Nepthys

Really beautiful. Smells exactly as expected - the leather, bourbon patchouli, and pumpkin being the most prominent. Kind of smells like Samhain and Perversion had a baby, then covered it in dry autumn leaves on a cold, smoky night.

 

The only drawback - it faded a bit quickly. But definitely still worth it.

I got this because I love lavender and I love mugwort. Wasn't sure how they'd go together but I figured it would be something I could live with. Then it arrived and I unbottled it to smell something pretty rank. I applied anyhow - and to my shock, this turned into something gorgeous! I don't ever recall such a dramatic swing with any previous BPAL. It smells light and feminine and very unique - neither floral nor herbal but something right in between. Love this so much.

Adore this. The perfect offset to Snake Oil, which I find overpowering after a while. The amber is quite faint, the sandalwood is just a bit stronger, but mostly it's like a fresher, more balanced Snake Oil leather. Really nice and perfect for spring.

I was really looking forward to this, but the vetiver drowns everything else out. There's no lemon and barely any Snake Oil. If I layer it with pure Snake Oil, it's just sort of woody Snake Oil. Not bad, just not what I was hoping for.

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I was really excited for this, as I just loved last Yule's Frostbitten Snake Oil. However, this one was a surprise. I get a faint whiff of Zombi's soil note, but normally wouldn't identify the root as Zombi. Instead this comes off as a beautiful winter forest scent of gentle snow and pine trees and clear air. Imagine walking through a snowy forest on a calm afternoon and you've got this. Throw is average. On the whole, this isn't what I expected but I absolutely love it.

This starts out like the perfect autumn scent on me. It literally is dry leaf meets a fresh sugar cookie straight from the oven. Half an hour later, the dry leaf predominates and the sugar cookie recedes into a faint bakery smell. But still very nice. I think this is my favorite of the dead leaves line.

 

Absolutely beautiful. At first sniff, it reminded me of Bastet but then it became more complex and turned into a very warm smell dominated by almond and cardamom, with a hint of red rose. If it evokes anything, it's a Middle Eastern bazaar on a warm desert night.

I normally don't do rose well and I worried about this working - but this is an occasion when the rose takes a back seat and lets the other notes dominate. I just love it.

Like the first reviewer said, this does remind me of a Bath and Body or Victoria Secret scent. Feminine, light, girlish. The cherry blossoms are the strongest note on me, not quite drowning out the strawberries, and I get very little musk. What's nice - and this is where it deviates from a mall scent - is that there's nothing fake or chemical about it. This reminds me of how a woman would smell at a fancy outdoor dinner party on a spring evening.

 

I've already tried partnering it with Eat the Strawberries and Pink Moon and both work beautifully for those of you who like it pink.

I was nervous about buying this. It sounded beautiful, but I was worried it would become overwhelming as time wore on. Luckily, that doesn't happen.

This is heavier on the gingerbread than eggnog, and it works perfectly. It smells like your kitchen on a winter afternoon when you're baking for a holiday party. Rich and cozy without being too sweet. And it lingers beautifully - the following day I could still smell it. Really glad I got this.

This came out smelling less sweet than the oil, but settled into my hair as a chilly, refreshing winter scent - exactly what I wanted from it. Unfortunately it was undetectable within an hour.I have to hold my hair to my nose and sniff deeply to even get a ghost of it. That said, I think it still works as a nice "cleanser" when your hair needs to smell a little fresher after being at work or in a bar.

I wasn't a fan of Snow White when I had a bottle, so I didn't know what to expect from this based on the other reviews. Somehow, though, it works - two scents that I would never associate with each other work beautifully together. Initially it's an equal balance of snow and Snake Oil, then it dries down to a warm sweet snow.

It's happened: I've found a new scent to join my pantheon of all-time beloved BPALs.

In the bottle and on, it's mostly an almond/marzipan blur of Dana O'Shee and Snake Oil. Every now and then a sniff will conjure the ghost of Snow White mixed in. I love Snake Oil but can get sick of it quickly - somehow that doesn't happen with Cotton Phoenix, it's not heavy or cloying at all. Definitely buying a backup bottle.

