MamaMoth

in general i like pumpkin, but don't love it, and so i've kind of tuned out any pumpkin-adjacent scents.  but i figured i should give it a shot, and morocco, my old love, seemed like a natural match.

i may be in trouble, because this ain't bad. creamy, buttery, extra-spicy morocco. definitely more foody than regular morocco.  after the dry-down, it doesn't really smell like pumpkin at all.  up close, it's super spicy and buttery.  but in the throw it's a dreamy spiced vanilla musk. some scents keep my nose glued to my wrist, but this one has me waving my arms around in front of my face like a lunatic. 

better than original morocco?  no.  but i'm not kicking it out of bed. i'm still not a pumpkin convert, but i won't be automatically dismissing them any more. 

i threw this on this morning without remembering all the notes, which is sometimes  a fun test to see how edumacated my sniffer is. 

goes on with Big Patchouli Energy.  lots of sticky, almost cloying honey. the patchouli is woodsy but not cedary, kind of moist and meaty.  i tentatively guessed tobacco, but nope there's no tobacco, i see now, just a very full-bodied patch.  

calms down pretty quickly, and i felt something sweet, a little creamy,  and maybe foodie propping it up.  surprised to find it's just vanilla amber.  definitely getting the vanilla, but usually amber loves me and i'm shocked that i couldn't pick it out. 

after everything settles into place, i get a goblin -coconut +honey vibe. 

there's nothing super unique here, but i love it big time.  every single note falls squarely in my wheelhouse, and it's a very *me* perfume.  i could happily wear this every day.  i was only able to acquire a partial bottle, but i'll probably snap up every bottle i see for sale, because i can see myself reaching for this on the reg. 

i was craving a refreshing and sweet mint, so i tracked this down based on its reputation as being one of the sweetest in the lick it arsenal. it was everything i dreamed of and i loved it dearly, in the brief time we had together before my skin whisked it away forevermore. 

i shall remember our 12 seconds together fondly. 

this goes on with an explosion of sweet, tangy fruit.  the grapefruit and yuzu are especially punchy, but every fruit listed as a component is present and accounted for, and it's gloriously distilled happiness.  and, unfortunately, fleeting. after approximately 36.4 seconds, i'm left with faint traces of something that smells suspiciously similar to the soap in the restroom at my doctor's office.  i think this is just the plum blossom musk, left behind after the fruits flee the scene, and i don't like it, not one bit. i adore plum, so i had hoped that plum blossom musk might bear a passing resemblance.  but this is just a faint, soapy, waxy, white floral.

body chemistry's a bitch sometimes. 

sarsaparilla is a new note for me, and i'm sure i've smelled aldehydes but i couldn't pick them out of a lineup.  but after testing native gold, anything with sarsaparilla is instantly bouncing onto my to-try list.  i love it! 

it starts off as a rush of fizzy sweet ambery root beer, then the amber quickly muscles its way to the front.  but it is backed by sweet tobacco and warm cedar, and the sarsaparilla spices it so uniquely... i don't know if i would be able to identify it as sassafras/root beer at this point, it's more like a fuzzy anise-y spice.  it's bordering on addictive to me.  cannot stop huffing my arm! 

i don't know how to even begin to describe the mineralic aldehydes, but there they are.  kind of sitting on the top of this blend with an effervescent mineraly note.  it gives the whole blend a bit of freshness and lift that i find very enjoyable. 

completely unique and compelling. 

i always enjoy chocolatey scents more in theory than in reality... they smell so good in the vial, but just doesn't usually work so well as a perfume when they're actually on me. 

THIS GUY THOUGH.  definitely cacao and not chocolate. bitter and earthy with a soft woodsiness. rich chewy tobacco to sweeten it up, but this isn't a sweet gourmand perfume at all.  the bourbon gives it an interesting perfumey edge.  it has a slightly sour booziness that really works well in counterpoint to the woodsy cacao.   there is a creamy fullness to the blend, but not what i'd pick out as a cream note in particular.   

after it's dried down, i'm not sure it's even recognizable as cacao anymore.  maybe boozy pipe tobacco with bitter chocolate notes?   i love it!  it's very unique. 

goes on in a sweet tangy burst of fruit. reminds me of sugar skull a little, that same jumble of fruits with a little sourness. my nose is not intelligent enough to pick apart the fruits, but they're bright and puckery, and include citrus that's probably not lemon.  no amber yet. 

as it dries, the amber takes a huge step forward.  dries down to a light amber and dusty fruit blend.  sweet, but not sugary. 

hours later, i'm getting mostly sweet amber of a semi-powdery nature with a light whisper of fruit dust behind it. 

i wouldn't say it knocks my socks off, but it's really nice.  i probably won't upgrade my decant to a bottle, but i can see myself rediscovering this in the future and possibly regretting that decision. 

i thought i'd reviewed this one, but apparently not. 

bright, punchy, yellow/golden sweet resins.  lemony and sweet.  just a touch of herbal sage. very uplifting.  i love it so much.  it feels like an LE to me, and it's been a favorite of mine for many years. the only downside is that my skin just gobbles it up, and it's usually completely gone in 2 hours. 

