Soupy Twist

My impression of this is "a candy cane when you're halfway done eating it." So to lick it one more time is perfectly apt. Not as insanely intense as Lick It Again. A light burn a few minutes in, which keeps going for a while. No real vanilla here (which is fine) but the drydown definitely has some powdered sugar in it. Probably the closest to Lick It Again so far. As the drydown continues, I'm getting more of a Peppermint Patty creamy note. This will be a locket scent for sure.

Stamen and stem (the green woody smell of a sunflower stem, you know what I mean) in the bottle and on application. The Lab's jasmine note absolutely hates me. To my surprise, these soon fade, and there's a wee weak bit of orange blossom struggling to emerge. Then the whole thing turns to soap. Off to swaps.

Plum pudding, holly, and brandy-soaked raisin with frumenty, mince pie, and a hint of suet. In the bottle: WTF is that?! Mince pie? I've never smelled mince pie, so I don't know. Goes on as the brandied raisin thing, which turns... savory. Salty. The suet, I guess. Then I get the plum pudding, which dries into a fake grape bubblegum kind of note. Goddamn the Mad Tea Party line is weird. Not in a bad way. Technically brilliant, an astounding series of artworks utterly capturing all of Carroll's impossible characters and descriptions. But seriously weird.

Freshly ground coffee in the bottle. Goes on as a rich roasted coffee note, almost burnt, but not in a bad way. Nice depth to it, with something which hints at tobacco. Not much throw, though — I like my coffee more aggressive, both on the wrist and in the cup. (she says, drinking her second espresso of the morning) Although it has ridiculous staying power; I was still getting teeny whiffs of it 12 hours later.

I couldn't tell you what scent to wear, because everyone's taste is different, but I can suggest how to decide. Determine what you want to feel at the hospital. Do you need to be brave? Feel calm? Feel comforted? Overcome nausea? Block the smell of something specific? Are you going to be there for hours, or a short visit? Then go through your collection and sniff to see if the scent evokes that feeling you're looking for. This can change for me depending on the day, the weather, my mood, and what's going on internally. The same sweet berry that was great yesterday is too much today, but the icy marine I passed over yesterday is perfect right now. A heavy vanilla might be comforting for a fall office visit but stomach-churning for an hour in an MRI in July. Hugs to you and good luck.

White gardenia, ambergris bouquet, lavender fougere, orange blossom, melissa, tobacco flower, coriander, ebony wood, ylang ylang, absinthe and aged whiskey. Gross florals in the bottle. Goes on as a gross lavender, which abruptly dries into a fizzy ctirus! This sadly continues to change into the gardenia, and then the tobacco flower shows up. Finally the old-cigars note of ylang ylang appears, and I'm done. This is definitely an Older Lady perfume; I can see a Fifth Avenue socialite wearing this. And I can see myself opening the windows to clear out the room after she left.

The Lab's jasmine-stamen note in the bottle. Goes on as a lily variant of the stamen, which soon dries to a faint, powdery floral. I can totally see why joopjoop's dear grandmother would have worn something like this. Very much a grandma scent, in a good way.

Fake plum. Yuck.

No, it's just honeysuckle. I thought I might hate this immediately, but there's no patchouli at all. And the Lab's jasmine note hates me, so this is even more astonishing. It does dry to a sickly sweetness, which might be the white musk. Still, considering what I was anticipating, "slightly too sweet/powdery floral" is a big step up.

Snow and menthol in the bottle and on application. There's a brief sweetness, but that quickly becomes pine branches, and then a wet pine. This is packing snow in a pine forest, not powder. A good solid snow-and-pine scent to add to the collection, although not quite as nice as The Snow at Noon, Skadi, or Almond Blossom, which have that additional berry note.

I don't know what year the decant is. Citrus Pine-Sol and baby powder. I can tell that this wants to be the snow/berries of Skadi and The Snow at Noon, but wow, massive fail. And I adore the Lab's snow note.

You might try Drink Me (Mad Tea Party), Grog (Bewitching Brews), and Elegba (Excolo). From LEs, Sugar Skull and Sugar Cookie.

Aquatic and green in the bottle. Goes on very green and stays there. Some greenish florals/planty/cucumbery notes come in as it dries, and then something like a sweet linen? a white floral? A little too sickly-sweet for me.

It's amazing how subtle changes can be so wildly different. This should be very similar to Elegba, but this is "bay rum" rather than "rum." Bay rum turns the tobacco to smoke and ash. Yuck. If there are flowers in here, I can't smell them.

Banana with a hint of vetiver in the bottle. Goes on as BAAAAANAAAANAAAAA, although definitely a synthetic one. It's not bad, just not real. A tobacco note starts to develop, and then a burnt sour thing which I think is the vetiver again. The banana goes away, leaving behind a definite smoke/burnt note — maybe the "blackened cacao" means "set the bean on fire and left it to smolder into a charcoal husk." Sadly, this is where it stops, and I'm just left with smoke.

Startlingly sour pine branches in the bottle. Goes on as... I feel exactly like I'm fighting my way through a pine tree. I can smell the sap coming out of broken twigs, and the scent of the berries and the branches. The sour edge finally fades after a few minutes, but it's not as light and bracing as I'd hoped. However, this is definitely another for vote "When they invent holodecks, the Lab does the scent component," because this is basically an olfactory photograph of a pine tree. An astonishing technical accomplishment.

Pine and eucalyptus in the bottle. Goes on as eucalyptus and dries to pine, but the whole thing vanishes in a few minutes, to my surprise. No orange at all.

I really have to admire the technical artistry of the Mad Tea Party line even if I haven't appreciated most of the scents per se. All the notes here cycle and intermingle repeatedly; it's quite fascinating. I can't bear patchouli so this isn't for me, but the execution is brilliant.

within a few hours, at least from my experience.

Peach...ish in the bottle. Like I can't decide if it's peach flesh, nectar, or blossom, or something fake. Goes on as a peach nectar with floral overtones, which is okay. Eventually fades to a honey, and the whole thing is gone in an hour. Pleasant, but I have better peaches elsewhere.

I smell like the world's best pirate. Tobacco and rum in the bottle. Goes on as a foodie tobacco, not a smoked one. A sweet edge develops as the rum comes in, and it turns into that brûlée/burnt sugar crust note from Sugar Skull. This rum/sugar note stays as the medium tobacco note comes in and out. Marvelous. Bottle for sure.

A little amber in the bottle, but mostly cut succulent, which is how it goes on. This sweetens a little to cut grass. Similar to Arcana's Avalon and BPAL's Squirting Cucumber. No tea or ginseng. Don't know why this is a Weenie; it's totally a summer scent for me.

Opens with that jasmine/stamen note of the Lab's which hates me, but that quickly disappears and leaves me with a pretty but generic floral.

Herbs in the bottle. Goes on as dried dates, which eventually becomes dried figs. The whole thing is kind of boring. Needs salt.

Apple with a touch of cream in the bottle. Goes on as apple with a breath of a deep whiskey note, but that quickly vanishes. A wee bit of cream returns, and it finishes as a creamy apple. Low throw; not much to write home about. There are many better apple scents.