torischroeder9

In the decant: Snake Oil and tart blue raspberry sour gummy worms. On my skin: At first, Snake Oil dominates. Once it dries, I get both the sour gummy candy smell and the groundedness of Snake Oil. I can even smell the dusting of sour sugar. (If you stick your nose in as much sour gummy candy as I do, you can appreciate that this has a different quality from the fruity gelatinousness of the gummy.) This is actually delightful. As a feat of creation, of course, yes. But also as just a really enjoyable scent. I ordered a half decant of this for novelty purposes, or so I thought -- but it's very wearable. And interesting. And making me want sour gummy worms.

In the decant: Super a lot extra Lab pumpkin. On my skin: Wet, it's still mostly pumpkin but tinged with honey around the edges. As it dries, the honey becomes stronger, though the pumpkin remains the star. The musk fuzzifies the edges of the scent. Once it develops, the almond also comes out, though it's only really detectable if I sniff close to my skin. It's a sweet pumpkiny scent, but predominantly a pumpkiny scent.

In the decant: Very fruity, almost candy. Must be Slime Queen because I am getting neither Dorian nor Snake Oil. On my skin: Wet, there is some definite patchouli coming out, but it's not distinctively Snake Oil. Still fruity candy, though. As it dries, the Dorian comes through rather strongly, though there's still something non-Dorian -- a candy-type note -- about it. There's also something just a touch deeper than anything in Dorian, which I'm guessing is the patchouli I detected earlier and/or another component of Snake Oil. At this stage, at least, the Snake Oil is very much in the background. ... Huh. And this is where it starts to do a weird thing. I still get Dorian with some spun candy sugar, but then an undercurrent of... super fresh patchouli. Not the full complexity of Snake Oil, and definitely not Snake Oil as aged as this should be. It has an almost oudy quality. I cannot be in love with this, but I'm very glad to have tried it.

In the decant: Apple, blood orange, and gardenia. Maybe a wisp of plumeria. I don't get Snake Oil or lemon at all. On my skin: Wet. it's largely blood orange. As it dries, something amps the Snake Oil's vanilla, and I get a phase where it's fairly similar to Australian Copperhead on me. In the next morph, the fruits disappear more or less entirely, and I get plumeria backed by Snake Oil. Ultimately, plumeria Snake Oil is where this stays on me. In the throw, it's Snake Oil dominant with just a whiff of plumeria. Sniffing up close to my skin, the plumeria is prominent with the Snake Oil underneath it. Though I don't think the formulation's changed, I remember the original Coral Snake being very apple-dominant on me (which, apple and lemon often drown out other notes on me), so I'm pleasantly surprised by this. I don't know that I will go seeking a full bottle of this, but I'll definitely make friends with my decant.

Tester decant courtesy of a forumite. In the decant: Much Snake Oil, little pumpkin. On my skin: Wet, the pumpkin note and what seems like a pumpkin spice note immediately become apparent. As it dries, it's the delightfully gooey spice of aged Snake Oil plus the Lab's round, buttery pumpkin note. It doesn't morph much after that on me. This is a decidedly autumn, decidedly sexy aged Snake Oil. But I'm still pretty happy to have picked up a bottle of what I consider the "cuddlier" pumpkin spice version this year.

Partial decant as a frimp from alterosen. In the decant: Terebinth, sharp black leather, and black currant. On my skin: Wet, the black leather is on top, though I can detect the Snake Oil trying to come through underneath. As it dries, it evokes a scent of warm, piney Snake Oil (like Christmas Snake Oil, which is not actually a thing, but if it were a thing, it might be this). This was also the point where my husband came home and said, unprompted, that the house smelled nice. Up close, the leather and fruits dominate. Given more time to develop on my skin, the fruits come to the forefront while the leather recedes quite a bit. I get a very fruit-forward Snake Oil with a hint of pine. It's deeper and more complex than Pomegranate Grove: Snake Oil but does run in that vein. As someone who loves the Christmas "feel" but doesn't really enjoy wearing too much evergreen, I think this would make a lovely alternative Christmas scent for me. Off to search for a partial bottle...

