Hello All! I am a hopeless BPAL addict and stalked their shop page and forum waiting for the Weenies release. My wonderful husband bought me my first round of choices as an early birthday gift. I'm already planning my second purchase with the new releases, but for now I have a review post for the scents I finished up testing this week! I know BPAL can be a complicated house to explore, so hopefully someone finds these useful.
Resting Disclaimer -These all rested a minimum of 2 days up to a week for the last few I tested. I find BPAL definitely needs several days out of the mail.
My Scent Preferences:
Likes: Gourmands, spices, soil/earthy notes, lavender, wood notes, beeswax, smoke, incense, basically anything sweet or dark and moody
Dislikes: most florals, aquatics, too much greenery, tea notes, sharp cologne type scents
Samhain (damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein.) Thoughts- This is earthy apple spice, it's warm and packed with roasted spices. There is a crisp sweetness from the apple. It's like drinking hot spiced cider in the woods on a cool fall day. I could instantly see why this is a yearly reoccurring fan favorite. It's truly the essence of fall in a bottle. Throw was high, and lasted 12+ hours off one application. I could smell it clearly on my sweater the next day 24+ hours after applying. (10/10 will wear this consistently)
Witch birds (Blinding-white mallow and vanilla sandalwood streaked with indigo opium pod accord, velvet black violet petals, wild plum, and opoponax.) Thoughts -So my husband kind of laughed at me with this one, because I told him I wanted it because it sounded purple! I'm not much of a floral fan, but I've fallen in love with BPAL's dark florals. Friends I was right in my prediction, purple it is! I have a few other "purple" blends from this house and this fits perfectly. It's a slightly sweet and dusty floral, with a lovely creamy vanilla sandalwood dry down. The "purple" background notes stick around but take a bit more of a backseat. Moderate throw, lasted 12+ hours still detectible on my wrists after my morning application. (8/10 will wear when I'm feeling my goth fantasy self)
Slumber ghoul (Sleepy lavender bud, the memory of warm milk, a splinter of bone dust, and a clawful of upturned grave loam) Thoughts- The Lavender starts out very sharp and herbal when wet, but dry down brings out the creamy milk notes. There's a slight sharp almost stone like note to the background that doesn't quite go away (bone dust?) but is faint. I get no loam/dirt note at all (sad, I love dirt). Softer throw but I couldn't resist to keep sniffing my wrists. Really nice soft cuddly lavender after dry down. Last 5-6 hours before fading. (7/10 creamy lavender cuddly goodness, but wish I got a hint of dirt)
Is he, you know? (Sweet 13-year aged patchouli, peru balsam, white oakmoss, French lavender, spikenard, bourbon vanilla, and sugar cane) Thoughts- This is quite strong and sharp. It's slightly less punchy with dry down, but it's primarily patch and lavender. Stays fairly sharp, and I'm not getting much sweetness from the vanilla or sugar cane. Softens a bit after a couple hours of wear, but still not sweet. Some of the sharpness fades after about 5+ hours and the sweetness is a bit more present, but still not what I expected. Lasted my full 8 hour shift. (5/10, on the fence with this one. I wanted more balance between the notes)
Ghost milk (Goat’s milk, marshmallow, vanilla cashmere, honey dust, and white chocolate) Thoughts- This is so soft creamy and sweet! There is a slight tang from the goats milk. The silky soft cashmere comes out after some wear time. I knew I wanted to try this as it's a returning fan favorite. It is a lower throw, I have to put my nose to my wrist to smell it. Lasts about 6 hours. Very faintly there afterwards. (6/10 perfect for a cold cuddly day on the couch, wish it had more projection)
Pumpkin trash bag (orange blossom, blood orange, and orange hard candy with pumpkin pulp and smushed leaves) Thoughts- I let this one rest about a week before testing. Fresh from the mail my experience sniffing was all wet musty peppery leaves. Pleased to say that after testing and on the skin the orange comes out beautifully! As soon as it hit my skin there is a bright burst of juicy orange, it's sweet but not artificial. The musty leaves goes away almost completely after it dries, it settles into a slightly earthy background note. I don't know if I'm tricking myself into smelling pumpkin, but underneath the orange I get a smell slightly reminiscent of pumpkin guts. I'm glad I gave this one a longer rest before testing, because it scared me right out of the mail box. Give it a healthy rest before writing this one off! Not surprisingly, the orange has a shorter lifespan, I got about 4 hours out of this one. Worth reapply for the lovely juicy orange notes. (8/10, wonderful juicy orange with some earthiness)
Melancholy of goths (Clove smoke, champaca incense, plum velvet, and hairspray) Thoughts- This starts with sharp hairspray, but quickly dries down to a heady slightly smoky incense. The plum gives it a purple feel, but not as purple as Witch Birds. It settles into a really nice velvety spiced incense with a slightly fruity background. The clove really comes out after several hours of wear time. Stays strong for 8+ hours. This is a very BPAL scent and I knew I would love it, it ticks all the boxes for me. (10/10, tickles my little goth heart).
Overall these are mostly winners! I'm familiar enough with BPAL at this point to be comfortable picking scents based on their notes. I usually will take a risk on one or 2. I went with more atmospheric scents this year, as I definitely went more gourmand last year. I am eyeing several of the round 2 releases and will update when I pull the trigger on those!