MamaMoth

dark, buttery, unsweetened pumpkin flesh, and what almost seems like an oud incense. it's been kind of a sleeper hit for me lately. i usually lean into seasonal scents, but i've been continually drawn back to this one, in april no less... i just find myself craving it randomly.

this opens as a cloud of lemon floof accompanied by a deliciously sweet flaxen amber. gourmand in the upper register, but playing chicken with that foody/not foody classification. eventually it settles as a golden sticky amber pastille slowly melting into a baked lemon meringue. glowing, warm, sweet, and velvety. it's a delight.

this is lovely! it's the antique lace (2017) you know and love, made more... substantial by the batty additions. the wistful nostalgia of AL is there, but with a sweetly musky, in some ways more robust foundation that feels grounded in pragmatism. the leather is just a suggestion, as aged and brittle as the yellowed lace it sits alongside. honestly, while i appreciate antique lace, and occasionally find myself in the mood for it, this is more my jam. i'm very pleased with it!

everything is marshmallow amber and nothing hurts.

i'm always a bit wary of leather notes, but i'm very fond of snooty bat, and my love for snake oil is practically boundless, so this was a must-try. and i wasn't wrong. this miiiight be one of my favorite sneks. is leather really the only additional component listed here? i'm shocked. it's snake oil, but so much more, too. it's more leathery upon initial application, with a touch of the plastic quality that sometimes puts me off leather blends. but the leather slips under the surface and joins the chorus soon enough, morphing into a soft brown almost doe-skin of a thing. the spices and vanilla seem a bit amped here from og snake oil, too. it's sweet and musky, cuddly and sexy like a lazy evening under a blanket with someone special. backup bottle, please.

i don't always have the best luck when it comes to blind-bottle picks, but this one called to me and i really scored a hit! gorgeous grey/white amber, softened and sweetened by creamy white chocolate. the green tea is understated, but it brings a subtle breath of freshness and lightness, making this dance on the skin. but the amber is the star here and it's really outstanding! there's a resiny sharpness to the amber that creates a great foil for the rich, creamy white chocolate. the green tea note just lifts the whole thing up. i agree with @doomsday_disco that this is reminiscent to the composition of the mysore sandalwood trio. a different scent profile altogether, but if you liked the way those notes played off each other, and aren't opposed to the notes here, you might like this one too!

initially i was half expecting a silky bat variant out of this one, and it's not that. when it was fresh, i got a bit more leather than i was comfy with (especially on initial application), so i put it away for a while to give it time to settle in and to reset my expectations. i didn't dislike it, but it wasn't what i had hoped for. trying it again today, i'm MUCH happier with it. everything is smoothing and mellowing out wonderfully. i still can't detect any silkybat in its dna, this bat is his own critter, but that's not a bad thing and i quite like it! the leather is still strongest on initial application. but clovey incensey patchouli quickly overtakes it, with leather dropping to a background note just giving it texture. the patch here is quite sweet, but it's not the distinctive lemony-type silkybat sugar. it's deeper, almost like a brown sugar. it doesn't really even feel like the same kinda patch, but i may be wrong. whereas silkybat feels like a bright, sparkly-sweet, high-note patch, snooty bat is warmer and deeper: a dry-ish, incensey, spicy-sweet patch. the nag champa is not super prominent, but it is definitely more incense than floral so i'm very pleased with its presence here. as it really settles in, that clovey sweetness gives it an almost-foody vibe that i'm really digging on. a spiced patchouli cookie served on a scrap of leather.... in a room where incense is stored? sorry, the analogy fell apart there. anyway, this is yummy and i'm glad i blind-bottled it!

i mostly get spicy-spicy figgy pudding from this. deeply sweet, rich, and spicy. much christmas-y. i keep retesting it, hoping the other notes will have developed more, but so far no luck.

this is the kind of thing my brain categorizes as "schwarzer-mondy." deep, raspy, sweet, and resiny. the myrhh comes on strongest to start, but everything settles down together very harmoniously. this has some slink to it. i love the edge that the red peppercorn brings. i wouldn't call it spicy exactly, it just sharpens everything, keeps it from going too flat and resin-heavy. it's verrah nice!

this has the same creamy, rich, decadent, cocoa-buttery white chocolate note as the recent mysore sandalwood luper trio, which is absolutely divine in this one as well. here there is is the barest tinge of red fruit to it, but this is not a fruity perfume. i can pick it out in the opening, but it disappears into the blend as it settles in. overlaying everything is a gauzy, almost effervescent musk. as it wears, the musk gains a lot of traction and really blunts the other notes, creating that pastel feeling that lavendercoffee mentioned. this becomes a deliciously creamy-yet-airy musk with a touch of tartness. i like it very much!

this opens with some chocolate and a plasticy, watery leather note, the likes of which keep me perpetually wary of leather blends. not a very pleasant combo and not a great start. but it really improves after a half-hour or so on the skin. it becomes a soft, comfortable, suede-leathery amber, tinged by a hint of dry chocolate and just the barest whiff of fir to give it lift. it actually gets pretty nice and i'm shocked by how much i like this!

this starts off heavy and rugged, with lots of dark smoky cacao, a little patchouli and vetiver, and a brown-adjacent musk dominating. but as it wears, it sweetens up considerably, and that smoky ruggedness drops to the back as support. what emerges is an almost ambery musk, that bears less resemblance to brown musk but in that same family. it's animalistic, but not cuddly in the slightest. i'm not sure where all the sweetness is coming from, but it really blooms out on me and wow, the more it settles in the more i LOVE this! it's a sweet and musky, darkly earthy, a little smoky, almost velvety in texture. this is fantastic!

this is good. i'm learning that oak is one of my favorite woodsy notes. i don't actually get a lot of scorchiness from this. on me, it's primarily tangy, goaty creaminess and tobacco-sweetened oak. it feels like there might be a touch of a musky component, so i see where the red ribbon comparison can be made. very nice!

this opens with a burst of lemon-adjacent tea leaf, but as it settles in the vanilla really comes forward to soften things up, and it's just really, really pretty. there's an incense-y kind of background hum to it, like bpal white noise. but there's nothing i can point to and say: oh, that's champaca, or myrrh, or whatever. it has a good strong throw to it without being overbearing, but there's a softness to the scent that is gentle and calming. the way that softness plays against the crispness of the tea creates a really pleasant experience. i can see myself reaching for this a lot, and i think it will be a wonderful bedtime scent. i love it.

i'm probably not the best person to review this, because gardenia can go fairly ghastly on me. but i tried this on a lark because the other notes sound amazing. so if you're like me, and wondering how strong the gardenia is: she strong. especially at first. but if you like all those other notes AND gardenia, this could potentially be a huge winner. the red musk is that really smooooth sweet one that's been cropping up lately that is absolutely tdf. it combines with the mango to create a unique twist on your standard-issue fruity red musk. labdanum, patch, and honey create an amazing, sweet, rich, resinous backdrop, but they're not particularly agressive. i'm not getting a lot of black honey but the thread of it i pick up on keeps me snuffling for more despite the gardenia (and champaca) assault. i would love to see more black honey occurances in the future! eventuallyyyy the gardenia/champaca settle down enough that i can appreciate their presence in the composition. it's silky-smooth, sweet and lush. ultimately not for me, but undeniably beautiful.