Debauchery

[zankoku_zen]

A sinful, licentious scent: self-indulgent and luxurious. Mingled heady civet and red Egyptian musk, thickened with opium.

You know, I'm not sure I'll ever find a blend with civet in it that smells right. This makes me think of a musky cat. It smells good. But it's still a musky cat.

It does have a clear 'crystaline' note to it. But yeah, I still think cats.

But hey, if I were a cat, I totally would wear this when I'm out on the prowl.

[kjirstiben]

Sigh. I did so want to be one of those cool people who enjoys one of the more controversial notes...

 

Upon opening the imp, my immediate reaction was, "OK, yeah, I see why people object to civet." It really did smell like some sort of objectionable bodily fluid... So with a very light touch I applied it, just to see if it did some magic on my skin.

 

On my skin, it was funny. Mothbally? Plasticky? Very animalistic--I was quickly glad that I barely applied it.

 

After a while, it ended up smelling like either halitosis or perhaps the way that a house smells when old people have lived in it for decades without doing too much cleaning or opening the windows. Very stale. Very musty. Yuck.

 

Though, after hours and hours, I smelled it (the scent was mostly gone), and I got a faded aftereffect of the musk. It smelled almost like honey... actually very nice!

[crebbsgirl]

This is the first blend I've tried with the civet note and I think I have the skin chemistry that doesn't agree with it. Initially this is a thick and heady perfume. Very much all about the opium note and the red musk. As the blend dries and settles, there's a musk underneath that's turning a little... rank. I think it's the civet note. Yup, this one is off to swaps.

[rayvn1]

I'm not sure why, but I'm in the camp that really likes the civet. Gives things an extra kick in the junk so to speak. This one does go on reeeeally strong, but a wee bit later I'm just rolling in a cloud of red musk with a little something extra. Hm...rolling...maybe it is the kitty in it

[tajana]

I put this on without looking up the notes because I mixed this up with Depraved in my head, which apricot and patchouli. I was taken aback when I put it on. I immediately knew there was none of my beloved patchouli in here. Debauchery smells like a stinky animal enclosure and I recognize the note from Wolfsbane. The animalistic odor blends about evenly with opium, a scent I've learned that I'm not particularly fond of. Still, the opium keeps the civet in check and I'm able to wait and see what happens when it dries down. Some sweet musk pokes out and gets stronger as time goes on, but it's not enough to save the stale, musty feel of this... like a crazy cat lady's dismal lair. I am guessing this is definitely a skin chemistry thing- Debauchery is definitely one to try if you're curious to see whether or not civet works on you.

[lishal]

This was the first BPAL scent I tried. I chose it because it had the strongest throw of the imps I have and it had a great name. In the bottle, I could detect the opium and smoke right away. It definitely conjures up images of a really smokey opium den. I actually liked the smoke scent so I dabbed a little on my wrists and after a few minutes the smoke and opium started to clear and something else came up.

 

Thankfully, I didn't get a pee or poopy smell but the civet does not like my chemistry because I started to realize I smelled like stale bandaids. It's not a horrifying scent on me but it's definitely not what I have in mind when I think sinful. Which leads me to wonder what would happen if I aged it and a part of me is afraid that if I do, I might get the bodily fluid scents instead. I'll probably just be swapping it. This just isn't for me.

[lookingglass]

Ooooh, NAST-AY! Love this one...really! It reminds me a bit of Darkness (must be the opium) and Sin (dark, smokey, kind of spicy) but with the dirty, dirty, sweet hot sex scent of civit. It makes me smile when it dies out sweet and powdery. The man and I both wear it.

Edited June 1, 2009 by lookingglass

[wonderfinch]

I hated the blend of civet and florals in this scent-- even though it's not one of the notes, the combination smells exactly like patchouli when I put it on. And while patchouli isn't a scent that I necessarily hate, but it is a scent that I don't really care for on myself. This scent isn't for me at all.

