The Rat King

[Lycanthrope]

THE RAT KING
The Nine-Headed nemesis of the Nutcracker Prince. Dust, wood and feral musk with a fang-sharp undertone.

In the bottle:

Definitely a sharp, woodsy aroma... kind of a hint of pine, I'm getting, and this smells very earthy, almost like my Aveda Brilliant humectant pomade, so it has a definite hair-salon upscale styling goop hint to it. It does have a somewhat chemical tang to it.

On my skin:

The initial 'Aveda' aroma fades somewhat and this obtains a very light, somewhat birch-like barkiness, and on top of that is a very, very animal-like musk. Kind of like the scent of a small animal like a rabbit or guinea pig, that light aroma that reminds you that this is something alive, and not just a fuzzy toy... I'm not sure it really works out on me at this point, as it's still a bit chaotic and unsettling. There's definitely a dusty powderiness to the blend, and it brings to mind a craftshop with little rats scurrying around...

After a bit of time to dry and mature:

This is like the woodsy elements of Geek, without the sharp leather and with much less smoke. I get that very delicious hit of light forest that I adore in that oil, but the feral musk has a definite civet-like swagger that doesn't work out on my skin. However, that said, this is definitely a unique aroma which brings to mind a malevolent rat in all of his feral glory!

This may be a swapper in the future.

[shelldoo]

in the bottle:a bit of dust,& a hint of what i think is a moss type note

 

wet: ok i am thinking there is some oakmoss in this. it smells almost like pure oakmoss.

 

amazing to me, this is like pure oakmoss, everything else have left the building. no dust bunnies, no musk possibly a hint of "bark' but there is oakmoss draped all over the bark.

[Diana]

Going on, this has a bit of sharp perfumeyness to it, which fades after a few moments.

After about 20-minutes, it develops an earthy quality to it, like a softer version of Graveyard Dirt. There is a soft musk note to it, but it's almost like skin; I can barely detect it.

 

After about an hour or two: I can barely detect that I'm wearing it.

 

I like the earthy part, but this faded so quickly, and was barely noticable unless my nose was pressed to my skin. I'm going to try this again, but my initial reaction is nice, and slightly disappointing, so probably I will have no need for a backup. Perhaps some aging will intensify the notes.

[coulrophobe]

In the bottle: mold

 

Wet on skin: mold

 

Drydown: mold

 

I had high hopes for Rat King, because usually, anything that's "feral" is a rather pleasant musk on me. Sadly, this one is all "dust" with my chemistry - and the lab's dirt/dust notes turn to dry mold on me. I can almost feel the spores.

 

There's a slight hint of lovely musk, but dirt notes tend to dominate with me. Just not right with my chemistry.

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: Dusty musk.

 

Wearing: This is very interesting. It goes on dusty musk, but quickly dries to a slightly musky, woody, earth scent. There is something almost pine for a moment, then that fades into the earthy background. It is almost completely faded after an hour or so.

 

Final Impressions: This is't at all what I was expecting. If musky earth sounds like a good thing to you, then you must give this a try. I'm going to have to test it again!

[Macha]

Oh! Sharp! Much more so than the initial sniff I had of the test bottle at the Lab. Beth said she was going to make it sharper, and she did -- this one is quite feral.

 

I'm mean, rather shockingly feral. I used to date a man who owned rats: lovely, sweet and friendly, but rats nonetheless. And the dead-on-accuracy of this: the smell of the creatures, the dust of the cage, is kind of spooky. I was always a bit surprised at how accurately and perfectly Cerberus smelled like dog under all the other lovely elements: Rat King dispenses with the other elements and goes straight for the animal.

 

On dry down, Rat King turns to a deep, gorgeous musk (although musks traditionally do very well with my skin chemistry) that is perfect. This is my favorite stage of the wearing.

