BPAL Reviews XXXVI
It's Thursday, which means more Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab scent reviews. This time it's a mixed bag of GC scents, with an LE or two thrown in. No particular theme this time, just a grab bag.
(I'm working on why the images aren't displaying, just FYI, so bear with me.)
Below the cut, reviews of Verdandi, Malediction, Beatrice, Ogun, Shroud, The Lady of Shalott, Hymn, Jersey Devil, Blood Countess, La Petit Mort, Hymn to Proserpine, Xiuhtecuhtli, Akuma, and Oberon.
Verdandi, Lab description: "Necessity. Deep herbs and apple with black amber."
This is herb and apple, zippily clean, with a smooth base of smoky amber underneath it all.
A surprisingly deep and throaty blend. It's damp and earthy on, but still has that incense and sugar smell of amber. The apple gives this a vaguely aquatic character that is quite agreeable. The amber gives it depth, stability, and longevity; the drydown is just scrumptious.
Malediction, Lab description: "Evil incarnate. Revel in your dark side with this romantically cruel scent. Contains red patchouli and vetivert."
I could swear I've tried this before, but nope, it's new to me. So here goes!
Wow, this is patchouli-y! A smoky patchouli so thick it's almost like tar in character, an odor both resinous and smoky, verging on the foul. A sharp note of vetiver keens through this like a knife drawn lightly over skin . . . sharp but not cutting.
This smells like the ashes of a campfire, to be honest. Even on, it's a savage, smoky odor that has very little to do with perfume, and everything to do with making anyone in the room with you edge further and further away.
It's heavy, so dark as to approach ultraviolet, and is thoroughly, thoroughly dirty. If I had to pick a BPAL scent that strikes me as utterly un-perfume-like, this would be it. It does not smell like something a person would volunteer to smell like.
Beatrice, Lab description: "A scent inspired by Beatrice, Rappaccini’s delicate, beautiful, innocent and deadly daughter. A fragile, winsome, poisonous blend of rare, precious and graceful flowers, rich blossoms and spicy perfumes that passes heavily, as a broken heart, across the borders of Time."
This was an LE blend.
This is overwhelmingly floral. I am certain I detect roses, and I smell lilies, too. Otherwise, this is hard to pin down. I'm not good with floral notes.
I also smell something creamy and soft, almost powdery. Vanilla?
It calms down a little from its initial floral blast, and lo and behold, the spices emerge. At this phase it is at its most beautiful, yet it is still very traditionally perfume-y.
The drydown is a dry floral spice that is at once appealing and elegant. Definitely traces of amber and vanilla.
Ogun, Lab description: "Ogun’s ofrenda is heavy and dark cigar tobacco, gin and juniper, melon, chili pepper and a touch of honey."
This is not quite like anything else I've smelled. It's an equal-parts mix of melon, juniper, and smoke, meaning it's fresh and juicy, but also husky and rich. There's a bit of sweet pepper in there, too.
On, the juniper and melon take a front seat, with the sweet tobacco smoke swirling along in the background. This is an unlikely scent, not traditionally cologne-y at all, and yet most definitely masculine. It smells somehow intimate, biological, as though this were a natural body scent. It only gets more like that as it ages. I like this even better once the topnotes have faded, leaving nothing but the scents of tobacco, honey, and pepper. Delicious!
It has a respectable throw, too, especially outdoors, where the sun really seems to do a number on it.
Shroud, Lab description: "Dry white sandalwood wrapped in thin woods, soft grasses and the lightest white flowers layered over cajeput and the warm, deep scent of embalming herbs."
This is a light floral heavy on the lily, with a faint herbal tone.
It's very light. On, it has a faint sandalwood base and a camphoraceous note hovering in the middle somewhere, something sweet and medicinal. It's not a powerful scent, is in fact barely there. Overall, it has a reserved, earthy quality, a kind of shadowy neutrality. The scent of it up close is rather unpleasant, having a strong vegetal odor that smells of crushed grass stems and old roots. It smells a little dirty, a little ripe.
The herbs are definitely embalming herbs, rather than foody ones. This has a distinctly . . . off quality that lends it an air of menace. It just smells out of whack, like something is wrong.
The Lady of Shalott, Lab description: "The scent of calm waters just before a raging storm, limned with achingly-beautiful blooms, an icy scent, but somehow warm, and mirror-bright: bold gardenia, crystalline musk, muguet, water blossoms, clear, slightly tart aquatic notes and a crush of white ginger."
