miss_rynn

Unexpectedly, this smells like how I wanted Sweet Lavinia's Risalamande to smell. It's a very rice-type gain smell with marmalade. It's pleasent, but it doesn't rock my world. A nice scent for a lazy winter weekend at home.

In the bottle I get sweetened condensed milk laced with snake oil. Historically, condensed milk scents end up being all kinds of awful on my skin, so I was concerned. On the skin it becomes more of a candied or a salted caramel snake oil. It's pretty, but the muskier incense notes don't quite sit well with the candied notes. I'm sure all that it needs is a bit of aging to smooth things out a bit more. Also, it's pretty clear that this one is using the aged patch and vanilla that have been missing from the pandemic snake oil varients. The vegetal notes and the musks are more tempered and well behaved, the patch less high pitched, and the vanilla more full-bodied.

This one is a bit unexpected. It starts off on the skin as dry coconut husk that reminds me of Eden. I was concerned that the cinnamon would be too dry, but it played nicely. Thick, rich, dark honey. You can get the cocoa, but it mostly adds depth and texture to the honey. Oddly, though, it really doesn't feel 'foody'. It has that kind of richness that you get from some arabic attars or ouds, where you can pick the gourmand notes but they are blended in such a way that it becomes a strong, heady perfume. The honey is almost too dark and heavy for me, but it's still wearable. The drydown actually reminds me of Hellcat, but it's nowhere near as foody.

I was expecting something like cinnamon buns or hot cross buns, which this certainly wasn't. Gingerbread with a very strong yeasty bread note to begin with, but dries down to something very much like Three Witches. Unexpected but a lovely non-foody ginger and clove skin scent.

Disappointing floral soap.

I do love me some Beaver Moon, but they can be a little hit and miss for me. This year's version actually reminds me very strongly of one of my favourite LEs from long ago: Monster Bait - Closet. I've spent years trying scent after scent to try to find something that is similar to Closet, and I'm super surprised and delighted to have found one! This smells like a mix of classic Beaver Moon and Monster Bait - Closet, a cream cheese frosting on a red velvet cupcake drizzled with blackberry and cherry syrup. Just plain lovely. ❤️

2019 Version This smells like... like an old lady version of Snake Oil. It's not as lemony as the previous edition, but the honey and cream comes across as the scent of the lovely old neighbourhood lady who babysits kids while their parents go out to dinner. Well-washed, hand knit pink angora twinset and pearls, practical rubber soled nurse shoes, and perfectly puffed and primped white fluffy hair.

I'm forever looking for the red velvet cake note found in Monsterbait: Closet, but once more, alas, it isn't here. That's not to say that Senator Barriel isn't lovely, though. To me it smells very much like sprinkles, with a base of cake crumbs. It's not too foody or overly sweet and isn't hugely strong, so it's worth a try if you're on the fence about foody scents.

I found this really odd. The lemony note actually comes across to me as acai - it's like Australian Copperhead (I think), except with less snake oil. I'm going to let it settle and try again later.

There's no way I can respond to that without coming across like an extremist harpy except yes, I agree, it's incredibly stupid. (No fault to the Lab!) EDIT: Success! It took about three weeks in customs, which (having whined at friends) is not that unusual if it's been detained for extra man handling.

My order has been "held in US Customs for further inspection" for over a week. Has anyone else had this happen?

In Irish folklore the Dana O’Shee are a fae, elven people that live in a realm of beauty, their nobility akin to our that own Age of Chivalry, eternally beautiful and eternally young. They surround themselves with the pleasures of the Arts, they live for the hunt, and to this day can be seen riding in procession through the Irish countryside at twilight, led by their King and Queen. However, the Dana O’Shee are not benevolent creatures, despite what their unearthly beauty may imply. They are vengeful and treacherous and possess a streak of mischievous malice, and many have whispered that their true home lies deep in the shadowed groves of the Realm of the Dead. Hearing even a single chord of their otherworldly music leaves one stunned and lost to the mortal realms for ever, finding themselves prey to the Dana O’Shee’s hunt or enslaved in their Court as servants or playthings. Offerings of milk, honey and sweet grains were made to placate these creatures, and it is that the basis of the scent created in their name. Just plain lovely. It's a little different from the perfume, but it comes across as the same vanilla note from Snowblind. Not overpowering by any means, but it feels like the powdered softness of a gentlelady's boudoir.

The good news is that if you like the Lab's frost/snow note and the Lab's bready note, this will work fabulously for you. I've found that I don't like the Lab's frost note, but that being said it feels like a cooler, less complex version of Samhain.

ALL the red musk. I had to tone it down with some Snake Oil gloss, because red musk is a headache note for me. I hope it settles, because I was really keen for a more sweet/dragon's blood kind of feel.

This is surprisingly not sweet in my hair at all. It seems to be unisex, almost masculine, with the rum and spices coming across as bay rum. It's a very nice 'every day' scent rather than a special occasion hair gloss. This is right up there with Alice in my everyday work horse gloss.