ramblingrambler

Sept is beautiful—warm and glowing with a comfort and casualness of a good, close friend. This exquisite blend smells first of frankincense and rose immediately applied and begins to dry into a softly sweetened, creamy rose. I think this is my favorite of the Roses in this year’s release.

This is lovely, but I am surprised over how delicate this smells as it dries down. The citrus is bright and fresh and juicy, and the rose is fully present, but as the day wears on, it begins to smell like a garden tea party in spring, sans the tea, of course. It’s almost as if the tree fruits and rosebushes are waving at you from afar, wafting their scent through the breeze, but never full-on attacking with obvious “rose” and “orange” in your face. Quite delectable. (This does not remind me of Lilith’s Tea Party regardless if my review makes it sound akin to that fragrance image )

Tobacco and bourbon vanilla stand out to me as most present and forward. In fact, they seem to be all I smell. This makes sense to me if Ted is mentioned in the description—this is a cousin to Perversion.

This is an extremely sweet, apple-forward floral. I thought the sweet apple would have faded as the scent continued to wear on, but it almost felt like it got stronger somehow. I tend not to wear apple fragrances, but this one is quite nice. I’m giving my sister my imp, and I will probably buy her a bottle for her birthday since apple fragrances are her favorite. It’s bottle worthy for you apple types.

I got this Saturday and couldn’t wait for it to rest so am reviewing straight from the mailbox Saturday evening and onto my skin. In bottle, it smells mostly of dragon’s blood. I am okay with this and fully on board. Wet, the heavier elements of Snake Oil are tinged with some honeyed dragon’s blood. Also okay with this and even more on board. I’m getting excited to see the scent reveal itself over the next few hours. Dry and into drydown, there’s a sharp note that comes and goes—this happens with fresh bottles of Snake Oil on me, so I am unsurprised—but it is otherwise a sweeter, spicier, more earthy Snake Oil. I could see this “Oops!” flying off the shelf at, say, Urban Outfitters . It’s a little too witchy-enchantress for something like Sephora or Ulta, but it would be a definite best seller among the indie, pro-sumer (professional consumer ) crowd. This is all sorts of yes, and it isn’t even rested. I can’t wait to see what it becomes as it ages.

This is very much like OG Hope—sugared roses. Roses are front and center. Let me reiterate: this is a rose forward scent. Anyone hoping for the cotton candy will probably find that it’s only a supporting note to the “sugared rose” (adding sugar to the rose, but not by much). If you’re looking for a contemporary, playful rose scent, this should be it.

This is a fruity white tea for me. I can’t place the currant as the fruity element, however—it’s just ambiguously fruity rather than a scent of a particular fruit .

This is delicious. Candies and smut. What else to say? Strawberry/cherry dies down into a smutty red musk. Yum.

Very floral—light but huge throw. I could see myself wearing this to a wedding or two this season, so I’ll probably use up my imp, but it isn’t my usual fragrance profile. Beautifully crafted though, and a must if you’re into florals.

I wanted to like this and kept trying to convince myself that it smelled good all day, but finally I had to wash it off because all I could think about was hospitals, doctors offices, and sterile rooms. It smells very much like the scent of a doctor’s office... I have NO idea why. I just kept thinking that I really need to go get my women’s yearly—so it was a great reminder, but not what I want to be reminded of daily .

I was a little surprised that this was one of my favorite Lupers of the bunch since the Lab’s “suckers” and “lollipops” usually stand out on my skin as very artificial. However, this was a sweet, tart surprise. It is very much a cousin to LSSB (Sticky Bat) mentioned above. If you’re into candy-sweet, tart citrus scents, this one is absolutely a must.

Oh god is this good. I cannot put words to this scent because it is glorious... but I will try. This is sugared rose perfection. Upon first application, it’s a cherry candy. It stays like this for about five to ten minutes and moves into a tempered, jammy rose... rose notes here are reminiscent of Rose Red and Peacock Queen, but they’re taken down a notch because of the touch of sweetness. As it fades, it becomes a soft whisper of fresh cut rose. I’m left with almost a rose water scent by the end of it, as it becomes nothing but skin. Beautiful.

I like to leave extended reviews with more scent impressions than this, but this is all I’ve got for this particular blend: grandma perfume. This is a very specific type of scent that I associate with older women. Personally not my style, but you may enjoy it and wear it well!

The 2017 Yule snow note(s) feature(s) very heavily here. It takes about 45 minutes for me to smell anything other than snow, and then it is an exceptionally subtle floral undertone. This is nice, but I went crazy with the Yules and don’t need another snowy bottle .

