LiberAmoris

Gha'agsheblah is a resiny rose on me, with other flowers clustered around. I love rose, so it's an easy sell. As this dries down, it only gets more lovely. It never turns soapy and the rose only gets deeper. Lovely.

Thaumiel is flowery and diffuse---it has a lot of throw and it smells like a breeze coming off a meadow of wildflowers. Another very pretty floral that smells clean and light. There's a note in here that reminds me of Mock Orange, and that makes me happy.

Sathariel is incensey and warm, like the feeling in the chest after taking a shot of straight liquor. Like reviewers above, I pick up on a spicy dragon's blood base with something sweet and almost honeyed. Whatever it is, it's good. The drydown is like a tryst between Sepent's Kiss and Venom. This strikes me as a blend that would be great in the fall, perhaps because of the yummy spices.

Thagiron is clean and fresh, like sparkling dandelion wine! It smells like a bright spring day. After a bit, it goes a bit soapy on my skin, but even when it does so, it's like the freshest, fanciest soap smell---nice in its own way.

Seriously, this whole series is just amazing. But I am particularly enamored with Samael, which does indeed bear resemblance to La Fee Verte. It's just the most delcious honey musk, and it lasts and lasts. Another one to consider in a larger format.

Ghagiel is like a huge bouquet of white flowers. It's absolutely pretty. There is definitely something 'spicy' to the florals that gives them a little edge. Almost like carnation. I really love this one.

Gamaliel started out kind of tart on me, with a dill-like note. But that quickly changed as it transitioned into a fruity/floral take on Perversion. I love me some Perv, so this was a good thing. It's pretty and sultry at once, and would be great later on in the year when the temperature starts to drop.

Like other reviewers above, Golachab strikes me as incensey and smoky with something fruity---maybe grape? I also get some florals but they are complicated and transformed by the smoke. Very nice.

Mmmm, A'arab Zaraq is a sweet musky skin scent, subtle but smoldering. It's dark and light at the same time, like a drink I had once at a college party: mead and coke (coca-cola). This goes on the short list!

Nahemoth is the closest thing I've found in the general catalog to my beloved Snake Charmer. It's got the same dark, musky, fruity, sexy tones, and is an absolute stunner. Nahemoth smells a little juicier to me, and has a note that reminds me a bit of a cordial. But for those people who liked Snake Charmer but weren't so hot on the coconut, you might want to give this a try, as I don't smell any coconut here. I this. It's perfectly composed for for its namesake. Beauty and Pleasure, indeed.

Orpheus is herbal, green, and very relaxing. No one note stands out to me; it's more like a chord of things working together, almost inseparable. The 'crushed green stems' capture most fully the way this smells and feels to me, but it's more composed than that---the musk blurs and softens the edges of the florals and makes the overall effect softer, like flowers and herbs and greenery wrapped in muslin or something. Some combination of the notes comes across as a bit like aloe to my nose, and that adds to the verdant quality. Orpheus's song could soothe wild beasts and tame their hearts, which is why I think he's featured with animals of all kinds listening raptly in the painting. That flamingo does kind of look like the traditional flamingo lawn ornament, though. Maybe he can also soothe lawn ornaments! I'm really glad I bought a bottle of this. Not to draw a parallel between myself and lawn ornaments, but I do find it very soothing. I think this would be a great oil to wear at work, when I'm feeling stressed, or when I'm getting ready to go to sleep. This has the same 'feel' to me as Ides of March, which is one of my absolute faves. I'm happy to find something with the same vibe in the general catalog.

Candy-sweet orange and mint? Strangely enough, at first I get a citrus-mint rather than a citrus-fig from this. Then it starts to dry down and that most mouth-watering fig note arrives. With the mandarin, it's almost like candied fig. Yummy. This has the same 'feel' to me as Hunger, Siren, and Sin. It's straightforward but powerful and signature. I'll definitely use up the imp!

Dear Lord, Lucretia is lovely. I only invested in two Salon bottles to begin with, and this one just seemed so incredible from the notes---vanilla musk, violet, black amber? Sold! In the bottle it smells complicated, well-blended. No one note has prominence, but it has a dusky incensey vibe that reminds me a smidge of Gypsy Queen. It has that same kind of feeling. Like exquisite incense. Like vampy violets. On, it's the kind of blend that has its eyes half lowered with long lashes. It's seductive. I pick up an exotic wood note, with that amazing vanilla musk and violet like I've never smelled violet before. Violet usually goes a bit strident on me, trumpeting its own horn and tramping about like the center of attention. But here it's incredibly mellow and multi-dimensional---something is interrupting it, staggering its arrival, so that it comes across as a bottom or middle note, rather than a top note. I'm really glad I snagged a bottle of this. I'm making a mental note. Whenever I see the words 'vanilla musk,' I should just buy a bottle outright. ETA 10 years later: This has aged into something magnificent and queenly. The iris, black amber, wood, violet, and vanilla musk have melded like some kind of heavenly celluloid over the years and now I can't pull them apart. It's like a purpley supernote, and I love it.

