doomsday_disco

2018 version. I was going to come in here and say the same thing as mishi-bear: this is similar to Mithras, probably due to the olive oil note, but sweeter. I am also getting something distinctly orange-y to this (I mentioned orange in my review of Mithras, too, so maybe it is from the olive oil, or an orange-infused honey?), in the vial and on my skin. It's like orange sherbet beeswax on me. There is only the barest tinge of smoke if you go looking for it, but otherwise, it's a creamy, orange-y olive oil and beeswax scent. I like it! But I may like Mithras more. I'll have to deathmatch the two one of these days. It's definitely different than The Lights of Men's Lives, though, which truly smells like beeswax candles. This one, with its sweet, creamy orange, is kind of making me hungry.

Bat is a sweet, moonlit floral type of scent. I can't really pick out each individual flower in this, but I definitely get the phlox, which I recognize after having tried the single note bath oil, the moonflower, and some orchid. The flowers are sweet, but soft, and backed by the grey musk and amber, which become more noticeable after several hours of wear, as well the honeysuckle, which I was not able to pick out before. That said, it is primarily a purple and grey scent. I generally prefer sugary floral scents, but this is a nice floral-dominant scent. I like the grey qualities to it, and I am glad that the honeysuckle decided to come out after a while. I'm not sure if it's one I'd reach for to wear, but I'll hold on to it throughout the spring months and see.

Zorya P, is that you? This smells like Zorya P without the vanilla. The white tobacco and ambergris stand out to me, and the white tobacco is that perfume-y variety from scents like Fake News, Zorya P, and Pediophobia from the 2016 Yules. I can smell the bleached woods more when I hold my hair up to my nose, but this is one I just happen to get whiffs of throughout the day without having to do that! This is a stunning, sophisticated hair gloss, and I am so glad that I got a chance to try it. I'm going to have to try to track down more. Thanks to the lovely BPALista that frimped me a sample to try.

I forgot to post my review of this when I tried it a few weeks ago. It starts off with the candy canes and vanilla cream being most prominent, but the cinnamon of the snickerdoodle quickly joins in and makes it a cinnamony mint and vanilla baked goods scent in my hair. The mint didn't stay strong for long, and the cinnamon didn't take long to calm down, and in the end, it ends up being mostly the cookie note with some light cinnamon and mint in my hair. Other reviewers mentioned it being kind of like angel food cake, and I can definitely see that. I probably could have just bought a 1 oz decant instead of the full bottle since I have so much hair gloss already (including Lick It HG). It's a nice melange of holiday goodness, but I think I would like this more if it didn't have the cinnamon. At least the mint seems to hang around more than it does in the Lick It HG, though (although it is light).

I am a double Taurus, so I wanted to try this for that reason alone, and not due to the list of notes, which aren't usually my thing. In the decant, I smell heady jasmine, followed by the rose, ylang ylang, and some black pepper. On me, it's super heady jasmine, rose, and ylang ylang, with a splort of black pepper and a little red sandalwood in the background. This is a super heady floral scent on me, and it doesn't seem to have any intention to let the other notes really come through. ...yep. After a few hours, it's still a floral party, but there's a bit more pepper in the background. I am with Little Bird on this one. Why can't Taurus blends feature some vanilla, gourmand, or oriental notes? Then they'd be much more my thing. I enjoy some floral scents, but prefer ones with something sweet in the mix, and this is just too intensely floral for me. I am glad that I got to try it, though!

In the bottle, I smell the honey, almond, apple, musk, and a whiff of the floral notes. On me, the almond and honey are front and center, followed by the apple, and they're backed by the warm musk. Then the lily joins the stage. The rose otto is present, but pretty tame for a rose, and after about an hour, I start to get the myrrh. The almond has stuck around so far, and I'm surprised, as it usually is pretty fleeting after the initial blast of it. This makes me think of an apple-y Bastet with lily and rose instead of lotus. It's definitely in the same scent family. After several hours, the almond is still present, and it smells like almond-tinged honeyed flowers (the lily and rose are more prominent now, but smooth) and a much softer apple note on a bed of warm musk and myrrh. Another Gaiman scent win! I am happy to have a bottle.

