strahlend

Maybe the years have mellowed the orange peel and musks. On my skin this is a pretty mellow, middle of the road sort of musky blend. A little perfumy, maybe just a slight hint of a floral note around the edge, but other than that it's exactly what I would expect a musk scent to be - musky. No frills, no surprises, nothing to write home about. Inoffensive, pleasant, and mellow.

This smells amazingly similar to Black Lace both in the decant and on my skin. I'm sure there's some subtle difference, but to my nose they're just about the same. It's a lovely scent, musky with a sweet element and a pronounced "cologne" sort of feel.

I'm a Pisces but I felt the need to collect all of the water astrological blends. Ahem. I get the perfumy element of dark/black musk and the dragons blood. It doesn't seem particularly herbal (basil) or bitter (wormwood) and I'm always confused what galangal and opoponax add to a blend but they seem to turn up in musky/woody/dark sorts of oils and so I sort of assume that they're there to round out these kinds of blends. Sometimes dragon's blood seems too sweet or candy like to my nose, but this is mainly a fantastic musky, warmly spiced dragon's blood blend.

In my decant and on my skin this reminds me a lot of BIEN LOIN D'ICI. The Arbor has just a touch more of a dry bark element to it, but other than that they have a very similar feel. Which is great, I really love both of them. The Arbor is musky and lightly sweet with a bit of spice and a touch of earthiness. For some reason I get the feeling of jasmine but it's not listed, so maybe I'm confused. It's one of those scents that feels both sexy and really comfortable. I think it's lovely.

Skin testing a decant – yep, this is creamy and pretty. Not overly coconut or honey. I'm guessing it's the sandalwood and orris together that makes this so smooth and warm and light. The longer it's on the more sandalwood I'm smelling. I like that, so this is working nicely for me. I asked my partner to do a sniff test and he actually liked it, not his usual ambivalent "meh" either. I double checked even. Since he usually doesn't care at all what I smell like, a positive response combined with my already pleasant feelings toward this scent means I'll be looking for a bottle.

In my decant and for the first five minutes or so on my skin all I can smell is the red ginger which reminds me a whole lot of the scent War. I'm not a fan of this stage.

The longer it stays on my skin though the more it develops and becomes a totally different scent. The ginger calms down and just about all of the other notes take turns peeking out and blending together. At one point I was getting a lot of orange blossom, a minute later the amber, a few minutes later the myrrh and leather. The notes seem to come in layers and change like crazy from one moment to the next. I guess this is what the kids call a morpher. The general feeling from the scent is of a unique warmth. Unfortunately the times when the leather surfaces it seems to be the sort of chemical variety that my partner can't stand.

This scent is an interesting experience but the combination of the rough start with the leather issue means this scent isn't going to work for me personally.

Call me crazy but this is reminding me a bit of a less sweet/powdery and more woody Samhain. In the imp it's a bit sweet and fruity but on my skin the mahogany comes out right away. It's mainly a rounded mahogany scent with soft musky apples. It's quite lovely. I appreciate how the apples don't jump out and yell fruit, they blend beautifully with the wood.

This is one of those scents that reminds me that even though I think I know what works for me and what I like there are still lots of surprises in the bpaliverse.

 

In the imp it smelled like something I would want to drink, sort of fresh and almost butterscotchy. I don't usually like things fruity or foody but it was compelling nonetheless.

 

Rose is usually a death note for me. Somehow it's subdued and mellow enough in this blend that I didn't even realize it was in here until I looked at the notes.

Skin testing impressions - this smells fresh and sweet and fun while not being super fruity or overwhelmingly sugary or candy-like. The freshness is likely the mango, cucumber and coconut. It's a great combination. The spun sugar gives it some sweetness but the apple blossom and lavender help to keep it from going over the top. I'm actually really enjoying this. I really love what cucumber is contributing to this blend. It has a decent strength and throw and it's just really pretty and fresh. This scent has an uplifting effect on my mood too, which is a great bonus.

