The Book

[Aviatrix]

Brown leather, tonka, vanilla bourbon tar, and a thin whiff of rose.

This is the Luper I was looking most forward to try, because I have been raving about a book+rose scent for ages

I love it!
The rose is dewy and quite prominent, while the leather and tonka takes a backseat, so rather than a pressed-rose-petal-between-pages-of-an-old-book this is like reading an old book with a vase of fresh roses on the side table.
The rose feels reminiscent of the one from The Bear Prince, actually.
I can see this morphing a lot with age as well, so I definitely look forward to seeing what has happened in a year from now

[Atrous]

OMG, this is so pretty!

 

I defer to Aviatrix's review above because my experience with The Book is identical.

 

I would just add that this scent has a classical feel to it. My nose isn't refined to tell the difference between types of roses but these roses smell white or pink (well, light colored anyway) to my nose.

[freyasfae]

While, I loved the idea of smelling like books, I tried some of the book scents like Quintessence of Dust, and while I liked them, I didn't necessarily enjoy wearing them. Howevah, the Book is the book scent I want to wear. I actually get beeswax and rose at first, but as it dries down, the leather becomes more prominent while the the tonka and vanilla bourbon tar come out to play. The rose on me is not thin at all, it is definitely there, and lends a light floral touch to this otherwise bookish scent.

[Mergekat]

Luper 2016's The Book is very much a love story!

It is like a lovely balance of scent elements from BPAL's Touched Twice and The Manuscript. Those who haven't dealt with the warm delicate rose in The Last Unicorns' Touched Twice will find it similarly in Yule's The Bear Prince (albeit that one has some musk added to it). The leather is much lighter then The Manuscript here, but it is certainly from the same swatch. The Book is very much a lambskin leather bound book flapped out by a vase of delicate, pink roses in a vase.

[roseus]

Lovely soft leather, vanilla, and pink roses. The tonka and vanilla bourbon tar is a substantial scent. It's weighty vanilla, not soft and fluffy. The rose is delicate and fresh, but not in a juicy or damp way. It is so lovely. While I can pick each note out if I search for them, they are very well balanced. The longer they are on my skin the more they meld together. For me this is strong but subtle, people near me could smell it but it's definitely not bold. This is definitely a favorite for me.

[Little Bird]

I don't think that this smells like books at all. It goes on as a brown, faint smelling, sweetish leather (almost tobacco-like on me) with a weird, metallic smell to it (the way cigarettes in their aluminum foil paper smell sort of metallic and off). The rose is very perfumey, sharp and bitter, with a sour sharpness that's almost like lemon juice. I usually love the lab's rose blends, but this one is so sharp and overpowering that it's almost unwearable to me. The drydown is all sharp rose and starts to turn to a powdered laundry soap smell on my skin.

[Dark Alice]

This smells like fresh ink and paper off the press. Old fashioned printing press...but a press and paper nonetheless. And the rose is just off. Good Lord.

[Leopard403]

I expected to love The Book, and I do! First off, I love me some Whip. While Whip is very evocative of red roses and black leather, The Book is that happy harlot's wee little sister trying on her own identity and ending up with pink tea roses and an old, worn brown suede jacket. Wet, it is all rose, but on the skin it blossoms into something wonderful, feminine leaning toward girly.

[annemathematics]

agree with the above that this may be in the family of whip, but is very much a different creature from whip.

everything feels softer and lighter: the leather brown and worn, the blooms a dusty pink. it's sweet, gentle and beautiful.

the throw is on the light side. it lasts alas only an hour on me. hoping that aging will improve this but sometimes the loveliest rose bpals are fleeting on my chemistry. I really like it, despite its ephemeral nature.

[tziporra]

Well, this was my big risk from the Lupers this year. I've been longing for something along the lines of Philologus (my favorite book scent) but with something floral to soften it up. Is that scent The Book?

 

To throw a wrench in the works BPAL rose and I don't often get along. I often amp it to sharp sour monstrous proportions.

 

Unfortunately, with The Book what I get is exactly Philologus with some sharp sour rose tossed in. Not monstrously proportioned - as other reviews have stated this is a close soft scent, but not softer or sweeter or sexier than my other book scents.

 

Despite my skepticism regarding "aging" I am going to let this one sit for a week or two to see if the vanilla comes out more and if the rose will meld more into the scent. Otherwise this one is going to be gorgeous in a scent burner.

