THE RING... antiquated amber, frankincense, patchouli, hay, oakmoss, skin musk and white mint.  
This starts off smooth and mellow, with the amber and frankincense in soft, dusky accord, and just a faint hint of mint. The skin musk keeps this close as the moss and patchouli warm up and the hay is prominent but its all very well blended. I get a hint more mint on drydown but unfortunately the dreaded playdoh note develops, probably from the skin musk. I can see where this would be a lovely, dusty earth and soft incense scent on the right person, but sadly, not on me.


STANDING FEMALE NUDE... red rose and red currant with amber, blood orange, myrrh and golden musk. 
Red rose bursts out, juicy, bright and bold, with a faint dusting of amber. The fruits develop next, first the orange - a lovely blend with the rose - and a hint of sharper currant. The myrrh adds sweetness and grounds the mix (and I can only distinguish it as a separate note on late drydown; I love rose and myrrh together - they compliment each other so well). A lovely scent, but the currant adds a faint bitterness on my skin and as I have other rose scents I like just as much, or better, I can let this one go.


SLEEPING NYMPH AND SATYRS... wild woods, Bulgarian rose, tolu balsam, vanilla absolute, ambergris, honey & vanilla.
Honeyed woods (I suspect there's some teak in there) and rose, beautifully balanced with balsam added edge. The vanilla is distinct and yet adds overall creamy smoothness and the ambergris drifts and partners with the balsam in a lovely duet. This is one of those scents were I can pick up every note and yet nothing really outshines anything else. I like this more with every wearing - definitely bottle worthy.
    ETA sadly, I must revise this one -- there is something odd in the final drydown that I didn't catch before. Two more wear tests proved it not a fluke. I'll enjoy what's left of my decant in a locket, but this one is off the bottle list.


WRESTLERS... vetiver, guiac wood, peru of balsam, two musks, labdanum, saffron and rum accord.  
The rum and musks are prominent  at first, underlain with the saffron. The woods are rather light, and the vetiver takes its time but eventually beats down the musks. It's smooth and warm and faintly butterscotchy .... and then the rum (not unexpectedly) goes funky on my skin. woe! 


This is the last batch of my Lupercalia decants; time to do a final check on my favourites and put an order in before they come down on Monday. Thank goodness the Shunga scents are up until the end of April, as I'm still waiting on those decants and the Chocolate Box scents, too!  Tho those come down Monday as well, I ordered full decants of them, which I think will be enough since I have lots of foody chocolate scents already -- but I'll check the .org reviews anyway, just in case.

 And here's the last three of the Ode to Aphrodite scents:

KATASKOPIA... tuberose, mandarin, jonquil, black sandalwood, green musk, styrax, hyacinth and violet musk.
HEELLLLOOO tuberose!  This is a big floral, sharp and green. And oddly watery, which I wasn't expecting. The florals mellow and the mandarin begins to hold its own but the best part of this scent is woody resin base (the sandalwood is strong in this one, young jedi).  Too much floral and it goes powdery. Not for me. 

KYTHERIAN... black narcissus, purple orchid, neroli, white sandalwood, ambergris, plum musk, jonquil, thyme, oakmoss & grapefruit.
This is one of those scents I wanted to try just to see how everything worked together. The fruits are the most prominent when wet (and I include the plum musk in this), followed by the orchid. I don't really pick up the thyme or sandalwood. Fruit with attitude, and cold. Just the barest hint of oakmoss on drydown to start to warm it up. Strong throw, and overall a very 'purple' scent and something in here is putting the Soap in soapiness (daffodil, is that you?)

NIKEPHOROS... black currant, patchouli, blood orange, oakmoss, galbanum, benzoin and white mint.
Oakmoss and galbanum may be waltzing in the center of the dance floor but patchouli and blood orange are the prom royalty of this blend. Benzoin lurks near the band, white mint plays the wallflower. Black currant shows up late and spikes the punch. I thought this would be too fruity for me but it grows more earthy in the later dry down and I find myself sniffing my wrist over and over. Quite undecided about this one.