TrailerTrashPrincess

i was in a decant circle for this series... and my decants came in two packages. apparently i never even opened the second batch, 'cuz i found 'em a few days ago still teflon taped and wrapped in bubblewrap. heh. oops. sniffed from the decant this smelled so bad i couldn't bring myself to sniff it a second time to try to describe it. but on skin, the lovely notes in thie (champaca flower, sandalwood tonka) seem like they're trying to fight free of everything else, but it just doesn't work.... and i'm left with this strangely sasparilla bubbly and almost plastic doll head type of scent. so very, very odd.

i love the scent of tobacco flower, so i knew i had to try this. i was lucky enough to be able to swap for it (hooray for near instant gratification!) and knew i'd hafta get a bottle. this is so pretty! it is very much like a SN Tobacco Flower, but there's more to it... the sandalwood and resins add a rich basenote, and there's something reminding me an eensy bit of Unseelie. maybe it is just my wonky skin, or maybe it is just wishful thinking..... but this smells like the lovechild of Unseelie and Champagne & Cigars.

yup, those little pastel coloured buttermint candies. chalky shades of pastel, sometimes with a jelly center, but either way they dissolve nearly instantly. i'm sure this is a gorgeous and lovely scent on most folks, but i hate mint. it came my way so i had to try it but... er... it isn't for me.

when sniffed from the bottle, i didn't much care for this. on skin, wet it smells like heated, spiced (mulled) wine. or possibly mead. but once it settles in on my skin? it smells just like Randy Buttercream from Lush. (the scent of the fresh buttercream, before you use it. not the scent it leaves on the skin) and i LOVE EEET. i wish i'd gotten multiple bottles of this instead of the other things i *did* get. oh, well. but this is lovely! slightly spicy, boozy and warm. and to quote someone else, 'cuz she speaks the truth:

i had hoped for spiced apple cider. sniffed from the decant - Wassail! that's the only thing my brain will register. on me, this smells like a high-end, fancy, out-of-my-price-range Christmas gift shop. full of expensive potpourri and holiday decorations, and fragile glass oraments.... maybe even clippy thingies for real candles to go on a tree. smells so familiar, but i can't quite place it! it smells more like a fruity incense than apple cider. or possibly a fruitcake. i did a comparison and this smells more like fruitcake to me than last year's Fruitcake frimp did... a perfumey fruitcake. all in all, i'm glad i got to try this, but i'm grateful that i don't need to hunt down a bottle!

this was one of the first bottles i purchased, back in 2005. i bought it based on description alone and even though i've tested it a few times .... it just isn't for me. so i have found a better home for it, but thought i should add a quick review first! on skin, wet: smells like cedar and violets - do blue lilacs smell kinda like violets? on skin, after an hour: there's a creamy-sweet (Oval Portrait-like) base scent, with wafts of dried rose petals. i keep hoping for the rich, warm scent of woods but they never show up for me

i just knew i'd hate this. i don't care for sour citrus (like orange rind), i hate almonds and rum is very hit-or-miss... that being said? sniffed from the decant this is soooo close to Sugar Cookie '04 (The Devil's Bake Sale), and on skin it morphs into a Gluttony layered with Sugar Cookie '05 sort of general yummy scent. so strange! will need to add a bottle to my Lupers order!

i had SUCH high hopes for this one - it was the first thing i opened once i opened the package of Inquisitions. sniffed from the bottle - smells like the loose-leaf lapsang souchong tea my best friend used to drink. bitter, dark and smoky. on skin, it morphs a little and i think i can smell the tobacco and sage - adding a touch of earthy-sweet and medicinal-herby-bitterness, respectively. initial verdict : not for me. however, i'll keep it for at least a week and try it again...but i don't think this is for me.

mango-cassia-lemon. um. not for me.

impsniff: smells like vetiver on skin: vetiver and gag-inducing dry, dusty leather. i get no paper, no incense and no tobacco - just a vial full of scents that don't work on me. ah, well. was worth trying! edit: i gave this another sniff before i send the decant along to a better home, and now all i smell is cedar. but, then, many "wood" scents turn to cedar for me.

i imagine this would be a particularly American scent - but i could be wrong. i just remember all my friends from overseas, when they'd come visit, would always wonder why all laundry detergents and fabric softeners smelled the same (that was in the 90's and early 00's, mind you, so things have changed a bit since then) that being said, this smells SO GOOD. ever since the first time i read the book, Wensleydale was one of my favourite characters. on me, this quickly blossoms into an Ivory soap type scent - but much stronger than any "pure soap" fragrance oil or perfume i've tried before! i really like it, although it teeters on the brink, like it wants to morph into something lemony or otherwise dealbreaking.... but for now, i'll be adding it to my next Lab order

4 scents i love, 4 scents i hate 4 scents that can go either way verdict? the "meh"s have it, but they're leaning precariously towards the bad side of the scale. this smells so odd, like The Oval Portrait for a base but with some grapefruit, Trix cereal and a pile of dirty laundry nearby. very not what i had expected, and without the gardenia this might be bottle-worthy.

