Bengal

[angharad]

A sultry and unruly blend that emulates the ambient scent of the markets in ancient Bengal: skin musk with honey, peppers, clove, cinnamon bark and ginger

 

Heh, finally something that overpowers ginger on my skin -- pepper. Bengal is a vaguely sweetened pepper on me that turns to baby powder not long after application. Usually if ginger is a note, it overpowers everything else, but this scent is ruled by pepper and baby powder on me. Not much throw, but the powdery aspect of the scent lasts for several hours.

Edited January 19, 2006 by angharad

[desu]

In the bottle: A swirling, jabbering crowd of scents, hard to pick any single note out. What I think is honey becomes ginger, which becomes musk, which becomes pepper, which becomes honey, etc.

 

On my skin: Honey takes control of my skin on application and is rounded out by the ginger and pepper. I wasn't too sure about this one since it seemed so spicy, but I'm quickly falling in love!

[theseagrows]

this is spicy, but in a kind of foody-exotic way, but not TOO foody, or else it wouldn't be for me. the cinnamon doesn't overpower, as it often does on my skin, which is nice.

 

this reminds me somewhat of desire, but without the patchouli/floral aspect, and is less deep. i can sense the skin musk, which adds a bit of sexiness. so all in all it's a warm, subtly sexy scent. very nice.

[em_h]

Wet: Very spicy; predominantly pepper and cinnamon, though there's a mix of spices going on, and just a bit of musk underneath.

 

Drying: Pepper and honey. Interesting. The pepper may be slightly too strong to make this a favourite, but in the right mood it could be just the thing.

 

Dry: Continues to be pepper and honey, with hints of other spices; gets a little bit powdery, and fades a bit quickly, but not too bad. It's very nice, not a top ten but still a nice warm scent to have around.

[QueenFae]

I'm normally not too big on the spicey ones, so I didn't know what this one would do on my skin. It comes out a very nice cinnamon blend, with a hint of mellowing honey, and light undertones of pepper and clove. The clove isn't too overwhelming, thank goodness, because that's one of my nemesis notes. The pepper is definitely detectable, but not too strong, and actually makes for a nice, complex undertone. A very spice cabinet-y scent, great for cinnamon lovers but not too overpowering.

[jasper17]

Oh, the cinnamon and honey love!

 

In the bottle and for the last 10 hours, I've had the same, amazing honeyed cinnamon scent. It's sweet without being crazy sweet and just a tiny smidge of spicy - very warm and sensual. Toward the end, here, it's gotten the tiniest bit powdery but it gives a nice softness overall.

 

For those who are sensitive to cinnamon - this is definitely one to be careful of. I was red for a while but it did go away after about a half hour.

[jewelbug]

Imp: Spicy honey. The honey note is extremely strong and I can smell it even before I open the imp. Wonderful and syrupy. Its mostly honey, with just a hint of ginger and a few vaguely “woodsy” feeling things.

 

Wet: Immediately, cinnamon comes to the front. Good cinnamon, not “red hots” cinnamon. I am getting a bit of clove, but not much. Don’t get me wrong, there are spices, but this is still very much a honey scent. Mmmmmm.

 

Drying: The cinnamon bark is less “in your face” now, but definitely still the top note. It’s a woodsy cinnamon, which is the type I like. Its supported by sweet honey and something that feels like a source of “greenness”. This has the same feel to me as silk road, even though I know they’re not the same.

From 30min-1hr, this goes through a musk stage: The musk grows stronger. It’s a sort of powdery musk, which makes me think of amber. The cinnamon and honey are supporting this powdery skin musk. I think I liked it better before, but this is still nice. After an hour, the powder settles out and Bengal settles into a subtly spicy sweet skin scent (say that 10 times fast). Its lovely.

 

To be happy, I had to compare to silk rd: In the initial stage, silk road is much more GREEN/herbal and spice ( I feel now that this is a tea blend), while Bengal is a sweeter honey spiced smell—way more cinnamon.

Dry, Silk Road has the same spice feel, but is considerably less sweet. Silk road feels OLDER. Not as in age of a person, but how antique lace manages to smell from a different era. That is the difference between Silk Road and Bengal. I love them both and can't decide….

