This is a page I'm making because I have Thoughts about indie perfumes (at this point in 2026 it's almost entirely BPAL) and I figure I may as well share them with the internet.
I'm hoping to list my own opinions on the perfumes I've tried, and keep a record of the ones I've sampled.
Of course, perfume is actually really subjective--what one person likes is not going to work for another. As an example: a dear friend of mine likes violets, but dislikes almonds. I dislike both, because to me they smell basically the same!
This does not mean, in any capacity, that perfumes with almond or violet are inherently bad or anything silly like that. It just means that I don't particularly care for those scents. One of the fantastic things I've learned since diving into perfume-oil-wearing-ness is that I've had a great chance to learn my own preferences. I like rose, though I rarely love it by itself. I adore orchid, which I did not know. I like the idea of almond better than I like the fact of almond in my perfumes. Aquatics and me are non-mixy, they smell amazing in the bottle and either disappear once they hit my skin or--if they're a particular marine note--smell horrible on me.
Which is to say: all of these things are subjective opinions, regarding my own preferences, sensitivities, and compatibilities with the samples I've tried from BPAL.
Since this whole page is about them, here's a shoutout to their great website and perfumes: Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. They have sample kits! They have free samples with each order! They're indie and they have great politics!