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Showing results for tags 'Lupercalia 2017'.
Found 89 results
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Honey oudh and bourbon vanilla. In The Bottle: Wow. It's the honey we all love from numerous Lab blends, but it's being tempered with something that's surprisingly green and fresh. I guess it's the oudh, but it's not like any oudh I've encountered before. Huh. Wet On Skin: The "green" grows in intensity while the honey recedes. The vanilla is still nowhere to be seen. Dry Down: This green, fresh oudh aspect is the dominant for sure. The honey has morphed into a lighter honey dust upon dry down and alas, the vanilla remains MIA. In All: I'll keep this around for a bit to see how it ages. I'm not certain yet if this is a keeper for me, but I think it's a lovely scent for spring and anyone into leafy, greenie scents should absolutely get some ASAP.
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King mandarin and golden amber, leather and beeswax, orange blossom, and almond rum. This is my favorite Luper atmo. Orange and almond are first which reminds me of this gluten-free cake I make with almond flour and orange zest. Mmmmmm. Amber and beeswax drift in shortly after to make this less foody and more delicate. I don't smell leather but I am unfamiliar with it in perfume so it may be a soft base supporting everything. A very uplifting and calming scent.
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Tuberose incense, blue wisteria, and oakmoss. Holy moly, this one starts off with a knock-you-over-backwards heady floral punch. I smell a lot of wisteria, I don't know what tuberose smells like, I read it's heady, so maybe it's in here too, along with a boat-load of wisteria. Like, wisteria for days. It's a good thing I love wisteria. This is intense, and the throw is intense, for the first 20 or 30 minutes or so after applying... then, suddenly, it calms down noticeably. The Storm of Wisteria begins to pass, and I start to smell incense, a lovely, soft, high-quality incense breaking through as the wisteria clouds thin. The wisteria continues to wear away gradually and gracefully over a few hours, and the incense stays pretty steady throughout; I can still smell a lovely, soft, vaguely-floral incense faintly on my wrist even around 8 or 9 hours later. I don't seem to get moss... the only scent I have that I get a lot of moss from is Fae. If there is moss here, it's probably not that moss. (And that's probably not helpful, sorry!) (Edit: Oh yeah... also, and when I smell this, I think of an etherial light dusty blue, or a pale blue with a slight slivery/grey tint... but I'm not sure I smell colors the same way other people do, maybe my nose marches to its own drummer or my scent-palate isn't sophisticated enough. /disclaimer)
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Maple leaves, ti leaf, pine needles, cedar, and soft mosses. Red maple! This skin test takes me right back to October Dusk bath oil, but without the sweet honey. There is still a sweetness in this, like a maple-syrup sweetness, but it's quieter. Other trees are just perceptible through the maples, and there's a hint of smoke in this forest air, but a sort of maple wood-syrup-russet leaf smell dominates. While I can pick out subdued mosses, like mosses in the shadows of trees, this mostly feels like warm red woody-sweet leaves. This really puts autumn in my mind. It's beautiful, so I might wear this one day, and then cellar it until fall!
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White lavender and ambrette seed, grey patchouli, rum absolute, and vetiver. In the Bottle: Rum and lavender with a faint ambrette whiff On the Skin: Rum and lavender. Almost cakey sweet. Ambrette always reads as grey to me so with the grey patchouli and white lavender this is definitely a muted (but strong) scent only warmed by the rum. The play of the rum and lavender together almost gives an anise vibe. On the Drydown: This has massive throw. It's not a happy scent but rahter broody and melancholy. The lavender is strong! and at times almost takes over but the rum always reins it back in. Eventually the vetiver creeps in and turns an already grey scent ashen. Masterful and lovely. A perfect winters day scent.
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Golden amber, juniper berry, white sage, leather, cardamom, and black pepper. I'm still waiting for this scent to dry down and hoping the golden amber is a bit more prominent however for the most part this is a heavy juniper berry blend. The leather and black pepper make it an equally dark scent. I can't really discern white sage at this point but I think it blends in with the juniper berry in a fascinating way.
