Sherlock Holmes

[Atrous]

A fastidiously clean scent, with a dash of pipe and cigarette tobacco. Faintly beneath, you catch the fragrance of a smear of greasepaint, a stray horsehair, and a whisper of Moroccan leather and rosin.

 

This is just straight up a men's scented soap but with something damp and moldering in the background.

The scent makes my face wrinkle up.

Definitely a no.

[oakandloam]

I got a sniffle of this from azurephoenix along with my carbuncle imps and am super happy to finally get a chance to try it

 

In the imp, this is honestly kind of rancid and fresh on the skin doesn't change that. It's a lot of grease paint and honey sweet stale tobacco. I'm literally making faces at my hand for the first few minutes. However, once it gets a chance to warm on my skin a little, some redeeming things start happening. I get the rosin and leather, and the chemical tang that was so repugnant for the first few minutes and in the bottle backs off. I'm also getting something clean and almost like the fresh linen candle scent that's so common in cheap candles.

 

Thus really comes into its own as it dries. The notes settle and it develops a lot more sophistication. It's still hard to parse individual notes, but this feels like an expensive gentleman's coat, infused with soap and pipe smoke as well as the tooL's of his trade. It's stately and very masculine to my nose, and there is still something cloying and stick to the throat about it that I don't love, and I certainly would struggle to wear this regularly due to the spectacularly terrible first ten minutes or so. My tiny partial decant will probably be enough, though I'm glad to have tried it. Maybe a bit of aging will bring something out, who knows. It sure is a tremendous testament to perfume creation, even if it isn't my favorite.

 

Edit

I take it back this is awful on me. Now that it's continued to dry, something starts going horriday sticky sweet and rotten, like sour spoiled fruit covered in suntan lotion. I had to wash it off.

Edited February 2, 2016 by oakandloam

[LizziesLuck]

Got a tester of this from my lovely decantress, Azzie. <3

 

Wet: Citrus!!! really creamy lime. Like a lime-sicle. Yum. I can detect the hints of rosin and greasepaint as well, which are surprisingly pleasant! Wow, this is so interesting. It's starting to smell like scented plastic though, which makes me sad.

 

 

Dry: Sadly, on me this dries down to a sort of fake, candyish, fruity plastic smell. Too bad! It had a lot of promise at first, so I think this is just my chemistry ruining it.

[velvet]

wet on my skin: extremely powdery. I almost washed it off.

middle: it's drying down into something sweet and warm. I get creamy leather with a sweetened lime note and... sassafras? maybe it's the tobacco.

dry: I'm just starting the dry stage and it's still going well but starting to veer into the plasticy realm which makes me think there is some vanilla in the blend. sigh. this always happens.

[yakiguri]

Tested on Mr. Elf.

 

Sherlock Holmes starts off as clean, safe scent but quickly gets down and dirty with the leather, tobacco, and rosin. It's spicy, but not Middle-Eastern bazaar type spicy, but more aftershave+outdoors+I've-been-up-to-something-nefarious.

 

This is the guy that seems safe and approachable at first but you later find he has a hell of a mean streak. My favorite type.

[goodnightnightvale]

I actually don't get anything sharp at all. It starts of slightly sweet and very clean, and on me, it stays that way. It's beautiful and light, with a hint of something that makes you keep smelling, trying to figure out what it is. I could see myself using this as one of my everyday scents.

[Little Bird]

I glossed over the "fastidiously clean" part of the description when I first wore this, and was really confused by the fact that it smelled like laundry soap and baby powder. I can't pick out the tobacco or leather at all, not even in the drydown. It actually smells strangely sweet on my skin, and I keep thinking that I smell a hint of the juniper/gin note - slightly fizzy, sweet and clean.

 

Mostly this is straightup baby powder smell on me, with a hint of sweet floral scented laundry soap and a hint of gin...

Edited August 21, 2016 by Little Bird

[roseus]

In the imp: clean men's cologne with a shot of bright lime.

 

Wet: similar to the imp. There's something a little sweet here too.

 

Dry: Soft leather and tobacco mix with a clean men's cologne for a unique and beautiful combination. There is just a spark of lime. I love this, a very interesting scent. There is something classic men's cologne about it, but it smells like something totally new and different at the same time.

[Coldfire]

Imp: clean is right!
Wet on Me: Clean. faint traces of rosin and motor oil?
Drying Down: This is such a curious scent! yes it smells 'clean' not getting the tobacco just yet. But I think it's the Greasepaint and rosin I'm getting. Definitely masculine.
Dry: it's sweet now. But not fruity or sugar sweet. I think it's the sweet of the leather and rosin and tobacco. Reminds me of a gentleman's library almost!

[evil_laugher]

I'm such a fan of this. It never has that warm cozy library leather scent that I expect, but I always spend the day enjoying the whiff I catch of it whenever I've put it on (it's long-lasting). Surprisingly sweet (from the tobacco?), definitely clean, and appropriately masculine.

