torischroeder9

In the imp: Dragon's blood, pepper, and the cinnamon-candy kind of cinnamon.

On my skin:

Wet, I can only smell dragon's blood at first, though my skin can definitely feel the spices. (Just a warm tingling right now, which is common for me.) As it dries, I get more of the cinnamon-candy smell. I can still detect the dragon's blood underneath, and I suspect that hours from now, it's the dragon's blood that will remain longest. But for now, the scent seems content to be cinnamon candy on me. 

I have many fond memories of cinnamon candy, so this scent doesn't exactly evoke Wrath for me, but it's fun nonetheless. 

I'd be interested to layer this with something like Sin (which purports to contain cinnamon but which always leaves me wanting additional cinnamon). 

Throw is on the stronger side of average on me.

In the imp: Have you ever peeled cucumbers and then left the peels in the garbage in the hot sun? This smells like that. 

On my skin:

Still more hot, rotting cucumber peel. 

As it dries down, that note becomes strong -- but no longer unconscionably strong -- vetiver. I also detect the roughly cured leather.

At about the half hour mark, the musk starts to be a factor, and for me, it is, by this time, a very welcome note indeed. It smells... kind of like fog. 

So now, it's grass and fog and also some rough-grain leather. So it's still weird. But much more manageable than hot garbage cucumber. 

Finally, at the hour mark (it may change beyond this, but I'm seeing a definite trend), it's musk in the foreground over leather and vetiver. It's fairly dry, but it's loads nicer than in the imp. I'm curious to see how it pairs with some of the lighter, more effervescent RPG layering blends. 

In the imp: Lavender, rosewood, and amber. 

On my skin:

Wet, lavender and rosewood are strongest, with the fougere having an almost citrusy quality. As it dries, the citrusy element tamps down, and it's mainly lavender and rosewood on me. Even at this stage, it's very well-blended. Though I can pick out elements of the individual notes, they're not fighting one another for supremacy. 

At approximately the half hour mark, I can detect the floral-type notes receding just a bit and the tonka and patchouli perking up. After about forty-five minutes, however, that slight shift in balance is holding steady. 

"Deceptively genteel" is an excellent descriptor for this. If masculine, it is quite genteel, though it could easily be a scent for all genders. And yes, just a bit spooky. 

Throw is on the stronger side of average. 

In the imp: Caramelized brown sugar. 

On my skin:

Wet, it still wants to smell like caramelized brown sugar, though the honey is quick to make itself known. It actually doesn't take long for this to become mainly sugar cane and honey on my skin. Though it's still very sweet, it loses the caramelized, almost burny note that it had when wet.

After about half an hour, the oak also becomes discernible, though just enough to be a grounding note for all the sweet. 

It's actually pleasant enough on me, though it's potentially cloying enough as to be a cooler weather scent -- and I have cooler weather scents with more complexity already. 

In the imp: Grassy vetiver, sharp leather, and slightly powdery black musk. The notes are fighting with each other, and I'm almost afraid to put it on my skin. 

On my skin:

Wet, it smells a lot like the fumes from very cheap plastic. As it dries and develops, I get whiffs of pleasant enough black musk and leather from afar. However, sniffing up close, it's still plasticky and kind of hellacious. 

After about half an hour, I can say that it has calmed down a bit, enough for me to pick out the vetiver and the wet leather. But to my nose, this is very sharp yet. 

Once an hour has passed, the scent has calmed down some more thought the scent profile hasn't changed. It's better now that it isn't screaming throw, but as this turns out on my skin, it's nothing I want to wear -- or that I want anyone else to wear while they're near me. 

In the imp: Amber and black musk. It's gently sweet, resinous, and the musk is a bit powdery. 

On my skin:

In other blends, both black musk and amber tend to be slow to develop on my skin, so I was curious, in a blend with just these two notes, which would be first. Turns out, it's completely powdery black musk straight out of the gate. I should note that this powder is quite a bit nicer than baby powder and evokes more images of ornate, antique dresser mirrors than it does of diapers. 

That said, after about 45 minutes of wear, it's still powdery black musk. I know the amber exists because I smelled it in the vial, but it has yet to make a noticeable appearance on my skin. 

