Penitence

[savage_rose]

Smell sanctified! A blend of pure, pious frankincense and graceful myrrh.

Root beer! Earthy, sweet, and bubbly...not a fan of the taste of root beer, but I love the scent. Incensey, but not preachy about it . Really nice, lively blend. Edited April 11, 2008 by savage_rose

[anardana]

Root beer! Earthy, sweet, and bubbly...not a fan of the taste of root beer, but I love the scent. Incensey, but not preachy about it . Really nice, lively blend.

 

Now that I've read this all I smell is root beer when I first put on Penitence, but that isn't a bad thing! I agree also that it is a 'lively' blend- I was expecting the opposite, for some reason.

 

It does calm down into a more warm scent, which is lovely as well. I am very, very, pleasantly surprised with this one!

Edited May 4, 2008 by Shollin

[taramarie]

Honestly, I didn't think I'd like Penitence. Frankincense and myrrh aren't usually notes I get excited about. But when it's just the two of them together, something good happens. The frankincense seems sweeter than usual and the myrrh beneath it is deeper than usual. I'm definitely keeping this one around.

[Suu4LC]

Frankincense! Now I like frankincense...I just don't think I want to smell like it. I think of it more as an ambient scent.

 

On application, I rather enjoyed the scent at first-nice frankincense that would be a lovely room type of scent. But it dries down to something odd on my skin-there's a weird sour undertone that I don't like at all. Maybe it's the myrrh?

 

Yeah, my skin chemistry destroys this blend, it morphs for me in a terrible way. I still think it smells lovely in the imp, and would be a nice room spray, but this was not a good perfume for me.

Edited June 6, 2008 by Suu4LC

[greenranger]

In the imp, frankincense, backed by myrrh.

 

On me, wet, frankincense and myrrh. To me, the frankincense is a peppery, spicy resin, and the myrrh is the warmth behind it.

 

Drying, the myrrh is coming forward more, and now it is myrrh with a slight peppery kick from the frankincense. These are two notes that I had actually bought as single note essential oils a while ago. I usually have some trouble picking out myrrh when it is it blended with more notes than this.

 

This is nice.

 

(I found this halfway across the livingroom on the floor today. I suspect one of the cats of knocking off the table and carrying it off. I wonder what else I am missing? )

 

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Came back to this scent after a while trying others. I was looking for something a bit more bearable in the lack of reliable air conditioning at work, and I tried this since I recalled it being less "warm and spicy" than some of my other favorites.

 

Today, it is all warm sweet golden shimmering myrrh. The frankincense starts out prominent at first and then relaxes it's grip and lets the myrrh persuade it to lay back. It isn't a cool refreshing scent by any means, but, it smelled fantastic today.

 

I even put a bit more on as I was running errands after work. Of course when I got home, my latest BPAL package was waiting for me(Squeeeeee!) and now I have to decide between keeping this scent on, which is doing fabulous things on my skin today, or wash it off to try the new smellies.

 

So very torn.

 

In a side note, today, this smelled very much like Athens did on me, but, without the wine. If you like Penitence, and also like rich sweet wine, you might try that one.

Edited June 26, 2008 by Aerinha

[goth_huntress]

This was a nice surprise in a pile of FrImps. I like it very much. It reminds me of Tombstone w/o the Cowboy influences.

[jade_starlight]

As must as I like this scent, it's just way too strong on me and would very quickly give me a headache, which is a shame. Pass.

[innocent]

Wow. Penitence is really strong on me, with something almost sickly sweet backing the dry scent of incense. I don't know what, or why. It seems like everything I've tried in the last few days has gone extremely sweet on me. Dry, the sweetness dies down a bit, but Penitence remains too potent for me to wear without giving myself a headache.

[tacey]

Penitence is a beautiful incense blend -- completely clear, utterly without smoke. I also get woods (pine? cypress? couldn't tell you for sure), and a touch of sweetness that I'm not sure what's contributing. Beautiful, inspirational.

[Razoth]

Exactly as per the description - a beautiful blend of incense. It reminds me quite a lot of Cathedral, but without the stone and beeswax candles added in. Lovely.

[lilirose]

In the imp: light incense.

 

On skin, wet: Sandalwood and something resinous, though I can’t yet say what.

 

On skin, dry: Sandalwood with a sweet background- frankincense?

 

After about 30 minutes the sandalwood (which of course is not a listed note) goes away and the myrrh becomes the strongest note. Still rather delicate and quiet.

 

2 hours on: MMMMMMmyrrh. I love myrrh. I smell very little else at this point. It’s like Hecate without the almond.