 

Overall: Beautiful spiced honey smell. I'll be holding onto my imp of bengal until I can decide on a 5ml of it or silk road (or, my bank account forbid, both!). Bengal has good throw, and lasts 6-7 hrs. I really love this one!

Edited February 2, 2006 by jewelbug

[RainyDayGrey]

There was something that smelled dodgy about this in the imp. So I apllied just the tiniest little bit to one wrist, just in case.

 

Wet: I got the wonderfull scent of spices, clove, cinnamon, ginger, peper, and a bit of honey. Rich warm and wonderful, everything I love in a good spicy blend, but underneath that I could smell the lingering scent of ass. Yes, dirty, unwashed ass. It kind of ruined the wonderful warm and spicy thing Bengal has going on. I'm guessing that the musk would be the cause of this.

 

I've had it on for about twenty minutes now, and the spices are trying their hardest to chase the ass away, but I can still smell it. Since I have to go to town today, and I really don't want people to walk by me and think, 'Good lord, doesn't that woman ever wash herself!?' I'm going to wash it off now and try again later. On a day I don't have to go somewhere. I'm also going to hope like hell it's just a hormone thing, and not a general body chemistry thing, because Bengal could be great if it weren't for the dirty butt.

[blu°]

I tried this some days ago, and this is what I put down after having worn it the whole day long:

 

Wow! This is good! That's like a total surprise once again, as it has honey AND skin musk! I really thought I just couldn't do those at all.

 

But Bengal is lovely. Very musky and honeyish, but nevertheless pleasant. I just cannot get over the surprise factor it carries for me.

 

It's warm, spicy and soft. Really nice. I don't seem to be able to describe it, though. It's definitely delicious. It's sexy, too. Not overly spiced like some other spicy blends, but mellowed out and softened with the honey and musk.

 

I just reapplied and the cinnamon peeks through after reapplication.

It's somehow foody but not too sweet and I can't but repeat that I like it a lot.

 

I will have to wear it more often to see if this reaction is a constant one. I'm still baffled as I don't usually dig spicy scents, nor honey, nor skin musk.

[WidgetAlley]

I swapped for a bottle of this on LJ with a lovely lady called cool_chick.

 

In the bottle: Hooboy. Yum. I definitely get the clove, cinnamon, and peppers... and something golden and round that must be the honey. Hmm, smells like Gingerbread Poppet. It has the same thick, sweet, syrupy feel-- like spiced honey. Stronger on the musk, though... which is lending it a vaguely funky note that I'm not terribly keen on. We'll see what it does on my skin.

 

Wet: A burst of dry spice, quickly followed by warm, dripping honey. Smells almost like a mulled cider without the apple. Very delicious and kitchen-y... but what's that? Is it a touch of plastic? Oh noes! It is. Here's hoping it burns away on the drydown. *crosses fingers* The musk in here is really quite strong, and while it doesn't smell odd any more, I'm not sure it really jives with the blend overall, either.

 

Cinnamon. Clove. Acrid pepper and grounding honey, followed by a slightly unwashed musk. I want cookies.

 

Dry: Most of the plastic has burned off, unless I stick my nose directly into my wrist, and the throw is all spicy yummy cookies, backed by fuzzy musk. This is really, really nice, but it's not smacking me in the gob and screaming, "You love me!" It's not terribly unusual or striking, just pleasant, and there are so many BPALs that are striking and unusual I feel kinda bad holding on to one that's just meh on my skin. I might keep an Imp, but I don't need a whole bottle. Swaps.

[Rheliwen]

Gingerbread cookie dough. The spices are nice and mellow, wrapped in gooey, squishy dough.

 

Short and to the point

 

ADDED: Now it smell like freshly made oatmeal

Edited February 7, 2006 by Rheliwen

[Sycorax]

I can see why people say that Bengal smells like gingerbread or chai. The honey slinks into the background, but it's definitely there, and cinnamon and clove are present and accounted for without being overpowering.

 

Oddly, though, I mostly get ginger from this oil. It's a spicey, sweet ginger - almost like ginger candy. Skin chemistry is a funny thing, hunh? It takes quite a while for the ginger to recede, so that I can really appreciate the blend.

