The_Merf

On me this initially smells like a lighter white/pink/tea rose on me--there is a sharpness and borderline soapiness that I don't tend to get with other types of roses. That only lasts for a minute or two, and then the same sugary note that you see in Faith comes through on Hope. However, it never manages to quite overcome the sharp edge of the rose on my skin. For people who have skin chemistry that doesn't turn some types of roses very sharp, I'll bet this is very, very beautiful.

At first this smells exactly like rum fruit cake--it really is an uncanny reproduction. It is certainly a foody scent, and there's a nutty/bready note that emerges as it dries down that is very foody without being buttery. This nutty/bready/slightly almondy note replaces the boozier note, and it is very strong in the second stag of the scent. In the final stage of drydown it actually smells like this cinnamon bread pudding that my friend had in a New Orleans restaurant once! This is one of the more complex foody scents that I've tried and I'm very thankful to the Lab for the generous frimp!

This is a soft scent...really soft. It vanishes after a few minutes, but leaves a very light creamy afterglow. If this were stronger on my skin, I could see it being a big-time winner.

huge thanks to cheshirecat for tossing this in as an extra. This is an initial blast of cherry that immediately goes over to a tobacco/hops combination. As the blend continues to dry down, the hops become stronger and stronger, but this ends as a tobacco/hops blends. I get very little cherry or tonka from this blend.

Cold, cold forever more. A winter storm roaring through empty stone halls, bearing echoes of despair, desolation, and death on its winds. The scent of frozen, dormant vineyards, bitter sleet, and piercing ozone, hurled through labdanum, benzoin, and olibanum. This is sleet and pine--this scent comes from the same woods as Black Forest, but it is closer to the warmth generated by civilization in general. I think that the benzoin and oilbanum are giving me the resiny-pine scent. It is very Christmasy--there feels like there should be a red berry involved here somewhere (though I guess, given the description, better a grape). Actually, I'll emend that a bit; this smells like a fresh Christmas tree just bought into the house, with some sap still running. The scent even evokes the idea that the tree still has a bit of snow on it and is cold. Very nicely done.

My first reaction to this is rice...milk...vanilla? It certainly smells like a combination of vanilla and milk, which sounds nauseating to me, but this does smell lovely on my skin. There's a bit of honeysuckle in the back, and honeysuckle is one of my favorite florals. This is a golden scent to me, and actually strikes me as being very happy in a serene sense. Honestly, this reminds me a ton of Morocco, so perhaps the carnation in this blend is stronger than I'm giving it credit for. I'm actually happy that I figured out what this reminds me of, and that this is lighter on my skin that Morocco, because that means I don't have to find a bottle. However, I agree with many of the other reviewers; this one is probably going to be very popular. It is a slightly milkier/creamier floral than Morocco.

I was so excited to get this as a Lab frimp; I'd been going back and forth on the idea of a bottle, so it's nice to be able to test the scent. Unfortunately, this is a strong blast of ginger at the start (I think that the 'baked goods' scent, which I also get, is a combination of the white ginger and the tonka). The early stage of this reminds me of a lighter version of Shub, honestly. Every now and then I get something which smells like the acidic citrus of grapfruit and the characteristic freshness of green tea. There is very little that is floral about this blend on my skin. I really wish that ginger and I didn't have such an antagonistic relationship (though ginger has certainly gone more wrong on my skin), because this smells nice up close, but far away all my nose catches is the ginger, and makes me feel ill.

This is not the light, fresh vanilla of vanilla ice cream or vanilla wafer cookies (and it doesn't smell a thing like imitation vanilla extract! )--it is a very foody vanilla, almost a bit buttery, as the other reviewers have said. I think one of the BPAL blends that best represents this smell is Velvet. I think this is even foodier than an intentionally heavy vanilla like Villainess's 'Decadence' products. I don't get a boozy sense from this...definitely food. I really would mistake this for a buttery note. I have to admit that most of the vanilla blends I like from the Lab are have a sweeter vanilla than this (i.e. Perilous Parlor). Of course, I do love Velvet, but that's because this foody vanilla bean really does go beautifully with cocoa!

When I smelled this I said to myself that it seemed to have a lot of the common notes associated with love blends: I detect jasmine here, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a touch of honey or some other slightly foody note here (on my skin the perfume gives a bit of that 'overcooked burnt baked goods' scent that is so typical of honey or cakey notes). However, like I said, that's just a little bit. Something's got to be providing the red color--a touch of musk maybe? I don't know...I can see where people get the resin from, but this is not white floral on me at all--white florals usually go sharp and soapy, but this is is a slighty burnt baked goods-incense mix on me (the jasmine in this blend actually fades on my skin). Of course, I am testing from an ooooooolllllllllllddddd tarted (!) imp, so perhaps that has something to do with it.

