Teamama

Whoa baby!

This is fantastic. It's like the best possible distillation of positive masculine smells for me. It's like Beth got cotton t-shirts worn by my father, husband & son, dipped them in a bucket of St. Clare, and bottled it. I am totally hooked. This has grabbed me by the heart. Bottle required.

Irresistible for me: Beth's vanilla + rose blends make me sit up & beg.

This is primarily candied rose with vanilla sugar on me. The cotton candy is suggested, & I do get a "fluffiness."

Big fluffy throw at first, but it calms down to a very wearable medium-low throw. A real treat.

Love! When first applied, I want to call it Butterfly Lace, because the combination of delicate florals, patch & tobacco reminds me of my impressions of Lavender Lace, Solstice Lace, & Shadow Lace (not exactly the same, but generally.)

As it dries, the coconut moves forward a little more, & it's wonderful. Balanced, warm, & pretty darn subtle for a patchouli blend. This patchouli works for me, which makes me happy as I have been amping it recently.

I'm glad I got a decant, & I have a bottle in my cart.

100% love. This is the BPAL oudh that works on my skin. St. Clare calls it "golden," so now I am on the prowl for "honey" & "golden" oudh.

 

On me, this is primarily woody, glowing oude, deliciously complicated by a background of honey & bourbon vanilla. Medium-low throw, great staying power.

Wanton comes out swinging, with a big bold floral-type throw. I suspect palmarosa & attar of rose are making most of the hubbub.

 

After drydown, the red sandalwood comes into play as a warm background for attar of rose, the now-domesticated palmarosa, & the gentle patchouli. I think the citrus note I get must be from the palmarosa. I also get a hint of fig.

 

Wanton is a sweet blend that has some complexity. It starts out with huge throw, & resolves to a fairly subtle scent. I like it a lot, & hope it isn't discontinued.

My top GC's (aside from Osun, which has been discontinued,) vary with the seasons. Plus I am a floral lover, which is not everybody's cup of tea.

My top floral GC's at this moment: Has No Hanna & Snooty Rose.

Two non-floral blends that are winners on me in every season: Brown Jenkin & Goblin.

 

Have fun!

 

Edited to add: the Forum's Sales page is a great resource for picking up imps at bargain prices. I used it to be able to afford to explore a lot of GC's to guide my purchasing.

The Patchouli Imp Pack was one my first Lab purchases, & I have loved The Coiled Serpent ever since. I agree that it evokes incense. It's dry, bittersweet, woody, & earthy as all get out. The patch in this blend is not armpitty; it smells of wood, not people. It dominates the other wood(s.) I'm pretty confident there is sandalwood in the mix. I can't pick out other woods.

I like this blend a lot. It starts out pretty strong, but dries down into a subtle patchouli incense.

Yeah, pennyroyal on my socks has done the trick in the past. Straight-up lemongrass essential oil is pungent & long-lasting on socks, & left a decorative orange ring around my ankles, but didn't protect me 100%. I got a big ol' bite behind my knee :-(.

Necrobump. It's a terrible year for cat fleas in King County, WA. I don't even have a furry pet, & the little bloodsucking bastards are getting into my home to bite me.

I'm wearing socks treated with straight-up lemongrass essential oil, & remembering how disappointed I was when I tried Namaste. The lemongrass overpowered all the other notes, & never died down. Now since I am reeking of lemongrass anyway, I think I'm going to hunt up a few discounted imps of Namaste & Mad Hatter. Maybe Pain too, although it's discontinued.

Narr isn't foody on me. The fig is almost floral, it's so sweet and fragrant. Milk stays in the background (good!) Almond is almost undetectable (very good!) Honey & ambrette are subtle & warm, almost amber-y. Poor Monkey is my other fig favorite; the fig notes seem similar.

My initial swipe of the wand from my imp wasn't generous enough to reveal what's going on in Silk Road Resurrected. I slathered, with much better results.

 

Silk Road is delightfully dry, spicy, & smooth. I think the sweet spiciness at the start is mainly cassia or cinnamon. No burn on me. I smell saffron, sandalwood, & tea, plus that note that I can't identify in Love's Philosophy (the one that sometimes seems like wintergreen & sometimes like root beer.) Lots going on in here--those are only the notes I felt confident about. It comes together in a well-rounded, great-smelling whole, that's not easy to tease apart. I can easily imagine this blend evoking scent memories.

 

Medium throw, not especially long-lasting on unmoisturized skin.

 

If I weren't already devoted to Morocco, I would need a bottle. It's not the same, but it's similar. Try it while it's available, it's good stuff.

Amber, almond kitty musk with a hint of sweet golden lotus on me. A favorite. My skin renders the myrrh so soft that it's almost subliminal. The saffron is pretty soft, too. Cardamom is shy and doesn't show up until well into the dry down.

 

Wet, the almond-amber-lotus combo is pretty overwhelming. The first 3 minutes are a maraschino cherry amaretto musk.

