brilliantcat

Every note in this is one I adore. I planned to buy a bottle unsniffed but was able to get ahold of a decant in a swap. Almond is the strongest note in the decant, followed by leather. On me, it blooms into a sumptuous black leather vs. a soft, suedey brown leather. I catch hints of patchouli and the vanilla and almond swirl delightfully around the strong leather. Though I qualify this as black leather, it's not harsh or chemical. It puts me in mind of super-soft, leg-hugging black leather pants. Supple is the adjective I want. Comfortable, broken-in leather that's sexy as hell. The vanilla has just a teeeeeeny hint of plastic-ness which I know from experience will quickly soften into rich vanilla. I've yet to find a vanilla note that doesn't work on me, though the other notes in a blend can ruin it. None of the oak leaf at this point. The almond has either given up the fight to the stronger notes or my skin has just sucked it up. I'd have liked it to last longer, but I'm ok without it. It's actually sticking pretty close to my skin and has low throw. I slathered pretty well too, expecting this to be as wonderful as it has turned out. The more time passes, the more it just seems to meld with and become part of my skin, like paper-thin leather driving gloves. Absolutely buying a bottle as soon as humanly possible! This is as fantastic as I had hoped and while it will never unseat Banshee Beat as my favorite, this is a knockout blend and is absolutely me in every way.

Whooooah, that's some strong pine! It's nose-clearing in the imp and on me, it's even stronger if that's possible Under all that pine I think I get a hint of some sweetness. Blergh. Pine-Sol.

Oh. My. YUM. It's absolutely gorgeous peach in the imp. It honestly makes me almost swoony. On me, it develops more complexity and I can smell something floral and almost lemony, which must be the myrtle. No musk or amber at this point, it's just a glowy, golden floral-fruit. Oh no! It's turned to rancid floor cleaner Actually, dirty mop water. Ugh, I loved this in the imp but it doesn't love me back.

Twin to Deimos and child of War, Phobos is the embodiment of terror and mortal fear. Chilling white musk, lemon verbena, white grapefruit and lemongrass. This oil is a really beautiful shade of yellow! In imp and on me, it's all lemon, lemon, lemon. It has a tiny hint of Lemonheads candy but I mostly get the slight green/herbalness that means lemongrass to my nose. No grapefruit, no musk, nothing but lemon. Perfect, glorious, sour, tart lemon. It certainly does not inspire terror in me. It's got quite good throw, I can smell it on my arm where I tested it as I type. I think this will be fantastic in the heat of summer.

I've had this imp forever so it's quite aged and thus my experience is probably not akin to a fresh imp. /enddisclaimer In the imp, it's incredibly smooth, sweet chocolate with mint and rich vanilla. Exactly what I hoped for! It's mostly chocolate on my skin with the mint and vanilla taking a backseat. Of the pistachio, oakmoss, and cedar, I hear not a peep. Wait, there they are. About 10 minutes in, the oakmoss and cedar veritably take over, leaving the chocolate/mint in the background but thankfully still present. Despite the hostile takeover, this is a very quiet scent, very little throw. It almost has a musky vibe. It got husbeast's sniff of approval so I think a big bottle is in order

In the imp, it's strongly rose geranium. It tugs at my memory, I'm strongly reminded of craft fairs, NOT craft store, which is a whole other animal and and one of which I am not particularly fond. However, craft fairs like the Covered Bridge Festival in my area hold very happy memories for me, especially hanging out with my mom and looking at the crafts and buying all sorts of handmade things and getting delicious food... It's almost painful. I'm not sure I like smelling of rose geranium, but even if this blend doesn't develop any further nuances on the drydown, I'll keep it purely for the scent memories it evokes, now that my mom is gone. As it warms, I feel like I'm maybe getting a bit of the musk, which is very different from any of the lab's other musks that I've smelled. I think I might be getting a hint of my beloved patchouli in there too, deepening the rose geranium. It's not something I like as perfume, but I will sniff it occasionally and perhaps use it as a room scent when I miss my mom.

In imp, whoo, incense and pepper! On me, I get the nice smoky, incense-y opoponax and an inky musk. There's a hint of pepper and this is definitely masculine-leaning on me. I'm not fond of how this is warming up on me, it's a dry, dusty feeling mild incense, almost musty. Yup, it's gone dusty, powdery, and just not good. Sadface

Fizzy, orange-y, sweet CANDY. Oh man this is good. I apparently have JUST gotten around to testing my imp from a circle when this was live and I'm kicking myself because I could do with a big bottle of this!

