DiZZysTARdust

i really really want to love velvet void because just look at that note list. it smells very rich and heady in the bottle, like elderberry liqueur. unfortunately a lot of the complexity disappears on my skin. i hate to say it but it kind of reminds me of a cheap berry scented body wash. not because of any soapiness or anything but because all i get is a generic “berry” sort of scent. i’m still keeping it for two reasons, the first is because it does make a great layering scent and also because i’m holding out hope that with enough time the skin scent will match the in the bottle scent

eta i mistakenly posted here, coming back later to review irl

resurrecting this thread because i realized recently how much i love saffron. it does amazing things some faves are tonka bean and saffron duet, celeste, kimi ga da wei, mors syphilitica, love's philopsophy, grooming scene in a brothel, very grievous murraine, luke 10:25-37, crimson, lacus odii, qandisa, some strangeness in the proportion.

kanishta and hearts for ghost friends are two faves

omg if you can find amber, cacao, tonka hairgloss it's amazing. i believe the LEs great basin woodnymph and rubber poop also fit the bill but haven't personally tried either.

i was lucky enough to acquire a bottle of this second hand. in the bottle the nuttiness is like whoa. i agree with some other folks that the nuttiness gives it a warm quality without entering "foodie" territory. the nuttiness is so strong in the bottle that i couldn't get any other notes, but once on the skin the patchouli comes out to play and harmonizes SO perfectly with the nut. it's definitely possible that there's more to this but that's really all i get. totally possible that there's some musk in this however, black musk on me tends to go powdery and i'm not registering that here ETA after an hour or so into the drydown the nuttiness fades and leaves behind the most gorgeous sweetened patchouli

ok not sure what i was expecting but “pink” and “girly” are perfect descriptions. this smells to me like melon bubblegum! more candylike than pure fruit, but def sweet and pink and fun.

this is like the ultimate tobacco scent. tobacco tends to amp on me and dominate whatever blend it's in. this is like the most ethereal, delicate, powdery tobacco. it dominates but isn't just a single note cologney tobacco. it's gorgeous and only gets better into the drydown, with the tobacco warming and increasing in throw. definitely agree it's a very comforting, cozy scent

let me preface this by saying i love hecate. something about the powdery myrrh does amazing things to the almond, which can sometimes be too cloying or generic for me otherwise. i’m not sure what it is, maybe the almond, but this disappears off my skin SO FAST. after an hour it’s a distant memory. other than that she’s gorgeous

in the bottle the orange blossom is coming out full force. this is cool because i’m not a fan of lemon verbena and that makes me nervous in a blend, but also too much orange blossom goes to soap on me so could also be potentially a downside. on the skin the citrus-white florals are balanced perfectly with the myrrh. they complement each other and blend well. there’s not much change in the dry down for me: big white blossoms dusted with some golden incense powder. i say powder because myrrh does tend to go powdery on me, and it does in this blend, but not in a talcy baby powder way. very good throw on this. every time i turn my head i catch a whiff. it reminds me of like an old fashioned dusting powder

as a tobacco lover, i’m sad to say i don’t pick much of it up in here. that’s okay tho because laura belle is beautiful no matter what. this is basically all carnation all the time on me. cool carnations with their spiciness enhanced by some of the other elements. it’s a little more bright and vanillic in the bottle and they blossom more on the skin, with the vanilla lingering around the edges for me and a little powderiness but mostly just big velvety carnation. decent throws and laaaaasts forever on me without much morphing

i received an imp of lyonesse in a secondhand purchase from someone, and i decided to test it. it’s been on my want list so happy to get the chance, and even fresh out of the mailbox i can see why it seems to be such a popular scent! two swipes from the wand are enough to create a test patch with serious throw and this is phenomenally gorgeous. very much a perfumey blend the way everything blends so seamlessly. to me the vanilla and lilies are the stand outs but it’s more the vibe of them than actually being able to pick them out of the blend. they give it a clean, cologne sort of vibe, but they temper each other to keep lyonesse from becoming a pure soap or axe body spray type of scent. definitely agree with above descriptions of woody, but like a huskiness rather than in a wood shavings way; more like that with a bit of saltiness from the ambergris combine to give it a sort of aquatic driftwood vibe. the aquatic nature keeps this from being something i would want a full bottle of so i’m glad to have a sample size. even still i can definitely see why this is so well loved and looking forward to future tests after letting the imp settle and age!

