Totem: Lion

[Beccah]

NEROLI ~ Sensuality, love, relieves tension & anxiety; quells apprehension, encourages a shy lover, confidence building.
THISTLE ~ Wards off thieves, aids recuperation, courage, strength, protection, hex-breaking, healing.
SAFFRON ~ Love, beauty, happiness, lust. Purification, healing, clairvoyance.
VANILLA ~ Aphrodisiac, inspires happiness, playfulness, sexual arousal, lust, vitalizing.
KARU KAROUNDE ~ Love spells, aphrodisia.
SANDALWOOD ~ Love, exotic, sensual atmospheric; aphrodisiac. Healing, spirituality, exorcism.
MUSK ~ Self confidence and strength, sexual attractant, heightens passions and arousal.
CEDAR ~ Confidence inducing, balancing, grounding, energizing, money, healing, protection, purification.

[Snoopyace]

This one looks really interesting to me. I can't wait to read some of the reviews.

[quietguy]

This one looks really interesting to me. I can't wait to read some of the reviews.

 

I ordered this and Wolf so I will let you know soon I hope!

[luna65]

When wet, there's something in this which is rather medicinal on me. But in the long drydown Lion does become very resinous with a kind of golden aura to it, but I also get a plant vibe from it which I think is the thistle, it usually amps on me in a blend. Very smooth and deep overall. I think this will smell nice on a man, it's one of those which strikes me as masculine but not in the way I resonate with (as I do love to wear men's scents myself).

[quietguy]

I do not know what is happening with this one on my skin. It smells pretty good in the bottle but for only the second time in several years, something in here really amps on my skin. (The first was Unseelie and that looked really good ingredient-wise to me!) I really liked the list of the ingredients and was very interested but this one does not seem to work for me. Which is very unusual. I certainly have my favorites but usually my skin chemistry works with most things. I will hold on to it and test some more in the future to see if anything changes.

[spoonki]

I tried out Totem:Lion for a moment last night and I agree with most of the comments that the first whiff on skin isn't the most pleasant experience of my scents so far. But after about 15-20 minutes, I loved it. I'll have to give it another try this week for a longer period of time than I wore it last night.

[NuTrix]

I'll reserve this for the man beast as this is too masculine for my liking. I do like the woods in it quite a bit though. I'm not scent savvy but I get "something medicinal" that I decidedly do not care for on me, but may work on hubby

[Black Cat]

I'm not sure how I missed reviewing this one, since I ended up getting a full bottle! I love Lion. Wood notes don't always work for me, as they can drown out everything else, but this is so well-balanced/blended that they just provide a strong soft groundedness, while the vanilla and sandalwood are more prominent on me. This is rich and spicy and especially nice for those days when I am in very casual clothes and don't want to smell like I'm wearing perfume -- it's got a clean organic quality, like a really good soap. Like I was just going about my day, taking care of basic hygiene but otherwise not making much of an effort, and somehow I ended up smelling exotic and awesome.

[androstenol]

Whereas I love Totem: Tiger lots and lots, this is a no-go for me. I never did pick out any particular note, my nose just kept yelling "guy scent" and I stopped enjoying huffing my wrist. I have been very adventurous with my recent purchases, even snagging the last bottle of Naughty Nurse, and enjoying "Nights at the Round Table" with fennel and saffron. But this is just way beyond unisex for me. I think that's great, and I do hope there are men who will love this for the unique ingredients.

[hearts]

So, lately I've been feeling drawn to all things feline- particularly lions. Random I know, but I'm weird like that. So I thought I would dig out my sample today. I have this huge bag full of samples. So I dumped it upside down to empty it and Totem Lion was sitting right on top of the pile. Nice!

I sniffed from the vile and thought, too masculine, too herbal. I put it on anyway, since I'm still home and can wash off later if I need to. And... I kind of like it. The herby medicinal notes faded quite a bit. I'm getting the smallest bit of that vanilla and musk but it's mostly smelling like an expensive, exotic and luxurious soap. I rubbed in a bit of coconut oil onto my application points and I'm good! Soapy but different and kind of alluring. I really like it with the extra coconut oil I added.

[Guest cutie.pie]

This one is very masculine on my skin...

[IndieAna]

Totem: Lion begins quite sharp and green on my skin. It's quite herbal. Upon drydown, it becomes resinous and woods, but not in an overpowering way. A purr, rather than a loud roar on my skin. It is masculine, but I quite like this smooth, rich blend.

[WildVixen]

I got this as a sample and have been wearing it for the past few days, It smells amazing on me, i keep on sniffing it throughout the day...for me on the drydown it smells resin-y but also retains a light top fragrance (ozone/rain maybe?)

[tink333]

Okay I love this! It's definitely that exotic expensive soap smell that others talked about, which is one of my favorite smells! For me, it's a spicier version of Vulture and the Egg. It evokes this image of the African Safari. It's like I've spent my day on an epic adventure there , obviously a potentially life threatening adventure, and this is what I smell like upon my return. My man should always smell like this too. I LOVE this one. I get the sandalwood and vanilla with this spicy herbal scent. To me, it's not medicinal at all. I smell the cedar, which is actually one of my favorite scents in the world. It is way in the background though, which is good because it can overpower things. I think the thistle is adding the very slightly sweet herbal tone. Surprisingly, the neroli is not very strong on me. I feel like the saffron is stronger. I have no idea what karu karounde smells but I think I like that too. ?