In the imp, it's alll dragon's blood resin. Incensey and kind of fruity and wonderful. On me, the vetiver is more prominent, smoky and dry, with a touch of DBR wafting around like the greatest incense ever and then... there's patchouli! Pre-BPAL, I hated patchouli. Absolutely hated it. I think it was just the typical cheap headshoppy patch that was all I ever smelled in well, headshops. But the lab's patch is oh so heavenly and smooth and rich and has turned me into a patchouli-loving crazy. What was I talking about? Oh right. I start getting a dark cherry note, likely from the DBR as that always has a fruity component to my nose. On drydown, it smells like evil, poisoned red cherries! Fabulous. And then, red musk. Oh red musk. You know I love you but why must you growl and hiss and scare away the other notes? I get enough evil cherry to like this, but not love.

Sweetly floral in the imp and wet on my skin. I couldn't have picked this out as orchid, it smells almost fruity but a dark, rich, dripping fruit not a girly fruit. The opium quickly asserts itself in that dark, dusty, soporific way I love. Less fruity but it still has that punch of sweetness that keeps this from going into sneezy territory. Mmm I love this, it's probably my favorite opium scent.

Pine and... lime? Huh. I think the mint/orange are somehow tricking my nose into thinking lime. Very cologne-y at this stage. The masculine edge softens pretty quickly and I get piney forest with a smidge of mint. Minty-fresh and less foresty. The cologne is back. While I like this, it's very masculine on me. I think I may slap this on the husbeast and see what happens

Strongly almond backed by vetiver, or perhaps the patchouli. Almond and dirty, dark notes. Huh. As it starts warming up, I do get a very strong Dr. Pepper/Cherry-Vanilla Coke vibe. I'm a total foodie so I'm not bothered by the association and it shouldn't be surprisingly since almond can go a bit cherry-ish on me and the blend does contain vanilla. I think it's the myrrh in combination with those two notes creating the cola vibe. The more it warms, the more I get myrrh, almost to the exclusion of everything else. Yep, ends up smelling very similar to my SN Golgothan Myrrh. Nope from me. ETA: After a couple of hours, the most delicious smell was wafting up. It was coming from where I had tested Voodoo! It's a rich, smooth patchouli and vanilla. I guess I should be more patient. Pretty sure I need a big bottle!

I get mostly caramel in the imp. I have no clue why, tonka/benzoin never smell caramel-y to me o.O On, it's less caramel-y and actually reminds me of rum at this point. Sugary and sticky. I do get hints of lime, which gradually get stronger and help temper the uber-sugar smell. Sticky sugary tonka with perhaps a hint of musk. I get zero floral from this, in fact it's quite foody. I love lilac scents so I had hoped for a bit more of that coming out on drydown but that's my only disappointment. The lime gradually takes a backseat and it smells like a drier version of rum with vanilla.

I adore leathery blends, so I picked this up on the Lab's Etsy when it was available. In bottle, this is all leather, leather, leather of the soft, broken-in type. On me, it smells a bit citrusy, perhaps a bit metallic, like leather worn under plate. It doesn't scream "PALADIN!" to me though, I think of gleaming armor not leather. This ends up pettably soft leather. My nose is either broken, or there just isn't any smoke in here at all because I don't get a hint of it.

Antiqued bourbon vanilla and tobacco-tinged yellow sandalwood with copal and amber incense, frankincense, tonka absolute, and myrrh. Swapped this one off awhile ago. It seemed like it should have been perfect but the tobacco turned it from "love it sweet foodie" to "sickly-sweet, over the top foodie" on me. I liked it, but didn't LOVE it. I'm happy it could go to someone who LOVED it because it deserved love. I ended up with Silver-Haired Bat, and she is

I've lived in the Chicagoland area my entire life and I have a bit of an obsession with the 1893 World's Fair, so I was highly disappointed that my health precluded me from attenting the Con to pick up the scents inspired by this magnificent event. Luckily I was able to get ahold of testers/decants of the scents I was most interested in, this being one of them. Partially for the inspiration, partially for the notes (particularly vanilla, my favorite ). In the decant, this smells clean. I primarily get a light lemon cream, which it seems no one else has noted On me, definitely clean. I think the ozone and musk are somehow creating a lemony association in my head. Fine with me! A bit soapy, very light. The White City at twilight, glowing softly in the newfangled electric lamps. Likely not something I'd wear often, but perfect for hot summers.

