Saeva

First impression: A sharp green scent almost like the literal precursor to dead leaves. The Lab's Dead Leaves note reads as very sharp to me and this reads the same way, except very much still alive and kicking. Wet : Yeah. Why do I even bother to add this section? It takes 10 minutes for anything not to smell like in-bottle on me. Drydown: Okay. So, I grew up in CA and went up to Oregon to see relatives each August, where you could buy a plastic grocery bag and a pass for $5 with the promise of taking all the blackberries you can fit into that bag. This reminds me intensely of being surrounded by blackberry brambles, avoiding spoiled berries (that will stain your shoes), in the August heat. If not for a grassier, somewhat aquatic undertone to the scent it would be the perfect recreation. You could name this 'Blackberry patch a la Suburban Neighborhood (after mowing)' and not be more accurate. I like the scent and it definitely is as described, but I wish there'd been stronger blackberry or weaker grass.

chilled bergamot, Ceylon cinnamon, white clove bud, amber, and incense smoke. I picked this out due to its combination of bergamot, cinnamon, and amber, as I'm quite the fan of any two of those three in combination. I had no idea what to expect and that might have been a good thing. In the bottle, I pick out incense smoke and bergamot with an icy twist (hence 'chilled'). The bergamot is sharp and cold in my nose, while the smoke invokes fire, and the amber plays off them both. Unlike most scents, where the bottle and wet-on-skin experiences are identical, Melancholy Fire pulls a trick and presses clove to the forefront for a few minutes before the fiery cinnamon smoke and clean bergamot scent reasserts itself. For the rest of the time, the competing chill of bergamot on ice with core of smoky incense and a mystery third ingredient thapeovides a nice balance between the two.

When I picked this out, I was hoping for a metallic cut into smoking clove and fragrant red cedar. Unfortunately, like the other dead leaves I've tried from this release, the metallic scent disappears within minutes to leave the other notes behind. In my case, my skin picked up the scorched and the cedar, giving a strong impression of a cedar forest on fire from the kindling of dead, dried leaves. For my partner, whose skin tends to absorb wood scents quickly, they ended up with a strong clove and little else. Neither of us found what we were looking for, so we shall pass.

I have to agree with bheansidhe here. The main show is in the green tea, covering both the dead leaves and the white ginger-y notes pretty much effectively. You can get a hint of more, but it plays out as mostly green tea on the skin from touch down to last note.

Literally all I get from this is 'black cherry and...'. In the first touch, it's black cherry and metallic grass (i.e. dead leaves), but it quickly smooths out to not a single blade of grass. In the meantime, something rather indeterminable pushes towards the foreground. I'm going to assume that is the tar incense and while it gives the black cherry a pretty layered smell it isn't enough for me to invest in a bottle. The overall scent feels unbalanced, weighed heavily towards the blackest of black cherry, and not at all what I was hoping for.

First sniff: bitter citrus cut by a more tart one. My mouth tingles. Touch down: much the same, though a lovely subtle scent of something has started to rise up behind all the citrus-y grapefruit and bitter citron. Early dry: The subtle scent has revealed itself to be woodsy and direct, so presumably the damp white cedar note. I definitely get the dampness; the scent smells a little aquatic without the pondsy undertone that usually turns me off of aquatics. I also get a plastic scent so familiar from the clown and blow mold lines, but this is much milder than I usually think of the Lab's plastic note. Like the impression of plaster, instead of inflatables. Dried now: ... and damn! The citrus up and disappeared on me, a ghost that never was. My skin seems to absorb citrus like it's mugging it for its lunch money, so this probably won't be the experience for everyone. I was enjoying the blend, which was a little quirky (plaster, citron, and damp wood) but well integrated. Then, boom, half the scent disappeared ten minutes in and left me with a disappointing waterlogged cedar feel. This is going to have to be a pass for me, but I think it would be quite nice on someone who doesn't absorb citrus so well.

