Tavern of Hell

[supremegoddessofall]

White gardenia, ambergris bouquet, lavender fougere, orange blossom, melissa, tobacco flower, coriander, ebony wood, ylang ylang, absinthe and aged whiskey.

Wow is this a stange combination. The predominant notes for me are the gardenia, the tobacco flower, the ylang ylang, and the booze. It's prety, but strange. The overall effect is a spicy floral.

[UberAlice]

Straight out of the imp, onto my skin and hours later it is the same smell: fresh dong quai root. Not pleasant in the least on me. It's a slightly peppery herbal ickiness. So sad. I kept hoping it would morph at least a little to soften the olfactory blow but I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

[Court Analyst/Strategist]

Near instantly, this has a high pitched, unnaturally soured 'grass' note in the forefront of the scent. A strong dish soap effect shows up quickly to mingle with the grass as well . I've tried this one a couple of times now, and I wanted to love Tavern of Hell, but alas, its absolutely incoherent on my skin chemistry.

 

Court

[Loligo]

This opens with the lavender fougere and the absinthe combining to make a sweet but masculine herbal with incredible throw. Then the gardenia and the whisky kick in, and it all goes to hell -- but not in a good way. The florals, herbs, and whisky refuse to play nicely together on me; it's an unsettled mess. I've been having this problem a lot recently with these blends that have a long string of notes, with the New 13 being the notable exception.

[maijasu]

I can't really put my finger on why this scent doesn't work for me. The notes just don't seem to work well together on my skin, and I end up smelling like flower petals mixed with cigarette butts. Not pretty.

[maribouquet]

in the imp: Lavender and orange blossom

 

wet: Immediately something mildly boozey & sweet comes up - absinthe or whiskey maybe?

 

dry: God, I wish I had more experience picking out notes so that I could describe this properly...it's a sophisticated, complex, flawless blend. I would say it's floral, due to the light sweetness that lingers around my wrist, except that it's not floral - it's sharp and deep and tangy. It really reminds me of the palette of a vintage French poster.

 

Gorgeous, complex, elegantly sensual, vibrant, vigorous, just this side of the edge of vulgar - imagine a woman who's been dancing up a storm and has now sat down to quench her thirst, flushed and glowing, delighted and powerfully alive. Ooh, and red lipstick!

 

 

Okay, thus ends my pretentious review. I really like this, but sad to say it goes a bit sour on me after 20 min. *weeps* And, oh, rats it's giving me a headache. That's never happened to me before - I wonder who the culprit is.

 

 

(edited for spelling, d'oh!)

Edited November 12, 2006 by maribouquet

[grrrlennyl]

at first: strong. herbal, cologne-y, and a bit boozy.

on: sweet, herbal, a bit biting, and boozy. there's a floral edge to this, too, along with some warm spiciness. let's just say that there's a lot going on.

1.5 hours later: a very, very pretty, sweet floral. lovely. i think gardenia works really well on me.

3 hours later: still sweet and floral. really gorgeous.

4.5 hours later: a soft, white, sweet floral.

overall: this is totally not what i expected, but i adore this. i'm thrilled that the orange blossom didn't appear on my skin and that it ended up being such a beautiful floral. woo hoo!

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

whew. with the notes listed in this, it could just about be the extremes of both ends of my likes/dislikes notes list.

no to: gardenia, ambergris, lavender, orange blossom, coriander

yes to: melissa, tobacco flower, wood, ylang ylang, absinthe and Oh, yes, please to the whiskey.

 

and what does it turn into on me? sweaty and desperately in need of a shower gardenias, and the wood cask the whiskey was aged in.

 

this isn't as awful as i was afraid of, due to so many bad notes for me... but i doubt i'll wear it again.

[The_Merf]

In the imp: Wheaty, beer-like? It is a scent called "Tavern..."

 

Wet: Yes, this is wheat grass and booze, and nothing else.

