doomsday_disco

I thought this would be darker from the scent notes! I mostly get coconut in the throw throughout wear. The oudh isn't indolic and the cedar is smooth, and both of these notes, along with the patchouli are strongest when first applied. Then the coconut and fig amp up, and a bit of rum joins in and adds some more sweetness, so it veers into a tropical phase where these notes just rest on a bed of resins and patchouli. While I wouldn't opt to wear something this coconut-heavy, this is nicer than I thought it would be based off the notes, so don't let the oudh scare you away if the rest of the scent is calling to you!

Note: I sprayed this on a paper towel to test it out. This starts off as spicy gingerbread, emphasis on the ginger, with some raw ginger to boot. Then the anise becomes more noticeable after a while, much to my dismay, so that it smells like anise-y gingerbread. Fortunately, it ends up veering out of that phase, too, and ends up being a nice gingerbread (no more raw ginger, though) accompanied by some nuts and a light date note. This is a nice gingerbread atmo, although I wish I didn't smell any of the anise!

This starts off with a wonderful, spicy, sexy gingerbread (I swear there's a ginger note in here that's also in scents like Snake Oil, Vixen, and Shub) backed by some fruitcake. The gingerbread during the wet phase is amazing! But then the musk rushes in and declares dominion over all. It remains like that for the rest of the day, with just a hint of gingerbread spices in the background. I want my sexy gingerbread back.

Halloween: Los Angeles starts off with a lovely sage note and some other greenery, but over time, it gets a little smoky, and very dusty -- so it morphs into a desert with plant life into a desert that's scorched and dry. Although I enjoyed the wet phase, it was too dusty for me by the end of the day. It's absolutely evocative of its inspiration, though.

This is more grape than pumpkin on me. I actually didn't sniff the decant or look at the notes before I applied it, and when I was slapped in the face with an intense grape scent, that's when I decided to look up the scent notes. This is an artificial grape type of grape, too, not something like the champagne grape in, say, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Bat. I get some jasmine tea after the grape calms down a little, very late in the day. But mostly, this is GRAPE with a bit of tea. You have to be a fan of grape scents to enjoy this one.

This features a sweet, non-spicy pumpkin accompanied by some powdery myrrh and black musk on me (more myrrh at first, but the black musk gains strength with time). Usually I amp clove, but I'm not getting it here, and the same goes for the tobacco. I wonder if this aged decant didn't hold onto the tobacco and clove? I like this pumpkin note, but the myrrh and the musk are too much for me.

This is Two Sheep and Two Goats' sweet, grassy vetiver on a bed of sweet nuts, a little cedar, and a bit of the perfume-y, sweet amber note emerging after it has been on the skin for a while. The chestnut is noticeable at first, but then the sweet, rich hazelnut cream takes over, and along with the caramelized aspect of the vetiver, it's almost like a nutty toffee vetiver or caramelized nuts and vetiver. It stays like that for most of the scent's wear, but by the end of the day, the grassy vetiver has managed to rise above the caramelized nuts (which at this point, reside in the background), and some of the wool has finally peeked through. I don't like this as much as Two Sheep and Two Goats, but that's mainly because I like that vanilla as an accompaniment more than caramelized nuts. Buuuut it is definitely a cousin to that scent, and if you're missing that and don't mind caramel or nuts, you should give this a whirl. I'll be hanging on to my decant.

This one is predominantly a wine and fruits scent on me, lightly spiced and backed by some oats and the yeastiness of the bread. The smoke is prominent in the beginning, but it softens with wear. I do get a touch of a vinegar-y quality to this in the background -- I'm not sure if that's this particular wine, the fruits accompanying it, or the smoke going iffy on me. Or maybe a combo of all three. Sadly, it ends up being too sharp on me after a while. As far as recent wine scents go, I'd go for Mulled Wine and a Wool Blanket over this one (and I'll stick with Hay Moon for my oatcake fix).

