Myrrha

Goes on sharp and sour. Hinoki wood is said to have a sourness and to smell almost effervescent, at least in incense, and I think I can smell that here. The white tea is adding to the sharpness. Dry, the white sandalwood smooths everything down. There is the tiniest sweetness from falling leaves and a wisp of soft smoke. It is beautiful now— clean, bright, comforting/healing. It feels like reaching for light when things aren’t really OK.

Once dry it is Choward’s violet candies and plum over a beautiful sweet vanilla- sandalwood base. The little bit of opium darkens the scent but isn’t prominent Violet tends not to work on me, it smells chemical and broken on my skin. This is a gorgeous purple, violet-vanilla scent for someone with a different skin chemistry. If you enjoy sweet violet or think you might, check this one out.

Testing a rested but not aged lab imp. First applied— a glowing citrus smell like a big beautiful ball of light. Maybe some lemongrass, lemon? Along with it is a honey note and a light wine scent. Dry— light rose backed up by a little myrrh, a slinky one not a gritty one. Wafting around is a gentle dry rose and resin with a little bit of honeyed wine but I am not sure many who smell it on you will even recognize that it is wine. This is beautiful and rose lovers must try this! I don’t generally wear rose scents but will treasure the imp.

Lab-fresh imp. On me it is sweeter than what others are describing. I smell the patchouli and perhaps sandalwood and cedar but there is also more than a hint of almost fruity sweetness similar to a red musk note. There might be a flower petal way down in the mix as well, perhaps champaca. Apparently with recent life cycle and dietary changes patchouli is now my friend. This is really lovely but a bit too incensy-headshoppy for my tastes.

I let the decant rest a few days before reviewing. The scent is rich and soft. Sadly, on my skin the agarwood goes past "indolic" and right on into "fecal". With the softness of white musk it is very much like a dirty diaper. After an hour the fecal aspect has lessened (or I'm getting used to it). There is a note like delicate wood, but fizzy. I think this is the agarwood, it is elegant and interesting to smell. I have only smelled agarwood before in incense so I'm glad I got to smell this. I wouldn't wear this as a perfume but I'm sure it would smell much nicer on someone else. My skin chemistry is the kind that highlights indoles.

This doesn't smell like it just happens to be Neutral but like it is Neutral on purpose. It reminds me of someone administering a Rorschach test who has to dress in nondescript way and keep a neutral demeanor whatever response the subject gives. This aggressive neutrality makes me think of disguise. This would be a great scent for a situation where it is important not to reveal much of myself. On me this is a fairly strong scent and has an almost chemical undertone. There is a clean skin musk, the honeysuckle I recognize from Metal Rabbit, and the very faint banana undertone LiborAmoris mentioned. Try this if you like Media or The Lady of Shalott.

It starts with banana runts (kind of chemistry lab exaggerated banana) but that goes away in two minutes. It becomes myrrh and nag champa with cassis adding a lightness. I like this one! Nag Champa is not my favorite note but it seems to be behaving itself here.

I used to really like Nosferatu and went through several imps around 2009-2011. It was a wine scent, delicious, lasting long enough for others to notice. I remember my then boyfriend liked it on both if us. My skin chemistry is different now and it opens with the same familiar wine scent but that disappears in under a minute leaving a soft scent of apples and dirt. It is a more low-key scent, wearable but also faint. I like it, it feels Autumnal but not melancholic. That first minute is a nice memory and then it becomes something I would wear now. However it is fairly faint, could be a good work/crowded spaces scent. EDIT: this is great layered with Burial.

On me the lab's dragon's blood resin often has a lilac like scent. For the first half hour I enjoy the mix of dragon's blood with a gentle aquatic. After that it is the gorgeous aquatic warmed with a little dragon's blood. This particular aquatic note is less cologne-y on me than Kumari Kandam (which I do enjoy sometimes). It has a frothy, delicate tone. I love this.

The cardamom is strong in this when first applied, a greener, sleeker spice than ginger would be. I absolutely love this note and want to try some other scents with cardamom. The carnation blends with the cardamom and is really lovely but in a very light way. It is a restrained carnation. The honey is gorgeous, delicate. This is not a warm roaring kind of honey. After an hour the carnation is not as easy to make out and the scent is a creamy-sweet with an overtone of spice. I don't usually like wearing honey but this is so well blended that I might wear it for the beautiful cardamom and carnation. EDIT - after reading the previous reviews I can make out the anise note mentioned by Ghost of a Rose. I think it is the white carnation part of the scent that has a very faint anise aspect.

There was a note in this I couldn't quite place, cold and mineral. I think it must be the "fossilized" aspect of the "fossilized amber". It is a lovely, chilly note but I think I would prefer it with some light white flowers. At this scent's heart is a beautiful dark pungency and the other elements sort of hold it up, present it to the nose. Scents in this vein are too "brown" for me but this really is gorgeous.

Starts off with bitter grapefruit/yuzu then goes to strong, bitter white flowers with a side of citrus. A little tropical but not at all gentle.

I get a sense impression of a black jewel. A faceted black onyx but clearer, with a light within it. At first it has an acrid, fume-y note. Chapapote means ashphalt and I guess this is it. I thought it might be too harsh/masculine but now I love it. The maize and cacao are a bit like patchouli but this doesn't misbehave on my skin. The cotton flower is a light white floral scent over the top giving me that sense of a light inside the darkness. It starts out similar to a sophisticated Oriental type scent. It dries down softer and sweeter as the honey comes out more. On me this is not a long lasting scent.

If you are looking for a rose scent that doesn't announce "rose! rose! rose!" Or if you love rose scents and want to try something a little different this would be a great one to try. It starts with a lot of almond but the almond calms down as it dries. The fig and rose blend together really well, there is a tiny hint of spice.

I get the coffee hard candy scent, light and wearable with a musky aspect to it. What if whatever we ate was exuded from our pores and we smelled like that? And if I drank sweetened coffee and ate ice cream but was still a human with musky skin I would smell exactly like this. The vanilla isn't great on my skin and this isn't a scent I would want to wear often so I will probably pass the decant along. I'm so glad I got to try it though, very fun scent.