Torture King

[tesao]

The King of Pain, the Famed Fakir. Frankincense and sweet clove, mandarin and bourbon, lemon peel and leather, grasses and smoke, lime and vetiver, ambergris and deep musk.

in the bottle: sharp green grasses.. a bit TOO sharp!

on my wrist, wet: citrus and booze, grasses and leather.

drydown: it settles down and rounds out with amber and something else....can't quite figure it out, yet, but think it is a resin. it's a keeper!

and i agree with red hot mama, i think it will deepen and improve with age!

[vyvyan]

Oh, God. I hadn't planned on getting a second bottle of anything. But I don't know what I'll do if I have to face a life with only a limited supply of this.

 

I don't know what it *is* but Torture King has totally smacked me over the head and made me fall in love. The scent dries down to this very *crisp* leather and incense blend that still has something warm hiding in the background; there's not much booze, just this crisp, outdoorsy incense smell. I'm sorry - I can't really describe it. I just know I've been sitting here with my nose *plastered* to my arm for the last half hour, inhaling.

 

Very very masculine scent, on me, but I'm not particularly girly and I will wear the King and LOVE HIM.

[magdalene]

in the bottle: mmm. Bourbon and lime.

 

wet on skin: wow, incense! With the sweet clove warming it up and making it less churchy. This is great. Like Voodoo and Cathedral's bastard love child. Which makes me a happy, happy girl because those are two of my favourites.

 

dry: Little bit of pine, giving everything a sharp smokeyness.

[telesilla]

Why I tried it -- well originally it was because CN was extended and I had some birthday money, so I ordered a couple of decants from someone.

 

Leather and smoke and something woody.

 

Drying down: Still mostly leather and smoke and wood, nothing sweet at all. It's like De Sade crossed with Cathedral.

 

Dry: Leather., smoke, and now some citrus and something vaguely boozy that might be the bourbon. It's not bad, although it's seriously masculine, too much for me to wear. I haven't managed to assign it to any of the guys I write about. He'd have to be pretty butch though.

Edited August 30, 2005 by telesilla

[requieminblack]

First sniff from the bottle- Lime, leather and lemon.

 

After 20 minutes- The bourbon comes out after a few minutes and is mixed with the lemon, clove and mandarin. This is a very foody scent. It is not as heavy as I thought it would be. It is a really clean light bourbon/citrus scent. This makes me think of bourbon cocktails being sipped by southern gentlemen out on a big porch in front of a big old house in the deep south. You get the booze, the lemon and lime in the drink, the spicy musk cologne the men are wearing, the leather from their tall boots and the grass and trees from outside.

 

Summery- If I were a boy this would be my scent. It smells wonderful!

Edited August 31, 2005 by requieminblack

[Little Bird]

 

Torture King is amazing. I just now tried it and placed an order for another 5 ml. I had to snag another bottle before it was too late .

 

If anyone has tried Cerberus, Torture King smells similar to it, to my nose at least. They have the same yummy spiced biscuit scent. It makes them foodie, but not overly so.

 

All of the notes blend together to make Torture King so smooth and sexy. I can smell the spices, green grasses, smoky incense, and a splash of lime and musk. This would be amazing on a guy, but I'm not going to share it with my boy.

 

It's a dominating blend with a nice bite at first, but it quickly softens down. Like a good lover who pulls your hair, spanks you, and bites you all over and then kisses you and strokes you gently until you've turned into a complete submissive puddle.

 

I *love* this. It's wonderfully complex and amazing. It's exactly what I thought it would be like, based on the description. I can smell all of the notes over the course of wearing it. It's sexiness in a bottle.

[tempete]

Torture King is initially a well-blended mix of lime, vetiver and leather. Normally leather is far too masculine on me, but there must be such a small amount here to avoid that pitfall. Torture King goes rather soft becomes a skin scent as it dries down, making it difficult to pick out any notes, although sometimes I pick out grasses. Since it contains resins, the late drydown for this scent is incredible on me: frankincense that seems to be sweetened and rounded out by the other notes (although I can't tell which ones). As kmasden mentioned in her review, Torture King is addictive . Also, judging from the reviews, I agree with RHM that different body chemistries will pick up different notes in this blend, since it doesn't smell too masculine on me once it has dried down.

 

It's funny how I was so sure that Torture King wouldn't work on me because of the leather, lemon peel and grasses. Thanks to a very generous forumite who loaned me her decant, I am very happy to be proven wrong and I placed an order for a bottle on the very last day of the Carnaval!

Edited September 1, 2005 by tempete

[wickedgoddess]

Preconceived notions - I love clove and bourbon, and like frankincense, leather, smoke and musk, but the lime and vetiver scare me. I am curious to try this, but doubt I will like it.

 

Wet - sharp, bitter, masculine. I get lime and possibly ambergris. It's dark and angry.