This is a beautiful, sweet floral with overtones of musk and aquatics. The top note is definitely muguet - lily of the valley - with gardenia coming in a close second. There is also a strong drift of lotus, that sweet and sugary floral familiar to me from blends like Bastet. Sweet, candylike florals that grow soapy the longer I sniff 'em. Still, very pretty. There is musk here, boosting the smooth sweetness, tying in with the faint aquatics for a scent that is a beautiful evocation of water lilies viewed in a mirror: lovely but distant.
Again, a concept scent that evokes its subject superbly.
When I put it on, alas, it turns to the smell of soap bubbles. No subtlety at all on my skin. Damn florals; they all hate me.
It's still a beautiful scent and one I would unhesitatingly recommend to anyone with a love of floral scents. This is not too cloying, it has some depth, overall quite lovely.
Hymn, Lab description: "A paean to true holiness, spiritual purity, and sacred enlightenment. Based on an incense blend sacred to the Virgin Mary: perfect rose absolute and Palestinian Lily of the Valley with olibanum, labdanum, frankincense and myrrh."
Wow. This is a crystalline, incensey floral, perfectly balanced between fumes and flowers.
Rose comes ahead of the lily, and the resins are too well blended for me to tell them apart. Ah! No, there's the frankincense.
Once it goes on the lily of the valley is a little stronger, vying for first place with the rose. The thing is, this scent is really held down by the incense, so it's not what I'd call an overpowering incense blend at all.
The throw is a clean, pure floral with a hint of clean resins. This isn't a soapy scent but it is very pure, very pleasant. Up close it has an almost fuzzy quality, the product of the sweet rose and the myrrh blending, I think. The frankincense and lily go together to create a clean clarity. And the labdanum is sitting right in between, gluing it together with its gentle golden radiance.
A very well-constructed blend, one that would agree with a wide variety of people, I think. The presence of the lily of the valley and the rose make this traditional enough that it would appeal to a wide variety of folks who don't normally wear incense blends, but it's incensey enough to offset some of the florals' tendency to go rank, making it a good choice for those who tend to avoid florals for that reason. Folks like me, say.
As it ages, it does get some of that sharp, soapy stink that lily of the valley tends to turn to on me, but it's less unpleasant than usual, and I think if I hadn't put quite so much on, it wouldn't be so pronounced. The rose is a powdery undernote, not prominent on drydown at all. Present if you know to look for it, but otherwise more of a hint than a note. The resins are more or less one clean, hard resin-y smell now; it's lost some distinction.
I'm going to peg this as a nice, neutral, feminine scent that is doomed by my chemistry, but I insist that it is still a beautiful scent, one nice enough that I'd like to try to use it in a scent locket or an oil burner. Most of the time I don't try if I can't wear it, but this is pretty enough to be worth the effort.
The Jersey Devil, Lab description: "The scent of the wild, hauntingly beautiful Pine Barrens of New Jersey! Pitch pine with blackberry leaf, cranberry, cedar wood and tomato leaf."
Wow! The smell of pine greenery and cedar wood mingles with green, leafy notes and a hint of tart berries for a smell that is less like a perfume or cologne than it is like a room scent. This is a startlingly true "outdoorsy" smell. Just a whiff of it will make you think there is a door or window open somewhere.
It stays true and balanced on. The wood notes come up in the mix a little. The throw smells like the great outdoors with just a hint of cranberry. Neat. Neat, neat, neat. And, yes, there's a hint of "tomato leaf." That fuzzy, zippy smell that comes off of unwashed fresh tomato plants. It's not a food smell at all - it's a green gardening growing smell. Gah! Where does Beth get these? Does someone honestly make eau de tomato stems? Remarkable.
I'm not a fan of pitchy, woodsy scents, of greenery or woody smells, but this is quite true, and so it's rather more gentle than these things tend to be. There's no cutting edge here, it's a much smoother, softer scent than you might expect.
An excellent cologne, or, if you just want to freshen up, an excellent room scent. I like this very much; though I don't know how often I would realistically wear it on my body, I can see using it to scent my clothes or my room.
This reminds me just a little bit of The Carpathian Mountains, minus the sweets and flowers, and just a little bit of The Castle, minus the incense and stone. Definitely one to try for fans of woodsy blends, or someone looking for a more cologne-type scent.
