sprout

I am surprised I have not reviewed this yet as I'm on my 3rd bottle! Now, I try to score an imp with every other order or so to keep the supply steady. If you are picking up on any narcotic references in this review, it's because this essential oil blend is narcotic in the original sense of the word: sleep inducing. More on that point later.

 

For those haters complaining that this formula is too sharp or high pitched, age it a little. You don't have to cellar it, about 3 months is all it takes to take the edge off. Now, patience is a virtue as is said, and if you have the patience to age it 6 months or longer, it really mellows. I am not the best guesser when it comes to no notes named creations but I think there's consistency in the reviews that there's a healthy amount of jasmine and lavender in the bottle. I'd also wager a guess there's some rose and chamomile. Maybe some thyme or lilac or moonrose. On skin, jasmine and the floral constituents amplify over the lavender. Of course it stands to reason that my skin noms the lavender, it loves everything I want to project...

 

If I want to smell more of the lavender note as I drift off to sleep, I've found that dribbling some drops of the Somnus on a handkerchief (let's be real here, I'm not a fancy lady and I really mean an old singleton sock that lost it's twin) will let the lovely lavender note waft about and last for hours, nay days, and give it a chance to outshine the jasmine. If you prefer it on skin, layering with other oil blends with lavender will help concentrate that note of course. If you like the soporific effect of Somnus but prefer the lavender benzoin marshmallows smell of TKO, that's a winning pair. This is a fairly unidirectional fragrance as it stays it's jasmine lavender self until late in the wearing where I suspect the rose is the culprit in making it powdery. The middle phase is more jasmine rose and less lavender, unless you use the handkerchief (sock).

 

As to the soporific effect, this is potent! Until I tried TAL Ebon Night, I thought it was the most effective sleep oil from the Lab. As with most sleep remedies, I've found that it loses effectiveness if I use it too many nights in succession. Insomnia is difficult to overcome.

That being said, this is very effective and impable. And if jasmine isn't your thing but you like the soporific effect, give it a try on linens rather than skin. I think that circumvents the dreaded cat pee effect too. On the other hand, if you don't care for the smell of jasmine, steer clear of Somnus. TKO or Baku may be what you are searching for.

 

Now, with this being the most effective sleep oil and my preference of the scent after it's aged 9 months or more, you can see how I keep a few bottles aging on hand. Of the sleep blends I've tried, I actually like the smell of Baku the best, yes even more than TKO, which some will find heretical. But if TKO is a technical knock out metaphorically, Somnus is a straight to the jaw blow from Tyson that leaves you irrefutably unconscious.

Does anyone know of any scents similar to Zorya P? I am absolutely in love with the blueness of the vanilla.

I tried Pediophobia and I think the tobacco gave me similar impressions, but it just wasn't "blue" enough, if that makes sense?

I'm sorry for suggesting a rare, but Edith Cushing could be it. It's definitely similar with the whispy ethereal vanilla and ambergris. Ava from the Only Lovers Left Alive is also in the same family, as is Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending...also HTF

 

Lyonesse could be a GC close cousin.

This was hands down my favorite scent of the Hymn to Fortuna. The motherwort and cedar aren't especially prominent or my skin noms them or they meld with everything else.

 

White ambrette must be similar to the Lab's ambergris or White Amber note because I just love this like other scents with those notes. The ambrette gives the top notes a musky base like sweet, clean skin.

 

Early, wet phase is floral green tea with restrained peony. As this unfolds, the jasmine and bergamot ascend in potency with the green tea holding it all together. This smells natural and feminine and I get the association with babies and young mothers. I am craving sweet and fresh but not straight aquatic fragrances for Spring and this fills that niche perfectly.

 

The beauty of the ambrette is it never becomes powdery or dry. Sometimes ambrette is sort of nutty but as this is identified as white ambrette, maybe it's different from the other kind? If you were worried about the cedar, it's not overbearing, as it sometimes goes hamster cage on my skinistry but I don't think I can detect it at all.

 

This didn't last more than 4 to 5 hours but I'm more than happy to reapply for the wet phase. I truly expected something more herbal and unwearable but this is gorgeous. The bergamot isn't sharp as I thought it was sweet orange or orange blossoms until I consulted the notes.

 

If you are a fan of ambrette, ambergris, or tea blends like The Dormouse, this is a must try. This actually smells like a more complex Dormouse with the ambrette.

 

Undoubtedly I'll utilize the imp and need at least one full bottle, perhaps 2.

