Ennikar

Hmmmmm. White flowers, for sure -- reads like "Lorrainna" or "The Lady of Saintonge". White flowers, old-fashioned scent (perfumey? papery? ivory? you decide!), a touch of musk. This one does read as red, more or less. It's quite pretty and a little sexy. Book-inspired in an abstract way, but definitely not something that smells like anything in a human person's collections. It's.... nice? I think. Definitely not going to cause a ton of discourse.

2025 version. This is a very nice, soft, vanilla-y rose. It's rich but not cloying. The rose itself is very well behaved, detectable and fresh but neither sharp nor soapy. The snake oil spices aren't very Powerful, but with their inclusion this almost feels like a carnation blend rather than rose. If this is goth, it's like fuzzy PJ goth, only dark in the sense that it's not flouncy or sweet. It wears close to the skin, but does have decent longevity.

"Scorched paper" is barely a thing here, but the opening is characterized by a realistic burst of damp plaster, like you've been working on a paper maché for hours. Alongside that is the citron and grapefruit, tangy and a touch bitter, and eventually a hint of woody cedar. This one has decent throw but not much longevity; it does not overcome the transience typical of citrus notes, the plaster fades out quickly, and it's overall soft. It's mostly an academic interest now, but I wonder whether this will work well in the summer, when the damp citrus might be refreshing.

I was expecting a slam-dunk out of this one, but after testing twice I'm not sure how I feel about it. I get a light, airy, kinda sweet anise-y licorice mostly, on top of a definitely not sweet pepper and a touch of amber. I like licorice, but can be picky about its presentation, and something about this combo plays a little "plastic" for me. I might end up sticking to my old reliable: Portrait of an Unidentified Man Dressed as a Skeleton -- or try layering them? My other skin tester had a very evocative description that was even more off-book. "Formaldehyde. Plus something else, because this is a heavier smell than just formaldehyde should be." ["The notes are licorice, black pepper, and grey amber."] "No licorice on here at all -- I am getting the pepper, and grey amber makes sense. But it does still seem more chemical-y... and kind of dusty? Moldy? Oh, I know. It's like this: you enter an unheated, damp storage shed full of props. You go through the totes until you find the one with the plastic rats in it, and when you pop the lid, this is the smell that puffs out at you."

Pleasant, friendly, clean, and the dead leaves note lends it a touch of outdoorsyness. Pretty high throw, especially when wet, but inoffensive enough to play nice in a crowd. Unfortunately not to my tastes, which trend darker and earthier. I thought I might get lucky with the skin musk, as I do enjoy Flaming June and You May House Their Bodies, but musks can be difficult for be (especially white or "pale" musks), and this one plays more like a clean skin than the more funky version.

As a lotion: nice work, thick for a lotion but not so think that it's difficult to apply or sits on the skin, notably softened the hands after use. As a scent: hm. It's quite light. Honestly not all that different from how I would expect hands to smell after being washed and lotion-ed; the combined notes feel quite clean. However, there is a little bit of something there -- a touch of incense, a breath of the outdoors, sweet and fuzzy. Agree with the above that it's not a dirty or decaying scent even while retaining a little cool outdoorsy character. Basically no throw, so I do not expect it to interfere much with a layered scent. However, if I had done more than a drop on my hand, that might be different.

I've tried "On Love" a half-dozen times since I picked it up, and still don't quite know what to make of it. It's sweet, tart, a little nose-prickling... perfectly pleasant, but hard to describe. I think the rose, plum cognac, and caramel vetiver are combining to give it a boozy, slightly floral throw. The vetiver is not smokey or very strong, and the tobacco root is just barely detectable. I wouldn't describe anything here as earthy; the vetiver and tobacco root are very low-key. I don't get a lot of laubdanum, but I believe it's here, helping provide a base that's a little resinous and a touch... juicy? Same for the nutmeg; I believe it's a component but would not have picked it out. Overall, it's unisex and sophisticated, but a little sweet and tart in a way that comes off as playful. Confident, but not taking itself too seriously. Other opinions: I tried some on a partner, and he immediately got "Chocolate scone -- no, wait, not a scone, but definitely a dessert." [Plum? Cognac?] "Oh yeah, that would do it. It's like a slightly tart, boozy truffle." I don't get any chocolate personally, so think it must be the tobacco root that reminds him of chocolate, plus the fact that cognac is a common base liquor for boozy candies.

Mostly those Pulsating Red Berries, as far as I can tell. It's nice, not a straight-up "berry rush" type smell, but berries first, musk second, spices.... third? Sometime, probably, but I don't really get spicy-floral dimensions I'd expect from either carnation or pepper. In short, the opposite of what I'd hoped. It reminds me of Stańczyk, which also gave me mostly berries with a little touch of something "extra", and I think I prefer that one.