Blood Countess, Lab description: "Elizabeth Báthory, also called Erzsébet Báthory in Hungarian and Alžbeta Bátoriová-Nádašdy in Slovak, was the Bloody Lady of Hungary. In order to preserve her youth and loveliness, the brutal and incomparably savage countess captured, tortured and slaughtered innumerable young women and bathed in their blood as part of her beauty regimen. Ah, vanity. Corrupted black plum, smoky opium and crumbling dead roses covered by a deceptive veil of Hungarian lilac, white gardenia and wild berry."
Light, chill florals and a brisk berry overlay the smell of opium in the bottle. Sweet and slightly tart with a hint of rose.
On, it's plum, opium, and faint florals. A very interesting perfume, and very hard to describe. It's quite traditionally perfumey, and very female. The overall impression it gives is that of reserved sophistication, with a hint of corruption beneath.
As it dries, it becomes deeper, lower, as the berries die back and the opium relaxes. It's not as strong as I thought at first; once the first rush of scent dies back, the smell all but vanishes. What is left is an intriguing mix of high, jagged notes, peppery almost.
The florals are apparent, are even the key notes, but this is not a typical floral at all. This is much more perfume-y than powdery or sweet. A scent so unusual it's bound to attract attention, very finely balanced on the edge of appealing and unpleasant.
La Petit Mort, Lab description: "Seduction, sensuality, the Act, and the aftermath all in one. The scent of warm, damp skin flushed with the glow of passion, touched by the luxuriant potency of ylang ylang and myrrh."
In the bottle this is soft, rich ylang ylang . . . like a honeyed floral. There is something ambery/vanilla here, and a hint of some mellow incense. Probably the myrrh.
On it is powdery, but not in a horrible, stinky way. This is a soft, sensual sort of smell, very inoffensive, balanced carefully between floral and fleshy. A lot of people are comparing this to O and to Snake Oil, and it has elements of both - the sweet, fleshy, honey scent of O, without the overwhelming dirtiness; the rich depth of Snake Oil without the cloying almond/cherry rush. But it's different enough, light enough, that even those who didn't like either scent should try this one.
I don't do florals, but this is divine . . . ylang ylang doesn't smell like flowers, it smells creamy and fleshy, a rich body scent that clings close and has the most inviting throw. Actually, it reminds me very strongly of a deeper but less nuanced Khajuraho. There is a definite similarity. Khajuraho is green and wet, this is golden and dry, but they share a theme.
The drydown is delicious honey-amber inflected with ylang ylang and super-snuggly myrrh. This reminds me of Bastet a little, too; it's the same sort of utterly desirable, sensual scent that I can't imagine anyone objecting to. Definitely one for the classics.
It is very powdery, though; be advised that if you dislike powdery scents intensely, this might not be for you. I, however, really like this one despite my no love for the powder. It's going to go with O, Sed Non Satiata, and Blood Kiss for ultra-sexy fleshy scents. La Petit Mort is definitely the "good girl" among them.
Hymn to Proserpine, Lab description: "The darkening amber of faith’s sunset, deepened by the dark fruits of Proserpine."
Dusty, gilded amber with cool, crushed fruit. This is less damp and less sweet than you are thinking, I can tell you that right away. It's a rather dry, rather soft scent that is more powdery than sweet. The fruit here isn't sugary, isn't overpowering. It's delicate and understated.
Even once I apply it, it doesn't become a moist scent. This is very dry. Fig and pomegranate and rich, powdered amber mingle for a scent that is rich and sonorous, but very dry. It's an incense blend, an earthy, smooth incense. Sandalwood comes out later in the mix, a smell like sweet wood shavings curling on a fire. The throw is sugared fig and amber.
This is a quiet, contemplative scent, mournful and sensual. The cradling breast that gives ease and rest, comfort that is yet somehow cold. The scent of loss, of an empty space full of the scent of rare incense.
I had not read Swinburne's poem until after I wrote the review, but this is a perfect scent for it.
Ultimately, it is too powdery for me, but I think if you like powdery, delicate scents, this will be a complete hit.
Xiuhtecuhtli, Lab description: "Patron of the Aztec pantheon, he is the personification of light within darkness, warmth in the cold, and life in, and after, death. He is a creative and destructive God of Fire and Light, and is appeased only by sacrifice, trial, and the slaughter of his people’s enemies. Copal, plumeria and sweet orange and the smoke of South American incense and crushed jungle blooms."