Another happy customer for Dana O'Shee bath oil here: it smells very much like the Lab scent, but (agreed with Milo above that it resembles) the fresh version. Of course I've found that the Post products scents age in a similar fashion to the Lab's.

 

Fresh Dana O'Shee smells like honeyed cream with a hint of grains. The scent is soft, comforting, and reminds me of products like Burts Baby Bee creams, without smelling like them. There's a similarity to baby oil also. This fragrance garnered a compliment from the partner, who almost never notices although not sure if the scent was the hair gloss or the bath oil as I was wearing both to double up the good smells. The oil and hair gloss smell identical on me. I also get a smell association with pearls with the scent, similar to Fluerette's Purple Snails (no violet or orris, just a silky smell).

 

Nota bona: I utilize the bath oils in the shower, as I rarely take time out for a bath, although I've tried bath oil as originally intended also. Usually I moisturize post shower, while still dripping wet, and towel dry after giving time for the oil to absorb (hopefully that isn't TMI, but I think I capitalized on the moisturizing aspect best with this method and it's incredibly dessicating this time of year in the mile high city).

 

TL;DR: Lovely, soft scent evocative of a baby bathed in honeyed cream with cereal that's very similar to fresh Dana O'Shee from the Lab. Scent has good sillage but limited longevity as an after shower moisturizer. Love this and wish I had moar.

That you Sprout that really is an amazing list! I definitely saw a few to pique my curiosity

And thanks as well Ziggy.

 

Last night I layered Antique Lace and TKO and while TKO dominated as I fell to sleep when I woke up all bleary eyed at 6am I swore my husband was baking vanilla cookies. When I woke up again at 8 I realized that was what 10 hours of faded AL/TKO was. Delicious vanilla cookies. So now I'm on the hunt for a basic Vanilla cookies/Pure vanilla extract scent.

For me, Sugar Cookie is that quintessential vanilla, foodie scent. I saw it being sold in the thread here recently...

 

I'm going to try your AL + TKO combination. I'll have to wait for night though to test because TKO is associated with falling asleep on lavender marshmallow clouds in my mind, so I'm afraid it will be too relaxing for daytime wear...

Additional honey favourites from 2017

Audumla (possibly my favorite yet, although I like a lot of honey scents)

Honey Snowballs

Hanerot Halalu (beeswax)

Lots of new bakery scents in the last few years, so I'm necro bumping so you guys can help complete the lists of our favorites

 

Boo (marshmallows)

The Gorobble (melty marshmallows)

Stekjarstaurr, Stale Sugar-crusted Marshmallow Chick (marshmallows)

Gollettes (strawberry donut)

Monsterbait Underpants (sexy cake)

Monsterbait Closet and Underbed (different dessert cake confectionery things) Bloody Mary (cherry dessert)

Sugar Cookie

Beaver Moon 05 (cheesecake)

Spooky and Tokyo Stomp (thin mint cookies)

Heck on Wheels (red velvet cake)

Mari Lywd (Lavender cake)

Jolasveinar (violet and pastries)

Gingerbread Poppet and Flesh Eating Reindeer from Uranus (gingerbread)

Huesos de Santo, Gunpowder (orange and carrot cake)

Sprinkle Cake (Lilith cupcake)

Cake Smash (self explanatory)

Very Pink Surprise Cake

Liliths Bubblegum and Roses

Liliths Tea Party (roses, tea, and pastries)

Braving the Ice (iced mint cookies)

Frosted Pumpkin Spice Cookie, Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcake

Splatter Comedy, The 12th (banana cream pie)

Cheshire Moon (creamy cake)

Mystical Aphorisms of the Fortune Cookie (almond cookies)

Great London Spaghetti Hunt (tiramisu)

My Little Grotesque (cardamom cupcakes)

Little More Tea (tea and cookies)

Knock Out Drops (lemon cookies)

Baby's First Con Panel (chocolate chip cookies and pretzels)

Anne Beany (rum cake)

Pralines and Powdered Sugar (seen on etsy, recently!)