 

ETA: Some hours later and this keeps getting better. It's mellowed even though it was a fairly mellow scent to begin with. It's deepened and blended into something I can't quite describe but I love it even more. It's energy is strong and confident and wild, just like Totem Wolf, but with Wolf the energy made me feel like I wanted to run through the forest at times, whereas, this on makes me feel like sitting and watching everything.

 

ETA 2.0:

I decided I needed to reapply this evening and it had a much more masculine feel to it this time. Weird! It still smells amazing and I'll still wear it! I tried to see if my SO would wear it and he said NO but he doesn't wear scents. I told him I may just apply it to him when he is sleeping. LOL!

Edited September 19, 2016 by tink333

[cheeseburger79]

I think anyone who loves Tails of Mystery will love this too, and vice versa. It feels like a variation on that one even, like "Tails of Mystery Summer" or " Tails of Mystery Gold". It's a bit lighter and more golden rather than the deep Brown I assign to Tails, but the nostalgia inducing regal resin Halo is very similar to me. The neroli, I think makes it a tad brighter and maybe a little more approachable to those who find powerhouse scents or heavy resins in general 'scary' and I can see where people get a clean feeling from it. It's very natural smelling, not a synthetic feeling in sight, and it's light enough to feel like you just ooze this wonderful golden aura from your pores. It's present though, not TOO light, great for warm weather.

As for intent, I wore this out on a walk this evening in tattered shorts, not a lick of makeup and my hair in a clip, but I still felt quite confident and chatted with a few neighbor's. I usually don't get so social unless I'm done up a little,haha, but this made me feel very comfortable in my own skin. But what else would you expect from the King of the Jungle?! Another fabulous totem scent, so happy I got it!

[Ivysaur]

I didn't get a unisex feel to Totem: Lion at all :S I love this! This totally matched what I imagine African deserts to smell like. I do get this regal sense of calm, assured, control, like lions surveying their pride and territory, which makes me want to pair it with SWS pheromone blend. I get more of the Sandalwood, Musk, definitely Saffron, and from what I researched on KARU KAROUNDE, I think I can vaguely pick it out as an amazing bass note. It's earthier and deeper than Musk in the 'dirty' department. It's the special ingredient in this perfume really tying this blend together as the African environment.

 

Neroli and Thistle make this wearable as feminine, to me. It re-assures this blend as unisex, also giving a clean and refreshing feel to the dry and hot environment. And I'm glad there's not much Cedar amping on me, just a touch to ground me with its woody aroma. I always like Cedar, just not more than a wisp. I don't want to easily pick it out in my perfumes.

 

I think Totem Lion is a masterpiece. Smells subtly expensive and certainly that it will do what I need it to in the luxury department.

[Karma]

I really needed this one. I woke up this morning feeling insignificant and kind of...meh.

 

I went through my collection and saw the beautiful male lion with the cub and thought...it's time...put it on now! I put this on and sniffed deeply. Then I felt like I was in another life, walking in a great green plain in Africa in the morning, and felt like I owned it. I feel POWERFUL.

 

What a feeling. I love the SPICY herbal, earthy, wood scent. I can barely smell the neroli, which is one of my all time fav scents, but I definitely get that confident feeling it always gives me. The sandalwood is delectable with the saffron & cedar after dry down. I looked up Karu Karounde and see it's a native African woody plant and I just fell in love with it. This is truly medicine for my soul.

 

Somehow this brings back amazing memories of a long ago life. All of a sudden I feel strong and can face any challenge. I don't care what anybody thinks. I am courageous. I hold my head up high.

This mix is truly magikal with my skin chemistry.

 

I think my totem animal must be...Lion! I'm going to add un LFM to this. Or Cougar!

 

I later came to the forum and see this is a masculine scent. I'm not surprised that I like it then, because I love the scents you men have that are high class-earthy. This scent is so young & powerful. Not an old men cologne scent but a young, rich, top of the line, "I want to know who this is...he knows where he's going, take me with you" kind. With this, I feel like I'm in touch with my masculine side.

 

While writing this, I added a swipe of my precious Occo Gold to this and I just have to say, Roar!

 

Thanks Mara & to you staff for this magnificent formulation.

[Ivysaur]

I feel freaking exotic and regal in this. I was watching Prince of Egypt with my 6yr old brother and felt like a beautiful Egyptian woman living in her architecture, just general imagery in the movie. I asked him what he thought of the perfume. He said he liked it, smells like our dog lol!

 

My home banned perfume after my father went through chemotherapy. He also has sensitivities from painting cars when he was younger. My mom is very sensitive to fragrance. If I put any on, they'd make it clear I was making them uncomfortable. But I remember applying Fairy Cake: Lavender years ago and they didn't mention it. I asked if they could smell it and they couldn't! That's another miracle from LPMP.

Anywho, so I asked mom to smell Totem Lion on my wrist and she loved it. She was like, "this is the high quality stuff... Mall commercial perfumes only smell like alcohol and something else." And then she further guessed the perfume was dry grasses in the desert. Bingo!  lots of gold tones in this scent.

Edited December 31, 2019 by Ivysaur
ETA mom's review of this scent