LiberAmoris

The Song of Solomon is one of my favorite poems, so I have been waiting with bated breath for Lilium Inter Spinas. I was hoping for a lily blend that would love my skin, and I think this might work! I can smell all the notes here, but mostly the lily of the valley and green fig. The overall effect on my skin is of a very exotic, erotic lily of the valley, cross laced with the other florals, supported by the white sandalwood, and saturated with the apple blossom, which lifts this and gives it a poignancy that I always get out of that note. It's lovely and kind of sad and full of the kind of transience that I always get out of the poem. Very well done.

The Temptation is a very pretty, wistful floral. For some reason my skin is eating the notes with the exception of the peach blossom and musk, so this is mostly peach on me with just the tiniest hint of the other flowers. It's very gentle, the kind of BPAL that murmurs on my skin rather than shouts.

In our paean to all the mysteries surrounding this enigmatic number, there are thirteen lucky and unlucky components: cocoa and vanilla beans, Mysore sandalwood, star fruit, orange rind, red amber, fig leaf, mimosa, rooibos tea, bourbon geranium, rose otto, nutmeg, and lavender. Yum, this reformulated 13 rocks my socks! It's like a complicated creamsicle on me, with the chocolate and sandalwood and lavender all coming through at various moments and wafting about me. This is much better with my chemistry than the original 13, and when I wore it at work the other day everyone loved it. This 13 is sort of like Candy Butcher meets Kunstkammer meets Underpants on me, and I could not be happier.

Black Lily is such a glamorous lily---it’s like a slow pan in on a lily in film noir, set at the edge of a foyer table with a sunburst wallpaper behind it. Impeccably simple, yet complex enough to bedevil those who make the mistake of getting too close. I bought a bottle of this for one of my supervisors at work who loves lily, and she adores it.

I absolutely love Wilhelmina Murray. It's like the most heavenly and rounded tea rose on me, with subtle flashes of darkness and coy, sensual underpinnings. No one note stands out to me, but as it wafts about, I can catch strains of the dark musk, blackcurrant, myrrh and hyacinth. The dragon’s blood is very faint, serving to muddy up the blossoms a bit and add that ‘blood’ sensibility to the blend. This doesn’t last very long on me, but I’m happy to reapply through the day with something this lovely.

I had quite a jolt when I first sniffed Lucy Westerna wet--- it smells like orange rum raisins! On, the blood orange flares up and then quickly backs down. For a few moments it smells like these fluoride treatments my dentist used to give me as kid, but then it becomes a creamy floral. It’s a really interesting combo---the frankincense with the jasmine and tobacco flower makes for an exotic and unusual mix. The jasmine is pretty subdued here---I might not even know it was in here if not for the listing. The longer I wear it, the more the frankincense and tobacco flower come out, along with the white musk. I like it better with the bottom notes pulling more weight, as it dims the florals and makes for a surprisingly sexy blend. This stage is very nice, and worth waiting for.

I’m of two minds about the Brides of Dracula. Lilies are beautiful, and I always appreciate the various lily variants, but blends that highlight it as a prominent note never feel like ‘me.’ All the same, Brides is such a lovely mix of elements that give it the feel of an antique, golden perfume---something that would be popular in the 20s or 30s and sit on a glassy tray on someone’s dresser next to face powders in deco boxes and a feathered fan. Other reviewers have drawn parallels with Kali and Tiger Lily, and those are the two blends that I’m reminded of as well. But whereas after a while Kali gets a bit too strong for my tastes, and Tiger Lily knocks me over with sweetness, Brides of Dracula offers the shared notes with more subtlety, so I find myself enjoying them much more than I thought I could. I have a feeling this one will grow on me.

I really wish I was getting more notes from The Carpathian Mountains---on my skin it’s primarily spearmint and the raspberry leaf, a note I recognize from Alecto. It makes for an almost smoky spearmint, a leafy, almost bitter mint. It’s not a bad combination, but I think this might be better in my oil burner where I can appreciate the scent around me rather than on my skin. It does absolutely conjure up wind gusting down mountains, picking up the smell of trees and greenery on the way down. It’s a very fresh smell, and I think this would be great to burn when I need to concentrate.

Wow, Devil's Claw is dark, gritty, smoky, ashy, woodsy, and slightly dank. And my nose is picking up something that smells a bit like leather, too. This is a perfect embodiment of its namesake---like mysterious hellfire. The drydown is a sexy dark wood, with wisps of smoke curling about. It reminds me a bit of the drydown of Yew-Trees, but with smoke. I plan to try this out on my boyfriend at the next opportunity.

I've been really excited to try Mania, because I'd love to find a strawberry note blend that works on me, and because I red and white musks. And I do really like this. Mania's primarily a second skin blend on me. The musks are delicious and warm and the strawberry gives them a bit of freshness and sweetness, while the grapefruit lends them a bit of tang. But the fruits burn off pretty quickly on my skin, leaving just a trace of themselves amongst the yummy musks. It doesn't throw very far. It's intimate. If you're a fan of red musk, this is definitely one to try. Nothing can top Smut as my number-one red musk blend, but Mania is fun and I’ll definitely enjoy using my imp.

Slobbering Pine is really nice---pine with a bit of sweet grapefruit or some other citrus note, and maybe a touch of ozone to give it sparkle? Whatever's in here, it's a refreshing take on an evergreen, and very wearable. Because of my associations with pine trees and winter, this strikes me as a perfect blend to wear during the holidays. An hour later, Slobbering Pine smells like an evergreen-y Danube. There's a bit too much aquatic at this stage for me, but I think this will be wonderful in my oil burner. I'll save my imp for December.

