Casablanca
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Everything posted by Casablanca
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Rich chocolate-pumpkin cheesecake with crumbling graham cracker crust. Last night, I didn't get much cherry glaze until drydown, but this morning, the glaze is more potent and present. This pumpkin combines with the chocolate to lean toward peanut butter on my skin. When I tried this on last night, before I saw the notes list, I thought this was chocolate and peanut butter with graham crackers. One for gourmand lovers. Rich, heavy, foodie.
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Last night, when first testing this, Leaf Moon brought me so much perfect woodsmoke, and I was in love. This morning, though, it is mostly bringing me the Dead Leaves note. In the warm-up, red musk wafts out behind the dead leaves. The woodsmoke is a lighter presence, coloring the other notes, but doing far less to soften and obscure them. There's now too much red musk in the balance for me, but it's a relief to remove something from my overloaded cart.
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Cleansing. This is as lemony as you might guess from the described notes, with some cool, minty camphor on the side. On my skin, this turns to lemonheads candy after drydown. I think this would be lovely with a wee bit of fresh rosemary EO added, for those inclined to homebrew. It reminds me a lot of a lemongrass-rosemary essential oil spritz I used to make and use about the house.
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White sage is often a soft note in the Lab blends I've tried, a coolness along the periphery. But this one is---wonderfully---far more white sage than I expected. On both my friend and me, this one is predominantly sage. Like: white sage smelled close up, with the cool herbal tone, airiness, paleness, and even the soft leaf texture in the note. The lime is there, too, playfully green, and citrusing all over the place. I also get a sugared quality to it. It's present, but it feels like a close companion to the sage, rather than overwhelming it. Cool, airy white sage wafting around a sugared green lime. Fresh scent for late winter through spring. I'll probably need a bottle.
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This smelled perfect on my friend: a delightfully sugary sugar cookie. But I amp the butter in this like a kid in the kitchen. On me, this is butter cookie with some sugar. My heart cries for more sugar. 🤗 But this has enough sugar that I still like it... possibly enough for a bottle upgrade. Part of me wants some snickerdoodley spice in this. I also keep imagining how nice it would be with more sugar and the vanilla cardamom of Perfectly Normal Childhood/Lights, Camera, Something. I didn't know I needed Cardamom Extra Sugar Cookie, but I'm feeling it now.
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When I sniff this on the decant wand, it's part sugar cookie, part Snek. When I put it on, though, it's mostly a woody Snek, with a hint of cookie. I'm really interested in a very sugary Snek. I'll see how this ages, but it's not currently slated for an upgrade.
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Deep, mature red roses are the Queen, and a soft, meditative, lemony palo santo her court.
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I picked up a decant of this, and when my friend sampled it, her experience was like that of other reviewers: boom plum. I get the opposite. Some marshmallow notes I simply amp to the moon, and that's the way of it here. At first, I get nothing but poofy vanilla marshmallow. After some minutes, the black plum slinks in, but the marshmallow still keeps it pretty well hemmed in. So, essentially: lots of marshmallow over a little dollop of black plum.
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Spicy, smutty jasmine over a background pumpkin and red musk. Spicy: The pumpkin spices are delightful on the jasmine. I'm not sure they're really just the pumpkin-typical stuff; they seem richer and more varied. Smutty: Smutty as in Smut-ty, for this gives off some sugars. Jasmine: Forward. Pumpkin: A little buttery, and a lot in the background. It's a gentle, warming atmo-pumpkin. Red musk: Strong when the blend first arrived, but it has mellowed some and, on this second test, blends into the other notes more. Amazingly, the red musk doesn't completely suck on me in this perfume. I like this. But I think the jasmine might be a little too extra what I wear these days.
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Coffee Snek. Mostly the Snek. No pumpkin, and only wee hints of pumpkin spice. I like Coffee Snek, but I'm definitely not getting what some other reviewers are.
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Freshly applied, Antikythera Pumpkin gives off a lot of lacquer -- almost a chemical varnish smell -- and some greasy oil over abundant wood. There's a spicy texture to the blend, alongside its dark oil, but the woods and lacquer stand out most strongly. Hints of black vanilla lurk underneath, but this isn't a vanilla blend in the main. In this dries, the chemical quality calms down and leaves the lovely wood. What I'm not getting a lot of is pumpkin. There's a pumpkin spice texture but little pumpkin. Still, if you enjoy Antikythera this is worth a try, and it may age well.
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Warm, very buttery pumpkin mash dominates the opening on my skin, but Moroccan's lightly spicy carnation lurks behind. A warm vanilla suffuses the pumpkin. The cinnamon, other pumpkin spices, and musk are also present but smooth and mild. After it dries, Moroccan Pumpkin's balance evens out between warm buttery pumpkin and lightly spiced carnation. I thought this was too much butter-pumpkin when I first tried it, but on a second test, it seems better balanced and I keep huffing and enjoying it. Enough like a Moroccan Jack to merit a try if you like either.
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Soft earth and smoke over honey that begins even softer, but grows in strength as it warms. Before long, a charred vetiver creeps in, offering more smoke and a little grassiness. The tones of this are a swirl of smoke, char, wood, grass, earth, amber, dry-cracked leather, and the sweetness of darkish (but not buckwheat-dark) honey. Although the blend is soft, I like it a lot. Smoke and honey is a combination I might always be hard-pressed to resist, and the other notes work wonderfully with them. Will need a bottle.
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Freshly applied, fruity red musk washes over a fiery red ginger and slightly charred clove. The musk smells bold in a fruit-punch way to me -- with fruit-punch fruits. Unfortunately the blend turns off onto an unpleasant path as it dries on my skin, as red musk sometimes does. This would work better on others.
