Misc BPAL reviews

[theora]

I'm working through a huge backlog of untested imps as I declutter my house, and I'm completist enough to want to review them all before I get rid of them. Going to post reviews here in case someone finds them helpful.

Dragon's Bone(r) (Luper)
Dragons blood resin, white cream, pear blossom, and white honey
Pretty much just dragon's blood, I don't detect anything else. I smell like a New Age shop. Nothing against New Age shops, but I don't need to smell like one.

Womb Furie (Luper)
Snake Oil and three types of honey
I got this in 2016? 2017? and found it holyhell!strong, so put it away to age. It's now mellowed considerably and is not nearly so raunchy. The other day I wore Snake Oil on one arm and this on the other, and the difference was very obvious - the honey in Womb Furie overmastered a few of the spicy elements in Snake Oil, so the result felt a smidge less complex. But in exchange you get a haze of sweet spicy honey. I couldn't decide which I liked better. I may get a bottle of this if I place a Luper order this year.

Olokun
The scent of the lightless deep: the glorious, unknowable gloom of the ocean floor
Soap, one of the 'fresh' types like Irish Spring. Starts sharp, but softens to a not-unpleasant soap smell. This went to visit lunabee34, who, if I remember correctly, was also underwhelmed.

Arcana
Frankincense, rosemary, lavender, neroli, and verbena
Initially this smelled like quite unobjectionable bug spray. However, after I'd worn it for an hour or so, I started to wonder who was cooking Indian food. Finally realized it was Arcana, somehow (how??) smelling like single-note turmeric. It did not morph beyond that. This may have been a weird body chemistry thing, since I'm sure I tried this previously and it did not go turmeric. Anyway. This also went to lunabee34.

Fae
A brilliant, ethereal scent: white musk, bergamot, heliotrope, peach and oakmoss
Peach, pretty much. When I put my nose to my skin and concentrate, it's a fresh, juicy peach, but the random whiffs I get while wearing it are more like peach flavoring. I've had this forever and kept it because it was okayish, but now I've found a peachy scent I like better (see below), I'll probably pass this on.

RPG: Good
Shimmering celestial musk with vanilla, white honey, acacia, and sugar cane
When I tried this, I'd totally forgotten what the notes were supposed to be, and on looking them up, I was surprised. I get the honey. I would've sworn there was something orange or at least citrus in here (of course, I don't know what acacia smells like). But this is just kind of generic. It's sweetish and sharpish and not musky that I can tell and just kind of meh. (Possibly appropriate for Good?). Uninteresting.

'Tis the Voice of the Lobster
A woody, musky-weird base glooping over with blackberry preserves, a twist of mandarin, strawberry juice, pulverized watermelon, and a handful of smushed gardenia petals.
Strawberry watermelon gum and red musk. Nothing woody, which would probably have helped. Kind of sickly sweet and not very enjoyable.

Now Winter Nights Enlarge (Yule)
Vanilla-infused red musk, champaca, petitgrain, ylang ylang, patchouli, nutmeg, honey, galbanum, and traces of caramel.
This smelled amazing for about five minutes after I put it on. Rich, spicy, complex honey. Unfortunately it became less and less nice as I wore it, eventually fading into red musk soap.

Katharina
White musk with a trickle of bright, sharp apricot and orange blossom.
Ooh, I like this. Peachy/apricoty, not quite fresh tree-ripe fruit, but not artificial smelling either, softened by something warm and rounded and comforting. This is simple but lovely, not too sweet, not sharp despite the description. Feels springy but not green. This may be a bottle for me.

Depraved
Earthy black patchouli swelling with apricot.
Pretty much what the notes say. The apricot is the same as in Katharina, and the patchouli is the kind that smells like fresh soil. This was...meh. Did what it said on the tin, but didn't thrill me.

Comments

[kore]

Pretty much any 'aquatic' BPAL scent (rain! ocean! lake! pond! puddle, whatever) goes right to soap on me, or causes a headache.

I think I have an imp of Katharine but might not have tried it -- my skin amps citrus to high heaven so I was a little wary. Springy but not green sounds nice, though!

[theora]

Interesting. I get the soap reaction from a lot of things, including most (maybe all?) aquatics I've tried. But many rose scents do it to me too. And then other people describe things as soapy that I love and don't find soapy at all.

I hope you find your Katharina and post a review, for yea or nay.

[vicki_rae]

Dragon's Bone, oh yeah, same for me. I really hoped the other notes would make the dragon's blood softer and sweeter. Nope, dragon's blood on me totally overwhelms everything else for really strong new age shop.

[theora]

Yeah, me too. I was particularly hoping for the pear, which is a smell I love. But dragon's blood blotted out everything else.

[bookherd]

I've smelled three of these, and enjoyed comparing your reviews with mine...

I was not thrilled with Womb Furie, but now I want to find out if I still have the decant somewhere, so I can see how it's aged. Time to go hunting in the imp box.

I also thought the peach in Fae was a little fake-y. But I find that I'm less and less impressed with BPAL fruit notes as time goes on. I'm not sure if it's how the blends are aging, or how my nose is.

Depraved is one of the worst BPAL scents I've ever sniffed. Apricot is, and has always been, one of my very few dealbreaker notes! I can't handle it in Siren either.

[theora]

Glad you enjoyed the reviews :). It's fascinating how different noses perceive different smells. I really really wanted to love Womb Furie, but it was just so overwhelming when I first got it. I'm glad that it's toned down a lot. If you find yours, I'd love if you post a review.

Fruit notes are hit-and-miss for me, which is sad since real fruits smell so amazing. Are there other brands where the fruit notes work better for you?

[bookherd]

I did find my Womb Furie imp, also from 2016. Honey notes don't do anything magical on me, so to my nose it just smells like a milder Snake Oil. Which is undeniably nice, and may be useful at times, but it's not tempting me to spend more time with it right now.

TBH I haven't tried much from other brands, and can't think of any with fruit notes! There's always so much more BPAL to explore that I just haven't wandered far beyond that realm.

[splix]

Womb Furie sounds cool but I've never had a BPAL scent that's not curdled on my skin in some way. It's so frustrating. I have no idea what makes that brand react so badly to my body chemistry. :(

[theora]

I've seen similar comments elsewhere (Fragrantica, I think). Skin chemistry is such a weird thing. Definitely frustrating to try something that sounds amazing and have it go wrong on one's skin :(.

[lunabee34]

And neither of those worked for me either (though I really appreciated being able to test them!). :)

[full_metal_ox]

Interesting that 'Tis the Voice of the Lobster includes no salty marine notes, which might have lent some complexity to the floral-fruitiness--was the watermelon supposed to serve as the aquatic element?