Ennikar
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2013 version. Biiiiig, aggro vetiver up front. I like vetiver and all but for the first while, this is a strong not-quite-single note. As it dries down some other notes get a chance to peek out, and it becomes a vetiver-geranium (for those unfamiliar, bourbon geranium is kinda rosy and a little sharp) with a hint of spice and maybe some "outdoorsy" qualities. This does hit a certain tone, I think; despite the floral I would not describe it as femme but unisex and semi-atmospheric. If you smelled it on a person it might come across as like... a little otherworldly, someone who is for some reason only seen at night (less vampire, more spirit).
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For people who have tried both: this is October + Talkvikuu. More October up front, more Talvikuu in the drydown. For people who have not: the opening is outdoorsy, like a cool breeze across leaf litter or brushing leaves off damp earth in fall. It's mostly cool, earthy, and dry, a touch sweet and a touch smokey. Octobrrr goes for a fall that is not just cool but frosty, and evokes this with a note that is not straight mint but bristles the nostrils in the same way. As it dries, the dry-earthy notes subside, and the main impression is that frosty-cool almost-menthol note (that for some reason reads as oily to me, but likely not to others). As far as the concept, I'd say it's realistic (but not photorealistic): more daring than a mainstream scent is likely to be and close to the real thing but not a perfect imitation.
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Starts off pretty straightforwardly honey, with a touch of cinnamon and florals. As the scent progresses, the honey gets a touch powdery, florals (presumably olive blossom; this does remind me a bit of Olive Wreath) come out more, and the cinnamon disappears as far as I can tell. It's a pretty floral honey with a slightly powdery mostly-floral drydown.
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I stayed away from this one for a long while because some of the reviews mentioned dryer sheets, and I like the smell of the ocean (fish and all) but not soap. Ambergris and kelp are promising, "ocean" doesn't always come through. Fortunately for me, my experience was more beach than laundry; Alien/Siren isn't really dirty per se but the musks cut through the threat of soap. I had to look up davana, but a description of its "sweet, tea-like scent" made perfect sense for this blend. I can see the citrus comparisons as well, though I wouldn't have guessed that myself. Despite the slightly intimidating notes list, the overall impression is a fairly simple "mermaid" type scent, but a touch dark and musky rather than pretty or floral.
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You Are Mine, You Shall Be Mine, You and I Are One for Ever
Ennikar replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Halloweenie
This one is nice. That's not a terribly specific descriptor, but it's basically how I feel about it. In the opening I'm not too sure about it, as ylang ylang and I have a mixed relationship and it's very present up front, alongside the honey. The clove takes a few minutes to come out, and when it does it's a soft, honeyed clove mixed with a little bit of the floral ylang ylang - almost like a sweet carnation, but paler, less rose adjacent. If you tell me there's blackcurrant in this I believe you, but it's very much in the background. Overall... it's nice. -
Disclaimer: this is a same day test and I can be sensitive to "clean" or powdery notes. What a heartbreaker. I was most looking forward to cardamom and labdanum, but would also have been happy with the spices, rose, resin, or wine experienced by other reviewers. Instead, as soon as I cracked the bottle open I smelled powder and soap -- like a high-end scented soap, perhaps. I'm now a couple hours in and if I really search for it I can get hints of rose, maybe a touch of merlot... but still mostly soap. I sometimes have this experience with scents containing myrrh and/or rose, but wasn't expecting it to be so overwhelming when there are a number of other notes here I usually like. It may be unfair for me to judge this one now, but while I've had scents change with rest before I doubt this one is going to develop enough to become something I'd enjoy (though I'll try it again in a week or so and update if it turns out to have changed).
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Disclaimer: this is a same-day test, and I tend to be sensitive to all sorts of sweetness including fruits. Cherries. When it first goes on the cherry (maybe with a little orange) is absolutely dominant, and for the first hour or so it remind me strongly of fruit candies. After that, some florals (white ones, though I caught only the barest whiff of indoles for a moment) and a touch of vanilla come forward, but the cherry is still king. Two hours in, it reminds me a bit of strawberry flavoring. It's not exactly "girlish" because it does have some heaviness or headiness, but it's definitely a sweet fruit-floral. Decent throw.
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If you're a patchouli hater, this isn't going to change your mind; an dirt-like earthy patch is dominant the whole way through. At first, it's a bit herbal (mandrake?), and the pepper gives it a cool edge. At this stage it's outdoorsy and a little aggressive. The a few hours into the drydown it surprised me, though - it warms up a lot, the herbal tones fade, and the amber comes out more, so instead of a cool spooky patch it becomes a warm slightly pepper-spice-y patch. The pepper is still a little too pepper for it to feel cuddly, but it's much more approachable. Medium throw, decent lasting power.
