Blood onmy hands

This reminds me of blends like Twenty-One and Gnome. I get that fizzy evergreen/ juniper/ gin note, with an extra dose of something like soapy, clean aquatic.

I just got a lab order in the mail today where I purchased two bottles of Black Lily and the two bottles are completely different from each other. In the same package. One is pale yellow (almost clear), like the imp that I loved, and smells perfect. The oil in the second bottle is *orange* and smells nothing like Black Lily (it smells like roses, honey and warm spices - none of which are in regular Black Lily)... ETA: Contacted the lab about this and got a refund for the messed up bottle. So if anyone else gets a bottle that's clearly not the right oil, it's worth sending them a message, if even just to let them know that bottles are getting filled wrong at some point in their process.

This is way too sweet and too powdery on me (but I don't have good luck with the Vulva type scents, and others seem to love them). Blossoms starts off as a cloying, cheap smelling mix of buttery vanilla and perfumey honey on me. It actually has a vanilla candle sort of smell, even smelling slightly waxy on my skin. And then it dries down to vanilla candle + something perfumey and sharp, with an undertone of baby powder. I can see the comparison to Giant Vulva, which was also perfumey-sugary and didn't work on me.

First on, I get a blast of lemony bergamot and perfumey white musk. As it dries down, Lady Death starts to remind me of Lyonesse's powdery vanilla, but this is more perfumey and not as sweet as Lyonesse. The white musk is clean & perfumey, the amber is warm and powdery, and then there's hints of sweet vanilla, sunny jasmine, and lemon that swirl in and out of the scent for me. The musk and jasmine make this a bit too classic perfumey/sharp for me, and the drydown turns more powdery than I would like. I probably won't keep my decant.

I swapped for a bottle of this, as it was the only chocolate blend that sounded like it might work on me this year. I haven't had good luck with bpal's marshmallow blends (Gorobble was nothing but cinnamon and Marshmallow Poof was weird and fruity), but this actually smells vanilla-y. At first, the marshmallow/vanilla part reminds me of the cool vanilla cream that's in Snowblind, though the drydown is warmer and more like sugary vanilla frosting. The coconut gives it a bit of a buttery edge, I think, but I don't smell this and think 'coconut!' at all. I also don't get any of the macadamia or mushroom, which kinda disappoints me, because I do enjoy the mushroom scents and think that this would be nicer with something to cut through the sweetness. Mostly this smells like buttery, sugary vanilla and a hint of milk chocolate on me. It's intensely sweet and simple (on the verge of being cloying), but I might try to layer it with some other blends. Might just be a bit too sweet for me, though.

I usually enjoy every note listed for this, but this smells awful on me. I don't know if the 'vegetal' part in the red musk is what is ruining this for me, but this doesn't smell like the usual red musk to me. Mischievous Spirit is lots of tart cranberry on me with very sour peach, something like chewable vitamins, and a hint of very dry herbs. I don't get any of the carnation, coconut or amber. It's mostly a weird, sour, fruity blend. As it dries down, something starts to smell like cinnamon potpourri on my skin. Very artificial and cheap smelling, and it gives me a headache...

I got a freebie sample of this in a swap, and was intrigued by the mentions of cola in the other reviews. This doesn't really smell like cola on me, though. It mostly smells like champagne and soap on me. I don't smell anything like the blood or dragon's blood notes that I was expecting. None of the champagne scents have worked out for me.

I was going to guess Dragon's Milk, but I've never seen an imp of that one that wasn't red in oil color. Maybe Dana O'Shee? If you got a cherry-ish smell from the almond and a creamy, honeyed vanilla from the honey, grains and milk.

This is like dry dirt and a sort of cool, masculine, metallic cologne smell on my skin. I'm not really getting the lilac, though it is a bit citrussy. It's a little bit soapy in the drydown. I like dirt scents, but I have a ton of dirt blends that I like more than this one. Still, I'll probably keep my decant of this one.

On me, this is a really soapy, dry smelling ozone and a bit of the lab's snow note. The drydown is all sharp laundry soapiness...

I keep avoiding reviewing this one, because this is such a mess on me. The carrot is very bitter and sort of herbal, with earthy patchouli and then a sharp, clean sort of jab from the white tea. I really don't like the carrot notes in any of the perfumes that I've tried them in. I just find it bitter, disjointed and unpleasant. Bitter, herbal, dry and earthy...

