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Totem: Bat w/La Femme Noire


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LICORICE ROOT ~ Love, lust, fidelity, sexual potency.

BANYAN FRUIT ~ Resourcefulness, endurance, rebirth, eternal life, expansion, enlightenment, desire, interdependence. Wisdom, fertility, love, luck, protection, aids restful sleep, divination.
EARTH ~ Grounding, centering, protection, renewal, reincarnation, life.
BIRCH ~ Symbolizes renewal and cleansing, birth, healing, Lunar energies, and protection.
MARIGOLD ~ Strengthening & comforting, prophetic dreams, divination, aids legal matters, protection. Helps people recover from grief.
BLACK MUSK ~ Self confidence and strength, sexual attractant, heightens passions and arousal.
SMOKE ~ In addition to the attributes of whatever is being burned (resins, woods, etc), smoke is for cleansing, purification, renewal, consecration, concealment and celebration. It is also the foremost mode of communication from this world to the realm of spirits and the gods.
DRIED VETIVER ~ Enhances perception of beauty. Love, sensuality, money, luck, hex-breaking.

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This potion sounds beautiful! just a silly question about the ingredients listed?

 

The description says (A dark heart of black licorice and black musk)

Does this potion have licorice in it? If so its not listed in the ingredients or it may be that it is the dark heart accord :-)

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This potion sounds beautiful! just a silly question about the ingredients listed?

 

The description says (A dark heart of black licorice and black musk)

Does this potion have licorice in it? If so its not listed in the ingredients or it may be that it is the dark heart accord :-)

 

Thank you so much for catching that! I have fixed the listing! MWAH! xoxox

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All the NRs look amazing, but I confess that this is the one that makes my heart beat fastest. Love bats, love the goth vibe, dying for an LFN LP that works for me, plus I see 4 of my favorite notes (black musk, earth, smoke, vetiver)... oh sampler, wing your way to me ASAP!

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A bat flew in my face during my hike yesterday. I screamed so loud, then remembered Mara's Totem creation, then I apologized to the bat for screaming. I am sure people thought I was one of those crazy people that wander into the hills to wear furry suits or something.

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Bats can be very unnerving, but I loves the bats.....so very interesting, and a very powerful totem. Someone with "Bat" medicine/totem has usually gone to the edge of life/beyond/and back. They have walked in both worlds and came back to tell about. They are survivors.

 

I love watching them come out at dusk/edge of darkness and the little squeeks they make.

 

I still have my kids Stella Luna book, lol.

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OK you guys, I know I'm supposed to let them sit and recover from their cross-country journey but the box is here and I had to put this on first.

 

If you still harbor an inner (or maybe not so inner) little goth girl, then this is to DIE FOR. Wet, on me, it smells like the inside of a cave... I swear I get beautiful cold damp stone. Then as it dries I get soft subtle whiffs of earth and smoke and the dried vetiver plus a fantastic melange of spooky mysterious notes I can't separate. It's heavenly. Any fans of Haunted Hallows will want to be sure to check this one out. I think this will be a perfect fall scent -- for late October and November, when the light is retreating and the dark is rising. Though I'd also be interested to see how it wears in summer -- even though the scent is dark, the texture is very light, almost airy. It's not a resin-y darkness.

 

This is a fascinating choice to pair with LFN, since I don't get a straightforwardly sexy vibe from it (subversively sexy, on the other hand....!). Mostly what I get is a deep upsurge of feminine power. I think wearing this I will be so confident that I won't care how men (or anyone else) are reacting to me. I will be the Queen.

 

Love, love, love!

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Wow, thanks, BC! I hadn't really looked closely at this one, but your review makes it take front and center for when my sample order arrives!

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It's definitely a fascinating take on the dark scents! Ever since I saw the description of this one, I've been thinking of the Bat for Lashes song "Bat's Mouth" and now that I have smelled this I can tell you: this is what the song smells like. Ethereal, haunting, strange beauty... yeah, I'm over the top on this one!

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For those who like the dark scents, this will be awesome... It's not really my style, so I think I will be passing it on. I get mostly earth, black musk, and vetiver. None of which are my favorite notes...

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I tend to like the earthy, dark scents, but this was a no go for me. I love the smoky earth musk component of it, but I was amping something on top of that. The marigold, perhaps? I'm going to hang on to this for a bit and try later.

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I was excited for this but I don't think the vetiver and earth combo will be me. I loooove the bat idea though based on reviews. I was hoping more of a banyan/birch dominance. I'm sometimes lucky enough to see bats fly over our garden and down near the river.

