Jenesis

Couldn't make this one work for me (but then if you examine my previous reviews you'll see that light, girly scents rarely do!). Quite a "yummy" scent, if it was a fruit I'd eat it, but too sweet and cloying for my taste. My skin does weird things with lavender and apple blossom so I think it's probably that making it not work.

Haven't reviewed a scent for ages, so here goes... This is a surprisingly complex blend. I can smell the vetivier in the background but it's just "there" rather than being the overpowering cat-pee smell that it usually is. The sickly sweetness of carnation is beautifully balanced by the earthiness of the fig and the green tea, while a delicate smell in itself, works well here to round the blend off. The opopanax (possibly my favourite note) grounds the whole thing. A gorgeous dark, mysterious scent. A keeper!

This smells exactly like Miskatonic University to me. The Irish Coffee note stands out too much on my skin.

Vetiver isn't usually a dealbreaker for me, but it's just too strong in this blend. I don't get anything else.

Wet - WAAGH booze! I smell like I should be at an AA meeting. Drydown - Whew, booze has gone! This smells like Schrodinger's Cat's younger sister, prancing about in pink glitter. Sweet and citrusy and light, but sweet. This may be worth a bottle.

Not sure I like this, which is a shame as it's the first LE I've tried in ages! The anise and vetiver go POW when I first put it on, they stay strong and sharp for about 5 minutes, and then... it goes. Totally gone. Not even a whiff of scent. How strange...

If you emailed the Lab at Answers they should respond to you quite soon, their customer service has always been excellent for me. I imagine they will send you your order even if the scents come down before you pay - they always have some left over, and you have asked for a shipping quote before the scents came down.

Then I'll put my response in the right thread too

Wow, this is like covering your arm in candyfloss and blackcurrant sweets! I'm not an expert with sugary scents, so sorry for lack of technicalities and expertise here. Candy Phoenix reminds me a lot of Midway (I think it's midway... a very "pink" sweet candyfloss fruity one?). It has the same fruity, sticky sweetness, but for some reason it isn't as sharp and cloying. I get a lot of blackcurrant and pomegranate. To me, this is nothing like the boozy, creme-brulee, caramel-esque sugariness of Sugar Skull and Smut

Well, whadda y'know, it turned up today Guess I got caught in the no-CnS business!

Thank you for the response. I will wait and see if it shows up

I agree with what has been said upthread. Some sort of email confirmation from the Lab itself would be very nice, I think, and as well as peace of mind it would allow mistakes and problems to be spotted much earlier. cam is right; the PayPal receipt (I've only ever used PayPal) only proves that you sent the money, it doesn't prove that the Lab got your order.

I ordered a couple of Anniversary scents on November 18th. I haven't had a CnS yet, and looking in the CnS thread, US customers are getting them for orders placed on the 30th. Have the Lab misplaced my order, or have they not sent out the International batch yet? Either way, it won't arrive for Christmas

I ordered some Anniversary smellies on November 18th. Have any Internationals had any CnSs from around that time, because I'm still waiting for mine..? US customers are getting CnSs for orders placed on the 30th... (PS. Is there a better place to post this?)

I've never had that happen to me, and I use PayPal all the time. Are you Verified with PayPal? In either case, I would email the Lab ASAP. They'll probably let you send two smaller payments, as PayPal suggest, while they sort out the spending limit thing.

The scent is indeed vanilla (which, as always, is lovely and sweet on me) and lavender, with the traditional sharpness of lavender essential oil tempered by the sweet vanilla. Even if it doesn't make me actually sleep, it's a lovely, soft, relaxing scent that makes me feel calm and will hopefully ease my falling-asleep process. I go through phases of bad insomnia, and frankly even prescription drugs don't help me sleep then, so it looks like TKO will at least ease the anxiety I feel every evening when contemplating the restless hours ahead.

