doomsday_disco

Patchouli and Wormwood.

English Ivy Leaves and Milky Hemlock Sap.

Control your own fate? You can’t even control your fête! A rollicking scent that upturns hierarchies and flies in the face of conventions: cacophonous red poppy, sweet almond cream, wildflower honey, molasses, gingerbread, scarlet jasmine, red amber, lemon peel, Spanish moss, and black musk.

“It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night.” Pulsating globs of red musk oozing through a hot, crusty strawberry, red currant, and black cherry tart.

Lavender-infused vanilla cream with crystalline flowers and a hint of red velvet cake. Normally I let scents rest for at least a day after arrival, but I was too excited to test this one! I'll update this if it ends up being really different after it has had time to settle. In the bottle: The crystalline flowers are the star of the show, shooting through the lavender-infused vanilla cream (more vanilla than lavender) and red velvet cake, the latter of which I can smell most prominently after I've inhaled deeply. Some of the flowers I think I am smelling are honeysuckle and orange blossom. I'm reminded of Muse of Fire, if it were accompanied by foodie elements. Wet: I'm getting a blast of bright, somewhat effervescent florals (they read as yellow and orange) tamed by the lavender-infused vanilla cream. The ice cream note gains strength as the scent sits on my skin, further taming the bright floral notes, and the lavender aspect of the vanilla cream starts to really gain its footing, so that the scent is beginning to read more as purple, although the yellow and orange flowers are still very present. Dry: The red velvet cake note has emerged, and I can smell both the cake and the frosting really well. It's the scent of red velvet cupcakes drifting through a garden full of bright flowers, where a tea party is being held, and the lavender-infused vanilla cream is beginning to melt. I think there may be some orchid in this, and maybe some freesia, but I could be wrong. Although the bright flowers haven't gone away, I'm definitely getting the darker colors of the rainbow now. Verdict: This one is certainly evocative of its name! As a fan of sugary florals, I am thrilled to have it! But it's not one that I feel the need to hoard (as the lavender and vanilla are not the main players on me). This is more floral than gourmand, so if you're mostly hoping for vanilla cream and red velvet cake, this one is probably not for you. The florals play a very big role in this one. *edit* Retest on 4/26/18, three months later: I'm getting strong strawberry from this now, but it's more like strawberry candy or jam than actual strawberry. The crystalline florals are next in prominence, followed by the lavender-infused vanilla cream. I'm also getting more of the red velvet cake than I did initially. I thought the lavender-infused vanilla cream or red velvet cake might become more prominent with age, and while I get a bit more of the red velvet cake than before, it's mostly about strawberry candy and crystalline, Muse of Fire-like florals on me.

Winter Apple and Lily of the Valley.

So... I have tried the original, but not when it was new. A kind forumite sent me a decant from their bottle back in 2018, so the decant I received was of an oil that had already aged for five years, and of course, decants themselves age quicker than bottles do, so any comparisons I make to the original release aren't from when the original was fresh. Here's my review of the aged original release. So the main notes I get from both versions are the patchouli, lavender, and opium, but the aged decant of the original I have is far stronger (I deathmatched them). That is not abnormal for an aged oil, though. The red, Sumatran patchouli in it is particularly bold in the aged version, so the lavender and opium aren't as prominent in the aged version. Although I still get a lot of patchouli from this one, it's much lighter than the patchouli from the aged decant, so I get more lavender and opium from the new release (with the opium being longer lasting), which is fine with me. I just wish it had the oomph of my decant, but maybe it will with age? The blood musk in here is not like the Lab's usual red musk note at all, so I would still give this a try if the other notes appeal. Right now, I like this, but I don't love it, and I'm wondering if that will change with age, so I'm going to hang onto it and see how it develops. I thought this would for sure be my pick from the Our Lady of Pain re-release, but Hair Loosened and Soiled in Mid-Orgies is my favorite from that collection.

This was my favorite of this year's New Year's scents, but I keep retesting it and keep waffling on whether or not I need more than a decant. This is mostly a berry-infused cream scent on me. The cream is mostly a true, light, homemade whipped cream, and the gooseberry note is unlike any other berry note I've come across from the Lab, both sweet and tart, like there are both green and red gooseberries here. There isn't a huge fried dough presence from the fattigman note: like Little Bird said, it just adds a light spice and sugary warmth to this scent. The crumbs reside in the background, never overtaking the gooseberries or cream on me. And the cream only gets a little buttery after it has been on the skin for several hours. I didn't notice anything particularly musky coming from this, and for that, I am glad. The decant is definitely a keeper, and I will have to retest it one more time to how much of it I've used and if it will be enough before these scents come down.

