feyofthefellwood

Wow, I really like this one! The pumpkin spice seems sweeter and more gentle than in most PS blends (more similar to that in Jack maybe? Although I don't have that one nearby for comparison at the moment). I haven't tried the old Pumpkin Spice Absinthe, so I can't compare to say if this one is different. There's a kind of baked-goods vibe that makes me think there's a hint of pumpkin note in here, not just spice. The sweet pumpkin-and-spice opening dries down to reveal the Lab's lovely absinthe note, the sour lemon tempered by sugary PS and light anise. I wasn't planning on a bottle of this, but after trying my decant, a bottle is definitely in my future!

Fresh out of the mail, I was a bit confused by this scent; I mostly smelled a sort of red musk, burnt spice with an indolic background. Resting has done this wonders, however! There's something sweet underlying the red musk, like black vanilla maybe; the red musk is recognizable but different to my nose than most other red musk blends, where the red musk takes over and that's all I can smell. Here, the red musk is very deep rather than high pitched, and balanced with glowing spice and a hint of creamy pumpkin, and I definitely think the indole is jasmine now that I can smell it better. It's the kind of jasmine I like---a little stanky but also sweet, a bit ethereal---reminding me of the tender jasmine in Defututa and La Prostitution et la Folie. I've never tried the OG Storyville, but am really glad I took a chance on this. I don't have anything else quite like it, and can only imagine that it will age like a dream.

This turned out to be one of my favorites from the scents I decanted! Sometimes the simple blends really shine. It's mostly floofy sugared opium, but with a whiff of sweet, light lavender water. It has great throw and smells elegant.

This is probably redundant to say about a Snake Oil blend, but this is really gorgeous. It's coffee Snake Oil with a sultry hint of pumpkin spice. A sugared vanilla incense PSL. It all blends together beautifully into the perfect autumn witch scent, cozy yet alluring.

This is so good! It reminds me of a spookier Lady Una, with a similar honey and vanilla thing going on in the background, but it's much more tart from the plum and berry notes. I am not detecting the opium very strongly, but I'm sure it adds to the venomous vibe of the scent and will likely deepen with age.

This is so beautiful; if you enjoyed Rose Quartz Bedroom or other rose/marshmallow scents with a twist, I definitely recommend this. I smell the lavender, rose, and bergamot the most at first, with the bergamot lending that almost-citrusy tea quality. The marshmallow and vanilla bean really shine in the dry down, though, elegantly sweet and soft, with the sandalwood/amber keeping the vanilla marshmallow from veering gourmand. This will be wonderful for everyday wear.

This has started to blossom now that it has rested a bit. It starts out with an almost lemony, somewhat perfumey tone. As it dries, it mellows and the sandalwood comes out, warm and dry. The combined scents remind me of a steaming cup of oolong tea, lightly sweetened (in other words, it smells really good to me!). This is a really pleasant, focused scent. It's also nice to have a better idea of what the Lab's sweet amber note smells like.

This is such a soft, delicate floral, floating and gentle. An ethereal beauty. There's a really nostalgic quality to it for me; I didn't grow up in the south, but it reminds me of being outside in the summer as a child and enjoying the scent of flowers and trees on a cooling breeze.

I smell soft clean sheets and bright peach bergamot tea. Cozy and comforting.

Oops, I had no idea Coyote was out of stock; my apologies for saying it would be easy to sample! Thank goodness for generous decanters; hope OP gets to try it. ❤️ (And hope it comes back in stock soon! It's a good one).

I am weirdly obsessed with this. It's lighter than I expected and well blended; I detect the black pomegranate (so good!) and champaca and hints of the rest, but the scent overall is kind of mysterious. It reminds me of older BPAL floral blends I've tried like Beatrice; it's kind of delicate and ghostly. The black musk is definitely there but so dark that my nose only detects it on a deep sniff. It's like one of those low frequencies in the universe beyond human hearing. My only downside is that it goes a bit soapy after a while (maybe that's the lily?) and I don't detect much patch to balance the floral with more earthy notes. However, I have faith that this will deepen and get richer with rest and age (since my bottle is brand new). I am excited to see how it smells after a few weeks or months.

