patina

At first this was too similar to my memory of The Light of Men's Lives for me. However, there's a stronger sooty note that I'm really enjoying.

I get a pale orange honeyed note. It smells a lot like honeybush tea but I think it's the amber. The clove isn't super sharp. Right now this is dark but the throw isn't very intense. This should age well because of the vetiver and oudh.

The art was too tempting on this one. It smells Irish Spring adjacent, (but not harshly soapy) with wet leaves. I've smelled horse chestnut leaves. They don't have a particularly strong smell to me, but this is accurate. It's definitely not the usual Dead Leaves scent. 

This might be an August painting, but it works for November rain too. Very relaxing actually.

I was hoping for something comparable to Opium Poppy. This has the floral, but the agave is prominent,  giving off a green sweetness that almost seems aquatic. It is unlike Opium Poppy's dark, silky floral but is pleasant enough in its own way.

2024: A bit of rich buttercream with gobs and gobs of cheap whipped cream plus a thin but undeniable layer of sunscreen. That last note is jarringly unfoody compared to the rest of the scent.

I can't tell whether I like this one or not. It's straightforward and very simple but also weird. The makeup/suncreen element isn't exactly pleasant on its own, but it is interesting.

Edit: I really like this layered with Datura.

If you can find the Day Old Ham scent....joking. That's not terribly morbid, just hammy.

I don't know. Most of the blood scents just smell like cherry to me. Blood is a pretty good perfume representation of the elements of blood scents without smelling like blood itself.

Nosferatu did remind one reviewer of cremation grounds, though I get more of a wine spill on dirt.

The Grand Inquisitor's Heretic Fork did really kind of smell like burning flesh, though I think it's hard to find. There's also the infamous Gore Shock from Dark Delicacies. I never tried it but someone compared it to "making out in a burn unit."

I was about to say Deathrock.

But, hmm. Mx. Nobody has cannabis, lime, and leather. You might want to try some Dead Leaves scents,  the dead leaves and champa ones might work. A Melancholy of Goths has hairspray. Also there was the Blacklight Reactive Posters series that might fit.

I wish I could come up with something more current and available. There's Convertible Hearse from this year's Halloweenies, but I think it would need something more colorful and maybe cigarette smoke to be rocker.

That is lipstick. Waxy, cheap cherry berry lipstick that smells like the smudged tissues at the bottom of an old purse smell. There's some clove hovering about as well.

I am so confused. Is that red musk? wine? Maybe the "black" element in black oud is oppoponax? The oud must be giving it the perfect backdrop to vamp against. I meant "amp" but you know what? It's vamping. It is both loud and making a strong attempt at seduction.

Something does feel like toasted grains. Pumpkin seed as much as pumpkin. I like dark scents a lot but this is a screaming kind of dark and right now it feels like a bit much.

EDIT Overnight this settled down and stopped screaming. There are some lingering toasted grains. I stopped wondering if there was wine here, but there's still an element that is sweeter than I expected.

EDIT #2 Okay, I think I figured out the sweetness. It's got to be the pumpkin (weirdly waxy and maybe a little citrusy too somehow) plus maybe something in the black oud like I thought before.

EDIT THE THIRD Aging has made so much difference to this one. Before I got straight up obnoxious perfume. Then an almost soapy waxy mess. Now, after a month or so I get a slightly citrus, slightly spiced pumpkin and oudh. The pumpkin is actually a touch creamy and I hope eventually it will turn into the same one that's in my beloved The Empty House.

Trying the 2024 restock of Erebos and I can't tell any difference. It's got the same lovely vanilla lavender and melon coolness and it's perfect for a sweltering day.

I had to try this for the opium  poppy. The rose is lovely in the bottle, but waffles on turning into rose soap. The poppy and dry oud may be influencing that.

It doesn't take long for the soapy phase to resolve. I get dried rose petals and  smoke from candles and incense along with oud.

Disclaimer: I'm trying this straight from the mailbox.

The champaca is immediately there, however it's not as mothball-esque as Nag Champa goes on me, it's floral. I get a vaguely fruity rose along with the warm amber and furry black musk. This feels a little heavy for a hot summer day.

Next day test: I take back every bad thing I've said about champaca. This is a lovely realistic floral. It does actually remind me of the scent of the small flowered kind of magnolias except it's strongly orange. The musk is now taking a backseat to champaca. It may be the name influencing me but I get faint impressions of amber as golden strings.

Faint red rose suspended in labdanum and myrrh, like one of those flowers captured in paperweights.