Teatime in Roswell (Battenberg Cake, but faint)

Chocolate Stout Cupcake

Hard Cider Cake

Salted Caramel Shortbread

Gattepefur (buttered bread and marmalade)

Strawberry, Raspberry and Black Current Sufganiyot

Brunch Witches (pancakes)

Little Lady MacBeth (red currant honey cake)

King Cake

Take a Knee, Star Promenade (Apple pie)

Gingerbread Lust, Goblin, Sin, Dodo, Cathedral, Satyr

Gingerbread, Red Fruits and Jam

Gingerbread, Vetiver and Black Clove

Gingerbread, Orange Peel and Champaca Flower

Gingerbread, Vanilla and Pink Pepper

Gingerbread, Mint, and Matcha Tea

Cinnamon Chai Cupcake

Cardamom Cream Pumpkin Cake

Pumpkin Brownies

Feeding the Dead

Singularly At Ease (scones, cookies, rum cake)

I'm surprised no one else mentioned some of the best scents in the GC for vanilla...

 

Tamora

Morocco (my favorite, it's definitely better aged though)

Les Serpent Qui Danse

Tombstone

Cockaigne (best bakery smell ever)

Stimulating Sassafrass Strengthener (root beer like)

Dragon's Milk

 

Seconding earlier recs for Eat Me,Lyonesse, and Mouse's Long and Sad Tale

 

Other foodie or sweet goodies include

Drink Me

Knave of Hearts (berry tarts with rosewater)

Hunger

Bordello

Alice (creamy milk tea floral)

Voodoo, Hellcat, Queen, Horn of Plenty (almond yummy)

Chimera, Shub Niggurath (cinnamon rolls + resins)

Dana O'Shee (cereal and milk)

Eclipse (described as almond, I love the vanilla drydown)

Bliss (chocolate) Vice (chocolate cherry)

Miskatonic University (Irish Coffee)

Bengal (vanilla chai tea)

Mr Nancy (cookies)

Hobbit (pastries)

Lemon Scented Sticky Bat (lemon sorbet)

Brown Jenkin (coconut, sweet)

Candy Butcher (unimpable but probably easier to find decants)

Sudha Sugara (honey milk)

 

Limited edition stuff that may be harder to track down (but worth finding decants)

Boo (marshmallows)

The Gorobble (melty marshmallows)

Gollettes (strawberry donut)

Monsterbait Underpants (sexy cake)

Monsterbait Closet and Underbed (different dessert cake confectionery things) Bloody Mary (cherry dessert)

Sugar Cookie

Egg Nog

Beaver Moon 05 (cheesecake)

Spooky and Tokyo Stomp (thin mint cookies)

Punkie Night (my favorite cider scent)

Midway (funnel cake)

Mari Lwyd (Lavender cake)

Jolasveinar (violet and pastries)

Gingerbread Poppet and Flesh Eating Reindeer from Uranus (gingerbread)

Huesos de Santo, Gunpowder (orange and carrot cake)

Sprinkle Cake (Lilith cupcake)

Cake Smash (self explanatory)

Very Pink Surprise Cake

Liliths Bubblegum and Roses

Liliths Tea Party (roses, tea, and pastries)

Braving the Ice (iced mint cookies)

Pumpkin Spice Cookie, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Pumpkin Marshmallow

Splatter Comedy, The 12th (banana cream pie)

Candy Phoenix, Kingdom of Sweets, Devil will find work for Idle Hands, Battle Fairy in Training, Sticky Eyeballs and Floppy Entrails, Sticky Pillowcase (candy)

Cheshire Moon (creamy cake)

Great London Spaghetti Hunt (tiramisu)

My Little Grotesque (cardamom cupcakes)

Little More Tea (tea and cookies)

Knock Out Drops (lemon cookies)

Anne Beany (rum cake)

Pralines and Powdered Sugar (seen on etsy, recently!)

Teatime in Roswell (Battenberg Cake, but faint)

Chocolate Stout Cupcake

Peppermint Cream Cupcake

Hard Cider Cake

Strawberry, Raspberry and Black Currant Sufganiyot

...

All that I can think of at the moment, I'll add to the post via edit as I think of more

) light, delicate honeyed white florals: Do The Dancing Maidens Sleep, Oleander Honey, Honey Moon 05, Fiat Nox Gennivre, L'artiste Du Diable, Alice, Osun, Thaleia (Muse), Zarita the Doll Girl, Hetaire, Yellow Jessamine Honey, Door, Only Lovers Left alive: Hal, Harikata, Orgy with 9 Women

2) sunny orange citrus: Et Lux Fuit, Alumna,

3) rain-drenched earthy florals: I'm no help here...

