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Showing results for tags 'Lupercalia 2017'.
Found 89 results
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Cardamom-infused tobacco with honey, tonka bean, and vanilla cream. Test of Strength on me is a surprisingly spicy (nearly peppery) tobacco sweetened with a light touch of honey, paired with a softer side that's mostly tonka, but with a little vanilla showing up now and then. The cardamom is more potent and pepper-like than I expected, but some of the spicy thing might be coming from this specific tobacco -- they blend well. This feels like a very dual-natured, yin-yang fragrance to me, with the punch from spiced tobacco paired with softer tonka-vanilla. The notes on each end blend well with each other, but don't quite come together -- yin and yang stay separate, a little bit of honey in between.
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White oud and white sandalwood, iris pallida, blonde woods, and pink pepper. Oh, Karikkotsu, you gorgeous elegant, bony nightmare you! This is special. This is unlike any of the Shungas or lupers in the (huge) collection. This is high end chic. This..... is elegant, dry wood with a whisper of what seems to be Bay Rum and a touch of pepper. As if a perfectly dressed gent has arrived at the bar for drinks before dinner..... but it's so unique it's ungendered. Everyone who smelled it, even bpal folks themselves seemed surprised at and enthralled with it. Wearing this I feel.....grand....put together...impossibly chic yet laid back and comfortable. I think the iris is the key that blends all these notes together in a magical way that creates a soft, amazing, sleek yet relaxed scent. I. Love. This. ...Bottle bought.
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Madagascan vanilla, rice powder, iris root, and pale musk. Of the Lupercalia hair glosses I sniffed, The Moon Reflected in Every Rice Paddy made the greatest first impression. On that note, I actually tried it out in my hair and it's a beautiful, creamy, almost marshmallow-y scent without being saccharine. Not too dry or powdery. I'm seriously considering a full bottle.
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Cherry blossoms, white tea, vanilla orchid, and a drop of strawberry. The simplest way to describe Kamisuki is "shampoo-like." It reminds me of Herbal Essences in a way (not that that's a bad thing). I think I get the cherry blossoms most prominently, although on the first spray I forgot to shake it and it ended up smelling very much of strawberry. It's a nice springtime scent and one you can spray on when it's hot out or you want to smell inoffensive. Also the bottle art. Let's not forget how gorgeous the bottle art is. Quite fitting that it's of a woman combing her (presumably) just-washed hair.
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Honeyed leather and tonka with clove, champaca musk, and opium tar. Let me start off by saying that Le Rideau Cramoisi is not my style of scent and I knew that going in. I thought I would try something different and it DID NOT work out well for me. When first applied the clove and what I'm guessing is the opium tar (very smokey) are the most dominant. As it dries there is a noticable leather and there is a strong perfumey musk bringing it all together. It's all well blended but it's a very "bad girl" scent and I'm a good girl lol. Literally smells like I spent the night at a bar with a bunch of bikers smoking clove cigarettes in our leather jackets. I had to wash it off. It was just too much for me!
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[No additional description given.] Ok, so usually I totally stay away from anything that has patchouli in it... BUT I have learned that there are times when the Lab/Post has a way of blending it that makes it less hippie-ish, which is what I never liked about patch. SO I thought I would try this! I haven't sprayed in my hair, so this is just sniffing in the bottle... I might edit this once I do a proper hair test. Sniffing in the bottle I do get chocolate... and something pale and sweet. That might be the tea note, but it doesn't seem like the usual tea scent I have smelled in other blends. Also, it might be how the patch is blended with the tea and chocolate, but it almost seems like it is a little bit of a licorice smell there. My nose isn't at 100% right now because of allergies, but this seems like it will be a nice light blend despite it being patch and dk chocolate in there. Update: Got this in my hair....sadly, this isn't for me. The chocolate note is nice, but the tea and patch notes together goes odd. Still get that licorice vibe and I am not a licorice fan. Oh well.... that's how it goes!
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[No additional description given.] Sniffing this in the bottle.... to me, this is a close relative to El Dia Los Reyes, just less spicy. I am just testing this on my arm, but the chocolate is light and the other notes are blended perfectly with it. I thought this would be stronger, but it might be once it is in my hair... which I will edit upon testing it rightly. The amber is soft, but present... glad it isn't too crazy heavy, since amber does that to me. The nutmeg adds a perfect little amount of spice. Not sure I am getting the sandalwood. This is lovely. Edit to add, that yes... this is surprisingly light. I get all the notes. I prefer to have my HG's to have more oomph to them. but this is a lovely light chocolate, amber, sandalwood....but yes, very light throw. Perfect for having to work in close proximity to others that might get easily olfactory offended.
