doomsday_disco

Coyote Moon is mostly about the amber fur on me, which reads as an amber-infused brown musk to my nose. I get touches of the desert notes in the background, with the sage notes being the most prominent among them, and a hint of the pepper. However, none of these notes can ever compete with the amber fur, and that's mostly what I'm left with by the end of the day.

I layered the duets I grabbed decants of with the moon, and these were the results on my skin:

Layered with Cacao Dust and Ashes -- This amps up the cacao dust in the duet, smooths over the ash, and makes the moon gourmand-adjacent. 

Layered with Palo Santo and White Amber -- I get lots of cool palo santo and white amber throughout wear, hovering above the amber fur of the lunacy scent.

Layered with Vanilla Incense and Roasted Tonka Bean -- The vanilla incense and tonka combine with the amber fur in a way that remind me of the Lab's hay note. This was my favorite of the layering experiments.

I enjoy this scent, but it is the desert elements I enjoy most about it, and I wish that they got to shine more on my skin. Still, I need more desert-y scents in my collection, and I do like layering this with its duets, so I'll spend more time with it and see if I need more before it goes away.

I like this one! There's no champaca incense or any strong headshop-y incense to this, nor is it particularly resinous. It's like a lightly smoked non-gourmand vanilla and warm tonka that's somehow a bit brighter than one would expect when sniffing it.

When layered with Coyote Moon, it sweetens up the lunacy scent and combines with the fur in a way that reminds me of the Lab's hay note.

I need to spend more time with this to see if I need more than my decant, but in any case, the decant is definitely a keeper! (And if you have both scents, definitely try layering them!)

Blushing ruby chocolate swirling with vanilla, spices, and the dark, silky sweetness of Snake Oil.

I love this one.

The palo santo in this reminds me of the palo santo in TAL Security Blanket, which has a very cool feel to it, and it pairs perfectly with the desert sage note. It's not the same as the purple sage note in Wolf Moon: Purple Sage and Pinon Hair Gloss, but I feel like if you like the sage vibe in that one, and enjoy palo santo, that you will enjoy this scent as well. It's a very comforting scent.

I absolutely need a bottle.

The ash in this duet makes me think of standing next to a campfire as the ashes flit through the air and make their way toward the ground. The cacao note cozies up to it, but the ash is definitely stronger on my skin. There's no sludgy cacao here (which I would have loved), if anyone is curious, and the scent itself has great throw and can be smelled without me even having to hold my arm up to my nose (although I still did that for testing purposes).

I like this, but I don't think I need more of this duet. (I think I prefer Baby's First Krampuslauf.) But I'm looking forward to layering this with its moon to see how that goes.

Les Pleurs is mostly about the myrrh on me, and it's a dark myrrh, not the soft, powdery, cuddly variety from scents like Bastet. The stone note is next in prominence, making the scent seem even darker. It takes a long time for the beeswax note to show up on me, and although it eventually emerges and adds a bit of welcome sweetness to those very bold notes, there's not enough of it here to think of this as a beeswax scent. There's no acrid smoke note or vetiver in the blackened amber accord, so I wouldn't let that descriptor put you off of trying this if the other notes appeal.

This isn't something I need more of, but if you are looking for a dark resin and stone scent, this might be up your alley.

I concur with the above review! This is Creamsicle perfection and my favorite of the rarities and b-sides that have been released over the past year. The mandarin isn't bitter, medicinal, soapy, etc. -- anything that could go wrong with a mandarin note is not present here. The vanilla really is like a billowy cloud that just floofs out over time, complementing the mandarin perfectly.

It's already in the 90 degree range here in March (UGH), so I've already taken it upon myself to order a bottle. I couldn't risk this orange and vanilla goodness selling out!

I just really, really need it to be spring already. A crisp, green, and snappy vegetable perfume.

Guiseppe Arcimboldo
 

Frost-tinged hay and soil against a backdrop of smoked apricot amber glass.

William Bell Scott
 

Democracy will not come
Today, this year
  Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.

I have as much right
As the other fellow has
 To stand
On my two feet
And own the land.

I tire so of hearing people say,
Let things take their course.
Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I’m dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.

     Freedom
     Is a strong seed
     Planted
     In a great need.

     I live here, too.
     I want freedom
     Just as you.

– Langston Hughes

A scent for community, for communal power, for collective justice; a fragrance of sustenance, comfort, resilience, justice, and the stubborn belief that sweetness belongs to the living, here and now. Crusty brown bread still warm from the oven, golden wheat, clover honey, sweet butter, oat milk, chamomile, and a soft breath of vanilla.

A smoky, windswept gust of tobacco flower, vetiver, olibanum, black oud, and a blotch of red orchid.

Léon Spilliaert
 

An oil to draw harmony and calm wherever it is applied. Infused with soothing herbs and resins, this oil works to keep your home, workplace, or sacred space free from conflict. Anoint doorways, windows, or your pulse points to settle arguments, ease frayed nerves, and encourage understanding between people. Perfect for moments when tempers run high, Peacekeeper helps restore balance, calm emotions, and foster an atmosphere of respect and mutual cooperation.

Contains: frankincense, lilac, lemon, rose absolute, vervain, lavender, and orris.

Zante Currants and Lime.

Wild Strawberries and Inky Musk.

Pink Strawberry and Black Champaca.

Kyphi and Sweet Cream.

Dried Strawberries and Dragon’s Blood Resin.

Blackberries and Coconut Cream.

