Failmingo
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We've done it! 🥶 Here's everything that's included in the latest Lunacy launch:
https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-tag/lunacy-february-2024/
All of the current Lunacy products can be browsed together here:
https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/a-little-lunacy-limited-edition/
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In the bottle this tracks so cleanly to the fluffy salad I remember eating at family functions, it's kind of astonishing. The twinkles of pineapple juice and kind of husky nutty scent of the pistachio and coconut, floating on a sort of blandly creamy cloud. The blandness is part of what's so appealing about it, I wish I could describe it better. That's how it was with the ambrosia itself: nothing I ever craved or requested, but I did enjoy eating it, exploring all the flavors and textures.
On the skin it's surprisingly mature, possessing a startling sensuality and longing. The nutty notes have real oleaginous richness and depth that offset the unseriousness of that pastel tutti-frutti color palette. It reminds me of an illicit encounter during a party, perhaps in a bathroom or closet, with the sound of other people's laughter and gaiety audible in the background. It also seems like authentic tiki bar time travel! If it wasn't for these distinctly vintage-y associations, I might have sworn it was a Shunga.
Over time I found the orange outlasted the pineapple, but otherwise it remains silky green and nutty to the bitter(sweet) end.
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I reviewed this in quite a bit of detail on an Instagram Live session, but then... the Live crashed and it wasn't able to be shared. So I'll try to recreate my thoughts here!
Upon first sniffing the bottle, I died a little because there is such wonderful overlap with Nobodies Watching Wrestling -- the black leather & strawberry lip gloss scent which I've been enjoying for many years. However, the difference in complexity is startling, and instantly elevates Fancy Pups to a higher tier of enjoyment. There's a smooth, creamy, oleaginous pinkness that I associate with Millennial Pink, but also these sparkling tropical fruit notes that seem realistically juicy and tart. The leather, which remains present at all times, is sleek and elegant, but there's a distinct sweaty or polluted quality (the tobacco, surely) to it as well.
On the skin it's a real party. Galen described it as "Vegas-y." It's successfully genderblind IMO, very playful and bratty in its ambiguity, rolling back and forth between sweet and stern, coquettish and brazen, pastel and pitch black. That mango/papaya color palette really defines the scent as much as the sweat-slicked leather does. It stays and stays on me -- if I wear it in the evening, I can still faintly smell it when I wake up.
In short: Fancy Pups is what Fancy Pups NEEDED to be. Bravo!
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This one might not be an easy sell, since the combo of cherry and mint makes it impossible to escape a certain amount of "cough drop" associations. But Green Maraschino is more complex than that, and rewards a deeper sniff!
My immediate thought when smelling the bottle was that there's actually something grassy to it. The freshness of the mint, the bright acidic tartness of the lime and yuzu, the lushly glowing sweetness of the cherry... kind of a lot going on! But my first impression was chlorophyll? Which is oddly fitting given the color palette. Am I crazy?
I am not a great lover of mint smells, and the peppermint immediately grew stronger when freshly applied to the skin. This was a bummer, but I'm glad I waited it out! Within a few moments it calmed down quite nicely, and the sharp citrus seems to throw the furthest. I was also fascinated to discover that the lovely cherry sweetness remains relatively understated, rather the way it would in a cocktail garnished with a maraschino. No boozy notes are listed, but there's something about the whole package that suggests a fancy cocktail at a '50s nightclub, poured from an aluminum shaker. I would savor a drink that tastes the way this scent smells: cold, refreshing, not too sweet. I never quite get that grass blast again, but there's definitely something about the citrus and peppermint pairing that evokes a wet, glittering green.
Some of the things I love about Green Maraschino are exactly what might read to others as "Welcome to the Halls of Medicine," but I think the tartness really turns it into something else, and I'll be excited to wear it out on warmer evenings.
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We’ve been releasing this special Leap Year scent ever since 2008! But this time we’re going to keep FREDERIC around a little longer than usual, so more of you get to enjoy him. ⚓️
https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/a-little-lunacy-limited-edition/lunacy/frederic-2024-perfume-oil/
Alas, poor Frederic the Leapling! — bound to the merry Pirates of Penzance until his twenty-first birthday.
