torischroeder9

2 hours ago, artisjok said:

There are some interesting sounding clove blends in the Yules this year, and you should still be able to jump in on decants! No reviews to go by, not yet at least  

 

Ninth Lash, which is honey and clove, does have one review.  

On 12/21/2018 at 2:04 AM, bsods said:

Interesting, I've also had problems with only being able to smell certain notes. I thought maybe it was my nose not being used to complex scents, but maybe some scents are bound to just end up smelling one note on my skin. Regardless, Miskatonic sounds really lovely.

My bottle order of Miskatonic University arrived today, and interestingly, I do get a little bit of a whiff of dust from it. But where the scent description of "dusty tomes" had me thinking of the very distinct smell of old book pages, this dust-whiff I smell is distinctly foodier. I'm interpreting it as a bit of nutmeg or maybe cardamom -- the dry powdered spice, without it being mixed into anything else. 

I agree that Snake Oil is worth trying. I get very little overt sweetness from it; it ends up smelling nicely spicy on me. Additionally, a lot of people have found that aging changes this oil, so even if you didn't like it fresh, you might like it aged. 

As for Miskatonic University, it's pretty much entirely Irish cream on me. I must have passed on it the first time I tried it years ago. Then I received a frimp of it this summer and found myself surprised by how often I reached for it. My first bottle of it is on order. 

I agree with galahad's suggestion of Bengal. It ticks off the warm, spicy, and gourmand boxes for you. Some people do notice a skin reaction to some of the spices (cinnamon is the most common culprit, I think), but if you like the scent, there are ways around that (dilution, using a scent locket, etc.). 

I might also suggest Vixen. It's orange blossom, ginger, and patchouli. This is one of my favorites, even though both orange blossom and patchouli are hit-or-miss scents on me. It's very well balanced: On me, the patchouli grounds the scent, the orange blossom adds a bit of sweetness, and the ginger sort of ties it all together. 

Expectations: Milk chocolate, pretty straightforward. 

In the imp: Definitely milk chocolate. There's a quality to the scent that suggests chocolate in liquid form to me, like hot cocoa or brownie batter or the chocolate square of a melted s'more. 

On my skin: 

Wet on my skin, the scent actually becomes a bit drier than it feels in the bottle, like dry cocoa powder. It reminds me of the cocoa note in Gelt. 

At least in the initial phase, this has considerably more throw than I'm used to chocolate notes having. 

By the 15 minute mark, however, the throw has settled down to be very close to the skin, which is more typical of chocolate and me. 

And it becomes rapidly fainter from there. A little more than a half hour after application, and it's barely detectable. 

It's a nice scent while it lasts, but it doesn't last long enough to be a reasonable perfume choice for me. 

Source: Lab imp. 

Expectations: I remember not liking dragon's blood. 

In the imp: It's musky, red and black. I like musk. 

On my skin:

Red and black musk. It's dry and grounded on me, not at all in a bad way. 

Just dry, I get fig and currant starting to warm and sweeten this. 

A few moments more, and I get a note that I'd describe as "red" and somewhere between fruity and woody. I'm guessing that's dragon's blood, or at least how it shows up on my skin. I don't love it, but I don't hate it. 

This note is sort of an "empty" sweet scent for me. It doesn't add any depth or complexity. It's currently combined with only "win" notes for me, and this blend is "meh." 

2018 version

Expectations: I actually don't do super well with anything the Lab has used as a "snow" scent. So I wasn't actually expecting to like the accent on this. But I know that Snake Oil is pretty dominant on my skin. So this is likely to be Snake Oil + Other. I can live with that. 

In the bottle: WHAT? That is beautiful soft coconut. And if I keep sniffing, Snake Oil. 

On my skin: 

Wet, this is coconut Snake Oil. Coconut. Snake. Oil. 

