Imp of the Perverse

[Em-]

...a 1/32oz vial brimming with the scent of three roses and a half bottle of cognac.

First off, I have to confess that this little impsy was a serious bit of the draw for me in ordering the Parcel, although I probably would have broken down and done so anyway. 'Cause, well, I love me some liquor scents and Beth does them so well, and roses, while not my favorite floral scent to wear, are among those that I *can* wear. And, well, I was just curious to see what the twist was going to be, if there would be one...

In the vial, I mostly smell roses, with a slight liquor undertone. On my skin, it is definitely a rose scent, but these are not bright, fresh new rose blossoms. These are roses that have maybe been left in the vase for a day too long, or musty dried roses - not unpleasant, necessarily, but not in their prime.

The cognac is there, but not predominant for me, sadly.

I will say, though, that I do not get any obviously unpleasant odors from this, unlike some reviews I've seen elsewhere. I don't smell dirt or dead bodies or decay. Maybe I just lucked out in chemistry.

Oh, and the label is really cool.

[Ganguro_gal]

The label is amazing!

 

I smell like roses & liquor. It's perfect on me & I would do anything for a bottle.. minus buying 5 sets.. It's lovely & I *almost* wish I never tried it.

 

This is by far my favorite rose scent b/c it lasts on me for 6 + hours..

[quikslvr]

Lovely roses at first: sweet and strong and not sharp--to me, a cross between the rose in Rose Red and that in Pride.

 

Then it starts to turn strange: the cognac creeping in, I assume. I can smell what I assume to be the cognac, with a deep and sugared boozy note, vaguely reminiscent of the recent Sugar Skull.

 

The cognac comes and goes, letting the rose shine through. The moments that both can be smelled can sometimes come off as a bit odd, but overall, I actually rather like it, though it's too rosy for me to really wear much (I'm not a huge florals fan). From my memory of the reviews before me that got eaten: am I one of the few that this actually works for so far?

[LittleGreyKitten]

The Imp here was absolutely unwearable. To tell the truth I didn't even try it on- just smelling it in the imp was enough. I could just barely smell the roses; whatever it was that was in there that overwhelmed them was just terrible. It didn't smell like cognac; it just smelled um, bad. Sorry for the underwhelming description but I just couldn't spend enough time sniffing it to analyze. I kind of feel like it was intended to be a weird smell- after all, it's the Imp of the Perverse... and it is. Unrate-able.

[sookster]

sniff from imp is all about roses.....mellowed roses......

when applied it is heavy duty rose and cognac...this does not

morph or change....pure rose and booze.....

extremely long lasting as i applied the teensiest dab on my wrist

and it kept going strong for hours......

[Brienze]

I'm one of the people who was utterly grossed out by this, but my review will be impossible to recapture, now that I'm several days removed from the shock of it. I'm convinced this is a great joke that Beth is playing on us; I'm just not sure how, since there are some people it smells good to before it even hits skin, so it's as much nose chemistry as skin chemistry.

 

The Imp snuck up on me... a cautious whiff got me roses, so I took a great honkin' breath and half a second after the roses hit, I was assaulted with the nastiest substance I have smelled in BPAL since the buttered-salty-popcornness of Shill. It wasn't cognac and I've no clue what it was (I've heard the suggestion that it's roses gone rotten), but it was foul.

 

Of course since IotP is rare everyone will be clamoring to get a sniff of it, and I bet even after the reviews of its nastiness pour in, people will still want to sniff it from lack of believing us, or for the novelty of it or whatever, so it'll definitely fulfill the promise of its name. Unless you're absolutely in love with roses, or with cognac, my advice would be to not worry about selling your firstborn to get hold of an imp. Imp of the Perverse may be good when it's good, but it's really REALLY REALLY bad when it's bad.

[poisonapple]

This was interesting. It did not smell bad in the imp...it was different. So I put it on and wow...turned to cat pee on my arm. Please I am not being mean..but that is what sprang to mind.

