Tamarinda

This smells very sweet in the imp, but it goes on rather bitter on the skin. It's a green bitterness with a molasses type sweetness to it that I think is the Bourbon vanilla or the mallow, or some combination of both. I can't be sure, I use Tahitian vanilla beans, not Bourbon so its hard to know. It's just not a distinctly vanilla smell, or not a "real" vanilla smell, but like the lotion you could get from B&BW in the 1990s. That, the "movie theatre butter" cream note that Tori mentioned, and the note that goes bitter celery on my skin makes this a very awkward scent. I do not get any patchouli. This is another confusing Vanitas perfume. I really don't know how to feel about it. But I'm stubborn so I will continue to test this decant. It might do better during a different time of my hormone cycle. UPDATE: 11/11/2022 Ok, so I picked up a half bottle of this ages ago. I continue to be confused by it and apparently, being confused is something that I enjoy? Anywho. The bitter celery smell is now gone. I still don't get any obvious patchouli. Maybe my skin eats it? Not sure. But I do get a lot of the not-standard vanilla scent mentioned in my original review. I also get a vague milky smell with the vanilla. It's no longer "movie theatre butter," but it isn't distinctly anything else. It's just dairy-ish and vanilla-ish. Chibi Skull has excellent throw and lasts for well over eight hours. It makes no sense for me to like this as its so vague, but I kinda love it.

I almost like this. It's very interesting and compelling, and I'd probably wear it if I wanted to smell mysterious, but I don't know if it really smells good to me or on me. I take it what I'm smelling is the opoponax. Its a woody smell. I get a little vetiver during the wet stage, but dry it just smells like trimming hedges and a bit of sweetness. I'm admittedly very confused by this perfume. I'll have to try this again in a week.

In the Bottle: It's a very loud sugar note with the edges of Snake Oil and something a little smutty. On a Test Strip: SUUUUUGAAAAAAAAR!!!!!11!!1! and a skosh of Snake Oil. This small bit of perfume on a test strip scented my room for an entire day. Wet: Still a very loud sugar, some smut, vague hints of Snake Oil, and just a hint of the clove others have noticed, and still a bit of smut. Dry: The body chemistry of my arms do not match. Normally, my left arm amps things and my right arm is like an echo of what my left arm smells like. Not so with this perfume. On my left arm, I'm still getting mostly that sugar note, a weeeee bit of Snake Oil, and a tiny bit of clove. On my right arm it's sugar, the vaguest hint of Snake Oil, with some cinnamon and clove. I don't get any cookie smells from either and I don't get any cinnamon on my left arm. The smuttiness has disappeared from both arms. Slightly more Snake Oil on my left arm, but that might be because I don't associate cinnamon with Snake Oil. Wondering if anyone here that has a spicy bottle could compare this variant to Western Diamondback? Anywho, I purchased my bottle second hand and I've had it in my possession for two weeks. It was straight SUGAR when I first got it. I mean, just the loudest sugar scent with a promise of Snake Oil both in the bottle and on the skin. It's developed over the time I've had it and I'm curious to see where it goes as time goes on. UPDATE 3/5/2022: A little over a month after my initial review and this is now very clearly a Snake Oil variant. It is beautiful! It's that sultry Snake Oil scent over cinnamon sugar. I tested a single dot on my right arm and woah nelly, the throw! It also lasts for over hours, although when it gets to that fading point, it has a bitter celery note over the remains of spice and sugar. I'm not mad though, I still really love this. UPDATE 5/14/2022: Skin chemistry change strikes again! This has aged beautifully in the short time I've had it, and I'm soooo annoyed that I can no longer wear it. It goes on maple sweet with wonderful spicy resins and then about two hours later, I get a bitter melon smell that overtakes everything. Why??

In the Bottle: Almond extract and cocoa Wet: Almonds, cocoa, and something perfumey Dry: Fancy almond nougat with a thin layer of chocolate. How have I not reviewed this yet? This was love at first sniff. I do not know how it manages to smell like fancy candy store nougat, but it does. I'm guessing there are other nut smells in here because I am not amping the heavy almond note I smell in the bottle. It really smells nothing like the bottle smell on me. It's so much more smooth and delicious, with just a hint of perfume. I like smelling like perfumey versions of food, so a perfume note does not bother me. It sits a bit close to the skin but it lasts forever. This is a very comforting, pleasing scent.

