Les Passades

[doomsday_disco]

A heady swish of black velvet patchouli, ambre noir, silken musk, and bourbon vanilla.

[Amoraexcena]

Exquisite - and expensive - incense hits your nose as you enter the salon. The ladies stare at you, silent and inscrutable behind their perfumed silk lace fans. There is no sound except the soft swish of plush velvet as the most noble lady of the realm crosses her legs and deigns to look at you. You bow deeply to the Queen (Elizabeth).

 

This is such a gorgeous blend. The oil is just slightly cloudy in the bottle, and what hits my nose first and foremost is the ambre noir, which I believe is black amber. It's got attitude, an edge, almost bordering on sharp - but still somehow subdued and refined. The patchouli here is absolutely not the dirty variety, and it's a grounding, supporting note to everything else. I get little dash of something floral - the silk note, I'm guessing. The vanilla is also not foody in the slightest, though it offers complexity and a little sweetness to the blend. I also get a hint of something salty, almost like ambergris. This is a very powerful one - a tiny dab is enough for me. 

 

Divine, complex, luxurious incense, 13/10. I need another bottle before it goes down.

Edited April 18 by Amoraexcena

[forspecial_plate]

On me, I'd describe this as dark, incense + vanilla, and when I sniff up close there is something deep and a little earthy.  It's almost like the scent has an up-close layer and an outer layer.  I can't really say what silken musk smells like but I would guess it's in the family of black musk based on what I'm smelling here.  

 

I'm not picking out much in the way of individual notes.  It's incensey amber/musk/vanilla, not like Snake Oil, but if anything closer to King Cobra.  But it doesn't really have the Snake Pit family resemblance in my opinion (if anyone was wondering).  I think this is something special that non-foody vanilla fans are going to love.  Oh and like the person stated above, my oil in the bottle is slightly cloudy.  

 

Edit: tried this again today, ahh - THERE'S the patchouli!  For some reason it's showing up in full force now.  Not sure how I didn't notice it as much before, but maybe the scent is still getting over some travel shock or something.

Edited April 14 by forspecial_plate

[elissamay]

For me, this is a punched-up version of You May House Their Bodies But Not Their Souls. The patch is the same, the vanilla is the same, and I'd hazard to guess the amber is nearly the same. The musk might be the punched-up part, but it's still what I'd describe as a skin musk. If you love that one, you'll love this one.

[Weirdgirlpilled]

This is sexy slinky deep purple incense, smoking near silks and laces, while an elegant victorian woman bathes herself in the casting light of a flickering candle. Her perfume is what I assume the ambre noir is, a kind of skin-warmed musk?? The black velvet patch almost has a “crushed” quality to it. It gives the perfume an overall complexity, when combined with the musk. This is grown up and sexy, though this does not smell like snake oil, it is my snake oil. I wear this to smell sexy and dark. 

 

edit: its not overly sweet, but it is definitely flirtatiously sweet. 

Edited May 2 by Weirdgirlpilled

[Little Bird]

I love vanilla, patchouli, and amber, but I don't care for this scent.  It has a sour, dark, dusty woods smell to it (rosewood?) and a musty, dusty, fuzzy, dark and dirty quality as well.  It makes me think of heavy fabric left to molder in an old, stuffy house that used to be full of heavy cigarette smokers.  The musk makes it even more dry as it settles.  I've already nudged this bottle over into my swap pile.

[doomsday_disco]

Well, this was unexpectedly effervescent. It smells like black patchouli mixed with some fizzy amber. Maybe there's some cola-like labdanum in that amber note that is not actually a flat cola for once, but I actually think it's more likely to be an aldehyde. Maybe from the silken musk?   I don't get the vanilla on my skin at all, and the ambre noir is nothing like the black amber note the Lab uses in other scents. (I was really hoping for the black amber from Thomas Sharpe plus some patchouli and vanilla... alas.)

 

Nobody else mentioned getting any effervescence in their review, so maybe my experience is an outlier that should not be counted. 😅 I would not reach for this over other patchouli scents in my collection, so my decant is off to swaps.

Edited 2 hours ago by doomsday_disco

[dancingchair]

Like doomsday_disco, I mostly get a lot of fizzy aldehyde. There is a resinous amber beneath it that blends nicely with a  powdery vanilla note. The patchouli is woody and soft like crushed velvet.

 

I think I would like this quite a bit if not for the fizz, which is a nonstarter for me. I would describe it as the experience of someone spilling lemon-lime soda on your favorite black velvet dress while you're out at the opera.