Black Julbocken Alchemy Lab

[Silvertree]

Our winter mascot! A musky, snow-touched, forest-deep Yuletide blend: shaggy black wool and a slushy tangle of juniper, mistletoe, winter sage, spikenard, white moss, and terebinth.

[Follow My Nose]

On wet, this starts out as single note pine, but black musk starts peeking around the edges right away. Then the cool, minty slush note slides into join the others and the real complexity of this scent begins to come out. There's moss, herbs, green and woodsy notes ... this goat has been around the forest quite a bit and picked up lots of nice-smelling things in his shaggy coat. I'm not getting much of the wool note yet, but this bottle might need some time to settle, I just got the package yesterday.

 

Black Julbocken is a perfect mascot for the Lab's Yule collection, and this is exactly the chilly forest blend I was hoping to find in this update!

 

ETA: One of my cats has definite opinions about my perfume choices, and this seems to be his favorite of the Yules I got. He does tend to prefer musky and/or woodsy scents and this one is both. 😻

Edited December 30, 2022 by Follow My Nose

[jiggahava]

Sweet, fuzzy musk with a trail of something not quite pine....miseltoe maybe. It's a gentle complement to the musk. Now I'm getting soft greens, which I'm attributing to the moss or sage

Very light blend, wish there was stronger throw.

A very light musk scent with woods in the background.  Like if you wore your favorite sweater outside in the fresh air.

Hours later becomes a warm skin musk scent. I would've liked the greens to stay longer. Still, this is a really cozy blend.

[elissamay]

This is cozy, wooly, musky, forest-y goodness. All of the greens are prominent while wet, and they stick around into the drydown, but as they fade, the wooly, fuzzy, musky blanket surrounds you. There's a somewhat unexpected sweetness to this one even with the musky base. It's really just a perfectly Yule scent.

[Little Bird]

This is deep, dark, musky, and a little foresty, but also cuddly, so I think it fits the label art perfectly.  On me, this smells like lots of black musk with a vein of sweet red musk coursing through it (reminded me of Nocturne Alchemy's Kashmir red musk, especially after several hours of wear, which I love).  It's a musk that leans animalic and a little incensey, with a sort of fuzzy, cuddly, wool blanket edge to it.  I also smell hints of snow and juniper, adding a touch of chilly, realistic evergreen that doesn't turn sour.  I found this to be a rather strong scent with good throw (really radiated warmly from my skin) and it even lasted faintly on me after a shower.

[surlygurl]

Wow. Reading the above reviews I have to wonder if my nose is broken 😂. Once applied, I thought "this must be one of the vertiver-heavy ones" because it was so dark. Like, almost a scrubber with something promising underneath. 

 

The dry down calms it down tho it still stays dark. It's been about 30 minutes and I can smell the musky greens, but no specific plant. There's a sweetness at this stage. I can see this scent being a hit with folks.... just not with me. 

[doomsday_disco]

I was really hoping that the black wool note would be kind on me, but alas, it's a very strong, slightly grape-y black musk. It's not the black musk that can go lemon-y, I think it's more of a Smut-like musk or perhaps the one in Thanatopsis (it has been a while scent I sniffed that one, though). I am trying to think of a musky, foresty past Yule scent to compare this to, and my mind is drawing a blank, but it's NOT FAUNALIA. What I am trying to say is that it is not a traditional black musk note and may even be black musk mixed with a fruitier musk. It goes on with some foresty notes, but they are quickly buried beneath the musk, and I can only smell the musk in the throw, with no other notes (although, if I smell up close, I get some moss and a bit of wooliness beneath it). The musk in this was so strong on me that I could still smell it after my shower, even though I tried really hard to scrub off the scent.  

 

This is definitely one for fans of dark, slightly fruity musk (but hey, no laundry note!).

 

 

[ghoulnextdoor]

A blood-memory of pagan festivals, and mystical ecstasy, evanescent shadows coalescing into giant woodland spirits cavorting in the dark, the scent of the animalic and fungal, leathery root and balsamic wood, a reed-wrapped parcel tossed in the flames at midnight, gingery, peppery spiced sparks drifting lazily skyward.

[Cali]

A veil of furry musk (wilf anyone?) over strong herbs, berries and mosses; toppled with a dusting of sugary sweet snow. Real fun for drawing inspiration, or perhaps writing, if you write anything more than bpal reviews heh. 

[geophagustapajos]

This is exactly as described when fresh and in the bottle, warm cozy fur and musk and forest. The drydown goes a little too much into the sexy cologne arena for me but I think it's objectively well blended.

[VetchVesper]

Muskity-musk! Quite possibility kitty musk! I'd wager civet because of the feral, but cozy, animalic feel I'm getting. This also seems like it belongs in the same family as Yule Cat.

 

Dark and fuzzy evergreen notes, and a touch of sweet snow, cling to our festive goat's fur, and as the scent wears, I get something like frankincense: dry, spicy, and warm. It's likely the wool or some trick of my nose, but it gives this goat gravity. 

 

I like this, but I don't need more. It's great for the concept though, and if you want to smell like a delightful, wintery woodlands beast, this is for you!

[Ennikar]

First application is delightfully forest-y - trees and herbs and, yes, cold (minty-cold, but not overpoweringly Mint) with a bit of dark musk on the bottom. The trees don't stick around too long, unfortunately, and afterwards it's mostly wool/musk. This is not a clean-laundry musk, it's more animalic and (based on my limited research) can actually come across as incense-y. Late in the drydown, it's almost like a dark patchouli... maybe that's the spikenard? It has decent throw and lasts a good while, but after the first hour or two it reminds me of an old, lived-in wooden house where someone periodically burns incense, and maybe the occupant is an unusually hygienic goat has an old wool coat they haven't washed this year hanging up to dry. On the whole, not sure how I feel about it, and may revisit it after it sits longer.

[Liquid Sword]

This made me smell like a musty grandpa…