 

Tzi

[PrinceofcatS]

Prominently brown leather (it's got less of an intense leather scent to it than the leathers in All That I Possess and The Manuscript, but it also feels more like new leather than soft used leather), with both the vanilla and the rose notes growing steadily from the moment this goes on. It's well-blended, but I'd still say the leather comes across the most strongly to me.

 

The vanilla bourbon tar and tonka notes imitate worn old book parchment much better than a regular vanilla, and the actual book impression I get from this is spectacular. I don't get quite as prominent a rose as it seems other reviewers did, but I certainly get roses. (They seem to amp more from my throat than they do on my wrists, so I keep smelling a stronger rose note when I turn my head.) It's very beautiful. I got this because of the statements about how prominent the rose note is and because I love The Manuscript, and it's certainly like a variant on The Manuscript - not more feminine, exactly, because that scent really feels like an Edith Cushing character scent to me, but softer. This scent really evokes the library from Beauty and the Beast to me, which I was hoping it would do.

[yakiguri]

Ohh, another win from this year's Lupers. I swear this year broke my wallet with the intensity of a thousand suns. >_<

 

On my skin, the book is light, sweet leather with a whiff of boozy vanilla and bright roses. The mix of vanilla bourbon tar and tonka are thick and chewy, almost tobacco-like, and I agree that the roses are definitely pink with their candy sweetness. I can't wait to see what more age will do this blend, as it's already quite stunning.

[tailoredshirt]

Wet, this is sweet, dewy rose and vanilla, with only a hint of leather underneath. Within half an hour on me, the soft brown leather comes out a lot. The rose goes a bit sour on me throughout the day, but I that happens to me a lot. Still a beautiful perfume!

[skyelyric]

So very weird...when I applied The Book on my wrist I got a soft, sweet leather with basically no rose; applied in the crook of my elbow it's mostly rose, but unlike most rose scents, it's not going wonky on me, it's one of the more true rose scents I've tried and there's very little throw. If it morphs between delicate leather and real roses like this, I think I'll be snagging myself a bottle.

[milo]

This is quite nice. Soft, brown leather, slightly sweet vanilla, and a touch of rose. Over time, the rose strengthens a bit, and the whole effect is soft, gentle and sweet, but with LEATHER, which is normally harsher in other blends. I've not tried anything quite like it, and if I had unlimited funds, at least a partial. Though it's pretty and unique, I don't know how much I'd wear it to justify a purchase.

[Ordo_ad_Chao]

I was so hopeful for this one, but alas, it is not to be. In the imp I can smell that soft leather and vanilla and a wee bit of rose, so.... on to the skin

 

 

and....

 

 

 

ROSE ROSE ROSE single note ROSE! It obliterated all the beautiful complexity, and did not change one bit from the moment of application to an hour later when I had to wash it off. ohhhh well. I just can't wear rose notes without smelling like a florist shop.

[theseagrows]

this starts off all rose, much more than a thin whiff! it's bright, blooming pink roses. a couple minutes later the other notes come alive, but rose is by far the strongest note. the brown leather and tonka get stronger, balancing out the rose. i kind of like this one, but i seem to really be amping the rose and it's too sharp.

[zankoku_zen]

Soft boozy vanilla leather and roses. I am definitely amping up the roses in this, and it smells like a combination of pink/red roses. This is a heady womanly scent. In a lot of ways, this reminds me to Whip but softer and less sexual, more romantic and delicate. Great throw and wear length.

[brettashley]

This is leather, not creamy, but sharpened with a bit of bourbon. The rose lends elegance to the blend. I'm not getting much by way of vanilla, but I think that's what keeps the whole scent from going too sharp. It's an elegant, beautiful scent that makes me reach for my red lipstick.

Edited April 30, 2016 by brettashley

[lookingglass]

I love BPAL's Paramnorman version of The Book, Picture Books in Winter (another book scent, quite soft, with tiny flowers and a touch of caramelized sugar), and have this tumultuous relationship with rose, so of course I had to go for the Luper Book. The rose is pink and fresh and forward when wet, but this quickly dries down to a leathery scent quite quickly, that reminds me much more of Hand of Glory than the other Book. It has a sharpness that is more like new, hard, fresh leather, yes, like in Whip, but gentler and a pinker. The Paranorman Book is more vanillic, more creamy and dusty, like an old, worn book, and I have to say prefer it.

