LizziesLuck

We TOTALLY don't use this thread enough. I think my favourite combo that I randomly stumbled upon is Dana O'Shee with Dead Leaves, Patchouli, Honey and Warm Musk HG. I wore Hay Moon with Black Vanilla and Cardamom HG the other day - cardamom heaven!

A report from the land of dreams: honeyed patchouli, Madagascan black pepper, fossilized amber oil, beeswax absolute, massoia bark, Egyptian myrrh, and a thin thread of blood-red saffron. Wet: Mmmm. So unique so far! Hard to pin down. It's sweet. And there's some really subtle earthy patchouli. Intriguing. Dry: This is primarily a honey and beeswax scent on me, which I love! The patchouli is just a hint in the background. I can't really pick out the other notes, but there is certainly something more to it, giving it depth and interest. I really like it!

Wet: Lavender and vanilla ice cream. Interesting combo! Snuggly smelling for sure. More buttery than I generally like, though. Mmm, but the lavender is amping up and balancing that out nicely. This is lovely. Dry: This smells like bedtime comfort in a bottle I may have a new favourite bedtime scent. The honey musk really comes out on dry-down, and it's lovely. Glad I nabbed some of this!

A lovely generous lady provided me with a generous tester of this! It's fresh out of the mail, but I wanted to share it with another friend to test, so I am giving it a whirl now! Wet: Yep, patchouli and wildflowers! Almost like there's some wildflower honey in there too! The patchouli is dry and earthy, not at all gnarly or chewy to my nose. The flowers are slightly green - they really do bring to mind the imagine of a field of flowers growing wild. This is really pretty. Not sure how ME it is, but so so pretty. Dry: Lovely. Gentle patchouli, lovely flowers. Doesn't go even a hint soapy. Smells sun-warmed. So pretty! This might actually be a good "gateway" patchouli scent for those who are nervous about it. If you like florals and are wanting to try some patchouli that's less "in your face" than this might be a great place to start. Personally, I love it, but am still not sure it's "me". So glad I got to try it though!

Wet: Dead leaves and ashes. So realistic! But not pleasant. Smells like acrid bonfire smoke - the kind you get when you throw something you shouldn't into the fire. Blech. Dry: This is truly terrible on me - all bitter dead leaves and ashes. I like dead leaf notes with something sweet - I thought the amber would balance this on me, but no such luck. Not for me!

Wet: Wet cardboard. And soap. Ugh. These florals are not good on me. Dry: Somewhat nondescript floral, similar to lily, but a bit sweeter. OK, but it's not wowing me.

Wet: Earth, and something sweet and bubble gummy - like lotus. Maybe some oakmoss? Interesting, but not something I want to wear, at this stage. Dry: There's almost something minty about this - it's a really weird combo with the dirt note and the somewhat sickly sweet floral. Overall, this is just not for me.

Wet: Mint and soap. Smells like my grandparents' bathroom at their old farm house (tooth paste and fancy bar soap!). That's seriously not a terrible thing, it's making me nostalgic and I'm enjoying it. Dry: Somewhat generic aquatic. There was a brief stage where I thought, "hmmm, this is aquatic, but I don't hate it" but that passed, and this ended up in headache territory. Not good on me. I loved it though, for that moment when it was wet and it took me at to my childhood and sleepovers at Grandma and Grandpa's farm.

Wet: Usually pine smells like cat pee on me, but this isn't terrible. A very realistic forest scent, actually. I would love it as a room scent, even if it's not something I want to wear. Dry: It gets fairly sweet, but stays a nice true forest scent. I don't really want to smell like tree, but I have a friend who does, so I'll pass this on to him.

Not really expecting to like this, but I love trying everything! And it does sound interesting. Wet: What? This is sweet, totally pleasant, and smells mostly like really expensive cologne. It's really nice! A bit smoky, yes, but I expected sour grossness, and that's not what I got. This smells good. There's actually a weird, almost maple syrup type note in there. Very sweet and rich. Yummy. Huh, Who would have thought? Dry: Maple, with hints of wood smoke. So far from what I expected! It smells like a sugar bush, lol. I like it. Not sure I want to smell like it, but I like it. I would LOVE it as a room scent!

