Shub-Niggurath

[ariosa]

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

I had high expectations for this one, based on the reviews I've read... and in the first few moments of imp sniffing and first application, my heart sunk. It was such a raw, sharp ginger, and something else. Something really, really green. It was not me, and for a moment, I was so sad!

But then, bliss of all bliss, within a few short moments, it began to bloom and mellow and this lovely lemon and spice began to intermingle with the ginger, and all was right with the world again. Incredible throw, and my nose has been glued permanently to my forearm. Love it.

ETA March 16th, 2007: I finally wore this all day, just to see what it would be like, rather than just the short time testing I'd originally done. This scent lasts and lasts on me, but unfortunately, after about 6 hours, it starts to make me nauseated. It's TOO sweet (and I never, ever thought I'd say that!). It's like--- I have the fresh batch of ginger cookies, and they smell so good. I can't stop eating them, and soon, I've eaten so many, I've made myself sick and never want to eat another ginger cookie again. I'm not ready to give it up just yet, but I think I'll wait a while before trying it again. If I get this same reaction, off to swaps it goes. I want to feel comforted when I wear a scent, not sick. Edited April 9, 2007 by Shollin

[presotm]

This is the only BPAL oil that I get compliments on every single time I wear it.

 

Shub is a lovely ginger spice blend that somehow does not become foody at all to me.

 

I loves it and I will make sure I never run out of it.

[gypsybaby1]

my first thought about this was "it's... red.... is there Dragon's blood in this?"

 

Dragon's Blood and I don't get along at all. But, I tried it. uhm.. I'm missing the ginger. I'm missing the spice...

 

I got the sweet, sweet lemony bar cookie scent, that tart-sweet note that I could literally taste, like lemon meringue pie filling... but alas, within 10 minutes it went south into the land of meh.

 

just not for me. color me heart-broken over this one.

[roenim]

I got a freebie of Shub from a sale and I am very grateful since it has been on my wishlist for a while. However, I don't actually like it that much. Upon application, it smelled of ginger cookies, but with something else. Smoky. like being in a nightclub. It kinda ruined the wonderful gingersnap smell. When it dried down, the first thing I thought of when I smelled it was: synthetic. But again, not quite. I can smell whiffs of the gingersnaps in there still but mixed in with that odd smoky/synthetic-y smell. Weird. After a couple more hours, the synthetic and smoky smell went away and there's something reminiscent of Snake Oil in there along with the ginger. Not a good thing. Snake Oil smells terrible on me.

 

Final verdict: Not for me.

[Doomramen]

This is a bad week for me and new scents.

 

Shub is lovely in the imp. Vibrant, lovely color, tasty cookie smell.

 

On me, just POOF!

If I get close, I smell ginger, and sometimes lemon. The ginger note, while barely detectable on my skin, seems gorgeous. It has the same dusky earthiness as ginger root. It smells grainy.

I'll try it again later, of course, just in case my nose or chemistry is off. And I'll swipe some on my ginger obsessed girlfriend. But for me, just eh.

[nikkoblue]

ginger cookies, ginger and ginger with some dust or wood. Lasts a heck of a long time and after about an hour just becomes dusty dried gingerbread.

 

I don't get lemon with this (unfortunately. I make gingerbread muffins with lemon glaze and that's a really nice balance). It's nice, and pretty yummy for a long time, but it's kind of monotonous.

 

I do like it but it's not in my top 20, I think one bottle will last me a long time and most likely won't be replaced when finished. I feel like it needs some sweetness.....maybe if i layer it with a sugar?

[dorothy humbird]

I was a little afraid of being disappointed in the super-lemony reformulated version of Shub, so I wasn't getting my hopes up when I swiped a bit on my wrist. Hooray!! I hardly got much of a lemony smell to speak of -- I could immediately understand why people have said it smells like "evil gingerbread."

 

I was expecting sharp, edgy ginger, but even a few minutes into drydown Shub has already mellowed out into something that might end up being "creamy"... there is a spiciness that I am liking, too... reminiscent of Blood in that respect.

 

Further into drydown it smells...somehow a little like Alice to my nose, in the milky/creamy-yet-spicy sort of characteristic. I quite like it, and I'll definitely hang on to the imp. Mmm, evil gingerbread with milk...

 

ETA: WHOA. This is pure amazingness all of a sudden. Mind you, I am practically inhaling my wrist into my nose to smell it (so, it's not throwing like this) but, shit. It's FANTASTIC.

Edited April 3, 2007 by dorothy humbird

[myoubi]

Shubshubshubshub shubshubshubshub love....