 

So...I suppose the final verdict is: interesting. I'm not in love with it, and I don't think Rat King is ultimately for me, but it certainly wasn't an unpleasant experience by any means. I'm glad I got to try it.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Almost a pure, wild animal musk to my nose, but there's a faint wood-greeness, like fresh-chopped lumber of a young tree, that adds a sharpness.

 

On me: This is surprisingly clean, almost a man-soap smell. I expected it to be dark and Puck-like, sans the grape, but it is far better! There is a grass-note that I did not anticipate at all that makes this blend surprisingly pretty. There. I said it. The Rat King is pretty! I am as amazed as you!

Definitely a man-soap scent; reminds me a bit of a sharper, less synethetic 'Woodland.' (Woodland from Bath & Body Works, if you didn't guess.) I wouldn't wear it, but I'd love to smell it on someone else.

[Fefferbella]

Wow. This was a shocker for me. I was expecting something sharp and feral, but instead this is GORGEOUS, clean and rich.

On me, it turns to a soapy-masculine musk, but on my fiance, it's heavenly

Warm, rich manly musk!

[Neely]

This was a imp sent to me by Paperdoll!

 

In the bottle: Dusty books and moss

 

Wet: Dusty books moss, and a nice masculine cologne smell, musk, grass.

 

Dry Down: Dusty books and wooden bookshelves they sit on. Smells like a large old house would smell.

 

Conclusion: The Rat King wearing his dapper velvet frock coat, his golden crown polished to a shine, puts on a little toilet water. He may be a rat, but he is the king of rats. He has a date, with a sweet innocent little virgin standing on the threshold of becoming a woman, one little Clara, whom he share the house with. She has done something very dangerous, she snuck down while everyone was asleep to be with her Nutcracker doll. One lone candle seperates her from the dark. The Nutcracker symbolizes chivalrous, innocent first love, and the Rat King symbolizes that naughty, lusty love. This is a sensous, feral, lovely, sexy scent that on me (my bod loves the musk), stays for hours! I went to sleep and woke up and still smelled it. It might be more masculine to some, my mother would never wear this one (she is a floral girl), but on a woman like myself that smells better in typically "masculine" colognes, this is for you. Oh, yes, this is beautiful. I want to ravage myself!

 

I must have a bottle of this before the Yule scents are gone. Another order for the lab, or someone who doesn't want theirs. My poor bank account! Must work overtime to pay for my BPAL addiction, or maybe a second job...

 

Rating 1-5 on my skin, 5 .

Edited January 11, 2006 by atropos

[Little Bird]

I thought that Snow Bunny had the cutest label of the yule blends, but The Rat King is my new favorite . I am also very pleased with the way that this one ends up smelling on me.

 

My first thought was that this smelled like an expensive men's cologne, but with a cruel/chilly edge, more autumn than winter chill. It doesn't smell overly perfumey or generic at all, a unique men's cologne.

 

It also reminds me of a specific place from my childhood. My family owned a lot of land in Missouri when I was younger, and there were several old barns on the property. There was a field behind one of the barns where the grass was always strangely soft and dry. I can smell those grasses here. There was also a small stagnant pond in that area, with acres of pine forest behind it all. The Rat King is that entire area in a bottle. The barns, the meadow, the pond, and the pines... the pine isn't very strong at all though, as it has been in a lot of this year's yule blends. It's just a lingering whisper in the background. In the drydown, I get more of a dusty woods scent mixed in with everything else.

 

The Rat King has a lot of staying power. I had it on for ten hours before I took a bath and washed it off. It's not an overwhelmingly strong fragrance, it's rather soft, but it does have a good deal of throw. It's the sort of scent that I would want to put on my boy if we were going to spend an evening just cuddling on the couch.

 

I really like this one. It's probably not something that I will ever need more than one bottle of... but I'm definitely happy to have my one bottle

[ChupaChup]

The Rat King is not something I would have ordered on my own based on the description but I got an imp of it as part of a decant group. It actually wasn't too bad on me for the first five minutes, I like the "dust" aspect, it's amazingly authentic. But then some strong mosses started to come out and this got too masculine for me. I did not have a problem with the musks in this though, there was nothing I would call feral about it.

