MamaMoth

i got this one because i'm a patchouli addict who's very curious about what a grey variety might be, and i love tobacco and anise. i also have good history with "shadow" named things. this one has a VERY thick (cacao?) separation layer. for all that, the cacao isn't swinging too heavy. it goes on with a muddled tobacco/cacao/patchouli base layer, and a surprisingly fresh pop of mandarin riding on top. there's a little sharp cypress hanging out there in the middle somewhere. as it settles down i get brief whiffs of anise, but nothing substantial. then it's gone back into the muddle. eventually what i'm left with is a somewhat dry, powdery patchouli +. there's some sharpness backing it up that i think is cypress. there's some earthy heft to it that is probably the cacao and tobacco. i can actually still find a little mandarin if i go looking for it, and i'm surprised it's holding up as citrus notes can be so ephemeral on me. it's not a huge mandarin presence, but i have a feeling this would feel drab and flat without it. but it's mostly patchouli, and grey is a good descriptor for the patchouli and the scent in general... i find the tone a bit dour. i love patchouli, so i don't dislike it. but i can't see myself reaching for it over beloved patchouli blends. it reads a bit masculine for my general preferences, the cypress is a little sharp, and the powdery patchouli isn't a favorite. it might have some maturing to do, so i'll be monitoring this bottle for a while before i make a final verdict.

2023 in the bottle and freshly applied, this is pretty tasty. WHITE cake, which i'm always on the lookout for, as opposed to a more buttery yellow-type cake. dry, non-spicy cardamom. fluffy sweetness. is that a wee touch of fruitiness coming out? it's like pink cotton candy.... not a realistic fruit, it just smells/tastes PINK. settling in, it is less cakey (BOO skin chem, BOO! ) but still nice. a little cake, but mostly dry cardamom nestled into sweet fluffy pinkness. no other human will probably ever smell this on me, but my dog and i will enjoy it very much when i'm getting my cozy hermit on.

2023 starts quite minty! a little sinus-clearing for a brief bit, then settling down sweet and creamy like an after-dinner mint. yum! dries down much the same, with less mint. not getting any pistachio, but perhaps it's giving the vanilla that (i hesitate to say buttery) richness settling in, i think i'm clocking pistachio now. it's a little almondy, which is a note i only enjoy occasionally. i could probably roll with it here, but it also starts to go a little vanilla candle on me, and the mint grows very faint. unfortunate! i'm not inclined to think that aging will do huge favors for this one, but i'll give it some time for the vanilla to maybe find its footing.

i went on an oudh hunt a while back, because many oudhy fragrances that put other people off are just dead sexy to me. it was perplexing! then i acquired this one, and i get it now. SHE STRONK. i utilize my roomie/bestie for poudh checks on occasion, in case i'm just nose-dead to the fonk. (he finds this all terribly amusing.) not only did he order me out of his room after i waltzed in wearing this one, but i caught him burning scented candles later. 😂

initially, it's vetiver-deepened dark cacao with a bit of smoothing vanilla. then, after a minute or two of total absence, the labdanum BURSTS forth and instantly takes top spot. labdanum you diva, what an entrance! it's particularly effervescent here, hitting me almost like a champagne note at first. it settles down into a sweet/spicy vanilla resin-cola that i love so much. earthy cacao and dried-grassy vetiver are definitely there grounding it out and giving it depth, but this is undoubtedly the labdanum show. HERE FOR IT. ❤️

this is so odd. i don't really get sandalwood or sage. i'm reading it as a powdery white floral with lots of sheer perfumey vanilla. it skews towards commercial perfume to me, with a vanilla-floral bpal twist. i would have expected this one to be much sought-after, but it's not for me.

so precisely what it says on the tin, i can't describe it any better than the notes do! starts off heavy with woodsmoke, and just slightly acrid from the burning paper (which is so precisely the exact smell of burning PAPER that i am awestruck!) but it settles down lighter than i expected, beautifully smoky and charry and just downright fascinating! i can't identify the resin at all but it brings some sweetness i think, and gives it some depth that makes this more wearable and not just purely atmospheric. i never spotted any peppercorn to speak of. this is amazing! i'm not sure i want to smell this realistically like a bonfire, but i'm going to be doing some layering experiments with my decant. i wouldn't be surprised if i end up with a bottle for that purpose, because BONFIRE SNAKE OIL?? gtfo

yum! the apple is almost juicy at first, and then the brown sugar and spices settle in and it's like stewed red apple. it reminds me very much of the apple component from bobbing for snake oil. the pumpkin is rich and creamy and it kind of blankets the prickly spices, making this feel very cozy. one of the autumn-est things i've ever smelled!

