VioletChaos

This is the year that we first presented our Labyrinth and Fraggle Rock lines! Visiting Henson Studios was one of the greatest thrills of my life. How often do you get to meet a Skeksi in person? In 2012, we made our first pilgrimage to DragonCon. While so many incredible memories stand out, the one that is most vivid is us watching in horror as a full-to-capacity elevator (including a Transformer in full-transform) at the Marriott took over two hours to descend 30 floors. Its a fantastic convention, and we are thrilled to make it our Labor Day weekend home every year. A fraggle-shaggy bright scent with a sinister goblin shadow: red currant and King mandarin with a white musk fougere, sweet dried fruits, and smoky myrrh-infused oudh. In the Bottle: Bright and fruity! But there's also an unsettling undercurrent that I can't quite name, like...ammonia? Wet On Skin: Yay, the ammonia has left the building! At this stage, mostly I'm getting sweet, dried sugary fruits and the slightest age of the white musk fougere in the background, which prevents this from just being a silly-kids-games kind of scent. Dry Down: It's funny, I like having fruit notes in things, but I don't like when it's the *only* thing. I need my scents to have some kind of depth, something to hang on to, and this scent DOES that, but not ion any way I've encountered before. If one were to layer Kingdom of Sweets with Red from the Fraggle Rock series, and then tossed in a little of Jareth, minus the leather...you would get Aluminum Phoenix. This isn't one I was sure about, but I'm really, really happy I got a bottle now.

In The Bottle: A light, very sweet, slightly dusty chocolate followed by a hint of rich buttercream. Wet On Skin: The chocolate is quite light here. Mostly I'm getting a sugary vanilla with a dusting of cocoa powder on top. Dry Down: The chocolate vanishes entirely and I'm left with a very light, sweet buttercream. On my skin, it is a very close cousin to Egg Nog, without any nutmeg. In All: For me, chocolate scents are always hit (Bliss; Cacao Pod) or terribly miss (Candy Butcher, I'm looking at you). Unfortunately, in spite of three types of chocolate being present in this blend, my skin gives me not a one well, of to the swaps it goes!

How marvellously lie our anxieties, in filmy layers, one over the other! Take away that which has lain on the upper surface for so long—the care of cares—the only one, as it seemed to you, between your soul and the radiance of Heaven—and straight you find a new stratum there. Opium smoke, opium tar, mandarin, dark musk, patchouli, tonka, vetiver, and frankincense. in the bottle: dark, thick opium in its various beguiling forms, a hint of deep musk and the vanilla-rich undertone of tonka bean. wet on skin: the vetiver is coming out, but so far is staying put in the mix, unlike usual on my skin. the opium is still really heavy, sweet and rich. dry down: everything is mingling and blending so beautifully that at the dry point, there is no way to really tell one note from the next. hints of all the above coming in and out in a glorious haze of sex, seduction and possibly lust-driven murder (or at least madness ) in all: good god- this is SO heady, sexy and rich that, shipping charged be damned, i may have to get a second bottle. total. love. :heart:

His flight was like the flashing of light, his plumage was beauteous, and his song ravishing: fire-yellow amber, neroli, frangipani, king mandarin, white honey, and saffron vanilla. In The Bottle: King Mandarin, reporting for duty! This has LOADS of King Mandarin and I LIKE IT. Wet On Skin: The honey is coming through now, lending a balance of top sweet and middle sweet. The amber is bringing up the rear, but not intensely. Dry Down: THERE'S the saffron vanilla! I was wondering when she'd show up to the party! Her inclusion has mellowed the edges of the king and now it's become like an adult version of a Creamsicle, the scratch of the frangipani making this scent mature, not in teeny-bopper territory. In All: this sweet scent is light and fun and joyous, perfect for daily day time use, but if layered with, say, "O" or another honey-heavy scent, I think the whole vibe would change and the scent would become waaaay more nighttime ready

