[euterpe414]

"What's this Crowley like?" said Ligur.

Hastur spat. "He's been up here too long," he said. "Right from the Start. Gone native, if you ask me. Drives a car with a telephone in it."

Ligur pondered this. Like most demons, he had a very limited grasp of technology, and so he was just about to say something like, I bet it needs a lot of wire, when the Bentley rolled to a halt at the cemetery gate.

Dry olibanum, black moss, soggy ti, khus, and opoponax.

Eeek! I'm first.... :P I'll try my best, so here goes...

In the bottle this one is very, very dark, earthy and heavy on the black moss; I really adore dark, earthy BPAL blends and this is one of the darker ones that I have smelled in a while. Once it hits my skin it is a very damp mossy smell with a tiny hint of resin in the background. As it dries there is a smokiness that comes to the forefront (which I am thinking is my nose interpreting the vetiver/khus), and it really helps to add depth and another dimension to the blend. The smell brings to mind walking through a dark wooded area in the rain and smelling faint, distant chimney smoke that is wafting in and out with the wind. Once this has been dry for a long time the resin seems to come out a little bit more, and balance itself with the smokiness and moss. I really enjoy this one, and it's perfect for cold weather as these dark earthy scents seem to warm me right up :D Those who like blends such as R.M. Renfield, Malediction and Brimstone should definitely give this one a try.

This post has been edited by euterpe414: 21 November 2007 - 08:12 PM

[sookster]

straight sniff from bottle is sharply dark and forboding!!

once applied this has a deep resinous feel...no doubt the olibanum...after awhile this
seems to get more complex with that black moss and opoponax; heavy
and great for cold months when you may be feeling a little risque'...very interesting blend

[LadyCrow]

In the decant: Weirdly medicinal, almost like Laudanum amped up.

Wet: Almost overpowering resins, with a bit of the smokiness coming in.

Drydown: The resin recedes a bit and the smoky note comes forward -- the khus, maybe? -- which makes the overall effect considerably drier. The oakmoss is beautifully dark and heavy close to my skin, while that odd sort of root-beer tang persists in the throw for at least the first half-hour of wear. Then it all becomes more of a skin scent, which is fine, because the earthiness of the whole blend is so heavy. (Being a dippy water sign, I can see wearing this to feel more grounded.)

Verdict: Overall quite nice; the throw is only moderate at its strongest, but this is in some ways like a drier (and more resiny) Twisted Oak Tree -- very autumnal.

[alicia_stardust]

LIGUR

Ligur is dark and fiery. It is very heavy on the khus and black moss which bring it an earthy, dank quality. There is an almost medicinal quality to this. The resins add a dark, gummy bite but they remain subdued next to the dominant khus. This is very interesting—earthy, dark, autumnal, dry, fiery, fiendish!

[Little Bird]

My first thought when sniffing this in its vial was that it smelled strangely of smoky, honey bbq. Sweet, smoky and odd.

On my skin, it's thankfully not so odd. Ligur actually smells really wonderful to me.

This smells like dry wood planks, spicy in the way that cedar can smell spicy. There are also smoky resins dancing about, but they're not so smoky that they bother me. They're sweet, dark, and a bit earthy.

This gives me a wonderful impression of being at a campsite and sitting underneath a wooden structure at a wooden picnic table while rain falls down and floods out the nearby campfire. It has a cool earthiness that makes me think of warm earth just starting to get its first tastes of a chilly spring rain.

Ligur surprises me. Dry woods, warm earth meeting cold rain, and a slight smoky, ashiness from a rained out campfire. It has a sweetness to it that I love, and I love the woods impression that I get from this. I really want to slather this on my love, as I think it would smell even better on a man (where I can enjoy it on someone else too, lol).

[Edens Sixth Day]

Ligur – This is a dark, heavy, and earthy – the black moss is the dominant note on my skin, and it’s really heavy and dank. It smells like there’s vetiver in this blend, so I was really surprised when it didn’t get the vetiver drydown and then when I didn’t see it in the ingredient list. From the reviews, it seems others are really keen on this scent, but I’m finding this too heavy and smoky and black and unpleasant.

[Ceiswyn]

In the imp: Well, I can certainly smell the khus. Oh boy yes. And... other stuff, but I don't recognise any of the scents. Maybe something a little frankincensish; but I don't remember seeing frankincense among the ingredients... It's definitely bitter. Hot, and very, very bitter. A dark, slightly woody scent, with a hint of sharpness, but mostly bitter.

