Dee

[rhinestone tempest]

... His scent is soft English leather, rosewood and tonka with a hint of incense, parchment and soft woods.

 

Was originally unsure how I felt about this--it's got some good dimensions, but it seemed like I couldn't decide whether or not it was something I actually enjoyed smelling like. Then I realized: It's basically a fancy Old Spice. Which isn't necessarily bad! I think I'll reserve it for when I need a particularly pointed cologne. But I don't think I'll ever need much more than an imp.

 

I also just don't really get any parchment at all, nor rose; I think my skin amps the sandalwood too much and drowns them out. (Which, honestly, isn't all bad as I'm not a huge fan of smelling like paper...)

[marilyn eyre]

I love this scent so much, I bought a full-size. My sample has aged so it's gotten even better. It's creamy, clean leather, the starchiness of paper, rounded out by some soft woods. Smells like an ideal version of a hot librarian. 10/10, would and will slather myself in it.

[niffler]

First impressions: Sweet and clear without being overwhelming, just a touch spicy. Not sure I can detect the leather. The soft woods are entrancing and a little green. I can't pick out the woods individually, but they definitely belong in a well-loved library. I could spend hours in a space that smelled like this. 

 

On my skin: Warm and sweetly spiced, catching more of the incense when wet. A very comforting scent. The leather emerges with time. 

 

Edit: On wearing again, rosewood is much more prominent when wet but dries quickly to soft worn leather with only a bit of rosewood. I didn't get nearly as much tonka or incense. Different time of the month plus a medication change... fascinating how body chemistry influences things!  

Edited February 27, 2020 by niffler
Re-tested with different results

[CharB]

Dee is gorgeous, and I would definitely classify it as unisex, even feminine leaning, not overwhelmingly masculine. The creamy tonka bean blends well with the rosy rosewood and leather. The scent is deepened in a mysterious way by the accompanying hints of parchment and incensey woods. Its beautiful and somehow comforting too in its richness. 

[queenshaboo]

OMG This. Is. My. Holy. Grail. BPAL (and Book!) scent! I've been on the hunt for the Perfect book fume for so long! Rosewood, paper, tonka and leather are my fav notes and of all the bpal fumes I've tried (honestly only about 10% work out on my skin) one of the ones I liked best was Perversion. Dee has the same sweet tonka base of Perversion but overlaid with rosewood and leather that's softened considerably by the vanillic parchment accord, this isn't your bpal strong saddle leather note but a v soft book leather. I want to bathe in this. Wish it came in EDP because the stronger I smell of Dee the better imo!

[pommelo]

this!!! is absolutely stunning! on skin instantly it reminded me of Lush's All Good Things perfume - which has the notes cade, rose, tonka, cedarwood. the tonka was a huge top note, sweet and slick.

on wet, it's very sweet tonka with a punchy spicy wood, very unisex. 

the drydown is subtly more classically cologney than the start, as the sweet tonka fades to the background and the rosewood, and.. leather?? comes to the fore. 

 

loved it for the start, the drydown was just a smidge too much of a familiar cologne to me. 

[HerbGirl]

So snuggly, warm and comforting. I love this.

[Something_Diabolical]

I'm wearing it right now and it's so nice. 

It starts rather masculine on me. That most likely comes from the woods. However it mellows out and fully dried I get more of the sweetness from Tonka and sandalwood only a hint of the masculine scent I got from the wet stage. I'm not really a fan of rose but rosewood seems to work out for me. 

 

I think I'll put this on my "wear more often" list and see if I want a bottle. 

[fairybites]

Unsure of the age of my imp, but this is an incense and woodsy leather with a faint bit of parchment. I think this is the first blend I've tried with a bookish note, and I can see the appeal! The leather and patchouli notes mellow out over time and the parchment note come through more with the tonka. I'm not a big fan of super woodsy scents, but it works in this blend. I swear there might be a dust note in here as well, or that could just be the woods. 

 

A little bit different than what I usually wear, but I can see myself getting a bottle sometime. I don't think of John Dee when I wear this, I think of my friend who's nickname is Dee. Going to be gifting her an imp of this on her birthday 💜.

[skyturtles]

Oooo noooo this is not for me. The leather is making me nauseous, as it often does. It's the leather shoe section of a department store. It's a pompous wealthy man who overstyles his hair. PASS.

