fiddledragon

Yup -- dark green grassy cucumber. Definitely the scent of cucumber peel, rather than the waterier interior. Oddly compelling when mixed with the Gluttony I tested on a nearby patch of hand. It's not really my sort of thing, but if you like green stuff and it works on you, this is your scent!

I ordered an imp of this from the Lab, evidently under the impression that it hasn't been discontinued months ago. They sent me an imp. I am somewhat confused. Anyway, on to the review...

 

In imp: lemon-lime? Where are my teas an leather?

 

On me: Lemonlemonlemon...I'm 2 for 2 on Unexpected Lemon this batch. I mean, it's a *nice* lemon, but...why? On the drydown, there's a last hint of tea before it disappears.

In vial: sage and incense and something metallic.

 

On me: Sage and resins...I'm amused by the number of above reviews that get a feminine scent from this, because on me, this is extremely masculine. Lots of sage and sweet, amber incense (I don't think there's actually *amber* in this; it just smells that "color" to me). It's saying "leather" as well, but there isn't actually a leather note; that may be how I'm interpreting the bronze.

 

This is a sexy artificer scent...not a mad scientist, quite; he's not that manic or potentially-evil. But this is a steampunk scholar with his sleeves rolled up, adjusting the hydraulics of some project, sage burning in the background. He rifles through old tomes while sketching diagrams on every available surface. But when he sees you at the door to the workshop, he is more than happy to throw aside the leather apron to ravish you across his workbench. But only if he's quite sure you had the same thing in mind; he is, after all, a gentleman.

 

It's so sad that sage overpowers everything on my boyfriend and thus this will probably just make him smell like kitchen. Because otherwise I'd never let him out of bed.

Vial: Whee! Kumquat-pepper!

 

On me: A bitter, citrus-rind scent with a hit of pepper. It really does smell like kumquat. In the drydown, the tea comes out a bit; normally tea notes don't work on me, but this one behaves itself very nicely. It eventually warms and sweetens a little. This would be a good summer scent or a working scent for when I need something to perk me up and help me concentrate.

Vial: Musk! Muskmuskmuskmusk...not an overpowering one, though.

 

On wet: A nice woody musk; not very strong, though.

 

Drydown: Aw, great, it's doing that pencil-shaving thing again. I smell like sexy, sexy hamsters.

 

This is not unlike a dryer Death Cap, but has too much wood for me to wear.

On fresh, this is very tart and fruity...the earlier comparison to Froot Loops is apt. Luckilly, that dies down quickly and becomes a sweet, warm, lemon scent with a beautiful soft liquid honey behind it and just a touch of something spicy. It's almost exactly the scent of a cup of mild herbal tea with lots of lemon and honey. It's wonderfully soothing once the manic Froot Loops go away and doesn't go furniture-polish-y like lemon usually does. I guess that's what cubeb smells like? Anyway, unexpected, but I really like this one.

On me, this is mostly rose and amber with a touch of jasmine. A very crisp, "dry" rose, not sweet at all. I normally don't go in for the more traditional perfumy florals, but this is actually really working. It's not as sharp as some similar scents; I think the citrus and amber round the scent out (though I'm not getting citrus individually at all, which is weird for me). I will keep this imp for when I feel like being a high court lady ;-)

Apple of Sodom smelled almost exactly like generic laundry detergent on me, but I don't know if that's duplicatable on someone else's skin.

Another vote here for Regan -- the floral note makes it a bit lighter than some other vanilla blends, but doesn't detract from the innate vanilla-ness, at least on me. It's vanilla without shouting "clearly, I should be shelved in the baking supplies aisle". If, like me, your sister's skin doesn't amp musk very much, Dorian is a wonderfully warm sweet scent that would be very appropriate for someone her age.

I got a partial bottle of this on a whim, partly for the irony value of getting Bastet's Laughter and Great Cry in Egypt in the same package <i>during Passover</i>...

 

I tried burning it in my oil diffuser a while ago since I don't really do candles, and it just made my bedroom small cloying. But I've been having a really burned-out past couple of weeks, so I finally reached for the bottle again and dabbed some on my pulse points with the intent for some extra happy. Wow...I am surrounded in a fluffy cloud of happy bubblegum :-) And it's lasted 6 hours so far and going strong. My work day has not been extraordinarily productive, but I managed to write a solid short paper for homework and I've just felt...stable.

