Thirteen (13): November 2015

[Victory]

Thirteen sugars, honeys, and vanillas dusted with chocolate to help you combat ill-fortune with the raw power of overwhelming sweetness.

I'm a honey and vanilla fiend, sugar is usually good on me, and my daughter was born on a Friday the 13th, so this is the first 13 I've gotten- I'm just not a chocolate scent-wearer. And sadly (for me), for the first two hours, it's all chocolate. It's a bitter chocolate, which surprises me since the oil is described as having overwhelming sweetness. Maybe the bitter chocolate is the bad luck that's being burned off. After two hours, I begin to get some honey. It's not the typical Lab honey on me- honey is my bulletproof note, and I'm not sure about this one. It makes me think of the honey in Mead Moon. Actually, the more I think of it, the more I think it must be. This is a somewhat herbal honey. On my left wrist, the scent remains unchanged from here on out. On my right wrist, I do get a softer, vanilla and honey scent. This is much more my cup of tea. It's not hugely sweet on me, though.

This just arrived in my mailbox yesterday though, so it's awfully fresh (seriously, labbies. Less than a week after it went up, I got it. It shipped the next business day morning. And so I got to do a first post! I am amazed.) I suspect that as it ages, the scent will lean more toward the right-wrist honey and vanilla scent that I will adore. I can't wait!

 

Actually, the throw is a delicious honey-vanilla. It is sweet, but it's rich dessert sweet, not I stuck a spoon in a bowl of sugar sweet. And the honey loses the herbal cast that I don't love. I'm very happy with this.

 

Edited for spelling. Awkward.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Victory

[ReallyZeb]

First impressions - bitter chocolate with a citrus note. I could eat this! But it's fresh out of the box so more after it has settled for a few days.

[verystarry]

I just got this and maybe it needs to settle but I'm not really getting any sugar. Mind you I love the chocolate scent but to me it smells of a chocolate orange that I'd get in my stocking at Christmas. Not very sugary, like dark chocolate and maybe some spice too. Even though it doesn't say there's a citrus note, I smell it on me and oddly at a distance it smells yeah like a dark chocolate orange. Interested to see how it ages.

 

EDIT;

 

And I have just experienced the magic of 13 I am sure. It changed and turned into the sweetest vanilla honey EVER. This is amazing once the citrus note fades out!

Edited December 6, 2015 by verystarry

[Numanoid]

In the bottle: I get a real awesome chocolate note... this is different than other choco notes. This one seems extra creamy. They mostly seem to have a powder type smell to them, but this one doesn't!

 

On Skin: I am always worried about any honey note, because they just don't work on me! But this is very sweet, but it is....balanced! That's the best I can come up with. All blended real well, and no problems with the honey note!

 

Dry down: This has a medium throw on me, and this is really pretty!! If you are worried about overly foody blends, this isn't that. It has a subtle sweetness... it's present, but it isn't cloying!! I detect the chocolate and it stays real creamy and sweet!!!

[lookingglass]

Wet, this is reminding me of a Godiva raspberry cream, with maybe some lemon...? It gives me a distinctly fruity vibe, even more so than Sugar Skull. I wasn't expecting that! DH says that he only smells wildflower honey and a dust of cocoa. It is DE-licious, though, and I'm glad I have a bottle, which has violets on the label (also unexpected...). Dried down, I get a very sweet, tenacious, creamy, but not buttery, vanilla with cocoa.

[oakandloam]

I confess I jumped on this pretty much exclusively because I thought it sounded like the total opposite of something I'd like and figured it would be good enough for a laugh before trying to move it along to a more fitting home.

 

At first sniff however, this is not at all what I expected. In stead of an overwhelming blast of foody sweetness, this is attractively powdery and musky, like unrefined baking chocolate powder.

 

On my skin, there is something almost herby about it that smells a bit like chocolate oranges like another reviewer mentioned earlier. It's still not evolved into some thing that feels foody obviously to me even though there are clear food notes that I can pick out. I was expecting this to feel girly and childish like many of the candy lip glosses I'm familiar with aimed at kids, but this is very sophisticated and deep.

 

As it dries, the scent lightens a great deal and the herbal orange note fades away, leaving g something that smells a lot like sweetened cocoa butter. I think I can pick out bourbon vanilla now, and maybe a note that's more obviously honey rather than just sweetness. Honestly this perfume is a lot more subtle than I was expecting, and is going to be well worth sitting on and seeing how it wears before making any choices on if it's staying.

[VioletChaos]

In The Bottle: A light, dusty cocoa, similar to the one in Gelt.

 

Wet On Skin: I'm getting a tiny bit of citrus- which happened with the Ginger Chocolate Soufflé. I wonder if the chocolate note for both of these is the same? It's slight, but it's definitely there. This isn't the chocolate from, say, Bliss or Muddy Puddles.

 

Dry Down: Chocolate and lemon.