This one isn't terribly complicated on me despite all the notes in it. It goes on like it smells in the bottle: Cherries and roses with a slight undertone of perfume. I put this in my hair once and it survived two different hair wash sessions. It's very strong but very pleasant. I just scented some lotion with this and it smells great. Lasts pretty much all day and gives off a nice low aura of scent. Even when it fades, it keeps all the original notes, like dialing down the volume on a song. UPDATE: Nail polish. That's what this smells like on me now. Fresh nail polish. I suspect its the rose since I've been amping rose to unpleasant proportions since The Great Skin Chemistry Shift of 2022. But did it have to go so wrong? Really? Booooo!

2021 Version I cannot say what exactly this smells like. This is one of those scents that is more a mood than any individual components. It's a sweetish smell, lightly spicy. It's dry, not damp. I do not get any apple, but there is a fruity smell there that's vaguely cherry. And something like the crunch of dead leaves, but not excessively leafy, or piney. Definitely autumnal. Honestly, I am at a loss as to how to coherently describe this scent. All I know is that I absolutely LOVE it. I love this. And thank goodness for that because Samhain is my favorite band, above Danzig, above the Misfits. I am now officially prepared for next Halloween season. I hope this doesn't change too much with age because I love it as is.

UPDATE 6/6/2023: I am kicking myself for not wearing this more when it worked for me. My skin chemistry has changed for a third time. The second time, I started amping rose like a mo'fo and it became very unpleasant on me so I couldn't wear it. Eventually, that went away and I could wear rose again, but now? NOW. I can't wear leather. I could never identify the leather in this but boy howdy. Leather notes now go "industrial chemicals" on me and there was a sharp thread of that wafting off my skin when I tested it. *sigh* It just really goes to show what a difference skin chemistry makes. Original Review I love this. Then again, it's a rose dominant scent and I love smelling roses. It's definitely rose hips as opposed to the petals. Like the difference between tea made with rosehips as opposed to tea made with rosebuds. It's something with a bit more bite to it. Aside from the rose smell, I get an earthiness, which is probably the mushroom. It's a bit of a "gray" scent, a grounding smell that takes this beyond just another rose scent. There's a vaguely sweet perfumey smell, which must be the ambrette seed. I'm not getting any leather that I know of. The "not-rose" elements in this perfume combine to make a beautiful substrate on which the rosehips sit. On my skin chemistry, they sweeten after a bit of time. This is a rose scent for anyone who wants the smell of roses with a twist. I am a fan.

I do not get any saffron from this. I've let my decant sit for a few months now and I do not smell saffron in the bottle, on wet, or on dry. It smells pretty much the same as it did when I first got it. It's a pleasant smell and I still mostly like it, but I'm disappointed that I can't smell saffron. I guess it just smells like tonka? It's a spicy perfumey smell but I've never smelled this smell before even though I have a few things with tonka in it. It goes on a little strong but fades quickly. It disappears after three or four hours. I'm almost tempted to get a bottle compare the difference because everyone else seems to be getting a saffron-forward scent. Hmmm...

It's an absolute crime that I cannot buy this in a bottle. I LOVE IT. It reads a little bit churro, but also more like horchata de morro (from El Salvador, made with toasted seeds + rice + cinnamon). But I definitely get a fried pastel smell that is very nostalgic that I cannot place for the life of me. It is wonderful. This is not a "too sweet" scent and I don't get much coffee. Just a vague notion of something roasted, which is probably why this smells like horchata to me. The throw is moderate on my skin and while it fades nicely there, this scent fades into fried chicken in my hair. I need to remember never to use this in my hair because my next day hair smelled terrible. It did wash out though.

This only landed on the 24th of December, so I'll update in about two weeks when it's had time to settle. In the bottle: Fresh roses Wet: Fresh roses and... something else Dry: Slightly spicy roses I can tell I will love this. Granted, I love the smell of roses and haven't met a BPAL rose scent I DIDN'T love, so take that with a grain of salt. As of now, I'm looking forward to using this in the spring.

