lady_pandora

Petite Planchette is amazingly faithful to the description. If you like the listed notes, you will not be disappointed. This is a beautiful warm smooth wood note (is this mahogany?) coated in honeyed resin. Medium throw and staying power, not a lot of morph on me. Utterly gorgeous.

My first thought about Silk Road was that it smelled like nag champa, and then I was like "No! That's frangipani. It's a lot like what's in Delight." And maybe someday I will remember that nag champa has frangipani in it, and that I was right both times. (And maybe someday I'll figure out why I like it when it's called frangipani, and not when it's called plumeria, even though they're the same thing. Are there two strains? Is it all in my head? Does it have to do with the other notes it's blended with? But that's a question for another day.) So anyway, nag champa is the dominant scent on me here. The considerable throw is almost all nag champa. Close to the skin, I get a slight camphoraceous note and an impression of dusty wood and possibly slight cinnamon, along with more nag champa. It doesn't morph a ton other than the wood gradually getting a little stronger in the background. It's too bad this is DC'd, because this is really beautiful, a floral-incensey blend that isn't quite like anything else in my collection. I will definitely be getting a lot of use out of this imp.

This was a frimp in a recent order, and once again, the Lab knows me better than I knew myself! I might never have tried this, since the whole "belle" concept is just not something that really fits me, but wow, this scent is beautiful. The dominant note is a creamy, just this side of edible, lush, hypnotic floral, I think mostly magnolia, though I don't really know what oleander smells like on its own, so it might be in here too. The mandarin manifests as occasional bursts of citrus, kind of effervescent, with a pleasant bitterness to offset the big big sweetness of the magnolia. I can't particularly make out musk or spice, but I'm sure they're playing some kind of role in this gorgeousness. Not much morph, lots of staying power. This is Top 10 material for me and a definite big bottle eventually. Absolutely classic. I'm a nerd so this reminds me of Stella Mayfair drinking champagne, but this is classic enough that you could wear it to church with your grandma if you wanted to, and no one would know about the Hell but you. It's pure Belle.

Oooh! How tobacco-y is it? I adore beeswax but am not a big tobacco fan (it's not a chemistry thing, just a preference thing).

Croquet starts out with a light, cheerful mix of citrus, which then gives way to a "clean" rose note in the throw, while on my skin it smells a little...burnt somehow? It's very faint on me. In any case, once the rose came out, it reminded me a lot of the rose in Fresh and Blooming as a Rose, so I dabbed some of that on my other arm for an impromptu deathmatch. Fresh and Blooming has a lot more throw on me, and the skin scent is nicer, so I think, alas, Croquet will get swapped, but it would be a nice, fresh scent for summer.

This works better on me that it has any right to, given my track record with ozone! I kept waiting for it to (a) give me a headache or ( start smelling like dryer sheets, but neither thing happened. What I get is a sort of watery/misty green scent with a hint of something sharp lurking in the background. No leather that I can detect. It has the potential to go overly masculine, but never really does that either, and I find myself going back to sniff my arm again. I'm still not quite sure if this is "me," but it's interesting! ETA: Alas, I spoke too soon; I did eventually get a headache from this. Fie on you, ozone!

This is a pure and gorgeous pomegranate note--a little sweet, a little tart, a little bitter, just the right balance of all of these. I like the Lab's pomegranate and this is no exception.

Total chemistry fail. :cry2: Zip Line goes wrong enough on me that I'm going to put it behind a spoiler cut so it won't give anyone else a preconceived notion if they don't want it.

This started out unpromising--the patch was just too dank for the first few minutes. But then it calmed down into something I really like! This feels like it's in the Sin family. Earthy black patchouli, with some dry spices and a touch of sweetness. I wish it went more ecclesiastical on me, but it's pretty great as-is!

I bought this based on Haute Macabre's review comparing it to running across the moors in a gothic novel! I'm glad I did--this one works out pretty well on me. The pine comes out first and is sort of a cleaning-products blast in the early going, but the other notes come in to balance it out before too long. Opium usually works well on me and it does here too, a soft floral-incense cloud that I imagine as purple, and then the higher-pitched moonflower luminous and cold in the background. The pine isn't dominant anymore but sticks around to ground the blend. This reminds me somewhat of the "full moon night in the woods" feel of HM's Esbat, and I may deathmatch them at some point. But I think there will definitely be moods where I want this.