In The Bottle: The strange-yet-tantalizing combination of cocoa powder and lavender oil, with a bit of the vanilla rounding it out from underneath. I'm intrigued already! Wet On Skin: The lavender comes a bit more to the forefront, certainly reading as more of a Victorian fougere, which I'm liking, because it makes the scent slightly more masculine, and sometimes I like that. Dry Down: The lavender is definitely in the front now, with cocoa playing second fiddle and vanilla a distant third. I get no other notes but frankly, those were the three notes I was most compelled by, and I'm rather pleased with the end result. In All: medium throw. A nice genderQueer scent for those that dig poncy lavender mixed with slightly gourmand sweets

In The Bottle: White ginger and a bit of honey. Wet On Skin: Exceptionally light but with a nice spice. I was interested in trying this scent because I love spice scents, but many are too heavy for warm weather months. I may have found what I'm looking for *fingers crossed* Dry Down: This reads to me like more of a ginger *flower* than straight ginger. I also get a light green tea kind of note (which I know, is nowhere found in the description but maybe it's the Ambrosia?) which lends itself again to making this an appealing scent for hot days. In All: low throw, this is definitely a skin scent and a nice one for exceptionally hot days when I get tired of wearing citrus based scents. Glad I splurged on a blind bottle!

In The Bottle: WHOA. That is delicious. The white carnation is definitely a different experience than the Spanish Red I've encountered in past Lab mixtures (plus one of my favorite SNs of all time!) But just in the bottle, it's not the only note in the mix. The honey lends sweetness right out of the gate, but at this stage, doesn't present itself as the honey configuration we all typically know from such Lab favorites as "O". I am way intrigued, regardless! Wet On Skin: Sweet, creamy (hey milk note heeeey!) and, as others mentioned, comforting. Dry Down: The carnation reads slightly more like carnation I've met before, but still lighter, definitely a 'white' variation for sure. The honey and milk are holding strong. I personally don't get any of the cardamom, but that's not surprising, since my skin tends to eat that notes unless it hits me over the head in a OH HAI I AM ALL TEH CARDAMOM ALL TEH TIME kind of way. I have a SN if I feel like it needs ome, but this scent is just lovely right as it is. Glad to have a bottle- it feels like sacred hope, which is needed in these exceptionally dark times.

In Paradise, when thou wert born in the first rose, beneath the Tree of Knowledge, thou receivedst a kiss, and thy right name was given thee-thy name, Poetry. Ancient threads of frankincense winding through saffron and orange flower, Siamese benzoin and jasmine sambac, sweet balsam and vetiver. In The Bottle: Light frankincense, a little bit of saffron and the sweet resin of the benzoin bringing up the rear. Wet On Skin: Oh wow! Hi Neroli! Neroli, which I'm betting is the same as orange flower, is now right out front, and I like it! Florals don't often do well for me, but neroli essential oil is a favorite, so I took a chance when I ordered this, that it might work out and so far, so good! Dry Down: This is primarily the orange flower which is now weighted by the jasmine, giving it a really heady vibe. The benzoin is a nice bottom note for the whole enterprise to ground it. The other notes never showed up for me, and the saffron disappeared. In All: a must for floral obsessives and those that like their scents dreamy.

Seven Swans-A-Swimming Six Geese-A-Laying Five Golden Rings Four Calling Birds Three French Hens Two Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree Chestnut milk with honey and hay. Oh. My. Goddess. I knew, from description alone, that this was a must-have. Even though I don't use glosses that often, even though I literally have ten other bottles already languishing. I knew. I *KNEW*. And I was RIGHT! There is the light and sweet hay note from Surreal Crawdad, which I was hoping for, and yes, the honey is in there, sweetening the pot a bit more. But that chestnut milk. That's the money shot right there. If there was a scent, a single note, of ONLY chestnut milk, I'd be forced to buy multiple bottles. This note is so gloriously creamy, so beautifully...earthy? at the same time- it's just...glorious. Let me put it this way- chances are excellent that I will be using this on my skin, whether or not my hair is in need of a spritz!