4) straight honey: Audumla, Sweets to the Sweet

5) aquatic ocean, like a pirate galleon scent: Windward Passage, Thalassia

6) always down for great woodsy/forestry Scents, especially with cedar: Lear, Cordelia, Yggdrasil, the Jersey Devil, Black Forest

 

HTH

 

Also, there's subthreads in the Recommendations forum for individual florals, Honey, Orange, and I Want to Smell Like Forest...

 

http://www.bpal.org/topic/10948-a-short-guide-to-common-recommendations-with-direct-links/?do=findComment&comment=166667

This savage veil is more of a dark, velvety curtain. This is plum dominated with tobacco, patchouli, and nutmeg evenly supporting.

 

Plum tends to be sweet (tbh my skin seems to make many notes sweet) and the patchouli is smooth and more woody than dirty. I don't really perceive spice in this, it's more dry resin sweetened up by plum.

 

This could be worn by man or woman and definitely evokes a sense of darkness and brooding. I would say it's a less fruity (no pomegranate) and more unisex Moriarty. It also reminds me of a previous Pickman Gallery scent: The Witches Route (The Carcass) but where that was dry owing to the sandalwood, this is less so.

 

This is evocative and certainly befitting the Eryines. That being said, I love this and will treasure the bottle. Benefits going to help RAINN makes me happy.

 

Just popping in here to gush about how amazing 'Snaky-Hair’d Moirai Many-Form’d' is. Its slightly sweet chewy tobacco smoke with long staying power.

 

I can't wait to get my bottle of this!!

Me too. It sounds divine. Which is fitting

This is pure cranberry jelly for me. The neroli really is just a hint. I love this, it really brightens the atmosphere during the middle of Winter when green growing things and fresh fruit are a pale memory.

 

This is fruity and sweet with a zingy punch from the orange of the neroli. If you like the cranberry in The Jersey Devil, you'll love this.

This is the winter version of Midnight in a Silent Grove. It's also probably the closest I'm going to get to chilly night sky above a fir forest, which was Nocnitsa...

 

Sweet snow, pine resin(similar to fir) and maybe a hint of ambergris to give it a sense of air? Perhaps a bit of Spanish moss to represent the forest floor.

 

I'll need a big bottle.

I understand the Vicks Vapor Rub references but this is so much better, minty, slightly floral, with a hint of ozone, nice & cooling. Eucalyptus is a favorite note and it's here in spades, as the blossoms. This also has some spearmint I think with a sweet leaning very fresh aquatic note.

 

I was initially not especially wow'd by this then I kept catching whiffs of something gorgeous! It was Hypothermia on drydown.

 

I am surprised this isn't wildly popular. The dry phase is sweet, vanillic, hazy shade of Winter. It vaguely resembles Snow White but no coconut or pineapple/melon. It's closer to the drydown of Snowflakes 2006, which is one of my first snowy BPAL loves. I'm willing to wager there's a healthy amount of benzoin in it. This closest I can come to describing this is the fluffy, slightly vanilla part of TKO without the lavender.

 

I may need more than one bottle...

The jasmine is in the forefront of this in the first few minutes with a frankincense note giving it an airy quality. Jasmine sambac has a very subtropical, Southern nights association for me. The black currant is on the limit of my ability to detect it. It brings sweetness to the composition.

 

Drying this becomes more of a skin scent. The Amber assuming a fuzzy, soft character. The jasmine is much less in evidence on drydown, where this scent becomes mostly resin. It's well integrated, especially for a less aged oil. The sweetness of the currant marries nicely with the caramel and Amber. Often caramel amps on me, but this scent isn't gourmand and you won't be mistaken for dessert.

 

In summation, this starts like a fruity floral but it's more Southern belle femme fatale than teeny bopper juice. The jasmine bows out on the drydown and leaves the caramelized Amber and black currant fusion. This is really unique and unlike anything else in my collection.

 

If you are a fan of the black currant note from Sufganiyot and weren't put off by the jasmine note, you will probably love this.

Compelled to add A Wild and Naughty Girl to the recommended tobacco scents. Smells like smoking clove tobacco cigarettes in a goth club.

Harlot, Seraglio, or Jezebel may be worth a sample. These are all an incense plus roses smell. None are too green.

 

Lilith is a musky, resinous rose with myrrh. Venice is a wildcard suggestion, but is a full bodied red rose with sandalwood in the mix.

 

If Rose Cross isn't what you're looking for, I would suggest Beauty, The Agrieved. Reviews describe it as incense plus roses. It has more than frankincense, it has frankincense, roses, myrrh, and sandalwood.