I really like Coyote for a fuzzy, cozy scent! (The warmth of doeskin, dry plains grasses and soft, dusty woods warmed by amber and a downy, gentle coat of deep musk). And since it's general catalog, it's easy to sample.

I (perhaps foolishly) never tried the original Butterfly, but I love this version of it a lot. ❤️ It's tonka, but effervescent and sparkling; the bergamot adds a citrusy note and the nutmeg a golden spice. I am not sure what petitgrain smells like really, so I can't comment on that. To me, this almost smells like champagne at first (champagne and orange juice?) before becoming more fuzzy and cozy on the dry down. Like other Last Unicorn scents, this has an ethereal quality, but in a cheerful, uplifting way. I think it will be a good work scent too because while it has some staying power, it doesn't have a lot of throw and seems generally pleasant. Glad to have a bottle.

Unf, I think I've found my champaca flower holy grail scent (well, this and Defututa! But this one focuses more on the champaca, and it's glorious). This isn't an incensy champaca (although of course there's some similarity with nag champa notes); it's less sharp and smoky, and more of a dewy floral that opens slightly green and then melds into a nectared sweetness with the honey. I like champaca with other florals too, but it doesn't have to compete here, so it's definitely a good one to try if you just want a gorgeous champaca flower scent. The sandalwood and honey are very gentle. This is an underrated hidden gem in my opinion, and I'd definitely recommend it to folks who liked the Vanilla/Champaca/Gardenia trio or Honeyed Champaca Blossom & Basmati Rice (which are also awesome, but harder to find).

I was looking forward to trying my decant because of the polarizing response to this, and . . . I actually kinda like it? It does start out with a toasty popcorn quality, but the musk and foresty notes are underneath and come out as the scent wears. Maybe this is more like a Baby Buck Moon? Fawn Moon? Jenjin's gif is a good visual for it, but I'm here for it and it's nice to have a different variation on my older Buck Moon partial. 😀

This is so pretty! I was a little worried sniffing from the bottle that I was anosmic to it; it starts out very very light, even on the skin. But the scent blooms as it warms up; it's stealthy and subtle, but gains power as it wears instead of fading. I wore it to bed last night and woke up to the beautiful scent enveloping me this morning. This isn't a typical white amber type scent, IMO (it lacks that almost melon-y quality white amber can have), and the grey amber isn't as musky as ambergris (I've always been curious about the difference, so now I have a frame of reference!). This is going to sound weird, but to me this smells like if someone took vanilla soft serve and magically turned it into a moonstone amber, then burned it slowly over time so it produced only the faintest, wispiest smoke. I do detect the smoke if I really look for it, but it's sooo delicate. It's in the same vein as the smoke note in Fir Needle & Smoke and Shadows and Light (which according to people more well-versed than I is from a type of champaca), but even lighter than in those. Blink and you might miss it. I'm really excited about this one (I wonder how it will age?) and will likely be getting a backup if I can afford it. ❤️

I am unexpectedly in love with this one. Reading the notes, I wasn't sure what it would smell like, but the favorable reviews made me blind bottle. I don't regret it. Cool green tea and the silkiest red musk complement the smoldering woods so well. The smokiness is sheer and ethereal (it reminds me a bit of the smoke in the Fir Needles & Smoke duet, which I also adore). If you like smoky woods type scents, I'd definitely give this one a try. I will need a backup bottle.

I initially passed this one up because I like but don't necessarily love blackberry, and oud can either be really nice or scary. But the rave reviews for this got me to try it out . . . believe the hype. It's the best blackberry perfume I've tried (though I remember Bewitched being pretty dang nice), so incredibly realistic it seems like you could eat it. It's a little sweet and a little tart, and absolutely mouthwatering. And this oud is an inky-black sort of oud, almost velvety, underlying the blackberry and making it smooth and deep.