I know many people have described Snake Oil as too sweet on them. The opposite is true for me. Whatever is sweet in Snake Oil, my skin eats. Whatever is dry and gritty, my skin amps. So a soft, sugared coconut plus Snake Oil is super warm and cozy.

And sexy. 

Yes, both. 

Dry, the Snake Oil does a beautiful job of grounding the coconut top note, which otherwise would most likely turn ephemeral on me. The throw on this is moderate-to-strong, though the scent itself is fairly soft. 

Over the course of a work day, it doesn't really morph much, though there are individual moments where I smell more coconut or more Snake Oil. (But they don't follow a pattern. It's not like one note is gaining prominence over time.)

From a blend this beautiful on me, I will always want more throw and wear length, but I cannot complain about what already exists. 

Let this sit a full day from when it arrived. 

Expectations: Honey and clove seems like a scent that could be made for me. I think I've only tried one other blend with helichrysum/immortelle, but I liked it.** 

In the bottle: The Lab's honey with something deepening it. It's a little herbal and a little spicy, so the overall effect is less sweet than some of the other honey blends I've tried. 

On my skin:

Wet, the clove comes to prominence first. As it initially dries, the honey is also detectable, keeping the clove from being harsh or biting. 

Once it starts to settle, the honey increases to become the dominant note though the clove doesn't diminish. But in this phase, it's clovey honey rather than being clove with honey. I can't detect the helichrysum as a distinct note, though it may be what's keeping the honey from being cloying. There is sweetness to this scent, but it's much mellower than some (many?) of the other honey blends I've tried. 

After another half an hour, I'm drawing the conclusion that this isn't much of a morpher, which is good for me. This a surprisingly comfortable scent. It's sweet and spicy but not flowery or foody. In a perfect world, there would be a touch more clove, but that may well come out with aging. 

This does have the characteristic strong throw that BPAL honey has on me. In fact, I'm a person with several honey blends and several clove blends, and I feel safe saying those notes are behaving in very characteristic ways on me. So if the description sounds like it will work for you, I definitely think it's worth a try. 

I'm very glad I ordered my bottle and am now contemplating a second. I don't need to hoard this for all eternity, but it is a blend I can see myself using with some regularity. 

** Full disclosure: The other helichrysum/immortelle blend I've tried is Judith and Holofernes, which also has honey -- which may be a factor in why I can't really distinguish the note here. 

Edit: Not an hour after I posted (but about 2 hours after initial application), and this has become a "second skin" type scent on me. I mean, it has a lot of throw, so it's not a skin-close scent. But it is a scent that works very seamlessly with my skin chemistry. 

Update 12/25 -- I recently ordered a second bottle of Ninth Lash and another bottle of Bengal (the closest GC scent I can compare this to). Sniffing them both side by side, I think the helichrysum in Ninth Lash is adding a layer of subtle earthiness or herbalness. It's not sharp or pungent, but it deepens the BPAL honey note. 

Expectations: I thought it would be a variation on BPAL dirt (received as frimp, hadn't read notes). Since I'm not a fan of said dirt, I wasn't hoping for much. 

In the imp:  No dirt. Soapiness. I can pick out juniper. Have to admit, I don't love either. 

On my skin:

Lord and a half. Gin and mint. I'm not sure where the extra mint is coming from. If patchouli could at least make an appearance, then I'd know where to go with this. 

Dry, it's at least dried down to straight juniper. 

Okay, folks. This is just not my friend. 

Hopes and preconceptions: BPAL's honey notes tend to work very well on me -- something I'm sad I didn't realize while the Apiary scents were more widely available -- so I'm hoping for honey with floral around the edges. 

In the bottle: Whoa, jasmine! All jasmine -- strong jasmine. No honey. 

On my skin:

Initially, it's the same all-jasmine as it was in the bottle. Strangely, for me, the throw does not seem to be particularly strong at this point. After a few minutes, the throw increases, and the jasmine turns slightly soapy -- an issue that I've had with jasmine that is sometimes transient and sometimes not. 

