Laughing Seagull

This was my one blind bottle purchase out of the 2020 weenies. Between the theme, the reviews of previous releases, and the rose/chamomile/vanilla combo, I was pretty confident that this would work out. Directly out of the mailbox I found it off-putting, so I set it aside for a couple of weeks. This oil needs about an hour to settle down on my skin before it actually smells nice. It begins as an unpleasant cologne + chrysanthemum leaf + vanilla-less bourbon smell, which gives me the impression of getting wasted at a skeevy bar and collapsing into a potted plant. An hour or so later, the chrysanthe-booze stops being so overwhelming, the chamomile and vanilla finally decide to start existing, and this becomes a very seasonally-appropriate, just-slightly-sweet crunchy leaf smell with that chrysanthemum scent breezing by every so often. It's very dry. Definitely a "dried leaves and flowers" kind of smell. I don't really get the rose, but I don't miss it. This fragrance lingers for quite a long time. I'm hoping that with age the initial blast of chrysanthe-booze will calm down (or just gtfo). I also tried a little dab of this on a blanket to see what it would do. The answer is "Herbal Essences, Forever." I would not put this one in a locket.

I nabbed a partial bottle of this from a friend. I couldn't tell you how old it is, but the oil is somewhat syrupy so I assume that it is quite old. Smell-wise, it's what you'd expect based on the description: rich, slightly bitter single-note wine, a touch boozy, and it never deviates from that. I don't tend to wear it on its own. As far as I'm concerned, Soothing System is the king of layering if you enjoy wine notes. I like using it to tame scents that are a little too sweet or a little too floral, or if I just feel like something could use some wine. It's absurdly decadent when combined with Eat Me. I imagine it'd be good with Bliss, too.

Something like conjuring spirits makes me think of Nyarlahotep, which is some manner of incense with flashes of lime and watery ozone. The touch of lime and ozone combined with the dark smoky backdrop makes me think of sparks of bright magical energy zapping through a dark room. Incense notes can be hit-or-miss, but I don't detect frankincense in this one (if it's there, it's well-blended) and it feels more "ritual" than "headshop." Ozone goes soapy on a lot of people though, so YMMV. Brimstone's a shoe-in for alchemy as previously mentioned. It's ashen and smoky, but surprisingly wearable (YMMV again, there are many people who would dispute this). There are about a million different scents that would work for a necromancer.

I was not optimistic about trying this scent because it didn't sound like something that I'd enjoy, but it was a frimp and I make a point to try out everything I get. Burial has the dubious honor of being the first perfume to literally make me gag. I love juniper and pine, but I do not love patchouli and dirt (which strike me as roughly the same thing most times.). My only hope was that the juniper and pine would beat back the components that I dislike. Well. To put it figuratively, to me Burial smells like being trapped in a filthy car with someone who's smoking the worst, skunkiest cigarettes imaginable. They keep flicking the ashes on you. The doors and windows are locked. A little pine tree air freshener hangs futilely from the rear-view mirror. The little pine tree is not enough. You never get carsick, but there's a first time for everything. Your brain screams for you to ask the driver to roll down the windows or put out the cigarette (or, ideally, both) but they're giving you a free ride home and you don't want to seem ungrateful so you keep your mouth shut and endure it.

That's such a kind offer! 😭 If you do that, I'll gladly buy the rest of the bottle off of you if I end up liking it. I really hope it works out for me - in part because of course I love when stuff works out, in part because I'd feel crappy about making you go through the effort for nothing, and in part, of course, because chill urban vampires are hot.

Ahh, frankincense is possibly another story! I'm not 100% certain if it's what I disliked about those blends, but I absolutely abhor Arcana and Psionicist and find them similarly "men's shaving cream-y."

