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GG: Very soft and clean, without being a drier sheet. The lavender comes through as a solid base. I can't really pick out the other notes on top of it. The whole scent fades even more shortly after applying, though I think I can pick out a hint of moss at that point. DT: Also very soft and clean, like an air freshener. It's definitely a different (sweeter) lavender and the vanilla is very fresh as a nice compliment. Again, I can't pick out the other notes, though there is something more to it than lavender and vanilla. This is lighter and brighter than GG, with a stronger throw. As the often-token goth kid, I was looking forward to trying these two perfumes just for that nod (though I would argue Eeyore is just depressed and not goth). However, I was not expecting this to smell so freshly laundered, like my blacks are now a faded gray and very very clean.
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GG: Very soft and clean, without being a drier sheet. The lavender comes through as a solid base. I can't really pick out the other notes on top of it. The whole scent fades even more shortly after applying, though I think I can pick out a hint of moss at that point. DT: Also very soft and clean, like an air freshener. It's definitely a different (sweeter) lavender and the vanilla is very fresh as a nice compliment. Again, I can't pick out the other notes, though there is something more to it than lavender and vanilla. This is lighter and brighter than GG, with a stronger throw. As the often-token goth kid, I was looking forward to trying these two perfumes just for that nod (though I would argue Eeyore is just depressed and not goth). However, I was not expecting this to smell so freshly laundered, like my blacks are now a faded gray and very very clean.
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Oaty, roasted, and toasted. As it dries the milk note comes out strong, which bothers me on some level. And a touch of vanilla. It's a very comfort-warm / foodie / breakfast kind of scent. As it wears, I get more cotton, with a subtle sweetness from the vanilla. It does somehow fit the image of a stuffed bear sitting by a sunny window while breakfast is served. Though I can't say it's something I would want to smell like, I know some BPALers enjoy scents like this a lot.
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Going on wet it's a heavy head of honey, slight fizz and woodsmoke flitting through. As it dries it becomes very fizzy on close sniff, while staying very "honey" in general. "Fizz" isn't a scent directly, but it still comes through as that, very effervescent, with an almost citrus hint to it. The fizz does fit with bees buzzing. The main honey note lasts all day, through a shower, and into the next day, but does become cloying.
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In the bottle I get cardamom and rice. On my skin the throw is quite low. I can pick all the notes out while wet, but as it dries I just get rice. The intent seems to be to capture some of the bear (through foodie notes) along with his thoughts on winter turning into spring, but I'm confused by the rice.
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This scent is inspired by the scene when Pooh visits Rabbit, who pretends not to be home, and then they eat honey and condensed milk with bread (right before Pooh gets stuck in the hole). I like how it captures the smell of the all the things Rabbit would consider a "mouthful of something". The lemon verbena has a lot of punch at first but settles down. There's a very nice spice that is oat-y, a vegetal note that must have the carrot leaf if I had to guess, plus a lot of honey on closer sniff. The oats is really what makes this a "foodie" scent
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The Dregs of a Bottle of Vanilla Extract (Discovered in the Mud)
Roogna replied to doomsday_disco's topic in The Edward Gorey House
The mix of vanilla and ethanol is an interesting note on the skin. On my skin the ethanol is pretty strong, but the vanilla maintains a presence. Interestingly, the ethanol isn't alcohol-like; it's more astringent, with the vanilla keeping it from being "medical". And the vanilla doesn't have that alcohol quality that extract always does. I don't get any mud or dirt note. While I can't say this is a scent I would wear again, it does fit with that touch of sinister in many a Gorey tale -
Low throw but lovely. Raspberry and cake and ... gin or elderberry liqueur? It's sweet, but not overly so. It's a really nice balance of notes. I just wish it had a little more noticeable presence than the tease of missing the party, though it does linger on the skin for hours.
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I get lemon pound cake in the bottle and when wet on my skin. Somehow that does indeed turn into a bit more of a marshmallow scent when dry, though it still gives lemon pound cake at the same time (just more subdued). No grapefruit -- <i>maybe</i> a hint in the bottle, but definitely not on my skin. It's unusual, but interesting. Normally the Lab's marshmallow notes are spot-on, so it's weird that I get such a perfect lemon pound cake; I have no explanation, but it is delightful.
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Wow! Very interesting and complex. The name refers to the crime of Lady Violet at Gilravage Hall in <i>Neglected Murderesses</i>. Light purple florals within dark tea and tannins (decaying plants), hint of metal, pleasantly acrid with a soft side. Some Sweet Tart (candy) powder takes over, which is usually a skin chemistry thing for me, but it's softer and more subdued than normal, so perhaps it's more one of the purples in this scent and not a skin chemistry thing. This is probably the first BPAL perfume I've tried where I haven't amped the rose note to headache levels at all, let alone immediately. In fact, I can't say I get rose, which I'm not complaining about. Lasts all day with a low throw.
