Black Cat

Ooh -- I do have both!! Thanks for the tip! ETA: Just put on the shirt I was wearing when I tested this yesterday and holy wow! It took me a moment to figure out what I was smelling that was so hauntingly beautiful.... kicking myself for not grabbing that bottle while it was still on Etsy!

I dithered too long on this when it first came out, then was able to grab a bottle off the trade threads! I really like this! It's very sandalwood forward on me -- the coconut/vanilla bean/white chocolate is very in the background, just adding that sweet creamy texture others have described. It's soft and clean and very beachy on me -- but beachy like I came home from being out swimming to somebody's incredibly luxuriously appointed guest house, and I've had a bath and washed my hair and I'm wearing a little terry cloth wrap, lying in a hammock and letting the sun dry my skin. Like Luna, I'm finding it the teensiest bit on the poky side, but it never quite goes there, and I bet that with some aging it's going to be just divine. And I'm TOTALLY feeling the mood enhancing aspect! Very uplifting! ETA: OMG, longer drydown and have coconut and vanilla bean BLOSSOMING this is absolutely delicious!

YES HURRY! :-)

So this one just keeps getting better and better! Ingredients are more tightly melded and it is just one long blissful inhale on this cold wet night....

Oooh, thanks for starting this, Mai! I've been meaning to for a while, because even if you and I (and the mysterious Patti!) are the only ones who have it, I think it's great for others to hear about yet another astonishing Mara creation. So. This one. Many years ago, I ordered some essential oils to mess around with for spell purposes, and I wound up making myself a blend of Cypress and Vetiver that I was obsessed with. Several times since joining since LP, I have had the thought that I should ask Mara to make me something that starts from those two notes. When I put this on, I realized that I no longer have to ask. I think the cedar wood reads very similar to the cypress? In any event, it has that perfect animalic earthy tang, while the musk and sandalwood ground it and make it into something achingly complex and evocative. In some ways this reminds me of Charlene's Sanctuary -- they don't smell alike, but both have that sense of being something right on the edge between a powerful spell oil and a complex sophisticated perfume. I knew my mother would like this, and I lost my first bottle to her very early after acquiring, so I had to get a second! She also finds it deeply nostalgic, though neither of us can say with any certainty exactly what is being evoked. It's both deep woods and your grandmother's attic, if your grandmother had a wild bohemian past and was a practicing witch. Typing this now, I keep getting a childhood book stuck in my head: "Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley and Me, Elizabeth." I think the scent reminds me of that kind of aching childhood wish for magic, and the sense that adulthood holds the answers to some huge mystery. I'm babbling now, but I just love this!

Oh, Tyvey, what a great review!! I am so glad you like it. And SJM, good to see you, my dear! Now I am off to check my hoard and make sure I don't need to grab one of those remaining bottles on Etsy!

Yay, Bella, that's awesome! And yay to you too, Mai!

I pulled this out for the first time in months, and it is everything I remembered and a little bit better! The orange is such a mood elevator, and the cake-y element is a bit richer with an even more buttery vanilla. It's very blah and grey outside and this liquid sunshine is just what I need!

Oh, tink, I'm so glad you got this one! What a great review... and you remind me that I want to try it *with* Persephone at some point...

Hey, BG! Yes, it's fascinating, and I have to say I've loved every stage of it! Also, the day I wrote that review, I did a second slather just before bed and it had that strong, almost medicinal tint going on wet, which made me so happy! This one just feels like feminine power in a bottle. I haven't actually tried it out in public either. :-) Certain LPs feel as if they bring out my most private, individual self and this is definitely at the top of that list!

I did end up with a full bottle of this, and it is a fascinating puzzle -- every time I put it on so far I get something quite different! A couple of days ago it was wearing really light and just the littlest bit herbal. I was actually missing the more medicinal bite. Tonight it's very apple forward -- the world's darkest, more hauntingly complex spicy apple pie! I love all of these manifestations but it is really startling how differently this plays on my skin depending on when I put it on.

Got my box today and the first thing I opened and slathered was my bottle of Sparkle Frost! I rarely get NR bottles unsniffed, since why risk it when you can have the sampler, but I just had a strong sense that if this one worked at all for me, I would want it for the upcoming holiday travel and family time I have to navigate! This is perfectly described. The fruit is gorgeously candied, the most luxe elegant high end candied fruit, with the grapefruit being the most predominant on me but the currant and pomegranate providing a deliciously deeper contrast. The spruce, mint and eucalyptus really do read like frost to me! A bright sparkling rime coating the deep color tones--reds and purples and gold-- of the candy. It's a scent that translates very much into visual terms. At the same time, even though it's a very different vibe and scent, it does the thing that Hauntings astonished me with -- it creates a cold sensation. It's a bit bracing and totally refreshing. This is not exactly a "me" scent, but it is an intent specific scent that perfectly captures its purpose -- it's soothing in a way that is energizing rather than soporific. this doesn't put me in the mood to snuggle up and sleep, it makes me feel relaxed and ready to cope with noise and extra people and having to get places and do things. Dare I say it even has me looking forward to the hustle and bustle (note: I never look forward to hustle and bustle! I am a low-energy introvert whose favorite part of the day is finishing with obligations and being allowed to crawl into bed with a book)! Anyway, this is a total winner and I intend to keep it with me and wear it pretty exclusively for the next four days. Gorgeous! ETA: The longer this dries down the more forward the grapefruit becomes, which makes me very happy!

This remains a pillowy fluff of coolness, but I've noticed recently that in the long drydown I am now getting the other notes much more distinctly -- about 5 or 6 hours in, the woodsmoke is stronger and the creaminess really starts to bloom. Magic!

