Tank Battle

Dirty, filthy, sexy, bubblegum. I have been feigning to smell this one and wow.. I bought the last full bottle instantly. One whiff and I was completely fascinated. My friends were also quite taken with this unique and complex blend. At first, we didn’t like it quite honestly... but we kept sniffing our wrists and couldn’t stop. It ended up becoming a very nostalgic, unique journey of a scent. My friend and I started firing off the mental imagery this scent conjured up for us. “A Vietnam vet is jacking off to posters of pin up girls from back in his day, his room is covered in old scrap metals and arsenal” “A 1940’s war nurse is serving Coca Cola to her patients and surrounded by wounded soldiers and taking care of them. The smell of bubblegum, Coca Cola, gun powder and blood” And my interpretation or visual image was a young couple years ahead in the future, cyberpunk. Hanging out in an old junk yard, she’s chewing bubble gum and spits it out on the ground and gives a bj and washes his taste down with Coca Cola. It’s both nostalgic and futuristic. Classic and progressive. The contradictions are what captivate but the blending of it is seamless like a montage of moments that creates the full essence and picture. Im not sure what the picture is but it’s a masterpiece. It smells like dirt and patchouli at first spritz, which is the most polarizing part I think, it’s a deep rich earthen patchouli, kind of damp and wet, then the bubblegum saunters in and really holds your attention, where it almost develops into that Coca Cola syrupy sticky sweetness that is also quite dampened and “wet” smelling, then you get this haunting almost melancholic metallic note that is unexpected and creates an element of danger and bodily fluid. But it sort of crystallizes into a powdery metallic and the bubblegum in there almost reverses from spit out and chewed up into a brand new stick of gum covered in a metallic powder. I can’t quite place what this scent does to me. But it definitely turns heads and gets compliments, it’s polarizing but also swaying. Some will hate it and inevitably become obsessed with it.

Why did I not love Tank Battle until now? I'd tried it on paper in Lush stores a couple of times, and found it rather repulsive, one of those weird Lush fragrances that are just a bit too out there, even for a weirdo such as myself. I wasn't getting any bubblegum sweetness, just dirt. Now I do like a dirty perfume, but generally an animalic dirtiness or something that reminds me of nature. But all I was getting was wet soil, and not a clean forest floor kind of soil, more of a polluted city soil. Just nasty. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, and I finally felt brave enough to try it on skin. Instantly I regretted this, and was rather upset at having to walk around the shops with this stink on me. BUT... twenty minutes later, oh my goodness! Beetroots!!! Sweet, earthy beetroot, and wet soil still, but a rich, composty allotment soil. Still weird but actually not unpleasant. Another few minutes and the bubblegum kicks in. The kind of bubblegum we had in the seventies, that was supposed to be fruity but wasn't like any actual fruit, a weird chemical approximation of fruit, and you would stuff your mouth full of it and blow the hugest pink bubbles. The dry down is sweet patchouli, and lasts for several hours. I found myself sniffing my arm every few minutes and asking myself, do I actually like this or not? By the end of the afternoon the answer was absolutely yes. Quick return to Lush for a purchase. On skin it's constantly changing, rotating between the beetroot, soil, and bubblegum. It's kind of witchy, but not a traditional earthy forest witch - think young, urban, neurodivergent, indie witch. I wore it in a crowd a couple of days ago and noticed a couple of people turn around and knew it was Tank Battle that turned their heads, which was confirmed when they asked what I was wearing. One woman said she'd never smelled anything like it and I had to agree. Still not sure if she loved or hated it! For me this is LOVE and I never want to be without it.