Edited by cinnamonmel
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I love vetiver and birch, but I'm starting to get a bit nervous of this one. I got it because of the bat and the phero, to be totally honest. I am not a fan of licorice as a flavour and I am worried about how the black musk will play out, just because other dark things, namely dark resins, are too much for me. However, I know that if anyone can make me reconsider how I feel about particular ingredients it's the PM. This is the wildcard of my order. I am prepared not to like it, to chalk it up to experience, but I'm hoping this will be a surprise winner.

 

ETA: I'm looking forward to trying the banyan fruit and earth, since I haven't before.

Edited by donsie
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This is totally goth! And Mara told me that initially when she gave me the notes and concept but wow, yeah, deep, dark and ornately sophisticated. In the vial I get more of the banyan fruit and marigold which I enjoy, but on my skin everything blends and becomes very perfume-y. The earth and vetiver come out more in the end to give it an almost masculine vibe for me.

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I WISH I could smell more! Currently I have vick's vapor rub on my neck and cannot smell it at all, even though it's stinging my eyes! The whole goth bit caught my attention now, lol. Black leather, corsets, jet black hair with violet framing my face...hehe...I still have corsets and black leather anyways...

 

I had an affinity that started early for bats. Used to tuck my hair up under a base ball cap (so they wouldn't get tangled in my hair if we had a run in with each other) when I was a pre/teen and run under the trees with them flittering all around. We had a rented home on a farm and I had all kinds of access to the woods, creeks, fields and all the creatures there for some 5 years or so before we moved. I still remember those years as some of the best and most magical in my life :) :heart708:

Edited by NuTrix
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This is a little goth girl scent. Which i can appreciate at times too! This is reminding me of Rabid. Without the apple. I get fresh soil and I can picture a cold, dark cave with the smells of earth, trees and cool stone. It's very mysterious, curious and inky dark. There's an underlying sweetness that daring to peek thru... Not sure if it's the banyan fruit or marigold, but it's fighting it's way to be smelled.

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These reviews make it sound so beautiful and intriguing. I want it, but I'm scared of La Femme Noire.

Don't be! Men fall over themselves to help me with ANYTHING when I wear LFN!

Bat won't be a FB for me.. The scent doesn't feel like "me", but I'll enjoy sniffing my sample.

Edited by hearts
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I think this one may not be for me. I'm not sure if it's the marigold amping on me or what, but something is poking my third eye unkindly. I will set it aside and try it again at a later date :)

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I'm not sure if it's the marigold amping on me or what, but something is poking my third eye unkindly.

That's a great way to describe that feeling! :lol2: I haven't tried Totem: Bat so I'm not judging! But I have experienced this "third eye" phenomena with some smells!

 

That being said... it's because of this review post that I've started considering LFN on it's own. It sounds like a great UN and I love the way Hearts said don't fear LaFN!

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That's a great way to describe that feeling! :lol2: I haven't tried Totem: Bat so I'm not judging! But I have experienced this "third eye" phenomena with some smells!

 

That being said... it's because of this review post that I've started considering LFN on it's own. It sounds like a great UN and I love the way Hearts said don't fear LaFN!

 

 

LFN is a great UN. Don't be scared! I use it to help me clean.

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LFN is a great UN. Don't be scared! I use it to help me clean.

OK I'm slow. What do you mean "help you clean"? Does it get you amped up like Jennifer Lawrence's character in American Hustle (Dancing to Live & Let Die)?2e92a216ca31a1e6e5ce4b10c8f0e9ca.jpg

I could SO use that. Wish I could look this good in a leopard muumuu.

:smiley-sex010: Or does it mean that it helps get a little control/support from the Y chromosome to help with the housework???

Could use that too, now that I've said it.

Edited by LoveStruck55
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A little bit of none gets me motivated and helps me concentrate. Not quite to the level of that crazy beotch though.

yes, 'none does that, I really helps. And in LFN the blend makes it behave itself a bit. Dom and Audacious also work in a similar way for me.

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:smiley-sex010: Or does it mean that it helps get a little control/support from the Y chromosome to help with the housework???

Could use that too, now that I've said it.

 

:smiley-laughing024:

LOL no there's nothing for that; male privilege is impervious to pheromones.

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:smiley-laughing024:

LOL no there's nothing for that; male privilege is impervious to pheromones.

Lulz.

 

And Dom, I love it for making me feel like an in-control lady. I am going to see if the 'none in LFN achieves the same result just as soon as my little batkin arrives. Unbridled doesn't that I've notices: it's too boozy and delicious, but the notes in Bat sounds like the notes could be be very much congruent with the more in-charge aspects of LFN.