Petal pink jelly that shifts to spring green and explodes with holographic micro glitter.

A sinister harvest, a bowl of freshly picked berries left as an offering beneath unsettling lime-tinged moonbeams, their juice staining pale hands red: crushed wild strawberries, night-blooming datura, goblin’s gold moss, dried berry incense, sticky honey, and a slow bleed of blackcurrant sap over cold white musk.

Since 2026 contains a whopping THREE Friday-the-13ths (Fridays-the-13th?) we’ve decided to call in some misfortune-warding reinforcements. Each version of this year’s 13 perfume oil will be accompanied by its own bonus luck charm: a free 1/32oz imp of an original perfume oil inspired by lucky finds from our seasonal crossroads wanderings.

Those who collect all three will end up with a veritable bracelet’s worth of lucky charms to treasure and wear as needed!

March’s charm: FORSAKEN ELEPHANT PUPPET.

A little gray elephant puppet discovered on a Minneapolis sidewalk, carried forward as a guardian of small miracles.

Well-loved gray cotton, clover honey, kettle corn, and soft white amber.

(The review thread for the 13 that belongs with this scent can be found here.)

This month, I experimented with a new sub-concept for 13: Friday the 13th in a forgotten library, with 13 notes that evoke the search for lost stories and the desperate drive to preserve knowledge before it fades into oblivion. Cacao threaded through yellowed paper, cracked leather bindings, spilled ink, black tea, tobacco leaf, cedar shelves, black mahogany, violin bow resin, clove bud, incense smoke, coffee bean, papyrus, and myrrh.

13 is significant, whether you consider it lucky, unlucky or just plain odd. Many believe it to be unfortunate…

… because there were 13 present at the Last Supper.
… Loki crashed a party of 12 at Valhalla, which ended in Baldur’s death.
… Oinomaos killed 13 of Hippodamia’s suitors before Pelops finally, in his own shady way, defeated the jealous king.
… In ancient Rome, Hecate’s witches gathered in groups of 12, the Goddess herself being the 13th in the coven.

Concern over the number thirteen echoes back beyond the Christian era. Line 13 was omitted form the Code of Hammurabi.

The shivers over Friday the 13th also have some interesting origins:

… Christ was allegedly crucified on Friday the 13th.
… On Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrests of Jaques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and sixty of his senior knights.
… In British custom, hangings were held on Fridays, and there were 13 steps on the gallows leading to the noose.

To combat the superstition, Robert Ingersoll and the Thirteen Club held thirteen-men dinners during the 19th Century. Successful? Hardly. The number still invokes trepidation to this day. A recent whimsical little serial killer study showed that the following murderers all have names that total thirteen letters:

Theodore Bundy
Jeffrey Dahmer
Albert De Salvo
John Wayne Gacy

And, with a little stretch of the imagination, you can also fit ”˜Jack the Ripper’ and ”˜Charles Manson’ into that equation.

More current-era paranoia: modern schoolchildren stop their memorization of the multiplication tables at 12. There were 13 Plutonium slugs in the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. Apollo 13 wasn’t exactly the most successful space mission. All of these are things that modern triskaidekaphobes point to when justifying their fears.

For some, 13 is an extremely fortuitous and auspicious number…

… In Jewish tradition, God has 13 Attributes of Mercy. Also, there were 13 tribes of Israel, 13 principles of Jewish faith, and 13 is considered the age of maturity.
… The ancient Egyptians believed that there were 12 stages of spiritual achievement in this lifetime, and a 13th beyond death.
… The word for thirteen, in Chinese, sounds much like the word which means “must be alive”.

Thirteen, whether you love it or loathe it, is a pretty cool number all around.

… In some theories of relativity, there are 13 dimensions.
… It is a prime number, lucky number, star number, Wilson Prime, and Fibonacci number.
… There are 13 Archimedean solids.

AND…
… There were 13 original colonies when the United States were founded.

Says a lot about the US, doesn’t it?

_ _ _

Since 2026 contains a whopping THREE Friday-the-13ths (Fridays-the-13th?) we’ve decided to call in some misfortune-warding reinforcements. Each version of this year’s 13 perfume oil will be accompanied by its own bonus luck charm: a free 1/32oz imp of an original perfume oil inspired by lucky finds from our seasonal crossroads wanderings.

Those who collect all three will end up with a veritable bracelet’s worth of lucky charms to treasure and wear as needed!

March’s charm: FORSAKEN ELEPHANT PUPPET (review thread located here).

This lunacy scent is mostly about the honeyed amber on me. I get touches of the wool, beeswax, and sandalwood, but none of the other notes can compete with the force of that honeyed amber.

However, when layered with some of its duets, I found that all of the duets always remained on top of Terrible Moon's honeyed amber base. So even though I layered a drop of Terrible Moon with a drop of each of the following duets, the duet was always the stronger blend:

Cardamom and Black Amber

Pistachio and Vanilla Buttercream

Steamed Milk and Marzipan

I prefer it layered with the two gourmand duets since it takes it more out of cozy resin territory and adds that extra sweetness that I enjoy.

This moon isn't a scent I need more of, but it was fun to get to try it and layer it with some of its duets.

This duet features an almond-y sort of pistachio note, backed by the sweet vanilla buttercream. Unlike almond notes, which tend to be fleeting, though, the pistachio sticks around and hovers above the buttercream base.

I like this, but I think just my decant will be enough.

Cherimoya, green tea, lemon blossom, sweet crimson berries, and creamy white sandalwood.