I wouldn't have gotten to try this, but I ordered this on behalf of a friend, who let me try their bottle. This mostly smells like musk in the bottle, but goes on as leather, musk, and some dragon's blood smoke, backed by some amber and patchouli. It is not as loud as you would expect despite these powerhouse notes. I believe the fossilized amber in this is the same one from Syzygy and The Key of Solitude, but I think it is stronger in both of those blends than it is here. As far as the patch goes, I'm getting less in this than I did from The Key of Solitude. The black leather is a smooth, well-worn variety, the musk has some red musk qualities to it, and the smoke isn't acrid whatsoever and plays well on me despite dragon's blood being an iffy note. There's also a phase of the scent where it smells somewhat like ash on me before it morphs into a musk party by the end of the day. While this isn't something I could see myself reaching for, it did play more nicely on me than I had anticipated, and it was fun to get to try it.

I wouldn't have gotten to try this, but I ordered this on behalf of a friend, who let me try their bottle. This is mostly a smooth, brownish black patchouli on me, accompanied by cola-like labdanum and amber. Those were the predominant notes on me throughout wear, although there were touches of herbs mixed in. I usually amp moss, but didn't get a ton of it from this, and this isn't a dirt party, either, so dirt-haters, fear not! While this is not something I feel the need to grab a bottle of for myself, I do think it smells nice and is much smoother than I was expecting based off of the notes.

Dreams dreamt in a chthonic womb, a subterranean winter reverie, a blessed darkness. Ancient, nourishing roots of patchouli, mandrake, gnarled oak, and galangal thrusting through ancient soil, embracing a bed of thick moss and suffused with myrrh tears, black labdanum, and fossilized amber.

Crafted to be layered with Sphinx Skin and the Key of Solitude, but can also be worn alone as a whispering, sigh-soft shadow: clove bud, Siberian iris, fossilized amber oil, black poppy absolute, and sandalwood smoke exhaled over a sheer skin musk.

I wouldn't have gotten to try this, but I ordered this on behalf of a friend, who let me try their bottle, which will be getting posted in the mail right after I get off work in an hour in a half. I was curious about this due to the clove, but did not order myself a bottle because iris is generally too loud and screechy on me. The iris is the star of the show on me, and has some serious throw, but it is not as high-pitched as some other iris scents have been on me. This reads as a very purple floral blend on me, backed by some labdanum-y amber, and swirled with a bit of clove, smoke, and a light musk. And the smoke in this is light and not acrid at all. This was not the clove party I was hoping for, but I think my friend will be very pleased with that if this is at all similar on them.

I enjoyed this the first time I tried it, mainly because I was excited to actually get some vanilla from it near the end of the day, which has been pretty rare for me with most recent Snake Oil variants. I thought I was destined for a bottle. But I retested it several times and even deathmatched it with the original Gingerbread Snake from 2013, and I did not enjoy this as much any of the subsequent times I tested it. I don't think it is on the same level of Gingerbread Snake from 2013, and it's not even an issue of age: current iterations of Snake Oil are not as dark, viscous, or as rich as pre-2018 or 2019 Snake Oil when it was fresh, but even if you take the Snake Oil aspect out of the equation, this gingerbread has nothing on the gingerbread used in the 2013 version. The gingerbread in the 2013 Snake Oil variant actually smells like gingerbread and I have gotten compliments while wearing it. This, on the other hand, just features cinnamon and doesn't smell like a baked good at all, like all of the gingerbread scents in this year's gingerbread cotillion. And cinnamon combined with musty patchouli isn't really my jam, even if I do eventually get some vanilla from it by the end of the day. So I've decided to pass on the bottle and just cherish what I have of Gingerbread Snake from 2013. I'm a little sad that this doesn't compare to it, as I just broke into my back-up bottle of Gingerbread Snake last year, and it is one of my favorite Snake Oil variants. So I was really hoping this one would fill the void when that one is gone... but now I'll just have to hoard that one harder and use it more sparingly, since this one isn't very gingerbread-y at all.

