doomsday_disco

This one was on my wishlist forever, and a very generous forumite frimped me some of this to try. It reminds me of Lambs-Wool (I think it's the roasted apple note), my favorite spiced apple cider scent from the Lab, but with the addition of orange peel, and with a touch of earthiness from the oakmoss and sassafras. I'll be hanging on to this decant and pairing it with my Apple Pie hair gloss in the autumn.

I predominantly get deep resins, cinnamon, and patchouli from this. I'm thinking it's black amber, black oudh, dragon's blood, and patchouli, with just a touch of the leather from the tomes. It is very dark and resinous on me. In the background, I smell the cola-like labdanum and a bit of the black beeswax, but they mainly serve to slightly sweeten the dark resins. This is a little too dark to be in my wheelhouse, as I was hoping for more books and beeswax, but fans of incense-y resins should definitely give this a try.

This is a clean, musky, dry, papery sort of scent. It starts off strongest on the fresher aspects of the scent (papyrus and musks), backed by some sandalwood, with just a hint of the vanilla flower. Over time, the dry, white sandalwood comes out more, lending that dry, papery sort of feel, but I feel like the musks are the star here. They're soft, powdery, and gentle. Mr. Ibis is a little too quiet for me, but if you're looking for an understated, non-offensive scent, this would be a good one to try.

Rich vanilla sandalwood elegantly distorted by oudh, labdanum, scarlet saffron, and pink pepper. In the bottle: The vanilla sandalwood and pink pepper notes stand out to my nose. The combination of the pink pepper mixed with the sweetness is somewhat reminiscent of High Strung Daisies. It's kind of like High Strung Daisies and Mouse's Long and Sad Tale had a baby (but without the floral notes). If I inhale really deeply, I can smell the saffron and a hint of the other resins as well. Wet: The vanilla sandalwood is quite prominent, as well as the pink pepper. (If you aren’t familiar with pink pepper, it’s almost bubblegum-like but with a bit of a peppery kick.) The other resins are present, but they seem to be content with background roles at the moment. (I can smell them more in the crook of my elbow than on my wrist.) Dry: The pink pepper and vanilla sandalwood notes reign on my wrist, but the oudh and labdanum are more prominent there now (and are quite prominent in the crook of my elbow). I also get more of the saffron note in the crook of my elbow. Verdict: I love vanilla and pink pepper like whoa. I also love it when vanilla is paired with resins, so I knew I would love this one. I plan on ordering a back-up bottle when the Yules go live. It is rather feminine and pretty. *ETA (edited to add): a description of pink pepper.

The Shining Ones: snow-spattered lavender, bourbon vanilla, white mint, and white amber. I am testing this before it has had a full day of rest, so I will update my review if my experience is different after it has had more time to settle. Schönperchten is a clean, cool scent. It's very lavender-forward at first, but it becomes more of a snowy scent over time. The white mint is present throughout wear, but this a light variety of mint that adds a coolness to the scent without being intense or having a burning effect on the skin. It becomes a clean, powdery scent on me (but not like baby powder), and I am not sure if that is due to the white amber, the snow, or a combination of those notes. The snow in this is not sweet, slushy, or pine-y, nor is it the really minty variety. I think there could be some white musk mixed with some ozone at play here... otherwise, the white amber is going powdery on me even though I haven't had that issue with it before. The bourbon vanilla just adds a light sweetness to the scent after a while and becomes slightly more noticeable after a few hours of wear, but it is not a main player on me. It ends up being powdery snow, white amber, and white mint with a very soft lavender note after three hours of wear. I really enjoy the lavender and white mint, and I think the scent goes well with Brian's photo. It conjures images of white furs and soft, powdery snow. I just wish the beautiful lavender note had remained as strong as it was initially! I am going to let this rest some more and see if the vanilla comes out more as it ages.

An extremely generous BPALista frimped me a tester of this, and ohhhh man. I am really kicking myself for those times I ignored this when it popped up on Etsy due to the strawberry note. THIS. IS AMAZING. It starts off as the most wonderful cherry fluff accompanied by spun sugar and a slightly lemon-y meringue. The strawberry becomes more noticeable after a few hours but is pretty tame here, like in Love from the Pickman Gallery: A Tremulous Song collection. It's such a delightful floofy candy scent that I cannot stop huffing where I applied it. I don't normally chase down rares, but I may have to make an exception for this one.

Pumpkin Pie Musk is all about the pumpkin spice. It warms the skin, but it doesn't burn. The syrupy pumpkin pie spice rests on a bed of warm musk, which becomes more noticeable over time as the spices calm down. There's a little bit of crust here, but it takes a long time for it to emerge. I would have liked this to be less spice-dominant about more pie-like, but it was fun to try.

