Megalovania

Oh my god I *wish* this smelled as good as I'd hoped, nay, expected. I love dark, murky, creepy, heavy, resinous perfumes, especially when made by the Lab. But oh ho ho, not this one. Straight out of the bottle this was Dirty Used Cat Box. Fresh on my skin it continued as Dirty Used Cat Box. I refused to wash it off before seeing if any morphing would occur, but boy was that a struggle. When I initially read the notes I knew I'd love this because I love all of them. But smelling this hot mess made me recall that sometimes opoponax reminds me of cat litter. Fresh and clean cat litter, mind you, with that dusty kinda-floral scent it sometimes has. I'm not sure how accurate that is to opoponax since I've never sniffed it in isolation, it's just the note I've seen in common whenever I find a litterbox perfume. Usually I'm all for it when mixed with the right stuff, but this time it went off the deep end into "oh noooo aaaugh" territory. And if u/galahad is correct about secret jasmine hiding in this blend, that explains why it came off as the infinitely worse Used Litter (jasmine is the MOST TERRIBLE THING on my skin). Fortunately, this jaunt through hell doesn't last forever. Maybe 15-20 min later the filthy edge wore off and this smoothed out into something a little more expected: a super dark and grimy, very thick scent. Eventually settles into a dryly resinous, blacked woody thing, which I take as the patchouli showing force (but not overwhelmingly so, there's good balance here). Extremely bold, extremely powerful, a little frightening, and would be super sexy on the right person. This is Boss Battle status. But holy god, I just can't do that initial litterbox smack in the face. Hopefully that chills out over time.

This one made me want to get all tragi-poetic. Right in the bottle I'm smacked in the face with this powerfully dark, dirty scent. I don't mean dirty in a sexy or straight "dirt" way... More like "unclean and attempting to mask the grime with strong fragrance." I know that sounds dreadful but bear with me, I mean that in the best possible way. On my skin that description remains true and it's because of the almost syrupy quality of the tobacco. It’s floral but with no pretense of delicate femininity whatsoever. That isn’t to say it’s strictly masculine either; as long as you can tolerate this thick, heady blend of notes I'd say this is very unisex and anyone can wear it. I’m probably influenced by the theme but this scent is old world: sickly sweet, almost oppressive, somehow sinister. Death rides in on a pale horse and it’s like these notes are trying to cover the evidence of his arrival, like a desperate attempt to ward of toxic miasmas and save the living from plague. It won’t work, but it does make death smell sweeter. This perfume doesn't change much as it dries, but it does soften a bit and loses some of its initially harsh tobacco edge (which is what stood out strongest on me). As of now I’m not entirely sure what opoponax smells like but I absolutely get blackened roses smothered by clove and tobacco. It's potent with great throw. Spooky and highly evocative, one of the creepiest blends I own. I love it.