The Tell-Tale Heart

[slave1]

THE TELL-TALE HEART:

No doubt I now grew very pale; --but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased --and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound --much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath --and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly --more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men --but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I do? I foamed --I raved --I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder --louder --louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! --no, no! They heard! --they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now --again! --hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!

 

"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!"

 

This is a swollen, pulsating, thudding scent, heavy with dread; a steady, unceasing, throbbing harbinger of retribution and doom: blood musk, cocoa, black pepper, allspice, dragon's blood resin and vetiver.

 

In Bottle: Dirt and cocoa

 

On Skin: I have to admit, I got this scent purely for the name. I did a dramatic reading of this when I was a kid and it was first Poe favorite. The description did worry me though since the only note I was excited for was the blood musk. Well here we go... The cocoa is strongest followed by the vetiver which create a sweet, “dirty” and powdery blanket. The black pepper is slight but along with the allspice create a spicy and warm feel. The dragon's blood resin is shockingly mellow, very hidden in the background providing a nice base. The blood musk isn't too heavy either but does give a slightly red and animalistic tone to the scent. The description really fits this scent. I can feel the dread, smell the blood and the dirt under the floorboard which is where we're trapped. A very dark and morbid scent, something I'd wear as a conversation piece maybe but not as a normal fragrance.

[Ganguro_gal]

On me the cocoa was strong.. but then I felt the dread of the story as I got the black pepper scent and blood musk. It changes a few times & it lasted about 5 hours which is good b/c most bpal scents last around 2 hours on me! This one I think I'll buy as a bottle.. My sister says it smells like the renaissance festival

 

of course all the poe scents smell good on me (finally!!) *swoon*

[sookster]

straight sniff from bottle this smells just like the great sword of war......

pure orange and cocoa.....maybe some underlying dirt or earth

this is one potent blend as i only applied a small amount and it lasted

for hours...this is a very foody/gourmand scent to me....interesting

but i am not sure i am head over heels for it

[Brianne]

I'm going from memory here of my last review, which was lost during the forum fiasco.

 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this. I was a little worried about the dragons blood because dragons blood goes floral on me. And I'm fine with it's usual floral smell if it's combined with something sweet or musky, but I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out in this scent.

 

As it turns out - it doesn't go floral on me at all! I was so surprised to find that for the first time it was husky, sweet scent. And the cocoa is beautiful in this - it's warm and sweet and rich and the whole scent comes off as pure warmth. If warmth had a smell, this would be it. And despite the sweetness and the cocoa, this isn't foody. It's not like a dessert scent. The spice is wonderful - I can't really identify any spice over another, it just comes off as vaguely spicey in the midst of that warm cocoa. And the blood musk? Doing it's usual wonderful thing on me and going slightly sweet and musky warm too.

 

This is gorgeous, I'm so glad I have it! It's like a bunch of brown-red scents got together and made the smell of pure warmth.

[zenvodunista]

OH! Black pepper that doesn't go dusty. Starts of thick and Lenore like, and then turns into warm spices that don't go plastic! At the end of the day I am left with a cocoa that's not foody, and for some reason bears the faintest traces of doeskin leather. Just lovely, and very.... thudding. like a heart.

 

tha THUMP tha THUMP tha THUMP

 

 

n.

[kitsukinatsuko]

In the vial this... *scares* me, which I suppose may be appropriate. I detect cocoa, but something is making it smell wrong and dirty. Maybe the pepper?

 

This is one weird scent. Wet, it was sharply dirty chocolate. But less than ten minutes later it had already shifted personality on me. A note I don't recognize came to the fore, making it much more perfumey. Musk or vetiver? I don't know what either of those smell like. Now it's settled into a dark, sweet perfume with the cocoa as a soft undertone. I'm not sure I like it, but I'm not sure I don't either. It's fading fast, though. Less than an hour on my skin and it's nearly gone.

 

Two hours in, it's gone vaguely plastic on me. Like the "chocolate" scented case on one of my DVDs.