RED MUSK & soft woods.  i like red musk, but this is kind of a lot. 

of note to me is the rosewood. i like the concept of rose, and i've been trying to find a rose i could wear, but it always just amps out of control on me and turns everything it touches into perfumey headache juice.  but there is a subtle woodsy rose in this that stays well-behaved.  so i might be on the lookout for rosewood in the future 

this is a complex but subtle little nugget. 

plum definitely takes center stage,  but it's like a plum musk. oftentimes plum reads a little musky to me anyway, and here it's just a little more-ish. i don't smell anything remotely like what i identify as the typical bpal red musk.  it's sweetened and rounded by a resinous-ish vanilla-ish note... maybe the benzoin bolstered by the opoponax, but i'm not really detecting the opoponax on it's own.   the tobacco and fig also feel like they're teaming up to give it some sweet meaty body, but the tobacco has slightly more presence, and nothing ever pops out as definitively fig. all this sets atop a softly woodsy base.  mimosa is completely mia, but i think it might be doing some unseen heavy lifting in there, keeping this blend from going too heavy. light to medium throw, it doesn't really announce it's presence but it's definitely there.  sweet enough for me to enjoy,  but not sugared or overly sticky... but i tend to like my perfume pretty sweet, so take that with a grain of salt. or sugar. 

i started off feeling a little lukewarm about this one.  i liked it, but didn't love it.  but the more i wear it, the more unique it feels, and the more i'm coming to really like it.  i keep getting these whiffs of a delicious plum+more in the throw that i don't get when sniffing up close.   i agree that there is a mme moriarty vibe going on, but so much less assertive.  this might be one i reach for as an alternative, because sometimes the madame just has too much presence for me. 

edit:  hours later i am still getting phantom whiffs of plum musk, but i am now sensing some definite bpal red musk in its dna.  really lovely. 

once in a blue moon, you hit upon a perfume that makes you feel like you found what you didn't know you were looking for. 

this is that perfume. 

sweet, musky, creamy, resiny, and just a breath of warm spice. the amber is the star of the show here, but it's SO well-behaved.  it's very meshed with the copal to me, just coming off as the most absolutely perfect sweet resin.  the amber is not powdery or cloying at all. the coconut gives it just a little bit of creamy sweet gourmand edge, filling the space where you oftentimes find vanilla.  the patchouli is glorious, rich, and earthy.  it's applied with a very deft hand here.  you can definitely detect it's presence, but it's not forward at all... it make me go unconsciously hunting for it, but it's teasingly just out of reach in the best possible way.  i wasn't sure how the cardamom would play out here, but it's so subtle, i probably wouldn't be able to pick it out if it weren't listed.  but there is just the barest hint of not-quite-spice there, keeping all these potentially heavy elements from becoming too stodgy.  and then that musk.  my favorite kind.   golden and sheer, close to the skin, feminine and sweet and light.  somehow simultaneously enriching the blend, while keeping it light. 

it's just so goddamned beautiful, and i feel like it was made for me personally. 

some leather notes i just can't do.  i've found that suede-y type leathers are ok, and sometimes quite nice.  this is the other kind.  sharp and cologney, somehow simultaneously aquatic and powdery.  yikes.  dry, it calms down a great deal, and takes on an almost buttery quality. not wholly unpleasant, but not really my thing.

this is the first in the rpg line i've tried, and i can see how this is designed for layering.  it's incomplete, begging for something more.  but definitely evocative of the inspiration. 

this perfume is just perfect in every way.  i'm obsessed! 

the notes are so perfectly meshed and balanced, it's hard to pick them apart, but i will endeavor to. 