Twenty minutes later, and while the soapiness has resolved itself, this is still all jasmine, all the time. This is fairly surprising to me because, while jasmine is definitely hit-or-miss with my skin chemistry, honey has historically been both reliable and strong. I'm not sure it's ever taken honey this long to emerge on my skin (Third Charm, maybe?) -- and it's certainly never taken this long for honey to appear from a blend with the word "honey" in its name. 

Forty minutes in, and this is reminiscent of the epic battle that was My Skin Chemistry v. Hony Mone, only now with more jasmine, less honey. 

(I should point out that the jasmine isn't actually doing anything bad or weird on my skin at this point and hasn't been for a while. The soapiness I got was just for a couple of minutes during the initial drydown. It's a very clear, true jasmine with a good amount of throw.)

It's been just over an hour since the initial drydown, and just now -- and just barely -- the honey is beginning to warm up and round out this blend. It's still mostly jasmine, but there is now a faintly detectable honey undertone. 

At an hour and twenty minutes, up close, it's finally become genuine floral honey, though the jasmine note still has considerably more throw. 

At just over an hour and forty minutes, I'm going to have to call it: While this is honey and jasmine, at this point, it's still considerably more honey than jasmine. It's probably great for jasmine lovers, but as a dedicated honey lover (with a tried and true track record as a honey amper as well, so what gives here?),  this is not my favorite honey and not even my favorite floral honey. 

On 8/16/2017 at 9:52 PM, faylie said:

Hey, could anyone compare Velvet and Gelt for me? Similarities, differences? Also, where would Boomslang vary from these? Thanks

I know this is much delayed, but I can make this comparison. 

On me, they're both soft, dry scents -- but Gelt is much more cocoa as a major player while Velvet is predominantly woody with a hint of cocoa around the edges. 

Boomslang, on me, is somewhere between the two in terms of the intensity of the chocolate note. The chocolate is definitely present, but it's also a background player to the primary notes of Snake Oil. 

Reviewing the Resurrected version. 

In the bottle: Musks and spices. A hint of leather. But it's not sharp, so there must be something sweetening it (this is usually how I perceive vanilla in a blend with multiple notes). 

On my skin:

Immediately, it's delicious, sumptuous, and slinky. For a moment, I have no desire to even pick out the notes. 

Once this phase subsides, the first discernable note is a lovely soft leather. (I think labdanum, maybe?). The Lab's usual leather note is almost always too harsh on me, so this is a lovely surprise. Shortly after, it's warmed and sweetened by the coconut and vanilla. Following that, spices -- evocative of the spice in Scherezade and Morocco -- become detectable. 

It settles on something sweeter and slinkier than Snake Oil -- while still being reminiscent of Snake Oil -- and still having a lovely soft leather grounding note. 

On me, throw and wear length are just shy of moderate. 

In the bottle: Good chocolate frosting, maybe buttercream or ganache.

On my skin:

The chocolate rises to the surface first. This is the chocolate of something sweet and decadent. It's chocolate and sugar and cream -- hence the thought of chocolate buttercream frosting.

As the blend settles, the chocolate note fades, leaving the cream note more prominent. I won't lie -- a decade ago, I pretty much hated this blend because of this note. Now, it's far from terrible, but still not anything to brag about. It's faded from chocolate buttercream to something more like cream with some chocolate added (not even chocolate cream). Quite nice for subtlety -- but subtlety isn't why I wear chocolate BPAL. 

At some point, the cream too dies down and the almost bitter chocolate regains dominance. However, by this point, the scent overall is much more subtle, with much less throw. 

In the bottle: Mandarin, opium, and floral upfront, with a drier grounding note that I'm guessing is the sandalwood. 

On my skin:

Wet, the lily initially comes to the forefront, followed by the opium. At this point, they've eaten up the mandarin, and the sandalwood is also buried. The blend has a creamy aspect to it, which is all I'm getting of the vanilla. 

