doomsday_disco

C. Auguste Dupin is heavy on the leather. It starts off really sharp and is quite the bully, but eventually, it smooths over once the lavender lime cologne emerges and smells more well-worn after several hours, long after the cologne has faded. The leather was way too much for me in the beginning of the scent, but I really enjoyed the lavender lime cologne and wish I had gotten more of it! While I don't think it is something I'd reach for over other leather scents in my collection, I am glad I got to try this one because I love the story and have been curious about this scent for some time.

TKSnow is TKO on steroids. I deathmatched this with Frostbitten TKO, and that one is heavier on the Snow White snow note off the bat. With TKSnow, even slathered, it takes a few hours for the creamy chill of Snow White to manifest on me. The sweetness from TKSnow is mainly due to the amped up lavender (I think it is a Spanish variety) and sugary mallow, whereas in Frostbitten TKO, it is mainly due to the Snow White component. TKSnow is much stronger than Frostbitten TKO, but Frostbitten TKO is a lot smoother. You could happily own both of these if you're a slut for lavender mallow and Snow White and would enjoy them in different ratios. I've used up more TKO bottles than anything else from the Lab, and I've almost used up one of my three Frostbitten TKO bottles, so I'm really glad to have this one. And I'll probably grab back-ups of this, too, because I'm a lavender ho. And it had some serious staying power, too (I could still smell this on me when I woke up the following day after applying it at 8 PM the evening prior). I am m here for amped up, yet chilled out, TKO.

I'm getting an unlisted palo santo note (I was like, it smells minty and almost licorice-y but not? Oh, it's the Lab's palo santo! The same one found in TAL Security Blanket and TAL Soft Reboot). It is the most prominent aspect of the scent on me for the first few hours of wear, swirled with the chilly, creamy Snow White and just a hint of Snake Oil's patchouli and some musk. I do not get Snake Oil's spices and vanilla from this, and it is very snake oil lite on me. It's called Snow Snake, but to me, it is Palo Santo Snow White. It is vastly different from Frostbitten Snake Oil, so you can own both without worrying about them being too similar. I don't dislike this, but it is not what I was expecting. I'm going to set it aside for a month and retest after it has had more time to settle. Hopefully the snek will slither out by then.

This is mostly powdered sugar and dark musk on me, sadly. I dig the powdered sugar, but I was really hoping for some of Snake Oil's vanilla and spices from this, not to mention a pastry note! I get no jam from this, and it is nothing like Snake Oil Jelly Donut to my nose. I'm going to set this aside for a month and see if I'm able to get more from this after it has had more time to settle. ETA: I slathered this on as my scent of the day yesterday, after it had two weeks to settle. While it's still mostly musky powdered sugar, I do get some pastry now and the Snake Oil spices are noticeable once the scent has been dry for a few hours. I have faith that this will age into something wonderful.

I already have several scents in my root beer arsenal, but there was no way I was going to pass up getting this one. Of course, the immediate question when seeing the list of notes is, "How similar will this be to Tombstone?" The answer? It's not similar at all despite their shared notes! Tombstone is very warm and rugged. It features a warm vanilla, and a bolder, warmer cedar note. But Carved Wooden Soda Shop is a cool root beer. It starts off like root beer barrel candies on me with a hint of cool mint (but not peppermint -- perhaps wintergreen?) and a slight effervescence. There is a bit of a dry aspect to the scent, too, that could be from the cedar (I remember the cedar in the Cedarwood and Smoked Vanilla duet was a dry one), but honestly, if you hadn't told me that there's cedar in this, I wouldn't have guessed it were in here, and I wouldn't have known to go looking for it. Over time, a cool vanilla joins in and swirls with the root beer, and it eventually becomes the dominant aspect of the skin after six hours of wear -- although the vanilla ice cream is nowhere near as strong as the root beer was and stays close to the skin. There's a hint of the root beer in there, but it is definitely more about the float by the end of the day. As a lover of all things root beer, I'm really glad I grabbed a bottle of this one, and I can't wait to slather it on during the summer months.

