doomsday_disco
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Everything posted by doomsday_disco
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Carved Wooden Bakery features an extremely realistic croissant note. Seriously, whenever I smelled this, especially during the wet phase of the scent, I could imagine the flakiness and butteriness of a croissant. The wood notes end up being stronger than the croissant on me, with the walnut countertop actually having a bit of a walnut smell at first, and the maplewood not having any maple syrup qualities at all, for which I am thankful. The chocolate part of the croissant is pretty light and most evident once the scent is dry, and the wood notes really makes me think of the imagery of the Carved Wooden Village scents itself... like a chocolate-filled, buttery croissant has been placed in a carved little wooden building that has been declared a bakery. It's very evocative of its inspiration, with the smell of freshly carved, but smoothed over wood, and a croissant note that really does smell like a croissant! The decant is a keeper, and I'll have to spend more time with this to see if I need more. I don't know how often I'd reach for it, but it's a very nice scent experience. I recommend trying this just for the experience. But don't go into this hoping for only bakery and no wood, or you will be disappointed.
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This smells like soft, baked apples, but without any spices, splashed with some sherry, and brightened by the barest hint of lemon. It has a slight tang to it after being dry for several hours, which I think may be due to the sherry. I don't get any pie crust or anything distinctly pie about this, and the custard isn't very noticeable to me, either... Of the two apple scents in the Yule update, this one is more about the apple than Puff Pastry Apple Roses, which has more lemon. But I actually think I prefer the Puff Pastry Apple Roses scent even though I wanted more apple from that one, because it has more going on in it. If you're looking for a nice, non-spiced apple, give this scent a try. I have so many apple scents that I have to be very picky about them, so I don't think this is something I need more of... but it was so nice to get a few apple scents in the Yules, because there was hardly any apple in the 2023 Weenie update.
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At first, the pomegranate and the tree notes are pretty-well balanced, but then the pomegranate ends up winning out over the fir needle and cypress. All of the notes are present throughout wear, but the green notes are most prominent during the wet phase of the scent. I'm not sure if I need more than my decant, but this is really evocative of the holidays.
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This may be called maple pie, but it's mostly about the molasses and the brown sugar, with the molasses being the star of the show for the first few hours of wear, backed by the brown sugar, and then the brown sugar dominating the scent by the end of the day. The molasses smells similar to the real stuff, minus any smokiness, and the brown sugar smells so realistic that I envision granules of it whenever I sniff this. The maple here is pretty tame... I have not been loving maple in perfumes over the past few years, and there's not enough of it in this to make me dislike the scent. I don't get any pie crust or anything distinctly PIE, but the prominent molasses and brown sugar notes make me think that I'm in the middle of making gingerbread or molasses cookie dough. I would not have gotten a decant of this if I hadn't grabbed a set of the pies, but the decant is actually a keeper, and I'll have to try this again before it goes away to see if I need more of it.
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I have not tried any previous versions. This is basically a floral (possibly champaca) honey single note. It's strong as hell, having more throw than any of the SNAKE OIL variants I tested along with it that day. I didn't get any butteriness from this scent, or even any creaminess, because it is honey af. It is not for me, but if you want something that's unabashedly honey, here you go.
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This was my worst scent experience from this year's Yule update, until I tried Carrotberry Pie... now it is the second worst (but I've still got a few more Yules to test). I was very surprised to get CHOCOLATE from this at first, because it is not one of the listed notes in this candy scent. At first, I think it's the chocolate and nougat from Mousetrap Nougat Bar, but then it morphs into a tootsie roll. I couldn't help but thinking, surely this is a cherry note that is just giving me tootsie pop vibes, right? Right??? Naw, there's some chocolate in here. And tons of plastic. TONS. Like, more plastic than any of the other blow mold scents that I've tried, and I've tried all of them from both the Weenies and the Yules except for the Wise Man. The plastic in this is so strong that it's headache-inducing to me. I don't get any distinct mint, and as for the fruit, it's really hard to pick it out beneath the tootsie roll and the plastic, but I think I got hints of cherry, strawberry, and orange. Alas, Vintage Candy Garland Blow Mold is decidedly not for me, but I'll be stalking reviews to see if anyone else had a similar experience, or if I am alone in my unexpected chocolate and plastic of doom fate.
