Almost immediately after the last smells post I ordered two more envelopes of stuff from people on the BPAL Madness forum, because I obviously don't already have more blends than I'm realistically able to wear.
This first batch are all from collections outside the BPAL general catalogue: two Halloweenies, three Yules (special seasonal offerings--this year's Yule collection just went up and I'm eyeing a couple of bottles, if anybody wants to do a group order?) and one from the Lab's Neil Gaiman partnership series (scents based on his work, proceeds to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund).
Gunpowder (review thread; per BPAL copy "Carrot peelings, hay, chaff, molasses, maple oats, red apples, stable wood, and musk.")
Named after a horse in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", Halloween 2008.
I wanted to love it because of the story excerpt and it's really nice in the vial but on me it smells like Devil's Night and that surprise!frimped Hel thing that![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
recessional identified as coming from Conjure Oils had a mean, ugly baby. Scrubber.
Colder and Colder (review thread; per BPAL copy "Peppermint, spearmint, white musk, and elemi settling into a deepening darkness.")
From "The Little Match Girl", Yule 2011(?).
Really interesting but not very "me". Starts off all mint with lots of throw (contains actual peppermint oil, probably, from the skin tingle and the taste of the air) but morphs first into a "men's" or "unisex" commercial scent, either cologne or bodywash (still minty but aquatic and almost-floral), and then into a commercial "women's" perfume (sweeter, less aquatic). I dunno if that's the elemi (but that's supposed to be a resin?) or the "deepening darkness". Also dunno if it's making me sneeze or if that's coincidental. As far as the name goes, it's a consistently "cool" scent but it does not get progressively colder. I will say the mix of this and Norn's Farmhouse (they're kind of close together on my arm right now) is pretty neat.
The Norns' Farmhouse (review thread; per BPAL copy "Dusty, ancient wood, horehound, and sage, with viper's bugloss, mugwort, chamomile, nettle, apple blossom, chervil, and ashes.")
Starts with a brief but pleasant phase of real garden scent--damp earth and growing green plants--then dries into something dusty-woody and more spicy than herbal. Apple blossom stops by for a visit then leaves again; I don't know most of the other specific plants well enough to point them out. The herbal elements linger longer on cooler skin (wrist, back of arm) than warmer (inner elbow) but even there it burns off and gives way mostly to an incense-spicy thing that my brain parses as clove-ish but I know that's not what it is. I think it must be part of the unspecified "wood" or maybe "ashes" because there's some of it in Gunpowder and in Hel ("charred woods", "smoldering yew branches"). It's not overpowering or even unpleasant but I have wood/earth/herb/spice smells I like better.
Samhain (review thread; per BPAL copy "Truly the scent of autumn itself — damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein.")
Recurring 'Weenie; my decant's from 2008.
Rewards patience. In the vial and especially wet-on-skin it attacks with a headache-inducing harsh-bitter-chemically thing like varnish or maybe tar--I can pick some patchouli out of it but that's about it, and it smells like something I don't want to inhale the fumes of. However! Given about an hour to tantrum itself out, Samhain mellows into this deliciously warm, comforting, apple cider/cooled-on-counter spice cake aroma (much more appropriate for the actual witches of my acquaintance), so I think this'll be a keeper with caveats.
Breathless Horror (review thread; per BPAL copy "icy white musk and thick olibanum with niaouli, carrot seed, white mint, and camphor.")
Frankenstein, Yule 2011.
Goes faint very quickly, almost no throw, but I reeeeally like it. It starts out cave/basement earthy, which I think is the carrot seed, and then it's this clean, cold, clean, soothingly medicinal, clean, and progressively sweeter (what else, on my skin) mentholic blend. I expected it to be a bit like Tiger Balm or Vicks VapoRub with the mint and camphor and it isn't as a smell, especially, but as a feeling it's the same kind of therapeutic (makes sense--no cassia, no eucalyptus, but niaouli is a kind of melaleuca and olibanum is frankincense). Faint smell gets even fainter; within thirty minutes I have to put my nose right to my skin to smell it and the medicinal smells are settling into a really soft, light, very slightly vanilla-ish musk. I wish it were stronger or that I had enough of it I could feel more comfortable slathering/constantly reapplying.
Krampus (review thread, per BPAL copy "Be good, or Krampus will toss you in a river! Sinister red musk, black leather, dusty rags, and wooden switches.")
Recurring Yule; decant from 2007.
Holy mammoths this is delicious. It's more animalic than musks usually are on me, could be the leather. With that and dry wood (none of the not-clove here, hallelujah), the overall impression is something like a stable or a tack room. Smells warm-by-comparison, like stepping out of a cold wind; rich, tiny bit spicy, when the musk smooths out it's almost chocolatey. Calm don't-fuck-with-me confidence, mature, Marlene Dietrich masculine. Doesn't smell like perfume so much as really good skin; I could wear this every day. Odin, Wolf Moon, y'all are lovely but right now Krampus is my faaaaaaaavourite and I need moar, like, yesterday.