On the wrist: Bitter and bitter and sharp and bitter. Lovely, lovely khus, with a dark and smoky edge to it; quite strong, and positively acrid on the wrist. But what a delicious, bitter, woody, smoky throw; is that just the faintest trace of myrrh? Oh, so harsh, and dark, and hot, and bitter, bitter, bitter...

One hour later: Myrrh is definitely present, as is khus, and something that sharpens them a little. I'm wreathed in the smell of hot, acrid, bitter, and I love it.

As time goes on it becomes gradually myrrhier, but hey, I like myrrh :P

A bit of Googling suggests that many of the ingredients I didn't recognise are old friends in disguise:
- Olibanum is a type of frankincense
- Opoponax is a type of myrrh
- And of course, khus is a kind of vetiver

[Melissa Della]

Wet: Dark and earthy.

First on: Mossy cedar wood.

Dry: Bleeh. I was hoping for a stronger opoponax; all I get here is cedar spiciness and a big, dark, heavy moss. Not a fan.

[QueenFae]

Dark, earthen, wet, moldy, dank spanish moss. Yep, this is certainly creepy and evil smelling. I would have sworn there was vetiver in this, it has that deep resinous feeling that never agrees with me. Strong, pungent and wickedly icky.

Scary, this is what a creepy swamp monster should smell like. The boy will probably love it.

[slave1]

LIGUR

In Bottle: Dark, wet dirt

On Skin: This scent has to be one of the darkest scents I have ever smelled. It feels black, very black. The olibanum is the culprit… resinous and very deep. The moss and khus are very earthy and dirt like. The opoponax is a perfect resinous compliment and begins to sweeten the scent with it’s trademark sticky quality. I also get a bit of a BBQ sauce feel from this, I kid you not. Smoky and sweet… a little off putting. Lol! It’s not my kind of scent, but very interesting without a doubt. Very strong throw and extremely long wearlength.

[The_Merf]

This is much darker than I remember the prototype being--when I first put it on, it is very much a mossy, soggy, earthy blend. The sense of wetness and saturation is very strong--this is moss and earth that has been rained on a lot! While I smell the resin, it's also very piney and sharp, and here the khus smells like vetiver more than it has in other blends. As the scent dries, it actually starts to remind me a bit of Dance of Death--the dry resin, if that makes any sense. The "soggy" sense does go away in the latter part of the blend's dry-down. I really am left with that sense of "vetiver smoky" with this blend; it's quite uncanny!

ETA: Had to edit this--no wonder I was confused as to why opoponax was smelling like vetiver--I totally forgot there was khus in this!

This post has been edited by The_Merf: 10 January 2008 - 02:34 AM

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Deep, dark vetiver and dampness.

Immediately on skin: Wow… strong, soggy vetiver. It’s odd, but this actually smells damp. It has an almost animalistic musky feel to it. There’s also a very slight sweet resinous note in this, but it’s very light.

After a few minutes: This is just… wrong. It smells like mildew and vetiver on me. There’s no sweetness, just damp, dark decay and vetiver. It’s smoky but cloying.

Overall Impressions: This is an odd scent. It’s dank and dark and smoky… and very icky on my skin. It smells like a cardboard box damaged in a fire, then left around in a puddle of water to mildew for a while.

[GentlemanCaller]

Initial thoughts: I love Hastur and Ligur. I really do. I would have wanted this even if the notes had been listed as sulphur and old socks. As it is, I'm not sure exactly what those notes are, but I have a sneaky suspicion that we're looking at woods, mosses and resins, or possibly unusual herbs.

In the imp: Dry and woody, but with interesting overtones. Mmmm...

On the wrist, wet: Still woody, but there's something... can't really place it... it isn't green, but it's mossy and dark and wet. I'm very, very intrigued by this.

Some time later: Oh, I like this! It reminds me of something and I can't quite place what. It's not wet, per se, but soggy is a pretty apt description. It's got some tang without being spicy, an almost medicinal edge which isn't unpleasant at all... Mossy without being green, oily but not exactly herbal, and almost more of a 'loom' than a 'lurk'. I wish I knew the notes better to be able to pick them out, but as it is, I think this is an excellent masculine scent for days when you don't want to be bothered by small fry.

