Gomorrah

[MissMorbus]

Gomorrah

One of the Biblical Cities on the Plain, destroyed by God with fire and brimstone because of its people’s pride, prosperous ease, deceit, hedonism and indolence, and their callous, uncharitable hearts. A gritty, sordid and languid scent: ripe fig, date and currant with black herbs.

 

In bottle: This has a dark gritty feel to it. Close to dirt, but not quite. It has a slightly sweet scent to it, which I assume is the fig. It almost has a cocoa scent to it.

 

On skin: This stays very dark and gritty. I can definately pick up a kind of planty feel to it, but I can also smell something sort of like fruit. It also has a kind of burnt herb smell to it. It smells kind of dry and dusty too. Its very deep and dark, I just don't quite know how to describe it.

 

I really like this scent. It's very unique and interesting. I am glad I have a bottle of it. Its not an everyday scent for me, but I think it will get a lot of wear.

 

Rating: 5 of 5

 

*edit*

6/19/06

 

This has really grown on me. I love it, and find that I am reaching for it more and more often. This will definately be a 10 ml.

Edited June 19, 2006 by MissMorbus

[elphaba]

I love this scent. but it doesn't smell anything like the description to me. Date? Maybe. Fig? Not getting it. Currant? Not as near as I can tell. Black herbs? I'm getting more of a spiciness. I would swear there's clove in here. Whatever it is, my only complaints are that the throw is fairly light and it fades quite quickly. Those are minor, though. This is decidedly a keeper.

[Caltha]

Gomorrah

Gomorrah is sort of generic on me: strong, warm, woody and oriental with a herbal bitterness to it. As it dries the candy apricot comes out and it's sort of cosy.

 

...only there is no apricot so it has to be candy currant or candy fig or candy date even.

Edited March 28, 2006 by Caltha

[moon_lemming]

I have absolutely no idea why, but I get nothing but black licorice and wood from Gomorrah. Wet, it's all black licorice, and dry it's wood dipped in licorice. Even after reading the description, that's all I get. I can kind of pick out the currant, but it's not strong enough to overcome the wood. Weird.

[jarvenpa]

This was a frimp from the ever generous and insightful lab...

 

Didn't check what was in it before slathering it on wrists last night. Just read other reviews now, and am once more amazed at my strange nose.

 

For me, Gomorrah started out as cedar and sandalwood, something very incensey/woody. Very strong, and rather nice (I like sandalwood a lot, I am finding--but I see no note that there is sandalwood in this; okay, I must like imaginary sandalwood).

 

Then lots of dark sweetness. The image I get is of a very experienced woman wrapped in furs, with dark kid gloves, long ones, on her delicate but strong hands. Were she to take off her gloves, you would see that her nails are painted a deep crimson, and they are long.

 

Warmth, and a hell of a lot of self confidence. This scent is a very demanding scent, and I am not really certain I have quite the moxie to pull it off. But I'd like to.

 

It is very perfumey, in the oriental, lasting, seductive sort of class. For someone with a lot of sexual self confidence, this would be an excellent scent. I'm going to try it again in a few days and contemplate the challenge.

[malanna]

Gomorrah starts out being pretty woody, like a dry sort of wood, with a hint of currant. Fortunately, the wood goes away a bit over time, and the fig come out, but it's mostly date, currant (adds a bit of tang), and black herbs. It's sort of odd, the wood transforms into its essence, which sort of reminds me of vetiver. It's not vetiver, but it has that sort of feel. It's an interesting scent.

[HennaFairy]

bottle:

light musk and herbal/fruity

 

wet:

same, I think I can smell the fig/date…

 

dry:

no musk anymore, dark fruity (the fig/date), with herbs. Interesting… not sure what I think yet! It's unique - I actually think I like the fruits in it better than the herbs, which do come across as a little like musk…

 

overall:

very different, I like, but don't love it. We'll see how much use the imp gets!

 

rating: 6/10

[neuilly]

In the bottle: Something very woodsy about this scent. I suppose it may be date/fig since I'n not really sure what that smells like. It actually smells similar to the wood chips that I used in the bottom of my guinea pig cage as a child.

 

Wet: Exactly the same as in the bottle. Maybe the tiniest hint of fruit every now and then but it disappears to quickly for me to tell.

 

Dry: The fruit scent is a wee bit stronger but the wood chip smell is still dominant.

 

 

Not my sort of scent at all...straight to swaps!

