doomsday_disco

This is a honeyed (but not overly honeyed!) amber-like scent on me accompanied by some sheer bourbon vanilla, although there's a slight medicinal undertone beneath the resinous scent, and I'm not sure if that's just my sniffer or if that's part of the bushman's candle absolute or what. It sadly never lost that undertone on me, although it did get slightly more powdery and amber-y with wear. Oddly enough, the pink pepper didn't stand out to me, nor did the labdanum (or if that's where the amberiness is coming from, it wasn't like the sour or cola-like varieties of labdanum that I've experienced). I don't need more of this one, but I'm glad I gave it a try! ETA: After more settling, the labdanum became much more noticeable, and I think that is what wasn't jiving with me.

This was almost a blind bottle for me, but I held off because of the incense, and I'm glad I did. Because the incense is sadly what I get most of out of this, although it's a light one. It's a light champaca-infused incense on me throughout wear backed by a little milk. Alas, I was not able to detect any almond, which is really weird, as that's usually a powerhouse when a scent is freshly applied. I did get the amber with the incense by the end of the day, but there was just not enough sweetness (wherefore art thou, almond, vanilla, and honey!?) on me to make me love it. And I was so hoping I would love it because of the name! ?

This, like recent snek variants, is strongest on the musk on me, and the dark musk seems to be infused with some red musk, unless that's my sniffer playing tricks on me because of the red rose mingling with it so well (the rose is not as dark as I was expecting from the description). It has some serious throw and stays that way for hours and hours, although it did morph into Snake Oil by the next day (I guess I got it on the sleeve I tested this near), albeit the lighter, newer version (not as strong on the spice or vanilla on me). I like this and agree that it's definitely BPAL, but there are other rose scents that I enjoy more from this update. I'm going to hang onto my decant and retest it before it goes away, though. I'd really love it if the vanilla showed up on me after getting a few more months of rest!

This may be the scent with the strongest gasoline scent that I've tried from the Lab (and I've had the fortune to try Wasteland World). It goes on as rose and broken green stems doused with gasoline, but then it becomes mostly about the gasoline and asphalt on me, with the rose and greenery in the background. I think the asphalt note may contain a resin, and I think it may be the same one found in There's Water Here from the OLLA collection. It has some serious throw, too. So if you're longing for an atmospheric industrial scent, this is absolutely worth a try, provided you aren't anti-rose. I really enjoy this and am debating a bottle, but this was strong enough on me that slathering might be a bad idea, so I'll have to give it a full day wear to see if I need more of this. It is definitely a highlight from this year's Luper update, though!

I love the Lick It variants, but the Valentine version isn't really my cup of tea. I do get the traditional vanilla mint candy cane of Lick It in the beginning, along with some strawberry and wine. I'm not sure if it is the wine in conjunction with the honeycomb or pink sugar, but there's something in the background that reminds me of a grape-like sugar that I dislike that's used at low quality boba tea places. The vanilla mint is quick to fade and I'm left with the red wine and strawberry notes with that undertone that is just not jiving with me. It's not a skin chemistry thing, as I could smell this in the vial, too, and that's why I put off testing it so long even though it was one of the scents I was originally most excited about from the update. But it must just be my sniffer, because no other reviews have mentioned that weird undertone. While this isn't for me, I'm now hoping we get a summery variant of Lick It, perhaps with some yuzu!

This is mostly about the effervescent aldehyde on me, backed by a baby powder-esque floral note. I'm not sure if the vanilla note (not obvious on my skin) or the chrysanthemum (I'm only familiar with dried chrysanthemums) producing the powderiness, but I'm not really digging the fizz and powder combo. I'm thinking this one is a skin chemistry fail, sadly.

Holy heck, this is green. It's more of a grass scent than a floral scent on me. It's accompanied by a bit of the Lab's weed note during the wet stage, but then it ends up settling into a grass-dominant melange of greenery that is hard to pick apart aside from the grass, although I think the hemp flowers may be next in prominence by the end of the day. I tend to amp carnation, but that wasn't the case in this one at all. If you're on the hunt for a green scent, this one is for you. I don't think I could see myself reaching for this one, but I'm glad I decided to try it.

This starts off with a blast of green on me. I think it's from the yew branches, but it smells more green-leaves-cliniging-to-branches than coniferous needles to my nose. Then the fougere increases in strength and it becomes a nice, green-tinged fougere (emphasis on the fougere more than the lily). I didn't really like the wet phase of this, when it smelled like green leaves, but the fougere is nice. I don't think I'd reach for it over other fougeres in my collection due to that initial blast of leafiness, but if you're looking for a fougere with a little bit of greenery, this might be up your alley.

