GreenSpine

This is a very soft, light scent with good staying power. I get mostly cherry blossom and vanilla musk. The moss doesn't really come out on its own for me, but the blend's nowhere near as sweet as it would be if it were just cherry blossom and vanilla. This is so relaxing - it's my favorite of the Lupercalia decants I've tested. Definitely a bottle for me, maybe two.

On my skin, this reminds me a little bit of Snow, Glass, Apples, actually - as if someone took out half the musk in SGA, substituted a very citrus-y, almost grapefruit-like lychee for the apple, and gave it a light touch of lavender. It has the same bright coldness to it, but is less aggressive, more aloof. I like this.

Somewhere along the way, Sugar Skull became the scent I associate with Halloween, and that's what I wore.

The artwork on the bottle is fantastic. Wet, first I get a spash of grapefruit and citrus, which fades very quickly. During drydown this goes through a brief, strange phase where it's primarily wintergreen over a very lovely, almost translucent, musk. (I wish I knew where I'm getting wintergreen from - it's not bad at all, just unexpected.) Once it's dry, the wintergreen vanishes and it becomes absolutely stunning light florals and musk. This is a very quiet scent, complicated and thoughtful. EDIT: As the bottle has aged, the wintergreen stage has disappeared completely, and the musk has become more dominant. This has become one of my top ten favorite scents.

Wet, this is sharp and soapy and not that impressive. But after a few minutes on my skin, it starts to change. Happily, the straw note (which reminds me more of Hay Moon than Scarecrow) comes out the strongest and lingers the longest. The rose and amber are lovely, pretty strong at first before settling back over time. A little bit of the gold note (which reminds me of the lovely gold note in Phoenix Steamworks), and the slightest edge of salt rounds the scent out beautifully. Overall, this is soft, with a medium throw and medium to long wearlength. I can't wait to see how it ages. This is even more lovely than I'd hoped/expected!

I agree with the posters above that the copal, woods, and spices smell just like a wooden chest full of delicious spices. The agave nectar sweetens up the blend a great deal to the point of being nearly - but definitely not - too sweet. The tobacco is amazing, almost smoky, hanging close to my skin. The rose is smooth and lovely but is barely present in the background. Mictecacihuatl starts out a little bit cool (I'm guessing that's the nectar) and gradually warms through the day. Very long wear length and great throw. It reminds me the tiniest bit of Frederic because of the woods and the warming, and a bit more of Chrysanthemum Moon for the spiciness and the overall feel of the scent - but mostly, Mictecacihuatl is a unique blend. I'm almost halfway through my imp and hope the bottle I ordered gets here before too long.

XLIII (43 - so close to 42!) Wet, in the bottle: My mother said it smelled like her grandfather's aftershave, which about sums it up. Wet, on skin: Pine. Very strong pine, a pinch of snow/ozone, and a little bit of wood trying to peek out from beneath. Drydown: The ozone disappears right away, and I get a very quick flash of something that reminds me of the asphalt note in a few other blends, but it doesn't stay. The pine fades slowly but completely. In the end, the wood - cedar - comes forward and is all that's left. However, my roommate lightly tested it as well, and for her it stayed a strong, true pine start to finish - none of the other notes appeared at all. Skin chemistry's a funny thing. I'm not a fan of pine or wood, so this will be going off to swaps.

Marcilla was a very pleasant surprise - followed by heartbreak. BPAL lilac has always turned very sour/nasty on me before Marcilla (and Ashlutum), but in this it's gorgeous. On my skin, this reminds me a little bit of a very soft, floral, blue cousin to Tamamo-No-Mae. My surprise, hands-down favorite of the Grindhouse women. And then, not even one half-hour later, it's gone. Completely vanished. I suppose I could try a scent locket, but it just wouldn't be the same.

This is really, really beautiful in a quiet way. The florals are all perfectly balanced with each other and blend harmoniously with the musk. It doesn't throw very far but has good staying power. This is the deep, soft blue of twilight in the summer. It's very romantic and evocative. It gives me a strong image of a bundle of old love letters, tied with a blue ribbon and stored in a trunk for years (though I certainly wouldn't call it a dry scent) - a happy memory of innocence viewed through the perspective of maturity.

I'm not into gourmand blends, honestly. I might like to sniff thick, heavy cream and fresh strawberries on the air, but I don't generally want to go around smelling like them. Even if this blend stays true and lasts a long time. Oh, sure, I might swipe Beaver Moon '07 on occasionally, especially at that time of the month. Or other times if I happen to be in the mood for it. And I have no idea why so much of my bottle is missing. ...I've become a closet foodie, and this blend and Monsterbait: Bloody Mary (which are very different - this is all cream and strawberries and MB:BM is all tart cherries and sugar) are to blame. Beaver Moon '07 reminds me a little bit of strawberry Starburst - in a good way.

This review is of the resurrected version. I love every single note in this, though I was a bit worried about whether the ylang ylang would play nicely. Just wow. Why was this discontinued? This is gorgeously balanced - I can easily pick out every single note, and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. There is a deep heat in it from the dragon's blood and myrrh that strongly evokes the concept and heats the musks and patchouli. The rose and ylang ylang are simply gorgeous - without them, the scent would still be powerful, but they make it beautiful.

This is a very reminiscent of a softer, more delicate Mechanical Phoenix to me. Oddly, I get a faint hint of salt and a slight suggestion of lemon along with the chrome, which is balanced against a smooth, warm mix of musk, amber and tea. The gardenia is present but sits quietly in the background. It's a little lighter and fades a little more quickly than I'd like, but I have a feeling this will age well. I am in love with this scent and will need at least one more bottle before the Carnival leaves.

