splendidissima

Pulling out what I think is a pretty old imp (curled tag, faded, not much left): I remember mildly liking, not loving or hating this...and I think that's still true? It's more berries in the imp...but then goes almost instantly to berries + soap on me, and the soap is the strongest! It's...fine if you like that, perhaps, but not really my preference!

I can't recall whether I've reviewed Jack before, but I've got a brand-new imp, so, here're my current impressions! (I do have an older bottle, and am considering a back-up...) I love pumpkin, and I do love this: it's buttery, warm, glowing pumpkin, with a little dribble of peach juice. Not much spice; I wouldn't even call it spicy, just that the nutmeg is maybe adding some warmth. It's very close to the skin on me, but has great staying power!

This is...amazingly, eerily accurate! Exactly what it says! We made mincemeat pies last Christmas (2020, I mean), and this is SPOT-ON. A jumble of warm cozy dark spiced fruit (mostly apple and raisin, but really everything all tossed together), brown sugar, a hint of apple cider, baked in a rich pastry crust! It's very much a holiday association for me, but it's a delicious one! If you like mincemeat pie, you'll love this, I think.

Much like @Madame Mew above, I mostly get Sugar Cookie, and it's a caramelized brown sugar sort of cookie, dark and rich! It's like fresh-baked dark brown sugar/toffee/toasty-edged cookies, sitting next to a big red rose. The rose is present, it's noticeable, but the cookies're louder. This one's interesting on me because I feel like the notes never blend - like, it's very distinctly cookies! + a red rose! side by side!, versus scents that swirl and blend together. I think I'm also learning, between this and Sugar Cookie Snow White (and a bottle of Sugar Cookie from a previous year), that there's something in the Lab's Sugar Cookie note that gets super-amped on my skin and also goes very dark brown sugar on me. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I like brown sugar, but it means that probably any oil with Sugar Cookie in it is just going to end up being primarily that, for me!

This starts off as sugary pink grapefruit, which I enjoy! It does start to go powdery after a few minutes - not in a bad way, but more artificial kids' candy (the Fun Dip comparison is spot on!). I like the opening better, so I'm wondering if it would last longer in a locket, versus on my skin.

Cherry! Spicy cherry! I don't get much pumpkin, but I do get pumpkin spice, over a rich dark cherry sauce, and a creamy cheesecake backdrop. This goes on very intense, big and bold, but not in a bad way - it's just a very big happy spiced cherry cheesecake! It stays pretty much the same upon dry-down, only softening slightly. It's a good holiday scent!

Fresh-baked, sweet-tart, lemon bars! I really don't get much pumpkin - I'm looking for it, and maybe it's there as a warming note in the background, adding some buttery-ness, like Jack? Maybe that's adding to the lemon bar/pastry hint? But this Bat is primarily a delightful sweet-tart sugared lemon bar on me, which is very fun!

Like filigree_shadow, I get mostly black plum, dark and purple! As it dries the marshmallow comes out a bit more, giving it a breath of sugar-sweetness, but not much - it's still primarily a black plum scent on me! I have a vanilla bean lotion, and I might try putting that on first. Or seeing how this would layer with something like Ghost Milk or Gingerbread Mummy!

This is mostly Sugar Cookie on me - which on me goes darker, brown sugar & caramel rather than light & fluffy - but it's Sugar Cookie with a kiss of the lab's snow note, just enough to give it a sweet cool chill. I don't really pick up the florals; it's very much a toasty dark sugar cookie being nibbled outside in winter, which I like!

This one starts off as a strong herbal with a bit of sweetness, which is interesting! Sadly, about five minutes in, it's basically gone to baby powder on my arm. Not unpleasant exactly, but not something I especially want to smell like! I might try it in an oil warmer or a scent locket, to see if it stays in the sweet herbal realm any better.

A frottle from the Lab! I love pumpkin and pumpkin spice, but I've been leery of blood and musk (and honestly I'm a bit squicked by blood in general!), so this isn't something I'd've ever picked, but let's try! It's...a spiced honey? A rich dark very spiced honey? Okay, this isn't bad so far... As it dries, I get more musk, though it's still very spice-forward - pumpkin-spice-drenched honey over a red musk. I think maybe I'm also getting a hint of the opium poppy at the back? It's definitely a dark scent, like deep scarlet velvet. Poenari mentioned Dracula above, and I can totally see this being a vampire scent. 🧛‍♀️