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Of the 4 Weenies I bought, this was the biggest surprise. Probably because my previous Dead Leaves scents were heavy on the dead leaf part, especially my hair glosses - and so they really conveyed autumn. This one smells like reading a library book in a garden on an overcast summer day. The leaf and champaca blossom merge together and the coconut is just faintly there. It all works beautifully together, like something a shy goth girl would wear. I'm positive this will be popular because it's a light, pretty scent you could wear year round.

Incredibly sexy and a must-have for any Perversion fans. Everything dark and alluring about Perversion is still here, but it's shot through with bright streaks of the pumpkin spice. In that way, it smells exactly like you'd expect it to - it doesn't become a different creation. Absolutely gorgeous scent for adventurous autumn nights.

Absolutely love this. The perfect blend of pumpkin and cake, just like I wanted. This reminds me of visiting roadside cider/donut stands in the fall, where you could pick out a pumpkin and then buy some fresh-baked sugary treats to take home. Some of the Lab foodie scents turn cloying on me but the pumpkin keeps this fresh.

I was afraid this would turn into coffee on me. I needn't have worried - there's only a faint whiff of chai and the cinnamon vanishes within minutes, leaving a syrupy cake smell that reminds me of Monster' Underpants. It's pleasant and sweet but not what I was hoping for. I may layer it with more cinnamon scents to see if I can amp that part of it.

I was tempted by several Gingerbreads, but this is the one I picked. And wow do I love it.

In the bottle I got a sharp, acrid whiff of pepper and winced. But as soon as I actually put this one, that vanished and I got a very warm blend of sugar-crusted gingerbread. I've had gingerbread scents before that went dull and too earthy, and I've had "vanilla sugar" scents that were sickly sweet. Neither of those are a problem here. This is such a cozy winter scent that is never overwhelming while having good staying power. Don't miss this one.

I love pine and snow scents, and this year there was a lot to choose from in that department. I went with this one and it was definitely the right choice. It's the perfect blend of a snowy softness and a fresh winter air/forest scent. Some tree scents are far too sharp for me, and sometimes the lab's snow scent doesn't work for me - this completely sidesteps both of those issues. Really glad I blind-bottled this one because it's just gorgeous.

Regrettably, this one was all smoke and old wood on me, like you'd imagine a closet in an old pub would smell. No vanilla silk and the honey flickers in and out. It's surprisingly masculine on me and smells a lot like my Yankee Candle "Cozy by the Fire" - definitely a hearth smell. It's not bad, just not my thing.

In the bottle, this didn't seem like anything I'd like. On my wrist it was a 180 - I loved this and it's my favorite Luper so far.

 

These notes are blended together so expertly it's hard to pick them apart. However, lavender is eventually what predominates, graced with an underlying note of amber. I get no strawberry or vanilla at all for the first half hour and then slowly the vanilla comes out. It's a very light, feminine scent, more of a traditional perfume than one of the Lab's more experimental blends. Highly recommended.

 

 

We have a shapeshifter here. First wearing: 95% magnolia and 5% vanilla, no honey musk at all. It disappeared after 20 minutes. Second wearing: a delicate blend of honey and magnolia that is just lovely and fades after about 2 hours. Most scents can't be warm and light at the same time, I find, but this one does it perfectly. We'll see if it keeps changing on me.

This starts out on me as the perfect mix of earth and honey and dead leaves. So much that I think a decant isn't enough, I need a full bottle. And for about an hour, it's glorious... and then goes to flat, dead wood. Ah well.

Initially this is just beautiful - a perfect blend of pumpkin and feminine softness. About 30 minutes in, the vanilla cream dominates everything and it gets extremely cloying - no pumpkin at all. Might become more of a room scent than a me scent.

Based on the ingredients, I thought this would be heavy and possibly cloying. I was SO wrong on both counts! This is light and perfect while being sophisticated and seductive. This is going to be one of my all-time favorite BPALs, I can tell. It's just delightful. And it completely lives up to its name.

 

On me, no particular ingredient dominates. I can just slightly detect the leather and amber and red musk. Carmelized tobacco? Nowhere to be found. Really it's just an expert blend.

 

If you were on the fence about getting a bottle, go ahead and splurge.

Much as I wanted this, I could see multiple ways for it to go wrong - the most likely being the oudh and patchouli making it too earthy for me.

 

That actually didn't happen; this is a nice warm scent that smells like a creamy wine-earth mix. It's similar to other fall BPAL scents I have like Autumn III (I think that's the name of it) from last year but I'm still glad I got a bottle.