I do plan on keeping the imp of Tavern of Hell around to see if the whiskey calms down. I was really excited about the other notes. From testing Sword of War and Perversion, I have noticed that tobacco also likes to shove every other note out of the way at times. It's not necessarily a BAD smell, but I do wish it would play nice with others. Interesting that you'd bring up Transeo. I love the concept of it! The word "cologne" always scares me when it's in descriptions since it makes me expect that "men's shaving cream/aftershave" twang. Cumin powder smells like me when I've been too depressed to shower for like a week, but maybe in oil form it will be different. I'll think about it and if I decide to go for it I can bribe you to throw it in with my decant circle stuffs perhaps. Sandalwood seems to be 50/50 - it's behaved itself in Belle Epoque and Vasilissa, but it totally effed Velvet and Zephyr. I'll look up the Harvest Moon - I got a sticker of the illustration for it and I am quite fond of that, at least! Berzerker sounds fun. I seem to take well to "blood" notes.

I've tried a bunch of new scents. Here are the results from my first (and in some cases first and second) test of each - I'll do more tests later, but first impressions are very important. Cheshire Cat remains the undefeated champ with Bliss still tagging along in second. New Loves: Thanatopsis, Belle Epoque, Envy New Likes: Shub-Niggurath, Lurid, The Sea Foams Blood, Haunted, Xiuhtecuhtli, Hecate New Mehs: Fae, Vice, Nyarlahotep New Mild Dislikes: Night-Gaunt, Scherezade, Snake Oil, Sed non Satiata, The Lights of Men's Lives, Hunger, Imp, The Great Sword of War, La Calavera Catarina (I hope Catarina and Snake Oil improve w/ age) New Absolute Disasters: Athens, Thieves' Rosin, Burial, High-Strung Daisies, Le Lethe, Tavern of Hell What went right: Dark/Black Musk continue to be winners. Envy is fresh and bright without being sharp or cologne-y. Dragon's Blood in Sea Foams is amazeballs for a couple of hours but eventually gets overly powdery-sweet (may try w/ locket once I get one? I'm hoping the Cheshire Cat locket returns for obvious reasons). Belle Epoque was a frimp from Mad Maudlin and ended up being an absolute home run despite containing sandalwood - it's juicy and refreshing and all of the notes behave themselves consistently. Shub is wonderful but it goes into the "I would not want to wear this every day because my nose would get tired" category. Thanatopsis is like drinking a Tom Collins with an angel in a dim, quiet, cozy bar - refreshing, gentle, kind, maybe a little contemplative. Xiuhtecuhtli would've made the "love" list if I didn't like Belle better as an orange scent. (I seem to have a thing for describing scents I like as "refreshing." Maybe I should search the review board for the term "refreshing," lol.) What went wrong: Honey/Beeswax are sharp and unpleasant, pink peppercorn turns my skin into barbecue, something made Night-Gaunt soapy/sneezy, hostile whiskey takeover in Tavern of Hell. Lovely peach in Imp got taken over by a dirt smell that feels unpleasant in my nose. Scherezade confirms that I probably don't like red musk. Snake Oil turned into plastic (I have heard aging helps this). Calavera Catarina was cologne and chrysanthemum leaf despite my confidence that I would love her (a thought based on expecting something more flowery) - I will age the bottle and see if that helps. Le Lethe, Thieves' Rosin, and Burial get special honors for making me feel physically ill. I'll be waiting a while before I make any new lab orders since I bought a lot in October, but I'm always planning my next order and ofc I'll be stalking the forum sales. Likely next purchases: Somnus, Paris, Aglaea, Baobhan Sith, Aizen-myoo, Y'ha-nthlei/R’Lyeh, Embalming Fluid, Centzon Totochtin, Brisingamen, Poisoned Apple, Black Phoenix, mmmmmaybe Anathema and Aelopile? I'd like to try something with heliotrope since I liked that note in Fae (I recognize the note because I always have heliotrope in my summer garden - the oil is wonderfully true to the real thing! I still hate oakmoss though). Juliet? I don't know how heliotrope-y it is. I'm also interested in finding an agreeable wine scent (for those Dionysian Mysteries kinda days) and trying more opium/poppy/generally soporific scents. As always, ideas are appreciated.

I really thought I'd like this one, but I'm not feeling it. It starts out with juicy and promising citrus, but dries down to soapy, sneezy, dried-up yuzu rind and some sort of lily. I definitely expected this to be "wetter" given the description of slick rubbery hides and a snowy mountain.