This is an very odd scent. In the bottle it comes across as very densely smoky with a squeeze of orange layered over it. Not unlike Hellfire and Froot-Loops. It's very strong, very dark, and slightly bitter. It's also very velvety and deep, but the orange gives it an edge.
On, it opens up a little and becomes really pretty. This is clearly incense smoke. It's thick, creamy, and golden in character, resinous and soft, and over it is the melting orange glaze.
I'm not a big fan of citrus scents, but this one is really neat. It's a dirty, smoky citrus, and while that doesn't sound like a combination that'd work, it most definitely does.
Akuma, Lab description: "Devilish temptation, as sweet as sin: blood orange, neroli, and raspberry."
Sweet and saucy in the bottle, citrus with a breath of floral and a hint of berry.
On, it's sweet and fresh, a tart candy smell with enough floral to keep it just out of "foody."
That said, on me the notes combine to make an abhorrent cacaphony of smells, at the forefront of which is the fruit-scented bathroom spray found in convenience stores and truck stops all along Route 66. It's not a bad smell, but it smells like I've been washing up at rest stops where they sell shit like rattlesnake head paperweights and bottle openers shaped like naked women.
Citrus and floral don't play well together with the raspberry; not on my skin.
Oberon, Lab description: "Orchid, white musk, and bergamot wafting over juniper berries, with a gentle touch of soft, earthy patchouli."
White musk and orchid weave together in an ultra-light blend that is ever so subtle.
Even on, there is very little to this. It's not strongly rooted in any one category, it's really a medley of all its influences, and no one note dominates. This is soft, and less masculine than you might think. The top half is very light, almost powdery, and the body of it has a faint earthy undertone that is nonetheless moist.
It's not vivid, it's very understated, a perfume to wear when you don't want the scent to be noticed, you want you to be noticed. This would be an excellent choice for everyday wear. It's light, clean, and inviting, but subtle enough to remain appealing even on drydown.
Sorting through my imps, I realized yesterday that even though I still have around sixty reviews to post, I only have about 20 untested scents at the moment. Horrors!
Sadly, the money for a lab order isn't forthcoming, so I'll have to wait.
Tiny scent icons are courtesy of Penance's BPAL Icons and Diana's BPAL icons.
(I'm working on why the images aren't displaying, just FYI, so bear with me.)
Below the cut, reviews of Verdandi, Malediction, Beatrice, Ogun, Shroud, The Lady of Shalott, Hymn, Jersey Devil, Blood Countess, La Petit Mort, Hymn to Proserpine, Xiuhtecuhtli, Akuma, and Oberon.
Verdandi, Lab description: "Necessity. Deep herbs and apple with black amber."
This is herb and apple, zippily clean, with a smooth base of smoky amber underneath it all.
A surprisingly deep and throaty blend. It's damp and earthy on, but still has that incense and sugar smell of amber. The apple gives this a vaguely aquatic character that is quite agreeable. The amber gives it depth, stability, and longevity; the drydown is just scrumptious.
Malediction, Lab description: "Evil incarnate. Revel in your dark side with this romantically cruel scent. Contains red patchouli and vetivert."
I could swear I've tried this before, but nope, it's new to me. So here goes!
Wow, this is patchouli-y! A smoky patchouli so thick it's almost like tar in character, an odor both resinous and smoky, verging on the foul. A sharp note of vetiver keens through this like a knife drawn lightly over skin . . . sharp but not cutting.
This smells like the ashes of a campfire, to be honest. Even on, it's a savage, smoky odor that has very little to do with perfume, and everything to do with making anyone in the room with you edge further and further away.
It's heavy, so dark as to approach ultraviolet, and is thoroughly, thoroughly dirty. If I had to pick a BPAL scent that strikes me as utterly un-perfume-like, this would be it. It does not smell like something a person would volunteer to smell like.
Beatrice, Lab description: "A scent inspired by Beatrice, Rappaccini’s delicate, beautiful, innocent and deadly daughter. A fragile, winsome, poisonous blend of rare, precious and graceful flowers, rich blossoms and spicy perfumes that passes heavily, as a broken heart, across the borders of Time."
This was an LE blend.
This is overwhelmingly floral. I am certain I detect roses, and I smell lilies, too. Otherwise, this is hard to pin down. I'm not good with floral notes.