very mushroomy to start with, but then i get layers of sweet tobacco, velvety green moss and lichen, and musky ambrette seed. cologney, but not in an aggressively butch way. green shading towards brown. i like this more as the mushroom fades into the background... it's just so musty, sometimes it makes me feel a bit queasy. it feels greener as it settles in, with the moss/lichen taking top spot, and telepgraphing more cologne vibes as a result. eventually it flattens out on me, going a bit stale. the mushroom undertone gives it some interest, but also ramps up the mustiness over time. end result: drab cologne and stale earth.

so pretty! smells like yellow! this lemon is so simple and fresh. not bitter, not astringent, not candied. it starts off tart, but quickly settles into just the right balance of tart (not very) and sweet (pretty sweet, but not syrupy.) i can't really distinguish the honeycomb from the sugarcane... the whole thing just smells like a lemon & honey drink that you made from lemons collected off the tree out back and sweetened with some very light (almost clear) wildflower honey from the farmers' market. i love a good funky honey note, but this is a million miles away from that. there's no waxiness from the comb, either. not unexpectedly, lemon never lasts very long on me so this is a fleeting pleasure. i can't justify a bottle, since it's so short-lived on me. and to be honest, pretty as it is, it's not really me. (i'm trying to be more judicious about my bottle purchases here. life is hard.) but if you like sweet lemon scents at all, please get this and enjoy it for both of us.

freshly applied this is primarily a bone-dry sandalwood, with the other elements wafting out around it. warm saffron, golden and slightly musty with an almost minty undertone initially. there's a brief whisp of a glowing-ember kind of scorchy note that sinks down into into the sandalwood, infusing it with that warm toastiness. sweetening everything up is a slightly powdery amber that moves towards a more resinous/vanilla tone as it warms up. when the dust settles, it seems to be an even split between sandalwood and amber, punctuated by saffron, with a glowing little toasty-warm ember buried down in the middle. over time the amber actually gains the lead and becomes a *hair* more prominent on me, but i do think i amp certain ambers of the more resinous persuasion. the sandalwood loses some of it's desiccated dryness as the amber gains traction, but i would still characterize this overall as dry and resin-sweet. surprisingly, way into the day it ends up reminding me a little of amber and cardamom! it's the same type of amber, with the sandalwood + saffron standing in for the dry spicy cardamom. i'm not always in the mood for dry scents like this, but when i am this is definitely one i will reach for. it's really nice.

first applied, it's cinnamon brooms. then it's sweet cinnamon candy. once the cinnamon decides to chill, i get some (verrry slightly pumpkiny) baked goods on the back end. agree with @starbrow that there's probably some anise in that ribbon candy. it takes a while to really come out for me, but i've been wearing portrait of an unidentified man dressed as a skeleton a lot lately so my nose finds it here too. it's a soft candified licorice, and much less prominent in this one than it is in man dressed as a skeleton. (so potentially not a deal-breaker if you dislike that note.) at first i thought this was pleasant enough, if a touch generic. but given a bit of time to develop, i find a really lovely kind of sweet n spicy cookie-type scent that i keep coming back in to sniff.

goes on as dark, almost bitter cacao and herbs. sage, lavender, thyme, maybe moss. a bit masculine. everything comes together, and... well, i'm hopeless with these kitchen-sink type blends, my nose is just too overwhelmed. i don't actually usually connect with the 13s, but there were no off-putting notes in the list so i decided to give it a try. and i'm glad i did! it's definitely earthy, and there's a middling richness to it, but without any heaviness at all. some smoky dark cacao. a little herbal melange. a bit of cedary woods. the rice milk smoothing everything out. yeah, i'm not sure why i'm even attempting to describe this one. i mainly just came to say: IS GOOD. ME LIKE. kinda wishing now that i had gone for a bottle, rather than a decant. it's really unique.

my bottle is also very separated, with a cloudy layer on the bottom. i gave it a good mixing first. when first applied, i'm actually getting a big sugar plum vibe here. maybe not exactly plum... sugar currant? smooth red musk and sugar (whatevers). as it dries, a lovely amber starts peeping out. a little powdery to start, but then giving me hints of resins (labdanum? benzoin?) and vanilla. its distinctiveness is short-lived, though. in the early drydown, first the berries sink down into the red musk, then the amber does. everything melds with the red musk. it's fruity, sugary, and ambery, but it's primarily red musk for a while. given more time, the red musk calms and releases its clutches on the amber, which unds up being the dominant note on me. where this blend lands is somewhere red, musky, and perfumey with amber. what started off almost childlike and sugary-berry-forward has now become quite mature, with a sexy air of femme sophistication. i wasn't entirely sold on this one when i first tried it, so i've been giving it a nice rest. the situation has definitely improved, and given the notes, i'm inclined to think i think it might continue to do so!

