forspecial_plate

I am pretty much in agreement.....toasty nuts, and hazelnut is probably right, although I would add that I'm getting a bright, frosty mint note, icy and crystalline, at the very "top" of the scent. It's subtle but I would swear it's there. I agree with the powdered sugar part....I sort of get that feeling too, but not heavy sugar like Sugar Skull, not caramelized. This would be something like.....candied nuts dusted with sugar, cooling next to a slightly open window on a chilly day.

When I first put this on, it smelled like bright, candied cherry to me, with possibly some light, chilly fir, like the first reviewer said, although I could have been influenced by her review! : ) I wore it to the movies, and as it dried, it changed to a deeper wine-like scent that reminded me of Montresor. Then it eventually ended up smelling strongly of honey and musk. I don't really like honey in my perfume so this stood out strongly to me. I also kept thinking I smelled patchouli, just small hints of it, although it is possible that someone else near me was wearing patchouli (I was at a sold-out showing of Avatar). I'm not sure if I want to try this again, because of the honey impression, but if I do, I'll come back and confirm if I smelled patchouli again or not.

 

So my guess for notes would be.....I guess some sort of cherry wine, maybe some bright and airy fir, with honey and musk, and possibly patchouli. Cherry mead around the Christmas tree?

They had me with "sooty licorice incense", and bay rum sealed the deal. I knew I wanted this or Playing With A Loaded Gun, so I left it up to the goblins. I think they made the right choice for me!

 

Black licorice is a note that I always want to love, and should love, but it's very tricky in the actual wearing of it. Too many times it smells rubbery to me, but I think I have finally found the perfect black licorice blend! That is the main note that I smell in this scent, backed up by subtle hints of the other notes. There is a white fluffiness which I guess is coconut, and I can't distinctly pick up the bay rum but I think I can tell that it's there. I love many of the Lab's bay scents so it's a note that I am always attracted to.

 

So, after dissecting and picking apart the scent, I've worn it a couple times to just appreciate it for what it is. My impressions are different from surlygirl's, because for me it's mostly about the black licorice. But it's not quite a candy scent. Sooty black licorice incense is a great description because that really is the impression that I get, with some white fluffiness. I agree that the coconut note is different from others that I've experienced, and I do think this will get even better as the notes have time to mingle. I'm hoping for the bay rum to come out a little stronger.

 

Overall, this is a winner!

I think this is just too much clove for me....it's a note that doesn't always work for me, mostly when paired with patchouli, but in this case it's just too heavy. I like clove sometimes like in Plunder and Velvet Bandito. I love pine but this scent is pretty much all clove for me. It's not horrible......it doesn't do the sour thing that I got from Smiling Spider, but I blame the patchouli in that scent. Anyway....just not working for me.

I third or whatever Bow And Crown Of Conquest.....

 

Try to find Kingsport for your sea fix. I haven't found a better ocean scent, and it was my first bpal purchase (on ebay).

This is total dood-fume on me! I like it. It's about as traditional as I want to get, as cologne-y scents go. It's the leather and metal that make it cologne-like, cold, and kind of hollow to me (very fitting of the character). I'll be honest, the first few times I wore this, I wasn't sure if I could really enjoy it. But tonight I happen to like it. I think the labdanum and myrrh are really saving it for me, even though they are really subtle. The resins smell almost like sweet smoke when played against the metallic notes. This stuff lasts and lasts. I put it on almost 8 hours ago and it's still going pretty strong, although by now the leather has faded back a lot. Overall, though, it's a very well-balanced scent.

 

It's funny to me that most other reviews mention vetiver because I don't detect it at all. But, I am not opposed to vetiver, so it probably wouldn't stand out as much to me. But to me, this is all gleaming leather and metal, with little puffs of sweet smoke here and there. I was expecting sinister and dangerous, but the feeling I get is more stern and cruel. A subtle difference but there ya go.

