Still Life With Dooting Skull

[Seajewel]

Bourbon vanilla with wildflower honey, licorice root, coconut milk, and nutmeg.

[momopeche]

Like a root beer float with an old timey root beer that’s more herby sarsaparilla/sassafras, aged in an old bourbon barrel, and comes in a curvy glass bottle at the local soda shop counter. Not artificial root beer flavor.
 

Great balance between sweet and herb. Smells very “real.”

 

[roseus]

Yeah this smells more like sasparilla than licorice to me. Which is fine! Licorice/anise tends to turn my stomach for some reason, and this was gamble. I am pleased. In the bottle and on my skin it is a super-dry spiced (must be the nutmeg) rootbeer. Like something you'd get in a fancy, hisptery cocktail bar. Not that it's boozy, just not sweet enough to be like soda. On my skin it gets a wee bit sweeter and more creamy though I'm having a hard time picking out coconut. It's a really delicious scent, much cozier than I had anticipated.

 

ETA: after resting a little over two weeks, the licorice note is a little less sasparilla and more licorice. To me it smells like a mix of the two, and I still really like it!

Edited November 26, 2021 by roseus

[Fletchkat]

In the vial it smells smokey, with a hint of the licorice. On my skin the smoky smell goes away, the licorice comes out more but it's balanced with the vanilla so it's not super sharp and in your face. A bit sweet. The licorice is stronger on my inner elbow where I applied it than on my wrist, and it smells more wintergreen-y there. I think I'm starting to get the nutmeg on my wrist, it's making the vanilla-licorice more creamy/ powdery. I'm not sure how I feel about this one, it doesn't smell like a regular perfume, but it is an interesting scent. Let's see where it goes. 
 

Within the first hour the licorice pretty much goes away, or at least fades to the background. Fresh-ground nutmeg with vanilla coconut milk (not an artificial sunscreen coconut) are what I get at this point, only a little sweet. 

 

After a couple hours it is slightly syrupy vanilla with just the tiniest bit of a smokey note, a faint hint of the nutmeg still holding on. It sits close to the skin. This smells nice, though I don't know that it's captivating enough that I need to upgrade to a full size bottle.

[doomsday_disco]

This one broke my heart (and my brother's as well).

 

Both of us thought it smelled like a delicious creamy root beer in the decant. I thought for sure from the initial sniff that it would be a bottle purchase for me, a fan of all things root beer.

 

On him, it immediately turned into black licorice. On me, there was a root beer aspect to the scent, probably thanks to the licorice root and nutmeg combining with the vanilla, but it wasn't unabashedly root beer, and the licorice root sometimes smelled medicinal and almost teetered into black licorice territory. Over time, the coconut milk emerged, and became the main player, making the scent softer and cleaner (it's not a foodie coconut). And by the end of the day, it was mostly a syrupy, lightly-spiced vanilla with some coconut milk and nothing reminiscent of root beer to be found. By this point, the scent stays close to the skin.

 

I'm glad it at least didn't turn into straight up black licorice on me, but I wish this had remained as root beer-y as it was in the vial! (But I suppose I should consider myself lucky, as I really don't need another root beer scent.)

Edited November 28, 2021 by doomsday_disco

[Casablanca]

I love the name "Dooting Skull," but the perfume test didn't work out quite so well on me.

 

Right out of the gate, I get a blast of anise and a side of milky coconut. The licorice is a bit sugary and almost boozy in its intensity -- at first, it reminds me a little of Sambuca or something in that vein, but settles more into straight up black licorice with some time.

 

Although none is listed, in testing, my friend and I both get leather. Now I'm picturing a Good 'n Plenty candy with a cartoon face, winking and wearing leather chaps. I can definitely pick out nutmeg at this point, but not really the other listed notes. 

 

Black licorice, coconut milk, nutmeg, and a hint of background leather. Quirky AF.

[groovyrooby]

I love licorice, first off. And I feel like this is what I wanted Black Licorice Smut to be. That one faded too quickly on me. This, however, last a bit longer and has a little more muscle to it. 

 

Starts out smokey. Like, smoked meat smokey. Sausages & bandaids. What is that about?? I was a little worried. But give it another 15 minutes or so, and it's got that cola note I get from Snake Smut. Sexy licorice. Sweet and sassy and wonderful.

[sarahmarie]

In the bottle, this is licorice and nutmeg with scents that ping my brain in a way that smells of smoke and leather. Which are not listed, but, that's what I smell in the bottle! Soon after applying it, it is a bit root-beerish, momentarily a hair medicinal,  with an undertone of that smokey leather scent. After an hour or so, it's smoothed out into a less identifiable series of notes and is instead more of a smokey leather licorice *feeling*, if you will tolerate my saying so. :) It smells sweet, deep, a little masculine, a little leathery/spiced in tone rather than gourmand. I'm not sure if it's one that suits me to wear, but it has a lot of potential! 

[Poenari]

I was gifted a bottle of this in my Halloweenie order, and am so grateful! 