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Proceeds from this blend will be donated to Planned Parenthood. Golden sandalwood, soft leather, champaca resin, and coconut. I love skin scents that are soft, deep, and incensey for Spring. Keichu really does this for me. The mild acidity of the leather gives this scent lift, and it's not at all overpowering because it blends so well with the tang of the wood. The champaca is light, like a floral tea. Coconut plays a subtle but unifying role, beautifully rounding out and sweetening the blend. It has a similar feel to Hippie Ghost, another favorite of mine, in that it is both earthy and airy.
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Bourbon vanilla and suede leather, tonka and patchouli, pale amber and blackened tea leaf, coconut husk and cashmere. This is a gorgeous vanilla and coconut blend. It is very light and dries even more so, but it is lovely. I amped the coconut, vanilla and leather, such that the blend was reminiscent of a lighter, leather version of Wolf Spider. This is not a strong/dominant leather, but rather a softly worn leather that makes it a truly comforting blend. This was one of my favorites that I tested at our lunacy event!
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Green tea and honey with a touch of wasabi. In the bottle it smells like a pine sort of potpourri. On skin, a very high pitched green tea. It takes a moment for the astringent potpourri like scent to separate into individual notes. I can smell the honey only when I waft my wrist up to my nose. The wasabi is interesting, and definitely does to your nose the fire dance that wasabi usually does. It's delectable- it's a cup of green tea on a tray with wasabi, possibly waiting for sushi. The only problem I have is that every now and then it becomes a blended potpourri. It is a fresh scent, and the honey grows a little stronger as the wear goes on...and it dries into a very dry green tea sweetened by honey. I think it's growing on me.
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Green tea and honey with orange peel, hay absolute, bergamot, and cypress. Wet/fresh on: green tea and bitter orange peel/bergamot, quite sharp no honey yet, no hay, no cyprus. A fresh scent, very alive. 20-30 mins later, the honey has blossomed, and it is neither a light airy honey nor a thick syrupy one but a golden medium-bodied one (my favorite). The bitterness/sharpness has softened considerably and something else is emerging... something soft, subtle, and woodsy underneath. After about 2.5-3 hours the tea has mellowed to faintness and its mostly a honey-woods scent. To be fair, I tried this on the back of my hand and my hands have been hella dry lately. I need to try this again on my wrist or crook of my arm and see if the tea sticks around longer on properly moisturized skin. I like all the stages of this so far but Im in the market for a nice tea scent so ideally Id like to smell the tea for longer.
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What a great freakin' word. BPAL LOVES TEH SMUT! Three swarthy, smutty musks sweetened with sugar and woozy with dark booze notes. BPAL loves teh smut! I know Beth warned us about this one, that it'd smell a bit aggressive in the bottle but is positively wonderful once on. I haven't smelt Sed Non Satiata yet, which is the scent Beth said this is a lot like, so I have no basis for comparison there. Sorry, guys? In the bottle, yes, it's definitely aggressive. It almost smells like Robitussin cough syrup - that same boozy, quasi-fruity medicinal quality. It has the potential to be sexy, though, I can definitely see/smell that. Smut immediately sweetens when it hits my skin. It's pretty much musky sugar sweetness after a few drinks, precisely what the description says. There's no more medicinal smell to be had, but it's definitely warmer - do I smell vanilla? Very sophisticated and womanly, almost reminiscent of Jean-Paul Gaultier, only without the headache J-P gives me. A seductive, sophisticated, heady, little-black-dress-and-stilettos, 'take me now' scent. I love teh smut. If you haven't already, GET SOME. 9/10. P.S. Throw is amazingly good.
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You dainty dame, for that you be so coy, I will so pluck your plumes as you shall say no more: Go, go, go, seek some other where, importune me no more. Queen Elizabeth I Red roses, red carnation, and grandiflorum jasmine grounded by regal amber and sweet, dark patchouli. In the bottle, the roses dominate everything, as they tend to do (and rightly so). Naturally, as soon as it hits the skin the jasmine rises off of it like smoke, as it tends to do (and again, rightly so). The carnation does its thing spicing up the background, making this bouquet appear even fuller. The amber and patchouli are here to make sure it's not mistaken for a celebratory one -- there's a distinct heaviness, an ache. Overall the blend is a bold gesture, and definitely a disdainful one, but throbs with irrepressible desire, and I personally found the overall effect quite consoling -- I think that's the amber, breathing gently at the very end.