As his birthday comes around only every four years, so does his scent!
“Victorian whimsy and piratical romance: a reluctant seaman’s chypre sloshed with a mix of bay rum, patchouli, amber musk, dark woods, tea rose, and red currant.” -
This weekend will be the latest blood milk event at Sphinx & Snakeskin, and they'll be unveiling the following new scent:
MIDNIGHT SNOWFALL
Frost-dappled night-blooming petals, Oman frankincense, champaca orchid resin, and opium tar accord.
Updates and info about the event can be found here:
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Everyone here likely already knows that the Lupers have landed, but here's my belated official post about it!
https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/lupercalia-2024/
https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/novel-ideas-for-secret-amusements-2024/
Here’s a cross-section of the collection's contents:
🫀 Main Category Lupercalia - Reunite with old friends and lovers from Lupers past, or cruise for new ones! Here’s where you’ll find the HEART BEET scent we designed our announcement around: “Raw, wet beets, pulsating blood musk, and raw wild ginger.”
🫀 Box of Chocolates - Our latest sampler full of treats like WHITE CHOCOLATE AND TARO CREAM are so decadent, you’ll be tempted to taste... but these perfume oils are for external enjoyment only!
🫀 The Amphibian’s Lapidary - Five chromatic variations on our fairytale blend ROSES, PEARLS, AND DIAMONDS, inspired by different precious gems.
🫀 Our Lady of Pain - For the first time in over a decade we’re revisiting “Dolores”, Swinburne’s 1866 poem of tormented longing, painstakingly interpreted through scent.
🫀 For Entertainment Purposes Only - This 2018 series inspired by popular grownup novelty items rides again, accompanied by ribald illustrations by Drew Rausch. We’ve even compromised our constant “Perfume, not poppers!” messaging by adding a new fragrance called VIDEO HEAD CLEANER. Please sniff responsibly, ya freaks!
🫀 Shunga 2024: Novel Ideas for Secret Amusements - A shining star among BPAL’s annual collections, this series of perfumes, hair gloss, and atmosphere spray is inspired by Edo-era illustrations of adults enjoying themselves (and each other) very adultly.
If all this has left you feeling dirty, please also note that a major Bath Oil restock occurred simultaneously with this update. So get your mind out of the gutter and into a steamy tub where it belongs. Consider inviting a friend!
Happy Lupercalia season, everyone! 🔥🫀🔥
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It behooves us to inform everyone that we're headed into another round of price increases on the website as we set the stage for Lupercalia. I don't have concrete figures yet, but I'm happy to get out ahead of this change and help explain it.There are two areas where BPAL refuses to cut costs:1. The quality of our ingredients, since our products are absorbed into the skin.2. The integrity of our labor practices, which include providing our small crew of employees with a reasonable wage and benefits for those working full-time.As a result, these are our two greatest expenses (and I'll add that they're expenses that many of our competitors are NOT shouldering). Our standards are higher, our operation and output are larger, and we have a much more established reputation to uphold.I'll also tell you this: BPAL's chiefs have avoided adjusting prices fairly for years, fearing it would alienate members of our community -- folks who have gotten used to spending a certain amount to enjoy our products, who have come to evaluate our output through a very specific lens. I've spent years trying to polish that lens, updating everyone on the reality of our situation, highlighting the differences that make our company unique among other indies, and helping guide customers to the most affordable options.But the larger truth is that BPAL's tried-and-true economical model has continued to evolve drastically in recent years, just like that of every other small business. Many of our key ingredients have *doubled* in cost. DOUBLED! These are specialty components with no acceptable substitute. They are what make certain blends so beloved, and make exciting new concoctions possible.There is no "reasonable" price increase that could possibly make certain products profitable again, nor can we retire or replace them without losing something essential to our identity -- hence the need to raise prices across the board. We're determined to maintain a stable, continuous scent library while also exploring new vistas in fragrance. I'm sure we'll be exploring income streams that don't rely as heavily on global imports of extremely precious substances. We're daring to be optimistic about our prospects as we continue settling into our roomy new facility in Philly -- thankfully now one of the few variables in this equation that ISN'T bleeding us dry.The cost of BPAL's labor isn't