doomsday_disco

I mostly get sweet, fleshy, almost peach-like, non-spiced pumpkin, like the pumpkin in White Pumpkin Extrait, from this. The cactus blossom adds a bit of a perfume-y floral quality behind the pumpkin, and the sweetgrass adds a nice green feel to the scent in the background. I don't get the sage until several hours later, and it adds a dry, desert-y feel to the pumpkin. The combination of the cactus blossom with this pumpkin note makes this a little too high-pitched for me, but I'm glad I got to try it. If you'd be interested in smelling like a pumpkin that rolled through the desert, this is worth a try.

Creamy pumpkin cheesecake topped with cherries and drizzled with chocolate. The pumpkin is more pumpkin spice than actual pumpkin, and the cheesecake smells creamy and warm. I get far more black cherry than chocolate accompanying the pumpkin cheesecake during the dry phase of the scent. It ends up being a cherry-topped spiced cheesecake on me. I like the cherry, but I'm not sure if I like it with the spiced cheesecake and will have to retest this after it has had some more time to settle.

Maiden: A gentle vision of purity, goodness and virtue: white tea, carnation and Damask Rose. Hellfire: A swirl of pipe tobacco, hot leather, ambergris, dark musk and the lingering incense smoke from their Black Mass. Snake Oil: deep, rich earthy notes swirled with vegetal musks, sugared vanilla bean, and dark spices. I'm getting Hellfire's leather and tobacco and a toned down version of its cinnamon (which is not listed in the notes, but I get from the original scent as well) on a bed of dark musk and soft Snake Oil. I think the pipe tobacco in this is a cherry pipe tobacco. I think Maiden's adding a breath of spicy carnation and rose in the background, and the white tea is brightening up the scent a bit, but on me, this blapimpsottle scent is strongest on the Hellfire components, although the Snake Oil base seems to be increasing in strength with wear. This is not something I need more of (I prefer Snake Skin for a leathery Snake Oil), but if you're looking for a Hellfire variant, or a leather and tobacco-infused Snake Oil, you should give this a try.

This smells like the most wonderful freshly peeled orange. I had the Lab's Sweet Orange SN at one point, but this is even better than that! It's very uplifting and effective at stress relief (I applied it a few days in a row while I was baking way too many cookies, and sniffing this calmed me down). I thought this might be kind of like The Season of Ghosts as this also features orange and rose geranium, but this is more about the orange than the herbal notes, and dare I say, BACK-UP WORTHY.

The sugar cookie note in this is syrupy, and the popcorn note is like kettle corn, so this smells like kettle corn that's been drizzled in brown sugar or maple syrup. I am not sure I need more of this, but the decant is a keeper!

The white grapefruit is the star of this duet throughout wear on me. The black tea note, which isn't licorice-y on me in this blend, in this becomes a little more noticeable over time, but it is never able to overtake the white grapefruit. I adore grapefruit, and I like this, but fortunately, I have dodged the need for a bottle by having so many grapefruit blends already and loving the Lab's pink grapefruit more. I'll be hanging on to my decant, though.

This is predominantly a chewy black patchouli, kind of like the kind found in Goblin and Revenant Rhythm, but without any of the sweetness it is joined by in those scents. It's backed by a green, pine-y variety of balsam that is very light in comparison to the patchouli, but you can tell it is there. This duet is one for patch fans. For me, I'd definitely have to layer it with something sweet in order to wear it.

I don't tend to do well with most of the Lab's aquatics, but I'm a sucker for ambergris, so I was curious to try this one! This is mostly about the pale musk infused with sea salt. It's pretty salty at first, but the ambergris emerges after a few hours and helps smooth the scent over. It's a clean scent, but it hasn't managed to morph into soap or laundry territory on me. I like this, especially after it has been on the skin for a few hours and the ambergris emerges, but I'm not sure how often I'd reach for it, especially over straight up Ambergris SN.