Wet: Mmm! I don't usually like apple scents much (or at least not as perfume, I love them as room scents). I'm actually not hugely crazy and DBR either. But somehow, together, they're working for me. Momentarily. Then it starts to smell like artificial apple flavoured bubble gum. Blech! Dry: This settles and fades down to a faint, sweet, DB and apple scent. It's ok, but I still find apple is just not something I want to smell like.

Wet: Cinnamon hot hearts! Whoa! Like, a lot of cinnamon, very sweet, with something musky and animalic underneath. Weeeeiird. But sort of appealing? Dry: Sweet, soft cinnamon. On me, it's actually pretty similar to Sin without the patchouli. I actually don't find it at all masculine, but very unisex. I do like it, but I think I like Sin better, and they're too similar for me to justify having both.

Wet: Benzoin and woods are most prominent. It's sweet and warm and comforting, kind of like a hug. Really nice so far, but not at all what I expected! The white amber and balsam are combining to smell almost creamy - this is sweet and almost decadent, but the woods keep it from being foodie. Lovely so far! The ambergris is making it a bit musky as well. This is well balanced, well blended, and sort of brilliant. Every time I huff my arm, I am literally making "mmm!!" sounds. Dry: LOVE this. It's really hard to describe. Sweet benzoin (but not dominant like it was in the beginning, everything has evened out), soft woods, a hint of pepper, creamy amber and balsam, and musky ambergris. This is everything. I love it. It's warm and cozy and unique, and I will wear it a lot this winter from comfort, I am sure.

Wet: This is so good. Effervescent ginger with rich vanilla. I was expecting more floral, but to me this is spicy vanilla heaven! Yum. I immediately want to slather in it. The effervescence is fading quickly, but the spice and rich vanilla are sticking around. So pretty. Dry: This is beautiful. Sweet, rich, sugary floral vanilla and spicy ginger. I love it. So glad I have it. This may be my favourite ginger scent of all time! Now that I know what ginger blossom smells like, I will be hunting for more of it.

I love blackberry, love rum, love tea, excited to try this! Wet: Mmm. The tea and the blackberry are duking it out for dominance on my arm. The sugary rum is right behind. Very fun! Fruity and tropical. Dry: Sadly, this turns sickly candy-sweet, then goes somewhat dusty, and then just fades away completely. What a shame, it smells amazing in the bottle and when wet! Skin fail. I'll have to rehome this to someone who will love it.

Wet: Black musk and...orange? Seriously? All those strong dark notes, and my chemistry has to amp the one note that I can't wear. Super. Annndd there is goes, orange turning to powdered citrus bathroom cleaner. *sigh* Maybe it's for the best.... Dry: The orange kicks around for a long time, making things all powdery and icky. This eventually fades down to sweet black musk, which is nice, but I have lots of black musk in my collection. Glad to have tried it! Also kind of glad I don't need more! Lol.

I think a lot of people confuse the scent of tobacco with the scent of cigarette smoke. Take it from an occasional smoker - the two are not remotely the same! To me, most of the Lab's different tobacco notes are similar to fresh, old school pipe tobacco, which is essentially just a dried plant - it doesn't have any of the nasty chemicals in it that cigarettes have. PLUS, it hasn't been burnt yet (after all, it's a tobacco note, not an ash note, lol) so it doesn't smell smoky. Took me forever to figure this out and realize that I too love the scent of the Lab's tobacco. Anyway, now that I have rambled on, some of my favourite tobacco blends: (ones that are not really difficult to find) Elegba - coconut, tobacco and sweet, sugared rum. Question Mark - Blackened vanilla absolute with tobacco leaf, Ceylon cinnamon, orange-bark myrrh, and orange blossom. Brown Thrasher - Sweet rum distillate with tobacco absolute, white sandalwood, and warm brown musk. Sing The Wild Song - Red musk and threads of saffron with sweet wild tobacco, blackened clove, white sandalwood, cypress, and black pine pitch La Femme de Satan - Red musk and cacao with clove, caramelized tobacco, aged patchouli, red currant, black leather, and vanilla-infused amber. St. Clare - White sandalwood and tonka with sweet tobacco incense, vanilla-infused mahogany, rum absolute, and golden oudh.

