Tezcatlipoca

[Monster]

... Deep cocoa laced with patchouli, leather armor, ritual incense, and a touch of Xochiquetzal’s flowers.

In the imp: Freakshow-esque cocoa blended with grounding patchouli.

On my skin: The cocoa takes a backseat to the earthiness of the patchouli. This is a heady, incense blend. It's sweet, smoky and mysterious. Have Urd and Freak Show collided? I think I may have found a new Holy Grail scent.

Dry: As this dries my skin eats it up quite a bit which is somewhat diappointing. I'm detecting the leather at this phase. This is now morphing into something vaugely reminiscent of Hellhound on My Trail.

Overall: I wish this had more throw. Tezcatlipoca is a close-up skin scent and it's OMG good!
I will definitley purchase a bottle of this and it IS something I will wear every day. Sweet LAWWDDD this is good stuff

[lahdeedah]

I definitely agree with the above poster-- Tezcatlipoca is a soft, skin scent, which surprised me considering the note listing. The cocoa is quiet and powdery, and the leather plays nice. I amp leather, so it tends to go high-pitched and overpower everything else, but here it seems pretty mellow and along with the patchouli, just sort of grounds the scent. The florals are hinted at, but are cloaked in a smoky haze of incense. All in all, a really pretty scent, though it disappears on my skin in only a few hours. It's what I imagine Wulric and Western Diamondback would likely smell like together in one blend.

[JLH]

In the imp, this smells like cocoa powder. But wet on my skin the patchouli and cocoa are fighting for dominance, and they combine to make this smell kind of sour...which is not good. Eventually, it dries down to mostly a woody patchouli and incense with some leather. Still, that wet stage means this one is not for me.

[Celtic Goddess]

I was a bit worried about this one because of the chocolate...I hate smelling like food...but this stuff is pretty amazing. The chocolate isn't the sweet cake-like chocolate you usually get in perfumes but is quite mellow on me (as the reviewer above stated, it smells like cocoa powder). I don't get the leather but I do smell the patchouli and florals. All together they make a really unusual blend that I would love if it had better staying power. Unfortunately, this really pretty scent disappeares within twenty minutes.

[ajansuz]

This was a lab frimp that came with my 13.

 

In the imp, smoky, rich cocoa, a floral I don't recognize but really like, and something kind of spicy, almost like a small trace of chiles.

 

Wet: Man, this is seriously gorgeous. Cocoa and copal incense on a bed of soft, sweet flowers and leather. It's the same leather I get from Western Diamondback, saddle leather without the horse.

 

Dry: On my wrists, the leather amps the most, floating atop the sweet floral. In the crooks of my arm, it's more copal incense and earthy patchouli with a touch of dry cocoa and smoke. I think this is hands down the best frimp I've ever gotten that also happens to work like a dream with my body chemistry. This is more or less what I was hoping Western Diamondback would do on me, which it almost did but fell just a little short. I'm bumping it up on my GC list of bottles to buy the very next time I decide to place an order. 5/5

Edited June 1, 2011 by DarkSinestra

[invisible iris]

in imp: Cocoa and patchouli

 

on skin: Cocoa, patchouli, and then flowers begin to come out, then leather… lots of shifting, here.

 

dry: Seamlessly blended, smooth, deep, dark, round, velvety, dry, cocoa/patchouli/leather/resin. The flowers (which I couldn’t i.d.) were tamed by the other notes, and the dankness of the patchouli mostly dried out. (DH tried Tezcatlipoca and claimed that the patch was too dank for him, said he felt like he smelled like pot. I kinda agreed.) On me, the patchouli doesn’t register so much as patchouli, but as a dark/organic/earthy component seamlessly integrated with the dry/soft/mysterious cocoa and the tough confidence of leather. And yet, the leather here is on the gentle side of leather. Confident but not aggressive.

 

A brown to black colored scent good for someone (like me) whose nose can be overwhelmed by heavier or more cloying black notes. I get a similar dark sophistication as The Great Sword of War, but I think Tezcatlipoca would work for a daytime or casual work scent, made more approachable (and less apocalyptic ) by the earthy patchouli. I find it unisex, dark, and somewhat dry, but with a softly organic and vaguely magical, mysterious, or reverential feel. I believe there is a bottle of this in my future.

[WidgetAlley]

Chocolate doesn't usually work on me and leather DEFINITELY doesn't, so let's give this a try! Cheers.

