blu°

Freshly applied I immediately smell serios church resins, olibanum, frankincense, myrrh, not sure what labdanum smells like.

The very next moment I get soapiness. Lily of the Valley, I suppose. I think to remember that I've had that same issue with that note before.

Also, the myrrh is a bit sharpish and might be adding to that soapy feeling.

 

Hymn reminds Pit and the Pendulum with regard to how sharp the resins mixture in it. It has a very dense structure as well. Just like frankincense smoke.

 

Over that, or woven into it, that gross soapiness from lily of the valley.

It's a pity, but I think I'll have to add lily of the valley to my no-go list.

 

I'll probably swap my imp, although it's nice to feel how the biting lily of the valley-note is caught, woven through by the resins. They transport it to my nose while typing and when it gets there, the soapiness is almost gone and I do smell real fresh lily of the valley for a moment.

 

I think what's happening is that my skin amps all florals. And in the case of typically light, un-sweet, understated, innocent florals like lily of the valley, it amps them to this kind of sharp soapiness.

 

I wanted to feel holy, goddammit, not like an oldfashioned soap shop. Sniff.

Succour. I wouldn't know to describe an environment for it, but it's by far the least perfumey BPAL I've tried so far. Very much a natural green/olive smell without being sharp, adstringent or cologney at all. Many people don't like it, I suppose because of that. But it's a gorgeous treat if you want to calm and center yourself without becoming sleepy.

The scent really reminds pine seeds, like the ones you find in Italian salad and Pesto.

 

Beth's dirt scents all smell like freshly picked mushrooms to me (Graveyard Dirt, Zombi, Penny Dreadful, etc.)

 

I found a life-like cadavre in Shroud. Or maybe that would rather be deathlike then.

 

The Premature Burial when freshly applied gave a scent of real-life potting soil, but then the orchid overpowered on my skin and took the real soil away.

 

I get sunbaked driftwood from both Gaueko and Danse Macabre. Sunbaked driftwood from the mediterranean that is.

 

Yew-Trees smelt like marijuana to my nose after drydown. More exactly it smelt like genetically engineered Dutch weed, some strong Skunk or something like that.

 

Belladonna: Woodruff syrup

As so many others I was wary of this green scent, fearing it would be too cologney/masculine for me to wear, but alas, it isn't. It's quite lovely actually.

 

It is similar to some typical fresh masculine scents, but never gets that adstringent or sharp. I think it's the bamboo reed that saves it from becoming too harsh.

 

It's very green, wet, fresh, but still mysterious enough to not be a bore. It gets softer during wear until only a trace of warm oakmoss and possibly white musk is left on my wrists.

 

I like it a lot. Will have to see whether I need to hunt down a bottle, though. With more than hundred scents tucked away in my bpal store, I have to think well whether I'd really use more than an imp even with scents that I seem to love.

Now, why did I sell this again? Oh, because... I psychically knew Beth would resurrect it, right? Well, no. Frankly I'm not sure why. I broke out my imp of it today while trying to decide what I neeeeeded, and I was shocked at now much I liked this. I remember finding it really bland.

 

That's EXACTLY what happened to me. I swapped my bottle of House of Mirrors just a few days ago, decanted half an imp for myself, re-tried it on my skin, and ended up asking myself that very same question.

 

Good thing it's coming back, and I got a bottle of Hexennacht in that swap, which I love, too.

 

I think House of Mirrors must have gotten better with age. It's a gorgeous crystalline, yet soft and even, blend. It's not sharp or masculine or cologney or any other nasty thing often connected with ozone/crystal scents.

 

It's very much like antique glass, really. Soft sheen. With antique (blackened) silver framing. Very evocative and works fab on my skin, too.

 

It actually smells really Art Nouveau and brings to mind the city centre of Prague.

I think Prague hasn't been mentioned yet. It's a bit sweeter than Danube or Amsterdam, very much springtime floral with the crocus and snowdrop. It's slightly aquatic and feels a bit luminous.