In the bottle: Honey and carnation with a touch of sweet clove. On my skin: Wet, the patchouli and clove (in that order) are instantly stronger, though the honey and carnation remain detectable. As it dries, it's definitely honey, clovey carnation. On me, the carnation also has the quality of being... not blackened outright, but, like, closer to dried carnation and further from fresh carnation. It's still very nice, but it has a vibe that's more autumnal and less springlike. The throw is pretty solid on me, as is the wear length. Neither is outrageous, but they're both stronger and longer than average.

I wear Rogue perfume oil a lot on its own, as something that's almost complex and complete enough for me to like that. I've also taken to pairing it with Thieves' Rosin as a complementary layering scent. So when Pumpkin Spice Rogue -- Rogue with just a little more complexity -- came along, I had to try it. I do think it's great -- Smooth, sultry Rogue, with just a little extra spice.

Well, duh, indeed. I love pumpkin spice, and I love Snake Oil, so this was the first sure thing I added to my Weenie order. In the bottle: 100% pumpkin spice, like I'm sniffing the jar out of the spice rack. On my skin: Wet, it's still mostly dry pumpkin spice, with a little whiff of sharp patchouli that is fresh Snake Oil. As it dries, the fresh Snake Oil spiciness gets a little stronger, but it blends beautifully with the pumpkin spice note. Um. This is completely perfect. It's similar in quality to Saw Scaled Viper on me, but this is much softer and cozier.

In the bottle: Pumpkin and pumpkin spice over teak and oak, followed by tobacco. On my skin: Wet, it's pure concentrated pumpkin spice flavoring for a minute, almost as if there were a sweetened pumpkin spice flavor syrup for coffee. As it dries, I get a tingly sensation on my arm (not too uncommon on me, but no known notes in AK cause this on me, so I'm guessing it's something in the pumpkin spice portion of the blend), and tobacco is very much the dominant note. It's over woods and smoked vanilla, but the pumpkin spice portion of the scent is not detectable to my nose. Hours later, and that's still what I get on my skin -- lots of tobacco, a little smoke, no pumpkin spice. I'll have to see how aging likes this one.

In the bottle: It really does smell like syrupy sweet Snake Oil. More syrupy than Snake's Kiss, not as deep and rich as the honey of Womb Furie. This is very much high fructose corn syrup and Snake Oil. The candy corn is up front with Snake Oil fainter in the background. On my skin: Wet, it's a shot of candy corn with a chaser of Snake Oil as it's drying. As it dries, the Snake Oil steadies and becomes more prominent, though it remains shot straight-through with a jolt of sugary candy corn. Eventually, the candy corn recedes significantly to become a Snake Oil tinged with candy sweetness. While I certainly don't mind this version of Snake Oil, I'm wondering if the balance will shift with age.

In the bottle: Peach, honey, rose, apricot, and a certain tang that must be white oud. On my skin: Wet, it's very sweet and cloying. There's something about it that reminds me of cough syrup; I can only guess that is how my brain is interpreting the honeyed notes and the fruit. As it dries, the amber and frankincense come out, softening and grounding the peach and honeyed rose, which has also started to make an appearance. Oud is still present as well, offering a tang to counter the sweet notes. Given time, it morphs into a predominantly rose blend on me. It's honeyed rose, rounded out with peach and apricot, softened and grounded with frankincense, amber, and oud -- but rose is the star player at this point. On the plus side, it's a complex rose that I can wear well. (The only other scent in that category is Gypsy Queen.) On the minus... ImPEACHment is rose on me.

In the imp: Very earthy patchouli, with a hint of apricot around the edges. If I hadn't read the scent description, I probably wouldn't have noted patchouli at all, just earth. On my skin: Wet, the apricot is much more evident, as is the patchouli. It's still earthy, but patchouli is now detectable as a note. As it dries, it becomes mostly apricot on me, backed and grounded by the patchouli. As it is on me, this is not so much my thing. I like apricot as a supporting note in my fragrances, but here it's the main player, and it's kind of cloying. I thought the black patchouli would have stood up to it a little better, but such seems not to be the case.

