LiberAmoris

Peppermint Cream Cupcake is mostly peppermint cream frosting on me, with just a bit of red velvet cupcake under it. The peppermint vanilla scent of the frosting stays true on me and I get more cake as it wears. I'm not sure red velvet and mint would be a combo I'd want to eat, but this smells great.

Sweet brandy, dark rum, heavy cream, sugar, and a dash of nutmeg. Vintage 2016: Even though Eggnog is a BPAL Yule staple, this is my first year trying it. Probably because I don't like drinking eggnog? But I hadn't considered that wearing it might be a whole different experience. What I like best is that it's heavy on the brandy and rum, yum. The heavy cream, sugar, and nutmeg do their best to balance out the booze, and they do a nice job of acting as counterweight. It smells like eggnog, and even though I'd never drink it, I'll absolutely wear it.

2016 vintage: Wow, this really is a pumpkin latte with a hit of cinnamon and nutmeg. The pumpkin isn't overwhelming on me; it's nicely balanced. The coffee note always gets a little weird on my skin, so I might use this in an oil burner next fall rather than trying to work it as perfume.

Love the Dickinson poem about how snow transfigures (and to the voice of the poem's mounting fascination/horror, erases), so was excited to try this. The notes are pale and pale brown. Frankincense and patchouli are the strongest notes on me, with the white sandalwood and white coconut providing a thin blanket of creamy, downy woods. Backup worthy.

If a vanilla cream soda transformed itself into an upscale perfume by wishing on a star, it would become Road to Versailles at Louveciennes. Cream vanilla is the headiest of the notes when first applied (it's almost fizzy), then I get the yummy brown sandalwood. There's an herbal quality to the blend that comes forward as it dries down, and the base of wintry musk also gets stronger with wear. An hour later, this is a creamy vanilla and sandalwood with musk and just a breath of petitgrain. Lovely.

Auroraphobia starts off with strong green musk, bergamot, and lavender. The agarwood and blue plum trail. There is something electrical and discomfiting about this in the way the eerie green musk is pierced by the lavender and bergamot like rays. It dries down to a spectral, citrusy green musk with hints of lavender. Really interesting!

Ecclesiophobia is like church incense at Easter. I'm loving the combo of frankincense and myrrh with labdanum and tolu balsam. Jasmine is my friend, so it doesn't bother me here. A keeper!

The Inexorable Finger is for those of us who love patchouli. This is a camphorous patch, earthy and real, followed by tangy oudh (always smells a bit like band-aids + wood to me), buffed to glisten and shine like obsidian. Seriously, if there was such a thing as a black patchouli stone, it would smell like this. On me, I got a lot of patchouli and it went sweeter than it smelled in the bottle. On my husband, an almost cedar-like note came out and it was less sweet. Smells good on the whole family!

Pediophobia is as beautiful as I suspected it would be. I get what smells like a straight split between white tobacco, vanilla, and cognac with a stony, mineral note backing it. It might be my nose playing tricks on me, but it also smells like there's a touch of white musk in here. It definitely has a powdery edge, like the texture on matte, unfinished porcelain. Lovely.

I'm loving Raspberry Sufganiyot. On me, I definitely get more of the raspberry jelly than the pastry, but I'm not complaining. This is such a great capture of that gooey, sticky jammy jelly at the heart of a powdered donut! A foody mood-lifter of a perfume, for days when I need a smile or just want to wear my dessert instead of eating it.

Four Seasons: Winter was the scent of my Christmas getaway this year (needed a bit of a breather from pretty much everything and everyone for a little while!). I think I wore this nearly every day. It's just so pretty. I love the apricot, blood orange, and lavender notes together, they're so bright and cheerful but not too sweet. The amber does give this a coat of something golden and warm, and the red benzoin chypre gives it a mossy, resiny bottom that helps this linger for hours after the fruits have dimmed a bit.

YUM. Gingerbread, Vanilla Sugar, and Pink Pepper is delicious. Each note is present and they marry together so well. Even though there's a vanilla sugar note in this, it's not overly sweet at all. Love this and the other two Yule 2016 Cotillion scents I picked up.

Pink rose, indeed. The First Rose is a perfect powdery pink rose with a tiny hint of stem and just a bit of dew. It smells just like leaning into a freshly picked bouquet. Super pretty and would be a great gateway BPAL gift for someone who loves roses.

The Sea of Ice is softer than I imagined it might be, with those shards of ice sheets stacking up in notes of chilly waters, gentle herbals (rosemary and lavender?), and the barest touch of something like mint. On my skin it reads almost like a more muted, less minty, more aquatic version of Stress Relief Elixir. When dry, it telegraphs as a clean scent with vague herbal undernotes.

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A Dusty Moth is such an unusual perfume...I don't think I've ever smelled anything quite like this before. The tuberose, black tea leaf, and orris collide in a way that smells sweet and slightly bitter and rooty, and then it's like that's powder-coated with a sooty, grey, slightly aquatic dust from the grey musk and ambergris. It's slightly fuzzy, like a moth's wing. At times this smells a bit aquatic (salty, tangy) because of the ambergris and at times it registers as a dusky floral because of the tuberose. As it dries down, I get more of the black tea leaf and then it smells more like a tea blend. Fascinating swirl of notes and very evocative!