 

I wore it some weeks ago when it still had been snowing. When I entered a bus, I could see a couple of people within my scent radius turn their heads and looking like "Oh, what's that?" and as if trying to locate the source of the scent. Might have been my imagination, sure, but I really had the impression the springfulness of my Prague was doing something to them.

I tested this on my left arm after having applied Usher on the right about an hour earlier. This might have influenced my perception of the scent, so I thought I should state that.

 

Freshly applied:

Berenice is sharper, brighter than Usher. Against it, it's almost luminous, despite there being that rough structure of linen/ozone.

It reminds me of something. Something from my childhood.

Maybe some dish washing liquid, or children's bubblebath inside a rubber duck, or maybe something in the perfume of my mother... not sure.

 

I recently discovered that I like stargazer lily, and so far I'm ok with it in Berenice, too.

 

She is really shining with shades of white... a bit sharp/adstringent in the nostrils. Almost menthol-y. A bit of a green house smell, or rather a florist's, maybe.

Quite heady and feminine.

 

A bit later:

Uh...ehm, yes...it's got a lot of throw there, mainly from the lily. It might be my skin amping the lily. It's turned really heady and almost exaggeratingly feminine. And a bit like skin musk, or a musky skin like floral, or something.. sorry, I'm lacking words again. Close to the skin there's a soft sweetness, probably from the white musk and amber.

 

I think it really reminds me of my mother. It's like her perfume, her shower stuff and her skin scent mixed up in an imp.

 

Not quite me. If it wasn't as heavy on the stargazer lily when on my skin, I'd keep the imp.

Freshly applied:

Hm. Fresh, herbal, bei far not as bad as I had thought. Actually quite agreeable. While there is a certain masculine vibe in this, I'd say that it's really wearable for girls, too.

It's quite a light and bright scent, that reminds me of some Lush product, too.

Quite delicious, would be nice for day-time wear (work).

 

A bit later:

Something in here is turning slightly liquoricy. I bet there's anise in Usher. Anise/fennel/liquorice are my enemies, but I don't really mind it in Usher. It's a very faint trace of anise, if it is one at all.

 

It's lost some of its initial freshness now and smells rather herbal now. Smooth, really soft with some bright musk and the fougere.

In the throw this smells really nice, musky warm and smooth. Close to the skin it's still minty, but with that slight anise thing to it. Below black currant, also warm.

 

I think there must be oakmoss within the fougere, and together with the light powdery musk that's quite lovely.

 

I put on some Berenice on my other arm, and now I can smell that the musk in Usher isn't all that innocent and bright at all. It is quite animalistic actually. I think, it might even be black musk. By all means, it's one of the dark musks that always remind me of my granduncle Onkel Willi. Or more exactly the bathroom of my Onkel Willi and Tante Threse. I like to be reminded of them, but I tend to swap scents that smell like their bathroom on my skin.

 

Still, Usher isn't too bad. I like how it's such a creamy incense, so soft, I can almost feel the flower petal soft skin of that man.

 

After drydown:

There's a dust note now reminiscent of the Rat King. Very dusty with murky musks that seem pale at first. However, they turn out to be quite dark and animalistic musks that have a faded feel, just as Beth put it in the description, and therefore disguise like light and "genteel". The longer I wear Usher, though, they show more and more of their real nature.

 

Conclusion:

The scent is dead on for the concept. The change from wet to dry really captures the idea of Roderick Usher changing as in the excerpt Beth chose for the blend's description.

I quite enjoyed testing it, but I don't think I'd feel well wearing it among people, so I'm swapping my imp.

Preconceived notions: I don't expect to like this. From the imp it almost smells like gardenia or tuberose, more than like real jasmine.

 

Freshly applied:

 

Heavy jasmine that smells more like gardenia or tuberose than like real jasmine to me. Piercing. Sharp. Sweet. Musty.