This is one of my very favorite florals. It's all here -- jasmine, carnation, red musk, honey, leather -- but this is definitely "about" the florals, and I would argue specifically jasmine. Jasmine is a note I really like, but one that sometimes doesn't work out (too indolic, or sharp and soapy), but this one is gorgeous. The carnation rounds it out, adds a little clove-spice to keep things interesting, but this is a "white floral" with support from a judicious sprinkling of sweet honey and a base of leather and sandalwood. The leather is soft, well-worn and suede-y. The sandalwood, hay, and tobacco blend together in the base, and the red musk is also in a supporting role. It's heady, for sure, and has decent throw. This is a scent that demands to be noticed. Still, it's not stifling; I'm quite comfortable wearing it in hot weather. Has the rare distinction of getting an unsolicited "sexy" from people qualified to give that designation.

Almond and jasmine cologne, clean and fresh. The rosemary isn't prominent, but I believe it's present. I like parts of this scent and really wanted to love it, but after aging it for a couple years I must admit it goes too "soapy" for me -- a common problem I have with oakmoss blends, and something that has happened before with almond as well. Alas.

I love Good Ship Venus, but then, it's exactly the sort of scent I should enjoy. I like spices, I like woods, I like salty aquatics, but the whole seems greater than the sum of its parts. The aquatic aspects are clean, but not at all soapy; I understand the previous comparisons to "sea spray". The woody bits (and they are mostly plank-woody, the patch is pretty quiet as far as I can tell) are easily detected, but not all that strong. Then finally, the spices: black pepper, cardamom, and mace. All three are present. The black pepper is doing great things with the salt (almost to the point where it reminds me of salt-and-pepper shakers, though obviously it's much more complex than that suggests), the cardamom has a good amount of staying power. It's not very sweet at all but not so un-sweet as to be prickly, dry, or bitter. While I can't pick out the tonka (and regularly forgot it was there) it may be contributing a bit to smoothing things over. I think the overall profile is "spices -> salt -> woods". Very unisex (borderline atmospheric), good throw and wear length.

I get primarily coconut and oud; the cedar and patchouli blend into the oud to form a woody base and the fig makes the coconut a little more complex in its "fruity" angles. It's not sharp or "stanky" to me -- I wouldn't necessarily have identified it as oud at all without the note list. The spiced rum is a little sweet in the way that BPALs rum can be, but it's not adding much spice that I can detect. Overall, it's unisex-to-masc, identifiably tropical fruits with a "rugged" base. It's pleasant for the summer, and while it's probably due to associations with the titular song, it always feels a little melancholy.

Agree with the above: Ira is very vetiver-heavy. The blood orange is like a fresh-cut slice, but it's only really a factor in the bottle and on application (presumably it'd also hang around in bathwater, if I were to use it in a bath rather than as a body oil); it burns off quickly. The patchouli is detectable and quite dark, but playing second fiddle to the vetiver, especially after the fist couple hours. And that's not even all that long -- this stuff lasts. "Take a shower, moisturize, go to bed, smell it on your sheets all week" type lasts. It's a dark vetiver-patch with citrus elements. It's also a scent where I actually feel that vetiver, the plant, is related to lemongrass; even though the blood orange fades out the citrus doesn't truly go away.

Pepper, sandalwood, and smoke sounded great, and ambergris + silk are hit or miss, so I gave this veil a shot. Most of the throw comes in the form of that charred/peppery sandalwood, which I found really enjoyable -- though when I gave it a more concentrated, up-close sniff I found some "soapy" or "sharp" dimensions, maybe from the ambergris + silk. It's a fairly soft scent, work-appropriate and inoffensive, though it does give the impression that there's something "more" under that carapace. Feels like something I would grab if I wasn't sure whether or not to wear perfume. I like it, but wasn't sure when I'd take it over spicier/stronger/more masc options (personal preference). Then it came to me: summer-appropriate incense. By being less strong and "warm" it becomes a sandalwood option that isn't stifling in warm weather, which is nice to have. Partner's take: "Good. Like a mainstream perfume, but less pretentious?" (not surprising given the ambergris + sandalwood)

Impressively consistent from application to drydown: black musk (a little animalic but in a wearable "perfume-y" kind of way), washed with roses, a touch of black currant that isn't so much a distinctive component as a little touch of tart fruit. I don't mind that, as fruit scents can often pull too sweet on me, but agree with previous reviews that this is more for the rose + musk/velvet lovers. The black musk is a little incense-y but less masculine than I've seen it in other blends; I wouldn't mind either way but personally read this as femme to unisex. I don't know if the rose is "supporting", per se, but would say that it's been transformed by the musk to read less as its own thing, a transformation that goes both ways. It's less rose + velvety black musk and more a black velvet rose musk, if that makes sense. It does also remind me a bit of a rose black tea. Strong throw, good longevity relative to other oils. After all the mentions of black must + rose, I was worries this might be redundant with "Divinities Implacable, Doom-Laden" (rose, black musk, myrrh, labdanum), but this is not so. The black musk here is less "inky" and carried by BPAL's textile note; the velvet seems very reminiscent of the silk note found in other blends, and it lacks the rich resinous components that make Divinities what it is. As a lover of those resins, I prefer Divinities, but might keep Mircalla too as its own enjoyably goth-y black rose blend.