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Showing results for tags 'Lupercalia 2014'.
Found 62 results
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Apple peel and oak ash, briar thorns and pine ash, and cypress gathered at a dead man's grave. In the Bottle: Camphor and dirt, oh dear, very much like the camphor that ruined "Like Brooms of Steel" for me. Wet: the Camphor is still very strong with hints of wood and cypress and a bit of the sweetness of the apple peel. Much better than I thought. Dry: The sweetness of the apple peel is much stronger now, I am glad I skintested it but I am still unsure about it because my nose can't get past that camphor. I am hoping a bit of aging will do it good. There's definitely none of that lovely burning smell that scents like Halloween in Los Angeles and Burning Book have, and I so wanted there to be some.
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Longing and loss: fallen leaves, the memory of pale roses, and long-ago dried tears. In the Bottle: a sweet Aquatic, no rose at all, just soft florals. Wet on skin: Floral aquatic salt, very similar to the Ghosts of the Arroyo Seco, to me, which I love. I thought the tears would wind up being that belovesd aquatic salt note of mine, and they are. Drydown: Very much like the wet stage, only with a hint of that lovely leafy note. Definitely a keeper, and I hope the rose comes out as it ages.
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Dark chocolate and lush, creamy vanilla and the honey of the sweetest kiss smeared with the vital throb of husky clove, swollen red cherries, but darkened with the vampiric sensuality of vetiver, soporific poppy and blood red wine, and a skin-light pulse of feral musk. Le sigh. I wanted to love blood kiss bonbon. I tend to do well with vampirically-themed scents- callidora, vilf, and of course blood kiss itself work magic on me. And, you know, vetiver can be a bit of a bully, so I got this just hoping that minus that vetiver tang, you'd be left with a dreamy dark cherry. And that's mostly what happened. And it was, well, kinda weak. Don't get me wrong, this scent does what it's supposed to do. It *is* a blood kiss Bonbon, cleverly executed, picked up at some exclusive chocolatier. I'm sure there are many who will LOVE this. But with my chemistry, it's all kiss and no blood. It reminds me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Spike got that chip in his head so he couldn't bite anyone. And I felt just kind of sorry for him, he just skulked around the graveyard, not knowing what to do with himself. Oh, and somehow it has a note of tea, though that's not listed here. I guess I just like my Spike as the Big Bad. I will wear my blood kiss, and pass on this one. That said, I do predict it will be a hit. My fiancé even really likes it. But he recognized it isn't me.
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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!
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Sea buckthorn berry, salt musk, white nectarine, kelp, oakmoss, green musk, and elemi. Yay!! I have been waiting for a review of this one since people first began posting, and now that I've received my decants, I'm going to get a review up! There have been several blends over the last few years that have had the sea buckthorn berry/kelp/moss trio in the notes. Octopus: Pale moss, white kelp, sea buckthorn berry, ambergris accord, Somalian frankincense, rose geranium, and salt. Alcie: Just a hint of gorgon blood: bright nectarine, honey, sandalwood, green musk, sea buckthorn berry, and oakmoss. I've enjoyed both of them but the rose geranium in Octopus, and the honey in Alcie just weren't working for me. Carp and Octopus doesn't have the same level of nectarine as Alcie and it is less salty than Octopus. It wears close to the skin, and starts off with a light freshness that reminds me of an expensive alcohol-based perfume I can't remember. It settles down into a gentle sea scent with a hint of fruitiness. All in all, I really like it, and I would recommend it if you liked Octopus and were looking for something less salty, or if you liked Alcie but were looking for less fruity/sweetness. There is a hint of soap at the end, but I think that is a typical interpretation of these types of scents and it doesn't bother me a bit.
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Aged patchouli and ambrette with burgundy pitch, labdanum, orange blossom, gurjum balsam, and white sandalwood. I'll pretty much try anything with patchouli, so this hopped right into my cart. The patch pulls ahead with the ambrette, but it's brightened and softened by the orange blossom and the sandalwood. The balsam gives it a tangy touch that keeps it from being too relaxing and sleepy—make no mistake, this is a sexy spray. But I can also see myself spritzing a room just to be surrounded by its happy, hazy radiance. I think a lot of people will dig the incensy vibe of this atmo spray—it reminds me of some of the wonderful Fred Soll sticks I've burned. Earthy, sensuous, blood pressure-lowering stuff. Like the spray equivalent of a smoky eye done in copper, gold, bronze, and dark brown—smudged a little after a long kiss. Or y'know, a tortoiseshell dildo. One of my favorite atmos yet.
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White lilies, vermillion roses, vanilla orchid, sweet clove, white frankincense, velvety brown oudh, cistus, styrax, aged red patchouli, and a hint of black peppercorn. From You I Have Been Absent in the Spring is the most unabashed floral from my order—the lilies and roses and orchids bloom on the skin like a huge bouquet when first applied. At first the other notes sit well below that tumult of flowers, and provide a subtle warm, resiny, woody base, but after about a half hour, the top notes settle down. Then the most prominent notes are the lilies, orchid, frankincense, and oudh. The clove and patchouli and pepper are more subtle—I can pick them out if I concentrate on them, but they're not prominent. Then it goes through a bit of an awkward phase on me where the notes seem a little muddy or soapy—could just be my hormones/chemistry. And then it somehow mellows even more to a very nice vanilla-infused lily. This isn't an incensey blend on me or one with thick base notes to fill in the higher pitched florals—although both the frankincense and oudh become stronger with wear. It feels like a classic perfume, like perfume from some gorgeous '50s flacon. There's something retro and glam about it that I really like, even though I might not be up for a headstrong floral every day of the week.
