Shollin

First sniff: Oh, this is pretty. Tall graceful flowers rippling in the late-afternoon sun. Wearing: Lily-sweet and soft honey with just a tiny hint of powder. This scent made me smile several times during a hellish night at work. Must have.

First sniff: Morgause is a deep floral, very slightly powdery. Hope it behaves on my skin. Wearing: There’s an immediate powdery sweetness, like dried jasmine. I’ll have to try this one again.

The first installment in the saga of the Travels of the Pumpkin King: It’s orange! How perfect! I don’t remember ever seeing a Lab oil that was seriously orange before… green, red and yellow, yes, but no orange. Love it. First sniff: Oh, very interesting. I expected Pumpkin King to be a playful scent – both because of the image the name conjures and because Jack is so much fun – but this guy is staid and serious. Straight pumpkin pie spice, quiet and very slightly dark. Heavy on the nutmeg. Wearing: It sweetens on my skin immediately, but it’s a sweetness of spice rather than the caramel-sweet of Jack. The aura is beautifully subtle, a candle-warmth that hangs close to my skin. Thanks for the opportunity to try this, QS.

First sniff: Hunter Moon is deep, rust-brown, slightly sweet and very rich. Wearing: This scent has the same autumnal richness as Harvest Moon – they’re similar, to my nose, but Hunter is a bit redder, and there’s definitely a tinge of something feral around the edges, prowling around the firelight. I fell asleep on the couch while wearing this and woke up to a lovely burst of sweet grape, though the scent on my wrists isn’t even remotely grapey. Interesting.

First sniff: Salt tears falling on dark wood. Penthus is a bit unsettling in the vial. Wearing: It’s much lighter on my skin, a fresh burst of … citrus? Very pale citrus. I like this scent quite a bit more than I expected to… so far the rose is a no-show (which is good because rose isn’t my favourite and my skin always amplifies it) and the incense hasn’t gone funky.

First sniff: A storm-on-the-air scent with a hint of R’lyeh’s grapefruit. Wearing: Nyarlathotep is fresh but dark. Definitely a stormy sea, with low purple-grey clouds threatening more rain to come.

First sniff: Uranus, oddly enough, smells like a craft store. Cinnamon brooms and potpourri. Wearing: Immediately I get the impression that this is one of those “nice enough, but not something I want to smell like” scents. It’s a bright cinnamon, almost Red Hots-ish rather than the pure stick scent.

First sniff: Lavender and green. Most of the lavender scents smell very similar to my nose – the other three dream formulas (minus Baku, which was all licorice) and Psyche fall into that category too. Wearing: I’m yawning already, and I’m not sure if that’s because I’m wearing Nanshe or because it’s four in the morning… oh, hey, there’s lemon in here too. That’s new. This blend of herbalness is the sort of thing I always think would taste great as a tea.

First sniff: Oh yeah. Liquid butter-rum Life Savers. Wearing: Grog is exactly what I wanted from Hellcat – butter rum, warm, sweet and slightly nutty, without being too boozey. This is a fantastic cold-weather scent that will be worn often and quite possibly slathered on my guy.

First sniff: I don’t think I would have guessed this was grapefruit if I hadn’t read the description. The fruit stands out above the swirling dark base of the scent. Wearing: The sharpness of cedar pops out immediately. I liked the idea of Lex Talionis, but it just doesn't work on my skin.

First sniff: Blood Kiss is richly cherry-sweet, with a swirl of vanilla. Wearing: Cherry vanilla, very warm and sweet. It dried down to pure vanilla honey… just wonderful.

First sniff: Bright and sweet – it smells like berries, though I know there aren’t any in here. I do catch a hint of the pale citrus bergamot – very nice. Wearing: The deeper notes come out right away, sandalwood and musk. Libertine is very warm and enveloping. A keeper.

Zephyr is a fantastic white musk with just enough vanilla to make me hungry. It's one of my favourites.