After several minutes, the sandalwood starts to come through, cutting the sharp sweetness that is the opium-lily combination on my skin. The mandarin also comes back a little, though it remains overshadowed by the opium and lily. Several minutes more, and the vanilla reemerges as the unifying creamy note. 

The sandalwood, vanilla, and mandarin continue to come in and out of the lily-opium blend throughout the wear life (moderate) of the perfume, so that while the overall effect is floral, it's never straightforwardly so. 

This is one of my go-to "business formal" perfumes. It's sophisticated and moderate on me, yet complex enough to be original. 

In the imp: Beautiful, dry cocoa on the first whiff, with a gentle wood behind it if I keep sniffing. 

On my skin:

Immediately, the sandalwood comes to the surface, vying with and then dominating the cocoa scent even before the oil is dry. 

After a few minutes, the cocoa disappears, and the myrrh enters, lending an edge of heavier wood to the scent. 

Given even more time, the myrrh too settles down, allowing the dusting of cocoa to be once again detectable along the edges of this woody scent. 

2012 version.

In the bottle: Red musk with something bright and faintly sweet (it's not as sharp as a green note or as tart as a citrus). At this point, I get neither the patchouli nor the honey, which is unusual for me. 

On my skin:

Wet, the patchouli immediately comes to prominence, so I needn't have worried. It's followed by something I can only describe as a bright, almost lemony floral. 

After a few minutes, the patchouli is still there, grounding everything, but the red musk and the honey are much more forward now. At the moment, it seems like patchouli is overshadowing any wood or hemlock that might be coming through, just as honey is beginning to overshadow other sweet notes. 

As it settles in, there's a portion of this scent that's red musk and honey with a goodly amount of throw (and, if it behaves anything like red musk and honey usually do on me -- individually -- it should have good wear length). Close to my skin is an added note that's probably at least partly patchouli and at least partly ho wood, but it doesn't have the throw of the other notes. 

This seems to be where everything settles: amping the notes I love and that work best with my skin chemistry while downplaying the others. Must be magic.

In the bottle: Amber musk, cardamom, and cinnamon. It's gently sweet and gently spiced. 

On my skin: 

Wet, it's black tea on top, with the cardamom underneath. Cinnamon disappears, I hope only momentarily. 

Dry, and it's back to cardamom and a hint of cinnamon sitting on top of amber musk, which I think is helping its throw. It's lovely at this stage -- a little spicier than I smelled in the bottle, and just a touch less sweet, but still enough to be a soft, gently spiced blend. 

About twenty minutes in, and something -- I'm guessing the amber -- has amped a bit to create a touch of powderiness, but the cardamom and cinnamon are helping keep that in check. Also, while I can't smell it in the full throw of the perfume, if I put my nose near my skin, I do get the tangerine note. (Tangerine getting swallowed up by some bigger scents is a common thing with my skin chemistry.) 

Ultimately, this becomes musky amber and cardamom with a lot of throw, with hints of tea, tangerine, and cinnamon close to the skin. I never do get cherry blossom, but with the scent profile I do get, I can hardly complain. I don't know that I have another soft, spicy perfume with this amount of throw. 

In the bottle: Red musk and a sweetness that's definitely part amber and part dragon's blood but also might be something lighter, like the heliotrope or the orange peel. 

On my skin: 

Wet, the dragon's blood gets tamped down a bit as the red musk amps up. Not complaining about that since red musk tends to work with my skin chemistry while dragon's blood tends to work against it. 

As it dries, the sweetness reasserts itself, though the red musk is more than enough to keep it grounded. One of the sweet notes does have a citrus quality to it, so I'm guessing that's the orange peel. (This is also the time in a perfume oil where orange tends to be strongest on me, so...)

Overall, it's most similar to Scherezade on me, though Red Moon is decidedly sweeter and less spicy. Due no doubt to the red musk, this has throw and wear length for days.

In the bottle: Soft honey and baby powder. 

