Baron Samedi

[Dulci]

A notorious voodoo priest, who eventually rose to become one of the funereal Guédés, alongside Baron Cimitère and Baron La Croix. He is a Guardian of the Crossroads: the pathways between our world and the realm of the spirits. As a Master of the Graveyard, he ensures that burial rites are performed with skill, and he helps ferry souls to the dark realm. In his honor, we have created this scent: our spin on traditional Bay Rum.

Sniffed from the imp, Almond!

Upon application, lovely Clove and Bay and something else, I don't know what it is. I don't smell Almond now, but it must be there somewhere. This is so close to the scent I've been trying to duplicate for years, "Jamaican Bay Rum & Spices." All it needs is a little touch of citrus peel...

This is verrrry nice, I keep inhaling deeply, I just *love* a good Bay Rum. I'm going to put this on my Beloved Husband tonight and see what happens!

[janelle_hell]

This is great,a strong Bay Rum that lasts all day. Who cares that it's supposed to be a guys' fragrance? i want a big bottle of this one!

[Sistinas]

Mmmm, I really love the smell of this one. First thought it that I thought it seemed a bit familiar,like Typhon, but after smelling Typhon again I can see I very mistaken. The first note that hits me is the almond/cherry scent. Then a smokier,

dirty scent comes out, I think that is bay rum. When I apply it to me it does burn, but not for long and the scent stays with me for quite awhile. So very nice and another scent that I adore, I have to agree with the above poster who cares if it's a guys fragrance.

[Hallows_Eve]

In th bottle: It smells dry, even when wet. Spicy and Earthy- a bit of a bite to it. It reminds me of something that couldn't put my finger on till later...

 

On me- I got it! After wearing it I figured out what it reminded me of. Every fall, Yankee Candle Co would sell a candle called "Autumn Leaves". It smelled the same. Not just the candle scent- but the burning candle scent, the leaves in the scent- the flame, spices. It is an instant Samhain mood setter. And I got to wear it everywhere I went.

 

On my husband- amazingly it smelled the same on him as it did on me, a rarity in smells with us.

 

One thing, a little goes a long way. My husband discovered this first and after being generous applyng to himself, well- everyone noticed he was wearing a new scent. For about 8 hours.

 

Just put in for a bigger bottle.

[ebonykawai]

This is the male partner to Hellcat! Now hubby and I can match when we go out.

 

I LOVE the good Baron.

[slotown]

When I popped the top on this one, I almost didn't want to try it. Smelled way too earthy for me. But I figured I'd give it a shot and I'm glad I did. The earthy smell faded almost immediately to a very pleasant spicy rum. Maybe a little too pleasant. One of my office friends/drinking buddies just told me she doesn't want to smell this one again unless I mean it. And certainly not at the office. (Most just said I smell really nice/sexy/yummy.)

 

This one's definitely going on the short list.

[friendthegirl]

This kind of has the sweetish, sticky smell of Old New Orleans, but it has a hint of spice underneath.

 

It hasn't dried yet, so I'll see if it changes.

 

I also have no idea what Bay Rum is supposed to smell like, but I like it so far.

 

ADDED July 18:

 

Ugh, all I get from this is a strong peanut smell, which makes me feel nauseated, though that could be from my imp being in the heat so long.

[diabolique]

like everyone else, the most prominent note i smelled was the cherry and the almond, with some kind of underlying spice to it.

 

now it's this gentle but rugged almond-bay rum scent. it's a little bit dark and "bad boy"-ish, but it's sweet and gentle. my grandpa thought this scent was gonna be his, but i'll fight to the death for it.

[pkwench]

Baron Samedi

 

Vial: The first sniff is a very potent and sweet almond. The second is the same, but I can detect something ... musty beneath it. Something old.

 

Wet: Almondy and there's that dead note. *twitch*

 

Drying: It's settling, the sweet is receding and the dead note is evolving into something musky and powdery.

 

After 10: Spicey and boozy with a bit of something powdery going on.

 

25 Minutes: It smells like a red Christmas candle. I'm very glad that musty, dead smell faded out because this is quite nice now.

 

One thing that I really like about this one is that it doesn't turn super sweet on me. That's a nice change!

 

Much later: The musty smell came back up and tempered the Christmas candle smell. It smells more manly now and a little bit like pot. Sort of the hint that's left on your clothes when you've breezed through a pot smoke cloud-but haven't really had any yourself.