 

Imp: Dry, sweet chocolate much like Bliss, with a huge following breath of unidentifiable incense and a rush of lovely, spicy florals. Oh my. If it stays like this on my skin it might actually be quite nice!

 

Wet: Woody, patchouli-y chocolate, sheer white orchid-based florals with a touch of freesia, and underneath, the spicy rounded odd vanillic smell I get from the leather accord, although weirdly it sort of works here. Still doesn't read leather to my nose but it doesn't smell bad. The chocolatey, florally throw smells like a very nice soap scent to me-- not actually soapy but like a scent they'd use in a very expensive hotel soap. The whole thing is a little bit perfumey but in a good way. The patchouli here is the kind I like, probably black patchouli, deep and woody and dirty and herbal. Mmm, stanky hippy!

 

Dry: Hunh. Well, I'm on the fence about this and really didn't expect to be! The dark chocolate and the deep patchouli and all those gorgeous florals are trying so hard to make this something I'd love and wear all the time, but that stupid round fakey leather is also there trying to sabotage them! I'm not sure it's bad enough to where I wouldn't wear it occasionally though..... I'll have to try it a few more time but this imp may be a keeper.

[a_llb]

In vial: Chocolate patchouli leather. Not bad.

Wet: Becomes more pronounced, and blooming with jungle flowers. I am not sure about the patchouli/floral mix, it smells a little off to me.

Dry: Leather & chocolate take over again, but I still don't think I like it very much.

 

Verdict: There are too any other leather blends I love to be impressed by this one. If the incense had made an appearance, perhaps...

[Vega]

Sniffed: Earthy patchouli and chocolate. I catch a whiff of incense.

 

On skin: Tezcatlipoca is dark and delicious: chocolate-y, earthy and nutty. The cocoa is a dark, velvety, bass-voiced note that actually put me in mind of a male choir singing in bass (more specifically, the Khazad-dum orchestral theme in the Fellowship of the Ring LOTR movie). The cocoa forms the backdrop to the other scents -- it's not readily obvious, but fills my olfactory landscape. The higher notes are the glowing patchouli, fragrant incense, and touches of a bright floral -- lonely yet clear voices that harmonize beautifully with the cocoa base, and continue to blend over time. Tezcatlipoca is a dark, cozy scent, slightly gritty-earthy but mostly smooth and calm. My colour impression is dark chocolate, touched here and there with deep red. I'm reminded somewhat of WILF, which is a similar dark, cozy and chocolatey blend; I have to test both together.

 

Verdict: Mm-mmmm! Tezcatlipoca is a beautiful showcase of dark cocoa with other deep notes. A clear winner and definite keeper!

[calivianya]

I had some serious misgivings about this scent, because nothing with cocoa in it has worked for me so far. I can definitely smell cocoa in this, but it's cocoa, not chocolate - it's not sweet. It is competing with some very masculine cologne. I can't pick out any kind of incense for sure, but the overall impression I'm getting here is one of a man's man. It dries down to mostly patchouli and leather with a little bit of cocoa left over. If I liked cocoa, I think I could love this. However, the cocoa remains still one of my great hates in perfume.

[fufu_berry]

I had high hopes for this scent, and it did not disappoint! The drydown was fascinating - I kind of got each layer of scent one after the other. First cocoa, then flowers, then leather, then patchouli and incense. After about 20 min, it dried down into a delicious spicy-earthy scent, exactly what I was looking for. Will definitely have to invest in more of Tezcatlipoca.

[Quillifer]

When I first got this, I hated it - was very disappointed. It smelled of chocolate, but it seemed to be the nasty dry cheap cooking chocolate. I put it in my swap pile but - fortunately - did nothing about it. Now, I love it! I do have to be in the mood: it's very deep and dark, and does take a while to warm up on me.

 

This is an oil I would wear for myself. I put my nose to my wrist and close my eyes, and find myself rocking my head and wrist slightly (must sound a right weirdo for this), and I travel away in my mind, to somewhere far back in my memory. Where, where....it's a bit hard to place because the scent is morphing, getting slightly sweeter, There is an element in it that reminds me of an old loft above a barn. Somewhere warm and dry, undisturbed for years. It also smells a bit like an old woodshed (I mean a big cavernous building for a large farmhouse, not a little lean-to). It's warm and strong but not soft. Linseed and wood and dust in a good way.

