myrrhmyrrh

@RoseThornAndOak (what a lovely name - it reminds me of the poem in Wylding Hall) Aww, you're very kind to say so! What should I give a shot, exactly? A different scent or Or did I misunderstand and you're saying I should give Dragon's Musk a second go?

In the vial: oh! I don’t know what to say! I don’t have a sophisticated enough nose to analyze beyond the given description: It’s magical, like I just uncorked an enchanted phial of something powerful beyond my ken. On me, wet: it’s musky and incense-y, certainly- the musk checks the incense to prevent it from becoming churchy or anything like that. There is a medieval legend that the chrism oil comes from the earwax of dragons from beyond Babylon (cf Jean-Pierre Albert, Odeurs de Sainteté) and this reminds me of that tale- not least the dangers involved in culling it On me, just dried: sexy now, mysterious, and also still daring, something “foreign,” something from farlands, even otherworldly After 15 minutes: It’s settling down, a little less daring, and a little more comfortable, soothing. I’m wondering if I can perhaps smell orange, like dried peel coming along and sweetening the dryness a bit – still very sexy After 30 minutes: Morphed a little in something vaguely medicinal now, which is Not Sexy. After 1 hour: fading rather, especially quickly for a scent that came roaring in - only the slightest hint of medicinal. After 3 hours: no more medicinal, husky musky, soft and furry Verdict I’m a floral girl all the way but in its first phases I was almost convinced to change my ways or at least make an exception, until that medicinal moment, so I’ll need to pass on this frimp but was happy to conduct the experiment nonetheless. I’ll pawn it off on the fella and see how it morphs on him.

In the vial: cinnamon certainly and some pepper and clove – the spices rise up to meet the nostril On me, wet: so THAT is dragon’s blood, very nice indeed. Like! The cinnamon and clove are still very present On me, just dried: Dragon breathes forth his fire, but he’s been eating red hots with clove oil After 15 minutes: Not much of a change. This dragon sure loves his red hots. After 30 minutes: dragon’s blood boiling now and pepper in the pot. After 1 hour: pepper, cinnamon still but not as candy now, rather a dry incensy kind of vibe After 3 hours: now very strangely, something floral has come to surprise me – I don’t understand it at all. Verdict: this is one of the frimps I pawned off on the fella, that is to say I like it, and would like it even more on him, but it’s just not me.

In the vial: This forest is indeed deep and scary – Snow White must have lost her way here and been frightened out of her wits, and Hansel and Gretel too. The pine and the juniper are clear and something adds a darker note, either the ambergris or the black musk. On me, wet: astringent like a cleaning fluid of some kind – not terribly pleasant. And still that dark note: Out damned spot? On me, just dried: that dark note rising over the cleaning fluid, makes it somewhat more pleasant to the nose as a scent but the scare factor rises along with it After 15 minutes: settling down now – it’s still vaguely frightening but the scent of the trees arises, and the black musk “Light thickens, and the crow/ Makes wing to th' rooky wood.” - I was scared this might be a scrubber but that phase seems to have morphed into sth much more pleasant, if creepy. After 30 minutes: oh now this is morphing into a beauty! I wouldn’t have seen this coming. It’s much more low key woody now, wood itself as well as pine/juniper, along with the musk. Snow White has found the dwarves’ cottage. After 2 hours: a very soft scent now –barely there, in fact- nothing scary anymore and certainly not a trace of cleaning fluid. What is perceptible is pleasant but I can put a name or image to anything so faint is it, except perhaps vaguely woody. Verdict : Frimp. I would have thought this one would have more staying power, somehow but it doesn’t, on me at least. At first I didn’t like it much then not at all, then I started liking it but I hardly had any time to get used to what I liked than it was all but gone.

Here are the frimps (himps?) that I have passed on to my fella: Black Forest El Dorado Black Forest The Amorous Tree Antony Sin Santo Domingo Wrath Dragon's Musk Now if only he would wear them (sigh!)