Just need to add my voice to the chorus here -- this is the quintessential lavender soother scent! It's a bit softer on me than Beautiful Dreamer -- most strongly calls to mind the Lavender Marshmallow Hydrating Water (I am still kicking myself for not grabbing the last bottle of that off Etsy!), even though there is no marshmallow in it. It's soft, pillowy, deeply soothing and I think would be wonderful in spray as well as oil. Yay for this being permanent!

I am just about to pull the trigger! I'm finishing catching up with the Weenies -- a bottle of Bewitching Hour on the way! I also went FB on Sparkle Frost, because I love Mara's holiday TH blends and the notes sound so divine! And one more bottle of Patti's Gypsy because it speaks to my soul, and because it cried out to be copped. Also, I have been wanting Un Gotcha in a spray for a while, so I'm going for it. Merry Christmas to me. :-) Time for one last check to see if I've forgotten anything!

No I missed that one! {scampers off, reads notes, DIES} Rose, I realized after I posted that this seriously called me back to Whisker Wishes!

Hi JLisa! I am loving this one, although I think it's going to be more of a warm weather one for me. It's so interesting -- I'm not really getting the peach at all! Instead, on my skin, it's a beautiful soft spring honey with a fresh grassy aspect, and the amber and sandalwood kind of pooling below the surface. I totally agree that this has a very different feel from the SLF honeys, which I also love! It's clean and has a freshness, almost like raw honey as opposed to the very crystalline sugary ones. But at the same time, it's deeply sexy. It is really calling to mind some of the great Hollywood legends -- Katharine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, Carole Lombard. Gorgeous, sleek, but approachable and warm. Congrats!

Olivia's Comfort and Joy ~ Part Deux Deux Ode to Olivia, Part Deux! Jennifer asked for a not-too-sweet wintery comfort scent of buttered pumpkin bread with a hint of hair of the pup! Crafted of pumpkin and 4 types of bready notes, buttery butters, a spot of warm oat, and a dash of animalic canton musk. ( Yay for what has to be one of the weirder requests -- bakery scent + fur -- and once again a magical masterpiece from Mara! I've been obsessed with pumpkin this fall, and somehow nothing was quite hitting the spot, even though there were lovely pumpkin offerings both amongst the 2015 Weenies and the October PEs. I was craving a pumpkin bread slathered in butter, thinking in terms of something like Warm and Toasty or Pumpkin Souffle. I also wanted to fold some holiday support intent in there -- I love many things about the holidays, but like all of us, I find that they hit my tender spots and I wanted a little of Mara's magic to soothe the way. It hit me that I what I wanted was something that would do the work of my very first PE ever, Olivia's Comfort and Joy! So where that one was "ginger bakery with a hint of fur" this was "pumpkin bread slathered in butter with the furry musk". It's WONDERFUL. Wet, it's the most gorgeous mouthwatering bread you can imagine, lightly spiced but mostly pumpkin and butter, with the oat just peeking out. While it has a foodie slant, though, it's not a pure foodie. In the drydown, it settles into the softest, warmest yummy musk you can imagine. It wears light but palpable, and it's subtle enough that I think it can be worn just about anywhere. And the texture really is furry! Just amazing. It's also working beautifully to lift my mood every time I put it on. It really is like having a snuggle with the best little brown dog in the world, who will always be in my heart. Thank you, Potion Master, for another wonderfully evocative scent treasure! Just for fun, let's try the notes: PUMPKIN ~ Fertility, plenty, abundance, prosperity. Male sexual stimulant. BUTTER ~ Nurturing, soothing, eases troubled relationships. Goddess energy. OATS ~ Prosperity, abundance, sustenance, money spells. MUSK ~ Self confidence and strength, sexual attractant, heightens passions and arousal.

Yay! Thank you kindly, PM. OMG YES YOU NEED THIS!!

Dear Mara, may I please get another bottle of Patty's Gypsy?

I was so sure that this was one I could enjoy sampling and wouldn't need a full bottle, because blueberry! Not really my thing! And then when I was putting my November order together, a bottle of this somehow snuck into my shopping cart.... This one has been haunting me and out of all my bottles from this last order I seem to be reaching for this the most often. I especially love it as a sleep scent -- when the wet blueberry blast goes on, everything in me relaxes and let's go. And then that complex smoky musk of the long drydown is just so captivating!

Oh oh oh what a treat to have Lovestruck's artwork! These look so lovely, and it's actually kind of a relief to have a mini-set..... :-) Minions of Santa is so adorable! And I'm going to amuse myself the rest of the day imagining the notes for Bad Elf.

Oh, sorry to hear it, StacyK! I'm giving this its solo run tonight and may have sold myself on a full bottle. It quiets down for me in the drydown but a few hours in I'm getting a perfectly melded coconut-magnolia with a fruity twist. It's close but dense and palpable, creamy and lush-- feels like it would come as grown-up and sophisticated enough for a glam night out when added to fancy dress, but that it could also comfortable and easy enough for daytime wear. I'm really coming to appreciate what a perfect fit this is for Lumina (for me!). I am also realizing that if I wear this around my mom, she is pretty certain to steal at least the sample, perhaps the bottle if I wind up getting one, so I'll have to be mindful!

I was not expecting to love this one, because florals are generally not my thing, but holy wow! The magnolia is spectacular, and something about the papaya/coconut cream combo is really rocking my world. I get the sweetness of the fruit but smoothed out by the creaminess of the coconut and the whole thing is lush and white and a bit tropical but a bit not. This needs a full test run on its own SOON.