Crowley

[stellans]

Infernal musk, red patchouli, lilac cologne, mahogany, lemon rind, oakmoss, leather, and vanilla husk.

oh, sweet! Patchouli and leather...this is my dream scent come true, right? Well, actually: yes! Yes! YES! Crowley is an amazing (and how many times has that word been applied to a BPAL blend? How many grains of sand on the beach?), and absolutely lovely.

At first application, the musk, patchouli, and leather notes are uppermost to my nose, with all the other notes mere shadows on the wall. And thank goodness for that, because I don't want to smell cologne even if it is lilac, nor am I much interested in lemon rind. However, the combination of all these side-notes make a truly lovely background for my own favorite stars of the show: patchouli and leather, admirably supported by the musk.

But for me what really makes this a blend to be loved, worn often, and hoarded in multiple bottles is the drydown. As Crowley dries on my arm, a sensual and smooth leather note appears and takes over. The patchouli/musk notes are still there, oh yes, but the leather is now what makes me sigh in delight. It's been a while now since my fascination love obsession with leather began, and I have now many leather loves, but Crowley is up in the top 7 (by my calculations, there are 88 BPAL perfume oils which admit to a leather note; I now lack only 4!). This is a smooth, well-worn but well-cared-for leather, the kind a jacket might be made of, a jacket kept and worn for years and years: soft, supple, and altogether delicious in both texture and scent.

Edited June 10, 2011 by stellans

[alioth]

My bottle of Crowley has aged nearly two years now--I bought it when the scent was just released, and it's seen very little use since then due to me working at a job where fragrances were discouraged. So it's had a lot of time to age, and let me tell you, it aged beautifully. I remember loving this scent back in 2007, and if anything I adore it more now.

 

In bottle: Very sharp, lilac and lemon and something that isn't quite wood or leather. It smells like a wealthy man polishing some sort of expensive furniture with lemon Pledge, unflattering as that may be. When I smell the cap instead of the bottle, I get very sharp, fresh saddle leather and wood.

 

Wet, on wrist: Where did the cologne go? It immediately disappeared, replaced by rich leather and wood. The lemon's still there, but taking a definite backseat to the wood and leather and--hey, suddenly, vanilla!

 

Dry, on wrist: Deliciously sexy-comforting musky leather wood goodness sweetened by a hint of unfoody vanilla. God I love this scent so much. Some people have said it's really masculine, but for me it's more of a smell that I'd want to get putting my nose to anyone's neck. Sexy and classy and somehow really comforting at the same time. The lilac and lemon are totally gone unless I press my nose to my wrist.

 

Summary: on me, Crowley morphs from a suave and sexy bachelor to a rich and comforting partner. Much warmer and fuzzier than he seems at first glance, that Crowley. One of my absolute favorite scents.

[childoftime]

Wet, I get musk, patchouli, and a warm background of scent that's very well-blended, then as it dries, this lovely vanilla leather smell comes out and starts to mingle with the musk and patchouli, and it smells fantastic! The wood, lemon, and cologne are present in the background, rounding this scent off.

 

Love, love, LOVE this one. Definitely one of my top three.

[voorishsign]

Oh my good god, why did I take so long to try this? This is freaking gorgeous. I love the musk, I love the red patchouli, I love the mahogany, the oakmoss, leather and vanilla, the lilac I can take or leave but it doesn't make that much of an appearance, and although my skin usually amps anything relating to lemon in the worst way imagineable, it doesn't here.

 

Sheer, slick elegance, and brilliantly blended. Leather, mahogany and musk are strongest right now, with a hint of vanilla, I wonder how or if this one will morph. I'm going to slather myself with it today and chances are quite good I'll include a bottle in my next order Divine!

[impolight]

The Boys would be PROUD!

Spectrally, this would insinuate Mahogany, Cordovan and Indigo.

An arched eyebrow.

A lick of the lips... SWANK!!!

A snap of the fingers brings a sycophant to one's elbow.

An upturned collar and killer hair...

The last pelvic thrust you EVER need to see.

MEOWCH!!!

[Amaroq]

I'll preface this by saying that Good Omens is my favorite book. I love Aziraphale and Crowley equally, but decided to try Crowley first, since the blend has a lot of notes that flatter me.

 

I have had my eye on this blend since it came out (yeah, it took me a while to get it...). In the bottle, it's all leather and patchouli, with a sweet undertone. Wet on my skin, it's still all leather and patchouli, though I can smell red musk when I take a deep breath. I don't mind it at all. Leather is one note that I know for sure plays nice on my skin, and while I've never worn patchouli or red musk before, they smell great with the leather.

 

After about an hour, the sweet smell comes through, which I'm thinking is the vanilla husk.