 

Then before I could wash it off the babies were up and I had to go take care of them. So it stayed on my arm for a bit. While I brushed teeth and got breakfast on the table. Then I noticed that it did not smell that bad. I kind of liked it. It had a boozy rose scent to it that was quite nice.

 

But I just can't get past the cat pee smell. I think it is a lot like Poe's stories really. If taken at face value they can be quite horrific but if you go back and actually look at them...they are lovely stories with a much deeper meaning. But I think I will have to see if I can swap it.

 

I read some good reviews on it and it does work on some people. So maybe my imp and find a good home.

[grlfrndinacma]

I received a bit of this from my Maelstrom decant circle. When I opened it, I took a big whiff and my first thought was..."FOUL!!!" (I do love using that word) After thinking about it, I realized what it reminded me of and took another big whiff just to be sure. Ya know those Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans that Jelly Belly put out? I think it almost smelled like the Vomit flavored tasted--except less cheese and more rose in the oil (which doesn't help for me...I'm not a fan of roses). I admit, I didn't try it on my arm. I wasn't given much and I figured I'd just might as well save it for someone who's desparate to try it.

[zenvodunista]

repost from my lost review of the Great Crash of '06.

 

sadly, this has a weird funky smell to my nose in the vial (a vile vial?) -- very much like the musty and somewhat moldy lees that cognac is distilled from. all fine and good, but it doesn't drop back on my skin. well, it drops back but only to reveal a distinct urine note. Rose Red did something similar, and i wonder if it is that -- whatever "that" is -- that is causing the badness here.

 

n.

[jewelbug]

I'll preface this with the fact that roses and I don't usually get along--they usually go soapy and powdery on me.

 

Imp: Very strong rose with a strange dirty chocolatey/yeasty smell in the back. Not really chocolate….but….brown. Dirty and brown. This is not at all what I expected, and I can’t really pick out booze/cognac.

 

Wet: Not much change from in the imp. Very odd. The “other” smell is kinda like overcooked vegetables, actually. And dirt.

 

Dry: Mild rose, not soapy or powdery, a surprising thing for rose and my skin chem. The hint of oddness stays around, but becomes less disturbing, less pronounced with time.

This one doesn’t have very good throw on me, but lasts faintly for 7-8 hrs.

 

Overall: This isn’t what I was expecting at all. I don’t know what that odd dirty overcooked vegetable smell was—cognac? I’m glad I got to try this precious imp, but thankfully I’m not heartbroken that I can’t get more.

[olympia301]

 

Roses, and very nice ones, with a backbeat of something highly metallic. I am afraid that this one does not bring out the best of the roses, a pairing not made in heaven or hell. They just don't get along, even with the best of intentions. Cognac should go with roses, but alas, the combination only fires their unpleasant sides and like two members of an unfortunate marriage, they fight constantly.

 

It was a real privilage to get this one to try, and I can't say I washed it off. It's just that some things sound like they are going to be the hit of the century and they end up as less than stellar.

[aidenraine]

Oh sweet lord. Ok, I tried this a week ago, but I still remember the drama It was... strong. It made me nauseus. I had to wash it off pretty quickly.

 

Wet on my wrist I got the components in a pretty straightforward way. Poof, there was a strong aroma of rose and then a boozy cognac. The cognac was pretty spot on.

 

However, this somehow managed to smell like Flinstones chewable vitamins on my arm after a minute. God, I hated those things. I'm not sure how roses and booze made that same smell, but it was kinda fruit+ that added iron.

 

Perverse, indeed.

 

 

I fear this imp.

[Little Bird]

In the imp, this is definitely interesting. On first sniff, my brain screeches, “Rose! Sulphur!” but then on a second sniff, it came off as a very strong rose with a slightly sour, but not altogether unpleasant, edge.

 

On my skin, still that creepy sulphur-esque note is lingering in the background. The rose itself here is pretty pleasant. Not a powdery, sweet rose (which I actually prefer)... but a strong, blood red, spicy rose. It smells like something that is trembling with malice and cruelty.

