Sanctus

[yokaitenchi]

SANCTUS
The Sanctus are considered by some pious vampires to be the saints of their kind, and from what we have gleaned, they are very likely the stuff of myth. These vampires are paragons that possess impossible, phenomenal powers that defy known physics, including the ability to shift shape, turn into a gaseous form, and command other vampires through will alone. The mythological Sanctus are venerated by some, but we have no evidence whatsoever that they truly exist.

Diabolically otherworldly: golden osmanthus, lily of the valley, celestial musk, and frankincense.

Most definitely a 'golden' hue to this scent. The musk keeps the scent on the ground. Surprisingly, the lily of the valley doesn't turn into powder (and the metallic reaction is barely noticeable), and the frankincense doesn't go sour or sickly. Strangely, the whole is a sort of airy flower-syrup or flower-jelly. Throw is nothing to brag about at first, then as it dries, the throw lengthens to two or three feet--it's light though, thank goodness. Shockingly feminine, for the art. Unfortunately, beginning to have wafts that are rather reminiscent of mother's air freshener

[edenssixthday]

Sanctus - This is a really interesting scent, but very fitting for the description of the Sanctus in the VDSA book. I thought for sure this would be a high-pitched white floral scent, but it's not at all. It's floral, but it's tempered by the musk and the resins. The musk has a strong ethereal quality about it and the osmanthus gives this blend an almost honey-sweet edge to it. The frankincense is very faint, and I don't get any of the husky grittiness from it that I usually do, it's just present enough to lend a sense of dryness to the scent. The lily of the valley is, for the first time ever, more than merely tolerable on my skin. I didn't think I'd like this scent at all, but it surprised me completely. It works really well, the notes are lovely together, and while it's still not the type of scent I would normally gravitate toward, it's very, very pretty and I can see it working well on people who prefer the hazy, ethereal type scents.

[Dark Alice]

Floral Pine cleaner meets frankincense. That's what I get from this...plus a headache. Must wash this off now!

[RhinestoneHousewife]

In the bottle: very cologne like.

 

Wet on skin: Super fruity and sweet.

 

Dry on skin: This smells like it's got a wine don't which does not work for me at all.

 

Verdict: Not for me unfortunately. I'm sure this will smell lovely on some lucky person but it just doesn't work for me.

[CitizenBree]

This is floral but also very sweet. There's something fruity in it to me and as others have stated, the lily is not overpowering though I am a lily fan. It's almost as if something is mixing with the lily to create the fruity scent. And the fruity scent is similar to some fruit that is just on the verge of going bad. I waffle between rotten fruit and juicy fruit. when i smell deeply from my wrist, i even get something citrus, lemony type of air freshener.

[milo]

I love the actual lily-of-the-valley flower scent, but I just don't get this here. Sanctus dries to a watery, fresh, somewhat heady floral. No frankincense or whatever osmanthus is. This really doesn't remind me of vampires at all. If anything, an angel floating in the clouds. Just reading back, and yes, it is kind of fruity. Not me.

[ElizabethOSP]

Sanctus!

 

In the bottle, it smells nicely perfumy, and the frankincense tweaks my nose in a good way.

 

Wet on my skin, I get a beautiful burst of...rose!...and lemony frankincense that hangs out for a bit. Rose and Frankincense and I go waaaay back. We get along. However, Rose soon goes out for a beer or something. Must've been a hallucination...

 

When drydown starts, I begin to get a feel that I can only describe as round, and kind of golden. I start getting a slight fruity note--I think that's the osmanthus, maybe???--and something about all the notes mixing gives me some floral and vanilla whiffs! I put Sanctus on this morning, then walked up into the kitchen. My husband turned from the sink and asked if I was wearing something with peach or apricot in it, so that's the kind of fruit he gets from it.

 

I've not worn a blend like this before. Can't stop snoofing my upper arm. Sheesh! Looks like I'm checking for armpit stink, when I'm just enjoying the Holy Vampire!:wub2:Sanctus in nomine Striga?!

 

Oooh! Edit! I'm getting the apricotty thing that hubby smelled earlier. Seems like I've read that osmanthus has an apricot feel to it. Lovin' Sanctus even more!

Edited July 28, 2010 by ElizabethOSP

[zankoku_zen]

Holy crap! There's a giant blast of lilies on wet. It dries to a more golden resin blend (definitely the frankincense and musk) with just a whiff of lily florals.

 

Not my type of blend, but if you like resins with a hint of white florals, give this a whirl.

