Scattered Gloom

[ivyandpeony]

Dry olibanum, opoponax, mandrake accord, black currant, and opium pod.

 

Posting the first review is always pressure-pressure-PRESSURE! And Scattered Gloom is a really hard nut to crack for me. It is dark, and resinous, and a bit on the dry side. One of those scents where I can't pick out any single note in the bottle or on my skin. If you love resins, then I think you will love Scattered Gloom - it strikes an excellent balance between sweet and dry, which I find that I am enjoying, and I think that it is only going to get better and better with age. I'm so infatuated with black currant these days, I am hoping that note will peek out a little bit as my bottle settles, too. All in all, a gorgeous blend and so very evocative.

 

ETA: I promise I'm not crazy, abejita! But my skin absolutely refuses to let that sweet black currant show its face or even take a peek at what the big resins and slightly bitter opium are doing. I may not be crazy... but I am stinking jealous of your skin chemistry

[abejita]

Dry? Dry?! Ivy, darling, you are a crazy person! Okay, so the description says dry olibanum, but still!

 

Scattered Gloom is rich and smooth. When I put the dot of oil on my hand to test it, the oil seemed thicker than most BPAL, with a consistency a bit like Candy Butcher. I made my plea for this one in particular because it had two of my absolute loves, opoponax and opium (not the floral!). Olibanum and black currant are also winners on me.

 

I couldn't be any happier with this blend. It's a beautiful showcase for opoponax and the opium. The currant is not at all fruity, but adds a deep, dark sweetness that is absolutely NOT candylike.

 

I'm in love.

 

Try this if you like Schwarzer Mond, Chrysanthemum Moon, Penitence, Lycaon, the Minotaur.

 

Try this if you wanted to like Masabakes or Ligur, but didn't.

[PurringPulsar]

Scattered Gloom

 

In the imp: a dry, dark, ancient resin scent. Like really, really old myrrh.

Wet on skin: holy shit, resins! Ohh, the olibanum in here is wonderful!

Dry on skin: beautiful resinous incense! This scent reminds me, initially, of a darkened Midnight Mass. (A midnight black mass?) the resins are dominant, with the beautiful olibanum, frankincense with a spicier, smokier edge, taking the lead. The sombre bittersweet opoponax is underneath, and I can smell hints of opium smoke, the combination of opoponax and opium reminding me of one of my favourite scents, Event Horizon. I’m not familiar with mandrake and can’t really smell the currant, but I love this deep, hypnotic blend of resins and opium. This is what I was hoping to get in Laudanum and Hades.

After a while: the olibanum gradually gives way to opoponax and opium. Oh, this is so good. I can still smell the frankincense but now the myrrh-like scent of opoponax is in charge. It smells deep and brooding, a moody resin scent. There’s a wonderful ‘ancient’ scent to this resin, like it’s been aged for millennia. I also smell the opium, one of those hit or miss notes-and in here, it’s definitely a hit. It adds smokiness but doesn’t go bad on me. It’s a lovely dry smoke scent.

Verdict: I adore BPAL resins so much, and here’s another stunning resin-incense scent. This is like a darker version of the frankincense and myrrh scents, shadowy and foreboding yet also hauntingly beautiful. I can smell frankincense and myrrh’s dark twins, olibanum and opoponax, ruling this scent, which I love. The resins are rich and smell almost antique, aged, very rich. I can’t really smell the currant or the mandrake but the opium adds it’s dark smoky intoxicating scent to the resins in the best way possible, without taking over. It’s just very well balanced in here. The only disadvantage is that this seems to fade a little faster than my other resin scents, but I think this will not be a problem when this scent ages-and I bet it will age wonderfully!

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Of course. If I had the opportunity to get another bottle, I might well try and get one.

If you like this, try: Midnight Mass, Blasphemare Reliquary, Ligur, Minotaur, Hades, Laudanum, Event Horizon

[Pepperminx]

This comes off as if And There Was A Great Cry In Egypt went rolling around in celery right on my wrist. When I made my plead I thought I might be able to pull it off, but I think I have hit my "dry" limit with this one. Ten minutes after application it starts to soften up a bit though, I might detect a hint of sweetness too, but overall I think I missed the mark with this one. The throw is light-to-medium for me. Not bad overall, per se, but not great either. Maybe aging will help?

[Little Bird]

In the bottle, this smells like smooth, dark, resinous, incensey goodness. Also, I can smell a hint of something like peppery woods. It reminds me a bit of On Darkness and A'Arab Zaraq in the bottle.

