BPAL Lupers

[theora]

So apparently the Lupercalia order for the decant circle (synecdochic_decants) I'm in has finally shipped! I've been stewing over these for a while now, getting antsy! I posted on my journal about what I was looking forward to, thought I'd share here too. FWIW, I'm pretty new to BPAL, and to perfume in general. I ordered:

Dragon's Bone(r): Dragon’s blood resin, white cream, pear blossom, and white honey.
This was the last one I decided on. I got it for the honey and pear blossom (whatever that is...in my experience the flowers of fruit trees rarely smell anything like the fruits). Dragon's blood...I hadn't tried anything heavy on the dragon's blood when I ordered this, but now having tried Blood Rose, I kinda wish I'd gone with something else. The dragon's blood in Blood Rose isn't terrible on me, but I'm not in love with it, either. It's just kind of weirdly fruity. Hopefully the other elements in Dragon's Bone(r) will balance it out.

Love's Philosophy: Vanilla, saffron, and cream.
This I got mainly for the saffron. I love saffron as a spice (to the point that I have saffron crocuses in my garden, though they didn't bloom last year, damn them), and I'm terribly curious how it works in a perfume. And I like the simplicity of it. Will be disappointed if it's just creamy vanilla and no saffron, though.

Womb Furie: An itch that needs to be scratched: Snake Oil and three types of honey.
I'm probably most excited about this one, which goes to show how new I am to BPAL - if I'd been around a while I'm sure I'd've already tried it. Anyway, so far honey = yes on me, and though I've never tried the famous Snake Oil, it gets raves, so, yes, excited.

The Bride: Vanilla chiffon, honey musk, and pale magnolia.
I have no idea what a perfumer's idea of magnolia is. I'm starting to gather what possibly should have been obvious: that the terms in these descriptions are perfumer's terms, and resemblance to actual plant matter may vary. So, I have a magnolia tree in my yard, it's one of the yellow ones, it smells light and a bit lemony, and I doubt that's the magnolia that's going on here. Another short list of ingredients, both honey and vanilla I like, and I'm not averse to florals in general, so this is number 2 in my excitement list.

Blossoming Vulva: Golden amber and bourbon vanilla with sweet oak, blue lotus, and tea blossom.
Amber is a note that shows up in a lot of BPALs, and I've never tried it, so. The oak is intriguing, the tea is something I like (well, maybe? what's tea blossom as opposed to tea, anyway? and should I stop asking these persnickety botanical questions?), vanilla is good. And the name I do like. So, probably number 3 most anticipated (okay, in a tie with Love's Philosophy).

Bunraku Theater: Beeswax and hay absolute with sweet hops, pumpkin rind, and tobacco.
One of these perfumes is not like the others, and this is the one. Not sure what Bunraku Theater has to do with Lupercalia or love or lust or late winter longing for spring. It's totally August-September-Octobery. Got it for the beeswax, hay, and tobacco, leery of the hops and pumpkin rind. Unfortunately, a lot of the time pumpkin seems to equal pumpkin pie spice; what I'm really hoping for is the smell of fresh raw pumpkin like when you're carving a Jack-O-Lantern. We shall see.

The Instructional Manual: Cherry blossoms falling into folds of red musk, bourbon vanilla, and strawberry cream.
Another one I'm second-guessing. It sounded good in the description (again with the blossom question, though). But since ordering it I got an imp of Kabuki (red musk, cherry, anise), and instead of loving it as I hoped to, I really dislike it. Smells like cherry in the bottle, but on me the cherry vanishes and I'm left with anise (more like fennel stems, I'd say) and something else which must be the red musk and which I really don't like. Maybe cherry blossoms and vanilla will make up for it? But the reviews trickling in mention kids' vitamins, and that's not leaving me hopeful. Anyway, it's done now.

Anyone have Lupers already, or an order on the way? What are you liking or not liking? What are you looking forward to?

Comments

[bookherd]

I'm in the same decant circle, so I'm still waiting, too. I ordered Womb Furie as well -- I've been a BPAL consumer for years, but still haven't tried it, so I figured it was time to give it a go. Honey can be a bit much on me at times, and I rarely love the blends lots of people rave about, but I am not immune to peer pressure. :) Other blends I ordered:

Elizabeth of Bohemia: Incomparable loveliness: the perfect rose oudh.
The Imperfect Enjoyment: Filthy: myrrh, guiacwood, scorched clove, black musk, pitch, and 13-year aged patchouli.
To His Mistress Going to Bed: Skin like silk: bourbon vanilla, caramelized patchouli, Siamese red benzoin, and fig.
Milk Chocolate, Myrrh, and Gunpowder
Chinoiserie: Black poppy, rose-infused myrrh, and patchouli leaves steeped in indigo wine.
Beanman and Beanwoman Climb Genital Mountains: Hazelnut smoke and leather with dark musk, white cognac, caramelized vetiver, and a drop of honeyed whiskey.

