doomsday_disco

Of the two chocolate-y 4/20 scents I purchased this year, this one is the keeper. It starts off brownie-like with the Lab's weed note, but the weed is very tame here and not skunky. It is not as heavy on the weed as Chocolate Doobsickle, and the chocolate in that one didn't stick around on me. But the chocolate in this sticks around, only it's more like cocoa powder than brownie after sitting on my skin for a while. By the end of the day, I get cocoa powder without any weed. I can see the chocolate truffles rolled in cocoa powder comparison above. And although this is not weed-heavy, there's more weed in this one than the chocolate chunk cookie scent, so it wins in both the chocolate and weed departments.

Full disclaimer: I am not familiar with the scent of purslane. I expected this to be a slam dunk because I love dandelions and petrichor. But the green purslane is pretty prominent with the dandelion, and I'm not sure I would have been able to be like "aww yiss, this is dandelion" if the trio didn't have it in its name. It's not the same dandelion as Wild Dandelion SN to my nose, and it's more perfume-y than expected, although that could be from the purslane interacting with it (though Google says the actual plant doesn't really have an odor). It takes a long time for the petrichor to emerge. Once it does, it slowly creeps out, first being comprised only of the dust, and then later, it's less dusty and more about the Lab's rain note (like in Waiting 2016 and Lavender, Sea Salt, and Rain). Eventually, the rain accord overtakes the other notes, but the floral and green aspects of the scents haven't completely dissipated. I kind of wish the petrichor were the dust and rain all at once, but maybe that will change once this scent has had more time to settle (I tested this after letting it rest for one day). At the moment, this is not a love for me -- I don't think I'd reach for it over my other dandelion scents and or other rain scents. But I'm going to set it aside for a month and see if it just needs more time to settle. I'll update this if my experience and opinion change.

This is in the same scent family as Ava. I slathered on Ava too hard last week and could still smell it the next day (that's how strong it was), and this gives me serious Ava vibes. I'd say it's a sister scent. It has that same sparkly ethereal quality to it, only this has plum instead of mandarin and some soft woods mixed in with the floral notes. I had passed on this because I thought it would be too similar to Berlin Girls 1925 from the list of notes (scent notes on that one are "white amber and vanilla fougere with a touch of coconut, white plum, jasmine sambac, and toasted white almond, and a thin, dry exhale of white tobacco"). This is nothing like that scent despite sharing several notes in common, although they both have a traditional, mainstream-esque perfume vibe. I'm really glad I got to try this (thank you to the kind forumite who frimped this to me!), but fortunately don't need to hunt down more of it as I'm not big on plum and prefer Ava.

This was mostly about the black leather on me, accompanied by a dry apple. I didn't get much honey or amber on my skin, but that's probably due to the prominence of the leather. While this was fun to get to try, I think it would have had to contain a different leather note in order for me to love it.

This is lovely! I get lots of guava and strawberry lip gloss. The lip gloss really does have a glossy aspect to it, but there's also a strawberry jam-like quality to it to prevent it from being completely artificial strawberry to my nose. These two notes really go well together, although the strawberry does overtake the guava eventually on me instead of running hand in hand with it throughout wear. Now, we all know that Beth can do weird scents and could concoct a digestive juices accord and whisk it in here and make us all wonder why we decided to put it on our skin, but I'm not getting anything akin to the bile in Bitch Planet here, so I think, like Please Scream Inside Your Heart, it is a part of the copy. However, I also had my partner try this, who said they got something savory behind the fruit notes, although I couldn't smell what they were talking about. If you love guava, and can do strawberry (that manages not to go plastic, woohoo!), don't be afraid of the digestive juices and give this a try. I think it will be wonderful during the summer months.

This starts off with a blast of pink grapefruit, and there's a burst of coolness that I thought might be a eucalyptus note at first, but it might just have been mint, because that's what I get a hint of after the grapefruit does a disappearing act and leaves me with what I think may be white musk (possibly the satiny aspect described in the scent?), a little cologne-y metal, and a bit of light, cool mint. The metal note in here is understated compared to other metal scents, and I really enjoyed that cool blast with the grapefruit in the beginning (it was such a nice pick-me-up after being sick for a week). I really enjoyed the wet phase of this one, but the grapefruit didn't stick around long enough on me (I was here for the grapefruit)!

