Little Bird

The combination of juniper, pine, and vanilla in this makes me think strongly of Golden Priapus in the bottle and at first on my skin, though that similarity quickly fades. In the drydown, the florals start to come out to play and the evergreen notes fade away entirely. I think that the rose and lily are mainly what I'm smelling. My boy thinks that this smells slightly soapy, but I don't know if I agree with that. The florals have a sweet, tart, sort of edge that I like, mixed with the smoothness and warmth of the vanilla and benzoin. It's almost a bit smoky and sensual to my nose. I'm not sure if this is a keeper for me, but I do like it.

In the bottle, this is a blast of clean, sharp, slightly salty aquatic with a deep chill to it. It smells so deep and cold that it's actually a bit spooky, like being stranded out in the neverending ocean, surrounded by freezing water and clueless as to how deep it really is. I wish that it were as amazing on my skin as it is in the bottle. On me, it starts going soapy and soon winds up smelling like men's shaving cream with a hint of sweet honey. This is the most heartbreaking of the Lupercalia themed LEs for me. I wish that the beautiful, deep, chilly aquatic survived through my skin chemistry, but it just gets twisted into cheap soap and honey

I seem to really amp up the honey in this, and it seems to be the bad sort of honey. It goes off and smells slightly metallic on my skin. Over time, a soapy something starts to poke around behind the honey, and it doesn't improve the blend any. I was hoping for more vanilla or ginger, but neither of those notes are anywhere to be found on my skin. Harikata is off to the swap pile.

I was pretty excited to try The Spell of Amorous Love, because I tend to like the lab's cherry blossom note and have an odd fascination with currant scents. In the bottle, this smells exactly like a fruity-gum candy that my cousins and I used to buy constantly when we were little. I cannot remember the name at all now. Sweet, candied, almost berry-like fruitiness. I get that same candied fruitiness on my skin as well, which is probably a combination of the currant and sweet cherry blossom. The green tea comes out more on my skin though, and I kind of wish that it didn't. The tea lends a crisp, sharp, citrussy sort of clean note that cuts through the sweetness and sort of ruins the whole thing for me. It's a nice enough scent. Sweet fruitiness with a bit of a perfumey floral touch and a sharp little jab from the sake and tea. I don't think that it's really me though. I probably won't keep my decant.

Tonka, oakmoss, tolu balsam, grey amber, myrrh, and muguet. Sapphics is definitely reminiscent of a classic department store perfume, but that's usually a bad thing for me and I actually like Sapphics. It smells a bit like something that my mother wore when I was little, actually. It's a warm, deep fragrance that makes me think of shades of dark, rich amber. The aspects of this are wonderful and they have that quality that I love in resins, where they smell powdery soft but not like baby powder. I think that I can smell the myrrh and amber, sultry and clinging warmly to the skin, along with something vanilla-esque and an overall cloak of something musky. I like this, and it reminds me of my mom. I might actually purchase a full bottle before it disappears...

All of the Novel Ideas are very light and subtle on my skin, not having much throw at all. And I have trouble pulling off a lot of the Asian themed blends, but Ebisu is actually rather nice on me. It's my definite favorite of the Novel Ideas. Ebisu isn't at all what I was expecting from the three listed notes. Nectarine is usually sharp and citrussy, but the fruitiness in this is watery, soft, and sweet. I agree with others who have mentioned that the fruitiness is almost peach-like. There's nothing really earthy or green or mossy about this on me either. I really like bpal's skin musk in a lot of blends, and the musk here is like clean, lightly powdered skin. Very sexy, I think. That's what Ebisu smells like on me... clean skin and a hint of sweet fruitiness. I really like this. It's interesting in that it manages to smell so clean and sensual on me at the same time. I might even upgrade my decant to a full bottle.

