doomsday_disco

This is all about the raspberry note on me. I get zero cherry from this. It smells like a squished raspberry with a bit of sugar, and it's more realistic at first, but then it becomes more candy-like over time (but also kind of makes me think of that raspberry Crystal Light drink mix that was popular in the 90s). I was really hoping to get some cherry from this. Alas. If you want to smell like raspberry, though, give this a whirl.

The pinkish cherry note dominates at first, and then the bergamot and moss from the chypre joins it. It's somewhat odd and herbal for some time, but then it settles into smelling exactly what Pa-Pow Hair Gloss smells like in my hair. A candied cherry and amber scent (but with a bit of moss in the background). Swoon. If you love Pa-Pow Hair Gloss, you need this in your life, because this is like the perfume version of that.

Perfectly Normal Childhood starts off heavy on the cardamom (the best kind of cardamom!) backed by some vanilla before becoming a predominantly marshmallow scent. The marshmallow smells realistic, like it is powdery on the outside. Behind that, I can smell some cake batter -- but I'm not getting any cotton candy. I haven't deathmatched this with Pink Lovebird yet, but I will say these two are different enough to warrant having both if you already have Pink Lovebird, although I think I prefer this one! The decant is a keeper for sure, and this may be bottle-worthy (I've got to deathmatch it with some other cardamom scents in my collection before deciding as I think I have too many cardamom scents, though!). ETA: I have now deathmatched this against Pink Lovebird, and I have to say that they are two very different scents. This one is far stronger on the cardamom, and Pink Lovebird smells very pink, with a much more subdued cardamom note. If I had to choose between the two, I'd choose this over Pink Lovebird for sure.

Banana Bread is a blast of banana teetering on the edge of being Laffy Taffy-like in the vial, but once applied to the skin, it does smell like a squishy, overripe banana before it turns into a buttery, nutty bread scent on me. The banana ends up being pretty faint on me and isn't as strong as the buttery bread and walnut notes. I wish the banana lasted as long as the other notes on me, but perhaps this just needs a few more days to settle. It definitely smells delicious, though.

This one really overwhelmed me. I am also a wine amper, so I got lots of grape and plum-infused wine that was super strong on me to the point that I was starting to feel somewhat nauseated from smelling it and didn't want to smell any more new-to-me perfumes today. There are touches of fir and smoke that end up being more noticeable after several hours of wear, once the wine and fruit notes have finally stopped screaming for attention. The good news is that I have a friend that loves all of these things, so I'll pass this on to her so that she can try it.

In the decant: I'm getting the sweet mimosa backed by some linden blossom (the same one found in Boober). Those are the two standout notes on me as well, with just a hint of the resins in the background. Then it morphs so that that a honey-heavy beeswax reigns for some time, with the sweet mimosa note cozying up to it. It's almost cloyingly sweet on me. The honey/beeswax calms ends up calming down somewhat, but the almost fruity mimosa is quick to reclaim its clown. It settles down as a mimosa-dominant scent after several hours of wear, backed by some honey, linden blossom, and just a touch of smoky resins. The mimosa in this is too heady and sweet for me. But if you're looking for a mimosa-heavy scent, you should try this one.

I'm getting a nice brown patchouli, rose thorns, herbs, branches, and a bit of berry. The rose thorns become more prominent on me over time end up being the dominant note on me after a while. This differs from the first time I tried the scent, a day or so after it arrived -- I got more patchouli from it then. It ends up being an herbal rose and patch scent on me after a day of wear with a swirl of smoke. I get a bit of sharpness from the ivy, but that tends to be my experience with that note. The berry in this is only a touch, so if you're not fond of berry notes, you need not worry about it here. The 'edge of the woods' part of this is very fitting. It's not something I can see myself reaching for, but I appreciate the imagery the scent evokes.

I tested this one one hand and put some Cedarwood and Smoked Vanilla on the other to deathmatch the two. Even though they may sound similar, they're two really different scents. Cedarwood, Vanilla Absolute, and Tolu Balsam is much stronger on the cedar, but it is a soft cedar, and if you like the variety found in Tombstone, you should be pleased with the cedar in this. The vanilla never showed up on me, and the balsam was pretty light in the background. This is more warm and woody, while Cedarwood and Smoked Vanilla is stronger on the vanilla and has a more sophisticated feel to it. I think this is nice, but I know I wouldn't reach for it over Tombstone with its root beer and more prominent vanilla.

