Little Bird

I usually love the Lab's leather blends, but the 'pink sugared patent leather' is chemical-y and artificial smelling to me (where bpal's leathers usually smell like I am genuinely wearing a soft leather jacket or worn cowboy leather). The fruity notes are very sweet, like strawberry candy (the pink sugar?) and tropical, sugary goo. The fruity tones turn a bit sour in the drydown. The cream mixed with the tropical fruit keeps making me think of coconut in the opening, though that disappears after about 15 minutes. Then there's tobacco that smells like someone is smoking a cigar and there's a clean skin musk undertone. Chemical leather, sugared fruit that turns more sour in the drydown, cream that smells like coconut in the opening, lots of cigar smoke, and clean skin musk. The tobacco gives it kind of a burnt edge and the tobacco is quite strong on me. Sort of the same vibe as Perversion, but I like my bottles of Perversion more than this (and my bottles of Perversion are variants that smelled very coconutty and creamy).

Another Luper where this year's version smells incredibly different from the previous year's versions. I'm used to Smut being very strong, heavy, and dark. This smells like a lighter red musk sweetened with sugar, brighter than the original, and it turns a little powdery on me in the drydown. I don't find it to be really boozy. Sweet red musk and powder. Fades really fast on me and surprisingly doesn't have much throw.

2024 is very different from my previous year's versions of Womb Furie. It's not as sweet and creamy (though still noticeably has honey), smells more sharply musky, and has a really gross, strong, burnt hair smell to it. I think I'm not liking the new version of Snake Oil mixed with other notes so much as I enjoyed the older Snake Oil.

Last year's The Serpent in the Roses is one of my favorite bpals (I'm not buying a bottle of this year's version of The Serpent in the Roses, so I'm not sure how different In The Roses 2024 is compared to the 2023 that I've hoarded) and carnation is a note that can do no wrong in my book, but I don't love this blend as much as I thought I would. The Serpent in the Carnations smells weirdly like cardboard covered in spices, and the spices and patchouli here are sharp and somewhat difficult for me. I can smell carnation in the opening, but not in the drydown, and the overall scent is bone dry and fades away within 2 hours. I do smell the patchouli (but I'm not in love with how dry, sharp, and dusty the earthiness here is) and dry spice that's in the new version of Snake Oil, but this has that weird cardboard thing going on, and I was really hoping for more fluffy carnation petals and carnation type spiciness. Jovial Tengu is still my standout carnation of this year's Lupers.

Intensely sweet chocolate, powder, and red musk. I already have a few hoards of Nocturne Alchemy's Kashmir (red musk) + chocolate blends, and they don't turn so powdery or cloying on me, so I'm glad that I just went with a decant of Chocolate Musk. I also prefer Bpal's Boomslang over this because it's smoother, creamier, and not powdery, but still has the Snake Oil musk and chocolate. If you want a super sugary chocolate and don't mind warm, powdery tones, this is a really long lasting, strong chocolate scent with slightly animalic, heavy, sweet red musk, though.

I like this chocolate enough to keep my decant, but not enough to full size over my bottle of Millennial Pink. I like that MP reads as white chocolate and raspberry jam to my nose. Somehow this smells more milk chocolate-y, even with the marshmallow cream lending more of a vanilla-y tone, and the dewy, fresh rose note is nice, but I'm not the biggest fan of rose + chocolate scents. I wish I got the raspberries and cake batter that some of the other reviews mention, but the rose is pretty strong on me, especially in the drydown.

Musky, perfumey, red rose that leans a little sour and dry, a waxy chocolate note that's sweeter than I was expecting, and a little bit of sharp black pepper. The rose amps way up on me and I don't get any of the vanilla or any creaminess. I rarely enjoy rose + dark/milk chocolate, though.

Moldavite is lots of earthy patchouli and oakmoss, which are two of my favorite things 🥰. It reminds me of LUSH's Tramp, but softer and easier to wear. I was worried about the mint, but it thankfully never makes an appearance, unless its just adding to the hint of greenery in the background of the scent. No blackberry either. I do get a hint of sweetness that's like honey-drenched resins, though, and the resins smell wonderful with the dry moss and earthy patchouli. A perfect scent for an earth loving Taurus.

Witch in the Woods is the most gorgeous blackberry and myrrh combo. Both notes are sweet, syrupy, and bold. The smoke keeps things from being too sweet, adding a veil of seductive, dreamy incense smoke over the fragrance. The other notes are barely there for me. I was worried about the cypress being too strong, but I can only find it if I'm trying really hard (and then I might just be imagining it). There is a wild, foresty element to the blend, though, but it's more of a feeling than a smell? The overall perfume makes me think of being in the shadows of a forest, picking blackberries, drawing blood on a thorn, the scent of myrrh like the sticky, sweet sap of ancient trees, and just feeling perfectly at peace. A perfume that resonates with my witchy little soul.

