Sacred Whore of Babylon

[hkhm]

An ancient formula that inspires unrepentant decadence, lechery and debauch.

imp: gardenia.

wet: this is spicy gardenia with a light hint of jasmine. pretty if very, very strong.

dry: this dries to a gardenia single note. i like gardenia okay but this is a blast of gardenia from the elemental plane of gardenia. an imp will be enough.

[eyeska]

Gardenia obviously hates my skin with a flaming passion - it's like a mix of banana scratch-and-sniff stickers, dank vegetation and something caustic. After ten minutes of hoping it would settle into the scent that so many people rave about, I had to give it up and wash it off.

 

OH THANK GOODNESS.

 

I was sitting on my couch, thinking, "Banana. BURNING banana. With cinnamon." I was also thinking, "nobody's going to believe this . . ." because I've read almost nothing but good press about Sacred Whore of Babylon. I am in fact relieved that the evil burning bananas are not unique to me, and that I can be on the lookout for gardenia and not expect lots from scents with it in.

 

After 20 minutes or so, it seems to have turned to evil burning bananas, cinnamon, and unsweetened black liquorice. Bad skin chemistry!

Edited June 26, 2008 by Eyeska

[Raqassah]

Initial impression/Wet: Rich heady florals. Honeyscucle/gardenia – something white?

Dry down: Light fresh florals with a touch of sexy naughtyness.

Final thoughts: Very nice.

[jiggahava]

I don't feel very much like a whore. I feel like a sexy lady that smells like spicy gardenia. Gardenia and spiced cinnamon, specifically. This is a very nice scent! Hours later, my inner wrists smell the same, but my inner elbows smell like sea salt. Like I've just been back from the beach. very interesting. I'm gonna keep the imp, but I'm waffling over whether I need a bottle or not. Moderate throw and lonnnnnng wearlength.

[stillalive]

All I can smell is florals and maybe a little incense... not bad, but not really my thing. Probably just my body chemistry and nose, but even wet and in the bottle all I could get was florals.

[lilirose]

In the imp: light musky floral

 

On skin, wet: whoa jasmine!

 

On skin, dry: mostly jasmine with something dark and dusty in the background, which I can’t identify because my nose is screaming JASMINE!!!

 

I’m not a fan of jasmine, unfortunately. To me it smells dark and dirty-unwashed-musky, not sweet or floral. I’m going to have to pass on this one.

[brsis]

Initial Thoughts: I really hope this works just so I get to tell people I'm wearing Sacred Whore of Babylon. I have really odd tastes in names - I would be embarrased to tell anyone I was wearing De Sade or O, but this or Glowing Vulva or Harikata - go for it.

 

In the imp: Spice and heavy, sultry sweetness and OH DEAR GOD IS THAT GARDENIA?

 

Wow. Just... wow. WOW. I really hope this smells as good on.

 

On the wrist, wet: Oh... oh, what happened? This doesn't smell the same at all. It smells heavy and sour and cloying. Damnit, what a dissapointment!

 

Twenty minutes later: I do it for science and great justice! But alas, this just smells like a heavy, dirty version of Chimera on me. It's not something I'm going to wear on my skin - ever.

 

Verdict: Keeping the imp for locket purposes.

 

Tl;Dr: Spice and resins with a breath of sweet gardenia which unfortunately becomes just heavy resin on my skin.

[savage_rose]

Jasmine, jasmine, cinnamon, jasmine, jasmine. And another floral...is that gardenia?

 

This kind of DOES smell like a whore, one of the heavily painted ladies in that Robyn Wright-Penn movie (was it Moll Flanders?) But certainly not like a Sacred Whore. Oh well.

[isisonearth]

At first sniff I thought I smelled carnation. After a few minutes that changed to cinnamon and jasmine with and ocassional waft of lotus. In the drydown it seems like jasmine, musk and pepper.

 

It kinda burns on my skin too. I think I'm going to was this one off.

[Argentwolf]

Mmmm, I get sweet florals from this, like honeysuckle and/or jasmine, with perhaps a hint of cinnamon to give it some warmth and kick. It's nice.

[skepticism]

AHHH, I abolutely love gardenia! I was trying to pinpoint the floral scent and when I came to the review page the light in my head finally flashed. I love the spicy cinnamon that sort of seductively crawls all over the gardenia. This is absolutely amazing that I like this scent, considering that I'm not a big fan of spicy/cinnamon notes. Me wants this!

 

ETA: Oh no, big update -- the dry-drydown was more vanilla that I could stand. Not a trace of white floral or cinnamon left. That makes me really sad since I was excited to like something that was not to vanilla and spicy at first.

Edited September 5, 2008 by skepticism

[kerickson]

In the vial: Strong, spicy, and sexy... and it reminds me of walking into an incense shop.

 

On me (dry): Applied to wrists and hair. It is still very strong and heavy. Still makes me think of incense. There is a hint of cinnamon in there and I can smell a lot of jasmine. It's musky.

 

After a while: This smell remains strong on me for about 3/3.5 hours. I applied it to my wrists and in my hair, and whenever I wave my hands in front of my face I get a draft of the scent. After it fades away, the jasmine still remains heavy. Hints of vanilla sneak through. All I can really say is musky jasmine, musky jasmine, musky jasmine!! After about 4 hours or so, the smell only drifts to just above the application area. It's completely gone out of my hair.