I have a bottle of the '08 version that is oddly undetectable when I initially put it on. After a while it sort of blooms and I suddenly could smell the patchouli and it was very woodsy and beautiful. Less than an hour later though and I couldn't even tell I put anything on. It makes me wonder if something happened to this bottle or if it just generally didn't age well.

 

Testing the '10 version now - in the imp this seems to be all vetiver. On my skin and immediately get a lot of musk and patchouli. There's a moment where it smells kind of bitter but that softens up pretty quickly. I keep sniffing for the other components but I'm not able to detect them. The patchouli musk is earthy and exactly what one might expect from that combination of notes. Personally, I like it quite well but for my patchouli needs I'd probably still rather turn to Banshee Beat.

It's kind of funny because the only thing I can detect from the listed notes are "woods" which is pretty vague. I am totally rose paranoid - even in the smallest of amounts it will ruin a blend for me - but I can't smell it at all here.

(edited after further testing)

I've tested this several more times and it seems like in the imp there's a sharp wood smell like maybe teak. On my skin for the first couple minutes there's an almost cherry/almond smell that reminds me of Joy Mojo. It's a strange phase and it doesn't last long, but consistently that seems to be what happens. When that fades out it starts getting a feeling of warmer woods - or maybe it's how the wood is interacting with the ambergris, and what seems to be some red musk. Perhaps that's the "wild" part of the wild woods? There is some sweetness to this blend, but if the idea of double vanillas and honey freaks you out it shouldn't, it's not cloyingly sweet at all. I've never detected any rose whatsoever during any of the skin tests I've done. There's a soft, woody, softly musky, warmth to this scent that is really beautiful. This is the Luper I've been reaching for the most often. It also seems to have fantastic longevity as well, and since most scents fade off of me so quickly that's a welcome bonus.

This is a lovely, sweet, lightly spiced carnation. I get no impression of vetiver or nutmeg at all. There's a warmth and round sweetness to it that when I look at the notes I suppose are the fig and myrrh, but mainly this is carnation. I'm not easily won over by predominantly floral blends, but this one has something special about it.

Seems to have the same vanilla and cotton type base as black lace, but with a red fruity note on top instead of the dark musky note in black lace. I'm not a fan of fruit or berries, but I had to give this a chance because sometimes I'm really surprised by the things I end up loving. In this case though it's pretty much exactly what I expected and it's not my preferred kind of scent.

Somehow this ends up reminding me of Elephantine Colossus. When I tested this without looking at the notes I thought it seemed kind of candy/sweet/popcorn/foody with the lightest touch of red musk. The clove isn't sharp. The cream isn't pronounced. I guess it's the ginger and honey that's giving me the candyish feeling. Overall it's interesting but not what I was hoping for.

I like this scent a lot. It reminds me of Illustrated Woman and Haunted - the dark musk is very pronounced. If you like that, and I do, then this is a must sniff. I smell just a little whiff of linen in the background which gives this scent an interesting (but minimal and brief) counterpoint. I understand that chypre is a blend of citrus, musk and floral, but I'm not sure how the red factors in or how that blend contributes to this scent as a whole. There is an oakmossy element that comes out after a few minutes of wear, but I don't get any sense of citrus or floral. A bit further into the drydown process the oakmoss steps up and holds its own with the dark musk and together they're giving me the feeling of an elegant, vintage perfume.

This is far and away the very best scent out of all of the Lupers for me. It keeps feeling familiar, but I can't figure out what it reminds me of. I barely stop huffing my arm long enough to write this.

Brown musk, labdanum, sandalwood and champaca seem to blend together to provide the base of this scent. It's soft, rounded, musky and sensual. It's just a little incensey and sweet. It's one of those "your skin but better" types of scents. If there's any leather in here it might be the very soft book binding kind of leather like in Buggre Alle This Bible - it is definitely not sharp or chemical. I'm not getting clove as a distinct note, which I appreciate because I sometimes find it to be too sharp.

It's a beautiful scent and I will absolutely, without a doubt require this scent in my collection.