EDIT: CHRIST ON A BIKE. IT ISN'T. IT IS!

I figured out what it reminds me of. Fig rolls. There's no fig in it, it doesn't smell like fig, it's just that dark, almost fermented not-quite-sweetness.

Verdict: Bottle when the imp runs out.

Tl;Dr: Soggy, black moss with unusual oily, almost medicinal tang. For all your manly demon needs.

EDITED AGAIN: I wore this to the cinema, and after an hour or so I was wondering why it smelt of vetiver. Ahah! BECAUSE IT HAS VETIVER IN IT!

On the long-term drydown, the mossy, soggier parts of the scent recede and the myrrh and the vetiver go to town. I imagine if you hated myrrh and vetiver - like my mother does - you'll hate this. I loved it.

This post has been edited by GentlemanCaller: 05 June 2008 - 02:30 PM

[Lycanthrope]

Dude!

Ligur is all sorts of scent memory awesome. I don't quite know if I could pull this off as a personal perfume (I'm sure coworkers would love it...). Wet, and from the bottle, it was pretty much one gigantic drop of vetiver, but once it hit the skin and was able to settle a bit, it brought to mind a ton of association memories.

I'm thinking... wood chips scattered haphazardly in a makeshift trail through a bit of preserved Michigan, or jogging on a trail with my friend in North Carolina, or standing outside on vacation in Northern Michigan in the dead of winter, smelling the curls of woodsmoke wafting through the air. It's eerie how much this brings that to mind. Ligur smells of smoky mulch, potting material, gardening, hardware store gardening section, earth without being dirt, forest without being sweetly woodsy.

Dark, charred, crackling campfire.

And the ultimate clincher? With the drydown, this beings to have hints of the drydown of the first ever still unreleased blend I ever tried, Kweku Anansi, which immediately makes this ULTIMATE WIN.

I really need to get my own full bottle. Or two. Srsly.

[Cyphersushi]

When I sniffed the bottle I was suddenly transported to the forests of northern sweden. Deep in the forest where the ground is damp, covered in dark green moss. The trees are all pine and fir and they are draped in lichen. It is dark even though it is in the middle of the day and you are uncomfortably aware that it is very easy to both get lost and to misstep and disappear into a murky hole. I spent a lot of time in the forests as a child so this smells like home for me.

On my skin it stays the same and I love it. This is a serious scent and I will defintetly keep the imp.

[filigree_shadow]

Most of the reviewers so far have used the word "dark" to describe this scent, and guess what? I'm going to use it too.

Ligur is dark. It smells like moss and khus, and for some reason it also smells like black licorice on my skin. It's not a comforting scent to me at all -- it kind of makes me feel uneasy. However... for some reason it compels me to keep sniffing it. It's like I keep thinking Eeew, that smells so weird. Here let me sniff it again. What a strange scent. I'll just sniff it again. No, I don't think I like it. But I better sniff it again to make sure. It keeps drawing me in for some reason.

This scent isn't at home on me at all, but I think I would really enjoy it on someone else.

[theseagrows]

this is a very mossy, woody scent. it brings to mind brown and dark green. it's foresty and earthy, reminiscent of tarot: death, without the vetiver. there is also a slightly damp feeling to this, like damp wood. very dark, earthy and interesting!

[tinyvulture]

this scent reminds me of my old job cataloging antique books. often they had been left in someone’s garage too long, and mildew formed on the pages. there’s also something vaguely hoppy (as in beer). so i guess this is the scent of sipping a brew while perusing old, badly-cared-for books :P . seriously, i can tell that there’s moss and vetiver in this, and some woodsy resins. i also think i smell cedar and licorice (anise?). it’s dry and dusty, yet dank and mossy. not an “everyday” scent for me, but i like how unique and evocative it is.

[rayvn1]

This is fabulous stuff! Dark - and I do mean dark with a capital D - with that awesome khus that makes my nose twitch. This blend was almost fiery and affected me in a similar way as Black Annis though I don't think they share notes. I'm already scrambling to find a bottle :P

[zankoku_zen]

God, this is so heavy and dark. On wet, it kinda smelled like smoked bacon. As it dried the bacon went away, and now it smells like a campfire and wood burning. I also get a little touch of wool.

Very dark, very masculine. Very smoky. Kinda like an extreme version of lapsang souchoung, minus the tea.