All of the Novel Ideas for Secret Amusements have been pretty light on my skin, and this one doesn't have much throw either. It also doesn't work out too well on my skin. I actually keep getting a sharp impression of burnt rubber, like tires screeching across asphalt. Men Ringing Bell with Penises is rather sour and sharp on me, and it also has a feel of department store men's cologne to it. A cool, fresh, clean, green cologne. I can't really pick out any of the notes, they just blend together into a perfumey mishmash. Something about this is very harsh and sharp to my nose, just getting worse the longer it sits on my skin. I expected it to be a lot smoother for some reason. As it is, this is headed to my swap pile.

I'm really disappointed in this one. It was my only full bottle purchase of this year's Lupercalia blends, and it's nothing like what I was hoping for. I'm on a vanilla kick lately, and I love cream notes. I had hoped this would be cream with a lovely spice from the saffron. If anything, this is like a softer, powdery version of Snowblind on me. I did not want another vanilla mint scent, and Love's Philosophy is like powdery/chalky wintergreen mint with vanilla. I probably will be swapping away my bottle.

Night Thoughts is a little funky on my skin at first (smells like body odor and makes me think of a sweaty man), which I suppose could be thanks to the cedar. Funky cedar that tries to clean itself up with a bit of ozone and blue musk. The ozone is a little soapy and the blue musk is lovely, watery-clean and a bit sweet. Over time, the bad cedar notes fades away for me and this is better, but too perfumey for me to pull off. There's a floral note here, but it doesn't really smell like lilac to me. Perfumey floral and ozone with cool muskiness. Every once in a while I get something like peppered woods popping up, which is most likely the cedar finally playing nice with my skin chemistry. Night Thoughts starts off really bad and rough on my skin, and too perfumey in its drydown, but I do like it more the longer it sits on my skin. It actually starts to remind me of Night's Pavilion after an hour or so, only more perfumey than the Pavilion is on me.

Defututa smells really strange and disjointed. There's a clean, oily smelling olive blossom (makes me think of olive oil), a cloying vanilla note, spicy cinnamon and sunny, slightly sour smelling jasmine. The mix of clean, green, sweet, spicy, and floral is just too much for me and doesn't mix well to my nose. It's like it's trying to be too many different fragrance families. Some of the recent imps I've gotten of this have been a lot heavier on the cinnamon as well, which I have a hard time wearing.

In the bottle, this smells like pure, black, slightly damp potting soil. On my skin, the black soil continues to dominate, but the moss adds in a sharp, high-pitched, sour sort of note as well. It's a little like pickled dirt on my skin. It's also a bit perfumey. After a half hour, this softens and isn't as sour, but it's still a perfumey black dirt fragrance. I don't like it anywhere near as much as I like The Premature Burial (black dirt and lovely orchid). The floral aspect of this gives me a bit of a headache, because it's fake and perfumey, almost sharp and musky more than it is floral. This one isn't a keeper for me.

In the imp vial, this reminds me of Hurricane for some reason. Hurricane smells to me like raspberry plants - the woodiness of their branches, rich fruitiness of the berries, and overall planty earthiness. This is brighter than Hurricane though, like it has been touched with a light spring rain. I was hopeful that this would be amazing on me, but it morphs the second that it touches my skin. On my skin, this instantly sharpens up into a very clean fragrance. It's a bit soapy-sweet, bright, and lightly fruity-floral. It makes me think of laundry soap

I smell more vetiver in the imp vial with this one than I do on my skin. The vetiver ends a light touch of something like dry grasses and rotting, crumbling wood (but it doesn't smell bad to me at all). The white sandalwood adds a smooth, slightly powdery woodiness to this blend that ends up dominating on my skin. And the neroli pops out more and more over time, sort of smelling like a creamy orange blossom on my skin. In the drydown, this is really a rather nice scent, though I'm not sure that it's full bottle worthy for me, because it does have a baby powdery-ness to it that I don't like, getting dryer and more powdery on my skin over the hours. I do like the initial creamy, soft orange, powdery-smooth sandalwood, and dry grasses though. It's especially nice for the first hour or so. Love's Torments might be a keeper for me if my skin chemistry didn't turn it to powder over the hours.