This is a lot like The Perilous Parlor was on me (sickly sweet and with no staying power or throw). It's even sweeter than Parlor was on me, though. The Vine starts off with a pear candy rolled in sugar sort of smell, and then dries down to super-sweet honey on me. I don't get much of the vanilla cream feel from it. But the whole thing is very light, and doesn't even last a half hour on my skin. Possets' "Michelle" and "Betsy the Cat" are probably my favorite pear scents ever. They both have a realistic, juicy, long lasting pear scent to them.

I'd recommend trying to find these limited editions on the forum sales here: *Golletes - Halloween LE. Smells like jelly donuts filled with raspberry and strawberry jam. *White Chocolate, Black Raspberry, and Apricot Cordial Truffle - Lupercalia LE. *White Chocolate and Strawberry - Lupercalia LE. *Zombie Apocalypse - retail exclusive. "Swirls of red jelly and sugary white ooze." Smells like strawberry jam and maybe a bit of caramel to me. Or maybe from the GC: *Hollywood Babylon (Wanderlust) - "Egyptian amber and heliotrope, infused with the sweetness of strawberry and vanilla - dragged into debauch by lusty red musk and a dribble of black cherry."

Got a small sample of this in a swap package, otherwise probably wouldn't have tried it. I don't usually like the lab's iris or honeysuckle notes, and this overall is just way too floral for me. I have trouble wearing florals where the flower notes aren't calmed down with vanilla, incense, or anything else really. Till Death is tons of perfumey white floral on me, mostly magnolia and iris, and sharp enough to give me a headache. I don't smell any of the rose, but I scrubbed this one off after a half hour...

I got a small sample of this in a recent swap package. I was expecting this to be perfumey/sharp with the musk and the opium (which normally smells like hair spray on me), but this is strangely clean and powdery on me. The clove is sharp and gives the blend a slightly masculine feel, but mostly this is like a mix of soap and powder on my skin...

Yup, Erebos is all lavender and vanilla to me. It lists a ton of floral notes that are usually pretty heavy, but I can't pick them out at all.

A lot of the Yule blends are minty. If you can find any of the Lick It series for sale on the forum, those are all peppermint heavy scents. There are these you might want to check out: Bewitching Brews: *Cathode - "A negatively charged scent. Ambergris, Spanish Moss, oakmoss and three electric mints." *Juke Joint - "A bawdy, gleefully wicked and unruly scent: Kentucky Bourbon, sugar and a sprig of mint." *Ultraviolet - "Lush violet and neroli spiked hard with eucalyptus and a sliver of mint." *Undertow - "The Dark Side of Water: clean and purifying, yet menacing -- lotus and juniper with a hint of mint." Sin & Salvation: *Envy - "Green herbs slithering through mint, lime and lavender." *Sea of Glass - "A scent of inimitable purity, crystalline grace, and limitless light." A lovely aquatic. The Salon: *Cloister Graveyard in the Snow - "Three white musks, ozone, frankincense, mint." This is all lovely, cold mint and chilly snow to my nose. I can't smell the frankincense at all in this one. Boom Studios: *Volt - "Leather with a shock of eucalyptus, green mint, elemi, ravintsara and lime." Gris Grimly: *A Fit of Artistic Enthusiasm - "Electric jolts of mania: a salt-crusted coffin bobbing through tumultuous ocean waves." Not exactly minty, but I find this to be a chilly, ocean-y aquatic. Last Unicorn: *Lady Amalthea - "A luminous white winter musk with lilac, wisteria, white chocolate, white mint, and tuberose." Lots of minty, vanilla-y white chocolate in this one.

Pink, Tattered and Red Lace have all turned awful on me with aging (and Autumn, Mourning and Absinthe Lace were awful to begin with). Pink Lace now smells like pink medicine and dust on me. Really weird and flat. Fades quickly. My original review when the scent was fresh: Pink Lace is mostly strawberry and rose with a little bit of creamy vanilla on me. I don't get a strong impression of the tobacco and incense, though there is a little bit of a smoky feel to it after an hour or so when it's mostly faded away. This is a sweet, candied strawberry, but not sickly sweet or heavy on me (more like a fluffy strawberry cotton candy than a heavy strawberry syrup, if that makes sense). The rose almost smells a bit watery and perfumey (reminding me of rosewater?), cutting through the sweetness, and the vanilla just makes the whole thing smell creamier and softer. This actually doesn't remind me of Pink Phoenix. It isn't as sweet as Pink Phoenix, and the perfumey rose and touch of smokiness really subdue the strawberry and vanilla. Smells like strawberry cotton candy, perfumey rosewater, and a hint of smoke on me.

