groovyrooby
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Everything posted by groovyrooby
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Golly I am really enjoying this! I haven't encountered much pineapple in BPAL, though I feel like I've gotten pina colada vibes before. This isn't that! The pineapple candy is spot-on! Juicy sweet, just like a good gummy bear. Specifically candy, not fruit or juice. FUN! I'm about 2 hours in and still getting light pineapple waft from the one testing wrist, just enough to keep going OH YEAH PINEAPPLE to myself, which keeps making me smile. Below that, it's dried down to softly earthy sweet note - not a scratchy as Hanging Johnny, and nothing like the weeeeeed in Ask the Nearest Hippie. Really pleasant and clearly ready for a good time!
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This reminds me of Urban Undine, which I love, and I think that's why I grabbed this. But UU is already pretty far on the fringe for me in terms of cold, wet, lavender. This has an added element of lemony fresh to my nose, and I generally don't enjoy lemony fresh. I didn't get any coconut milk, which might have brought this around for me. But this will probably be a big win for folks who like Urban Undine, brisk lemon, or clean laundry smells.
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I think the resin - lavender - driftwood combined to make this extra 'fresh' to my nose. Woody, herbal, and almost minty with the lavender. It's not pine fresh, not aquatic fresh, but fresh in a really cold sense. Brown and cold. It's a big clash with my tastes. I needed something to sweeten or warm it up - wax (but like beeswax) or tonka or honey. As is - not my jam.
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I'm still finding my way around strawberry. Realizing the carnation + strawberry combo is the unique version here, just like a stick of incense, as others have mentioned. The strawberry stuck around longer than fruity versions do, which was nice, eventually shifting to a strawberry cola - more woody, less floral. It's pretty far out of my usual wardrobe, and I'm surprised how much I liked it!
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Wonderfully executed. This has a fruity coconut perfumey sunscreen vibe. Reminds me of napping in the sun, doused in Australian Gold, described as "citrus oasis," not necessarily on vacation, but definitely in a checked-out state of mind. Everyday tropical scene. Well done!
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The Lab has had some just really lovely orange scents this year. This is another one! It's so smiley and sunny! Floral and citrus is a sweet spot for me, and this is just delightful. It could last longer, but I often enjoy light citrusy scents first thing in the morning, and I don't necessarily need them to last all day, I just want to start the day on a cheery note. This fits the bill perfectly. Such a joy.
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I'm not much of an apple fan, but I love some Snake Oil and have to try all the things. Like some other SOs, this one starts savory and salty. With the apple, it's like a peanut butter apple snack - juicy, red, and peanutty. Fascinating! I'm hanging on to this for awhile to see where it takes us!
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I love black musk, like Execute Confession Module. I think the 'sweet' and clove elements gave this an almost scratchy patchouli feel, and I was sure it was here! I can see how others would describe this as a fur musk. It's nice, and very similar to other favorites - Kobold Barista; Dark-Eyed, Delightful - but a little simpler, closer to Thorns Clove Cigarette, from the herbal and hay elements, I think. If I didn't already have several in this vein, because I do love this mood, I would be thrilled to have this.
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I get a big hit of white chocolate, boosted by the mallow flower that gives it a natural sweetness, like hay. The sandalwood is dry and kind of toasted but not roasty. I only wish it has a little more power/longevity overall, then I would wear it all the time! But I think this will be a great bedtime scent, when I really just need a hit of something lovely while I drift off, but don't necessarily need the staying power. Totally worth it.
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Challenging is a good word to describe this. I think I understand now what snake accord smells like, and that is something to be passionately for/not. To my nose, it was feet. A doozy of sour foot. Like pulling your hand out of a dirty glove. That particular bit calmed down to a leathery note about 30 minutes later, but thing is - I don't enjoy leather notes, either. Womp womp. On the bright side, the remaining elements merged into this lovely, cool, almost aquatic but more ethereal vibe, more silvery than black. Maybe like a pewter or hematite, eh? Soft and misty air, damp and cool scales. I realized later where I had smelled something similar = Kneel Down, Fair Love. Grey, gossamer, silk, shimmery, damp fabric. Spot on vibe. If that's your jam, you will probably have major feelings about this one.
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I get a creamy floral vibe from this. It's a couple of my favorite white flowers - sweet, deep, and familiar - must be heliotrope and orris both present and well-blended. The frankincense and bay laurel make it a richer scent, and the cedar comes in citrusy a bit later, almost giving it a delightful hint of funk. Love it. Perfect when I want to feel like I am radiant abundance.