This features the limoncello note from Gingerbread Limoncello (which I adore) accompanied by some powdered sugar. Over time, the lemon gets less limoncello-y and more lemon curd-y, and there's still plenty of powdered sugar to go around. I don't get a ton of shortbread crust, so I wouldn't be worried about this becoming a butter party on the skin -- there are just a few crumbs. I love how prominent the powdered sugar is in this. I don't think I've come across a BPAL scent that is this powdered sugar-y since A Breathless Chuckle (from the 2016 Yules). If you like sweet lemon scents, you need this in your life. I'm so glad I grabbed a bottle, and I can't wait to wear it during the warmer months!

Toddler Holster is very much about the brown leather, which is not the smooth, well-worn, and somewhat sweet brown leather found in some other scents from the Lab. It is really strong and dominates the scent for a while, pretty much only letting the fir needle cozy up to it for the first few hours, and refusing to let the other notes shine through. Eventually, the amber and vanilla do emerge, however, and it ends up being a much softer leather scent warmed up by the amber, a bit of vanilla, and a much lighter fir note (although the fir is still a main player). Curiously enough, I never get any of the chocolate, but perhaps that will emerge more with age. I'm going to let this one settle for a month and come back to it. I think it dries down into something lovely and will be a keeper, although I'm hoping the leather will smooth over a little bit and that the chocolate will come through.

Yes, this is stunning! When I ordered this, I was thinking two things: 1/ This might be a more wintery version of Coffee Bean, Cardamom, and Vanilla Pod, and 2/ CAT ART. And this is a more wintery version of Coffee Bean, Cardamom, and Vanilla Pod thanks to the fir, but it is even more amazing than I imagined it to be because the warm, velvet spices don't cinnabomb me at all, because, as others have mentioned, they are the spices from Morocco. It starts off with the cardamom being the most prominent, backed by the coffee and Yule-d up with the fir, but over time, the spices from Morocco peak out and end up becoming the dominant aspect of the scent after several hours. It settles into a warm, cozy, coffee and cardamom-tinged Morocco swirled with vanilla, and it's amazing. If you're worried about the myrrh or smoke, I don't really pick up either, and it's definitely not a smoky scent, so please don't let those scare you away from trying this. This is definitely one of my favorite Yules that I blind bottled, and I'm not sure one bottle will be enough.

I have all of the Zombi variants, so I couldn't stop now and had to grab this one. When Frostbitten Zombi came out, I think I hoped it would feature Snow White's snow note, even though I wasn't sure how those two would meld together. That one did not feature that snow note, but instead, the Lab's evergreen-tinged snow note. And Snow Zombi is so different from that, just from the bottle sniff, that you can tell there's no deathmatching required. They're different enough that you can justify owning both snow-covered variants if that were a concern of yours. While Frostbitten Zombi is really toned down on the rose and is like a winter walk in the woods, Snow Zombi really turns up the rose. It's like... the dried rose petals have been rehydrated by the snow fall only to then become frozen over. You know those berries that get frozen that birbs eat and then someone will catch a video of a drunk birb? This is like the rose equivalent of getting drunk off of frozen rose petals, because there's a booziness to them. I also get plenty of moss with the rose, and a little bit of dirt. There was a point during testing that I got a menthol quality from the scent, but it was short-lived, and I'm not sure exactly what caused it since Snow White does not contain a menthol note. As for the Snow White component... of the four Snow on Snow scents I've tested thus far (I've got two more to test, and two decants that will make their way to me in the future), this one is the lightest on the Snow White. Like, the chilly aspect is there, but I don't get a ton of the creaminess of Snow White like I have from the other blends (especially Knave of Snowflakes). Somehow, the Snow White mainly serves to chill and amp up the rose in this one. And you will get far more rose from this than from Knave of Snowflakes, but it's a different kind of rose (not a jammy one). This is the rosiest Zombi variant of them all. I like it, but at the moment, I think I prefer Frostbitten Zombi more -- maybe because I've spent more time with it. But I look forward to getting to know Snow Zombi more, and I'm curious to see if the Snow White aspect of the scent will become more prominent with age.

