I'll be the first to admit, I've never been a very big fan of BPAL. With it's almost endless rotation of scents, it's almost impossible to fully keep track of what the house has to offer, and they don't offer samples. Luckily for all of us, Ajevie keeps up with all the new BPAL releases for us and also offers sample sizes. I've recently taken to liberally making use of the 'add to bundle' function - something I hated doing previously due to the long wait time, but now something I've just made peace with. It's a side effect of ordering from indies, but that's how it is.
Although the previous scents I have tried from BPAL definitely had more misses than hits, I've definitely found a few that have been nice to wear - and it shows why BPAL has been around for so long, and is still so loved. I won't be full sizing anything anytime soon, but I've definitely been dipping my toes into the BPAL river more than a few times. I'm BPAL-curious.
Anyway, onto the scent! This is from their Lupercalia/Shungas collection.
The Hour of the Body - Wild strawberries, yuzu, pink grapefruit, red pomegranate, and rooibos.
Although there are definitely wilder notes from this collection (coming soon in a future review), I mainly picked this up for the fruity melange on offer here. I'm a big yuzu fan (if it wasn't evident), and so I was hopeful that this was going to give me a real summer/spring fresh and fruity scent - and this didn't disappoint. From the bottle, this scent is super sweet and fruity, and I'm in love with the juicy yuzu note that comes out here, just the right amount of acidic and slightly bitter.
On application, this scent definitely leans far sweeter than I'd anticipated (my skin amps sweetness so YMMV), and the way it brings fruit to the table is in a smoothie, it's a mixed delight of the frozen sweet strawberries, fruit syrup and a blend of fruity soda fruit punch, with a hint of mint - it reminds me a lot of Red Candy (Astrid) with all the pomegranate/strawberry notes. Even for a foodie/sweet fiend, I find this almost a little too toothachingly sweet and leans into girly teenage BBW territory (think Strawberry Poundcake) and almost feels a little cheap and artificial. After dry down, it feels a little more tame and mellowed out, but the fruity elements here were difficult to pick out in terms of its individual notes, but yuzu being the least noticeable. Personally, I wished the yuzu was stronger and that it didn't end up being as sweet, but all things said, I liked this scent, and I can see it being a great addition to the spring/summer rotation. I won't be upsizing it, but I'll definitely be keeping my sample. This had medium to low throw with a wear of 6-7 hours, although it's very faint and stays close to the skin after about 4 hours.
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