LiberAmoris

No matter how many chocolate scents I try from the Lab, I always want more. Chad smells like hot chocolate, specifically a packet of instant hot chocolate. I have plenty of happy memories of instant hot chocolate from camping and early winter morning lifeguarding shifts, so this works for me.

Blóðughadda is so much lighter than I expected. The strongest notes are amber and clove. The fig, oud, patch, and saffron trail. It's a really beautiful mix, drying down quickly to a clovey figgy amber. There's almost no throw on me, but it's a nice close skin scent. My favorite of the new Carnavals!

Daybreak is just as described—a downy blend of lavender, vanilla, and coconut. The coconut is really subtle. Like TKO, this would be a great sleep scent. I think it would also make a great 'stay in my PJs until the afternoon' scent, as it's just so mellow and lovely.

I've never seen (or smelled) a Bluebonnet in the wild, but the single note is beautiful. I'm getting a watery blue floral and some of the green of the stem and leaves. I'm not good at describing floral notes, but this smells to me like if a less sweet honeysuckle was crossed with freesia. It's very pretty.

White Fir SN smells like crushed fir needles and a bit of pitch, and has the warmth of the wood notes as well. It does have a natural sweetness to it, the way pine resin or sap has a natural sweetness. The smell of evergreens is really relaxing to me, so I can imagine dotting this on to unwind or bumping up Yule or other scents with a bit of evergreen oomph.

Bumping to say that White Fir single note (still available as of this post!) is just beautiful. It smells like crushed fir needles and a bit of pitch, and has the warmth of the wood notes as well. Totally sates my need for an evergreen single note in my collection.

Lilith expressing herself at the V&A: cardamom-dusted cupcakes. Wearing My Little Grotesque tonight because I wanted something dessert-y for my post-work BPAL scent. I love this one as much as Cake Smash, and wear it when I want a good dose of cardamom and yellow cake. This is the most cardamom-forward BPAL scent I've ever tried, and it makes me want to seek out even more scents with the note. I get vanilla frosting on the drydown...heavenly.

"The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric point in the dark hollow of his hand. Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you have got?" "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though it were putty." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. Dazzling blue musk, white juniper, iris pallida, white oudh, and sugar crystals. The Countess of Morcar's Blue Carbuncle is like pale, sweet, blue incense on me. Blue musk always smells like aqueous musk on my skin, like something watery and a touch floral melded to musk. Here it does dazzle, but the juniper and iris help temper it, while the white oudh and sugar crystals bring a hefty dose of sweetness and incense. On the drydown, the juniper and iris continue to develop and cut through the sugar—a welcome progression. I like this, but it may end up being just a touch too sweet for my tastes these days. Lovely blue fragrance, though, and the juniper is especially nice. There's definitely a shimmering effect here that captures this fictional gemstone well.

Rice flower, white cream, tea roses, abalone accord, white moss, beeswax, tuberose, and red currant. I think this might be my favorite of the Lupers I ordered this year. It feels opalescent to me, with hints of color—like white streaked with fine pinks and reds. The rice flower, cream, and rose are the most recognizable notes, with the abalone adding a hint of salty tang and the moss gently grounding everything. The beeswax, tuberose, and red currant are very subtle. In the bottle I can smell the florals much more clearly than on my skin. On the drydown it's absolutely beautiful and incredibly delicate—and the kind of blend that even people who are a little wary of floral notes might enjoy, because everything is so well-blended. It has cream, but it's not foody. It has florals, but it's not stridently floral (at least on me!). It has abalone and red currant, but it doesn't smell of the sea or dark berries. It smells like cloudy light through white, pulled-down shades, and the intimacy of skin on skin. The closest comp I can think of is To Helen, from the 2008 Lupers...also a favorite of mine. And it reminds me a bit of Chaste Moon. It shares a creamy, dreamy quality with both of those blends—and yet, of course, it has a distinct and luminous voice of its own. Tough to describe but definitely worth trying. ETA: Absolutely my favorite from my Lupers order, and it's hard to keep myself from wearing this every day!

Ugh, I love coconut and my only wish is that I'd stocked up on The Poem of the Pillow. The coconut and bergamot together is so simple and so lovely—coconut-forward on my skin but the bergamot definitely tempers it for the first hour or so. Foodie but also very wearable for me, and makes a fantastic summer scent. Vacation in a bottle!

Eat the Strawberries is SUPER STRAWBERRY. Like a strawberry with a cape. I genuinely enjoy the purity of this, but I have to be ready for the fabulously strawberry day that I will have if I dot this on in the morning. Strawberries and sugar, like the filling for a pie. Delicious, but opt-in is required.

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Key Lime Pie bath oil sounded like it might be nice on mornings when I need something a bit zippy and foody to get me going. And this is perfect. The lime isn't too bracing here, it's really just a great mix of sweet limes and something creamy, with a hint of a graham cracker crust. So fun!

Marshmallow Cookie Pie bath oil leans a bit more milk chocolatey on me than the perfume...this is a lighter chocolate, with more marshmallow fluff. I also catch a tiny bit of coffee in here, and I'm not sure if it's just my imagination or my skin chemistry, but it makes the chocolate even more substantive. Very yummy and super fun scent. I'll enjoy having this in my weekend rotation this winter.

