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Showing results for tags 'Lupercalia 2018'.
Found 97 results
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Sweet pea and vanilla orchid, plum blossom, Aglaia flower, orris root, osmanthus, and violet leaf. i don't wanna be first, because this isn't so much a review as rambling thoughts (which most of my reviews are i admit), but i've been waiting for weeks for someone else to post and i need to get this out of my system before i forget. somewhere around 89/90 (or, rather, 7th grade) a drugstore scent called Malibu Musk came out. i don't think it was ever all that popular, but it had been around up until last year i think it was finally discontinued. i liked it, i've always liked it, and an older guy i knew, in my best friend's band, well, Malibu Musk made him a little nuts. in what probably would have been delightful ways, if we'd ever gone there, but i had a boyfriend. every few months whenever i'd wear Malibu Musk, i'd think of him and grin, even if i hadn't seen or even talked to him in a decade. freakishly, a few years ago, when i did happen to be wearing Malibu Musk, my husband and i ran into him at a BBQ place. the hug i got turned a little awkward, but 20+ years of friendship kinda smoothed things out, i think. anyhow. i ordered Discarded Silks because the plum blossom, orris root, and violet leaf sounded nice. sweet pea i can do without, vanilla orchid and osmanthus can be amazing or meh, and like everyone else i have no idea what an aglaia flower is. i haven't used this on my hair, but i've worn it sprayed on my skin like perfume. at first, it really was more sweet pea and orchid than anything else. but after a couple of hours? it smells like i wore Malibu Musk last night. there's something a little sweeter hovering around the edges, but this smells so very much like the early 90s in all the best ways. so my graduated-from-high-school-in-the-90s girls? (and boys, of course) you might dig this.
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Black fig and orange blossom with tonka, black vanilla, and a gust of spiced sandalwood incense. This is a gorgeous, light sandalwood blend. I'm hoping next use I pick up more of the fig and vanilla...but for now, upon first application, it's very light with just a hint of sandalwood. Perfect for work or when you'd like a lighter scent. So good!! <3
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The Cacophony of Madness Pink pepper, black pepper, clove, myrrh, dark chocolate, labdanum, and Daemonorops draco. Spicy chocolate with myrrh, like a sophisticated Mexican hot chocolate. It's dry and incensey and rich, with a sandalwood kind of smoothness to it. I really like this one, and my only complaint is it isn't especially strong. Hoping that improves with age!
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Yellowing parchment and lampblack, a drop of lilac, a smear of labdanum, and a splash of white musk. if the lab didn't already have a scent for good omens' aziraphale (which I haven't ever tried so please don't mistake this comment as implying any sort of death match or informed comparison), I'd nominate this as a solid contender. smells smart, distinguished, pedigreed, a little bit bright (lilac!), a little bookish, unisex in the way that angels are supposedly not quite one gender nor the other. dashing but slightly asexual. the drydown reminds me of a less-sweet, no-tea dorian ancestor. modest throw that lasted all through a 14+ hour workday.
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Kadu leaf, white lavender, plum and ume blossom, a drop of pale cedar and crystal musk. first applied there is a strong note of chemical but this burns off quickly, leaving a bright and elegant, classic-in-feel perfume that then holds true for the rest of the drydown. plum/ume fruit focused, with the lavender and kadu keeping it close in kin to fancy dept store perfume. although there is a touch of sweetness, this is a far cry from fruit syrup. I amp cedar always and forever, but not in this blend. the cedar grounds the scent without standing out. strong throw and lasts overnight and into the next day. I picked this scent as a random extra decant to try. I was curious about the kadu, wary of the cedar and a fan of the other notes. there was speculation in the luper thread about what the heck kadu would smell like. folks/google suggested a range of things from almond to bitter herb to squash blossom. I don't get almond, nor do I get anything forwardly foodie as pumpkin/squash. there is a hint of leafy bitterness that anchors the fruit that is completely removed from the dead leaves notes and the herbal notes (mugwort, sage, thyme, etc). this is a sophisticated beauty and one of my 2018 luper favorites.
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A russet chypre slathered in vintage patchouli and black tea with golden amber, hiba wood, and iris root. This one feels like an instant classic, sophisticated and gorgeous. I first smell the tannin-heavy black tea, the mossy chypre and the strong wood - an earthy but somehow sparkling combination. The patchouli then comes into play, and it reminds me of rich fragrances my grandmother's generation wore before hippie patchouli existed. The amber is sweet and has almost a citrus quality, which plays back and forth with the soft dryness of the iris root. The resulting combination is an assertive, long-lasting dress-up kind of perfume. It's definitely a nose-glued-to-the-wrist one for me.
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Bamboo reeds and white chypre against a background of potted blossoms. Light floral blossoms, white tea chypre, and fresh bamboo. It's a very clean floral smell, very gender neutral. It actually would make a fantastic scent for any type of bath product. Medium throw and wear length.
