tinyvulture

Heavy baking spices. A very smooth, lovely cinnamon. Like the expensive shit.  And then, baked apple – mellow, sweet, not sour apple. Not as strong as the spices, but making its presence felt. And then sugary icing, a hint of vanilla. I am not picking up anything that shouts sweet potato but you know, its scent isn’t as strong as apple in real life either. I really like this one – some apple blends are too sour on me, almost vinegary, but this one is sweet and foody and just right.

I agree with previous reviewers who said it's like a fizzy cream soda, with coconut but also cumin.

I drink cafe de olla daily (coffee with cinnamon and brown sugar basically) and I'm getting zero coffee here.

I guess if I squint I get "deep fried" but I'm not really getting any hints of "ice cream" or "pie" (and I know the lab CAN do buttery baked pastry).

All that said, I don't dislike it. it just feels more like a tiki drink!

Edit: ok 10 minutes later this smells exactly like one of those Hostess coconut cream hand pies that my mom would put in my lunch in the 80's. *mind blown*

Never met a honey I didn’t like! Here, sharp herbal nightshade is drowned in thick, golden honey that almost reminds me of coconut suntan oil. Lush and sweet and sexy and a little dark and mysterious. Dang!! Love it.

The frankincense and stone remind me of Cathedral -- sacred, imposing. The slight earthy sweetness from the patchouli and rose offsets the solemnity a little. I love me some resin blends, so I don’t necessarily need to go searching for a  bottle but I’m happy to have my decant!

A clean, dry, powdery white musk with a slight vanilla sweetness. Like dryer sheets - almost makes me sneeze! It’s not particularly sweet on me from either the sugar or the honey. Just very powdery -- off to swaps where it can be better appreciated!

This vibrantly yellow oil is reminiscent of Lemon Sticky Bat - sweet, tart lemonade -- but with the addition of a pleasant honeysuckle floral background. Since I love Lemon Sticky Bat AND I love honeysuckle, it’s a win-win. So sunshiney and summery and sweet together, these notes.

Gentle plum blended with white flower. This isn’t a super-fruity plum-centric scent like Bordello. The elderberry flower really is the star. I’m only familiar with elderberry syrup, not the flower, so I can only describe it as a general white floral. That is not very helpful! But I do like it and plan on keeping the bottle.

Peaches and cream! How does this compare to Vanilla Wafers and Peach Cream? Here, the peaches are secondary to the cream. The peach note is less fresh and realistic. More like peach preserves cooked down with lots of sugar. I’m not really getting anything that screams marshmallow, just cream and vanilla. We had peach trees in my backyard growing up and this is the way the kitchen smelled when my mom would cook them down. If I was going to swap either bottle it would be this one, but I’m not, I’ll keep them both. More peaches for me!

This smells like cucumber, as groovyrooby mentioned. It’s super green and garden-y. There’s a waxiness though as well, that I can’t really describe but it. A waxy floral I guess. I’m not familiar with coral bean or phlox in real life, so I’m not sure what I am smelling. And I’m not sure yet if I want to keep or swap it. I think I’ll hang onto it and see if it grows on me.

The juiciest, ripest, sweetest peach with vanilla cream and a slight buttery wafer vibe. This peach note is so fresh, so realistic! Impossible not to feel bright and cheerful while wearing this one. So happy to have snagged a bottle!

I can never have enough lavender sleep blends! They really do help me fall asleep easily. And the lab offers such a great variety within this category. No two are identical. Here I love the blending of lavender with sweet vanilla and the bright floral tansy note. It's so happy and comforting. Sweet dreams assured with this one!

I love fir, pine, etc. blends. This is almost straight fir on my skin. Clean, sweet, green, and medicinal. The smoke is just, like, something vague in the background. Not acrid or heavy at all. If you want more smoke consider blending with Bonfire SN. A fine addition to my collection of evergreen scents.

Soft almond smoothly blended with golden amber and honey musk. A warming, glowing  scent. The honey is very light, so this blend is sweet but not too. I’m not picking up the tonka or peach at all.

A tribute to the earthy, succulent fig. I’m not getting any hazelnut. The fig it supported by the sesame and rice flower, which keep it from being too sweet. Yet they’re only faint in the background -- it’s almost a single note fig.  And I’m not a huge fig lover or anything, but happy to have tried this.

Pow! Apples and rosemary! In your face! A bold holiday blend that lacks the unpleasant sourness the lab’s apple cider blends sadly take on for me. Instead, these roasted apples have a slightly cinnamony, concentrated apple scent that’s just lovely. The rosemary cuts the sweetness with its soft herbal presence. I’m not picking up any other other notes -- no leather, figs, rum...maybe a touch of cranberries because there is a tartness that doesn’t seem to come from the apples. Vibrant and cheerful, I will wear this all holiday season.

 The chestnut and oak are really warm and cozy. There’s a very vague hint of clean, sharp juniper, but it’s muffled and smoothed out by the orris butter. The chestnut is sweet and caramelized and it seems like it’ll mostly be a gourmand blend, but then there are the other notes in the background that keep it from being 100% foodie.

Sharp clean notes of pine and birch linger in the background as earthy lichens and moss take center stage, warmed by raw amber. This is the scent of nature at its most rugged and untouched, with a slight sense of foreboding and hidden things, tricks of light against the trees.

Milk/cream sweetened by honey. Now, the honey note is not very strong. It’s just a subtle sweetness. I don't get the florals that others have spoken of. Brings to mind other lovely, creamy blends like Obatala (only, no coconut here!) or OG Chaste Moon.  No “blood” (metallic) that I notice. Maybe a touch of dragon’s blood incense? Nice to have a bottle since I’ll wear this anytime.

This is tough to identify, maybe it’s the olive blossom? Or the sweat? Because it feels sweet but also briney and salty, and also creamy from the orris butter. (I don’t like dry orris but I do like orris butter, weird.)  I’m not getting any cedar or sandalwood. I keep coming back for another sniff! I think it’s a keeper!

I love me some creamy florals, and this is a lovely bouquet of cherry blossom, plum blossom and gardenia (not getting any honeysuckle, sorry), smoothed out with cream. Sweet and cheerful, like a sunny spring day.

Exactly what it says, sweet orange juice and rind, drizzled with golden honey with a little bit of a burnt caramel twang.I probably don’t need a full bottle of this sugar overload but I dig it.

One of the loveliest apple blends I’ve tried. Apple, vanilla, and sweet benzoin are the prominent notes, with the amber and red musk in the background making everything warm and glowing. Super sweet without being explicitly foody, thanks to the strength of the benzoin resin. This might need to go on my bottle wishlist!

Ketkrokur - This does not strike me as a patchouli blend. I think the labdanum is stifling it. I get sweet, resinous labdanum  and then the faintest presence of dragon’s blood and clove. Honestly I wouldn’t pick out the clove if I didn’t read the notes. I enjoy dragon’s blood and its powdery sweetness, and it blends nicely with the labdanum here. It’s not one for the bottle wishlist (where ARE you, patchouli?) but nice to have a decant.

At first sniff - STRONG honey and vanilla sugar.  Like a caramelized, toffee scent. Barely ANY floral. A couple minutes later, that is still what I’m getting. Just a hint of floral in the background, can’t even really describe it better than that, it’s so faint.  I love honey and vanilla so it’s fine with me, just saying this is definitely a foodie blend not a floral!

At first sniff - peach and apricot!  Almost pure fruit. As it dries the warm sugared amber, light creamy rice milk, and gently spicy carnation are noticeable. So lovely, a bold fruitiness but also really feminine and lovely.