Mourning Lace is too dry and sharp for my tastes. It smells like splintered, dry, dusty wood with a sprinkling of baby powder, and then the clove isn't sweet at all, but more of a sharp, perfumey spiciness. Something also smells a bit soapy on me at first, and then the drydown is super powdery. I don't think that this smells anything like the other Laces; it smells masculine, but also very baby powdery... Black Lace is one of my favorites, and I'm not getting anything similar from Mourning Lace. I definitely don't get any vanilla from this. Mourning Lace reminds me of Fledgling Raptor Moon more than anything, but this is sharper than FRM.

You might just be having trouble with darker musks and perfumey florals. Snake Oil smells like it has lots of bpal's red musk in it, their black/dark musk is pretty sharp and intense, and the Chinese/crystalline musk mixed with perfumey florals went pretty sharp on me too. Dorian, I think, has more of a creamy/sweet white musk to it, but I get mostly the 'sugared vanilla tea.' Some blends are just heavier on the musk notes. And some white musk scents are more creamy & sweet and others are sharp and perfumey.

Most of the lunacy blends don't really make sense to me. They never smell like their imagery to me, which I realize is a highly subjective thing, and they rarely smell like their listed notes. Most of them just fall into a perfumey, soapy mishmash on my skin. But Blackbear Moon really matches its theme for me. It smells like warm fur (like the warm, almost resinous black musk/fur note in some of bpal's kitty themed blends) and a hint of pine with lots of sweet little touches. There's a sweet, dry, woody hazelnut with an almost brown sugared sweetness and a little bit of sweet fruitiness. It smells like a bear's fur, a bear's den, forest, and the sweet nuts and berries that they'd eat. Very cute.

I love the illustrations and your blog <3

I haven't liked any of the lab's champagne scents. The champagne note is just sickly sweet and sort of pukey-sour smelling on me (it always reminds me of the smell of someone throwing up alcohol, which is not pleasant, to say the least). But I do like a candied peach smell, so I like the peach in this. Unfortunately, the champagne smells bad on me, as it always does. I get mostly peach candy from this, but with that soured undertone that I can't wear...

I got a partial decant of this in a recent swap. It's not as dark and spicy/earthy as I was expecting it to be, as it's mostly white sandalwood and a hint of sweet beeswax. The white sandalwood always turns baby powdery, so this is like a powdery, dry, honeyed wood scent. Surprisingly light and faint on me.

I second the recs for High-Strung Daisies, Mouse's Long & Sad Tale, and Hunger. And White Chocolate & Sugared Violets is great for an LE. And I'd add: *Dawn: Maiden (Dawn) - "Tea roses, honeysuckle, heliotrope, olive blossom, milk, and honey." *Eternal (Ars Moriendi) - "Stephanotis, cyclamen, heliotrope, white rose and gardenia." *Euphrosyne (Excolo) - "Gardenia, tea rose, vanilla and jasmine." *Josie (Crib Girls) - "Heady magnolia and honeyed peaches." *Lady Amalthea (Last Unicorn) - "A luminous white winter musk with lilac, wisteria, white chocolate, white mint, and tuberose." *Le Serpent Qui Danse (Ars Amatoria) - "Violet entwined with vanilla and gardenia." *Love-Lies-Bleeding (Rappaccini's Garden) - "The velvet flower. A lush, thick, luxuriant bloom, bold and red." Smells like cocoa and roses. *Roses Pearls and Diamonds (Marchen) - "Red roses, dazzling crystalline musks, and pearlescent coconut-tinged orris." *Tamora (Illyria) - "Amber, heliotrope, golden sandalwood, peach blossom and vanilla bean." And some of the Rappaccini's Garden scents are heavy floral with sweet honey (Yellow Jessamine honey is a nice jasmine & honey, and Oleander Honey is white floral & honey).