Corazon

[enderfem]

The scent of divine mercy, pulsating and throbbing through the heart of every living creature. Glorious red musk and a halo of golden amber with a touch of wet mango, lavender, and purple sage.

Bottle: Sweetness and pine trees.

Wet: Some of the mango comes out, but it is mostly the sage, which smells like pine to me for some reason in this blend.

Drydown: More mango, but it isn't a juicy or foodie smell. The lavender makes a small appearance, tempering the sage. I love this, although I rarely wear it. A sweet but dry scent.

[LadyLuckDoubt]

In the Imp

Oooh, yummy-- it's sweet but it's almost herbal, and a LOT more subtle than I thought it would be. It's a bright, delicious-looking red: perfect for the concept, and I can't wait to try it! And it's thick and oozy, but-- there's no vertiver! (Which tends to be oozy for me.)

 

On Me

The mango doesn't do what I assumed it would (I assumed it'd go CRAZY) but sits politely back so the sage and lavender contend for top dog position. And it's not quite as sweet as in the imp and as I'd thought it would be: but dammit, it's gorgeous. It's a dry, real kind of scent: almost Dragons' Blood but without the resinous bit that overrides everything. The sage gives it a woody dryness, the lavender sort of pulls everything together and stops it being too weird, strangely enough. And it's aged nicely-- I can imagine how this would have been early-- a lot perkier and probably with a louder mango note: this is beautifully balanced and just sheer awesome and amazing.

 

I would kill for a bottle. I knew I was going to love this, and unfortunately, I do.

[jewelbug]

 

Imp: First I’m hit by a fruity sweetness, then a strong herbal (mostly lavender) component.

 

Wet: Fruity mango supported by peppery lavender and some almost wooden notes (sage stems?).

 

Dry: This dries to a very pungent herbal (lavender, a hint of sage and something almost like earth) sweetened by subtle mango. It still verges on woody to me.. Odd, but I can’t really pick ou the musk or amber. Its just herbs, wood and mango in that order).

 

Overall: This is very nice and I like it, but not enough to hoard such a rarity. I’d rather pass on the love.

Edited October 1, 2008 by jewelbug

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

to note: i hate mango - the taste, the scent. blergh.

 

sniffed from the bottle: lavender leaning towards mint, and sage (sage like in Lush's American Cream conditioner. not like as in thanksgiving stuffing)

 

on skin: still the minty-lavender with a sage kick, and now with the of mango creeping on top of everything.

 

i had hoped that this would be more red musk and less mango/lavender but ah, well. time for this to go live with someone else anyway.

 

 

edit:

a year and a few days later, i got the chance to sniff this on someone else, from the same bottle i had before.

and wow! on the right person this blend is OMGtehSex0rs.

like Dungeon, Smut & Urd had a fling with the Dead Man's Hand. all red musk, something that could be leather, and purple silk.

on me? still lavender-mint-mango.

Edited January 30, 2010 by TrailerTrashPrincess

[Limelight]

If this ever makes a comeback or if I find some, I'll definitely spring for it. This isn't fruity for me. The sage, amber and musk are the dominant flavors here, although I can tell the fruit is sweetening things up a bit. There's also something "dirty" here, and I believe this is the herbal edge. This makes me think of an international market store with a unique amalgam of scents. You find excuses to stay so you can keep breathing the aroma. I like!

[benthic]

In the imp: holy crap, this is strong. I thought the imp had leaked, because as soon as I opened the package (which contained like, 10 imps) I could smell this blend. But I can find no signs of the imp having leaked. It's not wet or greasy and the label isn't saturated. All the same, I can smell the closed imp itself from two feet away--wow. It smells like lavender and . . . spice? I swear I'm getting lavender and cinnamon.

 

Wet on my hand: the lavender immediately vanishes, bizarrely. All I can smell fresh is the sage. I'm not even getting amber yet, and I'm pretty sensitive to the smell of amber. I can tell that this is going to get really complex as it dries, though, because it keeps shifting a little--I can sense the musk behind the sage.

 

Drying: The sage is getting tempered by a sweetness I can't really place; it's not lavender. Oh, I guess that'd be the mango! It's not foody at all or even strongly fruity, just . . . sweet. Mango plus sage sounds like a sharp combination, but it's not at all, probably because the amber and musk are hanging out in the background to soften it up without really screaming "amber and musk"! As for the lavender, it's very subtle. It's there, but it's almost like I can get it in the back of my throat when I sniff my hand rather than me actually being able to smell it. I'm getting the feeling I get when I smell lavender without actually smelling lavender, which is strange, but not in a bad way.

