An Incubus Leaving Two Sleeping Women

[SophieCedar]

 

AN INCUBUS LEAVING TWO SLEEPING WOMEN

An Incubus Leaving Two Sleeping Women, Henry Fuseli.

Vanilla-infused white honey, magnolia, skin musk, ylang ylang, and beeswax with patchouli, olibanum, kurundu, and a feral brown musk.

 

Just got this out of the mail, so it may need a little time to open up..

 

Wet: sweet earthy brown musk with ylang ylang, beeswax and patchouli. The magnolia is getting jumbled around and fragmented here. I think the vanilla honey is what's smelling like light caramel to my nose right now? This is a tricky one because it keeps hopping back and forth between honey sweet ylang ylang and fine wooden furniture with burning beeswax candles and perfume.

 

I think if one was to rename it blindly, it could emote a woman's dressing table at dusk, say around the 16th century, with burning candles, fine perfumes, and provocative flashes of bare skin.

 

Drydown: the olibanum and beeswax takes over on my skin. I can smell wafts of the vanilla honey and ylang ylang as well, but I would say the overall color impression is brown with bits of ivory. Sexy and very very dry.

Edited October 1, 2011 by SophieCedar

[stellamaris]

The patchouli definitely bites in this one, and it's that wonderful dirty earthy one. This one has a dark feel to me, with roundness from the vanilla honey and musk. Ten out of ten.

[whataboutprom]

While wet this is very brown and earthy, and a tiny bit sharp. I can definitely smell the patchouli, but it's not taking over the blend so far. I'm not a huge fan of ylang ylang, but this too is not overpowering. It adds a bit of freshness to this dark fragrance. This smells a little like a plant nursery where I shopped years ago, some greenery and flower petals coming through the brown dirt. Definitely an intriguing blend!

 

ETA: I've tested this a few times now, and each time it ends up going very powdery on me. I wish I could still smell the individual notes, but it's just strong baby powder.

Edited October 8, 2011 by whataboutprom

[Invidiana]

This really is a feral brown musk reminiscent of that in Whoso List to Hunt; wild, untamed, with something of an incisive bite. The musk is the dominant player at first but settles down a bit on the drydown and allows some earthy woody patchouli and the sweeter elements to come through. It's that musk along iwth the patchouli and olibanum that really pull together the feral character of the incubus. Though the magnolia and ylang ylang actually aren't very obvious I can still sense them in the background, and as it keeps dryingdown the vanilla and honey sweeten it more and tame the wildness. I can definitely also get some of that lovely slightly smoky beeswax there as well. I am liking where this is going and want to let it age a bit because I have a feeling it's going to get richer and sweeter with time.

[Honey]

Bottle: Oh, sharp but lovely! Vanilla honey with musk, floral notes, wooden notes - balmy, fragrant, boozy.. this is really complex, even only sniffed from the bottle!

 

Wet: OK, this is like an earthy and sharp version of Womb Furie mixed with The Infernal Lover.

 

Dry: This dries down to something very earthy and spicy. This is almost only brown musk and pepper. Alas, no more honey and vanilla. Too bad, it was just perfect in its wet stage!

[dawndie]

Wet: dusky musk

 

Initially on skin: lots of animalian brown musk

 

Half-hour later: the vanilla honey has arrived, yum!

 

In conclusion: the "feral brown musk" is so strong and discouraging at first. But it totally morphs, and the honey is like the decadent delicious vanilla from Banshee Beat that I just want to eat with a spoon. Too bad I didn't like the beginning more, but I wish I could buy a bottle of that ending!

[Amaranthus]

This starts off dry and sharp. The dryness smells like a woodsy patchouli and musk combination. The patchouli is similar to the one in Goblin from the Diabolus line, in fact the two are similar in their combination of patchouli and vanillic sweetness. The initial sharpness seems to come from white honey.

 

The sharpness wears little by little. The white honey loses the edges and becomes a golden warmth as the beeswax and skin musk come out. I do not smell ylang ylang or magnolia distinctly, but I get the impression of the waxy magnolia rounding out the vanilla honey.

 

This scent has good throw. I feel like I've been walking in a cloud of scent. The scent that wafts around me is more like a vanilla honey skin musk, while directly on the skin I can smell dirty (good dirty) patchouli.

 

I have been wearing this perfume all day, and it gets more beautiful the longer it stays on. The dried down scent is like a wisp of smoke coming off a melted beeswax candle, and softly spiced skin musk.

 

I would put this in the same family as Goblin and Banshee Beat, but it is higher pitched and less gourmand than either of those.

 

This is a gorgeous scent.

[Gateau]

In decant -- sharp earthiness and heady magnolia

 

Wet -- really sharp musk and earthy patchouli, coupled with a lot of magnolia, all hitting me in a bitter way

 

Dry -- Couldn't get to a stage where vanilla or honey or wax could come out to play. The musk and patchouli, with bitter flower, was so overwhelming that nothing else could get through. It may have worn down in a pleasing way, but I had to wash it off.