At one point I put this on my LOVE list and I have a bottle of it. Today I'm randomly retesting and while I can see why I bought this - all the notes work well for me - when it's actually on my skin I can hardly smell anything. What I do get seems to be a sort of teak with lemons. I wish I could detect the things that everyone else seems to pick up on.

I do love this scent. It's unique to my experience in that it is somehow both light in feel and also unmistakably present. There is some musk, something tart, something sweet... and they come together to make this absolutely fascinating whole that is beyond description. A masterpiece.

I might consider Velvet Nudie and Philologus in a similar family of scent.

This smells like lightly honeyed peppermint tea and I'm absolutely in love with it. This is a perfect scent for spring and summer, light and refreshing.

This is mainly a resin blend with a hint of pine. It's reminding me of scents like Cathedral and Midnight Bell. The pine isn't very strong, but it's had four years to age so maybe it's mellowed a lot. As with most resin scents I totally love it and also wish that it was a bit stronger or more pronounced.

Call me crazy but this smells like something sweet (tobacco? tonka?), cedar, and fig. It actually reminds me a lot of Intrigue. This has been my impression during two testings that were over a year apart. Weird. I like it but I don't get anything close to what the other reviewers do and I kind of wish I did since I love sexy boozy scents.

It's been a year since my initial review and apparently aging has dramatically changed my experience of this scent, so this is an update. This is one of those scents that makes me think that my nose is living on some other planet. I have two bottles of the older Res version (before the apple issue came up) and they both smell the same to me, so it's not a batch thing. I swear that when I put this on all I smell is black musk with a rich, dark vanilla undertone.

This is a strong scent and it lasts a good long while. I like it quite well. I wish I could smell for a moment any of the listed notes or anything like what other people mention though, that would be cool too.

I can't believe I haven't written a review of this, I have three bottles now - I love it!
Raven Moon reminds me a lot of Marquis de Carabas, which I realize is my standard for “spiced, warm, sweet, musky” blends – of which many are made. I do get a feeling of black musk for a few minutes at the start. Myrrh, smoky vanilla, patchouli... seems to be a great base for an earthy, musky, spicy sort of blend and it's perfectly balanced here. The patchouli is clearly present, but not hoarding the spotlight. I would almost think there was a hint of clove here, but it's not listed so I guess it must be the nutmeg. This is both snuggly and sexy. I get no sense of red chili at all and I kind of wonder what that would even smell like in this context.
I've collected many decants of lunacy blends and they almost never work for me, Raven Moon is one of the few fantastic exceptions and I'm so glad that I've had the chance to experience it.

I don't usually enjoy chocolate scents but I do love rum and red wine. This blend is such a great mixture of cocoa and wine that they form something totally new together. I don't really get rum or anything that makes me think of blood. Since I don't usually go for foodie scents it's pretty remarkable that this works for me. I'm trying to think of how to describe this but all I can think of is red wine and a bit of chocolate in perfect proportion. During the dry down it seems to take on a sort of incensey quality which is quite pleasant. I guess that says it all. Most perfume wares off of me pretty quickly, this one seems to stick around for at least a few hours from a light dab, which was also really nice.

I just noticed that other people have commented that this scent seems to have an incense quality too. I'm glad to see that it wasn't my nose being totally weird.

I seriously suspect that age is a factor with this oil - as is the case with many red musk blends.

This scent is BE-U-TI-FUL on my skin. Resin, flowers, musk, and a hint of something that reminds me faintly of apples. Like a reviewer above I get a nag champa vibe - which I totally love. It's a rich musk, with sexy, incense and deep but mellow jasmine (just realized there's no jasmine listed in here, but it smells like it to me). It results in a very inviting and mildly earthy blend that reminds me of what a sultry and confident woman would smell like. Wearing this perfume I'M the sultry and confident woman I love bpal

I really love this Mouse. Sweet-pea reminds me of my grandmother and it's a very happy, comforting scent. Combined with the vanilla and amber this is the olfactory equivalent of the softest, most wonderful, soothing, blanket in the world.

It also reminds me a lot of Morocco but in that blend the floral element is carnation instead of sweet-pea.