on skin: minty jasmine (two things i hate) and it doesn't change - even after an hour it still smells like poo and toothpaste

Dusty, ancient wood, horehound, and sage, with viper's bugloss, mugwort, chamomile, nettle, apple blossom, chervil, and ashes. i had to try this simply because i couldn't for the life of me figure out what it might smell like! sniffed from the decant: smells like a jar of lollipops or candy on skin, from wet to an hour later there's really no change - it smells like a box of Luden's cherry cough drops. the drops, the waxed paper, the cardboard box and the plastic outer wrap. my nose kept trying to tell me there was more to it, that there were other scents in there, too, but i couldn't find them. overall? very interesting, and kinda nice. very familiar and soothing.

love red musk and tobacco but everything else in this blend terrified me. so i've been dreading trying it, and with good reason. i opened the imp, sniffed it, and couldn't even bring myself to do a skin test.

i hate vetiver with a passion, but everything else in this blend sounded so yummy i had to get it anyway. i couldn't smell much at all when i sniffed the decant, but on skin it really does smell like wet, mossy rocks. the vetiver does show his ugly head, and adds a bitter, biting background note - without that, this would be beautiful. seems like it'd be nice on a man who likes modern fragrances - and the scent isn't so outlandish that it would frighten a guy off, if you were to try and enable him with this, i think.

when i hear "paddle wood" i think of the paddles that my fraternity friends make. the whip leather sounds interesting. the amber, honey and berries are scary notes, and the middle eastern flowers... could go either way. initial sniff: gag-inducing, dry and dusty leather as it settles in, it doesn't really change much - just the dry leathery scent, with a bit of a wood-y feel floating in the background.

i can't stand jasmine and i don't care for orange blossom. i'm honestly not sure what some of the other notes should smell like. initial sniff: floral candle on skin: jasmine-y floral candle final drydown: floral soap thoughts: on a few select few, i have a feeling this will be gorgeous. i'm not one of them.

again, i don't like violets. but i love patchouli and spanish moss, and currant can be interesting. this turned out a lot nicer than i was expecting - it doesn't smell like candied violets! but the spanish moss takes over everything, and blends with what i guess is the patchouli root (which doesn't smell like any patchouli i've got), the currant never shows up for me, and i'm left with something that smells strangely a lot like Greed.

i don't like violet, but i was intrigued by a purple musk. but on me, this is candied violets, with a drydown of mint (which makes me feel ill). i knew this wouldn't work, but i had to try it anyway.

i was so excited to be able to swap for an imp of this! i really wanted to try it. i lovelovelove the Lab's dirt scents, and some of the leather ones. the blackened ginger sounded interested but everything else was kinda scary. so it has taken me awhile to get the nerve to skin-test it. initial sniff: ginger beer (like ginger ale, but much stronger) on skin: after about 15 minutes, the ginger beer scent has faded into a cumin-cinnamon-clove scent, like some sort of bizarre curry dessert (i don't eat spicy foods, what do i know of curry? i'm just blathering) end verdict, after several hours: no dirt to be found, nor any leather. this is all spice, all the time. which makes me sad. so back off to swaps it goes.

i keep finding imps of this, and i don't know why. i can't stand carnations (they smell like pepper) and i don't like plums. Arabian musk is pretty, but i can't really wear it because it reminds me too much of the Egyptial Musk one of my old roommates wore - i love the scent, don't get me wrong, but i feel like i'm using someone else's fragrance when i wear it. i keep trying to do a skin test, but i can't get past the scented-nailpolish-remover scent i get from the imp(s).

i love Bay Rum, but the Lab's bay rum never works on me ... and sometimes bourbon vanilla turns coconutty which is just repulsive. sniffed from the decant, or from my bottle, this is almost like vetiver. or cigarette ashes. something biting, jarring and altogether unpleasant. on skin, after about half an hour, this has become something somewhere between burning rubber and a bad nursing home. i can't go wash this off fast enough. if my decant (from someone else) and my bottle (purchased directly from the Lab) didn't smell exactly the same, i'd wonder if i hadn't gotten something totally different from everyone else, because apparently i'm the only person who finds this utterly revolting.

forewarning: i don't much like Snake Oil, so take my reviews with that in mind. this is one of the snake pit scents i've been avoiding trying - even though i've had this bottle for nearly two years - because i haaaaate vetiver and really dislike coconut. on skin, wet: black pepper and wet cardboard on skin, several hours later: black pepper, wet cardboard, and cedar-shavings-hamster-bedding verdict: keepin' an imp, bottle's headin' off to a new home with someone else.

forewarning: i don't much like Snake Oil, so take my reviews with that in mind. this is Snake Oil, with a hint of the green/fresh note of bamboo but also balanced back out with the black musk... i was excited to try this one of the Snake Pit because i adore the Lab's "Teak" note. and there is a gentle, sweet-wood note floating around in this scent, but on me... after it settles in, this is Snake Oil with a sharp, bitter green note added in. also, to note, this bottle is nearly two years old.