Pink Moon '24 is definitely in my top 5 of favorite lunacy blends. It immediately reminded me of that sugary, creamy, pink bubblegum medicine that they give children, but it quickly turns into a perfect strawberry milkshake scent. The strawberries are fresh & tangy and sugary & tart all at once, and you can smell the milkiness, but the marshmallow cream really does make it creamier and richer, with the milk + marshmallow cream reminding me of vanilla ice cream. A perfect strawberry milkshake made with rich vanilla ice cream, and I will need backup bottles.

Batty Perversion smells like a lighter version of my favorite variation of Perversion where it's very creamy and slightly coconut-y (but not cheap like pina colada or suntan lotion, in my opinion, more like coconut milk), has a soft, snuggly black leather, and a warm, sweet cigar type tobacco. The rum, I think, is the only thing different in Batty Perversion, where it adds a caramelized, dark gold sweetness around the edges. After a half hour, it leaves behind just a light trace of the caramelized scent and faded muskiness. I like it, but I wish that it didn't disappear so fast.

The new formulation of Dorian is nothing like the original Dorian, and I wish that the Lab were more clear about it being so different. In my opinion, the reformulation shares nothing in common with the original Dorian. I don't think that the new perfume should even be sold under the name of Dorian because I've noticed the new version on so many sale pages and I know that, for myself, I bought a bottle of new Dorian because I assumed it would at least be similar to the original, and it isn't at all. The original is cool toned, smooth, creamy, perfectly unisex, and just absolutely full of the smoothest, coolest, creamiest, delicately sweet vanilla. It is one of my signature scents and has been for nearly 20 years now. The new version is warm, perfumey, powdery, dry (all qualities that are directly opposite of the original) and it smells sort of like pink musk and old fashioned women's perfume with tons of baby powder. I wouldn't recognize this new version as Dorian at all if I weren't holding the bottle with the same name/label in my hand. And there's no way that this will age into anything resembling the OG Dorian either. I think that this new Dorian should have had a different name entirely because it's so completely different and now there's confusion in the community over 'what year of Dorian' and people thinking they have the OG when it's the new one. I've had people tell me that they're glad they didn't buy OG Dorian on ebay because they hate the reformulated version that they got and I'm like no, they're not the same; not even close. The new Dorian is priced at $32 and I don't think that it is worth it at all (whereas I don't blink twice paying $100 for the original, which I have now hoarded). The new Dorian is so bone dry and powdery that I cannot even wear it for a full day without scrubbing it off. So it went from being my favorite bpal and my signature scent to a complete scrubber for me. I feel like the new Snake Oil retained at least some of its original character in its reformulation, even though it's quite different, but Dorian hasn't retained anything familiar. I hope that people don't read the older reviews of Dorian and think that that is what they are purchasing if they buy a bottle of what is currently available.

Constellation starts out wonderful with sweet clove that's slightly earthy/tobacco-ish and, of course, spicy, with a woody leaning amber. Sadly, as it dries down, it loses a lot of its nuance and appeal for me. The clove and amber turn into a weak, super powdery, faint clove that reminds me of Fledgling Raptor Moon. Like cloves stuffed into baby powder and barely distinguishable anymore. It loses its sweetness, earthiness, and spicy kick that I love in the opening and just becomes powdery and bland.

I'm surprised that more reviews don't mention lemon, and it makes me wonder if there are huge batch variations with this scent. My bottle of this is like the lemon in Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat, very strong and on the sugary side of things, with a hint of orange and more of a glittering, crystalline sugar smell to it. It stays lemony-orange for hours until it fades away. The patchouli is barely there in the drydown and smells oddly clean, woody, and crisp, slightly green, more than heavily earthy (I like heavily earthy). Not my favorite for patchouli, but I do like the sugary lemon scent.

Neroli smells like creamy orange blossoms and a weedy, dark green scent simultaneously, while the King mandarin adds a fresh spray of orange juice, and the amber & vegetal musk form a warm, slightly powdery, resinous base for the orange tones to play out over. This is one of those fragrances that smells like warm sunshine between the cheerful, creamy, floral orange tones and the golden warmth of the amber and musk. A half hour into the drydown, it's like creamy orange blossom over warm, cuddly, ever so slightly musky amber. | I haven't reached for this much since my bottle arrived because it leans a little too powdery for me, but when I do wear it, I'm always surprised by how warm and enveloping it is. I love neroli and orange blossom and the neroli is very pretty here. I'm surprised this hasn't been reviewed more because it reminds me a lot of Khrysee, which has always been highly sought after (and has notes of vanilla amber and orange blossom).