In The Bottle: a dry, straight-forward lavender. I would call this a "daytime" lavender, in that I don't get anything that feels 'sleepy' or 'drowsy' about it, which is nice, because I'm fond of lavender but most scents have to be kept to evening use since they facilitate sleepytimes. Wet On Skin: the caramel aspect of the tobacco os coming out, but not overpowering, which is a relief. I'm also getting hints of the cognac that is a staple in many of the Lace blends. Not much, if any, of the vanilla to speak of. I hope that changes on dry down. Dry Down: Someone above mentioned the scent of old linens, and I can see that. The lavender becomes a faint memory, the cognac and tobacco melding into the kind of scent that one would find on old yellowed fabrics tucked into a closet, left to their own devices after a passed lifetime of use. It's *definitely* a scent that belongs to the Lace family, I just wish it had a bit more of the lavender note left over...

A creativity oil crafted to help you find inspiration to construct activist art. Whether it be an intimate, personal form of protest or a big, poetic fuck you right in this administrations face, this oil will help give voice to your radical muses. Mugwort essential oil, jasmine sambac, steam-distilled Calabrian bergamot, and organic cold-pressed lemon essential oil. I pretty much always gravitate toward creativity-supporting TAL oils. But as a full-time fine artist that is extremely political, I knew that I was going to need a bottle of this one in particular. From a purely perfume-fragrance perspective, Artivism isn't the main attraction. Let's face it: mugwort just isn't that much of a go-to scent experience. It's dry and a little farty, in much the same way as clary sage. Yes, the jasmine certainly tempers that and the bergamot gives another welcomed layer. But all of that is besides the point, because what this is really about and the urge toward creative endeavor toward the greater good, and that's where this Artivism excels. I am often amazed (though not surprised) at Beth's ability to encapsulate the needs and desires of the creative process. But of course, an artist herself, she's one of us, and knows no doubt from first-hand experience what it means to have such drives and passions. And here it is, tailored and formulated not just to scratch the itch that comes with percolating a new idea or concept, but the specificity that comes with creative birthing that lies in service to helping for a larger betterment of those that inhabit this small planet.

The Fortunes of Health and Well-Being A hymn for good health and protection of the vulnerable: orange blossom honey, vanilla husk, green stem sap, and a drop of King mandarin. In The Bottle: Neroli lightly dribbled over a sweet but delicate honey base. This is not the heavy honey -at least in the bottle- of "O". This is more like a honey *dust*. Fragrant but extremely delicate. I also get a tiny edge of the green sap, I recognize it from Strawberry Moon '09. It's a lovely addition here to bring balance to the sweet elements. Wet On Skin: The mandarin is starting to come into play at this stage, as the oil wars on my skin. I'm glad- King Mandarin is a note I really adore and part the reason I wanted to get a bottle of this scent. The vanilla husk remains invisible right now, but the other notes are playing to preciously together, I can't say I miss it. Dry Down: WHAT a lovely springtime scent! Neroli, sweet mandarin, light honey- there is no bad here. A good floral for those that shy away from florals, a good foodie for those that don't like heavy gourmand. This scent has low throw, a sweetly nostalgic feel and makes me ache for the return of spring. Beautiful beautiful beautiful.

In The Bottle: That gorgeous incense base that I've come to associate with Eve in all her glory dominates in the Fuck Up version as well. Can't wait to see what happens next! Wet On Skin: Interestingly, the rose note in standard Eve never really showed itself, which is odd, because rose notes can amp on me and therefore be make-or-break situations. And I mention this because the sage is really subtle in here, in an only slightly elevated way that rose showed itself in the standard formula. What's it's doing is acting as kind of a stage or a base for the rest of the spicy, sultry notes in Eve to stand on. I'm definitely not getting the herby-greeny study Silvertree mentioned, so this might seriously be a skin chemistry thing taken to the next level. Dry Down: I mean, this is Eve we're talking about. EVE. A scent based on a character personified by Tilda-Fucking-Swinton as an immortal living in North Africa. And having just come back from living for a brief and beautiful time in North Africa, the standard Eve was already close to my heart. This version of Eve, fuck-ups be damned, is fucking GLORIOUS. It's spicy and sweet and the sage plays up the desert aspect just a notch and it's just so. damn. slatherable. I never slather perfumes. But OLLA Eve, in both her guises, *requires* nothing less. EASILY makes it into my top 10, my top 7and probably my top 5 if I'm pressed to say.