 

Verdict: 6/10. It's nice, but not me. I feel like if I were a 45-year-old cougar, I'd wear this. It is sensual and sexy, but it feels too distinctive and too mature for someone like me. The jasmine is definitely overpowering at times.

Edited October 13, 2008 by Babel

[diamondstars]

Strangely I detect a hint of banana in this!? Maybe my nose playing up again eh.

 

Very incensey, rather generic though so won't be buying a bottle thanks.

[milica]

my nose is not that good in pinpointing flower scents, so I have no idea what this smells like on me, the best I can do is: very strong perfumy floral scent, a bit sweet and I detect something in the background that's not floral but faintly, so I can't pinpoint that either. It just becomes too strong for too long and too flowery on me to like it.

 

But on my friends skin, I get all these notes that you all are talking about, even jasmine and cinnamon. So I think this is really the wrong scent for my skin.

 

eta: after almost 3 months I gave it another go, whoaaaa jasmine!!! at first I thought I can smell lilac and in the next five minutes everything goes jasmine!!!

maybe some other florals, maybe there are some spices but jasmine won't give them the chance to make their presence. too strong jasmine for me, swap pile.

Edited November 3, 2012 by milica

[vegasblueblood]

We may not have the listed notes for this one but one thing is for certain--there is a lot of jasmine in this! I am a fan of jasmine and this one is a lush spicy blooming jasmine surrounded by smoke and incense. Now that others have mentioned cinnamon and I gave my wrist another sniff, I think I can pick up the cinnamon and that is probably what it is giving this scent it's spiciness. It becomes sweeter as it stays on my skin and I can understand where the 'banana' scent comes from. I think it's just the sweetness of the jasmine. This is very musky and not for people who prefer lighter scents.

[hellomoonglow]

Rose and spice, maybe some fruit? While I like this, it's way too grown up for me. I think that it might be wearable (for me at least) if it was layered.

[zankoku_zen]

JASMINE OF DOOM.

 

This is the fabled apocalyptic Jasmine that destroys everything.

 

Including nose hairs.

 

And strikes fear in the hearts of everyone.

 

[Hyperbole aside - this is dirty, musky jasmine. Jasmine to the 10th degree].

 

I tremble in fear. And hold my nose not to smell.

[rayvn1]

Intensely sweet floral. Too strong and too floral on me. Woah!

[crebbsgirl]

On my skin this was primarily gardenia and jasmine and something incensey. Very heady, with a little bit of a smoky kick. Not my type of scent at all!

[awesomeoverlord]

Hmmm...not really my thing, but nice. Initially it struck me as neroli, but after a minute I'm getting gardenia, a little bit of jasmine, and...well, that might be it actually. Pretty floral, but rather generic.

[jenocyde]

...made lotion out of this one. I'm not a huge fan of it, but i'm in the process of training my nose. It's growing on me........

[Caerphilly]

In the imp: Sweet smokey cinnamon and vanilla. Sweet, more than smokey or spicy. I"m not one for vanilla, and I'm allergic to cinnamon (I think at this point. I'm not sure which spice makes me burn) I like this.

 

Wet: Sweet and spicy floral vanilla. Wow, I can't really pinpoint a specific scent. I smell cinnamon an florals. There are florals, but I can't tell which.

 

Dry: Doesn't really change. More floral than I want it to be. I like florals, but this could b soapy if I wear it longer, but I've been wearing it for a while. It's bordering. It's a cinnamon generic floral

 

Overall: I like this more than I thought I would. The spicy scent isn't really affecting my skin as much as it usually does, so that's good sign. I'll wear the imp, but sparingly. I like florals, I like spice, but it migt turn weird on me depending on the time of the month...you know..I'll see later, when I wear it again.

[tragedy]

Imp: cinnamon and .. did anyone say dragons blood yet? I swear I smell it.

Wet: same thing, I amp the cinnamon over the suspected dragons blood, maybe theres a touch of clove too.

Drydown: more of same.. this to me is a stronger version of geek (funny how Im always comparing everything to geek) without the leather.

I like it and it would be very complimentary to some of hubbys oils.

 

(strange side note: This is the first ever bpal to do this to me and I have tried alot of cinnamons and usual rash-inducing oils full-strength without anything, but this raised a dark welt directly where I applied it and burned... it was gone after a few hours. I'm so curious as to what is in this that did that because I'm totally not skin sensitive!!)

[vampbarbie]

Strangely I detect a hint of banana in this!? Maybe my nose playing up again eh.

 

Very incensey, rather generic though so won't be buying a bottle thanks.

 

I thought banana on first sniff too!

 

I don't like it at all, I really wanted to (funny how names can do this) but it's far too sickly with an acrid undertone.

I've scrubbed it off my wrists but my clothes still reek of it.

[bubblefish]

I get a very rich, cloying, and decadent floral. I think there's gardenia in there, which goes slightly sour/sickly on me. It's got quite a bit of throw to it, too. It smells much brighter and cleaner in the imp than on my skin.