This is a really strong black tea with a touch of honey when I first put it on (I thought I smelled something milky, and that note may be there, but it is very light on me). It definitely reminds me of the tea shop down the street. Unfortunately, the honey and milk do come out later, and those notes don't work very well on me. This now reminds me of the spicy tea nuggets that they sell and the sweetness is something that I don't find that appealing. There might be a bit of vanilla cream here as well. In fact, this smells exactly like the spicy tea nuggets! Are we sure there's no anise here?? (perhaps it's the ginger or pepper?) This scent is spot-on evocative and very well done. I wish I liked the particular smell just a little bit more.

This is immediately cedar-esque and sandalwood on my skin--it is a very strong woody scent that I could smell even with my test spot far above my nose. It has that smoky/woody quality that I often get when different types of woods are mixed with a sandalwood note. Is this some sort of redwood/rosewood? I don't think so, because it doesn't quite have that punch, but I get a similar effect. Sometimes when I smell this I think I might be picking up on a slight hint of herbalness, but it's not really very strong. I get no floral presence whatsoever from this scent. It is consistently a woody scent--a stripped tree, with browned out bark, perhaps dying and scorched by flames a long time ago.

The very first thing I smell are cherries (cough syrup cherries), but I also smell sugary cocoa right behind it, and the cocoa is a much stronger note on my skin. The cocoa actually veers into slightly plastic territory on me (I think that the orange is responsible for this, though I don't immediately detect it and I don't know exactly why I think that). I'm not really into bright foody scents, so this one will have to go off to swaps.

I swear I've tried this imp a million times, but something has always preventing me from typing up the review. On me, Thalia is a champagne base with a floral top note. There's not a lot of pear in here, although when I sniff it in the imp, I can pick up on some of the pear. I think the pear and champagne blend very well together on my skin, but the champagne is what I really smell. The plumeria is a bit of a watery floral, but very pleasant. Unfortunately, this one does not have long wear for me, which is a shame, because I really the like champagne and I really like the strong wet stage.

Energy is my favorite TAL so far (not that I've tried many) in terms of my ability to connect with its energy and understand its effects. I used it to light a white candle with the petition paper "Restore my Reserve" underneath it. As others have said, this is a airy citrus smell, and it definitely summoned up Air energies--which I connect to easily--in my mind. This was especially helpful because I do feel that I need more mental than physical restoration most of the time (thought if I were physically tired I'm not sure how this would necessarily work for me). While I was meditating with the candle, I was able to close my eyes and visualize the flame and mentally enlarge it and make it smaller again. This was very effective for me, and I feel like it allowed me to locate my reserve and 'check in on it.' Like a candle flame, it would occasionally increase, but it is still small (it is, however, strong). I think that I will need to use Energy consistently to help me rebuild myself (I'm emerging from a two and a half year period of depression and I really do feel like all my energy reserves are spent) through the power of being aware of my energy reserves.

I used this oil to anoint a red candle that melted onto a petition card that read 'To restore my vitality, I need the vitality of others,' referring to my seventh-house tendencies to draw energy from others and to use the experience of being with others to learn about myself and to feel good about myself. I also wore it as a perfume when I went out this week (I burned the candle on Sunday). As all the other reviewers have said, this is a very cherry/almond scent, quite red and orange (honestly, I haven't tried Bastet's Laughter yet, but this is what I imagined that would smell like). However, it has abysmal throw and wear time on my skin; I really drink it in, as it were. I don't know if it's the fact that the scent isn't strong, or in the way I phrased my petition, but I feel like Amor has helped me be happier, more cheerful and more approachable. Of course, these are all things that can help attract a mate, but even when I was wearing it, the perfume wasn't making me feel sexy (it was making me feel youthful and cheerful and nice--these qualities make me feel like a naive baby and a bit vulnerable, and I don't necessarily like to approach men when I feel like that). While this oil has brought me a lot of personal benefits and I'm glad for that (and I may end up using this as my go-to friendship/brightness oil, but I have a few others that I'd like to try in that regard), I don't think it's the best oil for me in terms of love relationships.

On my skin this starts out as a very caramel-candied scent with a bit more depth than usual (do be warned that 'caramel' is sort of my default description for most foody notes that have any buttery-ness at all). It becomes less candied, and I want to say that it starts to resemble "charcoal," but that's only because I've read the scent description. I don't know what's creating the impression of something dark and crumbling, but you do get that. The violet, when it peeks through (I appear to be one of those that it is not strong with), is a weaker and lighter violet than I am used to in most Lab blends. It the the last note that remains, after the candied has dried off, but by then it is very faint on me.

Oh musk, I thought we had reached An Agreement. This is a reeeeeallllly musky blend, as the other reviewers have stated. When I first put it on, the tobacco combines with the musk to create something really sharp and almost headache-inducing. There's no softness from the vanilla or any sign of the cognac. As the scent dries down, there is more of a vanilla edge, but I don't find the combination of tobacco and vanilla pleasing at first. I will say that after about ten minutes this blend really becomes much more vanilla (a more tonka-like vanilla, really, which might be the influence of the cognac) and it mixes with the musk. This actually reminds me of a less intense version of Lysander. In fact, I would say that this is lighter Lysander + sharper musk. I definitely like this after it calms down, but it does not have a lot of throw on me and the scent does not have a long life (hard to detect except for a generic 'vanilla' after about 45 minutes). Still, this is a really lovely and refined scent that certainly seems very Victorian!

