doomsday_disco

This goes on a little weird -- it's like the pith from the lemon peel is the strongest note out of the gate, followed by some almond and some snowy oak. The lemon pith note is quickly smoothed over by the almond, which is a nutty almond that doesn't have cherry almond associations to my nose. The lemon amber ends up being the dominant note after the almond calms down, along with some bright, ozone-y snow and oak. I'm not getting a ton of frankincense or cedarwood from this, although perhaps they will emerge with more time to settle. I only get something stony and brick-like when I put my nose right up against my arm and really go looking for it. Otherwise, it's mostly lemony amber sweetened by a bit of almond on a bed of snowy oak. I had to get this one because my boyfriend and I traveled around Germany trying to see as many Otto Dix paintings as possible when we lived there. I wasn't sure about this scent in the bottle, but don't let the bottle sniff scare you away, because it is much nicer on the skin! But my boyfriend, who loves almond scents, already declared this a winner from the bottle sniff and didn't think it was bitter at all, so it was destined to be a keeper.

Coconut lovers will rejoice, but flormand lovers will weep, because this is mostly a coconut cream party, backed by white chocolate, which only makes the scent richer. It is indeed the same coconut cream used in Giljagaur from the Yule Lad collection (I deathmatched these and found Giljagaur to be significantly less rich and coconut-y), but there's nothing keeping it in check here. The spice from the clove mixed with the coconut cream smells a little odd at first, but it eventually settles down. There's a bit of spice and the feel of smooth pink petals from the carnation, but there's so much coconut cream on me that it's more foodie than flormand. I'll let this bottle settle for a few weeks and then retest it, but I was really hoping for less coconut and more carnation. ETA: Added deathmatch info and wanted to note that I swapped this one since it is so coconut-heavy on me.

This started off so wonderfully. It was all lemon cake with a cracked lemon glaze with some soft honey and candied florals in the background. I was swooning. Then it became a coconut party on me, and coconut remains a main player on me after several hours of wear, even though it is not a listed note. The coconut, combined with the candied flowers (which are smooth and indistinguishable and not high-pitched whatsoever, nor are they powdery -- I couldn't tell you what they are, but I could list many that I'm not getting), end up dominating the scent after a while, along with some creaminess that must be from the vanilla cream. Perhaps that's where the secret coconut hails from. I absolutely adore the lemon cake phase of this scent but wish I hadn't gotten a ton of coconut later on. I'm going to let this one settle for a few more weeks and come back to it, because that lemon cake is everything.

This one starts off heavy on the sake and pine, but the sake actually ends up becoming the dominant note. It's very bright and has a lemony aspect to it with a boozy edge. Underneath, there's a slight Ricola herbal cough drop vibe that I think is the snow note mingling with the pine. That might scare some folks off, but it's actually more comforting than medicinal! But that vibe isn't long lasting, and the pine ends up retreating after some time. It leaves behind the bright sake and some melting snow. It's not like a lot of the other snow notes the Lab has used as of late and is more like a watery musk with a touch of soft mint... which makes sense for a melting Snow Woman. I really enjoyed the wet phase of this when it was sake and pine dominant, but I wish the pine had stuck around longer! I'm going to let this bottle rest for a few weeks and come back to it, but I may have to scent locket it to capture that initial burst of sake and pine... because that combo is super uplifting every time I sniff it.

On me, this is mostly a light Snake Oil with its musk and spices and perhaps the ghost of coffee. I can smell the pumpkin spiced coffee in the bottle, more bitter coffee than sweet, but the pumpkin spice latte note is very subdued on my skin. There's a light sweetness after several hours of wear, but I think that's due to some whipped cream, because I'm not getting Snake Oil's vanilla. I think this is nice, but I'm hoping that the coffee will be more noticeable on me with some age!

I didn't have hopes for this going in with orris being the first ingredient listed, and I was right to be wary. It's a powder bomb on me with the orris being the prominent note throughout wear and some sandalwood and leather being thrown into the orris powderfest. My skin just would not let awesome things like the citrus and vanilla notes to peek out.

2006 version. The notes: a mishmash of snow, dirt, Icelandic moss, marsh felwort, and the smushed petals of buttercups and moorland spotted orchids, with the barest hint of the scent of pilfered Christmas pastries. What I get: Mentholic snow (and a bit of an undertone of chapstick!?) that shifts into spearmint-y snow and then some evergreen and possibly benzoin-infused Snow Bunny-esque snow and some moss. What I am not getting: dirt, flowers, or pastries. ? Clearly I have bad luck with snow + pastry scents. (Looking at you, too, Frostbitten Knave of Hearts.) I so wanted the pastry.

I got a decant of this for its purpose but am only reviewing the scent here. This goes on as medicinal rose on me... like, if you had rose-infused cough syrup. It stays that way for some time but eventually veers out of medicinal territory, although it's absolutely straight-up ROSE on me throughout wear. There are traces of the other notes, which I can detect if I go looking for them in the background (mainly the spruce and woods), but mostly, it's a rose party.

So I'm getting a bold, somewhat sour resin, perhaps a sour variety of labdanum, with a blast of pepper that is strongest when freshly applied, and perhaps a bit of golden musk and a metallic note. I feel like it would fit in with the Phoenix Steamworks line of scents.

Decant of #55. This was mostly a traditional cologne on me. I could detect moss and bergamot, and near the end of the day, there was some noticeable amber as well. It was pleasant, but I know I wouldn't reach for it over some other cologne-y scents in my collection.

This features the vanilla cream from Love's Philosophy, which is a french vanilla cream, for those familiar with the Lab's French Vanilla SN. It's infused with some jasmine and a bit of anise. Both are more behaved than they usually are on me, so this is still worth a try if those notes are iffy for you. But I know I prefer this vanilla with the saffron of Love's Philosophy, so I'm letting go of my decant. I am glad I got to try it, though.

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.