The Dark Side of Fire: cinnamon, bitter almond, and neroli. Heavily spiced, torrid, and possibly conflagrant. Well, I've had a whole parade of BPAL hits lately, so I guess I was due for a scent that just wasn't my thing. In the imp, I get almond and cinnamon; on me, the cinnamon is dominant close to the skin while the throw is milder and a mix of all three notes. There isn't anything wrong with it; I can't even say it's bad on my chemistry. I think it's working as intended. It's just not quite my jam.

I've been meaning to try this forever, and then it appeared as a frimp in my latest order. Thanks Lab! This is one of those blends where every note in it works on me most of the time, and I was able to predict pretty well what it would smell like on. It's just as described: dragon's blood rounded out by creamy vanilla with hints of honey. Sometimes the honey amps up a little higher and I get O-ish wafts, but mostly DB and vanilla are the stars. It's beautiful and comforting, and will definitely have a permanent place in my collection.

This is one of those scents where I just really love what Beth did on a conceptual level. The dominant note here is a light, perky raspberry, which will remind women of my generation of B&BW's Sun-Ripened Raspberry, but underneath it there's always this other note that is "off." It's like metal or rust or blood. You start relaxing into the simple pleasure of the raspberry note, and then you smell that. It won't let you forget that this blend is referring to something serious, despite its surface pleasantness. I don't smell anything identifiable as birch, but symbolically I like that it's there, because one of its associations is with punishment. I wore this for my Dolores Umbridge costume.

Foody scents often go wrong on my skin, especially ones containing dairy or bakery notes, and the way they go wrong is that they smell burnt or bitter on me. So the cheesecake aspect of Beaver Moon had me a little worried even as the rest of the blend sounded delightful. Hooray, this is a foody scent that works! I start out getting mostly coffee, with a hint of chocolate in the background, and the chipotle as a spicy little tickle to the nose when I sniff close to the skin. I suspect that the reason the usual bitter note doesn't happen is that the coffee drowns it out--anything that smells burnt/bitter is just registering as part of the coffee's roasted quality! So I guess the secret to fighting the bitter note is to make sure something else in the blend is bitter-er? As it evolves, it goes through a stage where it's oddly a bit woody, like the salty wood notes that sometimes appear in the pirate-themed scents. I can't imagine what note is causing this*, but it seems appropriate for a beaver scent. That dam's not going to build itself! Ooooh, and then out comes the caramel. I love the British word "lashings" for large amounts of yummy stuff, and there are lashings and lashings of caramel here. I tested this in the evening, and by the time I went to bed, the scent was mostly caramel, and then when I woke up, it smelled good enough to devour my arm. And not a hint of bitter. So this is going to join my "Miracle BPALs that break all the rules" list. *Edit! I just read up a little on chipotle peppers, and what I didn't know was that they're just jalapenos smoked over wood. That's where it's coming from! Neat-o!

Yep, TKO with coconut instead of marshmallow. Lovely and comforting scent, and like others, I think I'll wear it for sleep.

Agony and ecstasy: black leather and damp red rose. Just what it says on the tin--rose and leather. It's a simple blend but it works--very Phedre no Delaunay. (For the rest of the Night Court, you need Long Night Moon!) The rose and leather take turns dominating the blend, back and forth. I don't amp it up super high, but I know it's there, and it makes me feel romantic and kinky at the same time.

