patina

Unsweetened chocolate polished with vanilla and faint amber until it's just sweet enough. The slightly bubblegum-ish floral pink pepper is amping on me and while this is certainly spicy, it doesn't make me feel like something is poking my nose, like some black pepper scents have. Delicious.Gorgeous.

This would be perfect sweet violet with a touch of greenery, but the white sandalwood is a little too dusty for my tastes, as in real, actual dust. The decant goes off to swaps.

This really wasn't what I expected, although I did get the snow-white-ish snow as well as lots of honeysuckle and some well behaved vetiver. No, this was nice but it reminded me of a honeysuckle and ginger hand cream I had once. Somehow the mint in the snow must be lending its bite to the rooty vetiver and making it smell like that ginger. (It doesn't smell like the lab's ginger at all.) This is nice, but I can't get over the associations, off to sales.

Worm moon's a good springtime dirt scent.

"Blood" is one of my favorite scents since it has my favorite balance of notes: resinous, sweet, dark, a little spicy. This is very similar, except far less cherry. It's more like dried blood. The labdanum is keeping the dragon's blood in check on the drydown, though I don't suggest this if you absolutely hate dragon's blood. It's so dark and resinous and just a touch spicy. Lovely.

This is a lot like Morganeuse, except less powdery and smoky. It's a very perfumy scent like it's made with some kind of night blooming flower. It's not especially dark, though the myrrh and amber underneath try to do their part. The plum here is vaguely medicinal sometimes, occasionally like fake cherries, except with plums. This doesn't have quite the vanilla and red musk depth of Mme Moriarty, though I could see a comparison to the new scent that has blackcurrant. Edit: On the drydown, the resins come out. The plum becomes less medicinal and powdery and the whole thing gets fainter.

I got the vanilla snow from Snow White plus tart red berries and allspice. Huh. I guess I can wear Bay Rum. This smells cold and hot by turns on me before the drydown. This is amazing. The spices are gorgeous. Why do I love almost all of the SP scents I've tried?

Dark, sweet, well-blended, perfumy, tart. This is dark, but ever so smooth. I almost think I can smell plums here. I can pick out the swirling tobacco flower but that's about all. I get no soap, no strong vetiver. On the drydown, whoever said this smelled like smoked topaz was correct. Lucille Sharpe had garnets, silk and old roses, this is smoky topaz and tobacco flower.

The black current makes this a much lighter scent. It's kind of helpful because in the original I had to suffer through a cherry cough syrup stage before drydown. However, this scent is just not as deep as the original. Who knows what aging will do to it though. This scent always reminds me of deep, dirty, sexy cotton candy. I swear. It's even more pronounced in this version because the blackcurrant could be the blue flavor, the pomegranate could be the pink. Very appropriate for a circus scent.

For such a dark scent, this is fairly gentle. It's amazing how it manages to be both sophisticated conventional perfume and something decadent. It's seductive and slightly deranged, but well-mannered enough for most situations and not too forward. "Aristocratic" nails it. Most of the scent is black silk and fading roses, but the garnet note stands out quite a bit. It's just so dead on. A wine-dark, cold crystal. There's not a huge throw, but this lasts. Notes remind me of both Skadi and Black Lily.

I'm powerfully reminded of certain candies that come in strawberry-like wrappers. I smell those along with the suggestion of other unspecified candies, lilies and violets. This is crazy strong and lasts a good while. Occasionally the cypress and candy charcoal peek out too. Festive. This one lasts forever on me, it's a little intimidating.

This smells like frost and cold somehow- lots of black ice with lichen and salt and a little licorice. It's a bit like The Country of Eternal Light.

So, I could swear this musk is based on red patchouli. It's smoky and it's trying to do the usual sour/ sharp thing that red patchouli does on my skin. It's failing though. I do detect plenty of clove peeping out and the saffron adds interest, a bit of polish.

Here's what I guessed: white sandalwood, maybe frankincense, and white sage. It's interesting how wrong I can be. This is a dry scent, headed towards the masculine. Earthy, but in a pale sort of way.

