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strahlend

A Dense and Frightful Darkness

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The cup of life was poisoned forever; and although the sun shone upon me as upon the happy and gay of heart, I saw around me nothing but a dense and frightful darkness, penetrated by no light but the glimmer of two eyes that glared upon me. Sometimes they were the expressive eyes of Henry languishing in death, the dark orbs nearly covered by the lids, and the long black lashes that fringed them; sometimes it was the watery, clouded eyes of the monster as I first saw them in my chamber at Ingolstadt.

A dense and frightful darkness: black musk, vetiver, myrrh, opoponax, hemp, crushed sage, oakmoss, and tobacco.


First Sniff – wonderful black musk blend. Reminding me of Haunted.

Skin Test – upon first application still reminding me a lot of Haunted – which leads me to ask the question, how is this different than Haunted? Maybe it's a little softer, I think maybe the tobacco and the myrrh together are giving this a little bit of a sweeter feeling with a very, very light soapy feeling. This is like Hunted's slightly more distinguished and elegant mother or grandmother. Just a hint of powderyness from the myrrh and maybe oakmoss. As it dries there's a bit of warm spice happening.

This scent hangs on for quite a long time. At the mid point the resins really come out and it's musky and kind of resin-powdery. Late in the dry down I'm getting musky spice on my skin and it seems like it'll continue to hang on for a while. I feel pretty sure it's the oakmoss lingering.

In the end it's the oakmoss that clings to the skin for an unexpectedly long time.

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I definitely agree with the comparison to Haunted at first sniff. I love black musk and this scent does not disappoint. I'm one who usually cannot do vetiver, but it works in this blend. Darkens the scent a little more without making me smell like the fire pits of Hell. Myrrh and tobacco notes soften and sweeten the scent just enough and the sage seems to balance everything together.

 

Though I won't likely purchase a bottle, I do want to keep this decant.

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This is mostly black musk with the softest touch of vetiver. On my skin I'm only smelling resin, black musk and vetiver. I'm not getting any sage at all.

 

This dries into a powdery resin, probably too powdery for my tastes. I was hoping for more vetiver. Oh well.

 

ETA (3/2014):

 

Just revisiting this scent to see how it's aged. The black musk is still the most prominent note and sadly, the vetiver has some how been swallowed up by the other notes (it must have been incredibly light to begin with). This still dries to a baby powder note on my skin. So sad. I was really hoping for the vetiver to take over and for the powderiness to go away. No such luck.

Edited by Monster

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A Dense and Frightful Darkness - This is a really beautiful scent. It's definitely on the unisex side -- musky, woody, and resinous. On me, it's mostly a myrrh and oakmoss scent with a strong musky base. It's slightly powdery on the drydown, but not offensively so. It's really nice and I'm so glad I have a little bit!

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Musky and dark. I'm reminded both of Haunted and Creature Feature, though this is slightly woodier than both of those. Possibly because of the vetiver and the moss?

 

It's a nice dark resiny mossy thing that's just a tiny bit sweet (tobacco?). It does end up getting too powdery for me. I think a decant will be enough.

 

By the way, layered with Most Magnificent Christmas Tree, this smells like a way more complex and gorgeous Black Forest.

Edited by patina

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Oh HAI black musk! Luckily I adore black musk. I smell sweet tobacco in here too. This really is a "dense" oil, very dark and blended well, with nice throw! As it dries I'm getting more of the resins and a breath of sage. I really like this and it might be bottle-worthy...definitely one for us black musk lovers!

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This is a 'dark' black musk blend, if that makes sense! I have never found a black musk blend that doesn't lean to the dark side, but this really has a bite to it, with the vetiver and tobacco so nicely blended in. Though I do love black musk, I like it blended with sweeter notes like cocoa and vanilla, here it leans more to the masculine side, kind of rough and gritty. I would be all over a guy smelling like this though!

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In bottle: musk dominant with strong opoponax, tobacco, and myrrh. The musk/vetiver combination is darkly sexual, with the vetiver well blended. The myrrh, opoponax, and sage, create a dark incense effect, and the oakmoss/tobacco/hemp cabal puts up a civilized, masculine front under which all this darkness seethes. This is beautifully designed and blended. No skin test, vetiver.

