doomsday_disco

First, I have to say that I'm not familiar with heartsease or hellebore, so if those are conspicuously absent from my review, that's why.  

The poppies are the main feature of the bouquet throughout wear, backed by the peonies. I recognize the poppy note from The Serpent in the Opium Poppies, although I believe that one is much stronger on the opium tar than the poppy petals. I did not deathmatch the two, though. The peonies are not as strong as the poppies on my skin, but I can still smell them and can visualize the soft feel of the peony petals whenever I catch a whiff of that note beneath the poppies. I'm not getting much in the way of Snake Oil, sandalwood, or the vanilla silk, but the floral notes are so lovely together that I don't really mind. I wonder if this Snake Oil variant will stay like this and be like Cottonmouth (overtly floral with not much in the way of Snake Oil), or if the Snake Oil will emerge more with age.

I am going to have to spend more time with this one, but I'm definitely keeping my decant, and further tests will decide if I need more before this goes away.

This is lovely. It starts off with a burst of green -- I get more of the meadow grass and clover than any wildflowers -- with the Snake Oil as a backdrop. I feel like some of the grass smells like it has been crushed, but fortunately, there are no strong grass clippings to be found. Over time, it becomes less green as the Snake Oil gains strength and ends up being the dominant note after several hours. I get more of Snake Oil's spices and musks here than the other aspects of the Snake Oil (and it smells more like older Snake Oil than recent variants have to my nose). But this is definitely recognizable as a Snek variant (which Snake Bouquet, while also smelling lovely, doesn't have much of a Snake Oil aspect to it at the moment).

I think I will end up needing to get more of this before it goes away. I think this Snek is idyllic and perfect for the spring and summer -- and I really appreciate it as someone who lives in the desert and misses seeing grass.

Velvet Brick is mostly about the resins of Velvet (especially the sandalwood, which is indeed gentle) mixed with the warm clay of the brick and sweetened by the cocoa vanilla (although those notes play less of a role).

This is nice, but I think just the decant will suffice.

My skin seems to have run away with the tequila.

I get a smoky version of tequila with some of the effervescence of the soda water and the clay and sand of the brick note. The booze is the star of the show on me in this one, instead of the brick.

I wish the fruity notes had showed up on me. Alas.

Brick Snek is mostly about the warm, soft, clay-like brick note mingling with the aged vanilla absolute and musks of the Snake Oil. I actually don't get much in the way of Snake Oil's spices or patch in this one, so I don't really find this one to be earthier or hissing with rage as per the description. In my Brick Single Note review, I mentioned that I get some orange blossom or neroli in the brick accord, which reminds me of the sharp version of the dead leaves accord that I've encountered in some dead leaves scents, and I totally get that in Brick Snek, too, especially after the scent has been on for several hours of wear.

Although I enjoyed this the most out of the Brick by Brick collection, I don't think I need a whole bottle of this one, but I'll keep the decant around to see how it ages.

Both my partner and I didn't enjoy the smell of this in the decant; it reminded me of the dead leaves accord that either features neroli or orange blossom that's too sharp on me, and my partner described it as bitter. But on the skin, it immediately smooths over, which goes to show that you should always skin test things and not just judge by your first impression of a scent!

This is mostly soft, smooth, warm, and clay-like. There's really only a hint of sand. I actually don't think this is very gritty at all. I wonder if there's some tonka in here, but I'm not great at picking out that note and can't say for sure. I just feel like there's some vanillic softness that's not quite due to vanilla. I still smell some of the sharp dead leaves accord in this, with some definite orange blossom or neroli that I detected in both this and Brick Snek, but the clay in this keeps that part of the scent in check so that it's not screechy and headache-inducing on me. So if you are a fan of the Lab's dead leaves scents, you should probably give this a try.

I still have one more Brick scent to test, but I already think that Brick Snek is the winner as far as the brick blends go, because the vanilla and musk of the Snake Oil goes really well with the clay of the brick.