In the bottle, the wisteria and white clove jump out to me, followed by the bitter green tea leaf and a bit of frankincense. It's kind of sharp thanks to the wisteria and green tea leaf. On me, I get the wisteria, clove, and a little bit of green tea. The clove ends up being the dominant note on me, with the wisteria not too far behind it. The clove is a slightly spicy, dusky variety, like a toned down black clove. After a few hours, the perfume-y wisteria and green tea are the main players, with a little bit of clove and frankincense in the background. It's mostly a perfume-y floral and green tea, though. I really liked the clove in this in the beginning, and hope to see this clove in more scents in the future, but after this, 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, and Les Fleurs du Mal, I am thinking that I am just not a big fan of wisteria.

In the bottle, I smell the peach aldehyde, jasmine, green tea, grapefruit, and yuzu, but no frankincense. On me, the yuzu and grapefruit are the most prominent notes at first, backed by the sweet peach. After a little bit, the jasmine emerges, and not much longer after that, it ends up taking over, with the citrus and peach lingering behind it. After a few hours, most of the citrus fades, and I'm left with the jasmine, aldehyde, which is more aldehyde now than peach, some frankincense, and a whiff of yuzu. The jasmine is soft, but the dominant note, and there's something in this that smells kind of plastic-y on me with a hint of pencil eraser... maybe something to do with the aldehyde aspect and the frankincense? This one started off promising, with its citrus and peach, my skin chemistry seems to have ruined it. This peach is not for me.

I tried this back in my early BPAL days, and I remember being repulsed by it. I am not sure if I just happened to receive an off imp or if my tastes have changed since then, because I did not have that experience this time. Gaueko is mostly about the lavender, tobacco, and sweet, syrupy labdanum on me. The sandalwood and nag champa are present, and I was surprised to find that the nag champa did not take over in this scent. It was actually pretty tame for once. The combination of the lavender and tobacco made think of The Magician's Tools from The Fool's Journey, so if you liked that one and want to try something similar from the GC, you should definitely give this a go. This is not a GC that I need a bottle of, but I am glad that I got a chance to retest this darker lavender blend from the GC.

This was a pleasant surprise. I was originally interested in a decant, but then I reminded myself that I am generally not fond of plum notes, so I probably wouldn't like this. Actually, I do like it, and I prefer it to the GC version. Frostbitten Snooty Rose is mostly about the snow and the plum. It has the sweet Snow White snow, but perhaps even cooler, and it combines with the plum note in such a way as to make me think of chilled plum skin. While most plum notes tend to smell candy-sweet to me, the snow note mingles with this one and makes it more realistic to my nose. There's a little rose, but it is mostly about the snow and plum on me, with the resins peeking out after a few hours of wear. It's not something I need a bottle of, but it is really pretty. I'm glad I decided to try it!

This is like dozing off and being woken up by System of a Down's Chop Suey. The scent is herbal, invigorating, and refreshing and would be perfect for when you need something to wake you up or to wear when you're feeling ill. It's like drinking a fancy, minty, herbal lemonade with some frankincense and eucalpytus wafting around the room. The mint ends up fading after a few hours, and the frankincense becomes more prominent, so that it ends up being a lemony frankincense and rosemary scent with a little eucalyptus. I am definitely going to hang on to my decant to travel with this winter, and I think I am going to need a bottle so I can have some for other trips (and just because it will be such a nice pick-me-up)! Yet another win from the Winter Travelogue collection!

I was originally going to blind bottle this, but I was like, there's no way I will wear it in the winter, so I'll wait until just before it goes down and order it with any last-minute Yules. Welllll, that didn't end up happening, because the Lab ended up releasing three other scents with pink grapefruit (Beware: Pickpockets!, La Joconde, and Basket of Abalone), and then I was like damn, I can't have them all, so I'll grab a leftover decant of Bellicose Clam and see how it goes. When it arrived, I was ecstatic, because the oil actually looks pink, and the yuzu? IT'S THE SAME ONE FROM MY BELOVED LIGHTNING STORM HAIR GLOSS. For the first hour, it's a yuzu and pink grapefruit party, with some mandarin and lemon peel in the background. It was GLORIOUS. If it had stayed that way, I would have needed a bottle for sure. But as time goes on, the white musk, mandarin, and lemon peel become more prominent, and they mingle with the grapefruit and yuzu to give it a clean, freshly-peeled citrus feel. It's not as amazing as it was when it was freshly applied or just in the vial, so it's probably one that's better for a scent locket. I can still smell it on me after four hours of wear, so I am glad it did not do the disappearing act on my skin. I really like this and think it will be amazing to wear during the warmer months. I will definitely be holding on to my decant, and I hope to be able to track down more in the future when I have some spare change. I am curious to see how Basket of Abalone compares to this. I am hoping that one will be even better on me, because there's no white musk or mandarin involved. ETA: Subsequent grapefruit/yuzu releases that I preferred led me to decide against hunting down a bottle of this and frimping away my decant, because I knew I wouldn't reach for this one over the grapefruit and yuzu bottles I now have in my collection.

