SongOfStark

I used to lug around a Wilcox-Gay reel-to-reel from the 50s. There's something magical about the scent of the thing once it gets going; dusty bakelite, warm vacuum tubes, and the faux wood grain.

 

The Antikythera Mechanism, a blend in the Steamworks line, always magically transports me to the nostalgic fuzziness of playing various reels on that portable system. Something about the teakwood and oak, plus the somewhat burnt sweetness from the black vanilla and tobacco calls to mind that particular Wilcox-Gay machine!

Finally! A non-LE scent that's not a bazillion dollars I've got a giant Otari that I use for work and I think I know the smell you're talking about... once it gets warmed up, it's really something neat. Plus the room I work in has wooden shelving all throughout it, so that plus the wood is a really great scent.

I'll definitely have to try it out, thank you!

So I've clung onto my bottle for a couple years, and now that I've finally joined the BPAL community, I figured I'd throw in my two cents.

Like the man himself, this scent only gets better with age. It was a blind buy with almost ZERO knowledge about perfume other than, "This is Labyrinth based. It's Jareth. It has leather and white musk. SOLD." and I will never regret it!!!! I've yet to actually smell Dorian so I can't confirm/deny the similarities, so here's my review:

In the bottle: Leather! Black leather! Think biker jacket, brand new, never exposed to a smoky bar but instead worn fashionably on the streets. Mmmm.

Wet: Still leather. But softer. Starting to sweeten up.

Dry: The leather eventually gives way and a beautiful mix of well blended notes come out. I don't ever actually pick the lilac up on my skin, but the white musk comes out and it becomes fairly sweet, maybe with a touch of vanilla?, without being a food-like or flower-y sweet. There's also a hint of spiciness that pops out as well. Hmmm it is fairly hard to describe... Either way it's an extremely well blended mix and even if I were a pro at picking out individual notes (I'm not by any means, haha), I still think it would be hard to find them!

I'd also like to note that the lasting power of this scent is INCREDIBLE. I've woken up once after not showering that night and could still smell it on my wrists. It's very vaguely there and consists mostly of a vanilla-y note, but oh man. Mmmm.

Overall I'd definitely say it's a unisex note that just vaguely leans towards a more masculine side. The dry down, however, morphs to you. It definitely becomes less "masculine" as I go throughout the day!

I'm not the best at articulating notes I smell, but I'll try for this one! Especially since it morphs so dramatically for me.

In the bottle, it's fairly sweet. Fruity, almost? With a hint of saltiness. Very strange.

On wet, I smell the leather first and foremost! The saltiness comes out in that it kind of smells like salted hide. Hmm.

As it dries, it's DEFINITELY dusty though, in an old-book way. Enough that I instinctively feel like I'm gonna sneeze when I sniff my wrist (but in a good way!) As time goes on, the dust is fading into the beeswax... and then finally back to leather with a little of the incense, I think? I'm so used to my skin just instantly amping ANY incense that sometimes I have trouble identifying it when it plays nice with the other scents.

This scent was a wild ride from start to finish. But it really morphs into something subtle and nice. Good for a rainy library day I think, or when you're going through old photo albums. Nostalgia in a bottle!

Unfortunately I already gifted my bottle, or you could have had it! Sadly for your purposes, I have to agree with annemathematics - Jareth is very different in scent and overall feel (but fantastic and worth trying on his own merits, though!). Adam is entirely unique as far as my BPAL experience goes.

Hah! No worries. Where there's a will... and some extra hours at work... there's a way Once I'm done working with my tapes I'm going to miss them so much! The room I have smells so wonderful... oak shelving and reel-to-reels. Adam, I think, is really going to fulfill that atmosphere if I ever get my paws on 'im!

I agree with annemathematics, I think the Steamworks line is also somewhere you should look -- they have such a perfect mix of nostalgia and modernity, plus so many of them feel like machinery or equipment, though not dust necessarily. My favorites from that line are Robotic Scarab, Phoenix Steamworks, and Aelopile. Also not in that line but similar in machineworks-feel is The Ninth Cage.

Ooh! My whole style is mixing nostalgia with modernity. That's super cool that there's a whole line that does just that! Aelopile sounds awesome... how strong would you say the frankincense is in Robotic Scarab? Anything other than "barely there" usually results in an explosion of nothing but incense on my skin. But leather notes are my absolute weakness... The Obsidian Widow also sounds really good.... oooohhhh....

You guys are all really good at mixing my vague feelings to actual scents, thank you all for helping so far!!! I'm super grateful, despite my wallet's protests

There's a scent in the kabuki line, Channel Snow, that is more about tv fuzz and honestly not plasticky like your reeel to reel, but it might scratch your itch. Maybe steamworks scents?

Channel Snow sounds REALLY interesting. I'm definitely going to have to look into that since it seems more obtainable Quintessense of Dust sounds like the best option so far, though. I really like the description of it, and it feels like what I'm looking for

I checked out some 16mm films from my local library, and the waft of air when I opened the case was exactly like part of the scent of Adam. It was uncanny and magical.

Yeah, I tested Adam on a guy and when he learned the notes, he said "that's IT, it's reel-to-reel EXACTLY."

 

As far as the nostalgic & dusty but in the modern world part of your request, what about Miskatonic University? I got very dusty coffee from it.

Oh NOOO! Now I'm going to spend $1mil on a bottle of Adam. I just know it That being said, I've noticed that it seems somewhat similar to Jareth in notes... have either of you been able to sniff both of them? I'm wondering if Jareth would lay well with a woodsy scent to create something like Adam... a poor-man's version, maybe, haha.

And aw! If only that coffee note were something else. Coffee and other foody stuff usually smells strange on my skin, plus I'm not a huge coffee fan in the first place. But it definitely seems to have the feeling I'm looking for... I might have to snag an imp just to see if maybe the stars will align and coffee would work well for once

Adam from the OLLA line

 

but he is hard to find. maybe quintessense of dust (for the wax and dust) or edge of doom (there's a bit of plastic in it)

 

but mostly ADAM is your man

Well, it even explicitly mentions reel-to-reel in his description! Hah, so much for being a challenge! Spot on recommendation, love it. Would be one that's hard to find, though

Hi guys! I searched through the forum to see if there's any posts like what I'm looking for and I haven't found any, so here we are! I feel like this is a pretty unique one, so if anyone's up for a challenge, this is it >

I've been working with a lot of reel-to-reel tapes from the 50s/60s lately, and since I smudge my perfume on the machine a lot from my wrists, I've been thinking about if there are any scents that might evoke the feeling of the tapes. I suppose the abstract of what I'm thinking of is along the lines of more book-y scents, but also something different... The static hiss of the recorder, the "chk chk chk" you can hear in the background of some tapes from the reels spinning when they recorded, the dusty, unwound reels that have been sitting in storage, and the hissing of voices that overtake any other sounds on the machines because they're so close to the mic, and you can hear them catching their breath after carrying around their 40 pound "portable" recorders.... Something nostalgic, dusty, but still able to find a place in the modern world!

Any ideas out there? I suppose for a little more reference, I listen to bird recordings from a personal and published collection. If anyone's interested in hearing some of them (maybe to get across the quality I'm thinking of that just feels so *vintage* to me) I can post links, they're on an online database!