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This starts off with lots of black musk (smells like smoky/musky, sharp, cold men's cologne to me) sweetened by the myrrh, opoponax, and tobacco. Opoponax smells intensely, syrupy sweet on me, and I'm getting lots of that super-sweet resin/incense here. As it dries down, the black musk actually calms down and something in this starts to turn powdery. It's mostly sweet opoponax and myrrh on the drydown, golden and warm smelling on me, with a powdery undertone. I thought that I might like this on my husband, but it goes too sweet on him as well. There are resin blends that I like a lot more than this one, so it's not a keeper for me.

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In the decant: Getting whiffs of the sage and the oakmoss, with a touch of myrrh, and something dark, probably the musk.

 

Wet:The tobacco comes into play, and perhaps the hemp.

 

The dry-down: In the end, all the notes mentioned before combine into a lovely blend that's not too sweet or too dark. I think that the oakmoss is keeping the vetiver firmly in check.

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All of these dark notes, such as black musk, myrrh, and vetiver, collide with each other and burn my nose. It's hard to describe, or even believe, but in the vial, all of these notes almost create a brighter feel. The myrrh is definitely the most prominent, followed by the black musk. It goes earthier on me, though. Wet, the oakmoss and sage make themselves known and the resiny cloud takes a step back. Interesting blend if you're into the darker, cloudier, earthy blends.

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On the skin:

 

Spicy! I actually really like the vetiver in this one. Like in Tombeur it adds a bit of depth, but it isn't overwhelmingly dirt. I can mostly smell the black musk (which thankfully isn't turning into powder of doom on me this time), a bit of myrrh, and a bit of the vetiver.

 

Argh! It was so pleasant and spicy before, but now it is starting to turn kind of weird. More of a greenish scent with a hint of dirt. Where did my spiciness go? :(

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ITB: It's slightly perfume-y due to the reins with a smokey undertone from the vetiver.

 

Wet: It's very similar to the scent in the bottle, but the myrrh and vetiver are just a touch clearer. If I concentrate, I can pick up the sweetness from the tobacco and a faint whisper from the sage. I like this so far.

 

Dry: Yum. Tobacco, dark musk, swirling myrrh, rich opoponax, faint vetiver, and a pinch of hemp make this a complex and alluring scent.

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On me, this is neither dark not frightful. It is a scent that is sweet, yet powerful.

In the beginning, it is a powdery, from the black musk, and floral like scent. The myrrh is trying to come out and add to the powderiness.

As it is drying, the myrrh and musk show up more as powder, while the vetiver tries to show up and provide a sweet smoky feel. The tobacco is also adding to the sweetness.

Once fully dry, this is a soft and sweet powder.

I have to be in the right mood to wear this, but am so glad I have a bottle. It adds to some of my other scents at times too.

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Wet, I could smell that rich, round syrupy opoponax, and I knew I would love this one. There are so many beautiful dark notes here -- black musk and myrrh are in the foreground on me, with the opoponax, while vetiver and tobacco are supporting players. I'm not really getting the green notes (hemp, sage, moss); this is a lush, velvety black scent on me, and it's absolutely lovely. It becomes a skin scent on me fairly quickly but lasts a long time.

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June 4, 2020

 

At first sniff I definitely get the darkness idea. A slight silky shadow-like scent that's so subtle I almost think there's nothing in the bottle.

 

On my skin I get a beautiful and smooth tobacco. There's a subtle touch of vetiver and moss. This has aged beautifully. I can tell that the hemp, myrrh and opoponax have melted together into one harmonious scent. My nose doesn't recognize the sage at all.

 

After about 30 mins the myrrh, opoponax, and tobacco are the primary notes. I'm not getting any hemp or oakmoss anymore. I'm starting to get a bit of that sage, but not a lot. This is still a myrrh/tobacco dominate scent.

 

 

Edited by InaraRedCloak

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