balsam is a favorite of mine, but it's particularly gorgeous here: resinous, golden, woodsy.  not green at all, but blending with the cognac to create something liquid and golden brown, aggressive but not obnoxious.  the vanilla... the vanilla fills in the gaps and smoothes it out some, like vanilla do. but it isn't foody or creamy in the slightest.  it feels like a whole vanilla bean, but dry. (from the tumbleweed maybe?  what even does tumbleweed smell like??) the whole blend has a... dryness?  i hesitate to call it that, because it's usually a turn off for me, but here it works so, so well. it's also a little sharp, in the best possible way. it dances on the senses, never really settling down or smoothing out, and i'm SO here for it.

throw is phenomenal, and it's still going pretty strong hours after application. it also doesn't change much.  the vanilla gets a little more full-bodied, perhaps.  but at no stage is this a vanilla-based perfume for me. it's warm, woody, and balsamic. 

put quite simply, it's one of the best things i've ever smelled. 

i've tried a fair few honeyed patchoulis now, but this one is unique.  the patchouli is rich and sticky and earthy.  honey notes can sometimes have a musky funk down in the depths (which i quite enjoy!)  but this honey is light, with a layer of sugar crystallizing on top. (maybe wildflower honey?  i feel like i'm possibly catching some very light, soft florals at times)

the darkness and light make such lovely counterparts.  it makes me think of 'the bear and the maiden fair' from game of thrones. 

it continually amazes me how you can't judge a perfume by it's listed notes, which i guess is one of my main motivations to SMELL ALL THE THINGS. 

i got a decant of this on a whim, expecting a fun, fluffy, fruity bit of frippery, but i was completely off base. so much depth for a duet!   that black plum is a little musky, with the merest breath of a dark floral, and a sophisticated fruitiness. the marshmallow doesn't smell like marshmallow at all to me, just a smooth sweet carrier for that divine, unique black plum. 

i thought this might be a good bedtime scent, but i'm finding it a little heady for that.  but i would definitely reach for this if i had a little canoodling in store, because i think it's the kind of scent that would make someone just want to eat you up. 

edit:  the new bottle i got definitely smells different than the decant! the bottle steps more in line with my preconceived notions:  floofy sweet marshmallow and candied plum.  it smells great, but lacks the depth and sophistication i found in the decant.  hoping it grows some legs in the bottle cellar! 

this is a holy grail scent for me. 

mellow, smooth patchouli encrusted in crystalline candied lemon peel.  bright and punchy up top, holding the immense patchouli base patchouli firmly in check.

perfectly balanced. 

this whole sugar plum line just really does it for me.  that sugar plum note itself is candied, sticky, fruity in a roundly sweet way, and mildly spiced.  it comes across as an aggressive plum sugar spice bomb when wet, but then melds with the base blend so harmoniously in such different ways. 

in the case of goblin, it meshes with the coconut and benzoin (which reads as a slightly resinous, sweet vanilla to me) to create this sweet, delicious, cuddly, almost-foodie that teeters at the precipice of full-on gourmand, but hangs back just by the skin of patchouli's teeth.  the patch is a little dirty, like i like it, but it's a tame fuzzy kitten covered in creamy vanilla-candy fluff and a dust of sweet dry spice. the coconut is never obviously apparent, but as a supporting note i think it's just in there doing its thing keeping everything sweet and creamy. 

for me, sugar plum goblin is a comfortable scent... ideal for lounging around the house, napping, or before bed. this goblin is my cuddle buddy, hanging out with me all day on the couch, in bat pajamas, watching our favorite tim burton movies. 

I find myself craving Sudha Segara day after hot, sweltering day. And Hypothermia is also quite nice when it's muggy and sticky. It's not my favorite thing to smell, but it makes me *feel* cool.

You know when you're testing a billion imps, and suddenly one of them morphs on you and becomes wonderful, and you're frantically sniffing through a pile of imps trying to find the one you dabbed on the pinky finger of your left hand?

Yeah, like that.

I'm really not a fan of leather scents, as they tend to smell like a swimming pool liner to me. (plastic-y and chemical-y) So while I adore opoponax and tobacco, and am a fairweather friend to amber, I never tried The Black Rider because leather is just such a big no-no for me. Well huzzah for frimps, and trying things I'd never otherwise.

At first, this one does have that synthetic-smelling leather tang on top that I'm not so fond of, but also darkly resinous and sweet underneath. The leather stays dominant for the first few minutes after application, and the scent falls very firmly in the masculine category for me. But then magic starts to happen. The leather calms down greatly, and just lends an earthy warmth to the overall scent. The amber and opoponax are definitely in the forefront here. Sometimes amber can have a fakey kind of overwhelmingly perfumey smell to me, but here it is beautifully resinous, sweet, a little bitter (in a good way,) and softly dry. (Because it's "black" amber, maybe? Further investigation required.) The tobacco lends to the overall sweetness, I think, but I can't pick it out individually.

