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Showing results for tags 'Lupercalia 2011'.
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THE ARBOR He seems to be a god, that man Facing you, who leans to be close, Smiles, and, alert and glad, listens To your mellow voice And quickens in love at your laughter That stings my breasts, jolts my heart If I dare the shock of a glance. I cannot speak, My tongue sticks to my dry mouth, Thin fire spreads beneath my skin, My eyes cannot see and my aching ears Roar in their labyrinths. Chill sweat glides down my back, I shake, I turn greener than grass. I am neither living nor dead and cry From the narrow between. (Sappho, translation by Guy Davenport) Shuddering, thundering, passionate: red musk, East African red patchouli, tonka bean, white gardenia, black narcissus, champaca flower, Roman chamomile, and massoia bark. This throbs with passion like the poem: the initial thunderclap of red musk remains prominent throughout, but as it dries down it allows the beauty of the other elements to shine. The floral element here holds its own, with the shadows of black narcissus counterbalanced by the lovely humid exotic feel lent to it by the white gardenia and champaca flower, all shot through with a vein of sensuous red patchouli. The tonka and massoia bark make for a warm, slightly sweet and slightly woody undertone. I don't really amp chamomile, so it isn't that prominent on my skin; it's probably intermingling with the florals. Red musk lovers, you cannot miss this one. Cannot.
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White chocolate mango buttercream. In the bottle, this is a nice mix of white chocolate and mango, and I don't get much buttercream. On, and wet it was ALL mango. It was actually more tart than I was expecting it to be. The white chocolate and the buttercream made it slightly less sharp, but not enough that I actually would call it a 'creamy' scent. On, and dry - total plastic. My skin tends to do this to creamy scents. I'm not too upset, as I wasn't a total fan of what I smelled before the plastic took over.
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OLISBOS As for old flames and lovers-they're none left. And since Milesians went against us, I've not seen a decent eight-fingered dildo. Yes, it's just leather, but it helps us out. The ancient Greeks sure weren't shy about taking care of business. The port city of Miletus was once famed throughout the Mediterranean as a source of excellent stone, wood, and padded leather dildos. This scent is the celebration of an age-old pastime: polished wood, well-loved leather, and olive oil. Old leather (!!!!!), aka Dead Man's Hand style leather, some sort of delicious fruity-tart-citrusy note, and a deep wood note - oak, or mahogany, or maybe a sandalwood, or a mixture? Definitely smells polished. But instead of olive oil, I'm getting some sort of delicious fruit. Not that I'm complaining! Ohhhhh myyy godddddd I missed you so, old delicious worn leather. *rolls around like a cat with catnip* Still that delicious citrusy note, though it's somewhat smothered by the leather which is first and foremost - I think it's got to be sweet orange. Yes. This is like Dead Man's Hand layered over Gaiman's Orange with an extra jolt of fresh squeezed OJ. Which may sound strange but it is DELICIOUS. The wood is much lighter on my skin, and sort of musky, so I'm guessing it's either sandalwood or oak, as those are the nicest, sexiest woods on my skin. Still no olive oil, unless it's super fruity oiive oil! Not much morphing here - maybe a little fading of the OJ, but otherwise not much. This has fantastic throw (much like Dead Man's Hand) and I'm really surprised by how faint (and thus unidentifiable) the wood is. I'm leaning towards white sandalwood because it's so light and because this has a musky sort of feel to me, as white sandalwood often does. I completely took a random chance on this bottle and it was a brilliant risk. I am huffing my arm here! Yeah, this is really not a morpher. After a couple hours it's Dead Man's Hand with hints of orange juice and musky sandalwood. All which I adore so it's pretty much a slightly feminized, even more delicious DMH. I am over the moon! Great throw, but it does fade fairly quickly. I have now tried 6 Lupers, and all but one have been fabulous.
- 69 replies
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- Lupercalia 2010
- Lupercalia 2011
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Milk chocolate, cassia, and bacon. OOOOO! I guess I was one of the few brave enough to give this one a try! In the bottle: mostly I get the cassia with smokey goodness. On me wet: at first it mostly cassia with the smokey bacon in the background. Dry: Finally getting the chocolate now that the cassia has died down. Overall I really like this one! However people with sensitive skin shouldn't use this on delicate areas. I used the back of my hand and the cassia burned my skin a little.