Black Lotus sadly goes the way of most lotus blends on me---the dreaded bubblegum. I can smell a bit of the amber and myrrh, but it's mostly sweet pink bubblegummy lotus. On my coworker this is a lovely warm rooty floral with the resins simmering underneath, so she'll be getting my imp.

I went to a formal party tonight and I wore a black silk dress with a red mask and Blood Rose. I was introduced as the coworker who always smells good.

Night Gaunt is like a chord of citrus, and if you like grapefruit, you will really enjoy this. It's mostly grapefruit on me, with a white floral behind it. It's really refreshing and eye-opening---almost clarifying in its stringent strength. Definitely a keeper. I think this would be great in the morning when I need to wake up or at work when I need to focus. It dries down to a soft blur of citrus and flower, very pretty and very wearable.

I love anything with coconut so I ordered an entire bottle of Shoggoth right from the get-go. And I'm not sorry. This is wonderful stuff. It smells like some amazing, exotic tropical drink I'd get on vacation and then never be able to recreate again because the ingredients were local and fresh and the feeling I had when I drank it of looking out over some fantastically bizarre and life-changing multicolored sunset was irreproducible. I smell the lime and lemongrass, yet this is not overwhelmingly citrus to me. I smell the iris, snopdrop, muguet, peony, osmanthus, and wisteria, yet this is not overwhelmingly floral. The coconut is detectable, yet it doesn't telegraph coconut or smell like a day at the beach. There's musk, but it's light and warm and lovely. It's just this wonderful, gracious balance between all of these elements and it's making me feel like I've been away somewhere slower and more sensory. Like coming back from vacation and having warmer blood in my veins and a feeling of receptivity. I'll really enjoy my bottle of this.

Kindly Moon is the kind of blend I just can't dislike because of the moonflower. It's subtle here, as this is well blended, but I can pick it out along the periphery and I just moonflower. It's so mysterious and strange to me, like Italo Calvino's moon. Aside from the moonflower, I can smell the gardenia, peach blossom, and osmanthus---but all the notes sort of swirl around and are fully integrated into each other. The lotus here is lovely, much more balanced than it normally is on my skin, and it almost fulfills a role like ozone in the blend, where it creates a kind of vaulted ceiling---vertical space---for the other notes to float upwards in. This is definitely a floral moon and a very nice one at that. It's very mellow and dusky, and I think it would make a wonderful sleep blend. I think I'll move it to my night stand so I can apply it before drifting off to sleep.

The Dark Side of Fire: cinnamon, bitter almond, and neroli. Heavily spiced, torrid, and possibly conflagrant. Wow, Inferno's really spicy! This goes on like a blaze. There's that almond/cherry note with the cinnamon---and it's strong. Wow. It actually kinda burns a bit! As it dries down it mellows out, but the spice is still too strong for me. It definitely lives up to its namesake, though!

TKO works like crazy for me---a couple of drops and I'm relaxed and ready to sleep. It does smell like lavender and marshmallows, and it's a wonderful combo that even my boyfriend likes. I still have a bunch of sleep oils by the bed and use those on nights when I'm having trouble falling asleep, but TKO is good not just at bedtime, but all during the day. I've dabbed this one on at work when I'm having a rough time, and I immediately feel more calm and self-possessed. I love it. I've only had the bottle for a couple of weeks and I've already made a dent in it. This is one that I enjoy and will use.

Why did I wait so long to try Baobhan Sith? This is really nice. I smell waxy white petals with just a hint of grapefruit and white tea. It's a very fragile-smelling blend. It doesn't last very long on me, but maybe next spring I'll put my imp's worth into my scent locket and enjoy it that way.

Phobos is definitely in the category of mind-clearing for me---this would be a great blend to wear when I need to get some work done, as it's so refreshing and eye-opening. Very rejuvenating. The white musk and lemon together are really nice, and the grapefruit adds even more zest. It's bright and happy, not exactly the embodiment of mortal fear, but fearsomely alert.

The Jersey Devil's like summertime in the woods! I love the pine and the cedar here, the blackberry and tomato leaf is wonderful, and the cranberry is wonderfully subdued. This is good stuff. Another tremendously evocative blend that really transports!

Lustrous, sanguine, soft and lavish: soft orris, blood musk, and coconut. I quite like Blood Pearl, which is a complete revelation, since Black Pearl was an absolute no-go on my skin. Blood Pearl is very similar, but it's drier somehow, with that muted musk that I love. It's like a red veil thrown over a lampshade. It's diffuse, mood-enhancing, wonderful stuff. And it has that pulsing glow that the other blood musk blends have. Definitely keeping the imp, and would consider buying more in the future.

Oooh, minty! Mad Hatter is not as feral as I thought it might be, I actually find it to be rather refined. There is that bottom layer of black musk, but the lavender/citron/pennyroyal keeps the blend in an almost herbal place, so that freshness offsets the musk quite nicely. Another imp for my boyfriend's box. I'll be holding onto this one until next summer (or the way the world climate has changed, perhaps next week) as the mintiness would be really refreshing in hot weather.

Fire of Love is strong on me. STRONG! I smell black amber, patchouli, musk, and maybe a smidge of civet? It reminds me of a more animalistic Haunted, and like Haunted, there's a slightly powdery side to it. I think I'll try a tiny bit of this on top of some Snake Oil or Smut some time to see if it enhances the already come-hither qualities of those blends.

Chuparosa is spiced roses and honeysuckle on my skin, a lovely and warm combination of notes that make me feel peaceful. I think the description says it best: 'merciful love'. This is the smell of chivalric mercy---the wound made by the lover that only the lover can heal. It's someone assenting. Relenting. It's also another Voodoo blend that smells good enough to wear based on scent alone, but the added intentionality of the blend gives it more depth and meaning. I'll definitely hold on to my imp for when I want to reconnect with love's mercy.