A Ghostly Encounter

[Jenjin]

Misty ambergris accord and hinoki wood with juniper berries, galbanum, and palo santo.

[PancakesRaichu]

This reminds so so much of a body lotion from an indie brand which unfortunately does not currently ship to my country (shipping charges of no fault of their own). 

 

It was such a lovely one! It was called "Ghost Train...Gettysberg" or something like that. 

 

 

This smells so smokey, so sophisticated. It literally smells like a secret never to be told. 

 

Yes, you could quote me on that.

 

"Smells like a secret never to be told"

-PancakesRaichu

[OxfordComma]

Clean, luxe. Creamy ambergris with palo santo and juniper splashed on top. Sadly the throw is really low on me, even slathering I only occasionally get a whiff while going about my day. Longevity isn't bad, but I like a decent throw. 

[roseus]

This is the quiet, grounding woody scent I was hoping for this year. Soft sandalwood and ambergris have a warmth, with the evergreenish hinoki and juniper giving a lightly cool freshness. It's very sophisticated and soothing.

[feyofthefellwood]

This has a similar soft, earthy yet ethereal vibe as my beloved Neutral Tones. The ambergris with the woody notes is a gorgeous combination. Throw is pretty quiet, so this is definitely more of a cozy your-skin-but-better type of scent. I love using this as a sleep scent, so it's a definite backup bottle contender. 

[doomsday_disco]

This smells nice, but it smells nothing like I expected based on the notes. I'm actually getting sandalwood throughout wear, and I believe it is the same Mysore sandalwood found in Kit in the OLLA collection. The juniper is just barely there when I go looking for it, the musky ambergris is quiet throughout wear on me, and I'm getting none of the somewhat licorice-y palo santo that I've gotten from some other Lab scents featuring that note.

 

Why am I smelling sandalwood? Is it something in the hinoki (I don't think so based off of the other Shunga with hinoki I tested this year?) or galbanum (I don't know what it smells like, but I'm not getting the "intense green fragrance with woody and balsamic elements" that popped up when I googled what it is supposed to smell like)? I'm actually not getting anything particularly green here, and I really thought this blend would be somewhat muskier and greener.

 

But it does smell really nice, so I'm not mad. I'm not sure if I need a bottle, though, since I kept smelling it and thinking of Kit. But maybe I'll deathmatch the two before this goes away just to be sure.

[Llanval]

So soft and ethereal it really was a ghostly encounter for me. Truly a "not really there" scent. What I could smell throughout the wear time (6 hrs) I got mostly a pleasant berry, bright, sweet, and uncomplicated - with a hint of woody palo santo and patchouli but that might be my imagination.  This is mostly a quiet berry scent on me, and not at all what I was expecting or hoping for.  I wouldn't even call the berries juniper berries, just berries. I love juniper in all forms and this did not give me that juniper hit at all. I will do another full test and see if anything improves otherwise this one is a pass.

[picturesofmeghan]

i got a nice woody scent on application… and i can barely smell it minutes in. my skin ate this one!

[samanare]

I could have sworn this had lavender in it. The wood notes and the ambergris combine to form an ethereal, foggy note that reminds me of more medicinal lavender. The galbanum sits underneath, giving a resin base that sits close to the skin. Overall, a cozy scent, that feels more light and hazy than warm, herbal and slightly resiny.

[Little Bird]

A Ghostly Encounter is pretty, but it has no staying power or throw.
First on, the ambergris is slightly powdery and slightly metallic / aquatic, like if a gleaming mirror set in silver had a fragrance.  Creamy, powdery, clean, white musky.  I can smell the lemony tones from the palo santo and hinoki, along with warm woods, and I love this fleeting stage.  After about 5 minutes, it's just a faint whiff of what smells like baby powdery, sweet, warm amber and dry wood.  I couldn't smell it at all after the one hour mark.