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Black rose, dried apricot, and black fig. I bought both the perfume and the hair gloss, because I love Black Rose best of all the roses. And apricot! And fig! That will be sweet and powerful and spicy, I thought. I was wrong; it went really bitter on me. It had moments of greatness at the beginning but there was a good hour of unpleasantness before it went back to a simple and lovely Black Rose. I can not tell you how much of a fail this was for me, because I was so sure it would be divine. And BPAL has too many perfect from the get-go scents on me for me to suffer through an hour of nasty. I am looking forward to reading other reviews, because my skin can be really funky.
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Results not guaranteed. Ginseng root, crushed ginger, damiana essence, cubeb berries, and horny goat weed accord. in the bottle: tart WTF is THAT green cut root. On application: Ginger? Ginseng root? Definitely a woody, freshly-cut root scent, sharp and somewhat unpleasant. The finish is much better, as something more citrussy, like ginger root — and it's clearly the fresh root, not powdered and not the spice. I feel like I'm slicing up ginger in my kitchen for a recipe. This dries as practically a ginger root single note. Beth is just amazing. Her skill repeatedly astonishes me. She does such an incredible job of creating these scents!
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When you need a change of pace from Strip Twister: lemon candies, orange suckers, and strawberry sugar. Super tart citrus candies. In the decant, the lemon has a little bit of a lemon-cleaner aspect that concerns me, but that fortunately disappears when I put it on my skin. This reminds me a lot of Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat, crossed with Bitches Love Unicorns. Immediately, it's sticky tart lemon candy with some other candy flavors. I'm not sure I'd say orange or strawberry, but it's definitely not just straight-up lemon. It has a very melting-hard-candies sort of feel, with the sharp tartness that lemon candies have despite being very sugary. It's a little too similar to Sticky Bat (which I have a bottle of) for me to want more of it, but it's more of a sharper, mixed-flavor candy scent. Sticky Bat has sort of a powdery-sugared aspect that this scent doesn't, although it does soften as it dries and the strawberry candy gets a little stronger. It has pretty good lasting power for a citrus scent and decent throw. In the long drydown, it's almost indistinguishable from Sticky Bat on my skin, as the other candy flavors stay mostly in the background.
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Red rose, Siamese benzoin, and blood orange. I wore this to work today and got compliments from two people. It's pretty and smells mostly as expected for the listed notes. The Siamese benzoin surprised me a bit -- before I looked back at the notes, I thought I was smelling some sort of resinous-leaning sandalwood. But maybe it's a sandalwood-leaning resin? The benzoin (or something else in this that's not listed) actually has a sandalwood-like texture to me. It grounds the scent, while being a touch exotic, and I quite like it.
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Red rose petals dusted with a trove of ancient spices. I always love the spicey rose blends, and this one is no exception. Here the rose and spices blend into something sophisticated and lovely; in fact, this reminds me of something that I can't quite put my finger on. It has a very classic feel to it, and would be appropriate for the office as well as a night out on the town.
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Soft auburn musk, clove bud, honeyed patchouli, oakmoss absolute, cashmere labdanum, cedar, and mimosa blossom. In the Bottle: Musk, cedar and honey. Smells sweet and rich On the Skin: Not as sweet on the skin. The musk is warm and I get the auburn aspect as it's not dark and not white. The honey and patchouli simmer along but gain some strength On the Drydown: Gorgeous, light honey, musk and the characteristic patchouli scent. The clove makes its presence known but doesn't take over, just adding a smoky spiciness. The mimosa isn't evident. Nice but fleeting on my skin
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Blue lilac, pink pepper, birch tar, juniper berry, and lemon peel. I couldn't resist another lilac blend after Cave of Treasures last year In the bottle: A similar vibe to Cave of Treasures with that round lilac note. A touch of juniper in the back On the Skin: Lilac and juniper making an unusual but nice combo, lush but almost candyish. On the Drydown: The lemon peel peeks out to add slight bitterness to tame the sweetness of the lilac. The birch tar is not forefront but adds a smokiness and the juniper adds a freshness and slight fruitiness. This is actually quite the morpher within a narrow scent band. A tiny bit of spicy kick from the pink pepper. I think, like Cave of Treasures, this will come into it's own after a brief period of aging.
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White sage and patchouli with Himalayan cedarwood, sweet labdanum, and brown sugar. Sorry, this one ended up a bit stream of consciousness! In the bottle it is a very sharp sage with an edge of the cedarwood. Wet on my skin I get a peatiness that makes me think of a good whiskey, but the patchouli is just behind it peeking out from under. Drinking whiskey in a long established library on a rainy day somewhere in Ireland. As it dries I'm having a problem tearing my nose away from the scent, it is gorgeous. There's a slight citrus fizz to it and the sage has softened a lot. Gradually it softens out to a smooth herbal patchouli, so mellow and comforting that I think I will fall asleep with my wrist pressed to my nose. There's still a faint trace in the morning.
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Snap! Snap! Sugar crystals and tart candies with a splash of red musk. [DO NOT EAT] This is a candied cherry/strawberry sugary sweetness. Loud, strong, fruity and long wearing. Reminds me of the gummy smell in Lil's Motherhood. The musky redness only comes into play in the dry down. All in all playful and super fruity. Major throw. One bottle will go a long way.