While I don't think I need a whole bottle of this, I think I will keep the decant around to try different layering possibilities.

I can smell all of the notes in this, but the lemon is the lightest on me. It starts off being mostly about the raspberry punch (you can tell it's not straight-up raspberry and has been turned into a drink) and elderberry liqueur, accompanied by the Victoria sponge. The cake note isn't just the crumb: the creamy filling of the Victoria sponge is there as well. The gin note first emerges in the background but becomes stronger over time, eventually becoming the dominant note on me after several hours of wear. It's slightly effervescent and juniper-y and reminds me of 21, but with the addition of some fruitiness. The cake is but a memory by the end of the day.

I'm going to hold onto my decant and see how this pairs with the new Framboise Hair Gloss.

Here are the photos of the cards I put up in my cubicle, as promised!

From top to bottom:

Spring flowers from @theseagrows

Frog and mushrooms from @Lucchesa

Cactus from @Thuy

Irises in Oregon from @Greenwoodtree

Sunrise over evergreens from @Alpacaphotog

Thank you for the lovely cards!

Here's a quick review for anyone who is waffling on this before the Yules go down.

I always go for bottles of foresty scents, and I really enjoy the pine in this, but the incense is of the champaca variety. While both notes are present, the champaca becomes the dominant note over time if you spray it on something and smell it later in the day.

I like this, but I would have liked it more if it featured a different incense note (like a more resinous, church-y incense).

I love this room spray and should have just blind bottled it instead of going for a decant and then having to upgrade to a bottle (but at least this way, I have a bottle and then some, which is great for travel!).

Lime Green Hearse is definitely LIME GREEN and made for lime fans (if you're down for a sweet lime and not just a freshly squeezed lime, as other reviewers have noted). The other citrus notes are shoved into the background (and read as orange-y -- and the petitgrain isn't screaming bitter orange peel, woot!). I get touches of black pepper and bay rum among them, but they are more noticeable later in the day (if you spray this on something instead of directly into the air -- I've sprayed this on a paper towel to test it, on my couch, and on a wool dryer ball to let it scent laundry). The white musk may be adding a slight effervescence to the scent, but it isn't a main player.

I love both fresh and sweet lime, so I love this. I think I reach for it the most out of the four hearse atmos that I own. It's especially refreshing during these warmer months!  

I was silly to go for the decant route on this one, Hot Pink Hearse, and Lime Green Hearse; of course, bottles were inevitable.

The moss and dirt are strongest when this is initially sprayed, but quickly retreat to the background. This is mostly about the Snake Oil to my nose, with the musk, the aged vanilla absolute that the Lab is currently using (which reads as thinner and not as bold to my nose), and Snake Oil's spices being prominent, but not the patch. I get the Dorian mingling with the Snake Oil -- the lemony tea note adds some brightness to it, and the two combine in a way similar to No DNA Test Required (a Lilith scent). However, the Dorian is not nearly as strong as the Snake Oil component.

I really enjoy this and am glad to have a decant as well as a full bottle of the stuff. This is probably one of my favorite Snake Oil variants from the past few years.

I initially didn't order this because I was wary of the syrup (I haven't been loving maple scents over the past few years), but the reviews, especially SurrealReality's review (as a fellow non-maple syrup scent lover), swayed me, and I decided to blind bottle it before the Weenies were taken down from the website.

I'm glad the reviews made me give this a chance. The syrup in this does not smell like most maple syrups. It is really dark and somehow not cloying. The buckwheat pancakes aren't overly buttery. The coffee lingers in the background, reading more as a creamy coffee to me than a black one, but perhaps that is the cruller note mingling with it (I get the glaze of the doughnut more than the doughnut itself). It smells delicious and is such a realistic foodie scent that smelling it makes me hungry.  

Every single hearse atmo that I tried last year was amazing (I tried all but two from the collection). I'm really glad I grabbed a bottle of this before it went away!

