doomsday_disco
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Everything posted by doomsday_disco
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I wasn't originally going to try this one, but I heard this wasn't a traditional metallic scent, so my interested was piqued. And it is different than the Lab's other metallic scents! In the decant, I get strong, sparkling aldehyde and some eucalyptus as well as some kind of floral note and some musk. It actually smells promising in the decant! On me, it's all powdery floral musk with a little fizzy, slightly citrusy aldehyde and some metallic sharpness in the background, but the sharpness is really smoothed over by the musk. I wish it weren't so powdery on me. I don't know why my skin chemistry had to run away with the floral note and the musk, but it did. And the throw is huge. It was nice to be able to try this, but I'll stick with Spurious Cooter Bees for a fizzy scent.
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This is my first experience with a broomcorn note, but I have to say, I'm really enjoying it! The lilac and sweet broomcorn are the most prominent notes on me at first, followed by the beeswax. The beeswax increases in strength over time, as does the broomcorn, and it ends up settling into this gorgeous, sweet, creamy beeswax and broomcorn swirled with lilac, which with the other notes, has an almost honeysuckle-like sweetness to it. Before trying this, I was thinking the bone note might be a dry sandalwood, as that has been used to represent bone notes before, but I'm not getting any of that in this scent. I wonder if it might be a mineralic vanilla? Because I keep thinking I smell some vanilla mingling with the beeswax. Here I was hoping to dodge wanting another beeswax scent from the Lab. Well, I have failed, because this is the best lilac scent I have ever smelled since there's the perfect amount of sweetness here to smooth it over. I think I need a bottle.
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This is a very nice, cool apple blend. The apples really are bittersweet and the ice in this doesn't read as minty, but there might be a touch of light mint infused in a pretty tame ozone and/or musk. I've tried Snow Glass Apples, Snow Glass Apples v4, Snow Moon 2019, and Morana, and of those, I agree that this is more in the vein of Snow Moon 2019, although that one is far more citrusy with its yuzu and white tea. But I think this is different enough from all of those to give it a try if snowy apple scents are your jam. I'm not going to leap for a bottle yet, because I have so many apple scents already, but this is really lovely. I'll be slathering it on during the summer months and may end up upgrading to a bottle once my decant is running low.
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This is strongest on the rain-covered mosses on me (possibly because I have a tendency to amp moss notes), but the supporting players change a lot in this one. At first, it's rain-covered moss and pine with a bit of jasmine. Then the pine is quick to disappear, and the jasmine becomes more noticeable, without being heady. Then the mint joins the fray, but these are soft mints and are more like a some mint leaves in a tea than some bracing mint. Then the chestnut appears, and it adds a lovely nutty warmth to the scent in contrast with the rained on moss and subtle mint. Finally, the sweet labdanum joins the party, adding a slight cola-like sweetness to the scent that doesn't end up dominating the scent on me like it usually does (huzzah!). I never was able to detect any cardamom or matcha in this, and aside from the pine, the other notes haven't disappeared -- they've just shifted around from time to time, allowing each one to have their time to shine. By the end of the day, I get the sweet cola-like labdanum and warm chestnut over a bed of rained on moss with some soft jasmine and the tiniest bit of mint. This one is a morpher! I really enjoyed the scent experience, but I think just the decant will be enough.
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Oh, this one is so pretty! I get the silvered sage most prominently on my skin, backed by the ambergris. I'm glad the ambergris is there from the beginning, as it usually takes a few hours to show up on me in most scents. The 'silvered' part of the sage does not read as metallic to me. I think it's a silvery musk. And the sage is a green sage, and I think it may be one of the sages found in Eve With Sage F*** Up (probably the Dalmatian sage?). There's a phase where I thought I was getting a bit of vanilla in the musk, but it did not stick around. The white cognac becomes more noticeable a few hours in and adds a wistful vibe to the scent, while the slightly citrusy and pine-y elemi brightens up the scent a bit. I have a half-bottle of this from a decant circle that I got to prevent it from getting cut, and I'm really happy to have it!
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This is all kinds of wrong on me. Even in the vial, I just smell cumin... cumin and orange or citrus. I don't know if the secret cumin is what's supposed to be the cardamom or if it is the bronze part of the bronze musk. I think the metallic part of the scent is contributing the citrus aspect I'm getting with it. I stuck through this for four and a half hours and yep, just cumin and sharp citrus-tinged metal, with some powdery oakmoss behind those notes, but no patch, amber, or tonka on me, sadly.