 

Dry - vetiver comes on strong now. IT fades relatively quickly though, allowing the frankincense to peek through. About 3 hours in, I get a pleasant mix of musk, vetiver and frankincense. Sadly the clove and bourbon never manage to make a noticable appearance. This is okay, but really it just makes me want to go put some Geek on. Not for me.

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 2.

[madelf]

This was strong, very green and just a bit sharp on me, at first. After awhile, the frankincense and musk came out and softened this up a bit. It was masculine, but not as much as I expected. However, none of the boubon, clove or mandarin came out on me, which was a bit of a disappointment.

 

On the male companion, this was gorgeous. It just blended into this light herbal smoke and leather scent. The clove and bourbon actually came out on him, and sweetened this just a little. It ended up being a great mix of notes, and surprisingly soft.

 

Either way - Torture King gets a big thumbs up.

 

ETA:

 

After wearing this a second time, I am in love. This time there was a lot of clove and bourbon and the weird green sharpness didn't appear at all. It was still strong and a little masculine, but so gorgeous that I am thinking of swiping the bottle from the male companion on occassion.

Edited September 9, 2005 by madelf

[leahcat]

Alas! The frankinscense and vetiver and deep musk knock everything else out. Sweet clove, mandarin, bourbon, lemon peel, leather, grasses, lime? Completely gone. Can I get those in a scent by itself? Sigh.

[Hallows_Eve]

In the bottle, I get the smoke and bourbon.

 

On my husband: Smoke, leather and bourbon while walking in the woods and burning an amber based incense stick.

 

I am a real fan of scents that take its smells from rougher, or less ethereal inspirations. I have tried it on myself yet, because my husband has horded the bottle to his workplace. However it does mix well with him, the amber and musk mix well with the leather, bourbon and smoke on him. Can't get the lemon or the lime on him though.

 

He's happy with it, so its a hit as far as I am concerned.

[feline.by.design]

Whoa.... this scent just ROCKS!! I'm a serious fan of the Torture King. It's so rich, so masculine, sooooo sexy.

 

Doreen <3s Torture King 4-Eva.

 

I love the leather note that I get from it when the oil is wet on my skin, as well as from the early stages of the drydown. So fabulous, I feel devious and pouncy with this on. Rowr!

 

It's a masculine scent, but I revel in the BPAL masculine fragrances. *Ahem* Severin, De Sade, Dracul, meet Torture King.

 

The oil dries down to a wonderful light resin about three-four hours after application. It's a lot like Dracul with leather to me, which is great. I can see myself wearing this oil a lot. Torture King combines some of my favourite notes: leather, frankincense, lime, vetiver and musk. I didn't get much citrus out, just a lot of spicy resin smacked with leather.

 

Oh my. I'll have pictures of my bottle up in my locker. Torture King is my new LE sweetheart, vying for the title of Favourite Masculine LE with King of Spades. Oooooh.

 

-doreen

[darkling]

Very few of the notes in Torture King actually showed up on my skin. At first touch, this scent was rich, strong lime. But it faded almost immediately into musk, smoke, and tobacco.

 

After a few hours, the musky tobacco developed an edge of baby powder.

 

Torture King turned out ot be a very masculine scent with none of the notes that I enjoy making a long-term appearance.

[quimerula]

Wet I get a strong citric start (mandarin, lime, lemon peel, all together!) over a darker bottom line.

I can pick up clove, bourbon, smoke and leather.

 

It's a bit masculine, it will be great on a man, but I find it sexy on my skin too!

[oatmealneko]

Torture King started out reeking of lemon peel, leather, & smoke. It remained very citrusy throughout, lemon peel, then mandarin, then finally lime. It also retained the smoky, leathery, musky scent without becoming overpowering either. On me, it's perfectly balanced, in the end, I get lime, musk, smoke, & leather, a little from each, not too much overall. It has fairly good throw & lasting power, definitely a keeper.

 

Usually I get a lot of vetiver from any blend that contains it, this time I didn't. NONE.

[gingersnapp]

I don't know why I bothered. Whenever vetiver is in a blend, it beats the other notes into submission and that is all I ever smell. You might say vetiver IS my personal Torture King.

[~AmusedMuse~]

My Impression:

This is quite lovely and to me it is a smoky,citursy, type of powder scent. It is complicated and refiened at the same time. Regal as a king is. My Scale of 1-5...

4

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Frankincense and leather, clove and bourbon. That dryness of lemon peel. It smells very sexy and inviting in the bottle - but masculine, for this is definitely a man's fragrance. There are hints of smoke and vetiver, but these notes are not strong. Based on my past histories with many of these notes, I doubt this will smell good on my skin, but I'll try it.