DLV (no other reviews? Darn; I was really hoping for some help here): In the bottle, there's something sweet, kind of like orange cake. On me, there's still that vague orangy note, with something that smells sweet and...crumbly? I know that makes no sense. It's sort of a shortbread smell, but there's an almost rotten tinge to it. It might be the butter note going weird on me. There's a soapy floral hanging around at the back adding to the utter oddness of this blend.

DXXXV: Another sweet one! A hint of sweet creamy light vanilla in the bottle. This is *very* light -- a thin oil and a sweet light skin scent. It's a delicate floral, maybe lily or orchid, with a hint of spice at the back. This is really quite pleasant. Not quite my usual thing, and fainter than I'd prefer, but it means that this would make a great wear-to-the-office blend if I wanted to smell pretty but not annoy other people.

MCCXX: This is...odd. There's a bit of orange in the bottle, similar to DLV, and besides that I'm having trouble picking out individual notes. On me, it goes sweet (for the record, I should point out that my skin makes everything go sweet. Intentionally sweet scents whomp innocent passersby with Eau d'Bakery of Doom.)...maybe a light resin with a hint of vanilla and wood. Definitely some light skin musk. Maybe tea, as well. The sweetness dries down after a minute or two, and this is actually not unlike Dorian but much, much less sweet. It's a cozy, light, warm scent.

I have two imps of Defututa, and one is much more honey-sweet than the other (in the imp). This worries me a little because I'd like to get a bottle at some point and pour imps into it. Has anyone else done this? Are the results catastrophic, or good?

 

I have an old 10ml bottle of Sudha Segara which I keep topping off with imps. It's worked just fine, but none of the imps have been drastically different or odd. They just deepen a bit with aging.

Bottle: Oh dear. Floral/aquatic in that way that really doesn't work on me. I knew I shouldn't have been tempted by the reviews! But maybe this one will work? *sad puppy eyes*

On me: Grass! Grassgrassgrassgrassgrass... with a hint of wine. This would be a good summer scent, except that it goes vaguely artificial the way green scents so often do on me. Oh well.

In imp: sweet! Wow...and my skin amps sweet. It's like apple-grape concentrate.

 

Wet: Ok, evidently this is just another one for the The Lab is Weird and Wonderful files. The almost sickening sweetness tones down upon hitting my skin, and it's a nice mid-range floral with a sweet yet tart fruit behind it.

 

Dry: Lush, sweet lily, but still not too sweet. The fruit is definitely a tart (but not green) apple. This is beautiful...not my usual floral, but I'm definitely keeping the frimp!

As everyone else has said, green! It reminds me of Green Party, only lighter -- more grass than ivy -- and with a faint "dirt" note to it, especially wet. It goes a bit less soapy than Green Party as well. As it dries further, there's a hint of well-behaved leather.

 

Very evocative of the idea, but not really my kind of scent.

In the imp: sharp and herbal and sliightly alcoholic

 

Wet: mmm...sage and honey and lemon balm, and maybe the saffron spicing it up a bit. I smell like an awesome spice cabinet. Normally herbal things go weird on me and lemon-anything takes over, but this is *lovely*.

 

Dry: Still mostly sage and lemon balm, with the honey keeping it from going too dry. This is a close cousin of Dee and Succor on me, only without Dee's leather or Succor's olive oil. That same hot, dry, sweet spice. It makes me feel happy and clear-headed. I can't wait for the saffron and resins to age a bit!

Oh, thank you for your reviews, lookingglass and zankoku_zen; I'm not crazy!

 

In the bottle, it's a nice herbaceous tea and wine. But on me, it is, yes, White Rain shampoo and celery seed. Where, oh where, are my lilacs? At least other people seem to like it. It might be nice in an oil burner or scent locket, since I quite like the smell in the bottle. This isn't really saying "Eros" to me, unless it's supposed to evoke seducing your lover in the shower or something. *lol*

I definitely second Black Annis, Djinn, Czernobog, and Serpent's Kiss.

 

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was definitely evil booze on me, but my reaction seems to be somewhat unusual so far.

 

Black Lotus could be evil candy...lotus smells like bubblegum on many people, and Black Lotus has a wonderfully dark myrrh base.

 

 

Penitence IX (9):

Bottle: something almost minty but juicier, something kind of spicy, and the resins beneath. Hard to pick out individual notes.

 

Wet: What *is* that smell?? High and cool and mintlike, but not mint. Almost sassafrass? There's a sweetness that's maybe tonka, but it might just be the resins. This isn't my normal thing, but it's very nice. It would be a nice meditation or study blend; it's very grounding, and will probably be more so once the resins age.