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Frankincense, leather accord, sandalwood, Himalayan cedar, nutmeg, and violet leaf. In the bottle: I smell sharp leather. There's a warmth of resin just beneath it, probably the frankincense. I think I just got a touch of the nutmeg, but it was so fleeting, I'm not certain. Wet on my skin: Immediate: LEATHER! It's so leather. Yet even as I sniff, it's blooming. The sandalwood and cedar are coming out to play, and the frankincense is wafting between them with just a touch of the nutmeg. The nutmeg is so fleeting… yet I keep sniffing, hoping I will smell it again! Dry: The leather has softened. The woods and frankincense have merged together, yet the leather still has enough presense to keep this from being a traditional incensy blend. This is different from everything I wear, yet lovely.
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Dark chocolate, fig, and tamarind. I usually don't order bottles unsniffed. I made an exception here--I'm a sucker for chocolates. In the bottle: This appears to be a clear to light amber oil (hard to tell with these new-fangled wand caps). The notes are all present and accounted for here: chocolate, an orange-y citrus (that's the tamarind, I take it), and in the background, the fig. It's like Vice and Nemesis had a baby! On skin, wet: Interestingly, there appear to be small solid bits that smear when I apply them to my skin. The color of them is the reddish brown of tamarind paste, so maybe that's related. Right away, the tamarind note flies away like citrus usually does on my skin, leaving the fig and chocolate to fight it out. One minute the fig seems more dominant; the next, the chocolate overpowers it. I do wish this had more throw--I actually went back and applied more, which I rarely do. Drydown: This has dried down to a well-blended figgy chocolate that I'm moderately pleased with. Verdict: I like this well enough, but maybe I was hoping for something a touch more exotic and maybe headier--this one does exactly what it says on the tin. I have plenty of fig and chocolate scents already, after all. I'll give this one a 3 out of 5.
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RED LANTERN A tribute to the opium den cum bawdyhouses of Shanghai in the 1930’s. Golden amber, blonde tobacco, Sudanese black coconut, rich caramel, black currant, white opium and delphinium laced with a sensual blend of Asian spice. This is everything that I hoped it would be- the rich, sweet decadence of Red Lantern transmuted into a *mood* for one's living space. It's not different from Red Lantern perfume in any way I can detect, scent-wise, and yet there's something here that changes it, makes it a scent for atmosphere. I don't have a compulsion to spray this on my body, even if that were possible, and, interestingly, I don't feel some compulsion to dab on the oil while this wafts through the air. Instead I want to transform my living space, make it into something more befitting this scent. In the same way that a good spritz of Cathouse in my bedroom encourages me to hang pink gauzy curtains in the windows and turn on a sexy lamp with a red bulb in it next to my bed, so too does Red Lantern implore me to hang velvet tapestries on my walls, string tiny lights across my ceiling and invite my most lacivious friends over for a risque game of truth AND consequence. Oh yes, this is one to stock up on
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GLOWING VULVA BATH OIL Cream accord, amber, teak, and lotus blossom. Shea oil, olive oil, apricot kernel oil, fractionated coconut oil, rosehip seed, evening primrose oil, vitamin E, isopropyl myristate, glycereth-7-cocoate (derived from coconut), oleth 3, and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume blends. OMG cream! This smelled sooo good! I wanted to jank the tester!!! (of course i never would) It seemed a lot creamier then the perfume, but it has been a while since I've tested it. This was a very luxurious scent, that honestly I might just buy 5 bottles of, because it was that good! teak and blossom were there, but definitely a lightly ambered cream was the main player. Mmmmm, cant wait!
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Antiqued amber, frankincense, patchouli, hay, oakmoss, skin musk, and white mint. In the bottle, I'm getting amber, skin musk, and hay. On my skin, primarily skin musk and hay. Huh. It's actually so realistic that it's triggering my hay fever. The rest is kind of dusty, and very evocative of a barn (in a good way). Not quite my thing.
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Bergamot, clove, hazelnut, pecan, lavender, tonka, and thyme. Oddly enough, this smelled very creamy to me out of the bottle. Maybe a mixture of the tonka, hazelnut, and pecan? Wet on my skin there is a slight freshness from the bergamot and herbs, but this is still waaay creamy goodness. Which is actually a big change for me as most creamy, milky scents only stay very close to my skin and can only be appreciated hours later. Either way, I'm really liking this! Dry, this is still mainly a creamy smell on me with kind of a provincal feel. Like a nice milk tea, but not really too herbal.. just creamy with a little bit of the herbs. I dont notice the nuts individually at any point while wearing this, it is a very well balanced perfume on me.