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Golly, I have loved so many from this series - And Here I Sawe.. I Am As Lyght... they all have this wonderful earthy-sweet quality I love. The notes in this come together as a spicy hay note. Starts sweet like buttery corn and hot like red hots. YUM. Once in awhile I worry it's potpourri-y, but then I think, "Do I care?" It's delicious. I wear this one often for chill, cozy afternoon hanging out. Homey and not shy.
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This is a fascinating blend! I first got the spicy green of plucking weeds in the yard. Spicy like a radish, not spices. Wet and juicy spice. And dirt, which is usually a note I avoid, but I found myself enjoying it here. Just a really vivid smell of the yard. After an hour or so, the patchouli and champaca resin rolled this into a gorgeous, bold perfume to my nose. I think it's the dirt note that turned kind of 'ashy' as @forspecial_plate mentioned, because I got that, too. Overall, it conjured some great memories of an elementary school teacher who I admired, who always spelled of a spicy oriental perfume and a faint trace of cigarette smoke. She was nurturing and also no-nonsense, brazen but tender. And I think that's an apt description of this scent. A unique kind of spicy. A little bit mysterious and glamorous, but intriguing rather than distancing. Great surprise frimp! Never would have chosen this and SO glad I got to try it!!
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Relatively cool morning and a weekend spent outdoors make me happy to start this one out for the season. At first test, it was gorgeous but too heavy for 95 degrees. But now I'm ready! It's a wonderfully sweet unisex and work-appropriate blend that my nose reads alternately as sage-forward cologne (yep, as @starbrow guessed, I prefer my Eve with the Sage Fuck Up ;) ) and a warm, sweet earthy vanilla. I get no cinnamon really, in smell or in the burning effect it tends to have on my skin. YAY! It's sophisticated but still has a wild feel to it. Great throw. Maybe that's how the feathery bit comes across. I don't care much for powdery smells, and myrrh can be an offender for me in this respect, but I'm not getting that here. Soap neither, which is also a tendency of mine that I wish wasn't. None of that here! Just a cloud of warm, ethereal, herbal sweetness.
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Oh this is so lovely totally agree with @feyofthefellwood - reminds me of The Unicorn, which I love. I like all my flowers damp and my roses really sugary. The gardenia and rose are both right up my alley and together here make this a sweet, vibrant floral. There's an extra fresh, green note to it, too, like the Grass fragrance from The Gap of my teenage years - I imagined this was the "wild lettuce" in The Unicorn, but I'm wondering if it's the 'dewy' factor here. The vanilla in this and the coconut in The Unicorn add to the sweetness. I adore it. My husband says it smells 'clean' which is generally a good thing. The big, sweet flowers calm down a bit after the initial punch, but I still got wafts of it hours after application. Sweet, dewy green stems, and delicate but powerfully fragrant flowers make this really feel like woodland creatures having a romp. Best of all, I saved this for testing after a weekend of backpacking, and good golly does it capture that magical feeling. Gorgeous. Wore it last night and put it on again first thing this morning. ❤️
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This was lemony clean as all get out and did not really morph much for me. Bright, crisp lemon and a little piney, screaming to start and still a wail to finish. I didn't get any of the cardamon, chestnut, or really anything sweet as I had imagined. Just the things I hoped would be sedate, all at the forefront. Knowing it should have matcha and jasmine, I can find a dry green tea if I look for it. No mint. It reminds me of The Silver Parlour HG, so I'm guessing it's consistent with the Lab's 'silver' and 'moon' vibes. Should've been a cue to me, but I was wanted to see how those notes blend with the other interesting bit here. For me, they just didn't appear. If you like a cool, shivering, astringent lemon, this is really going to hit the spot. But for me, I have negative associations with a particular lemon/lime/pine floor cleaning product, and this nails it.
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I don't often go back to review GCs that have been around awhile, but then again, I don't often like pine- or juniper-forward smells, and this one I LOVE! It's one that I never would have selected for myself and makes me ever grateful for lab frimps. Put it on at work as my post-lunch scent refresh (My Wise Beauty was the a.m. smell today ) and as I sit here thinking about how wonderful I smell, I figured I should give this one some props. I love a good musk, but earthy smells are love/hate for me - I don't enjoy the Lab's dirt and dead leaves notes. This, however, is a gorgeous blend to my nose. Reminds me a bit of Alviss and Troll - my other unlikely woodsy loves - but more grandiose, very confident, and soothing. Almost cozy compared to those two, but it's not withdrawn. It makes me feel more contented and peaceful. It captures the poem's feeling of life as something larger than our comprehension, and it puts me in a mood to detach from petty and mundane gripes, focus on the bigger picture instead. The musk really ties this all together nicely as a comforting reminder of the natural order of things. Wonderful stuff.