This is more lichen than lavender on me, and very herbal/green. The lichen is like if you mixed some moss with one of the Lab's leaf accords. It doesn't smell like dried dead leaves, but maybe a freshly fallen one that hasn't dried yet, mixed with moss. And maybe a bit of oak bark. So it's mossy and cologne-y and sharp. I may be getting more of the lichen because I tend to amp moss and don't have a good track record with the Lab's leaf notes (no bell peppers here, at least). And it has a ton of throw. I'm glad I did not blind bottle this one, as the lichen is too much for me. Even though I didn't upgrade White Oakmoss and Lavender, that one was more up my alley.

This one isn't as beeswax-heavy as some of the other menages with beeswax (such as Beeswax, Lavender, and Acacia Honey and Beeswax, Cedarwood, and Bourbon Vanilla). It features a somewhat smoky yet tangy amber note (it's not as weird as NAVA's limestone amber, for those who are familiar with that, but it does have a twang to it), and I agree with Casablanca's description of this being like a balsamic amber. It is backed by the beeswax, but the beeswax isn't able to tame the smoky or acidic aspects of the amber on me. I don't think I'm particularly fond of this amber note, or perhaps I would have needed more beeswax to smooth it over. But I'm glad it wasn't a win for me, because I really don't need all of the beeswax menages. I haven't tried an amber from the Lab like this one before, though, so it's definitely unique.

This is absolutely the Antique Lace-esque vanilla musk from On Wednesday, I Will Promise You a Phantom, paired with a somehow kind of lemony hay note. The nutmeg is not distinct on me. It's a floofy vanilla and warm, lemony hay that gets less lemony over time. So yeah, Antique Lace 2017 with hay. Since I'm getting a bottle or two of On Wednesday and already have two bottles of Antique Lace 2017, a bottle of Hay Moon 2020, and a bottle of Rendezvous With Her Lover Behind the Rice Straws, I'm also trying to tell myself I don't need more of this... but it is so pretty.

The vetiver in this isn't super smoky or BBQ-like, but it is the strongest note out of the gate, followed by the black coffee. Over time, a somewhat icy vanilla joins the party -- more ice than vanilla, though. It helps to tame the vetiver at first, but then the scent ends up being too sharp on me by the end of the day. At this point, the coffee has gained strength, but I don't think it's any one note causing this to be sharp and bordering on headache-territory for me -- I think it's the way they combine together that's doing it. Or possibly the vetiver with the coffee. But yeah. Not the scariest vetiver I've come across, but this one is still too much for me.

2007 version. This decant is even more aged, but there's more in it, so I think it aged better. The booze is still the star here -- more rum than brandy in this case -- but the cream is more noticeable in this one. Sadly, I still get the bubblegum-like aspect from this version, so I'm thinking I'm just not a fan of the Lab's rendition of eggnog.

This is just like the bath oil, which perhaps a bit more marshmallow. But it's mostly just the evergreen-and-possibly-benzoin-infused snow note from scents like Snow Bunny and NYC Snowball Fight, with just a bit of creamy marshmallow in the background. I so wish there were more marshmallow in this, or the marshmallow had been paired with the sweet Snow White snow note. I think this is nice, but I have enough scents with this snow note already and don't need more.

This is nicer than I expected it to be. I get a nice leather and some dust at first, with the leather being the dominant note throughout wear (and may be the one from De Sade Res? but it's been a while since I've sniffed it to confirm). But the cologne-y and somewhat citrus-y (is that you, white tea?) and sharp metal note ends up dominating the scent by the end of the day with just a trace of the sexy leather. Alas, if only the steel note hadn't won out.

At first, I get something kind of like cherry Twizzlers? And then it gets more atmospheric and less-candy like as I get some incense and what I think must be the grass and ozone others have mentioned. I wish the candy continued to dominate the scent and not the other notes, but this was fun to get to try.

Smoky vetiver and cumin. It's like a cousin to Abandoned Car Atmo, but a little less scary, oddly enough. Those notes never go away, but a strong plastic and a sharp and musky metal join in and end up becoming stronger than the vetiver and cumin notes. This one is not for me, but if you want a smoky industrial type of scent, here's one for you to try!

I mainly got the Lab's slushy snow note from this with some juniper berries, and for some reason, there's a bit of soapiness to the scent on me after a while, which is not a problem I usually have with the Lab's snow notes. The dragon's blood isn't distinct on me in this scent (it's usually an iffy note for me), and the berries in this are super subdued on me. I prefer Skadi for a slushy snow scent with a bit of berry, but I'm glad I got a chance to try this!