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For he seemed to me again like a king, Like a king in exile, uncrowned in the underworld, Now due to be crowned again. A sinuous leather variant of BPALs Snake Oil. Only side-by-side with Snake Oil can I tell the difference between these in the bottle. It really was appropriate to name this after the snake's skin -- the leather wraps around the familiar blend like a sheath. And it's a grower, constricting slowly until it just might become the thing someone notices about the scent if they just happened to catch it in passing. It also nicely amps the woods in Snake Oil, which probably don't get enough love. If you have a man in your life who loves Snake Oil but it's too sweet for him to wear, he will probably be unstoppable with this.
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Sweet amber and golden honey, cream accord, blue lilac, and a drop of cardamom. In The Bottle: Lilac and cream, oh my oh my! Wet On Skin: The lilac is REALLY heavy! Frankly, at this stage it's verging on overwhelming me. Still, it's a lovely note, and I'm hoping it'll settle down some on the dry down. Dry Down: When I was a kid, there was a giant lilac bush that grew outside the neighbor's house on the corner. I loved waling by it in late spring, when the boughs were heavy with blooming cones of the sweet flower. This lilac is very similar in freshness to what I smelled during that time. As it dries, the honey, a light, sweet yellow honey, not the dark, rich ones in "O", is certainly here as well, with the equally pal amber rounding it out. If there's cream here, it's mostly afterthought, which is a bit of a shame, honestly, because the sweetness of the other notes on my skin could use something to damp them down a little. The cardamom, however, IS there, but can only be detected as I pull my arm away from my face. Tricky! In All: High throw- a little goes a long way! Very, very floral and sweet. I don't know if this is for me, but any floral fan would kill to have this for sure!
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Fir needle and white tea with crushed fresh ginger, white amber, apricot, and oakmoss. Interlude After Sake is a beautiful blend, mellow and light. The white tea and ginger dominate the opening; the fir needles I only smell the bottle and when it's very, very wet; sort of a whiff of balsam pillow over what is otherwise a sweet/clean leaning perfume. The apricot and amber lend the sweetness, the ginger and tea prevent it from hitting foodie territory. There may even be oakmoss in there contributing something nice, but I have no idea what oakmoss smells like on its own. This is a low-throw perfume oil on me. It reminds me a bit of Kumiho, which I had an imp of years ago and loved, but could not wear because it lasted 0.5 seconds on me before disappearing. Interlude has medium staying power; lasting about 6 hours before fading to a lovely apricot-amber glow. Lovely.
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WOMB FURIE In the middle of the flanks of women lies the womb, a female viscus, closely resembling an animal; for it is moved of itself hither and thither in the flanks, also upwards in a direct line to below the cartilage of the thorax and also obliquely to the right or to the left, either to the liver or spleen; and it likewise is subject to falling downwards, and, in a word, it is altogether erratic. It delights, also, in fragrant smells, and advances towards them; and it has an aversion to fetid smells, and flees from them; and on the whole the womb is like an animal within an animal. -- Aretaeus the Cappadocian Oh, that wily womb! Hippocrates and his followers considered the womb a mobile creature, causing mayhem as it writhed its way through a woman's body. Sometimes this ornery organ, due to lack of sexual activity, would create conflicts within a woman's system or would become blocked itself, causing anxiety, nervousness, water retention, and sleeplessness. With the assistance of doctors, nursemaids, hand tools, or, occasionally, self-manipulation, this vexing condition could be alleviated through hysterical paroxysms. Or, as we call it nowadays: orgasm. An itch that needs to be scratched: Snake Oil and three types of honey. To be honest, and snake oil have a less than great record. Straight up snake oil makes me deal with two hours of annoying spice before it gives me the soft vanilla, and none of the Snake pit were a success. This however, has PROMISE!!! The honey cuts out the harshness that the indonesian oils do when they're on my skin, and they're not taking over. I can still tell i'm wearing snake oil, but it's got some honey underneath. The honey and the vanilla also last for a long time, so i'm definetly not getting the disappearing act that I usually associate with snake oil blends. I highly recommend giving it a try!!