 

This strikes me as a sort of poisonous rose with razor sharp thorns. This is the sort of rose that really hates you and would laugh if you were dying some horrible death.

 

Something about this is just creepy and actually smells hateful. The Imp of the Perverse isn’t one that I’ll probably ever wear again. The sulphur smell calms down considerably after a half hour or so and I’m left with a strong, spicy rose scent with a lot of throw... but something about it is still just ‘off’ and doesn’t feel right to me.

 

Glad that I could try this one... and, in a way, glad that I don’t want another imp or a full bottle.

[Meg]

In the bottle: Very sweet roses and... er... gastric acid? bile? sulphur? rotten eggs? I can't quite tell, but it doesn't smell pleasant.

 

Wet: Pure sulphur. This reminds me of the smell of the spring waters in Bath, and it's really not a good thing. Our tour guide described it as "the smell of water in which you've boiled eggs for a very long time" - this is just that. Eugh.

 

Drydown: Still sulphurous, and now very dry. It smells like some kind of chemical leak that people have tried to cover up using synthetic rose perfume. Very slowly, the roses come out and really cover up the sulphur, but they smell rather oversweet, fake and weak. There's still this "hard-boiled egg" smell in the background, too.

 

Overall: Even though this doesn't have me retching and running to wash it off, it certainly is one of the nastiest BPAL smells I've ever had under my nose. Powdery sweet rose deodoriser and sulphur - well it is a perverse smell. I'm not quite sure what it was trying to evoke, though.

[arabella]

First Impression: Animal glands.

 

Dries down to: Rose arrives and rolls around in the stench, which now has rotten eggs added to it.

 

Additional Comments: I know the description only lists rose and cognac but I swear there's something else evil in here. My father always drank cognac on special occasions and it was the first liquor I ever tried (and liked) so I know it's not the cognac that's the culprit - unless this is some really cheap off-brand or faux cognac. This is definitely a "wash it off a.s.a.p." scent on me.

 

Lasted: ? (Who knows how long it might have lurked if I hadn't scrubbed down.)

 

Rating: 0.5 out of 5

[spanishviolet]

Roses and booze, strong and thick. Maybe a slight alcoholic tang, but no sulfur, no glands, nothing. Just rich decadent rosey goodness.

 

I don't have any real eloquence to bring out here, just wanted to add my experience since it's so outnumbered by opposite reactions. Perverse indeed!

[Rheliwen]

On first sniff this was pleasant: roses and something tangy in the background. I thought, "maybe I am going to end up on the good side of this one!"

 

I spoke too soon. While it wasn't revolting by any means, it was definitely off. It did sort of have that rotten vegetables / bile scent in the background, but the roses were valiently (but unsuccessfully) trying to cover it up. They were at least stronger in scent.

 

Perhaps the cognac didn't come from its bottle, rather from a night of heavy drinking and post-party porcelain god worship? LOL that was gross!!! Bad Rheliwen!

 

Anyways, I don't think it was horrible by any means, just off. I enjoyed trying it anyways.

[shadith]

The first thing i get is a very sharp alcohol-note. It reminds me of my last excesses with a bottle of tequila, when I ended up saying hello to the toilet bowl

 

I tried to get over that nasty smell and look into it further- when only a whiff of it comes to my nose it is fairly pretty actually, I get the roses and a little booze. But as soon as I get too close to the spot where I applied it I'm back to the tequila-incident.

Oddly the smell also reminds me of a facial cleanser I had once- it smelled very very similar (and also reminded me of tequila lol), especially the 'stingyness' is the same.

 

Before I received the sample (1/5 of the actual imp, from a decant circle) I was very torn if I wanted to smell it in case I fell in love with it. Now I'm glad I had the chance to try it, since I can be sure this is not a perfume for me. I'm not sure it's a perfume for /anybody/ that is

[Nekomata]

I got a tiny drop of this and I liked it. It was very boozey, with the undertone of roses. A scnet fulling matching description, in my opinion. The alcohol scent quickly burned off into roses, and nothing but.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Congac pure and simple.