this is interesting and once again showcases the lab’s mastery of a 3 note blend. the clove is dominate for me in the bottle as well as on the skin, but somehow different and non foodie than most clove blends i’ve tried. the evergreens definitely streamline and compliment the spiciness without being very noticeable on their own for me. very well blended, and i would agree with other reviews calling it unisex. great throw and lasts a good 6 hours before starting to fade on me

this is the holy grail of red musks for me. perfect blend of clean-dirty-sexy musk. well blended and can’t really pick out any notes except a glorious, velvety red musk. i wish i got the jump on this when it was live because i need many back ups of this

this is amazeballs but very hard to pin down. not sure what i was expecting but i tend to fear the worst when it comes to citrus and usually get furniture cleaner, sweet tarts, or both, from most citrus/fruity blends. however, thanks to bpal i can’t refuse dark resins. as others have said this is definitely a very cologne like blend. the white musk/lemon seem to combine into a soapy fragrance in the bottle but they are almost completely overtaken as this dries into a sweet clean unisex cologne scent with good throw and good lasting power. the lighter notes blend seamlessly to give a fresh brightness without going soapy or candy like, and if you’re nervous about citrus like me there’s no distinct trace of it. my guess as to the resins would be possibly some nag champa. i’m reminded of something but can’t place what

pericardium is a really excellent vanilla forward blend. showcases it from all angles. in the bottle it’s very clean, almost stony, but freshly on the stoniness disappears and this becomes a very foodie vanilla. i never quite get any spice from the clove. freshly applied this is like a sweet vanilla milk wrapped around the nuttiness of the rice. as it dries the nutty aspect fades, leaving a more vanilla orchid vibe like a sweet vanilla floral, almost soap like but with the resins wafting in the background, grounding the soapy aspects with some powdery body. medium light throw and decent wear length on me

white witch definitely exceeds expectations. from the notes i expected a sweet fruity floral, which this definitely is, but in such a lovely way. in the bottle it’s just like a vague sweetish blend. i think it must be the red musk/pomegranate coming to light first because i honestly thought red wine was a note and red musk can sometimes come thru that way for me. on at first it’s very similar to the bottle scent, and then as it dries it just settles and unfolds itself beautifully as a very elegant, perfumey, well blended scent. it starts to amp pretty strongly as well so i keep getting wafts of it as i’m walking around. it reminds me of a classic perfume in the sense that i can envision this on a 1950’s femme fatale going out on the town or lounging around after dark. this is so well blended that i can’t pick out any single note to identify. not even rose, which i love but sadly my skin can turn almost any blend with a drop of it into a rose single note. not so here, just a dark floral touched with a hint of tartness without being fruity. there is also a sense of green stemminess that isn’t grasslike but verges on it. it sits right under the floral/fruit and imo keeps it from becoming too cloyingly sweet

i was able to track down a bottle of this and i'm SO glad i did. very tea forward in the bottle, but not exactly straight green tea as the anise and oakmoss are there in the background giving it a little depth and sweetness, tho still very sharp. in my excitement i poured like way more than i meant to on myself than i meant to while applying the tester spot, but that's okay because this is fkn gorgeous. i would say yes to comparisons to aquatics freshly applied to the skin, but not in a cologne way. there IS a sort of muskiness that keeps it from veering into masculine territory on me. i do think it's the star anise, as many other reviews note that comes out more forward on the skin and leaves the green tea in the background, but on me it's not sweet licorice or hard candy or straight anise or anything scary like that. it's more like green tea steeped with a few star anise pods in there. i'm not great at identifying oakmoss but i think it's there keeping the blend from going into candy or foodie territory and giving it that musky sort of anchor. i def slathered this on that may be the reason it seems to have such good throw but overall this seems to be more of a skin scent with perhaps some light throw to it. fingers crossed for an 8 hour wear length like other reviews have stated although my skin usually eats up the beautiful scents (that's okay tho cause more time for variety), but we'll see

not my usual scent, although i enjoy beeswax, i received a bottle of this in a bundle of second hand bottles. any kind of fruit or candy is generally hit or miss for me. in the bottle this is sweet and tart but overall pretty well blended. fresh on the skin this is just a beautiful sweet pink scent. i feel like this would be a great summer time/running errands scent cause it's bold but not overpowering. the beeswax comes out more strongly on the skin, it plays well with the strawberries. the candy gives everything a sweetness but the beeswax seems to be preventing everything from going literal strawberry candy on me, and that toothache sweetness is the type of fruit/candy/foodie scent that i really dislike so that's cool. it almost gives it a sort of creaminess, almost like a strawberry scented beeswax candle but not in a yankee candle type of way. definitely an elegant beeswax candle, like a long thin taper burning on a table next to a strawberry pie sort of way.