Tea Funeral isn't really much of a tea scent on me. I get a ton of white lily, backed by a sweet and somewhat cloying floral note (I'm not sure if that's another lily variety or something else). The tea notes are confined to a background role, unable to overtake the floral notes, but I do get more green tea than black tea in the hints of tea that I do get. I wish this were more tea and less floral. Alas.

I get strawberry candy and dirt that morphs into more of an overripe strawberry and dirt with a hint of perfume-y ivy later on in the day. I agree that there's moss in this dirt. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about strawberry and dirt, although I tend to enjoy dirt scents. Well, while I'm down for apple and dirt, it seems strawberry and dirt are not for me... but it was fun to get to try this.

This is very much a fougere. I couldn't pick out the clove or even the tobacco on me, because it just screamed cologne really loudly on me. But I do agree that there's a green aspect to it, perhaps some moss, and maybe some bergamot as well? I'm putting my decant up for swap as I know I wouldn't wear this over other fougeres that I have in my collection. I wish I had gotten a hefty dose of clove with it!

Fresh applied, I get a big blast of leather in the throw but some patch and nag champa up close. It stays that way for a while, but eventually turns into mostly leather and nag champa (even up close). The leather is a loud, black leather doesn't doesn't feel like a worn variety to me, and the nag champa is tamer than usual. The lightly sugared patch, which is a chewy and more of a brownish black patch to my nose, is lovely, but it just can't hold a candle to that leather. And oddly, even though I love clove and tend to amp it, I get very little of it on me. I so wanted to love this because it is a bat scent, but alas, it's not the bat for me. I think it would have to contain a different kind of leather to be up my alley.

This is a very earthy scent that's prominent on the soil (which I believe is mixed with some moss) throughout wear. It's accompanied by mushrooms and a splash of absinthe during the wet phase (and the absinthe is more green and herbal than anise-y), but over time, it's more about the dirt and resinous incense, but there's still a little absinthe in the background. It's not something I feel the need to grab more of, but it was fun to try. If you're looking for a dirt scent that isn't somber, this might be up your alley.

I saw yuzu and knew I had to try this, but alas, it is not for me. It's primarily white musk infused with lemon leaf and yuzu at first, but then the pineapple quickly overtakes the yuzu, until the lemon leaf reclaims its throne, and along with the white musk, reigns over all. Unfortunately, it has a slight tinge of spicy funk, slightly akin to cumin. I think it's the leaf of the lemon leaf doing that on me. So citrus-infused (but you can tell it's lemon leaf and not straight-up lemon) white musk with an undertone of cumin-like B.O. I think my skin chemistry just doesn't get along with the lemon leaf, because I've had success with all of the other notes.

I enjoy Embalming Fluid, but not The Dodo -- I think that the red musk and the agarwood in that scent combine with the fruit notes to smell like rotting trash on me. So this is the perfect hybrid of the two scents for me, because it doesn't contain every note from The Dodo and just borrows its mango for this Embalming Fluid variant. Great Embalming Dodo starts off strongest on the pineapple on me, but then the mango overtakes it (and it's not a super ripe or juicy one), and then, the coconut. The coconut in here is not a foodie variety and falls more into the beach-y coconut camp, yet never becomes intolerable for someone who is typically coconut averse. There is a squeeze of lime that is more prominent later on in wear than me, but it is never as strong as the other fruit notes. These notes all reside on Embalming Fluid's lemony green tea base, and make a lovely fruit-spiked Embalming Fluid for the summer months. At the moment, I'm not sure if I need a whole bottle, but I'll retest it before it goes away to be sure. In any case, the decant is certainly a keeper!

I immediately thought this was TAL-like before searching for the scent description. The bright ginger and gingergrass are at the front of this blend, backed by some smooth frankincense and a slight powderiness that is probably due to the hay and the tonka. This is very aged, so I didn't pick up on any cardamom, but it's lovely just as it is. Thank you to the wonderful BPALer who sent this my way.

