Mictecacihuatl

[lizardqueen]

Copal, precious woods, South American spices, agave nectar, cigar tobacco, and roses.

In the vial and on me, wet, I get an earthy (and I mean that sort of literally) floral scent.

On me, once it's dried, it's pretty much all floral. It's a mixed bag: I can pick out the rose, but there's more in there (and now I've reread the description, and rose is the only floral in there, so I'm pretty confused). It's a fairly green scent -- and on me it's gone pretty soapy. If I put my nose real close to my skin and concentrate, I think I get a woodsy quality, but that's pretty much it. I really, really hate to say this, but this is putting me in mind of Crabtree & Evelyn shops.

I had really high hopes for this one; I expected it to be resiny and spicy and agave-y, but I'm not getting any of that. I'll probably try it again in a few weeks or so, see if maybe aging will make it richer and take away the soapy quality. Though, of course, there's always the possibility that it's just my chemistry.

Note from a couple of hours later: aha, after a while it mellows, and what I think is the copal comes out to play more. I like it much better this way, but I'm not sure I can wait through the hour-plus of Crabtree & Evelyn to get to this point. So, crossing my fingers for the wonders of aging...

(ETA scent description) Edited October 26, 2008 by Shollin

[Leopard403]

Clemence, is that you? Put away that tobacco, it's bad for your health!

[Lycanthrope]

Strange. This is a 'light scent' overall in terms of what it is, but WHOMPING STRONG when you've applied some to your neck and throughout the day appears to get... stronger.

 

Agree with above, if you're worried about rose, this is not a rose-based scent. It does this sort of bizarre sweet floral bizzness with what I thought was beeswax or honey (although it's not listed as a note), not overly spicy. This scent is just the first hint of rose brushed together with a veil of sweet, almost again the first touch of honey.

 

I'd describe this as a scent that is 'on the verge' of being things, is the start or just tiny touch of rose, honey, spices. It's very soft. Yet, at the same time, on me it amped and became more prominent over my call night.

[jewelbug]

Bottle: Very light, sweet scent. A hint of fruitiness, soft sweet roses, and golden syrupy copal. This is promising!

 

Wet: Creamy sweet rose, with an almost honeyed sweetness (assuming that’s the agave).

 

Dry: Sweet creamy golden scent. Hints of rose, but it doesn't go soapy, I can’t describe it well enough to do it justice. I don't really get woods or spices, but what I do get is just beautiful, with a hefty syrupy sweetness that I can only assume is the agave nectar.

 

Overall: I really enjoy this, but probably not enough to have a whole bottle. I think I'll work on building a little imp collection or find a partial of this to enjoy when I want to feel sweet and purty.

 

eta: Over 24 hrs later and several washings (and I mean actually scrubbing the perfumed area with soap and water) I can STILL smell the sweet nectar of this scent. Its PERSISTENT. I like that. So few scents cling to me for that long, that I'm considering a partial/bottle a bit more seriously now...

Edited October 2, 2008 by jewelbug

[valentina]

For the first hour or so, I loved this scent like crazy -- a bit of woodsy spice with a touch of sweetness plus tobacco, but more in an almost greenish tobacco leaf sort of way. The rose hung out way, way, way back. The blend had a certain incense-like quality to it. Really pretty and very well-blended! Then my infernal body chemistry took over and amped the crap out of the rose, the way it always does. Dang it! Rose is a hulking gorilla that overpowers the rest of this gorgeous blend when it hits my skin, and for that I am sad. If it had stayed the way it smelled the first hour, it would have been a new favorite, but it is not to be. However, for people who can wear blends with rose, but enjoy the woods, tobacco and almost honey-like sweetness, this is certainly a scent to try. I think the lovers of the GC scent Kali should check this out, for there's something about the vibe of this scent that reminds me of Kali -- it is a complex and grown-up scent.

[heathercaley]

This. is. freaking. amazing.

 

Somebody said it smells like a box of imps... and it does. It's the kitchen sink of perfume. I get honey sweetness, incense, a touch of flowers, spices and herbs, something cold but in actuality... warm...