I think it might be quite ok smelled from afar, but close to the skin it's narcotizingly strong.

It dries pretty fast and then is not all that sharp anymore, but veeeeery musty and heavy.

 

This regular jasmine scent is really not my thing, as much as I love essential jasmine sambac oil. While I've found some rare BPAL jasmine officinalis blends I get along with (Santa Eulària des Riu e.g.), Ligeia definitely doesn't belong to them. Off to swaps.

The Tell-Tale Heart was another surprise from the Maelström series. I really hadn't thought I'd like this at all from the notes listed. Cocoa especially seems to turn corn starch on my skin.

 

Ok, here goes what I had written then in my spreadsheet:

 

At first:

Hm. That isn't as bad as I had thought, neither. Reminds me of Serpent's Kiss, though a bit weaker on the vetiver and with more spices instead. I think I could probably endure the cocoa in this. Although it's perceptible, it's embedded quite nicely into the other ingredients and doesn't get too loud in this blend. It's rather giving structure to the scent, making it a bit smoky.

 

Also, this is pretty high-pitched and high-in-the-nostrils to me. Something sharp, prickly, metallic. Something is also slightly menthol-y in here. Maybe the pepper. It reminds me of some of the essential oils I carried around on a trip to Italy some years ago, basically to aid me in laying the cards then.

 

I quite like the way it reminds me of that trip to Italy. It almost is smelling green now, that I've got that association in my head. Sort of menthol-y green. Maybe it's the dragon's blood plus pepper and vetiver that combine for that effect. At least vetiver is often described as a green scent, though I rather think of it as anthracite/black.

 

Well, it seems to be a bit perfumey, too. I know blood musk from Blood Pearl which I didn't like much. It was too pink and dusty for me. Possibly that perfuminess comes from the blood musk.

 

After Drydown:

Ah, no... this is turning to heavy on the vetiver-dragon's blood for my taste. Those are the two components that keep getting stronger in The Tell-Tale Heart on my skin. It's almost making me nauseous, now.

 

Final conclusion:

I think I should be happy to not like every one of the Maelströms, as I'm too skint to spend a lot of money on them anyway. I'm glad others like it, though.

Ok, this was the first imp of the Maelström decants that I've tested. I had sniffed all the others before, though, and something sharp and minty had gotten into my nostrils , thus they were not at their height of performance, I guess.

 

Freshly applied:

Now, this is really potting soil, like what you use to plant flowers in. There's this slightly mushroomy thing, but this time not greyish and dusty but mixed into rich, dark, fertile soil.

 

It radiates flowery. Orchid. How absolutely pretty is this!?

 

This is the so far bestest dirt-combo I've smelled. The ingredients harmonize really well... this soft, dreamy thing of orchid together with the smell of earth. Gorgeous.

 

A bit later:

Whoa, it's gotten quite heady, really. At this point I'm thinking that I need a bottle of it.

 

The scent is somehow totally incensey. I think teak was another note I really like.

Also, this is really sparkly incensey, and quite delicious. Sweet, too, but fizzy and earthy and good. I have to get moving and see how this develops wearing. I'm in love. That orchid sweetness underneath... wow.

 

Still later:

Ok, the orchid sweetness might be a bit much now. It's now turned to have that certain 70'es-perfume of some auntie-vibe as Morgause and similar scents transferred to my nose. Oppressive, indeed. It's still incensey and sort of breezy, but very heady. Very very heady. Quite feminine, I couldn't imagine this being worn by a bloke, really. Green. High air humidity. Wet loam.

 

I'm not really sure if I can/want to wear a scent like this. Maybe I should go out with it for a while.

 

Well, for me, the orchid in this could be a bit less strong. The scent did turn really oppressive after a while, very Southern Belle/green house alike.

I'd have liked it better if there had only been a tiny trace of orchid in it, I think. Just enough to turn the dirt note into fertile soil, but not so much as to lend that green house effect to it.

 

I still like it, but I don't think I'll get a bottle.

