Snake Oil
Note: aged for a year.
BPAL description: By far, our most popular scent! Magnetic, mysterious, and exceedingly sexual in nature. A blend of exotic Indonesian oils sugared with vanilla.
In the bottle: Deep orange/cola coloured, thickly viscous oil. Sweet, a bit boozy, oddly sparkling. Smells a bit like cola too, and like caramel. Also quite earthy - patchouli, musk.
Wet: More cola (almost mentholically so)! But sort of like, a cross between cola and cream soda - the vanilla coming out is very creamy. Still quite sweet and even more sparkling. Quite foody. Less earthy. Clove?
Dry: Very slow to dry, becoming more intense/spicy as it does. Still quite sweet and boozy. The patchouli is the rooty sort. This reminds me a bit of Kabuki - I think it's the sweet/spicy/foody combined with red musk.
Later: I agree it's a bourbon vanilla which explains the boozy note - and this is a vanilla that behaves on me. It still hasn't lost that sparkling feel! A smoky note has emerged, maybe tobacco?
Summary: Deep, heady sweet scent with an oriental feel and a bit of a bite; boozy and yet creamy bourbon vanilla, sparking but almost medicinal cola, rooty-woody patchouli, sharp-sweet clove, harsh red musk, softly smoky tobacco. It's not spicy on me, and it verges on foody.
This is not at all what I was expecting. The clove makes it unwearable for me, but the vanilla in this is surprisingly wearable and doesn't amp or go cloying on me at all. In combo with the cola smell, and the general sweetness of the blend, it's too close to foody for me.
I am also not crazy about the red musk or the particular type of patchouli. I don't like this, but not for the reasons I anticipated. It's not powdery (at all - don't see where people get powder from!) or too vanilla-y for me, or even really too spicy. I just don't like the other unlisted stuff, but this was not unbearable.
BPAL description: By far, our most popular scent! Magnetic, mysterious, and exceedingly sexual in nature. A blend of exotic Indonesian oils sugared with vanilla.
In the bottle: Deep orange/cola coloured, thickly viscous oil. Sweet, a bit boozy, oddly sparkling. Smells a bit like cola too, and like caramel. Also quite earthy - patchouli, musk.
Wet: More cola (almost mentholically so)! But sort of like, a cross between cola and cream soda - the vanilla coming out is very creamy. Still quite sweet and even more sparkling. Quite foody. Less earthy. Clove?
Dry: Very slow to dry, becoming more intense/spicy as it does. Still quite sweet and boozy. The patchouli is the rooty sort. This reminds me a bit of Kabuki - I think it's the sweet/spicy/foody combined with red musk.
Later: I agree it's a bourbon vanilla which explains the boozy note - and this is a vanilla that behaves on me. It still hasn't lost that sparkling feel! A smoky note has emerged, maybe tobacco?
Summary: Deep, heady sweet scent with an oriental feel and a bit of a bite; boozy and yet creamy bourbon vanilla, sparking but almost medicinal cola, rooty-woody patchouli, sharp-sweet clove, harsh red musk, softly smoky tobacco. It's not spicy on me, and it verges on foody.
This is not at all what I was expecting. The clove makes it unwearable for me, but the vanilla in this is surprisingly wearable and doesn't amp or go cloying on me at all. In combo with the cola smell, and the general sweetness of the blend, it's too close to foody for me.
I am also not crazy about the red musk or the particular type of patchouli. I don't like this, but not for the reasons I anticipated. It's not powdery (at all - don't see where people get powder from!) or too vanilla-y for me, or even really too spicy. I just don't like the other unlisted stuff, but this was not unbearable.