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I had to try this one several times to figure out what's going on... still not sure. There is some particular BPAL combination that comes across as a salty, peanutty smell, and it's here! Reviewing my copious notes, I can't find a clear pattern, but I'm thinking it has something to do with the way cocoa plays with white musk on/to me? It's a weirdly savory smell to my nose. The first test may have been too soon from the mail, and the rose was nowhere to be found, just a suggestion of floral in the white musk. When the floral element finally came in on a later test, it's a soapy, sharp, shrill rose that is not my favorite version. Duly noted, damask rose. I had the same problem with To A Dead Friend. And The Madam. And Eve. The elements in this really don't seem to gel for me, but it's so odd I'm interested in trying again with time. Feels like this is just not where it was intended to be. Except - nevermind, that dry rose is kind of a dealbreaker for me, and I don't imagine the quality of rose changing with time. This has potential if you're a dried rose lover. But I like them humid and plump. Not for me.
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Dang lemon verbena stomped all over everything that was supposed to happen in this for me. It was the one note I was afraid of, and it's mostly what I got. That said, it wasn't too bad for a screeching lemon on me - the neroli softened it up a bit to lemonhead/lemondrop status rather than just straight up cleaning products. But to my nose it was more bitter and sharp than I expected. I was hoping for something richer and fruitier, but I think I should have read this outcome in the "crystalline" bit.
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This started out with a familiar warm glow of a smell, kinda cola, kinda orangey. I remember Snake Smut starting out like this for me. Effervescent but gloomy with a spicy bark, sarsaparilla kind of smell. Overall, I'm gonna say I got: Alice = creamy, maybe carnation, bergamot to start Sherezade = spicy, no red musk, maybe the cola culprit heavy on Rakshasa = sandalwood rose patchouli I thought it was just fine, not great and not bad but not speaking to me. My husband really liked it, though.
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Funny how different this reads for folks. I got bubblegum from the Blood and cinnamon from the Chimera = Big Red! Pretty much no trace of Shanghai, which is surprising that at leas the lemon didn't peek through. Overall came across like resin & cinnamon bark. I worried it would turn to potpourri, but no! Just warm cinnamon and maybe a hint of fruity sweet.
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This is my favorite lavender I've come across lately. It - the lavender! - morphs a lot over time and has good staying power on me. It starts out like a dark & spicy woods. Very twiggy, and almost reminded me a bit of Troll. I couldn't quite place the lavender, just knew I loved the smell. As it warms up, it becomes apparent that it's lavender going through a phase, now turning woolly and austere, along the lines of We Wear the Mask, which I also love. It's a hint sweet and very dignified. I was already sold on a big bottle for the lavender version at this point, but then it developed one stage further into a gorgeous, sweet, cozy lavender like my the beloved Incolumitas! I have been hoping upon all hopes that they would make that free gift giveaway into a regular catalog item and HERE IT IS! I have been hoarding those little bottles, and this finally scratches that itch in a full size! The Air & The Ether was too cold and dry for me, but this!! I put it on at 2, bathed in it at 4, it was still around at 10, and detectable on my sleeve the next day
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As @Beary Strange mentioned hearing in the video reviews, I can totally see the 'greyed out purple' vibe here. I didn't get the smell of violets, but I got the sensation of chilly lavender. Sometimes I love lavender, but sometimes - like here - it goes sour on me. This has an ozone sourness that effectively suggests a thick, heavy, cold and humid quality to the air. But maybe it's the smoked bit that makes it sour to my nose. I hoped for violets and got none here. No champaca, nothing floral, just a bitter, herbal lavender and a dull, woody sandalwood.
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I really enjoyed the candy cherry to start! Sweet & jammy. Kinda Ludens "throat lozenge", but in a good way, because we all know those are really candy "medicine". But the cherry mellowed out quickly into a gentler sweetness. Then, it went through a candle-y, waxy phase (my main struggle with red fruit scents)... and then it disappeared! And left me with something cinnamony! Not the real deal, which gives me the itchy red blotches, but just cinnamon, non-fruity cinnamon. The chilly, damp fog vibe that I got from Midnight Fog did not really appear here for me.
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I am generally not a leather-lover, and that is by far what jumped out at me here. Like a souvenir shop full of freshly conditioned leather purses and saddlebags, bright and bracing leather. And a hint of cherry? I love Snake Oil blends, but I didn't get much of that vibe here. Certainly no Maiden. I was hoping for more of either one. Hellfire is sweet & powdery on me, but maybe the two additions got the leather to scream on me. Not for me, mate.
