elka_knits

I apparently amp strawberries which may explain why I don't own any scents with the note....usually they are really fake and plasticy with a strong green stem to them but this, this, oh my... I am getting strawberry jam enriched with rose petals... very sweet and warm and oozing. That sounds kinda gross but I honestly sense a warm jam or compote dripping off of a warm piece of toast tho not toast cus toast is not sweet. It really is, on me, that dribble of strawberry preserves that you quickly lick up before it plops down to the plate. Luckily it lasts for a long time. I kept getting whiffs of strawberry late the next day. I love love and am sad that I cannot do another lab order until the next update which I suspect will coincide with takedown.

this one was the bat I was least excited about. I almost didn't pick it up cus of the vetiver. In fact I just tried it on today, despite having it for a couple of weeks, because it reeks of vetiver when you open the bottle and well yuck to vetiver. First few minutes all vetiver all the time then the licorice comes out and it smells like a really really strong licorice candy. I swore I could taste Good n Plenty since the vetiver harshened up the licorice and that is the harshest licorice I can think of. okay I thought of altoids for a minute with their curiously strong but I don't know if they have a licorice flavor. After a say half hour I started getting plum but not sweet juicy plum. I could literally see the green-ish flesh with the deep purple skin bleeding into it but it was a flavorless plum. More the fleshiness and promise of plum than plum itself. Since then~ now at an hour~ I am getting sweetness and I can only assume that is the immortelle {with which I am unfamiliar} and the resinous sandalwood. yeah I know sandalwood is a wood but since it appears in many incense blends I think of it as resinous. What a trip Still unsure about this one but honestly.... What a Trip.

I was lucky enough to find a kind hearted fairy for All The Things and when I opened my package of goodies to sniff All The Things this one stood out right away as a love. I put it on immediately and wore it on a night out on the town. It is spicy and sweet and the first ginger scent I was able to wear. From beginning to end I keep huffing and puffing it. Spicy sweet scents are my favorites tho usually the sweetness comes from resins or flowers so this is also a newish scent profile for me. AND it isn't really foodie to my nose. I am in the process of acquiring moar for my wearing pleasure cus I can tell it is destined to be not only a fave from this event but a all around favorite. Much to my fairy and those willing to part with unloved moppy bats.

At C2E2 they had this on little cards set out on table so of course I picked one up, my husband picked one up for me, and the labbies threw one into a bag. I took this to mean must try immediately. Which I did before leaving con and sent the husband back to buy me a bottle. It is just that awesome and if you loved Fr Tobacco just get it already. It is sweet, dark and smoky and gorgeous. Hurled into my top scents already... and I literally have hundreds and yes I have sent out the multiple on card imps I received cus well I have a bottle

Also many thanks to my fairy I have sprayed this onto my sheets twice now so have been enjoying gentle wafts throughout the day as well as being engulfed by it during the night First impression from The Beloved: roses which led me to rereading the notes. Yes we have roses. And autumnal leaves from autumn lace. I am not getting much else but then my nose tends to find the labs blends really really well blended and I get impressions. I get a misty foggy gray enclosed garden? fields? dreary nonetheless with roses offering the promise of not dreary. Very evocative of the description

This is going to be my first really negative review. I am keeping it harsh cus I don't want to read people's raves a few years and think hmmm maybe it was pretty and I was just confused. Apologies to all who love it {and the lab~ seriously I have yet to find a scent I couldn't wear until this} Copied and pasted from elsewhere: my eyes itched like crazy and I got a major attack of the sneezies wearing this It does not die on me but lasts and lasts which just prolongs my misery really rich nutmeats with perfume poured over the top I cannot stand this. The merest drop of it makes me ill. I have gotten to the point of opening the bottle and gagging tried 4 X in oh 6 months and it has to go. For real. I think 4 x is plenty of testing for the horrid and 6 months is plenty of time for it to settle go away please there should be a zero or negative star rating for this. I have never loathed a perfume as much as I loathe this one. I had such high hopes. I love, love, love peonies. I love the cream in katrina so thought this would be a peony version of the rose loveliness. No.

In the bottle slightly powdery smelling and wet/during dry down this is enhanced. Distressingly so. However it slowly morphs into a lovely spicy rose scent on me and reminds me strongly of Mrs Grose with greater lasting power. Which is awesome because Mrs Grose gets lost on me fairly quickly. mind you I have no idea why the two scents are identical to my scent memory. I obviously should do a smack down before reviewing but once it dried that is all I could think of

I snagged bottles of Cloister Graveyard and Lantern Ghost from salon before they were DCed specifically for the summer snow note. I also enjoy Alice when it is hot because it isn't heavy.