Freshly applied, I get the dandelion, clover, a berry that I believe is the cloudberry because it's not the juniper berry, and bluebell... and it smells like a sunny meadow in spring, but with an emphasis on the flowers dotting the meadow and not any greenery. There's a brief phase in which I get something green and leafy that threatens to smell off on me, but fortunately, the scent quickly veered away from that. After several hours, it's mostly a melange of clover, bluebells, and dandelions with just a hint of berry. This is in the same family as The Schoolhouse, but I think I prefer this scent because the dandelion lasts longer and the slightly funky greenery phase goes away faster in this scent. I don't love this as much as Wild Dandelion SN, but I'll hang onto this partial to see if I reach for it in the spring.

I really like this one! I get icy lavender and lemon during the wet phase, but it becomes more about the lemon over time. Early on, I thought there might be some of the Lab's white tea mingling with the lemon peel note, too. The eucalyptus in this is not a powerhouse and just lends a cool feel to the scent in the background. There's also a phase where the citrus has a slight unexpected creaminess to it, too -- so I get what zee_zee is saying about sugary key lime, even though it's a creamy sugary lemon to me. But it ends up losing its sweetness and becoming a somewhat sharp, cool lemon and elemi by the end of the day. I'm glad I blind bottled this one and can see myself reaching for it during the warmer months or when I need a nice pick-me-up scent. If you're a fan of scents like Fuck This Heat and Virgo Snowball Fight, you'll probably enjoy this one as well.

This one was mostly laundry on me (like laundry aisle, not cozy sweater) with a bit of peach. I got zero London Fog from this, sadly, and I was really hoping for this. With the exception of Cozy Pumpkin Sweater, I feel like the Lab's sweater/wool scents are not for me. (I like laundry scents like Apocalypse Box and Boober even, but I was really hoping for more fuzzy sweater and any London Fog from this one.)

This one didn't work on me. It just turned into a powdery mess, even though I wore last year's Sugar Cookie the day before and didn't have that experience at all -- so I think it may be the extra sugar that's the culprit. It's not the awesome confectioners' sugar from A Breathless Chuckle or Pralines and Powdered Sugar, nor is it the lemony sugar found in Sweets to the Sweet. Or it could be that it's not the same as last year's Sugar Cookie, as I detect that powderiness that my skin is amping even in the bottle. I'm going to let this one rest for a month and then retest it, but at the moment, it's my least favorite of the four Box of Cookie scents that I've tried, and I prefer the Sugar Cookie scent from last year's Yules.

This is the haughty, velvety, regal rose of Peacock Queen with sugar cookie crumbs hovering around the edges. Peacock Queen is the dominant scent here, and it remains that way throughout wear. The sugar cookie, while noticeable, is really buried underneath the rose, so if you were hoping for something like The Knave of Hearts with its rose and cookie, you might be disappointed -- the sugar cookie isn't nearly as prominent as the buttery jam tart in The Knave of Hearts, so it can't really compete with Peacock Queen's rose. I'm going to set this aside to age and see if the sugar cookie becomes more noticeable over time. At the moment, I do think it is nice, but I really wish I were getting more cookie.

This starts off heavy on the chilly Snow White, backed by the sugar cookie, but the sugar cookie becomes stronger and syrup-y (and somewhat brown sugary) over time, really cozying up to the Snow White. Of the four sugar cookie scents I bought from the Box of Cookies collection, this is my favorite. That chilly, creamy, soft almond or almond-esque note from Snow White blends wonderfully with the sugar cookie, just like how adding some almond extract to some sugar cookie dough really takes it to another level. I have waaay too many bottles of Snow White and don't know that it's better than the OG for me, but it is very lovely, and I'm really happy to have a bottle in my collection.

This is mostly about the fresh Snake Oil spices, patchouli, and musk with some syrupy sugariness coming out after a few hours, adding some welcome sweetness to the scent. I'm going to set this one aside and retest it after it has had some time to age. At the moment, it's a like, but not a love, but I'd really like to see it be re-released when the Lab has Snake Oil's vanilla back -- I think that that note would really elevate this combo. ETA: I let this age for a year and it's mostly about Snake Oil's musk and the brown sugary cookie note. I wish I were getting Snake Oil's vanilla and more of its spices from this, but after a year of aging and still not loving it, it is time to let it go.