[Sunny the Wizard]

On wet I got a lot of those leather and wood notes, although I'm not sure my nose is good enough to separate the woods out. It does smell very 'mens cologne'-y, but there's a depth to it that I really enjoy. It's soft and inviting, in the same sort of wheelhouse as Miskatonic University in that it smells like an academic sort of masculinity. I'm not sure my skin really picks up parchment at all, considering both this and Miskatonic lacked any parchment notes for me, but the incense notes have emerged out after a day's wear really wonderfully, which compliments what remains of the leather. It's definitely a keeper for me.

[Weirdgirlpilled]

Man I love this one. Total sexy boysmellz. I want to slather myself and My Boy in it. This definitely needs to be an upgraded bottle. Woods usually aren't my thing (barring rosewood, that's actually one of my favorite scent notes) but they're not overpowering. The incense peeks it's head out from under the initial rosewood punch, and the tonka is definitely joining the party at this point too. I smell the parchment about 30 minutes in, and it almost gives it a weirdly (welcome) creamy touch? It smells so expensive and delicious- like I've plopped onto a chair in an older english gentleman's library and he's now seducing me by explaining 18th century poetry or something. Fantastic. 

[ShadowEtienne]

This isn't a scent I normally would have picked out, but I was frimped it by the lab in an etsy order, and it's one of the GC beard oils (though currently out of stock so I will get to see if it comes back), and one of the few that sounds tolerable and I need a new beard oil. Leather is usually a note I avoid, but I was glad to have a chance to sample this imp to see if I would be interested in getting the beard oil if/when it came back.

 

On my skin, this is primarily soft woods with rosewood taking center stage. I like the way rosewood smells, so I'm pretty pleased with that. It has undercurrents of smokey-spicy incense and something tannic (probably leather, but the good part of leather smell to me). It does smell a little bit of old library in a good way.

 

While I'll probably not be wearing this as perfume (and will likely pass it on to someone who will get better use of it), I'm definitely interested in picking up the beard oil. I'd like to switch to a BPAL beard oil, and this is better than the only other readily available ones to me which are basically fell face first into several trees. I can see why people are super into this as a scent too!

[Laughing Seagull]

This review is of an old imp, I think from around 2008.

 

My impression of this is the smell of a really old, squishy leather chair and vetiver. You know when you go to someone's house or a particularly cozy business and they've got an ancient leather chair that's sagging, covered in crackles, and has faded into that tiger's-eye gold color? It's like that. With vetiver.

 

As it dries, it blooms into what I'd call vetiver and polished wood sweetened lightly with tonka.

 

Medium throw, pretty good staying power. Nice to find a masc-leaning scent that's not a blast of oakmoss or frankincense for once.

 

Not something I'd buy for myself but it'd be good on someone else.

[flumphlord]

I'm fairly new to BPAL products, and this is one of the first imps I tried due to how much a couple of my friends hyped it up. My imp is fresh from the lab.

 

In the vial: Very subtle, too subtle to actually pick out individual notes even with my nose right up to it. Vaguely resiny. A hint of leather.

 

Wet: I had to really slather this on to get any level of throw, but doing that I now see the appeal. Up close to the skin, leather and rosewood dominates, which is interesting since my skin tends to absorb leather notes. The leather still doesn't really carry for me, though. The throw is primarily frankincense, with a hint of tonka. I got this in the men's imp pack, and while I would agree that this leans masculine, I think it's sweet and light enough that other genders could easily pull this one off. This is Dee chilling in his library reading an astronomy book, not prying the language of creation from angels.

 

Dry: Doesn't evolve much. The leather dies down within an hour, but again, par for the course for my skin chemistry. Unfortunately, the leather is what makes the blend interesting to me. If I want to smell like frankincense, there are lots of options out there that are longer lasting and more complex.

 

The sweat test: Still detectable over my natural scent and does blend well with it. I was concerned because in my transmasculine experience a lot of things this sweet don't do well with testosterone-dominant body chemistry in this regard, but no, this is one I could definitely pull off during a day at work.

 

It's totally possible this one gets better with age. From this experience with this fresh sample, I'll keep and finish the imp, but I don't think I'm into it enough to spring for a bottle. It's pleasant, but it's not the kind of thing I go to an indie perfume house for.

Edited November 13 by flumphlord