doomsday_disco

I bought this bottle thinking it would be a sure win, since I've come to love the Lab's blueberry notes and regret passing on Blueberry, Cream, and Cardamom.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure how I feel about this one, even though I've tested it twice, and I think that's because it's not primarily a blueberry scent on me. This is mostly about the cardamom and whatever comprises the chilled component of this scent (which is not mint!) on my skin. I do smell the cream beneath the cardamom and the cool note, and a little blueberry beneath that, but it doesn't smell like a gourmand scent on me.

I'll set this aside for a month and see how I feel about it then, but at the moment, I wish I got way more blueberry from this!

When I first received this, and when I first applied it a week later, I wondered if I had received Colors of Spring in disguise, because this was much more dewy and fresh than I had expected.

But no, this is the right scent. The plum blossoms are the star of the scent throughout wear on me, with the cherry blossoms settling behind them and being most noticeable during the wet phase of the scent, while the pink lotus is rather understated, but has a nice airy quality to it that's noticeable after several hours of wear. There's no bubblegum-y aspect to the lotus at all, if that concerns you. The plum blossoms are fortunately not doused in any sort of plum note, and they're the source of the fresh, dewy scent I'm getting from this. It takes about four hours before the sugar pops up on me, and I really love the sugar paired with these floral notes. As for the cream, I can smell it in the crook of my elbow by the end of the day, but it's really tame and not buttery or funky whatsoever (like some cream notes can be). That said, it's mostly about the sugared florals (with the plum blossom remaining as the star of the show) after a full day of wear.

I was hoping this would be like Reflected Vulva, but with plum blossoms and lotus instead of sweet pea. It's not a replacement for it, but this is really pretty in its own right, and I'm glad to have a bottle.  

An oil of purification, renewal, and the banishment of stagnation. Use this oil to cleanse your home and the spirit within it simultaneously. Scrub away the accumulated weight of winter: old griefs, old dust, old patterns that no longer serve. Invite the new light in.

Contains: white pine, hyssop, lemon verbena, juniper berry, sweet grass, camphor, angelica root, rosemary, white sage, and yellow bergamot.

Ulmus rubra’s mucilaginous inner bark produces a thick, protective gel that coats and soothes the throat in herbal medicine, and in rootwork this same quality becomes an act of slippery sorcery: thanks to the Doctrine of Signatures, the same mechanism that heals the body becomes armor against the violence of speech as wicked words slide away, accusations refuse to stick, and malicious talk loses its purchase and slides away, harmless.

Governed by Saturn and resonant with the Air element, the domain of communication and the spoken word, slippery elm carries correspondences that reinforce its purpose. Saturn’s cold discipline enforces silence and binds the tongue of the enemy while Air governs every form of speech, rumor, and persuasion. Slippery elm sits at the crossroads of both.

In hoodoo and rootwork, this translates into a robust tradition of anti-gossip and protection work and is a guardian of reputation. Slippery elm is carried in mojo bags, powdered into sachets, burned over charcoal, and sewn into charms. Pinches of the bark placed in the four corners of a room are said to protect the home from evil; a knotted yellow thread tied around the bark and cast into fire is a traditional working to cease all gossip directed at you. Keep the root close to your body wherever two-faced company gathers. In court case work, slippery elm shields against false accusations and slander, helping a difficult case move smoothly toward resolution. 

Slippery elm does not merely silence: it may be worn as a charm to cultivate eloquence, and it loosens the tongue when silence has become a trap or a curse, granting fluency and persuasion to those who carry it while denying the same to their enemies. 

A nutty, earthy-scented root with a whisper of benzoin, bourbon vanilla, and slippery, sweet sugar cane.

A doobie-tinged rendition of BPAL’s classic Smokestack scent. Greenish flue gasses belch from colossal steel and concrete monoliths, forming bloated clouds in the dusk-dark sky.

Creosote, coal, sticky resin, industrial waste, and a bellow of mary jane.

Folks, I’m telling you,

birthing is hard

and dying is mean-

so get yourself

a little loving

in between.

― Langston Hughes, Advice

A garden enclosed is my sister.

– Song of Solomon, 4:12

If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

– Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Nets of jewels, exquisite fragrant banners,

Brilliant lamps hung like clouds;

Covered with various decorations,

The world-transcending true knower sits within.

– The Flower Garden Sutra

Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage.

– Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Shimmer sativa green jelly!

All of our nail polish is hand crafted by Haute Macabre!

A fluttering tempest of black oud, indigo poppy, pale lavender, blue lilac, white tea, ambergris accord, and sweet pea.

Frances Macdonald
 

Crushed dandelion stem, a riot of pansies, warm bare skin, sheer vanilla silk, cherry and apricot blossoms, wild strawberries, wild roses, sun-warmed grass, and a gust of white clover honey.

Frederick Sandys
 

Ylang Ylang and White Sugar.

Passionflower and Wild Plum.

Ti Leaf and Elizabeth Root.

Honey Dust and Black Balsam.

Fossilized Amber and Wildflower Nectar.

Calla Lily and Purple Musk.

Flower Moon is a vision of nocturnal tenderness: pale ylang-ylang and moonflower absolute unfurl against sun-baked earth that is cooling under springtime moonlight. Flickers of white agave nectar and fragile, luminous stargazer lily exhale over a whisper of dark amber and wild honey, like sweet pollen dusted onto velvet wings.

Batty black cherry jelly with micro holographic glitter!

All of our nail polish is hand crafted by Haute Macabre!

I'm going to need several bottles of this one.

I've been having some nightmares lately after the passing of my eldest cat, and I haven't had any nightmares on the nights I've slathered this oil on my arms.

It's a really comforting lavender scent. I definitely get the lavender, vanilla, lemon verbena, and the star anise. Although I typically detest star anise or anything licorice-adjacent, the other notes in this blend really help smooth it over to the point that I am not bothered by the anise in this. And the lemon verbena isn't too much at all -- it just adds a bit of brightness and lifts the scent a little.

This is definitely among my favorite TAL oils, and I'm so thankful to have it. Now, to upgrade my decant to 3-4 bottles with the next Lunacy drop...

A psychedelic evocation: electric lime rind and green tea absolute explode, sharp and strange, into a heart of violet-tinged wild plum while poppy smoke and ancient amber twist through black cherry incense, infernal red musk, and sugared nag champa.

Lightly-honeyed skin musk bathed in pale incense smoke, a dusting of ritual chalk, black fig, clove bud, ambrette seed, and tobacco flower.

This smells like orchid and patchouli. The patchouli adds some earthiness, while the orchid has a powdery quality to it that's not like baby powder whatsoever -- it is a gentle powderiness that reminds me of Death Cap. On me, the orchid remains the dominant note throughout wear, but the rooty aspect of the scent cozies right up to it.

Definitely one for orchid fans who are also fans of earthy scents.