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Tahitian vanilla and strawberry with tonka bean absolute, Italian bergamot, ylang ylang, and Haitian vetiver. In the bottle: Candied strawberries all the way. Wet on skin: Strawberries and more strawberries, with a bit of a citrus underpinning. Drydown: Aw, this disappeared on me! It is extremely close to the skin, so if you prefer not to let everyone in a 5 mile radius know what you're wearing this might be good for you (I tend to like obnoxiously in-your-face throw). I'm getting very light strawberry and vanilla, with the vetiver keeping it from being overly sweet. Kind of reminds me of a much lighter version of Beaver Moon 2012, but that always seemed more like strawberry cheesecake than apple cheesecake on me. I picked this up with the hope that it'd be a good scent for hot days when I don't want anything too overbearing, so I think this will probably work for that usage. I'm hoping it might gain a bit of oomph with some aging, though. And, to be fair, I tested this straight out of the mail box.

Blood red rose, indigo musk, opponax, and tobacco tar. In the bottle: Smells very much like some sort of hard liquor? Maybe whiskey? No idea where I'm getting that from, but there you have it. Wet on skin: Totally different from in the bottle. Smells almost exactly like nag champa incense, but with something a little citrus-y in the background. Drydown: This is a very incense-y scent on me and I love it. It's REALLY similar to nag champa incense, with the rose hanging out in the background. I'm not a huge fan of roses, but this is an incense-y rose and it's so nice. Slightly powdery, but in a really good way, and definitely not in the in-your-face way at all. Just a little softness is all. Reminds me of a fancy lady's rose-scented soap. This bottle is going off to a friend, but I am almost 100% certain I will be getting another for myself. I love the incense scent family, and this is substantial with decent throw without being overwhelming. This would be an excellent hot weather option for my fellow incense lovers.

I should preface this by saying that I'm somewhat paranoid about "masculine" scents. I have a complex. Whatever. I also haven't had a lot of luck with anything chocolate-y. So, I was a little wary of trying Batty. But, the outside of the decant smelled so awesome that I put on my Big Girl Pants and gave it a go. Initially, it was very heavy on the chocolate, but it faded into the background quickly. Ultimately, I was left with a warm, heady incense smoke type of smell, with a little cocoa, a little musk, and the faintest hint of a really nice men's cologne. It wasn't like, "OMG YOU SMELL LIKE A DUDE" ....it was more "Hey, was there a very classy man walking through the room a half hour ago?". I really like this scent. It's dark, but not brooding or spooky. It's definitely unisex, but I feel like I can pull it off. A very pleasant surprise, all in all.

In the imp, Persephone was a very sweet scent, with something that vaguely reminded me of cough syrup. On the skin (wet, dry, and forever, unfortunately) this was like dried roses dipped in Lemon Pledge. It's making me feel a little queasy. Florals aren't my thing in general, so I figured this wouldn't be a winner, but the lemon-scented wood cleaner smell is super-weird. Maybe this is what my skin does to pomegranate. This is the first scent I've tried with that note, so I suppose further research is required. I'm like a scientist. A lemon-y, rose-y scientist.

I think this is the right place to ask this...I apologize in advance if I've missed the mark. I went to the Lab's site, and tried to purchase a few of the Salon scents (Les Anges Dechus and The Smiling Spider), and got the following error from CCNow: "Invalid Product The product ID you supplied is not on file. Please use the return link, and try again. If this problem persists, contact the administrator of the Web site where you are shopping. " As a test, I tried to add some other, random scents (A GC and a different Salon scent) and those went fine. Does this error message really mean there's an error, or am I just super-unlucky and the 2 Salon scents I really wanted have been DC'd? Anyone have this happen before? ETA: Never mind, it seems to have fixed itself overnight. Wonder what that was all about.

I happened to have an imp of Perversion waiting to be tested, so I put it on one wrist and PKS on the other, and you're right. There's definitely a similarity. Perversion is a lot stronger, like PKS amped up. ("This one goes to 11...") ... I think it would be a suitable stand-in, especially if I used it sparingly. Thanks so much.

I'm hoping you guys can help me out of my self-pity. I just bought a bottle of Paduan Killer Swarm from the forums, and I'm heartbroken. Because it is the most DROP-DEAD AWESOME THING I have EVER smelled. And I'm so sad that it's hard to find. Can anyone recommend something similar? I'd like to find a GC scent, but a less-rare LE would be awesome, too. Paduan Killer Swarm's notes are: "Tonka, black licorice, amber, golden sandalwood, ginger cream, bitter clove, stinging nettle, cinnamon bark, and coconut shell." On me, it's a warm, dark vanilla (I'm guessing that's the tonka?), with lots of warm smoky clove, a hint of dark coconut and sandalwood, and a teeny bit of licorice. Ultimately I'm looking for lots of tonka and clove, and a tiny bit of coconut...I could live without the licorice if I had to. Thoughts? Pretty please? Sniffle.

This was an awesome gift from The Lab, and I was hesitant to try it because of how it smelled in the imp, but I'm glad I got a chance to give it a go, because this was a unique and bizarre scent experience. In the imp/wet on skin: So much earthiness. Like patchouli, to my nose. A few moments later/for several hours afterward: This totally turns into a delicate-but-warm floral on me, with a slight baby powder background. There's the faintest idea of something citrus-y, and definitely something that reminds me of milk chocolate. In conclusion: It's not really "dirt" at all after the first few minutes. I can only describe it as what would happen if soft slowers and milk chocolate had a baby, and it was clenching a teensy-tiny piece of lemon rind in it's little-bitty hand.

i recently received a gift of a decanted BPTP atmosphere spray: Aphrodite Eyrkine. My mom is absolutely in love with it and I'd like to find her a resonably similar BPAL oil. The notes are "Blood orange, ylang ylang, red musk, jasmine, and mimosa." Any ideas?

I was gifted this by the lab, and I’m very grateful! Thank you! This isn’t something I would have chosen for myself, generally speaking, so I was very excited to try something new. My initial reaction was “WHOA.” I tried to just stick to “in the imp”, “wet”, and “dry” categories but this morphed so many times that I couldn’t do it justice like that. In the imp: Herbal. Something vaguely minty. Powerful and strong. Wet: Wow, so much eucalyptus. And maybe mint in the background. A few moments later: I swear, I think a little whiff of lime zest just popped out. Almost dry: It’s getting a little bit of a metallic edge. I’m going to guess that previous reviewers were correct in guessing this has a blood note. I’m also getting something that reminds me of how my hands smell after I smoke a cigarette, so maybe tobacco? Interesting! Dry: The eucalyptus is almost gone, just a little ghost of it left. It’s very metallic. Slightly herbal. There’s also an acidity that kind of reminds me of canned tomatoes (I mean that in a good way!) and there’s a very light burnt wood smell. Not like a bonfire smell, more like when you’re using woodburning pen. There’s no sweetness to this at all. In conclusion: I liked this much more than I thought I would, but I’m not sure I can really pull it off. I think it’d make a lovely scent for someone more masculine. I might keep the imp around for sniffing on occasion, though.