Thanksgiving was also my birthday this year, and I wore Pumpkin King! The unsolicited comment from my mom was that she smelled patchouli. : /

I love Knecht Ruprecht! I love many of the Lab's pine/fir scents, and this is among the best of them. I never really pick up on the almond, but all the other notes play against each other very nicely. It's a crisp and robust pine scent, but the fruit makes it even more special and unique. Three years later I finally have a bottle on the way (not that it was all that hard to find, I just kept putting it off). Hooray!

First of all, Djinn is one of my favorite bpal scents, so I was definitely intrigued by the notes listed for this scent, and I even thought I had an idea of what it might smell like. How wrong I was!

This goes on like a fruity floral, almost like lotus. If I sniff up close I can tell there's some fire and coals to the scent, but for whatever reason, my brain translates it into dusky, fruity floral. It's a little spicy, too, which becomes more apparent as it dries. How in the world does that fit this scent, given the notes, you might ask? Well, it works. It's a low and smoldering scent, very subtle but definitely 'there'. I'm sure this will vary from person to person, though (it might be really strong to someone else). But for me, it's subtle. Even though it's very floral, it has the mood of glowing coals.

I think the 'blackened bone' comes out as it dries. It becomes kind of sneezy and spicy, and I wonder if it actually has a little black pepper, which is a note I don't care a lot for. Overall the scent doesn't change much from wet to dry, though.

This reminds me of Corazon, without the herbs. They both have that low, smoldering, subtle quality. Stepmother's Daughters is a really fascinating scent. After having it on for a few hours, I started to get a little weary of it, so I'm not sure how often I will actually wear it, but it was really interesting to try. I don't know where I would wear this......definitely not to work. I'm really interested to read other reviews, because I know some people are really going to like this one.

I wore All Souls to work tonight.

Omen smells very much like Minotaur to me:

 

Omen...."Deep, mysterious, and full of dark portents: oakmoss, juniper berry, myrrh and patchouli".

 

Minotaur...."A deep, swarthy black musk dusted by a dark, resinous blend of sacred bisabol myrrh, atramentous benzoin, tsori, balsam, and galbanum".

 

Omen is darker and huskier (probably more 'masculine', too), and Minotaur is more refined, sweeter, and slightly powdery. However, if you have been searching for a Minotaur substitute, you may find a resemblance like I did.

I have to admit, I wasn't sure about this at the beginning. It smells good but I wasn't sure it was really for me. It starts out with this bright, chilly blast of cold aquatic notes, very bracing, and kind of a traditional cologne smell. However, this only lasts about 10 or 15 minutes. After that, the aquatic fades back, and what's left is mostly frankincense. I guess I amp frankincense or something, because the same thing happens with Valentine Of Rome....straight up frankincense. If I use my imagination here, I can start to pick out the other notes, but no rose (which is okay with me). I do think I can pick out the woods and a touch of clove.

 

Overall, I like this. It turns out to be mostly frankincense with just enough background notes to make it more interesting. So, I'm glad I held onto it! I'm wearing it at work right now, and it's a nice, subtle and somewhat smokey/woody scent.

Bumping this:

 

Ah ha! So, this was the lone post of mine that was spit out of the Universe like a watermelon seed! (Being basically a lurker has it’s advantages. I can pretty much remember what I posted when it vanishes into the ethers.)

 

OK, let’s see if I really can remember what I said:

 

Lookie, lookie!

 

New Imp Label Logo Change Alert!

 

The Macha designed image that appears on bottles of Red, Pink & Black Phoenix is now the logo on the back of imp labels. My latest imp of Somnus had it. (Sorry for the crappy pic. My camera has been dying a slow death.)

 

New on the left, old on the right. (Yes, I’m Mistress of the Obvious, why do you ask?)

 

Ta Da!

 

.....Because I have a few of those older ones, and I was wondering just how old they really were. Good to know!

From the male point of view, There's A Certain Slant Of Light gives me that vibe: "Thin, tinny ozone with frankincense, white sandalwood, white amber, hyssop, bitter violet leaf, and shadowy wisps of smoke".