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Sweet cream vanilla, white sugar, jasmine blossom, and a drop of star anise. Wow. Opens up with a beautifully strong jasmine note, but the jasmine is tempered by vanilla and cream. An almost bubblegum like sweetness. It's really airy. The anise is creeping up from the bottom. It's sugary as well! Every note is displayed evenly here. For jasmine despisers, it is strong with this blend, but it's as if the petals are dipped in a sugary vanilla cream. This is Monsterbait: BiggerCritters without the grapefruit and with the lightest touch of sugary star anise instead. It's pretty and heady.
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Apricot and blood orange with dragon's blood absolute, golden vanilla, chamomile, white honey, and oudh. Full disclosure- I adored the apricot-orange mix in 4 Seasons: Winter so much that I blind-bought TWO bottles of this just based on that other scent. Now I get to see if this was a genius move or a terrible idea! In The Bottle: Sweet apricot and tart blood orange, right off the bat. Wet On Skin: The orange starts to mellow as it warms on my skin, bringing the apricot right to the front of the line. The dragon's blood cuts through in the background with a slight edge of acridity, an unusual but perfect touch, considering the sweetness of the two dominant fruit notes. The white honey might be back there, too, but only by a hair. Dry Down: All of the above, but more finely tuned, less as separate entities, more an integrated phenomena. I get no vanilla or oudh, but they're not missed- this sweet, soft fruit scent is lovely as is, and I suspect that as we move further into spring, it will definitely become more and more of a go-to scent for me. In All: Low throw and just lovely, glad I got my bottles all lined up!
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Golden amber and gilded vanilla with patchouli, white cedar, and caramelized sandalwood. Warm and golden, this flickers very much like sunshine on a cool, spring day in a wooded garden with perfect, nectar dripping blossoms all around. I get the amber upfront along with the shining sandalwood and dry cedar. The woody notes aren't overpowering and settle down into a soft, balancing basenote. The patch is in the background, but comes out as it dries, adding a very light spice. Okay, so now i'm going to gush a little bit. The vanilla is GORGEOUS in the background. Delicately sweet, all the notes together make the whole blend enchanting and I can't stop spraying it! It's a definite mood lifter and makes all my stuff smell like a warm, wooded tree-lined flower patch on a floating cloud day. UPDATE: I had to get a back-up bottle of this one!
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Black amber, leather, and myrrh. In the bottle this smells like LEATHER. Black, shiny, intense leather. I was a little scared to dab it on, I like leather but this was overwhelming. It absolutely blooms on the skin and the black amber marries perfectly with a much toned down leather and it shines. I don't know if I really smell myrrh.
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Wisteria and white sandalwood with lilac, white tea, champaca, black pepper, benzoin, and white clove. I was most excited about this scent as I love wisteria, and lilac is also one of my favorite notes. I am a bit wary of benzoin, since it tends to turn into a sappy sour vanilla on my skin in general. But here goes! Bottle: Whiff of wisteria, more than lilac, but certainly that type of airy glow that hovers around both spring flowers. Wet: Whoa! That's definitely a strong wisteria, and you can detect the more sharp lilac underneath. I definitely am getting a stronger pepper vibe, too. It's not a sharp high pitched warmth but it's like crushed peppercorns between the fingers. Over time, the pepper stays pretty consistent. The sharper petals stay very light, airy, purple, light purple. It's spicy, warm. Yet also blushing light violet? It's a very interesting scent at this stage. Over time, as it dries, it's staying a kind of overall neutrally warm scent, with the pepper staying stable, I think that I get a whiff of crushed incense, that's probably the champaca. The floral component of the champaca seems to be melding with the other two florals. It's veering towards wisteria as the dominant floral, as I'm getting a bit more sweetness and powdery purple. I'm not getting a straightforward 'clove,' and the benzoin is slightly souring the blend (not in a bad way, just adding a hint of chewy resin)... As it dries, my overall impression is: fascinating spicy, neutral to warm purple floral, with gray incense smoke trailing upwards. Deep huffs bring forwards wisteria blossoms and occasional airier kisses of lilac. Hmmm. Intriguing!