Edited July 17, 2012 by Quillifer

[Leviathan]

My first review so bear with me here.

 

Sniff:

When I first sniffed it in the imp, it was very sweet. Like take my breath away sweet.

Wet: When first applied it was all cocoa, very sweet and smooth. I was compulsively sniffing myself for a good 30 minutes.

Dry: When I came back to it later it smelled still strongly of cocoa but now there was a very strong scent of incense as well, very smoky. Not a huge amount of throw, so no smelling me from across the room, which is a necessity for me since I sit arm to arm with others in class. It's been almost five hours and the cocoa has mostly faded out, but there is still a residual smell that the only way I can express it is warm.

 

Verdict:

I think this is one scent though that the ladies of my car pool will love. Very impressed, might be ordering a bottle.

[hexnut]

TEZCATLIPOCA

 

A blind test. The oil in the imp was yellow.

 

In Vitro Rich and sweet.

 

Wet Very 'thick", resiny, and somehow familiar.

 

Drying This dried and began fading rapidly, but the scent itself only improved. I guessed that it might be Tezcatlipoca because that was the only one in my order with cocoa and the richness of this reminded me of Bliss.

 

I tested this again the same day and it definitely started out as cocoa-dominant, drying down to resin, incense, and the barest hint of leather. A couple of hours on it actually resurged in strength, something that only Bliss and Vice have managed before. It finally settled to a warm and sweet blend as it slowly faded.

 

Tezcatlipoca is a good skin scent on me, which is rare enough to be noteworthy, and not foody despite the cocoa. I really, really like this one, enough to rank it with No. 93 Engine and the aforementioned Bliss at the top of my bottle list. It's not as strong as I would like but I wouldn't mind slathering to get results.

 

40

[KakashiMorph]

Deep cocoa laced with patchouli, leather armor, ritual incense, and a touch of Xochiquetzal’s flowers.

 

In the bottle: Delicious cocoa.

On my skin: Cocoa dust, which is slightly clogging my sinuses. It is delicious though and I think I can make out some incense underneath. It is yummy. The cocoa dust soon calms down so that I'm not slightly suffocating when I try to smell it anymore and the playful part of Tezcatlipoca comes out. I think it's the flowers. There is also a sweet warmth that must be coming form the patchouli, but I can't detect it. A few minutes later the cocoa has actually blended in with the incense and the result is very, very pleasant. And yummy, but not food-yummy. Barely half an hour later though it sadly fades significantly.

Drydown: Cocoa incense, mmmmm...

[elinox]

First Sniff: Coco and fresh leather.

 

Wet: Some sort of jungle flower; where’d the chocolate go?

 

Dry: As it dried it was mostly watery flowers, but every once in a while I would get that bite of leather. Once it dried completely it was a toned down leather smell mixed with soft rainforest flowers.

 

My Reaction: The leather is softer then the leather I get in Jolly Roger, but it’s still not the leather I’m looking for (I want worn and soft leather, not biting and fresh). Every so often I get a whiff of the coco still there, but it’s buried and too faint. Its leather mixed with some aquatic flowers with a bit of coco peeking through so the description seems fairly accurate.

 

Rating 1-5: 2

[MadameGorgon]

I got the barest hint of dusty, flinty cocoa when I first applied, but it vanished almost instantly.

 

It then went through a quick incense phase.

 

But through all stages it is almost overwhelmingly floral. They are pretty tropical florals, if you like florals. But I don't usually get along we'll with these kinds of heady florals.

 

It is interesting enough to try again. Picking up a couple of whiffs of incense now that its dry, but will have to try sometime when my nose isn't feeling so sensitive.

 

The leather in this is actually well behaved and smells like leather, not "new car smell" which is what usually happens.

[JazzieCazzie]

Continuing my journey through the T region of my BPAL collection, en route to a complete retesting, revisiting and reviewing of my precious. Surprised I never reviewed this, one of my faves. This testing camp from an imp decanted from my own original 5 ML of this from around its release.

 

IN THE IMP: Moco-chocolata-yaya!!! Chocolicious! And other things that represent mostly chocolate with a kick.

 

Applied to wrist and into crook of arm.

 

WET: Chocolate incense! Or incense-y chocolate! No harshness of leather (or at least how I've found the leather note in other blends to harsh my own BPAL buzz) and minimal flowers. Just chocolate and incense.

