splendidissima

Found a old imp of this - not sure what year, but definitely old! It's very nutty, very dark chocolate now - heavy on the nuts, and also heavy on the chocolate! It's actually not as sweet as I expected - maybe that's aging? maybe the hops are getting stronger, or cutting the sweetness? It's not as sweet as Bliss, which I also have on, but more complex, with a lot of hazelnut and praline.

Brownie batter, start to finish! Rich, thick, molten brownie batter. Good heavens. I do really like it, but right now it's a little overpowering, though that's also my own fault because I accidentally spilled some on my hand when opening the imp, so now it's everywhere every time I move my hand! It's making me want to bake something chocolate and decadent.

New imp from the Lab, 2022. Lightly sweet, light green, herbal tea! I was hoping for a bit more ginger (that usually works well on me) or fig, which can be interesting, but The Apothecary just settles in and stays a nice clean green scent. Like Llanval's experience, it fades super-fast on me - I actually reapplied within about 15 minutes so that I could write a review! I never get the fig at all, and only a tiny hint of ginger. It's pretty, if you like green herbal scents!

Frimp from the Lab, 2022! Wet, it seems more complex - rum? sea salt? spices? - but dry I'm mostly getting cinnamon spice; that part's just getting louder and louder. There's a trace of seaspray salt if I really think about it, but primarily it's a warm spice blend. Surprisingly cozy and nice for a pirate haven scent!

Thick, dark molasses, sugary and sticky, with a hint of some dark woods underneath! Low throw - though next to my skin it's strong - but then I also didn't put too much on, because I'm testing a few imps. I wouldn't've thought to order this one, but I'm glad I have an imp to play with!

Sweet, salty, and very blueberry! I love berry scents, so I'm happy. It really does smell like the blueberry jam from the Blueberry Suf + a good sprinkle of sea salt - which smells much better than it sounds, I promise! Like eating sweet blueberry jam tarts (minus the pastry part) beside the ocean. Very fun, and I'd say also very summery, a holiday seaside treat.

Dessert mints! Those pillowy pastel fluffy dessert mints, the kind that come in pale pink and yellow and green! It's like sticking my nose into a bag of those! Which...honestly, I weirdly kind of love it? It's nostalgic - my great-aunt always had a bowl of those mints around - and a little old-fashioned, and sweet and softly minty with a light whisper of candied citrus. I do agree that it almost doesn't seem like a Yule - more like a chilly pastel springtime morning. But I also just want to keep sniffing my arm!

Oh, I never reviewed this! Must fix that. I have several other Sufs from various years; they're usually right up my sweet/berry-loving alley! This one is also squarely in that jammy fruit + baked good line, and also delicious! I think I'm getting primarily apricot, though the raspberry's in there too. I'm inclined to say the pastry isn't quite as strong as previous years? Or maybe that's just apricot being loud. The pastry is present, though, as a buttery donut-y backing note. As usual with the Sufs, I want to eat my arm! Or maybe just bake something... 😛

I also have an imp of unknown age! It goes on as loud wine and roses - I don't really get the other notes, but I think they're doing something to keep it from being too sweet, because it's not as sweet as I might've expected. Maybe a hint of sandalwood? After a few minutes, it's calming down and less loud, but still very much wine + roses - dark deep red roses, a little spicy, a little woodsy.

A lab imp! Not my usual, but no notes of death, so, let's try! And...I get soft warm leather, start to finish. There's definitely (how?) something that smells worn about it, something comfortable - broken in, basking in sun, cozy. Sort of lazily confident: not needing to try too hard, knowing their own competence. It's not necessarily something I'd wear myself, but if I smelled this on someone else, it'd be very very nice.

A frottle from the Lab, in 2022! Warm dry spices, in the bottle and on me. Cinnamon, ginger, clove, probably? Unless there's something else I'm not picking up. It's not really foody as much as it is just the spices hanging out and being warmed by the sun, possibly in the desert, where the air itself is gently heated. It's not sweet, at least not on me. It's not my usual, but I kind of like it! I feel like this would actually be a nice scent for late summer/early autumn - the end of burning golden days, the approaching shift in the air, the transition between lingering late heat and the desire for more heat against briskness. Possibly while baking something with cinnamon.

As part of my journey into liking lavender - after discovering that I really liked Mari Lwyd and White Chocolate Lavender Madeleines - I finally grabbed a bottle of this! And, gosh, it lives up to the hype! TKO goes on strong, a big punch of herbal-fruity lavender, but then immediately a sugared marshmallow steps up, and it all turns into a glorious fluffy lavender-creamy-mallow cloud. Awesome throw - every time I move my arm, a waft of scent billows up! It's nice for snuggling on the couch with the husband and the cat and watching Star Trek right now, and I think it'll be a good sleep blend too - very soothing and relaxing, just a soft big hug of a scent.

New imp from the Lab! (Received 2022) Mmm, this is nice: uncomplicated, warmly glowing vanilla beeswax. It's exactly what you'd expect, if you breathed in the scent of a lit hand-made wax candle, lightly scented with vanilla. No smoke, but warmth - the candle itself becoming slightly liquid and molten. Good throw, and lasting for a couple hours so far!

