Bengal

[Gold Dust Kitten]

A sultry and unruly blend that emulates the ambient scent of the markets in ancient Bengal: skin musk with honey, peppers, clove, cinnamon bark and ginger.

I got this as an imp when I purchased .5 ml bottles of Blood Kiss and Lady Una. I liked it more than anything that came in the box.

It smells like a thieves oil recipe I made last year to fend off flu/colds. It's spicy with cloves/cinnamon notes, mellowed out with the sweetness of honey, which I truly love. I love putting this on after a shower and just lying in bed, reading or listening to music. I've gotten a lot of compliments on this perfume at work--from men too. It works well with my chemistry so I bought a whole bottle.

Definitely my #1 scent.

ETA 8/19/10:
The cinnamon irritates my skin now. And it gets plasticky on the dry down. I'm so sad about this.

[Dharklady]

In bottle: Honey, cinnamon and a touch of clove.

Wet: Those small cinnamon candies. Red hots I think?

Dry: Yup still cinnamon candy.

Notes: Well that’s a little disappointing. I would have loved to have gotten something besides cinnamon…

 

[reconditarmonia]

In imp: Sweet spice.

 

Wet on skin: Dry, realistic cinnamon with sweetness that may be honey or clove. Lighter in "color" than Plunder, sweeter, and the spices are drier in feel.

 

Dry: Mostly the same. Dry spice with underlying sweetness; identifiable notes are cinnamon and musk. I like it a lot; it'll go on my bottle list (which is not official, it's my list of things I'd buy if I had an infinite amount of money - but still).

Edited June 5, 2010 by reconditarmonia

[arlith]

I was a little leery of trying this. Spices sounded good, but honey usually turns horrible on me.

 

But I was happily surprised! The honey blends nicely adding a sweetness, maybe its the addition of the skin musk that keeps it from going bad. I end up with a musky, sweet, slightly spicy blend. The spices are hovering in the background. I can tell that they're there, but its the sweet musk that is the star of this blend. Which isn't a surprise, my skin tends to eat up spices quickly.

 

I don't like it enough to buy a bottle, its not going to be one that I grab very often. However, I will keep the imp of it that I have.

[sarielswish]

In the vial, it smells like wildfire honey I used to buy from a merchant at Pennsic. Spicy and sweet. Dunno what kind of flower it was from, but damn it tasted good. Color, crimson.

 

Wet on my skin, I'm getting honey, clove, cinnamon, and ginger. I smell thoroughly edible, but in a good way. It's spicy foody, not sugary foody.

 

10-15 minute drydown - Ohhh.... There's the musk..... Ok. I need like 5 bottles of this one, STAT.

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Veeery woody and spicy. Definitely clove and pepper. Love!

 

On Application

Wow this is powerful. Very, very dry and spicy.

 

Dry Down

There is almost a soft vanillary note in this which I think might be the skin musk which pulls the shapr spices back a bit. Overall this smells like an old wooden spice chest which has been well used. A definite bottle of this in my future.

 

Rating (0-5)

5

 

[KakashiMorph]

I love sweets that have honey, cinnamon and clove in them so I just had to give this a try - and love it!

In the bottle:Mmm the amazing honey/cinnamon/clove combo, yummmm.

On my skin: In the first few minutes it is like the bottle scent. I smell like a sweet, and I love it! I feel like eating my wrist - or something with a similar scent.

Cooldown: Soon after, the perfume turns into a milk and honey soap scent, which is also nice, even though slightly soapy, although I like the spices more. After an hour or so, the milkiness also fades away and the faint spices become the dominant scent. Lovely.

Edited July 15, 2010 by Kashi

[FathomBelow]

On wet, Bengal smells uncannily like fresh cinnamon spice bran cookies. There's even the bread/yeast note of the bran! Yum! As the oil dries, that bread/yeast note disappears, leaving just cinnamon and spice, which in themselves don't morph at all from the original cookie smell. Everything is well mixed - I can smell the cinnamon, which is the lovely old powdered cooking cinnamon type, not the Hot Tamales type, but I can't smell any clove, ginger, honey, or pepper per se.

 

This is absolutely delicious, definitely near the top of the list of my favorite BPALs. I really must try to break out of my recent gourmand scent buying preferences, but how can I when there are so many beautiful ones out there??

 

Oops, edited for spelling.

Edited July 28, 2010 by AmberApple

[SophieCedar]

Warm, sweet, nutty, spicy. The skin musk smells a bit more like Egyptian musk when first applied. the spices are strong a first as well,

Drydown, the spices and musk pouf mellows and smells a bit similar to O just spicier. Lovely

[starfish327]

in the imp: chai spiced black tea....hmm? really? this remains to be seen.