[LittleGreyKitten]

The Heart and I didn't love each other; I found it to be weird, and not in a good way. It has no sweetness at all in the bottle. On skin, it gets sweeter as it dries. The cocoa is a prominent note, yet even as it sweetens you can tell the cocoa is dry and unsweet. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. It might be too busy for me. It has a dusty scent too, which is interesting. I can definitely get the dragon's blood out of this too- probably what sweetens it a touch, and likely is the dusty note too. I simply all in all find it somewhat offputting. It keeps me at arms length, and when I smell it I just kind of feel like I wish I was smelling something, anything else. Slightly unpleasant would sum up my feelings I think. It may be the pepper I'm not digging, but truly I'm not sure. I like my chocolatey scents sweet, I think. For me a 2 out of 5.

[innerellipse]

I couldn't tell you much about what was what in this because I don't know enough about the notes, but I can agree that it's dusty and add that this totally made me nostalgic for my grandparents' old house, it's all old furniture and stuff that's been in cupboards for decades. For that reason it's comforting and nice as well as scary (and my grandparents house used to really terrify me growing up, believe me).

 

This doesn't make it sound very appealing, but actually I loved the smell of this, and it also just made me feel really good, grounded somehow. It was beautiful, deep, complex and evocative.

[jewelbug]

Imp: VERY chocolatey. In the imp I can smell little else.

 

Wet: 1030: Chocolate and dragons blood—the DB on me is a thick cough-syrupy cherry, though not as unpleasant as that sounds. This is dark and syrupy and sweet, though not really foody—something balances that aspect of it. I can’t really smell the spices.

 

Drying: The chocolate becomes much less prominent, and my skin amps the DB so that it overpowers the other notes. Its 3.5 parts DB and 0.5 part cocoa, with ever so slightly a hint of what I think is a musky vetiver. After 30 mins or so, the cocoa fades even more, and there is a strengthening of the musk and vetiver, which combine with the DB to give an insence-y feel to this blend. It goes a little powdery, as well.

 

Overall: This is not at all what I was expecting--I thought it would be my favorite maelstrom, but I actually don't think i'll be getting a bottle of this. I was hoping for cocoa and spice, and I ended up getting mostly dragons blood and incense. Silly skin chem. At least I have a suitably freakish icon for this blend! Staying power(7-9 hrs) and throw are great, though.

[Court Analyst/Strategist]

I was cautious to buy a bottle of The Tell-Tale Heart untried because of the cocoa mentioned in the description...so I purchased an imp.

 

The oil is similiar to the color of iced tea (but slightly redder) in the imp. The scent of the oil in the vial is primarily a dark cocoa note (not a light or foody cocoa note, but a deeper, freshly ground one) enveloped by a swirl of deep musk and something almost syrupy sweet. There's a tiny bit of Dragon's Blood resin somewhere in there that's noticable when sniffing the imp as well.

 

Wet, when first applied: This is a swollen, musky scent, suppressing a core of dark, ominous sweetness. The cocoa is a soft (but still un-foody and deep) background note lurking underneath the surface as if waiting to strike (Luckily, it never really does, the cocoa note stays a level and minor note throughout wear). There is a component in this scent that reminds me somehow of the distinct musk in Buck Moon, a soft, dusty blanketing note with a velvet-like texture to it that plays its part by keeping the blood musk and Dragon's Blood resin in check. The pepper stays too minor a player in this blend to really be noticable until I look for it. I'm a big fan of vetiver(t) in small amounts, and there is just enough in this blend for me to enjoy. I can't really find the allspice mentioned in the description, but I could just be not recognizing it for what it is. There's not much change in this scent from wet stage to drydown (something I've found common with several of the other Maelstrom scents I've tried), but that's not a bad thing. During drydown, the cocoa does soften and fall somewhat further into the background of the scent, but otherwise there's not much change at all.