While I love the Mad Tea Party and have bottles of many of the scents, White Rabbit is one that has been relegated to imp only status, mainly because of the linen. But I thought, hey, this is White Rabbit mixed with Snow White (which I adore), and MILK TEA BOBA!? This is as good as it could possibly get! So I blind bottled it, breaking my no-bottle-of-the-variant-unless-you-have-a-bottle-of-the-original rule. Well... first off, let me just say that there is no milk tea or boba in this, which I'm bummed about because I frequent one of the best milk tea/boba places ever almost every other day and I was really hoping to get a boba tea note from this. Alas. It goes on with the White Rabbit's normal black tea note, ginger, and honey, swirled with the creamy chill of Snow White, and I enjoy this phase of the scent. But then the linen pops up, and it goes wonky on me as it sometimes does. In this case, there's a phase where this goes very baby wipe on me and it overpowers the rest of the scent, before the Snow White asserts itself and is like, nope, we're not doing this anymore, and that funky linen phase passes. But then the scent mostly becomes all about the Snow White with only hints of the of the other notes on me. I think those who already have a good track record with White Rabbit will appreciate this, as long as they're not expecting any boba tea from this. While I'm sad by the lack of boba tea and my skin chemistry funking this up, I'm going to set it aside for a while and come back to it in a month to see if I have a better experience with it. It could be that I may just have to scent locket this one.

The Mad Tea Party is my favorite GC collection, and I was so excited to see a variant of The Lion that I leapt for a bottle. Snow Lion starts off with the creamy, chilly Snow White but quickly becomes amber-forward on me. The Lion's Egyptian amber is golden and spiced, yet deep (I realize that sounds kind of vague, but what I'm trying to say is that, while golden, it is darker and has more depth to it than some of the other golden ambers from the Lab). It reigns for most of the wear, and ends up being the most prominent aspect of the scent after several hours, a welcome warmth to permeate the gentle chill of Snow White that flits about the blend. If you're a fan of The Lion, or a fan of amber and don't mind a little spice, you should definitely give this one a try (especially since it has been out of stock). I'd say this is more Lion-forward than Snow White-forward in the end, and the Egyptian amber melds so nicely with the creamy, chilly Snow White!

I had Frostbitten Knave of Hearts and destashed that one because the Knave was buried beneath a snowdrift (seriously, it was all about the snow with very little rose or blackcurrant tart). So I'm glad that the Knave got another frozen incarnation and leapt for a bottle because I love the Knave and I love Snow White! And Knave of Snowflakes doesn't disappoint! I get the rose jam swirled into the lightly chilled, creamy Snow White, which does have a soft (non-bakery, and non-suntan lotion!) coconut component here that reminds me most of Snow White 2005. The rose is not a bully here and is rather subdued by the Snow White component (whereas with Snow Zombi, the opposite occurs!). I am not really getting the blackcurrant tarts from this, but it's so lovely as it is, that this is not a complaint. Although I am curious to find out if the pastry will emerge after some aging. I do think you have to enjoy Snow White in order to enjoy this snow-covered Knave. The jammy rose is not as prominent as the pink rose in Pink Snowballs (which also features Snow White's snow), so it's worth a try for those of you who like a little rose in a blend, but don't want a rose party. A keeper, for sure. ETA: I slathered this on as my scent of the day after reviewing it. With a slather, I could smell the black currant in the beginning, but not the pastry. I also have to add that there's an almost honeyed quality to it that I think is like... the nectar of a honeysuckle-esque (but not honeysuckle, and not heady!) flower from Snow White. And it has some staying power. I didn't wear a sleep scent last night and could still smell this on me when I woke up at noon.