This is more about the oudh than the pecan on me, but it's not a poo-dh type of oudh. It's dark and smooth. The pecan here just adds some nuttiness to the scent and takes a few hours to cozy up to the oudh, but it's not pie-like at all. There's no syrupy pecan pie sweetness from these pecans, and no pie crust to be found. While I wish this had been at least a little pie-like, I'm glad it didn't give me flashbacks to Mother Shub's Pumpkin Pecan Treacle Tarts. This was fun to try, but I don't think it's a scent I would gravitate towards.

This smells super similar to Gen Z Feminist Cenobite from the Liliths. In fact, I'd say it's the same scent (bright cherry with a golden amber-dominant chypre on me), but with some added creaminess from the pie note. I'm not really getting any pie crust, but maybe my skin's bringing out more of the cherry, amber, and cream from this scent. Gen Z Feminist Cenobite was a win for me, and this imp is a keeper as well! My favorite of this year's Black Friday imp exclusives for sure!

This is much brighter than I expected, thanks to the wild herbs and the grass being greener than I thought it would be. It does get drier over time, and warmer, thanks to the hay, but it never loses the lemony quality that I'm getting from the herbs. This wasn't originally on my radar, but it was frimped to me, and I'm glad I got to try it. But I prefer Smug Yale Alchemy Lab for dry grasses, and for a nice hay note, Eastern Comma and Hay Moon 2020 are more up my alley.

Pinched With Four Aces starts off with a waxy sweet tobacco, like the kind that tends to be used in wax melts, but then the waxiness goes away, and the coffee husk somehow adds a bit of creaminess to the tobacco, and the cinnamon, while present, is light and never takes over. It ends up being a warm, sweet tobacco scent that's complemented perfectly by the other notes. When I first applied this, I thought I didn't get the hype, but once the waxiness went away, I totally got why it's sought after. It is really nice. And I am so glad this was frimped to me so that I could try it. But I won't try to hunt down more of this, since there is always new stuff coming out to discover and love.

In the decant, I get the eggy french toast-y dough from Please Scream Inside Your Pumpkin Patch pretty strongly, along with some fleshy pumpkin. On me, it actually quickly becomes mostly about that fleshy, peach-like pumpkin (I'm not getting spice from that note, and it kind of makes me of the pumpkin in White Pumpkin Extrait, and the pumpkin/peach combo of Jack without the butteriness) before morphing into a pancake batter scent. It's interesting that that ended up being the final result, because that didn't happen to me with Please Scream Inside Your Heart or Please Scream Inside Your Snake Oil. This is pleasant, but I'll stick with Please Scream Inside Your Snake Oil.

This was cherry plus a smoky tobacco on me that morphed into syrupy red fruits plus smoky tobacco and whatever else is comprising the fuzzy velvet note in this blend. I only got a hint of the almond, far in the background. I prefer more candy-like cherry scents like Lilith Poundcake and Dragon Bouffant, but if a dark cherry scent sounds enticing, this one is worth a try.

Flickering Lights, Fluttering Curtains features a soft, cool, billow-y vanilla (the same one from Zorya P) that's been cozied up to by some sweet floral note -- I'm thinking its the davana. There are touches of white amber and cognac which add some sophistication, and after a while, I get a touch of chamomile, too. I don't get any smoke from this, and the champaca note in this must be different than the varieties I normally come across, because it isn't problematic at all. While I understand the Lace comparisons, there is no tobacco here and not enough cognac for it to truly smell like a "Lace" to me. I think this smells lovely, but I know I wouldn't reach for it over Pediophobia or Zorya P. But I'll be passing on my decant to my mom, as I think she would really enjoy this.

This starts off with the dandelion and dirt, with more dandelion than the Dandelion and Dirt duet had, and without its sharpness. Over time, I get what I believe could be an unlisted baby's breath note and a bit of spiced blood that I swear has a dash of cumin in it along with the clove. It is a soft floral and lightly spiced dirt scent. If Dandelion and Dirt ended up being too sharp for you, this one is worth a try. I like it better than that scent, but I know I won't reach for it over straight-up Wild Dandelion SN.

Florentine iris, white almond, and golden honey. I am using testing this on my skin as opposed to using it in the bath. In the decant: This smells like Dr. Pepper to me. Letting it sit for a few days didn't change that. It still smells like Dr. Pepper to me! If I inhale really deeply, I can detect a trace of the almond. The boy originally thought it smelled like “really good cough syrup.” I don't get that at all, and besides, how could cough syrup smell good? Wet: Dr. Pepper. It starts off that way and stays that way for a really long time. I am not familiar with Florentine Iris, but I think it must be that note giving me that impression. I looked it up online and discovered that it used to be used to flavor soft drinks. Dry: The honey has emerged, and the Dr. Pepper scent seems to have dissipated. It is now a very light floral scent that stays close to the skin. Verdict: Well, that was interesting! I won't be needing a bottle of this one, but I am glad that I was able to try it.