I got this from the Lab when it was new, and I didn't like it much then (too sharp and lemony). However, I broke it out again today for my Quantum Mechanics exam, and I was delighted to find that it has aged wonderfully in the few months I've had it! The main thing I can smell is sherbert lemons. I can only assume this is the sugared fruits coming in to play. For the first half-hour of wear, the Kitty is very nice and light and bright (never fear, citrus-haters, it's very sweet). After that, the bright, citrus top notes disappear leaving a sweet, but not tooth-achingly so, musky undertone. I can't get any lavender out of it at any stage. I guess the musky drydown is the oakmoss and chocolate.

I was frimped a sniffie of this, and I must admit that I'm glad I don't like it. All I get out of it is "feet covered in hair dye". Don't ask me where I get that from, but to me I can smell sweaty-feet-stink with the pervading chemical tang of ammonia-based hair dye. Oh well!

Although nice, this scent is "meh" for me. I love woody scents and I was hoping this could be a new Geek, but it doesn't have the complexity. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely scent, but on me it's just straight "wood", with no mint, lemon or anything else to spice it up. It fades quickly. If this was a regular price GC I'd go for it, but at $25 a bottle it's a little pricey when there are nicer woody blends for the same price tag (The Smiling Spider).

Warm cinnamon, husky clove and white pepper. I was lucky enough to acquire a bottle of the Resurrected incarnation. In the vial and wet, this is all CINNAMON. Spicy spicy spice with no sign of the clove or pepper - it's like I upended a pot of cinnamon onto my wrist. As nice as cinnamon is, it's very strong. On the drydown, the overwhelming cinnamon thankfully fades a little. I can detect a whiff of the clove, and the smooth pepper is coming out to play. Dry, this is a stunning scent. The cinnamon and clove are still there, over the smooth sweetness of white pepper. So glad I managed to get a bottle!

I definitely get the fir from this when I first put it on. It's a sharp, bright, "clean" scent when wet. The fir mellows after a few minutes to be much warmer, and less artificial. It's a very pleasant "green" scent at this point. It stays like this for a half-hour or so and then... disappears. All that's left is a light, slightly musky scent which is hard to place. Odd behaviour, but very nice!

The whole thing just screams manliness and sophistication. It is indeed quite dry, with woods and spices, and thankfully completely free of the sickening "Lynx effect" sweetness that so many masculine scents unfortunately have. Although it is manly, it retains a touch of femininity with the spices and the hint of rose (I normally hate rose, so don't worry, fellow haters, the rose is not prominent at all!). In general it evokes the same feeling as Geek - although the scents are completely dissimilar apart from the woods, it has that same "manly but feminine" feel. I love Geek too, so this is right up my alley! Looking at the notes, I can't smell any rum at all and I have no idea what chypre is, but the musk, woods and patchouli all make themselves known. The rose and currant show up after the drydown as quirky extras, stopping this from smelling too much like aftershave.

The UK Post Office won't send alcohol overseas either, so when they ask what my packages contain I just tell them "soap" or "body lotion" or something. BPAL does not contain any alcohol, as far as I'm aware.

Well, the pineapple and booze definitely make themselves known! This is a sweet, boozy scent, definitely for the evening. The coconut and vanilla mix well to create a smooth undertone and the rum gives it a heady tang. As I said it's not a day scent, but for warm summer evenings (and cold winter ones where you wish it was warm!). Rum and boozy notes in a scent are an acquired taste, I think; at first they smell like, well, booze, then they usually mellow into a sweet rounded scent. This is a very nice warm scent. It's comforting and at the same time tropical and exciting. A nice scent that I'm sure I'll be reaching for often - plus the bottle art is awesome.

Coconut is always a prominent note on me, so the King is mostly that! The whole thing is heavily reminiscent of Brown Jenkins, with the musk and the bark, but it strikes me as a little more regal and slightly more unisex. The lemon lifts the coconut to a less cloying feel than usual. Incidentally, two guys I asked the opinions of on this smelt mint and spices, although the verdict was still "nice". And very different to how it smells in the bottle!