 

On me, this is one of those scents that doesn't have much throw. It's really clings close to my skin, so that I can only smell it on my wrist if my nose is about an inch away from it. It's a smooth, sweet, non-smoky, incense scent on me. In the drydown, it smells slightly purple and fruity. I can't really pick out any of the listed notes. This just goes to a very light, very sweet incense smell on me. It ventures close to being cloying.

 

I'm not so sure about Scattered Gloom. It's sweet rather than gloomy on me. I think that I like On Darkness a lot more, for a similar type of scent.

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the bottle, it's indeed dark, rich, & resinous. On my skin, it's incense, pepper, and resin. It does remind me a lot of Midnight Mass on my skin the more it dries.

[twilighteyes]

In the bottle: Deep, dark, slightly sweet and dry. Resins. Woody.

 

Wet on skin: Dark yet sweet incense. Lovely! The sweet really balances the dark resin and wood.

 

Dry on skin: Hasn't morphed much from being wet. Very very nice.

[jolarocknrolla]

spicy, woody resins. wow, sorry i couldn't add much to what others have said, resins are really powerful on me so that's all i smell, it packs quite a wallop!

[zankoku_zen]

This one is a unrepentantly dark and resinous blend. I'm not a huge fan, but this one is dark, sweet, slightly woody incense with a peppery overtone.

 

Pleasant, but not for the likes of me.

[fairnymph]

Sniffed in imp: Light beigey-golden amber. Dark, earthy, smoky. A bit of soil, perhaps (the mandrake - rooty), also a little sweet and sour. Heavy. I think it's appropriate, but can't imagine it as a perfume.

 

[tartchef]

Nyom. Aged Midnight Mass, but with a trace of tannic black currant... On me, the olibanum & opoponax are front & center, crunchy & sticky & deeply resinous. I do get a faint trace of rooty mandrake, but it's a bit player, at best. The currant is really tart & dry - not black currant jam, but underripe berries crushed into the resins.

 

Fabulous, but not lunge-worthy when it comes down to it - Midnight Mass is so similar, at least on my skin, and much easier to find I'll enjoy my dribble of Scattered Gloom while I have it, but won't be going through contortions to track down more...

[scarletgenesis]

I was worried that this would be a bit too dark and strong for me, but I really like it. It's a dry, resinous, incense blend that brings to mind unspeakable acts in dark corners with a smirk and a whisper of scratchy silk on skin.

 

Really dark and lovely.

 

[Dark Alice]

To me and on me this smells at first like burning pepper....and then it dries down to a smoky black pepper scent. Needless to say...not a fan!

[crebbsgirl]

This had a little bite initially, but only for the first couple of minutes. As it dried, it really came into it's own. This is a wonderful deep resinous blend. Slightly sweet, but not overly so. The opoponax is gorgeous and dark, and the black currant adds a roundness to the blend. I tried On Darkness and this was a much fuller scent on me, OD seemed a little hollow on my skin. And there was a weird woodsy note that ruined Midnight Mass for me that I don't get here. It's my perfect incense blend. YUM!

[Ajila]

In the bottle – I know it’s not in the note list, but I would have said black pepper is the primary note

 

Wet on me – Initially a dry, dirty scent, but very quickly it picks up a spicier, almost currylike hue

 

Dry on me – A dry, green, earthy scent that reminds me more of autumn and the falling leaves than Christmas

 

Overall – An unusual scent, but not really one for me

 

[milo]

Hmm, I thought this would be a lot darker. Wet, I thought this was all vetiver, but there is none listed. It dries to a slightly sweet, woody, incensey blend, which I really like. It is quite similar to Silas Ruthyn, but with less opium. Unfortuneately, this is a fast fader, but a definite win!

[naeelah]

I could have sworn I'd reviewed this but apparently I'm mistaken.

 

It's probably for the best that I held off reviewing, because this has morphed through several stages. New, it smelled like any other resin blend. After a month or so, the black currant became quite strong but I couldn't smell the opium or mandrake. Now, I can smell everything and it's just what I hoped it would be.

 

It starts out with deep, round resins, but as it dries it develops a dry, twiggy top layer. Little by little, the rich brown amber quality is replaced entirely by this dryness. The resins are deep but not overly smoky, and they're adjacent to a crisp, dried, somewhat green note, which must be the mandrake. The opium here doesn't smell as it often does in other blends. It's dry and smoky, with no hint of sweetness (similar to the note in L'Heure Verte). Throughout the life of the scent, the dryness is underlain with sweet, jammy black currant. It never overwhelms the resins, just provides some respite. The dryness feels more in the vein of dried twigs and leaves, rather than like brittle amber. It has none of that stickiness.