 

After sniffing this once at a Meet-n-Sniff I knew it had to be mine. After making do with an imp for weeks, my bottle finally arrived!

 

Scent: In the bottle this is a predominantly lemony ginger blend, dark and fresh and rooty. On my skin the citrus burns off in a matter of seconds, leaving me swathed in a comforting haze of ginger and something earthy or resiny beneath it. This isn't a sweet wimpy ginger like in Gingerbread Poppet -- although it retains just a little of the Poppet's natural sweet foodiness, I wouldn't call this a foody blend unless your grandma's ginger cake was very low on sugar and high on zing. After a couple of hours the major gingeriness cools, leaving dark cream resins with a little rub of dark ginger. I don't smell incense per se at any point, but there's definately _some_thing underlying the scent that just doesn't come up and smack you in the nose.

 

Tone: Warm and comforting, this one has throw. It wafts, and although the drydown is much more subtle than the initial half-hour, this isn't one I forsee having to reapply frequently. It's a backbone blend, and fills the niche of cuddle-by-the-fire-comfort-scent that I thought would be Misk U's job. I wouldn't really call it sexy, but I can see how some people might find it an angrier blend.

 

Verdict: Especially in wintertime or on rainy days (like today!)

[Shahmeran]

My first review, and it's from a freebie and not one that I ordered. I had to try it though because it had such a unique scent in the bottle (first thing I did when I got to my order was open every imp and sniff them in turn, of course).

 

In the bottle: Everyone on here is saying gingerbread, but when I first sniffed it my reaction was... what IS that? It smelled really intriguing, kind of... refreshing after all the incence-y imps I'd been sniffing. I had that "I know I've smelled this smell before, but what the heck is it?!" kind of feeling. Then I put it on.

 

Wet: Aha! That's what I smell... Cola jawbreakers! Has anyone else ever had those silver colored cola flavoured jaw breakers? Used to get them at the sweet shop in Banff as a kid. That's what I was smelling in the bottle... But that faded rather quickly. (Thankfully. I like candy, but I don't really want to smell like one).

 

Drydown: I started to smell lemon, cinnamon and ginger. It still doesn't smell like gingerbread to me (which I think smells more like molasses than ginger) but I definetly smell the ginger. It's not really a fresh ginger on me, which I think is sharper smelling than this, more like a cooked ginger?

 

Dry: It's definetely ginger, but there's something even spicier underneath. I don't generally go for foody scents, but I can't stop smelling it. Not necessarily because I like it (though I certainly don't dislike it!) but more because it's really interesting, and I'm trying to figure it out. It's foody and sensual at the same time. Somehow managing to be both home-cooking comforting and spicy-hot sexy. I don't really find it to be that dark at all, but maybe that's just me.

 

Not a signature scent for me I don't think, but I definitely find it very intriguing.

[jiggahava]

A bit, bitter more bitter than I expected. After an hour or two it mellows on my skin, and smells a bit like fresh gingerbread. Still a bit bitter and a little acrid as well. Either my imp needs to age a little longer, or I'm just not a huge ginger fan. I like it once it sits a while on my skin, but I'm not especially wowed by it.

[Ahania]

I don't get ginger in here, or anything else, exactly. It's sweet, but not really sweet, and it smells very familiar but I can't place it. The closest I can get is that it smells like cotton candy would if it weren't so sweet. I know that sounds ridiculous since it's basically sugar and artificial color, but sugar cane is sugar but less sweet, too. Maybe it smells like sugar cane? It's been so long since I've had it, I can't remember.

 

This is definitely the freakiest BPAL I've tried. I don't like it as much as some others, but it definitely fills a niche that nothing else has come close to for me.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

I am a latecomer to the cult of Shub; it didn't jump out at me in the original Arkham run, and by the time I heard about its wonders, it was gone. But I ordered some as soon as the triumphal return of the Arkham series, and I'm so glad I did. Shub smells like gingersnaps on me! A summer version of my beloved G'bread Poppet--ginger and sugar and foody goodness, but a tad lighter than Poppet with a breath of incense. It's like hippies in the kitchen. Really yummy, sweet but not too much so.

[porcelina]

Bottle: Shub smells like... pumpkin bread o_O Luckily, I adore pumpkin bread.

 

Wet: Eep, now it smells like stinky feet and pumpkin bread. I don't think I like "dark resins." The ginger is tasty, though. Uh... as it dries I'm getting a weird popcorn vibe. Yes. I am strange.

 

Dry: The popcorn scent intensifies; clearly there is something wrong with me.

 

Overall: It's popcorn, incense and ginger candy. I want to like this, I really do, but just... no.