All I got from this one was a strong, white floral -- hella throw, kind of funky at first, but then it loses that funk and goes a little soapy. It didn't really make me think of jasmine despite the funk phase, though, so I am not sure which floral I'm smelling for sure, or if there are a few here -- I would not be surprised if there were lily in this, as that crossed my mind at one point, but that doesn't tend to go funky on me... maybe it started off strong on jasmine and settled into lily? I'm not sure, but I really thought this would be a spicy one due to its name!

I grabbed a bottle of this from the Lab's Etsy last summer and have tried it four or five times, unable to make up my mind on it. Until yesterday. And I decided that it's not for me. It starts of with this wonderful fir note, sweetened by the snow, and if it had stayed in that phase, it would have been a keeper. But then it goes cloying floral vanilla (is there actual orchid in this??? If so, it would make sense as to why I'm not really digging this) sweet snow on me (with some throw!) and stays that way for most of the day before morphing into a Snow White-esque snow that is really pretty (and if the scent had mostly stayed in that phase, it would have been a winner, too!). But the middle phase, which lasts the longest on me, is the one that I dislike, so even though I like the initial application and the final morph, I'm going to let this one go. I am glad I got to try it, though, after it was on my wishlist for so many years.

I skipped this initially because I wasn't sure how it would differ from Snake Oil Lemon Bomb White Tea F*** Up, which was also described as a mispour of Snake Oil and Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat. But when I got the chance to swap for it, I was happy to be able to deathmatch the two! And I can say that the two are very different, despite both being lemony Snake Oil blends. First off, let me just say that Snake Oil Lemonade is a paler oil, while Snake Oil Lemon Bomb's oil is dark. So it makes sense that there is very little Snake Oil in Snake Oil Lemonade, and a lot more of it in Snake Oil Lemon Bomb. With Snake Oil Lemonade, it's like a less sweet, more white musky, sharper Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat? It actually tickled my nose with this unexpected, sharp, clean lemon and I can't help wondering if there's white musk at play in this one. I only got a hint of Snake Oil after several hours, but by then, it was pretty faint. On the other hand, Snake Oil Lemon Bomb is strong, darkly musky Snake Oil from the beginning and the lemon, while staying present throughout wear, is less nostril-stabbing. So for me, it was the clear winner of the death match, although neither would be among my favorite Snake Oil variants (and I love lemon). I was considering holding onto this for a while to see how it ages, but who knows how long this was aging at the Lab already (as an accident that was released into the wild prior to their move)? And I have so many Snake Oil variants already, and there are always more on the way, so I've decided not to hold onto every single Snake Oil variant for a year to see how it ages and then make a decision. I think, after comparing this to Snake Oil Lemon Bomb, that I can let this bottle go. Especially since I can just layer Snake Oil and Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat. But it was really fun to get to deathmatch them!

I am in the Philologus is cologne-y camp. I tested a very aged decant that was frimped to me, and while I did get a parchment vibe from it, it quickly went more cologne than books on me and there was very little candle wax to smooth it over, sadly. I was so hoping for more candle wax with these books, but it's okay. I've got Lightning Strikes Literature.

The salty sea air and greenery of the kelp are strong in this one, but damn, there's something weird going on in here. I get something bell pepper-y in here (what is causing that? I am not familiar with all of the notes listed in this blend, so it could be one of them on its own or something combining with something else, like maybe the parsley combining with the ivy? ) as well as an incense-y quality to this aquatic that I think is due to the cedar. This one is not for me, but it was nice to get a chance to try it in my quest to try the GC (and I don't have that many remaining in that category to try)!

I'm not typically one for aquatics, and Olokun is a traditional aquatic. It's got that clean, soapy vibe that is likely due to some ozone, and isn't as salty as some of the other aquatics, but nothing about it really stood out to me aside from 'better than Ogygia (another aquatic that I was testing on my other hand). While it isn't something I could see myself reaching for, I am glad that I got to try it!