[septima_pica]

Ahhh. I like this. I thought I might.

 

I really like the Lab's fig note, but it's always been too foody in the blends I've tried. Here, the (I suppose) "herbs" dry it up enough that I don't smell like dessert, and the fruits are still rich and black and stickylike they should be. It's a *languid* scent -- hot and lazy-eyed and dead sexy, delicious but not really foody, with very little throw so you'd have to smell it up close. Gorgeous.

 

I just don't know if I have the balls to pull this scent off, though. It might be the wrong sort of sexy for me. I'll just have to see how much I end up wearing it, now that I finally have a wearable dark-fruits scent.

[karengypsy]

In the vial: Dates, figs, spices

 

On me: This one is pretty true to the vial. The dates amp up a bit, as do the spices. However, it smells a lot like some other scents I've tried and just isn't something I think I'd wear too often.

 

Verdict: Off to the swap/sale pile.

 

Rating: 3/5

[edenssixthday]

Gomorrah is not my favorite BPAL, to say the least. The scent actually reminds me a lot of my travels through parts of Israel that were lush and fertile and bursting with figs and dates. The scents that dominate on my skin are the sweet meat of the date palm resting on a bed of heavy, black herbs. This smells like something I’d love to snack on during a warm Middle Eastern afternoon, but not something I want to wear on my skin. It doesn’t have much throw and it doesn’t last very long. I’ll be passing it on to someone who will like it better than I. But it does have a great name, doesn’t it? Part of me wants to wear it to church in hopes that someone will ask what I’m wearing.

[portalkat]

I could swear that this smelled completely different on me when I tried it last night. Last night it smelled sweeter and more perfumey. This morning the first thing that I can smell is herbs and a wood note. As it dries, I can start to smell the fruits coming through, they combine as one on my skin. I don't smell the fig by itself as I do on other blends with fig, if anything, I can smell the date and currant stronger. Later, I barely smell that wood note that I did when it was wet, now it is all herbs and fruit combining beautifully. Hmmm, every once in awhile, I can smell something sweet and heady popping up, maybe amber...................oh, well, whatever I'm smelling, it's gorgeous. This is going on my list of bottles to buy.

[juniperus]

Bottle: incense-y herbiness and fig, glorious fig.

Wet: Dates, figs, and dark, so dark, underneath. Wonderful!

Dry: I can identify the currant, but it's neither cloyingly sweet nor amping oddly...so I'm Very Pleased.

Later: I really like this, there is dark fruit that aren't food-y, just luscious and deep. The darkness is rounded and subtle..creeping up on me like the reaching shadow at dusk. Many of the darker blends have vetiver, which usually hates me with passion, so I'm really enjoying this.

[opaleyes]

mmm pencil shavings. Pass!

[Tess]

Is it wrong that I really want a scent called Sodom? But this has fig, date and currant notes, all of which I love. This has so much potential for me!

 

In the vial - Holy wow fig. I'm getting some of that herb and a touch of patchouli, too.

 

Wet - This is warming on my skin, but in a good way, and I'm picking up a touch of tobbacco in it, too.

 

Drying - This is a whole lot richer and darker than I originally thought. It's mixing with my natural skin scent in the most unusual ways, getting a touch of a salt scent from it.

 

Dry (45 minutes) - This is like a fig single note on me. All fig, all the time.

 

Overall - Well, it wasn't as interesting as I was hoping, although it may work really well with layering. Regardless, I just don't like it enough to keep it around.

[Eros]

Out of the imp, generic herbal BPAL. On skin, SO quickly turns into one of the most wonderful things to ever hit my nose~~There's definite "grittiness" to it but not like the dirt in say, Zombi. My chemistry tends to amp fig(LOVE fig!), it doesn't here. While the fig is there, it doesn't overwhelm. The date and currant give it a subtle but perfect touch of sweetness.

This is a ripe, womanly scent. Dark, decadent, and yes, languid.

Beautiful!!!

[fiddledragon]

I had expected this to be cloyingly sweet with the fig/date combination, so I'm glad I got to try this in the GC Circle Swap.

 

Wet, it's an almost overripe sweet fruit, which is somehow not actually unpleasantly sweet, but not really me.