 

I quite like Bengal, but I'm not so enthused about the wait time. I'll be keeping my imp but I doubt that Bengal will make my big bottle list, unless it does some serious growing on me.

[telesilla]

Why I tried it: It's totally up my alley, note-wise.

 

In the bottle and wet: Cinnamon and clove and honey!

 

Drying down: Still mostly cinnamon, clove and honey, but I get a little tang of ginger as well. This is absolutely fantastic, more sweet than expected but I love it.

 

Dry: It doesn't morph much, and I'm glad really because I love it as it is. I think I can catch a tiny whiff of the peppers but it's mostly sweet. Such a keeper.

Edited February 10, 2006 by telesilla

[Caltha]

Bengal

This has a certain something, it might be the BPAL cinnamon but I also associate it with Dragon's blood. Anyway, it's a sort of "red" and spicy scent that's extremely parfumey and artificial and almost nauseating on my skin. Sweet, warm and spicy with perfumey flowers which turns into warm, dry, un-sweet cinnamon with a soapy touch.

[dreamingjune]

In the bottle: Holy cinnamon, Batman!! This just about knocks you over with spicyness. I better not read about people baking cookies with this one. Obviously the cinnamon is the main note I smell, but I also notice the pepper, ginger and maybe a faint hint of clove. There is also a light vanilla-like sweetness in there.

 

Wearing: Yup, I smell like someone threw a spiced chai at me. Eventually this becomes a bit less pungently cinnamon and spicy. There is a really faint powdery musk note that is begining to stand out more. The light sweetness is still there too. This scent could be really good if it had a stronger base note to anchor it down, but I just feel like it falls flat by being super pungent spice next to such a light powdery sweet scent. It's almost as if there is some light floral in here making it slightly soapy/perfumey. Not for me at all.

[zankoku_zen]

I got this imp as a gift from the lovely lj kamyra!

 

In the Imp: Spicy cinnamon, cloves and a wee hint of honey

On Skin: I get whiffs of peppers. It does smell like chai. So yummy.

On Drydown: Still smelling like chai. I get more of the honey note though.

 

Three hours later: This has turned into honey and musk. It's very similar to O.

 

Verdict: At the end, it smells like a spicier version of O. It last about 4 or 5 hours on my skin. I like it alot but I've figured out that my skin amps up the honey note in both blends.

 

It's a good thing I like honey....

[UploadedLobster]

Bengal will be my next big-bottle purchase. I can't get enough of it. Every single note in it is something I passionately adore, and in this oil they're perfectly balanced. I initially wrote a long bit here about how it was my new favorite scent of all time, even over O and Al-Azif. I have since realized that it isn't better than either one but is, in fact, their unholy love child. It's a happy family.

 

 

In the bottle: Hot, sweet cinnamon bark and cloves. It's definitely bark, not the ground spice. There are other spices in there, but the cinnamon is the biggie. It's a dry heat. The honey provides a general sweetness but is easily overpowered.

 

Initial scent bomb: The cinnamon bark jumps off my skin. For the first minute or two it's too strong and candylike, but then gradually clove and cardamom and ginger are revealed and the most elegant black tea note you've ever smelt comes in and lounges around in a smoking jacket.

 

Dry, 30 minutes later: The tea and the honey are meshing into what smells a lot like kola nut. Cola. Coke, basically. It's gorgeous, warm, with just a little astringence from the tea to keep it from being cloying. The spices are still there, hot and smooth. Good staying power--by the half-hour mark, most oils have disappeared into the ravening maw of my skin.

 

Dryer, 5 hours later: Still getting the ocasional whiffs, mostly of the kola nut (or the combination of notes that smells just like it) and the cinnamon bark and clove. It has remained sexy, interesting, and delicious at all stages of wear. A WINNER IS BENGAL!

 

 

 

Lobster Rating

Better than: tapirs!

[GemmaCat]

In the imp: Ooo, this is a weird smell. Spicy, sweet, with almonds, and something I can't place; macaroons?

 

On my skin: coconut, cinnamon, and heady ginger.

 

Drydown: even more ginger, with a VERY warm and creamy undertone.

 

Overall: this is an entirely unique, unsual, spicy, hot scent. Very beautiful, but not for me.

