BPAL Crimson Peak

BPAL came out with a line of fragrances, polishes, and over at BPTP room sprays inspired by the movie Crimson Peak.  Scents inspired by a gothic broody ghost story with Tom Hiddleston's fine ass and Mia Wasikowska looking all blonde and ethereal?  Uh yes please.  I ended up getting in on the decant circle over at Deek's Decants because there were at least a dozen that sounded like they'd be right up my alley and -it being a limited edition collection-  full size 5 ml bottles are $30 a piece.   Sadly, I've yet to secure the services of a Perfume Sugar Daddy (if you're interested in the position, please send all inquiries to scentsandsensibilitiesblog@gmail.com), so I whittled my final list down to seven. I've had them for awhile now and I'm just getting around to testing them out.  Which was a really silly move on my part.  Spoiler alert: these were awesome.  





Ad Montes Oculos Levavi

A dark legacy: unbending teakwood and blood musk.

In the bottle: Cola

On my skin: Wet: Cola with a strong wood note. Starts to dry down to smell like a fizzy musk over a warm wood base. Masculine leaning, but very wearable.  This one reminded me of Ten Three Labs' Fair Season, which has aged into mostly cola for me.  I was very happy to get five and a half hours from this. 

Black Moths

wild plum and blackcurrant with aged black patchouli, vetiver, red rose petal, tonka absolute, and opoponax.

In the bottle: Expensive perfume

On my skin: Earthy and woody right out of the bottle. It feels like dirt and bark. I'm guessing this is patchouli. There's also something very perfumey for lack of a better word that gives this an oriental feel. Dries down and the Plum comes out. It skates the border of potpourri but like really expensive super fancy high end potpourri and not the crap that is so heavy it makes you sneeze. At an hour, fades down to perfumed wood. After one and a half hours, this faded from borderline strong throw down to light. Just that perfumey note is left, with the barest hint of powder.  Total wear time was two hours. 

Edith Cushing 

pearlescent vanilla musk with white sandalwood, grey amber, white patchouli, ambrette seed, and oudh.

In the bottle: Very faint. I think I can smell a hint of vanilla

On my skin: Vanilla and sandalwood and something that almost feels like champagne. As it dries the not-champagne feels more like almond. This one reminds me a lot of Black Violet's discontinued Marrakesh, which I loved. Overall it feels pale, creamy and feminine. It's throw was light enough to be office appropriate and I got a decent two hours out of this.

Indulgence

Gleaming black and iridescent green: black patchouli and vetiver with green amber, oudh, tobacco flower, elemi, and champaca.

In the bottle: green and woody

On my skin: Fresh and green when wet. As it starts to dry there's a light/white floral note that has a hint of citrus to it. Once it settles, the tobacco flower comes out and gives it this slightly woody floral feel. I got a respectable three hours of wear out of this one.

Insects

A lustrous black patchouli attar with dried purple fruits, neroli, and opoponax.

In the bottle: Fruity

On my skin: Fruity and woody. For a second, it feels very much like incense. As it dries, there's a citrus note that blends in with the fruit, and the wood note I was catching feels a lot like patchouli. Once it settles down, it smells like a fruity herbal tea. I got a good three hours of this one too.

Love Makes Monsters of Us All

soil and rot and the heat of rage, blood-smeared musk and sharp decay.

In the bottle: BPAL's lovely Dirt note 

On my skin: It's got that same musty rot that's featured in Graveyard Dirt. It's airier here: it feels like there's fresh grass and a light breeze with the hint of decay lurking under the surface. Reading the full description on the website, I get the feeling this should be a more sinister or brutal feeling scent, but I feel like a freshly mulched lawn on a March day. I really loved this one, so of course, despite testing it multiple times, this only lasted an hour and a half.  *sigh*

Sir Thomas Sharpe

black amber darkens a pale fougere.

In the bottle: This is familiar, like something my husband wears.

On my skin: I knew it!  This is like Jovan Musk but without the headache. It smells like amber and heavy sticky resinous vanilla. Nice throw too: just slightly too much to wear to the office but not so strong as to make it so everyone can smell you coming. This isn't a perfume that morphed or changed drastically. What did change was the nature of the vanilla. It starts off heavy and then levels out to something a bit softer before settling down to a boozey feeling base. I got three hours of wear time before it dried down to a skin scent, where it lingered for another hour.  Shockingly, my husband loved this one so much he tried it himself.  It got the highest praise from him:

"Yeah, I'd wear that.  You should let me have it."

Ha ha.  No.

The Waltz

So swift, so delicate, so smooth: champagne musk, ambergris accord, white rose, rosewood, and vanilla amber.

In the bottle: Pale musk

On my skin: This is another feminine, office appropriate scent. Soft musk and white tea rose. After about an hour it's mellowed to a soft woody base with just a hint of that musky rose lingering about. Faded down to a skin scent after two hours and lingered for another hour.


I loved all of these, and I'm amazed that I only burned through one.  If I had to pick a favorite... Yeah I can't.  I sat here and thought about it and kept going around in circles.

Well I really loved Ad Montes, but Black Moths was lovely and dark, but then The Waltz was so pretty feeling but then again so was Edith but... 

I'm just gonna stick with they're all amazing. I'm really sorry I procrastinated about trying these on.  I'd love a full size of Sir Thomas Sharpe but sadly it's sold out.  I believe, or at least at the time I'm writing this, Sir Thomas is the only one that's gone.

~M

You can find the entire collection listed here on BPAL's website.