Stereoplasm Les Belles Dames Sans Merci collection: Review

The Les Belles Dames Sans Merci collection is a mini-collection from Stereoplasm which was released during their Halloween period! 

The collection was inspired by the poem by John Keats, otherwise known as "The Beautiful Lady without Mercy", and a hallmark of Romanticism's elaborate imagery, a world of dreams, otherworldly nature and the supernatural. Personally, I love a touch of Romanticism (Kubla Khan is a fond favorite) with a touch of English medieval tradition, so I was so excited to try these. The scents themselves all have different inspirations as well, which definitely added to my experience of the scents. 

Temptress of the Ancients: Dried lavender, joshua tree, hanging gardens, magnolia champaca, camphor and fresh fig

Otherwise known as Lillith - from Jewish mythology, also known as Adam's first wife. For me, this scent fully embodies in the essence of far away, secluded gardens, and is a masterful blend between magical, herbs and gardens.

Wet: A lovely scent of herbal lavender essential oil, with a sprinkle of cracked pink pepper and a lovely soft foundation of wood to ground the scent.

Dried down: Joshua tree has a very distinct smell - described as mushroomy, earthy and herabceous, and magnolia champaca is a bit woodier, like dried flowers. Camphor is a strong note as well, which you can typically smell in mothballs or chest rubs. Despite all the strong notes in this scent, like most of Stereoplasm's scents, this is masterfully blended, and notes are so easily picked apart. Most of their blends are like lovely abstract experiences (one of my favorite things about their scents), and this works amazingly.

The lavender fades a little quickly, but various other notes start to bloom to the surface, a few strands of ivy, and a small slice of fig to add to the sweetness. The scent has good kick of spice, a little bit like pepper, which I would attribute to camphor's sharp kick and something a little bit floral and a smidge indolic, from the magnolia champaca. Joshua tree adds an overall aura of a green garden, with a little bit of dirt and what I intrpret as ivy. The scent with its strong spice reminds me a lot of Death Unicorn (Sucreabeille) with considerably less liquorice, but the same sharp blend of spice and echoes of lavender. 
This scent ends up transporting me into a garden with a gorgeous bundle of lavender, a plate of figs, with the heady aroma of spices and feisty pepper, climbing ropes of ivy on the walls, and magnolias dripping down from the wired frames on a hot summer's day. On my skin, the scent is a faint blend of herbs and summer warmth, with a strong dash of sharp pepper.

Perfect for: anyone who wants to smell like a garden in summer - or love the unique scent of joshua trees and magnolia champaca.

Rubies from your Lips: Twilight musk, smoked woodsage, carnation corsage, holy water, green clove, damp soil and grave moss.

This was a line taken from the 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, was mostly about "the minion vampire is talking about how awesome the new world will be in terms of vampiring to his master vampire".

Wet: it's warm and fuzzy, with a very stereotypical masculine scent - the woodsage is a strong incense like note - and there's a bit of salt from the 'smokey' aspects. It reminds me a little bit of a more atmospheric take of Serene Lace (Poesie), namely with the sharper incense notes.

Dried down: This scent stays relatively linear, and reminds me a lot of mainstream cologne - with a lovely savoury aspect that comes from the smoked woodsage, and reminds me a lot of palo santo's bitter citrus and astringent profile. Damp soil shows up with a noticeably petrichor like facade, and paired with the wood reads a little like damp, rotten wood, with green foliage creeping in on the edges.
This scent reminds me a lot of midnight in a chilly, damp, flooded underground tunnel, with a lamp of burning incense to light the way.

Perfect for: Those who like an autumn atmospheric.

His heart to Drink: Sour blackberries, lodestone, deer musk, willow oak, copper, faded cologne and silver crucifix.

This line was taken from Johanne Goethe's poem, the Bride of Corinth (From my grave to wander). and is one of the significant pieces of poetry that influenced the trope of vampires. I'm really taken by this passage, so here's the section for reference.

"From my grave to wander I am forc’d,
Still to seek The Good’s long-sever’d link,
Still to love the bridegroom I have lost,
And the life-blood of his heart to drink;
When his race is run,
I must hasten on,
And the young must ‘neath my vengeance sink."

Wet: The scent is a little bit sweeter than I expected from the description alone, rather than the sour blackberries, it's a sweet and delightful grape, which is all sugary and reminds me a lot of grape hubba bubba. It's very bright, and the sweetness is the dominant note before dry down.

Dried down: As the scent dries down, the sweet grape and berry combination softens out to allow for the lovely deer musk to peek out a little. The scent warms up a lot, with an animalic heart, and the feeling of fur and musk running underneath your fingers (a startlingly evocative feeling from a scent). There's just the barest hint of sharp, cutting cologne like an afterthought from the scent, but there isn't any type of sharp metallic note form the copper or crucifix. On me, this scent reminds me a lot of a real animal, like rubbing your face and threading your fingers through a real deer, with the same feeling of emanating warmth and musky fur, and just a side of squishy, sweet grapes to top it all off.

I personally would have liked to see more of the metallic aspects of this scent pulled out more - because it's a little more bloody with those tinges of iron and chilled silver. The scent is a good deal sweeter than what I expected from the poem as well, but it's definitely beautiful in its own right.

Perfect for: Animalic enthusiasts looking for something a little sweet. It's basically scent embodiment of warm fur and a beating heart underneath your hands.

Disclaimer: I was not sponsored for this review or sent these products for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.