Soupy Twist

Menthol and eucalyptus in the bottle, which eventually dries to a pleasant foodie mint. Not really “snow.” The marshmallow comes out when it’s completely dry, as a faint perfumy vanilla.

Peppermint extract in the bottle. Goes on as candy cane. It’s nicely balanced between mint and sweetness; it’s not a sour peppermint like some years. The vanilla doesn’t really come out until it’s dry, but when it does, it’s light and perfumy. Then the mint returns. Settles as a fairly normal candy cane with perfumy, powdered sugar/vanilla overtones in the air. No burn at all. Pretty sure this is a bottle.

Spices and pastry/dough in the bottle. Goes on as spices and rum with a hint of almond extract. Continues as a stale kind of rum scent, like “rum extract,” when that was a thing. More of the date and lemon emerges as it dries completely. Finishes as a vaguely spicy, vaguely citrus date which is surprisingly appealing. A moist spice, not "eating the bottle of cinnamon directly" spice.

I would probably eat 20 of these — in fact, being Sicilian, I'm sure I have at past holidays — but I don’t think I’d wear it often.

American black coffee in the bottle. Something slightly sweet and spicy comes in on application and as it’s drying. This is nice! Mostly gone in half an hour, leaving traces of coffee and maybe a sweet vanilla or a cream. I was expecting it to be more bitter given the opening and I'm pleased it's not.

Sour, raw booze in the bottle. Goes on as clove, and sweetens a little with cinnamon as it dries.

I really hoped my skin might react differently to pumpkin spice after a few years, but alas, it's still on my no-no-notes list.

Older, slightly oxidized green apple juice in the bottle and on application, which dries to a stale, dusty generic booze. The recipe sounds like a delicious drink, but boy is it not working on my wrist.

The gorgeous white tea of Kumiho in the bottle and on application. Some sticky lemon comes in as it dries, but it doesn’t stay. Just a lovely sibling of Kumiho. I concur on the aromatherapy suggestion.

oh my sainted aunt what the hell happened?! This is burnt French tobacco and gross smokey musk, even in the bottle, so it's not just my skin chemistry. Did someone set the sweater on fire? Did I get the wrong decant?

A red Jolly Rancher. Not "apple," because I know from the Lab's magnificent and varied apple notes, but red.

Slightly more perfumy after an hour. Gone shortly after that. No spice. A fun, playful, but short-lived scent.

2020 Version:

More honey on the open than 2016's apple, but otherwise the same deliriously gorgeous blend. Perfumy honey, sweet apple, cycling and blending. Lasts for hours.

Fun fact: I did not need to get a bottle of this scent this year, because I already have a bottle and a backup bottle of 2016. Ya know what? I BOUGHT IT IMMEDIATELY ANYWAY, BECAUSE IT IS SO DAMN BEAUTIFUL. This is one of my top five all-time favorites. If my house was on fire and I could only save a handful of bottles, this would be one of them. If someone wants to swap with me and offers me a 2020 backup bottle, I will take that swap. That's how much I love this perfume oil. ?

An even-more nauseating knockoff of Nuclear Winter, which I didn't like either. There’s no lemon; just stomach-turning menthol. Off to swaps for someone else to enjoy.

Boozy chocolate in the bottle. Goes on as a caramel-tinged whiskey which quickly smells “old,” as in “turned.”

Creamy, cocoa-heavy chocolate. A really lovely chocolate, although no honey. This starts to turn stale as it dries, and when the honey note does come in it’s like a dry honey-flavored candy.

Beeswax and… dammit, lemon floor cleaner in the bottle. Yep, goes on as lemon floor cleaner with beeswax notes, like this is a “natural” floor cleaner. Eventually dries to a slightly perfumy beeswax, but I have other bottles with that note without the Lemon Pledge. No maple, no green, no leaves. ?

TL;DR: Every single thing about this perfume did the opposite of what I expected.

Maraschino cherry juice in the bottle and on the wrist. yum! There’s a slight plastic/Play-Doh note skirting around the edges, and I am getting zero fizz, which is highly unusual for the Lab’s Champagne note.

It’s becoming more perfumy as it dries, which is another surprise. I’ve never had cherry turn “perfumy.” It’s a good development, don’t get me wrong, just unexpected. The plastic note has also departed, which is good.

It takes a good half-hour before it even starts to fade; normally the Lab’s cherry vanishes from my skin in under five minutes. What’s underneath is pencil shavings (cedar), not Champagne. No almond, unlike everyone above me.

Twenty isn't much, honestly. My database has, uh... close to 1300 entries.   You just have to take notes, cross-reference, and keep track. Start a spreadsheet and create a rating system. You should be able to narrow things down after a while.

Honey with something toasty or woody in the bottle. Roasted chestnuts? Anise-touched honey on application. This is… interesting. Definitely licorice. Not much honey, to be honest. Yeah, this is a moderate black licorice candy which wants to have a honey center. But I mean, if you’re going to go black licorice, go hard or go home. This is an off-brand black licorice cough drop. As it dries, it develops a dry-wood note.

I should stress this is not a bad scent. It’s a good black licorice. But I like my black licorice at peel-the-paint-off-the-walls strength, and there’s no honey in this blend at all. So perfectly nice, but not for me.

my beloved FIZZZZZZ! in the bottle. goes on as FIZZZZZZ! with some sweetness. Gorgeous. Dries to strawberry Pez. Which, all things considered, is not a bad scent.

this is so incredibly faint on me I had to test it three times over three weeks. All I get is the faintest breath of damp wool. No coffee at all.

something went deeply wrong with this one on me. I tested it three separate times, weeks apart, to be sure it wasn't menopause or hormonal shifts, but no, this is coffee and vomit.

I'm very sad. I really, really wanted All The Coffee Things from this line and my skin has just destroyed them all.

29 minutes ago, Lucchesa said:

I think a lot of people who do the spring cleaning swap feel that way. I wonder if there’s some way to pair givers with receivers who actually need things—leaving home, fleeing a bad situation, in financial straits, whatever. As @Soupy Twist says, a PIF of stuff.

 

It could work like the orphanage swap circle — people could post what they have and what they might like to receive. I know when my daughter was going through her transition, @lorizav sent her a huge box of makeup and beauty supplies that meant the world to her. It would be awesome if there were a way to do that on a broader scale.

what an awesome idea! Like "I have a large bag of children's clothes size 8–10" or "I need a bead organizer" or "set of melamine dishes to first one who claims it."

12 hours ago, Greenwoodtree said:

 

HA! I'd LOVE to be able to just pack up & ship a box without having to receive anything! ?

Isn't that basically a PIF, but of stuff?

Woody juniper in the bottle. Goes on as a sticky pine with definite ambergris notes. Refreshing, actually. That light, pretty note fades by the time it’s dry and it’s just a menthol-y pine. This then starts to sour, and I’m done.

Completely redoing this because Travel Shock Is A Thing.

Gardenia in the bottle. Slightly screechy gardenia on application, but once it's dry, it's much nicer. The gardenia note continues to sweeten, with a creamy overlay developing. It's not vanilla per se; just an overall smooth sweetness. I get little wafts of it every now and again as I move my hand. Very pretty.

I have no idea why this was such a fail on me. I searched through my entire perfume database. The Lab's fig and the Lab's vanilla bean both work fine on me in multiple blends. This was gross dry slightly brackish grass with a little Fig Newton in the background. No vanilla at all.

The cause is important, so I don't regret buying the blind bottle, but why, skin, why? Why you gotta do me like this?