It takes an hour for the amber to arrive, its resinous scent profile beginning to counterbalance the black musk. And in fact, it seems like my skin starts to eat up the blend before the amber can really get going. 

Not quite ready to give up on this one yet. Will try again in a week or two when my body chemistry has recalibrated. 

Edit 2/18 -- Tried again. Lightly lemon-scented powder. Not objectively bad on me, but not what I'd wanted from this blend. 

In the imp: Steel with an undercurrent of leather. 

On my skin:

Wet, the steel note is initially strongest, but the musk note makes a play for attention as well. 

[I ended up getting distracted during the drydown and development and so don't have record of it. That said, it really didn't change much on me.]

An hour in, and the metallic note is by far the most prominent. The musk, I think, is giving it good throw. The leather is detectable only as a trace grounding note. 

In the imp: Light and fresh and a little sweet. I can't pick out individual notes, but if you told me it contained green tea and lime, I would believe you. 

On my skin:

Wet, the sweetness continues, though I also get a distinct whiff of wasabi. As it dries, white musk wafts up at me. On me, while the different scents are incongruous, they're not discordant. 

Once it's had some time to get used to my skin, I can pick out white musk, black musk, and a scent that's reminiscent of 51, so I'm guessing that's green musk. I can sometimes catch a whiff of heliotrope, and every once in a while, a little wasabi tickles my nose. 

After about an hour, it settles down to be mostly green musk, with some white musk and heliotrope playing along. It's a light, summery scent. I'm curious to see how it plays with RPG scents with a similar feel (like Gnome) as well as with RPG scents that are much different (like Evil). 

In the imp: Dragon's blood and red musk. I can pick out a note that's either the patchouli or the vetiver, but it's not strong. In the imp, this is not too unlike Dragon's Heart to me. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's almost entirely dragon's blood and red musk. As it dries, the patchouli also makes its presence known though it stays subdued by the dragon's blood and red musk. Dragon's blood tends to be a little spicy on my skin, so I can't tell if I'm getting the cinnamon here as a separate note or if it's blending in with the DB.

This morphs fairly little on me. The dragon's blood and red musk simmer down a bit, letting the patchouli and cinnamon come out a little more strongly. Still, the balance of the blend is tipped toward the red musk and dragon's blood. Vetiver never does put in a distinct appearance, though it could easily be playing very nicely with the patchouli. 

The throw is on the stronger side of medium; the wear length is also quite long. I like this one quite a lot, though as a fairly heavy scent, I'll probably relegate it to colder weather wearing. 

In the imp: Honey, tonka, chamomile that I can detect outright, as well as another herbal, slightly minty (very slightly) note that I'm guessing is hyssop. 

On my skin:

Wet, honey is in the forefront along with chamomile. As it's drying, the tonka is also distinguishable. 

Given some time to develop on my skin, the tonka blends almost seamlessly with the honey to create a scent that's partway between honey and beeswax (they're distinct but not so very dissimilar on my skin). The chamomile gives it a mild sweetness, and the herbal hyssop, as a background note, provides a bit of structure. I like this a great deal as it shows up on my skin as a honey scent (as opposed to a many-noted scent with honey, however prominent, in it), but the complementary other notes deepen it and keep it from becoming too cloying or heady. 

The throw and wear length aren't great on me, but I also tested this on a not-ideal area of my skin. I'm very curious to give this a more thorough retest as it could be the honey blend I've been looking for for daily wear. 

Edit: Retested more fully and sadly, the throw and wear length remain light on me. Will definitely keep my imp of this for use in specific situations. 

In the imp: Fig, patchouli, and something earthy that does not smell like either the Lab's dirt note or like patchouli. 

On my skin:

Wet, I get patchouli and what smells like peat whiskey without the spirited fumes. Given several minutes to dry and develop on my skin, the fig also becomes discernible, lending some warmth to the blend. 

Sadly, after about half an hour, the fig fades, and I'm left with patchouli and oakmoss. It's not unpleasant in itself, but it's much drier minus the fig. At this stage, comparisons to an older stone building are apt. It's interesting to try, but for regular wearing, I wanted the fig. 

Low throw. 

In the imp: Patchouli, musk, and peach. 