I also smell something creamy and soft, almost powdery. Vanilla?
It calms down a little from its initial floral blast, and lo and behold, the spices emerge. At this phase it is at its most beautiful, yet it is still very traditionally perfume-y.
The drydown is a dry floral spice that is at once appealing and elegant. Definitely traces of amber and vanilla.
Ogun, Lab description: "Ogun’s ofrenda is heavy and dark cigar tobacco, gin and juniper, melon, chili pepper and a touch of honey."
This is not quite like anything else I've smelled. It's an equal-parts mix of melon, juniper, and smoke, meaning it's fresh and juicy, but also husky and rich. There's a bit of sweet pepper in there, too.
On, the juniper and melon take a front seat, with the sweet tobacco smoke swirling along in the background. This is an unlikely scent, not traditionally cologne-y at all, and yet most definitely masculine. It smells somehow intimate, biological, as though this were a natural body scent. It only gets more like that as it ages. I like this even better once the topnotes have faded, leaving nothing but the scents of tobacco, honey, and pepper. Delicious!
It has a respectable throw, too, especially outdoors, where the sun really seems to do a number on it.
Shroud, Lab description: "Dry white sandalwood wrapped in thin woods, soft grasses and the lightest white flowers layered over cajeput and the warm, deep scent of embalming herbs."
This is a light floral heavy on the lily, with a faint herbal tone.
It's very light. On, it has a faint sandalwood base and a camphoraceous note hovering in the middle somewhere, something sweet and medicinal. It's not a powerful scent, is in fact barely there. Overall, it has a reserved, earthy quality, a kind of shadowy neutrality. The scent of it up close is rather unpleasant, having a strong vegetal odor that smells of crushed grass stems and old roots. It smells a little dirty, a little ripe.
The herbs are definitely embalming herbs, rather than foody ones. This has a distinctly . . . off quality that lends it an air of menace. It just smells out of whack, like something is wrong.
The Lady of Shalott, Lab description: "The scent of calm waters just before a raging storm, limned with achingly-beautiful blooms, an icy scent, but somehow warm, and mirror-bright: bold gardenia, crystalline musk, muguet, water blossoms, clear, slightly tart aquatic notes and a crush of white ginger."
This is a beautiful, sweet floral with overtones of musk and aquatics. The top note is definitely muguet - lily of the valley - with gardenia coming in a close second. There is also a strong drift of lotus, that sweet and sugary floral familiar to me from blends like Bastet. Sweet, candylike florals that grow soapy the longer I sniff 'em. Still, very pretty. There is musk here, boosting the smooth sweetness, tying in with the faint aquatics for a scent that is a beautiful evocation of water lilies viewed in a mirror: lovely but distant.
Again, a concept scent that evokes its subject superbly.
When I put it on, alas, it turns to the smell of soap bubbles. No subtlety at all on my skin. Damn florals; they all hate me.
It's still a beautiful scent and one I would unhesitatingly recommend to anyone with a love of floral scents. This is not too cloying, it has some depth, overall quite lovely.
Hymn, Lab description: "A paean to true holiness, spiritual purity, and sacred enlightenment. Based on an incense blend sacred to the Virgin Mary: perfect rose absolute and Palestinian Lily of the Valley with olibanum, labdanum, frankincense and myrrh."
Wow. This is a crystalline, incensey floral, perfectly balanced between fumes and flowers.
Rose comes ahead of the lily, and the resins are too well blended for me to tell them apart. Ah! No, there's the frankincense.
Once it goes on the lily of the valley is a little stronger, vying for first place with the rose. The thing is, this scent is really held down by the incense, so it's not what I'd call an overpowering incense blend at all.
The throw is a clean, pure floral with a hint of clean resins. This isn't a soapy scent but it is very pure, very pleasant. Up close it has an almost fuzzy quality, the product of the sweet rose and the myrrh blending, I think. The frankincense and lily go together to create a clean clarity. And the labdanum is sitting right in between, gluing it together with its gentle golden radiance.
A very well-constructed blend, one that would agree with a wide variety of people, I think. The presence of the lily of the valley and the rose make this traditional enough that it would appeal to a wide variety of folks who don't normally wear incense blends, but it's incensey enough to offset some of the florals' tendency to go rank, making it a good choice for those who tend to avoid florals for that reason. Folks like me, say.