[Lizzie]

Smells all sweet and innocent in the imp, looking at you coyly, then you put it on and it gets kinda dirty and smacks you on the ass...

 

I really like it. It keeps morphing on my skin. Sometimes it's raw cinnamon bark, got dry and sexy, and sometimes it's softer and sweeter, more like a cinnamon bun. It's somehow comforting yet flirty at the same time. A keeper. 8.9 out of 10.

[ovxi]

I had such high hopes for Bengal. I wanted a whirl of spices in a hot desert wind. Instead, I find that it immediately goes our on me. Sweat-sour. Rotten sour. Ew. I'm thinking this must be the skin musk, because musk and I are not friends, but I always thought the dislike was mostly on my side. I guess it's mutual. After an hour or so the sourness does fade, but not into something wonderful enough to put up with stinking for that long beforehand. I'll try it again, as it wouldn't be fair to decide after only one application, but whatever that note was, it kinda turned my stomach. Sigh. Can't win every time.

[storme]

In the bottle: Very faint. Smells like weak and milky cinnamon tea.

 

On me: As soon as I apply it it, the scent rushes up to punch me in the sinuses. I can smell a lot of ginger and cinnamon and honey - it's startlingly sweet. But as it dries, it almost vanishes. What re-emerges very quietly after half-an-hour or so is a faintly smoky honey scent. This isn't too bad - I'd like a little more zing to it, and it has almost no throw at all, but what I can smell is nice enough.

 

Verdict: Mrm, I'm undecided. I'd love to get on better with this scent - it's spicey in a soft and sweet way, and I sometimes want that. But I just can't get enthused when it's this faint on me. Maybe I'll try it again at some point and see if I like it any better then.

 

Retry: nope, now it's amping the honey. Blech, off it goes.

[sarahj]

Bengal

 

in vial: musk and honey

 

wet: cinnamon, clove, pepper, and honey...yummy!

 

dry: unfortunately, all the spices have quickly faded away and only a faint whiff of honey is left

 

verdict: not long-lasting enough for me, so no big bottle needed

[sissa125]

Imp: It's like biting into a thick slab of creamy syrupy indian sweets. Divine! Yup...there's the gummy Karachi Halva, sugar-syrupy cham-cham, lots of rose flavoring, and khoya. Hoy! is that Kewra essence?

 

Wet: The sugar-syrup dies down. The kewra still lingers, politely offering me a plate of sweetness.

 

Dry: Still smells rich, but not as sweet

 

Note: I wrote the above without rereading the official description, and I'm surprised by how far off I am. I never would have guessed honey, because the honey wine in delphi and tum smell rancid to me without even touching my skin. I guess it's the wine I dislike, not the honey. Clove and cinnamon make sense even if I couldnt pick them out. I'm not sure about the "peppers"...if I knew what kind of peppers to sniff for, I may have a clue. Anyone have any ideas?

[Phaedra]

Wet this is spicy and sweet- smells like a chai latte! When first on I smell sharp pepper, cloves, cinnamon and maybe some ginger- just like chai tea spices. It doesn't change much on me. It mellows out as it dries down and becomes creamy too. Really lovely- nicely spicy and not too sweet.

[lizardling]

In the bottle:

Clove! Clove and ginger! And honey, like when you've opened a new container of honey from the farmer's market and it tickles the inside of your nose. Not teeth-achingly sweet, but lovely. A trace of musk as a parting shot.

 

5 minutes:

There's the pepper and the... cinnamon? The other aspects to the scent have mostly disappeared, leaving this a a somewhat harsh and spicy scent. It's got a certain amount of throw, but it's less throw than more.

 

15 minutes:

Ay yi yi yi. My skin eats the clove and the honey!

 

Several hours later: Ah, the honey's back, but only in a very muted fashion, and right next to my skin -- it's mostly cinnamon and smoke. Much less bright than it was in the bottle. So yes, I'm not going to be licking my wrists anytime soon. But I discovered that running just a drop or two through my hair gets me much the same result as if I'd left it in the bottle, so there's a workaround to having my skin eat the honey. Yay!

 

Score: 3.0 for the way that it works with my skin. Le sigh.