Wrestlers

[Venneh]

Vetiver, guiac wood, peru of balsam, two musks, labdanum, saffron, and rum accord.

In the bottle, unexpectedly rummy and musky, with a bit of sweetness from the saffron. On my skin, rum and saffron, very sweet, though the woods and vetiver are starting to come out. The vetiver and wood comes out to balance and slightly overpower the rum sweetness. A bit more sexily masculine, would prolly be better on a guy.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

5mL from the Lab.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

I'm really looking forward to this one. I like vetiver, the wood notes, musk, rum and labdanum and saffron is generally okay in small amounts. I'm hoping for something deep and woody/earthy with some rum in the background.

 

First sniff:

 

Whoa, Grog! I wasn't expecting that. Straight out of the bottle, I get a strong snootfull of that butterscotch rum scent that made me finally get rid of my bottles of Grog. I'm not a fan of butterscotch as a scent, unfortunately.

 

There's definitely some vetiver and woods here, too, but they're almost completely overpowered by the butterscotch, which makes me sad. I was hoping that the rum in this wouldn't be the buttery, sweet variety. This one's not off to a good start.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Still strong on the butterscotch/rum and light on everything else, but I do get some woods and some ashy vetiver. It's an interesting combination with the sweet and the woodsy/burnt notes. Not really what I was anticipating, though.

 

Dry down:

 

The butterscotch lets up a bit as Wrestlers dries, but it still puts in a strong appearance on the drydown. I'm not a big fan of sweet foody notes in otherwise non-foody scents and this, unfortunately, falls into that category. I would really like this one if it was the other (non-sweet/buttery) kind of BPAL rum, but I just can't get past the cloying sweetness of it as is.

 

The bottom line:

 

Not for me, unfortunately. I had high hopes, but it wasn't meant to be.

[Redillon]

In the bottle: Nutty, creamy goodness with a hint of vetiver and labdanum. Yummm.....

 

Wet on Skin: The vetiver comes out and dances with the nuts! (hysterial mental image)

 

Dry down: Nutty, vetiver but tamed by the spiciness of the rum, which reminds me of Baron Samedi another favorite.

 

This is a win for me since I love vetiver, and BPAL rum! Thanks Penance!

[filigree_shadow]

Unexpectedly smooth. Smooth like butterscotch or caramel. Not overly sweet, and not too much rum. It's dark and musky, and I think the saffron is perfect with it. When my nose is right next to it, it seems like I can smell a little bit of spice that smells more like cinnamon than saffron, but only when I'm right up close.

 

Do not be scared off by the vetiver in this. That'd be a mistake. This smells nothing at all like that dark, dank vetiver you might be expecting. It's just darkly smoky.

 

This is for real sexy on me. Really didn't expect that at all, and it's awfully nice.

[cfrancesca]

I get a lot of sweet rum, woods and vetiver. After a short while I also start getting some soft musk.

[edenssixthday]

Wrestlers - This is sweet, warm, butterscotchy rum, musk, wood, and vetiver. It has a bit of a Caribbean pirate vibe without the aquatics. The vetiver is not in-your-face at all. It's subtle and smooth and gives the scent a nice, well-rounded smokiness. The woods are really nice, slightly dry, but not overly dry, as the butterscotchy rum warms it up significantly. The rum is not a straight rum, but definitely has the butterscotch vibe that Grog has, which unfortunately tends to turn plasticky on my skin, but damn do I love that smell up until the point! (Grog is my #1 "wish I could drink this!" BPAL and I looove that aspect of the rum in Wrestlers.) The musk is also quite well-balanced with the other notes, and it's not an overtly musky scent, although it has a bit of velveteen fuzziness from the musk. And then there's the balsam... I'm not a fan of balsam and this one pretty much ruins for me what would otherwise be a pretty awesome scent, so I will ultimately have to pass it on. Overall, I see this as being a really good scent for a guy, but it's not necessarily masculine, more of a gender-neutral scent, as I know I would love it without that pesky balsam note. I think a lot of women who are drawn to more masculine-type scents would probably really like this.

[dreamingjune]

I was certain that I would love this one, and I do. In the bottle it is almost exactly like The Hag. I tried them side by side and they are pretty much identical until maybe 15 minutes of wear. Where The Hag stays bright rummy vetiver, Wrestlers mellows into a pleasant balsam sweetness which is way lighter. The vetiver in this fades off rather quickly and there is very little musk or rum after dry down.

 

Overall: Very pleasant light balsam goodness. Try this if you wanted to love The Hag but was not able to handle the vetiver. To me this is a very wearable unisex blend for anyone who wants a bit of sweetness with their balsam and light wood notes.

Edited February 26, 2011 by dreamingjune

[Little Bird]

I thought that this would be nice on my husband, and I do like it on him, but he hates the buttery sweetness of the rum, and it's definitely intensely sweet for about the first hour that it's on. I agree with the reviews comparing this to Grog - warm butterscotch with a hint of cinnamon.

As it dries down, I start to smell the smoky vetiver and smooth, dry woods underneath the sweetness, and it's rather nice (to me), but my hubby hates this one. I was hoping that the rum would add a touch of dark sweetness, but it seems to dominate this blend.