On my skin:

The honey is subdued as the baby powder jumps to the top of the scent. This is the clean after a warm shower, rather than something cool and refreshing. 

Once it dries and settles in, the honey resurfaces as the main note. It has a vaguely fruity tinge to it -- not unpleasant, but I can't account for it in the listed notes. 

I never get milk as a distinct note, but something is definitely cutting the honey's potency. (BPAL honey is usually amazing on me, but it can sometimes get dangerously close to cloying territory if left unchecked. This blend, while sweet, stays far away from "too sweet.") It's not dampening the throw at all. 

It's nice, but I have skin scents I like better, honey scents I like better, and "clean" scents I like better. 

The first bottle of Smut I have doesn't have a year listed on it. I'm guessing that might make it 2006?

In the bottle: Earthy musks and sweetness. I don't get any booze, though the description of root beer is apt. 

On my skin:

Wet, a boozy note rises to the surface. If I had to get more specific, I'd peg it as a gold or dark spiced rum. It doesn't dominate but sort of hangs out on top of the sweetness. 

The musk in this -- which quickly dominates the scent profile -- means that on me, it has throw for days. (Also wear length for days... literally.) I'd guess red musk and something near whatever is the "deep musk" in Hell's Belle. 

This doesn't morph much on me but remains sticky, sweet musk. I don't think of it as a sexy scent -- though it's definitely more grown-up than are most "sweet scent" profiles -- but I always get compliments when I wear it. And it's not a scent I wear, say, to work. 

Comparatively, the 2008 version:

In the bottle: Same basic scent profile, though I get more musk and booze and less sweetness in this version. (For what it's worth, the oil is lighter in color too.)

On my skin:

Booze again jumps to the top of the scent while it's wet, though while it lasts this time, it makes the scent overall less sweet. It's more reminiscent of a bourbon whiskey than of a spiced rum this time. 

As it dries, this balance continues. The booze is a little sharper and a little stronger, which makes it a little harder to determine the specific musk notes. The sugar is a little less prominent, so it's not quite so syrupy sweet. 

2009 version

In the bottle: A mug of hot cocoa with a hint of cinnamon. 

On my skin: 

Applied, the cinnamon note amps for a moment, then fades back to a hint. 

After a few minutes dry, the cinnamon comes forward a bit more, and the coffee starts to make an appearance. I can't place brown sugar as a stand-alone note, but the overall scent profile is sweet. 

This is where it stays on me, a nice, sweet, comforting foody scent. 

Sadly, its throw and wear-length are low on me, but that's probably because it's composed of notes that always fit this description for me. 

In the bottle: Round, red fruits, red musk, and patchouli. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's the same. The fruits are top note, red musk the main, with patchouli underneath.

It does start to tingle on my arm. No listed note is an obvious culprit, but this isn't so unusual for me. It's slightly annoying, but not a dealbreaker. 

More time, and it's even more just what I said. It's round, deep, fruity red musk with an underscore of patchouli. I can't detect vanilla as a stand-alone note, but this is often the case when I'm detecting a sweet element to a blend. 

It's one of my favorite self-confidence blends: a lot tough, but a little sweet. 

In the bottle: Cinnamon with a spicer spice (maybe clove or pepper) and something that smells almost like pitch. When I sniff again, I detect some kind of woody note. The cinnamon note is strong, and the pitch/wood-type note is almost off-putting.

On my skin: 

Wet, the wood note dominates, but it quickly fades as the oil dries. I'm left with an intensified "Red Hot" candy smell. After a few minutes, my skin starts tingling (probably from the cinnamon), and the woody note resurfaces, but it's definitely taking a back seat to the cinnamon. 

It's definitely a warming and energizing blend. I could see where it would enhance vitality and stamina (not areas I've found in need of enhancing, personally, so it's not the aptest comparison). I've worn it with the hope of enhancing desire, but without the intended effect -- though this could well be because I get a bit preoccupied with worries about cinnamon-based oil coming into contact with... sensitive skin. 

