zankoku_zen

Shout out to a very generous BPALer for the ability to test this. You know who you are.

So this begins with a giant blast of lavender, and then calms down to a lavender-tinged amber blend. Smooth, resinous amber with just a touch of lavender. This one is calm and soothing. Good throw and wear length.

Vanilla, sandalwood, and red musk. This one is a musky sophisticated vanilla. If you're into red musk and/or vanilla, give this a whirl. Sultry and sexy. Medium throw and wear length.

Freesia and vanilla musk. It's light, floral, and feminine. Good throw and wear length.

This scent was a frimp with the BPTP T-Shirt Goblin Grab Bag of 2015.

This may have been a prototype for a Shunga Luper blend. It has that vibe. It smells green, and freshly floral, with either a touch of sake or rice wine in it. It's smooth, sexy, and clean. I think there may be a hint of magnolia in this. Good throw and wear length.

This scent was a frimp with the BPTP T-Shirt Goblin Grab Bag of 2015.

Berries and pancake! This one is a foodie pancake blend. The boysenberry smells like tart blackberries. I get a hint of maple syrup on this. Good throw and wear length.

Allspice, herbs, dry woods, and bay rum. I don't really get leather from this. I do get a very clean version of a manly pirate cologne with a touch of bay rum. For those that are fans of Gingerbread Jolly Roger, this would be along those lines - less spicy, more amped up airy woods. Again, I'm curious to see if either of these work for mr. zee_zee.

Sweet, whispy white musk, candied fruit and just a hint of spice. Bast smells ethereal. On wet, he had a stronger cologne/fougere smell. I'd be interested in seeing what this smells like on mr. zee_zee. Medium throw and wear length.

Green, lilies, clean and a hint of dirt. There's something very clean about this scent, and light and feminine. I think it actually has some sort of orchid in there as well. Good throw and wear length.

Jackie started off with just hits of patchouli and vanilla. It dried down to a slightly almond chocolate cake smell, with a dab of patchouli. I definitely got dark chocolate gateau out of this so I'm assuming the balsam + vanilla and patchouli made some sort of magickal compound. In the end, its simply not my style despite being utterly gorgeous.

But that's OK, Jackie is off to a better home.

Granny Smith apple juice, gin and a touch of soapiness. Light, green and clean. Good throw and wear length.

Berry citrus slushie and bubble gum. Sweet, fruity candy. Good throw and wear length.

Chewy tobacco, clove, and hints of anise cake. This one is a heavy tobacco-clove blend on me. Good throw and wear length.

I sort of like this.

Honeyed cassia out the yin-yang. Huge throw and wear length.

This may as well be cassia SN on my skin.

Do not play if you don't like cassia.

Caldarium, along with Circus Bear, are the surprise Lilith hits for me. I get a ton of red mulberry and just a touch of rosemary. It's really just a red fruity juicy berry blend with enough of a green herbal base to prevent it from being too sweet. There's something peaceful about the blend which I'm attributing to the honey myrtle, because I find it calming in vibe.

I find mulberry to be somewhat of a Yule/winter-time smell for me. So I instantly got a Yule-vibe from this as well.

Dandelions, grass, touch of daffodil and a bunch of stone. So this one toggles between a super clean white floral dandelion/daffodil blend and a ton of metric stone. I'd put it in the gender-neutral category and I think this would have made a great atmosphere spray. It's playful and yet somber at the same time. It's a very clean, wholesome, and solid blend.

I'd consider this a gateway BPAL for men.

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.

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.