strahlend

I have a lot of love for this scent. It's reminiscent of a forest but there's no pine, which I'm happy about since pine usually doesn't work for me. It's a very dark black-green sort of scent. Black mosses and vetiver and ashes.... all coming through perfectly clear. I think of this as sort of a forest campfire sort of smell, I think of that as a very comfortable happy scent. There's nothing here that makes me think of death and decay, it's just a mossy, green, earthy, campfire wonderfulness. It's kind of what I hoped the Los Angeles Halloween oil would smell like. I know there is a portion of the bpal population looking for bonfire scents, if you're one of those people give this scent a try - it's very evocative.

This smells much like the Red Lantern oil I have from '08. In both cases my first impression is of an overwhelming sweetness, I wouldn't say caramel but it is sugary. It only takes a few moments though for the sweetness to calm down a bit and for the coconut and spices to come forward. The coconut isn't like tropical vacation coconut, it's a much darker incarnation that combines perfectly with the amber and sweetness to create a syrupy feeling. Despite that description I wouldn't say that it seems in any way foody. After a while it sort of turns into a lovely, hazey, incensy, sultry cloud of fragrance that's just fantastic. This is one of those smells where the whole is completely different than I would imagine from looking at it's components.

I haven't had the chance to smell the Glowing Vulva perfume but the notes sound so lovely that I really wanted to try the bath oil. Using this as a moisturizer on my skin, my first impression is of a creamy vanilla with a twist of sarsaparilla, much like the vanilla I smell in snake oil. And that's pretty much it. Sort of a creamy, rootbeer-ish vanilla. I expected a more complex scent, or at least to be able to smell the teak. I have to stop buying things unsniffed, it so seldom turns out well.

Skin testing. Musty, woody, blackish-greenish about covers it. This most predominantly a green scent. Not a fresh green but a green that's closer to mulch. It reminds me of a slightly medicinal dark moss but without the earthiness. I almost feel like there might be some wintergreen or spearmint in here. After it dries down a bit the balance between woody and green shifts a bit toward the woody. With the unusual green element softening and developing with it, something really nice is happening. It's green without being soapy and woody without being heavy. I like this quite well. It seems like it would work well for Spring or Fall.

The first scent that comes to my mind is Nosferatu. It has a cold, earthy, floral smell that I associate specifically with a florist's shop cooler.

Smells like strong red wine in the imp, but I've noticed that most wine sorts of boozy blends change dramatically on my skin. Here goes! On my skin it's like faded red wine that spilled on a wood table that had spices on it – and a vase of jasmine flowers. There's something distinctly spiced about this. Red sandalwood must be a lot heavier and WOODlike than the other sandalwoods I've smelled. I think I'm more familiar with lighter, more soapy incarnations of sandalwood - red sandalwood is so much nicer. It blends with the jasmine beautifully. I'm not getting the patchouli standing out, but I'm sure it's there and the attar of rose isn't knocking me over, but I think it's doing something with the jasmine, giving it a little bit more of an edge than jasmine usually has. Into the dry down now and I'm getting the feeling that the rose is creeping up on me. It is. Oh man. This started off so wonderful. The other good stuff is still there, but the rose is kind of taking over. Nope. The rose totally overwhelmed everything else this blend had going on. This is a no for me, which is really a bummer because I was really loving the hell out of the sandalwood, patchouli, and jasmine. This was a good learning experience though, I'm off to search for more red sandalwood blends!

Maybe the years have mellowed the orange peel and musks. On my skin this is a pretty mellow, middle of the road sort of musky blend. A little perfumy, maybe just a slight hint of a floral note around the edge, but other than that it's exactly what I would expect a musk scent to be - musky. No frills, no surprises, nothing to write home about. Inoffensive, pleasant, and mellow.

This smells amazingly similar to Black Lace both in the decant and on my skin. I'm sure there's some subtle difference, but to my nose they're just about the same. It's a lovely scent, musky with a sweet element and a pronounced "cologne" sort of feel.

