Ennikar
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Everything posted by Ennikar
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Jammy fir first, second, and third, in line with a Thyme's Christmas candle, and a very slight edge of smoke fourth. The smoke comes out more deep into the drydown, but this one is a conifer bomb and aspects of that stick around all through the wear. The fir is so sweet and, well, jammy that my partner immediately described it as "fruity". It's bright and idealized in a way that most of the lab's "plant" smells usually aren't (or at least the ones I try aren't), but that doesn't mean I'm disappointed - it's, well, happy. Not totally what I expected, but I can see its niche.
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When it's first applied, I get not-quite-soapy gardenia and semi-medicinal labdanum. They both stay present and pretty balanced throughout the wear time, but the soapy-and-medicinal vibes calm down pretty quickly in favor of a fresh, tropical gardenia and resinous (not woody or smokey, in my opinion) backing. The balance shifts back and forth with time. This isn't, like, a revolutionary take on these notes, but so long as you like both you'll probably enjoy it. The main drawback for me is just that it's pretty quiet - low throw, middling wear length.
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Very "classic BPAL", which is to say, strong, ashy incense, very dark and almost bitter. Tobacco and leather are detectable, but the vanilla and clove don't come out much at all. There's a minty/mentholic note in the bottle and up front that fades quickly. The lingering effect is almost cigarette ash - doesn't smell like cancer in the way straight-up cigs often do, but probably still polarizing. Ultimately not sure how I feel about it, but I'll say that it's a cool interpretation of the name without being completely unpleasant.
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2011 version. Dragon's blood isn't a listed note, but my impression is extremely dragon's blood - could be that's part of the blood accord or just the incenses. The floral and herbal notes seem to have died down with age, leaving mostly a warm, cozy, unlit incense style scent (not sure which; personally I still have trouble differentiating frankincense and myrrh). It does feel a little new-age shop. Very unisex, no sweet elements but also not terribly dry or "raspy". Decent throw and longevity. Second opinion: "very green, but not like... a super fresh, plant-y green." (this tester often reads incense as green). It's pleasant, especially for cool weather, but with my personal taste not sure whether I'd grab it over "spicier" masc scents like Mr. Jacquel or Schwarzer Mond.
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I love wood, nutty blends, masc blends, and even dirty patch, and have recently allowed myself to admit I like unicorns too, so I tried really hard to like Of The Unicorn. I can smell what others love in it (woody patch, soft ambrette and orris), but for me in the year of our lord 2024, something (I assume the agarwood) has gone funky in a way I find distracting and, well, not good (to be clear, not rancid - just not to my taste). I don't usually have issues with the "fecal"/indolic thing, so it was an unpleasant surprise, and it might just be a me issue because when asked others have said it smells good on me, but I will sadly have to stick with less mystical patchouli blends.
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At this age, the clove and patchouli seem to have basically smoothed out in favor of salt, kelp, and juniper. I don't think that's bad - it seems like they wouldn't mesh very well if the clove was prominent. What remains is somewhere between a realistic cold ocean and, well, soap in the vein of Irish Spring. Maybe it's the name, but I do feel a sense of power and drama in it. I might keep it if it were a bit louder, but it's pretty low throw and I don't think I'd reach for it much.
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The "honeyed" part of the labdanum is very literal; when this first goes on I thought it was straight up honey, orange blossom/jasmine, and a touch of rose. The incense smoke comes out more as it dries down, but the floral components stick around too. They're not really fresh, humid florals, especially as it dries they become more like components of the incense. Second opinion: "Floral. More than one flower? Then one of them is rose. It's nice... a little generic, though, I think." I do quite like it, but I'm trying to decide whether or not it's distinct enough from Pleasure Abundant (orange blossom, sweet amber, red honey, pink peppercorn, and frankincense smoke) from Roe v. Wade to justify keeping both.
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The Extraction of the Stone of Madness
Ennikar replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Limited Editions
The lavender is a big note in the opening, and it's very nice for a minute, but soon the whole composition goes in the direction of "fancy soap" - this is a common problem for me with a number of notes (especially lavender), and I probably should have foreseen it since several of the other notes here (woodmoss, bergamot) are also popular in "soap" scents. It doesn't come across as particularly floral; the second opinion I solicited was "generic non-floral perfume, a little masculine". Overall, a little woody, a little herbal, but also... soap. -
I do not like to eat olives, but I do often like various sorts of leaves and/or branches. I've never smelled an olive grove, so I can't speak to accuracy, but this is a very pleasant warm-breeze sort of green. If I whiff hard off my wrist, some... clean? dimensions come out, which could also be "salty". I feel like I'm just repeating the previous review, but it's largely accurate to my experience - even the part where it seems a little masculine of neutral.
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Reboot. Horseradish and vetiver in the bottle and wet. The drydown shifts, though - the horseradish comes across almost like a strong pepper note, the vetiver smooths out with the patchouli and myrrh, and the bergamot/orange blossom become more noticeable. Final impression is like a peppery patch with some citrus-floral stuff going on, which is distinctive but more pleasant than one might think The Harpy would be. Reasonably good throw.
