Nemesis

[BoneBone24]

... Cypress, ginger, fig, dried rose, red patchouli, tonka bean and cyclamen.

 

Wet: Astringent berry and grass. I actually though I was sniffing my Nosferatu imp for a second.

Drydown: At first it's sharp and green with a touch of rose and ripe purple fruit. Then the patchouli enters and softens things for a bit. The cypress begins to amp creating a weird discord with the patchouli and rose.

Dry: Fresh cypress with just the right touch of fig and a hint of rose. Very evocative. It smells like walking through a vibrant evergreen forest with the scent of figgy pudding and roses wafting by on a gentle breeze.


This smells like a wintery fairy tale. The cypress is dominant and the fig and rose bring a touch of femininity to what might have otherwise been more of a clean, masculine-type scent. Its sort Christmas-y in a non-spicy way. This would be a good starter woodsy scent for those who aren't sure if they'd like woodsy blends.

6 out of 10 bones

[Innocuousmold]

Wet, this is earthy, herbal and sweet. On drying I'm picking up the dried roses and dirt while it still retains its sweetness.

 

Dried rose never fairs well with me, it always smells like potpourri. However, This isn't a bad scent by any means, but it lacks the oomph that I love from other BPAL blends. I'd say this one is about average for me.

[Tiada]

Imp: ROSE! With patchouli and cypress, but the rose is clearly the loudest on my first reaction.

 

Wet: Cypress with a woodsy scent (smells a bit herby, not sure what I'm picking up there) that's thrown with wet, soggy, red, roses.

 

Dry: Well, the roses don't take over, that's nice (most roses are terrible on me). Unfortunately other scents don't work on me either. The cypress isn't bad, the patchouli might be the culprit since it can hit/miss on me. What I can't nail down is what is going on here that makes me think of mens "Axe" that originally came out 15+ years ago when they only had 3 scents and the boys wore WAY too much in high school. There is something here that seems to want to come out as "Clean", and aftershave.

 

After longer wear: Settles as totally aftershave. Maybe hubby could try it and see how his chemistry works? It's NOT for me!

[ReallyZeb]

When wet I get a fresh cypress that's ok but it does rather remind me of some aftershave, I think one my dad used to wear in the 70s. As soon as it dries my skin eats this and I get nothing but a vaguely fresh tinge to my skin.

[melrose]

In imp, and on, wet: cedar and smoke (I agree with the previous poster who said it's the cedar wood, not the needles).

 

Near drydown: dead ringer for my Daddy's aftershave worn when he was young and healthy. I love this part.

 

Far drydown: very faint, fresh and slightly sweet if I bury my nose in my elbow; doesn't last.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Cypress dominant. I’d call the rose and cyclamen second. The patchouli is fairly subtle here and supporting the cypress. The tonka, ginger, and fig form their own little faction. The tonka is pervasive, the fig blending well with it. The ginger is sharp and distinct. The blend is absolutely lovely and if I could wear rose, I suspect I’d really enjoy this. No skin test for rose.

[ajansuz]

In the imp: Strong cypress with a green herbal touch, fairly sweet.

 

Wet: Goes really aftershave-y, not in a completely masculine way but masculine leaning. The cypress is woody and clean, and there's almost an amber sort of powdery note on top of it. I usually amp rose, but it's nowhere to be found in this.

 

Dry: It dries down to a kind of generic woody/herbal scent that stays close to the skin. Neither terrible nor spectacular. My skin eats it all within four hours. I'm not sorry I had the chance to try it. It's not one I'd ever reach for again, though.

[KissleMeNow]

Fruity. As the drydown progresses I get a whiff of warm ginger, and some of the patchouli and tonka, but mostly it just smells... friuity to me. :/

[mymel0dy]

In the imp: The cypress is the first note I get with just a hint of the fig and dried roses lingering in the background, which is why I am willing to try it. Had the patchouli shown then I never would have tried it.

 

Wet on the skin: Patchouli and tonka come through and all I can think is get this off me. I was hoping they would remain hidden behind things like ginger, cypress, fig, dried rose, and cyclamen.

 

As it dries: The cyclamen starts come forward with the patchouli, but the cypress starts to show again.

 

Sometime later: I let it sit and age on me and between the cypress, cyclamen, and hint of dried roses I no longer am trying to figure out ways to make it go away. It is not a scent I will look forward to wearing again but it is not as bad as originally thought.

[theseagrows]

in the imp i think i just smell cypress and hint of patchouli. on my skin it starts out very green and herbaceous, then it's mostly cypress with hints of rose, patchouli and maybe fig. something in this seems a bit soapy to me, but i'm not sure what. i think i amp cypress because that seems to be the most prominent note and it isn't changing much. after a bit it gets a bit more rosy and the tonka seems to come through, warming it up, but it's still mostly cypress i think.