[QueenFae]

This actually does remind me of rats, because, unfortunately on me it smells like the inside of a pet rat's cage (when it's clean with wood shavings). It's very, very woodsy/cedar smell, and that's all I could really smell when it was first applied. Now that it has had some time to sit on my skin awhile, I detect a smoother, cologne type note in the background. It's definitely a "feral" smell, quite animalistic and masculine. This one didn't work out for me, but the hubbie seems to like it and I'm sure he will hijack my bottle after I'm done reviewing it.

[nineveh]

This starts out as being offensively sharp to my nose, like walking past a hair or nail salon at the mall.

 

The more it dries, however, the better it gets.

 

The sharpness starts to lift away to reveal a layer of light dustiness. I'm one of those people who is fascinated by dirt/dust/mold notes, so this is a good thing. It's kind of a clean, soapy dust with a slight sweetness.

 

Sometimes I can detect faint, light woods behind the dust. The musks, while there, have a Buck Moon feel. They don't seem heavy or dark to me.

 

In fact, this blend is not at all dark like I thought it would be. Instead, it feels pale and ghostly, and very atmospheric. It's making me picture a dusty room in an old abandoned house. All the furniture is covered in white sheets and everything is glowing from the moonlight coming in through the window.

[Voleuse]

On first application, this is a musky woods type of smell--definitely masculine to my nose. As it fades, it gets a little earthier, but the musk stays dominant and sharp in this scent.

 

Overall, I like the scent, but it's not one I think I'd wear.

[SeaMonkey]

Pine and dust. Its a very masculine scent. I can definately picture the Rat King when I smell this. The musk blends well with the pine and dust.

[perclexed]

Sharp, dusty and hatefully nervous smelling. Too sharp for me to wear for long - it's like a masculine version of smelling salts. A sort of slap in the face at the beginning, it calms after about 15 and smells more like my junior high woodshop classroom - aged sawdust with eons of masculine musk. It faded rapidly, and I can't really feel bad about that.

[blu°]

This was a decant I received from the lovely paperdoll! Thank you!!!

 

Hmmm. Dust.

 

Ooooh! Nice dust!

 

This is so weird. It's real dust, but it somehow manages to smell delicious. Something warm, sweet and bright underneath. There's almost a green something with it.

 

Some grass or wood that I know.

 

This dries pretty fast.

Wow, it's really got some depth and complexity. A little bit like Graveyard Dirt with some almost almondy wood underneath. A sweet wood. A little fizzy.

Maybe there's ivy, too. I like this. Really do. I like this a lot.

 

I don't get what this reminds me of. Something.

Hm...ginger? Just as I see my Ginger soap in the bathroom. There could be ginger in this. A little bit.

 

Birch could very well be there, too. Maybe it reminds me of Talvikuu which I was wearing in the morning.

 

Pine? Maybe, yes. Probably yes.

 

Don't know about the mosses other people seemed to perceive. Maybe.

 

I can see the similarity with Geek, too. Something about the musk or the woods or the maybe-moss.

 

I agree that the musk in here is probably civet, as I usually get along with civet well, it's light and sweet on me, whereas some other heavy musks tend to be overpowering and give me a headache.

 

It's probably the civet that reminds me of things, not sure.

 

I keep thinking that there's something resiny in here as well. Because of the comparisons with Geek, I almost (!) can smell something vaguely resembling opoponax? But that might be me hallucinating out of sheer despair as I can't really find out what this reminds me of.

 

Whatever, this is lovely. Will have to wear it a little more to know if I need a bottle of this or might be ok with just an imp.