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Mushroom musk, oakmoss, and rooibos leaf. Smells like a musk version of the lab's drier earth note. If you like the way they do dirt - I know some people go crazy for it - you really should get this one.
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Black terebinth, tamil nadu sandalwood, frankincense, black chestnut, and myrrh. Wet: Smooth myrrh, frankincense and chestnuts. Dry: Something unbelievably pleasant and gorgeous. The pine peeks out for just a minute and then it is fades beautifully with the rest of the notes. I love it!
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Feathery brown musk and hay absolute with orris and leather. In the bottle, it smells like Irish cream. Outside of it, the leather and musk and the creamy orris combine to make a smooth, sleek scent - like Infernal Lover, which was basically all red musk IIRC - with something feathery and dusty as a very subtle undertone, reminding me a little bit of my much-beloved Fledgling Raptor Moon. If someone told me this was just "leather and the Lab's red musk" I might have believed them, though. I love the scent as it is, but I think the feathery-brown part might come out better when aging. As it is it sort of comes and goes when worn. I've tried a few fragrances with the lab's leather note in them and it always seemed a bit plasticky or some such to me. Not so here, it's used very well and is wonderful to smell.
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Sign of Sekkusu hair gloss or as Puddin’ affectionately likes to call it, I’ve got your nose!!! Bourbon vanilla, cardamom, fossilized amber resin, blonde tobacco, tonka bean, and labdanum. This one has some strong throw! Immediately, I got hit by the resins and tobacco, but not in a smoky, overpowering way. The tonka and vanilla temper the heady resins with their sweetness, and I think the cardamom added a bit of spice. It was difficult to pick out notes because they blended so well. I sprayed this on before bed and could still smell it when I woke up about 9 hours later.
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Leather, black pepper, cassis, khus, and black amber. My first review! And the first review of this scent! Im truly honored. The leather comes through first, then dies back a little while still acting as backdrop. Its an older kind of leather, well worn - it reminds me of baseball gloves or saddles. The amber fills that feeling out, as well as what I think is the khus (which is apparently vetiver? But a different part of the plant?); it rounds the leather note out and puts me in mind of more masculine cologne, though it stops short of being too in your face manly. At the very end I get something peppery and slightly acidic - the latter of which I think is the cassis. Its got a subtle throw on my skin that oscillates between being close and unobtrusive but when I turn it suddenly makes itself very apparent. I feel very mature wearing it as well, though its a kind of mature that starts in a blazer and ends in a leather corset, if you catch my meaning.
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Poppy smoke, velvet jasmine, sweet three-year aged patchouli, and black plum. Remember how Blood Countess was all opium smoke and plum and some florals? Yeah. This is like that. Smoky. Plummy. Florals to make it smell like perfume instead of a beverage. I was hoping for a bit more patchouli, since this could be a little dirtier and Id be a little happier. I dont like the scent of plums after theyve been on my skin 8 hours, they smell like crumbled dusty jolly ranchers. But its ok because I verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry much that smoky poppy top note and Ill just wash it or whatever at the four hour mark. Chosen by my friend and stolen by me because it smelled much too clean on her skin chemistry.
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Salt-splashed silk, spiced cedar, hinoki wood, sea musk, a strand of kelp and a squeeze of lime. It starts out just as you are dreading it will, corn chips and dryer sheets. And its the DRYERSHEETS shrieky type scent that some aquatics are just determined to morph into. And then an hour later its all delightful warm salt soaked dried silk and you wonder why you were ever worried about the thing. My friend asked when I ordered it what silk smelled like and I said, I dont know except that it smells like silk. Which this does. Exactly and evocatively. I love it, and its even worth the pain of corn chips and dryer sheets to get there.
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Rice milk, white ginger, oakmoss, ti leaf, and cardamom pod. My label says vivid enjoyment of the memory of rapture which is a different thing entirely and slightly disappointing considering the art. But no matter, on to the scent. This is very chai tea on my skin, heavy on the green juicy ginger and cardamom. But it doesnt feel terribly edible to me. More like this is a morning shower scented by someone inspired by their ginger heavy chai tea with rice milk. Its incredibly bright and energizing but there are no citrus notes so doesnt do that bitter pithy thing that bright energizing scents usually do on my skin. Back in the day I had a ginger-heavy tea scented body spray that I loved, and this is definitely the closest Ive come to matching it. Delighted to have a bottle.
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White rose, orris root, and ambergris accord. There are very few roses that dont go sour rose potpourri on my skin, but it doesnt stop me from trying, because for whatever reason a good rose scent just smells S-E-X to me. And being that I am a passionate fan of the labs ambergris note (yes I went through an entire bottle of the SN in six weeks) this one seemed worth the risk. Yes indeed this is teh bomb. Giant damp rose petals sweetened with Orris and dirtied with ambergris. Very similar rose to Roses Pearls Diamonds, but with the salty naughty ambergris instead of coconut. Did. It.