Oh, gosh, first! I hope I can do this justice! This is a gorgeous scent, first of all - I'm so, so glad I got a bottle! (I love lime, and I used to adore the BBW Lemongrass Sage scent, way back when. So I couldn't resist this!) It's a luscious sweet herbal-lime scent in the bottle - a nice balance of sage + lime. On me, it's sweeter than I expected - it's a sugared lime! It's actually reminding me a bit of Clown Princess of Crime, minus the bubblegum-lolly sweetness but plus a soft herbal note, which gives it a more grounded backing - more cozy, I think, like I've got some fresh sage to cook with. It's still predominantly sugared lime at the forefront, though. As it dries, the sage comes out more, though it's still a little sweeter than I expected - but I'm not complaining! It's a sugared lime + fresh sage + happiness sort of scent - like a light sparkling pale green. I could see this working well as a ritual type blend: cleansing and brightening, shadows dusted off, kitchen all happy and snug and put to rights, with a dusting of sugar crystals on top. It could certainly be a good summer afternoon scent, green and radiant - but I think it'll also be a good scent for gloomy winter days, when I want something bright and fruity but also warm and domestic and sweet. Nice throw so far, about half an hour in! I honestly really love this; I think it's one of my favorite Duets ever. 😍

Oh, gosh, it's a strawberry shortcake! Or a strawberry pie! With some coconut whipped cream! Mmm. This is definitely a sweet candied strawberry - maybe even a little artificial, not in a bad way, but like thick strawberry gloop, syrupy and squishy. Plus a fluffy poofy airy topping, also lightly sweet (not too sweet), made with shredded coconut. I would absolutely eat this, or maybe drink it - if you added some rum, it could be a strawberry daiquiri! Fairly low throw, but it seems to be lasting a while, clinging to my skin. I thought I'd like this one, and I do indeed!

Lighter than I expected, but that makes sense for the "pretend carrot" aspect! Like the above reviewers, I mainly get cranberry - a cheerful bright cranberry, not too tart. As it dries, more warm pumpkin plus something else soft and cozy and orange, probably the carrot pulp (never smelled that in perfume before, so I'm guessing! it's not really savory, more like the sweetness of oven-roasted carrots or squash, if that makes sense?), starts to emerge in the background, which is very nice and comforting and makes me think of holiday coziness. Primarily it's a cranberry scent, though, on me!

Oh, gosh! This seems to change every time I sniff my arm! Going on, I got buttery popcorn and fresh-baked bread, and maybe cookies (because it's sweeter than bread or popcorn alone). Not necessarily *chocolate-chip* cookies, but cookies. Then I got berries! Jam, strawberries, sugary fruit! THEN I got...some sort of...milk-forward pastry dessert? Something you might get in a nice restaurant that was trying something playful - I think maybe this is some combo of ice cream, milk, cake, cotton candy, the cookies again, and the berries plus sweet lavender? Then it seemed to almost fade away, and I was worried it wouldn't be very long-lasting, but just now I moved my arm and this lovely sweet lavender + candied strawberry + baked goods + buttery popcorn scent wafted up! I'm liking all the stages so far - this might be my surprise favorite of my Lilith order! I don't ever really get *chocolate* specifically (though I do get cookies!), or the carnation, and I'm not sure what the 'puppy' note is in here, and I think the honey sticks and the rice are getting subsumed into, respectively, 'sweetness,' and 'baked goods/dessert/rice pudding'. But overall it's a fascinating shifting sweet-gourmand-baked goods + sweet lavender + candied fruit scent, which I really like!

Spicy chai buttercream! Creamy and sweet, with a good amount of spice. I don't get much stick, but maybe a soft waft of smoke - but, yes, a friendly smoke, like my parents' old wood-burning fireplace, and it's in the background - the spicy creamy frosting is much more in charge! Very low throw - after only a few minutes I'm having to put my nose right up on my wrist - but it's a lovely cozy cuddly scent.

This is confusing my nose, I'll admit! It's...sharp pineapple? No, wait, sugared rose? Wait...peony? Plus the pineapple again? I'm not really getting strawberry, unless that's just adding a hint of pink sweetness in the background. Like Deadlyves said above, it really is like eating a freshly-cut pineapple (VERY fresh!) with a large bouquet of flowers beside you. I'm not always a huge floral fan but I like fruit scents, and I can like sweet florals, so I wanted to try this one, and it's sort of fascinating! It's pretty and I think I like it, but it's very much a springtime, even tropical, scent - I could imagine wearing this in Hawaii, in the morning, while having breakfast with fresh fruit, out on a balcony!