glasya is an interesting scent because i expect it to be very dark and resinous but it’s actually kind of light and girly. in the bottle and freshly applied it has a kind of odd, plasticky almost kind of scent. kind of like an alcoholy-detergenty kind of vibe without being boozy or soapy. hard to pin. the black musk and myrrh are very prominent at this stage for me, probs because i tend to amp their powderiness somewhat. as it dries the florals come out more, the rose is not detectable to me ever and i tend to amp rose, i think it blends well with the ylang ylang to give a little feminine depth to the powderiness. as it dries further it really sweetens up and becomes almost fruity. i suspect that’s the red musk coming out as it goes somewhat wine-fruit resin to me, maybe it’s the ylang ylang mixing in but in this blend the dry down becomes almost like red fruit candy on me. odd but i love her, hard not to like a princess of hell 😍 ETA on second thought, i think it is the rose coming out more strongly that adds to the more feminine vibe, but still this is never a “rose” scent for me (speaking as a person who turns most rose blends into rose single notes for me)

this is not as feathery nor as vengeful as i expected and yet somehow it is. going on it’s very faint, somewhat neutral. this blossoms as it dries into something much greener than i expected but in a stony way. it almost reminds me capela dos ossos in a way, or of the dryness of vanilla-saffron in love’s philosophy. maybe that’s the benzoin or vetiver. the vetiver is not making itself known at all. it’s a very well blended green woody vanillic warmth. not a super strong throw but strong on my skin. i can’t stop sniffing my wrist cause it’s so good, but not in foodie way. really showcases vanilla if one is a fan

so this is a funny scent. in the bottle it’s a cloyingly sweet chocolate with an almost cola like background. copal doesn’t come out strong for me but tends to add a cola like fizziness to things so this checks. on this is like so strong and weirdly flat, def puts the wow in cacao, like a thick syrupy chocolate coke. it’s kind of a turn off because of the flatness and over sweetness. i put it on and forgot about it, but it’s there in the background cause good throw, so at some point in the drydown i’m like wait what’s that. most of the cocoa burns off, leaving an almost vanillic resins lightly sweetened with a cocoa edge. GORGEOUS. i only have an imp so i’ll def treasure this

in the bottle i get the cologne scent. i actually did a double take cause i knew what notes to be expecting and my initial impression was that this smelled like pure tobacco, a high fizzy light almost aquatic and def cologney tobacco. freshly on it turned soapy but sweetish, which is normally a turn off to me but i like it. my mom described it as irish spring but better which is accurate imo. the two notes play very well together. i don’t ever get a strong sense of green tea or lilacs, they blend seamlessly. as it dries the harsh soapiness in the throw burns off into a grassy fresh purple dappled green. i think it would work best as a layering note or would work very well as an office/interview type neutral but calming scent.

i was gifted a frimp of this by someone i bought some bottles of recently, and i am very excited to try it out. first off, in the imp it’s not nearly as dark or unapproachable as i was expecting. even though it’s almost black in color. def the darkest oil i’ve ever seen. freshly on it’s actually quite powdery and sweet. i’m guessing that’s the dark musk and spices respectively (dark/black musk aways reads as “powdery” to me, ymmv). no resins/woods detectable, even into the dry down. as it dries it becomes a lightly spicy, mellow, non specific incense blend. no patchouli or labdanum surfaces, i’m not sure what dark african woods are in here but my guess is either vetiver or oudh, neither of which are detectable to me. not sure about the age of this imp, although the label is pretty fresh looking. so i’m wondering if any of the heavier notes will come out with age. medium throw, good lasting power. leans mostly gender neutral on me, but def a smoky, spicy, comforting incense blend that is most def bottle worthy

This is a glorious blend. I'm so happy i was able to track down a bottle. In the bottle it's dark resinous evergreen sap. On the skin the cypress and fir blend so beautifully, with the mint adding a cold touch to the throw without being all "mint". I'm not a fan of the snow notes tbh, but without the ozonic qualities the mint is totally subtle and blends well with the other notes. It acts as a good counter to the myrrh, which turns up the powderiness as it dries. The powder doesn't overtake. The evergreens are still totally present. It's like a fir powder, like a really nice fir body powder. I loooove it. Even though it's got four notes, it kind of reminds me of the recent duets/menages or SNs in that i think it would be excellent for layering with. A really excellent subtle perfumey fir.