Atlas

[zankoku_zen]

Mallow, oak bark, coffee bean, hinoki wood, and khus.

Fluffy mallow, smoky woods and a good bit of coffee. It's soft and comforting as a good, rich coffee cup is. I agree that it smells sort of like Haloes/Antikythera Mechanism, but on me I am definitely amping up the khus in this which gives is a grittier and smokier edge which is a strong counterpoint to the soft, fluffy mallow --- which is straight out of TKO.

I can see this as a comforting scent that appeals to men.

[nineveh]

I never would've thought that "vetiver marshmallow" would work as a fragrance, but here we are. The khus is more grassy green than smoky on me, and works nicely as a counterpoint to the mallow, which otherwise would be too sweet. The wood notes work as a foundation and stay in the background. I have to really hunt for the coffee to pick it out, but I can tell that it's adding a facet to the wood.

 

All the elements blend together more as the oil dries, and my drydown impression is a warm, soft, natural sweetness. It has strong throw and great lasting time (I could smell it clearly after more than 12 hours). It'd be overwhelming in this heat, but I definitely look forward to adding it to my winter rotation.

[angelamaria]

In decant: somewhat cologney, resiny and sweet. Gender neutral, too. And...there is something here that I'm loving the smell of, but I'm not sure what it is. An almost-vanilla-like smell--I suppose that's the mallow?

 

Wet on skin: yes, a definite creamy almost-vanilla-like smell. This is FABULOUS. It's decidedly not a woody scent, and not coffee either. I'm not getting a whole lot of coffee, for that matter. Wet on my skin it's a green/golden scent, golden not in the same foody way as Brood XIX but in a more...woody way, I guess? Very nice, and very very promising.

 

Dry: ooomph. The creamy, softly-sweet vanilla-like note is BEAUTIFUL. It's softened out but hasn't faded or gone flat. Very, very pretty. To me, this is a deeper golden color than Brood XIX--almost, or maybe just exactly a luxuriant brown, slightly caramelly and rich brown. Against it, Brood XIX almost feels artificially creamy. And oh yes--what about the vetiver? I can't detect it in the blend, but then I almost always smell vetiver as smoky and dirty and gritty. This seems like the smooth vetiver I can stand, and in a small dose only to just give this blend a good, solid base. Very, very well done.

 

Verdict: yet another Meta win for me. A definite bottle, with backups! Damn this is FABULOUS. This is the blend I wore to work the very next day. I smelled AMAZING.

[a_llb]

In vial: Stale wood...

Wet: Campfire & burnt marshmallows. So intense I have to resist gagging, just really carcinogenic and bitter. I think its the khus (vetiver) reacting with the coffee. Reminds a little of Orc, almost leathery.

Dry: Definitely the best stage BY FAR, once it mellows, which only took a few minutes. The disgusting ashiness subsides, leaving a creamy, woodsy base. What I hoped Antikythera Mechanism would smell like, actually! Just sweet, blonde wood, with a touch of smoky vetiver.

 

Verdict: I was very put off by the vetiver, but it faded surprisingly quickly into the plushy wooden marshmallow stage. It is almost worth it, but falls just a bit short (for me, anyway).

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Oh my goth, but this smells good: like sweet milky coffee. But I am worried about what the coffee note will when it hits my skin.

 

Wet: Very different on the skin. Not so sweet or coffee-like, either. The cypress and oak bark have made their presence felt.

 

The dry-down: Still mostly the woods, but faint hints of the mallow and the coffee bean. No real trace of vetiver that I could detect; it probably mixed in with the woods. I am surprised that the coffee bean didn't amp as coffee notes usually do. At any rate, I think this would work best as a scent locket scent, though not for the reason that I had thought it would be.

[CrazyPretzel]

My initial reaction to this one was similar to ybnb's: an underlying gorgeous sweetness warring with very harsh smoky vetiver. I found though that the long drydown - like after about 30 minutes - was amazing, brown/cream sweetness and *totally* worth the strong vetiver at the beginning. I will need a bottle, maybe two.

[rawgirl75]

Okay, so let me tell you this. I didn't pick this one out right away. I love love love vetiver, but I did NOT like TKO (mallow) and absolutely hated Miskatonic University (coffee). However reviews have kept turning up positive for Atlas, so at the last minute I decided to take a chance on it. And I'm so glad I did!