Edited by donsie
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Dayum, but I soooo wanted to love this one, because I adore the phero and love all things licorice and vetiver. Alas, it was not meant to be. My stupid chemistry took this lovely creation and turned it into freshly spaded dirt, as in "Have you been out planting a vegetable garden or something?" dirt.

 

*sobs quietly*

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:smiley-laughing024:

LOL no there's nothing for that; male privilege is impervious to pheromones.

OMG that's funny Luna, but in a sad, disgusting way because you are RIGHT. "Male Privilege". THAT is the perfect name for "it".

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Dayum, but I soooo wanted to love this one, because I adore the phero and love all things licorice and vetiver. Alas, it was not meant to be. My stupid chemistry took this lovely creation and turned it into freshly spaded dirt, as in "Have you been out planting a vegetable garden or something?" dirt.

 

*sobs quietly*

Did you ever see Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)? Gary Oldman (Count Dracula) was packed in a shipping crate filled with dirt from his Transylvania castle - when he was shipped to England. Great movie... found it very scary at the time. I tried to "look away" but was mesmerized. I immediately thought of this BAT/DRACULA/DIRT connection... I know it doesn't make you feel any better though!!! :2701::vampire2:

Dayum, I've morphed into Mrs. Kravitz now... I finally hit 200.

Edited by LoveStruck55
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I know it doesn't make you feel any better though!!! :2701::vampire2:

Dayum, I've morphed into Mrs. Kravitz now... I finally hit 200.

 

True, but the laugh you gave me DOES make me feel better!! :vampire:

 

Congrats, Mrs. Kravitz!

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OMG. Oh, my-my-MY! WOWSERS.

 

This one is my hands-down favorite of the April NRs. I was a little worried about the Licorice Root so I didn't get a full bottle right off, but I sure as hell will now!!!

 

So, let me back up and start again. I love bats. LOVE them. I fell head-over-heels for them when we moved to the mountain twenty-some years ago. I've had them skim my hair, skim my ear, chitter at me when I accidentally pinched a widdle toesie whilst catching one to take it back outside...they are dear and beautiful and wonderful and they EAT MOSQUITOS. And, they are definitely a Totem Animal for me.

 

All that said, here's the scent thang. :)

 

Snoofing the vial, it's kind of sharp and earthy--rather like sitting down on damp dirt and damp fallen leaves. It evokes my forest on a rainy, foggy day in late fall or early winter. YUM. It sits on my skin like that for a few minutes.

 

Then, as soon as it gets good and warm and melds with my chemistry a bit...here comes the shift. Some sweetness begins to creep in. It's an herbal/woodsy sweetness, so it's completely congruent with it's beginnings. This is getting lovely. It hangs out and does this for a while.

 

The next phase eluded me the first time I wore it, because I'd assumed that it was finished morphing and didn't check. The sweetness starts to warm scent-wise. You know what i mean? The earthiness is still there along with a woodsy feel, but something else is developing and you can tell it's going to be GOOD. Some spiciness creeps in...maybe the Marigold? Things keep shifting subtly, heading more and more in its chosen direction.

 

Now it starts to feel more...Gods, I don't know how to say it! The Banyan Fruit comes in quietly, and the Vetiver is humming along in the background. It's starting to turn the forest into something exotic. Except..."exotic" isn't it. Magickal? Mysterious? Incredibly sexy?!? AAAHHH. The Musk is sliding in.

 

Everything dances around like this for another long while. Then, ever so gradually, my damp forest day turns into a fabulous Bohemian mountain night that holds many occult shadows and very much delicious possibility. Every time I wear Bat I lose track of the morph at this point. Every. Single. Time. It flits beyond my ken and them returns, slices through a shaft of light, and...

 

...Suddenly I realize that I'm wearing one of the most incredible Musk perfumes ever. All the foresty notes are there, but they're so laid-back that they blend completely. At this point I well and truly cannot describe it any more. It's one of the sexiest perfumes I've ever had the pleasure to smell and wear. It makes me think of lush paisley fabric. Paisley! I feel like wrapping up in one of my paisley shawls--and not much else except some black khol around the eyes--and presenting myself to a guitarist. Happily, I am married to one. Heh. Can you tell I get selfies from La Femme Noire...?

 

Mara, if you can hear me, this perfume is ABSO-FREAKIN'-LUTELY BRILLIANT. Thank you for making it!

 

 

:banana088::CHUBBY~45::banana088::020105~21::banana088:

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The "Bat" is cool, damp earth on my skin, just a hit of Woods and a kiss of black musk. Banyan fruit is very earthy on my skin so, not unexpectedly, I'm getting a double dose of earth. I'm usually very fond of Maras moody creations with an underlying earth tone. Unfortunately for me I only get the wet earth. I will come back to this for another run in a few days. I like the concept.