 

I love this, and it will probably go on my 5ml wishlist, but I’d like to compare it to Midnight Mass before I decide.

[Wwindy]

Does exactly what the label says! This is warm and resinous, a little woody and maybe even a little powdery, but not too sweet. It doesn't morph much, except that the peppery frankincense steps back a bit and lets the myrrh move more to the front as it dries.

 

This is very straightforward. It's lovely, but I think I prefer some of the Lab's more complex blends.

[jehrichardson]

Resin - perfect incensy resin.

I like this very very much! If I start to blow through the imp quickly, then I'll upgrade to a bottle.

Edited November 30, 2008 by j4r

[toomuch]

This is a very pure scent. It is a slightly sweet incense with a touch of bitterness. I tried it on Christmas Day and when we were singing We Three Kings I noticed that one verse says, "Myrrh is mine, a bitter perfume." Perhaps that's where the touch of bitterness came from. I found it to be a light and pleasant scent.

[donnatron]

Imp: Weird. I keep myrrh and frankincense resin on hand to burn as incense and this smells like... neither. It smells very woody.

 

Wet: The frankincense comes screaming out and tramples over all the other notes. There is a woody tone underneath that doesn't go away.

 

Dry: Pretty. The frankincense calms down a bit and the myrrh steps forward. This is very, very incensy. It's pretty and a touch spicy. I don't think it really turns my crank, though. It's there. The ingredients are doing what they said. But it's just... not enough.

 

Throw: Average.

 

Overall: Eh. I like it but not well enough to really power through a bottle. I love frankincense and myrrh but I think that they are better as complimentary notes than the star of the show.

[zankoku_zen]

This one has an interesting almost dirty patchouli smell to it, with sweet smokiness. I'm not a huge straight up resin fan, so I think I'll let this go...

[VioletChaos]

in the imp: sharp frankincense, rich myrrh.

 

wet on skin: same.

 

dry down: both have softened, but are basically the same.

 

in all: a softer daytime version of Jacob's Ladder. so much like it, in fact, that had i know this blend existed as a GC, i might not have gotten the bottle of Ladder when i did.

 

[fairnymph]

Sniffed in imp: Sweet, smoky, dark incense. Slightly bitter, slightly soapy.

[rayvn1]

This is a fantastic dry incense! Good throw with a sweetness that offsets the dry spice nicely. Reminds me of one of my incense favorites but I can't place whether it's Midnight Mass, All Saints or Crfax Abbey... I'm leaning towards Midnight Mass and it's nice to have a GC incense I enjoy as much as the LE's

[magikalbrownies]

im discovering that these two blended together have to be one of my favorite smells thus far on bpal..

 

its deep. it has a very "old" smell to it...comforting like the occult bookstore i go to.

 

overall: i wouldnt turn down a bottle -- putting it on the wishlist but not an immediate need.

[ShadowsDance]

In the imp: Yep, that's frankincense and myrrh!

A deep resin scent, thick and slightly sweet. Sadly, it morphs quickly into a sour powdery scent.. damn skin!

[catattack]

Imp: resins

Wet: Strong sharp floral incense

Drydown: This is a sharp, floral incense scent on my skin. Frankincense and myrrh in heavy quantities usually is. It's not horrible, but it's not something I say to myself, "oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about". lol

Overall: I think I have enough blends with frankincense and myrrh to last a lifetime, so I think I'll just keep the imp and be happy with it.

[Veronica]

Veeeeerry spicey incense on me. Reminds me of going to the Buddhist temple with my parents as a child, the monks always smelled like this. Nice, but not my style.

Edited May 11, 2009 by delighted

[liquidtrance]

Almost…fruity in how bright this smells. This might be where the typical "soapy" scent comes from for me in other scents. Smells much smoother and richer from a distance, up close, soapy but slightly creamy. On drydown-- from a distance this is COMPLETELY bubblegum. For whatever reason, myrrh ALWAYS turns into bubblegum on my skin. Hmph. >

[Monster]

I have NO idea why I waited so long to try this one! This is a drop dead gorgeous incense blend!
Penitence isn't a hippie incense, more of a church incense (a bit darker and not as sweet as Cathedral).
This smells like All Souls without all of the cake.

Penitence is pure, perfect, smoky incense. If you love resin scents, get this one. Do it now!

 

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ETA: 11/18/14

 

Simple, pure and meditative church incense. This layers incredibly well with rose. Incredibly throw and longevity, a little goes a long way.

Edited November 18, 2014 by Monster