[viciousviolet]

And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth. An ancient formula that inspires unrepentant decadence, lechery and debauch.

This is a very interesting scent. A sweet floral over vanilla and cinnamon. Maybe rose geranium or gardenia? It started out heavy and sweet and dried down to a husky, sensual floral with a spicy kick.

ETA: I know that many people will disagree with me, but this is like Dragon's Milk with a spicier kick and a shot of sweet gardenia. This is a "dark" scent, without smelling literally dark. How to explain? It's the scent of a pampered, decadent, deviant, truly evil Goddess-Empress lounging on a fainting couch, surrounded by slaves and worshippers.

[shriekingviolet]

Initial Impression:
Smells kinda fruity, though I can't pinpoint what it might be. Vry complex and interesty. Smoky and a little sweet.

After Wearing It:
Smoky, sweet, and just a touch fruity and spicy. I smell amber here and some incense note. Myrrh perhaps. It's a rich and decadent fragrance, managing to smell both modern and as old as time. Like voices whispering over prophesies of old texts. It wears pretty strong but I don't find it to be overwhelming (though I do prefer heavier scents, anyway). It wears well too, not fading even after hours of wear. Lovely.

Final Thoughts:
When I first put this on, I wasn't sure how much I liked it. It's not that it smelled bad on, but the fragrance was so complex that my nose had to adapt. It smelled the same hour after hour and by hour 3, I was totally in love. I want a bottle of this straight away, but my next order is looking mighty expensive already. :?

[twistygirl]

Yes, this is a husky, dark, heavy scent. On me, the sweetness is a very heavy sweetness which is most definitely the gardenia. I also detect some myrrh in here because I'm picking up on that smoky smell. It is a most complex fragrance. Gardenia is not something that works well on me except in *minute* doses, but this is so interesting that I will give it another try before making my final keep-it-or-swap-it decision.

[andie]

Gardenia doesn't really work on me, either. It ends up taking over whatever the rest of the fragrance is, and this is exactly what happened here. I didn't get the smokiness at all once it was actually on me, though I could smell it in the vial.

Diluting this with lotion actually seems to have helped a little, though, taking it from a Gardenia kick-in-the-face to a dark floral scent.

[Andra]

First Impression: Oh, so strong and very sweet.

Second Impression: This is a sickly sweet, powdery floral. I like potent but this is too much.

Final Analysis: This didn't mellow at all, even after several hours.

[coal coat]

I do not know what any flowers smell like; I have never had a flower garden; I do not go outside much. All that said, Sacred Whore smells of sweet, yellow flowers on me. The scent is strong; it projects; it lasts, but on me there is no cinnamon, no myrhh. Whenever I wear it, I think of daffodils. Of course, I've never smelled a daffodil.

[chai_girl]

This is a strange scent on me. I placed a dab on each wrist and between my breasts. The scent on my wrists is decidedly different from the scent that is wafting up from between my breasts. I've never had that happen before.

At first the scent was a smokey spice scent with just a touch of floral. I wasn't sure I was going to like it. It began to mellow a but it stayed true to the original scent, just softer. It is kind of like a middle eastern bazaar with spices and smoke from cooking fires wafting through...and a flower market around the corner adding a sweet high note to mix.

My wrists smell more like the spice and smoke...the scent from between my breasts is a much stronger floral...I guess it is gardenia since that is what everyone else is saying. It is what I call a high sweet note...as opposed to a duskier, deep note.

The jury is still out on this. It might be a special mood or occasion scent. Since it is drying down in two different ways, I'll have to try it again to be sure.

[Me!]

first wiff~syrupy gardenia and a dash of cinnamon and vanilla.

thick, musky, sweet, raw.

i smell good. :P

[fairywingmaker]

spicey gardenia, that's what this smells like to me. I love it!!! I bought a 5 ml of it. Yummmm

[hypothermya]

This was one of the free imps that The Lab generously gave me in my last order. I admit to having heard of it, and being interested, but not knowing what was in it...

First Impression

When I first smelled this, I was reminded of smelling Snake Oil out of the vial. There was definitely vanilla, and some smoky spices, but there was something else that was in there that I just couldn't place my fingers on. It smelled very strongly sweet and... And then I read the other reviews here and it hit me! Gardenia! It smells like a spicier, smokier version of that bush of gardenias that was at my house while I was growing up! I love gardenias, but my boyfriend is horribly allergic to them... So I guess I'll give this a try and then wistfully send it to the swap pile... Or maybe save it for days when I won't be around him.