[aquazoo]

I like the opium! This is a mix of spiciness. It's interesting, maybe not the greatest on me, though.

[KassiK]

A musky and sensual womanly scent. A little goes a long way. Middle Eastern spices (the musk, I presume) blend well with the opium while the civet gives it a warm, almost cinnamon-like scent to it. However, it does this without being foody at all.

 

Senual, sexy, a bit haughty, and again, very womanly. It's not something you're going to want to bathe in, I'd imagine, as it's a very strong scent. But it is sensual and sexy enough for me to keep the Imp, at least. I don't think I'm going to get a big bottle because so little goes so far that I'm thinking that this imp could last me for a very long time. I'm thinking about using some unscented massage oil and mixing it with a few drops of this for a watered-down scent without losing the purity of it.

[obsidienne]

Ouch! Opium overload plus musky animal stink and something salty-sour. Get thee away from me!

Edited July 4, 2009 by obsidienne

[cinderfallen]

LOL, I was expecting rankness from some of these reviews and I was kind of looking forward to being grossed out, which didn't really happen. The oil smells pleasant to me, actually, but that may be because I'm congested? In the vial, the musk isn't so much animal but sleep-warmed skin.

 

Wet, I get the opium and can discern the red musk, as well as the civet note beginning to come together.

 

On drydown, Debauchery smells mostly like Scheherezade carried by a very rich and robust musk (civet, probably) that doesn't so much announce itself as just give the red musk/spices a lot of body. Sort of like that "absence" of scent when you try and smell your own skin? But that indefineable warmth/presence? That's the kind of invisible musk that elevates the rest of the blend and creates a radius of warmth. There's some kind of spice as a top note that's an amped version of the kind in Scherezade, but I'm not too familiar with those. Something like...saffron/nutmeg with a bite like cinammon?

 

This smells like the perfume version of Scherezade, actually, which I think smells more like an old bookstore's New Age incense, louder and more wanting to be noticed as a hippy. Debauchery smells like something you'd wear if you want a slight opium-tinged, smoky oriental-spiced musk perfume.

 

I may change my mind when I finally get back the full use of my sinuses, however.

Edited April 16, 2009 by cinderfallen

[melrose]

In imp and on, wet: Oooh, debauch me, Baby!

 

Drydown: It turns way too sweet - WTF? I would never expect the listed components to turn sweet. Curses.

[ImperatrixMundi]

This is my first civet scent and I cant pick it out in all the opium haze. Red Egyptian musk sounded fascinating too but is lost to me as well. I am floating in soapy, smoky, sweet, swirling opium poppy with a red background. But it is just too much opium, I suspect that is one of the notes I really amp up and it becomes so soapy.

[angelicruin]

This one starts out smoky on my skin, but quickly turns to soap. This one goes to the swap pile.

[heathercaley]

wet, this has that scent that you get when you walk into a petting zoo, but sweetened up a bit. I love it so far. It's earthy, and spicy!

 

 

As it dries down , the animals leave the petting zoo, but the underlying essence of petting zoo is still wafting around. This is probably what a traveling gyspy circus would smell like. Earthy, laden with spices, and a haze of incensey smoke.

 

Dry, it's not much different from the dry down.

 

I like it a lot!!!

 

 

 

[donnatron]

Imp: Red musk and civet.

 

Wet: ARRRRRGH! Red musk and opium are ingredients that work gloriously for me SEPARATELY!! But together? It's repulsive. I can't even really explain what the two combined on my skin smell like but this is the same heartbreakingly disgusting scent I got from Chrysanthemum Moon.

 

Dry: Gross gross gross. I think I've figured it out: Red musk and opium combine on my skin to smell like propane. SRSLY. That sort of propane gas scent you get while barbequing or refilling the tank or whatever. Nasty. But they combine to smell like propane and body odour. It's really, really unpleasant and so unfortunate. Especially since as noted, both work well on my skin individually and I can actually wear and enjoy civet with no issues.