This is just one of those scents i love so much i can't bear to find a fitting description of it. My favorite lush scent ever. Maybe favorite perfume ever, period. And not because the scent is the best thing I've ever smelled, because there are millions of things out there that smell at least equally amazing. I love it because it's human. It's earthy. It smells of nature. It doesn't hover around you as perfume normally does, it blends beautifully with the scent of your skin and gets stronger whenever you're warm. It smells exactly like you'd expect patchouli, clove and labdanum to smell with a hint of spicy hubba bubba bubblegum. It smells of damp soil and cold metal. It smells like a musty thrift store where insence is burned on a regular basis even though insence is nowhere to be found in these notes. That's probably just the patchouli giving off crusty hippie vibes. :) This is me in a bottle. It's like lush took a peek inside my brain and created something just for me. Something entirely unpopular and slightly dirty yet highly nostalgic. Unfortunately as happens with lush fragrances, my latest bottle differs in longevity and even texture of the juice. Its more watery and very fleeting. Wich can happen with different batches. (edit: i found a great deal online and bought a bottle from someone who wanted to get rid of her unused bottle and this batch is totally like i remembered it should be. Dark, syrupy and long lasting. So Make sure to check the batch you buy in store!) I feel like this is slightly overpriced even though it smells like it could be way more expensive. I know a lot about lush, i know how they operate and therefore i just know it didn't cost them that much to create this, that they needed to demand a 100 bucks a bottle. Even though i would pay anything to smell like this, its still kinda uncool. Anyway, price point asside. Love of my life this one.

my lush coworkers and I are currently embroiled in a standoff between tank battle. half of us love it, half of us hate it. no in betweens, no switzerlands, no neutral parties, nothing. I’m very clearly on the side of tank battle. I’ve tried this perfume even before working in lush and I adored it at first sniff. something about a bubblegum/candy scent really pulls me in, so I love stuff like moschino’s toy 2, tuberose perfumes (amouage and mancera are currently fighting out top spot), and mugler’s angel on the rare days it leans more cotton candy on me. this perfume however is so different and so fun. it smells like an alleyway behind the drag bar, when every drag queen is currently on a smoke break in the rain; lots of perfumes combine into a sweet scent that borders on sickly, and the wet concrete smells like inky, dusty mildew and discarded cigarette butts. there’s something so charmingly pretty about this perfume, despite its general offputting presence that causes the store staff standoff; it’s quite a sweet soft fragrance that has an intensity and a twist that brings it to another level. I guess my love for babycat and black orchid really influences my love for tank battle; something so pretty about an earthy, gives no fucks perfume. longevity is, as usual, amazing. sprayed it right before going home from my shift, got home at 9pm and slept, woke up at 8am, and it’s still on my skin. sillage is great, I feel like I’m in a big pink bubble, but of course it goes slowly downwards into a softer skin bubble that I can still smell from an arms length. only gripe is that the juice is dark and has a similar problem to Lust and Karma, so I have to spray this BEFORE wearing white. which tbh is not a super big problem. new signature to add to the rotation, and I will carry my tank battle defender title with HONOR!!

I heard a lot of praise about Tank Battle, so decided to go to Lush to try it myself. I sprayed my wrists and upon sniffing my thoughts were "what the f***, nah, I'm outta here". It smelled like rot and mud. I had no idea what the noise was about. I left Lush and kept going about my day. Went shopping here and there then took a train back home. It was a hot day so I kinda assumed taking public transport won't be the most pleasant experience. I sat down and immediately smelled something out of this world. Started to look around trying to figure out who the heck smells so divine. Turned out it was my own wrist. Fresh from the bottle it smells like... a story about imprisoned unicorn. There's a metal doors and wet, forgotten basement someone commited murder years ago. There are rusty chains, hardly any light and blood stained mattress. And there's a chained unicorn there, with shiny, soft hair waiting for the rescue. Call me nuts, that's what it is. Saying "bubblegummy soil/tin spray scent" just doesn't give it any justice. After some time there is a lot of bubblegum (not sickly sweet), cloves and some comforting warmth which lasts ages in clothes and skin. This is art in a bottle. Art some people won't understand cause let's face it - this scent is bold and WEIRD, but just like with art, some will appreciate it, some won't like it and that's OK. Never, ever blind buy that one though. It is a great reminiscence of old Lush oozing with passion and ambition with unique, weird in a way, whimsy and magnetic fragrance rather than making shallow sickly sweet gourmands to cater their tiktok audience. Glad it hasn't been discontinued yet. Two bottles in, I don't think I'll ever get bored with this one.