Of these, I'm probably most intrigued by Chinoiserie... although I'm pretty dang excited about all of them!

[lunabee34]

Hi! Welcome to perfume fandom.

This community has been a little dead lately, so I'm really glad you posted. Maybe you'll inspire the rest of us to post more. :)

The descriptions of these all sound really interesting. I hope you post what you think about them once you sniff.

I've found that anything licorice or anisey just turns into black jellybean on me. LOL

[devon]

I LOVE Womb Fury! It is everything it promises. It's very sexy, but the honey makes it sweet (my skin likes sweet notes,) It's more "Hi, I'm womanly and attractive" instead of "Fuck me now!" Snake Oil is a bit more direct and musky.

I love amber notes - they go nice and sweet on me, as opposed to other resins like frankincence, which stays a little "darker" and spicier. Amber is a very complex sweet scent, though, unlike the honey or sugar notes you'll find.

I have never gotten a scent with cream or milk because I've read that some people have them smell like sour milk when on their skin. I guess that's not likely for me because of how well I wear sweet notes. Probably I will try an imp/decant someday.

[devon]

I ordered Beanman and Beanwoman, and I'm excited to see what it's like. I love all the notes except hazelnut smoke, which I have never seen before. The combination sounds sensual and adventurous.

[theora]

Ooh, a couple of those were contenders for my list, most particularly To His Mistress and Chinoiserie (indigo wine?!) - but I feared the patchouli. Possibly unreasonably, since I've never actually tried patchouli. I think I have an unreasonable prejudice based on the cultural associations with it.

Do you have other rose scents? I looked at Elizabeth of Bohemia, but between orders and frimps I've now got three scents with rose in them, and the rose goes soapy in every single one. I'd love to find a rose that has that almost raspberry scent that I get from fresh roses, but not hopeful that can be distilled.

Please post reviews when you try them!

[theora]

Thanks for the welcome, and yes please post more! I'm finding this perfume thing weirdly addictive.

I wouldn't mind smelling like black jellybeans since I love black jellybeans. But Kabuki was more like chewing stringy fennel stems in a recently cleaned public bathroom. Which, no. (No idea what about my skin chemistry made it go like this, nobody else seems to have had this experience.)

I have about 20 imps at this point, not including the Luper order that's coming, so I have a backlog of things to review. Will try and get some reviews up here soon.

[theora]

Womb Furie sounds awesome. So far the scents I like best are sweet, but with complications. I haven't liked anything that wasn't somewhat sweet, but scents that are just sweet without bitter or spicy or musky to complicate them have just been meh.

Excited to try the amber. Some people report powderiness from it (the desirability of which seems to vary from person to person), and I'm not even sure what that means. Guess I'll find out!

[bookherd]

I really like patchouli on other people, but it's rather hit-or-miss for me on my own skin. We get along best when it plays a supporting role for other notes. I've been feeling more drawn toward it lately, but there's still a good chance that To His Mistress and/or Imperfect Enjoyment will be a bit strong for me! In my experience, patchouli leaf is a relatively mild scent, so I'm not worried about Chinoiserie.

I didn't realize I was a fan of rose scents until I ran into Kurukulla, which is probably still my fave rose. I've tried and liked a lot of BPAL roses since then, and when I don't like them, it's because of other notes. I haven't had the "soapy" experience at all, so I can't be of much help there. I'm curious about which three roses you've tried, though. I want to recommend Peacock Queen, but only if it's easy to find - I have no idea whether it will work for you!

[bookherd]

Yes! I'm hoping for "sensual and adventurous" too. "Sensual adventurous boozy smoky leather": YES PLEASE.

[theora]

I've tried Blood Rose, The Knave of Hearts, and The Cleric. I was going to go into what I liked and didn't like about them, but I think I'll save it and make a post of rose reviews. Should give them one more try first, I think.

[bookherd]

Yes! Rose reviews post please! I haven't tried any of those yet.

[lunabee34]

I would try Bess.

It's a grapey rose on me. Not quite the raspberry you're looking for, but maybe it'll hit that fruity note for you.

[lunabee34]

Yay! Look forward to reading it.