Hot cocoa with cinnamon, coffee, and brown sugar. This smelled a bit artificial in the bottle, but it really jumped out on my skin quite nicely. The Lab's cocoa note is a favorite of mine, and it is very strong here. I also picked up the coffee smell that others have mentioned when I sniffed it in the bottle, but on my skin the scent is cocoa. Instead of straight-up cinnamon, I get something that smells more like the cinnamon and sugar mixture that my mother used to make for my french toast when I was a kid. (In fact, this really does remind me of that french toast, and I'm not sure why). This is a food/comfort scent that really appeals to me--it's warm and tasty, but you don't feel like you should be consuming calories when you sniff it! It's not a buttery cocoa or anything--very much like a 'dark' cocoa. Add me to the fans of this one!

Argh, this is what I get for not looking up each and every note. If I had known what sufganiyot was, I would have passed on this. This smells very foody in the bottle and when I put it on I get a foody-caramel blast (part of that probably comes from the fig, which tends to go very sweet on me). Honestly, this reminds me a lot of Red Lantern, except that Red Lantern smelled like something had been burnt, whereas this does smell like a perfectly cooked golden pastry with some sweet topping. As the scent dries down, there is an additional sweetness from the beeswax (perhaps the olive oil as well, though I'm not really familiar enough with that note to pick it out when there are so many other strong notes). As a rule, I don't really dig non-cocoa based foody scents, but as far as scents in that category go, Chanukkiyah is very nice. It starts to smell like a cinnamon roll toward the end of its cycle--whereas Kether is a sanctified cinnamon roll with the emphasis on the cinnamon topping, this is a sanctified cinnamon roll with emphasis on the pastry.

Much like the pomegranate in Swank, there is a fuzziness here about the fruit note, but the note itself is stronger. This does smell a lot like the juice from the pomegranate seed pouches that I pull out of the fruit itself. I don't get a touch of bitterness here--there is 'darkness,' but I think that is just the typical depth of a pomegranate (either that or it might be from some type of 'leaf' note like in Jersey Devil or Alecto or Crypt Queen). In fact, the more that it dries down, the more I think there might be a note like that added in (maybe even some pepper or other spice like that...my nose does tickle a little bit). The juiciness and 'true to fruit' sense remains while the scent dries down, but I think that I just have to accept that no matter how much I love to eat and drink pomegranate-based products, I can really take or leave the smell itself on my skin.

This is certainly a sun/flame oil! I used it in a candle ritual (standard candle ritual), burning a white votive candle all in one fell swoop (took about 7 hours!!). I meditated with the candle for awhile, and then simply let the candle burn. I was at Mass the next day, and I had a very clear vision of a burning flame within me, providing warmth. However, while I could see the flame, I couldn't really feel the warmth unless I thought about it very hard. This scent is a Leo scent, and by that, I mean that when I was 'looking' at the flame I got a very strong sense that this was Leonine energy (and given that this blend is called Lionheart and the description says that it calls upon the Sun, this is not all that shocking). I'm not really a Fire person and Leo energy is not something I can easily draw upon. While this blend certainly produces a result, I think that there will be other joy/inspiration/energy blends that work better for me personally. It does smell absofrackinglutely gorgeous though.

Yerevan is a favorite, so I was looking forward to trying SN Apricot. I must admit that it was not what I initially expected. As many have noted, this is a very sugary and syrupy apricot--it reminds me of one of the Lab's candied or sugared notes. It was very, very sweet. As it dried down, it become more fruity--with a bit of tartness. This is what apricot tends to do on my skin when it is blended with the other notes. I do like the tangy stage of the SN better, but the sweet stage is tasty as well!

This is a very nice warm leather (worked, oiled, rugged, sun-colored) when it is wet. It remains pretty much that way when it dries, and, like just about every leather blend I've tried lately, seems to come off like Les Infortunes. The first time I tried this there was more tobacco, but during this second trial, there's almost nothing but leather.

Very strong opium in the wet stage, as many have noted, but there's also the fuzziness of something that sort of smells like sassafras (or at least reminds me of Laudanum). On a second sniff, this actually reminds me a bit of ambergris, so clearly its the labdanum. This doesn't change much at all--it remains an opium/labdanum combination. I don't get any orchid at all. It is, however, very good at giving the sense of dark and bleak and does capture the notion of dark nothingness!

Calla lily just dominates any blend on my skin, I swear. However, this blend does have one of the quickest 'blow offs' for that really strong and dominant lily note. I wish I were much, much better with my lighter florals, because I'm not going to be able to be too specific here. In the middle stage of the scent, the lily combines with some cooler floral notes. This is one of the more pleasant white florals that I have tried (I think I just don't really like tea rose as much as I thought I did, and I know white roses go very soapy on me)--it seems like a kissing cousin of The Unicorn, but the unicorn is more mossy on me, whereas this is lily with other floral notes in the background (it also reminds me of Dirty, but it is more aggressively floral, I suppose).