 

Upon initial application, I get vanilla nutmeg - nice! Then the licorice root immediately muscles it's way to the front. I love licorice, so this is fine with me. By the time of the drydown, I can really only smell licorice. It's a sweet but sexy licorice, tempered by the vanilla and honey, and I can't really detect the coconut milk as a standalone note. This perfume is surprising to me - I didn't expect it to be such a licorice scent. I like it even more than Black Licorice Smut!

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Ooh! A boozy, twangy vanilla. Almost metallic somehow.

 

Drydown: This scent has a lot of bombast. The licorice is like 'Wham!' - but not in a scary way. It's pure charisma. In fact, it reads more similar to sarsaparilla than to black licorice to my nose. There's a lot of good things just piled on top of each other in this one - a cacophony of gilded, rooty, glowing, sweet, warm, creamy sexiness. Color-wise, I'd say it has a coppery, iridescent rose-gold sheen.

 

Dry: Vanilla-sweet, glowing, and cuddly, with a hint of danger. Sadly, I must report that the coconut skews artificial on me once fully dry. I'm hoping that aging sets it back on course. Other than that, it's a fascinating shimmery and sumptuous blend.

 

 

7.5 out of 10 bones

[Soupy Twist]

Deep vanilla with LICORICE!!11!!!ELEVENTY!-ONE!!!! and a dash of honey in the bottle. Goes on as licorice fistfighting with nutmeg. Wow, where did the vanilla go? The licorice wins and smooths out as it dries with the influence of the honey. The honey is almost present but not really detectable as its own note.

 

This is unfortunate. I like my licorice bolder and my honey uncluttered, and they’ve somehow become less than the sum of their parts.

[feyofthefellwood]

I like this one, but don't love it. It mostly smells like a really pretty, fancy artisanal root beer to me. It reminds me a bit of Tombstone, except without the woody notes. I would also have liked stronger honey, coconut, and/or licorice as well. I'll have to see if aging changes it up at all.

[torischroeder9]

In the decant: Bourbon vanilla, licorice root, and nutmeg, with what I expect is the coconut cream making it creamy (I do not get coconut). I do not really get a root beer vibe at this stage. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, it's bourbon vanilla and coconut cream, with licorice and nutmeg duking it out on the side. As it dries, I do get something like root beer on the throw, though it's a fancier root beer than, say, Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener. Up close, however, I can still pick out the coconut milk and licorice root separately. It's not un-sweet, but the wildflower honey note isn't prominent. 

 

As it settles in, it fades back to be an almost husky, lightly coconut smell on me. It's not unlike Paduan Killer Swarm, though Dooting Skull is much mellower. 

 

It's a nice scent, and I'm glad I got the chance to try it. 

[Bassmastadroog]

Man I’m trying to duke it out between this and Cognac Stained Sheet Ghost because they’re similar scent profiles. Sweet vanilla with woodsy backdrops.

 

This one has the root beer quality, but if the rootbeer had nutmeg in it. Slightly spicy. I do like this a lot, but if someone smells you they will 100% say you smell like root beer so that’ll be what you’ll want to have going for you as you purchase this scent.

 

I wouldn’t know there was coconut if I didn’t read the scent list, but likely because it blends in with the rootbeer quality. As it dries there’s a creamy aspect to it, and that might be it.

[lakeplacidskater]

In the bottle: sweet licorice! Authentic root beer! 
 

Wet: Licorice explosion! It's sharp and herbal and medicinal, in a good way. 

 

Dry: The licorice is sweet and as it settles, becomes less medicinal/herbal and much brighter. The vanilla, coconut milk, and nutmeg keep it balanced, and the vanilla and nutmeg come out more, although licorice still dominates.

 

I personally love the smell of licorice, so it was a win for me. I know some noted that it was too medicinal when first applied, but I found it comforting, like a sweet, creamy licorice root tea.

 

I feel like this will be one of my favorite "comfort scents". 

 

 

[she's a carnival]

Wet I get a blast of sweet root beer in the best way possible! It mellows out to a more rounded out spiced honey which I quite like. However, as much as I love root beer and the smell of it I don't think I'd personally be reaching for it as a perfume very often.

[VetchVesper]

You need to be 21 to drink this root beer float. It's got quite the punch of sarsaparilla, but a creamy sweetness, and a bit of something that almost reads as woody tobacco to my nose, adds complexity. Dooting Skull is a foodie that could work well on guys, but I'm happy to have a bottle in my collection.  If you're a fan of Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener or Tombstone, try to get a whiff of this one.  

[zankoku_zen]

Nutmeg, licorice, and honeyed wildflowers. I'm surprised at how floral this is. I get the nutmeg and licorice, and then florals. Medium throw and wear length.

[Tamarinda]

In the Decant: A smokey sweetness plus licorice.

 

Wet: Licorice

 

Dry: SMOKEY LICORICE.

 

Alas! This is where I learned that I amp licorice root because that is ALL I smell once this hits my skin. There is no evidence of any other note than the mystery smoke quality plus LICORICE. At no point did any other note show up and I gave it an hour before showering it off.

[LavenderCoffee]

I am just testing this for the second time today, but I am OBSESSED. "Ask not for whom the skull doots…" it doots for me!

 

Licorice root is in the driver's seat for sure, with a lot of throw coming at you right out of the gate. 