 

On me: Lime and lemon and incense and spice, with grasses shooting up throughout. A deep, heavy musk adds to the mysterious allure. A man wearing this would exude power, I think. It is a very strong, kingly fragrance.

I have had little luck convincing the current boyfriend of the delights of perfume oil (if he can't spray it, he isn't interested) but I'll give him a shot of this.

[cranberry]

In the vial: vetivert, grass, maybe leather

On the Skin: Wow - this is so much better on the skin than in the vial.

 

Initially I get amber and clove, maybe a touch of resin and leather. Once it dries down, I get smoke, clove, and a leathery, resiny incense (that doesn't bring up good images - when I read that, for some reason I think turtle eggs but it's really quite wonderful). Touches of lime and a squidge of lemon peek through every so often. The citrus provides a lift to the scent and melds beautifully with the clove, smoke and resins. I'm not sure where the musk is in here but it has a really good base - I think that the ambergris, leather and musk combine to form an almost incense like base for the clove.

 

Overall impression: I LOVE Torture King. I can't stop smelling my arm - it's intoxicating! Another CN winner for me!

[Seraph]

Oh. My. Sweet. Clover.

 

At first this one is... strong... violent and cruel, but as it dries down it finds its mark, it finds its stride and the Torture King settles into a punishment that's firm but loving. Oh, the love is so there with his possessive embrace and subtle domineering nature. His constant presence is there to remind you that He is in control of your soul now and you have no will to resist Him. Think... Dorian... with a Masterful skill of punishing Domination. Will I bow to the Torture King's command? Oh, I will... I will... with shudders of ecstasy.

 

 

Ahem. Sorry. Smoky citrus and leather. Dorian dressed up in leather and all set for a long hot night of blissful torment...

[WidgetAlley]

I was lucky enough to be able to snag an Imp of Torture King not long after CN closed.... a fresh decant of something with lots of notes I love, yay. My only concern was the vetiver, since sometimes it tends to eat everything else in a blend. But then again, sometimes it doesn't. *crosses fingers*

In the vial: Nice bright yellow colour... oh. Um. Well. The first sniff is very bizarre: one hundred percent icky baby powder. Wha? The combination of the frankincense and the grasses, I think. Like Snake Oil without the sweetness. Well, here's hoping.

 

Wet: Oh, that's better. A strong burst of citrus and then spicy-sweet goodness. I can definitely smell the clove. This seems to be blending in with my natural smell really well, and it keeps changing. Now I can smell campfire smoke. I'm not sure I'm picking up any "deep musk" or ambergris, although that could just be because I'm not familiar with either of them. It does smell quite outdoorsy. Only the faintest, teeniest hint of leather, though, dammit.

 

Ten minutes later: What? Argh! No! Come back! I'm having to shove my nose right up against my wrist to get anything.

 

Fifteen minutes later: The Torture King has run off to play with his whips somewhere else, leaving behind only a touch of mandarin and smoky clove.

 

Dry: *wails* Why doesn't this last on me? Whhhhyy? Oh well. It's pretty damn sexy, but a little masculine even for me (and Jolly Roger is my everyday blend.) I'm starting to learn that I favour the simpler ones, too.

 

The verdict: I'm shamelessly enabling The Boy for his birthday, and I'm thinking this may be an extension of that. Next time he's around, I'll slather him in it, and if it sticks around on him longer than it does on me, I'm not responsible for what happens. If he likes it as much as I do, then it's his-- if not, swaps!

 

[edit] Okay, now I'm really confused. Several hours later, TK has come back out of hiding and he's lovely, like a very masculine version of Voodoo. Nonetheless, I think I'll be enjoying this one vicariously: I just can't resist the thought of dousing said male in it.

Edited September 17, 2005 by WidgetAlley

[girlmadasbirds]

this is almost all vetiver and leather on me with the lemon trying to peek out once in a while. this is very strong and masculine on me. i don't believe the torture king will be staying with me much longer.

[QueenFae]

OOooh, sexy, I want my man to wear this! The top notes are definitely citrusy, I can detect equal parts of the lemon, lime and mandarin. The leather is definitely there as an undertone, but oddly compliments the citrus effect. I can detect maybe a small hint of the frankincense and sweet clove. This one personally doesn't work for me, as leather notes hate me, but I think it's going to be drop dead sexy on the fiance, and I'm going to give him no choice but to wear it regularly!

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Dark, earthy vetiver and fruit - my nose says blackberries still on the bush, but my brain says cherries.

Wet on me - still fruity, but in a way that reminds me of the dentistssurgery. It reminds me in a way of Lushs Avobath ballistic, but with leather in the background.

Dry on me - leather with a layer of sweet citrus over the top. It sits very close to the skin and is light but sexy - my favourite Carnaval Noir so far.

[laochodia]

Dark and masculine. Deep amber, citrus and leather. Why don't they make cologne like this?