BPAL mini-reviews
War:: (Good Omens) Red ginger, black spices, patchouli, honeysuckle, and three blood-soaked red musks.
Spicy! And very dry. From War, I got the driest ginger I have ever smelled combined with a a super-dose of black pepper. I wouldn't call it gourmand necessarily, but it was very savory. The red musk note lasted the longest, becoming more prominent after the spices wore off. It also sweetened a bit on the drydown-- the honeysuckle, most likely, which was not at all evident in the wet stage. Overall-- it's a pleasant spicy scent, and unisex, but very dry indeed.
Fairy Market:: (Stardust) Otherworldy golden incense, blooming wind-flowers, everlasting lavender, bluebell, a faint whiff of exotic sugared candies, and fae mist upon wet green grass.
Definitely a morpher! This one started out very perfumey-- florals and what smelled like sweaty leather over a thin plummy/berry base. But as it wears on, it gets complex and beautiful! The sugared candy note is to die for mixing with a faint green grass note-- fae indeed. The incense smells purple to me, not golden-- in fact, the drydown is similar to Morgause, which was the purplest perfume I've ever smelled. All of the notes form a olfactory cacophony that ends up greater than the sum of the parts-- it has a real festival feel and would be perfect for a RenFaire or carnival. Better yet, I got no lavender! Thumbs up for this one, both for uniqueness and for scent!
The Gibbous Moon:: Moonflower, Madonna lily, orris, white ginger, cucumber, hyacinth, and Irish moss.
The initial sniff was very promising-- ethereal and pretty. A very strong moonflower note with a nice cucumber base and a little bit of moss. I think it was the lily that killed this one for me on the skin. It went stridently ozone/ soapy after about ten minutes, completely indistinguishable from other aquatic blends that BPAL has put out. Generic. Pooh. I wanted to like this.
Spicy! And very dry. From War, I got the driest ginger I have ever smelled combined with a a super-dose of black pepper. I wouldn't call it gourmand necessarily, but it was very savory. The red musk note lasted the longest, becoming more prominent after the spices wore off. It also sweetened a bit on the drydown-- the honeysuckle, most likely, which was not at all evident in the wet stage. Overall-- it's a pleasant spicy scent, and unisex, but very dry indeed.
Fairy Market:: (Stardust) Otherworldy golden incense, blooming wind-flowers, everlasting lavender, bluebell, a faint whiff of exotic sugared candies, and fae mist upon wet green grass.
Definitely a morpher! This one started out very perfumey-- florals and what smelled like sweaty leather over a thin plummy/berry base. But as it wears on, it gets complex and beautiful! The sugared candy note is to die for mixing with a faint green grass note-- fae indeed. The incense smells purple to me, not golden-- in fact, the drydown is similar to Morgause, which was the purplest perfume I've ever smelled. All of the notes form a olfactory cacophony that ends up greater than the sum of the parts-- it has a real festival feel and would be perfect for a RenFaire or carnival. Better yet, I got no lavender! Thumbs up for this one, both for uniqueness and for scent!
The Gibbous Moon:: Moonflower, Madonna lily, orris, white ginger, cucumber, hyacinth, and Irish moss.
The initial sniff was very promising-- ethereal and pretty. A very strong moonflower note with a nice cucumber base and a little bit of moss. I think it was the lily that killed this one for me on the skin. It went stridently ozone/ soapy after about ten minutes, completely indistinguishable from other aquatic blends that BPAL has put out. Generic. Pooh. I wanted to like this.