Huh. Also surprised that I've not yet reviewed this, as it's a cinnamon blend I've tried before. This is a Lab frimp that arrived recently. In the imp: Cinnamon, myrrh, and sweetness, probably the honeysuckle. Accurate to say the resins "thicken" the cinnamon. On my skin: Wet, it's primarily honeysuckle tinged with cinnamon. As it dries, the myrrh comes back out again, deepening the scent. It is a beautiful, sweet, complex, deep cinnamon blend. And within an hour on my skin, it's disappeared. Why do the good ones always go?

Source: Lab frimp, rested two days from shipping. In the imp: Salt, wood, and leather. It does come across as an aquatic, but perhaps not as aquatic as some other BPAL aquatic blends I've tried. (Also, is there a record for the number of times using aquatic in one sentence?) It feels like there's more dry land substance here. On my skin: Wet, sea air and kelp dominate. As it dries, a hint of spice, leather, musk, and wood come out, balancing the more aquatic notes and keeping the blend from going to soap on me. Hrm. Grmmph. Given time to settle, the salt, aquatic, and kelp come back to life, making the scent reminiscent of a slightly grubby bar of Irish Spring soap. It was going so well, too, until this. If I was going to be a pirate (as, like, a Halloween costume, not as a profession) and wanted an oceany pirate character scent (as opposed to a rummy pirate character scent), this is the one I would choose. But it's not kind to my skin chemistry for everyday.

I don't know how I haven't reviewed this before, but I got a frimp of it with my Lilith/Weenie order, so. In the imp: Vanilla and sugar and something bright that's not citrus and not floral but evocative of a bit of both. On my skin: Wet, it smells like the lemon bar I ate last night, very sweet and a bit lemon, but lemon baked good flavor (lemon extract?) rather than an actual wedge of lemon. As it dries, the lemony note recedes a bit to let the sugar and vanilla come forward even more. Much later, a hint of muskiness takes the overtly foodie edge off this, but it still remains fairly evocative of extra sugary lemon bars on me. It's quite pleasant, but it seems that my skin chemistry takes away from Dorian being a complete masterpiece. As for throw and wear length, it's an odd combination on me: The scent is very strong and long-lasting, but also very skin close.

Received in a swap a few days ago, so it's had a chance to rest. In the bottle: Very rich, deep honey, spiced by cardamom. I can't detect any carnation in the bottle, but I'm not surprised. It's very honey-forward right now. On my skin: Wet, I'm first surprised at how thick this oil is, kind of on the order of aged Snake Oil. Scent-wise, it's very dark, spicy honey. It's evocative of cinnamon-flavored honey that's produced locally to me. Ever so slightly different though, which is probably because it's cardamom. And there's something that's neither honey nor spice. I imagine this must be the carnation, but right now, I'm reading it as a tea note -- though this may simply be because honey + tea paints a complete and coherent scent experience in my brain. On the drydown, the carnation/tea note fades back, and the heady, cardamom honey goes gangbusters. (That is not a complaint, BTW. Not at all.) It sort of continues this way, with the cardamom honey very dominant and the carnation-tea flitting in and out of detectability. It may settle down in time, but it's been going this way for over an hour. It's quite heady and strong on me -- sort of in the way that Judith and Holofernes is (different scent but similar feel). I'll probably have to be careful and sparing with its application, but this is definitely a keeper!

In the bottle: Tangerine and neroli come to the forefront, with some grounding notes -- likely patchouli and amber -- backing them. On my skin: Wet, it's neroli on top with sweeter tangerine detectable underneath. As it dries, the patchouli comes out, adding some grit and grounding to the scent. There's not much morphing after this phase. It's a very pleasant scent, but I'm not sure how wowed I am by it. That said, the patchouli does help the citrus to stick around, which is a rarity on me.

