Soupy Twist

I got this imp ages ago before I understood what the Lab's various notes did on my skin, so while this originally had promise, I now realize what was waiting for me. Jasmine stamen with a wee bit of lemon in the bottle. Goes on as green tea, which gives me some hope, but the stamen note rolls back in. The lemon puts on a brief show, and then my skin eats it. Scrubber.

Wisteria in the bottle. Goes on as plum with a "blossom note," which resolves into cherry blossom. This takes an unhappy left turn into the Lab's jasmine/stamen sourness, but after a few minutes that passes and dries as a vaguely spicy floral plum. Not a bad overall floral, but not for me.

A lot of "wet" chocolate and ginger notes. The chocolate fades surprisingly quickly, leaving a steady ginger. But after half an hour or so, it becomes the lovely fizzy note from 21! Fizzy ginger! I did not know this could be a thing but I love it.

Spicy plum. It's nice, but ultimately too close to Alice's Evidence.

2008 version: A bit of brûlée in the bottle, but it goes on and stays on as delicious sugary raw cookie dough. Amazing. After a few hours it settles into the crystally toasted-sugar note of Sugar Skull, which is just fine with me. mmmmmmm this is lovely.

I have reached 500 entries of scents tested in my database. I am both proud and ashamed of this milestone.

No, it be not. Instead it be Werther's hard butterscotch candies in the flask, which dries to the brûlée of Sugar Skull. There's not a drop of rum in the whole concoction. It's delicious and amazing and I think I might need a bottle.

Pear and lily in the bottle, but it goes on as that jasmine-stamen note. This soon turns into a sickly-sweet lily, which changes to rose. Just yuck.

Cocoa in the bottle, and on application, but the incense and sandalwood soon come out to pick a fight. For the life of me I cannot imagine why anyone would want to put these notes together.

Honey and smoky laurel/wood in the bottle. Goes on as bay and smoke. For a minute or two this is surprisingly not bad! It's woody and sweetly smoky and not... oh, and there's the incense, turning sickly sweet. Yecch. Scrubber.

Lily in the bottle. I don't know where all the hysteria of the description comes from; it's just a green, planty kind of lily which quickly breaks down into a powdery floral.

Lily in the bottle. Not much to write home about; it's a fairly standard lily which eventually turns sickly-sweet. I have much nicer lilies elsewhere.

"You got your gin all over my chocolate!" "You got your chocolate all up in my gin!" Man, this is nasty. Two otherwise wonderful notes which do NOT mix.

Musk in the bottle, and goes on as musk with a generic white floral. This curdles briefly into something sickly sweet, and then fades into an acceptable lily. I have other lilies which are much nicer. Pass.

While this one's description piles on the sugar, there is ironically not enough vanilla. A very accurate candy cane, but not sweet enough. No burn. Disappears very quickly.

I will totally admit that I got this because it's my sign, and since it didn't have any of my no-no-notes, the best case scenario for me was that it didn't suck. I wasn't expecting that I might actually like it. Dandelion and chamomile, I think, in the bottle. Goes on as a melange of chamomile, something planty which I guess is the balm of gilead, woods, and "green." A clove note comes in very briefly, and then changes to grass. It settles as a mature summer grass. Not a lot of throw. This is quite nice — something I could see myself wearing over the summer. It is not, in any capacity, "Mutable Fire: the essence of striving," or anything even remotely related to Sagittarius. It's calm and settled. Sag is big and loud and moving and fiery and on the go. (mind you, I'm not complaining — at the Lab, "fire" means either smoke, ash, or dragon's blood, and I hate all three.)

Spring days I go for florals and fruits; summer days I go for citrus and "green." so: Spring: Sea of Glass Titania Katharina Lilium Inter Spinas Summer: Baobhan Sith Embalming Fluid Squirting Cucumber

A boring lily which quickly sours to that "jasmine stamen" note which the Lab's florals sometimes collapse to on me. I'm not surprised this was discontinued given all the unhappy reviews here.

Pure Applesauce (Scalias): Our applesauce is decidedly impure: mashed apples with sugar and honey, slivered with tobacco tar and black tea. The 2015 Weenies had five Apple scents plus an Apple Cider. Punkie Night is "apple orchards and cider," but I get apple juice.

Monsterbait: Tokyo Stomp is exactly like those crumbly white mints you get on the way out the door at some restaurants. Nice longevity on the vanilla. Miskatonic U is a great Irish coffee. The Witches is pumpkin and coffee-smoky-vanilla and cream and one of my absolute favorite BPALs. Père Noël is tangerine, oranges, anise, and vanilla. Sugar Skull starts as sugar and finishes as crème brûlée with cinnamon, which is what other people were saying about Askasleikir. Stekkjarstaur is everyone's favorite marshmallow vanilla sheep dude. El Dia de los Reyes is cocoa, sugar, and cinnamon. Another favorite. 21 is the perfect gin and tonic, if you count that as food.

Sea of Glass is the absolute perfect hyacinth. It's like an olfactory photograph. It's definitely floral, so I don't know if it would be to your taste, but it's a GC so you can easily get a sample to test.

Cinnamon bark in the bottle. mmmm cinnamon. Some clove comes in, and it starts to smell like cider. I really like this. If it doesn't burn my skin it might supplant Inferno. Continues to dry down to more of a cidery spice, with a round creaminess which is probably the honey. Unfortunately this finishes as baby power. Dang, it had so much promise.

Cognac in the bottle. Goes on as cognac with a fruit note (maybe the quince?), which develops some more. The quince becomes mandarin, which edges into vanilla briefly. There's a little spice, possibly, and just when I start wondering about the tobacco it debuts, and that's where it stays. It's the lighter tobacco from Sherlock, so that's awesome for me. There's almost no throw to this; I have to put my wrist right up to my face to smell it. I really like it and it's sort of killing me that I can't get any of it! This is the first Luper I've really been able to enjoy because almost every single one has one of my no-no notes (musk, sandalwood, incense, patchouli, dragon's blood).

PINE PINE EYE-WATERING PINE with a side order of Pine-Sol and some PINE on top. And it all vanishes in five minutes. That'll clear out your sinuses. Not one other note to be found. No mint, no khus, nothin'.

Okay, I give up. The Lab's leather note hates me. I get "a leather satchel" in the bottle; that's the only way I can describe it. It's a very nice leather... in the bottle. When it goes on me it just goes foul. There's a wee bit of balsam struggling to show, but the leather just smothers it. Scrubber.