In the vial: pine and vetiver, overwhelmingly so On me, wet: a forest walk in the pinewood mountains with that kind of fresh air, and the earth turned over after the night’s rain On me, just dried: more of the earth now but with fresh pine needles crunched underfoot and their scent everywhere in the air After 15 minutes: and now some piney incense resin has come into play – more like remembering that walk in the pine mountain wood than actually being there After 30 minutes: home now from the walk in the wood, you light a fire of pine logs and cuddle down in front of it After 1 hour: the fire’s out - your lover’s hair smells of pine smoke and mountain air After 3 hours: so faint now – almost imperceptible Verdict: a very fine frimp, not my thing (sadly they often are not) but really a lovely memory of a pine mountain walk I took in Grenoble one New Year’s weekend, long ago. Recommended.

In the vial: yes to the incense and somehow too (is it suggestion? Is it magic?) also the brightness of gold, in a way I cannot explain. There is, however, tumbleweed blowing through those halls that are deserted for all their untold riches On me, wet: the incense, dry, resonant, that is all On me, just dried: incense still but also a hint of something orange peel-ish with goodly dash of pine, nervous in the sense of something racé and ready to rare up. After 15 minutes: the scent has calmed down and it’s rounder, softer, more of the orange as a fruit than its zest, though still pine and incense - maybe this is the cologne people are smelling? After 30 minutes: yes, it has gone from super dry resin to a fruity orange with pine though against a backdrop of incense After 1 hour: primarily incense now, low and dry After 3 hours: it hangs on and hangs on – still going strong with the dry incense – if that’s your vibe you definitely want this. Verdict: this is a great frimp, I love it -but not on me as I don’t think it meshes with my floral personality. I’ve pawned it off on the fella, if only he’d wear it, southwestern man that he is.

In the vial: the earthiness of patchouli, but a dry earth, sandalwood On me, wet: comes the amber now creeping forth, still very dry, maybe a hint of cinnamon On me, just dried: mainly sandalwood and amber, some patchouli, bone dry. After 15 minutes: oooh the patchouli ! I smell less like Sin than like communal housing in Haight Ashbury, 1969 After 30 minutes: this scent is now coming into its own, less overt and overpowering patchouli and more subtlety, the mix of ingredients creating something more than the sum of its parts. After 1 hour: so very dry, the sandalwood remaining strong but subtle and the patchouli subsided After 3 hours: Settled down now into something incensey but not strong and the patchouli has happily faded into a lowkey ancillary role Verdict I feared this frimp might be a scrubber, but at length Beth’s trademark subtlety won out over the predominant patchouli into something very nice. I wouldn’t invest in it as I don’t think it’s me, nor can I find something so incense-y sinful in nature. Summer of Love maybe but not sinful per se.

In the vial: oooh basil sage, herby green with something drier, I think the frankincense On me, wet: more now the ambergris and frankincense at the forefront, greeny scent goes to the background but still quite present. On me, just dried: the leather now among the dried green basil and sage thrown on the fire with the resins After 15 minutes: spice and leather then becomes green grass and leather and some lower note that is very sexy, very masculine. After 30 minutes: oh the frankincense and subtle leather, very dry, still as sexy and masculine After 1 hour: dry now, leather spice and incense After 3 hours: the incense left on the altar, hanging in the air as the fire has gone out

Once upon a time I wore Diptyque's Ôponé and loved it dearly. The site description says of it : rose, spice , leather and wood. Anything in the BPAL treasure chest that might come close?

In the vial: smoke and piney cleaning fluid (or is that the vetiver that others are describing) cutting through it On me, wet: the cleaning fluid first, then the smoke I am reminded vaguely of what Thornton’s home near the factory must have smelled of in North and South, the belching smoke of his source of wealth seeping in through the windows no matter how the help tried to keep it at bay On me, just dried: it is oddly not entirely unpleasant, but for this floral soul, I’m having a hard time. My nose is not sophisticated enough to try to sort through what notes are really creating this strange oil. But the description is very, very apt. After 15 minutes: Someone above said a cheap gin and tonic and that strikes me as about right, with an old ashtray nearby that hasn’t been cleaned out in a long time, stale cigarette smoke After 30 minutes: something dirty and not in a good way, After 1 hour: a dirty vetiver, but a dirt of ash, not of healthy ground and earth After 3 hours: all of the above, still. Verdict- I can’t see my way to wanting a scent that recalls industrial anything much less waste, the “dark satanic mills,” no matter how the pine/vetiver tries to cut through. It’s a very interesting challenge to have created one and their must be an audience for it, but I am not one.