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One day out of the mail (I'll update this review if rest changes it drastically). This one was a risky buy for me; I'm not big on fruit scents but do occasionally find a blackberry that sparks joy. In the bottle and wet: cherry hard candy. It smells like cherry, not any other fruit, but there is something artificial about it at this stage. The leather starts to raise its head soon, and in this stage there is some "darkness" to it - the cherry is still sweet, but the leather gives it a deeper base. Later, the resins and blackberry dimensions start to come out more and some combination of those things gives the impression of smoke. Again, the rose fits in well and I can find it if I look, but this is a fruit scent with some leathery and resin-y dimensions and definitely not a rosey one.
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One day out of the mail: ~Secret aquatic~, clean but not soapy I assume this effect is from the cypress and fougere. Very light and "misty", without strong throw. The tobacco and sandalwood aren't easily detectable; I can find the rose if I look for it and it fits in well, but without the notes I wouldn't describe it as a rose fragrance. For those who like comparisons, this reminds me strongly of Cycling for Pleasure from the 2021 Shungas (which was an aquatic that also included cypress, oakmoss, carnation, and vetiver). I destashed that one because it eventually became too soapy, which this one doesn't seem to be, so if it gets stronger with rest I might keep it. I'll update this review if it changes drastically with rest.
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I've had this bottle for years now but still have difficulty describing it. "Silken" seems right, though; there's very little sharp here and all of the notes blend together. There's red musk, but I wouldn't necessarily identify it as a "red musk blend" - I get the pine first, a little smokey, but it doesn't register as a "smoke" note. Leather is iffy on me, but here it's like an additional dimension to the scent rather than a note on its own. The green tea is here as well, and the "smoldering" thing makes it register as like... a smoked tea? Black pepper is MIA (but I like pepper, so maybe it's just not as strong as I'd like, and the overall impression of the scent is consistent with pepper). Fits in the woods + red musk section, near Fenris Wolf, but with pine-y and smokey dimensions and a touch of sophistication from the tea.
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I love Flaming June. I am also biased because when I was in high school, my English teacher hung posters of famous paintings on her classroom walls, and one of them was Flaming June. I didn't know why I stared at that poster so much, and consistently sat where I could see it even though I changed seats at random in other classrooms, but it makes sense in retrospect. I do like neroli, but I got this for the painting, not the notes. Anyway. Neroli and skin musk are the main components to me, citrus but in a floral way and skin with just a touch of sweat. There isn't much "juice" to this citrus, which is why I don't consider the blood orange or tangerine to be major players. As for the "sheer white amber", white amber and I don't usually get along, but I don't get much of it here. Maybe it's why the whole thing feels clean and freshly showered despite the "skin"? I understand the less flattering comparisons (particularly the vitamin-c orange chewables) even if I don't share the associations; there is something that feels musky to me but could be gritty-powdery to someone else - maybe an aspect of the skin musk or white amber, or maybe that's just the neroli, which I know can be controversial. Even though the painting influenced my purchase choices, and I do think it captures the feeling of wearing that sheer sunset-colored dress, I enjoy this as a scent. Medium throw when first applied, lasts all day as a neroli-musk skin scent.
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This is not a sweet scent. If you know what black musk smells like, this is pretty much that, dark and dry and a little animalic, almost smokey and almost spicey but not really either. Often associated with "typical" masculine scents (aftershave, soap, ect), but this version is richer and lacks the leathery/cool feeling that can turn me off that style. I feel like this will be a good layering note to add a bit of a kick to lots of other scents, though I'm going to get some more opinions because I feel like "animalic" can also read "BO" to some people (even though I don't get that at all here). Good throw, long wear time.
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First application and for a while after it's very strong herbal lavender, like full-on essential oil lavender. I like the smell of fresh, growing lavender, less so the refined lavender oil, so this is not quite what I was hoping for. I had hope for more woods/rockrose in the drydown, but unfortunately what I end up with is more reminiscent of lavender soap.
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There are a couple notes in here I'm generally cautious of - cerulean musk, for one; usually the only colors of musk I get along with are brown, black, and red. White, blue, green, ect all tend to come off as laundry or soap, which is not my cup of tea, as can some citrus notes. I do sometimes go for bitter citrus+, though, so the rave reviews swayed me. Fresh on, I do get pithy grapefruit. My partner immediately got jasmine, which is not technically part of the scent, but after she said it I could see what she meant. The floral dimensions combined with the citrus play like a fresh, clean, jasmine-y floral. I would almost describe it as similar to orange blossom, which I fortunately like, but less creamy and heady than orange blossom usually is. No soap or laundry at all, but a fresh, non-sweet, citrus-y floral.
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Big ideas: pine pitch and incense. As it dries down, the pine-y parts calm down until they're just a hint; this is more the fantasy of a pine tree than a real tree outside the brief appearance of smashed needles early on. It's kinda "smooth" and "silky", and if you told me there was ambergris in here I'd believe you. That's probably the influence of the type of patchouli they used? I associate oakmoss fougere with a fresh herbal thing that's definitely not the main event here, but I think I can smell a shadow of it and it works. Up to a few hours in, I keep getting dark incense-y wafts that remind me of a smooth black musk. Decent throw, very blended, I like it.