 

Drydown and wear: The other notes remain indistinct, and the wheat/booze combo is almost enough to make me feel sick to my stomach. Off to the swaps with it!

[cuervosueno]

I must have purchased this imp for the ambergris, because I can't see why else I would have wanted it.

 

In the imp and wet: it smells like a wet dog.

 

On at first: yikes! oakmoss! I know there is no oakmoss in here, but that is what it smell overwhelming like.

 

Drydown: finally it becomes astonishing--a sweet floral, of the tobacco floral/gardenia variety.

 

What a morpher!

 

Still, I don't like it enough to keep it.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Fougere and soap

 

Wet on me - High pitched florals, with something dark underneath them.

 

Dry on me - Fades quickly to an intimate warmness

 

Overall - Nice but very faint, somehow I expected something more powerful.

[phedre]

In vial: lavender and melissa, a bit of wood. florals and sharp herbals from the absinthe. Definitely lots of gardenia

 

wet on skin: This is nice! smoky wood and absinthe, and pretty orange blossom and melissa. I also get the ylang ylang and what must be tobacco flower, as I don't recognize it.

 

ten minutes later: this is very complex, but i'm not sure i like it. I think the gardenia is giving me a headache.

 

Drydown: The gardenia has come out, roughed up the absinthe, and kicked the ebony out the door. This is pure gardenia now, though the ylang ylang seems to have been allowed to stay. Much too strong with my chemistry, so this is off to the swaps.

[impadua@aol.com]

Tavern of Hell is what I have in my unscented shampoo, and I leave the bottle open, so that every time I go into the bathroom, I get this wonderful punch of fragrance that surrounds me,. I don't smell whiskey at all, I smell Gardenia, wood, and orange blossom, with something a little dark and maybe dangerous underneath..maybe it IS the whiskey...

And I smell it all day, and need to get another bottle very soon.

[Voleuse]

On first sniff, this strikes me as soapy, specifically, expensive floral soap, sweet and clean. As it dries, the soap note gives way to a sharp and sweetly boozy scent--the absinthe, I think. In the end, I get lavender, absinthe, and wood from this. Definitely reminiscent of a tavern, but more high-class than I expected from the description. Neat!

[PurringPulsar]

Tavern of Hell

 

In the imp: a complex mix of lavender, tobacco smoke, hints of gardenia and orange blossom, and ylang too? Here's to hoping this gardenia doesn't turn to Evil Flower on me.

Wet on skin: the gardenia starts to turn a little sour but then lavender moves in and snuffs it out. I smell lots of smoke now.

Dry on skin: wow, what a complex fragrance! The gardenia in here has gone quiet, letting all the other notes come through. The result is a complex and many-layered scent of smoke, flowers, herbs, woods, and a hint of booze. I smell lavender and orange flower very clearly, along with a hint of absinthe and ebony (probably the dark wood note), tobacco flower is very smoky, melissa (I think that's lemon balm?) and coriander, with gardenia, and ylang adding heady floral touches and ambergris binding it all together. Dark, smoky and inviting, with hints of French cologne mingling with floral perfumes, and splashes of booze-at times the lavender is strong, other times the floral notes, and at other times smoke and then the herbs, woods and drinks are strongest.

After a while: this blend is a real morpher. At times the lemony melissa and orange blossom seem to peek out. At other times I get a beautiful white floral scent, and I wonder if the gardenia in here is the 'good' variety I loved from Le Serpent Qui Danse or Euphrosyne. At other times, the gorgeous smoky floral scent of tobacco flower really shows, and I get glimmers of absinthe and spices on a backdrop of deep ebony and ambergris. I swear I smell cigars here as well, but non-flowery tobacco isn't listed…this is such an intriguing scent. This seems to give off wafts of a beautiful sweet creamy floral scent when smelt far away, but close to the wrist the scent is more masculine and cologne like, with a mossy base. This manly cologne is the longest lasting note, lingering after the smoke and flowers have faded, but accentuating it is the spicy greenness of coriander.

