UltraViolet Report post Posted October 7, 2005 (edited) 4 No Lab description. Count Alessandro di Cagliostro was famous Italian magician and alchemist (1743-1795) In the bottle Deep mysterious smoke with a dark fruitiness. On It smells deep and sensual and smells truly like a gender nuetral blend. It's got alot of smokiness, sort of similar to Wildfire and there seems to be ginger and a teeny bit of civet, maybe some dark myrrh as well. It's lightly sweet, maybe from some sort of resin or a plum-like fruit? 30 minutes Hasn't strayed from it's original scent on my skin at all. It seems to have better than average staying power. Throw: a bit more than average Scent category: Incense/Resin/Fruity/Animalistic Summary This is a familiar smell, and addictive smell, a dark smell. The feeling of familiarity keeps me sniffing my wrists a ridiculous amount of times. It's got this smoke primarily, then it's subtley foody because of the plum or whatever frutiiness that is, and it's also incensey. Nice gothic scent. Purchase again? Yes. I've not smelled anything quite like this. It seems to have a "ritual work" vibe to it, which is nice. 1-5 rating (5 being best) 4 ETA: Apparently I didn't wait till it was all the way dry. Now it is a more feminine powdery floral backing,still dark but with the smokiness gone. Very beautiful and this brings the rating to a new "4" from "3.5". Edited November 28, 2005 by UltraViolet Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clover Report post Posted October 15, 2005 Sniffing from the bottle: Black musk. Could be single note black musk at this point. Upon application: It starts to sweeten up! I'm think maybe it's vanilla doing the sweetening. Vaguely reminiscent of Haunted. A few minutes later: This is predominantly black musk on me, with just a hint of vanilla, and something ever so slightly herbal/citrussy. I love black musk because, besides smelling wonderful, it produces strong images in my mind of wispy, foggy, curling black smoke. It smells just exactly like you would think an alchemical laboratory would smell like! Mysterious, nebulous, slightly smoky, wonderful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PilotKitten Report post Posted December 6, 2005 Smoky muskiness. It's a very wonderful masculine scent IMO. A dark musk with images of a smoky gambling hell filled with young lords playing card and dice games until the first rays of sunlight touch the horizon. A haze-filled room with men huddled in corners over tables and a husky shout for some more refreshments. Just a very light ethereal whiff of flowery innocence climbing through the spicy haze but always disappearing again into the darker, more sinful depths. It actually reminds me of my grandfather's cologne.... the one my grandma says makes him smell like a whorehouse. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Little Bird Report post Posted December 10, 2005 (edited) Again, I must thank PilotKitten for gifting me with an imp of this one However, I am very deeply in love with Cagliostro. So much so that it makes me slightly panicky to think that I won't be able to buy a full sized bottle. My overall impression was that it reminded me a bit of Florence... only a darker, stronger, better version of Florence. First on I am hit with spicy, sensual black musk and what smells like juicy ripe blackberries. It has a mouthwatering fruitiness, and I normally don't like fruity scents. It's not overly sweet at all. It's spicy and amazing. In the drydown, this gets less spicy and dark and actually starts to remind me a bit of pancakes. It's like going to a pancake house and getting a stack of them, smothered with blueberry sauce, syrup, and whipped cream. Still it manages to not be sweet or overly foodie. It retains a spiciness and dark musky scent that keeps the entire blend grounded. Maybe I am also smelling a bit of sweet, smoky incense in the background. It's just glorious. After a few hours on my skin, this does get smokier and more incensey. Still loving it though. I love the way this one changes on my skin. It actually lightens up and gets sweeter in the drydown, so it's not as dark or perfumey as I was expecting. It's just perfect. I would buy a 10 ml of this one if I could. If it is ever released, I am placing an order straightaway... Edited December 10, 2005 by Blood onmy hands Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shelldoo Report post Posted December 24, 2005 this in the vial, wet and dry remians pretty much the same, musky smoky, dark. i don't get fruit, i get teh slightest hint of something sweetening it up, but i ahve no clue what gives this impression. it faded fairly fast which made me sad cause it smelled really good at first. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PurringPulsar Report post Posted January 30, 2006 (edited) Caligostro I got this in a swap with Ultraviolet. In the imp: black musk! I agree with the other reviews mentioning this, what I get is a sweet, dark, glistening black musk, probably with amber and/or myrrh. Wet on skin: gorgeous, rich black musk, with resinous incense notes. Maybe a fruit note as well? Dry on skin: this is amazing. Swirling, dark, mysterious, it's intense black musk, maybe with some black amber…and now I think I get frankincense-a lighter, golden, piercing resinous note. I think there may be myrrh in here too. There's also a sweetness to this, which may be from the amber, but it could be tonka or benzoin as well, or possibly something fruity. It makes me think of smoky, nebulous blackness with a sheen of gold, it's like an occult incense scent, filled with mystery and ancient magic. It resembles Haunted and maybe Black Phoenix as well. After a while: this stays the same-but probably smoothes out a bit more, it's still a rich, exotic, sweet and dark musk scent with probably some amber and smoky incense/resinous notes. I wonder now if there's vanilla in this-something about this reminds me of Snake Oil now. A very intriguing scent. The scent lasts for ages on me, after about 5 hours, the scent has become a lovely vanilla/tonka with Egyptian amber and a hint of smoky musk still lingering. Verdict: I'm glad I got to try this out-it's a fascinating scent. It's predominantly a deep black musk, that dark, sweet, sleek, glistening scent, sweetened by amber and possibly some resinous notes, I'm guessing frankincense and/or myrrh. There's a sweetness here-maybe from the musk and/or amber, but I'm also thinking maybe tonka or vanilla, or something sweet like that. To me, it's reminiscent of Haunted, Black Phoenix and even Snake Oil/Charmer, only this is darker, deeper, and more complex. It's a scent that swirls and lures you into its mystery. I don't know much about the alchemist Caligostro that this scent was named after but I'm intrigued and I'd now like to find out more. I also wish this scent could be released some day-as I wouldn't mind getting more! Edited January 30, 2006 by yeahbutnobut Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
edenssixthday Report post Posted May 8, 2010 I am so very, very grateful to Little Bird, who loves this scent to the Nth degree and still shared it with me for no reason other than she's wonderful. Cagliostro - The first note I notice is dark and musky, followed immediately by the same vanilla used in Snake Oil. As it warms up on my skin, I smell dark, thick, heavy resinous notes along the lines of dark myrrh, possibly amber and/or frankincense and/or opium (?). There's also a non-juicy, un-sweet fruit note cutting a path through the resins, probably plum, maybe a dark berry of some sort. Overall, it's a deep and rich scent that's smoky, resinous, highly gothic, and very beautiful. Seeing as how I can't get any more, I am inspired to layer my Romanti.Goth with aged Snake Oil and see if I can't get a similar result on my skin. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zankoku_zen Report post Posted September 13, 2011 I have to say that on wet there's a high pitched note that somehow makes it smell like nail polish remover, but then on the drydown it completely changes to a deep, rich resinous blend. I think its got black musk and the vanilla really shines through in the drydown. A touch of opium perhaps? For those that love Snake Charmer and Gun Moll, take note. And perhaps beg Beth to release this? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
