Shub-Niggurath

[Convallaria]

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

 

While the concept tempted me, the reviews said "gourmand" so I was reluctant to get one of my own. Fortunately, I got a frimp with my Trading Post purchase.

 

It is as the others described, opening with ginger cookies, rather strong sillage. They last for a long while. The drydown after that remains on the intense side for a long time, the scent I get is vanilla and powdered sugar, rather like old school perfumery.

 

Great scent on its own but disappointing to me as a concept scent for Shub-Niggurath. Not getting anything otherworldly from it, none of the resins or greener herbs.

 

Not sure how I feel about the idea of smelling like a cookie. Then again, even people who aren't fans of fragrances seem to like really edible gourmands better than florals, musks, chypres, aldehydes or even more abstract gourmands, so maybe it would be a good everyday choice.

Edited May 29, 2016 by Convallaria

[Casablanca]

On the wand: Buttery Lovecraft gingerbread cookies? Much more foodie than I expected, but tasty and warm...

Wet: Hot, spicy gingerbread slathered in butter. Delicious, though a bit weird for the inside of my elbow to smell like this. I get a lot of myrrh, but it's blending well with the ginger cookies.

Dry: I'm not a gourmand person, but... the spices and myrrh in this are delicious, and the ginger is just the right amount. This wears steady on me with little change from wet to dry. A scent to revisit in fall.

[Coldfire]

Imp: hot, dark ginger
Wet on Me: spicy dark gingerbread
Drying Down: dark dark spicy gingerbread and a faint ghost of a wood note?
Dry: not so sharp ginger now. pleasant. lovely. not scary at all!

[lizabelle]

I've heard this described as evil and/or sexy gingerbread, and that description is spot-on. Starts with very strong, true ginger that then turns into cookies. The ginger really needs to be experienced, because I can't do it justice--I wonder if this version is in any other BPALs? The sillage of this stage is amazing. After a while it burns down to boozy vanilla, a strong lingering ginger and some woods/incense. I love how woody this is because I was not expecting it. Definitely a full bottle for me!

[whisperstilled]

I think the gingerbread comparisons are coming from a combo of that distinctly 'peanut' brand of vetiver I smell under the seven herbs and spice the lab added on top. The ginger is really nice, and it does have a strangely foody quality, but this is too much vetiver cookies for me.

[Lucchesa]

This was a Lab frimp, not on my radar screen at all. And if I had read the reviews, I probably would have avoided it because everyone says gingerbread and the Lab's baked goods note is terrible on me. I knew it was supposed to be Lovecraftian incense, so I was surprised when the imp smelled foodie. Wet on my skin, I was getting lemony hazelnut. After a bit I got the ginger cookie, but not that pastry note that so hates my skin, and now, a couple hours later, I can finally perceive the incense wafting over the ginger. Fascinating and really nice. I'm not sure I need a bottle, but I may replace the imp when I use it up.

[Juliamon]

Echoing all the "evil gingersnap" reviews. This is the foodiest imp in my collection, even moreso that ones that are intended to smell like food. Wet it's a freshly-baked ginger cookie, liberally spiced but with plenty of sweetness to balance it. Vanilla is heavily to blame here, along with the resins probably, but on the long drydown my skin holds the telltale wafts of vanilla.

 

Sadly it doesn't last more than a couple hours on me (other than the vanilla), but it's an unexpectedly cuddly scent.

[fizzbangdangcharade]

So I also get cookies from this, but where everyone else seems to be getting gingersnaps I'm getting molasses cookies.

 

In the bottle: Molasses cookies, straight up

 

Wet: Still molasses cookies. Warm, and brown sugary goodness

 

Warming: Seriously, baking cookies. That's all I'm getting.

 

Drydown: The cookie scent calms down, and starts going more toward the herb/resin scent. As the cookie fades the throw gets closer to the skin. At one point, when I moved I got cookie. But when I sniffed my wrists, I got a spicy resin/herb scent.

 

Hours later: I sniffed my wrist again hours later, and realized it'd changed again. And there's the ginger! A nice sweet, fruity ginger, reminiscent of the ginger in Kumiho. I can still get a little of the sugar and resin/herb underneath, which gives it a touch more bite than Kumiho though.

 

All in all I really like this one! I actually like it a bit better than Miskatonic (this loses the sweet, gains some nice spice, and then ends in a lighter/wet sweet/spicy. Whereas Miskatonic loses the sweet and sits at the 'old book' smell and then never changes.)

[clockworkcrypt]

When I first put it on I'm getting a peanut note, like a fresh baked peanut cookie with a touch of spice. It's pleasant though, but a bit odd. This fades away in the first 15-25ish minutes and is replaces with a fresh gooey ginger molasses cookie. It's fresh out of the oven and onto my wrists. I want it. I need it. I don't have hands anymore. Whoops. While I bang my bloody stumps together in the ER several hours later I sniff again. The cookie smell has faded down which means I'm safe from eating any more of my limbs. I now smell like a gingery resinous old house. Warm and comforting and a little woody, like baked goods faded into the very walls of an old house. It's pleasant and comforting like living in an old mansion filled with sunlight and wood paneling, and maybe one too many vengeful spirits. All and all this is a lovely scent, and lasts around 8-10 hours on me in it's different stages. It's great on a rainy day, just don't put it on anything you really need, or you WILL EAT YOUR HANDS. That's practically a guarantee. Hand eating juice. Oh god. I've entered shitposting reviews already.