On my skin:

The patchouli is the most prominent, with a hint of peach in the background. It doesn't seem to morph much on me, at least not for the first half hour or so. 

As time goes by, the amber and musk emerge, sweetening the patchouli and adding a quality that's a bit powdery and a bit resinous. Unfortunately, by this time, the peach also becomes indistinguishable as an individual note (though it may still be playing a role in the sweetness). 

It's not an unpleasant scent, but I was really hoping the peach would be more prominent. 

In the imp: Sweet florals, white musk, and more sweet florals. 

On my skin:

Wet, the sweet pea shows up first. As it dries, lily, pear, and white musk all become detectable as well. At this point, sweet pea might be the most in the foreground, but not by an overwhelming amount. The scent is reasonably well balanced overall. 

About a half hour in, the pear has receded, except to give a bit of roundness to the blend, and the honeysuckle is detectable as an individual note as well. In fact, I'd suggest that at this point, Juliet is predominantly sweet pea and honeysuckle on me, with the white musk doing what it can to ground the scent. (That it's a very light, airy blend is more a function of the notes listed rather than any kind of failing on the part of the white musk.)

Another hour later, the musk settles back, and the pear reemerges a bit to give the blend a light, sweet feel that isn't overly floral or cloying. 

The throw on this is fairly low, and the wear length is on the shorter side.

In the decant: Crystalline floral. I don't get anything that I could describe as fur or hay. 

On my skin: 

Wet, I get a note that's much richer and sweeter, like honey or amber, though I still don't get the smell of hay. (Spent enough time handling hay in my life to be 100% sure of this.) I'm not sure if the Lab's version of a hay note is different than mine, if the oil has changed with age, or if this is something that will develop in wear time. Several minutes dry, and the round sweetness starts to go soft, just the tiniest bit powdery, like amber can do on me. 

The only additional morph this undergoes on me is for the floral note to disappear entirely. It's soft, gentle, beautiful amber on me. Which, I cannot complain about a bit since I love amber -- but I do understand if someone acquired this scent expecting a different experience. The throw is on the strong side of medium.

In the bottle: Floral, incensey champaca and honey. 

On my skin:

Wet, the honey actually comes out first, with the champaca regaining dominance by the time it dries. Given some time to warm and develop, the champaca becomes both bright -- "almost citrusy" is about right -- and incensey. The honey adds a rich sweetness. Together, the two do not become cloying -- though this may also be in part due to the sandalwood, which I cannot yet detect as a stand-alone note. 

After about half an hour, the sandalwood shows up, giving the scent a nice, grounded element. 

I agree with folks describing this as a scent that would be the color of sunshine. 

The throw is pretty good. Will update later about wear length. Now is bedtime. 

2017 version.

In the bottle: Leather and Snake Oil. I'm normally not good at picking out nuances in the Lab's leather, but this note is evocative of large amounts of new, high-quality equestrian tack. 

On my skin:

Initially, the combination of the wet leather note and the wet Snake Oil is unusually sharp. As it dries, that quickly dissipates, though the leather note makes the blend deeper and heavier than standard Snake Oil. (I am someone for whom Snake Oil doesn't register as particularly sweet, so I don't really notice a lessening of that quality here.) It also provokes a faint redness and irritation on my skin, which standard Snake Oil does not do. None of the Lab's leather notes has done this before, either, but my experience with them is more limited. 

About a half hour past the initial drydown, and the leather note recedes significantly. It's still present as an additional grounding note, but the blend is Snake Oil-dominant on me. Also, the skin irritation persists into this phase. 

After an hour or so, the irritation goes away. It remains mostly Snake Oil with an undercurrent of leather. 

It does have great throw and wear length and after several hours, it fades to mostly Snake Oil on me. 

I'm torn. I mean, Snake Skin is awesome on me because Snake Oil is awesome on me. And I definitely understand why those who find Snake Oil too sweet would prefer Snake Skin. But I cannot truthfully say that Snake Skin is more awesome on me than is Snake Oil, or even that is awesome in a unique way. 

In the imp: Booze first, moss and dirt next, followed by mixed flowers. 