something we consider it tasteful to complain about. We've had meetings with industry professionals who were taken aback by our insistence on producing wares here in the US, under our direct supervision. And as someone who's worked full-time for the Lab since 2016, I'll tell you some things about this aspect of the business that Beth, Brian, and Ted would never think to say: BPAL's ethos is directly drawn from their own personal experience working terrible, labor-exploitative jobs... and also from really great workplaces they were fortunate to be part of. As a worker, this has been a transformative experience for me, and I've seen it have the same effect on my coworkers. We are determined to be the company that folks have always believed we could be.Still, this has often resulted in all of us (including myself) doing the jobs of many more people to offset steadily increasing expenses. The gradual price hikes instituted since 2020 were just band-aids helping to stave off catastrophe. We knew it even then, but Beth has a personal horror of blowback from testing our core customers' loyalty. She wants everyone to get the version of BPAL they love best, and has sacrificed mightily over the years in order to keep everyone as satisfied as possible.She will hate me telling you this! But I can't stress enough what a difference it makes to work for and alongside someone who actually cares this much, even as I worry about the toll this can take on a person.I'm newer around here, which helps in terms of presenting facts a bit more plainly: it's not 2004 anymore. The world has changed, the perfume industry has changed, economic realities are continuing to evolve. The dream of providing a wide range of safe luxury products that satisfy sophisticated palates, obscure tastes, international fandoms, and niche interests doesn't run on dream-dust alone, and we are embarrassingly sans trust fund. Even if we had an angel investor or corporate buyout to fall back on, the very first thing they'd do is look at the books and insist on raising prices AND moving production abroad.I think the best way I can put this to old BPAL heads is: you want more Carnaval Diabolique? You want an exciting range of new licensed products, or expansions of existing ones? You want more deep cuts from past releases to resurface? Reformulations of lost greats? More jewelry? More imp packs? A better website? More original storytelling? The magic key to all of this is Beth regaining the freedom to be a creative dynamo working at the height of her powers. We simply can't get there without hiring more people. We can't hire more people unless we raise prices.I've done my best to encourage Beth and Brian through all this, making a case for what their work is really worth, helping them trust that customers will continue to see the value in it. And of course, it will fall to me to advertise all these qualities which make BPAL so special -- which can sometimes be easier with new folks who are seeing us through fresh eyes.Think about what it means for someone in 2024 to stumble across this resource for the first time... a huge playground of high-quality scent opportunities rooted in something positive. Ethical, inclusiv practices, presided over by actual human beings who have somehow managed to madly pursue their artistry THIS far.We recently found out that we've been nominated for a corporate licensing award for our work on the TOMIE fragrance. We're also going to be featured in an upcoming ELLE. article about the niche perfume boom. As I put it to Beth: these seem like nigh unthinkable career milestones for an old-school goth crew. And we're still gathering steam, capable of so much more.And our products still (and will always) cost far less than those of the brands we consider our worthiest competitors.So with all of this to consider, we urge everyone to keep an open mind as new prices take effect. We've made it this far together, and we're committed to being realistic in our pursuit of keeping the good times rolling. -
A new book project called ANIMALIA is being Kickstarted by Century Guild, and we've created a perfume blend that can be added onto any pledge tier for $20/each:
DRACO
"Come not between the dragon, and his wrath: a rolling crack of Daemonorops draco and red peppercorn, billows of incense smoke, honeyed Cambodian oud, blackened oakmoss, flame-gold amber, a delicate membrane of leather, and a curved, sharp sandalwood claw."
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As we set out into 2024, there are some updates to how we'll be conducting ourselves, Lunacy-wise.
This year, the Lunacy perfume oil will be accompanied by series of Duets which are connected to that scent. So, Wolf Moon means.... wolfy-moony Duets! And also a corresponding Hair Gloss -- that's right, every month! And also a collectible sticker drawn from Drew Rausch's label artwork. (This month there's a Lunar New Year scent as well: WOODEN DRAGON.)
