This goes up through the 23rd. I decided not to test perfumes on the 24th and the 25th, because 1) BPAL’s Thieves’ Rosin smells like Christmas to me (pine resin, cinnamon, and other stuff I can’t ID), so I wanted to wear that instead, and 2) I really didn’t feel like playing roulette on the holidays, lest I wind up with something awful on me. <lol>

Lots of Haus of Gloi this time, but since my pattern has been to leave BPAL unmarked and mention the others, I’ll maintain that pattern.

* Black Fig, Oak Bark, and Brown Sugar
In the wet and early drydown stages this smelled distinctly like some kind of Yankee Candle — as in, I swear there was some kind of waxy element to it, like I was sniffing a candle with these scents in them. It eventually settled into fruity sweetness, but it’s not for me.

* Scarecrow (Haus of Gloi)
Described as “Dried corn husks, dust, straw, weathered wood and a ruffle of inky black feathers.” This actually legit smells like corn husks! There was briefly a delicate floral overtone, and later something that smelled like sandalwood to me, but the corn part stayed. It was unusual, and unlike a lot of the “unusual” combinations I’ve tried it wasn’t terrible, but I have a hard time imagining when I might say “this is what I want to smell like.”

* Kumbaya (Haus of Gloi)
The description says “Round the campfire with friends singing silly songs and making smores: chocolate, graham cracker, marshmallow, sandalwood, and woodsmoke.” I didn’t get pretty much any of that. It started out almost nauseatingly buttery, and resembled butterscotch quite strongly when the sugariness started to rise up. Very late in the game I could maaaaaaybe sniff out graham cracker and marshmallow, but on the whole, nope.

* ICD 17 Prototype
I have no idea what’s up with these “prototype” bottles, as I can’t find them listed on BPAL’s site, nor on the forum a friend linked me to. Anyhoo, this one launched very medicinally — my sister compared it to Vicks VapoRub — and while some resin came through later, it felt more like resin and cherries were having a duel on my wrist rather than anything particularly harmonious. Another nope.

* Garden of Earthly Delights (Haus of Gloi)
Described as “Soft amber bear musk, playful porcupine spike of pineapple, and crumbled leaves.” This one was sweet and fruity in the bottle, but with a bit of a sharpness that kept it from being cloying; on my wrist, the green “leaf” scent took prominence over the pineapple. Unfortunately, it faded rapidly to a boring musk. That seems to happen to me a lot . . .

* Springwater (Haus of Gloi)
Described as “Cool water, mossy river stones, and mineral rich silt.” This one actually worked fairly nicely! It was the second of three perfumes in a row to basically swap their balance from bottle to wet; it was floral and cucumber, then cucumber and floral. The balance of the two wound up being very nice and fresh, quite unlike what I expect of florals. This one I can imagine wearing as a spring or early summer kind of thing; I will certainly try it again, and possibly keep it.

* Sanctum (Haus of Gloi)
Described as “Muskmelon, coconut water infused with bergamot flower, kaffir lime, polished ho wood and sticky benzoin.” I don’t know what ho wood smells like, and I haven’t tried enough perfumes with benzoin to pick that one out either, so I don’t know what brought in the warmer scent along the way. But this did the same initial swap as the previous two, this time with melon and lime; then the lime sort of faded out, but the melon struck a nice balance with the coconut. (My sister, who hates the smell of coconut, didn’t make faces like she wanted to cut my arm off to make it go away.) I could see wearing this one at the beach! . . . as if I ever go to the beach, but you know what I mean.

* Fair Maiden Side-Eye
Can’t find this one on BPAL’s site, either, but the forum had people agreeing that it smells very . . . pink. In a bubblegum-ish way, at least to my nose, with some kind of spice like cinnamon early on. It very rapidly dried to vanilla musk, though, which is ever so slightly less boring than plain musk, but still not interesting.