Edited December 29, 2005 by blu°

[sarada]

I've been trying to figure out how to review this for days now -- this is a fairly unique scent and I've tried about 500 from the lab. The only really similar one I've tried was Clio, and that is another recent addition to the catalog. This is like Clio...without the orange. Yet there is still something slightly warm and almost citrus/fruity hovering around this scent.

 

In the bottle and freshly on the skin it is a very appealing light wood fragrance and yes it really does have a dusty smell. My boyfriend said it smells like old books in the bottle, and he didn't know anything about what this was supposed to smell like. I think it's the "parchment" note she's been using lately. But it actually makes me ~sneeze~ when I sniff it on my skin at first.

 

The dusty wooden box smell is somehow dappled in sweetness and light, unaccountably, making it a rather friendly scent to me. I don't specifically smell musk of any sort, and certainly not anything sharp, but maybe I'm just interpreting that as a citrusy warmth. It's smiling at me, at any rate.

 

It dries down to a powdery wood scent and a light musk clings to me after it dries. The bf does not like it when it dries on my skin because he said it smelled too powdery...but when I told him it was supposed to smell like dust and wood he said it made more sense. He usually doesn't comment on my fragrances, which is why I mention this....it had enough throw and personality for him to really comment on it. Unfortunately he didn't like it on me but I like it, so there!

 

Really unique, but if you want it and can't get it, try Clio!

[gingersnapp]

When I first applied this, I hated it. It was very sharp and biting. But as it's dried, it takes on a very perfumic aspect. It reminds me very much of some perfume my mother used to wear when I was a child. There is something in it that reminds me of one of her Chanels or perhaps Emeraude? I'm not sure.

 

It's still somewhat biting and very, very animalic, but then there is a creaminess that underlies everything.

 

I am keeping this for nostalgic reasons. And because it is very unique and beautiful.

[couscous]

Hrm. Poor Rat King.

 

I don't get "animal" from this at all, and I am fairly to almost certain that there isn't civet in this. If you are worried about that, do not be! Put your mind at ease!

 

Rat King's "animalness" belongs very much to the Buck Moon family of animals, and if anyone does not enjoy it, I highly doubt that they will cite "overtly animalistic" as the reason.

 

I do get grass and dust (lots of dust), raw wood on the drydown but still very high-pitched, very sharp, very muddled. The Rat King's sharpness is not crystalline clear, it is filled with wood shavings and..hay? Is there some sort of straw in this? Or is it sawdust, like in a lumber store? That could be it, too.

 

The musk in Rat King is very, very light on me. The only "animal" impressions I am getting might be from rat bedding or cages. Far from being dark and unpleasant, The Rat King is extraordinarily grassy, green, and cleanly masculine.

 

It's unlike any other BPAL I've tried (have not tried Geek), so I can't really think of what to compare this to. Get it if you like men's scents, fresh scents, "non-perfumey" scents, light musks, ozones or aquatics (no, The Rat King is neither, but the high sharpness can be likened to the sharpness in either of those families), or if you are a lover and keeper of Rats.

 

I'm keeping it. I think it would be best applied lightly all over, as in a shampoo, lotion, dry oil mist, or what have you, then concentrated on the wrists.

Edited December 29, 2005 by couscous

[theshapeshifter]

Wet: This doesn't smell 'dry' to me at all! I get the sharp musk, and an almost aquatic scent. It's fresh and dusty-herbal, and quite masculine.

 

Drydown: As it dries, it becomes a little closer to unisex, but I'd still group this on the 'masculine' end of the spectrum... but in an accessible way. Like you've borrowed your boyfriend's jacket with a hint of his scent still left on it, not like you've doused yourself in the men's cologne aisle. This is still not as 'dry' as I'd expected (which is a good thing, since the dryness was the element that had worried me). It's surprisingly comfortable - although I get the "fang-sharpness" of it, it's a small fang. A little spike of light musk above pale dusty woods and a whisper of dried herbs. I think I'll really enjoy this in the early spring when I'm looking for a fresher, lighter scent.

