Snakes in the Berry Sonker

[doomsday_disco]

Snake Oil slithering into a pan of baked blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries in a warm pastry crust, topped with vanilla ice cream and molasses.

[bridgemix]

Rested a few days, I get all the notes: warm berries, browned pie crust, creamy vanilla, a trickle of molasses, and Snake Oil... I was most worried about that molasses note, but it just lends kind of like an earthy caramel vibe. The berries in particular definitely feel cooked down rather than fresh, giving it a little more depth than, say, Serpent in the Berries. Nice staying power, too. I love it!

[OxfordComma]

Agreed with above! Rich dark berries and flaky crust when wet, then the SO starts slinking around the edges until it become dark berry snake oil. The molasses is lovely, but I love molasses and I'll raw dog it straight from the jar so 🤷‍♀️. The berries really do smell cooked, like when you're making jam. Definitely a different vibe than Serpent Berries, this is more rich. Darker, purplier, and more saturated. Both of these snakes were slam dunks and I'm glad to have grabbed em. ♡

[Numanoid]

Oh I love this! I don't get any molasses, but I do get the awesome S.O. and rich thick berry pie filling. I get a hint of crust as well. I get all that sniffing but on, it is even better!  It mellows out a bit on me, but very present. This is a rich dark berry scent as noted above. Very happy I grabbed this and might get a BU bottle if still available when I have more funds!! This will be even more amazing when aged!! Grab it while you can if you are a fan of S.O.!!! 

[SurrealReality]

The second I saw this scent, I was hoping for a near-dupe of the elusive Snake Oil Jelly Doughnut. 

With SOJD on my right hand and Snakes in the Berry Sonker on my left...

 

Snake Oil Jelly Doughnut

Notes I smell: Sweet fried dough, raspberry jelly, and Snake Oil. 

Snakes in the Berry Sonker

Notes I smell: Light flaky pastry, blackberries, raspberries, white sugar, molasses, and Snake Oil. 

 

Note by Note:

• The fried dough of SOJD is so much richer than the flaky pastry note in Snakes in the Berry Sonker. They are not similar at all. 
• The berry note of SOJD is a sweet raspberry jelly. The berry note of Snakes in the Berry Sonker is considerably less sweet and I smell more blackberry than raspberry (no blueberry at all). It's more like lightly sugared baked fruit than the sweet, sticky jelly of SOJD. The blackberry in Berry Sonker is adding a tartness that does not exist in SOJD. 
• The Snake Oil in SOJD seems more resinous and sweet, while the Snake Oil in Berry Sonker seems more spicy and dry. That could be due to age, but it could also be due to Snake Oil reformulation (I vaguely remember a reformulation announced, I don't wear SO by itself so I didn't pay a whole lot of attention). 
• I don't really smell the vanilla ice cream that's supposed to be in Berry Sonker, but I do smell a white sugar note along with the molasses. The white sugar is very prominent, the molasses much less so. SOJD doesn't have any comparable notes. 

Overall, SOJD is richer, deeper, sweeter, and creamier than Berry Sonker. Snake Oil Jelly Doughnut has pretty good throw and lasts all day. Berry Sonker is a much lighter scent and does not last nearly as long. I was really hoping these would be more similar and I'm surprised they're not. That being said, I do love both. If I had to choose though, it would be SOJD every. single. time. Looks like I will continue to use my bottle very sparingly for the foreseeable future. 

[LavenderCoffee]

Dang this is riiich! At first I thought you might be able to dupe this by layering 2021's Burnt Sugar & Blackberry with SO, but I destashed that duet (it was lovely and smelled like pie filling but I never wore it), and anyway there's a lot more going on here. Like the sonker is in a bottomless pan and the snake just keeps tumbling down through dark sticky berry goodness like Alice down the rabbit hole. It's very tempting!

[mineralgirl]

Ok, this is bizarre. I get incense. Lovely, amazing incense. I am not mad about it. 

[Poenari]

This is a darker, fruitier berried Snake Oil than Serpent In The Berries. I tried them side by side and while I love them both, I think I will be turning to this one more often! A lovely dark fruity Snake Oil. What's not to love?!

[Leopard403]

Over time the Lilith blend Motherhood has been something of a signature scent of mine, and it might’ve just been bumped aside by SITBS. It’s interesting considering I cannot wear the original SO on its own. It just doesn’t like me. But the addition of sweet things makes it perfectly perfect.

 

SITBS clearly has jammy berries—no fresh picked fruit here!—and a slight butteriness that must be the bakery bits. I was a little worried the molasses would be too overt, but it slithers in the background and intermingles well with the SO notes. This is very well blended, and manages to be both a fruit-forward and exceptionally grounded gourmand. I might need a second bottle (and I very rarely buy backups). Two thumbs way up.

[Little Bird]

The reviews on this seem so varied. First applied, this snake reminded me of the Snake Oil Sufganiyot with its sugared berries and slinky, dark, musky and vanilla tones. Then the drydown, after about 5 minutes, turns to all sour, musky, fake raspberry, like Bath & Body Works type raspberry, and that's where it stays for me. I much prefer Serpent in the Berries, Snake Oil Sufganiyot, and Snake Oil Jelly Donut to this blend. 

[dancingchair]

The Snake Oil vanilla takes a backseat in this. It's all about the incense notes and spices. The jammy berries are the loudest note here. It's hard to pick out an individual berry. It really is a blueberry/raspberry/strawberry mash boiled on the stove and glopped into a pie crust. I'm not sure that I really get vanilla ice cream. It has long since melted and mixed into the gooey berries. The molasses note is the most intriguing to me. It's heavy and dark, almost tobacco-like in this blend. I love it with the curls of incense smoke from the Snake Oil.

 

Overall, this has fantastic staying power and throw. Definitely a winner if you like berries and the Snake Oil incense notes.

[sea turtle]

I also get a lot of sour, almost mineralic (Flintstone vitamins, anyone?) berry in the drydown, with minimal Snake Oil, vanilla, or molasses 😕 It's a shame because in the bottle, this was a yummy cooked berry jam