SNOW MOON 2012 In December, the skeletal, ice-rimmed fingers of winter take hold, and the nights are long, chill and dark. The first flurries of snow touch the land, and the earth itself becomes quiet. A scent of purity and silence, soft with falling snow, as dark as Midwinter: an icy flurry over the winter blooms of narcissus, hellebore, pansy crocus, dahlia, tulip, chrysanthemum, daphne and white rose, with a hint of fir and birch. Just finished decanting this for group and smeared pipette, after I was done, on my arm for testing purposes. At first it is all fir or pine or juniper or balsam or you know that family of stuff that I just don't wear. After about half an hour I started to get something sweet and floral.... almost fruity ... and since then it has softened considerably into a frosted gentle floral with a hint of lemon or ummm orange or something. I am so glad the fir faded. I also am not getting snow as I know it. Not the slushy or minty or anything but there is a delicate blanket of frost there ... creating lovely shadows and light. It is kinda like looking out a frosted window admiring the laciness of it all into a winter gray sky that somehow miraculously has the snow glinting and sending out sparkles to brighten up the gloom I tend to go for more floral scents myself but once again I am wowed by the labs skill. Kudos

OKAY I am pretty computer illiterate but I stuck a picture of the snake label on my knitting blog and the post is here I apologize for directing you guys to my blog but I honestly don't blog anymore {years ago I used to daily but now it is every few months I blither} I think the photo came out great and if somebody wants to swipe the picture and insert into this thread that is okie dokie. Please just let me know so I can I don't know remove the link to blog or something

the labels have the icon from website or from announcement on them~~ I cannot figure out how to add photos since I do not have a flickr or other sort of online hosting for my photos but I took one of the water snake just now :C

Sic Erit reminds me of Heretic on it's deep dry down. I ended up decanting and then gifting/selling away all my Heretic because it was too strong for me for first several hours so Sic is nice in that regard. I have no idea why I put it on and thought Heretic right off the bat~ they don't share any listed notes at all. Starts of slightly citrus on me which fades within half an hour. My nose is so confused by this scent. Nothing I am smelling makes sense. Did I get a wonky bottle?

While trying to limit myself on which luper to pick up I was strongly tempted by this one. VioletChoas' review threw me over the edge and made this one a must buy. I love Cathouse and used to spray it on my bed linens until The Flame started breaking out in hives o.0 I haven't tried since to see if it was something else or my beloved atmo spray. So so so happy to have this scent. It really does smell like Cathouse on me

that's all

I want your chemistry. They are nothing alike on me PS I had both b4 you posted so delay is not due to ordering on your rec and being disappointed. I luvs them both

I do not think they are alike..... I would death match for you but I sent off the last dribbles I had of it from decant circle since ya know I ordered me own bottle. How do you feel about bathsheba? I should kind of know this since I read a ton of your threads but I am not remembering. It is both very feminine and resinous at the same time so should please da man and yourself as well

use this link instead of the one on lab site: http://www.bpal.org/search/ the lab site one is dead but I had the search page bookmarked years ago and it still works fine although it sometimes shows as available stuff that is not {carnival &salon for example}

eh and I preferred witch dance myself.... I did use the search function and kubla khan along with the black rider came up with leather, amber and tobacco notes. Can't do personal reviews on those

for fresh summery flowers I recommend Alice. Soft roses spiced up a wee bit by the carnation.

I like this one on the deep dry down. Wet and during dry down, for me, it is slightly funky. Too animalistic.... There is a waxy feel to it which is good. Not sweet beeswax but you can easily sense somebody handling various resins and forming a little ball out of them. Years ago I used to burn amber and other resins in a little metal thingie so I know they are not malleable that way but still golden and sticky and dense. More like the mass of stuff at the bottom of my burn pot instead of the little nuggets placed into the burn pot if that makes any sense. It is very gender neutral and I tend to prefer feminine scents so there is that during the new phase. After hours, and pleasant ones at that, it has melted and merged fully with me and is just wonderful. It lasts forever. I put this on yesterday afternoon around 3 pm and here we are 10 am the next morning and huffalicious me. For real

again with a not lemon recommendation since I really dislike lemon aka pledge on me. what about a DB based scent? It can have a strong cherry vibe which is feminine and girlie but it also has something dark about it as well depending upon how you read it.

this isn't what you are asking for but why not do something transitional..... when the carnival comes back maybe try some of the snake pit? I like coral snake which is, on me, apple and snake oil and the apple totally lightens and brightens the snake oil up. I know you are craving hod res and I only have the original but I guess that means you like carnation... alice? I actually love alice for some reason and it is roses with the spicy carnation kick. It was one of the first non heavy resinous scents I fell for. I mean slathered fell for hard. I like oranges mandarins and tangerines not lemons or grapefruits so cannot help you there. However last winter we had a lot of beeswaxy amber and citrus blends....maybe something like that is in the works again this year. Good Luck PS my husband loves roses which I never wore before but he also really enjoys my spicy resinous floral stuffs as well. Hugs to you

I always recommend Mama Ji for floriental fans. I am still loving Defututa so maybe my tastes won't work with you. MJ is a sweeter/damper, due to flowers, Morocco in my head

I am overly fond of Athens.

My husband has a fondness for rose scents. I personally do not. In my experience the lab's rose scents have a tinge of greenery attached to them. Judging from reviews this is one of the features people like most about them... fresh cut roses stems and all woot. I don't care for that greenery note. Here we have no stems or leaves or fresh cut anything. What we have is a sea of rose petals. Glorious, glorious rose petals. My husband is happy and I am happy. Total win.