 

Dry: Still that high sweet herbal scent, now bordering on lemony and soapy. There's maybe a *very* herbal lavender or a hint of dry rose. I think age will improve this one.

 

 

Penitence XX (30):

Bottle: I'm honestly mostly getting the resins in the bottle.

 

Wet: Resins and cedar. This is a lot like Cathedral, but the woods aren't doing the Hamster Shavings of Doom thing yet.

 

Dry: Resins and sweet cedar, with maybe a faint hint of spice and a touch of vanilla. Very nice; a lot like Death Cap but not quite as sweet. Definitely a keeper.

 

 

Penitence XXXIV (34):

Bottle: Citrus! A delicious juicy sweet-sour citrus...not quite lime, not quite grapefruit. It might be a mix of several.

 

Wet: Still glorious citrus. This is less juicy on the skin, and now almost exactly the effect you get when you take citrus peel and squash it to make the oils come out. But it's very well-blended, so it doesn't jump out as one particular fruit. The Penitence is lurking under there somewhere giving depth, but is definitely less of a dominant presence than in the other two.

 

Dry: This is Moxie's more sedate, scholarly sister. The bouncy citrus is there but tempered by resins and doesn't have that cloying, Creamsicle edge that Moxie has on me. A good clean job-interview scent.

 

 

Penitence LVII (1007?)

Bottle: Another mystery! This is a heavy scent with a kind of doctor's office hint of latex to it. I can't place what the dominant note is and the Penitence is nowhere to be found. There's maybe a hint of black pepper...from the way my stomach is perking up, I suspect it is trying to tell me that this is a scent normally associated with food, but that I'm just not placing when it's in a tiny bottle of liquid. Some fruit or something.

 

Wet: This is a heavy, sticky oil that's actually mostly Penitence on. It's very similar to the old bottle of Midnight Mass I had, so there's something in here making it smell more aged and rich and sweet...for all I know, they just put some aged resin oil in along with the fresh stuff. The latex note has thankfully fled. There's a wood/smoke note in there, but it's not taking over like those scents often do on me.

 

Dry: More of the same as wet, with the wood becoming more defined and a spicy edge coming out that's one of those other resins I can never distinguish. There's that mystery note lurking around the edges...it's maybe a *very* dry vanilla or tonka? Either way, mmm... this is like curling up with a book in the corner of some cozy old theological library. I can even make myself get a paper note, but that might just be the wood and my imagination; BPAL's paper never works on me.

Wet: Incredibly strong alcohol. Not really winey, more like maybe a strong fig schnapps.

 

Dry: The booze of doom dries down somewhat, but it's still weirdly sharp and alcoholic. A rather bitter almond lurks underneath.

 

Ok, if this is what the fruit smelled like, I have no clue what Eve saw in it Hopefully someone else's skin will like it.

Wet: God shall cleanse the cities of sin with LAUNDRY DETERGENT! Lots and lots of laundry detergent! Muahaha!

 

Dry: This is a specific floral that I can't quite place, with a hint of spice and maybe the bareist trace of vetiver. Still clean and fresh-smelling. Not really my thing, but an interesting scent.

Beautiful! As just about everyone else has said, this is warm and serious and golden. I definitely get that anise note someone else was mentioning -- maybe the galangal and fig playing together weirdly? This is kind of like Luperci's Apollonian cousin. It's a very head-clearing scent, but not medicinal or minty or cold. It would be a great thing to have on during a test.

Green! Greengreengreen! A very dark, soft, slightly sweet green, kind of ivy-like. It isn't artificial, but this is definitely a "green-scented bath products" scent rather than a "I have just squished grass on my wrist" scent. It's not the sort of thing I'd really wear often, but it will be delicious in bath stuff.

Vanilla-saffron is delicious in food :-)

 

My favorite saffron is aged Bastet. Fresh, it just kind of makes me smell like marzipan, but as it ages, the almond calms down and the saffron comes out.

This is lovely...I'm not sure exactly why I ordered it, as I amp cinnamon and jasmine to the exclusion of all else, but this appears to be the blend that breaks that rule :-) Everything blends together very smoothly, even fresh from the Lab. It's a nice languid, sweet blend, no doubt due to the honey and vanilla and champaca. There's a hint of harsh floral (olive blossom? I haven't had problems with it before. Or maybe the cinnamon being weird?) right up close to the skin, but that doesn't last very long, and I suspect it will wear off with a little aging. This isn't really distinctive, but is very nice. It might be a good replacement for anyone in love with Svadhinaopathika from two years ago's Lupercalia.