Libertine

This perfume is bright, energetic, and uplifting. I get a lot of the citrus, but not in a cleaning product way some people have mentioned. It’s a mix of the pomelo juice, skin, and pith- it’s bright but not sour, slightly sweet, and just a touch more green and smooth and grounded especially as it dries down, which is also in part to, I think, the star fruit and ginger. This is a personal anecdote, but this is what this feels like to me: it’s been a long and abnormally wet, cloudy, and dreary winter, and it seems like that’s how this day is going to be, but after going out for some errands, the clouds have burned off and it’s the first sunny, beautiful sky blue day in a month. Change out the sweater for a tank top, put this on, hop in the car and ignore everything that needs to be done, and take a long drive up the coast with the windows down and good music playing. It’s that kind of feeling bottled- a lightness that you haven’t felt in a while, a sparkling citrus that reminds you of warm sun and a cool breeze.

I bought a descant sample, and I like it a lot. It is quite lemony and fresh. I wouldn't say this is like Lysol as I don't smell anything chemically astringent. It has a slightly stronger projection and longevity than some of my favorite freshies like L'eau D'issey and Versace's Eau Fraiche. I mostly use fragrance as aromatherapy for sleeping, but this might not work for that purpose. It is calming, for sure, but it lifts my mood. Thus, I feel more awake with Libertine. Perhaps this might be best for hanging out on the sofa and watching TV with a friend you find attractive. Libertine also seems more of a single-note lemon fragrance as opposed to a citrus blend. However, I'm not the best at detecting more subtle notes. I didn't perceive much in the way of late morphs or base notes except a little ginger. I will absolutely wear this many more times, and I recommend it to anyone (it's unisex, in my opinion) who likes happy, lemony, daytime scents.

This is my favorite perfume and my new signature scent. I love the smell of Pomelos so much, I buy them all the time and will obsessively smell the rind. This smells so strongly of pomelo, but I also get the ginger distinctly--which is another favorite smell of mine. It also has surprising longevity on my skin--I can smell it all day, and the bright citrus note never quite disappears, even though the base notes come through more strongly. I'm prone to migraines and heavy/strongly sweet smells can often trigger them for me, and this doesn't at all. This scent is happy, bright, and fresh.

Bright, spicy and green, this is a really fresh and uplifting scent. I love how the citrus lends an incredibly clean note throughout, even in the dry down, it’s present. And the base spices are so well-balanced and warm, crunchy and bright. I take this to be more male than unisex, and I’m not 100% sure why that is. It reminds me of something I’ve smelled before... something blue and summer-y and crisp. I’ve given this to my he/they identifying partner to wear and I’m looking forward to smelling it on him, and keeping Libertine in my sphere of smells, moving forward!

It took me some time to get used to this fragrance--the first time I wore it I described it on Facebook as smelling like the morning after someone had a booze-up in an orange grove--but now I really like it and it's in my daily rotation. I do often layer it with Na Nin's Cannabis/Opium Den, which (on me, anyway) is very sweet and rich, which tempers the astringency and almost gin-like notes I get from Libertine. I like Libertine by itself and often wear it alone in humid weather, but layering it with Cannabis/Opium Den really gives it that extra oomph.