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I got a decant of this one, despite it having several iffy notes, just to fill the last slot in a decant circle and see how it would go. It sounded like it would be too heavy and musky for me, but actually, I'm pleasantly surprised! It goes on as musky cardamom sugar and jasmine -- a tame, non-indolic jasmine that's smoothed over by the vanilla -- and stays that way for a while. Then I get a cinnamon-vibe from it after a few hours, and am not sure if there's some secret cinnamon in this, or if that's just what the cardamom (which WAS definitely cardamom on application) settled into, but it's not cinnabomb on me by any means. (On that note, it's also not a red musk bomb. Red musk usually declares dominion over all when it hits my skin, and that's not happening here.) The vetiver emerges after a few hours and is a grassy type as opposed to a smoky one (for those who also avoid the smoky type!). It ends up being a spice-infused musk with grassy vetiver, that smooth jasmine and vanilla, and a light, chewy patch after four hours. I'm getting something reminding me of Snake Oil here, and it's probably the musk, spices, and patch that are bringing it to mind, even though it does not smell like Snake Oil. But I'd put it as a floral cousin in that family. I am going to keep this decant and see how it ages. I really liked this before the vetiver became a main player, but I still think it is really nice and am surprised it's working so well on me.
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At first, this is all about the apricot. Then the white tea and clary sage emerge, and some tobacco joins in after a while. It stays like this for a long time, until the coconut milk shows up several hours later. It is not super coconut-y (unlike the coconut cream in White Chocolate, Pink Carnation, Coconut Cream, and Clove!) or tropical on me. The apricot remains the dominant note throughout wear, but it's not as strong as it was during the first few hours, and the supporting notes are stronger than before. The white tea in this is pretty tame and not the powerhouse it can be in some other scents, but I think it's probably preventing this from reading as creamier with its cream and coconut milk notes. I think this is nice, but I don't think I need more of it when its so apricot-centric on me, and I already have Aristocratic Couple and March Hare for my apricot fix. I'll probably retest it before it goes away just to be sure, though!
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This goes on as a blast of juicy, fresh peach, but the blood orange quickly joins in. The blood orange ends up being the strongest up close, but it's all about the peach in the throw. It stays like this for several hours, until eventually the resins emerge in the background, but they're content with their smaller role. I'm getting more sandalwood than labdanum (woo!), and the labdanum is not the sour variety, nor is it turning everything into cola. By the end of the day, the peach nectar is the dominant note, and it does smell nectar-y and not as juicy as it was initially. I was hoping for more blood orange than peach from this, but this is nice! I'll be keeping my decant, but I don't think I need a bottle of this one because I have so many peach scents already.
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The myrrh and dragon's blood notes jump out at me first, and then the strawberry and lavender follow behind. It ends up being resin and lavender dominant on me for a while, although the strawberry definitely gains strength with wear and manages not to go plastic on me. Dragon's blood is also an iffy note on me, but it is pretty well-behaved here and is more like an incense-y variety than a spicy fruity floral one. It ends up being a dark myrrh and dragon's blood in a bowl of squished strawberries on me by the end of the day, with some sprigs of lavender thrown on top. The lavender and dragon's blood combo in this reminds me of Third Eye Extraction, only here, they're accompanied by myrrh and strawberry instead of mugwort and musk. While I prefer Third Eye Extraction, I'm pleasantly surprised to like this too and will certainly use up my decant. I don't think it's something I need to hunt down a bottle of, though!
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Honey dust, strawberries, blueberries, and lavender are the first notes I get from this, followed by some soft lotus root. Then the honey dust quickly starts declaring dominion over the other notes, which it is wont to do on me. The honey dust is thick and toffee-like like Lush's Honey I Washed the Kids and is the same honey note from Boop and Harlow's Lace. It remains the dominant note throughout wear, backed by the little bit of blueberry, strawberry, and lotus that can get through. It ends up smelling soft and candy-like after several hours. I wanted to love this one, because of the artwork and it sounding like a lovely flormand, and I would have ended up loving it, too, if it weren't for that pesky honey dust!
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The black pepper is the strongest note out of the gate, followed by the oudh, which is a soft, smooth, non-poudh variety. The bourbon vanilla in this is very light but acting more like a skin musk further softening the oudh than it being noticeably vanilla. Strangely enough, I'm not getting any honey from this, although there is a toasty aspect to the scent that might be the honey's doing, but I'm not getting any sweetness. This ends up being a soft peppered oudh with some sheer, skin-musky bourbon vanilla that stays close to the skin on me. If you're looking for a gentle oudh, give this one a shot. Sadly, this one is too soft for me.