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Red rose and red currant with amber, blood orange, myrrh, and golden musk. Wet: straight-up rose, almost a wet rose. Dew-kissed and watery. Amber starts to show up almost immediately, going slightly powdery but thankfully not for long. Getting a bit of myrrh on the edges, but still mostly a soft rose. As it settles, it's warm and soft and the notes are almost indistinguishable. I've had this comment window open for hours trying to describe this. It's not quite floral, it's not quite fruity. It's this lovely soft rosy amber with something sweet and almost creamy playing around the edges. I only get a hint of the orange glowing brightly somewhere just out of reach, like a hidden juicy center. Really, just lovely.
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She Who Blesses Brides White rose, apple blossom, spun sugar, mango, cucumber, freesia, coconut, and lavender. If you are a fan of the Tikis, odds are good you'll enjoy Nymphia. It started off very coconut-heavy (sweet, fruity drink coconut). Mango was instantly noticeable, as well. As it dries, the other notes start to poke out. The coconut and the mango are still prominent, but they relax into a creamy-sweet, less potent form. The rose isn't obvious, but serves as a base note, with the apple blossom peeking out every once in a while. The spun sugar gives it a general sort of sweetness, rather than CANDY. Overall, on me, this is like Katrina Von Tassel took a tropical vacation. Sweet without being candy-like, fruity and creamy florals.
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She Who Strikes From a Distance Red patchouli, myrrh, lemongrass, gurjum balsam, lemongrass, lavender, and honey. In the bottle, this is patchouli and myrrh to me, maybe a bit of the sharpness of the lavender. On my skin, definitely patchouli and myrrh amping, as they tend to do on me. Very dark, very militaristic. The lavender's mellowing it out, but not killing it like it usually does on my skin. Very interesting.
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Many legends surround St. Valentine, and history has yet to show, conclusively, which ones are true and which are fiction. One tale claims that Valentine was a 3rd century Christian priest. When Emperor Claudius II declared that his soldiers were never to marry - the emperor believed that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and children - Valentine continued to perform wedding ceremonies in secret. When the emperor learned of Valentine's disobedience, he imprisoned the priest. The emperor chose to interrogate the priest himself, and despite his fury at his orders being flagrantly disobeyed, he was impressed with the priest's intelligence, wisdom, and passion. He attempted to convert the priest to the Roman faith, and was furious when he failed. While incarcerated, Valentine fell in love with his jailor's blind daughter. Through God's grace and the power of Valentine's pure and true love for this woman, he was able to cure her blindness with a touch. Before he was beaten and beheaded, he sent her a letter expressing his feelings for her, signed 'From Your Valentine'. Ecclesiastical incense, Roman flora, and the fruits of martyrdom: cypress, olive blossom, frankincense, myrrh, and blood accord. Wow, looks like I'm the first one on this? I searched and couldn't find it so here goes! Wet in the bottle, I got worried. It has a sharp, astringent, green quality that reminds me strongly of Ides of March 2007. I almost liked Ides but it went on and stayed sharp and was itchy in the sinuses. NO! Please behave, Roman flora! Wet on skin -- what's this? Almost as soon as it hits my skin the smell warms. It must be the incense, I smell what is almost cinnamon but can't be cinnamon because BPAL's cinnamon note makes me welt and burn. HOORAY! This is getting really good, very round-smelling, savory is a good word for it. Like compelling in a way that sweet usually is, but yet not sweet. For a minute, there is what oddly smells like a flash of minty?? But only for a moment then it blends back in. Not unpleasant, just startling. On drydown: Total love. I took a huge chance with this one unsniffed, without reviews, based on the notes because I am a resin nut and an incense fiend. I am so so glad! The cypress doesn't get woody, it only grounds it some, the herbal aspect goes from sharp smelling to sort of 'fresh', and I just want to curl up and huff my wrist. I smell amazingly good, as rich as when I am wearing Gypsy Queen even but with a cleaner feel, not so bump-and-grind, more soothing. Oh lord. Now all I need is to hit the Lotto so I can get five more bottles of this stuff before Lupercalia comes down!
