The Black Tower

[QueenFae]

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.

Ahhh, a darkly fruity delight. This one reminds me a lot of Black Widow, very evil, dark, creeping berry scent. The red wine is definitely on top, but it's sweet and berrilicious. It's so well blended that it's hard to pick out notes in the undertone; it's both earthy and herbal at the same time. There's a slinking, creeping, dirty, vetiver like feel to it. A completely sinister and ominous scent. Wickedly delightful, I love it!

[Diva Urd]

Since I got this one mainly for my husband, we tried it out on him first... I haven't worn it myself yet, since it's so incredible on him, I can't waste a drop on myself!!!

 

On him, the red wine note is prevalent, at first, but the cold, dark background (which is blended so well I can't tell the notes apart) comes out to play rather quickly.

 

Also, it's not super-strong on him, but damn, it has staying power! My husband's skin tends to kill off anything I throw at him within half an hour, but this one is his personal Energizer Bunny - it lasts and lasts and lasts. I like this on him even more than I did Loviatar

 

Totally bigger bottle. His b-day's coming up, I know what I'm getting!

 

ETA: I actually went ahead and tried it on myself - and wow! I can't say anything but "sensational"! *is floored*

On me, it smells about the same as it does on him (maybe a bit less wine and a bit more of the smokiness), but it is much stronger without ever seeming overwhelming - and it also lasts forever. If this wasn't already a must-get before, now it is right on top of the ever-growing bottle purchase list!

Edited April 14, 2006 by Diva Urd

[Athena's Owl]

in the imp: sweet and soft and wistful. really sweet smelling - i'm not catching anything distinct from it in the imp at all, other than wanting to try it on my skin. so...

 

wet: slight feeling of cocoa, but so slight I could be wrong about that. not nearly as sweet on my skin. I smell bones, dry, dusty bones. that's neat. this smell makes me want to wander out onto the cliff face on a moonlight night, sprayed by high cold surf when I'm wearing nothing but a nightgown and a knitted shawl, convinced I heard the voice of a long dead love just outside. it's the most haunting thing I've ever tested.

 

after 20 minutes: spices and wood, soft and dusty. like an ancient box made of sandalwood, so old it's starting to crumble, and a sweetness just behind it, perhaps a spilled bottle of liquor or madiera, dried enough to be sticky.

 

later: this is wonderful, but faint on me. I still have the dusty sandalwood, old bones, and spilled wine soaking in the floorboards, but now i'm also getting a smell like old paper, too, and I'm sure that's not in there.

[fiddledragon]

Scent in bottle: I'm mainly getting the sandalwood and red wine, with maybe a bit of the ozone/burnt smell.

 

Scent on me:

Wet -- leather and ambergris, with sandalwood fading

Dry -- it leaves an odd sort of musky leathery sandalwood smell that blends well with my skin.

 

Conclusion: I like this more than I thought I would...it is a very dark, cold scent, but one that works well on me. I don't need a bottle of it, but this will go in the "costume scent" pile.

[Meg]

In the bottle: Wine and bitter leather. I got a frimp from the lab and fell in love with it as soon as I sniffed it. Actually I think I even got a bit tearful as I smelled it because it's just one of those scents that smell like home - extremely evocative.

 

Wet: Wine, leather and a very fresh scent of ozone and greenery. There's also a slightly oily scent that must be ambergris.

 

Drydown: Oooh, pure bliss. Wine, leather, wood and ozone all mix together to create an unbelievably atmospheric scent. The first time I smelled this, it reminded me of England - probably because I spend way too much time when I'm in England in old castles and stately homes. There's also a cool emptiness to the smell that really represents the desolation perfectly.

 

Overall: There's the familiar warmth of wine, ambergris, leather and wood, signs of life. But they're met with the coldness of ozony air and bitter green plants eating away at stones. Hot and cold, life and death clash in this scent in a really poetic way. Not only to I love the way it works so poetically, I also adore the way it smells, specially the wine/leather notes. It reminds me of a man without smelling masculine, so that I can wear it and think of an aloof knight in leather armour. The blend reminds me of the Last Unicorn's King Haggard and his crooked towery castle. And I think I could rave about it for hours, still. I got a 10ml of this, I love it so much.