In the bottle: Chocolate Cherry Pumpkin Cheesecake. If you've smelled Pumpkinville, it's the same pumpkin cheesecake I smell in that bottle. Wet: Cherry chocolate with a rich, lightly spicy creaminess in the background. Dry: Spicy goodness with a pecan crust! I dunno how that happens, but I smell a pecan crust in there. It's a nice spicy smell but the chocolate cherry has gone into the background. I smell clove and cinnamon. Not sure how I'm getting this much cinnamon without a welt. I really love this. I'm hoping the chocolate and cherry come back after a little more aging and the spices have had time to settle. I hope the pecan crust stays though. I've had this less than two weeks and I live in LA so it's fairly fresh. I'd say this has a medium throw so far. I'm not sure what the staying power is like since I put this on half an hour ago and this is the first real test I've done, aside from my slapping it on right outta the mail.

What a mistake it was to test this scent not long before I was scheduled to shower. What a waste! In the Imp: strawberry kool-aid and dried, shredded coconut. Wet: Strawberry macaroons! Dry: Sweet strawberry pie with coconut cream whipped cream over a lovely, light perfume smell. I 1,000% need a bottle of this. EDIT FOR UPDATE: 11/30/2021 My decant is now two weeks old. ALL the coconut has disappeared. It still smells like kinda strawberry kool-aid in the imp and once dry, it has a candy fruity perfumey smell that is not unpleasant, but the coconut was what made this truly magical for me. That is now gone and I am sad = (

I wasn't sure how mint or green tea notes would work on my skin, so I was happy to pick up a second-hand partial. It's dated from 2017. I have absolutely no idea what Snake Oil smells like since I'm relatively new to all this + it was out of stock when I made my first lab purchase. GTV is vaguely minty in the bottle and on me, it is rather medicinal. It is a very herbal smell with vague hints of vanilla. But not fresh herbs, dried herbs. It reminds me of the expired matcha in my cupboard. No longer bright green and grassy, but a dull, drab green that manages to do the job even if it's nothing to write home about. This is nice enough to keep and use, but unless it does something amazing in the next year, I'll be fine with only having a partial.

With my body chemistry, Philopannyx smells more like a mood than anything identifiable. I cannot isolate any of the notes. Then again, I have no idea what violets smell like, so maybe it smells heavily of perfumey violets? Either way, I agree with Starbrow that this is an old Hollywood scent. This is Ingrid Bergman's Ilsa in Casablanca. It is heady, romantic, with a dark melancholy. Philopannyx is also aggressive, with ridiculous sillage and wear time. I don't think I tested it too heavily. Only two dips of my decant stick. But lemme tell you. This lasted well over 24 hours. The left arm of my cardigan still smells of it after three days. I put that cardigan on yesterday evening to visit my compost bin and the smell is so strong that it infected my arm and I could still smell this perfume even when I took off the cardigan. Not really sure how I feel about this. I'll try it again in two weeks or so.

In the Imp: Fresh strawberries! Wet: Fresh strawberries with features! Early Dry Stage: Still fresh strawberries with other red smells and a hint of something perfumey. Dry: A surprisingly non-artificial strawberry perfume scent. Magically, the red musk and fruits blend together to make a beautiful perfume background to a fresh strawberry headliner. I love this just the way it is. Normally, I amp red musk, so the fact that this remains mostly strawberries was a pleasant surprise. This has a medium throw and moderate staying power. Not sure how strawberry ages but I'm sure the red musk will come forward with time. I'm going to have to exercise restraint to not use up my decant before it has time to settle. UPDATE: So I wound up getting a bottle of this because I loved it so much, but alas. Age has turned Cruor into a strawberry candy perfume. It's still very beautiful and lasts all day. But I really wanted that fresh strawberry smell. Although, now that I think about it, the candy smell might be the result of my judas skin chemistry and not aging.

In the Imp: Vanilla-heavy cake batter. Wet: Banana pudding and cake?? If you are familiar with Lush's Sympathy for the Skin, this smells like that but just a little more fresh banana-y. I love this! I don't get anything like gummy bears from this but that might be the "fresh" scent. No idea. Early Dry Stage: Light banana pudding scent. I am very happy. Dry: Invisible perfume. Gone. Nothing. Not even the hint of vanilla, which I normally amp. I am very sad. My hope is that a few weeks will settle this and I will have an unexpected perfume dupe of Sympathy for the Skin. I am tempted to snag a bottle of this based on this hope but I'll wait until the second test of my Lilith decants.

