LiberAmoris

I've been delaying reviewing Pouring Strains of Sacred Song, because I kept thinking my skin chemistry must be making it wonky...it smells so foody on me! But after a few tests, I'm ready to concede that somehow it smells a bit like coconut cake, honey, flowers, and frankincense on me—and I'm not complaining. There is something almost green in this that pushes it off the foody mark, something that makes me keep going back to it to try to figure it out. I still haven't figured it out and I'm not sure I will...and I'm not sure it's quite me. But there's enough here that I like (coconut!) to merit setting it aside for a bit of aging (and I mean both me and the perfume) to see if it can work itself out.

Coquelicot Snow is so very orange! I do smell all the notes here, but they blur into an orangey melange with a soft, fluffy, creamy underlayer. At first it's a blast of tangerine and blood orange, though—a true bright spot of scent in the middle of winter. Then it's the musk, with the mimosa trailing behind sweetly. That snowy undercoat comes out in the drydown. It's powdery after a while in a way that I like, like a fine-grained orange snowcone with a bit of vanilla. The snowballs this year are all so fun and yet totally wearable. As with the others, this is wintry but would truly work year round. So glad I tried all three!

Sleeping at the Feet of the Snow Queen hair gloss is definitely well-blended—very nuanced and soft. I get no snow note or accord from this, just a sense of chilliness from the white musk. The white tea note is absolutely lovely, and the lemon rind is fresh. The oakmoss and tobacco round out the bottom and add lasting power. The juniper note is balanced, clear, and bright. It's really tough to describe because the notes sing so well together, but when I turn my head, it smells like a lovely, upscale white tea with lemon—if that tea was a fancy perfume. I think to the uninitiated this will probably smell like the remnants of the best shampoo in the world. Really wonderful, and again, this hair gloss will be just as lovely in the spring and summer as it will be this winter.

Have you tried Gobo? Gobo: Tangerine, lemon peel, sugared pink grapefruit, and vanilla cream.

The snowballs this year are all fantastic. That snow note is like a fluffy, vanilla cream underlayer in all three...so pretty and delicate. If you're on the fence because of the snow association, definitely give these a try because they don't telegraph cold and winter outright. It's very subtle and I will wear these snowballs all year long. Glaucous Snow is like a light blue cloud. I had to look up cade—apparently it's a prickly juniper? Mostly what I get from this is blue lilac and cream, with a touch of lotus and chamomile. The lilac is kind of wondrous here, bringing its fierce assertion of sweetness and spring and renewal, like a floral outlier. The creaminess underneath reminds me a bit of Lush's Snowcake, a scent that I love. Definitely in the same blue fam as Blue Moon, although also its own creature altogether. Also, this is a fantastic sleep scent. It's so soothing!

I never picked up Eldritch Dark as a perfume oil, so my first experience with the scent is the hair gloss. It's so fun! Whip-smart leather, honey, black rose, and those musks. The leather is really strong, followed by the rose and then the honeyed musks. A few sprays in my hair yesterday and it lasted all day. When I took a shower this morning, I shampooed twice to get it all out my hair—that's some serious staying power! I think it's the first gloss to last that long on me. This layers beautifully with Psychodynamic Discharge, and I'm sure it also would play well with Whip...and of course, Eldritch Dark! It's so delightfully naughty that I might not wear it into work, but if I worked somewhere cooler, I certainly would.

Bumping this to add both A Lady in White and Some Strangeness in the Proportion to this conversation. I still think Velvet and Sin are my favorite BPAL sandalwoods—it's tough to beat the classics!

Vetiver is not a note that I generally love, but I've recently found two reasons to continue testing perfumes when I see it listed: The Tumultuous Vultures of Stern Passion (vetiver tar) and Psychodynamic Discharge (Haitian vetiver). The vetiver is really beautiful and perfectly balanced in both of them, and if I'd passed them by due to the V-word, I'd have missed two new favorites! Are there any other recommendations for either vetiver-strong or vetiver-soft scents?

Necrobumping this topic...Those who love orange, definitely try Coquelicot Snow: Snowballs of poppy-red musk, tangerine, blood orange, and mimosa blossom. This is the orange-est perfume I've worn in a long time (since maybe Orange itself?), and it's lovely.

Winter lily and sugarcane hair gloss is simple and pure: just sweet white lilies with a dusting of snow. There's something luminous about the lilies—they almost have a glow. Dry and hours later, my hair smells faintly of lilies and something clean (must be the snow note). Although it's delicate, the scent has good staying power. I plan to layer this with some of my Yule scents this winter, but will also look forward to using it in spring. This smells like winter thawing and the first brave flowers pushing through.

Aged Velvet is also phenomenal. I have a 10ml from maybe 2004 or 2005 and at this point, it's like the smoothest myrrh ever. So good.

Have you already tried Velvet and Chimera? Neither of those go churchy on me, and they're both great. Myrrh isn't the most dominant note—but I think they both showcase it well.

Black tea! I love that note, so Spirit Board was a must-try. For sure, this the smell of a proper Victorian life gone a bit off the rails. I love the redwood note here—I'm not sure I've tried a blend with that note before. The rich redwood lasts all the way through the drydown, twining with the rosewood to give this staying power. A notch above, the black tea gives a sheen of refinement—and then it's a profusion of white lilac and pink rose at the top that the woods help to drag back down to earth. Ends as flowers and woods, with the black tea giving just a bit of edge. Very pretty and wearable.

