Poenari

I finally blind bought a bottle from the Lab in late November/early December, and other than a quick bottle sniff it's been sitting in the dark waiting for some early spring weather for me to break it out. Well it was 70 here yesterday, but I wanted to wear Serpent In The Roses. It's only 45 today, but I am finally giving this a full wear test. I adore lilacs so this was a must-have sent for my collection. One of the few happy memories I have of Catholic grade school is from the month of May. In particular my second grade classroom. It was located in the attic floor of a very old building. We loved being isolated from everyone else in the school, especially when it came to fire drills. We had to climb out a window onto a rickety old iron fire escape and slowly make our way down to the ground level. Everyone else exited from the main front stairs of the building. It was dangerous and scary and thrilling and would never be allowed nowadays. But we loved the thrill! My other favorite memory is of our May altar that was set up in our classroom. It had a big statue of the Virgin Mary, and we brought in tons of spring flowers to cover it: tulips, hyacinths, daffodils,, but most of all lilacs. We had two big lilac bushes in our yard so I always clipped big bunches of lilacs to bring to school. The scent of those beautiful fresh cut lilacs, with my nose buried in them during the bus ride to school, and placing them overflowing onto the altar, still makes me smile. And on whichever date was my turn to be May Queen, I wear a crown of lilacs and passed out flowers and treats to the entire classroom. This bottle takes me back instantly. All lilacs, all the time, beautiful sweet lilacs. It also has a lot of throw and long wear time on me. I love this so much.

The package sat by my door overnight, which is inside and upstairs in my apartment complex, but still cold in the hallway. This first test is straight from bringing it inside, so will update as it ages. Upon first application, and without rereading the notes, ah there's frankincense! The incense note is lovely, dry and very recognizable. None of the other notes are identifiable but they definitely cause the incense to be sweeter and very pretty. I slathered some on my wrist and called my husband over to sniff. He said "Nice" and I said "It's the Highest Quality Vagina" and he laughed and said "Well it certainly is!" 😄 As it dries down, I can smell the amber and maybe almond, but fortunately not strong sweet almond, is that usually amps and doesn't go well with my chemistry. Overall the honey, sweet almond, and amber are supporting players who lend a gentleness and sweetness to the incense. Can't wait to wear this and tell people what I'm wearing! I'm meeting my friend at the movies this afternoon and definitely wearing it.

This is lovely! I can't tell you what it smells like, because I don't do well with this many notes in one scent. However, it is sweet but dry with hints of spicy vegetation. I don't really get any fruitiness, but the florals are lush and velvety. There's quite a strong throw to this, too. I will definitely enjoy wearing my decant.

Ok this is not at all what I expected! I don't mean that in a bad way, because the scent is absolutely gorgeous on my skin. But I get a very glamorous perfume that is not quite floral, not quite gourmet, but all sophisticated. I cannot honestly smell any of the individual notes, and nothing at all like tea, but the sum of these notes is elegant and glamorous. I am going to save this decant for my next date night! Lovely!

I have let this sit for weeks until I got around to testing it, so my decant is nice and settled. I didn't review the notes before trying it and truly expected it to be citrusy because of the name! As soon as I opened the decant a waft of chocolate appeared and surprised me! So on my skin, I get a smooth creamy honeyed chocolate, a touch of hazelnut after drydown, and the figs never show up! This is a lovely foody chocolate that wears close to the skin. I'm sure many will love this, but most chocolate just doesn't work on my skin, and this one doesn't either. I'm so happy I got to try it though!

I just found my decant, apparently batted under the couch by a cat soon after opening the package of decants and fortunately missed by the vacuum! No better time than to finally test it. I applied without going back over the notes first, and nearly swooned over my first inhale of this on my wrist. Myrrh and musk - a lovely combo, with the labdanum adding an ambery touch to them. I don't smell rose, but here I think it supports and sweetens the other notes. This is just a lovely scent and now I'm sad that I waited too long to order a bottle. Added myself to the wait-list in the hope that this returns!

This is so pretty! On my skin it blooms into a sweet amber musk. I have the older Horse Chestnut Honey perfume and this definitely doesn't have that chestnut note! I also have several scents with prominent fig, I amp clove, and neither of them stand out to me here, either! I don't get fig, chestnut, clove or other specific notes from it, just a sweet, lightly spiced, slightly powdery amber musk. I'm happy to have it, just surprised that it's not what I expected. Skin chemistry is so interesting.

I ordered a bottle to go with my Oct 32 and 33, because *of course!* My bottle has rested in the dark for a full two weeks, so it's time for a full wear test. Ok, why do I smell apple? That's the initial take... cinnamon apples, the kind I order as a side at Cracker Barrel. Rather than pumpkin, I get apple from this. Even after drydown, this wears on me like warmed soft cinnamon apples. More cinnamon than in cinnamon applesauce, and sweeter too! I'm not mad about it, just surprised. It dries down to a soft cinnamon apple scent. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I will wear this all autumn and winter!