Edited September 8, 2004 by pkwench

[ChupaChup]

From the reviews, I thought Baron Samedi would be something I would love on myself and if not on me, on my boyfriend. The almonds and clove really appealed to me and I didn't really know what bay rum would smell like. Well, turns out I love the almond and cloves in it, but find the bay rum to be very masculine on me. I kept sniffing it, hoping the bay rum would go away but alas, as others have said, this is one strong, long-lasting oil. It was also too "different" for my boyfriend so I ended up swapping it. I think a lot of guys would really like it, though.

[Spanglemaker]

Baron Samedi:

 

Wet: Very strong, very boozy scent

 

On: This dries to a really lovely spicy rum scent

 

I can see how this would smell great on a man but I think I'll be keeping this one for myself.

[Northernminx]

Earthy and soft in the bottle, this was very clove and incensey sweet for a few minutes. After about five minutes it turned spicey, earthy, gorgeous. Bay rum indeed! Wonderful gorgeous spicey scent on this one, and strangely not _too_ masculine. I could still wear this if I were feeling exotic. It does bespeak a certain fire filled mystery, lots of brimstone and danger, but all done with good charm and a smile.

[Penance]

Got this in a swap from NorthernMinx . I've been wanting to try this for a long, long time and I wanted to love it, but it was pure almonds on me. Almonds make me physically ill, sad to say. I love the smell of rum and spices and that's what I was hoping for, but somehow I got screaming, in your face almonds.

 

First Sniff:

 

Almonds...dear God, no. Why did it have to be almonds? I wanted to try this, though, so I'm going to give it a shot and hope that they die down like they do in Snake Oil. Please, please, let them go away....

 

Wet on skin:

 

Holding my breath, I don't want to smell it for fear of the almondy evil lurking on my wrist. Here goes...ack, almonds! Okay, I can wait this out, it's got to go away sometime. Everyone else is getting lovely rum and spices. I love the smell of Captain Morgan's...just have to be patient.

 

Dry down:

 

Maybe there's a hint of rum and spice hiding behind the almonds, but I'm getting nauseous and I can't wait to find out if it'll amplify later. I'm going to have to wash this off, or I'll be cleaning the carpet here in a minute.

 

The bottom line:

 

I wanted to love this. It sounds fantastic and everyone else seems to be getting what I'd hoped for, but on me it's almonds. Cloying, nauseating almonds. I know there are people out there who love that sort of smell, but I am not one of them. Sadly, this is going to have to be swapped because I'm going to feel queasy every time I even look at it.

Edited December 6, 2004 by Penance

[kimmer]

Almonds!! and Rum!!

 

Baron Samedi is a lovely almond scent that's laced with rum. I was thinking of my guy when I swapped for this, but I think he'll find it too sweet for him (confirmed; he thought it smelled like bananas).

 

In time, the blend mellows to a spiced almond scent. But, when comparing it against Eclipse, maybe I'm not giving the rum enough credit here.

 

This one is nice, but I think I prefer Eclipse (cause it gives me my cinnamon fix).

[Spastik_Kitty]

In the bottle: Sweet spiced rum

 

First on: Rum that is heavily spiced with cinnamon and cloves

 

After a few minutes: I'm just smelling cloves now

 

After an hour: Mostly cloves with a slight nutty note, as well as a hint of citrus.

 

I have several scents so very close to this already so I probably wont keep it. It's quite beautiful and deep though.

 

Quote from my husband "When I smell this I think of pirates. And I don't think it's just because of Captain Morgan."

Edited March 11, 2005 by Spastik_Kitty

[girlmadasbirds]

this had such a sweet rummy scent in the imp, but on me...

100% clove.

i forwarded it on to someone to try.

[kmasden]

When I first got a whiff of this, I thought "Hearth." A slightly smokey, fruity sweet...that stage went away within a couple minutes and I started getting something I refer to as "cigar ash" ala jolly roger. But as I have let this dry down, it's really surprised me. Very lovely. Masculine in a green, earthy way. The rum is lovely. I am constantly amazed. I could see this smelling great on a man, but I love it on me. I'd love to smell this in soap/shower gel! I couldn't detect any cinnamon or cloves, both of which amp up on me bigtime, also no almond. My nose is bonkers I guess.

