Shub-Niggurath

[Convallaria]

The lust incense of a corrupted Astarte. A blend of ritual herbs and dark resins, shot through with three gingers and aphrodisiacal spices.

 

While the concept tempted me, the reviews said "gourmand" so I was reluctant to get one of my own. Fortunately, I got a frimp with my Trading Post purchase.

 

It is as the others described, opening with ginger cookies, rather strong sillage. They last for a long while. The drydown after that remains on the intense side for a long time, the scent I get is vanilla and powdered sugar, rather like old school perfumery.

 

Great scent on its own but disappointing to me as a concept scent for Shub-Niggurath. Not getting anything otherworldly from it, none of the resins or greener herbs.

 

Not sure how I feel about the idea of smelling like a cookie. Then again, even people who aren't fans of fragrances seem to like really edible gourmands better than florals, musks, chypres, aldehydes or even more abstract gourmands, so maybe it would be a good everyday choice.

Edited May 29, 2016 by Convallaria

[Casablanca]

On the wand: Buttery Lovecraft gingerbread cookies? Much more foodie than I expected, but tasty and warm...

Wet: Hot, spicy gingerbread slathered in butter. Delicious, though a bit weird for the inside of my elbow to smell like this. I get a lot of myrrh, but it's blending well with the ginger cookies.

Dry: I'm not a gourmand person, but... the spices and myrrh in this are delicious, and the ginger is just the right amount. This wears steady on me with little change from wet to dry. A scent to revisit in fall.

[Coldfire]

Imp: hot, dark ginger
Wet on Me: spicy dark gingerbread
Drying Down: dark dark spicy gingerbread and a faint ghost of a wood note?
Dry: not so sharp ginger now. pleasant. lovely. not scary at all!

[lizabelle]

I've heard this described as evil and/or sexy gingerbread, and that description is spot-on. Starts with very strong, true ginger that then turns into cookies. The ginger really needs to be experienced, because I can't do it justice--I wonder if this version is in any other BPALs? The sillage of this stage is amazing. After a while it burns down to boozy vanilla, a strong lingering ginger and some woods/incense. I love how woody this is because I was not expecting it. Definitely a full bottle for me!

[whisperstilled]

I think the gingerbread comparisons are coming from a combo of that distinctly 'peanut' brand of vetiver I smell under the seven herbs and spice the lab added on top. The ginger is really nice, and it does have a strangely foody quality, but this is too much vetiver cookies for me.

[Lucchesa]

This was a Lab frimp, not on my radar screen at all. And if I had read the reviews, I probably would have avoided it because everyone says gingerbread and the Lab's baked goods note is terrible on me. I knew it was supposed to be Lovecraftian incense, so I was surprised when the imp smelled foodie. Wet on my skin, I was getting lemony hazelnut. After a bit I got the ginger cookie, but not that pastry note that so hates my skin, and now, a couple hours later, I can finally perceive the incense wafting over the ginger. Fascinating and really nice. I'm not sure I need a bottle, but I may replace the imp when I use it up.

[Juliamon]

Echoing all the "evil gingersnap" reviews. This is the foodiest imp in my collection, even moreso that ones that are intended to smell like food. Wet it's a freshly-baked ginger cookie, liberally spiced but with plenty of sweetness to balance it. Vanilla is heavily to blame here, along with the resins probably, but on the long drydown my skin holds the telltale wafts of vanilla.

 

Sadly it doesn't last more than a couple hours on me (other than the vanilla), but it's an unexpectedly cuddly scent.

[fizzbangdangcharade]

So I also get cookies from this, but where everyone else seems to be getting gingersnaps I'm getting molasses cookies.

 

In the bottle: Molasses cookies, straight up

 

Wet: Still molasses cookies. Warm, and brown sugary goodness

 

Warming: Seriously, baking cookies. That's all I'm getting.

 

Drydown: The cookie scent calms down, and starts going more toward the herb/resin scent. As the cookie fades the throw gets closer to the skin. At one point, when I moved I got cookie. But when I sniffed my wrists, I got a spicy resin/herb scent.

 

Hours later: I sniffed my wrist again hours later, and realized it'd changed again. And there's the ginger! A nice sweet, fruity ginger, reminiscent of the ginger in Kumiho. I can still get a little of the sugar and resin/herb underneath, which gives it a touch more bite than Kumiho though.

 

All in all I really like this one! I actually like it a bit better than Miskatonic (this loses the sweet, gains some nice spice, and then ends in a lighter/wet sweet/spicy. Whereas Miskatonic loses the sweet and sits at the 'old book' smell and then never changes.)

[clockworkcrypt]

When I first put it on I'm getting a peanut note, like a fresh baked peanut cookie with a touch of spice. It's pleasant though, but a bit odd. This fades away in the first 15-25ish minutes and is replaces with a fresh gooey ginger molasses cookie. It's fresh out of the oven and onto my wrists. I want it. I need it. I don't have hands anymore. Whoops. While I bang my bloody stumps together in the ER several hours later I sniff again. The cookie smell has faded down which means I'm safe from eating any more of my limbs. I now smell like a gingery resinous old house. Warm and comforting and a little woody, like baked goods faded into the very walls of an old house. It's pleasant and comforting like living in an old mansion filled with sunlight and wood paneling, and maybe one too many vengeful spirits. All and all this is a lovely scent, and lasts around 8-10 hours on me in it's different stages. It's great on a rainy day, just don't put it on anything you really need, or you WILL EAT YOUR HANDS. That's practically a guarantee. Hand eating juice. Oh god. I've entered shitposting reviews already.