I'm a Pisces but I felt the need to collect all of the water astrological blends. Ahem. I get the perfumy element of dark/black musk and the dragons blood. It doesn't seem particularly herbal (basil) or bitter (wormwood) and I'm always confused what galangal and opoponax add to a blend but they seem to turn up in musky/woody/dark sorts of oils and so I sort of assume that they're there to round out these kinds of blends. Sometimes dragon's blood seems too sweet or candy like to my nose, but this is mainly a fantastic musky, warmly spiced dragon's blood blend.

In my decant and on my skin this reminds me a lot of BIEN LOIN D'ICI. The Arbor has just a touch more of a dry bark element to it, but other than that they have a very similar feel. Which is great, I really love both of them. The Arbor is musky and lightly sweet with a bit of spice and a touch of earthiness. For some reason I get the feeling of jasmine but it's not listed, so maybe I'm confused. It's one of those scents that feels both sexy and really comfortable. I think it's lovely.

Skin testing a decant – yep, this is creamy and pretty. Not overly coconut or honey. I'm guessing it's the sandalwood and orris together that makes this so smooth and warm and light. The longer it's on the more sandalwood I'm smelling. I like that, so this is working nicely for me. I asked my partner to do a sniff test and he actually liked it, not his usual ambivalent "meh" either. I double checked even. Since he usually doesn't care at all what I smell like, a positive response combined with my already pleasant feelings toward this scent means I'll be looking for a bottle.

In my decant and for the first five minutes or so on my skin all I can smell is the red ginger which reminds me a whole lot of the scent War. I'm not a fan of this stage. The longer it stays on my skin though the more it develops and becomes a totally different scent. The ginger calms down and just about all of the other notes take turns peeking out and blending together. At one point I was getting a lot of orange blossom, a minute later the amber, a few minutes later the myrrh and leather. The notes seem to come in layers and change like crazy from one moment to the next. I guess this is what the kids call a morpher. The general feeling from the scent is of a unique warmth. Unfortunately the times when the leather surfaces it seems to be the sort of chemical variety that my partner can't stand. This scent is an interesting experience but the combination of the rough start with the leather issue means this scent isn't going to work for me personally.

Call me crazy but this is reminding me a bit of a less sweet/powdery and more woody Samhain. In the imp it's a bit sweet and fruity but on my skin the mahogany comes out right away. It's mainly a rounded mahogany scent with soft musky apples. It's quite lovely. I appreciate how the apples don't jump out and yell fruit, they blend beautifully with the wood.

This is one of those scents that reminds me that even though I think I know what works for me and what I like there are still lots of surprises in the bpaliverse. In the imp it smelled like something I would want to drink, sort of fresh and almost butterscotchy. I don't usually like things fruity or foody but it was compelling nonetheless. Rose is usually a death note for me. Somehow it's subdued and mellow enough in this blend that I didn't even realize it was in here until I looked at the notes. Skin testing impressions - this smells fresh and sweet and fun while not being super fruity or overwhelmingly sugary or candy-like. The freshness is likely the mango, cucumber and coconut. It's a great combination. The spun sugar gives it some sweetness but the apple blossom and lavender help to keep it from going over the top. I'm actually really enjoying this. I really love what cucumber is contributing to this blend. It has a decent strength and throw and it's just really pretty and fresh. This scent has an uplifting effect on my mood too, which is a great bonus.

I have a bottle of the '08 version that is oddly undetectable when I initially put it on. After a while it sort of blooms and I suddenly could smell the patchouli and it was very woodsy and beautiful. Less than an hour later though and I couldn't even tell I put anything on. It makes me wonder if something happened to this bottle or if it just generally didn't age well. Testing the '10 version now - in the imp this seems to be all vetiver. On my skin and immediately get a lot of musk and patchouli. There's a moment where it smells kind of bitter but that softens up pretty quickly. I keep sniffing for the other components but I'm not able to detect them. The patchouli musk is earthy and exactly what one might expect from that combination of notes. Personally, I like it quite well but for my patchouli needs I'd probably still rather turn to Banshee Beat.