I had a small problem with my order that I emailed the lab about. If I don't get a reply within a couple of weeks would it be okay to contact papow.net even if my problem was with the Lab not the post? Also, I asked about returning the wrong bottle they sent before finishing the FAQ that said returns were impossible. I know they most be tired of getting asked questions they've already covered. SORRY, LAB! I'm really embarrassed about that.

Powdery vanilla and dead leaves on the drydown. Not bad, but I already have so many myrrh scents I love I can pass this one easily.

I don't understand this one. In the imp it was horrible, pungent and off-putting with scratchy leaves and paint-thinner frankincense. On my left arm, the drydown was absolutely beautiful, like sunlight on yellow leaves. The copal seems to make the whole thing sparkle and the leaves smell like soft sun-bleached cedar. This was so gorgeous I went to sleep with a drop at my neck- and woke up hours later being bothered by the scratchy leaves. So, the drydown does not always work?

At first this is really sweet and wsll blended. There's a lot of depth as well as a floral edge. The throw is sweet apple cider and honey. Unfortunately on my skin the components smell medicinal and the chemical, jumbled scent gets stronger while the tobacco and honey go out of control amping sweetness until the whole thing turns into obnoxiously sweet rotting apples. This was my favorite scent in the imp too.

The Seekim from the Yules plus red musk and redcurrant! I get strong cacao, leather, and chewy patchouli, plus red musk and redcurrant, plus a grape jelly note. I get absolutely no caramel and this is surprisingly light. Try it if you're a redcurrant or red musk lover.

In the imp: Herbal shampoo? But high-quality shampoo. On, this is a delicate pastel purple scent. The incense rounds the whole scent out. The tuberose has a softening influence and the white sandalwood acts like a canvas. Somehow this is neither powdery nor like traditional perfume.

In the imp: Jasmine and Frankincense. That's it. Maybe sage. On, after some wear: This is amazingly evocative. I can smell jasmine still, and patchouli. Maybe she's making a love potion? There's sage smoke (no wood smoke). I get the sense of closeness, safety, warmth and body heat. I can almost smell the iron cauldron. The throw is fuzzy and wsll-behaved jasmine, vanilla and frankinsense. Unfortunately, closer up on my skin the scent is pungent in a not entirely pleasant way. It's still comforting, but I can't decide whether I love this one or can pass on it. Edit: After some wear, this turns into a fuzzy cloud of soft vanilla jasmine and myrtle. Bottle-worthy.

Sniffed straight from the imp this was my favorite of all the leaves. It's spicy but not sneeze-inducing. I'd say "smoky" except that would make it sound like it was straight-up barbecue sauce. It's not. For one thing there's no vetiver. Still I get the impression of smoke even if there is no actual smoke. The pepper is bright, the leaves are very dry. It smells a bit like the lab's ivy note, except dry and papery. In the drydown sandalwood becomes more prominent than pepper. Not bad, but not my favorite. Somewhat masculine.

I had a slightly different experience. I get ultra honey with a mossy, boggy, clean backdrop. Though this doesn't seem to have the citrusy nature of Sundew, it smells very bright, cheerful. It actually smells a lot like a humid sunny greenhouse full of moss and carnivorous plants. But mostly it smells like honey. The mint is present and welcome but not obtrusive. As it dries down, the honey dials it back somewhat and the whole scent gets softer. Anyone who has the problem of honey turning plastic <i>might</i> have a problem with this at least before the scent dries down. Also anyone who dislikes moss might not like this.

Honey-berry carnation cotton candy with something earthy underneath that I really can't place. Also moss. After it warms up, the snake oil and dorian come out. This is lovely despite a slight tendency to go waxy in a generic berry lip-balm sort of way. Edit: I can't stop smelling this. It's like Halloween in Las Vegas' little sister, with honey and berries where H:LV has red velvet cupcakes and wine and substituting rooty moss for dried leaves. It's innocent but complex. I keep thinking I smell golden amber but it must be the honey and Snake oil tricking me. Edit Edit: sadly the blackberry has gone slightly cat pee on me. Ah well.

Day of the Skulls is nice sandalwood and beeswax with faint roses. There are other notes too but I'd have to look them up. It is quite powdery and sugary. Stormclouds on the midway has cotton candy, ozone, wormwood and incense smoke