I agree that this is weird. In the vial, I get salt water and a cherry almond vibe. On me, it's very much firmly in the aquatic realm, backed by a light sweetness, and a coolness that's slightly minty without being intense mint. Then it morphs again and while it is still primarily an aquatic on me, it also has something about it that kind of reminds me of something like skin musk? I tested this after it had two days to settle. Maybe it needs more time? At the moment, I am not really thinking taffy when I smell this. But hey, at least there isn't any caramel, which I had feared.

Hay, baby powder, and anise??? It really goes strong on the baby powder once it has had time to settle. Wherefore art thou, honey and oats?! It was fun to get to try this, but it's too much of a powder bomb for my nose.

Take a raspberry Mamba (the chewy, Starburst-adjacent candy), smoosh it into a little bit of chocolate (I think it's more cocoa butter-like than cocoa or chocolate bar-like), and ground it with some white musk, and you've got Millennial Pink. It's not something I need to grab more of, but I do think it executes ruby chocolate pretty well, and there isn't another scent from the Lab like this.

Pannychis is mostly about the jasmine and moonflower on me, although I can smell the ylang ylang and lily as well. This imp is super aged (like, the old flag label art with the witch on the back), so that could be why I'm not getting much in the way of cardamom, resins, or black currant. It's definitely one for fans of night-blooming flowers.

This starts off with slightly sour resins on me (not sure if it is the frank or myrrh doing that, or both), but then it quickly transforms into a clove-dominant scent backed by much smoother resins. I love the clove in this, but I don't get the vanilla or cognac that make me think "Lace!" I'm really glad that I got a chance to try this and will be hanging onto the decant that was gifted to me, but it's not a Lace that I need to hunt down more of (phew!).

This started off really sour on me, and I'm not sure why, infused with some spicy red carnation. Then that sourness goes away and it becomes musk forward (more musk than vanilla -- I don't get any vanilla with it until the end of the day), and it's predominantly a musky lily and rice flower scent on me. I wasn't able to pick out the honeysuckle in this one, and I'm not familiar enough with bluebonnet (despite having a decant of the single note -- I didn't dig it up during testing) to pick that note out. It was really nice to get to try this, but that sour phase in the beginning is too rough for me.

This is mostly sugared nuts and cacao-dusted pastries on me for the longest time, kind of reminding me of my beloved Cacao-Dusted Sugar Skulls Bath Oil that I used up long ago. Then I get hints of butterscotch candy and the apple becomes more prominent, although I wouldn't say it's an apple-forward scent, and the sugar and cacao haven't gone away. I retested this several times trying to decide if I should keep the decant. In the end, I ended up parting with it, because I didn't think the final phase was as awesome as the wet one, and I probably wouldn't reach for this over Weihnachtsmärkte. I do think this is nice, though!

I think Ice Queen may be a cousin of Skadi, but not as good. I mainly get slushy, slightly mentholated snow infused with musk. Since this is very aged, it could be that notes like the spruce and berries were more prominent when they were in their prime, but it's mostly about the snow on me. I'm really glad I got to try this, but I can't see myself reaching for this over Skadi, or other snow scents in my collection.

This is a clean, watery blends that seems more aquatic (sans salt) than snow-like to me. I think there's a musk giving it that smooth, glassy feel, and there's ozone taking it into soap territory. While it's not something I could see myself gravitating toward, I'm glad I got a chance to try it!

To me, this is mostly an effervescent sort of ginger, and more in the line of gingersnaps than gingerbread. I recognize the French vanilla being the root beer-y vanilla from Love's Philosophy. Oddly enough, I don't get the marshmallow cream from this, and it veers into more perfume-y gourmand than straight-up gourmand by the end of the day. I'm not sure which note is doing that! I'm going to let this settle some more and retest it in a few weeks, but at the moment, I feel like it starts off nicely, but doesn't end up drying down into something that rivals my other ginger/gingerbread scents.

This is more perfume-y than I expected. On me, it's mostly about the oak bark throughout wear, backed by a non-earthy patchouli (but it's also not the Lab's fancy white patchouli) and a bit of coffee bean that adds a light bitterness to the scent. I really wish the coffee bean had been more prominent on me. Alas.