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I don't see a thread for this yet, so: 2024 release. Firstly: soap. Like the 2020 version, these witches are freshly showered, and the sort of skin musks I go for tend to be more... not dirty, but definitely less fresh. I'm somewhat sensitive to "clean" smells, so I didn't get much else from it. I asked my partner to have a sniff and she said it reminded her of walking into an incense shop; after we compared notes, I could somewhat smell the incense shop and she could smell the soap. No "forest" notes to speak of for either of us.
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Iris/orris can be tricky on me, but I ended up enjoying this a lot. Orris/iris, for sure, comes out hard and as it dries down I thought I was getting a strong black pepper. Looking at the actual notes, I'm fairly certain that's the patchouli and/or black musk, out here to have a good time. Drydown is still slightly floral, maybe a touch powdery, but much more about the dark & musky notes.
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Freshly on, I get wafts of something very mildly citrus-y, something floral, and something distinctly almond-y. The overall impact is a little fruity, but despite the foody notes list, this is very far from a gourmand - or at least, it's more of a "traditional perfume-y" gourmand in that it has aspects of vanilla, almond, fig, and floral honey, but definitely doesn't smell edible. Dries down to a slightly sweet, floral vanilla/almond, just a touch sharp but not quite soapy or powdery. When I got it, I was worried it'd be too "busy" for me and all the nice, pretty notes would blend together in a way that felt nice and pretty but wasn't terribly to my tastes, and that is indeed how I would describe the end result. I'm not sad I tried it, as it's for a good cause and all, but I don't think Obergefell V. Hodges will be sticking around.
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As soon as I put this on, I get a wet rose. Like, florist-fridge rose, drying down just a little soapy - I bet that's the moss and the yew, both of which can feel a little soapy-sharp to me. It does smell a little wet, a little fresh, but I personally don't get much earth out of it past the first couple seconds. As it dries down, it does seem more like geranium rather than rose... just fresh, clean geranium.
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The big note I get out of this is geranium. Big ol' true geranium note, punching you in the nose. I am, in general, a fan of geranium; I like the sharp, decisive floral and herbal aspects of it. This one is a lot, though. There's something a little incense-y floating around (maybe the dragon's blood?), as well as something else, something almost bitter (coffee?), what could maybe if you squint be pepper and rosemary, but they just add complexity to the geranium and take it away from the "earthy" or "fresh" type of floral. It's sort of addictive, and a good scent for a prickly green witch... but I have no idea whether I actually like it. Other reads: to my great surprise, both people who have caught whiffs of this have described it as "nice". One waxed poetic: "That's lavender, right? Some kind of lavender something, and then... nougat." ("Nougat???") "Yeah. Not like super sweet, but... nougat-y. Like there's lavender and also someone is making a snickers. But not as sweet as that sounds."
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I'm a bit surprised to find I never reviewed this, because it's something of a favorite -- the "I don't wear it all that often but it frequents the shortlist" type of favorite. Big jasmine note, yes, but it's a pretty, soft, slightly sweet jasmine. The patch + incense + vetiver + oud combined are still slightly less strong than the jasmine, but take this away from the "ultrafemme floral bomb" impression that big jasmine can have. I keep thinking it has cardamom in it, which it doesn't... probably some sort of "amber incense" illusion? Other impressions: "I really like it, but wouldn't wear it. Any guy I date needs to be okay with smelling like flowers so he can wear this". I've had about five other people at least bottle-sniff it, including some who are usually tough sells, and all of them at least thought it was okay to good.
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I'm a fan of the spicy, bay-rum-ish brand of masculine scents, so I took a shot on a decant leftover of the Marquis. The bay rum and massoia bark are lovely, warm and spicy, and just a little sweet. I don't get much opium or wool, but those aren't notes I'm super familiar with and they tend to play more in the background, so that's not unexpected. However, I did eventually end up parting with my bottle, because besides the big spicy-masc part of the scent I also get a big ol' hit of leather. I like the smell of real leather, and this is a very good warm-soft-older leather note, but I have also discovered over time that it is easy for leather notes to be "too much" for me. After the leather calms down a bit, an hour or two in, I enjoy it a lot -- but there are other scents, even other BPAL scents, that can fill the niche I want without the hours-long detour through leatherville. Other opinions (the guy I gave the bottle to): "Oh, that's good. That's really good. Leathery and spicy... that's a sexy smell. That is a smell that says 'I'm here to f***'." He's also a fan of "The Man in Black", even when other people tell him it smells like a shoe store, so it's safe to say strong leather notes don't bother him.