A Yule a Day: Sorrowful Affection

BPAL's description: "The reward of my benevolence: boneflower, olive blossom, white sandalwood, clary sage, Himalayan cedar, and oakmoss."

My reaction: A very sugary-sweet sage and oakmoss scent. Interesting, but not really "me".

A Yule a Day: Sorrowful Affection

BPAL's description: "Sorrowful affection: lily of the valley, tuberose, pink carnation, green tea absolute, orange zest, bourbon geranium, and blue musk."

My reaction: Initially, this is a very light, sweetened lily of the valley scent. Then the musk comes to the forefront, and it's a darker, more sensual lily. It's pretty, but I really wanted the carnation and green tea to come out and play.

A Yule a Day: Inextinguishable Hatred

BPAL's description: "Inextinguishable hatred: red ginger and black opoponax with black pepper, stinging neroli, myrrh, and tobacco absolute."

My reaction: Lots of orange and ginger and a tiny hint of black pepper. It's good, but I like my orange with more clove/cinnamon type spice, like Nanshe.

A Yule a Day: Winter Heavens

BPAL's description: "Black midnight winter skies glittering with points of light: chill air, champaca flower, white musk, fir needle, papyrus reeds, and grey amber."

My reaction: I am so glad that Woods in Winter was such a winner for me, because this one does not work on me at all. My skin is turning this into a soapy, musky, muddled floral.

A Yule a Day: Diable en Boite 2011

BPAL's description: "There are few things more disturbing than a Jack in the Box. A strangely sinister, unnerving holiday scent: redwood, bitter clove, tonka, hemp accord, and tobacco with peach blossom, black currant, and red musk."

My reaction: This is interesting, but not one I'll be reaching for often, if at all. I can smell the tobacco, wood and musk, but they combine to quite literally smell like a sweaty roll in the hay!

A Yule a Day: Yule 2011

BPAL's description: "It is Yule, and the Holly King has slain the Oak: blood red holly berry, mistletoe, wild thyme, verbena, cinquefoil, hemp, winter rose, evergreen, frankincense, juniper, and myrrh."

My reaction: This starts out as spicy evergreen with hints of moss and juniper, but then my wretched skin amps the wretched rose and it winds up, as almost all rose scents do, smelling like mosquito repellant on me. :(

A Yule a Day: Woods in Winter 2011

BPAL's description: "Wild hemlock and juniper berries scattered in the snow beneath leafless trees bedecked with glittering icicles."

My reaction: This is so gorgeous--the hemlock reads as a rich pine note and the juniper berries are stinging and spicy and there's a hint of wood and ozone, but not so much as to overpower the hemlock and juniper. This is definitely on my bottle list!

A Yule a Day: Colder and Colder

Colder and Colder is from the Frankenstein section of this year's Yule scents, and BPAL's website describes it as "Peppermint, spearmint, white musk, and elemi settling into a deepening darkness."

I'm still on the fence about whether or not I need it. It's not nearly as dark as the description suggests, instead it's a very soft, slightly sweet, slightly floral mint on me, and while I do like it, I've got other BPAL mint blends that I adore. On the other hand, the elemi gives a lovely resinous hint to this, so I'm very tempted.

A Yule a Day: A Blot Upon the Earth

My BPAL Yule decants have arrived, yay! And frankly, my nails are a mess thanks to wrapping Christmas presents and washing my hands about a zillion times in the last four days, so this week is going to be all about the BPAL.

A Blot Upon the Earth is from the Frankenstein section of this year's Yule scents. It's definitely not on my bottle list, because while it's evocative, like all of Beth's blends, it's not me.

BPAL's description: "A blot upon the earth: black plum, Spanish moss, opoponax, davana, vetiver, and opium poppy."

My reaction: I can smell the plum at first, but then the oakmoss takes over. Finally, there's a hint of poppy, but mostly it's floral oakmoss.

Happy Boxing Day!