Soupy Twist

Ambergris and maybe the top note of whatever Beth uses for fizz (which would be the grapes, I suppose). Goes on as a cold, slightly menthol/citrus ambergris. The grape pre-fizz returns as it dries, which is a note I really like. Starts to turn into generic perfume, but then it dials back and becomes more of the ethereal grace note which is usually on top of the Lab’s “perfumy honey” and here tops the Riesling. Can’t quite decide if it works.

So I have realized something new about my skin chemistry: Whatever the Lab uses for “goat’s milk” turns into “cinnamon/nutmeg spice blend” on my skin. I thought it was just weirdness with My Baby and a Baby Goat, but nope, it's that accord. I get that here, plus a definite burp of ale, and then the whole thing starts to sour and turn into flat musk.

ooh, a nice tobacco leaf in the bottle. Goes on as… a weird lilac? Sort of fake? Maybe that’s the frankincense. I did take a chance on that; it’s one of my no-no-notes. Continues turning artificial and plastic as it dries. I have no idea what this is doing on my skin, but it’s really turning my stomach, so I suppose it’s making me not hungry? Is that appropriate for Famine? Off to swaps and someone who will love it more.

Soapy cotton in the bottle. Goes on as Ivory soap and aftershave. Ooh, this is not a nice soap. This might be the same one from Wensleydale, which I really did not like. Dries down to aftershave. (Sorry, Beth.) What happened to the tobacco and tea?

2008 version: Goes on as a delicious tobacco, where the 2012 version is more candied fruit. After 10 minutes or so they even out into the same lovely brûlée sugar note.

I have to explain the context of this. When I first started in this obsession hobby, I was exchanging Lucky Scent samples with a friend. She had sent me a few which had ylang ylang in them, and to me every one smelled like “old-man cigars.” However, I had also gotten some Lucky Scent samples which had literally spoiled and didn’t smell anything like what they were supposed to, so I always faintly wondered if I had gotten the note wrong, particularly when so many people here talked about how lovely the floral was. So when I read the reviews of this which talked about how it was mostly ylang ylang, I thought “you know what? I’m just going to give this another try and see if my initial impressions were correct, because it’s Beth and oil rather than alcohol and who knows.” And it turns out that while ylang ylang in oil form is not “old-man cigars,” it is the same stinky stamen note which jasmine turns into on my skin. That's all this is: stinky jasmine. So I have learned that nope, I really don’t like ylang ylang, but at least I know what the note is supposed to smell like for real.

General categories to try: Apple Chocolate Tea Caramel/Burnt Sugar Honey

Green tea, juniper leaf, and honeyed green apple. Green apple and juniper in the bottle. Goes on as a lovely apple with an eyewateringly sour juniper. I love juniper and I love apple but man, these two are fighting like chocolate and pickles. The drydown continues into the sour, dusty juniper leaf. No honey, no tea.

I find aquatics, citrus, mint, pine, and snow to be pretty non-gendered. Things which smell masculine to me are herbs, woods, "cologne" (that generic aftershave kind of smell), and maybe tobacco. My notes say Protoplasmic Ooze "would probably be amazing on a guy," and Odin is "masculine."

Chamomile and cypress in the bottle, which turn to pine and rose. The wood makes a brief return, but then both pine and wood depart for rose, which is where I get off this train.

2006 version: A lovely, uncomplicated fresh apple juice — the juice you get while eating the apple, not bottled juice. No cranberries or spices. 2010 version: Apple and spices in the bottle. Goes on as fresh apple juice with cinnamon, like freshly pressed cider. There’s more sweet fresh apple juice as it dries, and then the soft spices come back in. This is really nice — a definite keeper now. Still no cranberry but this is beautiful.

opens as a promising juniper with hints of cedar, like a spicy Christmas potpourri, but the cedar soon drowns the whole forest in pencil shavings.

LIME! in the bottle. This becomes Lime! aftershave, which soon sours. The Ripper would totally have worn this.

Musk all over the place. Musk in the bottle. Goes as orris? Iris? iris root? There’s a sort of dry, not-hairy coconut husk note as it dries (yes, Beth could make sure we smelled the hair if she wanted us to). It’s definitely “pearlescent.” Finishes as a musky floral.

an uncomfortable plasticky cherry blossom. there are a few flickers of honey in the beginning, but mostly it’s just a fake floral.