[Casablanca]

The Book goes on my skin with both the rose and the leather, but the leather is slightly more prominent. It's a doe-soft, light brown leather smell, and the rose is a pinkish rose. Over the first few minutes, the rose blooms open and becomes the stronger of the two, with good throw. The tonka adds a fullness and the bourbon vanilla seems to blend into and flavor the leather.

This combination is lovely and, after its initial settling, the proportion of rose, leather, and other notes stays about the same for hours. Very good wear length for my skin at more than a half day so far.

 

I've started testing my rose imps lately, but to this point at least, The Book has been my go-to when I'm in a rose mood. I imagine it'll stay in rotation even when I come across others I like as much.

[Missy_killer]

In the imp: A screeching sharp, soapy rose with a soft smokey background. The smoke is not sour like cigarettes, but it still gives me a mental image of some secretary wearing a rose perfume (or liking to wash her hands with a white rose soap) while working in a dark, smoke-filled room.

 

On: One swipe on my wrist and the sharp rose is immediately there. For a second there was something else around, taming it. Probably was the vanilla, but it was short-lived. I really wish some of the other notes would have made the biggest appearance, they were the biggest reason why I bought this. I figured since it has both leather and bourbon vanilla I would be safe from soap-hell. I was wrong

 

The sharp rose makes me incredibly tempted to wash this off, but I was so curious to see if any of the other notes would ever make an appearance that I let it stay.

 

2 and a half hour later The Book smells gorgeous! No leather, but lovely rose marshmallows with vanilla confectioner's sugar. It makes me sad that it took SO long for it to be this pretty.

[Epiphany]

Revisiting my Luper decants from last year, I couldn't remember this one, even though it's one that I was most excited to try. Wet on my skin, it's sort of a muddle of scents and difficult to pick anything out, but then...that "thin whiff of rose" begins to stage a hostile takeover. Pretty soon, I have a very dry (maybe that's the leather and tonka trying to help) rose single note. A few minutes later and the leather starts presenting itself a bit more, but the rose is still very, very much the dominant force and continues to be so as it stays on my skin. Ah, rose, why must you be such a bully.

 

ETA: About two hours into wearing it and the rose has toned back so that this is mostly leather and...soap? So weird.

Edited February 16, 2017 by Epiphany

[doomsday_disco]

In the decant: I was frimped a tester of this from a generous forumite. When I first sniffed this, fresh from the mail, my first thought was, “I fucked up. I should have tried this when it was available!” I’m getting the brown leather, tonka, bourbon vanilla, and a fresh, sweet, pink rose.

 

Wet: The brown leather and pink rose stand out to me the most, but I’m also getting a fair amount of tonka and bourbon vanilla. As the oil sits on my skin, the pink rose becomes more prominent. As Aviatrix said in her review, this is a pink rose in a vase next to a book rather than a rose being pressed into it.

 

Dry: The rose ends up being the strongest note for some time, but it does end up calming down somewhat after a while. I’m getting more brown leather, tonka, and vanilla bourbon than I did before. I’m not sure I would think of this one as a book scent, but it is lovely.

 

Verdict: This is really nice. I won’t actively seek out a bottle of it (because I try not to chase after past LEs as there are always so many new scents on the horizon), but if I ever happen to see one up for swaps, I’d pounce!

[starbrow]

I ended up with this one by mistake, as The Book (Paranorman) is one of my favorite book scents and I was aiming for a bottle of it. Oops!

 

Well, Fleurette's Purple Snails' The Book is much different! I will say this is a very different one and hard to describe. The notes are muddled for me. It smells like a musty attic to me, like stuffy and dusty and a little sweet but hasn't been aired out in 20 years so some things are definitely rife with must. Nothing is sharp, everything is very rounded and dust-covered. The leather is dusty, the roses are faded and dusty, the tar is dusty. (What the heck is vanilla bourbon tar? It's a little boozy, a little resinous, but muted as heck.)

 

Now that I have a trio with tonka in it (Tonka Bean, Black Tea, and Vetiver), I'm able to identify the tonka as a note in The Book too. It is a warm, comforting, gentle blanket of a scent, less foodie than vanilla, also just a little woodier perhaps? I enjoy finding it here. But this blend is definitely not as sweet or as overtly bookish as I was expecting it to be. And also I'm trying to think of a time where I would reach for The Book instead of the Tonka Trio. Can't think of it. I just want to wear that trio all the time when I'm home and reading!

 

I am unsure if The Book is here to stay. I might let my bottle go to another home where it will get more use and more love.