From the imp this smells very sweet, like Sangria rather than just wine.

 

Applied fresh it still is sweet Sangria but a bit softer now.

Quite pleasant, although I can sense a sliver of something rotten lurking in the background. Wine-y. Very dark berries. A touch of powdery vanilla and fake strawberry/oak.

 

It's a bit like vanilla-icecream with strawberry/berry sauce. Like spaghetti-icecream.

It definitely makes me think of something edible, a dessert rather than a glass of wine.

However, the dessert sweetness is a bit subdued in this, too. It's not bad at all. I rather like it and for me it's one of the better Maelström blends right now.

 

It's almost as soft and warm as plum, maybe a bit less violet in colour. The dark berries are a bit similar to those in Bewitched. Less tart than the berries in Gomorrah or other berry scents. There might really be some plum or fig in it.

 

It's not as uber-sweet as Pink Phoenix, but the vanilla and berries combine in a similar way. It's a bit fizzy and prickly, and really delicious.

 

Still, I'm not sure whether I get along with the oak in it. Oak often smells a bit off on my skin, especially when sniffed from close to the skin. A bit too soft and round and murky for me, yellowish brown and weird.

 

The throw of Montresor, however, is simply divine. I might even consider getting a bottle.

 

I'm quite surprised to like this so much, but what I can smell wafting up to me while wearing it, is simply gorgeous. Just the right mixture of sweet, soft, fizzy-fruity, dark and deep.

Only when sniffing close to the skin it's a bit weird from the oak, but it looks as if that part was vanishing slowly, leaving only dark dark fruit with vanilla, slightly subdued by an indefinite woodsiness.

This is really very similar to Cathedral. But sharper, almost liquoricy, a bit like whatever lends that Vodka note to Midnight Mass.

It's woodsier than Midnight Mass and more resiney than Cathedral.

The associated colour is rather Cathedral-esque, although more dense and dark.

I guess I like Midnight Mass better, so I'm not sure I'd use this much. It's still nice, though.

 

Later on I was having some really dark associations from it, with the inquisition connected to it and all.

It was like I could feel that fat trace of sadism of the inquisitor's/torturer's smile running trough the scent. It made me feel quite a bit uncomfortable, but I'm not sure if that was the scent on itself or rather my mind's overblooming fantasy.

From imp and freshly applied:

Oh, this is deep.

I can smell honey and carnations, cloves, red sandalwood which smells like rosewood to me.

The Masque seems to be deep and heavy, but then turns around and is suddenly light and breezy. Huh?

 

In the background I can detect rose, I think, with cloves, and there is something quite delicious hiding in there, I can sense that. Wow.

There was a first hint of tabac, and patchouli. Kind of a ghostly patchouli.

 

This is really amazingly light, and soft and sensual. Still a bit fiery indeed. Sparks lightening up, then something sweet --> carnations, rose and honey, but also something slightly tart and almost fresh.

It's great, I really like it. It just really seems to be very light.

A bit later:

I'm reminded of those tiny gum coke-bottles (fruit gum). That slightly fizzy red-brown taste of coke-bottle-gums.

I get a strong tabac note, blending nicely with the cloves. Somehow there seems to be a sliver of Graveyard Dirt intermingling with the other notes.

 

I really like The Masque so far, and it reminds me of something, not sure of what.

I'm thrilled that I like this, as I don't usually like honey and carnations, nor fiery-spicy scents in general.

 

Somehow the ingredients in The Masque combine for an almost fruity scent, somehow citrussy, some sharpish tartness.

My skin seems to amp clove, as that is what I can detect most distinctively among all the other notes. I think what this reminds me of is a kind of mulled wine, like Glühwein. A slightly smokey, not too sweet, spicy Glühwein, although it smells way better than any Glühwein I ever had in my life.

 

I really like the patchouli-tabac-labdanum-musk base in this, it's warm and soft and quite sexy. The cloves in here have a very clean smell, which I like, too.