 

This is a leather/patchouli/red musk combination with leather as the dominant note, and a very slight, very attractive vanilla note when it dries. I think I smell a touch of the mahogany, too. Sexy, smoky, sweet, and surprisingly classy. Perfectly Crowley. It smells fantastic on me, and seems to last a while. I love this! Yum!

[angelicruin]

Wow, this is just a gorgeous blending of notes.

 

Red patchouli, musk, leather, a little (but not too much) lemon, vanilla, and wood.

 

Sweet, but not too sweet. I can't stop huffing my wrist.

[heathercaley]

Thank you to DangerInRed for the decant!! Ive been dying to try this one.

 

Once applied, I can immediately smell the patchouli and red musk and leather. It starts to dry down really quick, and once it starts its drying process I start to smell a manly cologne (must be the lilac cologne and mahogany mixed together) The leather note isn't compromised during the drying process, making the earth notes a little extra meaty in a sense. The lemon note adds a little freshness to the overall combination of notes. It's a manly scent that can totally be worn by the ladies. I love it!

Edited January 12, 2010 by Purrsnikety

[anomie]

In the bottle: Cologne and leather, I think. Almost soapy.

 

Wet: Musk, leather.

 

As this dries down it gets warmer and softer. That might be the patchouli coming out, and the vanilla husk - both scents that I love and that work really well on me. I wish I had a gentleman caller to put this on, but I might be able to pull it off in the right mood. Something about it reminds me of a less-bright version of Lush's Karma scent - another scent I love. Nom.

Edited March 1, 2010 by Nomie

[Venneh]

About to start decanting these boys; Aziraphale's already on the one wrist, and Crowley's gonna be on the other. In the bottle, I'm definitely getting red musk, wood, and patchouli. On my skin, it's red musk and patchouli first and foremost, we'll see if there's any changes. Ends up being red musk and leather and mahogany and patchouli, vaguely reminiscent of Krampus and Now Winter Nights Enlarge, but not anything I particularly need. Going to pass on this for now.

Edited March 29, 2010 by Venneh

[strahlend]

For me Crowley smells a lot like snake oil with a dash of lavender cologne. Which is fantastic. I really didn't think I would like it so much, but now I'm thinking of getting a backup bottle. I normally amp anything in the lemon family, but I'm not able to smell any lemon here at all. I also don't normally enjoy leather scents, but this is an exception because of how perfectly it blends with the musk and wood. ♥

 

Edited April 4, 2010 by strahlend

[sunshinedaisybliss]

Good grief, this stuff is unreal. I've been stealthily working my way through all of BPAL's leather blends, and I've found a few nice ones along the way, but nothing yet had presented me with the hearty OMG sexypants leather that I was looking for.

 

Then Crowley came along, and it's just perfect. The leather is stunning - not dusty or dusky, it's warm and rich and hearty. The musk + patchouli combo is very deep and alluring in the same way that it is in blends like Mme. Moriarty, but here it's mixed beautifully with the warmth of the leather. The vanilla adds just a touch of sweetness, but not too much - it really is well blended in there with all the darkness of the musk/patch/leather and sits nicely in the background all the way through. Can't say I'm really noticing the lilac cologne, mahogany, lemon rind or oakmoss (although there is sometimes a waft of something sharp, which could be the mahogany) - I don't really care though, I'm sure they are all in there somewhere but for me Crowley is all about the musky leather. Annnnnnnd.. he sticks around beautifully - I could still smell this on my skin and in my hair 24 hours later.. standing in the shower this morning and I'm thinking WOW what's that amazing smell then I realise it's the Crowley I slathered on my neck yesterday morning. I love those "what's that awesome smell?" .. "oh wait, it's meeee!!" moments

 

My holy grail for a BPAL leather is Spanked, but it's very likely I shall live my life without ever getting a bottle of that one. But Crowley is *almost* as good, almost

 

 

ETA: I should mention that the bottle I'm using for this review is well over two years old, so I'm not sure how it compares with a 'fresh' Crowley.

Edited June 27, 2010 by sunshinedaisybliss

[fairnymph]

Rich medium reddish brown oil. Strong, sharp, and manly with dark wood, a fair bit of herbal sharpness (the patchouli leaf?), a definite cologne feel, that chemically slick De Sade style harsh leather note. The musk, oakmoss and lemon rind are difficult to pick out, in that order increasingly so. I think the musk may be red? I don't get an sweetness here at all, no distinct vanilla, and no distinct lilac.

 

More leather and more musk, which is definitely at least partially red musk - this is very chemical, mentholic, and harsh - even more so than in the imp. The mahogany note is the next strongest note, deep and rich and much more polished on my skin, less rough as it was in the imp. The cologne has gone slightly but not unpleasantly soapy and the lilac is distinct but not the heady overwhelming sort - this lilac/cologne thing reminds me of His Station and Four Aces. Still strongly, drily, and rather harshly herbal - I'm positive there is sage in this, in addition to the patchouli leaf. This is now sweeter; I think there's black musk here, the vanilla has emerged a bit and is quite nice - it reminds me a bit of the note in Ü, a sort of raw and primal, very natural smelling vanilla note. but faint on me at this point The subtly earthy oakmoss softens this blend a bit, though not enough, and the lemon rind which I'm not sure I ever really smelled is nowhere to be found.