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Ginger ale. A little sweet, but mostly a big hit of ginger, with sasparilla bubbling up underneath to give it that hit of sparkling soda. Maybe hints of pepper, gear lubricant, and/or balsam, but I'm getting 90% artisanal ginger ale. There's a veeeeery slight soapy dimension for a couple minutes early on, but it's mostly true, light, and quite pleasant if you like ginger soda. Throw is on the high end, especially early on.
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This one is all about the honey for me. The tree sap might be making that note seem bigger without standing out on its own, but yeah, honey. I can like honey as a scent component, and generally get along with it easier than sugar/syrup/baked goods notes, but don't generally go for gourmands - and this one has so much honey it feels like a gourmand to me. The acorns are here, adding a slightly nutty dimension that pushes it towards, well, baklava? Should have seen that coming. The oak bark isn't totally absent and does add a slightly woody dimension that I suppose could make this feel like a fae forest gourmand, but so far I do not personally enjoy smelling like dryad baklava. I'm going to let this sit for a little while, to see whether the honey calms down (or I like it more under other circumstances).
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These figs are definitely green, just opened, oozing latex, fresh off the tree. They're green and tart - no Newton-y gooey sweetness. For me the cedar is a backing note, but it's here, adding to the woody-fresh vibe. My partner's comment was that it "smells like something you'd put in a fancy bathroom. It's nice though! It doesn't smell like the bathroom, just something you'd use to scent it." This is... not what I'm going for, as a general rule. However, I like it too much to actually get rid of it; the tart-woody-figgy combo is very enjoyable and it seems like a solid, wearable, safe-but-still-distinctive option for a ton of situations, especially in warm weather.
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Reading the reviews above, I had one major concern before picking up a bottle (secondhand): is this gonna be soap? Like WhatAHoot, I can be very sensitive to 'clean' or 'detergent' vibes, which has cursed my aquatic hunt for years. Wet on skin, the answer appeared to be "yes, but also you're miraculously not mad about it". The first impression was almost like soap, yes, but like the more "masculine" scented soap I can sometimes tolerate - probably the bay leaf, tobacco, and/or balsam, which are popular components for those types of smells. Kinda clean-herbal. Still, that would have put it in "okay" rather than love or even like. The fig is here, adding some fruity sweetness, but overall still on the dry side. As it dries, though, the floral elements of the tobacco flower, the ambergris, and the amber start to come forward - and here it's giving, of all things, To a Wreath of Snow, minus the vanilliac/pseudo-gourmand elements that scent carries. Now it's basically dry and the bay, fig, ambergris, and tobacco flower are making a light clean-skin unisex-to-masc cloud. I'm excited, honestly, because most of the masc scents I love are on the spicy-resins side and can be just too heavy for warm weather, but I think this one is going to shine.
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I had no idea what to expect with this one, given 'white sandalwood' is the only note with a real point of reference, but I was a little concerned about things like 'perfumed black silk' going soap, clean-linen, or dryer-sheet. What I actually got wasn't exactly that, though tones of it are there. I believe the 'perfume' referenced in the description is iris (or orris) , and for me this ends up as a cool musky iris-sandalwood blend. The blood is more an iron-y version pulling things in that 'cool' direction, not the sweet red 'blood musk' I've gotten in some other BPAL blends. Reminds me of Alkemia's Black Iris, but less 'rainy' and more musky cool night air. I get the 'classic perfume with foreboding undertones' intent, though I'm not sure someone else smelling it without the description would get any of the 'foreboding' aspect - my beta tester described it as 'light. It seems fruity, but I'm pretty sure it's actually floral. I like it.' I like it too, though I think it's a situational pick.
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60% clove, 30% cinnamon, 10% ashes and (green) poisons. Neutral sweetness level. Pretty good throw when you first apply it, and then moderate for several hours. I, a nonsmoker, imagine that in a perfect world clove cigarettes would smell like this.
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Firstly, a wave of sweet resins, and then a second wave of woodsmoke and brown musk. The woodsmoke is strong, as is the musk, and they have very high throw when first applied. I actually forgot it had a woodsmoke note when I first applied it and expected only musk and resin, but the smoke was strong and distinct enough that after a moment I was very sure that was what I was smelling. As it settles, it's giving like... guy wearing an old bearskin who lives in a cave where his fire is always burning, but like, idealized enough to not be "stinky". I can see it being very sexy or else offputting, depending on your tolerances. Normally I'm not too concerned with wearability, but this one tests that, since the musk is the sort that's somewhere between "animal", "sexy", and "dude who hasn't showered in a couple days" and I don't want anyone to question my hygiene. For that reason, it may be too situational to buy a bottle even though I enjoy it. I can also see some of the acrid/vingear-y tones and the bbq sauce comparison, though personally I didn't find these aspects strong or distracting. Also a couple notes on the oil itself - it's the darkest, most viscous perfume oil I've ever tried. This stuff left a yellow-brown sheen on my skin for nearly an hour after being applied, even though it was just a wandcap's worth spread over my wrist.