 

Rating (score): 7.5/10. This is not what I'd been expecting at all (and that's a very good thing, since I had been expecting to be overwhelmed by the cocoa note). I'll be purchasing a single bottle. This is a scent I actually find quite enjoyable (and entirely wearable) as a perfume. Very unique, with a delightfully ominous nature lurking underneath its surface. This captures a very similiar mood to the one I had so hoped that The Masque would evoke (but unfortunately did not for me). Pulsingly deep, sweet and captivating with its sinister promise. So far, The Tell- Tale Heart is my second favorite Maelstrom of the five I've now tried.

 

Court

Edited March 11, 2006 by Court Analyst/Strategist

[filigree_shadow]

While wet, this was dark and slightly pungent -- I didn't look at the notes before trying it, and I thought there might be oakmoss in it giving it a vaguely dirt-like scent.

 

When it dried, I smelled a lot of dragon's blood and liked it, so I looked at the notes to find out what else is in this. I don't really smell the cocoa, just a lot of dragon's blood and some musk. And a little bit of spiciness, which is fantastic.

 

I have three favorites from the Maelstrom scents, and this is one of them. Sweet, musky, and spicy -- in my opinion, this is one of the Lab's best dragon's blood blends.

[UploadedLobster]

The first time I tried it, I was so very, very unimpressed. It fell into what I call the Lab's "chocolate potpourri sundae" category--a top cocoa note over a bunch of jumbled stuff that usually has at least one weird floral note. Freak Show from Carnaval Noir is one such, Tezcatlipoca in the GC is another one.

 

This time, my second testing, the cocoa was gone in ten seconds. No joke. It didn't even TRY. It just wussed right out, and I'm SO glad. What's left is a faintly sweet mix of musk, vetiver, and pepper. It's a bit masculine but not overwhelmingly so. Definitely a 'power' scent, the sort you want to wear when you have to straighten something out at the bank or buy a car. I dig it.

 

 

 

Lobster Rating

Better than: purple carrots

[poisonapple]

Hmmmm....I actually like this. I was getting a bit worried that I would not like any of the Maelstrom scents. I can't smell any coco or orange. What I do smell is the Dragon's Blood and the black pepper.

 

I think I can pick these out because they are scents I know. To me is is a warm heart's blood red scent. I will admit when I swiped the oil on the first time..it's red color was a bit shocking. I am very pale and the red oil on my skin did look a bit like blood.

 

It has a good throw. Lasted all day, from 9 to a 7 that night. My husband said I smelled good. Spicey warm.

 

I am glad I have this one. Would I buy it again? No I have other scents I like much better.

[BostonChris]

It is almost like you are digging down to the heart buried under the floorboards with this scent..

 

in the bottle theres something off about this.. something deep.

on my skin theres a dirty note to it.. one that warms up slightly with a hint of chocolate.. and as that warms and dries and warps.. its as if the pulsing beating heart is revealed.. the sweet notes of dragons blood wrapped in that dirty chocolate finish this scent up for me.

 

Definately one of my favorites of this pack so far..

[Shollin]

First sniff: The Tell-Tale Heart: I spent a great deal of time with my nose in the jug when I got a sneak Maelstrom preview at the Lab. And now… ahhhh. *happily resumes her spot curled up around the bottle* In this much smaller quantity, it’s lost a bit of the “oh my God I want to bathe in this” overwhelmingness, but it’s still glorious enveloping blood-warm cocoa bliss with a tiny hint of greenness underneath.

 

Wearing: TTH went through several stages on my skin, not all of them pleasant. At first, it’s happy fuzzy cocoa goodness. And then, it goes through a phase of several hours where the vetiver asserts itself and it goes rather funky. Not the dark green swampiness I’m used to from vetiver, but something not terribly nice. Once that clears away, I’m left with cocoa and something lighter, which makes no sense, because all the notes in the description are dark dark dark… but the thing I’m smelling is a lighter something-or-other like linen or aloe or white musk or… something floaty. In conclusion, I’m pissed at the SkinChemistry+Vetiver=Yech conspiracy, because that’s the only part I don’t like but it lasts for manymany hours. I’ll hang onto an imp for later testing.

[Fyre_in_Winter]

This is the good stuff right here. I was wary because of the dragon's blood and cocoa, but couldn't pass up on the black pepper and allspice.