I agree with a previous reviewer in that this smells strange and vegetable-like to me in the vial, but not in the good way that fresh veggies smell. It makes me think of veggies cut up for salad with a vinegar dressing, if that salad were made with wilted, turning-bad vegetables perhaps. It's a strange, sharp fragrance. I think that I smell something rose-like and dry underneath that as well. On my skin, I still don't really know how to describe this, and I'm not sure I can really claim to pick out any of the notes. It smells like a very dry, sharp rose. Powdery and extremely dry and light on my skin. It's very subtle, slightly dark, and gives off a vibe of being slightly medicinal as well. Medicinal, dry, sharp, dark rose is all I get from To a Woman, and even that fades very quickly on my skin.

In the vial, I can smell the citrussy tangerine and a honeyed floral. The honeyed aspect is a bit sickly sweet, and it's rather cloying on my skin. And then this scent quickly goes *very* wrong on me. It's a bit like burnt rubber and something like rotten meat, covered in sugar and honey . I had to scrub this off after 15 minutes because it was making me nauseous. Lover's Parodies goes sickly sweet and then incredibly off on my skin.

First on, Earth Rat is a burst of sugary melon, but my skin seems to amp up all of the citrus notes in this blend. Tangerine, lychee, orange, and mandarin leap forward and quickly devour the melon. The drydown of this is all sharp citrus and an almost soapy freshness that might be the bamboo. It's too sharp for my tastes. I wish that my skin would amp up the melon and coconut...

All of the scents in the 'Novel Ideas for Secret Amusements' set seem to be very light. They're soft in the vials and cling close on my skin, with very little throw. Glowing Vulva turns very odd on me, probably thanks to the amber. It starts off with cream and a bit of creamy, sweet floral, but it quickly morphs into something strange on me. The cream mixed with the dry, powdery amber is like some sort of odd, powdered milk. The teak also goes a bit strange. It smells like musty, rotting leaves. Powdered milk over dank wood. It fades away entirely within an hour though. This isn't a full bottle purchase for me.

Fascinum was my favorite of the new Ars Amatoria scents when I sniffed them in their imp vials. In the vial, this smells kind of like spicy cola and dry, slightly sharp cedar. Spicy and woodsy. On my skin at first, this goes a bit funky, with the amber throwing out a punch of baby powder and something turning momentarily sharp and bitter. It quickly mellows down though, and the sweet, spicy saffron is the dominating note for me. Saffron with a slight, dry woodiness underneath. I also keep catching hints of something that smells like lemon zest. Overall, this is a warm and spicy scent on me. It might even be a little too spicy for me, because it starts to give me a headachey feeling after a while, as my skin amps it into something cinnamon-like and overwhelming.

To Helen really surprised me the most out of the new Lupercalia blends. In the bottle, I get a strong, sticky-sweet sort of honey note, with a hint of tangy ozone and rose underneath. I suppose that the beeswax is giving off the honey note. It's a very deep & dark smelling honey fragrance. On my skin, it's much the same, dark honey and waxy, soft, creamy beeswax with hints of clean, almost perfumey ozone. Surprisingly, none of the floral comes out on my skin. I usually amp up bpal's amber into dust or powder as well, but I don't smell any amber in this either. This is pretty much beeswax and ozone on my skin, which is an intriguing sort of combination. It's creamy and sweet, and doesn't go sharp or powdery as I was expecting.