 

wet: yep. chai spiced black tea, sweetened, but no milk.

 

dry: pretty much the same, and it dries down in long dry down to the slightly plasticy note that honey turns on me sometimes. the only downside is that it disappears rather fast- i applied this an hour and a half ago and it's gone already, and all i did was lay down for a nap.

 

i've been looking for a solid spiced blend that i can layer, and i think that this is the closest that i've gotten so far. this smells like a stash chai spiced black tea bg right after you open it.

[DraloreShimare]

In the vial - Cinnamon.

On the skin - Woody cinnamon, smooth honey, a hint of something else, here and there.

Dry - Sharp cinnamon, pungent.

[subtlesiren]

So excited for this one! Smelling Bengal in the vial it is mostly a spicy, sweet cinnamon, kind of like cinnamon gum. On my wrist, the heat is turned down and morphs from being completely cinnamon to a muskier scent with a big kick of spices. This scent is like snuggling naked in front of a fire on and under a cozy blanket: sexy and super comforting. Bengal might be bottle worthy IF it didn't fade so fast. The scent starts dying down almost immediately and is all but gone several hours later. Boo, I had such high hopes and it delivered on scent but let me down when it came to longevity

[Altaira]

I can barely smell this at all. What I do get is a bit of spices and honey, but also something sharp and unpleasant. Not sure what it could be, because I've tried things with all the listed notes before and never noticed the sharp note. Must be a combo effect.

[MandyCassandra]

I wanted a spicy scent, so I ordered an imp of Bengal. It delivered.

 

In the imp: Spicy...but a smooth, sweet spicy. Oddly, the honey top note holds its own next to the cinnamon.

 

Wet on my arm: The spice starts to come forward more. It's warm and cozy and spicy and lovely. The sweetness stays, though.

Drydown: The sweet spiciness gets sweeter...and quietly fades. It doesn't really last any more than a couple hours on me at the most.

 

I totally understand the imagery in the name now...at times it brings the imagery of humid, sultry days under the blistering sun of India, trading spices in a busy market. Then at other times it reminds me of being in a very sweet-smelling kitchen way out in the country...

 

I love Bengal. It was everything I'd hoped for and more. Even with its poor staying power on me, it's one of my very favorite BPAL smells to date.

 

5/5.

[Fjaer]

In the imp this smells like amazing cakey goodness and wet on the skin it's pretty much the same. I can see why some are saying it smells like chai too. It reminds me of a cake I made a little while back which had cinnamon syrup for the filling and topping (yeah, I like cinnamon alot =]). So yeah, it's foody, spicy, and just overall yummy! Should have got a bottle!

[TastyMischief]

Mmmmmmmmm this is niiiiice... Spicy soft, sweet, warm, deep, this stuff just glows and smolders non stop. I love it. A winner.

 

EDIT: I'm happy to report that I have found my bpal sig! The more I wear this stuff, the more I love it. I need a new bottle.

It is actually getting harder and harder to describe this scent, as it gets more and more personal with each wearing. Suffice to say that it is a perfect blend of spiciness against powdery softness, a little sweet but just right, not too much, wonderful veil-like musk.

This one has all I want, nothing I don't.

Edited June 5, 2011 by TastyMischief

[Incendiare]

I'm a fan of spicy scents and this one does not disappoint. I smell mostly cinnamon in the imp, but freshly applied to the skin, the sweetness of the honey comes out. I can smell a bit of ginger far in the background, but cinnamon dominates. At this stage, it really does remind me of cinnamon bark. One of my favourite notes is clove and am a bit sad that I can't smell any, but it's still a warm, comforting scent. If you like blends like Pickled Imp and Three Witches, this one is worth trying too, or vice versa.

[kirsten]

This smelled so pretty until it gave me rashes all the way down both arms.

[Dominique]

In the vial: I get the cinnamon, and the clove, a faint musk and a sharpness that’s much more peppery than gingery. Bengal has fangs, but it’s still a lovely smell.

 

Wet: It’s not quite so sharp, but it’s warm, in a way that makes me think of skin and sexy. The warm s spices are coming through clearly, though the ginger is clearly an undernote. It could simply by that my vial is older and the ginger has faded some.

 

Dry: It’s warmed and sweetened some – the musk and honey coming out to play with the clove and ginger. The pepper note isn’t the same as sniffing an actual pepper shaker, but it’s still sharp.

 

Verdict: I originally got Bengal, in hopes of getting chai scent. (I found the perfume I was after at Violette Market, Pumpkin Chai, but that’s beside the point.) It’s not the exact milky sweetness that I was after, but it’s still spicy and delightful.

