Ennikar

Very spicy, dry, and a little sweet in the drydown. It sounds like my impressions are a little different from most of the previous reviewers. For me, the caraway comes through primarily in giving the whole thing a "spiced bread" vibe, but the star is the cardamom. I say spiced bread, but that's more an impression, there's nothing else "yeasty" going on and it's not sweet in a way that would suggest pastry. I suppose I'd agree that if anything, it's sour/bitter, but in a good way - not like BO or spoiled food. Sandalwood is here, too, but stronger in the drydown, when it becomes a sweeter-spicy-sandalwood. Other impressions: (in the bottle) "Something really spicy - cinnamon, I think? Ginger? I guess it could be cardamom, but I think cinnamon." ("It's cardamom, and caraway." "Caraway! That explains it.") A keeper for me. It's not super complicated, but it's spicy and a bit woody without really being gourmand, and that's my jam. I imagine it would also be a good layer.

In the bottle and fresh on skin, this is a big hit of lavender. Fresh on skin, it's lavender with sugared patchouli, and that patch is going somewhere a little eyebrow-raising - as other reviews have noticed, the opening is a bit "assy". YMMV, though, neither of my other sniffers have noticed that. The stank sticks for a bit, but fades over time; unfortunately the lavender does as well though it lasts a little longer. The late drydown still has some earthy patchouli, and by then the vanilla has come out more, so it's a nice sweetened patchouli. The spikenard could be there in any phase, tangled with the patch; I'm not knowledgeable to pick it up on its own. Oakmoss and balsam have been questionable for me in the past, giving things an awkward soapy feel, but that's definitely not happening here (I can't say for sure I smell either). Other impressions: one person smelled it a few minutes application and said it was "Pretty neutral. Nice, but not like "wow", you know?", and another smelled it in the drydown and gave me "Vanilla." ("So... good?" "Yeah."). These aren't super in-depth, but it does make me think that the questionable tones I'm picking up aren't offensive to most people. Will I keep it? For now. I reapplied several times over the course of the day, which is not true for everything I test, so I think I'll age it a bit and see how it feels. I'd really like the lavender to stick around longer. I kind of hesitate to compare to other blends, since I know that's not very useful to most people, but there are a few BPALs this reminds me of. The sweet-patchouli drydown smells like Nasty Woman to me, though that blend has rose (via the loukhum) instead of lavender, and the opening reminds me of Of The Unicorn for that stanky vibe that takes it to a place where I'm not sure how I feel about it.

Last things first, Clémence is an absolute monster; it stuck around from late morning (around 11) to five with strong throw, at which point I took a quick post-workout shower, and discovered to my surprise that it was still around. It has now persisted until ten at night with a couple inches of throw. As other reviews have said, fresh on skin it gives a dirty, earthy, patch and very little else. "Wonderful", I think, "I kinda miss the other notes, but as of now this is the no-nonsense unsweetened patchouli (and pepper?) I've been searching for." For better or worse, that stage doesn't last. I wouldn't say the patch totally disappears, but it becomes much less prominent, and leaves space for the other notes to breathe. The tea and clove/carnation take over after a few minutes and it stays there for the rest of the wear, a spicy-floral tea scent. These are all notes I like, so I was ready to bottle it, but after a few hours of wear something felt a little cloying. I plan to try it again with a more delicate hand, but it's possible my decant will be enough.

I've been looking for a good, earthy licorice scent for a while with little success, and at first I passed over this one assuming the taffy would make it too sweet. In the bottle and freshly applied, it's a sweet licorice taffy, but for me the taffy burns off pretty quickly leaving a lightly sweetened woody licorice. It's somehow dark and earthy while simultaneously feeling airy and light (as a vibe, not a real scent component, nothing here is remotely aldehydic). The licorice/anise sticks around for quite a while, which I always appreciate. The throw is decent and the longevity is quite good. New go-to licoranise~

I knew this one was a risk going in, but I enjoy vetiver, was curious about the petitgrain, and really like the bottle art. The bottle sniff caused me to put testing off for a while; there was something sharp and borderline soapy. Upon application, it's much less loud, but definitely still very clean. Reminds me of nothing so much as a very fancy citrus-scented soap, probably as a confluence of the petitgrain and the champaca. The vetiver and oakmoss might be present as backing notes, while the ashes aren't really perceptible. Overall, this won't kill my interest in any one of these notes, but while nice it's sadly too clean for my taste.