Wet: Light and clean. Smells like laundry. Not a fan of that smell. The musk is coming out a bit, making this a bit more pleasant to my nose. Very much a skin scent. If you like those "clean skin" type smells, I imagine you would really enjoy this. The musk is keeping me from wanting to wash it off, but it's still not really a "me" sort of scent. Dry: Very faint. I'm just left with a faint "clean" smell, like skin freshly washed with white bar soap. It's quite pleasant, actually, just not for me.

Wet: Wow - this scent is strong! And kind of bad-ass. A strong hit of cocoa, followed by tobacco and patch together, and the musk. Just a bit of sweetness from the benzoin. This is dark and kind of sexy. Dry: This started out nice, but I have to agree with the previous reviewer - there's something a bit sour about this, and it's putting me off. Almost the way some woods notes go sour on me sometimes (rosewood and sandalwood). There are some lovely notes here, but something unpleasant underneath that's putting me off.

Wet: Plums (which are turning to plastic) sweetness, spice, and a weird buttery note. Blarg. This is not good on me so far. At all. It's quickly turning from sweet to savory. I don't want to smell like this current stage. Dry: This is so odd. It's a mix of sweet and savory, and plastic on me because sometimes plum does that. Not good. Interesting though! Glad to have tried it.

Wet: This is actually a sweet, innocent smelling floral. Based on the name I was expecting something a little more sinister, but this floral is bright and happy. Dry: Pretty! Sweet, gently orchid. Very nice. It doesn't wow me, but I do like it.

Wet: Almond masquerading as cherry. I'm not getting any jasmine, which I'm happy about. Actually, other than a hint of bergamot, this is all almond at this point. Dry: Annndd, there's the Jasmine, and it smells like feces in this. Blarg. Not for me! I can never escape Jasmine, it seems.

Wet: Cat pee. So one of the florals in this is Jasmine, FYI. There's some dirt in there too, and other flowers..so cat pee in the garden. As the cat pee scent fades away (thank goodness!) this become deep and dark and mysterious. Really interesting. I'm actually starting to like it. I've never really liked a scent with jasmine in it before. Dry: Well, the other notes that I was digging (earth, maybe some incense?) have faded, leaving me with jasmine again. And while it's not cat pee anymore, it's still just not good on me. *sigh*. This went through a phase that I loved - it was dark and brooding and magical. But that phase is gone, and now it's just jasmine.

I'm expecting (almost hoping) for this to be a really unusual, unique scent, based on the listed notes. Wet: Cough syrup! Uhhh...? No, cinnamon! Bubble gum? What the heck is that epazote? That's the only note in this I have never smelled before. Google says it's a tea that is an "acquired taste", and some say it tastes like gasoline or kerosene. That's not what I am getting here. I'm getting lots of sweetness, from the amber. some fruitiness now from the pear, I guess. Something almost spicy/minty?? This is interesting, for sure. Not what I was expecting. It does smell very tropical though now, at this point. Dry: Sweet, fruity, spicy. DIFFERENT. I don't get any of the sage (which I am fine with), just this unusual, lush, tropical scent. I guess it might fit into the category of fruity-floral. It's hard to describe. Not sure if I could ever see wearing it, but really glad to have tried it!

Iris is iffy on me, but I love the rest of these notes... Wet: Woody and nutty! Huh? Oh there's some berry. Still, not at all what I expected. I think this imp is quite aged, and I wonder if it hasn't aged well. It's not terrible, it just smells nothing like amber, iris, berries, or spices. It smells like nuts and trees. Hmmm. Dry: Ya I think I will need to test a fresh imp of this, this can't be right. It smell....off. It could totally be my chemistry though, so I will try another one before I reach a final verdict.