I initially skipped this one due to the fabric notes. And I am glad I never bottled it... but I don't think that it is the fabric notes contributing to the funk in this. The funk makes me think of animalic musk and/or oudh, and I don't know if there's secretly some of these notes in here, or if it is the (non bubblegum-y, but heady) red lotus combining with one of the other who-knows-what-is-really-in-it accords listed as notes in this blend, but it is a very funky, musky, resinous scent. It gets drier over time as the white sandalwood joins in, but mostly, it's dark and musky (but a different sort of musk than the listed skin musk!). While it is not as scary after several hours as it was initially, I'm just not vibing with something in this scent.

Yeah, I have to echo all of the reviewers who got laundry/linen from this. Because it is laundry, laundry, LAUNDRY, with a slight smoke and dryer sheet-like incense note that appears after several hours of wear with a little musky ambergris that helps smooth over the scent. If I keep this, it will only be to scent wool dryer balls and not to use as a perfume of the day. I was so hoping for more ambergris and something akin to Summer Rain. Alas.

This one is really nice. It starts off with the sweetness of the bourbon cream and hazelnut accompanied by a sweet, yet dry sandalwood (getting serious OLLA Kit vibes) and and oak. A lot of scents with hazelnut in them lately have been really sweet, but the woods keep the sweetness in check, so this isn't as sweet as, say, The Empress and Their Heckhound from last year's Liliths. I'm never able to pick out the myrrh smoke (and I'm fine with that) or the tattoo ink, but this is a nice, slightly nutty =, sweetened resin scent with a more powdery and dry woods feel by the end of the day. I'm trying to be good about only upgrading things I really love now because my collection is so large, so at the moment, I'm thinking I'll keep the decant, but that I don't need more of it. The stock is low, though, so I am going to retest it soon and see if I still feel that way. Thank you to the lovely forumite who sent me some of this to try! ETA: I swapped for a bottle of this, and the bottle is completely unlike my decant. It was somehow fruity, and I believe the fruit note is cranberry, as it reminds me of the cranberry bog scents. I'm not sure the bottle was mislabeled or if it's just a batch variation, but I prefer my decant to the bottle scent, so I'm trying to destash the bottle.

I like rose. I like lily. Jasmine can be iffy, and I don't typically enjoy rose + resin combos (or florals plus resins, generally). This is mostly about the rose and the lily, and there's some amber mixed in with the rose, too, and it is like that through most of the wear, with the rose being the dominant note. However, it goes sour on me, and I think that might be due to the combo of the rose with the resin or one of the types of rose used in this scent. I'm glad I got a chance to try this, but it just didn't work on me.

I went into this fully expecting dragon's blood and bubblegum-y lotus. The dragon's blood is definitely the star here, and is more of the resin-y variety than the spicy floral one. I feel like it has gotten smoother during the aging process, because this is nicer than the Lab's dragon's blood typically is on me. The lotus is far behind the dragon's blood, adding a floral backing to the scent, but it fortunately didn't veer into bubblegum territory on me like some lotus notes (like pink lotus) are wont to do. While I couldn't see myself reaching for this one, this aged imp is nicer than I thought it would be, and it had massive throw, too!

Baneberry smells exactly like it's a description: a dark fruit accompanied by a green herbalness that almost has a Christmas-y quality to it, although the berry itself does not (it's not tart, red, or bright). It's not something I'd choose to wear, but I am glad I got to try it!

This started off strongest on the tea rose on me, accompanied by some moss, tuberose, and cream. The rose remains ever present on my skin, but the moss increases in strength over time, and the rice flower joins the party. I think the abalone accord might have some ambergris or some sort of musky component to it? I didn't get much in the way of beeswax or red currant, but this is a very aged decant. While I think this is nice, it's a wee bit too mossy for me. I wish the beeswax and cream notes were stronger on me!