[moon_lemming]

Sweet sweet sweet in the imp. On my skin, The Black Tower turns into a blend of things I'm not very good at picking out. I think I smell the wine and ozone and leather and herbs. Luckily the sandalwood that's indicated in the description doesn't do the monster morph it usually does on me. If it stayed like this, I would love it, but after about ten minutes it turns a touch too medicinal for me.

[Rhowan]

In the imp and wet on my skin the major smell that hits my nostrils is burnt ozone and wine.... not so good.

 

As this dries down, that nasty smell dissapates and what is coming to the fore is a nice sandalwood, ambergris with a hint of leather. Wow, drying down it becoming very nice.

 

Completely dried down, The Black Tower smells feminine one minute and masculine the next, with a lingering note of a deep red wine. This is a very dark and complex scent but very beautiful too. A tiny bit goes a LONG way with this and if you are not careful applying it can go from beautiful to overpowering stink - so be careful! I am more excited to see how it smells on DH! I think it will smell even better on him than me.

[draconix]

In the bottle: Warm, something that sort of spicy-sweet... not sure what it is though. It's not too sweet, not enough to give me a headache anyway. I'm liking it in the bottle.

 

On my skin: Wet, this is very spicy. A little like a good cigar honestly... Dry, it's softer and much nicer. Kind of smells like a man's cologne though. Scratch that, a lot like a man's cologne. It's very "Honey, I'm home from killing a few hundred large men on a battle field."

 

Final Thoughts: I like it, but not for me. If a guy I date wears this though, I'll love it. I might keep it though... Gah! I love this, but it's far too manly for me.

[brownbear]

This starts out very wet and sweet. I'm guessing that's the red wine. As it dries it gets more blendy. mmm now it's sweet, warm and leathery. It's a little spicy too. yummm

[Abbie]

In the bottle: Hmm... a lot sweeter than I would have expected. Rather winelike. I don't get the woods, acquatics, leathers, or burnt smells, dangit.

 

First on: Even sweeter, with kind of a burnt smell as an undertone. You know, I really didn't think I would like a wine scent but this one seems... powerful. Not at all what I had in mind, but very evocative.

 

Dry: Pretty much exclusively wine.

 

Overall: Normally I am not big on the wine, but this one is very nice, and I will keep.

[juniperus]

Bottle: wine and leather and sweet greenness and sweet woods. no one note necessarily taking completely over..sorta strange.

Wet: the leather and burnt-grass foremost, and the sweet of the wine moving forward also.

Dry: wine and leather and wood, oh my. masculine, but not dark, per se. smells rather sour and flat on me.

Later: Stale wine and burnt-ness...leather comes up subtly behind. Definitely not a happy blend for me. It smells like how I imagine a 19th century English drawing room closed-up for a long while must have smelled...with the stale sweetness of spilled wine, the burnt reminisces of a fire, the leather of the chairs, and the smell of the wood paneling. The smell of forgotten-ness.

[bookishgrrl]

Tested on bookishguy and myself simultaneously.

 

Wet: so well blended I can't really pick out any notes. A fleeting whiff of leather, perhaps, but it was only a moment...

 

Initial Dry: Here's where we split... on him it's developing into a lovely masculine scent, still very well blended so it's hard to pull out any specific notes. On me? What I think will soon be labelled, "my white sandalwood problem" occurs, and I smell like nice cologne on top of harsh, bitter wood.

 

Later: On him, it's quite delicious smelling, but *poof* scent eaten by his skin (as all scents are wont to do) inside of an hour or so. On me, the bitter wood has overtaken everything.

Final Verdict: Good on him, if I can manage to make it stick around for any appreciable time.

[lady_pandora]

This was a frimp from the Lab. I read the notes before trying it, and was convinced I'd hate it because of the ozone. As it turns out, the ozone never reared its ugly head, and I do rather like this scent. However, I like it in a sort of disturbing way that guarantees I won't really wear it much.

 

See, this smells just like this disastrous love affair I had a while back...

 

First note is red wine, which is what started the trouble in the first place. It has an undernote of tobacco. At this early stage, the tobacco is more "pipe tobacco, before you smoke it" than "already on fire tobacco."

 

The wine fades after a few minutes, leaving the mingled scents of leather and cigarette smoke (not pipe tobacco anymore). Which was, well, exactly what he smelled like. He smoked like a chimney and wore this amazing leather jacket...