 

also now that it's dry.. I get a chocolaty sweetness. I think that's the honey mixed in with the nuttyness of the tobacco or maybe even the woods. I'm going to buy a big bottle fer sher. I hope that as this ages, that it just becomes even more fantastic.

[milo]

WOW, this is super strong. I really liked this in the bottle, but the copal and spices are just amping way out of control. It's been an hour, and now the florals are asserting themselves. I'm starting to get a headache from the perfumey association. I haven't quite written this off yet, maybe I just need a drop, or this scent would benefit from some aging.

[SeaLady]

Oof. Once again, florals smell like plastic skunk on me.

 

Alas, fair lady, you are not for me. It's overpowering, and terrible. The promise is there though, with the dusty incensey notes that get strangled by flowery soap.

[Stephanie]

Oh I thought I would love this one!! But it's too powdery on me. Like a sweet, powdery version of Corazon and Dia de los Muertos.

 

Somehow this doesn't play nice on my skin.

 

Sadness!

[yewberry]

I have a beekeeper friend whose house always smells of dried roses and beeswax. That's what Mictecacihuatl smells like on me. Most rose scents seem to overpower (no matter the other notes in the blend). But like Ichabod Crane, this floral-forward blend is solidly anchored in dense warmth and sweetness.

 

In the end it goes a little "rose soap" on me, but somehow I can't stop smelling myself anyway!

Edited October 6, 2008 by yewberry

[Jilara]

You know the rotted flowers left in cemetaries? Or the roses that have stood too long in water, and have a funky smell that's kind of sweet decay? That's mostly what I get from Mictecacihuatl. It has a sour, dusty, rotten smell, when it hits my skin, and it doesn't improve over time. I get a bit of tobacco, a waft of dead roses, which doesn't improve it, but it's mostly sickly rotten and sourish funky smells. Mictecacihuatl just doesn't like me. Glad I only got a decant.

[Scylla]

I'm sad. This smells so lovely in the bottle, but my chemistry turned it into powdery amber, dried cemetery flowers and cigar smoke.

[rydenfan]

This is odd. In the bottle, it smells sweet & there's a hint of incense & spice. Wet I smell the spice and florals..there's a tang underneath it all that reminds me of the tangy scent of C Howards violet candies-even though there's no violet in the description. And then the middle notes start to come out and I get...marigold. I couldn't remember what was in Mictecacihuatl but I was convinced that it had a strong marigold scent...and marigolds are traditional Dia de Los Muertos flowers, so it would make sense. About 15 minutes later the scent morphed and gave me more spices with a hint of marigold and underlying sweetness. There's no marigold in the description. Perhaps I hallucinated it.

[Little Bird]

I'm not sure what it is in Mictecacihuatl that doesn't agree with my skin chemistry, but this morphs from being something like honeyed rose powder on my skin to rose soap, fake-y floral perfume, and cigar smoke in the drydown. Rose usually plays pretty nice on my skin, but it's almost like there's some sort of other floral in this that goes sharp and perfumey. Mictecacihuatl doesn't smell very spicy or resinous/incensey on me; it's all troubled florals and cigar smoke.

[aquazoo]

I get the spices first, very warm. The rose is nice to, sweetly sitting on top and not overwhelming. It's mysterious and a bit complicated. This is one that really blooms after a few minutes. 


[themerrybaker]

Mictecacihuatl is the first "love-not-just-like" in a long time. It has hot, dry spices of a bonfire on a cold night in the desert (or an altar fire in an Aztec temple ?). The sharp freshness of the agave (or copal?) would be be the delicious margherita that accentuates the difference between hot and cold.

Edited October 13, 2008 by themerrybaker

[theseagrows]

ok there are some pretty scents going on here- the copal, spices and tobacco for sure. however, something in here smells like B.O. on me. ugh my skin chemistry! i have no idea what it is, maybe the agave nectar? all i know is, i've got to wash this off!

[IronMollyBlack]

Well, I thought I liked this blend, then I had a rather impromptu experiment with it. I spilled about 1/4 imp (whoops!) and ended up putting it in my hair, in addition to the regular application. Thankfully, I was at an outdoor event, so I didn't suffocate anyone...lol.