 

Dry, however, it's the smell of fig and date, with most of the actual sweetness gone, some wonderful dry spices, and an anise touch in there somewhere. This is a wonderfully exotic, languid scent, and is really the first "sexual/sensual" one actually work on me. So much love! That goes on the list of newfound loves to get an imp of in my next order. But it's one of those that I have to be careful where I wear it in case someone asks me what it is!

 

And yeah, I kind of want one called Sodom.

[sophia_helix]

This was really different scent for me. "Gritty and sordid" just about nails it. I smelled the dates, maybe the fig, but mostly a really dark, bitter scent. My husband kind of liked it, but it just didn't smell like "me" -- I'm much more for brighter, sweeter, cleaner scents than this. But I can see how well it would work on a more sensual woman than me.

[mirutai]

In the imp: Whaaa...? Dark chocolate? Fruity dark chocolate? I guess this is what fig smells like!

 

Wet: Fig. Figgyfiggyfiggy.

 

Dry: Weird - the intense chocolate/fig scent has died down, softening out to a lovely sweet, warm, brown scent.

 

Not an everyday scent, and not entirely "me"... but surprisingly pleasant!

[Dinerdulcinea]

In imp: I smell pepper...and some sweetness, but it is scary and I want to recoil away from it!

 

several hours later when I get the courage to actually TRY it...

 

on wet:

anise, a deep black scent (fig?) and maybe currant. (doesn't smell at all like the imp!) VERY interesting!!!

 

Dry: It DOES smell gritty! Like crushed rocks and mineral-laden sweat. I don't think I like it on me, but it is gritty all right! I can still smell anise. After a bit, I get a certain "old lady perfume" quality under it all. A few co-workers have wrinkled their noses at me, so off I go to try and wash it off.

 

Swaperoonie!

[KieLocke]

It started out mildly sweet and fruity then after about 10 minutes it became pure fig. It's very sharp and sweet. I loved the fig in Eden but as a stand alone fig may be too much. Don't think I'll be wearing this again.

[mountainwitch]

Herby and sharp at first; I definitely get a similar note to Intrigue and Khajuraho. This softens into something warm, a little mysterious, undeniably exotic. I don't always like fig scents--Eden in particular turned into pure Fig Newtons on me--but this one is an entirely different matter.

[wanderlustlover]

This scent was slightly acrid in the bottle, but when it went on the my skin it reminded me of a haunted place. The soft, cold, left alone places. The sweetness of something left overly ripe in the sun, but starting to go already as well. The problem with this scent is that it really doesn't strike any cords with me. Its more faint than anything else, without being to sweet or too spicy or too warm or to neutral. It just really doesn't move me in any direction at all.

[Avery]

I love this. After trying Dyptique's Philosykos (but ultimately having to give said rollerball away after extremely negative reviews from my boyfriend *every* tme I wore it ) I knew that I loved fig scents and wanted to try all of BPAL's because I was sure they have something that I like and doesn't make my boyfriend's nose wrinkle up. I went for Eden and Strangler Fig with too sweet results (although... my chemistry amps sweet... SF was very much like my beloved philoskyos in the first few seconds), I finally got my hands on an imp of Gomorrah. And I may end up having to get a 5ml, I love it!

 

The fig present is completely different from that in either Eden or SF, and is more earthy to my nose, maybe it's the black herbs or the compliment of date and current (neither of which I have tried in other perfumes yet, but I like!). Regardless, this is what I would have imagined more for SF because it feels earthy and gritty, it's got an edge, but an underlying sweetness which lures you in and you're ultimately ruined by... but haha, I guess that's a perfect description for the city in question. It stays deep and mellowly sweet on my skin without smelling too fruity, and unlike the previous reviewer I don't pick up any scent of ruins or decay. It conjures up a deep reddish amber color in my mind's eye, and feels like 'me'. Love it.

 

ETA: I love this more and more as I wear it. I slathered it before I went to sleep last night, and my utter enjoyment as the scent just got better and better on my skin led me to bid on a 5ml (bad me!), which I won. As my enthusiasm for this scent grows I was reading through the reviews more and more and was amused by how many people either described this scent as 'me' or 'not me', myself included. Humm, I wonder if that speaks to the 'naughty' or 'nice' bpal'ers?? Heh. Jinx!!

Edited September 21, 2006 by Avery

[supremegoddessofall]

Definitely smell the fruits. A very rich scent, with a bit of some anise in the undertones. The anise means it's not one of my favorites though.

 

It evolved into much less anise-y, more fig and currant. I can work with this.

 

Score: 3 out of 5