doomsday_disco

I tested this in wet hair the first day and in dry hair the next. In wet hair, the scent isn't very noticeable after the initial application, but it has decent staying power in dry hair, as whenever I've put my hair up and then taken it out of its clip, I get hit with the summery coconut and lime goodness. It starts off with the lime being the stronger note, backed by the coconut, but then it's all about the coconut, with a hint of lime. I agree that the coconut note has a coolness to it, and although I'm not generally big on coconut, I do think this one is nice. I will definitely be hanging onto my decant to pair this with Son of biggerCritter and Key Lime Pie, but I am not sure I need more than my decant since the lime doesn't end up sticking around...

Pink Lime & Coconut.

I waited to test this decant last of all of the November/December Lunacy offerings (hair gloss aside), because this somehow smelled like corn chips when I first smelled it!? I finally tested this yesterday, and I would describe it as an atmospheric gourmand. There's no leather note in this, but I keep feeling like I am smelling some leather or something leather-adjacent -- maybe the linseed oil mixed with something else like the polished wood? The hearthfire and wood notes are the other atmospheric notes that I smell from this, but I don't get anything like evergreen (alas!) or wool on my skin. As far as the gourmand notes go, I get the red currant tarts, but especially the buttery pastry note of the tarts that is reminding me of Drink Me or The Knave of Hearts (probably the latter, but Drink Me was my first instinct). I also get the apple cider, which fortunately isn't too heavily spiced, and the orange peel. It's pretty weird, because sometimes it's more atmospheric, and sometimes it is more foodie -- like hearthfire! No, now it's cider. Inexplicable leather! No, now it's buttery tarts! While I find this to be an interesting scent experience, it's not something I could see myself reaching for as a scent of the day. But if you're looking for an atmospheric gourmand that likes to morph a lot, you should give this one a try and see if it is up your alley.

Creaking wooden beams illuminated by hearthfire, beeswax melting on evergreen boughs, polished wood floors draped in vibrant wool rugs, linseed oil, red currant tarts, a hint of clove and orange peel, and sweet brandy apple cider. Mary Fairchild Low

Here’s hoping 2026 is less an endless replay of spectacular wipeouts and fail videos and more a year that finally sticks the landing. Leather tack, saddle soap, bay rum, carmine wool, black silk, crushed winter grass, a billowing cascade of pipe tobacco, and a shot of adrenaline.

Freshly roasted coffee beans releasing their dark, velvety warmth amongst ribbons of molten caramel and a haze of deliciously radiant golden amber.

Streams of frozen amber, snow-dusted frankincense, birch bark, Peru balsam, and rivulets of smoldering beeswax. Gustav Lange

The birch bark is the strongest note when first applied, and it is kind of like wintergreen bubblegum, but more woodsy, to be honest. At first, it's backed by the frankincense and smoke, but those notes end up gaining strength and manage to take over the birch by the time the scent is dry. Those notes reign throughout wear for me -- I don't get any sweetness from the beeswax, just a dry, resinous scent that isn't all that snowy after all. I wish there had been more snow and that I had gotten some sweetness from the beeswax!

May you skillfully dodge all of life’s chamberpots while the blessings of the new year splash upon ya. Clean snowmelt touched with lemon peel, clover leaves, sugared almonds, and glimmering amber coins.

This smells like a bright, clean (yet not ozonic) snow note made even brighter by the lemon peel note, and with some welcome sweetness from the sugared almonds. The amber ends up emerging gradually over time, so that it's mostly the snow and amber notes with what remains of the lemon and the sugar from the almonds after a few hours of wear. I was never able to pick out the clover. I like this and will definitely be keeping my decant, but I'll need to spend more time with it to determine if I need more than that.

A sensual, luxuriant scent that stays close to the skin: Australian sandalwood, tonka bean, benzoin, Siberian iris, bourbon vanilla, cardamom-infused amber, and mimosa petals. Egon Schiele

Liberty, luminous and unafraid, bright with conviction, guided by idealism and steadied by resolve. A scent that is clear, exalted, and alive with purpose: olive leaf, pale amber, joyous neroli, polished brass, feathery vanilla chiffon, and spicy carnation. Edward Savage

Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her unless she herself be your way and your guide? And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your speech? The aggrieved and the injured say, “Beauty is kind and gentle. Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she walks among us.” And the passionate say, “Nay, beauty is a thing of might and dread. Like the tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and the sky above us.” The tired and the weary say, “Beauty is of soft whisperings. She speaks in our spirit. Her voice yields to our silences like a faint light that quivers in fear of the shadow.” But the restless say, “We have heard her shouting among the mountains, And with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beating of wings and the roaring of lions.” At night the watchmen of the city say, “Beauty shall rise with the dawn from the east.” And at noontide the toilers and the wayfarers say, “We have seen her leaning over the earth from the windows of the sunset.” In winter say the snow-bound, “She shall come with the spring leaping upon the hills.” And in the summer heat the reapers say, “We have seen her dancing with the autumn leaves, and we saw a drift of snow in her hair.” All these things have you said of beauty, Yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied, And beauty is not a need but an ecstasy. It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth, But rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted. It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear, But rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears. It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw, But rather a garden for ever in bloom and a flock of angels for ever in flight. People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face. But you are life and you are the veil. Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror. You are life and you are the veil; a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted: saffron-threaded sandalwood, white ambrette, wild narcissus, smoky yellow tobacco flower, and gilded vanilla.