 

Softening and melding a bit, thankfully, but the leather remains unpleasantly harsh and dominating, with an amped red musk right behind it. But the mahogany, though strong and very much a potent manly, woody note - is really nice, very evocative, flashing wealth and luxury and darkly decorated bachelor pads to mind. I like the lilac/cologne soapy cleanness and the vanilla bean note that is amping on my skin, although I sort of don't like the combo of its sweetness with the nasty leather note. I do also think a bit of black musk is contributing some heavier sweetness, as well. Oakmoss remains faint but lovely. The softening of the patchouli leaf and sage most explain why this scent is now more tolerably settled and rounded, I think - together with the sharp leather and mentholic red muks, their herbal dryness was unbearable.

 

Sharp, manly leather that never loses its harshness deepened by even more manly polished wood, dry sage,harshly herbal patchouli and medicinal red musk, with much fainter sweet black musk, clean & lightly flora cologne, and raw vanilla floating in the distance as a ghostly separate layer. Like oil and vinegar, those two layers are, and the blend never fully coalesces. I never got the lemon rind or anything citrusy, and the light oakmoss faded away completely after just an hour or two. Strong throw but this fades surprisingly fast - decent to poor longevity for such an initially potent scent, especially. Definitely masculine in my book.

 

The leather in this is a dealbreaker this leather note nearly always is, and the dry herbs and red musk don't help, but it dries down to a scent that is at least bearable, but not something I'd ever wear or find appealing on a man I wanted to fuck. I'm partly disappointed and mildly revolted but mostly don't really care all that much. Meh. Definite dislike but not hatred.

[tailoredshirt]

This is one of those scents that, the second I opened the imp, I thought, "Yes, this is the scent I was waiting for."

 

I bought two aged decants - one from 2007 and one from 2008. I tried the 2007 one the other night, and it was glorious. The vanilla was the main note, but it was rounded out by smooth leather, musk, and some wood. I tend to amp vanilla, and I don't particularly love it on its own all the time, but this wasn't too much. It was just perfect. It smelled expensive and I wanted to bathe in it.

 

This morning, I got out the 2008 imp and tried it on. I get more leather and wood this time around. The leather is on par with the vanilla, and it's gorgeous. A bit more cologne-ish, but still in a way that smells expensive and not overpowering.

 

So, as it ages, the vanilla must come out more and the leather and wood step to the background. I never got any lemon or lilac, or at least I never really looked for them and therefore never noticed them. They may be more prominent in a lab-fresh bottle.

 

Also, I wore it this morning so my co-worker could smell my new favorite perfume on me. She also insisted on trying it, and we just came back after about an hour to compare. She didn't use as much as I did, and I definitely got more vanilla from her than I notice on my skin. She said, "It's muskier on you." That might be because I used more, since I tend to amp vanilla (or maybe she just amps it more than me!).

 

I definitely recommend this to fans of leather and vanilla! I also recommend letting it age, because it's beautiful.

[damonkitty]

Crowley Why have you been hiding from me for so long? I was frimped a tester amount of this from Sunshinedaisybliss and instantly fell in love. I find it to be very much like Spanked & my beloved Loviatar. I have a hard time with most leather blends, but this has THE LEATHER note that I search for. I plan to buy a full bottle on my next order. It is so smooth and sexy with great staying power. If you miss Loviatar this would be a great blend to try out to ease the pain.

[raisin]

This is morphing quite a bit on me.

 

It went on as pure musk, but quickly morphed into a rather perfume-y incense stage, with a strange cold note to it. From there, I got almost pure lilac cologne, with an even stronger cold edge. I rather like this stage.

Beyond that, I start to get the mahogany, leather, and a little lemon (which is thankfully not candy citrus, and just makes the wood note smell polished and gleaming). The vanilla doesn't stand out much to me, but there's a sweetness that might not be cologne related.

 

I like this one considerably more as it settles down, so I'll just have to remember to give this one time to settle whenever I wear it. It's not as subtle as I might like, so I don't think it'll be anything I wear to work, but it would be fantastic for nights out.

[mazikeen]

How did I not review this yet?

 

I've had it for a few years. At first, I didn't like it much. I just thought it smelled "red" without much complexity. I don't know if it's the oil that changed or my nose/taste changed (probably both, but especially the latter), but now I love Crowley.

