stellans

Oh my. Oh my oh my oh my! Virginia is amazing in the bottle, but it is absolutely glorious on my skin! Up to this point, I thought Lola would be the only Courtesan to work with my skin chemistry, but I did have a smidgen of hope for Virginia, because many of the notes sounded good -- but there were a few which gave me quite a pause. (Yeah, tobacco, caramel, and tonka bean: I'm looking at you!)

As several others have mentioned, the red musk in this blend reminds me of some other favorites, namely: Scherezade, Marianne, Mircalla, and The Grindhouse. However, there is enough difference in additional notes between those and Virginia that this is definitely a keeper. I am an incense lover, so the addition of frankincense and sandalwood to the red musk was a winner to my nose. It doesn't seem to last quite as long as Scherezade or Marianne, so the star rating isn't quite as high as it might have been: 3 of 5 stars.

Oh, yum. Pomegranate is one of my favorite notes, and so is iris. This blend takes both these lovely notes and stirs them up with a few florals and blackcurrant to create this lovely blend.

When first applied, it's pomegranate which is at the forefront to my nose but the florals (with iris in the lead) quickly bloom, sweetened just a bit by the blackcurrant. Sadly, this isn't a very long-lasting scent and I have to really bury my nose in my wrist to catch it after only an hour, but I do like it enough to reapply - I just don't think my bottle will last very long due to multiple reapplications. Two of 5 stars.

Sigh. Once again, amber has ruined a potentially wonderful scent for me, though aided and abetted quite handily by the tobacco leaf. Icky plastic-y powder. That's what Ninon smells like on my skin.

Like so many reviewers before me, I had no idea what to expect from a blend containing the mentioned notes. But...I love Beth's Lunacies so I was intrigued enough to try a bottle. And I have to say, it's a definite keeper.

I let this one rest for quite some time after shipping due to the heat, and I think that was probably the best thing I could have done for this blend. Last night, when I decanted a bit into my rollerball bottle (the way I apply Lunacies for bedtime), I was enchanted by the slightly sweet grape, the lush hay, and the oh-so-fleeting hint of smoke I caught. And at bedtime, when I actually applied it for the night, it was love. There was all the goodness glimpsed earlier, and even better, the cinnamon lent only a touch of scent and didn't make me break out in welts (the usual reaction)!

Moon of Horses lasted a good long while on my skin, as I drifted off to sleep with it wafting softly around me, and there was still a vestige of it left this morning when I woke up. I don't think it influenced my dreams (as Singing Moon always does), but it definitely was a lovely scent to fall asleep to, and it now has a place in my nightly rotation. Three of 5 stars.

Although upon first sniff I had doubts, I went ahead and wore this blend today...at least, at first. Unfortunately for me, this is vanilla all the way. It wasn't this way in the decant, because there I sensed other notes --besides vanilla-- which kept the vanilla nicely in check. I'm hanging on to the bottle to see if it ages better, but for now I don't like it.

I am SO happy there was at least one Bats Day 2011 release which works on my skin! This is a nicely complex scent in which the leather doesn't take a back seat to the other notes, thank goodness, but works in such a sexy way with them to make this blend amazing. The skin musk is there, but not overtly, while the opoponax, patchouli, and dark myrrh make this leather blend a new favorite. I find it very different from any other leather blend I have (including Spanked '05 or Spanked Resurrected), but in a good way. A very good way.

Sadly, this is another Bats Day 2011 release which doesn't work for me. There are many of BPAL's unisex and/or masculine scents which I love, and I had high hopes for this one, but for some reason it turns to total high-pitched aftershave on me.

I love roses, the scent of the scent of them and usually I love any BPAL blend with a strong rose note. But not this one. For some reason, all I get in this really sour decaying sweetness, and it was just too unpleasant. This is not a blend for me, definitely. And this makes me sad, because it means only one of the Bats Day releases (Fetish.Goth) worked for me.

On me, the hairspray scent is very strong, and sick-making. It never morphs into anything else, and I don't smell anything other than hairspray. And cheap hairspray, at that. Not for me, sadly.

I really, really wanted to like this, because it just sounded so good. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. On my skin, it turns to a sickly sweet vanilla powdery kind of thing, almost reminiscent of vanilla pudding mix, which is I know the fault of the amber note. Amber is rarely kind to my skin, but I saw the other notes and had hopes, because sometimes the amber is dominated enough by other things that it plays nice. Oh well...

Have you given Iago a try? Or Black Rider? Those, to me, are both heavy-hitting leather blends.

I wore this for the first time since purchasing it on eBay (from one of the reviewers above, in fact), and I am sad to say there is no patchouli or orange at all to my nose. This is a very, very lightweight foody scent, and not at all for me. I love patchouli, and looked forward to this blend so very, very much that I'm heartbroken at what it turned out to be on my skin.