Verdict: this is quite an amazing scent! I was expecting the gardenia in here to turn against me but I'm so glad it doesn't. In fact, the complex jumble of other notes makes for a fascinating and multifaceted scent, swirling and chaotic and changing, moving between masculine and feminine, and with many layers. It seems very apt for the theme and description, a scent evoking a wild night out in Paris, either in a smoky dark tavern, or taking in a show at the Moulin Rouge with a cigar and a glass of absinthe, the scent of men's aftershave mingling with the heady perfumes of the dancers and the smoke all around. A fragrance where lavender cologne rubs shoulders with heady gardenia and ylang-ylang, and seductive tobacco flower slinks through mingling with exotic woods and spices. It gives off a beautiful throw of smoky heady flowers and shape-shifts constantly. The only thing that stops this from being a favourite is that it smells a little too masculine at times, especially at drydown-like an upscale men's perfume-sophisticated, but a little too manly for me. but I'm definitely keeping this scent around, it's very well blended and unique.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? I'm keeping the imp.

If you like this, try: La Fee Verte, Absinthe, Old Scratch, Casanova, Paris, Wilde, Vicomte de Valmont

Edited January 26, 2007 by yeahbutnobut

[femmefatale]

Hubby just tried this since I was assuming it would be a very masculine scent. Happliy, I was wrong.

I starts out very woodsy w/a hint of florals underneath. As it dries, the gardenia and orange blossom comes out. Luckily, not much of the ylang ylang since it tend to give me a headache. Underneath it all lurks a faint whiskey and a bit of tobacco.

 

I really love this and can't wait to see how it smells on me.

[Salvia_spathacea]

In the vial I smelled dry woods, and not much else. When it hit my skin I smelled strong coriander, with a hint of woods underneath. But after about 30 minutes everything settled into place and it's now wood, overlain by a smokiness that is almost sweet, but not at all in a foody way. On the whole it's very complex - you can smell all the notes listed as they swirl together. Every so often little strands of the various scents will rise up from the blend and remind me of something I can't quite place then slide back into the others. Rich, and very evocative - I definitely like this!

[jiggahava]

Hmmm, this is a hard one to pin down! I get lots of dark florals, with a bit of the whisky. It definitley smells like a dark smoky place. I think this would be a VERY good scent to wear at a bar, perhaps for a night on the town. Definitley a nighttime scent. I do like this alot, and I will keep my imp. It turned out much better than I expected on my skin.

[Miss Lynx]

Interesting -- less sweet than the number of florals in the list of notes would suggest; it really smells more like a men's scent. Quite a nice men's scent, though -- it's very evocative of the sort of jaded Romantic-era decadence it seems to aspire to, and is nicely complex, with shifting layers of light and dark. I would't at all mind smelling this on someone male, or a female who was a little more butch than me. I don't even entirely mind it on me, but it does have a bit of that "Hi! I'm a men's scent!" feel to it.

 

So on the whole, admirable, but not for me, exactly. But it does make me wish that my male partner were a little more enamoured of BPAL so that I could get him to wear it.

 

Grade: B

[ariosa]

I'm.... not sure how I feel about this. I was uber-excited over it because of the gardenia, but this one isn't saying gardenia to me at all. It's mostly woodsy and whiskey -- not bad smells per se, but not for me, I don't think. I'll have to give it another try when my senses aren't so overwhelmed with other woodsy things!

 

ETA, March 30, 2007: I tried this again, and the first, overwhelming scent was coriander. But I'm noticing that it's drying down into a smoky, woodsy gardenia, and I think I like this more than I did the first time. It takes a while for the scent to settle down, though, and that concerns me. It's not an 'I LOVE THIS as soon as it's on' scent. Of course, I'm trying it at the wrong time, as it's my TOTM, so that might be affecting things as well. Still, it will remain in my 'maybe' pile, and I'll try it one night when I need something fancier for evening. And then, a bit later... arrrrgh! The coriander comes back. If this is what lasts, it's off to swaps for this one. I don't wanna smell like coriander. Aaaaaand, later still, it now smells sweet! This one is a real morpher. It's going to take some more testing, I think.

