RoseThornAndOak
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Everything posted by RoseThornAndOak
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Red Rose, Black Pepper, & Black Vegetal Musk
RoseThornAndOak replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
I agree this has a similar vibe to some of the Liliths! This reminds me of one in particular, Sentence First, Verdict Afterwards. I wager they share the same red rose note. The black pepper doesn't come across as cooking spice at all, more like a carnation, like if rose was a carnation. The black musk in this doesn't smell sharp, which was a pleasant surprise. Black musk can go absolutely, unbearably astringent and chemical. Well none of that here. If anything, it lends a soft, sweet powdery musk vibe, more Egyptian Musk than anything. Sentence First, Verdict Afterwards reminds me a hella lot of Alchemic Muse's Phantasm, which I absolutely love. The overall effect is basically, I dunno...floral goth tomb powder musk? This is very much like that, too. Althought it shares similarities to Akima Botanicals Pepperose, this reads way softer especially as it dries down. I'm tempted to pick this up, but I already have a full of SFVA and Phantasm as well as a whipped soap. Up close, RRBPBVM smells a tad wonky, just slightly so, but I have to dig my nose in to find it. The waft/sillage is where the bread and butter is, though. Although I wish this wasn't as similar to things I already own, I'm glad it absolutely exceeded my expectations and fears. At the very least a keeper, I may cave and get a bottle anyway before these come down! -
There are pretty, soft notes in this that I love, like a soft blanket. The lilac isn't too sharp or green, just soft and light purple hued. The beeswax gives it a nice candlelit glow. Champaca and smoke don't stick out to me too much, but add to the overall haze. That damned agarwood though, had to be a punk and ruin my parade. Had to be that punk who screws things up just enough where a lot of people wouldn't notice at the party, but you definitely did. Threw a sharp-ass knife clear 'cross the kitchen when I was putting the cute little ritual flower candle shit together, knocked the candles over and made a big mess making me look bad. Punk.
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White Chocolate, Pink Carnation, Coconut Cream, and Clove
RoseThornAndOak replied to Seajewel's topic in Lupercalia
Well I don't think this one's gonna work on me, yet. It might be the coconut or the blend of the notes, but something is making this go plastic on me, which is a shame. Toasty coconut plastic. I was hoping for something akin to The Last Unicorn or Lavanila Coconut, but there is a toasted bit in this that isn't going right sadly. I'll hold on to it and let it age, maybe I'll get more of what others are getting. Could be my nose is still not up to snuff. Dangit, dude. -
Well it's alright. The cinnamon gave me a reaction but I was a dummy and tried it on my inner elbow. I think this is the same gingerbread as Gingerbread and Leather, so that's a plus. The sticky buns do smell like sticky buns. Thankfully, the reaction goes away and the cinnamon doesn't go into wet cigarette wrapper territory on my skin (a miracle). It is a bit more papery than I would like. I'll keep the decant for the holidays, but will reach for G&L more. On the right skin this would be glorious.
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Oo this is nice! Reminiscent of sixteen92, Pulp Fragrances, or Strange South atmospheric blends, this evokes an image in your head. it makes me think of Gettysburg or Yorktown during a reenactment. There's those summer drought, toasted dry grass smells, with smoke and metal in the air. Probably don't need more than a decant, but this would make a great room or car spray or a great layering squad for floral or graveyard blends. A bit of woods come out later. Very nice, glad I went for it!
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It's ok. It creeps a little too close to jasmine honeysuckle toilet cake thing which although smells pleasant, I can't shake the roadside rest area association. It could be the iris having that effect as well. The best part is way later in the day, when everything softens and glows up in a summer symphony of good breeze smells, but takes too long to get there for me sadly, which is a shame because this stage is gorgeous!. I'll hold on to the decant and gravitate towards the Louisiana duets for honeysuckle. However, I have had decent luck getting to the later stages of a blend by gently washing off the top notes with a little bit of soap and water about 15-20 minutes after application, so I may try that!
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A mighty fine aquatic ozone softened around the edges by amber. It's pleasant enough, if I had bought a full size I would've kept it, but the decant will suffice.