Edited by StacyK
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Dayum, but I soooo wanted to love this one, because I adore the phero and love all things licorice and vetiver. Alas, it was not meant to be. My stupid chemistry took this lovely creation and turned it into freshly spaded dirt, as in "Have you been out planting a vegetable garden or something?" dirt.

 

*sobs quietly*

See I like the scent of fresh gardening. That's somewhat what I get from Haunted Hallows. It smells like you have been gardening in the North East, I get earth but plenty of other notes as well, the light wispy floral, rock, moisture. I was hoping this would have a similar construction or I should say play out that way on my skin, with different notes of course. Alas, so far I'm getting wet earth but the other notes just did not move forward for me. BTW this is the first one of the NRs I tried because of Mz. Ducky. :) Thanks!

 

I will hold on to my samples because as experience has shown here.. you never know ;)

Edited by StacyK
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OMG. Oh, my-my-MY! WOWSERS.

 

This one is my hands-down favorite of the April NRs. I was a little worried about the Licorice Root so I didn't get a full bottle right off, but I sure as hell will now!!!

 

So, let me back up and start again. I love bats. LOVE them. I fell head-over-heels for them when we moved to the mountain twenty-some years ago. I've had them skim my hair, skim my ear, chitter at me when I accidentally pinched a widdle toesie whilst catching one to take it back outside...they are dear and beautiful and wonderful and they EAT MOSQUITOS. And, they are definitely a Totem Animal for me.

 

All that said, here's the scent thang. :)

 

Snoofing the vial, it's kind of sharp and earthy--rather like sitting down on damp dirt and damp fallen leaves. It evokes my forest on a rainy, foggy day in late fall or early winter. YUM. It sits on my skin like that for a few minutes.

 

Then, as soon as it gets good and warm and melds with my chemistry a bit...here comes the shift. Some sweetness begins to creep in. It's an herbal/woodsy sweetness, so it's completely congruent with it's beginnings. This is getting lovely. It hangs out and does this for a while.

 

The next phase eluded me the first time I wore it, because I'd assumed that it was finished morphing and didn't check. The sweetness starts to warm scent-wise. You know what i mean? The earthiness is still there along with a woodsy feel, but something else is developing and you can tell it's going to be GOOD. Some spiciness creeps in...maybe the Marigold? Things keep shifting subtly, heading more and more in its chosen direction.

 

Now it starts to feel more...Gods, I don't know how to say it! The Banyan Fruit comes in quietly, and the Vetiver is humming along in the background. It's starting to turn the forest into something exotic. Except..."exotic" isn't it. Magickal? Mysterious? Incredibly sexy?!? AAAHHH. The Musk is sliding in.

 

Everything dances around like this for another long while. Then, ever so gradually, my damp forest day turns into a fabulous Bohemian mountain night that holds many occult shadows and very much delicious possibility. Every time I wear Bat I lose track of the morph at this point. Every. Single. Time. It flits beyond my ken and them returns, slices through a shaft of light, and...

 

...Suddenly I realize that I'm wearing one of the most incredible Musk perfumes ever. All the foresty notes are there, but they're so laid-back that they blend completely. At this point I well and truly cannot describe it any more. It's one of the sexiest perfumes I've ever had the pleasure to smell and wear. It makes me think of lush paisley fabric. Paisley! I feel like wrapping up in one of my paisley shawls--and not much else except some black khol around the eyes--and presenting myself to a guitarist. Happily, I am married to one. Heh. Can you tell I get selfies from La Femme Noire...?

 

Mara, if you can hear me, this perfume is ABSO-FREAKIN'-LUTELY BRILLIANT. Thank you for making it!

 

 

:banana088::CHUBBY~45::banana088::020105~21::banana088:

 

Marvelous review :Like2::Like2::Like2: thank you for sharing! Your love and familiarity with bats makes this a good totem for you as well ^_^ . Will you be getting the full bottle in oil or spray? Hadn't considered adding this one to the arsenal till reading your review...think you just inspired my first trial vial purchase. Hats off!!!

 

ETA: Forgot to squeeeeeeeeal at this: .....and presenting myself to a guitarist. Happily, I am married to one.

Edited by ComingUpRoses
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Another great testimony for LFN... gonna be a tight race to see which new (for me anyway) UN makes it's way to my PayPal cart for May. The licorice root in this decript made me shy away from it too... but now I'm kinda curious as to what an earth/dirt 'note' actually smells like - because THAT seems to come up quite a bit. Oh, and da bebe bat keeps hypnotizing me everytime I revisit this post.

I may have to try a sample simply because I can't look away... :vampire2::Emoticons04282:

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