Edited March 31, 2007 by ariosa

[Victoria]

okay, so i bought this despite the lavender because of all the other interesting ingredients but lo and behold, i put this on and i right away, all i got was the lavender. then i had to run a couple of errands and walked into the hallway of my apt, and i thought, "wow, what pimp-daddy just walked through here? it smells like Brut aftershave!" then as the smell followed me into the elevator, into the lobby, and outside - i realized I was the pimp-daddy! of course, everyone has different tastes, and the interesting thing about oils is that they are never the same on any two people, but i would recommend this mostly for men, i don't think of this as a unisex scent at all.

[Mimicake]

This is the first one that I've tried that my skin totally rejected, as it is actually burning and turning into a reddish welp on the application site. I normally don't have such sensitive skin and I worry about which component could be causing this.

 

I actually like the smell of it however, and I could almost brave the burn. The florals seem sugary amongst the gritty notes of alcohol. I did not expect it to be this sweet and smokey. I would have loved for this to have become a club scent for me.

[vegasblueblood]

This is so complex and beautiful. My skin seems to amp gardenia so I'm getting a lot of that and finding it similar to Hell's Belle (one of my favorite scents). There is a slight orange-y scent and I'm not picking up any of the absinthe or whiskey yet and not any of the woods. This definitely reminds of the Moulin Rouge ladies swirling past, it's a dark and macabre scent with just the right amount of sweetness that keeps it twisted yet not evil.

[Catmint]

I got this as a frimp from Carmencita and I'm so glad I did, because I never would have thought to order it based on the notes.

 

IMP: sharp, herbal men's cologne

 

WET: sharp, herbal, woody, slightly floral on me, slightly sour on my husband. (He said it smelled like expensive cologne worn by a guy in a bar where someone had vomited on the carpet.) Luckily, I didn't detect any of the sour vomit smell, and he said it passed fairly quickly.

 

DRY: On me, it's warm, herbal, woody, and slightly floral, mostly lavendar. Very nice. On him it's smoky, woody, and boozy -- no florals at all, just an underlying sweetness to the wood, like barrels that sherry has been aged in. After an hour or so it settles into a warm, sweet, woody scent, with a bit of lavender on me and a bit of smoke & whiskey on him. I'd probably wear this again, and it smells really gorgeous on my husband. In fact, when he went out to the barn, our thoroughbred mare was ALL over him -- she kept sniffing his neck and couldn't get enough, so it seems to attract females of all species!

 

On at first: yikes! oakmoss! I know there is no oakmoss in here, but that is what it smell overwhelming like.

You're not crazy, there IS oakmoss in it -- "fougere" is usually a blend of lavender, coumarin, and oakmoss, and it's a very common base for men's scents. (The name means "fern" in French and it comes from a famous men's cologne called Fougere Royale by Houbigant.)

[reina]

Got this imp through a swap (Thank you CrazyDiamond!)

 

This is one of the better blends I've smelled in a LONG while. It reminds me of a certain perfume that I used to smell as a smaller child, in the 80s, but I can't put my finger on it.

 

To me, it shares a similar feel with Dia de los Muertos, after the brown sugar aspect of DDLM has faded and the florals come out. The same rich floral note backed by another type of deep notes, some wood I guess, some smoke perhaps... Tavern of Hell is in the same realm, the same family. I can see how this may come across as masculine to some, it has a cologne-ish tone to it, but on me it's all woman - a strong, infinitely stylish woman.

 

This is defintiely an evening scent, it's grown up without ever being old-ladyish, floral but not cloying, just very luxurious. I can see myself wearing it regularly. LOVELY!

 

Great Job, Beth - you did it again!