I received my last card in the mail! It's a postcard featuring the sun behind a forest sent by alpacaphotog. Thank you!

I've got them all up in my cubicle now and will take a picture of all of the cards I received and share the photo this week.  

I've worn this a few times, and I've also sprayed it on a paper towel.

I still can't pick out any specific notes in this scent, so I'm not sure how helpful this review will be. It is not an overtly floral scent, nor is it particularly forest-y. I also thought it smelled creamy and a little fruity when I sprayed it on a paper towel, but whenever I've sprayed this into my hair, both wet and dry, I get something that reminds me of a glassy musk... which I think would make sense for the 'glam' part of the name. I've paired this with Galerie des Glaces and thought they went together well, and I also think I wore it with some honeydew scents just because I wanted to wear it again to do a review. The hair gloss doesn't have much throw, so you could probably get away with pairing it with a lot of different scents without it clashing with them.

I'll be hanging onto my decant, but I don't feel like I need a bottle just yet. I still need to do a proper, non-paper towel test of Celestial Aura HG, but at the moment, I feel like Elven Glam is the new RPG HG that I enjoy the most.

It is rare for me to enjoy scents containing wisteria, because the note is often very high-pitched on me. I own exactly two BPAL bottles of the scent featuring the note: Hanami (which I prefer layered with a sweet scent like Antique Lace Res. to soften the harsher edges of the florals) and On Wednesday, I Will Promise You a Phantom (although that is much heavier on my favorite note, lavender, and happens to contain vanilla).

I decided to grab a decant of this to pair with scents like those, and I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. I am not sure if I'm just coming around to wisteria now, or if it's this particular combination that I'm enjoying (I noticed, while searching through forum reviews, that most of the Lab's wisteria scents contain lilac, which isn't a note that I love... but I also didn't enjoy Honeysuckle and Wisteria based on my review, and honeysuckle is one of my favorite floral notes, so who knows).

I tested this in several ways: sprayed on a paper towel, sprayed on the back of my hand, in wet hair, and in dry hair.

The scent on the paper towel when I'd fan it in front of my nose was really nice. Both the wisteria and white musk are in full force, but the wisteria, while it still reads as somewhat high-pitched to me, smells better than it smelled on my skin.

When I sprayed it on the back of my hand, I still got a lot of both notes, but my skin chemistry made the wisteria note sharper than it was on the paper towel.

In wet hair, I didn't really notice it after application.

In dry hair, it doesn't have a lot of throw (at least, not in an office environment -- maybe that will change when I step out into the 102 degree heat in 20 minutes). That said, I could still smell it in my hair throughout most of the day whenever I held my hair up to my nose. I have long, straight hair down to my ass, and I feel like the hair gloss was more noticeable for at least six hours of my work day, but it is pretty faint now. I only used two sprays, so maybe it would be stronger if I had used more. I can smell both notes in my hair, but the wisteria in my hair is much smoother than it was on my skin or on the paper towel. I believe the white musk is the same one paired with scents like La Joconde and Griotte, Lime, and White Musk. It's the white musk Beth sometimes pairs with citrus notes. It's not powdery at all, and I agree that it smells fancy.

I'm currently debating whether or not I need to upgrade my decant to a bottle, since this is supposed to come down at the end of the week, which means any time now.  On the one hand, I'm telling myself I only have two scents featuring wisteria and don't need a whole bottle of a hair gloss to pair with two scents. On the other hand, I'm telling myself that it could be paired with some of the Lab's more mainstream-esque scents, too, like Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending and Tomie, and if I do end up getting low on my decant, I'm unlikely to find more (unless it pops up on Etsy), as it doesn't seem like it was very popular. So I'll probably end up grabbing a bottle just in case, because what if this is my wisteria loving arc that I never knew would come to pass and I end up with more wisteria scents?!  

Well, I think this somehow ended up being my longest review ever. I hope my waffling over this wisteria hair gloss has helped someone else make a decision on it.  
 