Often found napping in office cubicles and unrented studio apartments, this dragon is too apathetic to be evil and too bored to bother with goodness. She doesn’t hoard gold; she collects neutral-toned throw pillows, unread magazines, and Live Laugh Love-branded décor. Their scales are a rainbow of oatmeal, sandalwood, almond milk, tea-stained vanilla, and undyed wool in a muted eggshell finish.

The fear of Halloween. Menacing Haitian vetiver, patchouli, and clove with a shock of bourbon geranium, grim oakmoss, and dread-inspiring balsams pierce the innocuous scent of autumn leaves.

I could have just blind bottled this, but I decided to go the decant route, since I didn't know how how the Rose Red aspect of this would play on me. I won a bottle of Rose Red 2005 on eBay back in 2014, but I didn't enjoy it as much as some other rose-centric blends in my collection, so I swapped it away for a second back-up bottle of Snakes in the Pumpkin Patch (no regrets). I did, however, end up purchasing Rose Red Hair Gloss when it was first released back in 2014, knowing I would appreciate it more in my hair than on my skin. As for Snow White -- I adore it and own many different vintages of it. Treaty of Thorns starts off heaviest on the Rose Red, but the Snow White component helps to smooth over the rose so that it doesn't have the citrus-like bite I got from the 2005 vintage. As time goes on, the Snow White aspect of the scent grows stronger and eventually casts a blanket of snow over Rose Red's bright red rose note. I'm going to need more of this before it goes away, as I don't have much Pink Snowballs left and enjoy this more than some of the other rose scents mixed with Snow White's sweet snow note that have been released over the past few years.

War of the Roses? Not anymore! After years of fragrant hostilities, BPAL’s Reigning Yule Queens, Snow White and Rose Red, lay down their arms. Two beloved Yule blends are bound together at last: frost-bright petals and deep, blood-warm rose, entwined with winter air and the green snap of freshly cut stems. A hard-won peace, sealed in perfume: cold beauty and velvet warmth.

Pleasure is a freedom-song, But it is not freedom. It is the blossoming of your desires, But it is not their fruit. It is a depth calling unto a height, But it is not the deep nor the high. It is the caged taking wing, But it is not space encompassed. Ay, in very truth, pleasure is a freedom-song. And I fain would have you sing it with fullness of heart; yet I would not have you lose your hearts in the singing. Some of your youth seek pleasure as if it were all, and they are judged and rebuked. I would not judge nor rebuke them. I would have them seek. For they shall find pleasure, but not her alone; Seven are her sisters, and the least of them is more beautiful than pleasure. Have you not heard of the man who was digging in the earth for roots and found a treasure? And some of your elders remember pleasures with regret like wrongs committed in drunkenness. But regret is the beclouding of the mind and not its chastisement. They should remember their pleasures with gratitude, as they would the harvest of a summer. Yet if it comforts them to regret, let them be comforted. And there are among you those who are neither young to seek nor old to remember; And in their fear of seeking and remembering they shun all pleasures, lest they neglect the spirit or offend against it. But even in their foregoing is their pleasure. And thus they too find a treasure though they dig for roots with quivering hands. But tell me, who is he that can offend the spirit? Shall the nightingale offend the stillness of the night, or the firefly the stars? And shall your flame or your smoke burden the wind? Think you the spirit is a still pool which you can trouble with a staff? Oftentimes in denying yourself pleasure you do but store the desire in the recesses of your being. Who knows but that which seems omitted today, waits for tomorrow? Even your body knows its heritage and its rightful need and will not be deceived. And your body is the harp of your soul, And it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or confused sounds. And now you ask in your heart, “How shall we distinguish that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good?” Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower, But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee. For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life, And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love, And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy. People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees. Be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees: candied rose petals, red honey, sweet berries, and luxuriant red musk.

A velvety, sophisticated concoction for the ages!

Ambergris foam, twinkling white musk, lime rind, frosted lemon, Norway spruce, sour green apple, night-blooming jasmine, Icelandic moss, and yellow bergamot.

Caramel-soaked banana slices sizzling in butter and brown sugar, flamed with dark rum, and poured over warm vanilla ice cream.

A calming, affirming fragrance to help motivate Santa through the daunting tasks which await him year after year: sugar plum lavender marshmallows.

A sturdy but soft lavender cotton twill, lightly flour- and sugar-dusted, with deep pockets full of kitchen mysteries.

I concur with FloridaFledgling's review. This is a spicy, peppery gingersnap scent that gives off a Red Hots vibe. Although it didn't leave any welts, it did give a burning feeling when applied to my wrist, so I'd only recommend this to those that don't have sensitive skin and love spicy scents. Otherwise, be very careful where you apply it.

Wishing you and your cocks a happy new year. Red peppercorns and gingersnaps.