Not to mention this one's a real Friend of Dorothy.

I don't get too many compliments, but Crypt Queen has gotten a few. Monsterbait: Bloody Mary, Crowley, and Two, Five and Seven have also been noticed and commented on appreciatively.

Shadwell is my favorite comfort scent and I reach for it a lot on chilly, rainy days or before going to sleep. I get sweet milk and tobacco about equally in the front, with fog in the woods (or in an old house) the background. There is just a touch of mildew, but it doesn't smell dirty in a bad way. It feels like drinking tea and smoking cigarettes (I quit them, but still love the scent) in an out-of-the-way little place on a rainy day. My color impression is that of unrefined, off-white sheep's wool.

Firstly, there are drinks with paper umbrellas on the label. For that reason alone, I will never give up the bottle, my only pick from the Luau Lounge. I wouldn't give it up anyway, though. The scent is so fun and bright! It's completely fruity, but nicely tempered by the gin so that it's not too sweet. The color is a very sparkly orange.

I've held off on reviewing this because I've been trying to figure out just why I love this so much. I still have no idea. I don't really like strong evergreen scents, and even well into dry-down, this is mostly a soft evergreen. In the wet phase, it's almost all pine. But as it dries, everything else - the smoke and the musk particularly - comes forward beautifully. It's got a fantastic wear length and seems to never stop morphing. The longer I wear it, the more I love it. If I put it on in the morning, by evening my nose is glued to my wrist. It does remind me a bit of sharing a sleeping bag in the North Woods of Wisconsin.

Once, a patch of strawberries grew at the edge of a darkly enchanted forest. The magic of the wood seeped into the strawberries as the years passed. They grew to enormous size, eventually becoming sentient. Horrified that humanity was using them for food, they determined to take over the planet and use humans as fertilizer for a brave new world of strawberry patches. Finally, the day came when they were ready. They broke free of their vines and rolled over everything in their path (sort of like in the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, but with strawberries instead). Unfortunately, humanity found the key to defeating them much too quickly, and all that remained of their ambition was some delicious-smelling evil, sweet, strawberry jam. This starts off as almost boozy, but not in a bad way. When it dries it becomes this fantastic scent that's both complex and fun. As I'd hoped, it reminds me a good bit of the Emathides, maybe like its younger, rougher sister. I adore it, but wish the main phase lasted longer.

This is stunning. Ozone notes typically do not work for me; they seem very strong and harsh. But this smells fresh and a little bit wet, like someone's just misted the flowers. The beeswax and amber are gorgeous, smooth and creamy and sweet without being overly so. I bought a bottle of this for my roommate, and now I'm going to have to order one for myself because she'll probably get annoyed with me if I use hers up.

This scent's a lot brighter than I expected it to be. In the bottle, it's a smooth, light resin - very pretty. Dry, it reminds me a little bit of classic Avon bubble bath (the one that comes in the tall pink plastic bottle). This isn't what I expected, but it provokes very good scent memories for me. I will enjoy my bottle.

Liquid sex. In the bottle, it smells like the color orange with a smattering of gold dust. On, by far the strongest note is musk like in Black Lace, yum. Except for the honey and amber, the other notes are hard to pick out individually unless you're really looking for them. Colorwise, it's a golden, light-brown skin color, still with a smattering of gold dust.

Rotten soy sauce. Whatever spices hated me so much in War are also present in this. I am so disappointed - I was sure this would be lovely on me. Definitely one for swapping.

I tried the '05 version and the '07 version of PQ as samples on my wrists and didn't care for either one, though I usually love BPAL rose. But there was an artificiality in this that I didn't get from Rose Red (for example) - something almost abrasive. Then, for whatever reason, one morning I couldn't ignore the 'Pick me!' vibe my imp of PQ was giving. About fifteen minutes after applying, it was love in the form of smooth, perfect rose perfume, like a red rose encased in crystal. The throw reminded me a bit of the Emathides in terms of strength and general deliciousness (NOT the notes or feeling) - that wonderful scent experience that isn't at all the same nose-to-wrist as it is floating around in the air. I think I might have a new favorite rose scent.

On me, the honey and skin musk jump equally to the front, leaving the rest of the notes to subtly alter the feel of the scent. Unlike a lot of reviewers, I do find this very dark - there's something sensual and sinister about this blend as a whole. It's sweet, but it isn't innocently sweet like sugar or candy; it's drippingly sweet like a sundew plant attracting insects. The imagery this conjures up for me is overwhelmingly feminine, which is unusual in that I rarely get gender vibes from scents. This is one of my top ten, and one of very few scents I've secured a backup bottle of.

I had an unusually hard time making up my mind about this one. There's a sharpness and borderline soapiness to it, but that's already died down considerably in the week or so I've had the bottle. I suspect it just needs time in a cool, dark place to grow into itself fully. The blue musk is lovely and is very present, balancing the florals nicely. The mint starts out pretty strong on me, but it fades on drydown to a fairly quiet presence, chilling the scent. I'm not a fan of strong ozone notes, and thankfully I'm not getting any from this. Color-wise, this is a light aquamarine. My main issue is that although this is very pretty, it just doesn't feel right to me for this time of year. Long Night Moon would be wonderful on the shortest night of the year - or any hot, sticky summer night when I'm wanting something fresh and cool. I'll be hoarding it happily until then. (edited for clarity)