MCS4096

Um... so for some reason I thought I remembered this blend had apple in it I put it on and thought "WHEEEEW, that's not apple!" I am getting a strong strong strong chemical smell from this one, almost like an industrial cleaner. I wonder if it's a combo of pine pitch and sage. I'm a huge fan of all leather notes so I dont think it's that. As it dries that chemically aspect calms down. I'm getting mostly leather and a high pitched, astringent smell that must be primarily sage. I dont get much clove and the patch is very well behaved.

When first applied this is like Minotaur + pom I was worried when people said this turned floral for them, but that doesnt ever happen for me. The myrrh is glorious and slightly smokey, and the pomegranate is almost plum like. With time the myrrh becomes less prominent and the fruit more so.

Begins as a masculine cologne with well blended lavender and soft musk. As it dries down I get a lot of mint. Not menthol, clear your nostrils mint, but soft herbal mint. Eventually it actually shifts from masculine-leaning to feminine-leaning, in my opinion. It becomes slightly sweeter and powdery, maybe that's some amber coming out? I find it hard to describe, but I enjoy it quite a lot. I feel it's in the same camp as Villain, so I may have to compare them before deciding on a bottle.

I have to admit I don't have experience with Sin itself. This just smells muddy to me-- as if the notes are poorly blended. I have the same experience with SO in the Patch so I know it's the pumpkin and spice notes that are responsible, rather than Sin. It smells dusty and almost burnt and boy does that cinnamon amp overpower the notes in Sin that should, under other circumstances, be quite strong themselves. Just not for me!

This was amazing when it first went on-- deep, sweet, and a little spicy, as others have commented. Then.... it went almost pencil shavings woody What. I dont even know what note is doing that on my skin because everyone listed should play nicely. It was glorious at the start, but I cant handle that final scent, darn!

A bottle of the 2008 version of this blend was in my first order from the lab. It's sweet, lightly floral, and somehow both juicy and dry. It makes me think of the southwest, with warm sand and blooming cacti. The tobacco (not bitter, not old cigarette butt.. dry and sweet) and rose (dried and browning) swirl delicately around a sweet, almost foody, base with the slighest hint of greenery. The 2013 version is greener, maybe the rose isnt quite as dry. The tobacco is slightly more cigarettey-- a little musty or gritty. I get less resin and spice (I dont think that's just aging, I feel like 2008 hasnt changed a whole lot with age). But it's very sweet.. I keep thinking "Fruit loops" actually haha There's almost a plum-like note in there. I like both versions very much-- I think they're complex blends that are well balanced and play nicely on my skin; they dont morph or amp any one note. Edited for spelling

Editing my original comments as I believe I didnt allow the scent to rest adequately after travel. The musk that I can smell from the decant never really makes an appearance on my skin. When first applied I get the pale wood-like patchouli others describe. It's got a slightly musty aspect-- must be the "otherworldly vapors" haha And then.... Lycanthrope is spot on-- it is exactly Lily Savon soap! The woodiness remains and keeps it grounded; it's never high-pitched as lily blends can sometimes become. The throw is very very low for me. As it fades out it get that subtle B.O. tinge that woody blends sometimes do on me, blech

Like Sonnet D'Automne but with a hint of maple sweetness rather than white chocolate. The sweetness is enough to temper the bitterness of the leaf note-- October is gorgeous and evocative but very bitter on my skin so rather unwearable.. I'll have to test this against Sonnet, which I already have a bottle of, to decide which I like better. If you are a sucker for leaf blends, you will love this one. It wears close and fades rather fast.

To my nose this is a thinner Haunted. Like exactly. Sniffing the decant I get more of the dry grasses (hay), but once on my skin it's lemony amber and black musk. The throw is much less than I experience with Haunted, thus my "thinner" description. On first sniff I thought this would be my big Weenie Winner but... I already have, and love, Haunted.