 

DRYDOWN: It gets a little smoky and I actually figure out that what it smells like, to me, is bacon-chocolate!!! BACON CHOCOLATE! Yessssssss.

 

OVERALL: I'd forgotten how much I absolutely love this scent, and it's sort of sat dormant in my box (or wherever I've been storing my BPAL in the past, though always the requisite cool dry places). Now that I've been reminded, it will get much more wear though it's not really an "every day" kind of scent. I think this would be a hugely popular scent in the commercial marketplace right now, since it seems designer gourmet chocolates are all the rage. And Beth does a magical job with chocolate scents.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 5 for sure.

[malibusunny]

Two words: cocoa pebbles.

[MtMoonKitty]

This is predominantly cocoa on me. While the incense is notable in the imp and wet on my skin it takes a backseat on dry down. I never pick up the leather which is a little disappointing. The incense is still lightly there in the crook of my arms but not on my wrist. 4 hours after applying it still has good stay power and enough throw to make me happy. Light cocoa floral is what it settles into. Nice. Bottle worthy.

[Erinofhere]

Deep cocoa laced with patchouli, leather armor, ritual incense, and a touch of Xochiquetzal’s flowers.

Frimp from the lab.

Oh my! This is sexy. My husband will be getting the big bottle for sure.

Wet it smells very chocolaty and yummy. Dark and smooth with the leather coming out very slightly.

On his skin: Chocolate and leather and patchouli. The good patchouli, not the cheap head shop kind that everyone wore in 11th grade. This stuff smells amazing. I would have never guessed I would have liked this so much. I generally hate the small of chocolate unless it's actually edible. This is divine. We will get a big bottle. Oh yes.

It had decent throw but didn't stick around too long on him. This one is a new masculine favorite. A girl could wear this as well. It's just too masculine for me to pull of personally.

[bellumed]

Without looking at the notes, I guessed smoke, florals, and chocolate, so I’m a little pleased with myself right now. Tezcatlipoca (I think "tess-kaht-lee-POK-a") smells like a cocoa-flavored cigar with flowers on the side. Hmm, I may want to pass along to my dad rather than keep myself. It reads a teeny bit more masculine, but with the cocoa, a woman could certainly wear this.

 

On me: Oh hey, patchouli and slightly stinky leather. I feel a bit like a cigarette right now. Dries down to a quiet and dry patchouli-incense smell which manages to be surprisingly un-hippyish. Nowhere in the description does it mention tobacco, but I keep thinking faintly of a smoking lounge. It's just evocative of that scent, though, I don't smell like I just stumbled out of a bar. I kind of like it. And I did get a compliment on it when someone was close enough to smell it. But I don’t think it’s something I would wear out often; it's more of an at-home scent.

[alyelle]

Freebie from the lab

 

Imp: A strong, nutty chocolate - hazelnuts and almonds I think - with sweet, almost amber-esque overtones.

 

Wet: Florals and baby power; no nuts or chocolate at all.

 

Dry: A soft, spicy powder.

 

This one's very strange on me - normally I will amp patchouli to high heaven, but Tezcatlipoca is almost entirely floral talc. I wonder if there's musk involved somewhere; it's always been a bit of a hit and miss note, and the powdery smell I get is very similar to what a lot of the musk-based blends end up doing. For a scent with such strong components, it has a surprisingly short life, only 3-4 hours, and a pretty weak throw. No stage of the morph is unpleasant, but it's definitely not a fragrance I'll use. ★: 3/5.

[mymymai]

ITI: It's an earthy cocoa surrounded by patchouli and a touch of floral-infused leather. Interesting so far. I need to see how the cocoa behaves on my skin.

 

Wet: The cocoa and patchouli work really well, even my my skin, which has a tendency to make even the prettiest notes smell strangely at times. The scent is sweet without being cloying, earthy, spicy, and resinous with a hint of leather and a touch of a light green note.

 

Dry: After 12 hours, the scent is slightly floral cocoa that is warm and pleasant. Very nice.

[b00cat]

I was hoping for patchouli/cocoa/leather. Wet, I can smell the cocoa and patchouli...and flowers. Dry, the flowers just overtake the entire scent. 3 hours later...still amping those pesky flowers. No patchouli...no cocoa. Definitely no leather.

 

Bummer. I so wanted to love this one.