Shub-Niggurath

[erraticprophet]

The lust incense of a corrupted Astarte. A blend of ritual herbs and dark resins, shot through with three gingers and aphrodisiacal spices.

Initial Impression: gingery and spicy

On Wet: buttery gingersnaps

On Dry: all of the spices, none of the butter. Yum!

Final Impression: Loved the drydown, but still prefer Gingerbread Poppet.

Rating (on a scale from 1-5): 4.5

[Phaedra]

Wet this is ginger and spice like gingerbread cookie dough- yum! When first on it's the same but much shaper and spicier. After several minutes it starts to soften and sweeten. This mellows out into a wondeful warm, earthy incense and ginger blend. Ginger doesn't always work on me (which is why I resisted this when it was first released as an L.E.) but in this blend it's perfect. This is a very comforting and sexy scent. I can see why this is a BPAL classic! I'll need a bottle of this at some point.

[MaidMirawyn]

I wanted to try Shub-Niggurath, since everyone raves about it. But...I couldn't. I smelled it in the tester, and it was, to my nose, absolutely foul. Really foul.

 

Then my husband came by and smelled it. Apparently our perceptions are very much in synch here: he thought it smelled even worse than I did!

 

What happened? Bad bottle? Contaminated? Or do the dark resins simply not agree with us?

 

The world may never know.

[Ravenclaw79]

Initially, this started off a bit lemony, for some reason, like a darker Polyhymnia, almost.

 

Drying, I got ginger, switching back and forth between sharp, pungent fresh ginger and the mellower smell of it baked into gingerbread. (I actually have some Gingerbread Poppet on, too, so I keep switching back and forth comparing the smells.)

 

I don't know what's underneath it, those mysterious resins and herbs, but they're fascinating ... cinnamon? Captain Crunch? Seriously, I'm getting all sorts of weird stuff, like my brain just can't make it compute. (And I really am getting Captain Crunch, from time to time. Or maybe it's Cinnamon Toast Crunch? Maybe.)

 

... And oh gosh, here's the problem with oils that don't give all of their notes in the description: is that patchoulli? Please, don't be patchoulli. Go away, whatever that is, please, go away.

 

Oh, hey, here's a first ... the spot on my arm where I put this seems to have turned red. At the same time that I now smell a metric crapload of cinnamon. It's like there's a Red Hot on my arm. OK, maybe this one doesn't like me. Too bad -- I was just starting to like it.

Edited December 22, 2007 by Ravenclaw79

[SarahScent44]

Shub-Niggurath is all incense, all the time. In imp, there's just a touch of ginger burn, and it becomes more herbaceous as it's on my skin, but it's truly incense through and through, and just not my thing.

[agnusdei]

Shub starts out a smouldering spicy ginger with a killer bite. There's nothing light here, this ginger will destroy you. I can see where people are getting a lemon note, but to my nose that seems to just be a component of the ginger; I get the same citrus-y element when smelling ginger root. However, there also seems to be something here that's... pumpkin-y? Like the inside of a pumpkin still growing in the patch, very raw and not-quite-ripe. This happened to me with Saw-Scaled Viper as well, so I'm guessing it's the work of red ginger. The hint of pumpkin isn't my favorite so I'm thankful that it fades quicker here than with SSV, and I'm more than willing to put up with it to get to the delicious sultry core of this blend. The spices come to life as it has a chance to dry, I can pick up cinnamon and something like clove over a base of herbs and resins. I don't get anything foody from Shub, it's pure hot hot spicy ginger sexiness. I've been searching for the perfect spicy cinnamon/ginger scent for a while and now that I've smelled Shub I fear all the other smellies will have their work cut out for them trying to compete with it. This is some good stuff.

 

edit: My boyfriend recently decided he wanted his own bottle of Shub and when the new bottle arrived from the lab I had one of those 'oh, so THAT'S how this is supposed to smell!' moments. I never really got the 'evil gingerbread' vibe from my old bottle of Shub, it was all crisp ginger with absolutely nothing 'foody' about it. But this new, magical bottle smells like the most diabolical gingerbread to ever crawl its way out of an oven. It's a thicker, deeper, sweeter scent than my other bottle, and has no trace of that weird pumpkin scent I was getting either. I liked Shub a lot before, but now? Good lord this is the most amazing smelling thing ever!

Edited March 11, 2008 by agnusdei

[zankoku_zen]

Mmm. This is spicy gingerbread with a touch of incense. Gingerbread Poppet and I didn't work out, but this one is like a sexier version of what I imagined Gingerbread Poppet would be.

 

Smashing. Now I see why so many people love Shub.

[voodoocatwoman]

This is just gorgeous!!!

 

In imp: Gingery

 

Wet: Well, now I smell like patchouli. Spicy.