- 72 replies
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- Lupercalia 2008
- Lupercalia 2011
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Female Nude, Three-Quarter Length, Beside Her Left an Apple Tree
AnArtfuldodger posted a topic in Lupercalia
Mahogany, rosewood, and red apple. I was super excited for this blend! Apple + wood?! YES PLEASE! Wet on wrist: I get the faintest hint of apple, and a sort of floral-y sweet overtone. On the drydown: The wood is slowly coming out to play, but the apple and floral hints still are predominant. The apple is coming to the front, but it's a very light sweet apple, not crunchy, not mulled/mushy, just....a plain little apple. With a little hint of a floral and wood. Throw: low I think I might need to let this sit some more, and maybe age. Right now, it's just very faint on my skin, but I want this to work and become a little heftier so badly, so I'm going to give it another try in a few days (it's been sitting for a day now, but maybe that wasn't enough). Edit on 2/7/11: I tried this blend again today, and it's still basically just a light sweet apple blend on me. Very Valentine-y and light and sweet. -
Deceptive One Black fig, green tea, opoponax, ciste absolute, myrrh, carnation, nutmeg, and Brazilian vetiver. Apatouros is definitely not what I expected! I'm getting mostly green tea (kind of warm and vegetal, not light or clean) and fig (thick, chewy, dry) with a bit of dusty nutmeg. So it's a green and fruity scent (but neither fresh nor sweet) with spice. Rather an odd combination. The darker resins and vetiver are, surprisingly, almost entirely absent (maybe a bit of myrrh peeks through). Not a sign of carnation either, as far as I can tell. It doesn't seem to change very much between the bottle and my skin. Well, it's not really what I was hoping for (a smoky carnation resinfest), but I like the black fig note. I can't see myself wearing it often enough to warrant the bottle, but I'll hold on to it for awhile to see.
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Green and brown musks, coconut husk, wisteria, lemongrass, hydrangea, cranberry, woody sandalwood, and ripe squash. In the bottle, this is green musk, cranberry, wisteria and hydrangea, just a very bright, very playful scent. On my skin, green musk and cranberry and wisteria and hydrangea, though the coconut husk and brown musk appear to be coming out. We'll see what this does... Sadly, the coconut husk and brown musk and sandalwood come out and overtake the rest of the scent. I wish the wet stage had been the final drydown for me.
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Darjeeling tea, lemon verbena, star anise, and honeycomb. Wet on wrist: This is so true to the description, it's uncanny. Lemon verbena, tea, and the honeycomb are all mingling so perfectly, it really is like sniffing a steaming cup of tea with some lemon verbena fresh from the garden. On the drydown: It stays true! So far, I'm not morphing into anything else. It really is straight up tea-lemon-honey on me. I get the ever so slight whiff of the star anise as well, which is a really nice compliment to the tea-lemon verbena-honey. I'm going to need, like, 2 more bottles STAT. My husband says it's sort of chemical-y, but I attribute that to the lemon scent, which *could* smell sort of like lemon dusting spray...but my husband has a notoriously bad sense of scent as far as BPAL is concerned, so I still give this an A++ in my book.
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Dark musk, linen, and red chypre. Origin: 5mL from the Lab. Preconceived notions: I immediately had to order a bottle of Male Nude even though I'm not entirely sure exactly what it's going to smell like. I'm finding that I really enjoy dark musk and I generally like the Lab's linen note. The questionable factor here is going to be the "red chypre," which I'm not quite sure about. Chypre-based scents can go wrong on me because of the floral and citrus, although I love moss and musks. First sniff: Very chypre..y? I know, that's not a word, but I'm making it one. I get a very cologne-type vibe from this that I associate with chypre-based scents. It reminds me a bit of Dracul in that it has the same sort of oddly musky, mossy, citrusy, powdery thing going on. Wet on skin: Basically the same as in the bottle. It's hard for me to describe exactly what Male Nude smells like, except to say that it's (all at the same time) mossy, powdery musky, dry and papery. It reminds me a little bit of The Wild Men of Jezirat Al Tennyn and a bit of Dracul. Unfortunately, neither one really works all that well on me and both ended up finding new homes when I owned them. Dry down: Still smells like the lovechild of Wild Men and Dracul on me. I wouldn't call this chypre "red," personally, but that's probably because I have strong color/scent associations in my head that don't necessarily reflect the actual notes (which I'm unsure of in this case). To me, if Male Nude had a color, it would be a lichen-like grey-green with hints of brown. Totally unhelpful, I'm sure, but I feel like I need to say what color it smells like since I don't think it smells red. Basically, Male Nude smells like...well, a chypre blend. It's mossy and musky with an almost mint-like smell to it underneath (like Dracul does to my nose). The bottom line: This is just too cologne-like for me. I'm learning that chypre scents are misses more often than hits for me, but it doesn't stop me from trying them. This one's moving on to a new home with someone who loves it.
