The Black Tower

[puellacaerulea]

A sepulchral, desolate scent. Long-dead soldiers, oath-bound; the perfume of their armor, the chill wind that surges through their tower, white bone and blackened steel: white sandalwood, ambergris, wet ozone, galbanum and leather with ebony, teak, burnt grasses, English ivy and a hint of red wine.

In the imp, I mostly get the leather, wood, and ozone, with a hint of the burnt grassy notes. As it wears, the leather and wood notes stick around and soften a bit, as muted, mossy notes start to come out. It's a somber, autumnal kind of scent, but surprisingly lighter than what the description might suggest. 

Edited March 23, 2020 by puellacaerulea

[niffler]

In the imp: Much lighter than I expected (as previous reviewers have said). What I think is ambergris, ivy, and wine come together to make a melancholy fruit, with woods and leather hiding in the shadows. No hint of burnt grass. 

On my skin: The fruit is very much present, but the ivy and woods suggest it’s still on the vine. Curiously reminds me of being at the local garden center, elbow deep in alyssum and petunias about to bloom with wet metal grating and concrete underfoot. Still no burnt grass. The strong woods I was hoping for are still mostly hiding. This tower may be isolated, but the witch who lives there dearly loves to sit in the window surrounded by trailing ivy, sipping a glass of fruity red wine and contemplating the moody grey sky.  

Edit: Just when I thought this had totally disappeared (~6 hrs), I got a whiff of something new-- the woods and dry grass have come to wave goodbye! 

Edited May 7, 2020 by niffler
Scent morphed again after I thought it was done!

[RoseThornAndOak]

Another blend of ye aulden BPAL days I passed on before, that now is suprisingly nice and more wearable then I remember it being. It starts out with a darkened blast of evergreens, like an atmospheric or candle blend. Has a strong waft. However the final drydown is very intriguing to me. It is like a nice, almost leafy, oak-like fougere, like if a fougere was an autumn shade of soft brown. I don't remember this from years ago, and I like it enough to keep the imp this time. 

Edited August 1, 2020 by RoseThornAndOak

[fairybites]

My imp is probably very old, but I am not getting a few of these notes. The red wine is not a hint on me, it's fairly strong! I'm also getting a bit of steel, leather, the burnt grasses and ivy, and the sandalwood. When I applied this without looking at the notes, I was almost positive there was a faint patchouli or spice note in this and I was shocked to find that there isn't one. Maybe it was the burnt grass note, that's the closest thing I can think of.

 

No upgrade, I'm a bit undecided if I'm going to keep this or not. I'm so curious what a fresh imp of this would smell like, but I don't think I'd like it if the ozone and steel notes were very strong.

[Llanval]

Imp bought from the Lab Dec 2020, so aged a little bit. I had wild, outsized hopes for this but alas, the wine and patch/spiced herbs dominated on me, and trampled the burnt grasses, wood and leather. That said, it's very good spicy, fruity wine top note with creeping greens and ozone and maybe some leather hiding in the background. Very nice, much lighter and more wearable than I thought on first application. 

 

I was hoping for a dire tower thrust against a black, crackling sky. Instead it's a tower window overlooking a distant garden. Or: Cersei Lannister enjoying her breakfast of fermented grapes, plotting at the tower window, lol.

[Rane.]

I've had this bottle since 2018. I love it. It was my venture into something darker & mysterious. It has those qualities too. It's rich, sweet, airy & a little wine smelling. I wore this to work one day, but stopped for an energy drink. The guy behind me in line kept taking deep breaths & moaning. I dunno if that was me that did that to him, but it was very creepy. Anyways...

 

 

Edited September 20, 2021 by Rane.

[zipegs]

Got an imp of this one recently and was honestly a bit afraid to try it 😂 It's been on my wishlist but OOB it smelled so strongly of grape juice that I was really wary, especially because I'm not a fan of overly sweet fragrances. But on skin, I was pleasantly surprised! It mellowed a lot and I got some of the richer, more mysterious notes. It definitely isn't as masculine as I was expecting but it's very well-balanced both wet and dry on my skin. Not sure if I'll end up splurging on a full size or not, but I'll definitely enjoy the imp while it lasts!

[MolyH]

My son stashed away half a grape in his room once, and for a while, his room smelled like rotting, overripe grape every time I went in it. Drove me nuts. I finally found the culprit underneath his mattress, and by that time, it had basically already turned into black water. This smells like that--rotten death grape. It's probably the first BPAL imp that I have recoiled from. I gave it a chance and put it on my skin, and within a minute, I had to go scrub it off. I'm very sad.

[Tungerine]

At first this is mainly ambergris. After a few minutes, unfortunately, it becomes shampoo in the swimming pool showers. Probably the combination of ozone, ambergris, and sandalwood. Eventually the other notes start to come out, but I'm not going to wait around with that swimming pool shampoo smell. I have to wash it off now. I think I'll set it aside for a while.

 

Update: Maybe it just needed to settle a little longer after arriving. It's much better now. The ozone is less powerful and the leather is more prominent. Overall it's chilly and gloomy like an overcast day, which is what I hoped for, but the ambergris is still a bit too strong for me. I don't feel the need to wash it off any more. I'll wait a little longer to see if it improves more.

Edited April 5 by Tungerine