 

quikslvr kindly decanted me an imp of this scent and I'm considering buying a big bottle. On my skin this concoction becomes a warm, spicy and comforting scent. The cocoa smells like it's supposed to and stays submissive, which is good. The spices are glorious but not too spicy. The db thankfully does not turn into cinna-berry-bubblegum. Vetiver is usually amped up on my skin (in a pleasant way, it gets citrus-y tangy) but I've only gotten a whiff once out of the Tell-Tale Heart. I chalk all of the notes behaving themselves up to the blood musk, whatever that is.

 

All in all a very, very nice scent. After a bit, I think I detect some similarity to Snake Charmer in the undertone. So if you like thick, warm spicy/incensey scents, definitely give this one a go.

[olympia301]

 

A very fine addition to the heavy orientals aka The Snake Oil Family. This one is indeed full of Dragon's Blood along with the spices that are really the jewels in Beth's crown. I do smell what I think is Red Musk and they are all perking along nicely with the Dragon's Blood. It lasts a long time

 

There is indeed cocoa (not milk chocolate or dark chocolate but cocoa) as a raging topnote, and that does indeed go away after a while and snuggle down into a rich but cheery scent which blends so nicely with your skin.

 

The image is a creation by Salvador Dali. It's a flaming sacred hear studded with jewels and it contains another heart inside which actually does "beat" by mechanical means. It's in the Salvador Dali Museum in Figueres Spain.

[storme]

In the bottle: warm, musky, smoky cocoa. A bit dustier than I expected, but that's the cocoa.

 

On me, wet: spicy cocoa. I can smell the smoke and the musk underneath. After a while there's another scent emerging - it smells like cucumber, of all things - which makes this a little bit sickly, but it's only a faint hint.

 

On me, dry: warm, spicy cocoa - delicious, but very faint. This is Tezcatlipoca with real warmth and depth and without the dustiness, but it's so faint that I have to jam my nose up against my wrist to smell it.

 

Verdict: If this were any stronger I would be very smug that I bought a 5ml. One for re-testing - if it's still this faint, I guess I'll give up and swap it.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 2/5

Summarised in a word or two: Blood Moon Lite.

 

Preconceived notions: Not a clue, really. Hopefully it's not especially foody.

 

In the imp: Cocoa, pepper, dragon's blood and musk. Kind of smells like dragon's blood meets bad B.O, oddly enough.

 

On skin, wet: This is kind of like Blood Moon, but not as spicy, and with cocoa. Unfortunately, there's an undertone of pepper here that I'm really not liking. Not bad, but that not great.

 

On skin, dry: Blood, a bit of musk, cocoa and pepper. Not bad, but nothing that "wow!"s me. The cocoa's not nearly as strong as I thought it'd be, and it hasn't turned chalky.

 

Conclusion: This didn't win me over. I've nothing against it, though I don't dig the pepper, but it's like Blood Moon Lite. I'll stick to Blood Moon. It's fairly weak on me, and it's an almost... flat kind of scent.

Edited March 27, 2006 by Aredhel

[Little Bird]

In the bottle this smells rather like Centzon Totochtin, nothing but insanely rich cocoa. I’ve been very put-off Centzon ever since I accidentally spilled an entire bottle on my pants... so the smell made me feel a bit nauseated.

 

On my skin, the thick cocoa smell falls into the background and it smells like an explosion of spices. It reminds me a bit of Tezcatlipoca, with the cocoa lingering in the background and holding everything together and the vetiver offering something darker and colder to the blend. I never smell any of the dragon’s blood.

 

15 minutes later, this is nothing but musk and it smells rather perfumey on me. I was worried that the smell of the perfumey musk might give me a headache, but The Tell-Tale Heart pretty much vanished on my skin before I even reached the half hour mark.

 

For a scent that I thought would be really strong and overpowering, I’m surprised by its poor staying power on me. I like the first ten minutes or so on my skin, but its similar enough to Tezcatlipoca on me that I’d never really choose to wear this one.