ETA: Just wanted to update and say that I did end up ordering a bottle.

This one starts off with a burst of the fruity notes, especially the dried blueberries, which definitely aren't as juicy and seem more concentrated than fresh blueberries, but the fruit notes quickly make way for the lilac to come through. The lilac then becomes the dominant note on me throughout wear, backed by the dried blueberries and blackcurrant notes, and over time, the scent gradually becomes more resinous, so that it settles into a lilac and resin scent brushed with the fruits.

I'd love to see this blueberry note featured in another scent where it can be the star (I just haven't really been feeling lilac lately). But if you're a lilac fan and are looking for a lilac scent that's darker and not as spring-like, give this one a try.

This is a weed-tinged blackberry pie scent. The blackberry note is the star of the show throughout wear. The weed note is not skunky and is the same one featured in Honeyed Weed and Dandelions. It's most prevalent during the wet phase of the scent, but it's not a main player on me. This is the pie scent with the most noticeable pie crust note that I've tried from the Lab. Most of the Lab's pies, while I love them and look forward to more of them, tend to be more about the filling than the crust, so I'm happy both pie components are present here! The crust starts off more like a freshly baked, warm, buttery crust, but then I get more rye from it after a while.

The decant is definitely a keeper. I'm going to need to a full day slather to see if I need more of this. I might need to get more just for that pie crust note.  

This is a dewy floral blend throughout wear, with the rose hips being the strongest of the floral notes on me. The jasmine isn't indolic or heady, and while I wanted waaaaay more lavender from this, it's definitely there -- just not a dominant note like I was hoping it would be. I bet the moonflower is there, contributing to this misty nighttime floral vibe, but I can't isolate it (maybe because my skin really seems to want to showcase the rose hips).

I'm going to have to spend more time with this one to see if I need more of it, and I think I'll start by trying this as a sleep scent soon to see how that goes.

I received a tester of this in a decant order.

The toffee-like honey dust note is the dominant note on me throughout wear. I get more sandalwood than amber lurking in the background, on a bed of musk. It's not a soft scent at all on me, but that's probably because I tend to amp the Lab's honey dust note.

I'm not big on the Lab's honey dust note and prefer other honey notes from the Lab, but if you are a fan of honey dust note, this scent has it in spades.

I mostly wanted to try this because of the linden blossom and the art.

This isn't as earthy as one might expect based off the notes. It starts off being a mostly green scent (probably thanks to the moss and the creeping jenny) and then becomes more of a floral scent after several hours of wear. The vetiver in this lends a light smokiness to the scent that's most noticeable during the scent's green phase, but it's pretty subdued for vetiver. I'm not getting the soil note, nor the delicate mushroom note (I was looking for it after trying the hair gloss). The honeywort isn't something I would have been able to pick out were it not for the duet, but that adds a touch of something akin to a lemony cough drop when the scent is morphing from the green phase to the floral one. I do get the linden blossom I was here for after a few hours, but it is also accompanied by iris, which is high-pitched on me.

While this isn't something I feel the need to upgrade to a bottle of, I do think that this scent befits our sad frog friend from the art, and I'm glad that it isn't wet/swampy in any way.

I received a tester of this in a regular decant vial and tested it on my skin instead of in my hair. So think of this more of an impression than a review?

I get both notes, but the moss is stronger on my skin (I tend to amp the note, so maybe it would be more evenly balanced in the hair?). The mushroom note doesn't really smell super earthy and has a sweet, but pleasant powderiness to it that I also get from Death Cap.

I don't need a bottle of this, but it was fun to get to try it! I actually enjoyed it more than Frog Moon itself.

I've tried this three times (a test, a full-day slather, and then another test in which I deathmatched it with a few other scents containing vanilla, amber, and cardamom notes).

Dahlia is stunning. This weekend, I deathmatched her with Aasimar from the RPG line and Nocturne Alchemy's Sky Amber. To me, Dahlia is the clear winner.