Well, this was unexpectedly effervescent. It smells like black patchouli mixed with some fizzy amber. Maybe there's some cola-like labdanum in that amber note that is not actually a flat cola for once, but I actually think it's more likely to be an aldehyde. Maybe from the silken musk? I don't get the vanilla on my skin at all, and the ambre noir is nothing like the black amber note the Lab uses in other scents. (I was really hoping for the black amber from Thomas Sharpe plus some patchouli and vanilla... alas.) Nobody else mentioned getting any effervescence in their review, so maybe my experience is an outlier that should not be counted. ? I would not reach for this over other patchouli scents in my collection, so my decant is off to swaps.

This is mostly about the snowdrop on me. I get some ink in the background during the first hour or so of wear when the snowdrop is more white than green, but then it is overtaken by an almost bubblegum-y floral phase before it settles into a more green snowdrop with no ink. And the myrrh never showed up on me. It was fun to get to try this, but I didn't love the middle morph of this scent, and I was personally hoping for more ink!

Black tea and roasted cardamom with cream and a dollop of sugar.

Pomegranate and Merlot.

Bast, Ubasti, Ailuros, Ba-en-Aset. Represented as both a domestic cat and a fierce lioness, she truly evidences traits of both. She is the Mother of All Cats, Goddess of Sensuality, Fertility, and a guardian and protector of women. She is also one of the Eyes of Ra, and in that aspect is an Avenging Goddess, seeking retribution and punishing enemies of her people. Luxuriant amber, warm Egyptian musk, fierce saffron and soft myrrh, almond, cardamom and golden lotus.

I tried this on the back of my hand, and applied the hair gloss on my skin further up my arm. I am pleased to report that they are very similar, with the perfume oil having more longevity and throw on the skin, and the hair gloss having a slightly deeper/richer honey (probably due to aging since 2013). This is not like Implacable Beautiful Tyrant where the perfume oil is much lighter than the hair gloss, fortunately. It's an alluring honey musk party on my skin that lasts all day, and does become a little powdery thanks to either the musk or the musky ambrette seed, but not in a bad way. This is probably one of my favorite scents from this year's Lupercalia update. I even enjoy it more than the re-release of Our Lady of Pain, which I'm wearing now. I'm glad I blind bottled it and will definitely be pairing it with the hair gloss to bask in a cloud of honey musk.

I tried this twice. The first time, this was mostly toffee and the dark, toffee-like honey that reminds me of Lush's Honey I Washed the Kids and Harlow's Lace, backed by some rose. The toffee note in this is on point and I could even envision the sugar crystals and the hardened toffee. The toffee smells so realistic and does not remind me of butterscotch, which I dislike. The second time I tried this, a week later, it was more rose-heavy on me! The rose is fresh on me and not a jammy variety. It was mostly rose in the throw (and it had good throw!), backed by that toffee and honey combo that did morph into the realistic toffee scent again, but accompanied by a lot more rose. So it was way more flormand than foodie this time around. I don't think I need more of this than the decant, but if smelling like toffee and rose sounds good to you, this will be right up your alley.

This is mostly a beeswax single note on me, with just a hint of green in the background from the pine needle. The beeswax is creamy, honeyed, and has a hint of smoke to it that reminds me of Candlelight Atmo. I was hoping there would be more pine in this, but I am getting even less pine than I did from Pine Needles, Frankincense, and Beeswax Absolute. Still, it's a very lovely beeswax scent. I tried layering this with Juniper Berry, Pine Needle, and Hemp yesterday, to see if that would bring out MOAR PINE, but that ended up being beeswax-swirled incense on me. It was a nice combo, though. Although I'm sad that this wasn't more pine-heavy, I'll probably keep this around for layering purposes.

This starts off with the grass being the strongest note, lightly coated in dew, but it morphs, so that several hours later, I get mostly the dew note backed by a little grass. It becomes aquatic, but not soapy or salty like most aquatics. It's not something I could see myself reaching for, but I'm glad I got to try it.

Apparently, I forgot to review this a few weeks ago when I tried it. The honeysuckle is the strongest note out of the gate, followed by the jasmine, and then the opium smoke. The honeysuckle and jasmine together give me Eostre of the Dawn vibes, but then the honeysuckle is quick to fade, leaving mostly a non-indolic jasmine swirled with some opium smoke. The opium in this is not as strong as it is in Our Lady of Pain and Madrigal from this year's Lupercalia update. I wish the honeysuckle hadn't been so fleeting on me! Alas.

The scent of spiritual ecdysis: pale, dry snake shed winding through ground devil’s pod, singed sandalwood, clove bud, datura petal ash accord, Oman frankincense resin, and the smoke of offerings made to gods of rebirth and renewal.