Wearing It

This is really something. The gardenia smell isn't nearly as strong, or in-your-face floral as straight gardenias are. Normally a gardenia put into a bowl of water in a room would overwhelm me. No, this is a light, sweet gardenia, but with incence and spice (definitely cinnamon....another yummy scent that my boyfriend can't stand). It makes me think of the drinking a horchata (Mexican cinnamon rice drink), but with more vanilla, while standing in a room with gardenias and incence. Except that image doesn't seem to capture the seductive, feminine quality of ths perfume...

Lasting Power

This one lasts for a good long while. As it fades, it just gets smokier smelling.

I enjoy this perfume a lot, but it isn't a favorite of mine. I'm always impressed with how wonderful Beth's cinnamon scents smell, but for once I'm in the minority in saying that the vanilla in this scent doesn't capture me. It seems a bit too foody/desert-like for me to want to smell like. However, if I were offered a cake that smelled like this, I'd gobble the whole thing up! The gardenia, however, is delicious smelling, and brings back memories of picking the flowers from our gardenia bush... What a lovely smell! I'd keep this around just for that, but... I suspect that my boyfriend would fall over with an instant allergy attack. Oh well. But I can see how this would be a to-die-for scent on some people, and I wish I knew someone who wore it just so I could smell it every now and then.

[nevermore]

I really like this one. It was on my “want” list simply based on the name, and I was glad I took the chance to try it without knowing the notes. The gardenia and spices mix quite nicely. It’s a very unique scent, and took me a few tries to decide if I liked it or not.

[Effluvia]

in the vial: Gardenia. Spices. Mmmyep.

on my skin: Holy shit! This does smell like Dragon's Milk with gardenia and spices. Sweet and smoky. Is there dragon's blood or vanilla in this? I really like this, and I usually hate gardenia (I usually find it too cloying). I adore this, though, because it smells like real gardenias when they bloom (I LOVE that smell) rather than a fake perfumey gardenia smell (How could I expect anything less than perfection from The Lab? :P). Like Dragon's Milk, there's something safe and comforting and happy about this. Mmmmmm. Lovely.

[pkwench]

Sacred Whore of Babylon

Vial: Bittersweet. Somehow chocolate, somehow not.

Wet: There's so much going on here that I can't tell what I'm smelling. It seems to change every second. There's a definate almost banana laden musk happening in here. But, it can't be banana because it doesn't reek. HATE banana smells unless I'm eating one. LOL I think it's a very buttery vanilla mingled with some very interesting spices. Hmm!

After 10: Wow. It's a warm, exotic, and buttery vanilla. Smelling it is so nice, so erotic that I can't tell if I want to eat my hand or rub on it suggestively. Yum!

After 20: This is so decadent, so sensual, and just so darn lovely. And if I think it smells this good on me, I have a feeling that it'd smell purely godlike on my much adored significant other. Jesus, if he was wearing this, he could have me on a whim! *swoons*

[Miggins]

Oh Hell's teeth! Lab Angels, forgive me for what I am about to say...

Sacred Whore of Babylon, on my skin, smelt just like slightly sweet wood varnish. Sadly not likely to inspire "unrepentant decadence, lechery and debauch" but more likely to inspire painting the garden fence.

Still love the name though!

[VelvetSky]

Sacred Whore....this perfume so fits the name. This is an almost shamefully sexy fragrance. This is not for the shy or for someone who doesn't want to be noticed.

Goes on strong, sharp and brazen, like slightly overripe fruit. After a few minutes, I get heavy red wine mixed with thick incense. A tiny touch of bittersweet chocolate. I'm getting a whiff of gardenia, but an overblown, spent gardenia blossom. This is the dark side of womanly.

There is absolutely no subtlety in this blend - it's loud and powerful. This is a perfect blend to use in spell work.

[t3andcrumpets]

I'm not sure what to say about Sacred Whore of Babylon.

In the vial, it's your everyday generic floral with a touch of something woody/grassy. I don't get spice or vanilla at all. Just floral.