On my skin:

Wet, the rum rises to the top of the blend on my skin, followed by a dirt note that immediately gets lost as it's drying. Once dry, however, the dirt note reemerges, though the spiced rum is the most pronounced note. Additionally, the dirt note isn't harsh to my nose, so I'm guessing that I'm "sensing" some of the flowers in the blend even if I can't pick them out as individual notes. 

About a half hour in, while the rum still dominates, there is no trace of the sharper, "fumier" aspects of alcohol spirits. It's the rich, mellow, faintly spicy and faintly sweet parts of bay rum. The soil note is still prominent, but I'm now able to pick out a floral note -- maybe lily, and maybe magnolia?

However, after another hour, the florals also fade, and it's once again rummy dirt -- which is one of the nicest dirt notes I've tried so far, but I'm still not sure if I want to smell like rummy dirt. 

Low to medium throw. Not sure I'm going to keep this on my arm long enough to test the wear length (but it's not super short). 

In the decant: Amber and clary sage. 

On my skin: 

Wet, it's clary sage in the forefront with the background going kind of soapy. Once dry, the soapiness settles down, and the clove and clary sage are dominant, backed by amber and an undercurrent of leather. 

After the initial drydown, this doesn't morph much on me. (The amber is the longest-lasting note on me, so there is a time when it's the strongest note on me, but this is mainly because this is the time when the other notes are fading through normal wearlength attrition.) 

The scent balance is really lovely on this. The amber and clove give it sweetness and spice, the clary sage adds an element of cleanness and freshness, and the leather grounds and unifies the blend nicely. It wears very close to my skin with minimal throw. 

Imp received very recently as a frimp along with the post-Lab purchase of a different scent. Age of imp unknown.

In the imp: Carnation and a soft musk, with the hints of other grounding scents (spices and sandalwood would fit this) playing in the background. It does have a creamy feel, so I definitely understand where lots of folks talk about it smelling like vanilla. 

On my skin: 

Wet, the carnation initially dominates, but it seems like the spices are also trying to surface. Once it's dry, however, that spice attempt fails. At least for the first half hour of the dry scent, it's mostly carnation with a bit of sandalwood grounding. (Putting my nose to my skin does make me sneeze, though, which is not a terrible indicator for the presence of a kitchen spice note.) 

As it has time to mature, the carnation is still the center note, but the sandalwood comes out to ground the blend a bit more. In addition, both the musk and the cassia are detectable around the edges of the scent. The scent is simultaneously dry and creamy. The comparisons to powdered spice over dessert or sweet drink are very apt. 

Ultimately, it's a light, soft, not-overly-sweet, and not-floral scent that ends up having a good bit of throw on me. In my mind, this is a complete win.

In the decant: Evergreen, sweetness, and smoke. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's mainly the same as in the decant, though the smoke scent flits in and out of prominence. Dry, it's fir first and incense second. It morphs fairly little as it develops on me. I am able to pick out a faint sweetness that's separate from the fir but can't pinpoint whether it's floral or amber. (The incense note is interfering a bit with that, I think.)

About an hour later, the amber note becomes more prominent, enough to be a solid base for the incense, evergreen, smoke, and floral that accent it. 

I am deciding how I like this one. (I received it as a frimp with a different purchase.) The scent is interesting; I don't often love evergreen scents; left alone long enough, this becomes more amber; I like amber. 

I may think about retesting this at a later date. 

In the decant: Apple and rosewood, with an undercurrent of pine. 

On my skin: 

Wet, it's rosewood and apple. The rosewood seems to want to go a little soapy as some rose-rose notes like to do on me. A few minutes later, once it's dry, I realize that said soapiness was actually the lemon peel struggling for dominance on my skin. The soapy phase is quite short-lived, and now the lemon peel is in the foreground, with an undercurrent of rosewood. The quality of the lemon peel is quite nice; it's avoiding the Raging Lemon Pledge that is too often lemon on my skin. The apple note, not independently detectable, may be helping with this. 

It may not be Raging Lemon Pledge, but more time turns it into Amping (Real) Lemon Peel, though. 

Finally, it settles in on being a pretty nice lemon rose with a fair amount of throw. The iterations of these notes, both of which can go wonky on me, are quite well balanced in this blend. I don't often find myself wanting to smell like lemon rose , but I might use this for warm-weather wear. 

