Wwindy

Wet, this comes on strong with the musk! It's an Ivanushka-like sort of musk, but a little more masculine than Ivanushka was for me. As it dries down, it picks up an almost incense-like aspect in combination with the heavy musk. The greenery isn't as prominent as I was expecting; what's here are hints of an ancient forest, cool and almost austere. I agree with a previous poster that there's a note lurking somewhere in this that reminds me a little of Dublin. Nice, but verges perilously close to "too butch" on me.

Oof. I get hints of almond, cherry, and cinnamon from this... but vetiver kills blends dead on my skin, and indeed its musty funk beats everything else here into the ground.

I agree on the green-gold aspect of this blend! I don't get any eucalyptus, though; that note tends to amp tremendously on me, so either there isn't any or else my decant missed out on that part. I *think* there might actually be a drop of frankincense here -- I tested the frankincense SN last night and this reminds me a little of that, with an added touch of lemon and cedar.

Yep, almost all lemony verbena here. I'm surprised -- the amber and frankincense don't seem to be showing up at all. I'm curious to see whether the deeper notes will come out more with aging.

Thai green curry. Seriously. I think I'm getting almost entirely ginger and lemongrass out of this, and it smells like Thai food. Fascinating -- and delicious! -- but probably not what I want for my personal scent. ETA: OK, because I embody the definition of insanity I've tried this a couple more times, and for some reason a little more complexity is showing up on my skin now. It still starts out like Thai green curry, but with little drops of rosewater -- and over time the frankincense comes forward. I'm still not getting much by way of orange out of this. I have to admit I kinda like the resinous, yet still bright and refreshing frankincense-ginger-lemongrass combo!

So, the thing to remember here is that pimento berry is just another name for allspice. Yes, technically a berry, but really... ALLSPICE! That means an extra-heavy dose of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper, or at least their scent-alikes. Indeed, on me this winds up as very spicy, slightly evergreen (from the cistus labdanum helped along by the moss and sage, I think) potpourri, with overtones of dried ginger. I can absolutely see the Christmas tree/potpourri comparisons. Fortunately, the patchouli and myrrh add a little bit of depth and... um... non-potpourri-ness. The "smoky vanilla" is faint now, but I can pick it up if I try -- I suspect that aspect will get stronger with age.

What a beautiful, exotic scent! Fresh on, I do get the warm oil/wax scent, but that doesn't last long on my skin, and it's not overtly burnt or smoky -- it's more of a notion of small flames in the background. What comes out after that is a slightly floral incense with a lovely rounded, rich, spicy quality; the "floral" aspect is hard to pin down, and may well be coming from the nag champa mentioned by other reviewers. I'm not identifying any specific fruit notes, which is fine by me! I do agree with bheansidhe about the "scraps of cassia bark," because my husband said "cinnamon candy" as soon as he sniffed this. A lovely, warm blend -- I agree that this is a keeper. ETA: I had a good slather of this yesterday, and after it had been on for a number of hours and was starting to fade, there was something about it that reminded me just a bit of Mme. Moriarty. So yes, maybe a touch of plum! ETA yet again because I have not swooned nearly enough over this blend: This is going to sound hokey, but this gorgeous scent makes me feel both loving and loved -- I feel like my best self when I have Daya on. I *adore* this scent.

When first applied, this comes up mostly as nuts with traces of warm, deep wood -- but after a few minutes of wear, my skin seems to amp something that smells like bad cheese! I've tried twice and can't keep this on more than about 15 minutes before I have to go scrub up; whatever that bad note is, it's *bad* on me. I get no musk, no florals, no nothing... just nuts and a faint rancid whiff. (For reference: The Hesperides did something vaguely similar with my chemistry.)

Yum! To me this smells a little like a cross between Eggnog Latte and El Dia de Reyes: spicy chocolate coffee, with added nuts! It's a little less creamy/eggy than Eggnog Latte and not boozy at all, but the overall impression is definitely related. I'm getting the same strong blast of cinnamon other reviewers have reported; I don't, however, pick up much by way of the pumpkin except for a slightly buttery aspect -- which is just fine by me. *Huge* throw on this; I actually applied a fair amount less oil than I usually do, and am still making my whole office smell like pumpkin spice latte!

Dragon's blood turns into a strong lilac-like floral on me, so the heavy dose of sandalwood here pretty much winds up just barely balancing that out. The sandalwood holds its own more strongly on my wrists and the backs of my hands, but the dragon's blood wins in my cleavage or the crooks of my elbows. The final result goes back and forth between incense-y sandalwood and a lilac/lily combination with a faint tinge of soap. Not bad, but I think just a tiny bit too flowery for me -- people who get more resinous qualities from dragon's blood will likely not have that problem!

Yikes, my first BPAL cat pee experience!!! I had heard rumors about that happening with blackberry for some people, but had never smelled it myself before... After application, when I put my nose very close to my skin I could just barely pick up whiffs of what should have been a pretty combination of light floral orange blossom and green mint, but in the throw Couple Consulting an Enpon smelled EXACTLY like cat pee. I waited about 15 minutes before I gave up and washed my test patch off -- I guess it's possible the blend might have shifted if I'd given it more time, but I just couldn't cope with eau de fresh kitty accident. It's too bad -- as mentioned, I could catch olfactory glimpses of what this scent should be like, and it seems like it should be rather pretty on someone whose chemistry plays nicely with it.