Whoops, double post!

Both in imp and wet on me, I get mostly lime and rum with a hint of tobacco and blossoms. I find this similar to my extrait of Hispaniola but for the lack of coconut. This makes me sooo happy as the extraits are impossible to find! I wind up with a spicy, smoky tobacco mostly with a hint of lime and just the barest notion of florals. I think layering this with my Arcana Fresh Coconut SN will be a more than adequate sub for my beloved Hispaniola!

For some reason I never reviewed this fresh from the Lab's Etsy, from which I acquired my bottle, but apparently I wasn't too impressed as I have had it up for swap/sale for ages. I randomly decided to retest it as it's been sitting here so long (and is quite aged now as a result). In the bottle, oooh smooth, sweet patchouli with resins and something nutty. Why was I getting rid of this? On, I get swoon-worthy patchouli and toasted sandalwood of the Fledgling Raptor Moon variety (which I love). Taking this off my sale list NOW. As it warms, I get a bit of a cola-esque feel along with rich patch and dry nutty sandalwood. The patch is very toned down and this is mostly the dry toasty sandalwood. It's a skin-close scent, like me but better.

I love resins. I love vanilla. Ok, I more than love vanilla. And I generally adore simplebutcomplex vanilla + one other note blends. No brainer right? I ordered a bottle unsniffed. In the bottle, the first impression is of slightly piney, rich incense. Deep, deep golden. And then a slight hint of gorgeous vanilla. Wet on skin, it's SN frankincense of the woodsy, piney type. I'm reminded less of incense and more of a forest. Not a smidge of vanilla to be found but it's still beautiful. On the drydown, it's back to golden, but brighter, and no more piney-ness. Still no vanilla though I do love the way the frank ended up and I can always layer with a SN vanilla, but I suspect aging will bring out the yummy vanilla I'm hoping for.

I remember trying my decant when it was brand new and not getting much of the leather. It was a pretty soft cuddly scent. I thought with a little aging time, the leather would be more prominent. It doesn't seem to have changed much though. It's mostly dusty cardomom and spicy cinnamon with a hint of leather when wet. Mmm there's the leather! I find it to be cuddly dusty-ish leather with spice. Edit: The longer it's on, the dustier it gets until it's a bit too dusty for me. It's verging on giving me a headache.

Similar to SO in the decant but I get a bit more vanilla than with SO. On me, I definitely get incense-y and a lighter, less in-your-face SO. The blast of vanilla I got in the decant is sadly gone. It dries down to a lighter, plummier, fruitier version of SO. This is SO's little sister, more flirty and less sexual.

Blood musk must be very, very close to red musk as it's got that same ripe, juicy fruitiness. I amp red musk like crazy, thankfully I love it. The problem is that not many notes can stand up to it. In the decant, it's very complex and rich and I get a sense of the other notes. Not so on my skin. The patchouli is desperately trying to shove the blood musk aside and yell "Look at me!" but the musk just slaps it aside like a gnat. No cacao, no benzoin, no tobacco. I do wish I could have gotten more of the other notes as I had high hopes for this blend. If the blood musk had been another type of musk or dragon's blood resin, this would have been stunning.

I am desperately in love with Waltz of the Snowflakes and I'm down to my last bit of the decant. Snow White is going to be purchased posthaste but I would love recs for similar pine or snowy vanilla. I do own and love both Lick It Softly and MB: Tokyo Stomp but those are minty where I want pine. Waltz is my Christmas scent and I might actually cry when I run out!

Imp: Hazelnut! Creamy, nutty, dry. I suspect the sandalwood is contributing to the dryness here. Wet: On, it's definitely got more of the vanilla and it's a lovely rich vanilla swirling around the hazelnut. I'm getting a bit of amber as well, which nearly always starts out powdery on me (rarely in a bad way). I get an oddly floral sense as well, though no florals are listed. Oh! It's the myrrh! Dry: All myrrh. It's almost exactly the same as the Golgothan Myrrh SN. Oh the humanity All I wanted was delicious hazelnut, vanilla, and amber.