Chocolate Stout Cupcake is definitely one of the blends that needs to be thoroughly rolled before application. Wet, it smells just like chocolate cupcake batter and buttercream frosting—the chocolate stout is in the background on me and there's just a hint. Where Bliss is pure, unadulterated melted chocolate, Chocolate Stout Cupcake is a melange—there's chocolate, but also vanilla and a gentle beer note (a bit like roasted barley) in play. As it dries, the chocolate lifts a bit and drifts into a murky, boozy vanilla. Vanilla is one of the notes that can smell artificial on my skin, and this is dancing on that edge but stays on the right side. I think it will benefit from a little aging, as Bliss does. Fun!

A Lady Tall and White offers an elegant twist on the snow note with vanilla and sandalwood. The sandalwood is particularly nice here and comes forward beautifully on the drydown. I'm someone who really amps the snow note so have to be careful about wearing it on my skin, but I'm going to hang on to this and see if aging mellows it out a bit—the combination of notes is really pretty. If you love the snowy blends, definitely try this one!

I'm so happy with Frosted Silkybat—the snow note isn't one that's historically great on my skin, although I like it in the air (in atmo sprays and oil burners). I love the creamy fluffy snow note in the snowballs, but that's really different than the snow note here, which is the classic, slightly ozoney, minty/lemony accord that smells like cold air. And that's the one that's always better off my skin than on it. So having it in a hair gloss is pretty much the best, as I can smell it in the air around me, but it's not on my skin where I'd amp it to high heaven. This smells like piles of fluffy white snow and a shadow of sugared patchouli. The patchouli is much lighter here than in Silkybat proper, as it's mixed in with all the snow. As the day goes on, I get more patchouli—it deepens and darkens a bit. I'm so glad to have a snowy hair gloss to wear this winter! Definitely a nice twist on my beloved Silkybat.

Just as advertised. I smell all of the notes, and the combination is unexpected but kind of wonderful in Yule Buddies. Leather and frosted gingerbread...not two notes that I'd imagine would harmonize. And yet, they work. This is definitely not just leather and pipe tobacco on me—it's both of those if they careened and crashed into gingerbread and fruitcake. Perfectly Yule and fun and festive.

This is totally Yule Smut. The birch tar and patchouli darken Krampus' Shadow quite a bit, and render it a bit sooty in the best way. There's definitely a pitchy, charred note that's really evocative and nice with the patch and red musk. As it dries down, that note lessens and this is a shadowy patch/red musk...really nice on me and pretty damn good on the man. I might try to get him to wear this out one night when I wear Smut.

Rose Red hair gloss is everything I hoped it would be. Rose Red on my skin is a lush, dewy red rose, with a hint of something that comes across a bit like raspberry in the sillage. In my hair, it's just the same, and as on my skin, it lasts a really long time. A few sprays of the hair gloss this morning and hours and hours later it's still throwing off the most beautiful rosy scent. In addition to being lovely in its own right, this HG will be wonderful to layer with some of my favorite rose scents.

2014: Faunalia is like forest musk champagne on me. There's definitely something effervescent here, reminiscent of the Lab's champagne note. The musk is crazy good, equal parts ambery/mellow and animalic/feral. The forest foliage and woods smell almost like they've been crushed underfoot—they're present but not overwhelming. The musk is really the star here, from wet to drydown...and in combination with the other notes it smells a bit like my big dog's underfur after a run through the forest. A little wild, a little sweet, a little like soap, and a little like the outdoors (greens and dirt). I love that smell, it smells like happiness. Definitely a keeper, and I think this will age well.

Hagiophobia might embody the fear of saints and holy things, but it smells like Christmas! The ginger and yuzu are effervescent and bright (I might even say jolly), and the cypress and pine smell like fresh boughs and holiday trees. The frankincense and myrrh...classic Christmas. Wet, this is HOLIDAY SPIRIT. Dry, this is the best Yule incense ever. I used up my last drops of Skadi last week, but won't be sad, because Hagiophobia will fill that niche nicely. So glad I picked this up!

I think bheansidhe nails it here—Claircognizance smells like clean linens and sandalwood. It's definitely reminiscent of Antique Lace minus the sweet vanilla. On its own it's like white flowers and white linen plus something mind-clearingly bracing...not like mint but with the same effect on me. It smells very pure, very white, very clean. I think I'd enjoy wearing this on its own if I wanted to feel focused but it would also be great as a blender. I can imagine this with all kinds of scents that could go lace-y. I'm looking forward to doing some experimenting.

Agree 100% with Silvertree, this hair gloss is the sh*t. It's Sin, in the hair. What more could a person want? I wore this the other day and went out with friends after work, everyone who hugged me mentioned how good I smelled. Definitely the Sin hair gloss. I bought two bottles and will enjoy every single drop. This is my favorite item to come out of the lunacy poll, and I'm still so grateful to have another way to wear my beloved Sin.

Psychodynamic Discharge is as dynamic as its description. Leather isn't always the best note on me, but here it's balanced beautifully with the rose, pepper, red musk, and coconut. The vetiver is exactly how I like it: a sharp, slightly disruptive green spike that knows its place. The ginger is subtle on me...this is mostly leather, red musk, patchouli, rose, and coconut. It smells like a leather jacket worn by a god. I can imagine myself reaching for this in certain moods, but I think this would be unbelievable on my husband. Like Whip's bad-boy boyfriend riding in on a motorcycle. I may give him this one and get my own bottle. I agree that this will be very popular...buy it now or hunt it down later!

I love all the gingerbread mash-ups, and I love Sin, so this was an immediate, no-holds-barred Yule purchase. And gingerbread is so good with Sin! I definitely smell both parts, but Gingerbread Sin is more than the sum of its parts, just as Nepthys says. Wet, it smells like fancy, fancy gingerbread—gingerbread with depth and dark sweetness, caramelized patchouli and amber, an undertone of sandalwood and a hit of cinnamon. Dry, this is Sin with ginger shot through it...and it's fantastic. If you like Sin, and you like ginger, don't miss this one!