Every time I visit the Oxford Street store I used to give myself a spray of this perfume so I can marvel at its weirdness, and wish I could justify purchasing a 100ml bottle. Having seen it described everywhere as an autumn leaning scent and definitely *not* best suited to summer was even more of a reason not to buy it, as I'm strictly a Sappho girl from September to April. However on a horribly humid day in June I had my customary spray (or seven) of this, made my purchases and left the store, and whatever alchemy happened between Tank Battle, the hot sun and the 89% humidity in the air convinced me to do a literal u-turn on the pavement and go straight back to buy it. The rich patchouli at the base of the perfume smelled instantly sexy and mature, with the classically weird bubblegum note still present to keep things interesting. Cold rain on hot metal and warm earth made my skin feel like a sanctuary from the heat rather than out of place in it, reminding me of a dank, cool, shaded place when the heatwave finally breaks and the heavens open. Not your typical summer scent by any means, but Tank Battle feels like a distant cousin of Sappho and her 'sexy weirdo' vibe, which seemed fitting given that most 'summery' scents leave me wanting something a bit more strange. Whether I'll be able to alternate the two in the cooler months - relegating Sappho from signature scent to part of a rotation - remains to be seen, but Tank Battle might be the weirdest and best summer perfume I've ever used.

this perfume does not care about smelling linear, clean, or inoffensive. it stinks in the best way! Hot, pink, bubblegum upon first spray. Its sickly sweet, metallic, and overpowering. Let it settle on warm skin for a bit and it will get deeper and reveal its earthiness, with whispers of green moss slowly developing, before turning into funky wet dirt and exposed upturned rock on freshly plowed earth. It smells like a rock cave with water flowing down a rock wall covered with a thick layer of water plants and wet moss. Or an old, huge, fountain in the middle of an abandoned green house that's filled with old algae on mossy green water and plant vines crawling around it. It's weird but in a good way, the sweetness of the bubblegum stays but it transforms from smelling metallic, freshly spat, sticky, and wet to a more pleasant muted powdery bubblegum scent. This perfume's sillage is LOUD, attention seeking, whorish. It's overpowering even with just a spray or two so be warned! It stays all day and night too, and will last on clothes for days. I always need a shower after wearing this cause I feel like I stink, but in a surprisingly pleasant way. I find this to be the most complex and ever changing perfumes that Lush has in their perfume library. Absolutely love it and I treasure smelling like a zombie who just broke through my crypt in the graveyard just to go to the corner store to chew some gum.

Oh. my. GOD!!!! My love for this has come into my heart, ATTACKING and MAULING after a single test in store.. I might have to ask if they have samplers in store, I genuinely hope I can save up enough to buy a bottle before they go out of stores & get discontinued. May become one of my top shelf favorites. It's like ravenous digging by a wild creature of the night through steel & dirt, with moss & strapnel flying. It's the most realistic "forest-y", "natural earth" scent I have ever smelled, even compared to some others I have tried in the past.. Definitely hints of beet added in to add dirt-esque depth to it, although sadly in my testing bubblegum is not really in there. Maybe I'm just missing it or it's just enough to add sweetness to the overall scent but not enough to identify it within this fragrance's application. Usually I can be really wordy about my reviews, but GOSH this has left me speechless. I will have to update this if I ever get my hands on this so I can be more in depth after some long-term use. This is one of the perfumes I recommend NOT layering with anything, if layering is your thing. Let it shine on it's own, it's best on it's own; like a lone wolf. EDIT (12/21/2023): I have recently purchased this and being able to smell it on it's own outside of a store, the bubblegum is immensely more apparent, I could not ask for better.

I've been trying to get more into perfumes that feel more like art than the usual commercial perfumes that I love. This is for sure a perfect example of perfume as art. This is what I imagine when I smell this... it's a cloudy day and a girl is walking around a sketchy part of an American metropolitan city, she reaches for the bubblegum in her mouth and sticks it on the top of the coca cola she just bought from the drugstore. She leans against the wall outside the liquor store and stands watching the cars go by. There's a guy smoking a cigarette a couple feet away. I know that most people voted this as unisex but I find it more feminine if anything. The thing I smell the most is like this bubblegum coca cola smell which I love. But it also smells like concrete and something kind of smokey. It's not an ultra girly smell maybe more of a grungey, indie sleaze girl smell but it for sure leans more feminine in my opinion. I see how this can be a polarizing smell when it comes to personal wear, but overall I feel it wouldn't offend too many people if someone were to wear this out. It reminds me of the music of Crystal Castles and Grimes, chipped nail polish and old converse.