[agirlnamedfury]

In the imp, this is all wood, fresh ginger root, and roses.

 

On skin, the patchouli starts to come out, but it's still primarily woody on me. The roses are fairly strong as well, but still slightly in the background.

 

I'm fairly indifferent towards this one, so I'll hold onto it for now and try it again at some later date.

[DiesMali]

In the imp: Sharp evergreen and ginger.

 

Wet on my skin: Green, sharp cypress and ginger, with some rose too. I'm already liking this.

 

Dry: I knew this would be good on me, as all of the notes in this tend to do great things with my skin chemistry. I wasn't wrong! This is absolutely gorgeous on me as it dries and some of the sharpness of the cypress/ginger combination fades. It's a spicy, evergreen-tinged fig-rose with wisps of tonka. I don't get much patchouli as a prominent note, but I can tell it's in there by the way the whole thing goes so very mellow and warm on my skin (patchouli loves me and I love it). Oh goodness, this is probably my favourite rose blend so far. Warm, foresty green and red in colour. Bottle. Must have.

[Veronica]

I get something dark green and herbal, with a light smoky background of patchouli.

[Marla Moreau]

I ordered an imp of this, I was worried about the rose death note, but the rest sounded too appealing to pass up.

 

In the bottle: I don't smell too much rose, good. An interesting spicy blend, I like it.

 

Wet on skin: Rose begins to amp almost immediately, sigh. But it's not really perfumey rose, more like dried rose petals?

 

Dry down: Rose, rose, rose... everything else disappears/gets overpowered by rose. Somewhat soapy rose, making me sneeze. Sigh. Definitely not getting a bottle of this, off to wash it off!

[d0gbones]

In the imp: A little sharpness to it, which is probably cypress.

Wet: Definitely getting ginger above the other notes.

Dry: This is so well blended, I can't really distinguish anything once it's dried. It's very slightly rosy and something gives it an earthy edge, probably the patchouli. Really like this one.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Cypress, then ginger. Interesting. Smells like a spicy forest.

 

 

Dry: The fig comes out, which I adore. But it's still too woody for me. Try as I might, I like very few woodsy scents on me.

[Lucchesa]

Wet, Nemesis is sharp, astringent cypress and ginger, with some dry patchouli in the background. Dry, it is a completely different animal, patchouli and dry roses combining on my skin to give the effect of rosewood. I never got the sweetness of fig or tonka, and I have no idea what cyclamen smells like. In its dry state, it lasts quite a while without morphing further. Very nice but I don't much care for the opening blast.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: Although cypress is listed as the first note, I'm mostly getting fig, dried rose, and ginger from my imp, with the cypress in the background.

 

Wet: The rose, fig, and ginger are the most prominent notes on me, and the combination of the rose (which is a bit sour at the moment) and the fig just aren't good on me at all.

 

Dry: The rose manages to calm down after a while and lose its sour quality, and the cypress finally gets a bigger role. The rose and fig remain the dominant notes, backed by the cypress, ginger, and patchouli.

 

Verdict: The wet phase of this scent was too unpleasant for me, with the sour rose and fig. I bet it could be nice on someone else's skin chemistry.

[Joyleaf_]

On me this is very cypress forward, with a slight hint of the ginger to make me regret shoving my nose to my wrist and huffing for this review. As you can imagine, on me this is a skin scent, very low throw, if any. After a fair amount of time ,the heavy evergreen lightens and the sweetness of the rose comes to the front. With that mix, it smells a bit like an austere Victorian Lady with no mirth in her life whatsoever.
Not for me, and I know why I have passed it by on numerous occasions.

[monocainsheresy]

Fresh out of the mail this was a bottle of pure fig. After a few days it settled to a figgy variant of Burial - lots of cypress coming forward.

On the skin this was, again, mostly fig, but as it dried it took on an aquatic tone that I didn't like. Not my cup of tea. I'll be passing this along.

[VetchVesper]

Fuzzy, soft evergreen, mixing with bright, fruity rose and fig. The ginger is subtle, but adds an earthy huskiness to the red patchouli.

 

The red patch and ginger become more prominent as the evergreen and the pop of fig and rose die back.  This becomes dry, heat-blasted almost, the calms back down to a husky red patch fragrance with a touch of soft rose and evergreen. 

 

This is very well blended, but overall, it's more patch-centric vs. a rose, cypress, or fig fragrance. 

 

ETA - My imp is probably around 5 years old oh, so it makes sense the evergreen would have softened and the patchouli gotten richer.

Edited December 5, 2021 by VetchVesper

[bellumed]

Rose and patchouli and tree, melded together into a cloud of scent, hard to distinguish anything. Strong without being sharp.