Megalovania

Stag films – or smokers – are pornographic shorts of the early-to-mid 20th century that were created clandestinely and anonymously by amateur actors in order to circumvent censorship laws. A flicker of black pepper crackling over a celluloid stream of white musk, elemi, bay laurel, tobacco leaf, ambergris accord, and vanilla husk. This smells like the Dorian and Hag Grey hair glosses had a love child, combining their two scents into one glorious powerhouse. It is amazing. Truly, I was taken aback by how familiar this smells, but in a very good way. I death matched all three and compared the notes: Smokers shares prominent pale-tobacco and ambergris notes with Hag as well as the clean, sensual musks and vanilla of Dorian. On its own I'm not getting much for pepper from Smokers, which is unfortunate, but the elemi is really amping the overall scent profile. This is very fresh and fragrant, but presents a sensuality that gives it an edge - altogether it's a little more down n' dirty compared to the other two glosses, but without smelling too down n' dirty. The death match didn't really work because I love all three! I definitely don't need to buy a bottle of this since I already own the other two. But I probably will anyway, I'll be honest; it's just so tempting to have all this excellence in one amped-up bottle. For everyone else: if you're a fan of Dorian, Hag Grey, or both (or ambergris and tobacco, that's why I chose this in the first place), Smokers is totally worth a try.

Like sexy Christmas. Dark green from the moss, further darkened by Christmas-like clove and sexy black amber. It has an almost spooky undercurrent that I really like. Clove powers through to be the most prominent note over time.

[No additional description provided.] While I'm always impressed with the dead leaves accord, I'm often not into wearing it because it's so potent. The worry here is that it will still amp too powerfully in my hair. On skin, for the sake of comparison: That great dead leaves scent and realistic popcorn! Doesn't smell like charred sugar the way real kettle corn does, which is a shame, but I appreciate how mildly sweet it is - I don't really like gourmands or overly sugary perfumes and this is hitting a good balance. A fun mix between atmospheric and foody! The DL sharpness calms down after a few minutes, for once. In hair: Applied to dry hair. WOW, I liked this on my skin but it translates so freakin' well in my hair. It's pretty much the same smell either way but I appreciate it so much more floating around my head! I'll argue that it comes across a tiny bit sweeter and faintly reminiscent of peanuts. Sounds odd but it's delicious, like a light coating of peanut dust and sugar over popcorn on a crisp fall day. I'm specifically reminded of cacahuates garapiñados, if any of y'all know how good those are. YMMV on this peanut thing, it may simply be a scent association I have. A wonderfully weird (but not really!) and tasty combo. Currently debating with myself if I really need another bottle of HG on my bureau because damn do I want a bottle of this.

Oh my god I *wish* this smelled as good as I'd hoped, nay, expected. I love dark, murky, creepy, heavy, resinous perfumes, especially when made by the Lab. But oh ho ho, not this one. Straight out of the bottle this was Dirty Used Cat Box. Fresh on my skin it continued as Dirty Used Cat Box. I refused to wash it off before seeing if any morphing would occur, but boy was that a struggle. When I initially read the notes I knew I'd love this because I love all of them. But smelling this hot mess made me recall that sometimes opoponax reminds me of cat litter. Fresh and clean cat litter, mind you, with that dusty kinda-floral scent it sometimes has. I'm not sure how accurate that is to opoponax since I've never sniffed it in isolation, it's just the note I've seen in common whenever I find a litterbox perfume. Usually I'm all for it when mixed with the right stuff, but this time it went off the deep end into "oh noooo aaaugh" territory. And if u/galahad is correct about secret jasmine hiding in this blend, that explains why it came off as the infinitely worse Used Litter (jasmine is the MOST TERRIBLE THING on my skin). Fortunately, this jaunt through hell doesn't last forever. Maybe 15-20 min later the filthy edge wore off and this smoothed out into something a little more expected: a super dark and grimy, very thick scent. Eventually settles into a dryly resinous, blacked woody thing, which I take as the patchouli showing force (but not overwhelmingly so, there's good balance here). Extremely bold, extremely powerful, a little frightening, and would be super sexy on the right person. This is Boss Battle status. But holy god, I just can't do that initial litterbox smack in the face. Hopefully that chills out over time. EDIT 2019: as other reviews have pointed out, and as my nose has improved since first trying this back in 2017, I've since learned that the black oudh is definitely the cat poo culprit. If secret jasmine is in hear than that's bad for me too, personally speaking, but watch out for this particular oudh! If the stanky stuff isn't your jam, this one is not for the faint of heart!!

This one made me want to get all tragi-poetic. Right in the bottle I'm smacked in the face with this powerfully dark, dirty scent. I don't mean dirty in a sexy or straight "dirt" way... More like "unclean and attempting to mask the grime with strong fragrance." I know that sounds dreadful but bear with me, I mean that in the best possible way. On my skin that description remains true and it's because of the almost syrupy quality of the tobacco. It’s floral but with no pretense of delicate femininity whatsoever. That isn’t to say it’s strictly masculine either; as long as you can tolerate this thick, heady blend of notes I'd say this is very unisex and anyone can wear it. I’m probably influenced by the theme but this scent is old world: sickly sweet, almost oppressive, somehow sinister. Death rides in on a pale horse and it’s like these notes are trying to cover the evidence of his arrival, like a desperate attempt to ward of toxic miasmas and save the living from plague. It won’t work, but it does make death smell sweeter. This perfume doesn't change much as it dries, but it does soften a bit and loses some of its initially harsh tobacco edge (which is what stood out strongest on me). As of now I’m not entirely sure what opoponax smells like but I absolutely get blackened roses smothered by clove and tobacco. It's potent with great throw. Spooky and highly evocative, one of the creepiest blends I own. I love it.