I love both labdanum and myrrh so this was an easy choice. I expect the rose will get stronger with age.

Immediately in the bottle, I think of ginger. Fresh, not very spicy ginger.

Then a liquid amber comes out. These resins meld together so well I can't really pick them out, though. Sweet, maybe a little baby powder in there but mostly liquid resin. This makes me think Byzantine, even though the amber is not the super bright gold you'd associate with the era. Dusky soft blue-black and dull pallid gold.

This is indeed an amber silk scent. I can imagine it would be better diffused by spraying and might smell better that way but it isn't exactly weak on me either. It probably helps that oude usually plays nice on my skin. The ginger doesn't go bitter on me and right now the sweet gold amber is triumphing over everything else.

 I think I may actually like this one more than The Serpent in the Carnations, probably because of the peony and the opium as a base note. It's a bit sweeter up top and the base is dark instead of the Snake Oil red musk. This doesn't overwhelm the carnation. My favorite Luper so far.

This disappears fairly quickly which is a shame

I'm glad I tried this, this does smell exactly like the way green maraschino cherries look and smell. The peppermint can be a little weird when it pokes out and this isn't for anyone who can't stand anything cough syrup like. But overall it blends surprisingly well into an unnatural tart green fruity scent. Good for summer.

Grassy green jasmine tea. Deep down it has an almost vetiver like note which makes sense because of the lapsung souchong. There's a little soapiness, maybe the ginger. It's like tea and some high quality, odd, partially burnt Japanese incense sticks left in a box with a few spices and soaps. Not bad, but this isn't for me.

Edit: Aging helped remove the occasional soapiness. This may, in fact, be for me.

Edit: Perfect for summer. I don't like jasmine much but I love this. The osmanthus and white tea shine over the grassiness of the rest of the scent.

I've reconsidered. This is my favorite of the Lupers.

Smoky dark red roses and by "smoky" I don't mean charred. More like colored by the resins. I almost smell jasmine here, maybe the oud is indolic? Anyway this has an old movie glamor feel to it.

Notes unseen I thought this had a heavy dark wool, like the wool in Druid, along with a clean, bright lemon musk smell and some vanilla.

I had hopes for this one, unfortunately it seems the "lemon" could easily go sour on my skin and the darkness of the tobacco sometimes combines with it to produce something like a sour, abandoned washcloth. That isn't a strong effect, but just the faintest suggestion is enough.

 The scent was very clean and cozy when I first put it on, though.

I skipped this one in the past, possibly because I used to expect lemon in perfume to automatically be a citrus bomb. Instead this is dark, sweet, crumbly wood with a bit of lemon for illumination. I'd compare it to woody incense or the inside of a terrarium. I don't get a lot of smoke, but there's a faint hit of singe. Not an absolute favorite, but remarkably pleasant and a bit sultry.

Sweet opium. It would be perfume opium except for the ton or rugged boot leather, oak, and something that smells like nettles reduced down to a green soup. As it is, the opium smells like a stand-in for a humid dark night.

I like it, but it's very creepy woodshed.

First wear: very carnation: pink, somewhat powdery floral. Soft clove. The Snake Oil background is not prominent, somehow there's an occasional whiff of suede leather in the background. I think my brain is mistaking the patchouli and musk for leather. I'm reminded of The Bow and Crown of Conquest. Up close I get Snake Oil. The Snake will likely get stronger with time.

I'll have to test this one later. As Snake Oil blends go this isn't my favorite so far because I'm neutral on carnation. But Snake Oil blends also intensify with time and I do like clove.

Day two, warmer: the vanilla, spice, and amber(?) are really coming out.

After some aging the clove really is evident. The Snake Oil has come out and overtaken the carnation, making this red instead of pink.

So, since I haven't done this one

narcissius= white floral almost a fruity melon

myrrh=snuffed candle

opium= latex, a not-quite-rubber that I somehow enjoy even though I dislike rubber

Sheer black silk and slightly melony.

At first, ginger ale. Just ginger ale and very accurate!

Then the Snake Oil comes out and the scent waffles back and forth between champagne and Snake Oil. The ginger threatens to go soapy without quite actually doing it. The ginger is strongly rooty/airy wood to me. This is good because it smells sophisticated and bad because it can go a little bitter. But I think aging might fix that. I still think I'd prefer a more citrus/ floral sparkling vanilla ginger ale or else just plain Snake Oil. It's lovely and probably difficult to achieve this balance but not for me.

Edit: Spoke too soon, maybe. It eventually resolves into something that isn't trying to be soapy. I like it.