Soupy Twist

Sugar cane or raw sugar in the bottle and on application. There's a wee bit of honey as it dries, which turns slightly floral, in a sickly-sweet sort of way. Practically no throw on this at all. No rum, no oak (for which I'm grateful).

Lily? and honeysuckle in the bottle. Goes on as a generalized floral with touches of pear. The honeysuckle returns, paired with sweet pea, and as it dries the sweet pea becomes more pronounced and then sadly powdery and soapy. "A bar of soap" is a good summary, as others have noted. This is what I thought RPG Good would smell like: innocent. While this is a pretty, nondescript floral, I think people forget that Juliet was the stronger of the two star-crossed lovers. She moved a good chunk of the action forward. She decided to take the fake poison, and then when Romeo died she briskly stabbed herself and didn't take all day wibbling about it. I'm sad that there's nothing to represent that fierceness here.

This started out quite promisingly, and if I didn't object to a bunch of everyone else's favorite notes I'd probably love this. It's an olfactory portrait of Joy from Inside Out. Honey, marvelous honey in the bottle. Goes on as honey with sugar and... is that bubblegum? Why, yes, yes it is. That's hilarious. The honey returns briefly, making this a more natural and less plastic/fake bubblegum (if there is such a thing). At this moment I'm wondering if I have a new bottle scent. But alas, the morph continues into my no-no-notes. It turns into musk as it dries, which then becomes baby powder and sweet pea. The sweet pea turns into rose, and I'm out. Well done Lab! Just not for me. I'm not as good as all that, apparently.

Booze? rum? in the bottle. Goes on as booze with the honeyed apple note I love so much. There's a brief brûlée note as it dries, and the honeyed apple dissipates, leaving more of a brown, sugary note. Not "brown sugar," but something like an apple cider residue. The sweetness finally fades out of that, until it's just that slightly fermented brown sludge at the bottom of the tankard. Possibly a stout; I don't drink so I have no idea. Not really mushrooms, thank goodness, but definitely not a fruit — maybe "apple rootstock" meaning "the wood of apple trees." A little of the butterscotch note from Grog starts to surface after a while. I could totally see this being a Tolkien kind of ale.

Unsweetened cocoa powder in the bottle. Goes on as an amazing dark chocolate. Definitely the cocoa/chocolate note from El Dia de los Reyes. Sadly, as it dries, it smells like the chocolate solids bloom, and it finishes as a stale milk chocolate. This has so much promise wet.

Opens with spruce, but slowly morphs into cedar. I don't like cedar. It smells like pencil shavings. As a few minutes pass, some of that vanilla/root beer/sarsparilla flickers for the briefest moment, but it's still mostly cedar, and then that changes to stone. There's a little of the Lab's snow note, like a breath of mint, over the whole stony-cedar thing. And then the whole dang thing is gone in an hour. Sigh. Skin chemistry is so fickle.

A bitter, woody, leaf pile/acorn note. That's it. Not getting any berry or tobacco.

no chocolate at all, not even cocoa powder. Just cinnamon and nutmeg, like an empty jar of "Pumpkin Spice blend."

Berry and tea/sage/grass something in the bottle. Goes on as berry and fuzzy sage leaf. (honestly, Beth, how do you make something smell fuzzy?) As it dries, the sage and berry notes cycle, but it finishes as blackberry tea. This is much nicer than I thought it was going to be. No musk at all.

Salty pitch tar in the bottle and on application. This somehow gets worse and starts to rot, like slimy dead vegetation. Where did all the vanilla and honey and cherries and other, you know, good stuff go?? Scrubber.

Mandarin and... sandalwood in the bottle? I can't tell what I'm smelling. Goes on as one of the Lab's weird stamen notes. There's some mandarin zest after a while, but the whole thing is off and weird. Maybe this is what "opium" smells like, and is not for me.

Slightly sweet lemon juice and tonic water, with a sprig of rosemary for garnish — a G&T with Hendricks. I'd probably drink this, but I don't want to smell like it.

