LiberAmoris
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Everything posted by LiberAmoris
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Cottonmouth is really such a gorgeous and elegant incensey floral. At first I don't smell Snake Oil per se in here, but I can feel its presence, bringing down the brightness of the florals like a wash of sepia. But a half hour later, the familiar slither emerges on my wrist. And the resulting combination smells like a bank of lilies scalloped in the kind of golden sunlight that opens things up to their fullest capacity while pressing their smells close to the ground, the kind of warmth that has weight. Definitely a keeper.
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Oooh, Boomslang! This stuff is serious business. As others have said, this is some good sh*t. It's like cocoa-rolled Snake Oil, and the teakwood gives it depth while the rice milk gives it almost a grain-like creaminess. It's exotic, it's hypnotic, and it's the kind of blend that inspires misbehavior. I may need to get a little extra of this for aging. It's that good.
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Coral Snake is all about Beth's incredible apple note. I love that note, it's so crisp and warm and juicy and lovely. So Coral Snake is right up my alley. I have a hard time picking out the Snake Oil until this begins to dry down, and then about an hour into it, there it is, and the resulting mix of apple and orange and florals with Snake Oil is pretty great. This will definitely be perfect in the autumn, it's like apple cider with spices.
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Temple Viper is making it difficult for me to concentrate at work today. It's like all the lovely churchy resins from blends I love like Cathedral and Jacob's Ladder mixed with Snake Oil, and the combo is so good. The vaulted and spiritual feel of religious incense is held in tension with the sexy earthiness of SO, and the result is a resiny cloud of happiness! Good stuff.
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Snow-Flakes really captures the nature of a snowflake---the downy, delicate, lacy, soft, ephemeral nature of a snowflake, and that kind of quiet peace. There is a definite resemblance to Snow White here, although Snow-Flakes has a (more) prominent mint note and the snow/slush notes are much stronger. The mint in Snow-Flakes is strong enough for me to taste in my mouth when I breathe it in from my skin, although it's certainly not overwhelming in the blend at all. This is a beautiful blend, and I have a feeling I'll be wearing it often in the next couple of months. I think it will also be wonderful in the summer as a cooling, refreshing scent.
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The Snow Maiden is just so pretty. It's an elegant white floral tipped with ice but with something definitely warm and glowing at the center that gives it a bit of radiance. It doesn't last very long on my skin, but I'm so happy that the ylang ylang behaves itself here (as it is not normally wont to do) that I wouldn't mind reapplying halfway through the day.
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The Winter of Our Discontent is the most surprising of the Yules I've tried so far. The first time I wore it, I was kind of overwhelmed by the layers of the blend and the fact that it stayed pretty complex through the drydown. But after a few more tries, I feel won over. First on, I get the orange, clove, smoke, and rosewood, with the balsam around the edges. The orange makes it feel high and bright, but as that evaporates, the darker notes emerge and begin to swallow things up and chuff off a kind of dimmed rosy incense. The dark musk and the myrrh make a kind of unholy and wonderful pairing, and the smoke drifts over everything the way it does for me in blends like Hexennacht or Devil's Night. This does feel like a serious blend, like something historic and grave. A great capture of the inspiration.
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Mmmmm, red musk. Red musk sends shivers down my spine in such a good way. Krampus is primarily loads of red musk, with the leather, dusty rags, and green switches in thrall. It's kind of naughty! This is the kind of scent that I really enjoy---not on me, but on someone close to me.
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... Wine grapes, myrrh, frankincense and olive leaf, and the warm scent of offertory cakes. Halôa is really yummy---it absolutely does start off with the cheesecakey goodness of Beaver Moon, and then there's a rum raisiny note that I sometimes pick up from time to time in the foody blends, plus the sexy, bitter, earthiness of the olive leaf, a slosh of wine, and those divine resins at the bottom. Foody, but very wearable because of its complexity. (Actually I think this would be amazing on my boyfriend, and I'm making a mental note to put some on him tonight when we go out.) What this really reminds me of is the Yulekake (yule cake) that my Norwegian great-grandmother used to bake every year around this time, so Halôa is a definite keeper for that scent memory alone.
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The Darkling Thrush is so lovely---as lovely as the Hardy poem and then some. It's a deceptively simple blend---the snowy slush note, a touch of ozone, and then the amber, orris, and violet. But on the skin it takes on another dimensionality---I think it must be the amber that gives it a kind of suffused glow, like a tree irradiated with backlit light. There's also something here that feels like things moving towards the center, like winter and summer converging. It's appropriate for this year, as December's been so mild here that the cherry trees are blooming because they think it's spring already.
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Upon first applying Yule, I also get a heady blast of the verbena, and it's citrussy and bright for a few minutes before the other notes come forward. Then I can smell the evergreen, mistletoe, and juniper---and those are followed by the holly berry, the rose, and the resins. After about ten minutes, it's a very complex and seasonally delightful blend, one that I might not wear often through the season as a personal fragrance, but would love to use in my oil burner to perk things up and keep the inside of the apartment festive. It's really a wonderful bouquet of winter holiday smells, and it makes me feel cozy.
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Oooh, Black Ice definitely lives up to its name. I get the ice mingled with white slush and wind and the mineral glitter of the pavement. It reminds me a smidge of Black Opal, but as an aquatic, with the tiniest breath of ozone passing through it. As a perfume, it's much more wearable than one might think---and more subtle. It has both a 'clean' vibe to it and something darker, maybe that's the vetiver that's otherwise undetectable, at least to my nose. Fascinating!