Still later:

It then turned a bit too herb and masculine for me for a time, too dry as well, but changed yet another time and became sweet and molassy and soft. The honey sort of smells caramelized, but completely unlike the caramel in Miskatonic U or the like. Weirdly fiery yet soft and shiny.

 

On drydown I suddenly got whiffs of rich oriental charcoal incense, very similar to my favourite one from the Egyptian belly dance shop.

Final conclusion:

This is a highly complex morpher and I think I'll have to wear it some several times more, to really get an idea of what it is all about. I really like it, though, to my own surprise. With Sagittarius being quite important in my birth charts, I'm happy to have found a fiery scent that seems to agree with my skin and taste.

 

ADDED April 2:

 

The Masque has been the sleeper hit of my decant round of Maelström scents. I wasn't too interested in it at all, as it combines so many ingredients I'm wary about (honey, carnations, amber....).

 

But: It's gorgeous.

 

It's actually the first fiery blend I've tried that I feel absolutely comfortable with.

 

When first applied, I immediately thought of it as a deep scent. I could smell honey and carnations, cloves, red sandalwood (reminding me of rosewood a little).

It seemed to be deep and heavy, but then grew airy and light almost immediately, although not losing any of its complexity.

 

In the background I could smell the rose combining in an interesting way with the cloves. Tobacco and patchouli were showing up afterwards. Kind of a ghostly patchouli, was what I was thinking.

 

Drying:

It's really incredibly light and soft and sensual, but still quite fiery. Sparkly fiery, then something sweet --> carnation, roses, honey

but something slightly tart and fresh, too. I really like the combination of contradictory aspects in this.

 

At one point during drydown it reminds me coke-bottle-wine-gums, their fizzy reddish-brown taste.

The cloves at one point slightly resemble the scent of Graveyard Dirt, which strikes me as weird, but the association was a clear one.

 

It still reminds me of something else, not sure what...

 

The Masque has an almost fruity scent, somehow citrussy or something... That must be the combination of honey, flowers and cloves, I think. My skin seems to amp the cloves, as they are very prominent in this scent to me.

 

Trying to find out what this reminds me of.... Ah! Glühwein. Mulled wine, that should be in English. A very smokey, not too sweet, but deeply spiced Glühwein. Fruity, flowery, round in its taste, but a bit tart as well. Quite a delicious Glühwein. I don't really think there's any Glühwein available that smells like this, but it would definitely be the most perfect Glühwein ever if there was.

 

So, what's this underneath the top layer of scent? Patchouli, tobacco, labdanum and blood musk? Nice. I think this definitely warrants a bottle for me. It's similar to a lot of scents that didn't quite do it for me despite getting close (Red Phoenix e.g.) but is something special on its own.

The spiciness and fieriness of The Masque finally is one that I like.

 

The cloves, btw, have a very clean, dry smell on my skin, which I like as well.

 

The Masque is a master morpher as far as I'm concerned. While wearing it later turned a bit masculine for a moment but changed back to sweet molassy soft incensey again.

 

This is the one Maelström scent that I'll surely get a bottle of, maybe the only one.

Yes, it's strong on the vetiver, that's why I mentioned it. I had the feeling the vetiver in Lenore was similarly strong to the vetiver in Serpent's Kiss. Sorry, if this didn't turn out to be the case for you.

In the imp and first thoughts when freshly applied:

 

Something fruity, and something dark, myrrh.

 

Fruity, slightly soapy, sweet and smokey.

 

Huh, it's sort of... intoxicating. Very heady, definitely with a soapy thing going on.

Somehow this is gloomy and slick the way narcissus or opium feel, but not like them at all. Out of better knowledge I'd trace that back to the combination of plum and muguet in the listed ingredients.

There's a powdery sweet sparkly coating, from the pear blossom and woods, I suppose, which aids in giving this quite some throw and a certain breeziness.