JFC, Beth, how do you do this? If there were Oscars for the perfumes she would win them all. Wet pavement in the bottle. Honestly. Wet pavement FFS. It goes on as mint and dirt. It's not quite the snow note but it's most of the way there. Hilariously, as it dries, the snow melts, and I'm just left with the dirt note. Positively amazing. Not something I'd wear again because I don't fancy dirt perfume, but what an accomplishment. :clap:

I didn't care for the previous incarnation of this, but I kinda had to try it for the sake of completeness. (Does anal-retentive have a hyphen?) Sour peppermint oil in the bottle. Goes on as straight peppermint oil, with no sugar. There's no burn either, which is what I remember from last round. After five minutes it starts to soften and round a little with vanilla, but there's still not a lot of sugar, and the whole thing fades quickly. So I can at least report that it is in fact the same formulation as 2014.

Pine in the bottle, with some clove on application. The pine starts to turn dusty, and then sour. The clove is completely gone. I guess "pitch" is not for me.

Pencil shavings, olive oil, and generic men's cologne. Off to swaps to find someone who will love it more.

holy cats. I guess "matcha tea" is the leaves of the kryptonite plant for me. Gingerbread and a wee bit of tea in the bottle, but this goes on and stays on as Pottaskefill, the Yule Lad who smelled like birch tar and black pepper. I had to clean this off with rubbing alcohol. Yikes.

2016 version: Damn. The Lab's narcissus turns into the dreaded jasmine stamen on my skin.

Nope, on my skin this is Rum Cake. Buttercream or maybe rum cake in the bottle, and it definitely goes on as rum cake. The cake is soggy, the rum is cheap and a little stale because it's old, and then somebody tries to get cute and do a "flaming pudding" thing because there's a burnt-booze note. I like the Lab's rum note in some things like Elegba, but this ain't it. In fact, I love the rum in Elegba, and this really ain't it.

Buttercream in the bottle. Goes on as cake with mint cream frosting. The "cake" note quickly disappears as it dries, which is good because it does nothing for me. This settles into the soft, round vanilla-touched mint of some of the gentler Lick Its. There's no burn, and it starts to fade quickly, like some of the Lick Its do. Considering I have five bottles of various Lick Its, I think I can pass on this. Mercy, I am so glad I was able to hold out and not blind-bottle.

A soft, slightly powdery vanilla/tobacco in the bottle. Goes on as the "high" tobacco from Sherlock Holmes (I guess now I know what white tobacco is) and a candied vanilla. This stage is amazing. Some depth comes in, maybe from the cognac? which is the next note as it dries. I totally get the "porcelain" concept here. This settles into a perfumy kind of tobacco — sort of the perfumy note from Honeyed Apple, which doesn't work as well here. I like it, but I'm not yet convinced I love it.

Huh. No, this is Strawberry Sufganiyot. I have no idea how, but this is absolutely strawberry jam. No sugar, no donut. Just jam. This is the stuff I make in the summer after we go to the local U-Pick farm. Not something I regularly want to smell like, but positively brilliant execution. Also, not raspberry. Delicious, mouthwatering strawberries. Now I need to get a sample of Strawberry Sufganiyot and see if it smells like watermelon or something. ETA An hour later, the strawberry turns plastic, like "Strawberry Shortcake dolls." It's still strawberry, and definitely not for me. Off to swaps to find a more loving home!

Caramel and salt in the bottle. Goes on as caramel. A cookie note starts to come in as it dries, reminiscent of Sugar Cookie. ...and then it fades out. Wait, what?! Try it on the other wrist to be sure? Yep. Three minutes flat and it's gone. No cocoa, no nuts. It's a lovely and accurate caramel, but not enough to make it a locket scent. Bummer.

In the Wild North has a sweetness, but it's not an actual berry like Skadi or Almond Blossom. It's the Lab's snow note plus spruce and pine, which is definitely lovely but not the same as Skadi. Alas.

Spruce in the bottle. Goes on as sinus-clearing SPRUCE!!!!!!!! And for a little while that's it, just spruce. As it dries more, some of the Lab's snow note comes in, and the whole thing slowly sweetens. There's a flash of juniper/gin, but it doesn't stick around. There's a definite sweetness, but not an actual berry like Skadi or Almond Blossom. Very likely FBW.