 

In All: Low to medium throw, a good daytime scent. I get no vanilla or sugar or honey from this, which is downright peculiar, as I amp all of those notes. I'm going to let it settle and re-try in a few weeks. It's fine as it is, but I might trade away the B/U bottle I got if it stays as is.

[Akurarei]

Holy Cr@p!

This is a gorgeous foody scent!

It's eerily similar to the very first 13, just minus the citrus and gentle florals.

Glorious!

Love love love!

[LizziesLuck]

This is lovely. Doesn't really morph on me, it's the same wet and dry. A beautiful light cocoa and honey scent. I am not really getting much vanilla. This is lovely, sweet and gentle. Appropriate for the office or any occasion, I can't see this scent ever offending anyone.

[savage_rose]

This smells a bit like minty cocoa, a bit like a chocolate orange. And then later it smells like Gelt. Such a fun, fun scent. Definitely my favorite 13. I'm glad I took a chance!

[zankoku_zen]

Chocolate orange, cocoa powder, vanilla honey. This one is a sweet chocolate and foodie blend. It's sweet, sugary, and chocolatey. In some ways, this smells like a chocolate candy. Good throw, good wear length.

 

Sweet, sugary, chocolate.

[doomsday_disco]

In the bottle: Chocolate accompanied by lemony sugar. There is something in here (either a lemony honey and/or sugar note) that reminds me of Sweets to the Sweet.

 

Wet: Sugar, honey, and chocolate. I'm still getting that lemon vibe from one of the sugar and/or honey notes. The 'dusted with chocolate' description fits perfectly. I am not getting a lot of vanilla from this right now, so hopefully it emerges more during the dry stage.

 

Dry: The vanilla is more prominent during this phase, but the sugar, honey, and chocolate are all stronger. I can only smell the vanilla when I huff my wrist. It still reminds me of Sweets to the Sweet with the addition of a dusting of chocolate.

 

Verdict: I'm going to hold onto this in the hope that the vanilla comes out more with age, and then I'll retest it then. But at the moment, I think a decant of this one would have sufficed.

[Elspethdixon]

Wet - sweet chocolate, with very little honey. Very foodie and, as others have said, almost candy-like. It's actually a little cloying on me, which I expected TBH - the lab's chocolate notes are often overly cloying on me unless there's a sharp on incense-y note to cut the sweetness.

 

Dry - the honey comes out a little, but not as strongly as I'd hoped, and the chocolate remains the dominant note. Still too sweet/cloying - this is one I'll have to layer or wear very sparingly.

 

However, on my girlfriend (who also wears El dia de los Reyes and Gelt better than I do) it smells amazing and completely edible, like walking into a godiva chocolate store. She's the one I really bought it for, and it was a slam dunk for her.

[laslibres]

Smells like pure brownies in the bottle…mmm. On me it immediately gets a lot sweeter and more powdery, and the sugar and honey come out more. The sugars are starting to do that thing they did on me in Smut where they smell root-beery, but it’s more pleasant than Smut.

 

It still has that sort of fruity, herby 13 base too, which I like...even though it doesn't list citrus or any herbs, I still feel like I smell those, mostly orange. It’s different than any of the other chocolate, honey, or vanilla scents I've tried, it has a different balance somehow. It’s like a fizzy cream soda, it does have that sort of sparkly feel to it.

 

15 or so minutes after applying...ooh, it's morphed into something even better! It's sweet and vanilla-y, but it's the kind you would like even if you don't like "foody" scents necessarily. It has a very warm feel to it, almost an amber-like quality. Also, I feel like this will age AWESOMELY.

[SophieCedar]

Whoa horsey! Yum. I'm in floral vanilla honey heaven. This chocolate note, whatever it is, is a perfect backdrop for this skin parfait.

 

No honey goes powdery, no vanilla or sugar goes cloying. Its a perfect man-trap gourmand. Seeking a bottle. This is the best 13 I've tested yet.

[ephemera]

In the bottle this smelled like the description - cocoa and honey and sugar. On me, this turned to cocoa-dusted rusty violets. It's sour & unpleasant.

[Little Bird]

I was really sad when I missed out on ordering this, but I finally won a bottle on ebay and am so happy with it.

I agree with Akurarei's review. This reminds me of the original Thirteen, minus the florals (though I do get an orangey tone from this for some reason). The chocolate in this smells like a creamy white chocolate on my skin, which must be the vanilla and chocolate, and I'm getting something like a citrus flavored tea note as well, along with golden, sweet, honeyed sugar.
I might smell a sugared violet in the drydown as well.

Creamy, sweet and delightful. I love the strong chocolate smell in this.

[Lucchesa]

Cocoa at first, but that gradually softens into a sweeter chocolate against all the honey and sugar.  I think one of the honeys must be an orange blossom one because I get a fairly strong chocolate orange vibe from this 13.  The vanilla isn't strong, mainly chocolate and honey, with the delicate floral notes different honeys can carry, and the orange.  Lovely!