Warm, sweet, dry, and cozy. Dark but not overwhelming or intimidating. I would say it ends up being unisex with masculine leanings.

Whelp, that seals it. I've tried it in a lot of forms, and I just can't do leather notes.

This smells like when my parents replaced the plastic liner in their pool, almost exactly. Plasticy and watery and a little chemically.

This smells a lot like Morocco with a little dash of added floral aspect. Creamy and soft, a little dusty, with gentle cardamom spicy-freshness. I can't think of any other way to describe it, besides: Morocco and soft florals!

It's soft and gentle and feminine. I can't really pinpoint the florals but they are pretty nonoffensive as far as florals go. I can see where this one might be a hit, but it's a little... hmm... demure for my taste.

I've always felt that rubbing it in kind of advanced the scent on the drying scale. So if I enjoy the early stages, I don't rub in. Otherwise I do, as I want to get to the longest-sustaining stage of wear as quickly as possible. When I'm reviewing I don't rub in, as I want to be able to evaluate all the stages.

Yes, this has always seemed more logical to me than something needing to settle after shipping. Lab-fresh stuff does seem to change over the course of the first, I don't know, week? Sometimes dramatically. I just got a bottle of "The Illustrated Woman" today and the first time I applied it, it was very aquatic in quality; six hours later, it smells a lot more like I was expecting. I think the blend is still combining. Changes like this just don't happen when I get something from a swap. Even straight out of the shipping package, the blend will smell the same days later.

 

I got a roller bottle of rose oil a few years ago the day after a snowstorm. It had solidified in the bottle. THAT needed some time to "settle" after shipping... also, liquefy.

Just as an aside, The Illustrated Woman ages fabulously. I've discovered much to my chagrin that I don't like it very much fresh at all. I take my newish bottle out daily and stare at it to bully it into aging more quickly.

I have a strong suspicion something is not right with the recent bottles of Black Lace and Black Death from DarkDel. I have several bottles of Black Lace and the last one I received smells completely different. There are slight batch differences between my bottles but this cannot be a batch difference, I smell apples and that's just something that shouldn't be present in Black Lace at all. At first I just thought is was my bottle, but I noticed a BL review that describes apples as well. And there's a Black Death review with apples as well. Where are those apples coming from? Is it possible that someone accidentally mixed some apple scented oil in there? Are there more people with an apple problem?

I got a bottle of Black Death when it first came out, then picked up a backup bottle when it was restocked. The second bottle is really really really different to me as well. Very fruity. Could be apple, definitely.

I got a bottle of Black Lace with the second Black Death bottle, and I don't smell any fruitiness in it. Smells like a decant I got from about a month earlier. But I never smelled the original Black Lace to compare.

I don't think I've ever been disappointed with the Lab ... not even over the price hike. This though upsets me because I had my heart set on the original scent and had I known they changed it I would not have bought this. It's not horrible or anything like that it's just not what I fell in love with.

Yeah, I pulled a couple of decants from my original bottle and gifted them out, because I knew I had a backup coming. :\

I've been toying with emailing the lab over it, but I haven't done it. Technically I didn't buy it from the lab, but I dunno there is obviously something off with the second batch. Would it do any good, do you think?

Black Death HELP!

 

I had bought a bottle from DD for a Mod here on BPAL in a swap and when it arrived I opened it and smelled it and it was love. I posted a ISO on swappersonline (and BPAL) and swapped for a decant. The bottle and decant both smelled the same. :love:

 

So I found a bottle for sale and bought it the other day. It arrived today and when I opened it up it was like whoooa ... APPLE! I mean it smells nothing like the original bottle that came to me nor the decant. Maybe way in the distance if I inhale really deep but the top note here smells like apple. :banghead: Think of the apple in Agape.

 

Has anyone heard if there are batch variations? I'm soooo sad! I want the Black Death I tried before and thank god I still have the BD decant to compare it to. I almost frimped it out the other day knowing I had a bottle coming but at the last min. I kept it.

 

ETA: The seller bought it from DD along with Black Heart and Black Lace and she was selling all of them so I'm the second owner and it's full to the shoulder and she only opened to sniff it twice. I believe her. Could the lab have filled it with the wrong scent by accident?

 

Yeah, the batch difference between the first and the second stocking of Black Death are HUGE. The second one is so much fruitier. It was different enough that I thought perhaps I got the wrong scent as well.