[Meg]

In the bottle: Red musk, dragon's blood and thick cocoa. I'm dreading this.

 

Wet: Mostly cocoa, with hints of dragon's blood coming through. The cocoa starts fading fast to give way to my nemesis, red musk.

 

Drydown: Okay, this is already sickening. The cocoa, dragon's blood and musk have congealed into some kind of sickly sweet, overpowering scent. It doesn't help that my skin usually amps anything sweet like hell, because the scent becomes positively cavity-inducing. And red musk still doesn't like me at all.

 

Overall: Very soon, everything but the red musk has faded to the background, and there's a very light appearance of the pepper note from time to time. I'm really not a fan of this kind of scent, as the red musk just comes and hangs around on me like a single note forever, bleah. Chocolate, red musk and dragon's blood lovers will really enjoy this, but it's really not my type. It does represent the Tell-Tale Heart very well, though.

[StrangeLove]

Ahh, my love! *Heart palpitations*

 

This is another thing destined to not be popular that I LOVE. It reminds me of Dia De Los Muertos 05(my absolute favourite BPAL scent along with Shub) in sentiment and complexity, only lighter and less heady.

 

In the bottle, and freshly applied on my skin, it smells pretty much like the description. Within minutes the musk, cocoa, and allspice are dominating. Upon drydown, I end up with a beautiful, slightly sweet but far from cloying well balanced light musk/dragon's blood and slight spice blend with just a sprinkle of true cocoa and a slight mist of vetiver. Unlike my beloved DDLM, this dries down light enough to wear in spring and summer no matter how/where I apply, but retains just a touch of headiness to garner curiosity when someone gets a whiff of me.

 

Only problem? The throw is kind of lame and it wears away kind of quickly, so again unlike DDLM, I have to reapply this one. Which could be a good thing, since I've hoarded so many bottles that I worry about them going bad before I can use them.

 

Absolutely lovely. If you're looking for a light oriental, TTH is definitely what you seek.

[azhure]

In the bottle: thick and musky, very complex.

 

On the skin: A bit overwhelming at first in its complexity. I actually don't get much of the cocoa note, just the complex, heady blend of notes.

 

Drying down: Things begin to settle down now. For me, it's the blood musk that stays. It has a decent throw as well; I keep on getting random whiffs of it all the time.

 

Verdict: I'll hang onto my imp, but I don't think it's going to be a 5ml purchase.

[Jettcat]

Got an imp of this from LJ.

In the bottle:

Well hello cocoa, nice to meet you. Is that pepper and is that pepper slightly boozy?

Onward we go

 

Wet:

It went woody at first, but it keeps changing.

First bold then a softer musky smell.

 

Dry:

That cocoa note is creeping into the background again. The morphing is delicious!

I don't get bored, it seems to change for the better each time.

 

Rating:

4 out of 5

It would have gotten 5 out of 5, but as the cocoa note didn't hang all the way thru on me. Otherwise (chocolate ho that I am) this is going on my "buy a bottle before it disappears" list

[sarada]

First sniff of my imp: I want a bottle! Slightly woody, slightly sweet red musk (a perennial favorite of mine).

 

Second sniff (on my wrist): Actually, it smells a lot like Great Sword of War, which I didn't care for after testing. Maybe I don't need it after all. Cocoa just...doesn't agree with me unless I'm actually eating it.

 

Third sniff: No, wait, it's me after all. I get the luscious red musk, an earthy base, a soft, pulsating throb of dragon's blood and a touch of sweetness. I'm digging it.

 

Fourth sniff: Well, no, now it kind of gives me a headache. Maybe I should use some of my other favorite red musk blends like Lust, before I buy more.

 

Ultimately I think I'll stick with Lust, Fenris Wolf and Scherezade to scratch my red musk spot. But when this dries down it does have a touch of dragon's blood that they don't...at the end it reminds me the most of Dragon's Heart, which I used to have a bottle of but never used so I passed it on.

 

It would be bottle-worthy if I didn't have so many others in this family. Maybe I'll weaken and get some before it goes away.