[PurringPulsar]

The Rat King

 

In the imp: tangy masculine cologne with fresh woody notes.

Wet on skin: still manly cologne, which turns to musk, and a hint of sawdust.

Dry on skin: mmm, this one is quite nice! It's lighter than I expected-there's something fresh about this scent, from the 'cologne' note, but underneath I get a dusty, slightly moist and musty note, almost like earth. That bit does bring to mind old damp attics. I don't get anything intensely animalistic yet, I do get a little bit of sawdust though. There may be cedar in this. The scent is a surprisingly youthful and bright musk cologne, the sort of thing that would smell nice on a young man. The musk note, to me, isn't all that feral, it's a clear, slightly tangy light musk, a skin scent.

After a while: still a tangy men's cologne, with a darker woody note, and something earthy, with just a whisper of musk underneath it all.

Verdict: this is surprisingly pleasant! It's a fresh, tangy scent, like good quality cologne, with undertones of musty earth, sawdust and earth, and a light musk, maybe some moss as well. It's quite light in tone, bringing to mind dusty attics which are abandoned, dusty and a bit damp, but well lit with sunlight streaming in. The sawdust does bring to mind rodent cages very slightly, but not offputtingly so. It's nice, but I find it a more masculine scent. I think my friend William, who keeps pet rats, might like this-I think this would be a nicer scent for a young man than for me.

Edited December 30, 2005 by yeahbutnobut

[sookster]

straight up whiff from the bottle this is bright, fresh green jalapeno peppers

from the produce section!!!! love it!!!

upon application this turns very dusty and reminds me quite vividly of

an 80's cologne that used to be popular; namingly, grey flannel....

 

this gets stronger as time marches on and i have a sneaking suspicion this might

age beautifully......which is just what i intend to do with this bottle......

[Penance]

Preconceived notions:

 

I want to love this. I love rats and the dust and wood sound wonderful, but the "feral" part worries me, as does the "sharp" undertone. I have a feeling this is going to be a love/hate scent for me. I'm either going to love it or I'm going to hate it.

 

First sniff:

 

Eww, sharp and sour and musky all at once. This reminds me a bit of cat pee for some reason.

 

Wet on skin:

 

The wood and dust are coming out more now. It's dusty but still...sharp, somehow. That has to be the musk. For some reason certain musks strike my nose as very sharp and offensive and I'm not sure why. I do like the dusty part of this, though, even if it's making me feel like I'm about to sneeze.

 

Dry down:

 

Interesting...very much a BPAL kind of scent. What I mean is it's unusual, certainly not like anything I've ever tried before scentwise and strangely alluring even in its oddness. This reminds me of something, but I'm not sure what...it's a bit dirty, but in a dusty way...could be the smell of our old basement (it's not as bad as it sounds, really...I like the smell of dust, even if I'm allergic to it). This is really strange...I'm not sure if this is me or not yet.

 

The bottom line:

 

This one's going to have to be tested a couple more times before I make up my mind. It's strangely appealing...it keeps urging me to sniff my wrists but at the same time there's something about it that puts me on edge. Odd, but in a good way.

Edited January 27, 2006 by Shollin

[zenvodunista]

usually woods don't work on my skin. and with the "dry dusty woods" description of this scent, combined the "feral" in the title, well, frankly, i was terrified what it would do. but i got a decant anyway because i like to try them all.

 

and this one was a surprise.

 

rather than the bad, B/O funk that cypress and cedar make on my skin, this was a bright woods scent. maybe birch? not sweet birch (which is the birch that you use for birch-beer), but more like a river birch, "regular" birch. and other bright woods. it put me in mind of ash, beech, sweetgum.

 

i can't imagine wearing it very often because i'm not feeling like it's "me", but i am thrilled to find that not all "woods" or "feral" scents are bad on me.

 

BPAL is always a scent educator. and i'm thankful that i got to try, and that it wasn't terrible

 

n.