Both celebratory and cozy, this is the scent of a warm mug of muscatel, dry red wine, brandy, akvavit, and bitters steeped with orange peel, cloves, fresh ginger, cinnamon, sugar, star anise, dried apricot, Luxardo Maraschino cherries, and cardamom embraced by a thick shawl of myrrh and red benzoin. This scent was an exclusive in the Sihaya and Company The Art of Hygge winter box, which I received yesterday! I believe there were only 50 bottles of this made. I am not familiar with some of the booze notes in here, so if I don't mention them, that's why! I tend to amp wine and spices, so that's another thing to keep in mind as well. The oil in my bottle is cloudy, and I noticed that something in it separated, so this one should be rolled before application. In the bottle, the cherry leaps out at me, along with the red wine, apricot, orange peel, and spices, with the resins in the background. Even though this is a mulled wine scent, the spices are rather subdued. On my skin, I get the cherry as soon as this is applied, followed by apricot, wine, and BOOZE. Whoa, that is some booze. Then I get the orange peel, and after that, the clove, ginger, and cinnamon begin to emerge. The orange peel in this smells incredibly realistic, and I feel like this smells more like a true mulled wine than the Glühwein perfume oil, which is too honeyed to remind me of the actual thing. I can tell there is some sugar at play here, and the resins just add more warmth in the background. This scent is STRONG and has lots of throw on me. The spices aren't overwhelming (they are stronger during the wet phase of the scent, but calm down), the cherry hasn't turned to cough syrup, and the anise (which I do pick up on after a while) hasn't turned turned this into licoriceville. I have never tried any Black Cherry Apricot Gløgg, but I imagine that this is what it would smell like! This is mostly a mulled wine scent that's heavy on the black cherry. (Not for those averse to cherry!) This is far stronger on the gløgg than the sweet incense, and I am not sure I would have picked it out if I didn't know to go looking for it. I am happy to have this, but I am going to have to avoid my slathering tendencies with this one just because it's so strong.

I like this one way more than I thought I would. I haven't been having a lot of luck with cotton candy scents lately, I'm not that fond of fruit punch, and I feel like I have enough popcorn scents in my collection, but I saw this and had to try it anyways. Thrills and Junk Food mostly smells of blue cotton candy and pretzels on me. I tried it twice, and it is predominantly blue cotton candy backed by some soft pretzel. I don't get a ton of fruit punch from this, fortunately -- but it could be because it blends so well with the cotton candy. There's a point, later in the wear, where the sugars in this start to smell a little caramelized on my skin, and it made me wonder if there's actually caramel popcorn in this instead of buttered popcorn, but no. It is freshly popped buttered popcorn, and it doesn't show up until several hours later. It's really nice and helps tone down the sweetness a little. I think I'm going to have to grab a bottle of this. The cotton candy note is wonderful, and I'm thrilled that I am actually getting some pretzel from this.

Whoa. This is a scent experience. I tried this twice (once yesterday, and once today), to see if I would have the same result each time. Baby's First Chainsaw starts off strongly on the metallic grease component on me, and it really does smell like you're in someone's workshop, and there's a plate of chocolate chip cookies on a table nearby, but there's only a whiff of cookie, because my skin seems to be running away with the chainsaw grease. When I tried this yesterday, I realized after a while that part of that component is actually a currant note, and it's one of the currants found in Eat Me. When I tried this today, I recognized that note as soon as I applied it, so it didn't really morph into currant later on, it was just me having that "aha!" moment later in the wear the first time I tried it. It's somewhat jarring while wet and even when dry, but as the scent sits on the skin, it really blooms and ends up smelling like this exquisite metallic sugared vanilla with a tinge of currant and a smear of chocolate on a cookie sheet several hours later. And I am here for it, but I'm not sure how I feel about the journey that led me to this point. Oddly enough, it's not very chocolate-y on me. That smear of chocolate is far in the background, but I'm okay with that. I'm going to have to sit with this one some more to figure out whether I need more than my decant (the final phase of this scent is amazing, though!), but I highly recommend that people try this, because it's really unique, and just like Beth said, much nicer than you'd expect!

Breakfast, or Something features sugary guava and the same strawberry and cereal milk (more of a fruity cereal scent than any actual milkiness) as Dies Patribus! The strawberry was stronger than I hoped it would be when I tried this yesterday, but it has calmed down somewhat after the decant had another day of rest. The guava in this does have a sugary cotton candy feel to it and isn't as in-your-face as the guava in Drag on a Slime. This is very pink and fun. I may have to grab a bottle before it goes away to slather during the summer months.