I haven't tried that soap either, but I still recommend Cathode: "A negatively charged scent. Ambergris, Spanish Moss, oakmoss and three electric mints". It does start out minty but it dries down to a fabulous mossy finish. : )

I agree with the person who said this is "heavenly". : )

 

It has tart apple, of course, and was more......bright and spring-like than I was expecting, but I'm not sure why. It somehow is more complex than just a foody scent, but it looks like it behaves differently depending on the person wearing it (based on other reviews). Personally, I didn't like the milk note in Milk Moon (the newer one), but I barely detect any milk in Lambs-Wool at all.

 

What I do smell is tart apples and gentle spices. The apple is strong in the beginning but as the oil dries the apples blend in softly with the rest of the notes. Interesting how there's nothing listed that strikes me as perfumey, but after a while this does have a perfumey and almost soapy quality (not in a bad way) when I wear it. Maybe it's the ginger combined with the milk. To me this is a light scent, but it does have lasting power.

 

Does anyone else think this smells like Lovers In A Ricefield? That's what it reminded me of most of all.

I just got Feeding The Dead yesterday...."A barrel of beer, a pyramid of cakes, and three sticks of incense". The beer note is really amazing. I never thought I would be attracted to the scent of beer in my perfume! It actually smelled fizzy to me, and reminded me a little bit of the 'fizzy cola' smell that I've detected in some other scents. But it blends so, so well with the other notes. Very unique, and very appealing.

I had high hopes for this. The notes in the description are just so odd! Well, let's see how it plays out. The decant is fresh out of my PO box.

 

Freshly applied, I thought of Devil's Night '06 right away. I'm smelling musk with some sort of candy sweetness. How strange! It's almost powdery but not quite. Obviously things like flecks of froth and black marble are more poetic descriptions than things that you will actually smell in this scent....unless you are swayed by your imagination, which could very well be.

 

As it dries, I'm......spellbound. This is like nothing I've smelled before. I'm still smelling a sweetish musk, and now there's a bit of peppery bite, too. This goes beyond gender-neutral into its own category altogether. Remember how I said you can't really smell the poetic notes? I'm backpedalling now, because yes, I can smell unholy mist, cold, black marble, and everything else in the description. It's amazing. I have a feeling the sweetness is coming from the incense.

 

Something else about Sarah.......to the casual observer (or sniffer), this might pass for a more traditional scent. I think some might find this masculine, but I really think it could go either way. I think you could wear this to work and get away with it, because it's soft, with not a lot of throw, and could trick people into thinking it's a traditional, and classy, perfume. It could also work for a formal occasion, because it has a bit of an austere quality.

 

All of this is is my long-winded way of saying that I love this scent!

First of all, as you can tell from the description, this does indeed have a big shot of ozone! I've never had a problem with ozone, but if you do, you probably already know this scent isn't for you.

Okay.....with that out of the way, this scent will be very familiar if you like the Lab's aquatic and wintery scents, especially Archangel Winter*, but the olibanum does set this apart. I guess olibanum is frankincense, and it brings a little more richness to this scent. And then as the scent dries, the cypress starts to come out, just adding a slight woody element. It's very ozone and icy, fierce winds blowing hail through the tree-tops, and sweet in that slightly fruity way that the fresh-water aquatics can be.

So.....no real surprises for me here, but definitely something I can wear, since I love this kind of scent. My only problem with aquatics is that they can be hard to tell apart, but that just makes it more fun to try them all! This one is somewhere between Archangel Winter and Eanach Duin, maybe with a touch of Death Of The Gravedigger.

*Edit: After some comparison/testing, this definitely does not smell like Archangel Winter and I'm sorry if I misled anyone. Maybe it was the Snow Storm that I'm thinking of, I tend to get them confused. The Countess has a lot more wood than Archangel Winter (which has no wood at all that I can smell).