I’ve never smelled a perfume like this before. I’m sure for some people this would be uncomfortable, but that really is what I love about it. This means all I have are analogies to describe something new, so here we go: Scent shifts back and forth, with a light fuzz of bubble gum (Bazooka, of course!) consistent through the shifts. It hovers like a haze, like mist. Underneath the haze, loamy, earth predominates on me, and I love it—decomposing leaves on the forest floor. Every so often, a scent pushes through that I think could read as something metallic/synthetic, but it quickly recedes. Even when it presents itself, it smells of earth, as if it’s an old piece of painted metal that’s been buried and just excavated. I don’t get fresh spray paint. It reminds me of nature reclaiming something abandoned in the forest long ago, and I find it comforting. It reminds me of my childhood, spending summer playing in the woods under an old railroad trestle. Smell of trees, earth, wet rocks, whiffs of gum coloring it all, then the occasional train rumbles through with a screech, and disappears.

A very unusual and beautiful scent. It personally reminds me of a cross between incense and sweet banana. It's so mysterious and strange that it should only be worn at night and in autumn. It's the evening of a festival and after a long day of drinking in the sun, you stumble into a giant multicolored tipi. The hazy smell of nag champa hits you, along with the musky smell of the colorful patchwork furniture and tapestry hanging along the walls. Predominant colors are maroon red, sunshine yellow, cream and pops of turquoise. There are other people in the tent smiling, relaxing and meditating. You feel removed from modern-day and it's comforting. You're led into the back through a rug-door, down a long canopy corridor and into a new tipi with loud music and a bar. The colors are black and red. This time, it's [people dressed as] vampires dancing to rave music (think blood rave scene in 1998's 'Blade'). It's quite freaky but you like it? Maybe they put a spell on you... either way, you're gonna go order a rum and coke and get your neck sucked by some hot dude in the corner...

This is a beast of a fragrance for me. The sillage is strong and the longevity is pretty good. By the 12th hour, I can still smell this on myself without holding my wrist or my clothing up to my nose. But one must know what they are getting themselves into with Tank Battle itself – to me, the overall fragrance (especially in the first couple of hours) smells like wet cement, nail polish and really, really ripe corn. I think the sweetness most people associate with bubblegum is what's probably translating to me as the smell of ripe corn, particularly when you rip the husk leaves off a corn after harvesting it. It's wet and watery and you can smell the sweetness of the corn from that water. Overall, Tank Battle smells industrial with a hint of sweetness. Not blind buy safe, it would be helpful to try this in a physical Lush store if it's possible to see how it wears. But if you're looking for a weird perfume that isn't floral or herbal or smokey (as I notice most of this genre of perfumes tend to lean that way), this is a great option for that!

This smells a bit like a zoo to me. I haven’t been to a zoo in decades, so I’m not sure which areas it resembles most, but it has that heated animal quarters vibe with the smell of wildlife, earthiness and nature. It might be where the alligators are or the snakes. It’s definitely humid and hot. The scent wafts of my body. It’s strong and almost penetrant, but weirdly good. I had to really try to smell the bubblegum everyone is talking about, but now that I’ve picked up on it, I can’t unsmell it. This is not a sweet fragrance though. The bubblegum really plays a supporting role. Unlike in the much sweeter and easier to wear Lord of Misrule, with its vanilla and cola sweetness. This is a beast, not just for its performance and monster silage, but because it smells like a beast. The, natural, dirty. It’s rare, it’s pure, it’s weird, and it smells dangerous, like the humid air before a thunder storm , and it smells so so sexy. Not in a pretty easy, but I’m a rare, untamed sexual power way. I love it.

Love this. Bought this blind second hand, still in date, and its delicious! Opens with pink bubblegum hubba bubba with a strange, bottom of an abandoned metal container left to fill with rain water smell in the background. This goes away quite fast, leaving the fragrance to mellow into a big round floral gourmand. i have a body chemistry that is very good with heavy, sweet scents, they become more rounded and softer and this is no exception. So I think your success with this perfume is largely dependent on how your body reacts with it. Its gourmandy slightly spicy soft florally and just a delightful sensuous bubblegum pink cloud with a hint of darkness. Yum yum. UPDATE: love it even more over time; its truly unique with the pink bubblegum fronting the deep resin and the hint of metal - not smelled anything like it. I could bathe in this stuff. Definitely a female fragrance and like with many Lushes, misleading name. Marshmallow resins, soooo gorgeous.