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Initially it's lots of lilies -- very soft, white, and perfumy while wet. This scent surprised me with its subtle complexity after it dries. It turns sweeter, which I can only attribute to the lilies. But there is something else to it, something I can't really place. It's not pine or "branches" or smoke or myrrh, so it must be the tulle and satin, which are not fabric scents really (though the Lab has done some other fabrics). It wears pleasantly all day with a medium throw. I wouldn't say this is a "me" scent -- I wouldn't have picked this up for any of the listed notes, but I'm a huge Gorey fan -- but it's quite enjoyable. The first wear was a test only on one wrist. I was so surprised by this one I wanted to give it a full wear, and it was even better; I might be convinced to get more than the decant I have. The Lab's website says this scene is " From Edward Gorey’s <i>Scènes de Ballet</i>, and I've included the image of the label art here. I would say this scent captures <i>her</i> -- La Sylphe -- in all her etherealness, but not the black forest or any of its shadows.
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Very soft, sugary lemonade at first. Then, the almond and cinnabar make it almost dirty-smelling -- not like dirt, just more like something that shouldn't be in lemonade. In fact, they don't really smell like almond and cinnabar notes, but rather like a corruption of lemonade. Like many of the Gorey-inspired scents, it's subtly complex, and I like that, even if it's not a scent I'll wear. The salts in question are mentioned in a line from <i>The Awdrey-Gore Legacy</i>, a murder mystery satire, as "not soluble in lemonade". It lasts all day with a low-to-medium throw, a lingering lemonade that's not quite right, but which clings to the skin with a pleasantly acrid bite.
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This definitely gives the impression of cold -- polar even. It's heady and sharp, before quickly settling to something plastic-y with a floral aspect, reminding me of those old decorative soaps my grandparents had in the 80s and 90s. After an hour or two it turns musky, with an almost sour vegetal note that must be the ambergris. And then, several hours later it's sweeter, almost a vanilla-ness to it, while still having some of the ambergris underneath, and still "cool" like ice (not wintery) -- if it had smelled like that from the start it would be a real winner.
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Definite cinnamon very immediately, but the kind of cinnamon in a cinnamon roll, mixed with all that doughy goodness and a bit of icing. This one is surprisingly not overly foodie, despite smelling like a cinnamon roll. This may be the most "normal" Gorey scent by the Lab, but it is spot on.
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A delicate and soft scent for sure; sadly, on my skin, the throw fades fairly quickly to almost nothing, that I can only smell when I put my nose to my skin. The powdered violet hooks you before the sweet plum brandy layers on. There is a brightness to it -- perhaps the aldehydes, whatever those are. I normally don't do violet or plum scents, but the combination here is really nice. Sadly, it turns soapy on my skin.
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There's a heaviness to this, the velvet curtains drawn closed. While wet on the skin there's a hint of candied coating over top, but it's gone as soon as it's there. If I sniff closer, I do get the foodie notes, mostly mixed together as a fruit-tinged bread pudding, and a hint of "burnt". It's a low throw scent, that mostly gives velvet curtains over vaguely warm bread-foodie and boozy. As it wears, the curtains pull back allowing the foodie notes to waft more.
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gingersnaps have that baked quality and peppercorns give it that "red hots" note
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Slightly sour red fruit, tinge of the green and herbaceous vermouth!. Patchouli is very demure here, which surprised me because a) I usually amp it, and b) I figured the clove would have made it louder. As it dries, it becomes very rose-like, which is either my skin chemistry wreaking havoc or a nod to Beth’s brilliance. Definitely atmospheric!
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Red fruit enrobed in patchouli gives way to resin and just a hint of clove. It starts out very sweet and then gets much drier, thankfully. I don’t know that I’d say “rot” but it does inspire many goth feelings -- like an academic version of Crypt Queen, if that makes sense?
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I, like many others, find it deeply unpleasant in the bottle. It’s heady and sharp and overwhelming. Once applied, I’m guessing the mandarin, musk, and white sandalwood (which goes crazy on my skin) are merging to make this smell like orange blossom for a very, very, long time. The mango finally starts making a background appearance during dry down, but it’s never a fruity scent for me. It takes a while to get to the stage where I think it’s both pretty and tolerable, but it doesn’t even stay there long before it goes utterly soapy and I need to wash it off. Sadly, not for me.