 

The dry down swiftly changes the blend to something wonderful. I agree that Bastet is related to Morocco. It's also a cousin to Coyote. If you love either of those, give Bastet a whirl.

I love Goblin. It's in my GC top 10 for sure.

 

Over the last 3 years, my skin's relationship with patchouli has changed. I used to be able to wear all but the most armpitty patch scents with no problem. Now, almost all of my patch blends go straight to funky town within minutes of applying. Goblin, despite saying "gnarly" in the description, is smooth & seductive. I think the coconut & benzoin must protect the patch from my skin's skunk powers. It goes on smooth & sweet, very sexy in a unisex way. Medium throw. Not long-lasting, but worth reapplying.

Frankincense & rose & vanilla, in that order.

 

Wet, the frank is the one that starts a little sharp on my skin. I haven't been reaching for Sept often, as it takes around 20 min. for the sharpness to diffuse. Once that stage had passed, it's very light on me. Airy & bright, not a lot of throw.

 

Maybe the frank will mellow with age. For now, it's cheerful, but not especially memorable.

This is very similar to my beloved The Little Wooden Doll. Amber is replaced by hay & vanilla orchid, neither of which jump out at me. Rose & sandalwood is my forever jam, so I love my decant. If I had a gigantic Lupers budget, I would have gotten a bottle.

Light honey & beeswax, with a hint of pink pepper. Related to the honey in Against Idleness and Mischief, Door, & Honey HG from the Post. I agree that it's a skin scent. I slathered my decant, & it's surprisingly present on the back of my forearms after 7 hours. On my wrists it's pretty much gone.

Sweet & complicated. I agree that it's related to Sugar Skull.

 

Predominantly a sweet sugared fruit & curried vanilla on me. Don’t knock it till you try it. Smoke & coffee stay very far in the background on my skin. I get curry with just a smidge of goat--I know this curry, it has golden raisins in it.

 

I keep wearing my decant, & thinking about getting a bottle, but it's so close to Sugar Skull that I can't quite justify it. We'll see what happens when the decant is all used up.

Frank & rose are great. I forgot to put Sept on my list. A new fra nk + rose delight :-).

Necrobump! I'm wearing This World's Joy today. I love the Lab's frankincense. TWJ is dry, white frank, supported by violet & a hint of rose.

 

Frank faves of mine:

This World's Joy

Anne Bonny

Cleric

In Templum Dei

No. 93 Engine

Seraphim

Tzadikim Nistarim

All Saints

It Sifts From Leaden Sieves

Day of Skulls

 

Yours?

2010 version, from a forum swap. Oh yessssss! Frankincense & rose & a lot more, but c'mon, FRANKINCENSE & ROSE!

 

I love this blend. On wet, it's frankincense forward. The myrrh is pretty subtle. Rose & lily are present, & move forward as the frankincense becomes less prominent.

 

The rose is rich and fruity, my favorite kind. Lily stays in the background.

Rose & sandalwood & musk is 100% my jam. If you are a fan of sandalwood & musk, be sure to check this out. It does not disappoint.

 

The rose & benzoin are pretty reserved on my skin, not very forward. If you like The Little Wooden Doll, the amount of rose in the mix is similar.

 

Edited to add: not a lot of throw, but lasts a long time.

 

Very good, happy I got a decant, may need a full bottle.

This is like Fig & White Sandalwood for me. I put it on, & think "Why do I ever wear anything else?" The rose & sandalwood are excellent.

I also find this to be on the light side. I wish it lasted longer because it's such a great fragrance.

Wet: Peachy amber.
Dry: Sweet amber, vanilla & sandalwood.
The heliotrope is there, but super-subtle. A real GC treasure.

Edited to add: Layers beautifully with Samhain. Super long-lasting in a silver scent locket. Also, Tamora (like Snake Oil, Samhain, Love's Philosophy, & a few other blends,) stings the thin skin on my neck when wet.

Eisheth Zenunim is not at all what I expected, based on the notes. Neroli & patchouli usually take off like rockets on my skin. Not so in this blend.

 

Wet: Chocolate & peach.

Dry-down: Delicate peach, light honey, a hint of ambergris, & the most subtle, dry patchouli in all the world.

 

Low throw, lasts around 4 hours. Nice.

I just realized I have never reviewed Fallen, which I adore. It is gorgeous, & for lack of a better word, "stately." All of the BPAL violet blends that work on me so far seen to be at least a little formal. I don't yet have a violet that goes with, say, heading out for thrift shopping & banh mi sammiches.

 

Wet: sweet, violet-forward, taller & more slender than me. Slowly the amber, musk & vetiver emerge. Perfectly-groomed, but not fussy. The sandalwood is very reserved, I don't notice it much. Fallen shops vintage, not thrift.

 

On dry-down, the violet is still the most prominent note, over a rich, sweet but dry base of amber, light vetiver, & musk. Fallen got her masters degree. Fallen volunteers more, & donates to worthy causes more than I do. Fallen has sex more frequently than me. Fallen intimidates & seduces me.