doomsday_disco

This one did not work on me, sadly. Not all tea rose scents do nowadays, and this one is somewhat high-pitched on me with the musky silk note. The bold black tea, which is strongest during the wet phase, hangs around in the background throughout the rest of the wear. At one point, I got a bit of funk from this, which I'm chalking up to a skin chemistry fail, likely due to my skin disagreeing with the rose. I don't get a ton of honey from this one and wish there were more sweetness to accompany the rose and the silk.

This starts off with a blast of the almond blossom, which is the same one found in last year's Almond Blossoms. I get some birdseed and a bit of wood with it, but nothing can overtake the almond blossom note during the wet stage. Once the scent is dry, the russet amber emerges, and it ends up becoming the dominant note once the almond calms down. I believe it's the same amber note from Adventuresome Encounters. I love this sweet amber, and it pairs so nicely with the creamy almond blossom note (which only has a hint of its former almond glory by the end of the day. I can smell the balsam, wood, and what remains of the birdseed if I go looking for them, but this settles into being mostly about the amber and the almond blossom on me. I think this is really nice, but I'm like, hmmm, do I really need more of this when I have Almond Blossoms? I'll be hanging onto my decant and retesting before it goes away to know for sure. But I'm sure my almond and amber-loving partner will be telling me to grab a bottle once she gets to try it.

I get the lemony white tea in the vial, tinged with some greenery and honey. Once applied, I get lots of green hinoki (which isn't frost-tinged at first but develops a slight frosty quality once dry), backed by some balsam and wood, and then the honey emerges and becomes a main player. I think it might be the same honey in the honey musk from Capax Infiniti and Lady Una, but I didn't deathmatch to be sure. Then the frangipani pops up, as well as the white tea, but the white tea isn't nearly as strong as it was in the vial. This goes powdery for a really long time, and I believe that's the fault of this particular honey note, or the honey paired with the floral frangipani. Yukikeisetsu settles into a honey-dominant scent backed by soft woods on me. Despite the powdery phase, I found this scent to be really comforting and drifted off to sleep wearing it. I am planning to keep the decant, and I'll retest before it goes away to see whether or not I need more.

This appears to be the original version judging by the style of the label (old school). I really enjoy pomander scents and was super excited to try this one. Sadly, it just didn't agree with my nose. I sprayed it on a paper towel to test it, and it was mostly medicinal orange and ginger mixed with Red Hots. Then I get an overwhelming baby powder scent mixed with the medicinal orange and spices.... which was completely unexpected. It stays that way forevermore, although I did get some nice clove with it the next day. I wonder if it is secretly some super powdery amber in here, or something else causing the powder? But even without the powder, this particular orange, ginger, and cinnamon aren't vibing with me, so this one is going off to swaps.

This was a blind bottle for me. I love cherry. I love lemon. I love cake. So it was a no-brainer. This starts off with some black cherry (that smells like if someone had made a black cherry compote) over some lemon cake, but the cherry quickly gives way to the lemon and it becomes more of a sugary, creamy lemon scent that's less cake-like, swirled with some cherry. I really wish the cherry had stayed as strong as it was initially, as I'm a cherry ho, but since I'm also a lemon lover, the scent is still a keeper. Now I want to make a cake like this.

I really thought this one would be a slam dunk from the description. Alas, there's unexpected dairy in this (which has a bit of funk to it -- not as intense as goat's milk, but it's there). The maraschino cherry is pretty light on me, as the dairy takes the center stage for the first few hours, until the marshmallow pops up and mingles with the dairy to create a creamy marshmallow scent haunted by the ghost of cherry. I'm going to let this settle for a few more weeks to see if it changes, but I think this will ultimately be a destash as I was really hoping for more cherry (and no stealth dairy) from this.

This is mostly about the evergreens. I get pine and what I think is a red cedar note, touched with ice to make it wintery, but it's definitely more tree than snow. I think the ice note is comprised of part of Snow Bunny's snow note, and a touch of menthol, but morphs into more of a truly watery ice scent. If I had to compare this to another forest scent from the Lab, I'd say it's a more wintery Theoi Nomioi, but I'm saying that without doing a deathmatch to know for sure. I'm not sure I need a full bottle of this one, but I'll retest it before it goes away to know for sure. In any case, the decant is a keeper!

I was here for the pink musk and cucumber, but this is mostly about the pear. The pear is the strongest note throughout wear, with the pink musk grounding it and making it more of a perfume-y, musky pear over time. The cucumber in this is pretty light. I couldn't smell it in the vial because the pear is so loud, but then I get a bit of the cool, refreshing cucumber in the background, at the end of a deep inhale, mostly during the wet phase of the scent. I wish I had gotten more cucumber, though. This one is for pear lovers.

This is primarily about the green apple. It's backed by a light cedar, which is more prominent early on in wear than later in the day, and a bit of bergamot that's more noticeable later on, but mostly cozies up to the apple and isn't distinct through most of the day. If you've tried the Green Apple, Bergamot, Vanilla Orchid, and Tiare HG, this is definitely a sister scent to that, but with a bit of cedar instead of floral notes. It's not something I need a bottle of, since I own green apple scents that I enjoy more, but I'll probably hang onto my decant to pair with the hair gloss.

