Atrous

This definitely has that Haute Macabre vibe to it. I'm getting the Banshee Beat meets Antikythera Mechanism thing that other reviews have commented on. What I love is this is without the hemp note of Banshee Beat which ruins that scent for me. Smokey Patchouli rounded out by vanilla and sweet woods. Love this scent.

Creamy, spicy Snake Oil with a bit of floral peeking out. Once it dries down the honeycomb note comes out a little. This is a really sexy scent. My favorite thing about this Snake Oil variant is I don't need to age it to wear it.

Pink grapefruit, yuzu, pink pepper, ambergris, and seafoam. Not sure how I feel about this one. It's grapefruit and ambergris with a bit of something briney in the background. I'm grateful that the seafoam didn't go in the direction most aquatic notes go, meaning it usually smells like rot/decay on my skin. The seafoam note actually smelled like distant sea water. I didn't detect any pink pepper which is disappointing because I feel the pink pepper would've kicked the scent up a notch. I think I need to retest after a little while and see if the pink pepper comes out and how it changes the scent. Right now the scent is nice but a bit dull.

Ginger lily, bergamot, white tea, lily of the valley, osmanthus, and melon blossom. At first this was a lovely, fresh lily scent with a dab of tea. Once it dried down it turned to soap. A nice floral soap but still...soap. Disappointing since I really loved the beginning stage.

Honeysuckle, dandelion, and other greenery warmed by the sun. a bit of fur and musk to round the scent out. Beautiful for Spring or Summer. I'm mad for this scent.

Lilith meets the Gargoyles of Paris: stone and ancient incense, beeswax and lavender smoke.  The stone and the incense are there. I'm not getting any beeswax so that's kinda disappointing. Honestly, I'm not a fan of the lavender smoke. It does indeed smell like smokey lavender and is off-putting. I was hoping for a more beeswax/incense heavy scent with the other notes in the background.

Our trip to the Catacombs was bittersweet. Lilith was touched by the beauty and poignancy of the experience, but also horrified by the stories of people getting lost underground. Lilith surrounded by the ghosts of six million Parisians: damp black moss, grey sandalwood chips of bone, and winding sheets of balsam, ambergris, nagarmotha, and frankincense.  This is a dark scent but not as heavy as I thought it would be. Also, somewhat perfumey? I wasn't expecting that. I'm mostly smelling balsam and sandalwood with a bit of animal funk from the ambergris. Some dark dampness around the edges. I'm also getting something that smells like old, musty linens. I love the Lab's balsam so I'm not complaining. It's a very nice that I can see myself wearing.

While we were at the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, I desperately wanted to see the Nefertiti bust and share the moment with Lilith. There’s a story behind why the bust is so important to me, but that’s for another time. Suffice to say, I was overwhelmed with awe and joy, and a kind docent told me that we could take a photograph from the doorway as long as we didn’t use flash. This blurry mess is my best attempt! Myrrh steeped with cardamom, cinnamon, and sweet wine, streaked with lines of labdanum kohl, and gilded with crushed ambrette seed, a copper oxide musk, and accords of lime spar and iron oxide.  In the bottle I mostly get wine and, I guess, the lime spar because it has a mineral-like lime smell to it. Once it's on the skin it morphs quite a bit. The myrrh and spices come out while the wine note recedes and becomes a background note. This scent is kinda hard to describe. Myrrh is the base with the other notes sorta popping in and out. One moment I smell lime, another moment Wine, and another moment Labdanum. It's all in there spice, resins, mineral, stone, a bit of sweetness, musk, and metal. It sounds like a mess but it's not. These notes play really well together. I really love this scent but more than that it's intriguing. I have the feeling this will age beautifully.

Salzburg is so goddamn beautiful. Chilled white tea, freesia, and bergamot blanketing skeletal branches. Winter wind brushing across still waters.  Powdery floral with tea and bergamot. In the background of the scent is something aquatic-ish. Soft, feminine, and perfumey. Stays close to the skin. I can see wearing this in Spring or Summer. I like it well enough just not sure I would reach for it that often.

This smells like Black Forest married Dark Rosaleen. In other words really, really good.

Eternal Queen combines my two favorite floral notes with my all time favorite note, Ambergris. Grabbing a bottle was a no-brainer. This is as good as I thought it would be. Lovely, heady, white florals tempered by musk and vanilla. A haze of incense surrounds it. I'm not getting ambergris, but in my experience, this note takes some aging to really shine. Overall, a beautiful scent that I think will be even better once its had a chance to mature.

Black oudh and carnation. I love the Lab's simpler blends. Give me a scent with just two notes that I happen to love. This is no exception. Of the Lupers I've tried this one is my favorite. The Black Oudh in this reminds me of a lighter version of the Motor Oil note in Streets of Detroit. Combine that with a spicy carnation that's present but not overpowering and you have an awesome combo that smells like a gritty, dark, spicy carnation.

Star jasmine, oppoponax, sweet oudh, tuberose absolute, ambrette seed, and oakmoss. If you like heady florals and funk this is the scent for you. I happen to like both so all's good. Jasmine and Tuberose combine for a nose full of flower. There's quite a bit of funk I think because there's both Tuberose and Oudh adding to this dimension of the scent. This one's pretty sweet too - It's almost too much for me but it manages to stay just shy of being off-putting. I'm very happy with this scent but I'd be happier if there was more Oakmoss to ground it. I think some aging should do the trick.

Lemony sweetness from the sugar cane and coconut are prominent in the wet stage. As it dries Champaca comes out. Hard for me to describe the end result...super sweet, tropical candy scented incense? I was hoping for more ambergris but I'm not concerned. I've found that scents with ambergris needs some aging to reach their potential. Right now, I'm not impressed but I'll tuck this one away to age and retest later.

I agree with Aviatrix's review to a word. Tea...cologne...bookish. Feels like a scent that would be right at home in the Steamworks catalogue. Beautiful.