Luctor Et Emergo

As I’ve been obsessed with this fragrance for over a month, I thought it was high time for a review. I preface this by saying I’m infatuated. No other fragrance has hit me this strongly. The initial whiff of the small sample I’d ordered gave me pause. Cherry Cloraseptic was all I could smell. But I didn’t hate it, so waited to see what happened. Within 30 minutes, the almond accord was mingling with the cherry and softening the sharper medicinal bits. Then the incense came forth. Quiet, but just enough the pull the whole thing together. And that was it. I was in love. It’s a cherry, almond, marzipan, incense wonder. It’s sweet, and I could see this being cloying for some. Not a blind buy IMO. However, I have found my love very short lived. I do not smell it even two hours after applying. I kept dousing myself in that sample until it was gone. Not willing the spend $185 quite yet, I ordered a decant, and I feel the longevity is even worse. I imagine I’m that poor soul that has found their true love, but he’s just a ghost. He pops in momentarily and then disappears. I’ve been bathing in this stuff, even layering over neutral oils to sustain it. No such luck. Sure there must be some sort of dupe for this cult favorite, and hoping an oil would play nicer with my skin, I scoured the Internet for days. Yes, days! The only current one in production I’ve found is an oil called Embargo, found on Amazon. While this is very close, it lacks the incense note. Instead, a cheap musk takes its place. If only that musk was incense, I could say it’s a 90% dupe. And it lasts much longer on my skin. As my husband is sick of hearing me wax poetic about my new love, thanks for letting me share here LOL. He’s like “just buy it already”. And I’m sure I will. I only wish it was more than a fleeting whisper on me.

I emailed Luckyscent about 6 weeks ago, asking when LEE would be back in stock as I'm desperate for a backup bottle. Someone emailed back and told me this version (the parfum) had been discontinued by People of the Labyrinths, but that the EDT was still being produced and they were waiting for their shipment to arrive. She didn't have an estimate either. That info doesn't jive with the info ceeceelee got direct from POTL. I was ready to take whatever version I could get, but I'm hopeful now that the parfum hasn't been DC'd. I check Luckyscent EVERY damn day. Looks like I have to start calling and begging LOL. If Covid ever ends, I'm gonna have to fly to Amsterdam and bring back as many bottles as I can fit in my suitcase 😂 I've yet to find another perfume that scratches the itch of LEE. It's my absolute HG and I'm hoarding what's left in my bottle. DSH perfumes has La Fete Nouvelle, which to my nose has the base down, it's sweet, almondy, grassy hay, but its a bit sharp at times and it's missing the cherry note that puts LEE over the top for me. There is also a dupe oil by Zaja Natural (aka The Beer Soap Company) called Embargo. It's not exactly a dupe to my nose, smells more like cherry incense and Playdoh, but it gives the vibe of LEE fairly well. The oil smells heavier, too thick and syrupy, maybe too much amber or incense, whereas the OG feels much airier and wafts over me in varying waves. But if you're as desperate as me, you might want to try a bottle for $16 and see if it can tide you over.

A sweet and creamy mélange of almond, cherry and vanilla, this reminds me of the heady bliss of walking into a tobaconnist's for the almost narcotic-sweetness of the fruit essences blended with tobacco - not for every taste (I've never been a smoker), but it's definitely a kind of perfume with the power to comfort and enthrall. Cherry pits contain cyanide, which is redolent of almonds, by the way, so the cherry/amaretto type accord is a hand-in-glove style combo that Nature herself first assembled. Vanilla is very easy to over-do for me, but the balance of the vanilla here is perfect and not overpowering. The woodsy undertones grant some structure that makes a nice framework for what could easily have tipped into a cloying, too-sweet accord. This is glorious. Another thought-- I'm a fulltime older university student, and my young classmates almost monolithically adore sweet fruity fragrances, whereas I favor woody/spicy/orientals. This fragrance seems to bridge the gap, and yet manages to smell like nothing else I've experienced. There is a mere suggestion of the cherry/almond of my beloved Hypnotic Poison, but this one is not hammering a diner over in the next county while I'm wearing it. On polarity, this says it's for women, but this is OMNI for me: whether male or female, the person who wears this may be in danger of being devoured, but what a way to go! This one is a definite stand-out for me, and is on my "want" list now.

Smells of lipstick and Barbie furniture. In the best way. Not much of a statement, but the bottle, the name, and that plastic/cherry accord...make me feel...modern? Sweetly abstract? Like sipping boba-milk tea while reclining on white plastic chairs in the cafe next to MOCA in downtown L.A. There's something so future-from-the-past about this scent...like Space Odyssey. In the same way that L'Artisan fragrances are very Jules Verne to me. Does this make any sense at all? o.O The modelling clay (or, 'play-doh') accord here is most likely due to the use of heliotropin, a chemical derivative of the heliotrope flower. Poison has it in spades, as does Kenzo Amour...hate the former (80s frags! UGH!), like the latter, and it's a scent that you either love or hate, not much in between. I get the sweet hay side of the heliotropin here--well done POTL noses. It is a joy; emotive, evocative. Reminiscent of Le Feu D'Issey...that milky almond, plus sweet tobacco...orgeat, amaretto, old books resting on time-worn and lovingly waxed mahogany. LOVE, and, as is the case with most complex fragrances (Tauer, L'Artisan etc etc), this is definitely one better sprayed liberally than merely sampled. I never knew how much I loved it until I choked and purchased the full-bottle parfum (very different from the EDT! Consider yourself warned!) directly from POTL. One can't indulge in a feast with a single bite. One to douse and savour.

Ugh, I caved and just bought from Lucky Scent. I've been waffling bc, well, I think I'm addicted to perfume, lol. Hello ~ my name is CC and I'm a perfume addict. But all kidding aside, I wasn't sure about this one. I kept dabbing the scent on bc that's how the sample comes but I wasn't getting what my fellow devotees were. I had 3 samples so I decanted into a sprayer and WOW! What a difference this makes with the EdT. I finally got out of the medicinal cherry phase, which I'm ok with, but it never went any further just dabbing on. Spraying on, it just becomes this ethereal fragrance of lightly cherry, sweet almond, a little (lleettllee) powdery that just floats around you, enveloping you in a cloud of good feelings. For me, if I make sure I'm moisturized up the yeng yang, it lasts about 4-6 hours with 4-5 sprays and bc it's an EdT, sillage is surprisingly decent. I'm not a huge fan of others smelling my perfumes, but I was complimented twice by people (ladies, lol) walking in the cosmetic department of Target, where I was looking for the new Solinote perfume, Amande. (By the way, you can buy Amande online at Target😁) Hello ~ my name is CC and I'm a perfume addict. Ugh.