This is why I love frimps! Sometimes the Lab sends you a scent that's just perfect for you, that you never really took notice of on your own. The name of it just didn't jump out at me when I browsed, and I think we all have scent categories that resonate more with us conceptually and Alice just isn't one of mine. If this had been called, IDK, Doomed Gothic Heroine, I'd have tried it years ago. It starts out with a honey or beeswax note very similar to Lights of Men's Lives, which I love, and in the early stages there seems to be a fruity note hanging out underneath. What it eventually becomes, though, is a blend of the beeswax note with a clean white floral that I'd describe as powdery or even papery. Before I checked the note list, I'd have guessed something like gardenia. It's soooo pretty; innocent and feminine. As for gothic heroines, I have the Haute Macabre review of the Weenies fresh in my mind, and they described one of the Poe scents as reminiscent of a gothic heroine running for her life over the moors. If that scent is the heroine's mad dash, then this one might be the heroine herself, with the beeswax representing the ubiquitous candelabra and the white floral her diaphanous gown. You could have called this one Edith Cushing and I'd have believed it. I could see this becoming a staple in my rotation. Thanks Lab

This is an odd one and a morpher. It starts out super bitter, then turns to wood and incense. One of the incensey notes is a sort of musky sweet note that I have smelled in exactly one other place: TAL Ascendancy. Checking the note list, I think it must either be the hyssop, or else a frankincense note unlike the Lab's usual frankincense. And then the wood fades out entirely, and a candy-sweet floral emerges--I can totally see where people are getting the fruit associations! It reads as a floral to me, though, like honeysuckle. Very pretty! I love the concept, and it's an unusual blend with a TALish vibe. I'll be keeping the imp.

Yup! In the bottle, I can smell the grass note, but once on my skin, I get the freshest, juiciest apple pie with some cinnamon. Close to the skin, I can smell a little bit of the "burnt" effect I always get from baked goods scents (darn skin chemistry), but it's enough in the background that I think I can deal. This is a nostalgic apple pie scent that I'll wear a lot during the holidays.

Oh, man, that does sound perfect! So many smellies I've never tried! Maybe I'll get something perfect in my frimps today too (squee, I have an order Out for Delivery)! ETA: Oh my, what about Tyrannophobia? It has the advantage of me already having it, and it's mostly raspberry (i.e. pink) but also has tea and also is sinister! She's certainly tyrannical in her little fiefdom... That sounds PERFECT! The party was this past Saturday and I did go with Tyrannophobia! It's not very strong on me, so I doubt anyone else smelled it, but it helped me get into the spirit of things! And everyone loved--or at least rightfully shuddered at, lol--my nauseatingly pink ensemble.

My book was a zombie novel called Spore! Jolabokaflod is a warm, cozy fragrance befitting the concept. I don't get much chocolate; it's mostly sweet beeswax and soft leather on my skin. It's a perfect expression of the idea behind it, and will definitely get a lot of wear from me during the winter.

I blind bottled this because it sounded so intriguing, though the marigolds had me a little worried--I remember planting marigolds as a kid, and they kind of stunk! But it turns out that La Calavera Catrina is really nice. It's not much of a morpher; from beginning to end I mostly get a yellow, dry, herbal, wildflower-y scent that makes me think of sunset in a golden field in late summer or early fall. There's a girl in the field, maybe, with the sun picking up highlights in her hair. I can't tease out where one flower ends and one begins, and I can't make out the rose or vanilla at all, but I think they're what keep the other notes from being too bitter. Lovely scent, and unlike anything else in my collection; definitely a keeper! This is a death scent in a way, yes, but not human death; this is the death of the sun at sunset, or the crops at harvest time.

Am I ever gonna learn I can't wear pure gourmands? Magic 8 ball says...signs point to no. When I open the bottle, it smells like opening a jar of apple butter...mmm! The first few minutes on my skin, it smells like eating butterscotch chips straight out of the bag when I'm supposed to be making cookies with them...mmmmmmmmmm! Then it goes all appley for a little while, nice! And then all of that disappears and my skin basically turns it into a dupe of Hot Buttered Rum from the Yules. It vacillates between smelling pretty good, and smelling somewhat burnt, which is what the buttery note always does on me. Probably destined to either be swapped or to become a room scent. It's not bad on my skin per se, but if only it could be as good on my skin as it is by itself!

Oh, man, that does sound perfect! So many smellies I've never tried! Maybe I'll get something perfect in my frimps today too (squee, I have an order Out for Delivery)! ETA: Oh my, what about Tyrannophobia? It has the advantage of me already having it, and it's mostly raspberry (i.e. pink) but also has tea and also is sinister! She's certainly tyrannical in her little fiefdom...

I do have Poisoned Apple! It's an old fave of mine, too, so that's a good idea.