The monthly classical art fragrance series returns as well, and we've dubbed it ARS ANNI and made it handier to find and browse via the "A Little Lunacy" category page, like so:
https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/a-little-lunacy-limited-edition/
We're still reformatting the way this category looks and functions, so it may change a bit yet. And as you can see, the remaining 2023 stuff is still hanging around there, but will be phased out by and by. SPEAKING OF!
You have a week left to acquire all the Blue Moon Lunacy scents from 2023, as well as the Sept/October Lunacy products found here. That's Harvest Moon, Hunter Moon, and all the attending Menage and Duets.
Is this all clear? Clear as mud? Thanks for hangin' in there while we get it all sorted out.
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A note to our LA peeps! I will personally be at Cantiq Los Angeles on Feb 10, offering tester strips for TOMIE, POMEGRANATE INK, and MILLENNIAL PINK to anyone who happens along.
Cantiq is celebrating their 9th anniversary that evening; they specialize in size- and gender- inclusive lingerie designs, and their shop is stocked with all kinds of other luxury and beauty items. BPAL isn't selling anything there, just showing face and serving up sniffs of these three LE's which have aroused so much curiosity in the past year.
Come by, say hi! It will be a great opportunity to hunt for interesting Valentine's Day gifts. ❤️
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We’re very happy to announce a new collaboration, RITUAL SPIRIT, available only via Jamie Draven's store:
https://endlessnightstudio.com/
"RITUAL SPIRIT is inspired by the collections and ghosts that gather in the corners of the studio. All the stories in the walls, that come together to make us feel less alone during this ceremony, of remembering, honoring and holding this life that can feel so monstrous, and so beautiful. The healing that comes with the winds and waters as seasons change. That we want for ourselves, and we want for others."
RITUAL SPIRIT
Amber beeswax, champaca absolute, and 7-year aged black patchouli dribbling over Victorian oak panels and web-dusted bones.
A perfumed meditation for your body, and your personal altar space- that which might be as simple as smell, a calming moment, the stillness of the woods or standing in a window -- whatever it is, it is enough. -
I got BURIED in Halloweenies and enjoyed SO many of them that it's taken some time to retrace my steps and actually sit with them for a while. I remember loving this but then getting distracted by all the ghosts n' ghouls and such.
In the bottle it smells sticky, and in fact the oil does feel ever so slightly gummy when you touch it. The molasses reminds me of Bonfire Toffee, another Halloween favorite, but the cinnamon has been made nearly inseparable from it, giving off a kind of ominous smoldering heat. Potent! The warmth and relative sweetness of the amber are trackable, and definitely pull this back from a purely foodie fantasy. It's... overtly seductive. It's intense.
I dunno if it was psychosomatic, but I felt certain I was going to get a skin reaction from that much cinnamon. Just a little extra warmth, that's it. The whole thing roars to life on the skin, and there are interesting layers in there: one moment the scent seems sticky/humid, but inhaled more deeply it's dry/crumbly, like bits of bark and squished incense granules. Flickering sparks but also darker and darker depths.
It's so much fun to wear this -- it's pretty conspicuous for a while while also having a secretive vibe, and I really like that combo of being extra but also shy. Toward the end it's just a faintly spicy amber sweetness and I've certainly got no problem with smelling like that.
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Our latest collaboration with Century Guild is available via their kickstarter for this stunning Alphonse Mucha print 💐
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/centuryguild/princess-hyacinth-rare-vintage-1911-mucha-art-nouveau-poster
PRINCESS HYACINTH
“Regal balsamic amber teeming with hyacinth petals, narcissus, Siam benzoin, white amber, sweet oakmoss, and pearlescent orchid.”
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I reviewed this in an Instagram video not long after receiving it in the mail. Happy to post a written review update to say: I have NOT stopped wearing it since then.
In the bottle this is a gleaming wet cherry doused in sap -- not overtly maple-y like the finished product we buy in the store, but the raw stuff from the tree itself -- with some dark, polished woody undertones. It doesn't smell foodie per se, more like a posh atmosphere where delicious treats are served.
On the skin each of these notes bursts forth and becomes richer, more complex. I don't know what the "perfumes" might refer to, but I can tell it's contributing to the "warm, lusty, strange, or musky" mentioned upthread. If it was JUST "wooden maple cherry" I'd probably still be so down, but the overall combination of notes (specifically mentioned and otherwise) really does give this a seductive, otherworldly glow. Something to taste, not to eat. Something to kiss and hold, but not to love. Warmth, but no light. Amazing!
