splendidissima

Sweet maraschino cherry! Not cough syrup at all - really a dead ringer for that bright red sugary sweetness. As it dries, the marshmallow comes out more - it's very marshmallow fluff, with a whipped or airy note - how does Beth do that?! It's different from just straight marshmallow somehow, with whatever's making it fluffier and airier. I really like this, but it's very low throw and also one of those scents that my skin just eats; I put it on and it's gone within half an hour. I've been having that issue with a few of the recent blends, so maybe it's me? For example, both Ghost Dragon's Mama and White Cat do this to me too - great, but then just gone. *sad*

This one's fascinating! It's such an odd but good (?) combination of notes! I get a lot of peppermint cream - and it is more creamy than, say, a Lick It - alongside pale blue-violet flowers, cool and...well, floral! I can't really disentangle specific floral notes, but it calls to mind exactly the dress from the artwork, with those blue stripes and the billowing skirt. I don't really get teakwood or nutmeg; it stays soft mint + cream + cool blue-hued florals, with good throw. I'm not usually drawn to florals, but I love peppermint and cream and vanillas, and also cats, so I wanted to try this one, and I'm glad I did. I don't know if I love it, but I find that I keep reaching for it and testing it and sniffing it, because it's so interesting - so I've actually been wearing it a lot!

Bottle from the Lab Etsy! In order of strength: white chocolate, sweet banana candy (not really creamy, more like that artificial banana candy scent, which I actually like!), and a hint of something green/herbal/citrus. I don't get hazelnut, unless that's just blended into the chocolate. I like it - the mate makes it more complex than a simple banana + white chocolate. It is definitely sweet and foody, but I tend to like those scents, though it might work better in cooler weather!

Snagged from the Lab's Etsy! Definitely chocolate cake! A rich, dark, fancy one - the kind that's made with some espresso and caramelized brown sugar bits, to enhance the Dark Chocolate Depths. I like it! The Husband also immediately said "chocolate cake?" as soon as I opened it (he was sitting next to me), so we're in agreement on that!

Freebie from the Lab! ❤️ I was hoping for more ice + amber, but the metallic notes are very strong on me. I don't dislike it, but I'm not sure I like it *on me*. It really does give that 'sophisticated gentleman's - or gentleman-presenting person's - cologne' feel. Maybe I'll try it on the husband!

Adding to the 'this is weird, but not bad' vote! It goes on with a big waft of salt - sea breeze and ocean water. Then a vanilla sweetness comes out, so it's very...saltwater sugar vanilla, maybe a little creamy. I can see saltwater taffy, definitely, specifically, but what it *isn't* is golden or caramel or dark. It really does remind me of going to the old-fashioned sweet shop at the ocean harbor village near where I grew up, and getting a bag of assorted saltwater taffy (my dad always got a bag), and sticking my nose in and sniffing it while the breeze drifts up across the harbor. It's not as sweet as I expected - it's very evenly balanced between the salt and the vanilla sugar cream, and I don't really get spice or fruit. It is a bit odd, but I like it - it feels like childhood summer to me, getting nostalgic at the seaside harbor village shops, with the old carousel and the ice-cream parlor and the kite shop and the boats bobbing up and down in the water as we walk around with old-fashioned candy.

I waffled about this, but I regretted not getting Katrina von Tassel, so I talked myself into it. It's a scent I'd wear when I want to feel pretty, feminine, and sweet but sophisticated. It's a sweet lightly honeyed pink rose - primarily that - but there's something really interesting in the background that's coconut creamy + a little whisper of salty air: unexpected, and making it more complex, and intriguing. I'd want to smell someone more, if they smelled like this. ?

My first reaction was, spiced coffee...? I think the cardamom + whiskey + cream is somehow reading coffee on me! I'm not mad about it. It's actually reminding me a LOT of the Spiced Rum Buttercream Coffee from the Activism line, which I have a partial bottle of. It's foodie but not super-heavy. Not much fig, and I would've liked that, but I still like it as is!

Pink guava candy! This is very fun and summery. I don't get much orchid, but that's fine - I like sweet fruits! If this were a summer cocktail, I'd drink it. Not too long-lasting, but also I didn't put much on, since I was testing a few things!

Fresh-baked bread and cinnamon apples! The bread is strongest at first - not overly sweet, a homey, domestic, wheat sort of bread, perhaps. As it dries, the cinnamon apples come out more and more - like an apple pie filling, no crust. I can't pick out any specific herbs, but I think that's toning down the sweetness somewhat: it's not *very* sweet, just enough to have *some* sweetness. This is so nice and cozy, exactly as warm as it promises!

