VioletChaos

Pumpkin candyfloss with sugared lemon peel and a squeeze of lemon juice. In The Bottle: Sugared lemon and a touch of fresh pumpkin (no spice). Wet On Skin: The pumpkin wasn't very strong to begin with, and now it's already taking even more of a backseat to the lemon sugar. Dry Down: Oh, SO lovely. The lemon juice finally comes out as a distinct note against the sugar. It's the perfect sweet/tart combination and the pumpkin is merely adding a touch of freshness to the background. Frankly, I'm pleased that the pumpkin's role is so minute-I was really hoping this would largely be a sugared lemon scent, and I appear to have gotten my wish! In All: Low to medium throw, I honestly consider lemon notes more of a warm-weather thing, so I'm not sure how much love this bottle will get over the next 6 months. However, it will get ALL the love next spring and summer! <3

[No additional description provided.] In The Bottle: Mostly gingerbread, with a little of that extra-lemony aspect that fresh ginger frequently has. Wet On Skin: The gingerbread is, like, REAL gingerbread. I'm getting the lemon, the cake, the spice, the sharpness. It's really different than my previous experiences of the gingerbread single note (like, say, in Gingerbread Snake Oil). I'm liking it- but I also hope that the coffee and vanilla come out to play soon! Dry Down: Astoundingly, I am getting ZERO coffee from this. Which is odd, because coffee notes usually sit well on my skin -they don't amp, but they are *very* present. The vanilla has finally made an appearance, but I'm not getting the smoked aspect, either- this is more like gingerbread with a little dollop of vanilla cream plooped right on top. It's delicious, and I'm betting will get better with age, but it's not the scent that I thought it was going to be. If you're hoping for a coffee-heavy scent, check out some of the other 2018 Yule offerings, cause you might be sad about that with this one.

This spirit shall return to Him Who gave its heavenly spark; Yet think not, Sun, it shall be dim When thou thyself art dark! No! it shall live again, and shine In bliss unknown to beams of thine, By Him recall’d to breath, Who captive led Captivity, Who robb’d the grave of Victory,— And took the sting from Death! Lilith at Poet’s Corner, Westminster Abbey – one of my favorite places in the entirety of this earth. Piety and intrigue, succor and terror… stone walls and painted glass panels bearing witness to generations of poetry, pride, conquest, and despair: the echoes of the incense smoke of hundreds upon hundreds of years curling around roses and oak branches. In The Bottle: This is...wow. It's got a rose in there, but it's honestly not like any I think I've smelled before. It's dark and dusky and the oak is certainly grounding it, even in the bottle. It's beautiful and somber and makes me want to walk in cemeteries on cloudy days- AND THIS IS ALL IN THE BOTTLE. Wet On Skin: The oak makes its presence more known and the rose takes a little more of a back seat. I'm less familiar with oak notes in the Lab's cannon, but this one reminds me of autumnal days and, yes, crunching through leaves. Unusual for me, but no complaints Dry Down: The rose is in the distant background, and this has become an oak incense - it's crunchy leaves mixed with an incense base. It waxes and wanes, strangely- one moment it's quite strong and the next it fades back. And it's got something I can't quite place...something that reminds me of childhood, though the scent isn't 'childish' in the least. It's dusty and powdery and incense-y and fallen-leafy and slightly musty. I honestly can't decide how I feel about it just now, but it's intriguing enough that I'm going to let it age and check back in later to see what's happening.