On me, this is mostly sweet and boozy. I think I'm smelling rum and whiskey? There's a hint of chocolate and some light spices. The cake part of the scent doesn't manifest on me unless the cake part is like the sticky part of a sticky bun, sadly. It smells like a sweet butterscotch-y rum. I'm glad I got to try this, but I wish I had gotten some cake along with the booze!

This is a review from a drop in a testable empty. Spicy carnation and tobacco are the first notes that leap out at me, followed by the leather. Then it becomes all spiced carnation and a smooth, sweet leather on me. The good stuff. I don't get any coffee from this at all, but perhaps that's because it's only a drop! I never knew spicy red carnation and leather would be a combination that I'd enjoy, but this one is niiiice.

In the vial, I mostly smell the grape vine (with some grape), grass, and lavender. On me, it's a very herbal, green scent, touched with fig and a bit of grape from the grape vine note. It starts off more alive and green at first and then smells like a dry green scent by the end of the day. The dried pansy leaves aren't like the Lab's usual dead leaves accord, if that is worrisome to you. It does go soapy on me for some time as the thyme asserts itself with wear, but it veers out of that territory when the coffee final emerges after several hours (I was really thinking I wasn't going to get any coffee from this during the first few hours!). The lavender buds in this are very tame and not a main player on me, but I can pick them out in the background if I go looking for them. This one didn't work for me -- at first, it was fruitier than I'd like, then it was too soapy for me, and then it got a bit too sharp in the end with the thyme and the dried leaves, but it was fun to get to try this morpher!

I am so glad that this one ended up getting notes listed the day after the Yules went live, because I almost passed it up, and then I ended up being able to grab a decant once the notes were updated. It would have been a shame to have passed this one up, because it ended up being my favorite scent from the Yule 2021 update! This goes on as a gorgeous lavender and skin musk on me. At that point, it is soft and close to the skin. Then the vanilla husk and myrrh emerge, and during that phase, it seems like a cousin to one of my favorite atmos, The First Love Fades Too, but with myrrh instead of sandalwood. The ylang ylang joins in and becomes more prominent as the vanilla husk does, and then it's a cousin to one of my favorite massage oils: Formula 57 with its ylang ylang and vanilla. Wisteria is usually a note that is high-pitched and screechy on me, tending to stomp all over other notes, but in this scent, it is incredibly well-behaved. It does add a high-pitched perfume-y aspect to the scent by the end of the day, but it is kept in check and even complemented by this absolutely stunning floofy, billowy, vanilla musk. I'm in love. Multiple bottle worthy.

This smells like the most wonderful dark red mulled wine (lightly spiced) backed by a touch of non-acrid hearth smoke and the same cotton-y tobacco musk type of note from Cafe au Lait and a Wool Blanket and You are Not Alone. Over time, that aspect of the scent gains strength and ends up dominating, with only a hint of the mulled wine. Wild, because I usually amp the Lab's wine note. I want this wine but without the wool blanket.

On me, the raspberry jam is the star, and it's even more jam-like than the raspberry apricot jam from Raspberry Apricot Sufganiyot. It's backed by some tangerine, spun sugar, and what seems to be a creamy amber... there's this creamy softness to it that kind of makes me think of Starburst, even though there are no raspberry Starburst, or perhaps a raspberry Mamba if it had the softer texture of a Starburst. It ends up being mostly raspberry cotton candy on me with hints of orange and amber. I almost didn't grab a decant of this one, but I'm glad I did. I'm not sure I need a whole bottle, but I think I'll hang on to my decant to pair it with Pa-Pow HG. ETA: I decided this one was bottle worthy after all!

Pine, stone, and that unlisted oudh mentioned in 15 Minutes of Fume are the first notes that leap out at me, followed by some sage and a bit of fog. Then I get a dark variety of musk... not black musk, but maybe something like the pine and musk in Thanatopsis? It's been a while since I've tried that one, so I don't know for sure. But this ends up being a mostly musky resinous pine and stone scent on me accompanied by some flowers and ozonic mist. I was really hoping to like this one with the pine and stone notes, but sadly, this ended up being too musky for me.