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This features the gin note from 21 and the snow note from Snow and White Musk Hair Gloss, which also reminds me of Schönperchten from several Yules ago... so a powdery, lightly chilled, but not minty, white musk-infused snow. It starts off very strong on the juniper-y gin, backed by that snow, and then the snow note gains strength over time, eventually becoming the dominant aspect of the scent by the end of the day. It's not a snow scent that I need more of, but it was nice to get to try it.
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I'm going to have to spend more time with this one. I get a ton of teak from this, which is somewhat sharp at first, and it's accompanied by a really nice cherry note, and something smoky... which I think may be vetiver, or maybe it's something else representing the 'rough hands' or 'lustrous perfumes.' I am not getting the spices, musks, or heady florals that the Lab typically uses in scents with this sort of inspiration, and there's no overt maple here -- really, just a little sap -- so if you're not big on maple like me, don't let it scare you away from trying this. Eventually, this smells like velvet drapes (by that I mean, there's a resin with a velvet-y quality to it) infused with a much lighter cherry. Fans of dark, resinous scents with cherry should give this a whirl. I'm not big on the smokiness that I get from this, but really like the velvet and cherry notes and want even more of this cherry. So I'm going to give this a full day of wear with Blood Kiss hair gloss in order to make up my mind on this one. ETA: I've slathered this on as my scent of the day twice since I initially reviewed this. I do get some maple from this when slathered, which is mostly noticeable during the wet phase of the scent, but it is still not as intense as straight up maple syrup, and it has the stickiness of the sap with it. The smokiness is also more quick to fade when slathered.
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This is mostly about the strawberry cream and plastic, backed by a light breadiness. I don't get a distinct bread pudding note, and the strawberry in the cream smells like a strawberry jam. I like the strawberry, but could do with more bread pudding and less plastic. The amber was not noticeable on me.
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Blizzard starts off with a blast of ti leaf, which smells like the Lab's astringent, somewhat lemony, white tea note on me. It's backed by the resins: first, the dry, white sandalwood is the most noticeable of those, then, the grey amber joins the ti leaf on the center stage, and then finally, the white oud gets its chance to shine. It is not an indolic oud note, although I didn't really enjoy the white tea note accompanying it. None of the resins ever fades away; it's just that they all take turns sharing the spotlight with the ti leaf. This scent was not a love for me. Maybe if I had gotten some of the vanilla to sweeten things up, but the white tea with the oud was just too astringent on me, verging on sour, by the end of the day.
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I've tried this once, and I've put it on my partner as a scent of the day. Both of us thought that the lemon, whiskey, and honey notes don't particularly standout, even though they can be pretty loud in a lot of scents. It smells like a lighter, fresh Snake Oil to me, but I feel like the lemon and honey in particular are tamer than usual because it's like they've been stirred into a hot drink. There's no use in even comparing this to the other lemon-y Snake Oil variants, Snake Oil Lemon Bomb F*** Up and Snake Oil Lemonade, because the lemon in here is so light that it doesn't warrant it. And the Snake Oil itself is not the musk bomb that I've come to expect from most snek variants from recent years, but actually like Snake Oil... but not as dark (in color), as heavy, or as spiced. It's really like it has become a component of a cocktail for a warm winter's day. I'll probably get a bottle of this before it goes away. I'm curious to see how it will age.