No cologne to my nose, this is tears and white roses. If you have been missing Penthus, which was discon'd a few years ago, I'd consider this as a close sub. although it's lacking the incense note. It also reminds me of Pool of Tears from the Mad Tea Party collection. Think a rose predominant Alice drowning in salty tears.

 

It's rare that I find a rose that doesn't go soapy or powdery on my skinistry. The misted roses is apt. Reminds me of The Fairy Thorn, in that it's a haunting, wistful rose.

 

Roses in blends dictate that I try before I buy and this is one of the few that work. You definitely have to love the salty tears note to enjoy this. I'm planning on a bottle.

Started off like October and finished with the smooth as a proverbial baby's butt patchouli from Banshee Beat (Revenant Rhythm).

 

The dead leaves note is the one that smells like bell peppers. The vetiver is dry, vegetal, and slightly grassy, not Barbecue like.

 

I know I'm damming this with faint praise but that bonfire note is very accurate and I really like it.

 

I was going to buy a bottle of October but given this smells better than that on the drydown, I'll get this instead. I'm hoping that the bell peppers accord mellows out and smells more like dead leaves after some age. In my prior experience with this accord, that's what happens so I feel it's a calculated risk in my favor. Thank goodness, I don't smell anything like a metallic note as those tend to go high pitched, cheap drug store body spray for all the young dudes on me.

 

So, to recap, this unfolds with the dead leaves note, segues into a walk in a forest with moss and leaves, a bonfire in the distance, and gradually fades to the drydown of Banshee Beat with slightly more patchouli and less vanilla.

Perfect chocolate martini. Leather note is missing in action. My skin noms leather so your mileage may vary.

 

This is surprisingly good.

 

Bottle or partial bottle upgrade...

Fledgling Raptor Moon

First whiff wet on skin my nose reads pumpkin spice predominantly with little gourd.

 

Early in the dry phase, this gets more gourmand, there's a hint of pumpkin, spice, coconut, florals of the soft and tropical variety, and a squirt of lime rounded out by lemongrass. Confused yet? It's possibly luminescent but I'd love to taste it. It actually smells like some Thai dessert thingie, or maybe my imagination is out on a limb. Like lime meringue with pumpkin spice sugar and coconut flakes.

 

The heart is where this becomes interesting. The white Amber and glassy musk join the party. The pumpkin spice is more in the background, the floral and citrus are a fading memory but the green coconut adds grounding and sweetness. To be fair, my skin makes most scents sweet so YMMV.

 

This lasted a long, long time and the late drydown was glorious "glassy " musk and pale Amber. Being a white Amber whore, I couldn't be happier.

 

Shoggoth is one of the sleeper hits of the general catalog so I'm not surprised that this doesn't have many reviews. I personally think I am not the best reviewer and I struggle to describe what I smell so I'm probably not doing this justice. This and Violent Gestisticulations are my favourite scents of this update so far. That's saying something because there are many, many fine perfumes amongst the 2017 Weenies. I'm going to violate my no backups rule for this one. It's really more of a guideline...

 

TL;DR: gourmandy pumpkin spice green coconut Amber. And it's definitely scintillating. If I had to assign a color, this would be radioactive seafoam green with a hint of seashell pink swirl sprinkled with gold and orange glitter sprinkles.

In Hideous Darkness may take the crown as my new favorite tobacco scent.

 

Seven Word Story Lust hasn't been mentioned yet and it's a gritty, chewy tobacco, after the tart pomegranate calms the f down.

 

7WS Sloth is absofrackinlootley gorgeous.

 

Just tried Court of Honor, which has a nice tobacco, supported by the sandalwood. It's reading on the more masculine end of the androgynous continuum but as it dries the ambergris sweetened it some.

 

Groan of Mortal Terror reminds me of Antikythera Mechanism without the vanilla or teak...I think I'll retry after a few weeks. It's very airy and dry.

Yule update from last year had The Magpie (technically a corvid not to be a ornithology nerd or anything)

Mossy Graveyard dirt with a hint of airy frankincense in the air. For this nose, mostly dirt and moss with a hint of frankincense. No cologne note, thankfully. So, like Yorick burning some incense.

 

This is more dry than loam-y.

 

 

 

I'm not really a fan of the dirt blends but I like this. I'll keep it for when I want to smell like dirt and leaves. I'd love this as an atmosphere scent.