I'm another one who finds this similar to Glowing Vulva. On my skin, it's almost entirely oak and vanilla -- a very rich, deep, saturated blend, not particularly sweet. I must really be amping this unevenly -- I don't get any fruit or ginger or even sandalwood at all. I like it, but the strong oak/non-sweet vanilla combination does come off as almost a little butch on me.

I thought I would really like this, but it goes both soapy and a little plasticky on me. I'm still hunting for my perfect green BPAL, it seems! ETA: Scratch that! I don't know if it was aging or a skin chemistry change (I'm inclined towards the latter for various reasons), but... Carlin is now exactly the deep leafy green scent I was hoping it would be. I really like that it's *just* greenery and nothing extraneous -- it's not grassy, not floral, just that rich, lovely greenery. Beautiful.

After the initial blast of black licorice, this winds up reminding me a little of Tom's of Maine fennel toothpaste (in a good way)! The licorice softens and acquires sweeter, more floral overtones over time -- not too much time, though, as this is definitely not a long-wear scent on me. It's interesting while it lasts, though!

devilot, have you tried Melainis (teak, frankincense, caramel, oakmoss, red currant, labdanum absolute, bitter clove, patchouli, star anise, tobacco, and black musk)? If you haven't, you should! It's kind of a scary blend when wet, but once it dries down... wooo!

I think it violates one of the Laws of Nature (Lamia and I shall not like the same scent, lest the universe implode!), but... I really like this. I don't get a huge amount of smoke from my decant; mostly I get clove and deep resins. It's almost like a cross between Mort de Cesar and Schwarzer Mond -- yum! Nice wear length, too, and a good amount of throw.

*whimper* aaayyyiiiieeee, orange zest up my nose! I thought the amber and myrrh might make this work for me, but this blend is just about all SUPER SHARP CITRUS + MARIGOLD as far as I can tell, with maybe a hint of dry crisp leaves in the background. I agree with Venneh about the wood polish association, and also possibly citrus cleaning fluid. The citrus calms down a little as this dries -- it's still just too much orange for me, though.

Wow, this one is weird. It's definitely smoky, but a pungently chemical kind of smoke rather than bonfire or tobacco -- very strong and harsh to my nose. In fairness, I don't like vetiver, but this seems much more artificial to me than the Lab's usual vetiver notes. My husband says it smells to him exactly like the spray used to smell when he would ride his bicycle behind the DDT truck as a young boy! (I know, I know, it was a different era...) So, if there's anyone out there who knows what DDT smells like, that's what my husband is comparing this to. I should also note that the oil itself seems thick and slow to dry on my skin.

It isn't GC, but The Sportive Sun is a warmer, brighter version of Labores Solis -- and it's usually fairly easy to track down.

If I hadn't come here and seen other reviews mentioning florals, I would've thought I had the wrong oil in this imp! I get virtually no greenery at all. The overwhelming impression here is strong white florals -- I'm guessing gardenia and something else I can't quite pinpoint. This is much too flowery for me. Very disappointing, as I was really hoping for the green and herbal aspects.

I love this so much I'm not sure I can even write coherently about it... The two dominant notes on my skin are the myrrh, warm and velvety and rich, and the fir, which is not fake-Christmasy at all, it's a very natural, deep, cool, foresty scent. The combination of the two almost *shimmers* in my nose: it's like the scent vibrates back and forth between those two extremes. Like one of those silks with different colors in the warp and weft, you know? where it changes its overall color depending on how you look at it? Rounding out the myrrh and fir is a musky incense blend with woody traces. The overall impression is very warm and exotic, but not overpowering and definitely not "perfumey" -- it's just this complex gorgeous evocative smell. There were people walking around saying "What smells so good?" the first time I wore this in company... turned out it was me! :love!:

Yikes, something in here really doesn't like me! My experience was much like Lamia's. In the imp, this smelled so strongly off to me -- yes, like stinky cheese, or something rotting -- that I almost couldn't bear to put it on my skin. Once I bucked up and put a dab on, I got overpowering wintergreen Lifesavers mixed with a hint of that foul funky whatever and a very, very faint trace of apples. *sigh* So not for me. So very, very not for me. And while this blend isn't quite as hideous on my skin, sniffing it in the imp is right up there with Badger in my tiny little file of SERIOUSLY BAD BPAL experiences.

In the bottle this definitely has a very strong hot, sandy, desert vibe to it. On my skin, it's gentler and less strident. I get raisins (but not grapes -- there's no overt fruitiness), sandalwood, lavender, and patchouli... with maybe a tiny bit of red musk. Sort of a strange combination, but it really works!

This oil smells *amazing* when I pour it out. I got all swoony over Zenobia when I took that first whiff of her... and then, like ravenfeathers, I wound up with plastic on my skin. *sigh* I think the calamus must be the problem note -- I'm not really familiar with it, but everything else here usually behaves just fine on me! I mostly use the bath oils like body lotion, but clearly I have to try something else with Zenobia, because I'd really like to be able to hang on to that initial fantastic rich resiny scent...

So who's wearing Labores Solis today in honor of the eclipse? I am! I love it when I can pull out exactly the right BPAL for a particular day/occasion.