 

Bit later:

There's some kind of sharpish bright soapy note in it, once on my skin, but that doesn't really surprise me as myrrh, amber and probably muguet all are potential soapiness triggers for me.

 

Although I love opoponax it seems to be a bit much in here. A bit like a tarted up elderly lady. But I only get that picture with every n-th whiff or so. When sniffing my wrist I rather get "exotic and fruity".

 

After half an hour to an hour:

It's similar to Venom, actually, but more distinctively feminine than that. Muguet and myrrh mixed with Venom. It radiates something warm and sweet that I like, yet somehow it doesn't really feel like me.

 

Final conclusion:

So... it does have something nice about it. Something warm. Something resiny.

But in the end it feels too brightly pink-fuchsia coloured and tarted up for me to wear and feel myself with. In that sense it's got a faint link to Bearded Lady in my conceptualisation of images transmitted by scents.

 

It's an interesting blend though, and it's not heavily-heavily heady but nicely balanced. I can see how this could be a deep scent on somebody else, on me it feels kitsch, I'm afraid.

 

ETA: Just occured to me as possibly helpful side-note: My skin amps fruity notes slightly, and the sweetness in florals in a stronger fashion, so that might be a reason why this keeps screaming PINK at me.

I would also be interested in a GC scent similiar to Lenore. I have 2 bottles now, but I like it more each time I wear it and would love to experiment with scents that are like it.

 

Have you tried Serpent's Kiss? It's not an equivalent, but I was reminded SK strongly when testing Lenore. They have a very similar quality and amount of vetiver, probably. Maybe mix that with something lemony.

I had written a review of this, but it got eaten by the big forum crash some days ago.

 

Basically I was saying that I love Danse Macabre to death.

It just made me realize that I have to get rid of all my second bests, because it was sooo lovely, I never want to wear anything less divine in my life anymore!

 

...well, except for testing, er... yeah.

 

However, Danse Macabre takes a beautiful twist on the oakmoss which I love. And my skin does so, too, amping it like crazy.

 

While oakmoss always turns a gorgeous deep warm golden green on my skin, something in Danse Macabre, probably the black cypress, makes it smell like sun baked earth of the mediterráneo. There's this airy spicy-herbal woodiness, very much like a piece of wood that's been lying in the hot sun for ages. Or the ground covered with dry branches and heat resistant greenery.

 

It's very natural smelling, very much like Andalusia.

 

I had a similar feeling from wearing Gaueko, thought they don't have listed notes in common. They just both managed to be airy yet dark and smelling like the Mediterranean on my skin.

 

I love Danse Macabre more, though.

It's my favourite woody-green-dark-airy-sunny scent ever right now.

I put Oneiroi on one wrist and Sophia on the other. I couldn't tell them apart. I love them but I must be missing something. Is anyone able to smell notes that differentiate these two?

 

Er...yes. Oneiroi is a spicy yellow/white floral lavender with a burnt wood feel almost, darker than Sophia.

Sophia is more distanced cooler lavender with hazy soft red-pink floral and green to me. I love both.

 

Maybe you should try to wear each one for a whole day, and then see if you can get a difference. That is, if you don't dislike completely what similar you've smelled so far with them.

 

ETA: What I had been going to post originally: If you skin amps fig, you might find that Nemesis and Gomorrah are quite alike. I just tested Nemesis today and kept thinking that it smelled almost exactly like Gomorrah, fig with something herbal-woody. I guess if I wrist-compare them I'd get some difference, but from memory only Gomorrah was very much like what I'm smelling like today. I had actually been hoping to get some more of the cypress, but well, fig is nice, too.

I guess if that paragraph goes repeated in a personal mail than that would read as:

We are 100% sure that each oil leaving the lab is fresh and fine.

 

Thank you for the post Ms.Density!

This is the third Muse blend I've tried, and somehow they have all had a similar dusty-powdery structure to them. I guess, this will be the least powdery-dusty one, not having listed orris or other verdicts for powdery, so far.