In the decant, this smells like strong, bitter coffee, with a bit of vanilla ice cream in the background. I could see it having something like chicory in it, as VioletChaos mentioned, as it made me think of the coffee in Morning in New Orleans (which I ended up giving to my brother). On my skin, there's a blast of coffee at first, but the vanilla ice cream quickly joins in and helps to sweeten and soften it. The vanilla ice cream note becomes more prominent with wear, sweetening this dark coffee scent even more. It smells wonderful! This is yet another win from the Winter Travelogue collection, which has sent my wallet into hiding. The decant is definitely a keeper, and it's a contender for a bottle purchase, although it might not make the cut since this collection has so many scents calling to me, and I might only allow myself to upgrade one foodie scent to a bottle (which would probably be Weihnachtsmärkte). I'll have to wear this one on its own before it departs and make a decision. It's such a lovely vanilla-ed coffee scent, though.

This was the riskiest decant of the bunch that I ordered, as I am generally not fond of plum scents. I have never tried Powidltascherl, and sugared chestnuts seemed like an interesting note, since chestnut isn't something that pops up very often, so I decided to give this one a try. The plummy dessert is the star of the show on me, and I agree that there's something tangy and yogurt-like to it. I was really hoping to get the sugared chestnut note from this, but there is only a hint of it on me, sadly. I prefer this plummy dessert over a pure plum note, but it's still not something I could see myself reaching for. Glad I was able to try it, though!

Weihnachtsmärkte is a melange of Christmas market goodness. The chocolate-drizzled, marzipan-filled Schneeballen and Mutzenmandeln stand out to me the most, with the Lebkuchenherzen in the background (it's not the Elisenlebkuchen variety with Oblaten wafers). They all blend together to create this milk chocolate-y, creamy, sugary, warm, and slightly salty fried dough type of scent that's really nice and comforting. I am not really a fan of actual Schneeballen, and I was hoping for more Lebkuchen from this, but I am really enjoying the combination of these confections, especially the fried dough of the Mutzenmandeln and the creaminess of the marzipan. I have been to Christmas markets all over Germany, and this doesn't transport me back to those, but that's probably because, for me, Weihnachtsmärkte were more about roasted nuts, Kartoffelpuffer, and Glühwein. But I am happy not to smell like things like fried potatoes or the scent of sausages being carried on the cool air. This is another win from the Winter Travelogue update for me. I will definitely be hanging on to my decant and taking it with me to Germany in December. I am not sure whether or not I need a full bottle of this, because this update is full of so much win, and other bottles may call to me more -- I'll retest it before it departs just to be sure -- but I know that I definitely want to obtain more than just a decant. ETA: I did end up grabbing a full bottle!

This is primarily a baked apple dessert (there is a pastry note involved, kind of like the one in The Knave of Hearts) basking in cinnamon cream with touches of blueberry and raspberry. It starts off really strong on the baked apples, backed by the cinnamon cream (the cinnamon in this is light), with the fruits in the background, but I do get a little more of the blueberry and raspberry with wear. It really smells like baked apples wrapped in a crust, surrounded by cinnamon-strewn cream, and topped with streusel, with some berries on the side. After several hours of wear, however, the buttery pastry note reigns, backed by a little raspberry. While it smells delicious, and I'd definitely love to eat something like this, I'm not sure I'd want to smell like it... which works for me, as I have enough apple scents in my collection already.