I love Sneks! Frimp decant from a swap. In the decant: Loard, not just Snake Oil. Not any Snake Oil. Motor oil and slick black leather and green musk. This is Iago getting it on with Streets of Detroit in a room that maybe once contained some Snake Oil. On my skin: Wet, the ferocity of the decant scent is tamed a bit, and I can smell the Snake Oil start to peek through. (Note: My husband just asked, "Do you smell something like burning metal?" from across the room. The only thing that could be creating the impression of such a scent is this blend. I don't swear to his accuracy, but this should attest for at least the immediate throw.) As it dries down, the Snake Oil does start to come through a little more, though the strident leather and oil is still in the forefront. On me, it's not the smooth, sexy leather in Snake Skin, but a leather that's still raw and... well, kind of stinky. After almost an hour after application, it does tone down so that Snake Oil co-dominates with the oil and leather. I'm not sure what I think about this one. It's a fairly... harsh?... Snake Oil blend on me. I don't think I'd be in the mood for it often. But maybe I'll hang onto it to see how it tests out at other times of the month before making a final decision.

Partial decant as a swap frimp. I think this may have rested long enough (arrived yesterday, but the oil is not new), but if my impressions are way off, consider that I may just be impatient. In the decant: I like the phrasing of the vanilla note, because I'm definitely feeling a kind of "dirty" vanilla here. That said, I'm attributing that to a bit of musk rather than an actual dirt note. Rose and tobacco are also detectable. On my skin: Wet, tobacco comes to the surface first. (Perhaps its reign will be short-lived.) As it dries, the throw becomes softer -- vanilla and musk more apparent -- while the close up is still tobacco and rose on me. Given more time to develop, it becomes even more tobacco-dominant on me, with just a subtle undercurrent of soft vanilla and musk. Eventually, rose also emerges to be a backer to the tobacco note, so it's now TOBACCO-ROSE-vanilla. Containing two notes my skin amps and one note my skin eats, this is probably not for me.

In the bottle: Sweet, round honey with a strong greenery component. On my skin: Wet, it's more of the same. I'd call the greenery of this scent more pronounced than in Deadly Nightshade Honey but more deep and earthy than the green note I get from Laurel Honey. It doesn't smell like tomato plants, really, to me. (There are tomato plants in my backyard right now. It's not the same.) It's a very pretty summer honey scent, soft and mellow and earthy. It's not overly sweet or cloying but also without the sharpness that comes with some green notes in honey.