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I tried this because I grabbed a set of decants of all of the pies. Unfortunately, I have to say that this was not only my least favorite of the pies, but my least favorite of all of the Yules I've tried thus far (I still have 3 Carved Wooden Village scents to test). Carrotberry Pie is weird as hell. I like berry candy and carrot accompanied by a waxy crayon. Why is it so waxy!?!?!?! Sadly, this had really great throw on me, so I smelled it, even when I didn't want to... I'd say it is the strongest of the Yule pie scents. While this shares some notes with Plague-o-Ween, I find that one to be much more wearable. The cranberries or carrot in that didn't go waxy on me, and I'm just not jiving with the blackberry in this like the blackberry in this year's suf. There's also no pastry note to make this feel like pie. I am typically not a big fan of berry scents, but have found a few that I've enjoyed over the past few years, including this year's suf. So maybe someone who usually loves berries will find this way more enjoyable than me, so long as they don't also suffer a waxy fate.
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I didn't love this one... and also didn't get any carnation from it, either, which is weird, because I usually amp the stuff. But this is how it went on me: lots of snowberry at first, backed by some pink spun sugar. The snowberry has some slushy snow to it and reminds me of a more berry-infused Skadi, but accompanied by that very pink spun sugar. I get some champaca behind these notes that I think its representing the soot note. Wahh. And then it goes super sweet and pink on me as the spun sugar becomes the dominant note, cozying up to the berry, which has lost its snowy aspect. I guess my skin ran away with that very pink spun sugar.
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This goes on as mostly gingerbread at first, accompanied by that caramelized creme brulee sugar. Over time, the gingerbread spices fade, and the caramelized sugar is the star. There's some slightly vegetal pumpkin mixed in with the custard, but not a lot, so I wouldn't go into this hoping for lots of pumpkin. The vanilla custard, however, ends up being a syrupy, cheap vanilla on me, similar to how every Death and Floral gourmand wound up on me (I have stopped trying things sent to me by that house). Buuuut it takes takes like 6 hours before that happens, so it's mostly creme brulee sugar throughout wear. I don't really get any pie aspect to this scent, but I'm guessing that it's like... a creme brulee made in a huge tart tin instead of a little ramekin. I wish the gingerbread had stuck around the entire time. I'll probably retest this before it goes away, but at the moment, I feel like I'm fine with just my decant.
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To me, this is at its most heavenly during the first few hours of wear, when the lavender and fluffy inside of the baguette reign supreme, sprinkled with a little salt and hints of rosemary (I haven't come across a Lab scent with a rosemary note that has been strong on the stuff). The lavender here is the same lavender featured in the rest of the Lavender Kitchen collection (I've now tried all of those scents), and I think the baguette note is the same one found in Olisbokollike from the 2022 Lupercalia update, only, soft and fresh-baked instead of stiff. The fluffy bread and sweet lavender pair perfectly together, and I feel like this would make a great lavender cloud on which one could sleep (a new kind, where, instead of marshmallow, you get fluffy bread!). Over time, the bread does get less fluffy, like the crust is more noticeable, and not just the inside of the bread, and the lavender loses some of its strength, but never fades completely. The bread also gets somewhat buttery after several hours, so I am left with a buttery bread adorned with bits of lavender, salt, and a the barest hint of rosemary by the end of the day. I definitely prefer the first few hours of this scent over the butter I get by the end of the day, but I'm not really concerned with my buttery fate, because it's not overwhelmingly buttery, and I think I'd mainly use this to slather on before bed (where I would probably pass out when the scent is at its peak). So basically, I'm going to need a bottle. Really, I should have just blind bottled the entire Lavender Kitchen (although I did do that for most of it). 😅
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This features the same syrupy, brown sugar-y sugar cookie note from the Box of Cookies from 2021, and the more recent iteration of Sugar Cookie. But it is accompanied by tons of bourbon, which is at its booziest during the wet phase of the scent, and seems to amplify the syrup-y sugar qualities of the cookie component after the scent has been dry for a while. I agree that the oak aspect of the bourbon really cozies up to the sugar in a nice way, making the late drydown my favorite phase of the scent. I already own the 2020 version of Sugar Cookie, so I am going to have to deathmatch them and see if I really need both in my collection. In any case, the decant is a keeper, though! ETA: I did not deathmatch this with Sugar Cookie, but I did slather it and make a small batch of sugar cookies (this recipe) to eat a sugar cookie with a shot of bourbon to see how it compares to this scent. Let me just say that the bourbon in this scent is much smoother and does not overpower the cookie like the real stuff . I slathered it as my scent of the day a few days ago, and the oaky bourbon was the main player on me throughout wear, backed by a somewhat powdery sugar cookie note that reminded me of Sugar Cookies with Extra Sugar (which I destashed). I like this more than that scent, but wish the sugar cookie didn't go powdery on me like in that one.