I get something that's like an ashy resin, like burning coals that have been extinguished, which turns into what I believe is frankincense. I get rose with the resin, and perhaps a touch of citrus and herbs? But the only thing I'm confident about is the frankincense and floral. This isn't something I'd end up reaching for, but it was nice to get to try it.

On me, Kiss of Frogs is primarily a strawberry scent, kissed with some greenery and some light cherry. The cherry never becomes a main player, but it does become more noticeable once the scent has been dry for a while. The squished strawberry note is ripe and sweet, but the greenery in the background sometimes makes me think it's still on the plant despite its squished state. Or maybe someone just didn't remove the green top from it. I wondered if this would contain the same greenery as Give Me Thy Breath, My Sister and Mean, Green Production Project, but this is so strawberry on me that I can't say whether or not this is the same plant accord used in those scents. I think this is nice, but I wish I were getting more cherry and greenery (but especially cherry). I'm going to set it aside for a while and see if it becomes less strawberry on me next time I try it.

Carousel Anesthesia starts off as predominantly citrus and lavender on me, and it's then joined by the white tobacco from scents like Pediophobia and To a Wreath of Snow, as well as a blast of non-skunky weed. The weed is more prominent in this than it is in Blacklight Reactive Alice Poster, which also features weed and grapefruit notes. After that, I get the ti leaf, which is an astringent lemony white tea on my skin. Over time, the ti leaf overtakes the wonderful lavender, lime, and grapefruit swirled with tobacco and weed and combines with the citrus and lavender to make it a very soapy scent on me for a while. After eight hours of wear, all that remains is the white tea, which has declared dominion over all of the other notes. I really enjoyed the wet phase of this scent, but I didn't enjoy the soap phase and wish the lavender, citrus, and weed had remained as prominent as they were initially. I'm going to let this rest for a few weeks and come back to it then. Maybe then I'll be able to escape the soap and get some of the mallow.

I waited several days to share my review in the hope that someone else would chime in with a more positive experience. But I don't want to forget to review this, so here goes. This is not what I was expecting. It's actually curiously fruity in the way that Baby's First Chainsaw is with a stealth currant note. In that scent, I had attributed that to being part of the chainsaw grease accord, but after testing this, I believe this is the same cookie note used in that scent, with the bonus currant note. Some dark chocolate varieties have fruity tones to them and I think that may be what Beth was going for here. I get very little weed in this, and once the unexpectedly fruity cookie calms down, I get more of the baked dough of the cookie, which ends up morphing into the same cloying scent that almost every Death and Floral blend has ended up on me. I'll retest this in a few weeks to see if it has improved with settling, but for now, I can't see myself reaching for this over Baby's First Chainsaw, which features an amazing metal-infused vanilla musk later on in wear. I also can't see myself reaching for this over Magic Brownie, which is heavier on the chocolate and the weed. ETA: I retested this today. It has changed a lot, but I still don't like it. Now there's definitely way more weed with the cookie, just a hint of fruitiness to the chocolate, but also, it's like the cookie has been dunked in soy sauce or yeast extract (like vegemite)!? ? When I went to check the mail earlier, I did get wafts of chocolate chip cookie while I walked through the heat, but up close, it's soy sauce cookie. I don't understand why this one hates me so.

Of the two chocolate-y 4/20 scents I purchased this year, this one is the keeper. It starts off brownie-like with the Lab's weed note, but the weed is very tame here and not skunky. It is not as heavy on the weed as Chocolate Doobsickle, and the chocolate in that one didn't stick around on me. But the chocolate in this sticks around, only it's more like cocoa powder than brownie after sitting on my skin for a while. By the end of the day, I get cocoa powder without any weed. I can see the chocolate truffles rolled in cocoa powder comparison above. And although this is not weed-heavy, there's more weed in this one than the chocolate chunk cookie scent, so it wins in both the chocolate and weed departments.

Full disclaimer: I am not familiar with the scent of purslane. I expected this to be a slam dunk because I love dandelions and petrichor. But the green purslane is pretty prominent with the dandelion, and I'm not sure I would have been able to be like "aww yiss, this is dandelion" if the trio didn't have it in its name. It's not the same dandelion as Wild Dandelion SN to my nose, and it's more perfume-y than expected, although that could be from the purslane interacting with it (though Google says the actual plant doesn't really have an odor). It takes a long time for the petrichor to emerge. Once it does, it slowly creeps out, first being comprised only of the dust, and then later, it's less dusty and more about the Lab's rain note (like in Waiting 2016 and Lavender, Sea Salt, and Rain). Eventually, the rain accord overtakes the other notes, but the floral and green aspects of the scents haven't completely dissipated. I kind of wish the petrichor were the dust and rain all at once, but maybe that will change once this scent has had more time to settle (I tested this after letting it rest for one day). At the moment, this is not a love for me -- I don't think I'd reach for it over my other dandelion scents and or other rain scents. But I'm going to set it aside for a month and see if it just needs more time to settle. I'll update this if my experience and opinion change.