On me, it's just the same as it was in the vial for about an hour, then it morphs into a soft, sweet and slightly spicy & grassy floral. I'm not wild about florals at all, but this is growing on me.

Will definitely keep the imp, and I may buy more.

Now that it's all mellowed out and is starting to disappear, I smell incredible. Even my mother with her "no, not more purfume!" urges likes it. Wahey!

This post has been edited by pekeana: 28 September 2004 - 06:01 PM

[Shollin]

First sniff: Flowers, flowers and more flowers. Sacred Whore of Babylon is very full and soft, and there’s something brightly white-sweet – jasmine or gardenia, maybe.

Wearing: I can’t tell if the dusting around the flowers is spice or mint. It smells more like cinnamon, but it makes my nose cold in the same way mint does. I suspect this scent is not for me – it isn’t my sort of floral.

[Lexy]

It was August. I went by my Dad's house first thing in the morning. As we walked out to his garden he kept looking around, 'til I finally asked him what was wrong. "I smelled Spring flowers, but I can't figure out what is blooming now."

Turns out it was Sacred Whore he was smelling. Early Spring blooms, just out of the bulb and destined to die in a few more days.

With vanilla. so that if I smell my wrist I think of sugar cookies. :P

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

I had mixed feelings prior to trying this, since I hate gardenias on me and everyone seems to agree this contains them...yet I love the idea of smelling like a Sacred Whore. :P

Yup, the dreaded gardenia. Sickly-sweet and somehow depressing--I don't know why, but they always make me horribly sad. To me, they smell of loss and heartache, and I have yet to like a BPAL that included them. There is some interesting incense in here and also a touch of vanilla, and those are lovely. Alas, the gardenia sprawls all over them in wanton abandon and is now smirking lewdly at me, having tainted the good-girl notes beyond all recognition.

I don't feel bad about swaping the Whore around...you know she likes it. :D

[omly]

A rich golden imp, Sacred Whore is a very heavy sweet floral. In fact it is so cloying sweet I am not sure if I can wear it at first. There is a dark spicy incensy note that fills out the sweetness though. Unfortunately after a few minutes the sweetness goes soapy on my skin :P

[xochitl]

This is a fabulous, sweet spicy sent. There is at least one strong floral note (I'm assuming the gardenia) but it hides a bit on me because of the spicy element. When I forst tried it, I couldn't smell the floral at all, and like it a bit better when the notes were less defined. Who knows why they've separated a bit on me now... It dries into a heady scent that retains it's sweet smell tempered by spice.

[Phaedra]

I got this one as a freebie in my very first imp order from the Lab. Although it's very nice to get freebies, this particular scent didn't work for me. On me it smells very strongly of gardenia. As some other people said it's very heavy and cloyingly sweet. It might be nice to wear in warm weather though. Although I didn't really like this one on me, there was something in it that made me keep sniffing my wrists hours later....funny how that happens with BPAL, isn't it?

[Northernminx]

Dear lord I thought the imp was going to attack me when I opened it. Definitly Gardenia, lots of it in there, but there's vanilla as well which mellows this out, and a faint cinnamon spice to something in there. Nutmeg maybe as well.

Seductive, floral, but not wimpy. This is feminine without the pretty lace and frills. Kama Sutra sort of feminine, slinky, and striking. This is STRONG. one small dab on my wrists lasted half the day (a record for me)

I'm still deciphering if I will keep this: I can, after all, only wear so many heavy florals and I'm actually quite inclined to give this one to my mother. The imp shall remain however.

[Scylla]

In the vial: Syrupy sweetness and, Holy Gardenias, Batman!

Wet, on my skin: This smells cloyingly sweet on me. I definitely get the gardenias, but there is some spiciness I can't quite pinpoint. I must resist the urge to go wash it off!

On drydown: This morphs into being mainly violets and honey, with some gardenia and spices in the background. Still quite sweet and overpowering.

I will probably swap this. Gotta love the name, though! :P

[tempete]

This is the third BPAL I've tried that contains cinnamon. I've learned my lesson: I cannot wear anything containing cinnamon because it dominates the scent to the exclusion of all other notes. Sacred Whore of Babylon made me smell like a cinnamon cookie, which is not exactly what I was hoping for given the name of the scent... :P