This starts off with the Lab's cool, sweet, non-bracing white mint note (one of my favorite mint notes! I also got the impression of a peppermint patty without the chocolate exterior), backed by eucalyptus and lemon peel. But it doesn't take long for the eucalyptus and lemon peel to gain strength, and they end up being the dominant notes after a while, with the lemon peel being the most prominent note after several hours of wear. This is a really nice, refreshing type of scent. It's not something I need a bottle of, but I'll definitely be hanging on to my decant to wear when I need a pick-me-up.

This smells like it belongs in the Lupercalia update. It starts off heavy on the ylang ylang, backed by some dusty sandalwood, and some vanilla. Over time, the ylang ylang calms down, and the sandalwood gains strength, along with the creamy vanilla. If you're a fan of scents like Volcano in Springtime, you'll like this one, too.

This is all about the cherry-flavored jelly beans. 100% jelly bean and zero breakfast cereal. The jellybean note does have the texture of a jellybean (sugar-coated exterior and gummy-like inside), and I think that's what is pulling it away from cherry lozenge or medicine territory, although I had my boyfriend try it and he only got cherry medicine from it. It faded really quickly on him, though. On me? It's still going strong after five hours. I'm going to hold on to this and see if I like it paired with Pa-Pow Hair Gloss, which I think contains the same jellybean note!

As soon as I applied this, I immediately thought: Apple grass! I have been transported to New Earth! Our Little Crypt Ghoul is all about the apple and the grass. It's a crisp, juicy apple without any spice, and it mingles beautifully with the grass note. There's only a hint of soil, far in the background. It's not an apple and dirt blend like All Hallows' Apple. The dandelion seems to be blended really well with the grass, so it's hard to pick it out. Smelling this makes me happy. It's not the spiced earthy cider I thought it would be, but I am here for the APPLE GRASS!

This is it. This is the sweet lavender Lilith scent that will be hoarded this year. The buttercream-frosted sprinkle cupcakes are super sugary and realistic. Sometimes I mostly just get the frosting from the Lab's cake scents, but in this one, I can smell the frosting and the sprinkle cake itself. The sprinkle cupcakes are accompanied by more than a sprig of lavender, and it is GLORIOUS. Those hoping for just a hint of lavender might want to shy away from this, but those that adore Lilith's lavender will be in sweet lavender heaven. The buttercream-slathered sprinkle cupcakes and lavender intertwine throughout wear. After several hours, I get a syrupy, almost waffle-like sweetness to it like I did from King Cake, but I only noticed that in the crook of my elbows and nowhere else where it was applied (wrists and neck). I can't wear Sprinklecake, because it turned to playdough on me, but I didn't have that experience with Two Frames -- so if you, too, didn't have luck with Sprinklecake but are still tempted, this is worth a try! If you liked Carry Me from last year, but like the idea of MOAR LAVENDER and smelling like a much sweeter dessert, you will love this. But I think fans of any of the sweet lavender Lilith scents will be happy with this! One bottle will not be enough.

I let this settle for a day prior to testing it, but I think it may need a little more time to sit, because right now, all I am getting is COOKIES. The cookie note is somewhere between a molasses cookie and a gingerbread cookie -- it's sweeter than a gingerbread cookie, so maybe it's ginger and molasses. There was a time when I thought I got a little lavender from this, but it wasn't much, and it wasn't as noticeable as the lavender in Gingerbread and Lavender Sugar. If there's leather and dust, they are buried underneath the cookie note. I thought this might like Boots from last year but with cookies instead of crushed grass. This is actually really different. I'm hoping that the lavender, leather, and dust will peek out more once this has more time to settle, and if they do, I'll update my review! But if they don't, well, I'm not going to complain about smelling like a backpack full of cookies.

This Dorian variant isn't as lavender-heavy or sweet as The Serpentine. It actually starts off being really citrusy thanks to the bergamot and Dorian's white tea, and these notes float on a cloud of Dorian and vanilla. The lavender and oakmoss become more prominent with wear, especially the moss (I amp that note), but I'm still getting lots of bergamot, which smells kind of sharp alongside the moss. I loved the early phases of this but am not as fond of the scent later in the day (when it becomes sharper), so I am going to see if aging helps smooth that bergamot and moss combo over. If not, I'll have to wear this one in a scent locket.

Rose Quartz Bedroom is evocative of a rose quartz glittering in the light. I get pink roses and sparkly white musk from this at first, with touches of lavender, vanilla, and saffron, but those notes gain some strength after several hours of wear, significantly softening the scent and making it a little less rose-centric. It's a sophisticated, yet youthful rose scent that also manages to be really comforting because it features the best lavender and a floofy vanilla. I'm happy I grabbed a bottle.

