LiberAmoris

I love the Lust Smooch! The scent is amber, copal, and red musk/red patch with a touch of honey on me. The rose is very light and I'm not sure I'd pick up on it if it wasn't listed. It does smell sexy, which I attribute to the red musk. The smooch formula itself is really great, both scrubby and moisturizing.

I think WidgetAlley's review above is spot on. Lot and His Daughters does smell like "hot citrus in the midst of an incensed desert". My imp is well-aged, so I suspect the tangerine and lemon peel notes would have been stronger on release, but this smells like something savage and scorched and brightly acidic. Black patchouli, petitgrain, and bourbon geranium can all make a blend smell unsettling to me, and they work well here to that effect. The incense and skin musk make this smell intimate and close. The brandywine is a clever touch. I'm not sure if this is one I'd reach for often, but it's an amazing capture of the tone of the painting and the story behind it.

Mmm, Garden Path with Chickens smells like late spring/early summer! Both wet and dry, it's grass and ivy and teeming with flowers. The grass note can sometimes be a bit overwhelming for me, but it's absolutely lovely here and really does smell damp. The dampness is what keeps it in check, I think, as it's like the smell of grass pulled through beads of water. This is a really beautiful capture of the art and I'm so glad I got to try it!

Bernini's sculpture of St. Teresa has always been one of my favorite works of art—it brings amazing physicality to a divine experience. The frankincense and Roman chamomile in this blend are what make it feel 'right' for the inspiration, in addition to the searing beauty of that white gardenia note. The amber and agarwood marry at the bottom, bringing warmth as foil against the almost unworldly high whiteness of the floral. I like this best after it settles in and the gardenia settles down a bit, as the golden arrow of the frankincense, chamomile, amber, and agarwood are what I enjoy most. I'm so glad I got to try this!

The Sailor's Den is really lovely. It's a strong hit of orris and lilac and bay rum when wet, but it quickly becomes really balanced—a bit of coconut, a swatch of linen, a snap of leather. The tobacco, palm, and oak wood are also brought into the mix in such a way that they inform but don't overwhelm. The lilac is divine, there's just enough to soften the edges. I tested this on myself but will give my imp to my husband, on whom it will smell fantastic...I can tell already.

The Isle of the Dead smells like a forest meeting the sea. Like waves crashing against trees. On the one side, the aquatic notes and the lily make it smell buoyant and fresh. On the other side, the cypress, juniper, yew, and white sandalwood make it smell woodsy. I can smell the black rose, I think, but it's not a loud note. Labdanum and benzoin anchor it. It's sweeter than I expected and I can see the resemblance to R'lyeh in particular. When it's dry, it's like sweet woods pulled through ocean air.

Mod Note: Merged this with the existing Femme Fatale topic here in Reccs. Please do a search before starting a new topic, thank you!

On topic for this thread, I love Psychodynamic Discharge as a femme fatale scent!

Resurrection of the Flesh is all resiny florals on me and a hit of copal. The frankincense, copal, and rose geranium are the notes I pick up most, and it is powdery and sweet-ish, in a way that surprises me. The ylang and ylang and heliochrysum come out more on the drydown, and the hyssop and angelica are tough to pick out. It smells floral and herbal and resiny a couple of hours in, with that sweet powder clinging to it still. It smells like a perfume from another time.

I think aine's review from 2007 is spot on. Les Anges Déchus is like something clean and refined up against something relaxing and maybe even a tad debauched. The khus and blonde tobacco rear up when wet and the orris, leather, moss, and ambrette pull in the other direction...this smells aggressively buffed, like the kind of perfume you'd find at the centerfold of a fashion magazine. And yet. There's something really compelling and intimate here that smells like super-skin. Dropping this imp in my husband's BPAL drawer...I think I'd like to smell this on him.

Melancholia is a classic, lilac-central floral that smells like springtime to me. The blue lilac is lush and almost overwhelming when wet, but when dry, the mix and balance of lilac against the white sandalwood, lily, narcissus and delphinium makes this a nuanced bouquet. I'm only picking up a hint of ylang ylang and the cypress is also barely perceptible to me. The lilac really makes this work for me—it's one of my favorite notes and it's set off well here. Very pretty!

Pure marshmallow! Stale Sugar-Crusted Marshmallow Chick is true to it's name, capturing the simple happiness of this Easter confection. It's really light and fluffy and sweet and sort of perfect in its simplicity. I also think this would be an awesome mixer, added to anything that could use a shot of marshmallow.