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Banana Gingerbread goes on as candy-like banana, but it is quickly overtaken by the gingerbread note, which then proclaims dominion over its companion for most of the wear. The gingerbread note is the same as the gingerbread found in Gingerbread and Hot Cocoa and Gingerbread Milk, to my nose (which is chewy, not crispy, but heavy on the ginger and cinnamon on me). By the time that the banana is able to peek out again, it is super faint, like a smidge of banana... accompanied by a smattering of spiced crumbs. I don't dislike this, but I wish that it was more balanced on the banana and the gingerbread. It seems the two didn't really want to coexist on me!
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This smells like a bold coffee, swirled with dark chocolate, and a bit of vanilla. The pudding aspect of the scent isn't distinct to my nose. But the coffee and dark chocolate combo are lovely together, although somewhat bitter, especially smelled up close. But the scent has some great throw on me, and it smelled much better in the throw than when I stuck my nose close to my skin (where it smelled more bitter, but not unpleasantly so). I'm going to have to spend more time with this one, but I may end up needing more of this before it goes away.
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Ahh, this is amazing. I deathmatched this with Vintage Frankenstein Blow Mold, and my partner and I agreed, while they were still in the wet phase, that Grasshopper Pie was the superior mint and chocolate scent. And that continued to be the case into the drydown, where Vintage Frankenstein Blow Mold becomes more about the chocolate and the plastic, and less about the mint. Grasshopper Pie is stronger on the mint from the beginning, and it retains that lovely creme de menthe note longer than the Frankenstein scent retains its mint. The creme de cacao tags along right behind it, as well as the chocolate graham cracker crust, which reminds me of one of those Oreo crusts. Eventually, the marshmallow note pops up and the mint starts to fade. The marshmallow fluff becomes the dominant note by the end of the day, swirled with bits of creamy cacao and chocolate crust. It smells delicious. My favorite phase of the scent was when the mint was strongest, but there isn't a bad phase of this scent at all. I'm going to need more of this in my life!
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This is actually more lemony than I expected. The dominant note throughout wear on me is not the apple or the rose, but a lemony glaze that reminds me of lemon pound cake, accompanied by some rosewater-splashed apple. Both the rose and the apple are pretty subdued here, at least, on my skin. I also don't get much cinnamon from this. I tried this twice, and the first time, I thought I smelled the pastry, but the second time, it was more about that lemony glaze. I like this, but at the moment, I don't feel like I need more than my decant... which I'll be keeping to wear when I make Chef John's Puff Pastry Apple Roses this year. I'll probably retest it before it goes away to make sure that just the decant will suffice. I like the creamy lemon here, but I was just expecting this to be much stronger on the apple.
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In the other scents I've tried from this year's Gingerbread Cotillion, the gingerbread has been the star of the show. But Gingerbread Milk is an exception. The gingerbread is only the star during the wet phase of the scent, but even then, the milk is still noticeable. It doesn't take long for the milk to overtake the gingerbread, and then it becomes the dominant note throughout wear, and smells like a warm milk to me, first, accompanied with gingerbread spices, and then eventually, all that remains is the milk. This milk is not like the Lab's goat milk note, and the gingerbread here is mostly about the ginger and some strong cinnamon (that doesn't burn). To my nose, Banana Gingerbread, Gingerbread Hot Cocoa, and this scent all share the same gingerbread note. I was hoping that there would be more gingerbread with this milk, but the milk in this is too strong for me. This is definitely a scent for someone who enjoys milk notes.