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Spicy red pepper and spicy musk alongside a pretty and dry white sandalwood. The chili pepper mingles with other spices, not listed -- I think nutmeg, cinnamon, maybe cardamom. And the spices rule this roost. In drydown, some perfumey amber wafts in, another warming effect in an already spicy-warm blend. Potent spiciness mingled with amber, musk, and pale sandalwood. I like it.
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A potent shimmering gray musk over sandalwood and spicy, slightly cola labdanum. Something sweetens this, something smells a bit floral, and something also gives a whistling high pitch of a scent when I first apply it -- the last reminds me of petitgrain. In drying, Innocent Souls turns quite powdery on me, and I wonder if there's some white musk and/or orris contributing. This is not my style of scent, but it adeptly suits the concept.
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Soft, brownish-gold amber and sandalwood. I can see a strong likeness to Kimi Ga Dai Wa from the Lupers. But, whereas I got a fuzzy brown musk from Kimi Ga, here there's a soft brownish-gold fuzziness that reminds me of a fabric's fuzz rather than animal fur. This develops an almost dusty smell on my skin as it dries. It's a dry scent, not quite toasted, but leaning a little brownish and dusted. Understated, dry, softly textured, warm, simple but not simplified.
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My book on Japanese death poetry is one of my favorites; I was glad to see this concept scent. Death Is Death begins as a serene, sweet, moderately dark-smelling myrrh incense. I definitely get the almost-caramelized sweetness mentioned in @wordortwo's review, a little on the wand and more so on my skin, but only at first. Smoke wreaths the scent and a grainy incense stick pierces it; they both shade the sandalwood until they seem to merge with it. The sweetness fades utterly. The blend turns more than a little balsamic on my skin as it dries. Essentially: smoky, resinous incense. First sweet, then balsamic, ever-smoky. Simple and yet not.
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Lovely blend in the vein of Pediophobia and Antique Lace. I immediately threw this in my cart upon first test. But I decided to compare it with Pediophobia on my arm, wondering if it's enough difference to justify getting a third blend of a cognac-vanilla perfume that I quite like and yet, somehow, don't often reach for... Compared with Pedio, this Sheet Ghost offers a more rustic take on the antique cognac-vanilla theme. The balsam and tumbleweeds bring a little vintage frontier vibe, replacing the cracked porcelain doll of Pediophobia. But there's a similar mood, and fans of Pediophobia or the Laces may enjoy this ghost. I opted not to get a decant of this one, initially, because balsam often takes over on me. But I'm trying a friend's decant -- and the note is actually behaving nicely. Given my new tighter budget, I don't think I can swing a bottle of this, but it has reminded me that I do love Pedio and Antique Lace and should wear them more often.
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Disclaimer: This is a friend's decant. Red musk is often dreadful on me, but let's give it a go. With that in mind... Slightly spicy red musk. For me, that's the sole note on first application, but soon it develops some deep mahogany and darker labdanum. At the freshly dried stage, I get a lot of lacquer, too, and a little warm leather, though none is listed. Possible that's how some notes are combining, or there could be a hidden thing that's bringing leather to mind. This is a heavy scent, in terms of weight and gravitas. Woody, red musky, lacquery, perhaps a little leathery.
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This is the decant of a friend who loves metal and leather notes. They aren't as much my thing, but glad to try new blends. With that disclaimer in place: Wow, yes, hello, metal. Steel with a side of steel, and, too, an ample serving of what smells like dirty leather, leather that has seen much use. The steel smells highly chemical to me, sort of paint thinnerish -- but with also a dull gray metallic finish. I think of dirty swords. There's also a note that's reminding me of nothing so much as... gristle. Gristle cut out of meat. Dirty swords, dirty leather, and gristle.
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If you like sheer, glassy scents, this one is worth a try. I get primarily sheer, glassy musk on application; through the glass, I spy shimmering silver (especially) and gold, and the soft colors of some nondescript sweet blooms. I'm bullocks at picking out most flowers from each other in a bouquet, but these lean soapy on me before long, which makes me think of lilies. Sheer glass, metallicky metals, flowers, and musk. After a while, I think I also smell warm cedar. I seem to be developing quite a bit of this warm note after drydown and I like it. I'm a cedar person, but I'm not a floral or glassy musk person, so this is just one it was nice to try.
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On me this is mostly a sweet, balsamic beeswax with some soapy tulips. I tend to amp some balsamic notes a lot, and I'm definitely getting some here; it blends well into the beeswax. There's a hint of the listed white sandalwood at first, but it fades under the tulips as they intensify. The tulips strengthen during the wet phase. I'm not sure I would have placed them as tulips without the notes list -- usually I encounter the flower with other early-bloomer spring flowers, and it smells different here with the balsamic beeswax. But as it blooms in drydown, it gets more distinctly tulippy. After drydown, the balance shifts toward tulips over balsamic beeswax. There's a hint of the leather, but it's mostly washed over by the other notes.
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Creamy-smooth sandalwoods and a hint of tobacco. Sandalwood usually has an airy, grainy wood texture in my nose, and that's present here. But it's refined in a way that reminds me of how Cedarwood and Smoked Vanilla was a refined version of cedar. I get a creamy tone up front here, smoothing textures, though it settles quickly. There's a little smokiness, too, perhaps from the tobacco. Lovely sandalwood scent for sandalwood lovers.
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Out of the gate, I get smoky pines and clove. It's a haunted woods, and darkly atmospheric for a moment... Then my skin decides it likes this one a lot, and eats most of it up, leaving only a faint and pleasantly spiced smoke. Trolls live short lives on me.