In 2015, it was our overwhelming honor to interpret Legendary Pictures Crimson Peak through scent. The entire process was thrilling, from the first moment we saw concept sketches before production on the film even began, through the crafting of the scents, attending the screening, and finally seeing our Crimson Peak scents and jewelry go out into the world. It was an incredible project that I will never forget. After many long years of labor, the sideshow was back! Carnaval Diabolique returned to town with breathtaking artwork by Julie Dillon, and Black Phoenix made its first sojourn to 221B Baker Street. Inspired by the Supreme Courts Sick Burn Champion and his blistering command of the English language, we created a fragrance set the Collected Poetic Works of Antonin Scalia whose proceeds benefit the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Trevor Project, and the National Center for Transgender Equality. In the same year, we created Palmyra, a charity scent benefiting the UNHCR. This year, we joined forces with our beloved friend, Audra, at Loved to Death in San Francisco. A cursed carnival camped in the foothills beneath a haunted estate: a curl of fortune tellers incense and spun sugar drifting past a crumbling manor. In the Bottle: A very, very faint, sweet, light, wispy scent. It's so light and wispy, that I cannot, at this stage, pick out any notes! All I can say is that it smells "clean" and faintly sweet, but not foody. Wet On Skin: There's a faint lemon aspect that has entered the picture, like a memory of lemon sugar, would be the best way to describe it. I also am getting a hint of a stone note, which I haven't encountered in a very long time! I assume this is the "crumbling manor" aspect that I'm picking up on. So far, this scent is very wistful- it's probably not a coincidence that this is for the Lace year, because there's already a nostalgic quality that puts this firmly in the camp of the Lab's "Lace" scents. Dry Down: Oh. My. Goddess. This is just...heartbreakingly beautiful. The curl of incense is now showing itself. I anticipated it was going to be a sort of heavy, church-y incense like many of the Lab's incense notes of the past. But this, this is something else. It's become like a light, powdered (NOT powder-y) blue lotus incense I had many years ago. It's sweet and soft and nostalgic and just GORGEOUS. In All: Hoard-worthy. I am going to need SEVERAL more bottles of this.

With vanilla bean scrapings. In The Bottle: The light, sweet buttery pumpkin note from the Lab we all know and adore. Wet On Skin: A little bit of spice comes out- a touch of ginger here, a dab of nutmeg there... Dry Down: Pumpkin, autumnal spice, and vanilla bean. I don't get a custard thing like some might expect from a Brûlée, but it's a really lovely autumnal gourmand scent just the same. It's a good daytime scent, and I could see layering it with something a little richer to either heighten the food aspect or a deeper one to make it a bit more of an evening scent. For pumpkin scent lovers, this is a pure win- don't miss out!

"...You run into Mithras yet? Red cap. Nice kid." "No, I don't think so." "Well . . . I've never seen Mithras around here. He was an army brat. Maybe he's back in the Middle East, taking it easy, but I expect he's probably gone by now. It happens. One day every soldier in the empire has to shower in the blood of your sacrificial bull. The next they don't even remember your birthday." Oblations of milk, oil, honey, and blood. In The Bottle: LOADS of honey and some milk to cut through the sweetness. Wet On Skin: Although incense isn't directly named as a note, offerings can be made with them and this is beginning to smell very much like incense to me. Like honey-milk-blood incense to be exact. And I *really* hope it stays this way. Dry Down: Yup. This is a gorgeous honey, milk, blood incense and I am totally smitten. I suspect that this secret will eventually get out- better stock up now.

With cinnamon, nutmeg, browned butter, and cream cheese icing. In The Bottle: yummy! Pumpkin spice and cookie! Nomnomnom Wet On Skin: I'm getting a "frosting" thing here, though I can't say for sure I believe it to be cream cheese. It's a little more like a sugar icing. But it works quite well. Dry Down: it reminds me of iced ginger snap cookies! In All: a cute, spicy foodie scent that can worn well into winter, this cheerful perfume is perfect for pumpkin picking right through to holiday morning gift giving. Adorable and yummy!