This is in the same scent family as Ava. I slathered on Ava too hard last week and could still smell it the next day (that's how strong it was), and this gives me serious Ava vibes. I'd say it's a sister scent. It has that same sparkly ethereal quality to it, only this has plum instead of mandarin and some soft woods mixed in with the floral notes. I had passed on this because I thought it would be too similar to Berlin Girls 1925 from the list of notes (scent notes on that one are "white amber and vanilla fougere with a touch of coconut, white plum, jasmine sambac, and toasted white almond, and a thin, dry exhale of white tobacco"). This is nothing like that scent despite sharing several notes in common, although they both have a traditional, mainstream-esque perfume vibe. I'm really glad I got to try this (thank you to the kind forumite who frimped this to me!), but fortunately don't need to hunt down more of it as I'm not big on plum and prefer Ava.

This was mostly about the black leather on me, accompanied by a dry apple. I didn't get much honey or amber on my skin, but that's probably due to the prominence of the leather. While this was fun to get to try, I think it would have had to contain a different leather note in order for me to love it.

This is lovely! I get lots of guava and strawberry lip gloss. The lip gloss really does have a glossy aspect to it, but there's also a strawberry jam-like quality to it to prevent it from being completely artificial strawberry to my nose. These two notes really go well together, although the strawberry does overtake the guava eventually on me instead of running hand in hand with it throughout wear. Now, we all know that Beth can do weird scents and could concoct a digestive juices accord and whisk it in here and make us all wonder why we decided to put it on our skin, but I'm not getting anything akin to the bile in Bitch Planet here, so I think, like Please Scream Inside Your Heart, it is a part of the copy. However, I also had my partner try this, who said they got something savory behind the fruit notes, although I couldn't smell what they were talking about. If you love guava, and can do strawberry (that manages not to go plastic, woohoo!), don't be afraid of the digestive juices and give this a try. I think it will be wonderful during the summer months.

This starts off with a blast of pink grapefruit, and there's a burst of coolness that I thought might be a eucalyptus note at first, but it might just have been mint, because that's what I get a hint of after the grapefruit does a disappearing act and leaves me with what I think may be white musk (possibly the satiny aspect described in the scent?), a little cologne-y metal, and a bit of light, cool mint. The metal note in here is understated compared to other metal scents, and I really enjoyed that cool blast with the grapefruit in the beginning (it was such a nice pick-me-up after being sick for a week). I really enjoyed the wet phase of this one, but the grapefruit didn't stick around long enough on me (I was here for the grapefruit)!

Tea Funeral isn't really much of a tea scent on me. I get a ton of white lily, backed by a sweet and somewhat cloying floral note (I'm not sure if that's another lily variety or something else). The tea notes are confined to a background role, unable to overtake the floral notes, but I do get more green tea than black tea in the hints of tea that I do get. I wish this were more tea and less floral. Alas.

I get strawberry candy and dirt that morphs into more of an overripe strawberry and dirt with a hint of perfume-y ivy later on in the day. I agree that there's moss in this dirt. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about strawberry and dirt, although I tend to enjoy dirt scents. Well, while I'm down for apple and dirt, it seems strawberry and dirt are not for me... but it was fun to get to try this.

This is very much a fougere. I couldn't pick out the clove or even the tobacco on me, because it just screamed cologne really loudly on me. But I do agree that there's a green aspect to it, perhaps some moss, and maybe some bergamot as well? I'm putting my decant up for swap as I know I wouldn't wear this over other fougeres that I have in my collection. I wish I had gotten a hefty dose of clove with it!

Fresh applied, I get a big blast of leather in the throw but some patch and nag champa up close. It stays that way for a while, but eventually turns into mostly leather and nag champa (even up close). The leather is a loud, black leather doesn't doesn't feel like a worn variety to me, and the nag champa is tamer than usual. The lightly sugared patch, which is a chewy and more of a brownish black patch to my nose, is lovely, but it just can't hold a candle to that leather. And oddly, even though I love clove and tend to amp it, I get very little of it on me. I so wanted to love this because it is a bat scent, but alas, it's not the bat for me. I think it would have to contain a different kind of leather to be up my alley.

This is a very earthy scent that's prominent on the soil (which I believe is mixed with some moss) throughout wear. It's accompanied by mushrooms and a splash of absinthe during the wet phase (and the absinthe is more green and herbal than anise-y), but over time, it's more about the dirt and resinous incense, but there's still a little absinthe in the background. It's not something I feel the need to grab more of, but it was fun to try. If you're looking for a dirt scent that isn't somber, this might be up your alley.

I saw yuzu and knew I had to try this, but alas, it is not for me. It's primarily white musk infused with lemon leaf and yuzu at first, but then the pineapple quickly overtakes the yuzu, until the lemon leaf reclaims its throne, and along with the white musk, reigns over all. Unfortunately, it has a slight tinge of spicy funk, slightly akin to cumin. I think it's the leaf of the lemon leaf doing that on me. So citrus-infused (but you can tell it's lemon leaf and not straight-up lemon) white musk with an undertone of cumin-like B.O. I think my skin chemistry just doesn't get along with the lemon leaf, because I've had success with all of the other notes.