In the Imp: pure lavender Wet: Sweet lavender with... something else. Early Dry Stage: Sweet lavender and a slightly creamy honey scent and just a dash of something citrusy. Dry: Weirdly enough, the lavender disappears mostly and I'm left with a vaguely lotion type scent that I think is the ambrette sweetened with honey. This decant is only two days old so it might need more time to settle before it's personality really comes out. As of now, it's an inoffensive smell with a low throw. It's only been an hour so I'm not sure what the wear time looks like. Will update on next test.

OK! Not to be too graphic, but in the bottle, this smells like a wet & sloppy bee jay in a kitchen where a pumpkin cheesecake is baking. It's a wild smell that's a little yikes, but also compelling. Fresh out of the mail, that's pretty much what I got on my skin as well. The throw was aggressive and it lasted hours. Now that my bottle has settled for a few days, it still smells the same. BUT, on the skin it now smells like perfume. There's only a hint of skanky pumpkin cheesecake. It's mostly a beautiful, light musky, perfumey scent that promises to age into something very rich and provocative. It's currently fairly close to the skin and I'm not sure how long it will last. I will update as time goes on.

I won this in a PIF raffle on fb (thanks so much!) not really knowing what to expect but very interested in something that smells like hay. The smell in the bottle is something I can only describe as "happy." It is a happy smell with a bit of bitter sweetness of something green as well as the sweetness of hay. There's also an incense quality but it's very light. The other notes are not apparent to my nose individually but there's something there that I cannot define that registers as "depth." Wet, it smells like sweet warm hay. Once it dries, there's still an impression of the hay but all of the notes converge to create a beautiful, sunshine-warm perfume scent on my skin. I think this is the amber interacting with my skin chemistry. It seems to do a thing where it marries everything together so that nothing stands out. The smells is just... *chef's kiss* amazing. I applied with a light hand on my arms only since it was my first full test after letting the bottle settle in. It had an impressive sillage for such a light application and lasted all day. I'll make a dilution of this as well as a lotion for layering.

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could tell me what year the artwork on the snake pit bottles changed from the old-fashioned parchment looking labels to the more colorful ones. I haven't found anything about that when searching. Thanks!

Awesome, thanks so much!

This is all white sandalwood on my skin. I have discovered that my skin seems to amp anything "white" to a noxious pitch. Too bad, as this smells so nice in the imp. I once tried slathering a bit of Gelt first, to help the chocolate compete with the sandalwood. It worked, but took way too much Gelt to offset a very little AVC&WS. After many tries, I decided to make it into room spray and it's really nice for that. You get a whiff of chocolate and some nice sandalwood, as opposed to SANDALWOOD all caps. I don't get any vetivert, which is a bummer.

UPDATE 5/16/2022: Had to give up my bottle as the Great Skin Chemistry Shift of 2022 turned this into pure alcohol sweat on me. It reminds me of the smell of hungover friends the morning after a wine bender. UPDATE 2/5/2022: I grabbed a bottle of this because why not? The most prominent smell is the brandy note, which is VERY sharp to my nose. The peach is there, but overwhelmed by the brandy. I don't get any Snake Oil from this, but underneath the brandy smell is the promise of something wonderful. I've had my bottle for over a month and it has mellowed in that time. It's still sharp, but I imagine that all the not-brandy smells in here will mature beautifully. Original Review: I picked up a decant of this unsure of what peach notes would smell like on my skin. My only experience with peach scented things is a peach deodorant that did nothing but amplify the stench of sweaty armpits. This made me not terribly excited to try the Dragon Con scents, but I was hoping that this one would work thanks to the Snake Oil component. (FYI, the only other Dragon Con I got was the Vanilla Wafers one since vanilla really works with my skin chemistry.) WELL. Color me disappointed when my decant finally arrived and reeked of fresh, acidic cat piss. The whole package smelled of it, as did my hands after handling it. So I put everything aside to rest for the day. That was yesterday. Today, my decant smells of dried cat pee and sweaty armpit brandy. I'm just going to leave this in the dark for a while and hope time causes the Snake Oil to bloom while subduing the acidity of the peach brandy. The best that can be said is that it took multiple hand washes to get the smell off.