On me it's just *this* side of femme, which I love, but on someone else's skin it could be extremely va-va-voom. Like I'm truly getting burlesque show backstage vibes from it, which is where I truly feel at home. Over time the fruit dries out a bit and it's a gently sticky/tart, woody scent oozing with mystery.
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Nearly 200 writers entered our Nightmare Novellas One-Page Story contest, hence our delay in announcing a winner. Illustrator Drew Rausch joined our judging team made up of Lab staff, and the results are finally in!
We must preface this with a mighty thanks to everyone who submitted: you made this extremely difficult! Even the top fifty-or-so stories were a real NIGHTMARE to choose between. We’ll release a mighty tome of them online in weeks to come.
And without further ado:
🏆 WINNER:
PATISSERIE by Maggie House (Make A Face)
🏅 Runners-Up (in no particular order):
STICKY by Cleolinda Jones (Butterscotch and Gummy Candy Witch)
GOOD BONES STILL DECAY by CharLee Toth (Man With A Haunted House For A Head)
DEVIL’S CHERRIES by Desiree Powell (Wayfaring Stranger)
THE OTHER END by Chia-Hua M. Chu (Wayfaring Stranger)
A BOY AND HIS ZOMBIE by Jess Mann
🎖️Honorable Mention:
CAT TALE by Mister Sister (Halloween Cat)
BUTTERSCOTCH AND GUMMY CANDY WITCH by Kyle Wright
JONAS IN THE BELLY by Percy Shaffer (A Boy And His Zombie)
AN AUTUMN STROLL FOR A PUMPKIN MAN by Ashley Everhart
MARSHMALLOW BLACK by Shane Robinson (Butterscotch And Gummy Candy Witch)
HEADLESS by Anton Prosser
Thank you, one and all, for helping keep the Halloween spirit alive! Or at least, very undead. 💀 -
I agreed with pretty much everything here as I read these reviews: a soft, dusky, fruity floral (I get both the violet AND the plum) with gently dark undertones.
Sitting with this one was important because I wanted to figure out what connected the notes to the story of the woman harassed to death by magpies -- it wasn't readily apparent from the notes. In the bottle I get plum rather strongly, or perhaps it just stands out because I've been wearing SANTA DOESN'T NEED YOUR HELP, and it seems like the same note. It's mysterious and melancholic, and then on the skin the violets come creeping out and it really does seem like the scent of a woman in a fancy dress sitting at home in the dark, too afraid to leave the house.
Galen thought it was soapy at first which tracks with the Mr. Bubble mentioned earlier; that seems apt, since the Demeter fragrance inspired by the Mr. Bubble product is described as "a combination of coconut, banana, peach, jasmine, balsamic vanilla, and raspberry notes." It's not much of a leap from peach/jasmine/vanilla to plum/violet/vanilla, if you think about it.
WITCH-BIRDS pulls out of that race as it begins to dry, with very recognizable (to me) mallow and opium notes. It's purple from so many different directions! I tend not to wear violet so I was apprehensive at first, but there's plenty going on here to keep it from being distracting. I love the way mallow rounds out a scent -- even the darker, more resinous parts -- with foamy sweetness. I have to lean in and breathe deep to explore those spookier recesses; overall it's a relaxing, gentle scent which hangs around for quite a long time.
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Pomegranate is present as an accent in some of my favorite BPAL scents, but I can't think of a pom-forward one I've ever reached for regularly, purely based on personal taste. This one broke through!
In the bottle, the juicy sweetness of the pomegranate has the legs effectively swept out from under it by an undercurrent of inky darkness. It is actually reminiscent of ink, as in an industrial product, dry and almost clinical. That was exciting to me, since it's not the fruit juice blast I'm chasing here. So, on the skin it goes!
