torischroeder9

In the imp: Light and fresh and a little sweet. I can't pick out individual notes, but if you told me it contained green tea and lime, I would believe you. On my skin: Wet, the sweetness continues, though I also get a distinct whiff of wasabi. As it dries, white musk wafts up at me. On me, while the different scents are incongruous, they're not discordant. Once it's had some time to get used to my skin, I can pick out white musk, black musk, and a scent that's reminiscent of 51, so I'm guessing that's green musk. I can sometimes catch a whiff of heliotrope, and every once in a while, a little wasabi tickles my nose. After about an hour, it settles down to be mostly green musk, with some white musk and heliotrope playing along. It's a light, summery scent. I'm curious to see how it plays with RPG scents with a similar feel (like Gnome) as well as with RPG scents that are much different (like Evil).

In the imp: Dragon's blood and red musk. I can pick out a note that's either the patchouli or the vetiver, but it's not strong. In the imp, this is not too unlike Dragon's Heart to me. On my skin: Wet, it's almost entirely dragon's blood and red musk. As it dries, the patchouli also makes its presence known though it stays subdued by the dragon's blood and red musk. Dragon's blood tends to be a little spicy on my skin, so I can't tell if I'm getting the cinnamon here as a separate note or if it's blending in with the DB. This morphs fairly little on me. The dragon's blood and red musk simmer down a bit, letting the patchouli and cinnamon come out a little more strongly. Still, the balance of the blend is tipped toward the red musk and dragon's blood. Vetiver never does put in a distinct appearance, though it could easily be playing very nicely with the patchouli. The throw is on the stronger side of medium; the wear length is also quite long. I like this one quite a lot, though as a fairly heavy scent, I'll probably relegate it to colder weather wearing.

In the imp: Honey, tonka, chamomile that I can detect outright, as well as another herbal, slightly minty (very slightly) note that I'm guessing is hyssop. On my skin: Wet, honey is in the forefront along with chamomile. As it's drying, the tonka is also distinguishable. Given some time to develop on my skin, the tonka blends almost seamlessly with the honey to create a scent that's partway between honey and beeswax (they're distinct but not so very dissimilar on my skin). The chamomile gives it a mild sweetness, and the herbal hyssop, as a background note, provides a bit of structure. I like this a great deal as it shows up on my skin as a honey scent (as opposed to a many-noted scent with honey, however prominent, in it), but the complementary other notes deepen it and keep it from becoming too cloying or heady. The throw and wear length aren't great on me, but I also tested this on a not-ideal area of my skin. I'm very curious to give this a more thorough retest as it could be the honey blend I've been looking for for daily wear. Edit: Retested more fully and sadly, the throw and wear length remain light on me. Will definitely keep my imp of this for use in specific situations.

In the imp: Fig, patchouli, and something earthy that does not smell like either the Lab's dirt note or like patchouli. On my skin: Wet, I get patchouli and what smells like peat whiskey without the spirited fumes. Given several minutes to dry and develop on my skin, the fig also becomes discernible, lending some warmth to the blend. Sadly, after about half an hour, the fig fades, and I'm left with patchouli and oakmoss. It's not unpleasant in itself, but it's much drier minus the fig. At this stage, comparisons to an older stone building are apt. It's interesting to try, but for regular wearing, I wanted the fig. Low throw.

In the imp: Patchouli, musk, and peach. On my skin: The patchouli is the most prominent, with a hint of peach in the background. It doesn't seem to morph much on me, at least not for the first half hour or so. As time goes by, the amber and musk emerge, sweetening the patchouli and adding a quality that's a bit powdery and a bit resinous. Unfortunately, by this time, the peach also becomes indistinguishable as an individual note (though it may still be playing a role in the sweetness). It's not an unpleasant scent, but I was really hoping the peach would be more prominent.

In the imp: Sweet florals, white musk, and more sweet florals. On my skin: Wet, the sweet pea shows up first. As it dries, lily, pear, and white musk all become detectable as well. At this point, sweet pea might be the most in the foreground, but not by an overwhelming amount. The scent is reasonably well balanced overall. About a half hour in, the pear has receded, except to give a bit of roundness to the blend, and the honeysuckle is detectable as an individual note as well. In fact, I'd suggest that at this point, Juliet is predominantly sweet pea and honeysuckle on me, with the white musk doing what it can to ground the scent. (That it's a very light, airy blend is more a function of the notes listed rather than any kind of failing on the part of the white musk.) Another hour later, the musk settles back, and the pear reemerges a bit to give the blend a light, sweet feel that isn't overly floral or cloying. The throw on this is fairly low, and the wear length is on the shorter side.