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I too beneath your moon, almighty Sex, Go forth at nightfall crying like a cat, Leaving the lofty tower I laboured at For birds to foul and boys and girls to vex Edna St. Vincent Millay Vanilla cream, white patchouli, French lavender, bergamot, and apple. This is a lovely morphing scent!! When I first put the blend on, it was very tart/apple heavy. As it dried, it softened into a lovely vanilla and lavender with the apple taking a firm backseat. The bergamot was not something that I detected individually, but I think that too is softening and sweetening the blend. None of the notes end up as dominant, but all ended up in a sweet, comforting "me" smell. Literally, a comfort smell that smells like what I would like my base scent, but better, to be. This was my second favorite from our Lunacy event and came home with me! I can't wait to try it with Lilith's Hair Gloss!!
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Piss off, Saint Valentine! Lupercalia is an ancient Roman celebration, held on February 15th, that kicked in the advent of Spring with a very, very festive purification, fertility and sexuality ritual. The ritual began near the cave of Lupercal on the Palatine, an area sacred to Faunus, as well as Ruminia, Romulus and Remus. During Lupercalia, Vestal Virgins first made offerings of sacred cakes to the fig tree under which the she-wolf suckled the Sacred Twins. A dog and two goats were then offered in sacrifice to Faunus. The blood of the sacrifice was smeared onto two naked patrician youths, who were assisted by the Virgins, and the blood was wiped clean with sacred wool dipped in milk. The youths donned the skins of the sacrificial goats, wielding whips made from the goat skins, and then led the priests and the Virgins around the pomarium, and around the base hills of Rome. This was a ceremony of great happiness and merriment, and was of particular interest to young women: being touched by the goat-whips young men that led the procession ensured their fertility in the coming year. It is believed that, after the initial rite, male participants would draw the name of an available maiden, with whom he spent the rest of the night. This scent is for the Luperci, the Chosen of Faunus, the Brothers of the Wolf: raw, down and dirty patchouli, Gurjam balsam, and essence of Sampson Root sweetened with the heightened sexuality of beeswax, virile juniper, oakmoss, ambrette seed over honey and East African musk. ... am I really the first? Oh dear! Stage fright. In the bottle: Patchouli, smacking me in the nose! Beeswax, moss, earthy, dirty, powerful. The husband likes this. Wet on skin: Patchouli and juniper, with a honey-sweet undertone, but the sharp woody note is on top. Dry on skin: Patchouli and a heavy, sweet musk. Juniper's still there, but the musk is overpowering it. Over time: Woody and sweet and musky. This is a heavy, woody, honey-sweet scent; patchouli likes me, as usual, and is sticking around as the strongest note. The juniper has receded almost entirely, leaving me with only a quiet sharpness in the woody scent to remind me of its presence. Overall: I expected to like this, and I'm not disappointed. It's a very earthy, sexy kind of scent, not a pretty or delicate scent; this is precisely what I wanted and expected out of it. Elf still likes it, too. Bonus. I used to wear patchouli straight, but I like this more; it's more complex and appealing. 4.5/5 - not hoarding like I do with Geek, but I'm glad I got a bottle, so it will last me a nice long time.
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Black leather, red sandalwood, orris root, tobacco absolute, oakmoss, and sweet patchouli. This is beautiful- smooth, wooden and leather that are well-blended together. It was borderline too masculine for me, but i did really like it. I amped the leather, sandalwood and patchouli- very little tobacco and Orris root on me.
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Chrysanthemum incense and red carnation. In The Bottle: Whoa, hello chrysanthemum incense! Carnation, of course, lending its special, sweet spiciness to the mix! Wet On Skin: The incense is definitely front and center. It reminds me quite a bit of the champa incense note, actually, even as it retains a hint of the mum-vibe. (also I accidentally got a little in my mouth when I was sniffing my finger. Don't eat it!!!) Dry Down: A light incense, but still a stronger note just the same. The spice of the carnation is here, but precious little else of the sweet flower remains. I am hoping this will come around with some aging, but regardless, it's a great addition to any incense lover's collection. At worst, I will later with some of the Spanish Carnation SN when I want more of that red beauty in the mix!
