Soupy Twist

Salty pitch tar in the bottle and on application. This somehow gets worse and starts to rot, like slimy dead vegetation. Where did all the vanilla and honey and cherries and other, you know, good stuff go?? Scrubber.

Mandarin and... sandalwood in the bottle? I can't tell what I'm smelling. Goes on as one of the Lab's weird stamen notes. There's some mandarin zest after a while, but the whole thing is off and weird. Maybe this is what "opium" smells like, and is not for me.

Slightly sweet lemon juice and tonic water, with a sprig of rosemary for garnish — a G&T with Hendricks. I'd probably drink this, but I don't want to smell like it.

JFC, Beth, how do you do this? If there were Oscars for the perfumes she would win them all. Wet pavement in the bottle. Honestly. Wet pavement FFS. It goes on as mint and dirt. It's not quite the snow note but it's most of the way there. Hilariously, as it dries, the snow melts, and I'm just left with the dirt note. Positively amazing. Not something I'd wear again because I don't fancy dirt perfume, but what an accomplishment. :clap:

I didn't care for the previous incarnation of this, but I kinda had to try it for the sake of completeness. (Does anal-retentive have a hyphen?) Sour peppermint oil in the bottle. Goes on as straight peppermint oil, with no sugar. There's no burn either, which is what I remember from last round. After five minutes it starts to soften and round a little with vanilla, but there's still not a lot of sugar, and the whole thing fades quickly. So I can at least report that it is in fact the same formulation as 2014.

Pine in the bottle, with some clove on application. The pine starts to turn dusty, and then sour. The clove is completely gone. I guess "pitch" is not for me.

Pencil shavings, olive oil, and generic men's cologne. Off to swaps to find someone who will love it more.

holy cats. I guess "matcha tea" is the leaves of the kryptonite plant for me. Gingerbread and a wee bit of tea in the bottle, but this goes on and stays on as Pottaskefill, the Yule Lad who smelled like birch tar and black pepper. I had to clean this off with rubbing alcohol. Yikes.

2016 version: Damn. The Lab's narcissus turns into the dreaded jasmine stamen on my skin.

Nope, on my skin this is Rum Cake. Buttercream or maybe rum cake in the bottle, and it definitely goes on as rum cake. The cake is soggy, the rum is cheap and a little stale because it's old, and then somebody tries to get cute and do a "flaming pudding" thing because there's a burnt-booze note. I like the Lab's rum note in some things like Elegba, but this ain't it. In fact, I love the rum in Elegba, and this really ain't it.

Buttercream in the bottle. Goes on as cake with mint cream frosting. The "cake" note quickly disappears as it dries, which is good because it does nothing for me. This settles into the soft, round vanilla-touched mint of some of the gentler Lick Its. There's no burn, and it starts to fade quickly, like some of the Lick Its do. Considering I have five bottles of various Lick Its, I think I can pass on this. Mercy, I am so glad I was able to hold out and not blind-bottle.

A soft, slightly powdery vanilla/tobacco in the bottle. Goes on as the "high" tobacco from Sherlock Holmes (I guess now I know what white tobacco is) and a candied vanilla. This stage is amazing. Some depth comes in, maybe from the cognac? which is the next note as it dries. I totally get the "porcelain" concept here. This settles into a perfumy kind of tobacco — sort of the perfumy note from Honeyed Apple, which doesn't work as well here. I like it, but I'm not yet convinced I love it.

Huh. No, this is Strawberry Sufganiyot. I have no idea how, but this is absolutely strawberry jam. No sugar, no donut. Just jam. This is the stuff I make in the summer after we go to the local U-Pick farm. Not something I regularly want to smell like, but positively brilliant execution. Also, not raspberry. Delicious, mouthwatering strawberries. Now I need to get a sample of Strawberry Sufganiyot and see if it smells like watermelon or something. ETA An hour later, the strawberry turns plastic, like "Strawberry Shortcake dolls." It's still strawberry, and definitely not for me. Off to swaps to find a more loving home!

Caramel and salt in the bottle. Goes on as caramel. A cookie note starts to come in as it dries, reminiscent of Sugar Cookie. ...and then it fades out. Wait, what?! Try it on the other wrist to be sure? Yep. Three minutes flat and it's gone. No cocoa, no nuts. It's a lovely and accurate caramel, but not enough to make it a locket scent. Bummer.

In the Wild North has a sweetness, but it's not an actual berry like Skadi or Almond Blossom. It's the Lab's snow note plus spruce and pine, which is definitely lovely but not the same as Skadi. Alas.

Spruce in the bottle. Goes on as sinus-clearing SPRUCE!!!!!!!! And for a little while that's it, just spruce. As it dries more, some of the Lab's snow note comes in, and the whole thing slowly sweetens. There's a flash of juniper/gin, but it doesn't stick around. There's a definite sweetness, but not an actual berry like Skadi or Almond Blossom. Very likely FBW.

I tried a different decant exactly a year after the first time, and it's still the same: The Witches plus a little musk. My skin is weird, but at least it's consistent.

I just tested Gorg's Garden (Radishes, freshly-turned soil, and soft herbs), which not only smells much more floral on me than the description suggests but is quite close to White Light. There is a soil note in the beginning, but it's a nice one — "fresh soil," like from a good garden, not rotting dirt.

In the bottle I get "the center of a candy cane." Maybe it's a little dusty? It definitely goes on "soft." It's mostly peppermint oil — not sweet, but not too sour. There's a tiny wee burn for a moment. Becomes pretty much straight peppermint oil as it dries. It's not too harsh but there's no sweetness. After half an hour or so some powdered sugar comes in, and a little musk, but that's the extinction burst, because five minutes later it's abruptly gone.

Musk in the bottle. Goes on as a blend of musk and spoiled fruit. Turns to rose as it dries. I can't bear rose. Scrubber.

Rum cake. An absolutely perfect rendition of rum cake with stale vanilla buttercream icing. I don't like rum cake, but it's dead-on. And... I'm getting a skin burn? from rum?

Positively weird. Lavender? I think? in the bottle. Goes on as a vanilla...ish sugar? with a sort of cookie note? which eventually dries to a kind of lavender...ish... thing. Really hard to describe. Very much a "Victorian gentleman," I'll say that.

I have found that while I like tobacco with other notes, I can't do it as a single note — it needs something to balance it. Sherlock Holmes: definitely a high tobacco note, and one of my all-time favorites overall. Plunder: tobacco, spices, and tea Autumn Moon of the Mirror Stand (Novel Ideas For Secret Amusements), Lupercalia 2010: I get cognac, quince, vanilla, and the high tobacco, but on me it had almost zero throw. Elegba: the world's best pirate. Tobacco, rum, and brûlée sugar. St. Claire was just sandalwood and mahogany on me; I was quite disappointed. My skin amps the Lab's leather note, so Perversion and Black Rider are out for me. I also amp cardamom, which took out Arabian Dance. Tag-Upon-Avon turned into a single-note tobacco on me, oddly enough.

Stale toothpaste and clementine peel. yuck.

A light, spicy, delicious lemony tea. Actually hangs around rather than being vaporized! This might be bottle-worthy.