In the decant: Crystalline floral. I don't get anything that I could describe as fur or hay. On my skin: Wet, I get a note that's much richer and sweeter, like honey or amber, though I still don't get the smell of hay. (Spent enough time handling hay in my life to be 100% sure of this.) I'm not sure if the Lab's version of a hay note is different than mine, if the oil has changed with age, or if this is something that will develop in wear time. Several minutes dry, and the round sweetness starts to go soft, just the tiniest bit powdery, like amber can do on me. The only additional morph this undergoes on me is for the floral note to disappear entirely. It's soft, gentle, beautiful amber on me. Which, I cannot complain about a bit since I love amber -- but I do understand if someone acquired this scent expecting a different experience. The throw is on the strong side of medium.

In the bottle: Floral, incensey champaca and honey. On my skin: Wet, the honey actually comes out first, with the champaca regaining dominance by the time it dries. Given some time to warm and develop, the champaca becomes both bright -- "almost citrusy" is about right -- and incensey. The honey adds a rich sweetness. Together, the two do not become cloying -- though this may also be in part due to the sandalwood, which I cannot yet detect as a stand-alone note. After about half an hour, the sandalwood shows up, giving the scent a nice, grounded element. I agree with folks describing this as a scent that would be the color of sunshine. The throw is pretty good. Will update later about wear length. Now is bedtime.

2017 version. In the bottle: Leather and Snake Oil. I'm normally not good at picking out nuances in the Lab's leather, but this note is evocative of large amounts of new, high-quality equestrian tack. On my skin: Initially, the combination of the wet leather note and the wet Snake Oil is unusually sharp. As it dries, that quickly dissipates, though the leather note makes the blend deeper and heavier than standard Snake Oil. (I am someone for whom Snake Oil doesn't register as particularly sweet, so I don't really notice a lessening of that quality here.) It also provokes a faint redness and irritation on my skin, which standard Snake Oil does not do. None of the Lab's leather notes has done this before, either, but my experience with them is more limited. About a half hour past the initial drydown, and the leather note recedes significantly. It's still present as an additional grounding note, but the blend is Snake Oil-dominant on me. Also, the skin irritation persists into this phase. After an hour or so, the irritation goes away. It remains mostly Snake Oil with an undercurrent of leather. It does have great throw and wear length and after several hours, it fades to mostly Snake Oil on me. I'm torn. I mean, Snake Skin is awesome on me because Snake Oil is awesome on me. And I definitely understand why those who find Snake Oil too sweet would prefer Snake Skin. But I cannot truthfully say that Snake Skin is more awesome on me than is Snake Oil, or even that is awesome in a unique way.

In the imp: Booze first, moss and dirt next, followed by mixed flowers. On my skin: Wet, the rum rises to the top of the blend on my skin, followed by a dirt note that immediately gets lost as it's drying. Once dry, however, the dirt note reemerges, though the spiced rum is the most pronounced note. Additionally, the dirt note isn't harsh to my nose, so I'm guessing that I'm "sensing" some of the flowers in the blend even if I can't pick them out as individual notes. About a half hour in, while the rum still dominates, there is no trace of the sharper, "fumier" aspects of alcohol spirits. It's the rich, mellow, faintly spicy and faintly sweet parts of bay rum. The soil note is still prominent, but I'm now able to pick out a floral note -- maybe lily, and maybe magnolia? However, after another hour, the florals also fade, and it's once again rummy dirt -- which is one of the nicest dirt notes I've tried so far, but I'm still not sure if I want to smell like rummy dirt. Low to medium throw. Not sure I'm going to keep this on my arm long enough to test the wear length (but it's not super short).

In the decant: Amber and clary sage. On my skin: Wet, it's clary sage in the forefront with the background going kind of soapy. Once dry, the soapiness settles down, and the clove and clary sage are dominant, backed by amber and an undercurrent of leather. After the initial drydown, this doesn't morph much on me. (The amber is the longest-lasting note on me, so there is a time when it's the strongest note on me, but this is mainly because this is the time when the other notes are fading through normal wearlength attrition.) The scent balance is really lovely on this. The amber and clove give it sweetness and spice, the clary sage adds an element of cleanness and freshness, and the leather grounds and unifies the blend nicely. It wears very close to my skin with minimal throw.