As it ages, it does get some of that sharp, soapy stink that lily of the valley tends to turn to on me, but it's less unpleasant than usual, and I think if I hadn't put quite so much on, it wouldn't be so pronounced. The rose is a powdery undernote, not prominent on drydown at all. Present if you know to look for it, but otherwise more of a hint than a note. The resins are more or less one clean, hard resin-y smell now; it's lost some distinction.
I'm going to peg this as a nice, neutral, feminine scent that is doomed by my chemistry, but I insist that it is still a beautiful scent, one nice enough that I'd like to try to use it in a scent locket or an oil burner. Most of the time I don't try if I can't wear it, but this is pretty enough to be worth the effort.
The Jersey Devil, Lab description: "The scent of the wild, hauntingly beautiful Pine Barrens of New Jersey! Pitch pine with blackberry leaf, cranberry, cedar wood and tomato leaf."
Wow! The smell of pine greenery and cedar wood mingles with green, leafy notes and a hint of tart berries for a smell that is less like a perfume or cologne than it is like a room scent. This is a startlingly true "outdoorsy" smell. Just a whiff of it will make you think there is a door or window open somewhere.
It stays true and balanced on. The wood notes come up in the mix a little. The throw smells like the great outdoors with just a hint of cranberry. Neat. Neat, neat, neat. And, yes, there's a hint of "tomato leaf." That fuzzy, zippy smell that comes off of unwashed fresh tomato plants. It's not a food smell at all - it's a green gardening growing smell. Gah! Where does Beth get these? Does someone honestly make eau de tomato stems? Remarkable.
I'm not a fan of pitchy, woodsy scents, of greenery or woody smells, but this is quite true, and so it's rather more gentle than these things tend to be. There's no cutting edge here, it's a much smoother, softer scent than you might expect.
An excellent cologne, or, if you just want to freshen up, an excellent room scent. I like this very much; though I don't know how often I would realistically wear it on my body, I can see using it to scent my clothes or my room.
This reminds me just a little bit of The Carpathian Mountains, minus the sweets and flowers, and just a little bit of The Castle, minus the incense and stone. Definitely one to try for fans of woodsy blends, or someone looking for a more cologne-type scent.
Blood Countess, Lab description: "Elizabeth Báthory, also called Erzsébet Báthory in Hungarian and Alžbeta Bátoriová-Nádašdy in Slovak, was the Bloody Lady of Hungary. In order to preserve her youth and loveliness, the brutal and incomparably savage countess captured, tortured and slaughtered innumerable young women and bathed in their blood as part of her beauty regimen. Ah, vanity. Corrupted black plum, smoky opium and crumbling dead roses covered by a deceptive veil of Hungarian lilac, white gardenia and wild berry."
Light, chill florals and a brisk berry overlay the smell of opium in the bottle. Sweet and slightly tart with a hint of rose.
On, it's plum, opium, and faint florals. A very interesting perfume, and very hard to describe. It's quite traditionally perfumey, and very female. The overall impression it gives is that of reserved sophistication, with a hint of corruption beneath.
As it dries, it becomes deeper, lower, as the berries die back and the opium relaxes. It's not as strong as I thought at first; once the first rush of scent dies back, the smell all but vanishes. What is left is an intriguing mix of high, jagged notes, peppery almost.
The florals are apparent, are even the key notes, but this is not a typical floral at all. This is much more perfume-y than powdery or sweet. A scent so unusual it's bound to attract attention, very finely balanced on the edge of appealing and unpleasant.
La Petit Mort, Lab description: "Seduction, sensuality, the Act, and the aftermath all in one. The scent of warm, damp skin flushed with the glow of passion, touched by the luxuriant potency of ylang ylang and myrrh."
In the bottle this is soft, rich ylang ylang . . . like a honeyed floral. There is something ambery/vanilla here, and a hint of some mellow incense. Probably the myrrh.
On it is powdery, but not in a horrible, stinky way. This is a soft, sensual sort of smell, very inoffensive, balanced carefully between floral and fleshy. A lot of people are comparing this to O and to Snake Oil, and it has elements of both - the sweet, fleshy, honey scent of O, without the overwhelming dirtiness; the rich depth of Snake Oil without the cloying almond/cherry rush. But it's different enough, light enough, that even those who didn't like either scent should try this one.
I don't do florals, but this is divine . . . ylang ylang doesn't smell like flowers, it smells creamy and fleshy, a rich body scent that clings close and has the most inviting throw. Actually, it reminds me very strongly of a deeper but less nuanced Khajuraho. There is a definite similarity. Khajuraho is green and wet, this is golden and dry, but they share a theme.