Glorious golden champa! The oil is a thick orange-brown and wet to dry, the scent remains very consistent: slightly sweet golden champa flowers and incense that smells like nag champa made by angels. It lasts quite a long time on my skin and is super relaxing...I adore this and it's going to age beautifully.

I bought a bottle of Lady Death: Savage a while back (October 2013, according to my BPAL email folder) and wore it a couple of times then set it aside. I liked it fine then, but dotted a bit on this evening on a lark...and wow, time has been oh so kind to this lady. White musk and grey amber are the strongest notes on me when first applied, and there's a definite lovely resemblance to Lyonesse (one of my faves). Then the bergamot and vanilla and labdanum chime in. The styrax, wormwood, caraway, and bois de jasmin are tough to pick out but I feel they're there, making this into the complex beast it is. It's definitely 'perfumey' due to the white musk, but it doesn't bother me. Dry, it's an incredibly sophisticated and nuanced vanilla-white musk blend, putting commercial perfumes that have the same joinery to shame (Mon Musc A Moi, I'm looking at you!).

Mod Note: There is a carnation topic already; topics have been merged.

Also, for consideration (both available right now, although LE and unimpable):

The Imperfect Enjoyment: Filthy: myrrh, guiacwood, scorched clove, black musk, pitch, and 13-year aged patchouli.

In Time of Plague: Blackened roses against a backdrop of velvet opoponax, bitter clove, and tobacco absolute.

So, I've had my little bottle of The Harp of Cnoc I'Chosgair for a long time, and have apparently never reviewed it! I should have, because it's glorious. This is one of those scents that has only become stronger and more distinguished with time. When I first got it, it was very faint on my skin and didn't last as long as I wanted it to. Six years later and this thing is an ambered, golden, vanilla, sandalwoody BEAST. I adore the tiare and tagetes (marigold) here, which make it even more luminous but also add something unusual, floral, slightly powdery, and slightly sweet to the mix. All dried down, this is burnished sandalwood and amber and vanilla on me, with a hint of cardamom, tiare, and tagetes. It's sunlight and warmth on the skin, amber-heavy but the kind of amber that's semi-permeable...the other notes come through like rays.

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!

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!

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!

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!

The High-Ranking Courtesan is such a unique perfume. The white peony, white chocolate, and iris butter are the strongest notes on me when wet, and it's another chocolate-floral mashup that I'm surprisingly digging (as I did the Belgian Chocolate, Orange Blossom, Marshmallow, and Jasmine bonbon). I adore grey amber and here it is again, spanning the other notes and filling in any gaps. The rice powder is a nice touch and gives this a bit of a starchy, powdery note that works well with the lush florals and chocolate (and is really perfect for a courtesan perfume!). The pale vegetal musk comes out on the drydown as the florals melt away a bit, and it smells ever-so-slightly earthy and green.

This is surprising at every step, but I really love how unusual and beautiful it is. It smells like pale white, dove grey, pale purple, and pale green on my skin.

Embracing Komachi is really lovely—violet/iris and grey amber and a drop of white leather and coconut on me. It's such a surprising and enjoyable take on violet, and really tough to describe! I'll take an unskilled stab: it's like an ambered violet, if that amber was dark. And then there's a smidge of leather and coconut, not enough for either to be prominent on the drydown (at least on my skin) but enough to change the texture. It's kind of hypnotic, actually!

Cascading Blossoms really is like a tropical vacation. The gardenia, frangipani, and plumeria stack up to something that smells like heady, warm, night air and white blossoms. The rose peony and vanilla orchid round out the high notes of those flowers with lower chords that can hold their voice a bit longer. This is absolutely coming with me on my next beach getaway, and I also think it would be fantastic at the height of summer in NYC, paired with a comfy linen dress and cool glass of Sancerre.

Another delicious foody Yule Lad scent! Askasleikir really smells like a slightly powdery, slightly spiced hot cocoa. The cinnamon is really gentle here. There's an undernote that's a bit 'perfumey', almost like amber, that I don't mind at all. On the drydown, this smells like a mix of Gelt and Muddy Puddles.

Giljagaur is really yummy. This is a wintry coconut fragrance, like coconut plus a warm milk and cinnamon beverage that you'd drink to thaw out after being out in the cold. The goat's milk note smells to me like the regular milk note but is more buttery, so this ends up smelling very rich and foody on my skin. Absolutely a comfort scent...delicious and relaxing.