I found this a lovely floral, mostly carnation-rose, with decent throw and long wear for something so floral heavy. I didn't struggle at all with soapy or powdery notes, which are often issues for me. I hardly get sandalwood at all, but that's a note I usually really like; someone who doesn't may have a different experience. The candlesmoke is barely present and not acrid or harsh at all. Something in here also gives a vanilla-ish impression - maybe some hidden beeswax in with the candle smoke? As far as comparisons go, it's very close to Deconstructing Eden's Be Mine (which I also really enjoy). I'll keep an eye out for this in destashes.

Tested blind via sniffie: the lavender is detectable immediately, alongside something fruity and something creamy. The drydown feels very citrus-cream-y .

Tested blind from a sniffie: the dead leaves note. Maybe a bit lighter and "prettier" (or soapier, or perfumey-er) in the drydown.

Sniffie tested basically blind, I got a pretty powerful opening that's on the verge of mentholic (looking at the notes, probably the nagarmotha, maybe with yarrow and vervain). The main impression I got was leather with other notes swirling around indistinctly on top, and that's where it sits for a good while, though it slowly gets less strong. Reading the notes, I get the vetiver and maybe some of the other herbal or animalic notes. The bourbon tobacco is MIA as far as I can tell, but I'm not really annoyed because it doesn't seem like it would fit in well here.

With the long list of notes I wasn't sure where this was going to end up, but it's very nice. It's a creamy, rich scent, grounded but still light, with detectable almond and ambrette. This smells classy but inviting. Unfortunately I can't give many details, especially re: throw and longevity, as the sniffie I had gave only a touch of oil.

Wet it's strong, woody black pepper. Rich and dark, just a touch sweetened from the fig and vanilla. I can see where the "cologne" comments above come from; this is definitely more on the masc end but if you think of it as a cologne it's definitely a good one. Spicy-dirty-woodsy-vanilla. I really like this one and wish my partial was bigger - the only thing stopping me from bottling is that the throw isn't that great, though longevity is good and it's still on my swap list because the little wafts whenever caught them were very nice.

When I got this, I was concerned about it going in the "nice soap" direction, and this is indeed what happened. I knew it was a reach for me when I got it; while I've had good experiences with bergamot and ambergris they can both have a light/fresh character I'm not fond of. It's pleasant, mostly bergamot with a touch of ambergris and minimal incense, and I can see the artistic inspiration of a shimmery silver mist.

Spicy wax. I was a bit worried about the ylang ylang as I haven't had good experiences with it in the past, but it's all but absent. The wax is somehow but more animalic and less sweet than beeswax, but I'm still getting a sweet something here. The spices have a green edge from the moss and the clove leaf, and they're blending in with the incense resin. Starts off with powerful throw. Of the other BPAL scents I've tried, this one is similar to Mr. Jacquel, but dustier.

"Spicy... trees?" - My partner That's a good intro. The spices are nicely blended, the rose is scarce, and the bay leaf and presumably the olibanum add a touch of greeness that distinguishes this from the more straightforward spiced wood blends in my collection. Real green man/mysterious apothecary vibes. There's something in the 5-40 minute middle stage I don't love, but I can't really describe what in any meaningful way. The oud seems to be behaving well; I don't get any sign of indoles. Throw is pretty chill, longevity most of the day.

Right off the bat, campfire smoke and little else. There's hints of barbecue, but no more than most smokey scents. The throw isn't that strong, even early, so this is like the scent of smoke that gets in to your clothes after a bonfire. After a few hours, the smoke backs off a bit and the peppery resins come out more, turning it to a peppery-smokey skin scent.

Opening "tickles the nose, like when you cut a pepper and you can tell that it's hot". That's probably the black pepper over the red sandalwood, making for a pretty sharp opening, but that lays down in minutes as the bergamot and and orange blossom come out. I don't usually get along with pumpkin but picked this up because of the above reviews, which talk about the pumpkin being minimal - and I'm glad I did, because neither I nor my second opinion noticed any at all on me. It's somewhere on the clean-masculine ends of the spectrum, but not aggressively so. I personally really like orange blossom, and it is fairly prominent (though not overwhelming) for most of the wear time, so I'm glad to have this spicy-woody-masc take on it.