[bonny]

it does smell a bit 'brown' but i don't know if it smells like MUSK to me exactly... brown fuzziness, slightly woody, and plasticky new vanilla- fortunately i've battled this vanilla many times and it always turns out well after i let it mature a bit. it's the pink snowballs kind of vanilla. actually, when i smell it with that in mind, it's kind of pink snowballs + patchouli. even the floral note is there, but magnolia and ylang ylang instead of rose. i think the honey is part of what's making it smell 'brown' but it's not screaming HELLOOOOOO THERE'S HONEY HERE.

 

i think with some time this is going to be sexy and feminine and a little different, like a really flattering nude-colored silk sheath dress.

Edited October 28, 2011 by bonny

[Little Bird]

This goes on as mainly magnolia, skin musk, and a hint of patchouli on me. It's perfumey floral and slightly powdery, clean musk with a hint of dry earthiness. As it dries down, the honey/beeswax and vanilla add a sweetness to the blend, but it also goes more baby powdery on me. It's a soft, light, musky-powdery-clean scent with swirls of dry patchouli and vanilla-honey...

More powdery than I would like, but the overall scent is light and inoffensive on me. It only lasts about 2 hours on me and clings close to my skin.

[angelicruin]

Wet on my skin, I get mostly vanilla honey and brown musk . It's a warm, cozy scent that stays fairly close. As it dries, I begin to pick up the floral notes and patchouli though the honey note remains strongest.

[Ghost of a Rose]

My imp is a decant from schackjj, The Goddess of Decanters (to borrow a quote from another participant in our decant circle.)

 

In the imp: Oil is clear and a somewhat dark, orangey, amber color. The first thing I smell is a beautiful magnolia with honey. Within seconds, the patchouli and musk come in and take over.

 

On me, wet: On me the musks and patchouli dominate, with a strong woody note that I am guessing comes from the kurundu (a type of cinnamon tree; also called the allspice tree.) I can just barely detect the ylang ylang; and as for the magnolia and honey that I smelled in the imp - not at all.

 

After 10 minutes: Mostly patchouli and wood, but the florals are there in the background, now including the magnolia.

 

After 20 minutes: From about an inch away, I get the beautiful magnolia-and-honey fragrance. Up close, I smell the patchouli and wood, along with a suggestion of cinnamon.

 

After 30 minutes: The wood-patchouli-spice notes have now overtaken the florals again, even from a few inches away. But the florals still have some presence as supporting players. I was a little concerned about the feral musk, but there hasn't been any skankiness at all.

 

After 1 hour: Wood, incense, cinnamon, musk, and patchouli: in that order of strength.

 

After 2 1/2 hours: The wood, incense, and spice notes have softened enough to let the honey and musk shine again, and with them, a hint of vanilla. The overall scent is now rather faint.

 

I want to try this in my perfume locket to see if the magnolia and honey will last longer.

 

(Later ETA): Yes, it does. In the locket-

At first: magnolia, honey, ylang ylang, a bit of patchouli and musk, and a tiny whiff of cinnamon; in that order of strength. After a few minutes, the ylang ylang takes over as the strongest note, but just barely. There's no wood note so far.

After 1 1/2 hours: Mostly ylang ylang and magnolia, with some honey.

After 3 hours: Still the same notes as above, plus now I'm starting to get a little patchouli and cinnamon; and maybe a bit of musk. But the ylang ylang/magnolia/honey still dominates.

After 17 1/2 hours: Same as above.

 

My rating: 4.5 stars

Edited November 7, 2011 by Ghost of a Rose

[calivianya]

In the imp: Sweet, honeyed florals. I'm hoping I get less florals and more dark notes on my skin...

Wet on skin: Floral explosion! I immediately smell the magnolia, ylang ylang, and nothing else. The patchouli shows itself within one minute of application. And whoosh! The florals are gone right away. I'm getting the patchouli, honey/beeswax, and vanilla right now. This almost smells a little plasticky, but is just shy of being full blown plastic.

5 minutes: Some weird trick is being played on my nose right now. This almost smells like some kind of dried-up brownie. I think the brown musk, patchouli, honey, and vanilla are combining to make a strangely dry/foody scent on my skin. I am fairly intrigued at this point.

Drydown: This is like Banshee Beat plus wood and plastic. I'm really not sure where the plastic note is coming from - maybe the kurundu or magnolia doesn't agree with my skin chemistry? It's a shame - I was expecting that this might be awesome, and it's just sort of bland on my skin. If I were to go for something in this family, I would definitely pick Banshee Beat first.

[Dark Alice]

This starts out as a beautiful white honey and vanilla scent. And then the brown musk takes over. It rubs its fuzzy brown musk butt over my vanilla and honey and poops out a little beeswax for the ultimate f-u! I don't like this scent at all and it will be rehomed stat!

[Betula]

There have been oh so many times where I've read a review saying "This turns into baby powder!" and thought quietly to myself, "Pff! That's never happens to me. Their nose isn't working right, OBVIOUSLY." Today, I am humbled.

