AbbyNormal

My wallet is begging me not to post here, but it’s not the boss of me. So, in no particular order: Snekhellden Port Royal Dee PSL: Pumpkin Snake Latte Alice’s Evidence Also Snake Oil, Snow Snake, and Western Diamondback but I didn’t want to make a virtually all Snake list

I was a little worried when I drew this imp for today and read the description. I tend to lean away from florals and go more of spicy, musky scents and this one didn’t sound too appealing, but I’m committed to trying everything I have so I didn’t have a choice other than open the imp. And bam! Orange! Not the fruit, it’s sharper like zest, but that’s still it quite it. I could get a sense of the vanilla in the background, but overall it was just very orangey. Then I put some on and the orange was nowhere to be found. It was the weirdest thing. I was mostly getting a smokiness with the tiniest undercurrent of plastic and just a touch of leather. Then the vanilla peeked it’s head out and brought it’s orangey friend along with it. It’s mellowed down (and I use mellow lightly) into something spicy and intoxicating. There is the tiniest hint of orange and a little vanilla, but other than that I can’t put my finger on what it’s doing, other than spicy deliciousness. It doesn’t remind me of Snake Oil at all, but my first SO was the most recent one so it could be similar to older versions. I don’t know if I need a full bottle but I’m definitely going to enjoy the hell out of the imp while I have it. *edit* 10 hours later and i suddenly got a whiff of Snake Oil! I don’t know how, considering the notes in this, but at least now I know why people were making that comparison. *edit 2* I caved and bought a full bottle. I have no clue how old my imp was, but the full bottle smells so much different than what I fell in love with. It’s not bad, but I get an unmistakable yogurt scent from the fresh from the mail bottle. Gonna let it rest for a few days before sniffing again, but this might need to age for a while to get to the intoxicating scent I originally fell for.

I’m finally getting around to trying all of the imps I’ve collected over the years, and today’s random pick from the bowl was Night-Gaunt. It’s definitely not one I would have purchased on my own, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it, it’ll probably be an imp only that won’t be replaced when it’s gone unless it really starts to grow on me. In the imp: grapefruit but not as strong as I was expecting based on others’ reviews. Some florals and a touch of soapiness. Wet: FLORALS, mixed with some sort of fruit candy. Maybe Sweet Tarts, but not quite. The florals are dominating everything and are almost overpowering, and the citrus is hiding in the candy. Dry: the florals are quickly disappearing and it’s definitely candy-adjacent. Decent throw, and it somehow manages to throw the florals that disappeared. When I put my nose right up to my arm it’s already smelling very faint after about half an hour, yet it’s somehow still throwing which my brain can’t grok. Occasionally I get strong whiffs of a specific flower, maybe jasmine (I don’t know my flowers very well) but overall I feel like I’m surrounded by a cloud of sweet tartiness. It totally smells like something I remember but I can’t remember what. But I know this smell. I just hope it comes to me because it’s a bit maddening at this point. Ok, it’s been about 5-6 hours and it’s dried down to something faint but absolutely fantastic smelling. Although I’m not sure if my arm might have also picked up a trace of the Ranger I was wearing yesterday from my hoodie sleeve. I’ll have to try it again at some point but make sure to keep it isolated and see what it does.

I’m not familiar with Smut and I’m not getting anything chilly with Snow Snake, but I am picking up a candied fruitiness that really reminds me of Shango, which I absolutely love. It’s not at all what I was expecting but I’m all for an accidental Shango Snake. *ETA* This stuff has some serious staying power. The hoodie that I was wearing when I posted this almost a month ago STILL smells strongly of snow Snake, and I’ve been wearing it off an on while wearing other oils. This Snek is going strong!

I’ve never tried the original Pinched, but the description of this one sounded intriguing so I added it to a last minute order when I heard the Weenies were disappearing and I’m so glad I did. When I first opened the bottle I all but yelled “This smells like straight up Halloween!” I then shoved it under my partner’s nose saying “omg you have to smell how Halloween this is!” It’s like walking into a kitschy Halloween shop in early fall, not like a Spirit store or anything of that sort, but like a cute little one you’d find up in the mountains when you go apple picking. Not in an over scented candle kind of way, just Halloween in general. I definitely get the pumpkin, then the coffee and tobacco, followed by just a wisp of the cinnamon and woods. My only problem is that now I’m kicking myself for only getting one bottle.

After falling head over heels for Snekhellden I ordered an imp of Hellfire to see what one of the base scents smelled like on its own. When I first put it on I wasn’t too sure. It smelled very sweet and powdery, with an almost soapy incense note. But now that it’s dried I’m really enjoying it. I’m awful at identifying specific notes, but this just reminds me of running into an old friend at ren faire, near an incense booth and getting a really good hug. It’s warm and cozy, and not at all what I’d expect with a name like Hellfire.

I absolutely suck at picking out specific scents, so I’m not sure what it is in this that just punches me in the nose in the best possible way. This is hands down my favorite scent I’ve picked up so far. I’ve already ordered a second bottle, and more than likely will grab a third. I haven’t had a chance to get my hands on any pure Snake Oil, but I do have a couple derivatives, and I can definitely tell that this is in the same family, but there’s something about it that’s just pure joy and it’s the smell I’ve been looking for my entire life but didn’t realize it. I’ve since picked up an imp of Hellfire, sure that it was something in there, and while it’s pleasant I’m not getting that same smack across the nose that I get from Snekhellden. Maybe it’s something in Maiden? I don’t get it from Western Diamondback or Pumpkin Snake Latte, but looking at the Maiden’s ingredients I honestly didn’t think it would be one of those that does this. I guess I’ll need to get an imp of that as well. Whatever it is, when I figure it out I’m probably going to go way overboard ordering anything with that component. I thought I had found my holy grail with PSL, but then Snekhellden showed up and proved that, for me at least, it is The One True Scent™️