monocainsheresy

A pale gold scent. Mostly amber and herbal myrtle, with a surprisingly strong creamy floral note from the apple blossom. The carnation lends a hint of spice when wet but disappears on me during the drydown. A happy medium between wet spa and dry forest.

This is pretty good general catalogue dupe for Practical Occultism. Fruity tobacco, ambergris, and a bit of leather and incense with some sort of booze. Masculine side of neutral, and not as heavy as one would expect from the description. Nails the fancy-old-timey-occultist vibe. Very nice.

Extremely similar to Lush Karma. Sniffing them side by side Masquerade is definitely heavier on the patchouli, making it earthier and almost fruity. The ambergris adds a bit of muskiness. Basically what it says on the tin. Lush's Karma but in a head shop.

I've never really liked GC Cathedral because I think it smells like wood polish, but I love foodie/sweet incense scents, so I went for this. The sugar cookie note is the main part of the scent, and the frankincense in Cathedral comes through with a little bit of wood. The effect of the sugar cookie sweetness with the notes in Cathedral gives this a hint of worn leather. A bit incensey, a bit more sweet, moderately warm and almost vintage vibes. Very nice, and deceptively simple. Reminds me of a lighter, watered-down The Other Miss Forcible.

Opens up with creamy coconut, with a hint of warm frankincense. As it dries the frankincense dominates, ending up as a wee bit of coconut cream under a lemony, sugar-crusted, raw frankincense. Medium throw, could probably work at any time of year. Sweet without being foody, incensey without being smokey.

2021 version Yup. That's dirt! Like opening up a fresh bag of potting soil.

Starts very strong on the motor oil, which is similar to the oils/lubricants notes in the Steamworks collections and presents like fancy, sharp cologne. As it dries the leather (black, I think), comes forward a bit, carrying soapy lavender and a hint of oakiness. Settled, it's a slightly dirty herbal soap. The motor oil and soapiness dominate. Was hoping for everything else to be stronger than the motor oil, which was probably silly of me, but I'm very curious to see how this ages and will be keeping it for that purpose.

Smells like banana Laffy Taffy when wet (I'm weirdly into that??) but dries down to a very light creamy vanilla and a big dollop of juicy green pear. I agree with zanzoku - this one does smell synthetic and bit plasticky. This works as simple springtime scent, if you're okay with taking a chance on that inside-of-a-candy-bucket smell. Same family as Game Over, and a happy addition to the "weird candy" side of my collection.

Sweet, herbal, powdery, little bit of Snake Oil. Very nicely balanced, so much so that it doesn't read as a Snake Oil blend unless you get really close. Oddly enough this reminds me a lot of Lush's Twilight/Sleepy, even though I don't consciously notice the tonka. Fresh, sweet, and slightly warm. Extremely similar to Dee.

Super strong smoke note which is very vetiver-like, a touch of sandalwood and a base of sweet cinnamon and unburnt myrrh. The smoke dissipates as it dries and leaves a nice, gentle, warm incense. It's lovely, but I have so many general catalogue scents that smell similar to this that a bottle isn't worth it to me.

Pink bubblegum covered in rust (was skeptical about the rust note, but yes, it does smell exactly like rust), and dusty leather which takes over as it dries. Weird!

2021 This smells way more like Dorian than I expected! The base is almost dead on for un-aged Dorian, and the rest of the scent is super sugary lemon, which reminds me of lemonade mixed with black tea. The musk comes out as it dries.

Sweet violet, warm tonka bean, and a wee bit of clove spice. The incense comes out as it dries, and it's reading as frankincense to my nose, with an almost aquatic tone. Very nice - I think I'll like it a lot more after aging.

Very sharp and powdery, mostly frankincense. A dusting of violet, and the slightest hint of cinnamon.

Definitely give this one a little time to settle on the skin - it has a very harsh cleaning fluid phase at the beginning. After that, this smells exactly like being by a river in a conifer forest during a sunny cold snap. The pine, hazelnut, and stone take center stage, though I can actually pick out every single listed note to some degree. Very well-balanced - an evergreen scent for people who don't like evergreen scents. Could work for any season, because it gives off both fall/winter crispness and spring/summer sunshine.

"Bittersweet" and "ticklish" is right - the bitter part of citrus, the tickly part of grapefruit, and a little bit of sweet from the florals (which are definitely "snow-dusted," because I got a very distinct whiff of something very similar to the lab's snow note in the imp). Mainly a yuzu and grapefruit scent.