This is a potent and very specific banishing oil: it shuts up gossips, repels troublemakers, dislodges leeches, and helps you flick away everyday irritations. Because seriously: all that b*llshit can f*ck right off. Twilight Alchemy Labs FOWYB Oil contains essential oils, absolutes, and CO2 extracts that are organically-grown and pesticide-free, and many of the oils components are first distillations from small farms. This oil includes organically-grown bay leaf, black snake root, lemongrass, and rue from the TAL garden, broom straws, devils shoestring, fennel seed, ginger root, mace (the herb, not the stuff you spray in an assailants face), and lemongrass essential oil. This oil was charged instantaneously during a repulsion rite. I opened the bottle and was immediately struck by the self-righteous INTENSITY of this oil. I'm not going to so much as dab this on my skin right now first because I have friends coming over later and I don't want to inadvertently affect them but also it's just really intense. I felt a rush of anger for all the jerks that have ever fucked with me and anyone I care about. I got this oil at this time because I've got some...unfortunate individuals I have to deal with in a work environment and I am absolutely going to make sure I have this with me when I have to next deal with them. I almost feel sorry for this that are faced with the wrath of this oil. Almost.

So, I was hoping this would be like a Mint Mojito, and it wasn't. But it is GREAT. It's fresh but isn't that WOW MINT thing that mint likes to do. It's more subtle here, integrating well with the vanilla and tempered by the sugar, angering and bourbon (I get no lime). This will be a lovely thing to spray in the house this summer to lighten the air. I suspect this is going to be the "sleeper hit" of the DragCon offerings this year

I treat wig sprays as atmosphere sprays generally, so that's how I conducted tests for this pone, by spraying into the air, letting it settle and seeing what developed. As I had hoped, this for me was pretty much all Lavender and Vanilla with a bit of Sugar Cane in the background. It's like an atmo version of Daybreak, which is my favorite lavender scent of all time, because it can be used during the day without it putting me into a stupor the way TKO does. I love this!

This is a very light, very "clean" scent. I was hoping for a little more in terms of the vanilla skin musk. On me, it's reading more like a pure water note. Water notes usually go awry on me, but this is pretty sheer. I can definitely see what is meant about using this to layer.- I personally don't think I'd wear this on its own that much. But I'm already wearing OLLA Eve today, so I conducted an experiment with layering a bit of DIFE to see how it goes, and it's *definitely* better in that context for me. On top of Eve, DIFE seems to have an amplifying quality, pulling the incense and souk notes to the front of Eve and also adding an edge of some sort. I'm going to continue doing some experiments but I don't know if this is for me just yet.

Love Me would be my top pick. I didn't wear it on my wedding day but I wore it almost every day of my honeymoon. It's a gorgeous floral, a little spicy, without being cloying.

In The Bottle: I get the sweetness of the labdanum straight away, with the liquidambar coming in after. Which is a GREAT start. Wet On Skin: So sweetly, deeply, resinous. The ambar is reminding me of some magical amber I've had for my entire adult life. It's sexy and warm and quite strong. The labdanum is adding that hallucinatory aspect as it is wont to do, and I *LIKE* it. Dry Down: More of the same. This is a great scent for anyone that loves rich, sweet resin scents. I cannot *wait* to see how this ages.