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This one has some SILLAGE! My partner said he could smell it across the apartment. It opens with BIG, bold narcissus, like the sensation of sticking my face directly into the center of a flower, bringing to mind gobs of blindingly bright, aggressively scented yellow-orange pollen. The next aspect I pick up on is a waxy smoothness, like big waxy petals, that almost reminds me of smelling candlewax. Apparently ambrette has "exceptional power and tenacity", so I'm thinking it's contributing to the BIGness of this blend, in concert with the narcissus. It's musky, slightly animalic, velvety, with a fruity facet that reminds me of osmanthus. I amp indoles to a truly absurd degree, but if I strain my ear, I swear I can hear the other notes underneath. The narcissus feels almost hedonistically thick, honey-like, but still somehow fresh and floral; the vanilla adds a rich, creamy texture. Saffron is a little hard for me to place in perfume, but I think it's adding to the honey nuance, maybe some aspects of hay and tobacco? Not totally sure about that one. It doesn't come across as either earthy or spicy on me. I'm not totally sure what tobacco flower smells like. Projection and sillage stay powerful for the first couple of hours, but it dies down and recedes closer to the skin after that. It stays quite intense for awhile. I'm really digging On Beauty in all its dizzying intensity, but I'm thinking I won't be wearing this often enough to need a full bottle. @theseagrows is spot-on that this feels like something I'd only want to wear in early spring or late winter. This is spring fever in a bottle, that delirious time of year when it seems that everything's blooming all at once, an inescapable rush of scent an color, and spring finally reigns triumphant over winter. It's a glorious feeling, but wearing it in hot weather would be borderline antisocial behavior, and I'm not really sure I can get away with wearing it to work. Recommended for spring days spent mostly outside & reveling!
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We've been seeing news reports about how the current ube trend that's sweeping America is causing big problems for farmers in the Philippines. Terrible! I figured it might be worth mentioning that Beth's ube accord, which has been popping up in more scents over the past years, is NOT derived from actual ube, and is therefore safe and ethical for you to enjoy. Or not enjoy! But fortunately we're not contributing to this particular issue. While researching our post about this, I compiled the following list of current ube scents, which I may as well share here also: ✤ ARAW NG MGA PATAY (Halloween 2025) A cheerful, raucous celebration of life and death: bouquets overflowing with gerbera daisies, waling waling, sampaguita, ylang ylang, hibiscus, night-blooming dama de noche, santan, and everlasting flower with piles upon piles of bibingka, ube halaya, rice muffins, champorado, purple yam cake, and turon, and plates of gooey kalabasa leche flan. ✤ LAVENDER UBE MOCHI DONUT (Yule 2025) A chewy delight made from a blend of rice flour and purple yam, fried in lavender-infused oil and dusted with granulated sugar. ✤ LILAC-DRAPED VULVA (Shunga 2026) Lilac-soaked amber cream, orris root, blue lotus absolute, white sandalwood, and purple yam. ✤ NANGGIGIGIL AKO SAYO (Lupercalia 2026 A scent for all of us who have been exploded by someone else’s cuteness: ube candyfloss and rice paper-wrapped red bean custard candy. ✤ TRIUMPH IN VERMILLION SILK (Shunga 2026) Scarlet silk, sweetened rice milk, ube, peony petals, candied ginger, persimmon, red dates, red carnation, lavender, and red amber. ✤ UBE PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE (Halloween 2025) Piles of ube pumpkin cheesecake batter blorped into a brown sugar graham cracker crust. ✤ WATER BEARER (Shunga 2026) French lavender, Thai coconut, cherimoya, and ube.
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In the bottle: Sour berries/fruit? On the skin: more of the same but sweeter. I get vinegar, cucumber and pine to start with, which is concerning. As this develops it quickly morphs to a sweet plum still with a pine/balsam cedar note in the back. I actually enjoy the drydown and hope this smooths out as it ages. It has a lot of promise.
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In the bottle: very reminiscent of my beloved Black Lace On the skin: on the skin is where this veers away from Black Lace. The caramel is obvious but doesn't clobber you in the nose; it's present but subtly part of the whole. Leather is there in the drydown but its a refined leather rather than rugged. It's definitely a Lace but I'm on the fence on whether I love it or not.
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In the bottle: Back in 2008 I ordered Pancake Breakfast, which I love and I still have half a bottle of as I don't reach for it often. This smells like that without the blueberry syrup in the bottle. It's coffee and syrupy pancakes. On the skin: OMG sooo good as soon as it hits the skin - coffee and pancakes and very, very sweet. I don't think the pancakes are as realistic as Pancake Breakfast and there is something in this that shifts it from purely gourmand to more perfumey. The doughnutty cruller note creeps in giving it more of a 2am Diner Coffee vibe the the actual 2am Diner Coffee. Fascinating.