I was afraid of the champaca in this since I amp anything with even vague whispers of champa and co. to high heavens, but I finally took the plunge and I'm really glad I did. As the last post mentioned, the scent's name translates to "The Wheel of Misfortune". Coupled with the illustration os Mme Moriarty, as well as a list of the notes, I suspected that this is intended as something of a companion piece to Mme Moriarty's scent- and it is a PERFECT companion for her! The oudh is definitely a dominant note here- not a problem for me as I tend to love oudh. Here it's not the dread 'dirty body' variety that tends to freak alot of people out. It's rich and deep and mixes beautifully with all those other rich, deep, dark notes, to create something that reads as incense-y and sensuously sinister. Like many folks round these parts, I use HG both in my hair and also sometimes as a skin scent. In my hair, this is a fine stand-alone, surprisingly subtle and with low throw. But when it's on my skin, it definitely feels like it needs a companion- and Mme Moriarty (or her cousin Snake Charmer) will definitely fit the bill! I'm delighted to have made this purchase, and I suspect this will get even better with age!

In the bottle and wet on my skin, the hay comes across as a green, grassy (but not lawn-like) scent, with the honey acting as a grounding base. Once it warms on my skin, the amber comes out, rounding the scent out and giving it some depth. After about an hour, the honey remains strongest and sadly, the hay pretty much vanishes, making this mostly a honey SN with a vague background of something else. It's gorgeous, I just wish it lasted longer on me!

My Baby and a Baby Goat Look, I just wanted to make a scent for Lilith and this baby goat. Because it makes me happy and BECAUSE LOOK AT IT. LOOK AT THAT BABY GOAT. Fuzzy baby goat musk, goat’s milk accord, wild rice flower, and a little bit of farmer’s market honey. In The Bottle: Goat's milk for sure, sweetened with honey and rice flower. LOVE. Wet On Skin: the goat milk is still the dominant note. Huzzah! This is really delicious and creamy. Dry Down: I don't personally get any musk, but I'm not complaining, because the milk, honey and rice are just so wonderful together I can't even see how this scent could be improved upon. In All: I ADORE this scent. It's so beautiful, just brimming with love and sweetness. I predict this to be the sleeper hit of this year's Lillith scents.

Apple with hay absolute, oats, honey, cream vanilla, and goat's milk accord. In The Bottle: APPLES! Also some hay. Wet On Skin: Red, juicy apples. That's it! Dry Down: Ah ha! Hello, goat's milk! Hello, vanilla! In All: a must for apple fans, this apple-heavy perfume is sweet and juicy, with little hints of the milk and vanilla, making it into sort of a farm-like apple mash. I'm sad to not get past, as I love the oat note, but perhaps that will change with age.

Saw Scaled Viper (any year) and Boomslang (the older / more aged, the better!)

In the bottle, I get a soft, delicious scent of the burnt sugar. I wasn't sure what to expect, but at this stage, it smells most closely to cooked marshmallows over a camp fire. It's lightly sweet and really, really cozy! Wet on skin, the blackberry comes out in force, and the sugar takes a definite back seat to the proceedings. The berry is sweet, fresh and very juicy! I adore the Lab's blackberry note and if you liked Blackberries and Scones, chances are good you'll like this, too! Upon dry down, things come more into alignment, with both parts of the duet showing up for the duration. The sugar sinks in and softens further and the blackberry mellows considerably, making this a beautiful little gourmand scent. Glad I snagged one! ❤️

I surprised I didn't snatch this up when it originally appeared, given how many notes in this I adore! Luckily, I was just recently gifted a bottle and I'm so glad for it! The rice milk and clove are both the most dominant notes. I would've never thought they'd work together, because I'd assume that the clove would dominate. However, with Beth's mastery, they are in perfect balance, no doubt helped by the vanilla and amber combination, lending a bit of sweetness to shave off clove's rough edges. I'm not getting any of the frank, but I'm quite relieved, since frankincense often goes sideways on me. I agree this scent is both sexy and delicate, and will surely get use of this all summer long!