Creamy butter and sweet cream! Warm and cozy. I agree with the St Brigid comparison - it's very similar - but Cat Churning Butter doesn't have the honey (good for anyone who might not like the honey note!) and instead has a faint soft spice note, not too strong, which is probably the frankincense. Very pretty and soft and warm!

Sweet almond pastry cream! It's really nice, especially if you like warm foodie scents, which I do! I don't get too much fig, maybe just a little murmur of dark fruit. It's very similar to Nightingale, but a little sweeter - there's no cardamom here, and more almond and sweet cream.

Mmm, this is pretty. Rose can be a little hit or miss on me, but it works when it's sweeter, and it definitely is here! The rose isn't even that strong, honestly - as people've said, a spritz of rose water, a drift of scent from the bushes near the pastry table. Primarily this is a nutty, sweet, honeyed baklava, with a hint of that sweet/sour/cream note of cheesecake and goat's milk, which I happen to really like! It's like that's been swirled around the honey-soaked hazelnut pastry layers. Really lovely for late spring/summer.

The GC Jersey Devil was a surprise hit for me, so I grabbed this from the Lab's Etsy! If you like the classic Jersey Devil, this is pretty similar - a lot of cranberry and blackberry, with the warmth of tomato leaf and some deep woods at the back. This Frostbitten version feels cooler, softer, and sweeter - it's not a screamingly loud snow note; it's just adding a sort of chilly sugar, like a dusting of powdery snow, or a fluffy snowdrift - it's a friendly snow. I think this version might have lower throw than the GC JD; I didn't find that bottle to compare, but that's my impression. Basically Jersey Devil but gently blanketed and smoothed by cool fluffy sweetness!

Crisp air, pine, and cranberries, in that order! There is something giddy and energizing about it - I'd agree with the comment above about it being invigorating! Like a winter morning when you're going to Get Up And Do Things, maybe involving picking out a tree, and walking through the billows of pine. And then the cranberries give it a little red berry tartness. I don't really get pumpkin pie or honey - I like those things, so I wish I did! It'd be nice if it had a touch more sweetness, I think. But maybe it's the age of this bottle. Either way, I'm not mad at it; I like this wintry pine + berries combo!

Not quite as sweet as I was expecting, but very bright and summery! I get a lot of orange blossom, neroli, and the resins from frankincense. Not as much vanilla as I was kind of hoping for, but it is definitely uplifting and bouncy and cheerful!

Mmm, this is pretty. I've been trying to reorganize my collection and in the process have pulled out some scents I've not worn in ages, and this was one! It's a soft, cozy, sweet milk with honey and fig and olive leaf, on me - I don't really get anything woodsy. I've been realizing how much I like olive notes - leaf, oil, etc - and it's definitely here, with that savory/fruity quality layered into more dark fruit with the fig and sweet light milk - by light I mean it's *not* the BPAL heavy cream note, or anything buttery; it's clearly a simple warm slightly sweet milk. I feel like this is a good spring/summer transition scent: sweet and pretty, a little foodie-adjacent but not exactly foodie, full of fruits and milk.

I've been wanting one of the Sandman scents for ages, and finally picked this one! I love this scene in the comics. ❤️ This is very fun, and a bit chaotic - exactly right! It goes on as a big heap of mixed fruit: mainly mango, but with, just...a whole bunch of other juicy ripe fruits right behind that, hard to pick out individual notes. It's sweet-ish but not overly sweet - it's ripe fruit, not, like, sugar-sweet! If it were a color it'd be a tropical sunset: orange, pink, yellow, red. As it dries, a little hint of something...greener?...comes out. If I didn't know the notes, I'm not sure I'd specifically think 'eucalyptus' or 'mint', but it's definitely something that gives it a little sharpness and a little...not exactly edge, but, like...you turned from the tropical fruit groves to encounter the clean straight lines of bamboo, as a sort of visual equivalent? It's a white ginger, I think, not a dark ginger like in Shub-Niggurath - lighter and more playful. If you tried Tahitian Landscape, it's a little like that in feel, but minus all the florals and plus much more mango/general fruit! I will say it went on big so I didn't put much on, but it seems to be fading fast, though, again, I didn't put very much on to start because it started out loud, so maybe I'll need to experiment with amounts!