The Moon is an oil I've had for a long time but never reviewed because it's so hard to describe. I got it because the moon is really important to me---when I was 19 I used to meet a lover in secret on the full moon of every month at a waterfall in western Washington (I was once a romantic before becoming a hardened adult!). He was a really important person in my life and ever since then the moon has been an implicit form of measurement. Wearing it, I get gardenia and a cluster of soft whites and golds. There are moments where it actually smells like bananas and then it drifts back to gardenia underpinned with white nameless flowers I recognize but cannot give word to. An hour after putting it on, it blends with me so that I can't tell where it stops and the smell of me begins. Like I've been in a place with night-blooming flowers and they've rubbed off on me. It's nocturnal, there's a bit of sadness to it, and it feels like being pressed between the leaves in a book. Sometimes I layer this with a sleep oil, and it always meshes well.

Yep, Pain is everything other reviewers have mentioned: pungent, medicinal, astringent, and yes, a little painful. But I think I might keep my imp around because this might be exactly what I want if I have a headache or feel a bit nauseous. It's head-clearing stuff!

Wow, another bloomer. Dragon Moon smelled odd in the bottle to me, a mix of the tea and the bamboo. I couldn't smell any dragon's blood at all! Then I put some on and it was like ka-pow! The cherry blossom note emerged and it is the most beautiful smell---so pretty and delicate and sweet. The tea leaf, bamboo, and sandalwood are all in the background---on my skin the cherry blossom is the star. The dragon's blood is so well blended here it almost merges with the sandalwood. I wore this to the gym this afternoon and it was so nice to work out with the smell of cherry blossoms in the air around me!

Mouse's Long and Sad Tale is vanilla heaven. Vanilla and sweetpea with sandalwood at the bottom to hold it all together---simple, straightforward, and perfect.

Glory be, this stuff is fantastic. Tweedledum, like Tweedledee, is just an amazing fruity-tea blend. I love the mango here, it's gorgeously green and tropical, and the fig is perfect---not overpowering in the least on me, although it tends to go that way in most blends. The green tea is refreshing and gives the blend a kind of 'openness'---and the patchouli is so soft it's like the barest suggestion of earthiness. This is like wearing a straight-up vacation.

Sniffing this in the imp, I literally said, "Whoa!" I can truly say I've never smelled anything like Tweedledee before. It's such an unusual combination of notes. The orange blossom and white tea are really lovely together, very complementary. The pepper tickles my nose a little bit. The kumquat is bold and orangey. Tweedledee is a whimsical citrus blend on me---bright and uplifting and energizing. It has an effusive personality. I think this would make a great mood-lifter. I might have to buy a bottle just for that purpose!

Gah, I'm just so happy about all the foody blends added to the GC in the last update! Eat Me, is, well, edible. It's another blend that really has to meld with my skin chemistry in order to really bloom, but a few minutes after application, it's spongy, fluffy white cake with just enough currant to keep it from being too sweet. It really is angelfood cake in a bottle!

I agree with Macha, Drink Me is definitely a relative of Beaver Moon and the Monster Baits. I get caramel toffee with a slight hazelnut vibe, light cherry, juicy pineapple, a buttery pastry-like note, and a creamy finish. Yum! The drydown on me is like Jack meets Miskatonic U meets Beaver Moon! Totally fun and unexpected.

King of Hearts is my new favorite lavender blend! In the bottle, I smell the astringent kick that lavender has---that herby sinus-clearing blast---and cherry, which has that almost almondy edge to it. It's a strange combination, but I know how different things are on the skin, so I take the plunge by applying liberally. The lavender and cherry are really strong on my skin as well, but about ten seconds later, the edge on both those notes starts dissipating and suddenly it's gorgeous. The rose is really light here---perfectly integrated to warm up the lavender without overwhelming. The white and red musk blur the overtly herbal quality of the lavender, making it deeper and sexier, more complex. Finally I can smell the rosewood, which is also very subtle here. On the drydown I'm left with a very complex and tempered lavender. All the edges are rounded off by the musk and it's gentle but not generic. Honestly, I had no idea that lavender could smell like this. Even my boyfriend, who finds the smell of lavender to be medicinal, likes this.

I splurged on a whole bottle of Hymn to Proserpine unsniffed, and I'm so glad I did! I love pomegranate, and this smells like warm amber and pomegranate, with maybe some darker berry notes and perhaps a little vanilla---or maybe the amber just has a vanilla-ed edge to it. The tartness of the pomegranate balances out the amber perfectly, and it ends up as an almost caramelized pomegranate on my skin. A wonderful interpretation of a great poem.

Ulalume starts out like a candy-sweet mix of conversation hearts and bubble gum but dries down to a lovely incensy oaken lily. I love the ultimate end, but the path to that end is a little too sweet for my taste. I'll pass my imp on to a friend with a sweet tooth.

Hot damn, how's a girl supposed to follow a bang-up review like Oly's above?!! You know what Bunny Musk smells a little like to me---and it might just be the psychotropic effects mentioned above---but it smells like one of my fave Lush bath bombs ever: Harvey! I'm not sure I can pick out the difference between cotton blossom, baby's breath or clover in a blend, but the overall effect is of soft springtime floral greenery. Yet this doesn't seem like a 'floral' to me at all---maybe that's due to the yummy white musk. And even though I was wary of the 'pale powder notes,' this did not go powdery on me. Go figure. Hours later, it's the smell of Cadbury mini eggs (the shells), spring-ish flowers, and Beth's crazy-good white musk. It's positively pastel on my skin, in the best way possible. So glad I hopped ahead and bought another bottle of this while it was still available.