LiberAmoris

Alma Venus sure is pretty. I get blood orange, orange flower, and honey/beeswax in equal measure, with the ambergris, neroli, and tuberose acting as supporting players. The cedar is very, very subtle. I wouldn't know it's in here if it wasn't listed. The neroli is prominent when wet but dries down to a mere whisper. About an hour after application, this is primarily a sweet burnished orange and orange flower blend...very elegant and upscale.

The Onnagata and the Pillow Roll is a beautiful cedar blend. Cedar sometimes gets a bad rap, but it's a lovely wood note! And the Himalayan cedar note is so contemplative and mellow. Paired with the rose, bergamot, and white patchouli, there's a really meditative vibe going on here. The pink peppercorn and hay absolute are much fainter on me. Wet, this is cedar plus a lot of lovely, blurry complexity. Dry, the cedar and bergamot do something on my skin that smells a bit sharp. I'm going to age this a bit and test again, because there is so much going on here that I enjoy! The white patchouli is just as lovely as ever, par exemple. Those whom cedar loves...this is your Shunga!

I ordered Venus Libitina but was worried about the orris and bourbon—orris can give scents too much powder for my tastes, and the boozy notes like bourbon can amp on me and be a little too much. But the blend here is really nice. On me, the notes are detectable in the order of the scent list—rose, cherry, cream, bourbon, and orris. The bourbon and orris are both very light and give the other notes a kind of subtle 'pastel cordial' feel. I'm also surprised at how much I'm enjoying the rose-cherry-cream...it really is like some luscious dessert, yet the rose water makes this primarily a floral on my skin, and very wearable. ETA: After wearing this a few times, I think it might be one of my favorites from this year. It smells like the colors of a Mendl's box.

For Each Ecstatic Instant is so good. This is an incensy patchouli-jasmine-rose blend on me, and I'm so excited to have two new jasmine loves from this year's Lupercalia release (Venus Genetrix is the other, and shares notes of jasmine, black amber, and bourbon vanilla). Amongst the other lovely Lupers in my order, this one offers the most unabashed, unrestrained, no-holds-barred trip to sexytown. It's well-blended, but I can definitely pick out the red rose, jasmine, and patch—the other notes act as a kind of scrim, blurring any sharp lines like a scarf thrown over a lampshade. The jasmine here is gorgeous. What I love about jasmine is that it straddles the line between floral and feral...as if a blossom could smell both at its prime and about to turn and start decomposing all at once. It's like a flower fulcrum, and there's something lovely about being right at that point (a point that is usually so fleeting). In combination with the other notes, it's a stunning incense to have at the end of a wrist (or other parts). Really wonderful, and definitely being worn on my next date night.

I looove jasmine, so Venus Genetrix is right up my alley. This is a jasmine-heavy blend, with the jasmine tea note skewing softer and 'steeped'both more velvety and more condensed. The black amber darkens it up and adds depth. The vanilla bourbon here seems to actually give off a bit of bourbon at first (not sure how that's possible, considering that there's no bourbon in bourbon vanilla), making it smell almost like some fantastic cocktail. That burns off quickly and the vanilla deepens as it dries down. A few hours after application this is almost gone on me, but when I sniff my wrists or my clothes where it touched, I can smell the most beautiful darkened jasmine sweet tea. It smells like something that would come in a dark purple bottle, and be prized as a potent aphrodisiac. Love it.

Aristocratic Couple is truly cardamom-spiced apricot preserves...so delectable. Wet, it's mostly apricot and cardamom, and as it dries down the cardamom burns off a bit, leaving a yummy apricot-vanilla skin scent. I love cardamom, but like this best after everything has settled down. Uncomplicated and beautiful!

Prosperous Flowers of the Elegant Twelve Seasons is lovely. Wet, I get a big hit of patchouli, but on my skin that quickly settles down and the wood vanilla and leather come forward. The honeyed saffron sweetens it up, and the labdanum is doing something here that reminds me a bit of tobacco. This would fit right in with some of my favorite autumnal BPAL blends. At times the wood/leather is a little much for me, but only when I'm sniffing my wrist—in the air around me I get more of the patchouli and honey. After an hour, it's really settled down and the honey and vanilla have come forward to balance out the leather and wood. I'm looking forward to seeing how this one ages!

Mmmm, coconut. The note here is absolutely the white flesh of a mature coconut...so realistic that I can almost taste it. It's by far the most prominent note on me, with the honey and saffron rounding things out and adding very subtle sweetness and faint floral notes. It smells a bit like a very nice tropical vacation, not in a suntan product kind of way but in a drinking fancy cocktails/swanning around in caftans kind of way. It's rather transporting to wear this on a cold day.

YUM. Hard Cider Cake is another mouthwatering Yule foody blend...it smells so real. In the bottle and on my skin, this is pure white cake saturated with hard cider and topped with buttercream frosting. That buttercream note is just the bee's knees—it's so delicious. Definitely a keeper, for weekend days when I'm powering through chores or projects...and want to smell like cake while doing so.

2014 version The Fruit of Paradise is almost like pomegranate single note on me, a slightly bitter, juicy pom. It's very reminiscent of a crushed pip. Definitely for pomegranate lovers!

2014 version Brandied cherries! Suck It is sweet brandied cherries in the bottle and on my skin. It also reminds me of a cherry lollipop or popsicle. I would have to be in just the right mood to wear this, as I usually don't wear super sweet scents, but I can see myself reaching for this occasionally or layering it with other scents. I bet a touch of this would be great with Bliss.