 

In short, it's a dark, lightly smoky, dry resin blend with a hint of jammy currant.

 

It's perfect for the sense of gloom -- it's dim and gray, rather than dark black like other dark incense/resin blends (such as Pit and the Pendulum or Al-Azif). It lacks the gritty brimstone smokiness of those blends.

 

The throw is decent but for me it fades rather quickly. If it sounds like something you'd like, it probably is. Someone compared it to On Darkness in another review. I think that's the most similar blend, but imagine a desaturated version.

Edited May 4, 2009 by naeelah

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Dry resin, not very strong.

 

Wet: Dry and woody, with a not-unpleasant dusty feel to it. I rather like this.

 

Twenty minutes: Still quite dry, dusty, and rooty, although with a bitter edge to it. I don't dislike it at all, but I'm not sure it's going to go anywhere to make me love it either.

 

One hour: Warmer and sweeter now; I think the opium has come up a bit. The dusty note has faded a lot.

 

Two hours: Much the same. This might be a keeper.

 

Five hours: This didn't change much after it settled in. I admire its consistency. The dry, herbal, resinous nature of it is quite pleasant, reminding me of the frankincense tears I keep for burning -- unburnt, not burnt. Never did get any of the fruit note, though, as usual for currant on my skin.

 

 

[CitizenBree]

I am not really familiar with the scents listed in the description, so I can't pick them out. In general, this smells very pepper-y. It's like pepper and incense together. It might make a nice room scent in an old book shop or occult store, but I wouldn't wear it as a body scent.

[voorishsign]

A free empty from /\ CitizenBree!! I am intrigued! I've never actually tried a BPTP scent before.

 

In the bottle, the opium reigns surpreme.

 

On wet, this smells amazing. resiny with the opium still in full force. Dry and it's a bit peppery, which I think is the opoponax, because it reminds me of Mr. Vandemar. Oh, this is gorgeous <3

 

Drydown: oh good heavens this is amaaaaazing Woodsy mandrake, peppery opoponax, opium and dry resins. A sweeter version of Mr. Vandemar, basically. Might have to track down more

[starfish327]

very very dry black herbs bordering on dusty. i think that if i got any of the current out of the blend, it would probably have saved it for me. otherwise, it's just too dry and herbal for my tastes.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

5mL from bloodysore (bought on eBay).

 

Preconceived notions:

 

I'm expecting a very dry, dark, smoky incense/resin blend from this. Which sounds ideal for me. Fingers crossed!

 

First sniff:

 

Dark, smokey, dry resins. Almost a bit acrid, but with something very slightly sweet deep down. I love the darkness I'm smelling here. I can't say that I get any particular visuals from this other than deep, dark shadows, curling smoke, dry, crumbling incense. This is a very moody scent and I like it.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Surprisingly sweet compared to the bottle scent. That's not to say that this is a sweet incense blend, because it's not (at least not for me), but it's sweeter than it was in the bottle. If you took the deepest, darkest, most crumbled incense you could get and added in just a dash of Midnight Mass, you might come up with something similar. I like this a lot.

 

Dry down:

 

The early dry down on Scattered Gloom is very, very smoky, almost ashen. The sweetness disappears and is replaced with something that I'm thinking is the opium pod. It's dark and crumbly and a bit harsh. Then, as it dries down more, the sweetness makes a slow comeback until I'm left with something fairly similar to Midnight Mass, but with a dark wood-like note (I'm not sure what that is, but I like it) and a dash of something dark and dirty (again, probably the opium). It's a very deep, moody scent. Perfect for my tastes, but I can see this being a little too intense or too dark for some people.

 

The bottom line:

 

Another beautiful, dark, foreboding incense scent for my collection. I really like this. The dry down is interesting because it's not as linear as most BPAL incense blends I've tried. And luckily, I like every step along the way and I'm particularly fond of the final product.

[patina]

at first this is a little faint. I get a pale olibanum with a slightly toasted smell. Then the blackcurrant comes out. It's fruity and sweet and never gets too sharp. I think I can smell non-powdery amber even though there isn't any. Must be the opoponax. The toasted/spicy smell is still there underneath preventing the sweetness from being oppressive, though it still might be too much for some people.

 

Verdict: Perfect

[bellumed]

Extremely mild in the imp. Doesn’t smell like much really, but what is there is dark and rich, with a sense of dryness at the end. Very obviously resinous on skin. I don’t get any fruitiness. As it dries, I get something planty here that I don’t like, the mandrake maybe? This was promising, but I think it’s not for me.