The drydown is delicious honey-amber inflected with ylang ylang and super-snuggly myrrh. This reminds me of Bastet a little, too; it's the same sort of utterly desirable, sensual scent that I can't imagine anyone objecting to. Definitely one for the classics.
It is very powdery, though; be advised that if you dislike powdery scents intensely, this might not be for you. I, however, really like this one despite my no love for the powder. It's going to go with O, Sed Non Satiata, and Blood Kiss for ultra-sexy fleshy scents. La Petit Mort is definitely the "good girl" among them.
Hymn to Proserpine, Lab description: "The darkening amber of faith’s sunset, deepened by the dark fruits of Proserpine."
Dusty, gilded amber with cool, crushed fruit. This is less damp and less sweet than you are thinking, I can tell you that right away. It's a rather dry, rather soft scent that is more powdery than sweet. The fruit here isn't sugary, isn't overpowering. It's delicate and understated.
Even once I apply it, it doesn't become a moist scent. This is very dry. Fig and pomegranate and rich, powdered amber mingle for a scent that is rich and sonorous, but very dry. It's an incense blend, an earthy, smooth incense. Sandalwood comes out later in the mix, a smell like sweet wood shavings curling on a fire. The throw is sugared fig and amber.
This is a quiet, contemplative scent, mournful and sensual. The cradling breast that gives ease and rest, comfort that is yet somehow cold. The scent of loss, of an empty space full of the scent of rare incense.
I had not read Swinburne's poem until after I wrote the review, but this is a perfect scent for it.
Ultimately, it is too powdery for me, but I think if you like powdery, delicate scents, this will be a complete hit.
Xiuhtecuhtli, Lab description: "Patron of the Aztec pantheon, he is the personification of light within darkness, warmth in the cold, and life in, and after, death. He is a creative and destructive God of Fire and Light, and is appeased only by sacrifice, trial, and the slaughter of his people’s enemies. Copal, plumeria and sweet orange and the smoke of South American incense and crushed jungle blooms."
This is an very odd scent. In the bottle it comes across as very densely smoky with a squeeze of orange layered over it. Not unlike Hellfire and Froot-Loops. It's very strong, very dark, and slightly bitter. It's also very velvety and deep, but the orange gives it an edge.
On, it opens up a little and becomes really pretty. This is clearly incense smoke. It's thick, creamy, and golden in character, resinous and soft, and over it is the melting orange glaze.
I'm not a big fan of citrus scents, but this one is really neat. It's a dirty, smoky citrus, and while that doesn't sound like a combination that'd work, it most definitely does.
Akuma, Lab description: "Devilish temptation, as sweet as sin: blood orange, neroli, and raspberry."
Sweet and saucy in the bottle, citrus with a breath of floral and a hint of berry.
On, it's sweet and fresh, a tart candy smell with enough floral to keep it just out of "foody."
That said, on me the notes combine to make an abhorrent cacaphony of smells, at the forefront of which is the fruit-scented bathroom spray found in convenience stores and truck stops all along Route 66. It's not a bad smell, but it smells like I've been washing up at rest stops where they sell shit like rattlesnake head paperweights and bottle openers shaped like naked women.
Citrus and floral don't play well together with the raspberry; not on my skin.
Oberon, Lab description: "Orchid, white musk, and bergamot wafting over juniper berries, with a gentle touch of soft, earthy patchouli."
White musk and orchid weave together in an ultra-light blend that is ever so subtle.
Even on, there is very little to this. It's not strongly rooted in any one category, it's really a medley of all its influences, and no one note dominates. This is soft, and less masculine than you might think. The top half is very light, almost powdery, and the body of it has a faint earthy undertone that is nonetheless moist.
It's not vivid, it's very understated, a perfume to wear when you don't want the scent to be noticed, you want you to be noticed. This would be an excellent choice for everyday wear. It's light, clean, and inviting, but subtle enough to remain appealing even on drydown.
Sorting through my imps, I realized yesterday that even though I still have around sixty reviews to post, I only have about 20 untested scents at the moment. Horrors!
Sadly, the money for a lab order isn't forthcoming, so I'll have to wait.
Tiny scent icons are courtesy of Penance's BPAL Icons and Diana's BPAL icons.