[sabrebabe]

In the bottle: Wow, I can smell the musk, honey and all the spices blending all at once! Still a bit honey sweet and musk rich. Very heady.

On my skin: lots and lots of rich spices, a little peppery bite, smoothed over with honey and just a smidge of musk.

Dry: rich, spicy honey. Musk is fading a little into the background, but it’s still there. Again, still very heady. Must watch out for bees.

Later: Still sweet, spicy musk. Scent seems to have stabilized.

It’s nice enough, I’m not sure if I want to use it as a pefume or not. Very nice for bedtime, though. I shall keep the imp and play with it for a while longer.

[Honey]

So many duds today, maybe one winner?

 

 

Imp: Honey musk with cinnamon, yup. Not as sweet and super spicy as I had thought it would be.

 

Wet: Reminds me of Eclipse. Very light on the cinnamon. Cannot smell any clove or ginger. Light honey musk. Same yeasty bread smell as Eclipse has.

 

Dry: Oh, yummy honey! Honey gets stronger after dry-down. Still no clove or ginger. Need to test this longer and with more slather.

[Lyanna]

On first sniff: oooh yum, cinnamon and honey, very sweet and warm and spicy. Absolutely lovely. The smell reminds me of those fireballs we used to eat as kids: red balls of spicy sweetness that were so hot you could barely keep them in your mouth.

 

It's a real shame that the cinnamon note almost entirely disappears as this dries. I apparently amp honey like crazy cause it takes over completely. I like the scent, but I would have loved it if the cinnamon stayed. Also, after a day's wear, it's completely gone. Doesn't last more than four hours I'm afraid.

[perzephone]

I received this as a bonus imp w/my Port-Au-Prince order I love spices, really and truly do.

 

First impression upon opening the bottle: this oil smells exactly like Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice tea. Which is okay, because that tea is yummy. It made my stomach start growling. My dog also when completely bonkers when I opened the imp - she hasn't paid much attention to any of the oils yet, so it was weird having her trying to climb up me to get the imp bottle.

 

Upon putting it on, I got that full heady rush of cinnamon, clove and cardamom - plus the earthy bite of cubeb berries, which is the pepper smell that I pick up on. It's a fresh green pepper instead of aged freshly ground black pepper. It works well in the blend and keeps the spices from being too heavy and cloying. I got no honey or ginger, but I did get a hint of powdery amber and the warm rough underbelly of musk.

 

My one complaint about Port-Au-Prince was that it wore off too quickly, but Bengal has stayed with me, and I only used a 'test' amount to try it. It's mellowed out, and the musk has become more prominent since I was outside in sunlight, but it's not overwhelming. It still has that beautiful that spicy chai tea scent - and my husband can tolerate it.

 

I gotta say, I love it

[Klolly]

I received this imp in a swap and it had a handwritten label so it may be a decant. I love warm, spicy smells so I'm excited to try this.

 

In imp: Mmm, it's a creamy, honey sweetened cinnamon. It smells just like a btowl of cinnamon Life cereal.

 

On wet: Still getting cinnamon Life, only it smells more cinnamony than that. It has a really nice creamy aspect to it which I assume is a mix of the honey and skin musk. The spices are mixed well and it's hard to differentiate one from the other except for the cinnamon.

 

Dry: This smells a lot like The Lion to me but with creamy honey replacing the amber. I even get the dry grass smell in this that I loved in the Lion, though I doubt it's in here. I'll have to wear this awhile before I can say more. Right now I'm enjoying it though.

 

Minutes later: My inner elbow area began itching and when I looked down my skin was bright red everywhere I applied the oil so I had to wash it off. I've worn several cinnamon oils so I'm not sure what caused the reaction.

Edited October 4, 2011 by Klolly

[Alethia]

Thoughts before testing: I'm in a very spicy scent mood today, and I'm really hoping that Bengal will work for me!

 

Wet: Obnoxiously strong cinnamon and ginger.

 

Dry down: This smells exactly like those huge Fireball candies. No honey, no spice, just Fireball candy.

 

Dry: Sixty minutes after application, the scent has faded to almost nothing. If I put my nose right above my skin, I can smell honey faintly, but that's it.

 

Final thoughts: I'm going to let this age a little in the hopes that it'll work better.

 

December testing: After a little aging, this is much, much better. It's a lot less like Fireball candies and a lot more awesome spicy perfume. Unfortunately, it disappears fast.

 

Verdict: After a little aging, I love this scent but not it's lack of staying power. I'll use my imp but this isn't a bottle purchase.

Edited December 5, 2011 by Alethia