Immediately this becomes a rumbling, deep stormcloud of scent, bleeding purple and red around the edges. The dark side of this scent opens up, revealing several thick resinous layers... but I can understand why folks might have a hard time naming them or teasing them apart. Frankincense? Opoponax? Opium? Black amber? I have no receipts. Whatever it is, it continues holding back the sweetness and juiciness throughout the drydown, keeping the scent heavy and dramatic but allowing just a bit of razzle dazzle -- like rubies TRYING to sparkle against black velvet. Surprisingly mellow underneath the forbidding exterior, like most things goth.
I've been wearing it all week! I can't stop.
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One last bit of 2023 Lunacy and a sprinkle of NYE magic for ya:
https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-tag/november-december-2023
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We're very excited to add to Haute Macabre's Apothecary with the following four fragrances, available here:
DRAGON’S BLOOD INCENSE • Dark and brooding, a vampiric lovesong. Sumatran Daemonorops draco, fossilized amber, red vegetal musk, and champaca resinoid.
SWAMPKIN • a pumpkin floated by, swimming with the alligators in the Louisiana bayou. Amber-touched pumpkin rind and murky oud plunked into a boggy melange of mosses.
GOT THE MORBS • The very morbiest: ink-black musk, opium tar accord, clove bud, and myrrh.
LONDON SMOKE • the foggy grey of Victorian London. A black tea fougere with tabac flower and grey amber. -
I found this one to be DRASTICALLY different in all its various stages, catching me by surprise each time.
It's robust in the bottle I'm mainly getting snowberries, reminding me a bit of Marshmallow Snow: a kind of soft, minty evergreen that's been generously sweetened up with (in this case) something juicy. I wasn't mad at this, but I was surprised that I couldn't detect more of the other notes.
On the skin the mintiness/greenness/juiciness instantly calms and I get a sense of the pallid porcelain face peering out at me. It's not cold but... not warm, or living? And then here's where I start to get spun sugar and creamy carnation lace for the first time, just as plainly as if they'd been there all along.
While there's a lot of different notes included here, the overall effect is soft, peaceful, playful, and a bit chilly, with the sparse color palette you'd expect from the artwork. Further along it is more carnation-y than I ever thought possible. and only faintly sweet; it really seems like I'm wearing an entirely different fragrance than the one I put on an hour ago. Only still later can I track anything like chimney soot -- dark, smoky smudges kind of hiding underneath all the airy-fairy stuff -- but it's possible I'm gaslighting myself.
Overall it is true to theme, reminding me of something endearingly delicate that belongs on a shelf. And dare I say there's a lonely quality to it as well? There are phantoms of feeling here, and they glow a bit, ending up in a kind of stalemate with melancholy. The smile is pleasant but the eyes just stare. Ya know?
So those who are seeking the quieter and subtler aspects of this scent, I'd say, definitely try it on the skin, and just give it time.
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Scent-wise, each of these new Blow Molds go in totally different directions than the previous Halloweenie ones. So while there is some overlap in terms of the glowing amber component, it expresses itself differently in most of these; some of these are sweeter than others, or remain foodier, or involve more of a "plastic" quality, etc.
In the bottle, lemon is the star of VWMBM. It reminds me of something from The Fool's Journey, probably one of the Fool or Magician scents: bright and golden and creamy thanks to the lift from the amber, which blurs out the freshness and sharpness. It's like... actually uplifting to smell it, reminding me of gleaming halos and rays of light in religious paintings. Here is the comfort and joy we are supposed to be receiving tidings of. I can't pick out any of the incense notes specifically quite yet, but I BELIEVE.
Fresh on the skin that lemon's got a bit more of a zesty zing, but the amber's got a broader range too, bringing a surprising sweetness that is not QUITE a slice of the lemon meringue pie they serve in heaven, but it's not NOT that. And I'm very grateful for that part of it, because otherwise I think lemon might go furniture polish on me. Instead they just kind of hum together. Here's where the frank & myrrh start to assert themselves, but not in a dramatic Catholic way. This is one of those small town congregations where people worship Good Times Jesus. For that reason I'd personally say this reminds me more of an Easter scent, with pastel yellows and cheery messages about how He Has Risen.
But that seems fitting for a scent inspired by these campy, cheerful Nativity blow mold scenes with their and blue-eyed Wise Men. It's like a serious religious experience that's been puffed out into something bright and shiny and filled filled with warm air. Glowing blow mold decorations have always been about defying the cold with cheerful sights and pleasant fantasies.