Oh. Oh my. I don't use or wear TAL oils generally just for the scent, so I'm perfectly okay when what it smells like doesn't totally appeal in the olfactory sense, because that's not the point. But sometimes there's overlap between form and function, and it's always just marvelous. I'm thinking of recent contributions like the new TAL Bounce and also old-time personal favorites like the Panacea oils, especially Safari and Succor. And now Pax 2021. The lotus and lavender and rose petals have combines to bring a kind of stillness to this gathering, a placidity, like standing at the edge of a serene and still body of water, no sounds but the occasional bird call and the quiet lapping of water at the shoreline. It's light, delicate and beautiful, but not fragile. Sometimes when we thing of "delicate" it can seem synonymous with "breakable" but if you think about tall, thin reeds that sway in a strong wind, or a weeping willow tree in its gracefulness, you'll start to get an idea of strength in delicacy. This oil is GROUNDING. In a way, frankly, that I wasn't sure that lavender could be (and I'm an old hand at using lavender for what ails me, especially in the anxiety department.) This is exactly what it sets out to be- a deep breath after a long terror. And I welcome it with open arms. ❤️

Giddy, grownup, joyful orange creamsicles. That's my immediate hot take on this scent. I've also been feeling that hope, that optimism of this time, and I definitely feel this oil encapsulates that feeling really well. I keep circling back to that first word, "giddy". It really just sent a jolt of giddiness through me! A lot of TAL scents tend to be a bit more subtle in how they take hold of me, but this is bubbling and effervescent, like laughter that simply can't be expressed. It's amazing.

I am a huge fan of "fossilized" amber aka petrified tree sap aka some folks like to argue it's not actually petrified. Regardless. It has a particular sweet, resin-y scent that I find blends incredibly well with sharper rooty and earthy scents (like vetiver or patchouli). I never would've thought to pair it with sugar cane, but my ears pricked up when I saw that this was the duo presented, and it's really pretty great. On me, the amber is definitely the bolder component, but I was kind of expecting that, because what I like the most about the sugar cane note as opposed to white sugar, is that it stays put- it doesn't amp and overpower everything around it, which is why I sadly can't wear sugar-heavy scents typically (Sugar Skull, I'm looking at you!). The cane has this subtle, almost lemony edge to it and here that edge cuts through the sweet aspect of the rich amber, making it a sultry scent that's still great for summer evenings. And with the magic that is black amber, I suspect this will only get better with age. ❤️

I've had nothing but great experiences in the past both with the Lab's Single Note Mango and also their blends with Rice Milk in them, so I blind-bought not one but TWO bottles of this, so sure was I, that I'd love it. And I REALLY REALLY DO!!! Sweet, delicate and lightly fruity, this combo does what many others do not do for me: it remains true to its components and at no point does it veer off into candy or plastic territory. If you have had good experiences with mango in particular, you know exactly what I'm talking about and will definitely want to add this to your collection. This is 100% coming on vacation with me next week, because I KNOW I'll have many opportunities to wear it! PURE. WIN.

Smoky musk, ambergris, tonka bean, brown sandalwood, daemonorops, black currant, and honey. in the bottle: definitely getting the daemondrops, a bit of the black currant and some musk. it's sweet, dark, and rich wet on skin: the daemondrops and ambergris dominate at this stage. incense-y for sure. dry down: wow. very powerful, non gender specific and quite strong on the incense. this reminds me of Jacob's Ladder a LOT, and that's good, because that's my favorite incense scent from the Lab. in all: if you like the incense-type scents, this is a total winner.

Can it really be possible that I'm the first to review this? (Mods, I looked hi and lo, but if I somehow missed the thread, by all means, merge this with the existing one and accept my deepest apologies!) Anyway, On With The Show! In the Bottle: All rum, all the time. This is definitely the same sweet boozy rum note from the Lilith scent, and even has a bit of the creamy element I recall from that one, at least at this point. I'm hoping some butter shows up later, though... *fingers crossed* Wet On Skin: the spicy-boozy quality is showing up loud and proud now, with a strong under note of pure rough sugar. This is seriously RUM at this stage. Dry Down: This has mellowed into a more rummy version of the Egg Nog scent. It's got a cream to it (not butter, which I'm a bit sad about, actually) and still lots and lots of rum as the predominant note, but with a spicier edge. In All: medium throw with a strong but subtle presence, I think Hot Buttered Rum has potential- but maybe needs some aging. I'm going to hold on to my bottle and check it again in later Spring. If it's changed in the way that I hope, it'll be highly covetable indeed. If not- off to the swap pile!