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Blood red lilies, white frankincense, black pepper, and tuberose. In the bottle: creamy lilies and a bit of pepper with an afterthought of the tuberose. On my skin the first scent is the light resiny goodness of the frankincense and the subdued red lilies mixed with the tuberose. These two flowers are paired well with each other. They are both, on their own, a strong scent but brought together they meld well. This is not a strong overpowering scent but a lingering scent that seems to waft on the breeze. The black pepper adds only a touch of needed spice to round out what would be a too floral scent without it. I expected it to be strong and bold but it is a neither a very light scent not cloying scent. It is more a scent that leaves someone asking for another whiff of you.
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Honey, mimosa petals, and white amber. Origin: Straight from the Lab Initial Thoughts: I have known for quite some time that when it comes to musk, I need the lighter side of the spectrum: white/pale/skin/crystal all tend to work well on me while black/red/brown/dark all amp to a hideously stinky level. I would get the same amping problem with patchouli, incense, and amber scents as well. I only recently learned that such a thing as white patchouli existed--thanks to Butterflies, Flowers and Jewels Attending--and that white patchouli smells nice on me. So when I started seeing white *amber* as well, I definitely wanted to try that, too. This was the first scent in that quest that didn't have other deal-breaking notes along for the ride. In the Bottle: Honey-drenched amber, with the mimosa creating an intoxicating floral zing. This is a sexy caramel of a scent without being the least bit foody. Wet: Hello, honey! For a moment I might as well be huffing a bear-shaped squirt bottle. Then the mimosa springs out with a burst of pink-and-green springtime. Drydown: I get the amber now, but hallelujah, it's playing WITH the other notes, not stomping all over them. It continues to be very come-hither, but with a light and playful tone rather than the in-your-face sense a darker musk or voluptuous rose would offer. Verdict: I am giddy at the thought of being able to explore scent families that I assumed were closed to me because of my skin chemistry. The fact that BPAL can still surprise and excite me like this going on nine years later is a real testament to Beth's genius. More white amber, please!
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Red rose and white magnolia in a tomb of vetiver, oak leaf, mahogany, and Somalian olibanum. Caveat: My nose is still pretty untrained, so others will be better at picking up individual notes. But since nobody's reviewed this at all yet, I thought my efforts would be better than nothing. In the imp I get heavy florals and sharp woods. Can't pick anything out distinctly. Wet, there's the same heavy florals -- I can pick out the rose, not familiar enough with magnolia but I assume it's the rest of the floral. Mostly they blend together. There's also something vegetative that I'm guessing is the oak leaf. Overall it's evocative of rich waxy flowers on a very expensive wreath with a lot of dark leaves and twisted stems. Dry, after a couple of hours, I'm getting a lot of mahogany, which I'm familiar with from The Mahogany Tree. Apparently I'm not a big fan of the note, although it's such a lovely word and color it took two blends for that reality to sink in. To me it's kind of a shrill note: sharp and loud without the depth that I love in other aggressive notes like vetiver. (Speaking of vetiver, I'm not getting any from this, or maybe it's light enough that it's blending with what I'm taking to be the oak leaf.) Overall, I'm disappointed in this one... it's not bad, especially at first, but I was expecting it to be a favorite.
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Strengthens emotional bonds and cultivates blossoming love: bourbon vanilla with ylang ylang, Roman chamomile, and white honey. In the bottle: This is my favorite of the Luper blends that I ordered. Hopefully it will remain that way once it hits my skin! The bourbon vanilla note is the most prominent (huzzah!), followed by the white honey. The florals are present, but they are in the background. I love sugary florals, so unless my skin chemistry ends up hating the ylang ylang, this should be made of win. I just applied this to half of my arm. It doesn't take long to sink in, and I can detect all of the notes in this blend. The florals are more prominent than they were in the bottle, but the bourbon vanilla note quickly claims its place on the center stage. Oh, this is lovely. The honey note doesn't seem to be one of the main players in this blend, because I just tested Fallen Woman hair gloss (which also has a white honey note), and it isn't very prominent on my skin. Maybe it adds to the general sweetness of this blend. It's mostly just bourbon vanilla awesomeness now. The other notes have been confined to small background roles. I am in love. Needless to say, I adore this! I will be needing back-ups of this one! *edit* After a little over an hour has passed, the chamomile and ylang ylang emerge, but they stay close to the skin.
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Wormwood essence, light mints, cardamom, anise, hyssop, and the barest hint of lemon embraced by white chocolate. I almost didn't purchase this because of the mint, mint doesn't like me at all. But I love wormwood and everything else listed and when it said " light mint", I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did. It has the lightest mint, just a touch, both in the bottle and on my skin. It is very refreshing. All the notes listed are very light so after applying I can detect light spice, light anise, very light floral, no lemon at all on me, and hardly any white chocolate. The dry down was pretty much the same but a little bit lighter with just the mint standing out a little more. I do like this scent and think it perfect for hot summer days. I did notice that I sensed a cooling affect (not burning) on my skin where I applied it so it would be perfect when it hits the 90 degree mark or higher.