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Might be too early to tell, I've had this on for about 2 hours, but my experience so far is pretty close to @VetchVesper. I totally can see the apple blossom connection! At first this smells like how a box of imps smells to me: that mix of resins, florals, and other bits and bobz. I took about an hour nap, and woke up wondering what smelled so nice and clean. Yep, it's One Girl! She's kinda got a sweet, sophisticated, powdery floral thing going on. I reckon I can tag incense, that might actually be where some of that lovely clean vibe is coming from. Reminds me of Midnight on The Midway, slightly aquatic. I do get a teeny bit of fruit in the back, but it doesn't read apple to me, just vagually fruit, but mostly floral. Couldn't tell you which floral dominates, but wisteria and I usually gel, and we party here, too! Not quite what I was hoping it would be, but not at all what I feared could happen. I actually really like this a lot and glad I picked it up this year!
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What the fuck. This is that brown and cream, textured, hooded sweater cloak thing you would've never in a million years picked up at the thrift store but your friend slaps it on you and managed to dress you better than you have yourself the past 20 years. Then you finally feel like the Middle Earth badass that you know you are. Rogue Lace, alright. I'll probably get it.
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I think it's time to admit the pumpkin note is not my absolute best as I have had little luck. The pumpkin offerings this year were no different. Here, it goes chemical, then vegetal pumpkin + wet cigarette paper + AM. The good news is, AM is prominent, and aging + wear time help it gather it's strength. It fairs far better than Pumpkin Spice AM, which went indolic, so I will hold on to the decant just in case, because as Elysian above says, AM only gets richer. If you love Lab pumpkin and love AM more, this may be your jam. I'll be sticking with regular old AM and keeping an eye out for other iterations.
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LOVE The Antikythera Mechanism, any suggestions?
RoseThornAndOak replied to coffin.baby's topic in Recommendations
No Man Is an Island! -
Let me help you outta the chair g g grandmaaa Oh wow this is nice! Although Grandma would've smelled great if she wore this, I don't really get Grandma vibes. This makes me think of unicorns. It's a light, powdery orris floral, not as soapy as Moonflower and Orris, yet clean, fresh, and soft. This is more like what I wanted out of M&O and it delivers. I can get behind the ethereal ghost description too, totally apt. It's like a sleepy ghost unicorn. Glad I didn't snooze on a decant, considering a full bottle.
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Trumpet Honeysuckle & Lemon Beebalm
RoseThornAndOak replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
I don't have much to add, the above reviews are similiar to my experience. The lemon bee balm comes across like if the herb lemon balm was more realistically lemony, or if lemon verbena was more like lemon, so theres an herbal edge somewhat. The honeysuckle is heady, I currently get it more in the final drydown. This is more like what I wanted out of New Orleans, a heady, deep, realistic honeysuckle that isn't too soapy. Very timeless, lovely, and underrated in my opinion. It skyrocketed above many of my favorite florals from BPAL. Great job, Lab! -
Parosmia review again just fair warning, but I wanted to share my thoughts on this while it is still in stock because when my nose is working properly this scent is quite beautiful. It starts out honeylike, sweet and green, almost herbal, like if a flower had an herbal edge. Realistically stemmy, it brings to mind a weed hedge along a field. Very atmospheric in that sense. The final drydown though, whooo boy, is this beautiful floral remniscent of lilies, like the lily note in Sun, Moon, and Stars by Karl Lagerfeld which includes water lily and lily of the valley among other florals. The scent always reminds me of preschool in the early 90s, I think one of the teachers wore it. This has more of a natural edge to it. This has a depth and non-commercial edge to it that I like more I think, although I'd have to do a side by side comparison of course. I haven't been to Louisiana but growing up and travelling in the south this does have a southern feel. I could picture wafts of this blend in the summer breeze now and then and not being out of place. Although it doesn't need anything, it would layer beautifully with a dirt note for a more southern graveyard feel. One of my favorite duets. I just checked and it is still in stock, so I highly recommend grabbing it if you like realistic florals!