I’m typically a patch and honey fiend, but the beeswax is very dominant in this blend and unfortunately does not work on me. It absolutely reminds me of a dalliance by candlelight, however... dripping, waxy candles, some just blown out, witnessing... well, you know.

This is a lovely, delicate, honeyed white tea. Perfect for spring and summer wear! I probably won’t get a bottle since I’m about tapped out on my BPAL Lupers budget, but later, when things aren’t coming at us at full speed with updates over the summer, I may get one then if anyone needs to let theirs go. An imp will do me for now as I work my way through the other 2018 Lupers I’ve yet to try.

I am a foodie/gourmand lover, and this is foodie/gourmand to the nth degree. Wet, it’s like slathering yourself in King Cake from head to toe... with massive throw, this scent fills a room and makes stomachs either growl or ache, depending on whether they can handle the sweet factor. Personally, I find the wet stage much too overwhelming and am torn between keeping the bottle or rejoining to someone who loves a good sugary-sweet scent. Drydown is glorious—memories of a dessert you downed during lunch, but of not the heavy, weighted down feeling after consuming far too much of it —but I’m not sure if I can deal with the huge, interminable wear of extreme sweetness until it gets to that point. I’ll give it a few more go-rounds and update!

Irish Spring soap, to a T. I think this would be great to do a load of shirts in for that “always zesty clean” smell, but on my skin it turns sharp and pungent.

This is spiced chai tea without the tea. I think a nice tea base of your choice layered with this would smell exactly like a cup of chai tea. I have to pass mine on, however, because every time I smell this, I am reminded of the unused $45 Chai from Teavana sitting in my pantry (I am honestly chai’d out).

When I first got this years ago, I loved it. Different time, different skin chemistry, I suppose. Before, it read as a vanilla-apricot fragrance with a slight zing. Understated and mellow. On me now, it is extremely floral with a sharp, almost biting citrus and ginger undertone. Something tells me my partner could probably wear this (he always smells great in oils that don’t work for me for some reason!) and leave me jealous it works on him. Like many of you, this was a beloved scent. We’ll see if he enjoys it or if I will have to pass it on.

Eight years later, Infernal Lover smells mostly like O, Scherezade, and Morrocco made love to Smut and Snake Oil. It’s a soft skin scent that is a little creamy, a little spicy, and a little powdery, but it retains a honeyed sweetness above all else. Understated, subtle, and just right for a laid-back day.

This used to be one of my very favorites, but after some skin chemistry changes, I can no longer tolerate the drydown. In the bottle and wet, it smells like sugared candies and cream—a veritable paradise of sweets! Before skin chemistry changes, the drydown became a softer version of itself with what I assume is (one of) the Lab’s candle notes (this is a different note than Lights of Men’s Lives or Flickering Lantern, for example, at least to my nose). Now, after the skin chemistry issue, it becomes a rich, buttery caramel—which sounds delish, but caramel notes have *always* made me nauseated, and this is no exception. I am so sad about this one!

Honestly, this reads as almost a cherry vanilla on me if I didn’t know I were looking for pear. It’s beautiful: sweet, creamy, and soft—a delight that I could almost eat! Only when I bring my nose to wrist (or wrist to nose, I suppose) does it smell vaguely like pear. Otherwise, I would think, from afar, it smelled more like a Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream. I love it either way, pear or cherry.

Just scored this after many moons trying to find it. Lab eBay finally came through, or at least I finally had a winning bid . (Y’all are merciless snipers, HAH! ) On me, this begins almost like a sweet suntan lotion, which is perfect for hot Floridian days. The wet phase’s strength lasts for a full hour until it blossoms into an herbally and almost floral bouquet, retaining its sweetness. There is no chemical undercurrent here! Citrus is definitely present, but in a very understated way. It dries into what smells like (Sweetarts?) to me. Ugh. I can’t believe it took me this long to get this scent. I fuggin’ love it.

2017 version: Is there tobacco in this, or is it just me? I amp tobacco to high heavens—put it on and immediately got a whiff of something very similar to a tobacco scent. But it was like tobacco meets rum meets syrup. I didn’t smell the banana as mentioned above, but I probably would have preferred that, even though I can’t really wear banana myself. My boyfriend said I smelled like a drunk pirate. We both hated it for the four or five hours it remained, strongly scenting the room around us. And then drydown happened. And it was glorious. It smelled like five sugars lightly dusted with candied fruit—exactly as the description details! Why couldn’t it begin this way? Unfortunately this stage isn’t worth the hours of stank emanating from my bod, so I’ll have to swa it. Huge loss because, damn, do I smell delicious right now. But as soon as I crawled into bed a few minutes ago and pulled the covers to my head, getting a whiff of the delectable sugary goodness, I began sneezing. My enjoyment: Thwarted again!