[minilux]

Holy butterscotch, Batman! Butterscotch is one of my least favorite scents (and tastes) ever, so no matter what glorious scent this might potentially morph into, I absolutely cannot get past the initial blast which screams butterscotch to me. This little impling is going to a new home pronto!

[Jenesis]

Bottle: A big WHOOF of ginger.

 

Wet: A jar of ginger tied round with herbs.

 

Drydown: Phew, that's better! A little more mellow, incensey-type ginger and herbs underneath. This is nothing like any of my other scents.

 

Dry: Now this smells like ginger beer or ginger ale. A little too boozy for my taste - perhaps it could be layered with a chocolate scent (my cure-all for weird morphs ).

 

Dry (after 10 mins): Thank goodness for that! The boozy/smokey note has gone away leaving pure ginger. Nice stuff.

 

Final verdict: A very unique and unusual scent. Ginger, yes, herbs, yes, nice, yes. Signature scent? No.

 

Rating: 4/5

 

I got two bottles of this (from two different sources). I'll keep one but the other one is almost definitely going up for sale in the near future! Keep an eye out for me

Edited May 16, 2007 by Jenesis

[Trish]

Possibly the most eagerly anticipted imp from my last order. And I was not disappointed.

 

The ginger reminded me of Saw-Scaled Viper (which I love) at first, but softer, smoother and far less harsh. As it dries the herbs and lemon appear. The herbs remain in the background but the lemon gradually becomes stronger. Luckily lemon is the only citrus note tht has never turned on me and it never completely overtakes the scent either. It blends with the other notes perfectly, producing a lovely sweet creamy lemon and ginger with a touch of herbs. It has a bit of throw and average last, and is more than likely a future bottle.

[Precis]

Ginger never works on me but I just had to try the famous Shub-Niggurath!

 

Wet: I can make out the most gorgeous and amazing spices in this blend... underneath two tons of pencil shavings ginger. To be precise, a test run with Shub sounds something like "oh BLAHghh-- wait! It smells PERFECTLY like gingerbread cookies-- NO THE PENCIL SHAVINGS ARE BACK AGHG--now it's spices and ginger--AGHGHGH" etc etc. It comes and goes. One of the good flashes of smell I get from this is, as another poster noted, exactly like delicious pumpkin bread!

 

Dry: Subtle, warm, spicy, and more consistent. The nastyginger note is still there but it's completely tolerable and I barely notice it.

 

I can't decide if I can put up with the wet stage long enough to ever wear this.

[RemAkimichi]

I had a sniffie of Shub from Christmas that almost broke my heart in the good way. I was in LOVE with the scent, just from the sniffie.

 

And yet, somehow, between then and now, I never managed to get myself an imp because I was afraid it would break my heart in the bad way when I put it on. I could smell that it had the potential to do so.

 

But finally I kicked myself into getting it, because if I was going to order it, now is the best time, since I hear shipping to Hawaii is expensive. So I order it, and finally it comes, and of course I try it first, and...

 

In the bottle: A sharp sting of ginger, and a hint of herbs. Not sweet yet, but edging towards it.

 

On me (wet): GINGERBREAD COOKIES. Right out of the oven, that's all I can smell. It's sweetness and ginger and herbs, but mostly it's cookies, and I want to eat my wrists. Again.

 

On me (dry): The gingerbread cools down, and the herb and lemon smell comes through. It must be one of those recipies that uses lemon peels. The herbs remind me that we're not making Christmas cookies here. It's springtime in march, and while it's still cold outside, there's green on the hills and the cookies are for a picnic in the heather. The tang of citrus gives the ginger a different kind of bite, less vicious and more playful. It intices you to follow it as long as possible before it fades away into the distance.

 

Overall: This demands a bottle. If I were't moving, I'd say immediately.

[Naamah_Darling]

This is a review of the old LE blend, not the reformulation GC scent, so I hope it's in the right place.

 

This smells like ginger cookies! Oh so yummy!

 

If I work at it for a bit while it's in the bottle I can smell the incense resins, but this is still an overwhelmingly warm and spicy cooking scent.

 

Of course, all the other notes come out when it goes on – the ginger rises above the rest, its heady, knifelike throw surrounded by a haze of spice and powdery golden incense. It's delicious, sublime, a dark and sexy scent with a blazingly bright light at its very center.

 

As it ages, it hollows out a bit, opens up, and the herbal note comes out – still a warm, spiced smell, but this makes it seem older, arcane. The incense is still very soft, just a drone off in the background.