Still, Terpsichore, too, has some of that dry dustiness. I guess there's just a fair amount of white musk to the muses I've tried so far. It was unbearable in Urania, not quite so bad in Erato, and the least pronounced in Terpsichore.

 

That said, this goes on distinctly neroli-ish with a trace of carnation.

Once applied, my skin immediately amps what there is of sweet pea in Terpsichore, and turns it the strongest note in the blend.

I can sense a vanilla background more than really smell it, but I guess it adds to the powdery structure of Terpsichore. Structure-wise and with regard to the manner of sweetness, I'm reminded Mata Hari now.

 

Terpsichore to me smells soft and yellow, dense, powdery-dusty, a wee bit fresh, a wee bit soapy, a bit warm, and a bit musky.

 

The flowers in this aren't luminous or dew-y. Comparing with other sweet pea blends (as this is dominantly sweet pea on me now), this is softer and more powdery than Aeval, and more yellow.

 

While I'm listening to some nice Mbalax-music (Omar Pène & Le Super Diamono de Dakar), I'm constantly moving, though. I usually do when music is playing, but if I want to think, I'm more inspired than usually, it's quite easy to imagine.

 

I think I'll wear this again when going out dancing and make up my mind about it afterwards.

The bottle of Wanda I just received smells like what's been described here. I've emailed the lab.

 

That's probably the best thing to do. In my case I had noticed so late after I had received the bottle, that it didn't even occur to me to ask for a replacement.

 

I'd be interested in what the lab says, maybe you can post later on about what happened?

I've been dabbing this on before going to work in the morning and didn't pay all that much attention to it initially. I only got "dry" and "woody" then.

During the day, anytime I got a whiff of the scent it was heavily men's cologney. On my wrist it had a resinous-spicy sweetness, similar to tobacco-leaf scent, but the waft was harsh and dry.
The scent on my wrist seemed to fade and did not display any "high-lights" while it faded, but I still noticed the waft about 6 or 7 hours later.

I think it's been the thick sweetness of myrrh and the sharpish dense smoke from olibanum (which is, btw, as far as I know a kind of frankincense) coupled with that airiness of cedar combining for harsh+dry.

I got that Midnight Mass vodka effect, too, and think it might be myrrh+olibanum when freshly applied.

It's probably the patchouli in this that adds the slight spiciness, and together with the more skin-sticky particles from the resins it resembles the kind of spiciness tobacco leaf has.

It's kind of light, the way Aureus is light, but whereas Aureus is golden light, this is greyish-olive-brown, but not dark. I don't see it very dark. Maybe because dark to me would be less airy, less dry.

As a perfume, it doesn't quite grab me. There's just this masculine thing going on, that's not working for me. I was wondering whether there might be ambergris involved. Not that I could exactly tell what ambergris smells like, but scents that have it listed always turn this greyish smoke thing on me, that I lack the words for but maybe: empty, thin, having force but no substance.

I've also several times been thinking there might be something leather alike.

(It really scares me that all of above review is analysis and not the tiniest trace of imagery.)

I've had an imp of this for a while but wasn't feeling like being put in the mood for seduction. Tonight I felt like I didn't care, so I thought the moment might have come to review it for its scent alone.

 

In the imp: people said there's ylang ylang in this, and I think that's what I smell: a bitingly sharp floral, almost glue-like.

 

Fresh on skin: the same. Glue. Dissolvents. Sharp, blank edges, perhaps some mint or liquorice. Ylang ylang, mint and liquroice. And chocolate? God, no, my nose must be crazy, this is a confusing scent. Soft but... huuuh! Biting and strong. Somehow psychedelic. I think, it's making me feel high. Yes, I do feel weird now. Sort of dizzy.

 

Drying: it's turning softer. Vanilla or strawberry or something alike. Sweet and soft, maybe with sage.