This is so pretty and delicate. The olive blossoms have an almost citrusy quality. I don't think I've ever smelled olive blossoms IRL, but this note reminds me of linden tree blossoms, which I love. Skin musk notes can go a little soapy on me, but the other notes in this keep the scent from veering too far that way; when it dries down after a few hours, it just smells like clean skin with some mysterious loveliness thrown in. Because it's such a light and inoffensive scent, this is perfect for work. It lasts all day. The clean and honeyed florals quality of it reminds me a bit of Elf, which is one of my all-time favorites. I also compared this to Defututa (and of course decided they are both so good I'll have to have both eventually). This is lighter and breezier than Defututa, which is more sultry and heady. A daytime scent to Defututa's nighttime, perhaps.

Wet, this is kind of salty-nutty smelling (sometimes I read benzoin as a bit nutty, so maybe it's that?). As it dries, the florals and seaweed come out. It smells like a pretty, gentle sea breeze and doesn't go harsh or soapy. Pretty nice, although I think a decant is all I need.

Given that I like Poinsettia Gown and this is very similar, but with lotus instead of rose and jasmine, I knew I'd enjoy this. It's not as in-your-face or floral as Poinsettia Gown; the lotus is a little aquatic-ish at the beginning, but quickly melds into the fluffy mallow and cream notes. And like . . . okay, I love these blue lotus energy drinks that are basically like cream soda with berry-lotus flavoring and whipped cream on top, and this smells just like one. So if that sounds good to you, or you wanted something like Ponsettia Gown without the loud jasmine, or you missed out on past marshmallowy offerings and want something similar, I'd certainly recommend this. My only sadness is that this doesn't have much throw on me after the initial lotusy blast.

This is sweet but realistic fir (such a good note, unf) with a wispy, almost delicate smoky note somewhere between woodsmoke and incense. It immediately brings to mind that dark, almost black northern fir with soft, snow-dusted needles, pale crystals of sap frozen on rough bark. The smoke smells distant, like there's civilization somewhere but it's far outside the forest you're in. It's so cozy and pretty and really blossoms on the skin in cold weather. I see myself wearing this often in fall and winter and am happy to have a bottle. It layers wonderfully, too, with amber, snowy scents, gourmands, vanilla, woods . . . the sky's the limit. Edit: I echo the sentiments that an atmo of this would be amazing. I'd need gallons.

This is like the evil but equally lovely twin of the Honey/Tuberose/Vanilla Sugar honey pot scent. This is heady gardenia, "spicy" black lily, and the same sugary golden honey from this year's honey pot collection. I wish this lasted a bit longer on my skin, but maybe with age it will gain longevity. It reminds me of other honey-lily blends like Tiger Lily and Potamides, so if you loved or missed those, definitely give this a try.

Defututa is an example of why I need to remember how awesome the GC is. While jasmine is a dangerous note for me (in that it can go horribly wrong), I can also adore it in the right scent. And this is seriously gorgeous, just as lovely as La Prostitution et la Folie Dominent le Monde IMO. It smells like smoky vanilla with fresh jasmine petals, other creamy florals, and a little spice (no cinnabomb). The honey is also light to my nose but is probably what gives the scent its sweetness. This might go on my bottle wishlist . . . I look forward to trying Like the Very Gods too, after seeing the comparisons.

Okay, so I usually don't wear TALs unless my intention aligns with the scent's purpose, but I will definitely be tempted to wear this one a lot just because it smells gorgeous. It's like an orange blossom creamsicle with some resinous quality from the frankincense and gum mastic (which will probably deepen with age, yum). The pink carnation is a little bubblegummy rather than spicy but adds to the cheerful nature of the scent. Dang, I may need a backup.