This started off unexpectedly green on me (is that some stem or leaves from the lily? I honestly thought that I grabbed the wrong decant and applied Sister Death instead, but no, it was this scent!), but then morphs into a fierce ginger and lily scent on me. It's more about the ginger earlier on in wear, and it's a pungent one -- I feel like it's a fresh ginger that may be mixed with a deeper, Shub-esque one. But over time, the lily gets tired of being second to the ginger and declares dominion over it, so that it's a straight-up lily scent on me by the end of the day. I don't think I could see myself reaching for this, but if you're looking for a lily scent that's packing a punch of spicy ginger, this one is for you.

Of the four silk flower scents I tried from this update, this one is my favorite. It's primarily a peony scent on me, backed by some rose cream, and sweetened with some cotton candy. The cream part of the rose cream is not buttery whatsoever (I've had some bad luck with cream notes doing that on me as of late), and I think it may be the same/similar to the one featured in The Poinsettia Gown from Yules past. At first, the peony and rose swirl together and are pretty inseparable, but the peony ends up winning out after a few hours. The cotton candy also increases in strength over time, sugaring up these floral notes. I forgot there was cognac in this, so I wasn't trying to isolate it when I tested this, but I'm sure it is there, adding that magical quality that cognac tends to lend to scents. At the moment, I feel like there are some rose and peony scents that I don't reach for enough in my collection (De Vos' Unicorn and Tea Roses and Lace come to mind), so I'm not sure if I need a whole bottle of this one. I'll retest it before it goes away to make sure. But if I do upgrade one of these flowers from this silk bouquet, this will be the one. If you're a fan of sugary florals, you should definitely try it!

My review of this is not going to do this justice. But if you're thinking about getting this... get it. This is, unexpectedly, one of my favorite scents from this year's Lupercalia update. I swooned when I first smelled it in the decant, and it was just as swoon-worthy on my skin. The reason I grabbed a decant of this was because of the mugwort note. I love mugwort. It's very herbal, and I love slathering on scents containing it before bed. While the mugwort is present, it is much tamer than it normally is, and it's accompanied by some really smooth, well-blended resins (with zero sharpness from the oak -- actually, I wasn't able to pick out any oak). But there's a sweetness to this scent that I'm not getting from the listed notes. If it's from the blood or bone, it's the best blood or bone I've ever smelled!? I keep thinking it is nectar or pollen-like, as it has a similar addictive quality to it as Arcana's Unearthly Lovely. I wish I could describe this one better, but I am so, so happy that I grabbed a decant of this one and will be upgrading to a bottle. Of the Lupercalia scents I've tested thus far, this is definitely one of my favorites. ETA: Retesting this almost a month later, I wanted to add that I am now getting dragon’s blood from this, but I think it is a lighter than it usually is, and honeyed.

Cluster of Cherry Blossoms is a honeyed, cherry-tinged floral scent on me. I am glad that there's more cherry blossom than rose here (as I feared the rose would overtake it), but both notes are noticeable. The scent becomes more honeyed over time (with the honey eventually becoming the dominant note), but it is a pale honey. The cherry, on the other hand, is light. I feel like it just serves to accentuate the cherry blossom. And the musk part of the rose musk never makes this a musk party. I think this is pretty, but at the moment, I don't feel like I need more than my decant. But if you're looking for cherry blossom, this is the Shunga from this year's update that features the note most prominently.

This starts off as a fruity floral and then becomes a predominantly floral scent. The lily is the star here, not the cherry blossom, and it's accompanied by lots of apple and pear in the beginning as well as some green from the grass, but it ends up settling down into a non-heady, non-soapy lily scent on me. Obviously, skin chemistry is everything, but if you're a cherry blossom hunter wondering which cherry blossom scent you should grab from this update, you might have better luck with a Cluster of Cherry Blossoms (provided you can wear honey notes). I preferred this scent in the wet stage, even though I'm not big on fruity florals, but it's not something I need more of since I already have Tiger Lily for when I want to wear a lily-dominant scent.