I love the artwork for this blend, and I'm so glad that I got a t-shirt and a bottle of the oil. I was a bit worried about the lemongrass and grapefruit, because I have trouble pulling off citrus and especially lemony notes. Cheshire Moon is really wonderful on my skin though. This starts off smelling a bit cake-like, as though a piece of poundcake were drizzled in syrup and citrus juice. In the drydown, the cherry blossom comes through more, and I love the lab's cherry blossom note. It's sweet and creamy on my skin. The citrus lingers in the background, but it never takes over the blend, just adds a hint of zesty sharpness. It almost smells like vanilla and cherry blossom on my skin after a while, which is lovely. It's sweet, surprisingly foodie-smelling on my skin, and fruity. I really like it

I thought that I would love The Passionate Shepherd, but he actually hasn't been a stand-out fragrance for me. First on, it actually smells a bit sharp and weedy, like some of the dandelion blends that I've tried from BPAL, with a familiar sweetness from the heather. For a bit after it has dried down, this smells exactly like Garden Path with Chickens on me. My boy said it smells like flowery potpourri. It's sweet florals with some clean herbal notes. After 15 minutes or so though, I start to hate this one. The florals take on an overly sweet smell on my skin after a while and the initial greenery completely disappears. It's sweet florals with a powdery edge that makes my eyes water a bit. I normally love tea rose, but the sweet tea rose plus the sweet heather is too much. The slight spiciness from the carnation and whatever is going powdery on my skin does make this seem a bit potpourri-esque, but it's so overly sweet and off that it also reminds me of rotting flowers. This one definitely isn't a keeper for me.

I'm on the fence about Frenum. It's gorgeous in the bottle, but not-so-good on me. In the bottle, this is just too beautiful. All of the gorgeous notes in Frenum mingle together to make me think of spring in Missouri where I grew up. I uncapped the bottle and instantly thought of wandering in a damp meadow after a spring rain. The white tea is smooth and refreshing, the cherry blossom lends a sweet floral touch, and the lettuce and cucumber add a bit of springy, cool greenery. It's like having spring wrapped up in a bottle. On me, though, something in this gets very sharp and unpleasant (and kinda soapy), drowning out the crisp green and sweet cherry blossom. In the bath water, it's a very faint bit of sharp, clean greenery. On my skin, this retains a sharp edge that actually starts giving me a headache after a while. The consistency is watery-thin, but it leaves my skin feeling ultra-soft and with a light sheen. I love that the bath oils don't feel oily or leave my skin feeling like an oil slick. I commented more on the texture and tub performance in my Castitas review, so I won't repeat myself. If this stayed as good as it smells initially in the bottle, I would be completely in love with it. As it is, I don't see myself repurchasing this scent, or even keeping my bottle.

I had to come back and edit this, because Gula has become my favorite of the bath oils. It's insanely sweet (mostly sugar with hints of honey & caramel, and sometimes I can smell the rich, fudgey cocoa as well). It smelled like plasticy chocolate scented markers when I first got it, but it has definitely improved with age. I never could smell the currants, though. This is way too sweet and cloying for me to just dump a ton of it into my bath or rub directly on to my dry skin, but I love pouring a bit of it over my legs and arms and rubbing it in while I'm in the bath or shower. It's a sweet pick-me-up and leaves my skin feeling very soft to the touch. When I get out of the bath, it's not so overwhelming (now that I use a small amount and rub it in while in the bath) & just leaves a hint of girly sweetness. My boy hates this when I first use it, but he loves the subtle scent that it leaves on my skin afterwards. Gula is lovely; it just needs to be used in small doses for me, lol.

I second the recommendation for Luperci. Luperci is my favorite fragrance of all time, and if you like sensual woodsy blends, it is *amazing.* It has the patchouli, woods, earthiness, and a sensual honeyed edge to it. Overall it's just such a well-blended scent. I love the Luperci... ETA: Voodoo also seems like it would fit what you're looking for.

I was excited to try this, since it has such lovely reviews, but Parsifal and I don't really get along. I don't get the 'citrus heaven' that others have mentioned. This goes on smelling like a sharp, white floral perfume and then morphs a bit into something like soapy dryer sheets and perfume on my skin. It's too sharp and too soapy-clean for my tastes...