Each scent featured a different amber, but I like Dahlia's amber most of all, since it is sugared and deeper.

Each scent contains cardamom, but it is far prominent and sticks around in Dahlia. This cardamom has a bite to it. The cardamom in the other two scents is much lighter and quick to fade away.

Each scent contains vanilla, and both Dahlia and NAVA's Sky Amber feature a floofy, billowy vanilla (in the same vein as Antique Lace 2017's vanilla and Nocturne Alchemy's Moonstone, for those who would like a non-BPAL frame of reference). That said, the amber and vanilla are more balanced in Dahlia, while Sky Amber ends up becoming more about the vanilla than amber on me.

And Dahlia has decent throw and longevity, too.

Dahlia is worth the hype! I've already used up over half of my decant, so a bottle will be in my future.  

I received a tester of this with a decant circle and finally got around to trying it the other day.

This is predominantly a lilac scent on me, with it almost being a lilac single note, except there's a bit of powdery orris lingering in the background. That said, I'm not that familiar with the scent of magnolia, and I don't think I've isolated it in the few scents I've tried that feature it, so it's possible that it's there, but not registering to me. The lilac is so very loud on me, though, that I would recommend this to lilac lovers.

Since I don't seem to love lilac lately, this isn't for me, but if you enjoy the note, you should give this one a try.

This one is a fruity floral scent on me that morphs into a mostly floral scent touched by strawberry at the end of the day. I believe the strawberry (not really getting the cream on my skin, which I don't mind) and star jasmine are the dominant notes on me throughout wear, although the star jasmine wins out by the end of the day and is somewhat high-pitched, but it isn't heady or indolic like actual jasmine. I sadly don't get any of the mallow blossom or vanilla sugar on my skin, although perhaps those would be more prominent with rest/age. The pink sandalwood might also be contributing to the high-pitched quality this has on my skin (as I think it's the same one from Easter Egging, but there's no white chocolate in this one to smooth it over). I didn't deathmatch the two, but I believe Vasilissa, which also contains star jasmine and sandalwood notes (albeit a different sandalwood), is smoother. I'd also say this could be a cousin to some of the Pink Moon scents... not the strawberry milk one, but the ones that are full of floral notes with a smattering of strawberry. Only, this one starts off stronger on the strawberry than most of those, and the floral notes in Pink Moon 2019 seem to jive better with my skin chemistry.

This is definitely a very pink that goes perfectly with the art, but I think I'll stick with Pink Moon 2019 and 2023.

I've tried this like three times and have neglected to review it because I've been trying to pinpoint what the unlisted citrus note is in this one, but alas. I still don't feel confident enough to say which one this contains.

I would say that this is mostly an aquatic musky floral scent with a touch of citrus. I'm not sure if the citrus note is secretly the blue spruce (I know I've at least definitely tried a fir scent that has an orange-y aspect to it) or if there is a stealth citrus in here. My initial inclination was that it is grapefruit, but other sniffs, I thought maybe its orange, but there's definitely a citrusy element at play. As usual, the eucalyptus blossom adds a coolness without being bracing like straight-up eucalyptus would, and the white mint note also lends a coolness without being bracing like peppermint. The unexpected citrus and cool notes mingle with the aquatic notes, lotus, and blue musk, but the scent quickly gives way to the aquatic notes, blue musk, and lotus, and settles into a soft scent comprised of those notes by the end of the day.

This was almost a blind bottle for me, but I decided to go the decant route first since aquatics are tricky for me. This is pretty tame for an aquatic: its not super salty, and there's no soap of doom. But I would have appreciated it more if the blue spruce had been a main player (I love the Lab's coniferous notes) and if the eucalpytus and mint had stuck around longer. So I don't need a bottle of this one, but I do think it is pretty and would recommend it to someone looking for a musky, aquatic floral scent that has been smoothed out around the edges.