 

Throw: Miles and miles of propane.

 

Overall: If I ever decide to seduce Hank Hill I know what I'll be wearing.

[Shadowdawn]

In the imp: OH MY GOD POWERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!! And insanely dark (i'm thinking this is the scent of Voldemort on a good day... then again, everyone could smell him comming lol)

 

On the skin: It suffocates me... i think of dark black whisps of sentinent fog twisting around my neck until i want to puke...

 

After: There was no after... i had to run and wash it off immediately .

 

Overall: Not the thing for me!

 

 

[Monster]

In the imp this smells rich and animalistic...with a strange plastic note. Hmmm...

 

On my skin this is STRONG, very heady, dark, musky and animalistic. I can't get past the strange plastic note I'm smelling. So strange. I bet it's the civet. I remember smelling something similar to this at my Grandmothers house when I was a kid. Something in her bathroom along her vanity.

 

This dries into a powdery classic smelling perfume on my skin mixed with that weeeiirrdd plastic/animal note. This is (I think) the first BPAL perfume I've sniffed with civet in it. I'll have to do a bit more exploring with that note to see if it's the culprit here but, I think it is.

 

Oh well. Off to swaps!

[Aldercy]

Hm, cherry? Somehow the red musk note is sweeter than usual and reminding me of the cherry/red musk combination in Kabuki. All under a mad haze of opium smoke. I have never tried anything with civet before, but there's nothing in here that jumps out at me as "oh, that's what civet smells like." Other than lending the blend an extra jolt of sin, I'm not really sure if I can pick it out.

 

Very aggressive, this one.

 

 

[Leopard403]

Oh bad bad bad. The lab frimped this my way, and otherwise I wouldn't have tried it because I was terrified by the idea of civet and musk and opium altogether. Sure enough: Notes of coughing and death. Way too heady and serious.

[ouch!]

My chemistry likes Civet, unfortunately I don't think I like it myself. This perfume is Czernobog Pour Femme!

 

Czernobog's opening notes were green notes and civet. This is opium & civet. It's bearable at first but as it dries the Civet just get's too... weird. How can you describe this strange alien smell.

 

It smells like carpet.

 

Done!

[patina]

This is a zoo. Yep. Exactly the smell of the bottom of a cage. I'm almost afraid to apply this, but when I do, I get zoo, with the occasional whiff of cherries.

 

I've tried a blend with civet before (Hi, Black Annis), but I didn't get a fecal scent from it. On me, this is worse than Satyr, (which at least had lovely ginger and mud notes.)

 

Edit: Apparently this is an acquired taste. On trying it again, two years later I actually like it. The opium is smooth and black and sheer and the musk is very red. It still smells feral, but not actually horrible. I'm not about to slather this (the throw's too strong and I'm afraid other people won't like it) but it's really starting to smell good to me.

Edited July 16, 2011 by patina

[KesHiro]

This is a zoo. Yep. Exactly the smell of the bottom of a cage.

 

Oh God, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought "animal cage" when I first smelled this.

 

Frimp in one of my orders.

 

Red musk and opium usually work on me but I was leery of the civet. Sadly, I was right. In the vial, this has a strong animal musk odor. I was hoping that the other two notes would beat it into submission once I had it one, but it instead started turning into an animal cage. I had to abort the scent test after ten minutes because it went fecal and kept getting stronger.

 

An interesting concept and it sounds as though it would be amazing on the right skin chemistry, but I'm afraid Debauchery and I do not play well together.

[Phantasmagoria]

This smells familiar. It's like Pele in this regard - I don't know where or when I came across this scent. Hopefully it'll come to me.

 

Speaking of Pele, Debauchery smells just like it, only more forceful. It's like Pele's older, sexier sister.

 

I normally don't like earthy scents at all, but I think I love this scent! I might get a 5mL of it.