First sniff: Softly glowing, clean and pure with a hint of saltwater. Wearing: Sea of Glass is a lovely, soft, calming scent. It reminds me of a non-green version of Water of Notre Dame. Pretty, but not something I’d wear often.

First sniff: Dusty and spicy. Dried wine. Wearing: I’m having a hard time figuring Dracul out. It’s faintly fruity-wine-ish, but distant, like a memory. It’s a very soft, subtle scent that clings very close to my skin.

First sniff: Purple flowers bathed in darkness. Velvet-soft and mysterious. Wearing: Deep purple, almost black, crushed velvet draped in heavy folds on a stone floor. Medea is regally beautiful, but oh so dark.

First sniff: Gentle, sweet, slightly sad flowers twirling slowly down to float on the river. (Yes, I’m thinking of that scene from Fantasia.) Wearing: The water is more apparent on my skin, very crisp and fresh around the floral. Pretty... but I don't think it's quite me enough.

First sniff: Just wonderful. Bright cherry, almost a liqueur, over deep wood and curling smoke. Wearing: Purr, purr, purr. On a blanket by the fire in a room paneled in dark wood. Hearth is a log cabin scent, an outdoorsy man sipping whiskey by a blazing fire as snow falls in the woods outside. I really do smell alcohol in this, even though there’s nothing alcoholy listed in the description. It's fantastic.

First sniff: Green and feral and … weird. Slightly sweet, maybe? Wearing: Yeah, it’s definitely a little bit sweet in the topnote, a dry summer sweet… the thought of the witch’s candy house immediately came to mind. Dry and sweet. I certainly wasn’t expecting dry and sweet from civet and vetiver, but my first thought in the vial was licorice, and now I see there’s anise in here too. It’s a weird scent – despite the sweetness there’s something not quite right, something forbidding and eerie. And, twenty minutes later, I know what’s not quite right. The civet has asserted itself with a vengeance, and now I smell like… civet. Which hates me and always ends up as a thick black animal-in-heat funk no matter what it’s paired with. Oh well – this is why I try everything on.

First sniff: Gaueko reminds me of the clear, warm, tigereye-brown sandalwood of Tushnamatay, softened with a dusting of lavender buds. Wearing: The lavender gives it a bit of a sharp edge, but it’s warm and woody and wonderful and just dark enough. I really enjoyed this one.

First sniff: Fruity and bright – I agree with the pineapple verdict, that’s definitely what it smells like. Wearing: Baba Yaga isn’t the sinister old Bad Witch I was expecting – the scent is bright and golden and almost giggly. There might be ginger in here too. I’ll be interested to see the real description when she’s released.

First sniff: Cold, bright, sharp lavender. That doesn’t sound complimentary, but I really like it. Wearing: Very herbal and cool and green. It’s not quite as instantly soporific as Somnus, but I did sleep very soundly and remembered my dreams.

First sniff: In the vial, iris is all I can smell. Wearing: My skin grabs the coconut and amplifies it to the nth degree. I LOVE coconut, so this doesn’t bother me at all. The iris is still very apparent underneath. I think I need to wear Black Pearl again – the iris and coconut kept switching places all night, and iris isn’t my favourite.

First sniff: Mmmmm. Plummy-fruity, bright and cheerful. Wearing: Oh, hey, wow. Hell’s Belle hits my skin and goes RED and dark and sensuous. After a minute or so the flowers start to show up – huge lush magnolia, bright white and sweet. I was worried that it would get too flowery, but it stays sweet and liquid and gorgeous.

First sniff: Yup, grapefruit! It’s quite a bit lighter than I expected from the concept and the colour of the oil. Wearing: Ooh, ooh ooh ooh. R’lyeh is simply gorgeous. Sections of white grapefruit floating in a clear crystal bowl of water… and crystalline patterns of frost tracing the outside of the bowl. It’s lightly fruity, aquatic, and cold. I like.