unmused

In the bottle: Honeyed Incense Wet: The honey is stronger when just on, reminds me a little of chamomile tea sweetened with honey, but that's the bay talking. A little something sharp in the background, indistinct but must be the laurel mixing about with the bay's top notes. Dry Down: After a few minutes it's incense again, but sweeter with an extra hint of spicy goodness all blended into a luscious whole. Final Thoughts: This one lasts 8+ hours on me, and for a week this was my favorite scent out of the whole 6 I tried. But then my period went away and something happened. Metallic notes came out in the vial and after application that I really, really didn't care for. Apparently Delphi only likes me (or vice-versa) during Princess Time . I really thought I'd get a big bottle of this, but if it's only going to work for me a week out of everymonth I'm not sure even keeping the imp is worth it.

In the Bottle: Fruity and Floral. Mostly fruit as the plumeria lends its juicy notes to the pear. Lush and exotic. Wet: The fruit fades a little, sweet florals come out and the rose is there at the end of a deep inhale. Still loving it. Dry Down: The florals loose their edge and the overall feel goes clean... too clean... An hour in and it's gone quite soapy on me. I don't know if its my nose or my chemistry but the soap thing haunts me. Blech. Last Thoughts: I really liked it right up until the soapy stuff hit. I don't mind a bit of soap in a fresh, clean scent, but I was all set for this to be a lush and fruity thing. This went into the swap pile.

In the bottle its very much almond with some green citrus notes behind it. Wet: The almond fades almost on contact and leaves a lot of orange in the foreground with the florals playing second fiddle along with a hint of sandalwood. I can't smell the spices at all. It's fresh and light at this stage. Dry Down: As the orange settles down, Seraglio goes very soft. I'm still not getting a real feel for the clove or nutmeg, but there is just hint of something spicy behind the soft. The sandalwood and florals are nice if a little subtle. Final Thoughts: I'm not big on almond, so I'm fine with that note disappearing so quick. It was a nice scent though nothing really special and it did start reminding me a bit of soap after awhile. The expensive sort of soap at least. This had decent staying power on my as well. Over all, it just didn't wow me.

Yes, when ingested in large enough quantities it can be toxic and cause liver damage. What constitutes a "large quantity" I haven't a clue, but it's not really of concern in this case anyhow. Oh and this refers to the ingestion of steeped teas from the leafs. There's also a "volatile oil" which can be extracted from the plant that is not recommended for internal use at all.

Pennyroyal is an insect repellant as well. There's two Lab scents that feature pennyroyal (at least in the description, there might be others): Mad Hatter and Pain (which also has lavender in it.)

Wow, who would have thought it would be so sweet from the description? (Well, besides those who read the reviews first.) It took me awhile to get up the nerve to try it, and reading the reviews wasn't easing my fears. In the bottle: I didn't pick up cherries at first like everyone else did. To me it smelled more like the way the top part of a creme brulee tastes... sort of like burnt sugar, or overbaked cookies still hot from the oven. Kind of good, but not quite. After reading everyone else saying it was cherry, I gave it another sniff and did get a syrupy maraschino cherry like thing, but still-- burnt sugar over all. On: Ummm… sweetened condensed milk burning on the stove. This is sickly sweet and on fire. I couldn't take it and washed it off after about five minutes. I'm not big on foody smells, or super sweet ones, so even if it didn't totally remind me of a horrible kitchen accident it would have gone into the trade pile for that sweet thing alone. Ah well, there's still Hellfire for the smokey goodness.

I've been wearing this scent to bed and I've been enjoying it, but I always miss out on the later stages. I finally got around to testing it out during the day to get the full range of this fragrance. In the vial: Almond formost followed by jasmine, maybe a touch of musk and moss or wood. Wet: Still very almond. Sweet, dark, lush. Loving it. Dry Down: The almond begins to fade, the jasmine gets a little soft and powdery, but overall it’s a lovely, subtle scent... right up until it went soapy on me. Mature: I catch little hints of the lovely subtle thing that was happening but the soapy overtones overwhelm it 95% of the time. Final Thoughts: Frustratingly pretty when it's not being soapy. Body chemistry is a bitch. I guess I can still wear it to bed.

I was really hoping this one would work for me... In the bottle it was all sweet fruit with a hint of bubbliness and while the fruitiness was a bit much, I liked it and was hoping the fruit would settle down. Wet: It took me a few seconds but then it hit me-- this was more like a Shirley Temple than a martini. This isn't fresh pomegranate, it's grenadine syrup. Dry Down: The fruityness has become less pronounced. That hint of bubbly freshness is coming into its own. I'm going to say it's juniper back there. It's like a really good gin drowning in Rose's Grenadine. Last Thoughts: Good staying power, the sweet, fruity grenadine scent carries through to the end. It's a pretty scent but the whole Shirley Temple thing made me think slumber party instead of cocktail party. I was hoping for something more sophisticated, and after an hour I'd had enough.

My first review! I wasn't even considering Embalming Fluid until I hit the Recommendation thread and saw how often it was suggested. In the bottle it was very lemon with a hint of aloe. The tea comes in strong at the end of a deep inhale. Fresh, light, tangy. Wet: Lots of lemon, crisp and effervescent-- Delicious. Slightly afraid of this starting to smell like Lemon Pledge on me as other citrus scents have, but so far so good. Dry Down: Still lemony, a bright bubbly lemon softened only slightly by the greens and musk. Delightfully fresh. This scent is almost perky. Later: It takes a little while for the lemon to completely fade on me, and I'm left with a very light fresh scent that is so well blended I can't pick out any particular notes. It's clean without being soapy and slightly sweet. No Pledge anywhere, thank goodness. Final Thoughts: What a great morning/pick me up scent. This lasted longer than I was expecting from previous reviews. I was still getting the occasional whif five to six hours after application, and after 8 could still pick it up on my wrist. I can see myself getting a bigger bottle of this one.