In the vial: a forest I’d like to play and explore in, one with clearings full of flowers, none specific to the nose, they just all join into a chorus of different delightful odors with just the hint of something darker lurking just beyond the pale of your vision On me, wet: some of the flowers come clearer but I can’t tell which - A fresh spring day in a Rhode Island copse, but there is still something else perhaps less entirely joyful here, menacing. On me, just dried: Can I differentiate bergamot and violet, perhaps cypress too? Or is it my imagination? A resin of some kind underneath, or something rooting into the dark earth below ... After 15 minutes: ooh, the floral is now all sweetness and innocence, something honeyed even After 30 minutes: still very sweet but that lower note begins to emerge from the shadowy treeline After 1 hour: more the bouquet of wildflowers. I am reminded of Alice Hoffman’s Red Garden. After 3 hours: this is one stubborn floral, especially for wildflowers. It’s faint but still has a ghostly presence, a phantom nosegay Verdict- I mostly don’t have much luck with frimps, but this is one I could see myself ordering- I am a floral through and through and this one sticks around for hours.

In the vial: leather check, poison, check, something spicey-sweet as poison goes. On me, wet: gone cologne-y somehow, leather has disappeared – and where is that sweet and piquant poison? On me, just dried: lower notes now and the leather back, and now I smell the pitch, though sweetened with something fruity – there is certainly something dangerous here, something menacing lurking just around a dark corner, palace or alley I do not know, but it tempts you forward After 15 minutes: ooh sweet leather, full bodied and seductive! Pitch, yes and poison too, but you want to drink them in slow sweet sips, like a hot apple cider with cinnamon After 30 minutes: the sweetness now comes before the leather, takes it over, a leather that has been cured with cinnamon and apple. Pitch is gone. After 1 hour: much the same, this is one sexy assassin. After 3 hours: leather and apple, still present, still hanging in there- Has more staying power on me than most oils which are usually quite faint at this point, IME, at least for the kind of thing I generally favor. Verdict: very nice frimp – not for me but an interesting experience.

In the vial: salt air and dairy, lemony but gentle – not overly sweet at all On me, wet: clean – even verging on cleaning fluid though nothing harsh (maybe imagine instead a very old fashioned lemony clean smell) this vaguely milky film prevents that- still something that is maybe lemon trees near the sea. On me, just dried: seaside air, reinvigorating but again soft, from late spring or summer, the lemony-ness has subsided and only the thinnest hint of milk. After 15 minutes: lemony again, and again the seaside. Dairy is still very vague. The smell of some 19th C maiden regaining her health with constitutional walks at Lyme Regis, and coming home to a lemony tisane with a dash of milk After 30 minutes: standing in a garden of lemon balm, their broken leaves staining my hands as I gather them absently for tea, while looking out over the cliff for my lover to return from calm summer seas. After 1 hour: salt and lemon still - After 3 hours: now the milk veiling the lemon balm and ioded spray of the air, but all quite faint as we turn inland once more, the restorative stay behind us and health returned Verdict: What an unusual perfume! I was very happy with trying out this frimp – as always, there seems to be a story to be written about the unfolding of the scent and this will thrill someone. I don’ t think this is really a “me” kind of scent to invest in but it was unique and interesting and I know it will be perfect for someone else.

In the vial: they discovered her at the counter of a soda fountain and now here she is making a splash at the big director’s party : a young girl trying to be sophisticated- trying to drink cognac when what she wants is a cherry coke or a strawberry float On me, wet: cherry and some musk/amber On me, just dried: amber now, the girl is in her heels and low cut gold lamé gown, swallowing down her sweetness under the mask of seen it all before, only a memory of the boy at the soda fountain After 15 minutes: dryer now with mainly the ambery musk but she is thinking a lot about the soda fountain boy and how he’d buy her cherry floats After 30 minutes: same ache of cherry struggling to break through the ambery musk. After 1 hour: little starlet is not getting her roles, no matter what she did to get them After 3 hours: she is a forgotten, a& mere footnote in cinema history. Verdict – I enjoyed it and the sad story it told, but would not invest in it.