patina
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Trying the 2024 restock of Erebos and I can't tell any difference. It's got the same lovely vanilla lavender and melon coolness and it's perfect for a sweltering day.
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I had to try this for the opium poppy. The rose is lovely in the bottle, but waffles on turning into rose soap. The poppy and dry oud may be influencing that. It doesn't take long for the soapy phase to resolve. I get dried rose petals and smoke from candles and incense along with oud.
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Disclaimer: I'm trying this straight from the mailbox. The champaca is immediately there, however it's not as mothball-esque as Nag Champa goes on me, it's floral. I get a vaguely fruity rose along with the warm amber and furry black musk. This feels a little heavy for a hot summer day. Next day test: I take back every bad thing I've said about champaca. This is a lovely realistic floral. It does actually remind me of the scent of the small flowered kind of magnolias except it's strongly orange. The musk is now taking a backseat to champaca. It may be the name influencing me but I get faint impressions of amber as golden strings.
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Faint red rose suspended in labdanum and myrrh, like one of those flowers captured in paperweights. I love both labdanum and myrrh so this was an easy choice. I expect the rose will get stronger with age.
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Immediately in the bottle, I think of ginger. Fresh, not very spicy ginger. Then a liquid amber comes out. These resins meld together so well I can't really pick them out, though. Sweet, maybe a little baby powder in there but mostly liquid resin. This makes me think Byzantine, even though the amber is not the super bright gold you'd associate with the era. Dusky soft blue-black and dull pallid gold.
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This is indeed an amber silk scent. I can imagine it would be better diffused by spraying and might smell better that way but it isn't exactly weak on me either. It probably helps that oude usually plays nice on my skin. The ginger doesn't go bitter on me and right now the sweet gold amber is triumphing over everything else.
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I think I may actually like this one more than The Serpent in the Carnations, probably because of the peony and the opium as a base note. It's a bit sweeter up top and the base is dark instead of the Snake Oil red musk. This doesn't overwhelm the carnation. My favorite Luper so far. This disappears fairly quickly which is a shame
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I'm glad I tried this, this does smell exactly like the way green maraschino cherries look and smell. The peppermint can be a little weird when it pokes out and this isn't for anyone who can't stand anything cough syrup like. But overall it blends surprisingly well into an unnatural tart green fruity scent. Good for summer.
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Grassy green jasmine tea. Deep down it has an almost vetiver like note which makes sense because of the lapsung souchong. There's a little soapiness, maybe the ginger. It's like tea and some high quality, odd, partially burnt Japanese incense sticks left in a box with a few spices and soaps. Not bad, but this isn't for me. Edit: Aging helped remove the occasional soapiness. This may, in fact, be for me. Edit: Perfect for summer. I don't like jasmine much but I love this. The osmanthus and white tea shine over the grassiness of the rest of the scent. I've reconsidered. This is my favorite of the Lupers.
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Smoky dark red roses and by "smoky" I don't mean charred. More like colored by the resins. I almost smell jasmine here, maybe the oud is indolic? Anyway this has an old movie glamor feel to it.
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Notes unseen I thought this had a heavy dark wool, like the wool in Druid, along with a clean, bright lemon musk smell and some vanilla. I had hopes for this one, unfortunately it seems the "lemon" could easily go sour on my skin and the darkness of the tobacco sometimes combines with it to produce something like a sour, abandoned washcloth. That isn't a strong effect, but just the faintest suggestion is enough. The scent was very clean and cozy when I first put it on, though.
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I skipped this one in the past, possibly because I used to expect lemon in perfume to automatically be a citrus bomb. Instead this is dark, sweet, crumbly wood with a bit of lemon for illumination. I'd compare it to woody incense or the inside of a terrarium. I don't get a lot of smoke, but there's a faint hit of singe. Not an absolute favorite, but remarkably pleasant and a bit sultry.
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Sweet opium. It would be perfume opium except for the ton or rugged boot leather, oak, and something that smells like nettles reduced down to a green soup. As it is, the opium smells like a stand-in for a humid dark night. I like it, but it's very creepy woodshed.
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First wear: very carnation: pink, somewhat powdery floral. Soft clove. The Snake Oil background is not prominent, somehow there's an occasional whiff of suede leather in the background. I think my brain is mistaking the patchouli and musk for leather. I'm reminded of The Bow and Crown of Conquest. Up close I get Snake Oil. The Snake will likely get stronger with time. I'll have to test this one later. As Snake Oil blends go this isn't my favorite so far because I'm neutral on carnation. But Snake Oil blends also intensify with time and I do like clove. Day two, warmer: the vanilla, spice, and amber(?) are really coming out. After some aging the clove really is evident. The Snake Oil has come out and overtaken the carnation, making this red instead of pink.
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So, since I haven't done this one narcissius= white floral almost a fruity melon myrrh=snuffed candle opium= latex, a not-quite-rubber that I somehow enjoy even though I dislike rubber Sheer black silk and slightly melony.