Lush Tank Battle opens intense and sharp: a disorienting yet strangely alluring mix of syrupy bubblegum, cold metal, and petrichor. As it dries down, the sharpness relents and gives way to a softer, hazy, and hypnotic blend of spices, patchouli, and moss, evocative of a less floral, earthier Sikkim Girls (also by Lush). Wearing this scent while going for a walk in a densely wooded ravine leading to a cemetery conjured up imagery from Edward Burne-Jones’ painting ‘The Briar Wood’: a frenzied yet tranquil tableau of armoured knights surrendered in sleep, their metal-encased bodies twisted and tangled in a forest overflowing with pink-white flowers and serpentine vines. For all of its darkness and occasional harshness (even the liquid itself is a deep wine-brown that stains the skin), the scent is more meditative than melancholic or mournful. Tank Battle’s seductive murkiness blurs the line between war and peace, finding an ambivalent beauty in both.

I love this scent, it's bold and unusual, quite earthy with a sweet almost bubblegum note. I will note though that when I'd initially tried it on in the store and wore it around for the day I got a lot more of the metallic vibe coming through which is what made me purchase - but my own bottle doesn't seem to have this same metallic edge, unsure of why this is though. The fragrance can stain / leave a mark on light coloured clothing, I'd initially got this as an option for a weirder every day scent but it turns the inside of my white shirt collar yellow after a day's wear. I've spoken about this with staff in store and it is unfortunately because of the natural ingredients in the perfume. Still love the fragrance but only wear it with black/dark clothing. I occasionally layer it with some of my other scents and it helps to add a level of complexity and uniqueness.

This perfume takes the rule book of perfumery and rips it to shreds. The stagnant stink of a mouldy old water tank, with a sharp metallic tone and a blast of sweet bubblegum. It paints a luminous smile on my face with stupid paint. Not at all fresh in terms of it's scent, but very fresh in terms of it's concept. This is art you can wear. It is only for the bold olfactory explorer; if you enjoy shitvage and other such benign, overdone tosh, you will not appreciate this beautiful and bombastic scent at all. It steals hearts and changes minds, with an eternal longevity and supreme sillage. Just a few squirts is more than enough for the whole day and night. The story behind it's creation only adds to it's beauty and reason for being. I praise Lush for their work here; it is a glowing unicorn in a sea of tired old nags. 10/10. I love it a lot.

I've just spritzed this on my wrists again after a few months of not wearing it. I want to see if, when my son comes downstairs, he asks what the smell of mould is again 😂 On me the dry-down of this is just exquisite. But if you find the first hour or so too challenging, you'll sadly never experience it. You definitely have to be in the right mood & setting for it. If you're the kind of person that doesn't care about what people around you think & you wear fragrances because you & you alone love them, & you happen to love this, ENJOY! 😉 Still waiting on my son to appear & utter those words 🤣 Update: He never did! And I've worn it often since that day 😉 Recently sprayed Golden Pear Body Spray & Tank Battle in the same room. He walked in & wondered what it was because "mmmmmm yeah it smells lovely!". 🤭❤️

I love this scent, certainly not for everyone. This is also my first perfume so please bear with my amateur review. Gorgeous wet soil/metallic scent up front followed by a spicy sweet bubblegum hit. Currently smelling it on myself in the morning after spraying last evening I find that the bubblegum note is actually a combo of the spicy and sweet accords. After drying down on my skin, I find the earthy notes fade first, then the spicy, leaving me with the sweet corn scent mentioned by others. When sprayed in areas where some of the perfume ended up on my clothes, the earthy and metallic smell lasted longer. Overall a really unique fragrance that evolves beautifully during the dry down. Wearing it is a full experience unlike anything I’ve ever tried. I love it!

Someone described this as loud and whorish and it definitely is for the first hour or so and the first hit is just pure bubblegum. After that though the clove starts to seep in and it starts smelling like fresh spray paint which I never thought would actually come through for me. After about four hours it becomes earthy and warm (I think from the patchouli and clove) however by this point it is near enough a skin scent. This skin scent phase lasts forever though, I sprayed it on my hand at 12 pm and could still smell the warm earthy notes come 11 am the next day. This fragrance is weird in the best way, like that overly eccentric uncle or aunt that everyone has. Infact that’s exactly who I can imagine wearing this. I love it.