Editing my original comments as I believe I didnt allow the scent adequate time to rest after traveling. Snake Oil with a tiny bit of pumpkin and a WHOLE lot of cinnamon and spice. I have the same problem with this blend that I have with Sin in the Patch: somehow the spice mixture makes the blend seem dirty to me-- like discordant or muddied. I actually find this blend less sweet than original SO because the spices are rather dry and dusty. I really prefer regular SO. The cinnamon is too dominating and the dustiness of the spices seem to blot out the creamy vanilla aspect of the original.

When this went on my skin it was like BLAM LEATHER and then POW ALMOND.. strong stuff this It spent some time morphing around so I could smell the various notes, but then it settled to a balance of white leather (definitely a pale leather) and dry almond (definitely a bitter almond). The bitterness may be coming from the oak note somewhat, because I get a very similar "sorta off" bitterness from Haute Macabre. I actually wish I got more jasmine; it's very subtle in this blend in my opinion, and pretty much disappears completely after an hour. Ditto the vanilla and patchouli, I think, unless they're hiding under there rounding it all out. I really wish it stuck to how it smelled wet, because by the time it dries down on me it becomes fairly one dimensional and a bit bad-bitter. Hopefully some of those base notes will come out more with age. It's greatly improved by pairing it with So Below, where the two throws can mingle. So Below sticks around better on my skin so it elevates dried down As Above by countering the bitterness with some sweetness

Oh this is nice I'm having some trouble picking out specific notes beside coconut, for some reason.. Maybe I'm off my game a bit tonight. The coconut is toasty and sweet, and the primary component of the throw, for me. Beneath that is sweet, creamy, golden base. I agree with others-- my first impression was of a thick body cream. And floating above the coconut is a faint, somewhat green scent. Not sure if that's the cardamom, as the name would seem to indicate, but my impression is of something fresh and planty, but in a non-aquatic way. Yes, I find the coconut a little plasticy up close, but the throw is fine. It's very very similar to Elegba on my skin. I like it a lot, and I love wearing it with As Above (one on each wrist) and getting intermingled throws, but I'm not sure at this point I need more than one bottle.

I've had my bottle for about 3 years now, so I don't know how I've missed reviewing this one! I get an even mix of deep black musk and amber-- with it's bright lemony edge, and it's like a cleaned up Black Temple Burlesque Troupe. Up close the lemony amber is a bit cleaning-productish, but the throw is beautiful; somehow both clean and "dirty" at the same time

Very well blended; no one note really stands out. The overall feeling is like deep purple velvet thrown into shadow.. it's rich and sooty and lush. At once fruity, incensey, and floral. It has loads of throw on me personally. Edited to add: Very similar to Mlle. Lilith, Fortune Teller, which makes sense since they share several notes.

Quite promising at the start-- I can recognize each lovely note and it's clean and sweet and pretty. Then it gets a little soapy (yep, Ivory). I'm a bit torn because one second I'll smell straight up soap in the throw, and the next I'll catch a whiff of sugary vanilla or violet. I think I like it, although it's not my usual sort of thing. Edit: typos

I would have guessed this was a floral blend before looking up the description. It's very sweet on me and really seems like a medium-pitched white floral, not that I could put my finger on what exactly. Now that I know it's supposed to be "skin musk" I can see that, especially in the throw which is quite faint and clean, but up close I cant quite shake the floral association. I'd classify it as what I refer to as "soft" blends.. those that dont fit a general note feel ("leather" or "floral" or "tea") and are just warm and cozy. Black Opal is another blend I put in this category. Anyway, it's lovely in that nondescript, easy to wear sort of way. Work appropriate.

I agree with the smoky Coca-Cola review! When this first goes on you get exactly what the label says, right down to the creosote, which is brilliant. It smells like destruction and upheaval. But as it starts to dry it becomes very sweet, and that's what really makes me love this blend-- it's crazy wearable. It's effervescent sweet resins with a hint of pine forest. Sweet, sweet destruction

Unfortunately this loses all of it's initial complexity as it dries down on my skin. I thought for sure that with black musk and patchouli as ingredients it would have a little more lasting power, but it stays pretty close to the skin and in the end I can really only smell cloves. It's not a sugary or sweet cloves, it's a very masculine (almost too masculine for me, and I wear a lot of masculine-leaning blends) dry and bitter cloves. I love clove cigarettes, so I can appreciate this for what it is, but I would love to get more musk and patchouli out of it, or for it to be "warm and fuzzy".. color me a bit disappointed.. I might try it layered with a better lasting black musk blend like Haunted or Black Temple Burlesque Troupe. ETA: I'm reviewing this late--- my bottle is currently almost 3 years old, so it has had time to age.