I think I might like Gingerbread Goblin even more than Goblin! The gingerbread and coconut is just a great foody combo, and the patchouli and benzoin ground everything so it lasts and lasts on my skin. This isn't one I'd wear to work unless I wanted people popping into my office to ask if I have cookies, but it's perfect for wearing around the house where I can revel in the yummy scent.

Christougenniatiko Dentrophobia starts out when a green crush of needles and then dries down to a predominately wood and tobacco blend on me. It's a lovely progression if you like evergreens but only want a few minutes of strong greenery...seasonal but still very wearable. I'm adding this to my husband's BPAL drawer because I think this will smell very good on him.

Sweet minty candy cane! Lick It is just as seasonally sweet as ever. I enjoy this during winter weekends when I'm cleaning or working on house projects, and also during the summer, when the icy blast of mint on my skin offers a cooling respite from the heat and humidity. As the mint fades, the vanilla musk comes forward for a really nice, wearable skin scent.

Vixen hair gloss has everything I love about Vixen, but in slightly different proportions. In the hair gloss, I get less patchouli and more orange blossom, which works fine for me, as orange blossom smells like a harbinger of spring and I'm craving spring right now! My hair was eating this gloss up so quickly that I actually spiked it with about 1/3 a 5ml of Vixen, and now it lasts almost all day. As the day goes on, the ginger and patchouli fade and the orange blossom remains. I'm so glad I nabbed a bottle of this when I could! It layers beautifully with Vixen (of course), but also Spellbound, Sin, Shub, and many other favorites.

Good is like an ideal skin scent—it dries down to a sweet musk floral that stays close and smells lovely without being obtrusive. The first time I applied it, I was so surprised because it's RED! I can't pick out any individual notes, I just get sweet musk with a sheer red feel that matches the oil color. I haven't tried layering it with another RPG scent yet, but I think this would pair well with a wide swath of scents. I intend to do some experimenting.

Wow, Strawberry Sufganiyot is just so much fun! Strawberry doughnut for sure, and so yummy that it actually subs in for dessert when I have a craving for sweets. Dries down to a golden pastry and sweet strawberry halo on my wrists that's sort of irresistible. Sometimes I love a foody scent but don't find myself reaching for it often to wear out of the house, but with this one, I keep a bottle at work for the afternoons when I'm contemplating raiding my colleague's candy dish.

Sugar Plum and Vanilla Bean atmo spray is definitely Sugar Plum Fairy, with an emphasis on sugar. It smells a bit like pink plum taffy/cotton candy to me, which is so fun to have in the rotation. It's a great spray for the lead-up to Valentine's Day/optimistic countdown to warmer temperatures.

The peachy hair glosses are some of my favorites. Golden Peach and Bergamot hair gloss definitely starts off super-peach, like James and the Giant Peach peach. But the bergamot, patchouli, jasmine, and musk quickly mellow that bright, fruity note and make it very wearable. If I didn't know that they were in there, I don't think I'd be able to pick out the supporting notes here. It just smells like 'Peach Plus'!

Eve really is gorgeous, truly the worldly perfume of someone who's figured out how to live beautifully over time. The notes that I can smell and pick out are the moss, honey, myrrh, frankincense, rose, saffron, and incense. Eve sticks very close to me and within an hour or so, smells like warm skin and just a hint of rose, incense, and moss. There's definitely something mature about the scent—which makes complete sense for the character—but it's far from matronly. I find it calming and contemplative, and often wear a dot or two of Eve on my collarbone when traveling (makes a long flight for work much nicer!). Agree with other reviewers that it's in the same 'family' as Morocco, and I would add Lyonesse as well.

Thirding Spellbound! It's fantastic and it's GC.

I picked this up at NYCC and every time I wear it, I'm amazed at how true the red apple note is. In my hair, it's pure red apple, plus some sweetness and an underpinning of resin. When I was a kid, the place my mom took me to get my hair cut had an apple shampoo, and the smell of this hair gloss takes me back to being eight years old and the smell of my hair swinging into my face after a haircut. Whenever I wear this, it just makes me happy...and the apple here is gorgeous. I would never have thought I'd want to smell like apples all day, but some days, I absolutely do.

Peony blossoms and vanilla orchid. Lady in Speckled Pink Kimono is pink, pink, pink! Peony is one of my favorite notes, and vanilla orchid is also gorgeous, so this was a blind buy for me back in 2012. I didn't regret it, because this is just the pinkest, softest peony, wedded to vanilla-ed, almost nectar-y orchid. It's sweet on my skin, but juuuust at the edge of what might be a little too much for me, staying on the right side. I actually own a pink and cream kimono that I use as a wrap when I'm lazing around on the weekends, so I sometimes dot this on just to get the dual effect.

Peach Nectar and Vanilla Orchid hair gloss is really pretty. When I sprayed on my hands and worked through my wet hair, I got a lot of sweet peach and rose, with vanilla orchid making a more subtle appearance. I couldn't pick out the hay note, but there was something like dried grass kicking around in the mix, which made the peach and florals seem fresher by foil. After I finished blow-drying, I put a little more on my hands and smoothed my flyaways and gave a little shine to the crown—maybe because I applied both wet and dry, this hair gloss is really giving off a lot of scent! In the air it smells like what I imagine peach blossom might smell like on a summer day.

This is an atmo spray, but it really smells like snowy evergreens—Blue Spruce and Snow-Capped Pine from BPTP's Yules. It's wonderful! And you could always spray your clothes if you want to wear it.