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Oh hai, Snake Charmer Res. Seriously, whenever I sniffed this, I would think of that scent. I believe they feature the same plum note. Now, I am not a plum lover, and only decided to try this in my quest to try the whole Lavender Kitchen, but the plum in Snake Charmer Resurrected was the only scent I enjoyed containing a plum note (I destashed that bottle to someone who loved it more). I get lots of lavender over some salted caramel at first, but then that plum note joins in, and once it becomes the dominant note, I just can't help but think of Snake Charmer. Obviously, the two scents don't share any other notes, but if you're down for a lavender-infused, foodie version of that plum, you should be delighted with this. I'm really surprised by how much I enjoyed this when testing it yesterday and will have to spend more time with it before it goes away to see if a decant will suffice.
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The blackberry jelly is the star here, with the apple being a background player, most noticeable during the wet phase of the scent. I don't always get the pastry part of the sufganiyot scents, but I can smell plenty of it in this one, and I love the powdered sugar note that is sprinkled over it. I don't much spice from this, so if you were afraid of this being a cinnabomb due to the spiced apple note, don't be. I'm going to have to spend more time with this one, but I already think that I'll need more than just the decant of this suf. ETA: I slathered this on as a scent of the day a few weeks ago and had to upgrade to a bottle of this jelly doughnut goodness.
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Gingerbread and Hot Cocoa. That is the ratio of gingerbread to hot cocoa in this, in the vial, and on my skin. 😭 So the gingerbread in this starts off as a fierce ginger, and it has a chewy gingerbread sort of vibe to it... it doesn't have the gingernsnap sort of gingerbread that some of the gingerbread scents feature. Then the cinnamon joins in. And damn, is it loud. It gets so intense on me that it ends up reminding me of Red Hots, but fortunately, it doesn't burn. As for the hot cocoa, I don't get much of anything chocolate-y to this at all, although there is a moment, after applying this scent, that I smell a texture that reminded me of Lilith the Explorer, which features snacks and 'backpack chocolate residue', so maybe that chocolate note is in this, but fleeting. It's mostly about the cinnamon and the ginger, backed by a very light creaminess. I tested this twice yesterday; once during the day, alongside several other scents, and then after showering during the evening, when I put this on my wrists. The first time, I thought I could smell skin musk after it had been on for several hours; but the second time, maybe it just didn't get that far, because it was all about those gingerbread spices on me. I was really excited about this not being a gingersnap-y sort of gingerbread at first, before this went on to cinnabomb me for some time. Yet it did not burn and leave welts like some cinnamon scents will do (I have sensitive skin), so that's a plus. I'm going to retest this before it goes away and see if the hot cocoa emerges with age. As it is, I don't think I'll need more of this unless the hot cocoa becomes more prominent -- I really wanted this to smell like a gingerbread cookie dunked in hot cocoa, but at the moment, I'd have better results layering Marranitos with The Other Hot Chocolate or Chad.
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Dead Leaves, Black Cherry & Incense Tar
doomsday_disco replied to zankoku_zen's topic in Halloweenie
This goes on as the sharp variety of dead leaves, which I think may feature some bitter neroli in the accord, backed by a bold black cherry note. The black cherry quickly asserts itself, and the incense emerges, so that it mostly smells like a dark cherry incense for a few hours, before the leaves join in again, demanding to be noticed. The cherry and incense tar make me think that this is in the same family as Moon When the Cherries Turn Black, but with MOAR cherry, and this, of course, being far more simplistic than that blend. I feel like the incense is this is darker and more resinous than the incense in Dried Cherry Incense and Spun Sugar, which was more of a sugared champa-infused incense stick to me... and I'd much rather have this cherry and this incense... but without the leaves. I'm just not a dead leaves fan and was sad when the leaves had a resurgence, as I had hoped that the black cherry had beaten them back for good. I don't find this to be unpleasant for a dead leaves scent, but there's still too much dead leaves here for me. I just want the cherry!