Lydia, oh Lydia, say, have you met Lydia? On me this is sweet opium incense...it smells like a loose blend my boyfriend used to buy from a vendor on 14th Street when we first moved to NY. The patchouli is awesome, unabashed. There's a strong vetiver note that comes out on drydown, but even though vetiver isn't usually my friend, it's submerged here in the darkness of the other notes. I also get a phantom black coconut note that I quite enjoy. This smells like a shadow that turned into smoke.

MOUNT FUJI REFLECTED IN LAKE MISAICA An oakmoss chypre with black cypress, wild mint, labdanum, pine needles, white sandalwood, and white cedar. I'm reviewing Mount Fuji Reflected in Lake Misaica because I'm a little worried that it will be lost in the shuffle amongst the other Shungas this year, and I think it deserves a shoutout. This blend is like the palate cleanser to all the sweets and florals in the Lupercalia release. The best way I can describe this is green, as the most prominent notes when wet are oakmoss, black cypress, mint, and pine. The labdanum (which smells a bit like green-brown ambergris here), white sandalwood, and white cedar anchor this blend and come forward on the drydown. Wet, this is a cavalcade of mouthy greens, a little tingly due to the mint and the camphorous spangle of evergreens. As it dries, the oakmoss pushes forward like a marathoner. Fully dry, this is oakmoss chypre with white sandalwood and white cedar—pale woods and oakmoss. The mint and cedar do not amp on me in the slightest—the mint burns off early and the cedar is held in check by the oakmoss. If you love oakmoss...definitely try this one! It's like the cologne version of walking through the woods in early, early spring, when a cold snap is still possible and the evergreens are still bleating their song of survival over the trepidatious spring herbals. I'm going to put this bottle with my husband's collection, and convince him to wear it on our next evening out...and wear it myself, from time to time.

Apple cider and dry red wine with a glug of maple syrup and a generous scattering of ginger, clove, and cinnamon, garnished with apple and tangerine slices, and dotted with black peppercorns for warmth. Spiced Autumn Cider smells a lot like the mulled wine cider that I make during the holidays. Apple cider and a light, dry wine note are the base, and the ginger, clove, and cinnamon follow. The tangerine and black peppercorn notes are the most subtle on me, rounding things out and adding a slight juicy citrus note and slight additional spice. Wine is not always the best note on me, but it behaves well here and doesn't come across like wine in the way I'm used to...it smells fully mulled and more sedate. There is a faint alcoholic 'sparkle' to this, but it's not overwhelming. This smells fantastically seasonal, and I wish there was an atmo of the same scent! I may end up using this in my diffuser because it's just such a great smell to have in the air at this time of year.

Pale, moonlit musk, sea salt, and ambergris. I couldn't pass up a perfume with a moonlit musk note. The sea salt and ambergris make for a classic aquatic, but that moonlit musk really makes this wearable for me. As it dries down, it gets sweeter and brighter, until it smells less like a wave and more like a moonbeam...like it crashes over and over until it thins out and gets lighter. This is a clean smelling blend, the kind that I think I could easily wear a dot of to even the most scent-averse workplace.

Opulent gilded red musk and ivory-encrusted vanilla with orris root, smoked amber, red patchouli, and red oudh. Lady in Black is opulent and rich, seductive and decadent. This smells red and black with glints of ivory. There's a great balance in the notes here, so much so that it smells sanded down with no one note taking deep prominence. The red musk is warm and husky and sensual, the orris root adds a touch of violets, and the red patchouli and red oudh ground it and bring the equivalent of a raised eyebrow. And the smoked amber...oh my goodness, the smoked amber. I get the smoke mostly right after I spray, and it lifts quickly but remains an influencer. What a gorgeous note. I would absolutely wear this as a perfume, and will likely use up my bottle spraying clothes so that I can wear this on my person.

3-year aged patchouli, tree moss, rose thorn, leather, and vanilla oudh. The Thorny Path is mostly leather to my nose, but's a sophisticated leather with the other notes giving it a lot of dimension. The tree moss and rose thorn smell like oakmoss, a touch of rose, and a bit of some wood—and they make the leather smell outdoorsy and refined. The vanilla oudh gives a tang and warp to the blend, and I swear I can't detect the patchouli at all! I think I might be coming down with a cold, so it's entirely possible that my nose is broken right now. I sprayed our front hallway and it smells like a clean leather, upscale and rounded out by the other notes. Very nice!

VENUS VICTRIX Venus the Victorious Peru balsam and aged patchouli with white sandalwood, red musk, red roses, and wood moss. Venus Victrix is much softer than she sounds—on me this is patchouli and peru balsam right out of the gates, with the red musk and red roses coming forward on the drydown. The wood moss and sandalwood keep things grounded. After about 20 minutes, it's still mostly a resiny and woody blend, but the red roses give it a rosy, lush roundness. From the note list, I thought this might be a strong blend, but it's very soft with little throw. Definitely an intimate scent—the victory here is personal.

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Snowballs of hay absolute, tonka bean, honeyed oak, patchouli, chestnut blossom, and oudh. Fulvous Snow is absolutely beautiful. The snow note here is very faint on me, and comes across more as a slightly creamy, fluffy undernote to the amazing golden-brown, tawny play of notes above it. Wet, everything is seamlessly stitched together—there's no one note that jumps out and asserts itself on my skin. Instead, there are moments where I can smell something individual, but then it's immediately subsumed by what smells like ambered sunlight. After it's fully dried down, the patchouli, honey, and tonka pull forward a bit but stay close to the skin. This is one sexy snowball, my friends. Although there is a touch of something wintry here, I think this is one that I would happily wear year round. A backup bottle will be necessary.