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I was in love with the wet phase and initial drydown of this one. I got woods and resins (mostly oak) sweetened by the vanilla bean and almond blossom, with the oak and/or vanilla bean combo having a slight root beer quality to them on me, just like in Baby's First Ballista. It's brighter than you'd expect it to be, given the notes. During this phase, there is only a touch of mushroom adding a nice earthy, but not funky quality to the scent. Over time, however, it loses its sweetness and becomes more like a cologne on me. I'm thinking it's the lacquered bamboo combining with the oak and a bit of the smoke from the vanilla that's doing this, and possibly the amber (although this type was well-behaved on me in Adventuresome Encounters!). I'm going to set this one aside and retest it before it goes away to see how it has aged. I really wish the sweet notes hadn't decided to disappear on me, because this was so nice when they were around!
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A little bit of cocoa powder, a fuckton of buttercream. That is what I'm getting from this. The cocoa powder is most noticeable when this is first applied, and then it quickly becomes mostly about the buttercream, which is bright and has a slight tang to it. It doesn't smell particularly chocolate-y on me throughout the day, as the chocolate quickly retreated to the background on me and then isn't even detectable after a few hours. If you're looking for buttercream, you will be happy with this one. If you're looking for chocolate, it's not as in-your-face chocolate as some of the Lab's other (regularly available!) chocolate scents like Bliss, Chad, or The Other Hot Chocolate. I bet this would be great for layering, though.
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To me, this is not like the Lab's other bread scents. It's not rye or milk bread, it is truly a baguette! You can smell the crunchy crust and the soft inside of the baguette with dabs of sweet cream and honey. Over time, the cream gains strength and becomes more buttery, and the honey gets a little stronger as well, but it is still a light, pale honey that doesn't dominate the scent (for those who want to smell like a baguette but are afraid of honey!). By the end of the day, it smells like buttery cream and a light honey drizzled over the soft inside of a baguette. Now I want to go to Bouchon and eat one of those free baguettes that they give you with brunch. I really like this, but I am not sure how often I will want to smell like a baguette. I am going to keep my decant and ponder on whether or not I'll need a bottle. (The more I sniff it, the more I think I probably will.)
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This one was quite the scent experience. This goes on super harsh and industrial on me. It has tones of paint, latex, and petroleum, bringing to mind some of the atmospheric American Gods scents. And it stays that way for a few hours! But then! BUT THEN! It morphs into the most amazing vanilla touched with white tobacco, white amber, a very gentle cacao, and a much more subdued mineralic chalky rubble. By this point, it is stunning and a relative to scents like Pediophobia (especially with its porcelain) and Zorya P. I adore the end result of this, but the opening is so harsh that I'm not sure if it's worth it to brave through it for the final morph. I'm going to set my decant aside and try it again in a month or two after it has had some time to age and see if I have the same experience. I'm hoping the opening will be much smoother by then, because the final morph is so lovely!
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This is all white tea in the decant and goes on as white tea with a bit of honey on me. Then I think I may be picking up on some unlisted peony, because there's the tea and a floral quality to this that's reminiscent of The Dormouse. It stays that way throughout wear: floral-touched white tea with a dab of honey and perhaps some soft cashmere. I was not able to detect any tonka or cacao. I'm curious to read other reviews about this one to see if others are able to detect more of the notes on their skin. I don't need more of this as I prefer The Dormouse. But if you're sad that The Dormouse is out of stock, you should give this a whirl.
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Lemon blossom, cool spearmint, muguet, and magnolia are the first notes I get from this, followed by the amber musk and a bit of cedar. The muguet combined with either the amber musk or cedar is causing a little funk. The funk calms down after a bit and the lemon blossom and spearmint continue to take the lead, backed by the florals, but the amber musk seems to be gaining strength with time. After a while, the spearmint fades away, and the floral notes calm down, and it mostly becomes a sharp lemony bergamot amber scent on me. The initial phase of this scent is drastically different than the end result on me, but I wasn't particularly fond of either. The wet stage is a little funky, the middle one lacks the funk but is a little odd until the spearmint disappears, and then the final morph makes this such a sharp citrusy amber on me that I know I wouldn't chose this over the other two Shungas featuring lemon and amber that I tested today (Penis Bound with Gold Ribbon and Sunrise Kimono). I had to try this one because of the artwork, but alas, it's just not jiving with me.
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Golden apple, lemon, and mimosa are the first notes that leap out at me, followed by the grapefruit. This stage of the scent is really wonderful and uplifting. Then, the mimosa increases in strength, which is bright, and candy-like, with a slight effervescence and orange juice quality to it (even though it is the flower and not the drink). It ends up making me smell like SweeTarts for a while, and I thought it was going to stay that way, but then the yellow amber emerges. It ends up smelling like a somewhat creamy, citrus-touched (mostly lemon) amber and mimosa with some soft, possibly overripe golden apple. Something during this phase smells a little funky on me -- I think it is the yellow amber combining with that apple note, but I'm not sure. I really loved the wet stage of this scent, but I didn't love the the other phases of the scent nearly as much. I'll hold onto the decant to retest this in a few weeks after this has had more time to settle, and if that doesn't work, I may have to try the decant in a scent locket, because the initial application of this one is so lovely!