I just had to try this, because it seemed not many other peolpe wanted to, and I have a thing for the underdog sometimes. : )

The first thoughts I had were "green" and "fresh", not mildew-y or rotted at all. It reminds me of an aquatic scent that has been dried out. And by aquatic I mean one of the sweeter ones, a little fruity, not cologney in my opinion. But.....the 'fabric' note adds a dry element to this scent, so that it ends up not really being aquatic, just reminiscent of aquatic. As it dries, it strikes me that this is a complex scent. Here and there I get hints of plant-like greenness, sort of a freshly cut stem note, just hints of that though. I also start to smell little 'flashes' of something dark, but that could be the power of suggestion. After all, I was expecting to smell something moldy, so I was actually surprised at how sweet this is. For the record, my nose tends to pick out sweeter notes more than usual, for example, I get a lot of 'sweetness' out of Oblivion. And I should add, there is nearly a powdery element to this scent, almost powdery but not quite. It's actually really nice and I think it will be more popular once people get 'wind' of it.

If you like the green quality of Velvet Cthulhu, you may like this as well. I think it's similar to that but softer and sweeter, without the zippy bite that V.C. has.

Edit to add.....after a while, this becomes even more dry and more powdery. At this point it reminds me of 51, with the addition of linen or fabric. It still has that sweetness.

I only tried this once, but I want to post my impressions of it.

 

It was much drier than I expected, and strong! It was a little on the sharp side, almost searing, but pleasant too. The first thing I thought of was Sol, I think they smell alike. I found it hard to identify any notes in Sunbird, except I thought I smelled frankincense. There was some morphing going on, too. The scent seemed to change at least once while I was wearing it......but I couldn't really explain how it was different!

 

Overall this was definitely something I could wear again, but I love scents like Djinn that other people find too burny, so take that into consideration.

 

Edit.....I guess that wasn't very descriptive. It's a hot scent, almost fiery, but dry too, like a desert. Basically it illustrates the concept very well, and I couldn't describe it better than that!

Oh my God, this smells like chili?? And I like it??

 

Really bizarre and I usually don't like honey, but I am strangely compelled by this. And it smells like chili.

Whenever I wear this, I wonder why I don't wear it more often. Pretty easy to review....starts out mostly herbal and a little spicy, kind of sharp and almost soapy but not quite. I think Baron Samedi is more of a blatant bay rum scent, and Hellhound has more of a ginger/herbal bite, with the bay rum more of a suggestion. However....after a couple hours, the vanilla really comes forward, simple and sweet. It takes me by surprise, even though I know it's in the scent, because I don't really detect it when I first put this on.

 

Long story short.....this one is a winner!

It's kind of hard for me to think of 'wet' scents, I think mine above leaned more towards dry and masculine. This might be good but I've never tried it:

 

Depraved....."A salacious, lecherous, leering scent - dirty and dark, slapped with a wet sweetness. Earthy black patchouli swelling with apricot".

Oh, I think the lab's catalogue has many, many scents that could fall under that description! Here are a few but I'm sure others will have many more rec's.....

 

Oblivion....."Salvation found in darkness beyond darkness, the blessed sleep of nothingness. Dark musk, wood spice, labdanum, patchouli, dark African woods, and saffron". This might be a little dry for what you're looking for.

 

Sin....."Thoroughly corrupted: amber, sandalwood, black patchouli and cinnamon".

 

Czernobog...."Created in honor of the Slavic Black God of the Dead. A nighttime god of grief, evil, chaos and woe, he is paralleled by his twin brother Bylebog, god of light, joy, order, and good fortune. A combination of three musks, with splashes of dark myrrh, vetiver and mullein".

 

Malediction....."Evil incarnate. Revel in your dark side with this romantically cruel scent. Contains red patchouli and vetivert".

 

Blood Countess...."Elizabeth Báthory, also called Erzsébet Báthory in Hungarian and Alžbeta Bátoriová-Nádašdy in Slovak, was the Bloody Lady of Hungary. In order to preserve her youth and loveliness, the brutal and incomparably savage countess captured, tortured and slaughtered innumerable young women and bathed in their blood as part of her beauty regimen. Ah, vanity. Corrupted black plum, smoky opium and crumbling dead roses covered by a deceptive veil of Hungarian lilac, white gardenia and wild berry".

 

And there are countless limited edition scents, no longer sold by the lab but available if you look hard enough......Typhon and On Darkness come to mind but there are many more.