Allegory

[selkielass]

A sinuous, vibrant scent, striking in its boldness and complexity. Juniper and white cedarwood entwined with orange and raw civet.

All right- this one is taking me some courage to try since I am allergic to juniper and cedar, but I am off to shower soon, so here goes.

In the bottle; very fresh and resinous. This reminds of the oils that my mother used to mix with her china paints somehow. I like it.

Wet (On my forearm.) sharp resins with a faint dusty undertone. The orange has faded, leaving me with a smell that reminds me of varnish and freshly cut wood. The civet is hiding completely, unless it is that dusty undertone, which pleased me because Czernobog turned into bad breath on me, and I blamed the Civet. Peraps this kitty is better trained, or maybe the cedar shavings in his litterbox are just covering over his latest leavings.


As it dries down it becomes more balanced, but the piney evergreen resins still dominate- possibly because I am oversensitive to them. It does smell sweeter now and I think if the dominant notes had fewer negative associations for me I would really like it! As it is, this fragrance makes me vaguely uneasy, like a very attractive stranger you dont quite trust.

ETA- on further drydown the Civet has come out and is turning to that bad breath odor that ruined Czernobog for me. The other notes have balanced wonderfully, but as the cedar has toned down the foulness of the civet has emerged subtley.
This sexy stranger needs to brush his teeth. Edited December 14, 2006 by Shollin

[fiddledragon]

I was hoping to try more civet blends, and was frimped this! Whee! :-)

 

Anyway...on me, the juniper and cedar are at first quite dominant, not letting the civet or orange come out. Once it dries, the civet peeks out a little bit, and there's maybe a dab of sweet from the orange, but it's mostly woodsy. It's a very nice winter scent.

[hadaverde]

In the vial, the juniper and cedar are most prominent.

 

Upon application, the woody notes remain most apparent, though a touch of civet comes through.

 

This blend evokes memories of playing in the damp woods of the Pacific Northwest as a child. It strikes me as very comforting.

 

After some time, the civet note moves ahead of the juniper and cedar. The woody notes remain, but they are overshadowed by a warm, orangey-brown scent like that of fallen leaves beginning to meld with the forest floor.

[Sealgair]

Got this imp through the Civet Evangelism Sniffing Circle via SueDonym

 

in imp: cedar is strong at first, but it's not a dry "pencil shavings" cedar, it's a green cedar... then juniper comes forward, bringing a furry musk with it. This may actually be too 'green' of a scent for me, but we'll see.

on wet: 5:45 - the juniper isn't as prominent, leaving the cedar & furry musk (civet, dur) to dance together.

drydown: 5:50 - the musk has faded, letting cedar have the forefront... this is an interesting triangle of scent, with cedar as the point and juniper-civet as the base... this has gotten much warmer and less spring green, now it's shadowed green. heh. How does one go about describing a sense?

6:05 - this is now cedar & dirty musk with a touch of juniper in the background... barely green at all now, so I'd guess it was the juniper making me think "green"... I like this, but it's not a 'me' scent, you know? I only wish my guy could wear scents. This would be great on a guy... just not mine.

6:11 - there's a sweetness and a powderyness coming out now, that I just can't explain. Almost... fruit, but I'm not sure what kind. I'm getting an image of a nightmare-beast (off the clock, it's daytime) in the forest, with slaver and juice running down his chin.

6:30 - powdery musky juice over cedar? huh. I like this, but not enough to chase after a HTF decant.

6:45 - everything's almost blended together to be cedar in the main, a powdery musk over that, and a touch of sweetness. I'm out in the barn playing with the dog when I smell tarts being baked. And now I'm amused by the fact that I'm using a lot of allegory to describe this scent.

 

ETA: 7:30 - and the fruit has gone away, leaving only the woody powdery musk. nice.

Edited November 11, 2007 by Sealgair

[Inanna9]

via the Civet Evangelism sniffing circle.

 

In the imp I got a strong hit of cedar and I was positive that this would be a disaster on me. BPAL's cedar and I don't get along. But this is really pretty and the woody note does what it was intended to do and evokes parchment to me, and a dim dusty study.

 

I'm having trouble differentiating between the cedar and the juniper as this goes on, but that's probably my skin trying to turn the cedar into pencil shavings. The cedar holds strong and true, but drowns out everything else in the process - I'm not getting any orange either, only a musky, dusty cedar. It's really quite delicate and lovely though. I'm surprised how much I like this.

[Lycanthrope]

I received a generous sample of this with my latest eBay shenanigans. It smells very cedary, rich, earthy from the imp. Similar dark junipery-ness of blends like Nocnitsa, Omen, Black Forest. On, it has that same piney, sappy snap, but then here comes that sweet, sort of almost fetid (in the good way - like how tuberose and neroli smell almost rotten sweet... I'm not making sense...) civet note, and it rises up and bypasses the woods, and now it's all civet all the time on my skin.

 

I have to be honest, this does not meld well with my skin chemistry, although I really love about a few minutes after application when I can still smell the dry woodsiness from the cedar and other woods. The drydown is gummy, sticky, resinous, civetty, and unlike in other civet blends like Morella, there is not a balance here for my chemistry, and it's too much. It's a dark, deep, sweet musk.

 

I do extend a hearty 'thank you!' to my generous frimper for letting me have a go at a blend that was d/c'ed way before I got into this smelly situation, I'm glad though I don't have to seek out a hard to find bottle, however.

[CrazyPretzel]

Before looking at the description I thought there was some sort of fruit in here, though I couldn't tell it was orange - on the whole it's a dry scent rather than a juicy one though. At first the civet is quite powerful and boldly sexual; with time the scent softens and turns more woodsy. The cedar is gentle and doesn't give off that pencil-shavings vibe. Quite a nice blend really; sad that this has been DC'd!

[cranberry]

Mmm, juniper. Cedar. This is lovely! It reminds me a bit of Golden Priaprus. It has a sweetness to it. As it dries, there’s something there behind the wood. At first I thought that it was something a bit yeasty but I think it’s a combination of the orange and civet.

 

It’s been on for a while now. It dried to a very soft, slightly powdery, sweet, musky scent. It’s absolutely lovely. I’m thrilled I got to try this scent. Thanks SueDonym and the Civet Lovers Sniffing Circle!

[zankoku_zen]

Holy crap. This is CEDAR and a hint of civet. It's a very potent combo. Like manly pencil shavings.

 

And yeah, in this case pencil is totally a euphemism.

[JennyGardener]

Civet, hot and dry

like the baking fur of a desert cat in its den,

dessicated scats lying around,

very animal this smell is,

lion cage in summer,

aggressive,

but it's too hot to do anything about it.

[rayvn1]

I was very excited to try the civet in this blend! It's a tricky one. I don't really get wood but rather dry herbs and barely any orange. The musky civet is also on board. It finally dries several hours later to orange and musk, but I'm not sure I can wait until it does