Soupy Twist

Peach and a bit of artificial orange in the bottle. Goes on as peach juice? with baby aspirin. As it dries, the actual peach note comes in. (Orange never lasts more than a handshake on my skin, so YMMV.) A little syrupy and heady, like peach nectar, which is where it finishes. Giddily sweet. I wish it had more throw, but it's gorgeous when I can smell it.

And the whole thing is gone in under an hour.

Sherlock Holmes, definitely. I second Mad Hatter. I found Excolo to finish as a crisp masculine wood.

2007 version:

Pine and moss in the bottle. Goes on as SPRUCE! woo that’ll clear your sinuses!

Unfortunately this dries to a more sour pine with some other plant note — maybe the moss? the wet stage was much nicer. No florals or food.

Warm, toasty, yeasty bread in the bottle and on application. This stage is awesome!

The cardamom starts to edge in as it dries, which is honestly not an improvement. It almost smells like the milk is starting to curdle. Eventually the sweet pleasant toasty note fades into a soggy bread, a lot like Bread Lumps. My skin amps cardamom so that’s still dusted on top. No anise, no almond.

ooh pretty! fresh clean blossom in the bottle. Goes on as something more grassy — is that the plum blossom? Gardenia comes in as it dries, but then it becomes more of a cream-influenced generic floral, not nearly as nice as the gardenia. No honeysuckle.

Dear Diary,

Today I learned that on my skin, benzoin smells like lightning hit a plastic milk jug. This particular milk jug had orange-ginger salad dressing from my favorite Thai place in it, which was unfortunate because when the plastic caught on fire, it obliterated the salad dressing, which otherwise smelled really good. I am very sad to learn this fact.

love and kisses,

Soupy Twist

Sickeningly sweet fake foodie too much corn syrup honey. Off to swaps.

There’s a weird… spicy honey? in the bottle. The note disappears on application, replaced by a faint gardenia overlaid with waxy lily, but the florals are gone by the time it dries, and all that’s left is the strange dry-spice note.

No vampire titty.

Lemon glaze poured over cake in the bottle and on application. The cake note quickly vanishes, leaving a dead ringer for Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat. No honey at all. (But I love LSSB, so that's not a complaint!)

Lovely minty menthol snow, which dries to sweet snow plus berries. Definitely another sister to Skadi and Almond Blossom. Throwing a bottle in my cart!

Goat’s milk tang in the bottle, which is surprising because I’ve never actually gotten goat’s milk from a BPAL blend. Goes on as the Lab’s lovely apple note, but the entire thing quickly vanishes for a minute. It returns as a woody, grassy note.

Starts as milk in sugared breakfast cereal. This dries to a surprising blueberry, like in the middle of a Tastykake pie. A very happy scent.

yep, that there is sweet patchouli, all right. I feel like I just opened my sister's Like a Prayer CD and took a big whiff.

Realistic sweet fresh red grapefruit in the bottle and on the wrist. This becomes more like a grapefruit juice cocktail as it dries, becoming less like the fruit and more perfumy. Super pretty, just not the hyperrealism of the opening. Gorgeous!

A delicious comforting toasty grain. No flowers, no vanilla, but it's okay because it's the awesome base note of Dana O'Shee (one of my all-time favorites) and Halfling. I would totally get a full bottle of this.

Starts as the pretty apple juice from this line, but the blackcurrant and clove become a weird generic aftershave note. I had to scrub it off with soap and then hit it again with rubbing alcohol.

I feel like I will never actually know what “bourbon/Madagascar vanilla” is, because I never actually get to smell any kind of vanilla in any blend which lists it.

lovely sweet fresh apple juice topped with a frosting of powdery sugar. Amazing.

Lemongrass and a dash of anise in the bottle. Goes on as VERY strong lemongrass, holy fuck. I feel like I fell into a bottle of Swarm Attractor. As it dries, the lemongrass calms down a little and a strong licorice emerges. These two notes continue to cycle once it’s fully dry. Absolutely no other notes.

If the two would combine and not alternate, this would be an awesome "get up and go" scent. The lemongrass is a little too harsh on its own without the licorice to sweeten it. Definitely invigorating.

The good butterscotch rum in the bottle, with a faint sweetness about it. Goes on as rum with a dash of almond. Continues as a sort of musty rum-almond extract. The sickly-sweet foodie honey comes in as it dries. Finishes as a gross male cologne.

Werther’s butterscotch in the bottle. Oh, this is the good rum. Goes on as rum with sugar brûlee. Some lemon iced tea powder comes in as it dries, which is interesting and goes surprisingly well with the sugary rum. This is a sort of Pirates for Children scent. There’s something entertainingly artificial about it, like a bubblegum feeling. Turns into Lemonhead Candy once it’s dry.

Strong, dusty, sour pine in the bottle and on application. As it dries, it turns into a very cologne-y tobacco, which is frankly unpleasant. I had to wash it off. Oh well, off to swaps for someone else to enjoy it more.

OOOOF SCREAMING STRAWBERRY KOOL-AID POWDER in the bottle.

Goes on as the gorgeous fresh strawberry note from “Eat the Strawberries” from American Gods. This is pretty intense wet, but calms down a bit as it dries — like you cut up a bunch of strawberries and sugar for jam and they’ve been cooking for a little bit. Not getting any honey or honeycomb notes. Once it’s completely dry, it turns back into strawberry Kool-Aid. A cheerful, young perfume.

This is not remotely like the perfumy honey of Honeyed Apple on my skin (YMMV, of course).

Freshly ground Turkish coffee beans in the bottle and on application. The caramel starts to come in as it dries, rounding and smoothing it out. Not much throw once it’s dry. This is basically a very nice Turkish coffee single note. If you liked Café Mille et Une Nuits from the OLLA line, you'll love this.

Mostly grains with a little fresh apple juice in the bottle. Goes on as wet cereal with fresh apple juice. Brown sugar and a breath of nutmeg come in as it dries. Fades back to regular apple juice. Finishes as soggy apple oatmeal.

First test: I put it on after washing my hands with Toasted Vanilla Chai soap from B&BW, and I needed to retest because I wasn’t sure which scent was which. It started as a musky toasted coconut, with flickers of sweetness and chocolate as it dried. It eventually dried down to a beautiful perfumy vanilla.

Second test: Something toasty in the bottle and on application. Maybe it’s actual gingerbread instead of the “spice jar exploded” experience I always get from the Lab’s gingerbread blends. As it dries, it becomes more of a toasted coconut. Why am I getting all these notes that aren’t in the actual ingredients?

This is drying to just the vaguely toasted note. All the sweetness from the prior test is gone.

After three hours the perfumy vanilla finally surfaces. This part is very pretty. I just don’t think I want to sit through three hours of musky toasted coconut to get to it, especially when there’s practically no throw.