I have let my bottle rest in the dark for nearly two weeks, and applied liberally to each wrist this morning. At first I get a blast of sugar plum! Very recognizable as the same note as my Sugar Plum Snake Oil, which I have been wearing a lot this holiday season. This dries down quickly and the lavender shoves it out of the way! It's the TKO kind of lavender, and there is that sweetness to it from the marshmallow. Ok, after 20 minutes this has calmed down drastically and ends up as a sweet lavender plum! I don't know how it works, but damn it works beautifully on my skin. I feel like it will be too sweet for me to wear as a sleep scent, but I'm going to try it out. Sometimes extra sweetness keeps me awake instead of putting me to sleep. However, this would make a great sleep scent for a child! I'm going to try it out on my grandson this afternoon and see what he thinks. He's 7, and has recently been having nightmares caused by playing a Roblox game that scared him. My daughter and I have been talking to him about how to chase away nightmares and I have sprayed some TKO room spray on his pillow. This would be an excellent complementary scent!

Finally testing my decant, which has been aging since June. This is as described... Mainly a bouquet of sweet spring flowers... I can't tell which ones, but when I think of spring flowers I think of peonies, lilacs, tulips, hyacinths... along those lines. Lilies usually jump out at me, so I'm not including them here. It's sweet, floral, and I don't get an actual incense note at this point, but I think it's what's keeping the bouquet from being too sharp and heady. Upon drydown, the smoky incense begins swirling around the bouquet. This is another lovely spring scent.

I'm very happy with this variation of Snake Oil. Nothing will replace the OG for me, but this one is a lovely take on it. Snow White is not one that I can wear... I've tried many different vintages of it over the years, and each one shrieks into my sinuses and needs to be scrubbed off within a half hour. Not so with the addition to Snake Oil! Firstly, I was surprised that it's a gentler Snake Oil, not as prominent as in the recent Bobbing for Snakes, which I massively love. But the snow note is lovely when blended here... It adds a frosty chill without irritating my sinuses. I am glad that I blind bottled this one. It's a worthy addition to my Snake Oil collection. I haven't tried it for sleep yet, but I plan to.

I find this to be TKO on steroids! I don't mean that in a negative way at all. Snow White has never worked for me, as it goes shrieking into my sinuses. TKO is strong on its own, with an initial blast of lavender before it dries down to a sweet marshmallow lavender. So adding the snow note has jacked it up, but not at all in a shrill manner! It blasts me into an inner calmness that swiftly sends me off to sleep. I love this. And I can still smell it in the morning. Lovely.

I apparently love to wear cider more than I like drinking it! I blind bottled this one and Pomegranate Cider, and have other ciders from previous releases too! This cider is exactly as described. There's the fruitiness of apple, just a hint of pumpkin, and all the lovely pumpkin spices! I wore Pomegranate Cider yesterday, and this one isn't as strong on me as that one was. But this is another lovely autumnish cider to add to my collection and I look forward to wearing it all year round.

This is as described, a lovely pomegranate cider. I make a version of this using cranberry juice cocktail and frozen orange juice concentrate, with all the usual mulling spices. This smells exactly like mine tastes and smells while simmering, except substitute pomegranate for the cranberry. It's sweet juicy warm and spicy and just lovely. Great throw and on me wears forever.

Ok so I ate nearly a carton of Spumoni last week while petsitting my grandpups (don't judge!😂) so it is fresh in my mind. This is definitely capturing all three of the gelato flavors! At first I get the cherry and pistachio, but after drydown I get more of the chocolate. I applied this early this morning, around 6:30, and it's now after 1:00 PM and I catch wafts of the scent, especially when I move my arm/wrist. It isn't super sticky sweet, or too foodie, or too strong to annoy anyone. My husband has only ever complained about chocolate notes in any of my BPAL, and although the chocolate remains the most prominent note after drydown and some fading, he thinks this is very nice. It's a lovely representation of Spumoni, which was my dad's favorite ice cream. And I love having the ability to sniff and wear a scent memory of my dad! 💗💚🤎

This is exactly what I hoped for when I ordered a blind bottle! The cranberry has that sweet tartness, not very strong, and it seems to be tamed by the skin musk. I was intrigued by a couple other of the cranberries but didn't want to risk something strong or sharp. This is neither. It's very wearable for any occasion, especially in close quarters. It's a pleasant perfume that is neither too fruity nor too musky and wears close to the skin.

