Beware

[absinthetics]

Beware… of Crimson Peak.

 

This is the scent of dread, of admonitions from beyond the grave: inky vetiver and black musk with carrot seed, elemi, and frankincense.

This scent is a cry in the night. Bright, dark, biting and scary. It feels like walking into a black room, that moment of panic when you realize you can't see a thing, can't even feel for the light switch. The carrot seed and elemi make it leave you with a feeling of sadness after the fright.

[Arachnae]

I waffled on this one a lot as I was unsure about the carrot seed and elemi, but my love for the other notes eventually persuaded me to blind-buy a bottle.

 

Sniffing it straight from the bottle, whoof! I get this strong blast of earthy vetiver with an undercurrent of rotting vegetation. It smells cold, damp and sharp. Almost astringent. Now I love vetiver, but this is scaring me off a bit!

 

I was a little afraid to put it on my skin, but the most wonderful thing happened when I did... The sharp rotting vegetation is nowhere to be seen (thankfully!), instead the vetiver becomes beautifully soft, and the musk and frankincense come out to play with the frankincense adding the tiniest bit of sweetness. After 5 minutes all the notes have melded into each other so seamlessly that it becomes hard for me to pick out any particular note, but I think the frankincense ends up on top. I'm not picking up on the carrot seed or elemi so I'm guessing wildly that those two are responsible for the frightening sharpness that blew my head off when I sniffed the bottle. If I had just sniffed the bottle without skin-testing it, I would've run a mile and not looked back but the end result I get once Beware has settled into my skin is exactly what I had hoped for when I read the notes; a vetiver and incense heavy musk. I think this would be amazing on a guy, but it's not so masculine that I wouldn't wear it. Throw and longevity are both strong.

 

I think Beth did such an incredible job with the Crimson Peak scents, in particular this scent is incredibly evocative of the first time Edith encounters her mothers ghost in the film, I can imagine this is what she would've smelled like (I haven't had the chance to smell Mother Ghost yet but I have a decant coming my way). That sense of dread and fear that is so palpable in that scene, this scent encapsulates perfectly.

[Haltija]

Goodness gracious this is strong!

 

When I smelled the decant I was hit with the same "rotting vegetation" type thing that Arachnae experienced, it was not what I expected. Now, keep in mind I absolutely love vetiver so take my review with a grain of salt, especially if you hate the note. But I really like this one once it is on and warms up with my chemistry. It's sharp, gritty, dark and severely earthy. I don't get a single ounce of sweetness and I don't get a real fizzy quality from it either and I know elemi can bring that out in blends. I get pure black musk, frankincense and vetiver from beginning to end.

 

It's powerful, primal, and very masculine. Though, I do not think a woman could not wear this. I would wear it and feel 100% comfortable. All vetiver fans will definitely rejoice with this one.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

being very much NOT a vetiver fan...

 

sniffing the prototype of this was like torture. it was so perfectly named. i tried for several hours to work up the nerve to give it first a good sniff, and then an actual skin test. i barely sniffed it. i admit i did not skin test the prototype and would not have tested the final released version except i did, by accident, while decanting.

 

without vetiver, this would likely have been a blend i really enjoyed. as it is, i just can't.

[zankoku_zen]

Vetiver, black musk, and frankincense. This smells manly and ominous. Good throw and good wear length.

 

Smoky, musky, resinous.

[Poenari]

Smoky vetiver, dark and deep. I like vetiver so this doesn't scare me off. I don't smell the other notes as individuals, but there is a hint of something else dark and resinous blending into the vetiver enough to keep it from being a single note. Very strong throw and long-lasting. Perfectly named scent!

[LizziesLuck]

I don't know what either carrot seed or elemi smells like, but the other three notes are all good on me, so I figured this would be a good scent to try and see if I can pinpoint either carrot seed or elemi.

 

 

Wet: Oh so very much vetiver. It's super smoky, a bit acrid. Almost sour. But not unpleasant (to me). It always reminds me a bit of liquid smoke that I use sometimes in cooking. I know from experience that vetiver usually settles down on me and allows other notes through, so I am going to be patient before declaring this vetiver single note on me.

 

 

Dry: It pretty much is a vetiver single note on me. It's not bad. I don't hate vetiver or anything. I just don't like it enough to wear a perfume that smells solely of it. If you're a vetiver lover though, I think you pretty much have to try this.

[Little Bird]

The vetiver in this smells like sharp woodsmoke. In the drydown, some black musk joins the mix and goes a bit powdery. And this is just way too smoky and sharp for me. It needs something to sweeten it up for my tastes.

[Cali]

WOW, yep, that's definately something that should scare you off!
A dark as the night vetiver with something like rotten fruit in the background. Not sure about the rest of the notes myself, but the frankinsence is there and adds another spine-tingling element of the afterlife to it.

I'm not at all a vetiver fan, and to me this is just very unpleasant generally, but, glad I got to sniff more of the crimson peak's.

It's definately dark and brooding, and ofcourse evocative and fits the film/concept.