You Are Not Alone is definitely a bookish scent. The paper of the paperback is what I get most from this scent throughout wear, and it somehow does smell like there's a crack in the spine. The lavender in this really is just a dribble, so if you're averse to the note and are here for the other elements of the scent, you might be pleasantly surprised. The hoodie just smells like something soft behind the paperback and isn't a clean cotton scent like in Apocalypse Box. There's something in the background that is slightly weird to my nose -- I am not sure if it's the glue from the cracked spine or if there's secretly some hemp in this or something. But I'm testing this a day after it arrived, so perhaps it just needs a little more time to settle. If you're looking for a book scent unlike the other book scents from the Lab (which typically have leather in them), this should fit that bill. If you are hoping for something more lavender heavy and less atmospheric, another lavender scent in this update might be better for you. I'm currently undecided on how I feel about this, so I am going to tuck this away for a while and retest it later on down the road.

Apocalypse Box is a clean lavender laundry scent. The lavender and pajama cotton are the dominant notes for a while, and the cotton in this one smells nothing like Puppet Kitty -- it's very much the scent of clean laundry, like the smell you're hit with when you walk down the laundry soap aisle at the store (it also reminds me of the clean cotton note often used in wax melts). Eventually, the cardboard joins in, and it is super realistic! It really does smell like being surrounded by the walls of a cardboard box, which made me feel comforted. There's a fuzziness to this scent, too. I didn't get any tonka from this (my 'test' consisted of slathering it along the length of my arm before bed because I knew I would like it), but perhaps it will become noticeable with more rest or via the aging process. I'm really glad to have a bottle of this, and I know I will reach for it often as a bedtime scent. But it's definitely one for fans of clean laundry scents.

I thought this might be like Thought Photography but with clove instead of palo santo. Actually, it's a cousin of the discontinued GC Nanshe. The lavender in this is an herbal, dry lavender. It's not like the lavender in the Lilith scents. The white clove is prominent, but it isn't as bold as black clove, it isn't as spicy as Indonesian Clove SN, and of course, it doesn't have the sweetness of Sweet Clove SN. The best way I can think of describing it is to compare it to the difference between white pepper and black pepper. It's dry, spicy, and becomes somewhat woody over time. The ambrette seed, which can be musky, isn't discernable to my nose, unless it's contributing to the sour phase I get from this once it has been on for several hours. I tested this once during the day and have applied it twice before going to bed, and I have to say it's one that I wouldn't recommend for daytime wear because of the type of lavender involved, and also because it did get a little weird later in the wear time. I grabbed a bottle because this is the closest thing I'll find to Nanshe and plan on wearing it to bed even though it doesn't have Nanshe's dream effect. Since I've been falling asleep before it morphs into the odd phase, I don't have even have to worry about that aspect of the scent. I love Nanshe more, but if you're missing that one, you should give this one a try!

I love vanilla. I love the Mysore Sandalwood in Kit. I like bergamot. But my nose is just not jiving with this. I know it's my nose and not my skin chemistry because it actually smells the same in the vial as it does on me. I just get this funk from the Tahitian vanilla, and I know it's that note that I'm not enjoying because it's the same funk that I got from Hagoromo-No-Taki Hair Gloss. The Tahitian vanilla is syrupy sweet and has this aspect to it that I really dislike -- kind of like if a smoker doused themselves in a sicky sweet vanilla? I think there may be some indolic floral component in it that I just don't enjoy. After a while, that does end up calming down and it ends up being a bergamot-infused vanilla backed by the dry Mysore sandalwood, but I wouldn't want to wear this for a few hours to get to that point.

In the decant: I smell the bourbon vanilla, waxy coconut, frankincense, and a bit of moss. Wet: Bourbon vanilla and frankincense are the first notes to emerge, making me think of Hope and Fear Set Free. There are touches of the coconut bark and moss behind these notes. After a bit, the cognac emerges, brightening the scent and making it known that it this is definitely in the Lace family. The woodmoss gains strength over time, as moss notes are wont to do on my skin, and the tea and opium become a little more noticeable with wear, but the vanilla and cognac end up being the main players on me in the end. Verdict: This is exquisite! I am so glad that I got to try this one. I probably won't try to hunt down a bottle since it is a Lace, but if I ever see one up for sale or swap, I'd pounce! Until then, I'll be hoarding this tester. Thanks to the lovely BPALista that sent this my way!