 

It smells great on my husband-- the leather comes out more on him and it smells so masculine. When I wear it the red musk is the stronger note and it smells appropriately sexy and feminine. (I used to not like red musk, but lately I've been craving it. I have no clue why, but I ain't complainin'.) I am so glad that Crowley is a GC blend so that my husband & I can both slather it with abandon.

[cleske]

I must preface this by saying that I can't be sensible about this scent. Now, with that out of the way: the red musk is dominant, but there's something lurking underneath. Waiting for me to figure out what it is. Biding its time, smelling like the unknown ingredient in the Thorntons 'Choccies' I was obsessed with. For some unknown reason my brain automatically calls up the word 'CHRISTMAS' (I know: what?) to describe this particular undertone. I don't claim to understand my brain. So, along with the red musk, the cologne that seeps in during the drydown, the little hint of smoke... it smells like sex, on Christmas morning, surrounded by plundered bags of Thorntons Choccies. Don't say I didn't warn you.

[KissleMeNow]

Gosh, a complex and interesting blend. I was very leery about it, but ended up ordering Crowley because I was getting Aziraphale and felt you just couldn't have one without the other. It went on smelling like a rather nice but traditional men's cologne – I kept thinking that it would be great on a suave, masculine type, though that type is not me. However, as it dried it became a wonderful smokey-musk-leather with vanilla and a tad of lemon and lavender scent. Fantastic! The oakmoss lends a tiny bit of bite but isn't the danger note I was afraid it would be. I spent the whole afternoon trying not to inhale my own wrist.

[Wildwoodflower]

Crowley in the bottle? Delicious, swoonworthy, sexy, quite possibly one of the best things I have ever smelled. I want to put my face in the bottle and become one with that smell. Seriously. I could strap it on like a feedbag and smell it all day, every day.

 

Crowley on me? I must be defective, because I can think of no other explanation for how one of the most wonderful things I have ever smelled turns to b.o. and unwashed socks on my skin. I tested it many times, in many different situations, in many different hormonal states, but it always turns out the same. Gross. I could cry. My guess is that red musk hates me. Maybe I should buy a scent locket. Or maybe I should just cry.

[ReallyZeb]

Cuddly evil deliciousness - if evil smells like this I'm all for it

 

I'm not sure why I bought this as leather tends to turn nasty on me, but I'm very glad I did. Wet on skin it is very cologney, with the leather adding a backnote that threatens to be overpowering, but once it's dry I get woodsy musk. After an hour or so it has mellowed to a comforting, smooth, vanilla musk, with a little wood right at the back, reminding me of Smut, and I know I *must* get a bottle or be eternally damned!

[HerbGirl]

Hmmm...I just got a decant of this and was VERY anxious to try it based on all of the glowing reviews. meh. ??? I don't even know what I'm smelling...it's so weird. All of the listed notes should be quite a winning combination for me, but I just don't get it. I will hang on to this decant and try it again in a few months.

[ami226]

I had a bottle of this awhile ago, but it just didn't work for me. Well, I managed to end up with this scent in my collection again, and this time...

 

On the skin: This is good! It is heavy on the leather, but I just really like it! Leather, sweet musk, and oakmoss for the most part on me.

 

I think I might need to attack my SO with this at some point. This one will be sticking around for a bit. Especially since watching Supernatural and becoming really attached to the Crowley character. Yay for Mark Sheppard!

[{Aurelius}]

Ah, Crowley. This scent is truely a masterpiece. My sister (who is a drag king)'s signature scent is Crowley, and as one who sports a very fine tophat and tailcoat, each with their own gothic twists, it suits her well.

 

Crowley is sort of hard to describe, in terms of individual notes. They blend together so perfectly that it is difficult to pick each of them out. However, this is not a bad thing by any means. The most identifiable notes in the blend, when it hits my nose, are the red patchoulli, the smokey notes, and then the fine lilac cologne. This end "whiff" of cologne really brings you into your own world, and it makes this fragrance quite like no other I have ever smelt before.

 

Crowley is a cologne for sure. However, as I mentioned at the top, that doesn't mean it is only for men, of course Any gothic masculine type of person who wants to add an air of mystery to their outfit and aura would do well to get a bottle of Crowley

[Kit Foxly]

Oh Crowley, I wanted us to get along!

 

I've loved Good Omens since high school, and I was always a Crowley sympathizer. I was so excited to try this scent - I mean leather, musk, the vanilla-citrus combo, all are winners in my book. And there were all these stunning reviews...

 

Unfortunately, all that goodness was swept away by a tidal wave of lilac on my skin. That stuff amped until it could've crushed Tokyo, seriously. There were hints of the notes I wanted in there, but they were just overwhelmed by LILACZILLA tromping all over them.

 

And then it gave me a migraine.

 

Somewhere, a demon is laughing at me, I think.

 

At least its popularity means I can hopefully find my partial bottle a good home?