I agree with @supreme_c0rt - this is a lot like Iago, but nicer on the dry down. Less intense. On me, the leather comes across as very soft and well-worn, smoothed by the ambrette and tonka. A touch of vetiver bitterness and a suggestion of tobacco making the scent a little smokey. The dirt note is definitely there, making this overall an outdoorsy, slightly rainy scent. I also get a bit of hay. This is much less gritty than I expected, but it is definitely very nice. A subtle, unisex Renaissance fair type scent, along the lines of the smell of a freshly opened BPAL box. Depending on your skin chemistry, I feel this could go either very dirty/sexy or smooth/professional. Interesting!

This is about 80% hemp rope, 15% cedar, and 5% sandalwood on me. There's a burst of warm sandalwood a minute or two after it hits the skin, but after that it disappears and is all fresh hemp rope and cedar shavings. Very nice balance between clean and dirty here, ever so slightly spiced. Herbal but very much in a brand-new-rope kind of way. Think "antique cedar chest full to the brim with coils of freshly woven hemp rope."

Our collaboration with Erika Klash is an anime death-scene in a bottle, inspired by the signature creepy-cute style of this killer (and occasionally killed) queen. A coppery-clove, blood-tinged, cherry blossom-dappled blue cotton candy. This is 100% everything I hoped it would be - warm and waxy clove over smoky-toned spun sugar. Gives the impression of almost-burned soft candy, but in a fancy, aloof kind of way, if that makes sense? If this scent was a person they could totally kick your butt without messing up their makeup. A very sweet, very spooky, very sexy smell indeed.

APPLE, oud, a touch of cedar, and a hint of honey. Much more appley than expected, but I love apple so I don't mind. Not as warm and resinous as I had hoped, and it doesn't stand out compared to other LE apple scents, but I'll definitely hang on to my decant.

What it says on the tin. Dry, powdery, a little lemony. The frankincense is stronger than the myrrh on me. This would probably be very good layered with something else, but by itself it's not as pretty and complex as other bpal frank/myrrh blends.

Derived from the same pseudo-scientific process as last year’s LAB RAT blend, but constrained to the Lab’s Carnaval Diabolique collection. Each bottle contains a slosh of every Carnaval scent currently in stock. The result? An inhalation of the miasma hovering over the midway after a busy, near-endless night of debauchery. In the interest of peer review, here are our intern's notes from the blending process, tracking how the scent evolved as through the collection alphabetically. A-C: “Chocolate truffles filled with blood-creme, rolled in sawdust.” D-G. “Two… no, THREE corsaged puppeteers screwing in a hay bale.” H-L. “Rusty barber’s shears sterilizing overnight in a jar full of rum and rosewater.” M-P “This is eerily reminiscent of lightning striking a gondola full of off-duty showgirls.” O-Z “Luminous, opalescent bat wings serving as the bellows for a lunatic calliope, whooshing gusts of wind through blossoms on dying trees, the bark sticky with blood that is, for some mysterious reason, flowing upward. The music! can you hear the music?” [Sadly, we have been unable to elaborate on these findings as the intern in question abruptly left their post shortly thereafter.] Eau de Carnaval Diabolique. The cumulative weight of dozens of scents — a cacophony of carnies, haunts, snakes, grindhouse dancers, and other attractions, all simultaneously clamoring for your attention. Disclaimer: I have never in my life smelled any CD scents by themselves In the bottle: A muddled mix of vaguely musky herbs, dry flowers, vanilla, and resiny fruits, and a stable base of chocolate probably from The Candy Butcher. Wet: Starts with a strong blast of what I assume is Theodosius, because it reminds me strongly of Dorian, and Snake Oil. Calms down to herbs and flowers, with maybe 20 minutes of plum, then it turns to pure frankincense for another 20 minutes. Still chocolate in the background. Dry: Half faint, powdery chocolate and half herbs, vanilla, and musk. Conclusion: Definitely a morpher as it dries, but disappointingly flat when completely dry. Frustrated with the prominence of chocolate because I'm allergic and thus it is NOT a smell I enjoy. However, I loved the morphing phases, and I feel like this is a scent that will do wildly different things on different people.

Well this is quite simply the best nag champa-type perfume I have ever smelled. Smoky and sweet. Excellent powdery dragon's blood, a bit of the sharpness of the amber and frankincense, whiffs of Villain-type lavender, and a generous squeeze of blood orange juice. No cocoa, which I am very happy about as I am allergic and every other part of this scent sounded perfect. And it is!

Smoked leather, OAK, patchouli, wisps of vanilla/almond, and a veil of jasmine. Oak is my favorite wood note and it is definitely the star here, so I enjoy this, though it is lighter than what I normally go for. I was expecting more almond given that it smelled like straight almond extract in the decant, but alas. Nevertheless, this is very pretty gender neutral scent that I think could work in any season.

UGH this is so good Meaty, vanillic coconut and chewy patchouli drenched, dripping, in liquid resins and golden musk. No cardamom. Cozy yet tropical, and intensely nostalgic.