 

I love this. It is very dark and sexy, yet also spicy and energizing. But don't mistake it for playful or kittenish – it packs a wallop! Definitely a crying shame this hasn't been added to the unholy pantheon of GC scents, because this deserved a wider release.

 

Magic. Black magic.

[jasmine]

I already know (based on compulsively sniffing someone else’s wrist) that Shub-Niggurath can be warm and sexy and marvelous, but I haven’t tried it on myself yet, so I’m very curious about how this will work on me.

 

On the wand, it’s almost a little bit foody -- it has this broad, spicy appeal. In fact, as it sinks in a bit further, it becomes downright foody. I’m picking up cake and wood and spice. It isn’t offensive cake (my skin has this habit of sending raiding parties raging CAAAAKE! across my arm at the littlest provocation) but it’s cakey. Hmm. As a general rule, I’ve found that I don’t go much for wearing food scents, and this doesn’t seem to be an exception -- I like food scents on other people, but they seem out of place on me. (Has anyone else claimed Shub is foody? Is this just a weirdness of mine? I don’t remember it being cakey on my prior victim.)

 

The cake scent backs off after a while, yielding a warm glow of myrrh. It’s like Priala’s spiced brother, but I like the little pyro herself better when I’m the one wearing it. Without a direct comparision, I can’t be certain, but I have the impression that Priala has more lasting power on me.

 

The spice comes out further and the myrrh backs off as I wait. I like this a lot... but I’d like it far better if I weren’t the one wearing it. Like Dorian and Severin, this scent just wants to be worn on somebody else. Drat.

[Neely]

I have to say, I was a little worried at this one, as I thought I read a review somewhere that said this had a lemony part to it. I amp lemon to Pledge with a capital P. But I needn't have worried...

 

In the bottle: Snickerdoodle cookie! Oh boy!

 

Wet: Snickerdoodle cookie, wth mace, and vanilla. Oh so yummy!

 

Dry down: Snickerdoodle held by a slimey mouldy monster? Oh oh, there is a definite "ick factor" going down, to ruin my Snickerdoodle goodness. Give me back my cookie you nasty monster!

 

30 minutes: my chemistry kicked the monster in the nads and it went off whimpering in less than a minute, and I got my lovely Snickerdoodle back!

 

Conclusion: this is great, even with the slimey mouldy monster part. Corrupted incense of Ashtarte, resins, spices WOOHOO! Bring it on baby! I think it was the ritual herbs that made a brief nasty appearance. I need a big bottle of this one.

 

Rating 1-5: on my skin a 4.5, only docked a little for the mouldy monster.

[LyndaM]

Shub started off great...in the imp and first applied, it was all delicious spicy gingersnaps with a creamy base. I actually wrote it on my "bottles to order" list right after I applied it.

 

However. As it began drying, I was assaulted by a persistant, 'sour lemon' note that I did not care for at all. While this note did become much tamer by the time the oil had fully dried, I don't think Shub and I were meant to be.

 

I've decided to let the imp age for awhile and try it again before writing it off.

[Wildbriar]

Shub-Niggurath

Source: lab imp

 

I've actually been using my imp of this for quite a while, its almost gone and I am going to have to order a big bottle (or twelve) very soon.

 

In the imp, warm melted butter and ginger. Mmmmmmmm. I have a recipe for spiced carrots that includes ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon and this reminds me of that butter mixture before I add the carrots.

 

On my skin it remains a delightful warm, buttery ginger with an undercurrent of something darker and mysterious that keeps this from being too foody. I am completely, head over heels, hopelessly in love.

 

Turns out gingers love me, whodathunkit?

[willowtreeling]

Oh I love this. It smells like gingersnaps...sort of slightly foodie, but just a nice cozy warm smell.

 

However, right now my cleavage is burning! agggggh! something in this is reacting badly to my scotch-irish freckle skin and I am in pain:( What to do? I guess this can only go on my wrists, crook of my arm and ankles, as those areas aren't engulfed in a gorgeous smelling paincloud.

[Thaleia]

After everything I'd heard about everyone's beloved Shub, I was so excited to get it when it came back to stay. I've had this particular bottle for a while now, which I've tested more times than I'd care to admit in the pursuit of trying to convince myself that I like this blend - but every single time I've tried it, I get sharp ginger and nothing else. A little goes a very long way, and even then, it's so strong and very nearly headache-inducing, and actually drowns out all of the other scents I've got on (when I'm trying other things and reviewing), or whatever else is in the immediate vicinity.

 

The drydown is actually kind of okay, but everything leading up to it ...

 

Sigh. I say this every single time I pull out my bottle of Shub, but 'maybe next time it'll work on me'?