 

Well, I digress. Anyway, it reminds me way too much of him, and brings up thoughts I'm better off not thinking. I might just give it to one of my male friends, since it's definitely a guy scent.

 

ETA: I held onto my imp and decided to wear it recently, hoping to use the smoke/leather combo to conjure up the sort of take-no-prisoners, no-B.S. energy this guy always projects, because I had some difficult people to deal with. I figured I could manage a few hours of smelling like him if it meant a little bit of extra moxie.

 

Well, it worked for a few hours, but then the smoke and leather dissipated and left behind the wine and UGH, THE OZONE. I should have known my old nemesis ozone would appear sooner or later. Migraine time. *sigh* Maybe I should give this one away after all.

Edited September 9, 2006 by lady_pandora

[Nekomata]

Very fresh and masculine. As it dries on me the ozone is predomintant, with green and leather underneath. The throw is pretty strong and the scnet reminiscent of something, but I'm not sure what.

[Em-]

This is very light and sweet and almost floral on me, which makes me think that perhaps my chemistry is just really really strange, as I was expecting something dark and forboding. But, whatever, it is absolutely lovely - I think it is probably the ivy and light sandalwood and the wine all coming together, but whatever it is, I want a big bottle.

[mountainwitch]

"Black Tower" is one of those fragrances that embodies the Lab to me: unusual and startling notes, an intriguing title and description--and when it works, it works.

 

On me, unfortunately, it doesn't work. (Looks like wine just doesn't.) On my friend, it doesn't work. On her husband, the only discernible note was burnt grass. But when their roommate tried it . . .

 

We were utterly entranced by this man's wrist.

 

The ivy, the leather, the woods--it was distinctive, dark, and even sexy. Said roommate was awarded custody of the imp, with stern orders to use his newfound aromatic potence only for good, and never for evil.

 

Ordering oils unsniffed is always a gamble, I guess, but Black Tower makes for one of the most interesting. Of the seven people (three women, four men) I've smelled wearing it, only two could pull it off. But for the two who did . . . Wow. What a payoff!

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is all fruity and deeply masculine....gorgeous!!

applied this turns very much into a pure dude-o-rama scent...this one will

be going straight to my dad or the boy....the combination of leather, ebony and english ivy is positively blended to perfection.....great for the guy in your life!!

Edited June 18, 2006 by sookster

[edenssixthday]

The Black Tower - sniffed wet in the vial, this smelled spicy, exotic, and incredibly sexy. I just had to try it. Unfortunately, as soon as it dries down on my skin, it becomes predominantly leather with the scent of something that resembles fermented burnt rubber. It doesn’t appeal to me in the least. I am surprised this is a gender neutral scent, as it’s very masculine on me, and I would imagine that sans the chemistry that causes the fermented burnt rubber scent, this would smell fabulous on a man, but I can’t imagine what kind of woman could pull off this blend. I wish it smelled as gorgeous on my skin as it does wet in the vial. It had good throw and phenomenal staying power.

[goth_hobbit]

In the bottle: winey and complex. It’s a beautifully rich fragrance.

 

Wet: The sandalwood comes up almost instantly, anchored by the darker notes of the ebony and teak. The ozone blooms like air before a thunderstorm, sending little shivers of delight through my nostrils. The wine teeters on the edge of becoming overly grape-y, but settles down quickly. A few minutes later the ivy begins peeking around the edges; climbing up the walls, so to speak.

 

Mature: Once the leather comes out, this scent does all sorts of interesting things to my, err, more delicate bits. It’s hard to judge the throw, because I’m too busy smelling my wrist and getting all tingly. This blend is supposed to be desolate, but it doesn’t come across that way on me. Instead, it’s warm; masculine, and drop-dead sexy. It’s confident, and maybe just a little dangerous if need be. It’s the scent of going out to the club and dancing with your honey; knowing that a few hours later, that sheer silk chiffon blouse of yours is going to be left in a crumpled heap somewhere in the living room, and you don’t really give a damn.

 

The bottom line: Many of Beth’s creations give me strong visual associations, and this is no exception. From the first time I tried it, The Black Tower called up an image of Giles, wearing his Ripper-era black leather jacket, sitting at his desk reading a book of arcane lore; a glass of good merlot at his elbow and Cream’s “Tales of Brave Ulysses” on the stereo. It’s rich, complex, and unbelievably sensual; a veiled “don’t screw with me” in a bottle. Wearing it makes me feel about six inches taller, and like I could kick the ass of anything that tried to cross me. Definitely going on the big bottle list.