The second I opened the bottle I realized this is the primary component in what was one of my very first bpal purchases-- Midnight Mass 2008 I remember being blown away by that blend; it's incredibly realistic sweet woodiness that reminded this Oregon native of putting her nose against the soft bark of a tree and inhaling deeply. Just beautiful.. I am so glad I was able to buy a bottle off a forum member after missing it's take-down date.

At first this is like myrrh, myrrh, and more myrrh. Then finally after about an hour the leather starts to peak out, but it's subtle. And every now and then I think I can smell latex, but then I'm looking for it. Although I'd personally wish for more leather (as usual ), it's a beautiful blend. Very similar to Minotaur in my opinion also.

I tend to amp resins like woah, so I was surprised to find that this blend wears so close to the skin, but it does. I tried some in my hair near my face and that was lovely When I think of sweet resins, it's usually the sickly sweetness of sap that comes to mind. So this blend is an awesome treat because that tasty, creamy vanilla is rather unexpected. And it's not the vanilla that turns to plastic on me, yay! This is a fantastic, simple blend that I'm sure will age like a dream.

You had me at 'old furry touk accord' Yes, yes so he does smell like pickles at first... I have a feeling that pickle smell is some kind of musk, because a few other musky blends I love have been known to smell of pickles (Ivanushka) On the skin this quickly becomes an amazing warm comfy scent. I don't get anything funky (I dont even get coffee) -- it's just a lovely sweet musky tobacco. I'm surprised to see so many people having negative experiences with this blend as it was an instant buy for me after trying my decant.

Beautiful! If you're familiar with Velvet Bandito, I think these guys are cousins. I get the same dry spiced sweetness from Hatta that I love in that blend. Don't be afraid of the cinnamon, it's barely there. This is a dusty dry brown leather, as opposed to one of those deep, almost oily leather notes. The cinnamon is warm and not entirely cinnamony-- I wouldnt be surprised if there was some other spice in there too. And the balsam is like a piece of smooth sun-bleached wood. I'd describe every note in this blend as dry and sweet. It's primarily leather (thank the bpal gods!), and the spice and balsam just swirl around delicately. Lowish throw, but really good staying power-- I put some on before working in the garden and kept getting delightful whiffs of it all day

An absolutely perfect fall scent This is a dead ringer for the smell of the first moisture to hit warm, dry fallen leaves-- the ones that are red and crunchy and have those little spots of mildew. They smell spicy when you crush them with your shoes. Underneath them the ground is wet and a little dank. The air is cold and crisp but the rain is getting heavier.. the leaves havent been turned to mush yet, but they will. Sweet, spicy, earthy. Red, brown, golden. Yes, it's super close to Samhain... some of us cant get enough of those types of blends

I got this off the forum a couple years ago and never reviewed it for some reason. So, in the bottle I get a rather unpleasant blast of lemon cleaning product. And I don't mean lemon, which makes me think of cleaning supplies-- this has an actual bleach type odor to the lemon that's pretty gross. Once it hits my skin though, the throw is all black coconut with a hint of lemon and musk. That lemon blossom still isnt totally appealing to my nose, but the overall blend is pleasantly exotic. I couldnt tell you what ironwood bark smells like, so that note is lost to me unfortunately because it must be blending with the coconut and musk. Over time the lemon blossom dies back a bit and this becomes one of the most traditionally masculine smelling blends I've experienced. I'm not sure why I think so, but it just really smells like an aftershave-- a delicious, beachy, tropical aftershave, but still. I've kept this around because I do love the smell, and think I can wear it, but I rarely do.