[Missanneshirleyofgg]

I smell Archway Soft Gingerbread Cookies. The ginger has a "bite" that I could relate to being observed as "evil gingerbread", but can gingerbread ever truly be evil? Maybe if Morticia Addams baked it up.... it's very good. It has that bite that crystallized ginger has, and the vanilla smells like a little bit of frosting. Not getting cinnamon either, which is good for someone like me who amps cinnamon in ALL THE THINGS. Lovely. Would like to come by this in a swap, or buy a FS. 

[Shea]

Aggressive ginger most certainly.  I ended up using my imp up this week during Christmas parties as it is more spicy gourmand than I typically navigate toward personally. 

[RobberBaroness]

This smells delicious!  There's nothing evil or alien about it- if it's a goddess, it's an earth mother goddess.  I smell gingerbread and spices primarily, more than resins (probably a good thing on my skin), and it'll definitely be a steady winter gourmand.

[Old.cupcake]

First smell wasn't love. But immediately on the skin ... oh my gods. The spicy, gingerness came out and I loved it. The more it transforms with my skin the more I fall in love with the scent. This is most definitely a favorite. 

 

[storme]

At first, when wet, this had a strong 'dirt' sort of component to it that made me wonder if I would be better off donating it to a friend who has significantly more appreciation for dirt-ish blends than I do. Thankfully, when dry, that earthy smell dissipates, leaving me with a light gingery-resiny scent that is much closer to what I'd hoped for! It's warm but not cloying, and the spices are so gentle they just sort of accentuate the gingery notes.

[torischroeder9]

Huh. I have never reviewed this. Here goes! 

 

In the imp: So much deep ginger. All of the analogies I want to make are both NSFW and not a way I want to think about baked goods. But, yes. Sexy ginger. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, all I can say is, if I've ever had a gingerbread blend disappoint me, it was because it didn't smell like this. As it dries, there's the teensiest bit of incense smoke, but it's still mostly ginger. 

 

Once it settles in, the throw fades way back, but the scent is still mostly ginger and a tiny bit of incense smoke on me. 

 

You could probably convince me that I need to swap my favorite gingerbread scent and get a bottle of this instead. (That's not a solicitation, just a comment on how much I like the scent.)

[Something_Diabolical]

This is so good. Smells like sexy ginger cookies. Very ginger forward but not sharp or nose-tingling. Overall a warm, inviting and sweet scent. 

 

Will probably need more in the future.

[Luna Fatale]

In the Imp: The ginger note is most apparent. It's somehow sweet in the imp.

 

On the Skin: Ah, I see why people call it evil gingerbread/gingersnaps o:! It reminds me of the Gingerbread Hag from Hansel & Gretel. 🖤 It's spicy on the skin, like someone threw a heaping amount of crushed chili pepper into gingerbread batter. Spices and ginger are obviously apparent and I'm guessing the addition of the sweetness from the resins is creating the gingerbread smell.

 

To be honest the ginger is a bit overpowering initially at least while it's wet, but still enjoyable! I shall see how it changes as it dries.

 

The gingers do seem to calm down with drying & I'm loving this scent. It seems perfect for Autumn to Winter. I would absolutely buy a full bottle of this. ❤ After a few hours, the same gingerbread scent (but softened) remains.

 

Side Note: I was fortunate enough to receive a frimp of Shub-Niggurath in two different orders so I decided to use one to scent lotion. I bought Smartly's Fragrance-Free Hand & Body Lotion from Target and squeezed enough of it to fill an emptied Manic Panic hairdye container (4oz). I then mixed the lotion with an imp and it came out so good :D! I can't wait to smell like a Gingerbread witch. 🖤

[splendidissima]

This has been one of my favorites since I got into BPAL!

 

It's sweet, dark, ginger - heavy on the ginger - with warm cookies/pastries/something sweet and rich that's playing oh so nice with the spices. Not sharp at all, just dark, warm, gently spicy. I bought a new bottle this year, and I still absolutely love it.

 

Also, we visited my grandparents this past weekend, and I was wearing my new bottle, and I hugged my grandma, and she said, "oh, you smell so good, were you baking?"

[monocainsheresy]

Strong herbal, but unlike any herbal I've ever smelled. I concur with the many reviews that say gingerbread, but somehow it's not foodie gingerbread, if that makes sense? Gingerbread if it was an herb? Also strongly incense-y, but not an incense scent. Overall I get a strong impression of coffee beans and perhaps even raw cocoa powder.

I'm not sure what's happening, but I'm definitely very intrigued!

[Cali]

Spices! Lots of spices and herbs - sweet but soft ginger and maybe a veeeery faint purply dark resin. This is lovely, but i'm missing something here that makes it irresistable, and i think my skin ate ...that.

[AbbyNormal]

In the imp: it’s definitely bread-y but not gingerbread, more like a spice cake that wasn’t made with a lot of sugar and before the frosting has been added. 
 

Wet: there’s the cookie! It’d definitely a gingerbread/molasses cookie and add me to the list of people picking up a touch of peanut butter. There’s also something else here that I can’t place and I keep sniffing to try to figure it out. I normally don’t react to the oils but a spot on my neck is feeling a bit burny. Not bad enough yet to do anything about it, but definitely burny. 
 

Dry: the ginger bite tones down and it becomes a lot softer overall. I still can’t place the mystery scent underneath it all, but it still smells so hauntingly familiar. 

[crystaltongue]

The Shub-Niggurath, puts me in mine of a really good oatmeal cookie, but one with something sinister about it. The spices are the most prominent note, and there is something warm and sweet and foody under it. But there is also some other element to it, one that is just a bit evil. So, a delicious evil oatmeal cookie. A lovely scent for fall or winter.