Upon first sniff and application, this is all dirt-dirt-DIRT! But as it dries, the dirt mixed with grass, and I would get a whiff of errant sweetness every so often (the lemon candy?) until putting my wrist closer to my nose. Then, again, all I could smell was grass and dirt, yet still when my arm moved the sweet slightly citrus-y note was in the air. It wasn't until about an hour after application that the most delicious leather note crept out, and even then the dirt remained a bit. This is a nicely complex scent, and waiting for the leather to come out is so worthwhile! 3 stars of 5 stars are awarded this LE blend. If the leather note had come out a bit sooner, the score would've been higher.

I too get the lovely leather dry-down from TDNBR, which is why I bought 2 bottles of it. It's a lovely change from my regular leather favorites.

I just skin tested Dragon's Musk from the Ars Draconis line, and I think it's a very close equivalent to The Infernal Lover once it's dry.

I agree, it's very close and I wouldn't have thought to try it -- thanks!

First sniff in the bottle says this is definitely related to the first Sugar Moon, because there is the similar burned sugar note. However, this is much lighter than the original, and there's almost a nutty tang to it. Even on my skin, the burned sugar/nutty note is there. My experience is so far from what was reported above, I wonder if my nose is playing games with me. Of course, this Lunacy only arrived today so testing it right out of the box isn't fair. So, I'll give this a bit of rest time and then try it again. Here's hoping for the best!

Given the listed notes for this blend, this is a very LIGHT scent which doesn't stick around very long. However, I do like what I smell: the coffee bean is barely there, but the dry leaves (reminiscent of To Autumn, October, etc.) is lovely. Hardly any patchouli, which isn't how I'd hoped this would go, and the tonka is also very sparse. All in all, all these potentially heavy notes are somehow made less than their norm in this blend. I think I'd prefer their usual pronounced presence, actually. Except for the coffee bean. 2 of 5 stars.

I love the notes of this blend so much I could hardly wait to try it, and it did not disappoint. Surprisingly, the patchouli (which I love, and usually amp) didn't take over this blend at all: the pepper is stronger than anything else! That is so unusual and so awesome that it makes up for how this blend has no staying power. But, since I am adding this to my Lunacy Rotation to wear at bed time, it only has to last long enough to accompany me to Dreamland, and it does.

The pepper is uppermost, as mentioned previously, but I can also smell the holly berry, the myrrh, and a little bit of ylang-ylang. I wish the patchouli would step up a bit, but I love this oil anyway. I have to use quite a bit, more than usual, to be able to smell it without having to sleep with my wrist under my nose, and as I said, it doesn't really last very long, but it's a lovely, lovely blend. 3 of 5 stars.

I'm agreeing with the previous reviews that this blend is a morpher, and one which will pay for aging. On me, much like Mme Moriarty, the red musk is predominant at first but the other notes make their debut in rapid succession, finishing after about an hour or so upon a lovely incense blend. I'm liking this now, and believe it will be knee-shakingly beautiful in another year. 3 of 5 stars from me for this blend, but I think after aging my rating will go up, possibly to a 5.

woo-hoo! Here's a picture of the 2 WILF labels (one male, one female), the Wolf Moon 2011, and Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse labels:

I second the ScentBase recommendation!

Thanks Stellans & mxtine!! Those are great. I really love the BPTP labels. What is the orange thing on the Wildfire label? It looks like a skull necklace (but hey I just woke up and my eyes and brain are still in sleep mode lol). Most people drink coffee in the morning to wake up. I drink Tea ... so better go get some.

Here's a slightly better picture; maybe you can make out that it's a pine cone on the Wildfire label from this. ETA: And on the Mabon label it's a bunch of grapes.

This isn't a very good picture, but here's Wildfire, Mabon and Harvest Moon 2010:

I know this is LE for LE, but if you long for Twisted Oak Tree and can't find it, look for a bottle of Oborot...they smell remarkably similar, and I think Oborot may be easier to find. Haven't found a comparable GC though.

This is a new love come late to me. I had avoided even trying this blend because wine notes historically just do not work for me; they turn sour and old, and smell like bar floors on me. So no, I was quite happy with the later release of Hunter Moon 2007, thank you very much.

Then...oh, then! I was frimped with a bit of this Lunacy (and I wish I could remember who so I could thank (and maybe curse them, just a little) for enabling me to what is an increasingly hard to find scent.

This is amazing on me; where a wine note once soured, it settles in nicely in rounded sweet bliss on my arm. The herbs keep it from cloying, and the application of a single pass of my rollerball bottle at the beginning of the night lasts until I wake the next morning, when sniffing my wrist brings back memories of the woods I dreamt of during the darkness.

I love this blend, and will have to make the bit I have last, because I haven't seen it offered for sale. 4 of 5 stars..