Edited January 17, 2017 by evil_laugher

[gloame]

I like this one a lot. The notes listed make it sound like it's going to be super weird smelling (which I often like), and it is. Pleasing but surprising. Normal but weird. Confusing and adaptive. Kind of like Sherlock himself I guess. No grossness from the cigarettes or greasepaint (I like tobacco blends but I was worried about the grease - nothing to worry about after all!).

 

Where I'd wear this: Important presentations to look clean and clever

[Cali]

I'm shook but I'm loving this. Clean, but not necessarily (or too) soapy, not the sort of soapy Watson has, and indeed grease paint or some sort of household cleaning stuff... how odd! And brilliant!
That odd note is certainly chemical and it reminds me of something(s) I can't puzzle together but it's not nasty either.
Definately reminds me of Brett's Holmes. There's dust, sweetness... a hint of wood and florals? It's a mess of notes and maybe it's just cause I'm exhausted right now and I can't pick too much apart from here, but this is a perfect homage to this beloved character (with apologies to sir Arthur Conan Doyle).

[achildoftime]

It's a very clean scent indeed. It's a little sweet to be sure, but there is something holding it back from going to sweet tarts for me. I'm sure it's the tobacco and wood from the pipe keeping it steady, because they come out more as it dries. It's not a particularly bold scent, but I think it gives the wearer some gravitas. It might be the character association, but it does feel like a quiet powerhouse might wear this. I'm a fan.

[patina]

Resin, tobacco, clean cologne (Jareth or Dorian-like fougere with vanilla and lilac?) with a dark, tight, thrummy feeling. I'm reminded of tobacco scented wool over clean linen. This is good, but I'm not sure I need a bottle.

 

I do recommend this for anyone that wants a tobacco flavored masculine cologne.

[donkehpoo]

Wet: Okay, I know it says "clean" in the description.. but I didn't expect it to smell THIS clean! Clean, sweet, tobacco. A little ozone-y.

 

Dry: Everything in the wet stage, plus some leather.

 

I.. am surprised by how much I like this! Not typically a fan of leather. Not sure that it's bottle worthy, but I definitely want to hold onto my imp.

[Safyr Drathmir]

In the bottle:  Sweet, rich Pipe Tobacco.  It makes me miss my Peterson Churchwarden.

On me:  If you've ever been around Violinists, you'll recognise the piney aroma of rosin, and it smells sweet and resinously clean.  The Leather is fainter than most blends they make with Leather, and this is a good thing.  It adds a subtle complexity that's purely Holmes.  If you've read A Study in Scarlet, it might make you think of the intro where Stamford explains Holmes to an incredulous Watson, or of the Leather chair he often sat in, fingers steepled in concentration.  There's a pungent, almost turpentine scent of old-world greasepaint.  Finally, there's the fragrant presence of the Tobacco he keeps in the toe-end of a Persian slipper.  This is glorious, as it captures him quite nicely.

On My Son:  I must preface this with the statement that my son plays the Violin, and has worn this scent to every performance, and wears it when he's struggling for the right atmosphere to practise in.  It has slowly become his confident signature scent when he wants to be taken seriously, and I despair of getting him more, as it's constantly(deservedly so in demand) out of stock.

 

On My Son: It smells like what he imagines 221B Baker Street to smell like, and everything within.  It is a well-made Violin(in Holmes time, his Stradivarius was a bonny shiny thing, as it was relatively new), the oils to keep it in proper order(when he can be bothered to clean it), the rosin dust from him energetically(I say maniacally, :p) attacking the strings with his bow.  It is his laboratory and the chemicals, it is the makeup from his disguises, which I was told had a distinct scent.  It is the leather of the furniture and...(the word he was looking for was timelessness) and just that feeling of being in the presence of greatness.

 

I usually post just his responses and whatever conversation we have about scents, but today I will also post my impression of this on him:

On him it transforms him into the great consulting detective.  It's the dust of his rosin as he readies his bow for play, the greasepaint of the consummate actor, exotic woods of the furniture, chemicals from his lab, leather from his favoured seat, and tobacco, such wonderful tobacco, from the fresh in the slipper, to curls of fragrant smoke, to the drying dottles on the edge of the fireplace(my DziaDzia used to do that, and I used to read Holmes to him as my Grandmother translated it into Polish for him).  Hold your head high my Tiny Human, this is how it should feel.

 

[RedPersimmon]

A smooth, kinda sweet, watery fougere. As mentioned before, this is a cousin to Jareth and Dorian. I really like this! Yummy without being foody. A hint of strawberry. I feel like this has tobacco flower in it. I don't get the Lab's usual deep, dark tobacco here. It has that clean and round thing going on and when it's done right, tobacco flower is one of my favorite notes. Probably has white tea in it, too.

[clockworkcrypt]

Alright, so this is not the best review, but I refuse to try this out again.

 

Sherlock Holmes starts off surprisingly promising, oddly smelling like one of the greenhouses I went to as a kid.

This burns off into a brown leather fairly fast, not the best note on me. It mixes with a clean slightly aftershavey scent. 