In the Imp: Cucumber and something greener and sharper, like grass. If "cucumber zest" was a thing, I'd call it that. 

On my skin:

Wet, there's something about this that almost smells like the inside flesh of a hot green pepper. That note quickly fades, and I'm left with a cucumber that's accented with something crisp and green, like grass, as well as with something bright and fruity, like lime. 

Many minutes dry, and the cucumbery, grassy, limey combination persists in approximately the same form. It's not unlike a certain stage of Green Phoenix, though this doesn't seem likely to go to either candy or moss any time soon. 

The scent doesn't morph for me, but after about an hour, it does start to fade. Its throw settles down on the closer side of medium. 

This is done very nicely for the type of scent it is. It's a nice variation on a bright, clean, refreshing scent. It's not usually what I want to smell like in a perfume, but I'd very much like it in something like a body wash. 

Note: The only Lab snow note I've tried is the one in the 2018 Frostbitten series. I've tried Frostbitten Snake Oil, Frostbitten Dorian, and now Frostbitten Jack. To my nose, the note is consistent across these blends (in this year). I would call it softly creamy and softly sweet. If I refer to the "snow" note in this review, it is the one I am describing here. 

In the decant: The snow note, as above, is most prominent, but I don't have too much trouble detecting the pumpkin, nutmeg, and clove underneath. They're in the background, but they're not absent for me. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's snow, nutmeg, and pumpkin, in that order. As it dries, the snow is the portion of the blend that continues to have the most throw. However, if I bring my nose close to my arm to sniff, the pumpkin and nutmeg are most prominent. 

After about half an hour, the notes blend together more. The snow still has more throw, and the pumpkin-nutmeg is still prominent near the skin, but the balance is much closer. The snow is detectable close up, and the pumpkin-nutmeg is detectable sniffing further out. And there's a range of "sniffing distance" when the blend is pretty well equalized. 

As it wears on my skin, the pumpkin-nutmeg of Jack becomes more dominant at any sniff length. The snow note never becomes a non-player. 

2018 version

Also worth noting: It's been a while since I tested regular Dorian.

In the decant: Tea and white musk in the foreground, the same snow note as in this year's Frostbitten Snake Oil in the background. (I have also not actually ever tried straight Snow White or possibly any of the Lab's snow-prominent perfumes.)

On my skin: 

Wet, the snow note gains more prominence so it's at least an equal player with the tea. The white musk has temporarily receded. In the early dry phase, it becomes so much snow that I also lose the tea. The snow is beautiful, though, so I am not complaining. 

After about half an hour, I notice that I'm getting a pretty good amount of throw from this. I wonder if it's the snow note itself or if one of the light musks (I often amp musk) is helping to boost it on my skin. It takes about forty-five minutes for anything like Dorian (or like my memory of Dorian, light musk and sweet light tea) to come through, and when it does, it's still well-balanced by the sweet, creamy snow note. 

I like this a lot, and it works better for me than I remember Dorian itself working (I amp musk but eat tea, so Dorian isn't balanced on me). The additional "frostbitten" notes give it more depth. On me, this is light enough -- in character; it still has good throw -- to be a warm weather scent. 

In the decant: Fresh ginger at first, followed by the gingerbread smell. I'm distinguishing "gingerbread" because there is an element of baked good, sweetness, and additional complementary spices (maybe brown sugar and allspice, just a bit?). 

On my skin:

Wet, I get the gingerbread note first, to the exclusion of the fresh ginger I experienced in the decant. Through the initial drydown, at least, it stays the same way. I mean, it's a very gingery gingerbread -- and I like my gingerbread with a lot of ginger (and that's sort of why I got this scent) -- but I'm missing the distinct "more ginger" note I seemed to get in the decant. 

Aaaannd... yeah, half an hour after the previous paragraph, and it doesn't seem to be morphing at all. It's a very gingery gingerbread. It's a nice warm, gingery scent with some pretty good throw. It's possibly my favorite scent from the selection of Yule 2018 decants I purchased. I do want a bottle of this, but I might have to look long and hard at both my finances and my spicy, wintry perfumes to determine whether I really should get one. Definitely hanging onto this decant, though.