Imp received very recently as a frimp along with the post-Lab purchase of a different scent. Age of imp unknown. In the imp: Carnation and a soft musk, with the hints of other grounding scents (spices and sandalwood would fit this) playing in the background. It does have a creamy feel, so I definitely understand where lots of folks talk about it smelling like vanilla. On my skin: Wet, the carnation initially dominates, but it seems like the spices are also trying to surface. Once it's dry, however, that spice attempt fails. At least for the first half hour of the dry scent, it's mostly carnation with a bit of sandalwood grounding. (Putting my nose to my skin does make me sneeze, though, which is not a terrible indicator for the presence of a kitchen spice note.) As it has time to mature, the carnation is still the center note, but the sandalwood comes out to ground the blend a bit more. In addition, both the musk and the cassia are detectable around the edges of the scent. The scent is simultaneously dry and creamy. The comparisons to powdered spice over dessert or sweet drink are very apt. Ultimately, it's a light, soft, not-overly-sweet, and not-floral scent that ends up having a good bit of throw on me. In my mind, this is a complete win.

In the decant: Evergreen, sweetness, and smoke. On my skin: Wet, it's mainly the same as in the decant, though the smoke scent flits in and out of prominence. Dry, it's fir first and incense second. It morphs fairly little as it develops on me. I am able to pick out a faint sweetness that's separate from the fir but can't pinpoint whether it's floral or amber. (The incense note is interfering a bit with that, I think.) About an hour later, the amber note becomes more prominent, enough to be a solid base for the incense, evergreen, smoke, and floral that accent it. I am deciding how I like this one. (I received it as a frimp with a different purchase.) The scent is interesting; I don't often love evergreen scents; left alone long enough, this becomes more amber; I like amber. I may think about retesting this at a later date.

In the decant: Apple and rosewood, with an undercurrent of pine. On my skin: Wet, it's rosewood and apple. The rosewood seems to want to go a little soapy as some rose-rose notes like to do on me. A few minutes later, once it's dry, I realize that said soapiness was actually the lemon peel struggling for dominance on my skin. The soapy phase is quite short-lived, and now the lemon peel is in the foreground, with an undercurrent of rosewood. The quality of the lemon peel is quite nice; it's avoiding the Raging Lemon Pledge that is too often lemon on my skin. The apple note, not independently detectable, may be helping with this. It may not be Raging Lemon Pledge, but more time turns it into Amping (Real) Lemon Peel, though. Finally, it settles in on being a pretty nice lemon rose with a fair amount of throw. The iterations of these notes, both of which can go wonky on me, are quite well balanced in this blend. I don't often find myself wanting to smell like lemon rose , but I might use this for warm-weather wear.

In the Imp: Cucumber and something greener and sharper, like grass. If "cucumber zest" was a thing, I'd call it that. On my skin: Wet, there's something about this that almost smells like the inside flesh of a hot green pepper. That note quickly fades, and I'm left with a cucumber that's accented with something crisp and green, like grass, as well as with something bright and fruity, like lime. Many minutes dry, and the cucumbery, grassy, limey combination persists in approximately the same form. It's not unlike a certain stage of Green Phoenix, though this doesn't seem likely to go to either candy or moss any time soon. The scent doesn't morph for me, but after about an hour, it does start to fade. Its throw settles down on the closer side of medium. This is done very nicely for the type of scent it is. It's a nice variation on a bright, clean, refreshing scent. It's not usually what I want to smell like in a perfume, but I'd very much like it in something like a body wash.

Note: The only Lab snow note I've tried is the one in the 2018 Frostbitten series. I've tried Frostbitten Snake Oil, Frostbitten Dorian, and now Frostbitten Jack. To my nose, the note is consistent across these blends (in this year). I would call it softly creamy and softly sweet. If I refer to the "snow" note in this review, it is the one I am describing here. In the decant: The snow note, as above, is most prominent, but I don't have too much trouble detecting the pumpkin, nutmeg, and clove underneath. They're in the background, but they're not absent for me. On my skin: Wet, it's snow, nutmeg, and pumpkin, in that order. As it dries, the snow is the portion of the blend that continues to have the most throw. However, if I bring my nose close to my arm to sniff, the pumpkin and nutmeg are most prominent. After about half an hour, the notes blend together more. The snow still has more throw, and the pumpkin-nutmeg is still prominent near the skin, but the balance is much closer. The snow is detectable close up, and the pumpkin-nutmeg is detectable sniffing further out. And there's a range of "sniffing distance" when the blend is pretty well equalized. As it wears on my skin, the pumpkin-nutmeg of Jack becomes more dominant at any sniff length. The snow note never becomes a non-player.

