zankoku_zen

This is mainly frankincense with an overlay of tomato leaf. I love the Lab's tomato leaf note and it comes out pretty handily in this blend. It's a green leaf over a resinous frankincense blend. Medium throw, below average wear length.

This one is a clean green grass plus lavender floral. It's a little too clean and soapy for me. But it would make a lovely bath or atmosphere scent. Good throw and wear length.

This starts off as tiramisu and sweet coffee. Ends up in a dusty sweet vanilla coffee with hints of plastic. SKIN CHEMISTRY FAIL. Oh, super great throw and wear length. Of course.

Shill with a sweet syrup with clove drizzled on top. Buttery popcorn and glints of candy. Good throw and wear length.

Sweet candy fruit (definitely get raspberry and cherry), and a touch of frankincense and wool. It sort of reminds me to Sticky Pillowcase, but with wool as opposed to the cotton linen note. Low throw, good wear length.


I'm three-quarters gone!
 Gingerbread fougere, with hints of lilac, lime, and citrus musk. Well, DAMN. This one is a manly cologne, sophisticated with the spicy gingerbread in complete balance with the lime/citrus which give it a sophisticated lightness, but at the base there's a smouldering spicyness. This actually smells like a commercial man's cologne (the name of which escapes me at the moment, but I sort of want to point the finger at Dior's Pour Homme, whichever the superspicy version is). This is the manly, spicy cologne version of gingerbread. AND IT SMELLS EPICALLY DELICIOUS, AND SEXY. It's DROOLWORTHY. In fact, the tagline should read "ALL GONE", because... well, you really just want to swallow this gingerbread man whole. (and yes, all the innuendo there is FOR A REASON LADIES). [here's to fingers crossed that this smells as good on mr. zee_zee as it does on me]

Ginger lily soap with a touch of guava and salt. I get a lush tropical juicy fruity floral soap. Great throw and wear length. *sigh*

So the gummi bears, bubblegum and Snake Oil on wet combine to make it smell like cherry cough syrup, except there's a healthy dose of LAVENDER in the mix. It dries to a touch of lavender, gummi bears and a bed of Snake Oil. It's sweet, fruity, candy-like and with a whiff of vanilla spices. However, I get a toggle of bubble gum and occasional reminder of the cough syrup in this. Decent throw and wear length. I keep trying Snake Oil variants, but they just don't work for me.

Red musk, patchouli, leather, and a touch of foodie hazelnut. So, I like this more than I realize considering that I'm not either a fan of red musk or leather. It's more approachable and less sexual than the three predominant notes suggest. There's something long and kinda hairy about it, like a spider leg, that definitely comes to mind and in some ways, it reminds me in vibe to Spider from the Anansi Boys/Neil Gaiman line. I guess it has a very otherwordly sort of vibe to it. I could see this being a fantastic TAL blend, actually.

Sweet yellow cake, cheesecake frosting, cardamom. At a point during the drydown, the vanilla started to go plasticky, but then it bounced back and cardamom asserted dominance. So now I smell like a spice cake. If you ever wanted to smell like a spice cake, this one is it folks. Good throw and wear length.

This one I liked more than I expected. I get a touch of roses, but more than anything I get sprinkles of cocoa, frankincense and a touch of cotton candy. It's sweet, and cuddly, and oddly floral but it somehow works. Low throw, and good wear length. This one was definitely a skin scent on me. Again, surprise hit for me. This is not the type of scent I usually go for but so far it's one of my favorite Liliths.

I definitely get woody/patchouli notes mixed with some musk, citrus, and a touch of sweet florals. However, the entire combination does a weird diaper lotion thing on me as it continues to dry to between the super dirty patchouli notes and the weird powdery sweet florals, its not a pleasant contrast. Medium throw and wear length.

Sweet, pink bubblegum, a touch of resin and powder. This one is a sweet, dusty candy blend. This reminds me to a more grown up version of Jailbait. I sort of found Jailbait obnoxious. Perfect Fifths is slightly more refined.

Oak and roses, hints of incense. This one is dark, dusty white rose blend with a heavy oak base. Medium throw and wear length. Somber, serious, roses.

Cinnamon dusted coffee liquor. It reminds me as a softer version of Bah! (with the cinnamon), but I was hoping there would be something sweeter in it to make it less bitter. Bitter espresso coffee. But it's right on the money. Decent throw and wear length.

Green and ozone. But as it dries, I get a fair amount of grapefruit actually. Which in french is PAMPLEMOUSSE. To me this smells like grapefruit, bamboo, and just fresh citrus breeze. Honestly, this would have made an AWESOME hairgloss. Decent throw and wear length.

Daffodils, dirt, grass, and a touch of frankincense. On wet, its a much greener and dirtier blend. As it dries, the daffodils pop up alot more, I get a wee touch of ozone and frankincense. This is a very clean, green blend. Also: DAFFODILS, MOTHERF*CKERS. FINALLY. This is the smell of green, misty outsides. In vibe, this sort of reminds me to Dublin and Unseelie (both which to me read as UK/Irish-centric). Like a softer and less ozone version of Host of Air.

Take Dorian. Slosh some TKO in there, and throw in a light green floral (I am assuming snow drops), and you get the Serpentine. It is calm, cool, and peaceful. I can see why this is so popular. Good throw and wear length.

Red and golden musk, nag champaca, and orris. This toggles between regal incense and baby powder on me. Good throw and wear length. SKIN CHEMISTRY FAIL.

This one starts off as sweet chewy coconut, like the kind of coconut macaroon that you eat. And as it dries, it gets more plasticky on my skin and ends up straight up suntan lotion coconut smell on me. Of course it has great throw and wear length. I smell like I'm ready for the beach!

Mellow strawberry with pink roses and musky vanilla. I'm actually surprised at how much I actually like this. It's a very soft pink scent. The strawberry is fresh. Actually, this is more along the lines of what I would have hoped DeVos to be. Pearlescent strawberry, roses and vanilla blend.

Clean smooth sandalwood and skin musk. It's cool, unisex, and very well balanced. So not going to lie, I was hoping for more vanilla on this.

Musky chewy tobacco, amber and a just a touch of hay sugar. Honestly, this is what I wished Miss Fanny Phippany would have been like. I feel like they have the same vibe. Mr. zee_zee likened it to a high end tobacco shop. I like it, but very on the fence on how much I like it.

Provenance: Ebay Auction Win. Label: White prototype label, handwritten. "Pledged to the Dead, Pickman", with the not for sale. Description: This one is a lovely fougere with blonde woods in the background. I would put this more along the lines of Wilde, but slightly more smokiness and woodiness. I'm going to slather this on mr. zee_zee and see if he loves it (and given his picky skin chemistry, I can only hope it doesn't work for him). Vibe: darkly sophisticated. Actually I can see Dorian from Penny Dreadful wearing this. It seems light and clean, but sexy, and then you realize that is has some really dark undertones.

Bergamot, white sandalwood, touch of sage and a ton of white musk. It was white musk floral for us, and not really something we're enjoying.