What I expected from Haunted based on various commentary was lemon meringue pie. What I got from Haunted was a library. This smells EXACTLY like the upper floors of my local library where it's always too hot, comparatively dead silent compared to the rest of the library, and full of serious research materials. I can practically hear the crackling of acetate dust covers being opened. It gets lemonier as it dries from the dark/black musk that I'm always a huge fan of. It approaches foody but never goes full edible - maybe like an alien food, or since it's Haunted, a ghost food. I don't think I've ever tried a black/dark musk that I didn't like and Haunted is no exception.

Thanatopsis is... A Tom Collins! I think that's what you call it - a cocktail made of gin, lemon juice, and a touch of sugar syrup. How refreshing! This is definitely a gentler scent than the aggressively coniferous (and discontinued) Nocnitsa which I used to be very fond of, but I'm okay with that. It gradually becomes more pine-y over time but never loses that lemony dark musk that I always enjoy. The image this evokes is sitting in a dim, mostly-empty bar sipping a gin with a little curl of lemon peel on it, talking to a gentle, understanding bartender who may or may not secretly be an angel. Love it!

If I had tried to sort out the notes of Fae without having a list in front of me, I would not have guessed that it had peach in it, which is odd because peach is usually pretty recognizable. What I'm getting here is primarily heliotrope and oakmoss. I like heliotrope. I hate oakmoss. The oakmoss eventually burns off after Fae dries, leaving pure heliotrope, which is very nice. The SN heliotrope lasts for many hours. I think I'd like to find something else with heliotrope in it (Probably Juliet) so I don't have to deal with the oakmoss.

Wet in the vial, Imp was a nice, juicy peach with a little bit of grounding earthiness. As it dried on my wrist, it turned into a dirty peach, then just plain dirt. I liked the first and second stages of this, but I'm sad that the sweeter notes (particularly the peach) burned off so quickly. Maybe this would make a good locket scent? Even the dirt scent that I was left with in the end faded very quickly. Hoping to have better luck with Aglaea as a peachy oil since I love the smell of peaches.

Though I've had tough luck with herbal scents, I purchased an imp of Envy from the lab on a whim. Envy is fresh and cool and sparkling, dominated by what I believe is lavender and possibly basil, sweetened by lime. As others have said, this is an ideal hot-day scent. I think this would also be an excellent gym/office scent because it's very clean and natural smelling and doesn't have a huge throw or anything. It's just pleasant, and to me evokes the image of walking past a tiny restaurant that grows its own herbs in a little planter box outside on a crisp morning. That's oddly specific, but it's the vibe I get. This is what I hoped that Arcana would smell like (I hated Arcana) and has restored my faith in herbal scents.

After trying and enjoying The Sea Foams Milk, I thought it'd be fun to try its sister scent. I purchased this from a forumite expecting not to like it as much as its milky relative. Well, I was wrong because I absolutely ADORE this!!! I may even like it more than Lightning, and that's saying a lot. I apologize that most of this description is comparisons to other scents and abstract concepts, but this is like a lighter version of my beloved (and discontinued) Blood Pearl: fresh, breezy, and just slightly sweet. Like a pretty, glistening red jewel buried in the sand. I am in love! The DBR gets a little powdery a few hours later, but it's worth it.

I purchased a fresh lab imp. I had wanted Ravenous instead, but it was out of stock and I thought this might be the next best thing. In the imp and wet, Hunger is a nice floral orange. On the drydown, narcissus takes over. If you've tried Kitsune-Tsuki, the narcissus in Hunger is basically like the daffodil in Kitsune. The orange-ness from the orange blossom is extremely subtle. Vanilla threatens to do the waxy-plastic-y thing that it sometimes does when I put it on. This is reasonably nice, but I prefer Kitsune. If you tried Kitsune and thought it was too fruity, Hunger may be a good alternative. In my opinion, even though I did complain that Kitsune was overly sweet, the plum balanced out the daffodil better than the vanilla and orange blossom balance the narcissus.

This is the first honey scent that hasn't turned into an absolute nightmare on me. Hooray!! A very light honey, geranium, and musk stand out the most to me. I believe that this is what people mean when they talk about "skin scents." It's gentle, natural-smelling, and sticks fairly close to the skin. Long after it dries, I think I smell something leathery - like a highly worn leather, not shiny new leather. I agree with the assessments calling this an intimate scent. Aside from being grateful about a non-horrible honey scent, I'm pretty neutral on this one. It's nice but I'm not wild about it.