I quite like this, but my first thought was that it was something I'd smelled before, in Fledgling Raptor Moon 2010. It's not quite the same, but it is similar, a spicy-earthy-warm scent. The black musk and catnip are very soft; I don't really pick them up. The amber, cedar, and hay come together in to a soft, warm, earthy background for the cinnamon-clove-carnation spices. Definitely not "a floral", but the carnation is detectable, with that and maybe the catnip or hay giving it a slightly plantish dimension. I can see comparisons to incense, but without any sort of smoke or char. I had a pair of other people give it a sniff; they agreed it was similar to but not quite Fledgling Raptor and noted that there was something about it that smelled "fuzzy" after seeing the bottle.

Rich, more earthy than woody at first but the sandalwood does take over a bit in the drydown (unsurprising, as it's a base note). I don't get much of the greenness/tulsi beyond it maybe lightening things up for the first hour or so. It's very pretty and just nice; I agree with some of the above reviews that describe it as a meditative scent. Decent throw.

Hell yes. Red musk, tobacco, and smoke with earthy patchouli, very little fruit. It's not for everyone but it's very much to my taste.

I second the preponderance of light red musk. I do get a solid hit of ginger at the beginning, and a touch of smokey clove, but this is less dark & spicy than light & powdery with a touch of spice. The throw is fairly subdued, and it's down to a close skin scent in an hour or two.

This is the thing that's impressed upon me that 'blood musk' and 'red musk' are, in fact, different. I get a strong cinnamon impression, almost like cinnamon candy, but not openly sweet. It reminds me strongly of olympic orchids dev #3, if you're familiar with that - mostly a very-slightly-sweet cinnamon, with a touch of wood and resins that are stronger, relatively speaking, in the dry stage.

The first impression I got was red musk, wood, and very definitely lacquer. It stayed lacquered all the way through, with varying levels of dry woodiness and a touch of musk, like a drier, lacquered fenris wolf. It's actually a touch too dry and astringent for me to want to wear it every day, but it's got a time and a place - in this case, I'm thinking when I want to put across the air of someone refined who can very much handle themself. It's probably the theme that has me thinking "Bond villain during a card game", but that's the image we get.

Very sharp when fresh. The vetiver I get is more grassy, as it dries I get more of a smoke dimension but I think the green is still dominant. The black pepper is detectable, but strongest early and I'd probably consider it a complementary note. Overall, the impression is smokey, kicky, and grass-like. I do like it - it reminds me of the sort of scent you'd get in a ~natural~ deodorant or bath product. Feels like some sort of low-level forest fae, the sort that offers you a deal you absolutely shouldn't take.

I don't have a lot of specifics about this one, though there's a few things I can pick out. There's a lovely soft gardenia opening, and the clove is detectable, before drying down in to a vaguely spicy-earthy-sweet floral haze. The thing is, though, that despite not getting a super strong impression, I really like it. It's comfortable. I put it on and feel like I could wear it every day. My partner commented that the drydown read to them as a 'disturbingly realistic pumpkin pie', and someone with a slightly more trained nose 'gets something green', both of which make sense with the notes and my own impressions - but, again, my strongest impression is just 'comfy'.

Resting changed this one a lot - when the bottle was fresh, it was powerful patchouli and a bit of bourbon vanilla. Now, after sitting on the shelf for a few months, it's a lot less 'nasty' and more 'pleasant', and has been moved from the 'statement' shelf (Talvikuu, Woman as Dragon) to the 'femme' shelf (Rose Red, A-Rovin', Rabbit Moon). The patch still comes on strong when wet, but after a few minutes, relaxes in to the background, leaving sweet fig and vanilla in the foreground. I don't really get rose from the loukhoum, but in retrospect there's a touch of almond. Overall, it's sweet, vaguely fruity, and grounded - my partner commented that it seemed 'right' on me, despite being different from the atmospheric/woody/green scents I tend to wear (October, Fenris Wolf, Believe), which I'm taking as an endorsement.