Beautiful myrrh, fruity rose, and red musk with hints of patchouli in the drydown. I love black currant, especially when it's jammy and sweet like it is in this blend, and it melds into the rose so perfectly into a dessert type of scent. For the first couple hours, it's delicious black currant syrup with hints of red rose and a backdrop of sweet myrrh that's just ever so slightly incense smoky. After that, the rose fades considerably and I can smell hints of earthy patchouli instead of hints of rose. The crimson musk doesn't seem to be the usual, heavy red musk, but adds a little sultry warmth that holds everything together. The black currant and myrrh stay gorgeous the whole way through, disappearing around the 5 hour mark. I really enjoy most of the Haute Macabre scents, and Garnet is currently my favorite ❤️.

Pine wood (no evergreenery, just the wood) and creamy sandalwood with the growly, earthy, patchouli-dark-musk and slight spiciness of the new version of Snake Oil. A little smoky. Hints of cucumber and waxy lipstick that I don't love, but the musk and smokiness eventually overpowers the weird tones. It's the scent of building up a wood pile in fall, woodsmoke in the air, and snakes cuddled into the wood and fall leaves, everyone preparing for winter. I like this and I think it's a very unique Snake Oil variant. Kind of reminds me of Satyr more than Snake Oil.

I was really confused when I tried on my decant of Carrotberry Pie and it smelled of strong, sharp spices. I had to go back and reread the notes. I guess the 'pumpkin mash' is pumpkin spice. I never smell any carrot or anything vegetal. It's mostly tart, tangy, sweet cranberry jelly and lots of sharp, dry, cinnamon spice. More cranberry than blackberry to my nose.

I want to love the 'blow mold' scents, but the literal plastic note makes them hard to wear. If I say a scent is plasticy, I usually mean I dislike it. It takes fragrances into a cheap, candle-like scent category for me. Vintage Snowman is a sharp evergreen and ice scent, more aquatic/ozone than minty. The touch of plastic makes it smell like an old, forgotten evergreen candle turning to dust in the bottom of a christmas box in the attic.

Maple Pie is so sweet that it's nauseating to me. I can smell the molasses, brown sugar, and maple syrup, and they're very cloying and strong. I was hoping the salt would cut through some of the sweetness, but it never shows up to the party. I love to make desserts with maple syrup; I just don't seem to want to smell like maple syrup. Toothachingly sweet and makes me think of candle fragrances.

I was excited for the 'apple custard,' but I don't smell anything creamy or reminiscent of custard in this blend. It's very boozy and slightly pukey smelling on my skin with an apple air freshener and slight lemon scent. No pie crust or custard. My husband said it reminded him of bad Febreze. Apple notes are iffy for me and I don't like this one with the sherry and sharp lemon.

My favorite of this series of Pie scents, but it still leans plasticy and artificial to me, unfortunately. The chocolate has a waxy, chemical-y edge to it, like chocolate lip balm mixed with chocolate scented markers. The mint and marshmallow meld together into a creamy mint scent that I enjoy, but the other notes kind of ruin it for me, with something turning very plasticy in the drydown. Grasshopper Pie is also very light on my skin, only lasting about an hour with not much throw.

Coffee Cream Pie smells so artificial and plasticy to me. The chocolate pudding smell throws me off because it really does smell like the cheap, wobbly, room temperature, artificial chocolate pudding you can get at the grocery store that's unrefrigerated. Then it has a plasticy tone to it and a strong, dry, powdery, dusty yet cloying scent to it. The coffee is a little sweeter than Bah and it lacks the edge of toasty bitterness and warm milk that makes me love Bah. I don't know what is turning to plastic and weirdly dusty to my nose. Too sweet, the chocolate pudding thing is unappealing to me, and then the weird plastic and dustiness just makes it unbearable. None of the pie scents in this series smell good to me

The first hour is a sharply salty, soapy, dark blue aquatic with sandy undertones and what smells like ink on my skin. After an hour, I wondered what smelled powdery and floral until I realized it was me, wearing this. Powdery, sweet-ish, and floral without being noticeably rose scented. It has a cool aspect to it that I like and it makes me think of porcelain dolls.

To me, Ariel is nearly identical to the GC bpal "Sea of Glass." I get the same bright, cool aquatic with a lemony/bergamot citrus cologne lilt to it and hint of salt. Ariel just has a tiny hint of dry, woody, incensey oud that gives it a darker undertone than OG Sea of Glass.