In The Bottle: Dry sweet woods. Thankful, so far the cedar is staying put instead of jumping out at me. Here's hoping that continues... Wet On Skin: The jasmine is coming round now. It's not the light floral jasmine, it's the thick, dark Indian jasmine for sure, which I guess must be similar to an Egyptian variable. I like both, but here the darker one seems more appropriate to hold its own against those other deep notes. Dry Down: Deep jasmine grounded by wood. Possibly a *hint* of saffron bitten off at the end. Sadly I don't get any honey or vanilla. But I'm willing to wait, to see what happens with aging. It's not a bad scent, just surprisingly simple on my skin. I'm hoping some complexities come out by waiting around.

In The Bottle: This is an instant surprise. In the bottle, I'm getting a delectable mix of the Lab's blood note with a spicy undertone that is REALLY working here. It also smell, oddly, very "fresh", which, if representing the 'frozen' aspect of the scent, I can definitely get behind. Wet On Skin: A slightly, almost-lemon aspect is emerging, which adds some breadth to the blood note in, again, a surprising and compelling manner. Dry Down: Whoa. There's definitely been a shift, in a really nice way. That 'spice' aspect I detected in-bottle has come back during dry down. I get what some folks have mentioned about it being like an incense, but it doesn't read that way to me. It's more like a sweet-spice-blood combination. It defies description at the top-most level, which is great, and seems to be a bit of a theme in the OLLA series overall. Whatever it is wth Blood Popsicle, I am ALL IN.

In The Bottle: Sweet beeswax, a whiff of smoke, a bit of salt. Wet On Skin: The beeswax gets lighter, and the salt remains a grounding force. Possibly some tears drizzled onto the whole affair. Dry Down: A smoke and light beeswax combination that becomes nearly leather. Which, for me, sadly, is not great. I traditionally very much like the Lab's beeswax note, but I'm feeling rather disappointed with my skin chemistry this time out. I'll hold on to this to see how it ages, but this might wind up on the swap pile...

In The Bottle: Thick Turkish / Arabic coffee with a dusting of Middle Eastern spices. Wet On Skin: The spices are coming more to the forefront at this stage, especially the cardamom and the nutmeg. Dry Down: Having just come back from living in rural Morocco for a spell, I can say that this scent does NOT disappoint in terms of its realness and accuracy (so far, none of the North African-influenced OLLA scents have missed the mark in this regard!) Although I get none of the tobacco, it scarcely matters- this scent is one of the great coffee scents of the BPAL pantheon. The rich, thick, dark powdery grind of the coffee, the heavy hand of the sweet/savory spices, is exquisite. I can scarcely wait to see what happens when this scent ages. Just beautiful and simply mandatory for any fan of the Lab's coffee scents.

In The Bottle: Ridiculously gorgeous sandalwood/benzoin combination right out of the gate. If it doesn't morph at all, I'll be quite happy as is. If it shifts during dry-down, I'll be even happier, I suspect... Wet On Skin: The benzoin's resin-y / vanilla-y vibe is coming out more, bringing the sandalwood into further balance whilst it warms on my skin. Dry Down: Gorgeous, dry sandalwood mingling beautifully with the benzoin, and just a tiny peek at the end of the ink note I recall so fondly from India Ink SN. It's really a lovely scent, and perfect for the character of Hal. Comforting and friendly and enduring.

In The Bottle: A beautiful vanilla musk. It reminds me of something I smelled many years ago in a shop somewhere in Europe, either Paris or London, so in the bottle, it feels like a very gorgeous high-end parfum. Wet On Skin: Warm and light vanilla skin musk. Gorgeous. Dry Down: Based on description, I was assuming this might be similar to my beloved Pink Wig Spray. And in some ways, because of the tuberose and vanilla musk (obvi.) it is. But it also is very much its own thing. It's warmer and more sultry and, for some, the foodie aspect of PWS's vanilla might be overwhelming or cloying whereas the vanilla here isn't foodie in the slightest. I'm not sure I get a sense of the scent being ungrounded the way Ava as a character is, I think there d have to be more of a "cotton candy" aspect for that. But this scent is really a joy to behold and I'm SO glad the second release occurred so that I was able to snag a bottle at long last.