Ohhh man. Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Pie starts off with tons of delicious chocolate pie crust. It's so good that it is making me want one of those pudding pies with an Oreo crust! (This is not an Oreo crust, though!) But then the heavily spiced pumpkin cream cheese rises up, and the pumpkin spice part of it is so strong that it ended up leaving a welt on my skin. (If you have sensitive skin, apply with caution!) So then it is very much about the pumpkin spice for a long time, but when it finally calms down, I get a ton of coconut and chocolate ganache and crust, and it smells like one of those Magic Bars with chocolate and coconut (but with more spice). This smells delicious, and now I want a scent with this chocolate crust note but without the heavy pumpkin spice!

This smells like an apple Jolly Rancher or lollipop with a very light touch of spice. It gets less candy-like after a few hours and has a bit of the effervescence that VetchVesper mentioned. I like it, but I don't love it. (Honeyed Apple is this year's apple win for me.) But if you're looking for a sweet apple scent with very little spice, you should be pleased with this one! (I was actually kind of hoping it would have a little more spice.)

Freshly applied, this smells like cinnamon buns absolutely slathered with icing, and it is glorious. But as it sits on my skin, it becomes less like a realistic cinnamon bun and more about the pumpkin spice syrup backed by a little bit of baked dough. After several hours, the pumpkin spice smells drier and less sweet, like it does in Pumpkin Spice Everything Hair Gloss. I wish this one had stayed like it was when I first applied it -- that icing note is so good! And the end result still smells delicious... just not as delicious as it was initially. I have sensitive skin, and this did not burn the back of my hand or cause any irritation, and somehow it didn't manage to be a cinnabomb despite its name -- so it's worth a try if you're wanting to smell like a cinnamon bun and not a cinnamon broom.

I tested this on the back of my hand (because I have sensitive skin and thought I might need to wash this off due to the heavy spices). It did have a tingling/burning sensation when applied, but it didn't leave any welts -- that said, I would be cautious with this one if you have sensitive skin and would not apply it anywhere like the neck or the crook of the elbows due to the heavy spice content. Spice warning aside, it smells delicious. Sugary, spiced, orange zest-filled bourbon. I get a ton of the orange zest for a long time with the sugar and spices, but the bourbon comes out more over time and eventually ends up being the dominant note after several hours of wear. The other notes are still there -- they're just not as strong as they were initially. I like this, but I'll have to stick to a decant since it is so spice-heavy and wouldn't be able to be slathered. (Too bad -- I love the label art!) ETA: I actually wound up with a partial of this. Now I don't have too much of it, but I also get to appreciate the label art. Huzzah!

Apparently I never reviewed this??? Marshmallow Snow features the sweet, sugared coniferous snow found in scents like Snow Bunny, The First Soft Snow, NYC Snowball Fight, and Frostbitten Zombi, on a bed of marshmallow. It is more about that snow note than the marshmallow, though. I love using this as an after-shower moisturizer and pairing it with my forest scents. Although the scent isn't what I was expecting when I ordered this one, I am really happy to have a bottle!

This Burial prototype is heavy on the vetiver. It's very bold and smoky at first, but becomes more grassy over time. I also get some grapefruit after a while, like zee_zee mentioned. It smells realistic, and I vastly prefer it to the strong, smoky vetiver phase. I didn't get any of the dirt, pine, juniper, or patch that I got from the final version of the scent. I prefer the Burial that made it into the GC over this prototype, but it was fun to get to try this and try to sniff out the notes in it. I wonder how many iterations Burial went through before it made it to its final iteration.

Civil Twilight is a pretty fruity floral scent. The lemon blossom and peach team up with the honeysuckle to create a bright, happy scent. There's only a touch of amber that peeks out after a while -- more of a sparkling amber than a dark one to my nose, but perhaps it is the lemon blossom doing that, as it ends up being the dominant note on me after several hours. I kind of wish the peach had a little more oomph, and that the honeysuckle had remained a main player, but I do think it is pretty, and I'm glad I got a chance to try it!

Astronomical Twilight starts off as a melange of plum, narcissus, and moss on me, with touches of jasmine, lemon, and lavender. The sweet labdanum ends up joining in after a bit, but surprisingly, doesn't manage to take over in this one. The sweet, heady florals and plum end up being the dominant notes on me, with the powdery moss too far behind. This one isn't really in my wheelhouse, but it was nice to get a sniffie to try.

Whoa, this one is sharp. Sharp grapefruit, made even sharper by that metal note that smells cologne-like and somehow crawls up your nostrils and pierces you right behind your eyes, on a bed of sandalwood bones. That's what I get from Search Engine. The blend does soften with wear as the sandalwood comes out more. I'm glad I got to try this one, as I love grapefruit, but sadly, the metal note is not for me.