[Little Bird]

This smells very fruity to me for some reason, like a perfumey, sweet, watery, dark sort of berry. I can also smell the cool, soft, slightly powdery lily. In the drydown, I'm getting something that smells like a hint of burnt rubber, but it's mostly a perfumey fruity-floral scent :/.

 

Sanctus smells like a bad drugstore perfume on me. Cloying fruit, a touch of floral, and lots of sharp, perfumey musk. I love frankincense, but I don't get anything resinous or incense-like from this blend. The sharp musk here gives me a vicious headache and the intense sweetness makes me nauseous.

 

Edited August 11, 2010 by Little Bird

[crebbsgirl]

I'm also getting a bit of a fruity vibe here. It's a very sweet floral, with a hint of musk. Again, the frankincense here is behaving, and not dominating the blend. It does have a very golden feel to it.

[bloody sore]

Mostly lilly and musk on me. The wife and I both agreed that this one has like an apricot throw. It has and undercurrent of rancid oil.

I think my chemistry really hates this set of scents!

[raaven]

This was one of the more active blends I've ever tried. It changed more, and faster, with my body chemistry than any thing else ever has. It was almost hard to keep up!

 

When I sniffed it in the bottle, it struck me as a very sweet floral, plus lemon tea. With maybe a tiny tang of bitterness underneath.

 

When I put it on, the OMG floral hit me hard, overwhelmingly, even...but only for about 30 seconds. It then switched to mostly lemon tea, then a floral lemon tea (like jasmine tea, with lemon in it). That stuck around for a couple of minutes, before dying down to mostly lemon tea. It reminded me a lot of Embalming Fluid (which I love).

 

Then it started getting a hint of...something. Play-doh (some of the vanillas do this on me)? Green clay? Acrid dust? Somewhere in there was the hint of bitterness I smelled in the bottle.

 

That morphed into a bitter fruity smell, something citrusy, like yuzu, maybe. The citrus note grew until it turned into some other fruit...pear? While it was morphing at this stage, it really made me think of Aizen-Myoo. Then it went into the final stage, which was a sort of fruit candy kind of smell. Reminds me of what my chemistry does to Carnal - I think that "strawberry jolly rancher" was the phrase I used when I tried it (years ago, now).

 

But it kept the bitter note, and the tiniest hint of lemon tea, which makes it much more interesting than Carnal for me. I couldn't stop sniffing.

 

I don't think I'd wear this one a lot, but I am fascinated by it.

[angelicruin]

Sweet and sharp at the same time. A sweet floral musk that starts out a bit herbal and then softens.

[obsidienne]

Sanctus starts off all osmanthus - yummy osmanthus, which I love (it smells kind of like a golden floral with a touch of green and a bit of apricot to me). Then as it dries down, the musk and lily of the valley start to move upwards. These two notes create a very mildly cologne and soap effect, but not too much so, and not objectionable to me. The osmanthus seems to get fruitier as it dries down. In the early wet and early dry down stages, I don't really register the frankincense very strongly, and feel that it's here as an anchoring note, supporting and strengthening the others without stealing any spotlight for itself. Overall, this blend is extremely light and etheral. It's golden and lightly sweet, but osmanthus' unusual quality of smelling floral, fruity, and fresh are what makes this work. I really like this and the throw is amazing -- not intense, but very much there. Every few breaths I get a little whiff of sweet osmanthus and musk and I'm like... MMMMMmmmmm. It's a very light blend, but not weak. If that makes sense. It's been getting fruitier the longer it's on my skin, and the cologne and soap notes are almost entirely gone. Unfortunately, as it enters the far dry down stage, the frankincense begins to get stronger and it smells a bit funky. The osmanthus is but a recent memory at this point. This is not my favourite stage of the blend. I prefer the early and middle stages.

[countessmouse]

Sweet florals in the imp and wet on my skin, then there is a metallic morph that leaves a really odd scent I frankly can't identify. After that, it goes all powdery on me. A definite addition to the swap/frimp pile.

[jizatt]

this was all high pitched frankincense on me at first -- which apparently goes a bit lemonish on me anyway, and then the osmanthus showed up with its apricot-fruity-floralness, and then lily of the valley and that was it. I guess it was pretty enough, but it didnt match what I had hoped for. It did smell, almost pious. Frankincense and lily of the valley Im guessing. I wanted the golden musk from Judith Victorious, but I guess I need to just go wear that one instead

[ami226]

A golden floral.