This is mostly about the vanilla and tobacco on me, backed by the red sandalwood. If you're wondering how this compares to And Though They Are With You, They Belong Not To You: well, this one is a lot different because of the inclusion of tobacco and it being a different sandalwood (think, like, Morocco and Inez sandalwood and not like, Kit sandalwood). The vanilla is the same, though, and it's that Antique Lace 2017 vanilla that's been popping up in more blends recently (like the Vanilla Husk, Nutmeg, and Hay Absolute Trio). The tobacco note is really lovely and might be the French one, but I did not dig up my decant to confirm. But I can at least say there's no horrible smoke in this tobacco smoke. I think this is really nice, but I'm going to be a little heretical and say that I'm a little burnt out on this vanilla note at the moment. I'll retest this before it goes away to see if I need more, but if that's the case, I may have to get rid of one of my other scents that also features this vanilla really prominently.

This is mostly about the citrus and strawberry notes, with the yuzu and grapefruit reigning at first, and the wild strawberry note gaining more strength throughout wear and eventually overtaking the citrus notes (but they never disappear -- they're just relegated to background roles). The strawberry note is a bright, juicy, red one, that's not plastic-y whatsoever, and combined with the yuzu and grapefruit, it smells like a drink or a slush to me (oh, how I wish it were a drink!... and a boozed up one). I get some pomegranate by the end of the day with the strawberry, when the citrus notes have calmed down significantly, but it's never a main player on me, and I'm not able to detect the rooibos on my skin. I also had my partner wear this as a scent of the day. On them, it started off as mostly citrus and strawberry, but the pomegranate showed up sooner, and the rooibos was noticeable. I really love how this is early on with the citrus notes being the strongest on me, followed closely by the strawberry, but I don't think it's as awesome by the end of the day when it's more strawberry with some pomegranate. But I'm still debating a bottle, because I could always just reapply and be hit with that citrus blast again.

I decided to get a decant of this while side-eyeing the plum wine note, because I'm just not a fan of plum in perfume. And I have to say that the plum in the plum wine is pretty tame here, adding a light, welcome sweetness to the scent. But I would not describe this as a tea scent. It's not tea-heavy, despite green tea being listed as the first note, and despite the name. I think this is more about the sandalwood incense, although the lemon blossom and bamboo lift the scent up early on in wear. Over time, it teeters on becoming more masculine, and the wine part of the plum wine becomes more prominent on me and adds this acidic quality to the sandalwood incense that I don't really enjoy. Even though I tried the recent trio with hinoki, I'm not able to isolate that note, so that's why it's not mentioned in this review. While the early stages are pleasant, the end result just is not for me, but it's no fault of the plum itself!

So... I grabbed a decant of this one because of the washi and the matcha. And... it definitely is a scent that is mostly about the washi, so if you're looking to try the Lab's interpretation of that, this would be a good scent to try. To me, the washi reminds me of some cucumber-y paper notes that sometimes pop up in book scents or in the Lab's Crumpled Wrapping Paper SN. The cucumber vibe will fade away, but it makes it go from more of a wet sort of paper to a drier one. I never am able to detect the matcha or mint, but I do get what I believe is the lichen and moss making it more cologne-y on me over time. By the end of the day, there's a hint of patchouli, but it is very mild here. The paper-y washi note isn't one that I really enjoy (I prefer the ones that tend to lean sweeter), and I'm sad that I didn't get any matcha, but I'm glad that I tried this to experience that washi note!

This is mostly about the tea and blood orange on me (but the blood orange isn't a citrus bomb), backed by the smoothest and least champaca-y champaca blossom ever. It does not have any incense-y quality to it whatsoever. It's definitely floral, but not a soapy or a heady one. I think the kamairicha may be a bit deeper than the Lab's traditional green tea note, because it didn't make me think of the green tea that the Lab traditionally uses, but it's hard to describe it just melds with the more prominent orange so wonderfully. I think it's pretty and will definitely be hanging onto my decant to wear it during the spring or early summer. But I'll have to retest it before it goes away to see if I need to upgrade to a bottle. At the moment, I feel like just the decant will suffice, but maybe that's because it couldn't compete with Neglected Calligraphy (which I tested on the other hand at the same time and was glued to throughout wear). ETA: This has become more floral tea and less orange-y after a few months of aging, but it's still a really nice floral tea scent kissed with orange.