[audesapere]

In Imp: Fruity. sweet, masculine.

 

Wet: Wow, this changes about every thirty seconds. I smelled the fruity, spicy smell, the leather, the greenery, and the ozone, followed by the mellowing of the fruit and the prevailence of the ozone.

 

Dry: I smelled the lighter, fruitspice smell, over the dry, sweet ozone. The part of the poem about the soured wine and cold bones is what I thogh of. I could smell age and desolation.

 

Later: Lasted about four hours, but they were good hours. I like this a lot.

Edited June 28, 2006 by audesapere

[crescentwench]

mmm. I think i'm in love. It's sweet, and warm and not too masculine or feminine. The wine smell is lovely. Sadly after 10 seconds on my skin the cypress takes over. I had hoped it would just go away, since it makes my allergies crazy, but no such luck. Off to the sink. I'm keeping the imp for use in a scent locket, but I am sad.

[Caltha]

The Black Tower

The Black Tower is quite unlike any other BPAL I've tried. Actually, I think it smells more "expensive" or high end than most BPALs. A bit like a "BPAL-ized", stronger, sweeter, warmer version of a Comme Des Garcons scent. It's smoky and incensey in a way that makes me think of it as dark grey, but at the same time it has a certain fruity or vanilla-y sweetness, making it more heavy. I also get wood (my girlfriend said pine and resin but I don't know) and perhaps some powdery cocoa and bitter herbs. And metal, I do get metal out of it and perhaps it's that cool metal edge that makes it smell expensive.

Very unique and a new favourite of mine. It has everything - sweet and bitter, dry and creamy, warm and cool... Right now I'm wearing it my hair, newly applied, and it comes off more sweet and creamy, but I remember the cool and metallic notes from the drydown.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

i got a sniffy of this awhile back and didn't care for it...

 

i got a frimp of it today and love it. re-sniffed the sniffy... still don't like it.

 

dunno. i need a bottle of this. this is a memory given back to me in a precious little vial.

 

i mention him often, although he's been gone since 1988....

my first stepfather smoked a pipe, smoked a custom-blended cherry-vanilla-something (the something was the secret. i still don't know what it was) pipe tobacco that he kept in a black leather zippy pouch...

supple, soft, worn-smooth like glove leather pouch.

 

this glorious, precious droplet of oil gave me that memory back, i thought i'd lost it when that pouch was stolen and destroyed by a jealous person i'd rather forget.

 

this is supple black leather, sweet pipe tobacco and a good man.

[elfmaiden]

Another WOW. I ordered this on a whim just looking to try some new things and *swoon*

 

IMP: I get a strong leather with a hint of something complex and sweet in the background. Most likely the wine rounded out by the other notes.

 

On my skin: The sweetness grows but it hangs on to the leather which I LOVE. Who knew I'd love scents with leather in them (WTF?!).

 

It's dark, it's sexy, and I'm so glad it's not too too manly for me not to enjoy. LO the man who wears this the right way!!! He'd not have a chance of escaping a room I think lol. It's confident and darkly charming and the imagery is just perfect.

 

5 ML please!

Jenn

[cranberry]

Gahhh. This is a beautiful scent. That’s all I can think.

 

OK, I confess, I’m having a hard time reviewing this scent. I got an imp of this when it was first released and fell in love. I’ve come back to it a couple times and just thought, “Wow, I really like this, I must get a bottle.” Well, here goes.

 

My first impression is that this scent is fresh, sexy, slightly floral, and a bit resinous. It has a wonderful mix of a number of scent categories and is quite complex. When first applied, it’s glorious and green, with the ivy making itself known. After it’s been on a bit, the ivy recedes and the leather comes out. I love leather. While many have said that it’s predominantly masculine, I would have to disagree. I think that unisex fits it just right. Jolly Roger to my mind was uber-masculine and would not be so good on a woman. This I think would smell amazing on a guy, but I also think that women can pull it off no problem. It’s a warm, leathery, almost suede-type scent but there’s still a hint of green.

 

After it’s been on for a few hours, I’m left with a warm, amber-y smell. Beautiful. I love this scent!