 

When wet, Atlas really reminded me of what Black Lace smelled like when I first got it fresh from the lab. It's got a bit of harshness to it too that I remembered from BL. But just as BL aged that part away so fine, so too I think this one will as well.

 

At the 15-30 minutes mark, I can see how similar this is to Antikythera Mechanism. I disliked Antikythera Mechanism on the drydown (it amped way too much for me), but Atlas seems okay here.

 

After about an hour, Atlas really mellowed out to a soft creamy dark vanilla musk (ala Morocco style). I'm not crazy about how it smells up close to my wrist, but a very delicious aroma tendril keeps drifting up to my nose making me quite like this.

 

I rarely buy bottles anymore, but I'm going with this one. I have a hunch this will be worth it down the road.

 

ps. Yes definitely related to Osiris v4 as well. But Osiris is more masculine and this is gender neutral.

Edited August 14, 2011 by rawgirl75

[porcelina]

my overall impression is soft, fluffy brown fur.

 

there's coffee, but it's not a foody kind of coffee, with the woods and the smokey khus. the mallow makes everything sweet and cuddly. honestly, atlas makes me want to curl up and go to sleep. it is cozy and warm. aahhh.

[Ashmedai]

Okay, it's a vanilla-marshmallow latte sipped in a cozy, sun-dappled forest of oak trees and cyprus/hinoki, and the khus adds an element that's a fantastic, earthy, grounding note (and doesn't make me smell like a side of bacon, the way it usually does). This is just so freaking good! Now that it's completely dry, I can definitely smell more of the coffee bean - and it is that rich sweet smell of roasted, darkly-shiny fresh coffee beans you smell in a good coffee shop. Absolutely delicious, and another winner from this selection of recent limited editions.

[sajiaidoki]

After reading some of these reviews I went into this with pretty high expectations. At first, I was disappointed. But as usual, when BPAL is given a chance to settle on the shelf for a bit, something magical happens. Initially, I was upset that the coffee note wasn't more noticeable. Coffee in BPAL is relatively hard to find, especially as a dominant note.

 

That same day I had several (guy) friends tell me I smelled like cheesecake, or cheesecake and incense. Or that, at any rate, they wanted to gnaw on me I took that to mean this scent wasn't a total fail. But it was still too cloyingly marshmallow for me.

 

I gave it another shot today and felt that, while still marshmallowy... it was definitely more subtle. (This is going to age nicely, I can tell.) And after reading a review that Boo '09 smelled like a certain Warm Vanilla Sugar, I realized that that was a good way to describe what I personally got from Atlas. (I have yet to try Boo, so I can't compare side by side.) It also feels like a distant cousin to Death Cap- the same kind of dirt/outdoors with sweet type smell. I'm looking forward to seeing what this does in several months. I think if the incense develops just a tiny bit more, this would be divine.

 

And yes, to echo what so many others have said... something about this blend is comforting. Any time I caught a whiff it made me smile.

[cherrycherry]

This is sweeter than I thought it would be. It's a perfect blend of resiny sweetness, soft marshmallow and coffee. Win!

[Teaotter]

I have to say I agree with most of the reviews above, so I won't go through all of it. But I want to note that I hardly smelled the vetiver at all until dh pointed it out -- but he's very sensitive to vetiver and can smell even the faintest trace! This is mostly woody marshmallow on me, sweet and smooth.

[Obesa_Cantavit]

I love this! I know there is no vanilla listed in the notes but on my skin this comes across as a quite strong fairly dark vanilla with a hint of vetiver and the tiniest splash of coffee poking through every now and again. Lovely!

[inurbanus]

Like a lot of others have noted, the first couple of minutes are very harsh. Personally, I don't smell vetiver but kush, which kind of smells like "new car smell" to me. Luckily, it soon calms down, revealing a glossy black base of wood and creamy mallow. It's very nummy and smells just like I wanted the Antikythera Mechanism to. I can see several different BPALers being drawn to this - those who love smoke and woods, those who love creamy-foodie blends, those who like their perfumes comforting, those who like their perfumes sexy, and just about everyone in between. This was an impulse buy for me and I'm very glad I decided to go for it.

[Pyewacket]

Bought this bottle unsniffed on an impulse.

 

In bottle:

 

Smells like a coffee marshmallow tree

 

On wet:

 

Reminds me a bit of antikythera mechanism without the tobacco - also there is a woodsy element - so where antikythera makes you think of a steampunk interior this is an outdoorsy version.