This first batch are all from collections outside the BPAL general catalogue: two Halloweenies, three Yules (special seasonal offerings--this year's Yule collection just went up and I'm eyeing a couple of bottles, if anybody wants to do a group order?) and one from the Lab's Neil Gaiman partnership series (scents based on his work, proceeds to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund).
Gunpowder (review thread; per BPAL copy "Carrot peelings, hay, chaff, molasses, maple oats, red apples, stable wood, and musk.")
Named after a horse in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", Halloween 2008.
I wanted to love it because of the story excerpt and it's really nice in the vial but on me it smells like Devil's Night and that surprise!frimped Hel thing that
recessional identified as coming from Conjure Oils had a mean, ugly baby. Scrubber.Colder and Colder (review thread; per BPAL copy "Peppermint, spearmint, white musk, and elemi settling into a deepening darkness.")
From "The Little Match Girl", Yule 2011(?).
Really interesting but not very "me". Starts off all mint with lots of throw (contains actual peppermint oil, probably, from the skin tingle and the taste of the air) but morphs first into a "men's" or "unisex" commercial scent, either cologne or bodywash (still minty but aquatic and almost-floral), and then into a commercial "women's" perfume (sweeter, less aquatic). I dunno if that's the elemi (but that's supposed to be a resin?) or the "deepening darkness". Also dunno if it's making me sneeze or if that's coincidental. As far as the name goes, it's a consistently "cool" scent but it does not get progressively colder. I will say the mix of this and Norn's Farmhouse (they're kind of close together on my arm right now) is pretty neat.
The Norns' Farmhouse (review thread; per BPAL copy "Dusty, ancient wood, horehound, and sage, with viper's bugloss, mugwort, chamomile, nettle, apple blossom, chervil, and ashes.")
Starts with a brief but pleasant phase of real garden scent--damp earth and growing green plants--then dries into something dusty-woody and more spicy than herbal. Apple blossom stops by for a visit then leaves again; I don't know most of the other specific plants well enough to point them out. The herbal elements linger longer on cooler skin (wrist, back of arm) than warmer (inner elbow) but even there it burns off and gives way mostly to an incense-spicy thing that my brain parses as clove-ish but I know that's not what it is. I think it must be part of the unspecified "wood" or maybe "ashes" because there's some of it in Gunpowder and in Hel ("charred woods", "smoldering yew branches"). It's not overpowering or even unpleasant but I have wood/earth/herb/spice smells I like better.
Samhain (review thread; per BPAL copy "Truly the scent of autumn itself — damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein.")
Recurring 'Weenie; my decant's from 2008.
Rewards patience. In the vial and especially wet-on-skin it attacks with a headache-inducing harsh-bitter-chemically thing like varnish or maybe tar--I can pick some patchouli out of it but that's about it, and it smells like something I don't want to inhale the fumes of. However! Given about an hour to tantrum itself out, Samhain mellows into this deliciously warm, comforting, apple cider/cooled-on-counter spice cake aroma (much more appropriate for the actual witches of my acquaintance), so I think this'll be a keeper with caveats.
Breathless Horror (review thread; per BPAL copy "icy white musk and thick olibanum with niaouli, carrot seed, white mint, and camphor.")
Frankenstein, Yule 2011.
Goes faint very quickly, almost no throw, but I reeeeally like it. It starts out cave/basement earthy, which I think is the carrot seed, and then it's this clean, cold, clean, soothingly medicinal, clean, and progressively sweeter (what else, on my skin) mentholic blend. I expected it to be a bit like Tiger Balm or Vicks VapoRub with the mint and camphor and it isn't as a smell, especially, but as a feeling it's the same kind of therapeutic (makes sense--no cassia, no eucalyptus, but niaouli is a kind of melaleuca and olibanum is frankincense). Faint smell gets even fainter; within thirty minutes I have to put my nose right to my skin to smell it and the medicinal smells are settling into a really soft, light, very slightly vanilla-ish musk. I wish it were stronger or that I had enough of it I could feel more comfortable slathering/constantly reapplying.
Krampus (review thread, per BPAL copy "Be good, or Krampus will toss you in a river! Sinister red musk, black leather, dusty rags, and wooden switches.")
Recurring Yule; decant from 2007.
Holy mammoths this is delicious. It's more animalic than musks usually are on me, could be the leather. With that and dry wood (none of the not-clove here, hallelujah), the overall impression is something like a stable or a tack room. Smells warm-by-comparison, like stepping out of a cold wind; rich, tiny bit spicy, when the musk smooths out it's almost chocolatey. Calm don't-fuck-with-me confidence, mature, Marlene Dietrich masculine. Doesn't smell like perfume so much as really good skin; I could wear this every day. Odin, Wolf Moon, y'all are lovely but right now Krampus is my faaaaaaaavourite and I need moar, like, yesterday.
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