2018 version Also worth noting: It's been a while since I tested regular Dorian. In the decant: Tea and white musk in the foreground, the same snow note as in this year's Frostbitten Snake Oil in the background. (I have also not actually ever tried straight Snow White or possibly any of the Lab's snow-prominent perfumes.) On my skin: Wet, the snow note gains more prominence so it's at least an equal player with the tea. The white musk has temporarily receded. In the early dry phase, it becomes so much snow that I also lose the tea. The snow is beautiful, though, so I am not complaining. After about half an hour, I notice that I'm getting a pretty good amount of throw from this. I wonder if it's the snow note itself or if one of the light musks (I often amp musk) is helping to boost it on my skin. It takes about forty-five minutes for anything like Dorian (or like my memory of Dorian, light musk and sweet light tea) to come through, and when it does, it's still well-balanced by the sweet, creamy snow note. I like this a lot, and it works better for me than I remember Dorian itself working (I amp musk but eat tea, so Dorian isn't balanced on me). The additional "frostbitten" notes give it more depth. On me, this is light enough -- in character; it still has good throw -- to be a warm weather scent.

In the decant: Fresh ginger at first, followed by the gingerbread smell. I'm distinguishing "gingerbread" because there is an element of baked good, sweetness, and additional complementary spices (maybe brown sugar and allspice, just a bit?). On my skin: Wet, I get the gingerbread note first, to the exclusion of the fresh ginger I experienced in the decant. Through the initial drydown, at least, it stays the same way. I mean, it's a very gingery gingerbread -- and I like my gingerbread with a lot of ginger (and that's sort of why I got this scent) -- but I'm missing the distinct "more ginger" note I seemed to get in the decant. Aaaannd... yeah, half an hour after the previous paragraph, and it doesn't seem to be morphing at all. It's a very gingery gingerbread. It's a nice warm, gingery scent with some pretty good throw. It's possibly my favorite scent from the selection of Yule 2018 decants I purchased. I do want a bottle of this, but I might have to look long and hard at both my finances and my spicy, wintry perfumes to determine whether I really should get one. Definitely hanging onto this decant, though.

In the decant: Gunpowder hits my nose first. As I continue to sniff, I realize it's a cedar core with a gunpowder accent -- but the gunpowder hits a part of my nose/olfactory processing that noplace else gets. On my skin: Wet, it's all gunpowder, like cannons on my arm. This Cannon SN continues well into the drydown. After about half an hour, the cedar once again makes itself known. But now it's gunpowder-gilded cedar... Pirate Ship SN? (I know pirate ships weren't made out of cedar, but it's a fun thought.) Still not getting anything I can call gingerbread. Aaaand... after another half an hour, gunpowder cedar is where it seems to stay. I think this is a case where some aging might be in order.

(2018 version) In the decant: Cedar, something like a light pine scent, and a bit of sage. On my skin: Wet, it's the light pine, cedar, and sage. As it dries, the warmth and roundness of the fig note starts to come out. Given some time to dry and settle down, the fig warms and comes out as the dominant note on my skin. It's the same sensuous fig as in Carnal. Only this time, instead of being the grounding note, the fig is the top note. At this point, the cedar and sage aren't detectable on me except to know that something earthy is grounding the fig. About half an hour later, the fig remains the only detectable note. At this point, I could be wearing Carnal (since the mandarin there disappears on me) and never know the difference. I like fig well enough as a scent (in fact, I like fig very well as a scent, and I'd wear it more often if it wasn't such a low-throw note on me), but I don't know that this is distinct enough on me to warrant a separate purchase. Edit 1/20 -- Fun trivia: I'm wearing this again today, applied approximately 90 minutes ago to both inner elbows and to my cleavage. (Initial test above was on inner elbow or inner forearm.) Cleavage application went figgy very quickly; elbow applications are still cedar-dominant. Going to let this sit in the decant for a month to see if that creates a little more consistency.

(2018 version) In the decant: Something sweet and almost fruity, like an orange hard candy. On my skin: The scent is somewhere between an orange candy and an orange cleaner, not necessarily in an unpleasant way. Twenty minutes later, the candy note is gone, and I smell white musk over wood. There might be a tinge of sweetness left, but it's an accent on the blend rather than the main note. Given as much time again, the white musk increases and the sweetness fades until this is just white musk over... polished wood. I've just now, as I've been sniffing and typing, had the realization that this scent is white musk, wood, and just the tiniest tinge of orange oil, as if the wood had been regularly but not super-recently oiled and polished. The effect, to me, is that of smelling polished wood through the veil of something else. It's cleaner than dust or powder but not so wet or clean as is water. It's softer than ozone. It's evocative of a piece of wood that's been regularly polished but also regularly touched -- like, for example, a wooden bannister in the staircase of an old house, especially one that held a large family -- over a lot of years. The white musk element of the blend has pretty good throw. If it's typical of white musk for me, it will also have pretty good wear length. Will check back after a couple of wears to see if that holds true.