 

Drying:

 

dusty, woodsy, raw coffee bean - there is increasing sweetness as it dries but for me it never gets very sweet and not at all foody.

 

Verdict: I'm very happy to have this one. It's soft, warm, dark and comforting.

[jkfagtongpun]

I bought this in August of last year as the notes sounded different to my normal scents but intriguing. It was also the first scent with coffee I've ever tried so was a little nervous.

 

August was still pretty warm here and my initial reaction to a tiny, tiny amount of the oil on my skin was that it was way too sweet and cloying. It never seemed to mellow, it was all mallow. Heh, sorry. I decided I'd leave it a few months and try again later.

 

It's now January and pretty darn cold. From the bottle I still got that sweetness but put a decent amount on anyway. It was sweet, but not as cloying or headachey as I remembered. It mellowed on drydown and more notes came out. It was then mallow but backed up by a hint of coffee and really lovely, warm, woodsy smells. I wouldn't know hinoki wood, khus or oak bark if you shoved them up my nose so can't say what kind of woodsy smells so I assume its the three together. I am really liking this.

 

I wouldn't have thought the sweetness would be me but I really love this scent. It doesn't morph after drydown and it has serious staying power. 10 hours later and it's still as strong as it was this morning. It's definitely a soft, warm and brown scent to me.

 

Yes! Another unsniffed, limited edition success!

[ami226]

This is kinda.... good! Reminds me of Wood Phoenix? Kind of a smooth, slightly sweet wood scent. Not tree exactly. More like a well worn old wooden desk.

 

It smells pretty good, but it just isn't for me. For some odd reason, the smell makes me sick after a bit.

[Incendiare]

I knew this one wouldn't have a chance. Most of the lab's wood notes are über dry on me, and khus is terrible on me. On me, it's just as dry, but the coffee sort of shows up but it's on the dry nutty side. Not for me.

[mymymai]

In the Imp (ITI): Mmmm, it’s warm from the coffee beans, but it smells like marshmallow-infused coffee. The after note is woodsy, I think hinoki since the wood is a little astringent and a little more exotic smelling. The scent is mothy and beautiful I hope it stays just as lovely on my skin.

 

Wet: The marshmallow is much stronger on me while wet, but the warmth from the coffee bean and the slightly astringent woody quality of the hinoki is just barely present. It’s still pretty, but very sweet on my skin at this phase.

 

Dry: The mallow and coffee have become the dominant notes. There is just the faintest hint of wood, but this reads as more foody than anything else.

[orata]

I love this--so warm and woodsy. Atlas can be too strong and long-lasting for me sometimes, but if I'm in the right mood for it, it's like a warm, comforting fluffy blanket of scent. Vetiver can easily ruin scents for me, but in this case, it's present but not overwhelming for me; the vetiver and wood darken and balance the sweet vanilla-ish coffee marshmallow scent to make a cloud of something sweet, but distinctly dry, not foody or creamy.

[PumpkinGuts]

Atlas is overwhelmingly sweet, dusty oak on me. OAK(!!!) and a vanilla latte with marshmallows.

It smells like Oak Moon went on a coffee date with Brood XIX. This is a fuzzy, brown moth.

[Alaeidrel]

Holy crap this is incredible. Bluestblood was wonderful enough to send me a bottle before I could scrape up the cash, because I've been dying to try it. It's heaven. Smells exactly the same in the bottle as on skin, wet or dry, but that's a soft sweet marshmellowy woods with just a hint of coffee. I need to wear this forever.

[vanilla323]

This was mostly coffee and a light woodsy oak scent on me. This coffee wasn't sweet it was more the freshly roasted kind with nothing added. I was hoping the mallow would be like marshmallow but sadly no. This would probably be nice on my hubby. It had decent staying power and low throw though. Stayed close to the skin.

[rayvn1]

So weird. Wet on my skin I was smelling something like peanut butter(?) Now that it's dried I get the mallow/marshmallow foodie and graham cracker comparisons. It's a warm, brown, foodie scent that I can really see appealing to people. It's a little too sweet on me, but nice. Very nice. I, too, was hoping for more coffee, but my skin sucks up bpal's coffee note so I'm not surprised that it isn't making an appearance.

[Soupy Twist]

A weird woody scent in the bottle. Goes on as wood with a little coffee, but that quickly turns into a very unattractive menthol which permeates the wood scent. It struggles to warm up again, but finally collapses into a gross, unpleasant vetiver. Off to the swap pile to find someone who will love it more.