You want smoke? This is it.

[blu°]

Ligur at first is nothing but licorice on me. And then it is licorice, and then licorice with a bit of... something else.

I don't find it smoky at all because it is way too sticky and dank to be smoky. It's more like some dark dark burnt sticky resin. It reminds me a bit of tamarind paste as well, maybe that's a texture resemblance rather than one based on scent. I doesn't feel like this was going to live on my skin. It's more likely to sit where I put it, a resiny dark blob getting thicker and stickier.

Drying it seems to loosen a little bit, I get some green-ness and it feels like there's a bit more air now for the moss and vetiver to breathe.

After drydown it's definitely more breathy and dryer smelling than before, there's a bit of throw now, too. Still dark but dry vetiver with a slightly sweet note to it, dry smoky olibanum, black moss. Not all that bad at all. It's a distinctly natural smoky smell now, and I'm a bit surprised because I think I might like it in the end.

Will have to test again some time soon.

[crebbsgirl]

I have no idea what the hell happened here. I normally love dark and creepy blends and let me tell you, that is exactly what this is. For some reason, my skin turned this to garbage. Dank, rotting garbage. I actually had to wash this off. I NEVER wash things off because I've been surprised too many time during the drydown. This was an abomination on my skin. In fact, I want someone around me to wear it so I can figure out how it's SUPPOSED to smell. All of these notes are usually made of win for me. I'm going to test this on the boy right now.

[devilot]

Ligur
In the vial: Dark, murky, smoky, earthy. Think it's the "khus" I'm smelling. I ono, not really sure as I don't recognize many of the notes.

Wet: Still earthy, still dark, but something almost spicy! How intriguing. I never thought I'd like such a scent, but I can't stop sniffing.

Drydown: Now it seems almost woodsy. Still that spiciness. And yes, smoky.

Verdict: This is sooooo awesome. I mean, it's a fabulous experience. And I'm incredibly glad I got to try this. And I really do like it. I just, well, I'd never wear it out as a perfume. But part of me really wants to hang onto it for some reason. For the novelty of it, I s'pose. Ponders.

[novak69]

ahhh this is probably in the top twenty list of smells i have been looking for my whole life. this is very much parts of the pacific northwest and canada. rainy woods leading down to a foggy beach and a damp fire. when first applied, there is an element that is a little too hot and tannic and coppery and kind of uncomfortable but whatever it is dies down and this becomes a completely organic smell - not like a perfume at all. it is iodine and smoke and moss and the way that natural fabrics like canvas and wool will hold the smell of the entire camping experience or sailing experience seemingly forever. it is strong when first applied but lightens up surprisingly. this reminds me of the scene in The French Liutenant's Woman where Meryl Streep has her hair down under the big, mossy trees. i bought this for spring but there is a way for me it will fit any season. i need my clothes to smell like this so used a little Jamieson's i had sitting around for the alcohol and made a linen spray out of a little bit of it. it is stupefying. i do see the comparison to Black Annis very clearly. I like Black Annis too but it starts out cold and dries down to a powdery anisette and Ligur starts out kind of feverishly warm and dries down to mossy driftwood smoke. As far as the character goes, i am happy to represent one of the dukes of hell on a consistant basis.

[Wren12]

Yarp, this is a dark scent, but what would you expect for one named after a demon?

In the imp...this is a disquieting scent. It's the oakmoss mixing with a sweeter resin...

On wet...dark and smokey. Much more pleasant than the imp...not sure I love it. The more I experiment with 'moss' scents the less I dig them.

On dry...ah, here we go. The resins sweeten and darken and the moss note softens significantly. A smoky tone emerges, but is sweetened by...something...a sweet resin? This scent is defying description for me. But I quite like it now. (not as much as Lambs Wool, which I have on the other wrist, but I'm still a fan, I'm keeping the imp!)

So, since I couldn't define these notes, and I'm working hard to learn them, I did some research! Did you guys know that Oblibanum is another name for frankincense? That explains the sweeter resin note. Khus is the name of Chrysopogon zizanioides or...Vetiver (ah, the smokiness!) And Opopanax is more commonly known as Sweet Myrrh! (The darker resin undertone here!) Finally Ti is an evergreen, and a member of the aspargus family, which explains the very slight piney note underpinning the other scents! (Also, people use the leaves to make sleds!)

How interesting!!!!