Though I was worried about the honey in this, I chose to try it because the idea of recreating an ancient Greek perfume rules. I normally like wine and florals, so I hoped that they would balance out the honey. Well, there was a reason I was worried about the honey. This is the sharpest, most absolutely horrible overwhelming honey imaginable on me. I don't detect anything else. I physically recoil whenever I catch a whiff of it. Get it off! Get it off!!!

I purchased a fresh imp of this from the lab. Initially, I don't know what the hell it smells like. After putting it on, The Great Sword of War transforms into... A less exhaustingly sweet version of Perversion? What kind of "sword" are we talking about here? Tobacco dominates all other notes and this is absolutely "Perversion but less sweet" to my nose. Not what I expected, but not a bad thing since Perversion irritates me with its sweetness after a while.

I received this as a frimp from the generous Mad Maudlin because evidently it seemed like something I'd like. This was a good call because I find this beautiful despite normally being a sandalwood hater. This is the longest lasting citrus scent I've tried so far, with bright juicy mandarin and what I assume is the opium sticking around right in the foreground. The sandalwood appears to be staying in hell where it belongs or it's just subtle or well-blended here, because it's not doing the horrible pencil shavings thing that it usually does. Lily of the valley arrives late to the party, but the bright juicy mandarin is still the star of the show. The floral component to this is very gentle. This is bright and refreshing, and a definite bottle candidate.

I bought an imp of this from the lab because I have had good luck with citrus and copal notes, and WOW, I love it! This is a must-bottle! The streak of having good luck with citrus and copal continues. In the imp, this is a "breezy" orange. By this I mean, let's say the neighbor has an orange tree and you open the window and a little bit of orange scent wafts in. It's like that - very light and fresh. On the skin, the breezy orange develops a creamy softness that is just gorgeous. It's not sweet enough to be a creamsicle - perhaps a high class orange mousse or something. The florals come out about an hour later, and they are amazingly polite - I can still smell the other notes, they just have a floral twang to them now. I don't really get much if any smokiness. I can sort of see where people were coming from with the "white chocolate" comments. I am just in love with this scent. It's fresh and breezy and pleasant!

I purchased an imp of this from a forumite. In the vial, initially, it has a sharp medicinal smell that does not instill confidence. As luck would have it, the Robitussin scent fades after it's placed on the skin and is replaced with a very sweet, syrupy cherry with a tiny hint of chocolate buried under it. I do not get "dark chocolate" out of this, or if I do, the darkness is overwhelmed by the overwhelming sweet of the candied cherry. Though I've been known to enjoy a cherry tootsie pop from time to time, this is a bit much in the sweet department. Bliss remains my favorite chocolate scent in its pudding-y simplicity.

I purchased an imp of this from a forumite based on a recommendation from another forumite. This review will be short and unfortunate. In the imp: Whiskey Wet on skin: Whiskey Dry: Whiskey 3 hours later: Still whiskey After trying to wash it off: Whiskey I was really excited about this based on the recommendation and the reviews, but despite the huge list of notes in the description I ended up with single-note whiskey. I'll try it again later, but this tavern has left a terrible first impression.

I'm testing a brand new imp from the lab. I am aware that everybody likes aged Snake Oil better than fresh. In the bottle, I have no idea what this smells like but HOO BOY it's strong! Wet on skin: A split-second blast of patchouli gives way to plastic and vanilla Dry: Eat Me but the cake is served on very smelly plastic plates. I'm going to put this one aside for a while and try again later.

I purchased an imp of this from a forumite. In the vial: The cherry-like almond scent that I know and love! On skin: The aggressive cherry-almond backs off for the most part and the myrrh and dark musk take over with a memory of an almond croissant (yum) hanging in the background. As an enjoyer of both myrrh and dark musk, I'm not disappointed by this outcome. I don't have the issue that others seem to have with it going powdery. Hecate remains lightly sweet but not too sweet with just a little wisp of smoke. The scent sticks fairly close to my skin for several hours and on the whole feels quite cozy. I expect to at least use up the imp; we'll see how I feel about a bottle later.