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Oo this is nice! Still suffering from parosmia but from what I can make out, there's a good amount of marble and chalky bits that remind me of Klosterruine somewhat. Sadly Kloster smells all kinds of messed up to my nose right now, so I'm just gonna wait on it. This reminds me of the sweet bits of Kloster that I remember, kinda like a cross between Kloster and Grey Columns, minus the frankincense, incense, and snow, and adding vanilla, dry cacao and white amber. This is much more off white, definitely ivory hued. There's a Limestone Amber vibe to it, if you catch my drift, but without the fruity amber vibe, more white, chalky vanilla amber with dry cacao supporting. The tobacco briefly lends a slight, dry, vegetal note in the beginning, like those dry mosses that grow on rubble, but don't be misled, this is mostly about the sweet, vanilla cacao chalk. The tobacco quickly loses the vegetal vibe and grows more pale, smooth, and dessicated as it wears, which I'm happy with because it's downright sexy and reminds me of the tobacco in Lycan Lace a bit. Yes!! It makes me think of the marble statues in Queen of The Damned. This is reminiscent of Muddy Armadillo, but plays much better on my skin personally, so if you liked that one or wanted something a little different from it, I recommend this! Very nice blend. I think this will age beautifully. Very happy to have blind bought this!
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Vanilla Bean, Marshmallow, and Benzoin
RoseThornAndOak replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
Parosmia sucks but I've been able to find some blends that still smell beautiful and this is definitely one of them! In the bottle and freshly applied there's slightly toasted marshmallow and Antique Lace vanilla. It's not smoky in any way, just that ever so slight cooky vibe that the toasted bit can smell like. Some marshmallow and vanilla notes can go plasticine, drugstore, or cloying but there's none of that here. After a while, the sweet benzoin blooms and anchors the marshmallow and vanilla notes into something extra, ancient, and goddessy. The benzoin isn't coming across like a dark resin. It's more like if a resin was lighter, sweeter, more vanilla-like but adding a touch of depth and intrigue. It kinds reminds me of Ghost Milk with the high end vibe, but it is still it's own scent. I wouldn't say this is a dupe for Stekk or AL but if you missed out on those and want something similar with a sweet resinous note, go for it! For fans of Stekk, AL, Ghost Milk, and Grey Columns. Low throw and wear length. More throw than Grey Columns, less than Ghost Milk. -
Klosterruine Im Winter Mit Blick Auf Heisterbach
RoseThornAndOak replied to Belladonnastrap's topic in Yules
This one used to be a cool snow and marble/stone blend that I really enjoyed. The frankincense made it reminiscent of Philospher in Meditation. Unfortunately, this goes weird on me now, too. Just enough acrid to be off putting. It's sad, because it was a nice blend when it worked. Might keep as an atmos since my skin has obviously decided to go on strike. -
I didn't have high hopes for this one as Midway doesn't work on me but I did at least used to like Lust. Red musk blends have turned powdery and sometimes acrid on my skin recently, this one is mostly a powdery sweetness that unfortunately doesn't work. Wallet's happy, though.
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Unfortunately this is also the pumpkin spice note that doesn't vibe well on my skin. It's weird I don't get much Morocco, which is a scent I like. My wallet's happy though.
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I love the original Lemon Scented Sticky Bat, but the addition of pumpkin made this go full Fruit Loops on me.
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Cypress is dominant on me, too. Comparing side by side to another Spanish Moss blend, this comes across as a piney oakmoss to me. It's okay, calming, probably use it in my car, more atmospheric than wearable on me but it does kind of make me think of a swamp vampires would dump bodies in, lol.
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I lucked out and found a decant of this. It's violet dominant, more light, sweet, and slightly powdery. Some violets go powdery on me but I really like this and will hold on to the decant! With Le Serpent Qui Danse, the vanilla is not too apparent, emerging a tad in drydown. However, when compared to Her Eyes, is notably sweeter.
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Wow there really is something metallic about this. There's a bit of green florals, a bit sharp soap on me sadly.
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Spicy, smutty, slightly acrid, indolic, the cinnamon does the wet wrapper dance on my skin after a while. Dangit! This really isn't working on me, but glad I don't have to ever hunt this down in the future. On the right skin this would be a sexy, dirty, red musk pumpkin spice and I hightly recommend trying it if these notes work on you together. Red musk has been doing weird stuff on me, sometimes great, sometimes it goes weird. No idea, lol!
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This is okay, kinda duds out on my skin for some reason. Very glad to get a decant instead of a full. Pumpkin spices, especially cinnamon can go wet cigarette wrapper on me ( I know, weird). This goes like curry, wrapper, and vanilla on me with a bit of light woods. I'll stick with the original Mouse but I think on the right skin this would be a gorgeous vanilla pumpkin woods combo.