My goodness, this is gorgeous. I could tell that I would love it just from the decant sniff. The lavender smoke, incense, and stone steal the show at first, and you can really tell that it is lavender smoke and not just pure lavender. The lavender and stone combination remind me of Waiting without the rain and musk notes that make that one veer into dryer sheet territory. The incense note is beautiful. I am not sure which notes comprise it, but I do think there may be some frankincense involved. The beeswax candles play a background role at first, but they end up being the dominant note on me after several hours of wear, mingling with the incense and stone, and what remains of the lavender. This definitely features beeswax candles and not pure beeswax; while there's a bit of sweetness to it, this is smokier and not as sweet as The Lights of Men's Lives. I went and smelled what remains of my Candlelight atmo, and it's more like the beeswax candles and smoke from that. I'm not normally someone that enjoys smoky scents, but I adore this. It isn't overly smoky at all on me. Every single note in this is a win, and together, they're stunning. I was interested in so many Winter Travelogue scents that I restrained myself from getting any blind bottles, but this was one of the scents I was most interested in, and it did not disappoint. I still have more scents from this update that I need to test, but if I could only get one bottle from this update, this would be it. If I could only get two bottles from this update, both would be this.... because I really don't think one bottle will be enough.

At first, this is like Carry Me and Meditation Buddy had a baby. It starts off with lavender and vanilla cookies with some incense in the background, but then the Florida Water joins in and makes it sweeter. Then the rose appears and quickly gains strength, and it's stronger than the rose found in Meditation Buddy. After several hours of wear, it is like a sweeter, stronger, more child-like Meditation Buddy on me. The frankincense and amber incense notes have become the main players along with the Florida Water and the rose. I do not get much lavender by this point, but the vanilla sugar cookie is still present, adding its sweetness in the background. Although white musk is listed as the first note, it is not a main player on me, but I suspect it is helping to ground the scent. If you liked Meditation Buddy and wish it had a little more oomph, you'll probably enjoy this one, too, although this one has more Florida Water and features lavender and vanilla sugar cookie notes instead of wax and salt. I already have bottles of Carry Me and Meditation Buddy, so I am not sure I need this one too, but I think I'll have to deathmatch it with Meditation Buddy just to be sure, because it is really lovely.

This, along with TKO, was one of my first BPAL bottles. I have kept it because of that, but I feel like I used to enjoy this more when I was new to BPAL, and I am not sure if that is due to my tastes changing or the way this one has aged. I never reviewed this when I initially bought it, but I do remember thinking that it had a Mexican hot chocolate kind of vibe. I quit wearing it for a few years after having the worst perfume reaction I've ever had in my life after applying this oil. I stupidly applied this too soon after a hot shower, and then my arms and neck were completely covered in welts. After that incident, I only apply it if I can wait a long time after showering before applying a perfume, and I only apply a dab on my wrists with a wandcap instead of slathering like I normally do. I avoid sensitive areas like the crooks of my elbows and my neck. I'm wearing it today for the first time in ages, and I feel like it is less chocolate-y than I remember it being. It's a spicy, savory, dark chocolate, and I get far more annatto seed and anaheim pepper than cinnamon from this. There was a waxy undertone to it for a while, which I disliked, but it ended up going away. I am not getting any of the vanilla bean from this, sadly. Since I no longer enjoy this like I used to, I will either put my bottle up for swaps or try using it as a room scent. It's not bad... but there are lots of other chocolate scents in my collection that I enjoy more than this one.

In the decant, I get the plumeria, tuberose, melon blossom, green tea, and lavender. I could smell the pink cotton candy snow after retrieving this from the cold mailbox yesterday, but now I'm not picking up on much of it in the decant. On me, the plumeria, green tea, melon blossom, lavender, and snow are the main players. The lavender note is much stronger on me than it was in the vial and one of the dominant notes, along with the green tea and plumeria. The combination of the plumeria and lavender remind me of C%^T without the strong honey note. It's a bright, fruity floral and green tea scent that's sweetened by the pink cotton candy snow, which becomes more noticeable after several hours of wear (and I do get the tuberose by this point -- it's the same one from Ava). I like this! I don't think that I need to upgrade to a bottle (I'll probably retest this before it leaves the website just to be sure), but I think I'll hang on to my decant!

