HerbGirl

Cherry blossoms falling into folds of red musk, bourbon vanilla, and strawberry cream. I'm going to sound like a broken record but the Lupers this year are so expertly and perfectly blended and the Instructional Manual is no different. The first things I smell are strawberry and red musk. All 4 components of this perfume are equal though...I can smell all of them but no one stands out to me. I think lovers of Hollywood Babylon, Mania and Smut will be really happy with this one...I know I am. It verges on being a tad foody but never gets there. I feel like this is the same strawberry from Strawberry Sufganiyot. A very beautiful blend, and the cherry blossom doesn't fight with the strawberry. If you think you might love this, you're probably right. Eta: The cherry blossoms seem to come forward more in the dry down...this one morphs! :-)

Mmmm decant of LXIX smells like frankincense heavy incense. It doesn't smell so great in the bottle but it just needs to be freeee and then it is amazing. Holy crap. Eta: I think I smell sandalwood, too. Gorgeous hg scent!!! Oh. If anyone doesn't like their decant of LXIV I will help them out :-)

Gorgeous dark patchouli with hints of pink pepper and a touch of tobacco...lovely. As patchouli lover, I have to 'collect them all!' (well, except Tricksy which was ruined by the honey...) but the pink pepper gives this gem a new twist. Great stuff and I love the charity aspect!

Holy skin interpretations of this scent so far! Strong (but not mentholic) spruce/soft evergreen with a touch of what my nose interprets as a whisper of black patchouli and skin musk... I get no snow note, no stone notes and no vanilla. Dry, the evergreen is muted with a very very light touch of cedar heartwood scent, and the musky quality becomes stronger. Honestly? This is what I was hoping Black Forest would smell like but it always went too high pitched/mentholy pine on me... What a perfect scent to dedicate to the NPS! I will probably reach for this most on days when I can't get into the woods. Beautiful.

At first I smell just a hint of leather with light cherry vanilla and the lightest brush of the memory of lemon... This dries down to a gorgeous vanilla/cherry/lemoncream blend but it is sooooo light on me. I really have to huff my wrist to smell it but it is so worth it because of how beautiful it smells. I will hope age makes it oomph!

This is the most perfumey bpal I've ever smelled...it is gorgeous. Bright and cheery, sweet lily and a bit of plum. I don't really detect lavender. Bottle for certain.

Gorgeous frosty evergreen needles!!! This is somehow sweet without being candied. It smells just like sniffing crushed fir needles! Awesome. Eta: I get no fruit or berries from this...just smells like slightly sugared crushed fir needles

I love Dusky Shroud! The coffee is nice and strong for about 10 minutes and then it folds into the blend. I must be really odd because I swear I smell mahogany wood...whatever happens, it is beautiful and smooth with nice throw and longevity. This is my favorite of the Trading Post Yule perfume oils.

Yup, black patchouli and then there is a burned meat scent that dies off...dry this is nice and kind of sparkly? Very masculine. Very nice.

Funny, I barely get any carnation from Morocco!

Ha! This is so evocative of being in a tundra / taiga area in Autumn!!! I sniffed it wet on my skin and really wasn't a fan so I waited an hour before I sniffed it again. I would say the white tea is most prominent of the four notes but it is soft and atmospheric. Wow. I was instantly transported to the Exit Glacier in Alaska. I visited last Spring and apparently, my brain says it smells/feels similar. Funny, this would have been my one blind bottle purchase if I hadn't decided to try decants and it certainly is a keeper. Definite bottle purchase in my future.

This is very evocative of walking around in the woods on an overcast, 'gloomy' day. I was worried about the balsam (which usually goes horribly sharp in a masculine way on me) but this is lovely. Gloomy Day and Desert Places are two of the best atmospheric scents I've smelled and I cannot stop huffing my wrist. On a side note, when I close my eyes and smell this, I am instantly on a stretch of the Kautz Creek trail near Mt. Rainier (just past the river crossing for anyone who has been on that trail) :-) ETA: After a few months of aging, I get a bit of Autumn mushrooms underneath the leaves and a bit of soil from this, softened out by the ambergris. I love this scent so much.

This is a very chewy myrrh :-) Reminds me a whole lot of Herodotus' Phoenix...very similar. The myrrh is rounded out and supported by a gorgeous vanilla. I will definitely use my decant.

At first, the raspberry was lovely, light and tart. Then the tea that I hoped wouldn't be the licorice tea of doom turned out to be the licorice tea of doom. It does soften a bit but I cannot wear that tea note so it ruins the blend for me. I never smelled birch tar or any iron /metallics. Glad I got to try this.

How strange. I love ambers and they love my skin but I am having an opposite reaction to everyone else so far :-( When I sniffed the decant I actually recoiled a bit...I had been expecting a sweet, soft ambery amber with bits of moss and greenery. This was sharp and medicinal. I figured it might be strong oak/oakmoss and skin tested anyhow. Well, this was super sharp oak / oakmoss (which I normally like) on my skin with a touch of camphorous trees and no amber in sight. I guess my skin chemistry makes me the odd girl out. Glad so many folks are loving it but it is definitely not for me. Eta: Now I remember, this reminded me of Samhain. Eta 2: This is much nicer a few hours later...sweeter and leafier.

Very yummy, very short lived marshmallowy cookie. I bet the longevity will improve with age.

This is a lovely, sweet scent. It starts off snowy like whoa and dries down to a cherry blossomish ylang scent with a hint of chill and cypress. Very nice.

This smells nothing like hay to me. Color me disappointed because I was hoping for a hay single note. I smell something camphorous but no hay. :-( Glad it is only a decant.

Smells very similar to Mistletoe perfume oil. It smells nice. I think I was hoping for something more, I don't know, green? and am a bit underwhelmed by the fruitiness...

I just received a frimp of this lovely gem...how have I not fallen in love with it before?! Bright orange patchouli dazzles me after it dries down. There was something medicinal happening early on but it completely disappears. Magnificent!

I love this so much. I loved it earlier this year but I love it more now. Lavender, Carnation and vanilla are the strongest notes backed by hay and a touch of amber. The strawberry comes out on the drydown just detectable hanging above the scent, if that makes sense. Lupers killed me this year and this one is such a masterpiece. I am so glad I have a bottle, I have a feeling I will be reaching for this when I need a pick me up. :-)

I just wanted to stop by and say this: If you are wary of the mandarin note in this, don't be. It is gorgeous and velvety and melds perfectly. I have had problems with the king mandarin note going sharp and/or rancid in the past which made me wary of this but I am glad I got a decant. This just ousted something from my top 20 list.

Starts off a bit disjunct to me, probably the fig and cinnamon and dries down to a lovely sandalwood/myrrh scent. Very nice :-)

Bleached sandalwood, orris root, white tea blossom, and nagarmotha. Gorgeous. This reminds me of something but I cannot think of what! I smell white tea and an edgy sandalwood with a tiny hint of orris. I suspect this one and Spectre Blue to be the surprise hits and no one will know till it is too late. Perfect for Autumn, too. :-)

I love Leda! It reminds me of Hygeia and Mircalla minus the clove. Starts off a bit funky (orris usually does) and ends up a gorgeous red musk + spices and a sandalwood that does smell red instead of white. Lovely.