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[No additional description given.] There was no way in the world I was NOT going to buy a bottle of this, especially since I had held out on the entire BPAL Luper list (until today, when I finally caved and ordered a bottle of Initiation Sentimentale in faint hope that the white tea note might not overpower everything else in it, but I digress) ... I'm a big fan of how the Lab and the Post works it chocolate/cocoa magic in its scents, and some of my very favorite products are cocoa/chocolate based (Gelt, Tezcatlipoca et al) but sometimes the "other" notes combined in the boxes of chocolate will scare me off. When I saw just OG Dark Chocolate and Cocoa Cream I HAD to go for it! Yeah, yeah, cream can sometimes go icky sweet on me but if it's playing with chocolate, how bad could it be? My faith paid off big time ... this is absolutely delicious and mesmerizingly so ... A tiny bit sweeter in the bottle, once it's in the hot water it's just rich and complex and even ever-so-slightly spicy/herbal, unique enough that every delicious whiff is a treat! There is SOMETHING I can't put my finger on that keeps it from just being a giant chocolate bunny in your face ... is it a spice? I'd almost have guessed this was Mexican chocolate if I hadn't seen the name of it (and while I don't want to call out another company, what it reminds me of a little bit is a lavender-and-chocolate combination someone makes which doesn't really smell like lavender at all but has a similarly mesmerizing chocolate-and-SOMETHING AWESOME smell). Anyway ... if you like or love chocolate but fear it will be a little too too too sweet, do NOT fear that here ... it's sweet and spicy and evocatively SHMEXY as well. I will have to be careful to not just go through this big bottle in a week. Luckily, with the Post's bath oils, a little goes a long way. This is AWESOME!!!
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Benzoin and white juniper with dark musk, tobacco, nag champa, and oudh. Really excited about these notes, but juniper is not always great on me. Still, excited!!! These decants just came today, but I cannot wait to try them. Wet: Benzoin and juniper are both REALLY strong. So it smells like a sweet, syrupy gin drink. Not really a horrible thing! But hoping the juniper does what it often does and dies down, letting some of the other notes shine. Dry: This goes through a phase where it reminds me of Savage Forever - dark musk, woods, and something cold. But about half an hour after that this has settled into a screechy, powdery, soapy mess. No clue why! Actually, now that I smell again, it's not consistently bad, and may still be morphing. I think this would have benefitted from some more patience on my part, and I will have to test again once I have let it settle. Overall impressions though are of juniper and benzoin when wet. Juniper fades a lot, benzoin stays strong, and the musk really comes out. I think it's the nag champa going soapy on me, so it clearly has a strong presence. Will update this if it changes after it settles. Right now I don't know what to think of it.
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Mandrake root, broom straw, leather, cinnamon, fig, dark musk, and tonka. All of these notes called to me, except the mandrake, so hoping it doesn't take over too much! Wet: Mmm, this is pretty! I was expecting something kind of dark, but this is sweet hay, Tonka and fig. Hints of spice, but I would never identify it as cinnamon, which is great because cinnamon can be a bully note on my skin. The musk is there, but again I wouldn't have identified it as "dark" it's just a grounding presence in the background. This is different and I really like it so far. Dry: The tonka in this is really great. I have a wax tart that's called "Tonka Suede". It's just a no-name brand, but it's my favourite. This kind of reminds me of that, with hay/straw added to it. It's warm and comforting. Hints of spice. But the Tonka, subtle leather and hay are the stars of this. This is going into the maybe pile for sure!
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White coconut and Italian bergamot. This has a fun tropical feel from the coconut, the bergamot is VERY light and gives it the slightest kiss of citrus squirt. The coconut is dry and not heavy at all and a perfect foundation scent for layering other notes on top of. I'm so happy to have a beautiful, fresh coconut dreamsicle for the warm months ahead. Poem Pillow turns my bath into a relaxing and dreamy oasis.