I don't get root beer or licorice candy from this really, even though there is some nose-tickling sweetness on the drydown. This definitely has a darker, earthy quality to me. The nutmeg seems to be closely intertwined with the licorice root, and the vanilla and coconut milk form a soft backdrop.

 

An hour later, this is a comfortingly smooth, dark vanilla spiced with licorice root and nutmeg. The licorice root calmed down quite a bit from where it started, but I love that big burst of scent in the beginning. I never get anything distinctly coconutty from this, and while I couldn't pick out the honey before, now it adds a hint of beeswax-adjacent richness to the vanilla. I hesitate to call this blend sweet - it's not without sweetness, but it's sweet in the earthy vanilla way that Tombstone is sweet.

 

In fact, my experience of this scent is very similar to Tombstone, where the cedar starts out really loud and then mellows beautifully into the vanilla. That one has an overall brighter tone, and this one is darker. (Yes, I am trying to justify getting a bottle of this, even though I already have Tombstone, and the Beeswax, Cedarwood, and Bourbon Vanilla ménage 😅)

[wolf_truffles]

It's a sweet licorice with some vanilla. I like it but I don't think I'll really ever want to wear it!

[RoseThornAndOak]

Tried a few times and let it age a bit. Reads like a slightly charred vanilla root beer, like a softer Sissy: The Ascendant. It's okay on me. Skin's acting weird again.

[Fjaer]

Really can't decide if I like this one!

I love root beer, and bought this after reading the reviews that it had a root beer note. It does! But there's also a sweetness from the coconut milk that goes a little sickly on me - it's probably the coconut milk, vanilla and nutmeg combined and going sickly. I think the key to this one, for me a least, is 'less is more'. 

 

Last night I slathered my wrist in it and felt a little nauseous, today I just have a light dab and it's much better. 

 

I hoped this would be a little less sickly-sweet, I'll see how it ages though! 

[Viiinylflowers]

sorry if I repeat myself ~ I’m on DayQuil for a stupid cold 😂 

writing reviews to pass the time.  (Not scents I’m testing today obviously) 
 

I love this scent.  It basically smells like complicated sort of apothecary-like rootbeer to me.  More gourmand than that stimulating sassafras scent, less herbal but more rooty/a little bit floral but the floral reads as just some other thing in the overall goblin mash.  There’s a little darkness in the blend too, it reminds me of when you have a lot of things sort of marinating in a jar to make a tincture or infusion.  And the liquid used for the infusion has a honey sweet aspect that you don’t notice quite as much until you taste it ~ like it smells a but darker/rootier than it tastes.  (or in this case put it on your skin and let it sit a while). 
 

It just makes me imagine someone magical in some other time creating a healing brew full of things you haven’t heard of but are oddly familiar.  And the brew might have some unspoken magical qualities.  There’s a bit of darkness in this in a rooty almost resinous way, for a bit, before it warms up and grows sweeter and more vanillic. I guess the vanillic thing is the coconut ~ but idk man, just reading the notes before I tried it, I was imagining something totally different.  
 

If I was describing how the scent actually smelled, id guess this as the notes/flavor text: 

“the gnarled sparkling and dew tinged goblin mulled about in its little cottage at the first sun, when the moon still hung in the sky.  When you knocked on its door, it welcomed you with blank-faced frenetic energy and beckoned you into the mossy abode.  
Rows of cobwebbed bottles sat on a shelf in the silvery blue morning light.  
After describing what ails you, the goblin reaches for a little pale bulbous bottle from the shelf, and tells you to drink.  
It tastes like root-beer, and also like things only goblins know of.” 

 

Layers of goblin roots, rootbeer, licorice root, vanilla bean, fermenting honey, a spooky goblin kiss of dried healing flowers 

 

lol. 
 

I wish it was a little less sweet, but the rooty intrigue of it does temper some of that honey sweetness that peeks through after you wear it a bit especially.  Like after a while it starts to warm up and smell like rootbeer sort of drying in the sun, like that syrupy honey starts to come out.  But the rooty stuff and a vanillic aspect is still there, and still retains that unique potion-ey aspect, so I kinda tolerate the up close sweetness even though I’m not a sweet or honey person.  There’s enough to counteract that in the blend, at least on my skin.  
 

if you liked third eye extraction from the ‘21 Liliths, you might like this.  It’s a more gourmandy scent that I think wouldn’t be out of place on the same goblin shelf~  It’s like spooky rootbeer.  

Edited April 26, 2022 by Viiinylflowers

[forspecial_plate]

Spice-dominant, backed by the slightly creamy coconut milk, I can agree with the root-beer comparisons, but to me it's a little more spicy.  I love the Lab's sassafras scents, especially Anti-Salloon League, this is more spicy and I think I'm amping the nutmeg.  I don't really smell anise or honey here.  Wouldn't really have guessed vanilla either, for that matter.  But I think over time the background notes do come out more, they're just all blended together.

 

 

I do like this and will wear it again, especially when fall rolls around again and there's a chilly breeze with falling leaves outside.  Very cozy scent.  And it has a nice lower level of sillage for me, not too strong, just right actually.