Okay, time for what's becoming my traditional pass-some-time-in-the-office-on-a-Wednesday-morning-by-posting-a-slew-of-reviews review dump. ? This was one of the first decants I tested in my first round of Luper decants (consisting of only general Lupers and Shungas -- cherries, chocolates, and raunchy hearts will probably arrive next month). I decided that it had to be among the first tested after @HerbGirl's rave review. And it was an instant love for me. Of the decants I've tested thus far (over a dozen of them, with about seven more to go), this is one of my favorites. Neglected Calligraphy is a cool, pine-infused green tea scent, swirled with some ink that gives it a somewhat industrial vibe. The green tea is the perfume-y variety that you would find in something like Shanghai or Embalming Fluid, and it is not like green tea leaves. The terebinth resin has a tinge of smokiness to it, but it is really well-behaved and tamed by the green tea and is no way the campfire found in the terebinth-heavy Gacela of the Dark Death from Yules past. The throw is mostly the cool green tea and pine, but up close, I get lots of ink, which is indeed very-ink like, but also with a slight rubber-y quality. I'd recommend this to fans of Cooling Breeze (another cool green tea scent) and those who like industrial notes sound give it a try as well, because the ink is definitely noticeable in this blend. You do have to enjoy green tea and pine notes, though! I will absolutely be upgrading to a bottle as I can't stop sniffing my wrists. Plus, the name of the scent appeals to me (as someone with calligraphy-esque handwriting that doesn't do calligraphy but probably should).

This review is after testing a very aged decant from 2008. Ichabod Crane is all about the dusty black wool and cream on me. The black wool note is a dark musk with a touch of a grape-like note to it, and I believe it's the same thing representing black wool from last year's Black Julbocken Alchemy Lab. The cream is buttery as hell, so it smells like a very buttery musk bomb on me, alas. I can smell a bit of pepper, but the other notes are nowhere to be found on me because the musky wool and buttery cream are so loud. This one is not for me, but it was fun to get to try an old Sleepy Hollow scent!

My review is after testing a very aged decant from 2007. This started off with a slightly musky cedar-y wood that made me think that the decant might be going off, but it quickly settled into a primarily rosewood scent with a touch of lemon to brighten it up that became more prominent with wear, yet never overtaking the rosewood. I wasn't able to pick up on any of the other notes. I am glad I got to try this, but it's not something for which I could see myself reaching.

This one starts off with a blast of fresh super realistic, freshly turned earth, infused with some earthy vetiver. But as time goes on, it morphs, and I smell like celery!?!?!?! Skin chemistry is wild. Or was there secretly some celery in this field? I am glad I got to try this, but smelling like celery is not for me.

So... back when I discovered BPAL in 2013, there were Nymphia candies on offer at the Trading Post, and I bought a tin of those. They were really good (I still have the empty tin), and thinking back on those makes me miss BPTP treats! I never got to try the perfume that inspired those candies until recently. Nymphia is so well-blended that it's hard to pick out the notes, but the standout note when this is first applied and on the final drydown is the coconut, which is soft and doesn't read as foody or beach-like (phew). The cucumber is also soft and adds a light, refreshing quality to the scent, and the spun sugar, apple blossom, and mango lift it up and add some welcome sweetness. But mostly, it's a lovely, dainty scent that's hard to describe just by dissecting the notes. It's not overly fruity, or overfly floral, and the coconut isn't offensive at all. I'm really glad I got to try this and will be hanging onto my decant, but I don't think I need more of this one. This has made me wish for the return of BPTP treats, though.

I tested this with the last drops of a tester, so this might be better treated as an impression than a review (I did get a good amount for a test, but what remained of the decant was very aged). I get mainly a dark blueberry from this. It's not a fresh blueberry, but more of a sweet blueberry with both tart and sweet candy-like elements. It doesn't smell like blueberry baked goods to me, but that could just be because it's a very aged tester. I think I smell some spice in the background, nothing overpowering, but I think it's a spice found in Plunder, but more subdued, because the scent made me think of that at one point. I think this is a really nice blueberry scent, but it's not something I need to hunt down more of (which I'm thankful for, since it's so rare).

Torta Setteveli, a currently available Weenie, would probably be your best bet if you haven't tried it. "A classic Sicilian recipe alternating layers of chocolate sponge cake, hazelnut Bavarian cream, chocolate mousse, and hazelnut praline crunch, all enrobed in a dark chocolate mirror glaze." It's not exactly Nutella, buuuut I think it's the closest you'll get as it is the most chocolate-y hazelnut scent the Lab has offered. A past Lilith, O The Joy of My Spirit!, has cacao and hazelnut notes, and some people have compared it to Nutella, but for me, it was too perfume-y and not strictly foodie. "Crooked hazelnut and tonka with a touch of cacao and black pine." It might be worth it to try Who's Afraid?, a currently available Yule, which also features cocoa and hazelnut notes, but the lemony spun sugar makes it go in a different direction on me (your skin chemistry may differ -- it seems not every reviewer got lemony sugar from it, but that's what I love about it). Here are the notes: "Snowy coconut, hazelnut, cocoa powder, and spun sugar."