A Winter’s Scene with Skaters Near a Castle

[doomsday_disco]

Snow-covered stroopwafels, ice-rimed brown leaves, and a swish of boot leather.

[dancingchair]

Wet, this is a big blast of dead leaves. As it dries, the other notes peek out. The stroopwafels are more like a general doughy sweet note. It doesn't quite approach the warm, fresh waffle smell of a stroopwafel stand, but it is nice and atmospheric. The stroopwafel note also has some spice in it, like a bit of clove or nutmeg maybe. This is by no means a spice bomb, though. I only really get it on the waft. The dead leaf note calms down into a scattering of leaves on fresh, wet snow. The snow is a little bit aquatic to me, but it also brings the sweet snow from Snow White to mind. The boot leather is understated. If I'm not trying to pick it out, I don't really notice its presence. Overall, it's atmospheric but brighter than you would expect for a perfume evoking a cold winter's day.

[samanare]

Dead leaves with spicy stroopwafels, cutting through an icy sludge day. The Lab's dead leaves note is the strongest on me in this scent. The stroopwafel is noticeable and smells much more fresh and spicy than what I'm used to with the pre-packaged variety. The snow and ice notes read as more watery sludge, but in a good way, a more aquatic, lighter take on the Lab's ice note. Overall, I get the impression of decaying leaves dominating a the first frost of the year, spent inside with a spicy fall treat.

[doomsday_disco]

This is strong on the Lab's cologne-y dead leaves accord, which I either smell bitter neroli or a neroli-esque bergamot in, along with some moss. It reigns for a really long time, before the leather note shows up, and it's a smooth leather and not a harsh chemical-y variety, fortunately. (A sharp, chemical-y leather with that dead leaves note would have been instant headacheville.) By this point, the dead leaves is less leaf-y and more chypre-y. Here I was thinking that the stroopwaffel note that I was after wouldn't even show up at all. But when it did? Oh my god, it was a super realistic, toasty, freshly made stroopwaffel that transported me back to April 2017 in the Netherlands. The note is more about the toasty exterior of the stroopwaffel with only a hint of the caramel-y sweetness inside, so you don't have to be averse to this scent if you're not down with caramel. And the toastiness and sweetness that the stroopwaffel note provides really smooths over the harsher notes and makes this really alluring. By the end of the day, it's mostly stroopwaffel on top of a chypre base, with very little leather.

 

I don't know if I can keep going through that dead leaves phase to get to this stroopwaffel, but I so love that note. Please, Beth, use it in more blends! Or release a stroopwaffel single note!  

Edited 18 hours ago by doomsday_disco