 

This is some highly concentrated stuff. I can really feel how it's slowly unfolding, untwining, stretching like elastic woven fabric stretched into four directions.

 

Yes, I think the main floral is Ylang ylang, it got something from that. But Seduction to me is by no means purely floral. There's something powdery, musky, but it enters at an interesting point in here, without even scratching the even flow of that ylang scent cone. this is actually transcending fore- and background, sort of in an omnipresent way, but still in one piece, untouched by the wider structure.

 

It now turns a bit more plain/even. Somehow herbal. Chamomille? Something weird below. It really is similar to the smell of glue on me. Hm.

 

A weirdly glue-like floral scent, that is without sweetness somehow, like a floral freshness which is bitter. Maybe it IS a bit sweet, somehow, too, but bubblegummy in a way, like a mint bubblegum you've been chewing on for some time, but fresher. Rather confusing, really.

Anyway, that floralness is floating in an emptiness, which makes it incomplete but intensily rich. Like, completey transformed. As if only certain ingredients from the components of each blossom's essences had been extracted to express only one certain thing, disregarding the holistic reflection of the plant in favour of a more functional approach.

 

Gosh, it MUST be making me high. Just look at what kind of a review I'm composing!

 

I have to admit, I've been sniffing the spot on my wrist close continuously and probably my sinuses aren't working well anymore now. I can't quite seem to notice the scent from a distance right now. But I get the feeling like farther away it's rather like a musky strawberry vanilla with some freshness from an unusual floral to it that is actually keeping it from being cloying. I will have to wear this yet again for a whole day, I guess, to be able to make up my mind about it. Today I had been testing Silk Road before and I always find it difficult to really get into two different scents a day.

 

It does smell rather medicinal, almost a little bit off, sniffed close to the wrist. And to be honest, it's not only the first BPAL that made me feel stoned, it's also in terms of scent the most poisonous smelling BPAL I've tried.

 

I'll yet have to apply this in the morning and wear throughout a day, right now I can feel this getting a bit weaker and softer, that's about an hour wear. (I wrote half of this review in my spreadsheet in German first and then translated and expanded, that took some time.)

 

Edited for typos

The Perfumed Garden is Fairy Jasmine/Alkmaar in BPAL form. That is all.

 

 

That's sooo much what I had been hoping for with the Morrocan jasmine, and that's why from all the Lupercalia PG was the one I simply HAD to have. I cannot wait for my order to arrive now!!!

 

aedes, I'm sorry, I wouldn't know of any Lush soap that has myrrh. The only earthy kind of soap that there was is being discontinued now (Waylander Rhassoul a.k.a. Middle Earth turns into Rock). It didn't have myrrh, though, as far as I know.

 

Maybe somebody else is better informed than I am and can help.

 

ETA: what I was going to post originally

--> Something in Silk Road or in the way the ingredients mingle reminds me strongly of Jungle/Flower Tub.

Oh, this is pretty. Green, woody, spicy, and that note that reminds me strongly of Lush's Jungle conditioner and Flower Tub bbs, as well as of that green stuff from the florists, that you use to stick dried flowers into, don't know what's it called.

 

Freshly applied I get a strong floral note à la the crocus in Prague which immediately is being warmed by something else and turns into that green florist-note.

Soft, warm, sort of an ambery halo.

Close to the skin it's ...whoa! FIZZY!!! Much fun!

Below that fizziness there's a more nutty, waxy note, maybe something akin to the skin musk in Bengal?

 

I'd agree there's something woody in here, and cinnamon, though I didn't detect that by my own. I can also smell green tea after reading about it in somebody else's review. And I think there is a bit of jasmine in Silk Road, too.

 

Conclusion: This is a really pretty, complex, fresh but incensey scent that captures the image forwarded in the description not only by its complexity of notes but by actually feeling a bit "silky", too. I'd consider it suited for everyday wear as well as going out. It seems to fit well with the start of spring, as it's so green and all, but I can imagine this being equally nice in any other season. Big ups.