A frottle from the Lab! ❤️ Ooh, that's powerful! It goes on big and loud, a burst of scent. It's eucalyptus and mint, and yes, a little medicinal - sinus-clearing! A bit cough-drop-ish. That's not necessarily a bad thing; as someone above said, it's a very bracing, wake-up, clean and cold scent. It's also very literally chilly: my arm does feel colder! After about 20 minutes, it's quieting down somewhat: still present, but not shouting loudly anymore. It's a little more herbal now, more like crushed mint leaves are coming to the front, though the eucalyptus is still hanging around too. It definitely evokes the chilly brisk air around a thunderstorm! Especially outside in an herb garden full of leafy mints and things. I actually kind of like it, despite the slightly medicinal hint - I feel like this would be great on a hot humid day, especially. It might also be an interesting room scent, maybe in an oil warmer, as opposed to wearing it - cooling everything down in the heat of summer.

Based on some of the reviews, I was hoping for a little more sweetness/sugary presence, but I do get the faint creamy note! The lavender is very faint here - on me it's a lemon-eucalyptus scent, cool and clean, with something making it a little smoother and rounded, so the lemon and eucalyptus aren't shouting or sharp, but instead wrapped up in something softer, especially as it dries. It's a fresh cool scent - I can see how on some people it might tip into cleaning-product territory, but on me, the creaminess helps keep it on the right side of that, and very wearable.

Lemon and warm spices! I wouldn't've said gingerbread as much as the spices in gingerbread - there's not a baked goods note, just the cozy rich spices. It's not as sweet as I was expecting, though there is some sweetness - it's limoncello, versus lemon sugar. But there is still the lemon-syrup sweetness that's in limoncello, so that's present! It's not very boozy, either. It's interestingly complex, overall! It's fairly low throw, but seems to be sticking around for a while, and I like it!

I love the Lick Its, and I have several! This one's not as sharp as some other years, or as sugar-sweet as some - it's very well balanced! Sweet vanilla peppermint, beginning to end, and very nice.

I've been trying more lavender scents lately, after White Chocolate & Lavender Madeleines and also Mari Lwyd were unexpected wins for me! This sounded intriguing, like it might be a good sleep scent or hot weather scent. In the bottle and wet, it's a sharp clean-smelling lavender - not soapy, but like the air is very cold and clear and bracing, and also full of fresh herbal lavender. As it dries, it almost ventures into...I once had a boyfriend who loved to wear, like, Cool Water and those sorts of scents, and my nose is doing a weird scent-association, I think. Hmm. An hour or so later, it's sort of a cool dry lavender herbal mint! I might like it to be a touch sweeter, but I do like sweetness in general. I do think it'll be a good sleep scent, especially at this stage.

In the bottle and wet, this goes on as rich boozy butterscotch - like some sort of idealized version of butterscotch schnapps! But then very quickly a lemony note emerges, and by the time it's dry, it's a sweet tea with lemon. Both stages are nice, but very different! This has a big throw in that initial stage, but it also vanishes super-fast: after about half an hour, I couldn't find it on my arm at all. I like it, but I'm going to have to practically bathe in it, or keep reapplying every thirty minutes, for it to stick around!

Foodie, lightly honeyed, spice cake! Cake in the sense of, ancient grains, or something like a johnnycake - more savory, not a sweet cake. Warm and hearty, full of nutmeg and clove. Plus a drizzle of warm golden honey poured over the top - not a lot, not enough to soak them, just enough to be noticeable and add a hint of sweetness. This is actually sort of similar to By Thys Fyre I Warme My Handys, on me, but I think I like Hildegard better - no smoke (which went weird on me), and honey instead, for a little more sweetness!

Exactly what it says it is: sweet butter, cream, honey! The honey does have a floral edge - like a honeysuckle, or wildflower honey. And it's backed by the rich buttery cream, but it's also oddly a light scent, if that makes sense - it's not heavy, more like a waft of cream and butter lifted up by a breeze. Low throw - this is a skin-close scent - but it's very pretty! It makes me think of spring.

Oh, this is so nice! I wavered over this one because it has so many notes I've never tried, but the reviews sounded lovely, so I threw it in! On me, it's a big poofy warm vanilla - a golden sort of vanilla, like being outside in rugged hills and glowing sun. It's very well blended, or maybe I just don't know enough of the other notes to pick them out! I really like this; it's like a warm comforting hug, a big cozy billow of vanilla, settling in. Low throw, but I also didn't put much on because I'm testing a few things. I want to keep sniffing my arm, though!

I'm a medievalist, so I had to get this! It goes on with a swirl of wine and fruit, and I wish it stayed there! I do start to get the band-aid quality as it dries - not sure what's causing that, maybe the smoke? As I persevere, after a while, I think now I'm getting the oatcakes and bread coming to the front. I like this stage; unfortunately it's also very faint at this point! I can barely smell it on my arm. I wanted to like this more, but I'm glad I tried it!

Interesting! At first, in the bottle and on wet, I thought it was almost too sharp - heavy sandalwood and something akin to black pepper! Pumpkin in the back, being quiet. As it dries, the pumpkin comes out more; now it's very well balanced. It's not sweet - I was actually hoping for a little more buttery sweetness - but it is warm and toasty and cozy, sort of the feeling of sitting out on the porch on a dry hay-warm October night, in an old wooden rocking chair, with pumpkins glowing. Awesome Husband said it smelled a little masculine, but not in a bad way - woodsy and peppery.

So...as I'm sorting through my imps and decants from my grad school phase of "buy ALL the bpal"...I've got some Mead Moon 2008, or so says the label on this decant. There's only about a drop or two left. Let's see. ...wow. That's still...potent. Huge throw, given how little is on my wrist. It's...sweet honey. That's all, really. Sweet thick luscious honey. I do very much like it! I think it's very different from later more complex versions? It's a heavy honey single note on me, but that might be the 2008 formulation. I'm liking it, but of course these drops - aged at this point - are probably different from the new versions!