{Warning: BPAL’s Luper labels are very NSFW}

Because I am absolutely incapable of anything even vaguely resembling self control, I ordered quite a few scents from BPAL’s Lupercalia releases. Considering how many there were overall it may not seem like a lot… but it’s a very decent chunk. But I only got five full-sized bottles (so far…), so I suppose it could have been a lot worse!

The Blooming Flowers of Spring (Honey, mimosa petals, and white amber): This is the scent I was most excited for, because mimosa is a scent close to my heart. My grandfather had a mimosa tree in his front yard and is it a really nostalgic smell for me. But alas, this was not the soft floral I expected. In the bottle it is WOW HONEY, and I do love honey notes to death but it was… unusual. The honey dominates from beginning to end, and this is a long-lasting scent. Early on the white amber pops up, and it is a very unusual amber: soft, feminine, almost musky? Riiiight as this is fading away bright flowers peek out, something that could possibly be mimosa but fades too quickly to tell. It is really more of a honey/amber blend on me, but once I adjusted my expectations I was pretty happy with it.

Orgy With Nine Women (Champaca magnolia, bourbon vanilla, blonde tobacco, and white honey): This scent is a case of “Leah being an idiot” because magnolia champaca is not at all the same thing as magnolia. Which is why I ordered this. Oops! This is not at all a floral blend, but a mix of soft blonde tobacco and incense with hints of vanilla that round off to a masculine blend. I am rather fond of it now, but this was the least successful of my 5 bottles.

Destructive Vagina of the Fox Spirit (Vanilla orchid, black amber, coffee bean, labdanum, champaca, and oudh): Confession: I ordered this for the name. It could be the scent of frogs in a ditch and I would buy it. Thankfully it’s amazing. It starts out with a strong blast of coffee that melds with the fanciest incense you can imagine: like walking into an espresso bar that shares a storefront with a little Wiccan shop. It is a very strong blend with a TON of sillage so I would not wear this around anyone sensitive to perfume, but it is so wonderfully evocative. One of my current favorite nighttime blends.

Lovers in the Tea House (Sake and matcha tea with amber incense, golden sandalwood, and yōkan): When I was picking out bottles, this would have been “the one” if I had to choose a single vial to purchase. I am obsessed with Japanese scents and this has sake, matcha, and yokan (which is RED BEAN PASTE guys I can’t even I’m hyperventilating) and it smells as good as I imagined. The sake is bright, boozy and lemony, the matcha providing a nice grounding note. After it has fully dried down there is an earthy sweetness–red bean. RED BEAN PERFUME WOOOOOO. It brings to mind sitting at a sake bar, eating dainty desserts. Ugh, I love this one. It would be my favorite if it wasn’t for a certain plover-themed smell.

Plovers Above the Waves (Rice flower, white cream, tea roses, abalone accord, white moss, beeswax, tuberose, and red currant): You know, I don’t know what possessed me to add this to my cart. The cream? I think so. But this… ahh, this is my favorite of all the Lupers. It is a soft, creamy, floral dream. The rice flower and white cream provide a lush background for soft roses & tuberose, earthy beeswax and a hint of aquatic notes–probably the abalone. It is so sophisticated and mature. I want to hoard a million bottles of this and live off the smell. No food, just Plovers Above the Waves.

I also got a few decants. Quite a few. Because I am indecisive. I really started out with only a handful, but the lab took a MONTH to ship out to my decantress so I kept adding “just one more!” In the end, this is what happened.

Reflected Vulva (Sweet pea, cherry blossoms, and sugared cream): WHYYY did I not order a full bottle of this? New rule: if there is cream, JUST ORDER FULL SIZE. This is magical. The cream and sugar and cherry blossom are pure magic and brilliance. Also, I swear I smell soft coconut husk though it is nowhere on the list.

The Expiration (Sweet myrrh, velvet red rose, amber honey, and red sandalwood): This was a last-moment addition to my decant order when I found out it sold out at Will Call. It really is gorgeous: rich, deep rose cloaked in honey and amber. I really want a bottle of this but Conjure Oil’s Morrigan is a very, very close dupe (that is also General Catalog and cheaper!).

Lust Bonbon (Red musk, patchouli, ylang ylang and myrrh, surrounded by smoky cinnamon-dusted cacao): I usually do not like chocolate blends, but the name sold me on this one. I get patchouli and myrrh at first, very strong, then it becomes tempered by bitter cocoa dust. It is very pleasant, but after a few hours I smell like a tootsie roll. Yeah, chocolate perfume is not for me.

Love and Sleep (Fig milk, vanilla, orchid, and ylang ylang): I expected to be over the moon about this one. Milk, flowers, vanilla? But it is FIG cream and I hate fruit. I hate it. This blend is all fig and powder. My two least favorite perfume scents? Fruit. And. Powder. Ugh. So sad, but one less I have to buy. At the end the ylang ylang does come out beautifully, so I guess I will go through my decant. Maybe save it with some layering.