 

On the skin: This is truly a beautiful scent. Sadly it goes strangely sour on my skin. Apparently these florals hate me...

[Vega]

Sniffed: Bright and radiant, slightly citrus/lemony.

 

On skin: I suspect osmanthus must be the source of the slight lemon note (since other blends with osmanthus have pulled the same thing on me). Sanctus is initially a light floral with a citrus touch, then becomes a bit spicy, possibly from the musk. Deep, full incense weaves underneath, grounding the other notes. Very faint on my skin. I would describe Sanctus as a shining, full-bodied scent. It has a glowing white radiance, but without warmth or high florals... it feels ethereal, otherworldly, and does resembles light in a way! Unfortunately, after drydown it becomes sharp, thin and lemony. A shame that the pleasant notes burned off so quickly!

 

Verdict: Sanctus definitely fits its vampire: it is an otherworldly scent of light and immense presence, but simultaneously insubstantial and without depth. That is, until it collapses into a sour, citrus note. Overall Sanctus was evocative, didn't really distinguish itself. Another Vampire blend that is close, but no cigar.

[theseagrows]

for some reason, this is WAY sweeter than i imagined it would be. i guess i am mostly smelling osmanthus and musk? it definitely isn't lily of the valley, and the frankincense is subtle. this is a very strong, sweet floral on my skin. maybe my skin amps osmanthus though? i don't have much experience with it as a note, i only recall 1 or 2 other scents smelling like this.

[khazakant]

It's very fruity and golden...golden to the point of being orange. It's like pretentious orange juice that wants to grow up to be church incense. Yecch.

[grrrlennyl]

Sanctus

 

On: Fruity flowers, musk, and incense. Very, very pretty.

1 hour in: Lots of frankincense and musk. This is smelling rather musty on me.

2 hours in: Yeah, still musty, but with something sweet.

4.5 hours in: A woodsy incense scent.

Overall: This was nice at first, but the drydown doesn't suit me.

[Sidhechaos]

Initial application is a lovely blend of the osmanthus, musk, and a faint tinge of the frankincense, just enough to give it a faint incense odor.

I got this because of the osmanthus, long ago a very nice Chinese lady who lived in our neighborhood often invited me in to drink tea with her after a shovel her sidewalk. Quite often it was green tea with either osmanthus or jasmine.

As this scent dries down on me the lily of the valley develops very faintly but not overwhelmingly. The scent borders between a floral musk and an aquatic on me.

This is one of those scents where bpal excels beyond any other perfume company I have encountered. There are many notes that I love dearly but all too often it takes very little of them to become overwhelming or sickening. Perhaps it is just that my skin amps them. Rose, lily of the valley, ylang ylang, jasmine, and a number of other scents require a very delicate touch, the folks at bpal have that touch.

Midway through dry down all of the scents are very delicately balanced, I think the combination of the osmanthus and lily of the valley gives it a very faint citrus tang, maybe a tiny bit like litsea cubea (I hope spelled that right) all in all it is a very lovely light floral musk with very good throw and lasting power. I hope this one will stick around on bpal'S sales list for a while. I know it's been out for a couple of years but I have only just now had a chance to try it. I believe it is one I would like to have on hand as a regular.

[mymymai]

ITB: It's sweetly floral. The osmanthus and musk temper the lily of the valley, for which I'm thankful.

 

Wet: It reminds me of a designer perfume a little. If you crossed Burberry Brit with Sugar's Fresh Lemon, you would have this scent. It's a fresh, bright floral with citrus for some reason and just a hint of resin. It's rather beautiful, actually.

 

Dry: It's now powdery and resinous from the frankincense and osmanthus. There is a faint floral, but I wish it were stronger. I like this much better wet, although it isn't bad now dried.

[annemathematics]

I can smell the various listed players in the scent, every one of them is well balanced on my skin, maybe the lily standing out a hair more than the other notes. This is very much a sum of its parts, very much a blend, and a perfume-y one at that. This could have come from a department store counter, and I might carry it around in a fancy handbag if I didn't leave the bottle on a mirrored tray on my dresser.

 

It's nice and pretty but it feels more like I'm wearing a disguise than a scent that I connect with. I want to revisit this on a humid summer night, which alas my part of California doesn't get a lot of.

[Poenari]

Whew! White lily to the max! This is extremely sweet, a very white floral scent on my skin, with no frankincense (which I usually amp).

If you love florals, definitely check this one out. It is very pretty and feminine. This one is not for me, however, as I prefer my vampires to be dark, sexy, and bloodthirsty.