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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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White tea blossom, jasmine sambac, white musk, and leather. I'm disappointed. Starts out as beautiful tea scent with a subdued jasmine. I really wish the scent would have stayed this way. Its so pretty. Too bad that once it dries down it turns to soap. BTW, I didn't detect any leather or musk in this.
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Turkish tobacco, black leather, cinnamon, benzoin, and smoked honey. Hello you sexy thing. In the bottle, it is a very chewy tobacco with a few whiffs of spice. On the skin, however, this is a drier, honeyed pipe tobacco with just a hint of spice. Benzoin brings a slight incense element and the black leather here is a silky and supple expensive leather, one that breathes with your skin and environment. Low throw but decent staying power. I look forward to seeing this work of olfactory genius age. <3
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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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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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A sweet disorder in the dress: crimson musk and wild cherry. In the bottle: Red musk - oh yeah! It's surprisingly not too sweet - almost more of a dry feeling to this red musk. Wet on skin: Red musk with a background of a lighter patch? Still not very sweet, or cherry smelling either. Dry down: A dry, "grown up" red musk. This isn't juicy or fruity at all. In fact, my bottle of Smut (2017) smells fruitier and sweeter than this one. All in all, it's a nice scent for those who like red musk. I don't know if it's just my skin chemistry on this one - but there isn't a cherry in sight so far.
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*crack* This is my favorite leather scent hands down. I just put in an order for 4 more bottles because i can't let it get away from me. It smells *exactly* like a crop (or a really well made cat o' 9 tails). While smelling it on me i looked at my husband and went "YOU CAN SMELL THE KNOTS!". If you love leather, you need this. It could also blend well with vanilla heavy/foodie blends. I wore it with "eat me" and i wanted to violate my own personal space.
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Blueberry musk, lotus, and green tea. Granted, my bottle just came in the mailbox today - so take this review with the grain of salt. In the bottle: It's a sweet, musky blueberry! I don't think I have ever smelled "blueberry" perfume before - but there you have it - it's right there in this bottle. On skin: The blueberry musk is straight forward and in front. Then the lotus comes forward more with the green tea in the background. After a bit of time: The green tea and lotus become more prominent, while the blueberry seems to have worn off. It becomes more of a light, creamy green tea scent. It's nice, but I was hoping the blueberry would stick around longer. I'll let this one sit for a few weeks and re-test then. Hopefully then, she'll retain that wonderful blueberry muskiness that I'm craving.
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White flowers and brittle white musk with a streak of pomegranate. What, no reviews yet? Poor Effronterie! I think she smells beautiful. The florals and the musk are super well blended and smell very clean and fresh without veering into soap territory. The pomegranate adds this wonderful juicy sweetness to the whole thing. The throw isn't super strong and my skin drinks it up but it really is gorgeous while it lasts. It brings to mind clean white towels stained by pomegranate juice. But like, in a deliberate artsy way, not in a "dammit, I just spilled juice on my white towels, my day is ruined and now I hate pomegranates!" way.
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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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White sandalwood, opium tar, tobacco leaf, and white amber. This is a gorgeous scent. I would say that all of the notes are equally represented both wet and on the dry down. The sandalwood and opium tar are more prominent but in general I find tobacco leaf and white amber to be more subtle scents. The throw is excellent and the scent sticks around for quite some time. This is definitely a sandalwood heavy scent.
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White sandalwood, sweet incense, cypress, ambrette seed, champaca, and lotus pods. This is a close to the skin scent. The star of the show is the Lotus and every component adds to it. Very feminine and soft perfume. If you like soft floral scents then this is for you.
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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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Milk Chocolate, Cacao Cream, Ceylon Cinnamon, and Coffee Absolute
VioletChaos posted a topic in Lupercalia
[No additional description provided.] In The Bottle: Cacao, earthy cinnamon, and dry coffee (the coffee husks of Pinched With Four Aces, if you're wondering!) Wet On Skin: A glorious melding of the above. This is proving to be a surprisingly "dry" and "adult" version of these notes- this is grownup stuff, not Easter kids' candy. Dry Down: The powdery aspect of the cacao mixed with the cinnamon is calling to mind the lovely cassia aspect of Monsterbait: Underbed and I love it just as much here as I did in that scent. This is only slightly sweet, very sophisticated and eminently wearable. I am seriously in love with this! In All: Another Chocolate selection from this year's Box that is absolutely hoard-worthy!