It's kind of funny because the only thing I can detect from the listed notes are "woods" which is pretty vague. I am totally rose paranoid - even in the smallest of amounts it will ruin a blend for me - but I can't smell it at all here. (edited after further testing) I've tested this several more times and it seems like in the imp there's a sharp wood smell like maybe teak. On my skin for the first couple minutes there's an almost cherry/almond smell that reminds me of Joy Mojo. It's a strange phase and it doesn't last long, but consistently that seems to be what happens. When that fades out it starts getting a feeling of warmer woods - or maybe it's how the wood is interacting with the ambergris, and what seems to be some red musk. Perhaps that's the "wild" part of the wild woods? There is some sweetness to this blend, but if the idea of double vanillas and honey freaks you out it shouldn't, it's not cloyingly sweet at all. I've never detected any rose whatsoever during any of the skin tests I've done. There's a soft, woody, softly musky, warmth to this scent that is really beautiful. This is the Luper I've been reaching for the most often. It also seems to have fantastic longevity as well, and since most scents fade off of me so quickly that's a welcome bonus.

This is a lovely, sweet, lightly spiced carnation. I get no impression of vetiver or nutmeg at all. There's a warmth and round sweetness to it that when I look at the notes I suppose are the fig and myrrh, but mainly this is carnation. I'm not easily won over by predominantly floral blends, but this one has something special about it.

Seems to have the same vanilla and cotton type base as black lace, but with a red fruity note on top instead of the dark musky note in black lace. I'm not a fan of fruit or berries, but I had to give this a chance because sometimes I'm really surprised by the things I end up loving. In this case though it's pretty much exactly what I expected and it's not my preferred kind of scent.

Somehow this ends up reminding me of Elephantine Colossus. When I tested this without looking at the notes I thought it seemed kind of candy/sweet/popcorn/foody with the lightest touch of red musk. The clove isn't sharp. The cream isn't pronounced. I guess it's the ginger and honey that's giving me the candyish feeling. Overall it's interesting but not what I was hoping for.

I like this scent a lot. It reminds me of Illustrated Woman and Haunted - the dark musk is very pronounced. If you like that, and I do, then this is a must sniff. I smell just a little whiff of linen in the background which gives this scent an interesting (but minimal and brief) counterpoint. I understand that chypre is a blend of citrus, musk and floral, but I'm not sure how the red factors in or how that blend contributes to this scent as a whole. There is an oakmossy element that comes out after a few minutes of wear, but I don't get any sense of citrus or floral. A bit further into the drydown process the oakmoss steps up and holds its own with the dark musk and together they're giving me the feeling of an elegant, vintage perfume.

This is far and away the very best scent out of all of the Lupers for me. It keeps feeling familiar, but I can't figure out what it reminds me of. I barely stop huffing my arm long enough to write this. Brown musk, labdanum, sandalwood and champaca seem to blend together to provide the base of this scent. It's soft, rounded, musky and sensual. It's just a little incensey and sweet. It's one of those "your skin but better" types of scents. If there's any leather in here it might be the very soft book binding kind of leather like in Buggre Alle This Bible - it is definitely not sharp or chemical. I'm not getting clove as a distinct note, which I appreciate because I sometimes find it to be too sharp. It's a beautiful scent and I will absolutely, without a doubt require this scent in my collection.

At one point I put this on my LOVE list and I have a bottle of it. Today I'm randomly retesting and while I can see why I bought this - all the notes work well for me - when it's actually on my skin I can hardly smell anything. What I do get seems to be a sort of teak with lemons. I wish I could detect the things that everyone else seems to pick up on.

THE CLOCK STRIKES MIDNIGHT The moment of passage between the waking world and the swirling mist of dreams: black currant, frankincense, blue musk, mugwort, and wisteria. I didn't have high expectations for this scent. When my decants got here and I sniffed the imp I was surprised how much I liked it. In the imp it's very pretty in that musky-dusky floral kid of way. I smell quite a bit of frankincense and musk and a maybe spiced floral. I like this more than I anticipated. On my skin – this is sweet and resinous smelling. Something is reminding me of expensive hand soap. After dry down, this is soapy enough that is is outside of my range of preference but it is compelling and very pretty.

I do love this scent. It's unique to my experience in that it is somehow both light in feel and also unmistakably present. There is some musk, something tart, something sweet... and they come together to make this absolutely fascinating whole that is beyond description. A masterpiece. I might consider Velvet Nudie and Philologus in a similar family of scent.

This smells like lightly honeyed peppermint tea and I'm absolutely in love with it. This is a perfect scent for spring and summer, light and refreshing.