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Tangerine, black currant, white musk, honey, and tagetes. In the bottle: Sweet and tangy, with a very light floral smell. Wet: I can smell the tangerine right off, the oil is a little zesty on me..but also sweet. With the tagetes sort of floating in the background. Dry: Bright, summery, orange! Gorgeous! The Tagetes never amped or became overly strong in this. It's mostly a sweet tangy orange with touches of tart current and honey drizzled on top. Beth is really amazing The throw isn't far, it's a very close to the skin scent, but my skin isn't eating it up either. So I think it'll last some.
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Honey, lemongrass, black tea, white ginger, and grains. In the bottle: Heavy lemon with a sweet cereal scent in the back. On the skin: The grains/cereal scent comes out strong, but there's still that greenish lemon scent over it all. After it dries a bit, there's a good dose of sweetness and black tea, but the lemon scent is still really really strong. It's not a heavy scent, it's very light and pleasant. I wore this scent last night and it really stayed strong. Most light scents disappear after a few hours, but this one clung to skin like a soft, lemon scent blanket. It'll be a great scent in the spring/summer, but for winter, it's much too citrusy.
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She Who Spies Tuberose, mandarin, jonquil, black sandalwood, green musk, styrax, hyacinth, and violet musk. Strong tuberose on application, with a airy background, sappy florals. It's quite 'wet' and the violet part of the musk adds a bit of depth. On drydown this is mostly a sweet, sharper floral, tending towards tuberose waxy but kept less cloying by some of the other notes. Drydown is stemmy, with the top note of tuberose. I am a fan of this, may be getting one bottle. Very strong throw, but a thin scent, if that makes sense.
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Red musk, crushed tomatoes, mango, and fig. Yummm Ushi! In the bottle you smell like peachy mango deliciousness! And for the first 35, thats primarily how you stay. Not too sweat, just strong fruit with a very fresh smell. I'm getting almost no red musk on me, until hours later when theres almost no scent at all left. This really is a delicious, not too sweet, scent. I'm getting a bottle for sure.
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Peach and peach blossom with rose geranium, red currant, pink musk, and gardenia. In the bottle: Peaches and flowers Wet: It's very balanced smelling. You can smell peaches but you can also smell the flowers and neither smells stronger than the other. The peach is also a very freash one, not sweet and syrupy like Josie was on me. The floral is also very light compared to the how the flowers in Katharina smell. Dry: I like this one a lot too. The dry down for me is very much like the wet stage, but a little more grounded. Imagine laying under a peach tree with someone else, and there being a discared bouquet of flowers next to you..then the wind picking up and swiring the smell of the flowers around with the armoas from the peach tree. This is what the oil smells like. Very much a spring scent.
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The Blooming / Friend of Flowers Grandiflorum jasmine, Damask rose, ylang ylang, gardenia, sweetbriar, and apple blossom dusted by golden amber. Am I the first one to review? Cool! I don't know how to do the report thing!! If someone wants to report it for me, or show me how to do that, that would be nice. - wait, never mind, saw the button.. duh. I just got this in the mail yesterday, a cool thing for Valentine's Day! I love, love love love this! Disclaimer: I am a huge jasmine fanatic (obviously), so if you're one of those people that has a Jasmine aversion be careful, the force is pretty strong with this one. It does settle after a few minutes of wear, though, so if you're on the fence it might be worth a try. In the bottle: Jasmine, straight up. Such a sharp smell, it almost becomes anosmic On- This is amazingly blended. The Jasmine stands out, sometimes I get hints of the gardenia and ylang. I am a little wary of anything apple related, but this apple blossom is sweet and not apple-green sharp if that makes any sense. I don't pick out the rose, and I don't know what sweetbriar is. The amber is soft and sweet, it is more noticeable as you wear it. I might have to run out and get another bottle before they stop making it. It will be great for spring. The effect of all the notes seemed to be more than just the sum of the ingredients, it's really a unique smell, doesn't remind me of anything else. Also, the boy seemed to like it This manages to be soft, warm, sexy and almost sparkling, like champagne and sunshine and flowers. Revisiting after a few days- just wanted to say that this might be my very favorite fragrance, of any brand, ever- tied with Delight! I love this more and more every day. I really wish this were not a limited edition and that they would make it part of their basic lineup! It is so sparkling and soft, and pleasant- I'm getting compliments on it. For reference, since my favorite BPAL is Delight, after smelling it for a while I realized it is like a less tropical cousin of Delight with more emphasis on the jasmine, less on the rose.