monocainsheresy

The aspirations of man, both in the material and spiritual worlds: clove, birch tar, red ginger root, and frankincense. I guess I'm up first! In the bottle: GINGER - antiseptic and tbh smells like the adhesive on really strong stickers if that makes sense? Fresh on the skin: still lots of ginger, with a bit of powdery frankincense. There's something gooey in the background - I think that's the clove; it's gentle. Could be the birch tar, but i don't know what that smells like so don't take my word for it. Overall it gives the impression of something just starting to catch fire, something smoldering but still cold (edit - this goes away ) Dry: This is definitely a familiar scent, almost like Christmas, but early Christmas when you're opening up all the boxes of decorations - it's the smell trapped in the box from last year's holiday cookies. This is much much gentler and more tame than i expected for something called "The Fiery Mountains". I wanted something a little more exciting. Almost plasticy, borderline mainstream, reminds me of a Yankee Candle (not in a bad way, it just has that kind of uniformity. Does smell a bit like a lit unscented candle). One could definitely get away with this an everyday scent. I'm hoping this ages well and warms up - I'll revisit it in a few months

Huh. This is my first encounter with any Snake Oil scent (it is NEVER in stock when I do my big semi-annual orders) and... I'm underwhelmed. This just smells like honeyed Dragon's Milk, though I will say the DB in this smells more faithful. I literally cannot tell where the Snake Oil is. Next time the original stuff comes back in stock I'm going to have to jump on it and compare.

Ngl this smells like literal air conditioning - like air vents when you turn on the AC for the first time after the cold months, plus clean laundry.

I tend to stay away from scents with more than about half a dozen notes as a rule, but I'm soooo happy I went for a bottle of this. It would seem that my skin has amped only the things that I absolutely love - frankincense, light rose, and a blanket of sugary vanilla

In the decant this smelled like stereotypical, department store, richy rich perfume. A little worrying. On the skin, this is an ever-so-slightly-darker Aelopile - the same glowy amber. And then it morphed. Patchouli! Tobacco!! Maple syrup?? It smells delicious now, a bit like carnival food, but woody and ambery It's still got a bit of department store superficiality, but I'm not mad at it. Mmmm, I'm going to have to get a bottle.

Lemony butterscotch! Not my thing, but very bright and jubilant. I wish the patchouli was more present - it needs a little grounding.

Another viscous aquatic rears its ugly head This was a frimp. I've been very cautious around any and all aquatics since the Deep Ones incident of 2016. Unfortunately, as soon as I opened this the old, familiar smell of my enemy hit me: fresh, sickly, where-is-the-rotting-octopus BRINE. . . . This will never touch my skin.

Over the summer I went to Massachusetts and ate at a little café in Cape Ann. I ordered a piece of a cakey thing that strongly resembled blueberry boy bait, but without cinnamon sugar and some sort of red fruit instead of blueberries. The lab has precisely bottled its taste as a scent in the form of Alice.

I haven't touched this since i got a full bottle in December (occupied with other scents) and my lord has it aged beautifully. When i was little my mother would give flute recitals around Christmas in the ballroom of a Victorian mansion. The railings of the grand staircase were wrapped in cinnamon-scented garlands of glittery fabric leaves, candles were burning on the mantles of all the fireplaces, and in the dining room the museum staff would always set up an elaborate scene of mannequins with taxidermied deer heads having a lavish Christmas dinner while dressed in period clothing (don't ask me why). I would go off by myself and look at all the paintings and the ball gowns and the old books. Rumor has it that the original owner still haunts the second floor... That is exactly what this smells like - Victorian Christmas, frozen in time.

GOD I love this - a balm for my resin loving soul Dark, woody, rosy, sacred - and I do mean sacred; this smells downright HOLY. So superbly blended that I can't pick out individual notes, just a beautiful, harmonious whole.

Just what it says on the tin: churchy frankincense, powdery rose, minty hyssop, and creamy oudh. Lovely

I'm pretty late to the party but Pale Student Of Unhallowed Arts is a pretty bomb ozone, and if you want leather + ozone try Groom Of Frankenstein

For Rose Jam suggestions, you might want to check out the Rose Apologist Thread and this thread of rose recommendations. I've seen multiple people compare Hope from the Carnival Diabolique to Rose Jam (though you'd have to try and find a bottle via the sales/swap pages if you want just Hope on its own, because the Lab only sells it as part of a set with Faith), and The Best Lies from the American Gods line also struck me as similar. My favorite regular GC rose is Jezebel, but it's heavy on the orange blossom and sandalwood and not much like Rose Jam. Oh cool, I've been eyeing Hope & Faith for a while so the fact that Hope is similar is good news for me Thank you for the suggestions I'd suggest searching in this whole topic of Lush comparisons. I did a search within the topic on "rose jam" (using the quotations) and there were several results. It would be even easier to search that topic for Karma since that is just one word! My personal GC suggestion for Rose Jam would be Spellbound, but YMMV. I didn't know about that topic, tysm!

Any recommendations for scents similar to Lush's Karma or Rose Jam? Preferably GC

This is entirely fruity with the rose hips*, so I'm a little disappointed. I was expecting this to be more like Lawful with the chamomile and fig and go more herbal. It's very fresh, juicy, and summery, and quite a nice scent, but not something I would go for if it wasn't a blind buy. *I don't know what ginseng smells like, so i cannot tell if it is present in any noticeable amount

My go-to phrase for describing this scent is "ice cream in a church" - it's suuuper yummy

I used to tip bottles but for the past few years I've been flipping closed bottles upside down and back upright, and using the little thing in the cap to dab it on my wrists, which offers a really awesome amount of control over strength

This scent is Mary Shelley's sexy older brother. In the bottle it's the same ozone as Mary Shelley, with a similar atmosphere from the other notes. On the skin it reads as mostly ozone, with the resins being the first other note to strike me. There's some sort of musk in the background, and there is definitely citrus. Light, fresh, clean-cut, sophisticated. Well done

Straight out of the box this was the same hay absolute that i love in Bram Stoker - clean, fresh, cold, kinda ~zesty - and stayed that way for a few days, until the opium took over. There are so many notes that it's hard to tell what exactly is irking me, but the opium is so center-stage that i think that's probably the problem. It doesn't smell bad, it's just really intense and i can't stand it. If the opium was gentler, i would be buying a full bottle.

Oh nooo absolutely not I've had my imp for about 2 years and when i first got it it was straight up low tide at the docks. Not fun. It's mellowed over the last year and is nowhere near as intense now, and i can see how it could turn into the nice aquatic that other people have experienced, but it's still a scrubber for me.

On me this comes across as dusty beeswax and nothing else (not a bad thing). It doesn't morph at all, just smells like an unlit beeswax candle. It's nice - and the only honey scent I've tried thus far that doesn't go straight to cat pee on my skin - but I'm still debating if it's full-bottle-worthy

I wasn't wowed by this when i first tried it, but i just got my imp out after about eight months and now it is absolutely DIVINE. This smells exactly like a witchy shop, in the best possible way. It's cozy, it's nostalgic, and has a rare and wonderful subtlety for something that smells so much like incense. Verdict: I need a full bottle. Possibly two full bottles.

I have always been absolutely in love with Bloodlust It's smooth and warm and spicy and reminds me of an incense shop, though it is a bit intense and has an iron-y tang which could be off-putting. A close second is Old Scratch, which is dapper as hell while being a little spooky. For me it comes across as lavender-scented shaving cream, but it has patchouli to darken it and give it more staying power I also have to give Dorian an obligatory recommendation