However this burns down to a bit of tobacco and oddly... honey? Granted I've never smelled rosin, but I swear this is honey.

Hours later, this is honey, honey, honey, with an underlying whiff of tobacco.

Tragically due to a chemical spill at work, I never got the long wear, but I don't think this is worth a retest, I know this isn't my scent. 

[torischroeder9]

I thought I'd reviewed him before, but I guess not. 

 

In the imp: Tickly sweetness, a little perfumey. Can't determine specific notes. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, I can definitely pick out the rosin, the leather, and the tobacco. The rosin and leather are presently keeping the tobacco at bay. As it dries, something a lot like white musk comes out though I can still make out the tobacco and -- more faintly now -- the leather and rosin. 

 

Ultimately, the tobacco settles down so that it blends seamlessly into the white musk. The leather and rosin remain an undercurrent, warming and rounding out the scent. 

 

I'm not sure how "me" this is, but it's a very cleverly conceived and elegantly constructed scent. 

[cyborgutena]

I'm really not sure what this scent is when wet! I understand the 'creamy lime' thing people are getting and I feel like it's close but not quite that. Limey floral that's a bit sweet? Maybe it's actually something blending with a particularly green tobacco. Anyway, it definitely smells clean and a bit sharp but also soft.

 

Dry makes the soft leather more detectable. Most leather notes go very soft and sometimes powdery on me (especially when backed up by musk), but I think this stays in a really good place. I wasn't sure the tobacco was strong at first, but I think it was just blending really seamlessly. When I look for it, it comes to the fore. Sweetness and floral has also faded by this point. There's something else in the background and I really can't figure out what it is, but it's nice!

 

This is a complex masculine scent and it's really interesting! Love it.

[niffler]

In the frimp, this was... weird. I had no idea what to make of it. Something "creamy" with a bit of leather and cologne that seemed intriguing at first but on second sniff reminded me strongly of rot. I think my brain misinterpreted the greasepaint as some kind of industrial chemical gone moldy. 

In the end, I figured my nose was simply broke and skin tested it. Dry, this became clean leather and rosin and tobacco smoke. Which is fine in concept; I love Rogue, which is mostly leather and rosin. I just do not like the wet stage of this scent. 

 

[Ember Kelly]

This starts off smelling clean and a little sweet and then I'm transported to when I was 16. I'm getting a strong scent memory with the rosin and leather. It took a while for me to figure out why but I think this was the year that I tried to teach myself how to play the violin and also got a leather jacket for my birthday. So very interesting! I don't know that I'd wear this often but it was fun to experience.

[bellumed]

Does smell very clean in the imp, but that wore off on my skin. The descriptions sounds very masculine, but IMO the effect was really juuuust on the masc side of unisex. Smoke and rosin, a touch of leather. A distinguished and quiet cologne that nearly disappears on drydown.

[MolyH]

I don't know what it is, but something in this smells very creamy and sweet to me. I swear, I keep thinking I catch a hint of vanilla. This is a beautifully subtle blend of tobacco and leather, two notes that my skin likes to amp up to the point of artificial blahness behaves perfectly here. This is everything I've ever wanted out of the concept of tobacco and leather. It's like lifting a beloved violin out of a worn leather case in a room where the scent of tobacco has soaked into the wallpaper from regular smoking. Not quite so pungent as someone lighting a cigarette next to you, just the suggestion of smoking in the air.

[AbbyNormal]

This was by far my most confusing test to date. I was really struggling with opening this imp, and ended up with my first dreaded imp explosion, with a rather large glug all over my hand. 
 

In the imp: this is straight up paint thinner. I’m not getting anything remotely creamy or leathery, or tobacco-y. Just paint thinner. Very strong paint thinner. 
 

Wet: there is a hint of something clean, but it’s hiding under the paint thinner. Still none of the other notes at all. 
 

Dry: (this happened less than two minutes after the explosion) Gone. There is the absolute faintest hint of something sweet on my hand, but if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I would never have believed that my hand was all but covered with a large amount of oil. I’m talking about 20% of the imp in one shot and it’s just…gone. I’ve heard of skin doing this but it’s my first time experiencing it. If I literally put my nose on my hand I can get a wisp of sweet leather, and the paint thinner is nowhere to be found (scratch that, just found a tiny spot on my cuticle that’s still thinner-y). But overall I might as well have not put anything on for as faint as it is. 
 

Definite swap because I don’t need two minutes of paint thinner and then nothing. But at least I didn’t have to scrub it off so yay?

 

*edit*
 

I am so confused now. It’s about 5 minutes later and now I’m smelling the tobacco and leather, but it’s still light. I do really like the combo but it’s just bizarre how it went paint thinner—>absolutely nothing—>tobacco and leather, all in under 10 minutes. It’s like my skin was some sort of black hole that also had my back, that sucked up every drop of scent, and then said “here, I heard you like these ones” and spit only the good stuff back out. I don’t know if I like it enough to deal with the paint thinnery minutes to wear it again, but it was definitely a journey. 

Edited March 3, 2023 by AbbyNormal