 

Dry: The ginger is back and it's sweet and spicy and warm and just gorgeous.

 

I LOVE this scent.

[GingerGunlock]

I've been a long time in reviewing this one, but Shub-Nuggurath is the one that I wear the most often, and that lingers in my clothes and my hair. It's hard to discern it freshly, without being influenced by other things.

 

This is one that smells much the same both in the bottle and on my skin. Warm, very warm, and even without being able to name three gingers, I can tell that there certainly is more than one at work here. I've tried very hard to figure out what the other things are, the dark resins and ritual herbs (okay, and the aphrodisiacal spices). Clove? (oh, how I wish this!) Nutmeg? Suffice to say, I love this. My fiancé loves this. My coworkers love it. It's hot in the summer and warm and sharp in the winter. My bottle may have sweetened a bit with age (four months? I don't know if that's enough time), but that just makes it sweet and hot and sharp and spicy.

 

GINGER!

[NatCatz]

Its lovely and warm smelling, but I don't find it exactly comforting, but warm.

Its warm gingery, spicy and sexy. There is also a hint of smoke or dust to it, like something far away smoldering.

Its ever-so slightly sweet, but it has a peppery edge to it, as well as the resins and herbs.

Frankly, its lovely.

Edited February 18, 2008 by NatCatz

[naeelah]

When I tried this fresh, it was definitely a lot more prickly, more spiky red ginger. I think it's around 6 months old now, and it has really smoothed out nicely.

 

I kept sniffing it and sniffing it thinking, what does this remind me of? Gingerbread! Non-foody gingerbread, if that makes sense. The ginger does lend a slightly gourmand quality, but truly, if you want a gingerbread scent that doesn't actually smell like food or sweets, give this a try. (I would say that it does smell a lot more like gingersnaps than gingerbread, gingerbread is just the first thing that came to mind.)

 

The gingers are the main component here. Red ginger is definitely present, but it isn't as overwhelming as it can be in other blends. These are warm, dried spice gingers, not fresh, lemony gingers. There's something that's every so slightly sweet, and there's a rich, smoky backdrop.

 

Throw is decent, as is the wear life. Definitely recommended for fans of ginger, or smoky, warm fragrances.

Edited January 29, 2008 by naeelah

[maproot]

Shub-dark, then comforting ginger...not sickly foody, but grownup ginger...my imp is sadly gone, but the ginger here stayed on me well into the evening and I could catch a hint of it in the morning. it has the comfort of antique lace with a gingery touch so it is more energetic in feeling.

[jynxjynx]

I just got this as a frimp and so many people loved it, I thought I would give it a try.

 

You're not kidding about the ginger! Unfortunately, on my skin it starts smelling like burnt gingerbread. The smoky/burning smell isn't that pleasant on me. Woe!

[Babylon]

This is pretty straightforward on me!

 

Wet: A foody cake made of gingerbread, lemon, and spice.

Dry: Gingerbread!

[vintagedlust]

I decided to try this after posting on another forum looking for a BPAL scent that is smiliar to Villainess's Ginger Snapped smooch and soap. I wish I was able to get the lemon scent from it that someone else mentioned. Maybe if I try layering it with something like Namaste or with a lemongrass single note? I think I definitely like this better than Gingerbread Poppet.

[VioletChaos]

in the imp: this smells *exactly* like Gingerbread Poppet! (fingers crossed!)

 

wet on skin: yup. gingerbread. YUM!

 

dry down: with my skin chemistry, this is identical to GP, which is great, because i can get *this* one anytime i want!

 

in all: Gingerbread fans, snag some of this, a.s.a.p.!

 

 

 

[ImperatrixMundi]

Yes, this is the lust GINGERBREAD of a corrupted Astarte!

 

Sweet amber with spices can mimic gingerbread very well, so a lot of stuff just smells like gingerbread to me. Chimera, Golden Priapus and this as well. The three gingers singed my nosehair, very spicy.

 

So I guess if gingerbread is what you are looking for here you go...

[inurbanus]

Shub-Niggurath is gingery goodness. It's foodie, but not in a HEY, I SMELL LIKE A CUPCAKE kind of way. It's got more depth than most of the foodie scents I've tried. This one seems to me to be the General Catalogue equivalent of Gingerbread Poppet. I like it, but I don't know how often I'll wear this one. I'm just not a big gingerbread person.

 

4/5

[Reaver]

Shub-Niggurath.

Or Shaved Knicker-Rash as our CoC group called Her.

The Goat-Mother of the Woods.

 

I really, really wanted to like this. I tried it once, I tried it twice a week later. I LOVE the throw, incense and resins, cloying and dark but still a gingery base. It's just a shame the stench of it wet, and then actually sniffing it makes me want to vomit.

 

Maybe I should have made like when we met her in the first place. Fired off a few shots, realised she was far too big for us to tame, and got the hell out of dodge.