Wet on me - A slight burning sensation which faded quickly. Wet dark roses.

Dry on me - Roses and booze.

[Voleuse]

I have merely a sniff of this one, but that one sniff is potent enough to make up for the lack. Whoa! It's not so very repulsive for me, as it turned for some others, but it's definitely an eye-opener. The liquor is almost strong enough to make my eyes water, and the roses are on the edge of sickly sweet.

 

This is kind of fascinating, actually, because it's on the edge of about to become horrid, but with my chemistry, it never quite tips over. Actually, I kind of like it, but I'd never wear it. I'm glad I got to take a sniff.

[Mary Mayhem]

Wee! This is such a neat scent! Not at all something I'd wear, but very cool!

 

My official description is "The sour sweat beneath your "good intentions".". Neat, eh? That's what it smells like. Sour on top of rose.. tart on top of rose. Really WEIRD! Magdalene reminds me of this too.

 

Luckily there's not much throw and you can just remind yourself of your little perverse side by doing a quick sniff of your wrist. The rose of course gets soapy in the end, but not terribly so.

[LupaWulf]

I posted this in the BPALanon LJ community, but figured I should be less lazy and toss it up here too:

This weekend while sniffing my goodies, I realized how darn much I love The Imp of the Perverse. At first it wasn't really a true love story. It was the whole roses, with something under it I wasn't so sure of. I'm not usually in love with Roses anyway. I do have a thing for Rose Red, since it seems to have a beach rose-esque scent. As time went on I found I kept comeing back to that little imp and sniffing it more and more. I swair The Perverse practically made me cream my jeans after the first 15 minutes! Finally, as the boyfriend and I went out to enjoy the weekend it stayed in my mind. I wasn't even really wearing any at that time (we were at his mom- she is still surrounded by death flowers since her brother just passed away- too much conflicting scent makes my head hurt). I now find myself thinking of the scent of The Perverse at odd moments of the day since the moment of sniffing. It's blowing my mind!

 

Does this mean I'm somehow obsessed with rare scents that I know I won't have large quantities of? If so, then why havn't I gone Blue Moon insane yet? I do so love that one too, but I never thought of Blue Moon at random moments of the day like I do with The Perverse. Or anything else uber rare for that matter.

 

Mayhaps I'm addicted to the cognac? If that's the case, I wonder if the NH state liquor store would let me open a bottle just to sniff and see if that is the scent craved by my pickey little nose?

 

Oh, and for that matter:

The Perverse

Roses show up first with a stronger and allmost medicinal scent crawling under their petals. At first my nose isn't overly fond of it. It's sharp, yet subtil and hidden well below the roses. After thought and revisiting, it's amazing. The Perverse seems to send little fingers into your brain, locking around the "CRAVE" cortex. It's all I can think about!

[gingersnapp]

Yup. Roses and cognac.

 

It started out as mostly roses with a hint of cognac, like someone talking to you who had just had a sip or two. Then it turned into falling into the bottle yourself and crawling around in the wet back alley with your skirt up around your neck and a rose tucked behind your ear.

 

Very fun. I'm glad I got to try it.

[zankoku_zen]

Jewelbug let me have the last drops of her decant of the Imp of the Perverse. There's just smidgeon in the imp... enough to smell and perhaps a light dab on the wrist...

 

In the imp: Roses and booze. Can you imagine a booze made out of roses? That's what it smells like, like someone went ahead and made a liquer out of roses. Potent.

 

On Skin: Alcohol. I get the cognac straight up. Like sniffing it from the decanter. There is something funky about it, which is the rose smell. Other than that, it smells very alcoholy.

 

After a while, the two blend more or less. It's a smell that is oddly reminiscent to my grandmother. She used to buy some odd spanish soap... I think it was called "Maja" because it smelled of roses.

 

So yes, now it smells of roses, soap and alcohol.

 

Verdict: Definitely not my thing. I'm glad I got to try it but the smell of roses is utterly overwhelming.