Neutral Good Orc Druid (Because I purchased an RPG imp lot and am pulling imps out at random.) Wet, it's the rotting vegetal musk that is wet Orc on me; this scent is enough to overpower the other three. As it dries, the crystalline musk and vanilla of Good, along with the wool of Druid, start to soften the scent, making it a little sweeter in the appetizing sense and not as much in the rotting garbage sense. Given more time to blend and develop, I get lilies and dirt. The dirt I presume is from Druid, but I don't know where the lilies come from. Maybe it's grasses and/or vetiver?... Ah, yes, happy, sparkly grass and dirt. Not really one for grass and dirt scents, but this works surprisingly well. ____________________ Lawful Evil Halfling Mage Wet, the sweet foody porridge of Halfling dominates, though I can still pick out Lawful's chamomile and Evil's opium. As it dries, this is the war: porridge, chamomile, and opium. Given more time, it's chamomile and porridge, with chamomile winning the skin scent but porridge dominating the throw. Eventually, chamomile wins. ____________________ Lawful Neutral Dwarf Cleric Wet, it's a smorgasbord of many sweet and stout and gently spicy and herbal things. Nothing is individually identifiable, but it is complex and harmonious. As it dries, Cleric's rose amber is the predominant identifiable note, though I suspect Neutral's skin musk and the sweet metal I get from Dwarf are also factoring in here, as it's not quite the same as rose amber on its own. And it doesn't morph much from here. I think the skin musk amps up a bit more, but not enough to compete with rose amber for the starring role. It's a very pretty, full-bodied rose amber blend. True rose has a tendency to become overwhelming on my skin, but this seems to have enough robust supporting notes to keep that from happening. A+, would wear in real life. ____________________ Rogue & Thieves' Rosin Wet, this is super sexy, with Rogue sweetening the sultriness of Thieves' Rosin. As it dries, the notes meld even more, so it's sweet and smoky beeswax. I'm not sure this would replace my very favorite beeswax scent, but it definitely rivals some of the ones I've purchased in big bottles. Also A+ layering combination on me. ____________________ Chaotic Neutral Elf Mage Wet, there are swirls of Chaotic's wasabi, Neutral's skin musk, and something vaguely foresty (though not woody, necessarily). As it dries, the skin musk becomes dominant, accented by the wasabi. I get a touch of what I now can identify as Elf's berries and greenery on me, but it's far in the background. Mage is doing a disappearing trick at the moment. It's not bad at all, but considering some of the recent winners I tried in the past couple of days, this combination isn't impressive on me. ____________________ Lawful Neutral Halfling Paladin Wet, it's Halfling sweet porridge, Paladin sweet frankincense, and Lawful blue chamomile. It's a swirly mess, but it's not discordant, just unusual. As it dries, the scent does become more cohesive. I think the frankincense works to unify the porridge and chamomile a bit. It's almost as if you were sitting over porridge at a kitchen table, while chamomile tea brewed across the room, with a bit of incense remnant in the next room. I'm still not sure I love the combination of porridge and chamomile, but it's interesting to note that the addition of Paladin (and maybe Neutral?) at least seem to make it a cohesive and evocative scent, rather than a rough-and-tumble fight for dominance on my skin. ____________________ Chaotic Neutral Elf Rogue Wet, it's another whirlwind -- the wasabi of Chaotic, the herbal forest of Elf, a touch of Rogue's rosin. As it dries, I get a lot of Chaotic and a clear bell of Neutral -- which, in the context of other scents I've tried, makes me wonder if Chaotic Neutral is just a dominant combination on me (or at least dominant over Elf + whatever else). (And to be fair, Chaotic Neutral is light and complex and clean and strong. It reads as a little too traditionally masculine for me to want to wear it alone as a scent -- but for someone else, it could be a totally workable two-oil combination.) After some time and some application of body heat (went outside to walk a couple of miles in 100 degree dark), the warmth of Elf's berries and Rogue's rosin, along with a touch of smokiness from Rogue's hemp, begin to emerge, giving the blend some warmth and depth. I still don't know that it's quite me, but it's a scent with dimension. ____________________ Neutral Good Half-Elf Bard Wet, this is sweet honey and sparkle. Honey, honey, beeswax, white musk, celestial musk. The touch of white sandalwood, bay rum, and skin musk keep this scent beautifully and lightly grounded. As it dries, the beeswax comes to the forefront of the scent, a balance between the sweetness of the honey notes and the sandalwood and rum. I don't know if I like this quite as much as I like Rogue and Thieves' Rosin, but it's a pretty nice and coherent layering win.

In the bottle: The same wildflower honey note that consistently makes my eyes roll back in my head (in a good way). On my skin: Wet, it's immediately all wildflower honey, then immediately all patchouli as it begins to dry. As it dries, however, they balance so that the patchouli is a firm grounding note to showcase the wildflower honey. After that, it doesn't really morph on me (which is totally fine). I love all the blends I've tried with wildflower honey, but this is strikingly beautiful in its simplicity.

In the imp: White musk, honey, vanilla, sugar cane. On my skin: Wet, it's white musk and vanilla, with a subtle background sweetness that I think is sugar cane but could also be white honey. As it dries, the notes become more distinct. I can make out the white honey as a base, the celestial musk as an accent, and acacia just enough to ground in the background. Sugar cane may be part of the white honey note I'm getting; vanilla often disappears on me. It stays a very light, sheer honey. Eventually, the vanilla does come back, adding a touch of roundness and creaminess to the scent.

In the imp: Oak, chamomile, and rhubarb are all present. I smell the oak first, but the chamomile quickly comes to the forefront of the sniff. On my skin: Wet, it's mainly chamomile grounded by oak. As it dries, the oak becomes dominant, with chamomile present as an accent. Given time to settle and develop on my skin, the fig leaf also makes itself known, warming and mellowing the scent. Overall, this is a very sedate, even-keeled scent on me, neither particularly light or dark. As such, I could see it layering well with a variety of other RPG options.