I know I'm pulling up a lot of old threads, but I think it'd be more appropriate if I continued from a previous thread than post a brand new one.
I bought this deck a while ago (about 6-7 months ago, I believe) because I wanted a Lenormand deck. While I knew this deck was NOT based on the Lenormand beforehand, I read some interesting reviews from Amazon about their supposed accuracy. Plus, I was sold on how cheap they were and were plenty easy to find.
I'm more of a Tarot reader than I am a cartomancy/Oracle reader (despite owning several different Oracle decks), so these were kinda hard to get used to. I tried different ways of reading the deck (using the LWB spreads/interpretations, looking up Lenormand spreads, reading about others' experiences, etc) and found that the best readings I got were when I "improvised" my own spreads...as in, followed my intuition. I don't really use the large-scale, encircling spreads that is typical when reading the Lenormand (I found it to be too complicated when reading); rather, I did very basic 5 card spreads (using the significator(s) provided in the deck), which has worked wonderfully. A while back I did a reading for a friend of mine and with just a few cards I was able to pick up her money situation with her older male relative (which she never told me about; the cards revealed it for me
).
What I like about this deck is that it forces me to use my intuition more. The images on the cards only show a small but crucial snippet about the querent's situation. Some of the messages of the cards can be dreary (ie, presaging death), but I don't take what is being said too literally.
What I don't like about this deck is that the "glossiness" of the cards make them hard to handle, especially when shuffling. The deck that I own is manufactured by US Games and was made in Italy (much like my recently purchased Rider-Waite Tarot deck); fortunately it did not have a gross smell when I first bought them (otherwise I'd remember that and mention it here). I also dislike the backs of the cards, which shows the silhouette of a slender witch tending her cauldron with her kitty behind her (all in a purple gradient)...the older decks had a nice, stream background; the backs of the new decks look cheesy...and I hate to say this, but a little...childish (to me at least).
I know this deck isn't very popular, especially amongst all the Tarots/Oracles out there, but based on my experience with them, I think they're underrated. If you use them the way you want and what you think is right, they can be really accurate and straight to the point.