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The lemon cream scent in the decant makes me think of the lemon cream inside lemon cream cookies. Hype! On me, the lemon cream is there but it is very quickly taken out of cookie filling territory by the amber and musk. At first, this made me sad, as the lemon combined with the high-pitched quality of the sweet amber (the one from scents like Alleviate the Frenzy, My Wise Beauty, and Sweet Amber and Cherry Liqueur Hair Gloss) to create a furniture polish vibe on me. But then it veered out of that territory, and as the amber and golden musk increase in strength, I am strongly reminded of my beloved House of Mirrors Atmo from Denver Comic Con 2015. During that phase of the scent, I was seriously debating a bottle, but then the sweet amber becomes so strong and high-pitched on me that it really stomps on the musk and lemon cream, only leaving traces of them in the background. I will come back to this one and retest it before it goes away. I think the lemon cream in this is wonderful, and I adore the House of Mirrors atmo phase, but the perfume-y amber that this becomes after a day of wear ends up being too much for me.
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In the decant, this is all about the wet dead leaves. On me, they are the most prominent aspect of this scent as well (and you can definitely tell these leaves are wet), but I'm also getting the herbal mugwort and sage along with the leaves, as well as the mahogany. The sage ends up being stronger than the mugwort after a few minutes, and there's just the barest touch of mint here adding a light coolness to the scent. It ends up being mostly dead leaves in the throw for the longest time, but then it morphs and the sage comes to the forefront, backed by the now cologne-y leaves (my skin chemistry typically turns the Lab's dead leaves into either bell peppers or cologne), which are backed by the warm mahogany, and finally, a touch of coffee bean! The ambergris isn't distinct on me, and by the end of the day, the combination of the sage, dead leaves, mahogany, and mugwort put this thoroughly in cologne territory on my skin. But the bit of warm coffee bean is still there. I had to try this because of the ambergris and mugwort. I really hoped the dead leaves in this would be subdued, but they are not on me. While this isn't something I'd wear myself, I do think it would be nice to smell on someone else. It's like an herbal cologne with a little warmth added to it.
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Honey and Ylang Ylang starts off with a very heady ylang ylang note shouting over the honey, but over time, the light, golden honey note helps to smooth it over so that it is honeyed ylang ylang and not just ylang ylang with an afterthought of honey (and actually, the honey ends up being slightly stronger after several hours of wear!). This didn't wow me on its own, but knowing how much I loved the ylang ylang and vanilla in On Wednesday, I Promise You a Phantom, I decided to layer to drops of Antique Lace 2017 with one drop of Honey and Ylang Ylang, and damn, that is such an awesome vanilla and honeyed floral combo! I highly recommend layering the two if you happen to have both scents. I don't need a bottle of this because it's not something I'd slather or wear on its own, but I'm absolutely keeping my decant around to layer with Antique Lace 2017.
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At first, I get something somewhat grape-y when this is applied, and I think it is the plumeria or perhaps the plumeria combining with something else. That grape aspect goes away for the most part (I still get a tinge of it when sniffed up close), and then this scent becomes a plumeria party throughout wear. I can smell some rice paper and peony behind it (more rice paper at first and then more peony later in the day), and eventually, a little sweet pea, but it is so delicate and not nearly as strong as the bold plumeria. I wasn't able to pick out the pink pepper in this one, so this might still be worth a try to the pepper-averse. I was here for the sweet pea, but the plumeria stole the show and isn't really a floral note that I particularly like, so this one is not for me. Definitely one for fans of plumeria.
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This goes on as super salty sea spray and sweet pea. The salty sea spray is too salty on me for a really long time, but eventually the blue musk comes out to smooth over the edges and tame some of the salt. The moonflower is the strongest floral note by the time that happens, and I get more white musk than blue musk after several hours of wear, making this a salty, musky, floral-touched aquatic. I was here for the sweet pea, but the sweet pea didn't remain as a dominant note on me, and the salt was too strong for me in the beginning, so this one is probably not for me.
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Ooh, this is a very lovely candle smoke and beeswax scent swirled with some non-bubblegum-y lotus root and a touch of golden amber. The candle smoke and beeswax remind me of my beloved (Not So) Penitent (Mini) Magdalene, which is one of my favorite beeswax scents from the Lab. Silly me for not blind bottling this because a decant will not be enough.