In the decant: Oakmoss with lavender. On my skin: Wet, oakmoss is still dominant with the lavender still detectable and becoming a bit sharper as it dries. About fifteen minutes later, as it settles on my skin, lavender is in the forefront. Now the patchouli is also detectable as a grounding note. I can still pick out the oakmoss tying these scents together, but the "pallid oakmoss" descriptor is apt. It's just barely there enough to be a unifying presence. Given additional time to settle and warm, it becomes lavender as a top note for something almost powdery on my skin. But, like, very fine, high-end, grown-up powder -- not the baby powder I sometimes get when a note like amber doesn't play nice on my skin. Much later (sorry, I left periodic arm-sniffing long enough to cook and eat dinner), the scent is a very light, powdery floral. The top note is something like a very light rose. (A quick Google tells me cistus is rockrose?) The lavender is detectable as a base; at this point, I cannot detect any patchouli or wood fulfilling this role. I can't tell what's leading to the powder note on me (none of the listed notes usually do this, and the quality of the powder is different than I've ever experienced from perfume oil). Once it's in powder-lavender-rose stage, the throw is pretty low, but the wear length seems to be at least average.

In the decant: Dark chocolate and something almost minty, but a complementary mint -- like an Andes mint. On my skin: Dark chocolate when it's wet, but as soon as it dries, pepper becomes the dominant note. However, left alone for a few minutes, the chocolate reemerges. It's definitely a dark chocolate -- almost bitter dark -- and spicy. About fifteen minutes after the initial drydown, the scent on me is fairly balanced between dark chocolate and pepper. Slowly, the note that I think must be the green cardamom peeks out. In this blend, it's what's causing the suggestion of a creamy minty smell to me. It actually feels like the softest note in this blend to me, and it does a good job of bringing together the sharp pepper and the rich dark chocolate. And then, after about an hour -- and rather suddenly, all timelines considered -- this shifts to a nice cardamom with a solidly medium amount of throw. (When the chocolate note was present, it was a very skin-close scent on me.) I can believe that black pepper also graces the scent, but I can't prove it. I do like the final drydown quite a lot. I'm just not sure about the whole path it takes to get there.

(I think this is the correct place for this review. Purchased a bottle of this on eBay from a seller from whom I've purchased before.) In the bottle: Very sweet vanilla creamy. It reminds me of the smell of, like, an entire tub or bowl of creamy vanilla frosting. If there are other notes, they are hiding under that. On my skin: First, as I apply, the oil's consistency is thicker than I've experienced from most BPAL vials. It's not as thick as my aged Boomslang, but it's getting toward that. Wet, the vanilla dissipates almost immediately, revealing a softly spiced scent underneath. It's the kind of spice that would be at home in a room full of sweet baked goods, but there's no actual "baked good" note (like, no cake or bread or that sort of thing -- just the spice). Also, something's tickling my nose in a floral kind of way, but it's not identifiable at this stage. Once it's had several minutes to settle and warm, the spiciness is foremost on me. I'm actually not reading it as carnation as it's spicier than carnation usually is on me. A great deal of the vanilla creaminess comes back, though not the jolt of sugar sweetness. Up close, I also get whiffs of a high floral -- but not overly sweet -- top note. Settling down some more, the carnation note becomes more apparent. I'm also detecting a note that I'm interpreting as a soft wood (sandalwood?). There's also something (amber? this would be characteristic on my skin) that's letting the vanilla note waft on me. The vanilla isn't strong at this point in the blend, but it does have a goodly amount of throw. I expect this will disappear on me sooner rather than later (though maybe not super soon), but it is lovely. Comparisons to Morocco are apt.

In the decant: Apricot, cayenne, honey. On my skin: Wet, it's sweetened cayenne. As it dries, the apricot becomes detectable again as well. In this early stage, something in the blend -- I'd actually guess the cayenne (since I've never experienced this with honey or apricot before) -- has a quality almost like menthol. After about fifteen minutes, however, the blend settles down, and the menthol aspect disappears. It is apricot and honey with a touch of cayenne. On me, the apricot-honey pairing is very sweet, and I imagine that without the spice of the cayenne, this blend might be cloying. I would tell you that throw is low to medium on me. However, last time I tested it, my husband commented about the strength of the BPAL I was wearing. So maybe some aspect of the blend is stronger than I notice?