[byrdie]

Vial ~ Uh-oh. What the week before reminded me of rum, tobacco and ashes brings to mind -- as of this writing -- cherry incense.

 

Wet ~ There's cedar in this. Oh, mmm! And spice! It's sharp -- spice and pine? Rather Christmas-like, really. It keeps morphing. On a later try, I found that it could be a cinnamon mint, or perhaps a spiced rum. I'm not perceiving it as booze, because when I think of the smell of alcohol its usually in terms of whiskey or beer (yeech).

 

Drying ~ Well, that initial blast died down quickly. The pine is now very mellow. The cedar immediately twisted into an almost plasticy resin. Wait, the spice is coming back again! This is changing so fast.

 

Drydown ~ I wonder if there's tobacco in this oil? The scent is blending well and I'm finding it both masculine and comfortable. The pine stings my nose a bit, but not so much that I want to stop sniffing.

 

Dry ~ Mmmm. It smells crisp and smokey at the same time. I suspect that this is now I'd want the oil to smell all the time.

 

Fade ~ A very light pine and cedar, like what you might smell on sleeping bags as you first unpack them from a camping trip.

 

Final thoughts ~ Very strong and very masculine. Not me, and I'm not sure if I'd like smelling it on someone else. It's not bad, per se, but it's too strong a scent not to do anything for me. I'd say that this is definitely a ritual oil.

 

Oil burner ~ As a house scent, this is more boozy and less pine-like, but only by a matter of degree. Again, I'd be willing to burn it as a ritual scent, but not much else.

[Elanya]

I am writing about pirates today, so I thought a nice rum scent migt help me concentrate (ha!). We can see hwo well that theory is holding up by the fact that I have already put more work nto this review than my paper today.

 

This reminds me a lot of Port au Prince, which I love. In fact, in the imp, I was almost confused, because they are so much alike! They do have a lotof similar notes, so it isn't too surprising. So, first impression: spiced rum.

 

Wet, it is still very similar to Port Au Prince... Less clove, more rum! It has a slightly bitter alcoholic scent, and a hint of earthyness.

 

As it dries, more differences emerge. This has something fresher in it... maybe a hint of orange or lemon? This balances out with the earthy note I noticed before. It is still very alcoholic, that's for sure, but this rum goes down smooooooooth.... Yummy!

 

I like it, and I'll probably keep the imp, but I think that I like Port au Prince *more*, and they are similar enough that I'd feel redundant owning both.

[gingersnapp]

This is punch me in the face, stab me in the eyes, ram sporks up my nostrils vetiver. Nothing but vetiver.

 

Vetiver makes the baby jesus cry.

 

[donsixgun]

The barber I go to uses Bay Rum as a tonic/aftershave, and it smells great. So when I got this, and opened it I thought I was going to be in that same kind of heaven...cause I got spice, cherry, almond...bay rum.

 

But when I put it on, it dried into nothing but clove. Choking, gross clove.

 

So it shall be swapped.

[slave1]

In Bottle: It smells like cherry, patchouli and something boozy… maybe rum?

 

On Skin: I like the cherry and rum, but the patchouli or incense note is bothering me. I think I’d like I better without that. It does smell quite manly and tough though, even with the cherry note. I’d like to smell it on a man before I decide if I want ot keep it. Hopefully my hubby will oblige.

[bodegaselkie]

Baron Samedi doesn't smell at all like bay rum to me, but I like it anyway. On me, the almond takes over and turns very buttery, and the rum and spice add to it -- sort of winding up smelling like buttered rum, actually.

 

It's slightly masculine, but I don't mind some of the masculine scents (I adore umbra). It's also quite sexy, but I'm during that portion of my cycle when *everything* is quite sexy, so take that with a grain of salt.

 

Unfortunately, it does fade very quickly on me, so it needs to be reapplied every few hours.

[Summerpixy]

Cherry coke, rum and heavy incense. This is a very interesting blend. Totally wearable, but dark and masculine. Perhaps too masculine for me, and way too dark to suit my boyfriends taste. It was nice to try but.. it's just not me. Off to the swaps.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Does traditional Bay Rum smell like throat-closingly sweet almond and a little bit of funky musk? ’Cause that’s what I’m getting from the Baron.

 

Wearing: Still almond, still very very sweet, and still a weird animal darkness underneath. His Excellency is not at all my cup of tea.