Over time the freshness of the lemon truly retreats until it's not even particularly associated with real fruit. What's left is just this smooth, amber-glossed memory of something vaguely lemon-scented. It's lovely! Not overly clean or incense-y, just a lovely pale-golden nimbus of good vibes, man.
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I love the more woody or incense-y Snake Oil variants but there are still like a million ways in which this might not work for me.
In the bottle I wasn't entirely convinced -- I could detect the familiar Snake Oil scent kind of straining to break through or sneak past the heavier intrusion of these wood notes, which to my nose smell like actual boards, or some kind of varnished surface. Not bad but I was hoping for more harmony between the old and new aspects of the blend.
On the skin, however, it immediately became clear that I'm dealing with a boosted patchouli presence, and THAT got my attention. Possibly sandalwood also, or cedar, or incense components I can't trace. There's a dry raspiness to it, which really does harmonize very beautifully with the classic blend's gleaming oily-slippery-muskiness. It also smells darker and rootier to me than regular Snake Oil.
It's quite different than the impression I got in the bottle. That dry sharpness definitely sells the idea of tiny wooden bottles and cardboard packaging. I'm trying to recall the most patch-forward Snake Oil variants, because possibly this is the one? Before long it stabilizes and settles into this modestly restrained mellow, rooty crackle accompanied by a faint gasp of vanilla, which did remind me a bit of sarsaparilla from time to time -- but then when I leaned in for a deeper sniff, that sweetness gave way to darker, woodier aspects. It has a pleasantly old-fashioned vibe for sure; if they made it as a Beard Oil, I might grow a beard!
I found that I could still smell it after several hours.
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I know we've had bready scents before and lavender baked goods aplenty, but a lavender bread scent? The idea seems so obvious, and yet it took this long. The Lab also doesn't do many rosemary scents, so I'm curious to see how detectable that is.
In the bottle the lavender is strong and tinged sweet. Possibly there is vanilla involved, but what the sweetness really reminds me of is Japanese milk bread. That being said, there is a robusst crustiness and saltiness poking up from under that, and I think the rosemary would have to be screaming its head off to be detectable through all that, and it's not, so it isn't.
Fresh on the skin I do get like a light, savory olive oil sheen over the whole thing. And that's also when the rosemary seems the strongest, enriching the herbal tones.
Perhaps because of the contrast, the lavender in this strikes me as the flowering kind, like an actual bit of floral lavender standing out against the savory and gourmand notes. And over time what lingers longest on me is that pale, sweet, milk bread-esque pastry note wrapped in lavender vapor-trails. Faintly beneath that I can still detect the crusty/salty aspect but that is such a neutral tone, almost a skin tone itself when you think about it, that it doesn't arouse much attention.
While I think almost anyone can appreciate a bread scent (even if they don't care to wear it), the lavender really does seem to impart an emotional or fantastical quality that makes this a true comfort scent, instead of just a comfort food scent.
flowery
Rhubarb Custard Muffins
in Lupercalia
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This is the most rhubarb-forward fragrance that I, personally have ever smelled! In the bottle there's a lovely gradient from the sharp, almost vegetal dark green to that twinkling ruby tartness, surrounded on all sides by soft piles of custard -- plenty of reassuring sweetness to support the more forbidding tones, just the way you'd want in a quality rhubarb bake.
I don't get the cake part as much until the oil is drying on the skin, and even then it just serves as a lovely, crumbly platform for the tangy rhubarb enjoying its moment in the spotlight. There's a lovely interplay between the coolness and warmth of these various notes, kind of the way something will still taste "baked" even though it's fully cool to the touch.
If someone didn't know this was rhubarb, I have no idea what they'd guess it was... but it's definitely distinctive, appealing, and suggestive of something tantalizingly edible, without overpromising in terms of sweetness of intent.
I've found this lasts decently long on my skin! I'm excited to layer with some rose blends (particularly Roses, Pearls, and Rubies, which has a less-prominent rhubarb note) and some strawberry blends (which are often too sweet for me to fully enjoy).