starts as a bit of doughy sweetness, with a light trace of an odd, almost clean-smelling buttery creamy type note. dries down to just a patch of generic sweetness with very little throw.

starts off sharply green and musky, with tart peel-y green apple featuring prominently. there's some nice earthiness at the base. promising! as it settles in, it gets less sharp and tart, more dry and velvety from the oakmoss and earthy from the patchouli. the apple slides into the green musky earthy murk and leaves just a wee little touch of tartness in its wake. the matcha is briefly present, a bit of musty green tea. i don't track vetiver specifically, though the patch is particularly earthy/dirt-like so i might be catching some vetiver there. no mandarin to speak of. what it eventually hunkers down into is rather more oakmoss and less apple than i was looking for. i was hoping for something like a musky variation of the vetiver/patch/apple trio, but oakmoss almost always does me dirty. though it's not my cuppa in particular, it's not unpleasant, and might be especially nice on a fella.

2022 i've been curious about this one, but i was skittish of the gold, as i don't have a great track record with metal notes. they tend towards harsh and cologne-like on me. and i am tracking it slightly in this one, but it works. it brings a touch of sharpness to the mix, just a whisker. right off the bat, something is giving me a champagne vibe... the wine grape, i'm guessing, but there's even some effervescence to it. the ambergris is whispy and musky, wrapping ghostly fingers around the other notes. there's a bit of spice from the cumin and coriander that i'm really digging as a change from the usual perfume spice rack. they are low key, a bit savory, and i don't smell at all like a curry (which i kind of afeared, real talk.) the frankincense & myrrh are cozied up with the vanilla in there getting their incense on, but it's not churchy, which i appreciate. i like all the elements, but it feels somewhat disjointed for a while until everything just clicks into place. it smooths out and sweetens up, and somehow i end up with spicy, sweet incensey cola-resins. i'm not sure how we got here, but i kind of love it!

i snagged this from the lab's recent etsy drop. it had never even pinged my radar before, but i could not resist those notes! OK! so if you're vetiver averse, this one might be scary. it starts off pretty aggressive here, and it has that peanut butter/bbq tone that i know turns some folks off. but it doesn't take long on me for it to really snuggle down into the sandalwood and and opoponax to create this gorgeously smoky, raspy, incensey base layer. it leans a little on the dry side at first, but then that plum swoops in and i am literally swooning. the plum of my dreams! it's every dark sweet gorgeous thing i love about the black plum note, compressed down into it's purest essence. it's not juicy or tart or fresh. it's deep and inky and sweet. it marries so well with that rough smoky incense, i almost can't stand it. this one is slinky and vampy, purpley-red shading to black around the edges. it has dark secrets.

that tomato note is so much fun. i don't necessarily want to wear it as a perfume, but i delight in experiencing it. to me it smells so much like fuzzy tomato stems, it really is uncanny! this soup starts off bold with tomato stems, but that gradually recedes and a very soft earthy patchouli peeks out. it doesn't strike me as peppery, or not like a pepper note i'm used to. but the tomato seems especially piquant so that's probably down to the pepper. the whole thing goes meek after a bit, with earthy gentle patchouli underneath and a whispy, green (but sharpish) vegetal layer on top. definitely hanging on to this decant, so i can break it out when i want to show someone how kooky and amazing bpals can be.

ok wow, that sugar is SO lemony, i was not expecting that at all! the hazelnut is rich and almost buttery, but the cocoa is sweet and dry. the coconut is dry too... like dried flaked coconut to me. with lots and lots of LEMON sugar, which sounds like it shouldn't work, but it really does! eventually most of the lemony-ness burns off, but enough remains to keep the sweetness kind of... sparkly? it's such an interesting accent, and over time it really lifts the other notes out of a purely foody place. i went into this expecting a rich, indulgent nutella/coconut bomb. and don't get me wrong, it's hella sweet. but this is a gourmand *perfume* in that it smells delicious but not 100% edible. i don't want to gnaw on my arm, but i kind of want to just dump this out and roll around in it. kind of a surprise hit for me here.

