powdery, but the lemon keeps it fresh. This reminds me of clothespinning clean bedding on a windy day; it's soft and appealing, with just a touch of sexy like a smile tossed over one shoulder. I'm loving it. It would make a wonderful linen spray.
As the florals subside, the resemblance to Dorian peeks out. This is like Dorian's sunny little sister, a sweet girl named Agnes or something. Again, the white sandalwood proves that the regular variety has no manners on me at all. This sticks around, but never turns to that repulsive, muddy scent I get from other sandalwood. It's very pure and chaste, while still hinting at that rosy-cheeked girliness. Innocent, you could say.
Very delicate, and very light. A bit traditional and yet appealing, intriguing yet quite inoffensive, which would make it a good choice to recruit someone who enjoys mainstream perfumes but is wanting to try something a little different and not crappy.
Ironically, it becomes more gender-neutral the drier it gets. Now that I've had time to consider, I could see a very refined man wearing this to good effect; men's perfumes used to be much more like what we consider "feminine" perfumes to be today, and far less like paint thinner.
Lysander, Lab description: "The course of true love never did run smooth. Lilac musk, tonka, wood violet, and urbane lime rind, with a Venus-kissed tangle of myrtle, blackberry leaf, and benzoin."
Oh! Yes! This smells lovely! It's chiefly lime and tonka in the bottle, with some gentle florals sweetening it. It's masculine but light, not heavy.
On, it's musky and light, and the sharp lime quickly settles to a warm, tonka and musk based scent with a subtle floral influence. It's still very masculine, but it's also rather pretty. I can see a lot of men wanting to try this one out - it's warm without being cloying and refined without being fussy. Recommended!
I will close by asking you to share your manly scent recommendations, if you have any. What do you put on your guy? Or maybe that should be "What would you put on your guy if he'd let you?"
Tiny scent icons are courtesy of Penance's BPAL Icons, Diana's BPAL icons, and Storme's BPAL icons.