 

It looks like this is how it's going to stay, with the lavender slowly peeping out a little more over time. Sage and some lavender tempered with mango-sweetness and smoothed out by very subtle amber and musk. I'm surprised that on my skin the blend is very understated, as opposed to how it smells in the imp. It's not disappearing, but it's close to the skin like a red haze.

 

I like the smell of this quite a bit, but I don't think it's me; I tend not to go for herbal blends (or for lavender, tbh). I will probably pass it on to someone who will give it some more love. I enjoy the scent quite a lot but can't imagine when I would wear it. I'm so glad I got to try it!

 

 

ETA I was wrong; after a while dry on my skin, the sage fades quite a lot, and now it's a lot more mango than it was. It's more of a dry, spicy fruit smell than a fresh fruit smell. Like dried mangoes being displayed alongside bundles of dried sage and lavender for cooking. The previous reviewer mentioned that it reminds her of an international market, and I can see exactly what she means.

Edited April 3, 2010 by benthic

[Greensleeves]

In the bottle: Dark orange oil. Sweet fruit and incense.

 

Wet: Incense, sweet fruit (is this the mango) and lavender.

 

Dry: Incense, deep fruity richness and a hint of floral lavender.

 

After a few minutes: Rich juicy fruit, smoky incense, and a faint hint of herbal floral.

 

After first hour: Fruit and incense, soft herbal flowers, and a richness that must be the musk. The musk is not commercial or offensive, it just seems to harmonize with the other ingredients and hold the blend together.

 

After two and a half hours: This is starting to smell a lot like Licwiglunga, the incense and the fruit are really prominent.

 

After 5 hours: Very faint incense and fruit.

Final verdict: Pretty, but I'm not in love.

[sunshinedaisybliss]

I think that this oil was probably more 'pulsating and throbbing' in its younger years, but I didn't test it back then - I just received a testable decant of it today and it's now much more soft and creamy than I was expecting from reading the description.. it actually reminds me of Glowing Vulva - although they don't really smell alike, they both have that fleshy/creamy/sex thing going on. I couldn't pick up lavender in there, but definitely the purple sage and mango. It also reminds me of Shango (the wet fruitiness aspect, and the 'red' particularly), but Corazon sits at a much a higher level of complexity and richness. And this is one of the nicer red musks I've come across - very smooth and skin-hugging.

 

Thank you to lbfury3 for the tester of this old lovely!

[Vega]

Sniffed: Smooth, rich and red, but also limpid and resonant, almost juicy in its clarity.

 

On skin: What strikes me most about Corazon is how red it is, and how clear it is. This must be the red musk/amber and mango playing together to make this deep yet full-bodied, liquid-clear, glowing, smooth (the way fruity blends are smooth) scent. However, the amber isn't dusty/powdery like I know it to be, and red musk is either very discreet, or it's not the red musk in Scherezade, Mme. Moriarty et al, that I'm familiar with. There is a faint whiff of herbals from the sage and lavender, but overall Corazon is truly more than the sum of its individual notes. It is gently glowing and comforting, simple yet deeply profound despite (or because of?) this simplicity. It really does remind me of a pulsing heart and its cavernous chambers, through which pure, living blood flows. Colour impression is a liquid, dark crimson with a gently glowing, pulsing centre.

 

Verdict: I'm so glad I have a full decant of this rare blend, because it's a scent of real beauty, a wonderful example of BPAL artistry and how a simple scent can be so evocative and profound. A similar scent is Copper Phoenix -- it's a bit lighter, fruitier and creamier, but methinks it'd make a passable dupe. Lovers of Corazon should check out Copper Phoenix. In my case, I'm definitely not letting my decant go.

[loubric]

Musk scents always make me wary but I decided to try this anyway.... in the imp it's warm red and sweet, not much muskiness, maybe just a touch?

The dry down ... on me it's a warm, sweet and "old" smell (think leather clad libraries or a museum.) The sweetness of the lavender, sage and mango hide mostly all of the musk and amber making this a very green and sweet scent despite still being warm.

 

Really lovely, so glad I tried it

Edited December 4, 2013 by Lilly

[LizziesLuck]

I love red musk, so I am really excited to try this!

 

Wet: Fruity red musk with a bit of herbs. Interesting! It's getting a bit soapy though.

 

 

Dry: Wow. This is truly terrible on me. Lol. Something just does not agree with me, and that makes me sad, because it's a beautiful cobalt bottle, with lovely label art, and I just wanted to adore it, but it smells more like salad on me than anything. So, ya. Swap. *sad panda*.

[Cali]

a dark, fiery rage. This reminds me a little of Crimson, but a softer, less malevolent version. It's got that silver lining of softness in the amber, and the lavender and sage turning this slightly herbal on me. I don't hate this, but I don't know what to think of it!