Sphinx Skin

[Silvertree]

A gleaming black leather cocoon engulfed in a garnet-tinged haze of dragon’s blood smoke, black vegetal musk, fossilized amber, 3-year aged patchouli root, and smoldering incense.

[elissamay]

It smells exactly like a well-loved black leather motorcycle jacket that's been drenched in years of that scent you get when you open your box of BPAL imps. You know the one.

 

It's a gentle black leather; this isn't strong or overpowering leather for the leather-averse (me). And it morphs together seamlessly with a balanced blend of l'essence de BPAL: an amalgam of dragon's blood, musk, amber, patch, and incense. Dragon's blood is the loudest player in the melody, but the orchestra is all here.

 

It's like one of our souls captured in a 5ml amber apothecary vial. I feel like while this scent may be a love letter to the Lab's dear friend behind the brand Bloodmilk, it's also kind of a love letter to the BPAL fandom.

 

 

Edited July 3, 2023 by elissamay

[ghoulnextdoor]

Even though I have always wished it were otherwise, I have never sniffed a precious jewel, glimmering gem, or polished stone that smelled of anything in particular–even though the dazzling drama in those crystalline depths seem to promise, at least to me, that these geological treasures should somehow be radiating the most marvelous perfumes. Alas! Nope! It is sadly a wish I’ve long let go. Sphinx Skin, however, rekindles this daydream in the most fantastical and feverish ways, because I’m absolutely certain that if a moody, golden topaz had a scent? It would be the smoky umbral honey, spectral shed snakeskin musk of Sphinx Skin: heady, tobacco-infused amber with subtly shifting floral vanilla facets, a rich, sticky, resinous vein of dragon’s blood, and the faint, slithering earthiness of patchouli, dark, damp, rooty, and grounding. A stone formed from crystals in cooling magma (or so I understand), in reality, topaz probably smells of the fumes and vapors wafting amongst the cavities of igneous rocks in which it grows, but here, in the surreal secrecy of our intimate cocoon, where the writer and reader connect via a shared dream and can believe as we please - let’s choose to believe in exquisite lapidary aroma magic, and that a glowing sphere of topaz smells like a small bottle of Sphinx Skin.

[Viiinylflowers]

updating my review here as I notice my perception of this  scent has changed a little now that it’s rested a bit longer.  
 

My initial impression of that vaguely time is a Phoenix but much more muted and mildewy in a good way on first application thing  - I don’t really notice that so much anymore.  As the scent has settled, the dragons blood has gotten more prominent to me and kind of unified everything more.  
 

The overall impression/longest lasting scent stage  I’m getting is like a cool and slinky dragons Blood style snake smut  (minus the snake oil lol) kind of a scent that has an aged vibe.   It almost smells like it’s sweetened a little with very aged myrrh, but that might just be a part of the dragons blood or amber I’m smelling.  
 

What a freaking delight all of these past bunch of bloodmilk scents have been, I am truly in awe.   

 

——-

Putting on sphinx skin for the first time: 

 

On application it reminds me of a cross between time is a Phoenix (but much more muted and kinda mildewy in a good way if you can imagine it) and snake smut. 

 

As it sits on my skin, whatever slightly evoked time is a Phoenix to me starts to completely  burn off and blend in, as it keeps going toward the snake smut direction, but blacker - and minus that brownish umami waft that snake oil has in that blend.  Sorry that word is annoying but it’s the best I can think of to describe it haha. 

 

 It smells like a super worn soft warm black leather jacket with old oils infused in it, and like traces of dried intentional herbs in the pockets. 

 

This is an extremely 90s smell lol.  I’m thinking The Crow: City of angels Iggy Pop, Death from Sandman, your (or your loved ones) high school leather jacket, poppy z brite novels, etc.  That particular kind of sensuous drama/ romance/ mysticalness. 

 

It’s not a loud or icky leather - zero headachyness at all, it’s very similar to snake smut leather in finish, but more like a black leather jacket.  

 

Very gorgeous, with subtle sneaky projection, just a bit of almost powdery musky aged myrrhy dragons blood incense waft that’s getting a little greener, airy, slinky, and almost clay like as it wears - It’s very pretty and unique.  

 

The past handfull of bloodmilk collabs have been some of my favorite scents ever.  They’re like exceptionally blended and I love the quality of the notes and the concepts. 

Edited July 26, 2023 by Viiinylflowers
Fixing formatting n stuff

[zankoku_zen]

“A gleaming black leather cocoon engulfed in a garnet-tinged haze of dragon’s blood smoke, black vegetal musk, fossilized amber, 3-year aged patchouli root, and smoldering incense.”
 
Please note: this oil contains Daemonorops draco resinoid. Please roll the bottle in your palms or shake gently before use.

[ghoulnextdoor]

Even though I have always wished it were otherwise, I have never sniffed a precious jewel, glimmering gem, or polished stone that smelled of anything in particular–even though the dazzling drama in those crystalline depths seem to promise, at least to me, that these geological treasures should somehow be radiating the most marvelous perfumes. Alas! Nope! It is sadly a wish I’ve long let go. Sphinx Skin, however, rekindles this daydream in the most fantastical and feverish ways, because I’m absolutely certain that if a moody, golden topaz had a scent? It would be the smoky umbral honey, spectral shed snakeskin musk of Sphinx Skin: heady, tobacco-infused amber with subtly shifting floral vanilla facets, a rich, sticky, resinous vein of dragon’s blood, and the faint, slithering earthiness of patchouli, dark, damp, rooty, and grounding. A stone formed from crystals in cooling magma (or so I understand), in reality, topaz probably smells of the fumes and vapors wafting amongst the cavities of igneous rocks in which it grows, but here, in the surreal secrecy of our intimate cocoon, where the writer and reader connect via a shared dream and can believe as we please - let’s choose to believe in exquisite lapidary aroma magic, and that a glowing sphere of topaz smells like a small bottle of Sphinx Skin.

[doomsday_disco]

I wouldn't have gotten to try this, but I ordered this on behalf of a friend, who let me try their bottle.  

 

This mostly smells like musk in the bottle, but goes on as leather, musk, and some dragon's blood smoke, backed by some amber and patchouli. It is not as loud as you would expect despite these powerhouse notes. I believe the fossilized amber in this is the same one from Syzygy and The Key of Solitude, but I think it is stronger in both of those blends than it is here. As far as the patch goes, I'm getting less in this than I did from The Key of Solitude. The black leather is a smooth, well-worn variety, the musk has some red musk qualities to it, and the smoke isn't acrid whatsoever and plays well on me despite dragon's blood being an iffy note. There's also a phase of the scent where it smells somewhat like ash on me before it morphs into a musk party by the end of the day.

 

While this isn't something I could see myself reaching for, it did play more nicely on me than I had anticipated, and it was fun to get to try it.