Frottle from the Lab! And, yes, it's pretty much exactly what so many reviews say - juicy fresh red/yellow apple + a water note! It's so perfectly exactly its name - such sorcery! The water note isn't soapy at all - it really is like water, not any kind of cleaner, and not like an ozone-type. The apple is fairly light - it's not an in-your-face type of scent. Autumnal without being drenched in cinnamon and spice - instead it's very refreshing, and very nice!

I gave in and grabbed this because I'm teaching Frankenstein this semester in my Monsters class! It's fascinating; I don't have anything else like it! I'm not super-familiar with most of these notes, but I love the whole idea and atmosphere. First, I get...a cool white note, a little floral but very cool-floral, if that makes sense? White and pale and maybe a little misty? It's very pretty, though I'm a little surprised by the floral - maybe that's something about the ink? Florals aren't as much my thing (I like fruit, usually, or ginger spice, or sweet mint) but the coolness is making it interesting! As it warms, there's a very neat soft vanilla-adjacent scent - it really is very reminiscent of breathing in the scent of old books, warm and dry and papery! Which is a scent I like - I've happily sniffed some of my old-book collection on occasion! - so I'm really enjoying that. It's not very sweet, just...warm? Almost-but-not-exactly-sort-of like some of the Lab's hay-vanilla combos? And then that warms up the cool floral on top. I really do think of stormy nights and old books - this will be great in autumn, or to create a cool chilly feeling on a hot summer night!

Agreed with the previous poster - this is a big, red, berry wine! Great throw. I was nervous about the patch - it's not a note I seek out - but I really can't find it in here at all. Mostly this is the sweet red wine scent from...well, so many other BPAL red wine scents! Lots of berries, lots of fruit. Ruby port, not tawny. It's definitely a rich dessert sort of wine, something you sip slowly from a snifter, while lounging by a fire on a chilly evening. I've ended up really liking this one, especially because it's rainy here tonight and we have got a fire and we actually also have some port, so I might pour some of that, and grab a book, and pet the cat while sipping.

Definitely nutty! It's a swirl of nuts; I can't really pick out distinctions between them. There's a little bit of spice, but it's not really spicy: just enough for a warmth. I'm not sure I really get the honey, but the brown sugar is adding some toasted dark sweetness, and it's definitely that darker sugar, not light or white. Good for autumn or generally chilly weather, I think, when you want to feel cozy. It goes on strong, but it does fade quickly, which seems to be something I'm saying about a few recent bottles - not sure if it's me or just a succession of scents that happen to fade fast!

Pumpkin and apple cider! I agree that it's reminiscent of Fearful Pleasure, which I loved. Pumpkin mash, gently stewed into apples, spices, and cider - beautifully autumnal, nicely balanced.

Oh my word this is my fav of the Yules this year. I love a good gingerbread - sweet, spicy, ginger cookie, yes please! - and this is beautifully exactly that. It's very reminiscent of Shub, as others have observed - it's that deep dark ginger, molasses and ginger and rich spice. But here it's also got a buttery cookie layer underneath - more a fluffy cake-y kind of cookie, a fresh baked good that you want to eat right now but it's just out of the oven and still hot. Love love love. If there's a down-side, it doesn't last as long as Shub does on me - it's got a gorgeous initial throw, so I end up not putting too much on, but then it fades, and I have to reapply. Not that that's a hardship! But I might go through this quickly. Wondering if I need a second bottle while this is here, or if my beloved Shub is enough...

This one does some interesting things on me! I really wanted to love it - I love the Lick Its and I love berry scents and sugar, so this was an instant buy. And...I like it, but I don't know if I LOVE it. It goes through two very distinct stages on me, rather than melding or blending. It starts as a BIG boom of sweet mint with a little red muskiness underneath, which...is a little odd with the mint? It's fine, but if I really want a big sweet mint, I'd prefer a pure Lick It, without the underlying red note. But THEN, as it dries completely, the mint burns off entirely, to the point where I can't even find it (such a surprise, given how loud the mint is to start!) - now it's a pink sugary honey-strawberry scent, a little darkened by red wine. This stage is very pretty, and it does feel like a late spring/early summer night - strawberries, sundown, sparkling wine to sip. I like both stages, but it's very sequential: sweet mint with some red wine musk ---> honey strawberry wine. I'm happy to have a bottle, and I'll definitely use it, I just wish I could've experienced something closer to a *blending* of vanilla mint + berry wine, if that makes sense! It ends up as basically a sparkling strawberry honey wine...not single note, but like a strawberry honey wine trio, which, don't get me wrong, I would probably also buy on purpose. ?