Soupy Twist

wow, did this not work on me. The currant went sour and stomped all over everything, the plum clashed loudly with the mint, and I never got to the vanilla or the sugar. Off to swaps.

Burnt bread crust in the bottle. What even. Yep, that there is bread crust on application. The honey drips in veeeeery slowly, so the scent first becomes damp bread and then slooooooowly the bread edges out and uncovers the slightly floral honey. Almost no throw. Brilliant execution.

Bliss (the perfume oil) in the bottle — that pure chocolate note. Goes on as a definitely molten chocolate. (HOW DO YOU MAKE CHOCOLATE SMELL MOLTEN, BETH, YOU ARE NOT OF THIS WORLD) This becomes more like liquid cocoa sludge as it dries, although made with water and not milk. Finishes as very similar to Chad from American Gods. Gorgeous chocolate.

Cream in the bottle. Toasty grains on application, which eventually dries to a beeswax honey kind of note. No molasses, brown sugar, pecan, or any resemblance thereof. Pretty, but almost no throw.

White floral in the bottle and on the wrist — the tuberose/gardenia mix I love so much. There’s a sugary note on top while it dries, which turns the floral a little shrill, but that smoothes out and softens once it’s dry. Almost no throw when it’s done, alas. Very pretty — another in the line of Eternal Queen, Humanite, and Swans on the River.

Another spectacular achievement by Beth. Baked apples in the bottle. Goes on as baked apple and apple blossom — I think it’s the Annurca from the single note. There are definitely flowers. I want to say I smell buds? Does a bud smell different from a flower? That’s what I’m getting. As it dries it’s more apple juice, as in fresh from the apple. Something sweet and weird comes in as it approaches the finish, like… broken twigs. Honest to fuck I am smelling broken twigs from an apple tree. Finishes as freshly-broken branches from an apple tree. Beth, you are a literal adept of your art. This is astonishing. It is all of appledom in one perfume.

Chanukkiyah (Yule 2013): Olive oil, beeswax, glowing amber, sweet sufganiyot, pomegranate, and fig. My notes say "finishes as warm beeswax." Democrat (Election 2008): Beeswax and spices Al-Azif (A Picnic in Arkham) turns into a lovely beeswax on me despite the description. Honey and Absinthe (Lupercalia 2019, The Honey Pot) is more beeswax than honey on me, and I never got any absinthe out of it.

Liquid cocoa in the bottle. Goes on as spicy! cocoa. I would totally drink this. It softens into a nice clove powder; the cocoa rounds it out and keeps it from going harsh like Low-Key Lyesmith. This continues until it’s a lovely single-note clove.

that is a scent, holy fuck. A little of the oil got on the outside of the bottle when it was being poured and the entire box from the Lab was perfumed with it. In the bottle (and outside it): Heavy tuberose but with fruit notes underneath to sweeten it and round it out — tuberose can occasionally go a bit screechy. Goes on as a mango floral, which is interesting. The two notes balance out almost evenly as it dries. Once dry, it’s almost all tuberose again. Gorgeous and surprisingly complex; not as much throw as I’d like. Might be the weather. Happy I took a chance on this.

Like somebody combined Pine-Sol and Lysol floor cleaners. It's the lemon balm. Whatever the Lab is using for that, it does not like my skin chemistry. sigh.

DAMN is this a ride. A gorgeous thick liquid cocoa in the bottle and on application. A slight booze undertone appears, turning it into an expensive chocolate liqueur, like the center of a really good truffle. As it dries, the chocolate part begins to recede and a baked-apple note sort of sidles alongside as it morphs into the toasty boozy cooked-grains note from Halfling. That soon drops out and it morphs back into apple, but this is the sweet, almost snowy apple from 2017’s Bobbing for Apples. I don’t know what this was planned for, but it’s like the best Weenie ever. holy shit.

When this went up on etsy I dithered. No matter how many times I promise myself no more blind bottles, I keep, you know... buying blind bottles. 🙄 But I read the reviews and checked my scent twins and I read the board and I've seen many times how excited people were for this scent, so I figured if it didn't work out, it'd be easy enough to rehome. I get mint and the faintest breath of tuberose in the bottle, but this goes on as the Lab’s slushy, minty snow note, and stays there. I literally get nothing else. No musk (which is good), no chocolate, no wisteria, no flowers at all. Now, I happen to love the Lab’s slushy, minty snow note, so this is not a bad thing by any means, but I bought this hoping for the lilac and tuberose. Oh well; guess I’ll keep looking for the lilac and put this one next to Öndurdis and Jarnsaxa. They can be ski triplets.

Dry grass or wheat in the bottle. Goes on as dry grass with a touch of powder (the amber). Something sour underneath. The powder is the strongest note. The sour and powder continue as it dries. Not even sickly honey. Blech.

Opium and rotting fruits. yuck. well, I tried.

Moss in the bottle. Goes on as uncut grass, like a lawn. Continues into wet/used tea leaves with some sour lemongrass.