Furo (Black tea, bergamot, red patchouli, peru balsam, and bourbon vanilla): I always get my hopes up through the roof for black tea blends, yet they never smell like tea. Furo falls in the same category: it is bright citrus in the beginning, bursts of bergamot that mimic Early Grey without… you know… the tea. It dries down to a nice vanilla/patchouli mix but that is nothing unusual or to write home about. Very happy I deleted the full bottle I had in my cart.

Crowned and Robed and Dead (Red rose and white magnolia in a tomb of vetiver, oak leaf, mahogany, and Somalian olibanum): Ahh, the magnolia I wanted in Orgy finally makes an appearance! This seems to be one of the least popular scents (I was originally the only person in my decant circle to ask for it), but it is SO WONDERFUL. It is a deep, sinister rose blend: rich florals dirtied up with vetiver and wood. Very sexy and almost dangerous. I adore this one.

Treasure Ship Coming In (King mandarin, green mint, green tea leaf, and white musk): This was a surprise hit for me. Mandarin and mint dominate any musk and tea that are hiding in this blend, but they are AMAZING together. So much so that I assumed “ah, well, I will just find a cheaper/general catalog mandarin mint scent because every company in the world should have one.” But aside from a cheap Ulta body spray, it does not seem to exist… at least not with mandarin. Even orange and mint are uncommon, and many have spearmint instead of peppermint/wintermint–my nemesis. This is such a bright, uplifting blend… I am tempted to get a bottle.

Carp & Octopus (Sea buckthorn berry, salt musk, white nectarine, kelp, oakmoss, green musk, and elemi): I was so hesitant about this, I almost did not order it as a decant even! But I loved the goofy art. I am so happy I did pull the trigger because this is coming home to me in a full size ASAP. Of all the BPAL scents I have tried, this smells the most… “commercial” but in a very high-end and sophisticated way. It is like the best aquatic scent, full of breezy beach notes, hints of salt and green and musk and fruit that I actually like. I smell so FRESH when I wear it, it’s a perpetual wrist-sniffer. I have to say that it kind of feels out of place thematically with the other Lupers who are all floral/tobacco/incense/cream/etc, but I’m not gonna complain around this one.

Shamisen (Rosewood, silk, kōki wood, smoked bamboo, and bone): I put this on the other night without checking the notes, jut remembering that it had “something wood.” The first thing I got was really strong citrus, lemon lemon lemon! And a rush of wood. No, the combination thankfully was not reminiscent of Pledge, it was surprisingly lovely. Then little white flowers peek their heads up. Shamisen is dominated by citrus and white floral, but neither are in the notes?! I checked the forums to see if I got a weird batch, but other people got the same scent-reaction as me. So weird.

There Is A Garden In Her Face (Cherry blossoms, pink roses, and graceful white lilies under a sheen of pale honey): I was expecting to be blown away by this because I love soft florals, but it was… just a soft floral. Cherry blossom and rose, nice enough but I was anticipating a lovely honey undernote and more pow from the lilies. I mean, it is a nice perfume and I am very happy to have my decant but I definitely do not need a full bottle.

Womb Furie 2014 (Snake Oil and three types of honey): Exactly what it says: Snake Oil with honey. There is a lot of spice here, and I expected to like it more than Snake Oil because of my love of honey… but I would rather just layer Snake Oil with a honey blend (like… The Blooming Flowers of Spring, perhaps?), than plunk down $23 for a limited bottle of this.

Wood Horse (Peony, bamboo, plum blossom, tangerine, orange, lychee, pine resin, golden kumquat, pomelo, narcissus, King mandarin, cypress, sticky rice cakes, dragon’s blood): This sounds like such a mess of notes. I never would have picked it on my own, but the awesome lady running the decant circle I was in threw it in for free. And… it is surprisingly awesome. It starts out VERY foodie, most likely from the sticky rice. Sweet but balanced with buttery, comforting notes. On the drydown the fruit cacophony starts peeking out, though it remains shockingly balanced. I do hate fruity blends but this reads as oriental on me and the bamboo, pine, and heaps of citrus keep it from being a true fruit blend. It is a constant morpher, reading a bit differently every time you take a whiff. Definitely a fun blend to play around with, though I would not want a full bottle.

I think my success with 2013′s Yule updates (5 full-sized bottles, 5 total hits) left me overconfident in my bottle-picking skills. While I am satisfied with my bottles and none of them were flops, I’d happily swap a few of them for Carp & Octopus and Reflected Vulva. Now I know that it is REALLY important to get decants first–that’s $40 I could have saved! Because yes, I am going to get those 2 for sure in full bottles. I’ve also learned that any incense-like note amps up like crazy on me, so that goes on the “caution” list.

All in all, Lupercalia was totally amazing this year. I want full bottles of at least 15 scents, but I am very very pleased with all my scent selections. There are still ones I want to try, though… so I will be keeping an eye on forum sales.

If you want some Lupers or Shungas of your own, orders are open until April 18th so go go go!

Tags: Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, BPAL, Indie Perfume, Lupercalia, Lupercalia 2014, Perfume