This one starts off as really coniferous. I get lots of pine (I feel like this is more pine than fir-centric), fifir, cedar, and the nighttime air at first, but it becomes a little earthier over time as the moss gains strength and the bit of dirt joins in. It is by no means a dirt scent, though -- no, this one is mostly about the trees. By the end of the day, the cedar is super strong on me, and I think it may be some type of red cedar, but I'm not sure -- but it is very rugged and not the cozy kind in scents like The Small Brown Cat or Tombstone. It's accompanied by some pine and fir needles and some moss. I'm glad I got to try this, but I don't think this forest scent is for me, as there is not enough sweetness here (from something like sap or another conifer note) to tame this strong cedar.

This is all salty, soapy aquatic on me, sadly. I got some of the seaweed early on in wear, which I wasn't feeling at all, but it was quickly overtaken by the salt and the soap. Aquatics don't typically work on me, so I knew this one probably wouldn't be a win, but I'm glad I got to try it!

You know those little jugs of artificially flavored juice with the foil tops for kids? This is reminding me of those. It's a sugary orange and cherry fruit punch flavored drink, but there's a bit of sharp perfume in the background to remind you this isn't actually one of those drinks. I am not a fan of bubblegum, but I'm glad that's not what this turned out to be on me! I'll be keeping my imp.

I get lots of clove-infused musky fur and oakmoss. I believe the clove is a black clove, and the oakmoss may be infused with some cedar, as I got some of that during the wet phase. It starts off stronger on the musk and clove, backed by the oakmoss, but becomes more about the clove and oakmoss over time (probably due to the fact that I tend to amp both of those notes). This would pair perfectly with Ziegenkopf HG, so I am going to keep this decant for that purpose.

2019 version. I expected this to be much darker than it is, due to its name and with notes like vetiver and asphalt. But oddly enough, I mostly get a floral-infused sleet note from this with a touch of asphalt that becomes more noticeable after a while. I only got a tinge of vetiver if I went looking for it, which is strange, because usually smoky vetiver likes to be loud on me. There ends up being a prominent ozone aspect to this by the end of the day, probably due to the winter wind, which helps tame the floral component in the sleet note. I really wasn't expecting this one to be so floral! I was really hoping for some more of the asphalt. Alas.

This is a vanilla cream made with the Lab's French vanilla, like the one in Love's Philosophy, but it is much, much lighter here and accompanied by a pear that isn't candy-like like the one in The Perilous Parlor (which I feel happens with most pear scents to my nose). I don't get root beer from this, but those that are smelling sarsaparilla, it's due to that French vanilla in the cream note. I like this, but it stays too close to the skin for me, sadly.

I have a bottle of Pink Moon 2019, and these two scents are very similar, with the only note difference being the white chocolate in this one. And I am not able to pick out this white chocolate, but I do think the strawberries in this may be slightly stronger? Or perhaps that is due to age. It's a strawberry and sugar-tinged melange of pink flowers, and for some reason, smelling this makes me envision soft pink tulip petals and visiting Keukenhof when the tulips are in bloom. I like this, but it is so similar to the 2019 version that I think if you have one, you do not need the other.

On me, this was super strong wildflower honey for the longest time, backed by resins and a bit of leather. Over time, the oudh becomes more pronounced, but never becomes indolic on me. Opoponax can sometimes be cola-like on me, but I didn't get that vibe from it here. But this was so strong on the honey for the first few hours that I wasn't sure I would get much else from it! Definitely for fans of honeyed oudh.

Gloomy Day starts off being mostly about the woods, one of which is cedar, and of the pencil variety. Then the musky ambergris and warm hay join in with the wood and balsam and it just because this lovely, warm, hay and wood scent overlaid with ambergris. I was iffy on this at first due to the type of cedar, but I really enjoy the ambergris and hay combo and think I'll keep the decant, although I'm not sure I need to hunt down more of this one.

This was very much about a dark musk and patchouli on me. I thought I got a bit of the ginger from scents like Snake Oil and Vixen at first, so it reminded me of Snake Oil when first applied, and there's also some of Plunder's cassia here, so for a long time, this was reminding me of that scent, but this isn't as spicy and it is far more dank. I like how the reviews are all over the place on this one. I wish I had gotten some candy or lavender like some other reviewers!