 

I didn't get any bad comments, guesses of roses/honey/incense, which I guess is pretty accurrate. I spilled some into my purse as well, and I keep catching a whiff from time to time, which I like.

 

I'm not necessarily a fan of rose scents, but this one is soft enough and kept in check by the copal/woods/spices. The sweetness is just about right, I like a bit of sweetness to balance out the dryness of the spices and woods. I seem to get a bit of the "beeswax" feel from it that someone else mentioned. It's a complex scent, no one thing takes center stage for me. The throw is good, and it does last a very long time. So it's a winner for me.

[nightbiscuit]

GLORIOUS. Sweet copal and pipe tobacco wafting over damp roses. This is definitely a blend which is more than the sum of its parts...and it is utterly unique. Swoop on it!

[blu°]

Sniffing from imp: Rose with a hint of cigar tobacco.

 

On skin: rose, cigar tobacco, something sweet, I guess it's the agave nectar.

 

Now, honestly, has noone else thought this smelled a lot like Gypsy Queen?

 

On my skin a few minutes after application it's a dead ringer to how GQ smelled on me. Incensey-smoky spicy sweetened roses.

 

Luckily it doesn't have carnation which ruined GQ for me on the long run.

 

The colour association I get from Mictecacihuatl as it dries down is a pale watery pink/red, abit of bright greens and pale smoky greys and browns. It doesn't have the orange-yellow-coral hue I got from GQ. It's a bit cooler, a bit less sticky.

 

After drydown the incense and cigar tobacco take over and the sparkly sweetness from the agave nectar retreats. It is much less GQ-like now, even cooler than before, more dry and smoky.

 

I still have to test this another time to make up my mind about it, but so far I really like it.

[rayvn1]

I'm not sure how to describe this one. I get light incense and spice as well as light wafts of florals and tobacco. There's something else that is very strange smelling when wet (copal?) that disappears when dry. Overall I like this scent a lot! It's a a dusty sweet, light brown scent. Ooh! the rose is appearing, but just peeking out not rearing its dominant head like it usually does. Glad I have a partial bottle!

[gwynhwyfar]

I love rose so I keep trying the BPAL blends containing rose. And I keep learning the same thing -- BPAL rose loves my skin. BPAL rose loves my skin so much that with a few exceptions, it refuses to play nicely with any other notes and what I end up with is a pure rose note.

 

This blend is NOT one of the exceptions for me -- in the vial, it's an interesting woody/spicy/floral. On my skin, it's rose gone wild. Even with drydown and wear, that doesn't change - the rose is all that is there. It's a very nice rose, of course, but not what I was hoping for from this oil when I smelled it in the bottle.

[zankoku_zen]

I really get the copal on this one - I get this intense syrup sweetness on wet, which backs off and lets the florals bloom and I get more of the honey + syrup + desert flowers. Verrrry intense. Very sweet. Not my kind of blend, but talk about throw!

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Woody resin with very smooth spices and a hint of tobacco.

 

Immediately on skin: This scent smells of strong resins mostly, but has a nice smooth spiciness in the background and a touch of fruitiness. There’s also a nice amount of dry woods.

 

After a little while: This is a bit more floral now with strong, woody resinous depth to it. The wood, tobacco, and spices seem very smooth, but something in this is just a touch bitter. It’s very thick and rich. The agave nectar and roses give this a flitting sweetness, but the resin and wood dominate most of this blend.

 

Overall Impressions: This is an interesting resinous, woody scent with bits of spice, tobacco, and a hint of sweetness. It’s dry but thick, and slightly cloying and bitter. I’d say this is unisex edging into masculine, but depending on how your skin handles it I can imagine it may go more feminine. Interesting, but not for me.

[Ohmaude]

Lovely.

 

This starts out as bright roses and sweet agave, but then takes on a beautiful powder-dry quality with the emergence of the wood and copal. Yet the agave smells aquatic, damp and sweet, like it has just been tapped and boiled in the field.

 

What ends up dominating is the rose, with the other notes lingering in the background. In that sense it is a sister-scent and reminiscent of Dia de Los Muertos in it's general rose-mesoamerica theme, but more aquatic.