The largest vein in the human body: a torrent of sweet oudh, patchouli, blackwood, red labdanum, and vegetal musk.  In The Bottle: Vegetal musk, which is slightly acrid, and what I'm assuming is the blackwood, which is sort of a dark musky scent. Wet On Skin: The labdanum is coming out a bit as the oil warms on my skin, and it's adding a sweetness to the mix that's making the scent more palatable, less sinister and unrelenting. Dry Down: The sweet oudh and labdamun come front and center, making this a sweet, rich deep affair. I'm not getting a ton of patchouli, which I'm *slightly* sad about, but the rest makes up for that slight loss. This is definitely one of those scents that's bound to get better with aging, but I've been craving some dark, moody scents lately, and this is a nice one!

[No additional description given.] In The Bottle: A rich "brown" musk. Wet On Skin: A sifter, sweeter musk. It's 'warm' still, but it's shifted. It doesn't have the feral, animalistic quality it had in the bottle at this stage. Dry Down: A far more subtle musk, considering how intensely it started off. It's still in the brown musk family to be sure, but it's less dense. Medium throw, sweet, I could see layering this with some of the more 'cold weather' scents, like Snake Charmer or Mme Moriarty. It's a single note for sure, but with a complexity that musk fans will love and appreciate.

The discomforts of royalty: a pearl as large as a spinning wheel. Golden rose oudh and saffron swirling over opalescent orris root and a twinkle of translucent petals. In the Bottle: the dusty rose of the oudh and the sweet-spice of the saffron come through quite strongly! Wet On Skin: The rose gains in intensity, but I get a faint dust from the orris root in the background. Dry Down: A lush dried rose incense. I don't do many florals, but this is pretty compelling. And the oudh has given it a lovely incense quality that just might win me over

I HAD to have this. But I can't imagine what this will smell like... In The Bottle: Sort of like vanilla Play Dough Wet On Skin: A soft, white sweet smell. Not even vanilla, exactly. Like marshmallow fluff, or sweet-scented stage fog. Dry Down: It's become almost a sweet light musk. It's incredibly unassuming, very sweet and charming. Not the chemical greasepaint I had feared. But it's honestly rather hard to describe. In All: low to medium throw, sweet and comforting. Much better than clowns!

Variety is the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor. ― William Cowper, 1785 Forget about the War on Christmas the years most contentious seasonal battle is actually waged over this inescapable melange of palate-massaging flavors. Weve got the formula down pat, and invite you to join us in a mad-science experiment: Just how far can we bend it before it breaks? I picked up two of these mysterious creatures as it's been a looooooong time since I've had some chaos scents in my life. Here's hoping at least one is amazing on me! First up, bottle #26: oh. my. g-ddess. Banana pumpkin spice. Not, like, banana *bread*. No. This is like, a fresh banana smoothie, right from the blender, with some pumpkin spice mix dusted into it for flavor. Never knew this was a thing missing from my life and now I find myself ecstatic to be the sole individual in the world to have this in my hot little hands!!! This is going to be a really really tough act to follow! Here goes #31: Pumpkin spice and...cologne? In the bottle and wet on skin, I'm mostly getting a sharp fougeré, like a bracing 1940s lavender-based men's aftershave, and a pice of pumpkin spice bread dunked into it. It's bizarre. As it dries, the cologne chills out and it becomes...Dorian and spice cake I can't tell yet if I like it enough to keep it, but testing chaos theory scents is *always* an adventure!!!