The first thing I get from this is the glassy, frozen snowdrop, with glassy being a very adequate descriptor. It is quickly joined by the powdery, cool, glacial musk. The whipped cream is present, but it is not sweet or even remotely foody. This is so dry that it made my nose feel dry every time I smelled it during the first few hours! I kept thinking this was somewhat reminiscent of something, and I think it's the snowdrop note. I believe it's what gives The Serpentine somewhat of a Snow White vibe, and trying this has also made me think that snowdrop is one of the floral notes in Snow White. But this does not feature any of Snow White's sweetness, as there's no sweet, creamy snow note here. I do think that this is evocative of a glassy icicle in a winter wonderland. I am not sure that I'd wear it -- it's very dry -- but I am glad that I was able to try this!

I could tell just from the initial sniffs of the decants I ordered that this one would be a highlight of the Winter Travelogues for me. Beware: Pickpockets! is like Gobo without the vanilla cream. The sugar and citrus notes are the stars of the show here, and I swear there's a creaminess to the sugar, like in Gingerbread and Lavender Sugar. The petitgrain is not problematic whatsoever, and the peppermint is well-behaved. I can feel it cooling my skin, and it lends a light, refreshing, coolness to the scent, but there's no intense mint here. The citrus has some longevity to it, too! I can still smell it on me after several hours of wear. If you ever wanted the sugary citrus of Gobo without the vanilla cream and don't mind a bit of mint, Beware: Pickpockets! is for you. Gobo is one of my favorites, and I am trying to tell myself that I don't need a bottle of this because they are similar... but I am not sure I will be able to restrain myself from obtaining more of this sugary citrus beauty.

In my early BPAL days, I received a sniffie of this, but I hadn't actually been able to try it until recently. I tested this twice, and both times, Sachs was a vanilla-forward scent on me. I got much more vanilla than chamomile, and I am not sure if that's just due to my skin chemistry or the perfume's age (I am not sure how old it is). It's mostly bourbon vanilla and vanilla bean on me, and the vanilla bean just has a touch of smoke (which I'm happy about, because I had expected it to be a smokier vanilla from that sniffie I once received). The chamomile is present, but content with its background role. I'd say Against Idleness and Mischief has more chamomile in it than Sachs, but again, that could just be because of my skin chemistry or the age of the oil (since I see other reviews mentioned the chamomile being medicinal, and it's not like that on me at all). I am thrilled to have gotten to try this. It's another unimpable GC win on me, and definitely bottle-worthy! Now I just hope that, whenever I do get a bottle, it will be just as awesome as the scent in this decant...

La Joconde is a clean and uplifting citrus scent. The pink grapefruit and bergamot are the stars of the show at first, with a bit of sage and white musk in the background, but the white musk asserts itself over time and ends up becoming one of the most prominent notes. After a few hours, the white musk and bergamot are the dominant notes on me, followed by the pink grapefruit, with just a hint of sage in the background. If you're wondering how this compares to Beware: Pickpockets!, which also features pink grapefruit, this one is much cleaner and lacks the oomph of Beware: Pickpockets!, which is still going strong on the citrus after three hours of wear. They are different enough to warrant trying both, but if I had to choose between the two, I'd choose Beware: Pickpockets! hands down. I really enjoy this, but I preferred the scent during its first hour of wear, before the white musk became a main player. I probably don't need a bottle (unless I decide I want more to wear in a locket -- I'll have to see how much damage the other Winter Travelogues do first), but I'm definitely going to hang on to my decant!

Like VioletChaos, I can smell the leather in this outside of the bottle. So yeah, it's strong, especially on the riding crop leather. I let it settle for several days to see if the leather would calm down and I'd be able to get more notes from the bottle sniff. Nope. In the bottle, I can only smell the leather and clove. On me, the leather notes take the center stage, with the clove and tobacco following in their wake. Then the clove ends up retreating into the background as a wisp of sweet opium smoke and tart red currant emerge. It ends up being a smoky leather scent, with a bit of sweetness from the opium and the tartness from the currant, the same dried currant found in Resistance, for many hours. Then, the clove returns, and the incense wafts up, making it a smoky, incensey, leathery lace. But it's not that lace-y on me, because usually, after a day of wear, the vanilla from the lace will be one of standout notes on me, but that wasn't the case with this one, though I am sure it is in there helping to tame some of the other notes. Maybe it will come out more with a little rest? Although I was worried about the plum, it was not an issue for me. I think that may be because I amp currant, though. I knew this lace was a gamble, so I am going to give it more time to settle and retest it to see if it has changed. At the moment, though, I feel like this lace may not be for me. There's just not enough vanilla present to tame the strong leather, sadly.