I'm not actually a fan of eating donuts, and I especially dislike glazed donuts. That being said, this smells wonderful. I get chocolate glazed donuts, with the slightest hint of maple frosting. Creamy, sweet, delicious. Stays the same on drydown and never changes.

I am finally getting around to testing this. My first impression: "this is unmistakably a Lilith scent!" It has that creamy sweetness that is so prevalent in many of the Lilith blends, especially in the last few years. My daughter and I love to drink bourbon cream, so I know that smell quite well and it is definitely what I get right off the bat. It calms down and the hazelnut comes through, but everything is grounded by the wood notes. I usually amp frankincense and do not here, it's very much a supporting player and does not stand out. Overall this is sweeter than I expected, and another lovely Lilith to add to my collection!

I know I've had frimps of Persephone before, but apparently never reviewed it. So I received another imp in a recent Lab order and in the spirit of the holidays decided that now is the perfect time to try her and review her! One thing that makes me very happy is that I have finally learned after many years of struggling, that there are more BPAL rose scents that I can wear then I used to believe. Clearly I've trained my nose, and now I rarely encounter a rose that goes to soap on me! Pomegranate is usually a fruit that I like to wear in the right mixture. Well Persephone is clearly the right mixture! Initially I definitely get rose- a sweet lovely rose. There is barely a hint of pomegranate here. Upon dry down, however, the pomegranate shows her darkness and blends perfectly with the rose, deepening it and keeping it from going cloyingly sweet. After 45 minutes, the blend remains true to the dry down stage on me. A lovely rose blend. I'm going to pass on my sample to my hair stylist, who also loves roses and pomegranates, and I have a feeling I will be buying her a bottle for next year's Yule gift! (I already have this year's gift, plus no time left to receive a bottle before I see her tomorrow!)

This is lovely! Spiced apples and pumpkin, with a creamy candy corn sweetness upon drydown. I get pumpkin first, but the apples come out right behind it. Just as described, and another wonderful addition to my collection!

I love Beth's dragon's blood, but honey is iffy on me. I don't think I have any bpals with copal, though, so when offered a partial bottle in a swap, I was game! The dragon's blood is the opener, in the bottle and on my skin. Then the honey shows up to play! This is a thick sweet honey note and it mixes well with the dragon's blood! Hooray! After a while, the two mellow out and I detect a sweet bright muskiness that must be coming from the copal. What a lovely trio! This something I will wear when I need a scent that is "me" but not overwhelming to those around me. It's a lovely sweet resinous scent - perfect for a bright sunny autumn to winter day!

First sniff and I'm hooked! This now has to be one of my favorite Snake Oil variants. I'm very happy that the Snake Oil is definitely there... it's up front and center. But it only takes a minute for the apples to show up... a spicy apple, nothing fresh or green about it, as if it's been simmering on the stove and cooked down to softness. It blends into the Snake Oil and now I have a spicy apple Snake Oil, exactly what I had hoped for. I had a decant of Coral Snake way back in the early days of the CD release, and while nice, it wasn't enough to warrant a bottle. This one is deserving of backups, if it ever returns. Oh I hope so, but in the meantime, I'm delighted that I was able to swap for this and will cherish it!

Sweet patchouli, reminiscent of Banshee Beat/RR but sweeter. The patch is the same. Then HELLO HONEYSUCKLE! Lovely scent, and I'm glad I got to test this, but fortunately I have a lot of other patchouli scents in my arsenal and won't have to stalk for this.

Sweet wine and tart pomegranate. Sweeter than I expected, and not nearly as dark! Dries down to a slight spicy fruity pomegranate wine. This is lovely. Reminds me of Seven Word Story: Lust in many ways. If you like that one, you should like this one too. And they are different enough to need both!

Oh this is just wonderful. At first sniff, it reminds me of my beloved Autumn Leaves and Haitian Patchouli hair gloss! Wet, the patchouli note is right there, sweet but dry, and very grassy. It's one of my very favorite of all Beth's patchouli notes. As it dries down, the bay comes out, blending a spiciness into the patch. The tobacco is the glue that holds it all together. It's not distinct, so not a specifically chewy tobacco. After drydown, there is a real blending of the notes and it remains a warm, dry, and grassy blend... Like tall dry pampas grass, not lawns, but patchouli dominant. This puts me in mind of Puddin's Gourd of Deprivation atmo spray... Not the same, of course, but in the same family. I just looked back through the reviews, and the 2014 Halloweenies from the Lab and Trading Post included both of the scents I am reminded of here! That was one of my very favorite years for Weenies and I broke the bank on buying that year. If you have any favorites from that collection that includes patchouli (Tricksy too!) get this one! The vibe of this trio is very similar. Backup bottle for sure!