Copperhead Snake on Dead Leaves

[Jenjin]

Snake Oil slithering through a scattering of dead leaves with amber, cardamom,
cistus, hops, white sandalwood, neroli, orris root, and smoked vanilla.

Edited September 16, 2024 by Jenjin

[elissamay]

This is my level of Dead Leaves. I don't love that note when it's the lead player, but here it's softened and sweetened by the Snake Oil you know, plus some supporting spicy and smooth elements from the additional notes. Very comfortable and cozy, capturing fall in a bottle without needing any pumpkin or apple.

[AbbyNormal]

My decant arrived today and I am in love! It’s similar to Haunt 2021, and while I’m not really familiar with cistus or orris root, the neroli is present and overall it’s shifted to something nearly aquatic. My brain is interpreting it as Haunt 2021 at the beach. I’m going to wait a day or two to see if this changes after going through the mail but I’m pretty sure I need a bottle of this. 

[Poenari]

I love my Snake Oil, and I love my dead leaves blends. This is another perfect medley for autumn. But at first, oh this snake bites! At first, the dead leaves covered over the snake, which had to wriggle out from under the pile to make itself known. After a bit of drydown, the snake fights its way forward. This is a tussle for supremacy. They are very equally matched! After an hour or so, they remain blended into a beautiful Snake Oil variant. This definitely has similarities to Haunt 2021, but I feel like this one has more throw and longevity on me. Will try a death match between them in a few days and report back, but of course I would never get rid of either one! They are so perfectly in my wheelhouse!

 

Next Day Update! I acquired a bottle of Haunt 2021 last year and put it away. I tried it today, after wearing Copperhead Snake on Dead Leaves all day yesterday. I wanted to do a comparison. Now in Haunt, I can really detect the lavender after this has aged for so long! Maybe a hint of the Dorian, too. Anyway, this is gorgeous and I'm so glad I have a full bottle.

 

But if you missed out on Haunt,  get yourself Copperhead Snake on Dead Leaves while it is available! They are different enough to have both, but if one is all you can get, then I wouldn't really have a preference because both are wonderful Snake Oil w/Dead Leaves scents! 

Edited November 20, 2024 by Poenari
Update 11/24!

[Little Bird]

I'm a dead leaves hater, but I've been loving Copperhead Snake On Dead Leaves
Starts off like green grass and a chilly, cold air type of vibe over really smooth, pleasant, dry woods.  The green part fades away quickly and then the orris root comes in powdery and sweet (reminding me of LUSH's Silky Underwear powder), with the dry woods enhanced by the creamy yet smoky vanilla.
Copperhead snakes were plentiful where I grew up and this cozy blend really does make me think of their favorite hiding spots; of their cozy little burrows of dry wood and leaf litter.  Sweetened and softened with the vanilla, orris, and warm, resinous amber.  I love the way the smoked vanilla and amber meld together.  I've been sick of cardamom and orris lately and appreciate the softer touch of them here, just adding more warmth and a small touch of powder and spicy complexity that works very well with that vanilla amber combo.  It's quite powdery after an hour and I usually hate powdery scents, but this one has that resinous, woody glow and the vanilla that just works for me.

Very well blended with none of the notes feeling heavy handed or overpowering.  Warm and cozy.  My surprise favorite of this year's Weenies.

[theredkilt]

On my skin this brings out the white sandalwood, orris root, the dustiness of dead leaves and maybe some type of unidentified resin. I don't get any Snake Oil from this, but overall this reminds me very vaguely of King Cobra minus the frankincense.

[Saeva]

Throughout the whole wear, I never scented a single drop of Snake Oil through this, oddly enough, as with other mixtures I usually pick up at least a little bit of a savory-tart I association with SO. Dead leaves is another story. 

 

Both in bottle and wet, this smelled entirely of dead leaves -- that distinct lead/tin note found I most associate with the lead and tin phoenix blends combined with a freshly mowed grass scent -- with the bare impression of flowers. My partner got more flowers, I got more metal on both sniff and application. 

 

30 minutes into dry down added a flowery scent that makes me picture white flowers, so that's likely the cictus, orris root, and maybe smoked vanilla. Somewhere between 1 1/2 to 2 hours, the metallic grass impression is completely gone and I start getting the cardamom and the smoked vanilla very clearly. Within 30 minutes, the entire scent turns into a spiced, smoked vanilla with the slightly hint of hops. Over the next few hours the hops leaves, followed by spice, and finally smoked vanilla. At 6 hours of wear, the scent has completely faded except for a vague sugary 'taste' if sniffed up close. 

 

A really interesting scent overall, being both very in your face and quite subtle in turns. For me 6 hours is a miracle of a last time, given many scents disappear on me within two hours or sooner, so I would expect this will stick around on most people. Throw is less clear to me, as almost nothing short of scent bomb levels (Sugar Plum Snake Fairy, Tiki Princess V3, Sunbird, etc.) have much throw with me. 

 

I could have done with a little bit stronger punch to the mixture originally -- more like Dead Leaves, Black Cherry, and Incense Tar -- so that it wasn't initially 100% Dead Leaves, but that faded quickly and turned really nice. If you don't mind the lab's metallic scent that helps make up Dead Leaves (which I suddenly understand all the comments on), this is a great addition to a varied scent cabinet.