[Invidiana]

This started out very promising; lots of dark, sweet rum reminiscent of the booze in Banned in Boston with additional depth from the musks and resins and smokiness from the vetiver and guiacwood. However, after a minute or so something starts to go off and give it this odd lemony overtone and I have no idea what's doing it. I'm guessing it's the combination of two or more of the components on my skin, because I'm pretty sure none of them does it on me alone. Ah well, I'll always have my Banned.

[crebbsgirl]

Ok, there's a note here that's translating to maple syrup on my skin and that is utterly ruining this blend for me. Damn skin chemistry.

[midnight_aeval]

This blend was sooo promising when I first applied it - I was getting the saffron really heavy and was super excited. Something happened on my skin as time wore on... I suspect the vetiver came out to make it smokey, but that combined with the rum (for the record, Grog smells horrid on me, my skin chem just doesn't work with the lab's rum note so YMMV) made my stomach turn

[sunshinedaisybliss]

As expected, this one starts of with a blast of vetiver. Actually.. make that a BLAST of vetiver - really, it was kind of overwhelming when I first applied the oil. But that silly vetiver - it's just a show pony, and was soon pushed back once the other notes emerged from behind it.

 

About 15 minutes in, and I am getting a beautiful wood/balsam/rum mix which is heady and luscious. There's also a coconut smell going on, which seems very out of place but I suspect could be the labdanum being silly with the rum. At the 30-minute mark, I'm still trying to find the musk - it's not obvious.. it's there, but subtle, and the weird coconut thing has faded away now. The overall vibe to Wrestlers on my skin is slightly sweet with the wood and rum being the main players and the lovely smoky vetiver creeping around in the background (the vetiver kinda tickles my nose, it's not sharp or overly strong/dark.. it's absolutely just right in the mix).

 

I'd put this in the same kind of group as blends like Raven Moon, Hellhound, WILF etc - not that it really smells like any of those, but it has a similar feel. I'm particularly loving the rum accord, and surprisingly.. also the vetiver - if you're reading this and worrying about the vetiver, I'd say give Wrestlers a try because it's not at all nasty.

 

A really nice blend with a clever mix of notes that keeps me interested in this fragrance long after its initial application.

[GeorgeJr]

My bottle just arrived last night , & it was seriously cold , so I'm not sure how settled down it is . What I'm getting from this more then anything is the labdanum , the rum & maybe a little of the wood . Other then those , I'm not really getting any of the other notes . Which is a bummer , cause I love musk . And vetiver . So I'm hoping that with age / not being affected by extreme temperatures this will settle down & more of the notes will come out & play .

Edited March 30, 2011 by CoopieCat

[CreamyJade]

In the bottle: Butterscotch (with heavy boozy notes), woods, a tiny whiff of vetiver. It smells like manly spicy cookies.

Wet on skin: Rum, spices, vetiver, woods, a clean musk.

Dry on skin: Musky, smoky, slightly sweet, somewhat spicy, a bit boozy, woody blend. The scent loses some of its sweetness (but not all) while drying.

Final thoughts: Somewhat unexpectedly, the rum was what made my nose recoil in horror when first sniffing the bottle - I indeed detected a note I hated: caramel. Fortunately, it turns out that Wrestlers has a good drydown on my skin, although somewhat generic. It lacks the "oomph" effect that woods-musk-spice-resins combo blends I wear usually have on my skin. Maybe Wrestlers would indeed be better on a man?

Try if you like: Shub-Niggurath, Raven Moon, Minotaur, Schwarzer Mond (although Wrestlers's nowhere near as extraordinary, to me, as Schwarzer Mond)

[zankoku_zen]

Wrestlers smells of saffron, wood, rum and a hint of vetiver. It gets sweeter as it dries, as I get more of the rum and musks. Slightly masculine, but with the sweetness, I can see a woman pulling this off too.

 

Perhaps I need to re-check Grog afterall...

[milo]

Wow, this is really strange. I'm getting peppery, sweet vetiver with a healthy dollop of caramel. I'm not a pepper or caramel fan at all, but something here is kind of nice, I think it's the splash of fresh evergreen, the Balsam of Peru? At any rate, this is pretty much an utter fail on me, the notes seem really disjointed to me, and don't go together at all. Still, something intrigues me about that one fresh note, and must explore this Balsam of Peru some more.

[mymymai]

ITI: Very strong rum, mild musk, and light saffron. It's an interesting combination of notes.

 

Wet: Musky saffrom and rum, but there is alsmot a honey aspect when these notes combine on my skin.

 

Dry: Hmm, it's gone slightly powdery, but I now smell balsam, rum, musk, and saffron. It's still interesting despite the powder. After 12 hours, it has toned down to saffron and something amber-like with some balsam. I like it dry and faded much better.

[t_for_tau]

Coming back to this after all these years, it's aged into a warm, brownish, woods-and-golden-syrup scent with a hint of smoke behind. Slightly masculine, slightly foody, not a lot of throw, would be very wearable on a woman too. Glad I re-found my bottle!