2025 Version First sniff: sweet! That is a very sweet fruity honey (not orange honey, but something closer to wildflower honey) that just smacks me in the face. Obviously, that's the plum honey. Touch down: As usual, what I get in the bottle is what I get while wet on skin. My skin chemistry doesn't seem to morph things as strongly or as quickly as my partner. For the first five minutes, it was an almost nauseatingly sweet honey scent with a great throw. So much throw. Too much throw, a little bit. Dry down: Oh, thank goodness. Other scents are peeking out now. The sweet throw is still there, but there is now an added mixture of herbs that make my tongue tingle if I sniff too close. I'm fairly certain that is a blend of velvet myrrh -- black champa, as the latter is known as a sweet floral with an earthy warmth -- opoponax, a spicy resinous scent. I think it's recreating the same blend that myrrh and cassia creates in Practical Occultism for me. Hour later: the blend has really settled into a subtle combination of spicy and sweet with a woodsy undertone. I get why others in the thread called it 'deep' as even once blended it feels very layered, like there's a lot going on. The scent itself is very well balanced on my skin and has a predatory sort of tone, like what I'd want to wear to feel like the bitch in charge. So far my favorite Halloweenie of the year. Edit: I realized my review doesn't sound very positive! But once the nauseatingly one note honey scent starts to blend out with the other scents, this turns into a really lovely layered perfume that balances sweet with spice very well. (In the same way that, say, Sugar Plum Snake Oil balances sweet with tart. You can definitely scent each individually peeking out, but they also mix so well together that it doesn't feel dischordant or too messy.)

Flaming amber, queen mandarin rind, yellow peppercorn, scorched yellow roses, and a hint of decay. Bottle: peppery citrus gone ever so slightly off. Not the sweetened citrus of fermentation, but the one that happens when an orange sits out so long it gets mold. That smell. Wet: like usual, in the bottle is how it immediately hits my skin. I have dry enough skin that I rarely get chemical reactions and very little amps on me. Dry: Here we go. The yellow peppercorn is still extremely dominant after 30 minutes with a feeling of mandarin rind (slightly sour/green, as rind tends to be) and a hint of rich rose. Weirdly for such a strong/sharp blend, the scent fades out quickly, mellowing to something I can sniff out when my wrists are six inches away but no further. I have some on my neck, at pulse points, and my sternum, where the most skin oil can interact, but most of my trial went to my wrists and stayed there. At one hour, it has morphed to a scent like (sparsely candied) rose petals on mandarin jelly mixed with peppercorn, but the peppercorn is so strong that it was nauseating to me by hour 2. That said, my best friend also tried it and the scent turned into a pretty mandarin with heavy amber, a hint of decay, and a smattering of both peppercorn and rose (no scorching). Not personally for me, but if you like heavy scents with strong pepper notes, this would work well.

Throughout the whole wear, I never scented a single drop of Snake Oil through this, oddly enough, as with other mixtures I usually pick up at least a little bit of a savory-tart I association with SO. Dead leaves is another story. Both in bottle and wet, this smelled entirely of dead leaves -- that distinct lead/tin note found I most associate with the lead and tin phoenix blends combined with a freshly mowed grass scent -- with the bare impression of flowers. My partner got more flowers, I got more metal on both sniff and application. 30 minutes into dry down added a flowery scent that makes me picture white flowers, so that's likely the cictus, orris root, and maybe smoked vanilla. Somewhere between 1 1/2 to 2 hours, the metallic grass impression is completely gone and I start getting the cardamom and the smoked vanilla very clearly. Within 30 minutes, the entire scent turns into a spiced, smoked vanilla with the slightly hint of hops. Over the next few hours the hops leaves, followed by spice, and finally smoked vanilla. At 6 hours of wear, the scent has completely faded except for a vague sugary 'taste' if sniffed up close. A really interesting scent overall, being both very in your face and quite subtle in turns. For me 6 hours is a miracle of a last time, given many scents disappear on me within two hours or sooner, so I would expect this will stick around on most people. Throw is less clear to me, as almost nothing short of scent bomb levels (Sugar Plum Snake Fairy, Tiki Princess V3, Sunbird, etc.) have much throw with me. I could have done with a little bit stronger punch to the mixture originally -- more like Dead Leaves, Black Cherry, and Incense Tar -- so that it wasn't initially 100% Dead Leaves, but that faded quickly and turned really nice. If you don't mind the lab's metallic scent that helps make up Dead Leaves (which I suddenly understand all the comments on), this is a great addition to a varied scent cabinet.

In the bottle, it smells like thick cherry filling, canned and ready to be poured for pie has been drizzled with maraschino cherry syrup. Then I put it on myself and it immediately went to pastry. Not only was the cherry filling darker, trending into black cherry, but I instantly smelt like I had rubbed buttery, flaky pie crust across my skin. Ultimately, a few minutes in it mellowed out into a sharp cherry pie and stayed there. I usually like sugary scents, but I'm not sure how I feel about this one. It is so distinctly one specific sweet treat that it mostly keeps making me crave pie. Low to medium throw. Lots of staying power -- I still smelled just as cherry after 12 hours, which is longer than most BPAL scents last on me. My best friend tried it too and ended up smelling like someone tried to bake maraschino cherries. They're not a fan of sweet scents and said this one was particularly sweet.