straight from the bottle, that cubeb is coming for me like i owe it money. that's ok, it's a fun note that i enjoyed in crib girls, and i like it here too. it's a bit like a hot, herbal lemon. cedar joins the party next, and i'm good with that too. it's a lovely soft cedar which quickly takes on a saffron-spiced air. this is developing VERY nicely! as the cubeb settles down, sweet gorgeous amber joins the show, and THAT MUSK! i'm almost certain it's the same golden musk from og illustrated woman, and at least related to the skin musk in mrs. bunce. i ADORE that musk. i do amp it, so it can be a bit much at times. it does end up being the strongest note in this one, but it's deftly mixed so it never overwhelms. the cubeb is quieter but still giving me a little tart/sweet/hot prickle, the amber and saffron are velvety and rich, and a wee bit of cedar grounds it all out. gold, gold, gold. i love it! so glad i was able to find it, and it's definitely a keeper!

when i put this on, i'm instantly reminded of a pie i used to make... baked pastry crust, a layer of sweetened cream cheese, a layer of sliced strawberries, topped in a strawberry jello type mixture, served with whipped cream. this blend has that creamy sweetness, the realistic sweet strawberry but also the artificially tart strawberry goop, and a barely-there hint of pastry. the boldness of the strawberry is somewhat short-lived, but as the strawberry wanes, the sufganiyot waxes. it's not completely recognizable as dough or pastry at this point, but it brings a familiar kind of almost-savory-leaning note to the table. there's also something that nudges it away from being a purely foody scent at this point that i wish i could pinpoint. it's what seals the deal here for me personally, giving this some nuance that i don't always find with strawberry scents. the strawberry is hovering demurely in the background now: quietly sweet on my wrists, bolder and tart in the crooks of my elbows. i applied this before bed last night, and was surprised to find it still lingering when i woke up this morning. i don't usually have that experience with creamy fruit blends. i think this is an absurdly long review for a strawberry doughnut perfume, but there ya go. i indulge in tasty foodie scents in the evening around the house sometimes, and this one will fit the brief nicely.

i can only parrot the other reviews here... starts off as morocco and cardamom-spiced coffee, and it's pretty outstanding. these notes are MFEO. my bestie, unfamiliar with og morocco, declared it "REALLY nice" and "silky." all too soon, most of the coffee and cardamom scarpers off, and what i'm left with is like... 92% morocco. i love it, because i love morocco, but i'm a little heartbroken that the distinctive notes didn't stick around long. is it different enough to demand a bottle purchase? undecided. i'll hang onto my decant for a while and see where it goes. edit 3/11 hallo i'm back. is 3 weeks "a while"? because wow, this is really changing as it settles. or my nose was disjointed when i first tried it. WHATEVER. there is still that morocco-like base, but those fir needles are POPPIN. goes on wet much the same, with added bonus FIR and lots of it. wtf, past me?? as it settles in, the cardamom and coffee certainly quiet down a good deal, but they are absolutely still present along with that lovely lovely fir. i'm getting me a bottle, friends. it's effin gorgeous.

i'm so thrilled that i was able to snag a bottle of this from the lab's etsy recently! it's been hanging out hopefully on my iso for ages now, because hot damn those notes! it's basically just a list of my favorite things. i was almost scared to try it and face disappointment. but i'm not disappointed, not at all. this is like an object lesson in aging bpals. even though i never tried this fresh, it is quite clear that the 8-ish years since its creation has done Very Good Things. it has that rich syrupy smoothness, the notes so melded they're practically soul-bonded. the vetiver comes out first in the bottle, but quiets down on the skin. here, rich perfumy amber takes the lead, smoky and roughened by the vetiver. a little powdery to start, but quickly settling down to that vanillic-resin amber note that i love. patchouli and red musk embracing and supporting in a dark, writhing tangle. inky blackcurrant infuses it all with somber sweetness. i can't find the carnation, so i fear it may have mostly aged out of the blend. regardless, this is pretty much everything i want from a perfume, and the epitome of black phoenix. worth the wait, most definitely!

lordy this is delicious. at first blush, it smells like scrumptious lemon cake. but the more you obsessively huff it () the more it unfurls. the lemon curd is rich and sweet, only a little bit tart. the pastry is buttery and flaky. there's a veritable snowdrift of powdered sugar on top. and there's just a wee little drop of sharp booziness to lift it all up. AND it's still doing its thing hours after application, which is a gift from the lemon gods. after a while the lemon settles in enough to seem more like it's baked into the crust rather than layered on top, but it's no less delicious... maybe moreso?