In the bottle: Patchouli and tobacco hit me first, but an extra sniff tells me they're rounded out with something subtly sweet. I can't pick out the cocoa or vanilla specifically, but I can tell that something with sweetness is tempering the other two notes. 

On my skin: 

Patchouli rushes to the surface, but there's a subtler mix of notes handing closer to my skin, waiting to sort themselves out.

Ten minutes in, and it's still predominantly patchouli, now accented by the sharpness of tobacco and tempered with a bit of the cocoa (and possibly including vanilla here). The overall impression is an earthy scent, but not necessarily a "filthy" one. I've definitely experienced patchouli blends that were harsher to my nose than this is. 

A half hour later, and this is where it seems to stay for me. The cocoa-vanilla balance shifts so the vanilla is a little more prominent, but the scent as a whole doesn't become any sweeter. 

It's not an "all the time" blend for me, but it's a very useful "dirty" perfume (for example, one I wear after a night out if I haven't had time to shower). 

In the bottle: Sharp honey, then jasmine. A few sniffs later, and I can pick out apricot and honeysuckle underneath as well. In the bottle, this is kind of a hot mess. 

On my skin:

Jasmine and something rounder and almost buttery underneath. Probably the almond, probably also the apricot, couldn't rule out honey contributing at this point as well, though the last is not immediately discernable as a note. 

After about ten minutes, the jasmine and honeysuckle soften a bit, and the honey, almond, and apricot come forward a bit more. The soft undertone that is the "food note blend" here is actually quite lovely. The florals are still sharp on my skin. 

Another ten minutes, and the trend continues, though it's slowed down. The fig has started to make an appearance, so there's a bit of earthy sweetness going on too. I feel like this will be lovely if I can just outwait the jasmine. (Note: If I ever create a scent autobiography, "If I Can Just Outwait the Jasmine" is a viable working title.)

Erk, I may have spoken too soon! The almond -- which the honey had been keeping in check for me -- starts to dominate the foody end of this. So now it's almond-jasmine, which is not sitting well with my skin chemistry. 

Aaand... at about 40 minutes, I have to NOPE out of this blend. The almond has died down, so that the foody undertone is a lovely round, fruity honey. But the jasmine has amped up again. Jasmine lives to write another scent chapter, and I'm going to go wash off my arm. 

In the imp (frimp from Lab): It reminds me of either one of the flavored coffee creams or one of the instant cappuccinos you'd get at a gas station convenience store. Coffee underneath, but with a top note that's sugar and maybe vanilla or hazelnut or caramel or even cinnamon. Or, no -- the top note isn't actually any of those things, but it's like when someone is trying to recreate those smells out of primarily high fructose corn syrup. Still, a flavored-sugar smell is not a bad smell at all. The smell also feels creamy -- soft and round, rather than sharp or cloying. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's now much more clearly the scent of Irish cream, not really over coffee at this point. 

After a few minutes, the blend softens again. It's still Irish coffee, but the emphasis is on the sweet aspect of that, rather than on the boozy aspect. A few minutes more, and the scent begins to develop a powdery aspect to it though I don't get the impression of dust -- more like powdered sugar. Ultimately, this is where it stays. 

I'm a little sad that I don't get any oak from this. However, the fact that this stays so foody on me but yet still works so well more than makes up for the lack of oak. Honestly? This feels like it would make an excellent Christmas blend. 

Update 12/22 -- I kept going back to my imp of this so often that I ended up purchasing a bottle, which just arrived today. Fresh from the Lab and the mail, this scent is much like my initial review. However, this time, the scent continues morphing until I detect something like a whiff of dust. It's not like "dusty tomes," which I associate with a distinct "old books" smell, but it's the dust that flies up from freshly ground nutmeg or cardamom. 

After several hours of wear, the oak note does emerge though it stays quite close to my skin.