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I never got a chance to try Herr Drosselmeyer last year, so I have nothing to compare this 2006 version to, but this is nice! On the one hand it smells like cherry tobacco, and on the other, like aniseed cookies. I have nice memories of pipe tobacco since my father used to smoke occasionally when I was a child, so this is very comforting. This might not be the kind of blend I'd wear often on myself, but I think it would be lovely in my oil burner or dotted onto some of the holiday decorations I have up. It's very atmospheric.
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Jólasveinar's been on my most-anticipated Yule blends list, because I love all things Icelandic and the combination of notes are so unusual, pulling together so much of what I enjoy about the holiday season. Well, it's a good thing that I have Jólasveinar, because there's been no snow or slush in NYC so far this year! Wearing it, I smell that snow/slush chord that I love, plus marshy, mossy notes like oakmoss---and then a peal of little bells that must be the buttercups and orchids. At the bottom is that caramelized sugar pastry note that is so yummy. It's all so balanced and harmonized and layered that I keep catching different facets of it. Very nice.
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Bitter Moon is definitely tangy on me, like ocean air mixed with grapefruit and blackberries. The lavender comes through like an herbal wash that gives the blend an interesting texture, outdoorsy and wild. And I'm grateful not to get much poppy, vetiver, or lotus root here--- just enough to keep things interesting. As it dries down, it smells more like tea, some fancy kind in a beautiful tin. It's bitter, but totally wearable. In fact, I think I'll wear this all day today.
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PURPLE PHOENIX Porphyrogenitus, indeed; we worked[/i] for it! Not simply the color of royalty, purple is also the color of sorrow and mourning, reconciliation and forgiveness. A regal, majestic, and somber blend of myrrh, plum blossom, African violet, cognac, fig, orris, lilac, wisteria, black plum, and Burgundy wine grapes. Purple Phoenix is deep purpley happiness in a bottle. It's like every blue and purple note I love, all rolled together with a depth and reach that's simply wonderful. This is definitely my fave of the Phoenixes, for sure. I'm not even that much of a grape fan, but it's so well tempered here by the other notes that it wins me over. The smell of this reminds me of the second stanza of Keats' Ode to a Nightingale: ...With beaded bubbles winking at the brim, And purple-stainèd mouth; That I might drink, and leave the world unseen, And with thee fade away into the forest dim... Purple Phoenix has the same sensual, soporific feel to me, like an opiate. Lovely.
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White Moon is like a half-memory of lilacs, which happily is the most prominent note for me. I get muted lilacs, purple and true, with the other notes creating a white hum in the background, like the singing of a blurry, almost glassy bar of music. It's unabashedly floral but understated and restrained. One of my bottles is going to be a gift for my mother, who also adores lilac. I hope she enjoys it as much as I do.
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Love-Lies-Bleeding is like a light chocolatey floral---with a dusting of something that comes across like berries on my skin. It's such an unusual but wonderful combination, and as it dries down, it just gets better and better. It feels red and white and lush. And there's a delightful creaminess here that seems to come from the interaction of the florals and chocolate that I just can't get enough of!
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Loralei is one perplexing blend. I don't smell any neroli, sandalwood or ylang ylang in here. On my skin this plays across like a salty aquatic, briny and full of sea air. It's amazing how notes interact with each other to create such an amazing effect! I'm not a huge fan of the aquatic category so I think ultimately this is one I will pass on to someone else. But I remain quite impressed by the blending artistry!
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I'm a serious musk fiend, so Dragon's Musk was a must-try. And I have to say, this is very nice. I love the musks (yum yum yum) and the dragon's blood makes a nice companion. I think this would be great for a sexy, second-skin blend, or as a mixer with something that needs a little oomph.
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If I had to pick just one BPAL autumnal blend for which I would forsake all others, I have to say, I think I might pick Pumpkin Queen. This is just awesome. It's like Jack perfected. The Egyptian amber, the orange peel, the fig leaf, the pumpkin---just wonderful, wonderful stuff. The ginger or cardamom makes my skin a bit irritated when I wear it on my neck, so I'll just keep it to my wrists, no problem. I am head over heels for PQ. I think I might need one more bottle before the Halloweenies disappear into the night.
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All Souls is like a subtler Midnight Mass on me---plus a smidge of cake. I really like the incensey part, but the woods come forward on my skin to the point that it gets a little overwhelming. I think this would be fantastic with just a dab of Eat Me to counteract my skin's proclivity to amp woods like it's going out of style. Late in the drydown All Souls gets very dusty on my skin and dry. I'm not sure this will work on me, but I'll definitely try it again.
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Punkie Night is another delightfully straightforward autumn blend, and I love the apple orchard and cider notes. The cranberry goes a bit weird when it hits my skin, so I think I might use this in the oil burner, during the Thanksgiving break, in order to get in the mood and scent the apartment with its deliciousness.
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Creepy is so much fun. I smell the coconut/rum combo that I love so much in Elegba, apple, and that caramel note that is so mouthwateringly delicious. I'm particularly excited about the caramel here, because in other blends it has not been as prominent or unadulterated as it is here. Total yum. I think I can content myself with one bottle, but it will get much wear and I hope this comes back next year.
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Horreur Sympathique totally exceeded my expectations. Blood musk is always so-so on me, honey can be a dealbreaker, and wine and grapes get amped to high heaven. But Horreur Sympathique is actually pretty lovely, and it's such a gorgeous late autumn kind of blend, warm and resiny and smoky. If you liked Chrysanthemum Moon, this is definitely worth a try. This is such a perfect blend for this time of year. I think I'll be wearing this one to work tomorrow.