I didn't order Buck Moon when it was first released in 2005, and I was so sorry I didn't because the reviews sounded like something I would love. I was quicker on the draw this time around, and I'm so glad! This is just lovely. An amplification of one's natural musk, indeed. This is a skin scent on me, one that melds almost immediately and radiates a kind of comforting warmth. It's a golden musk on my skin, and the rest of the notes trail like suggestions. I do get a bit of forest herbs and pine pitch. The deer fur note is practically downy. And the warm evening air and crystalline spark—there like a halo. This scent reminds me of my birthday last year in Napa Valley. I was celebrating a delayed 40th (couldn't get away the year before), and my husband and I went to a very lovely, super private place in the hills. It was June, sunny, warm, and dry. The deer roamed the hills and crossed in front of our cabin at dawn and dusk. On my birthday, I put on zero makeup and wore a low-cut, pinot-colored dress. I swanned around on the deck drinking wine, watching the sun set, and feeling so happy I could die. This smells like that sun, the deer, the scrubby pines dotting the hillside, and the simplicity of a bare face.

I was really hoping I'd love Fuck You, Said the Raven—the notes sounded right up my alley. And I do love it! This might be my favorite dark violet blend from the Lab yet. It smells more smooth than gravelly on me, although I get a bit of an asphalt note on the drydown (that totally might be my overactive imagination). I love violets, but often they skew a little too strong or too sweet on me...here, they're plunged into a shadowy vat of resiny blurring agents that keep them from being too much. The myrrh and resiny-myrrh-y opoponax bring a gently herbal-sweet, almost hay-like and pitchy set of notes, and the black patchouli gives everything a coating of a dark, opaque sheen. The oak leaf is light on me, just a bit of that leafy tang. Overall, this smells like dark purple, softly violet incense on me, and it's got strong projection and lasting power...just a small dab or two needed.

Of such passion, I could form no estimate: sanguine red musk, red benzoin, wild plum, vetiver tar, and Indonesian patchouli beneath a still pool of sheer white musk and vanilla-gilded lily. The Tumultuous Vultures of Stern Passion is such a wonderful surprise. I was seriously worried about the vetiver tar, because vetiver just doesn't do it for me, and 'vetiver tar' sounds like pretty strong vetiver. I can definitely smell it here, and for those who are really sensitive, it still may too much for them, but I personally think it's absolutely beautiful in this blend. It adds something rooty, earthy, green, almost citrusy...that comes down like a slender green spike through the other notes swimming around it. The red musk is mellow here, with the benzoin adding a resiny, woodsy base. The patchouli is very subtle. The plum brings sweetness and a bit of tartness. The white musk and vanilla-ed lily add a lighter, floral layer that gives a lot of depth and complexity. At times I catch a phantom note of very faint leather and I'm not sure what could be causing that, but it's not at all unpleasant. The lily and vanilla actually come forward as I wear this one, peaking about an hour after application. As with the other Ligeias I've tried, this feels like a classic, well-blended perfume that an Art Nouveau heroine would wear. I'll treasure my bottle.

Vanilla Orchid is a gorgeous floral. I've always assumed that the smell of the single note alludes to the scent of the flower itself, rather than a compound with the scent of the vanilla pods produced by the same plant. Even so, I always catch the tiniest hint of something vanillic in the note that might just be my imagination. The orchid note smells warm and slightly waxy, sweet and gently tropical. There's a humidity and a thread of pleasant sharpness that also runs through it. This will be a go-to for me this summer!

Black based multichromatic that shifts from gold to bronze to green. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!

Scorched orange holographic creme. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!

A pale, sunny lemon-yellow sheen with a touch of scattered holographic. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!

Pale pink jelly-like finish packed with iridescent Easter Grass flake. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!

Multichromatic flake that shifts from red to orange to gold seeped in dark steel micro flake. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!

Cabreuva and blood red rose with myrrh, cypress, black jasmine, clove, and 7-year aged patchouli. Oh my goodness, the MYRRH. If you love myrrh, you should definitely give Death is Venus to Her a try, because it's very pretty here and definitely the star on my skin. Wet, this is red rose and myrrh in what smells like equal proportion, with the clove adding a lot of character and the black jasmine closely behind but beautifully in check. If patchouli wasn't a listed note, I'm not sure I would pick it up, although there is something smooth filling in all the gaps so that might be the aged patchouli. I had to look up Cabreuva, which is apparently a tropical tree with an EO that's similar to balsam of Peru. Dry, this is myrrh rounded off with rose and clove. The jasmine is there, just at the edges, adding sweetness. It's giving me flashbacks of a friend of mine from college, who always seemed so sophisticated because she wore very expensive attar or rose and smoked clove cigarettes. As you might imagine, she smelled amazing and the best thing in the world was to borrow one of her sweaters. The myrrh here is really stellar. It's part churchy, part sexy—sacred and profane! I think this will also age magnificently, and I intend to hang on to my bottle long enough to find out.

So good. I love the smell of lime, and Sri Lankan Lime is a smooth, zippy, bright lime that makes my mouth water! It's such a mood lifter and I've been dabbing on a bit while working to help me wake up/focus. I splurged on two bottles and don't regret it. I also imagine it will be a great layering oil to play with.