 

I hope some layering with something lighter takes away the Death-Cakemix but if not, it's off for swap.

 

Conclusion: Yep, should have avoided this one. For some reason, most popular scents are NOT my friends.

 

3/10, and that's just for the pleasant throw of resins and incense.

[seamor]

The person who gifted me this imp said that it's the "original, spicy Shub". I can't tell from the previous reviews how that differs from the current (somehow non-spicy?) Shub. Maybe someone will let me know?

 

Wet: Yup, it's a slightly gentler Gingerbread Poppet. Which is great, because I love GB.

 

But wait ... after about 1/2 hour, I'm getting the spices, but no food scent at all. No bread/cake effect any more, just the spices (niiiiiice) with a ghost of something underneath ... what is that? It's there/not there ... I just can't seem to get an olfactory digit on it ...

 

... then back to soft gingerbread again ...

 

... and a bit after that, Whoa! Wow! Whatever that was underneath the spices has blossomed! Is it amber? Sweet, lush, and slightly musky, with the aforementioned spices floating softly around inside it, sweetly golden. I definitely can find the ginger, and I suspect nutmeg, maybe cinnamon, maybe others (saffron? cardamom?), and they are so beautifully enveloped in this wonderful sweet, luscious, sexy amber that it's all one luscious, paradisiacal can't-stop-smelling-myself delight.

 

This is so not Gingerbread Poppet! Gingerbread Poppet makes me smell like a walking gingersnap (which I absolutely adore). Shub is more like deep, warm, snuggly, happy sex in a chai spice warehouse. Takes about an hour to settle down, but foreplay is good, right?

 

Wowzers and whoopee! I believe I will want more of this ...

Edited March 2, 2008 by celtimor

[AEris]

I bought a 5mL on ebay, and I don't think it was aged long because it's in an amber bottle and the label is brown with a star/eye symbol.

 

This scent smells a lot like Gingerbread Poppet at the beginning, and dries down very similar. Maybe there's an extra spice in there, like anise or something, but it's very similar to GP for me.

 

If you're looking for a non-foody ginger scent, you should try Silk Road. Shub is a little less cakey than GP, but it still smells like actual gingerbread.

 

I like it, not sure if I'll keep my bottle in the long run, but I'm glad I finally tried it, because Shub TP soap is really nice (I got to try a sliver once upon a time).

 

4 out of 5

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Warm, spicy ginger.

 

Immediately on skin: The ginger in this is the most identifiable scent. There’s also some other spices, and a slightly cloying earthiness. It’s a slightly sweetened blend, but not overly so.

 

After a few minutes: I really like this... it's reminding me of Gingerbread Poppet without the annoying bready note I get from that and Pumpkin Cheesecake. It's not overly sweet, but it is slightly so with the gingers coming out strong and other spices in the background. There's also a slight creaminess to the blend.

 

Overall Impressions: Shub is Gingerbread Poppet’s slightly less foody cousin. It’s a warm ginger-dominated blend with a gentle sweetness and hints of other spices. It doesn’t have that bread note that GP has, which is good for me as I don’t enjoy that note. I find it to be a very warm, comforting ginger blend.

[twilighteyes]

Mmm. Warm ginger, dark - a little sweet but not soaked in sugar or molasses. Spicy and resiny.

[scarletgenesis]

I tested both the original Shub and the currently available one at a MnS yesterday. They are somewhat different (I found the ginger more prevalent in the original release, and more herb in the new one, for example), but the base is the same.

 

And gorgeous. Both of them. I really like the fresh ginger-y notes here. On my skin, the ginger was sweet and sharp, but not foody. I'm glad for that, because I tend to like notes associated with foody scents, without all the foodyness. The resin darkens the scent a bit, but this is suprisingly light. I'm not sure what the herbs and spices are...I will need to test further and for longer (my nose was getting confused so I had to wash off some of the blends I was testing), but I liked this so much I am planning on buying a bottle at some point.

[septima_pica]

At first it's straight GINGER plus lemon. Then some spices show up...yeah, I get the Atomic Fireballs thing a little bit here -- and there's definitely sweet resin down there, probably my old buddy myrrh again. Not foody, phew. I was a little worried in the bottle, but the buttery baked-goods smell went away as soon as it hit my skin. It's almost a little potpourri-ish, but I don't know...maybe it needs to age a bit? The ginger's being shouted down by the assorted plant material, amazingly. I'll give it an hour.

 

Later: It's gingersnaps now, and it's still got some cinnamon going on -- quite a bit foodier than it was. Nothing funky and powdery though, which is definitely good. I'll try this on its own too. Wow, I'm 3 for 3 with the Lovecraft scents today...good stuff, and I've got Shoggoth in the mail. W00t.