 

This is all baby powder. I really don't understand how that could be true, since all of these notes have worked on me before. In fact, out of all the Weenies I ordered, I was most certain that this would work, and it does not.

 

In the bottle: High pitched baby powder.

 

Wet: Baby powder

 

Dry: Warm, head-ache-y baby powder, freshly applied to a baby's tush. I can't even pick out any individual notes. It is very well blended, which is the only good thing I can say about it.

 

What. The. Hell. This makes me so sad. I'll let this age for a while and see if it develops into something interesting, but if that doesn't happen this will be off to the swaps.

 

Edit: Upon later inspection (at a different time of my cycle, with a smaller dab of oil), the scent can be pleasant and less powdery- kind of a golden, dry scent. I like it a bit better now, though whether I like it enough to keep is still in question.

Edited November 29, 2011 by Betula

[tinyvulture]

Happily, this is all vanilla honey and soft, powdery brown musk on me. It's sweet, cozy and comforting -- which is not what I imagine when I think of Henry Fuseli, but that's OK! I'm not picking up the patchouli or magnolia at all. Reminds me of a baby's scent (not baby powder, that's different.)

[V294]

it's a nice sweet musky scent. Very much enjoying it! nice and clean and soft.

[thekittenkat]

In the bottle: Lots of that brown musk! That's what I was afraid of.

 

Wet: Brown musk, but the vanilla-infused white honey and ylang ylang are struggling to break through.

 

The dry-down: All the other notes have come through, but faintly. If it wasn't for the brown musk (no kidding, it really is feral), this would have been an amazing scent, as I love all the other notes. But no, brown musk has got to wear its stomping boots to the party and try to ruin things for me. I will say that things are better once it has had time to dry, but the wet stage is a bit difficult. It's certainly an autumnal and winter scent in feel, esp. for where I live, since it rarely snows here. I usually wear Samhain or Falling Leaf Moon for our walks in the woods, but this might work as well.

[milo]

Wet, kind of a vague powdery floral, must be the magnolia. It kind of smells like violet. Dry, powdery soft floral with a bit of musk thrown in. Not for me, but I think it would be work appropriate.

[obsidienne]

This is gorgeous, but takes some wear time to come into its own. It reminds me a lot of a sweeter Judith and Holofernes, although I haven't worn that scent in a while and might be making that up. I have a feeling that this will age spectacularly.

 

The scent starts off pretty dry and feral. The tiny bit of cinnamon in here made my skin burn for about 30 seconds, but that has worn off and now I'm getting a very dry, warm, musky sweet scent -- beeswax, honey, vanilla -- with a slightly furred spicy patchouli. The longer this sits on my skin, the more sensual it becomes. It also has pretty damn good throw -- I am wear it on the backs of my wrists and I can smell it very clearly. It does get a little bit powdery after a while, but I am not sure I mind that.

 

Overall? I'm considering a bottle.

Edited November 17, 2011 by obsidienne

[reconditarmonia]

Argh, so much brown musk. I was hoping for everything but that to be primary - magnolia, honey, skin musk, beeswax and cinnamon are all lovely on me - but no, I smell like dirt.

[kelpsoda]

Wet: I get skin musk and honey. It reminds me of O.

 

Dry: something sharp, maybe Olibanum? Definitely smells feral, almost stinky. After an hour, there's just the skin musk.

[zankoku_zen]

Earthy, dirty white florals. I get musky white florals that have been doing horribly salacious things. With honey.

 

Think about. *PAUSE*

 

... Yup, that's it.

 

Dirty, floral, honey.

[rivercitylizzy]

Wet in the bottle: intriguing and enticing soft sweet honey and vanilla, fresh green magnolia, and what seems to me a very gentle patchouli, luring me into a skin test.

 

Wet on skin: oh, no. This is threatening to go on a detour into Ol'ladyville and in a hurry.

 

Dry on skin: yep, it's definitely headed there. Even after nearly two hours, it's soft and powdery (certain honey & beeswax notes will do this on me but I was seduced by the vanilla, ylang-ylang, and patchouli); perhaps not quite offensive but not really adorable either; overall I'd say it reminds me of The Gladdener of All Hearts as it dries down and develops. Which is not necessarily bad--it doesn't stink, IMO, and I might not need to scrub it off--but powdery is just not my thing. I'm willing to pop it in an aging drawer (along with a number of other Weenie bottles I bought on impulse) to see if it gets better behaved with time, but I'm afraid it may end up in swaps. Le sigh.

[white_jenna63]

n the imp and initially on the skin, it's sharp, dry-stick seeming incense and musk. Google informs us that olibanum is frankincense and kurundu is cinnamon. Oh. Insert The More You Know graphic. Well, that would explain the incense....As this dries down, it's still very much staying "brown", a musky incense. Dry, a *beautiful* sweet vanilla starts coming through. Oh, yum. Would love it if it was more prominent, both in strength and showing up earlier. Not much throw at all when completely dry.