Saeva

Flaming amber, queen mandarin rind, yellow peppercorn, scorched yellow roses, and a hint of decay. Bottle: peppery citrus gone ever so slightly off. Not the sweetened citrus of fermentation, but the one that happens when an orange sits out so long it gets mold. That smell. Wet: like usual, in the bottle is how it immediately hits my skin. I have dry enough skin that I rarely get chemical reactions and very little amps on me. Dry: Here we go. The yellow peppercorn is still extremely dominant after 30 minutes with a feeling of mandarin rind (slightly sour/green, as rind tends to be) and a hint of rich rose. Weirdly for such a strong/sharp blend, the scent fades out quickly, mellowing to something I can sniff out when my wrists are six inches away but no further. I have some on my neck, at pulse points, and my sternum, where the most skin oil can interact, but most of my trial went to my wrists and stayed there. At one hour, it has morphed to a scent like (sparsely candied) rose petals on mandarin jelly mixed with peppercorn, but the peppercorn is so strong that it was nauseating to me by hour 2. That said, my best friend also tried it and the scent turned into a pretty mandarin with heavy amber, a hint of decay, and a smattering of both peppercorn and rose (no scorching). Not personally for me, but if you like heavy scents with strong pepper notes, this would work well.

Throughout the whole wear, I never scented a single drop of Snake Oil through this, oddly enough, as with other mixtures I usually pick up at least a little bit of a savory-tart I association with SO. Dead leaves is another story. Both in bottle and wet, this smelled entirely of dead leaves -- that distinct lead/tin note found I most associate with the lead and tin phoenix blends combined with a freshly mowed grass scent -- with the bare impression of flowers. My partner got more flowers, I got more metal on both sniff and application. 30 minutes into dry down added a flowery scent that makes me picture white flowers, so that's likely the cictus, orris root, and maybe smoked vanilla. Somewhere between 1 1/2 to 2 hours, the metallic grass impression is completely gone and I start getting the cardamom and the smoked vanilla very clearly. Within 30 minutes, the entire scent turns into a spiced, smoked vanilla with the slightly hint of hops. Over the next few hours the hops leaves, followed by spice, and finally smoked vanilla. At 6 hours of wear, the scent has completely faded except for a vague sugary 'taste' if sniffed up close. A really interesting scent overall, being both very in your face and quite subtle in turns. For me 6 hours is a miracle of a last time, given many scents disappear on me within two hours or sooner, so I would expect this will stick around on most people. Throw is less clear to me, as almost nothing short of scent bomb levels (Sugar Plum Snake Fairy, Tiki Princess V3, Sunbird, etc.) have much throw with me. I could have done with a little bit stronger punch to the mixture originally -- more like Dead Leaves, Black Cherry, and Incense Tar -- so that it wasn't initially 100% Dead Leaves, but that faded quickly and turned really nice. If you don't mind the lab's metallic scent that helps make up Dead Leaves (which I suddenly understand all the comments on), this is a great addition to a varied scent cabinet.

In the bottle, it smells like thick cherry filling, canned and ready to be poured for pie has been drizzled with maraschino cherry syrup. Then I put it on myself and it immediately went to pastry. Not only was the cherry filling darker, trending into black cherry, but I instantly smelt like I had rubbed buttery, flaky pie crust across my skin. Ultimately, a few minutes in it mellowed out into a sharp cherry pie and stayed there. I usually like sugary scents, but I'm not sure how I feel about this one. It is so distinctly one specific sweet treat that it mostly keeps making me crave pie. Low to medium throw. Lots of staying power -- I still smelled just as cherry after 12 hours, which is longer than most BPAL scents last on me. My best friend tried it too and ended up smelling like someone tried to bake maraschino cherries. They're not a fan of sweet scents and said this one was particularly sweet.