Ooh, this is nice! It is first and foremost a deep wine scent, decadent and dark and sweet. It's the kind of thick viscous dessert wine that clings to a glass and slides over taste buds and textures - sensual and lush and heated. My husband likes good port, and it's a lot like that! I do get pumpkin, but it's swirled into everything else - this whole scent is so well blended that it's hard to pick out individual notes! It's not a mulled wine in the sense of being spice-forward, but it does have a little carnation-spice. Something about this also smells very "BPAL" to me - like the bag I used to store some older imps in, with the layered blending of BPAL notes - or maybe like Lady Una and Lady Macbeth had a pumpkin-kissed baby! I hesitated about this, and threw it in at the last minute, and now I'm glad I did! It'll be a good winter scent for late nights cuddling by the fire, perhaps with a glass of port or a chocolate/fruit dessert. 🙂

This is very, very pretty - almost too much so, for me! It's very perfumey on me - I think it's the florals plus the bergamot? I was hoping for more marshmallow + vanilla to balance the florals with cream. I'm wondering how it might layer with Ghost Milk or Gingerbread Mummy or something else vanilla/creamy - or even something foodie, perhaps... ETA: I've started putting this on along with a vanilla bean lotion, and doing that combo before bed, and - just anecdotally - for the last four nights I've slept really well, better than normal! Usually it takes me ages to fall asleep, but something about this seems to be helping. 🙂

Vanilla powder, very literally! Vanilla powdered creamer! In coffee! And fall spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom. Not overly sweet, more...well...lightly spiced vanilla-powder coffee! I swear I've actually made and drunk something very much like this in our department break room, which usually has powdered creamer type things, and sometimes has seasonal coffee-pods for the Keurig. I agree that it's a powdery, not sticky-syrupy scent, but I think I like that, because it's different - it's such a unique scent experience, and *exactly* what it says it is.

Hmm - I think I like this better in the bottle than I do on me! In there, it's hazelnut, lavender, and sweetness - on me, the hazelnut and coconut stampede over everything, and the lavender vanishes! It's not bad - I don't *not* like it - but on me it's less complex and much darker and thicker. I feel like it's a good cold weather scent, rich and nutty and decadent, but also like a little will probably go a long way - it's the sort of dessert you almost can't finish because it's so rich, but it's delicious!

I also do not get pumpkin! Perhaps that's the idea? I do like the original Schrodinger's Cat, which is very sugar-bright-citrus on me, and this one is too! Mostly light bright sparkling fruits, backed by peppermint (which on me is more herbal than candy-mint) and...something else? Is it pumpkin? If I didn't know it was supposed to be, I wouldn't guess it - but I think maybe there's something that's a...not a creamy note, but the kind of buttery note that sometimes turns up in, say, Jack? It's something like that, but, again, way at the back, and I actually wouldn't be surprised if - Schrodinger's surprise! - there isn't actually pumpkin in here, and that's just the chocolate smoothing things out! I do like it, but I already have the Cat, so I'm not sure I need a bottle of this as well.

As someone who teaches Shakespeare and likes a good stout, I had to try this! It's pretty much the same in the bottle and on me - it knows what it is! And what it is, is...a hearty sort of semi-sweet cake - not at all a frosting type cake, but something like an oat-cake or dense spice cake sweetened with a bit of honey. I don't get a lot of honey, but just enough to give it *some* sweetness. The ale is a dark cozy type, not sweet-boozy, but like ordering a good dark stout at our local craft brewery and breathing in right before taking a sip. Good throw and awesome wear length, and I think it's scented the sleeve of my shirt! I like it - I think if it were a little sweeter I'd *love* it, but it's not quite there. It's a good cold-weather scent, though, and I'm glad I have a partial bottle for when I'm in the mood, or when teaching a comedy play!

Gifted a partial bottle by a friend who was de-stashing! It's a very creamy, mellow pumpkin, both in the bottle and on me. Creamy, cheesecake-y (not too sour or tangy, just rich and sweet and creamy) pumpkin. Which I like - I love pumpkin, in general! - so I'm happy with it! I really don't get any spices or any carrot, but that might just be a function of age. On me it's a (surprisingly) soft scent, warm and cozy and snuggly. Nice for autumn / when I want something autumnal but not overpowering!

Very pumpkin spice + musk - exactly what it says! I'm not always a huge fan of musk - depends on the type - but it's playing nicely here. I don't get pie crust at all; this is very much pumpkin pie filling, heavy on the spices, but that's nice for the current autumn time of year! I like this one more than Pecan Pie Oud, but not as much as Cherry Pie Chypre.