Penitence

[Ghost of a Rose]

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

This was a frimp from the lab. I was happy to get it, as I liked the concept and had been thinking of ordering an imp sometime down the line.

In the imp: Clear brown oil. Smells somewhat incensey of course, but not as much as I had expected. It's almost more like tobacco. I'm guessing that the myrrh is the strongest of the two ingredients in this blend, because it only smells slightly like the frankincense incense sticks I've often used. (I don't know what myrrh smells like.)

On me, wet: Pretty much the same. It's surprisingly subtle, not at all the overpowering headshop smell I expected. It's not a sweet scent, maybe even a little salty at first, although it is becoming just a tiny bit sweeter as it dries. Kind of woody, and it's still making me think of tobacco.

After 1 1/2 hours: The scent is still the same, just a little softer.

This is a pleasant scent, but it doesn't wow me. It would be ideal for spiritual practice. I'll save it to wear for meditation and ritual. For ordinary use as a personal fragrance, I think it would appeal more to men.

My rating: 4 stars

[maoric]

In the vial: Frankincense! Having never smelled it before, I bought some single-note incense of frankincense and myrrh to see what they smelled like.

 

Freshly applied: Definitely smells like the frankincense and myrrh incense I've purchased, the myrrh is slowly creeping up on the frankincense.

 

Drying: Fairly light right now, but for some reason it's reminding me a bit of the Lever 2000 white bar soap my parents used to buy when I lived with them. In fact, the more I keep smelling, the more I think I'm at their house taking a shower.

 

Later: After two hours the soap finally vanishes and it smells like burning incense. At this stage it's actually very nice, but I don't think I'll be getting more to go through two hours of smelling like a bar of soap to reach this point.

[curlsandpearls]

Bottle: Exactly what it’s listed as—spicy frankincense and myrrh, very Middle Eastern.

 

Wet: Oh, that is nice. It’s spicy but it isn’t sharp; it’s warm but not too dark. Not grainy or gritty—very smooth. I like this. Frankincense and myrrh have been iffy in blends for me, but together, ooh boy. That is nice. And I swear there’s some kind of tobacco in there; something is really tobacco-y. I get a bit of incense, but more tobacco.

 

Dry: Oh, don’t be like that. It's only been ten minutes, and I'm getting whiffs of soap. No, no, no! Oh man, you guys. This is turning into a very strong man’s soap. Damn! It started out so good! Swap pile.

[stellamaris]

O.M.F.G. This is really really nice. I don't know how old this imp is, I got it from a gorgeous seller who sent it to me as a frimp. She must have read my mind, the part where it says "All Frankincense is good Frankincense". However, being obsessed, I have let's see, off the top of my head, Midnight Mass (06? and 11), The Sluggard, The Magdalena, All Souls 06, Cathedral and others, but this is the strongest, purest frankincense I have tried. It's so rich and delicious, oh my. This will be coming to my house, if it's not as good fresh, I can wait

[MiaSara]

Lovely golden brown colour. In the imp the scent is very spicy and strong, incense -like. No surprise there

 

Freshly applied the scent is spicy, but strangely fresh as well. Quite nice and still incensey.

 

After a few hours the scent has become much softer; very lovely and comforting. Then it fades away.. so sad.

 

I wish this would have lasted longer, because I really liked the soft gentle scent.

[fufu_berry]

Wet: does what it says on the tin - frankincense and myrrh. Very resinous, only slightly spicy/smoky.

 

Drydown: Bubble gum? Yikes!

 

Dry: Settled into mostly frankincense on me - a little sweet, but very light, cozy, and clean. I could see this working well for layering, or in a confined space where I usually don't wear scents so as not to disturb others or overwhelm myself (like a plane flight). I saw a few notes in other reviews that the myrrh comes out more with aging. I'm not sure how old my imp is, but that would be awesome if it happens; if not, I'll still enjoy it.

[Wren12]

First time testing this today, got it in an imp lot, I believe aged several years. The oil is a rich gold evocative of the resins comprising it.

 

In imp...bright, high notes, an interesting, almost pine aroma.

 

On wet...the resins bloom here, the sweetness of the frankincense is tempered by the dark bitterness of the myrrh.

 

Dry down...I really like this. Not too much morphing, but some woody notes become present, bringing to mind the chest these precious resins might have been stored in. The myrrh really shines in this blend, tempered masterfully by the lightness of the frankincense.

 

Love this one, not bottle love, but I'd take another imp for sure!

[JazzieCazzie]

I'm sort of shocked that I have never reviewed this scent. Double-checked this thread but nope, apparently not. So here goes what is, actually, a double-fisted test drive as I work through my collection of BPAL goodies, old, new, swapped for, lagniapped, etc. to put together a comprehensive swap list AND wish list.

 

I've been a big fan of Penitence for ages (though I don't think I've ever had a big bottle) and currently have two imps, both purchased from the Lab, and both ... well, not new. Not sure when each was acquired but one is definitely more aged than the other, so decided to review them separately, one on each arm, to see how the aging process affects them. Not exactly scientific, not knowing how old they are, but here goes ...

 

IN THE IMP:

 

Older one: Frankincense is strong and very amber-like -- resiny, golden, comforting.

 

Newer one: Lighter and nowhere near as strong or resiny.

 

Old one dabbed on left wrist/crook of arm. Newer one dabbed on right wrist/crook of arm.

 

WET:

 

Older: A sweet, strong resin that is sharper, for lack of a better word, in the crook of my arm and rounder, softer and more resiny on my wrist.

 

Newer: Definitely less amber/resiny. A little sweeter, a little spicier, a little more bubble-gummy.

 

MIDWAY: My early "wet" assessment so far is that the frankincense, as it ages, becomes more predominant while the myrrh is stronger when the blend is "younger."

 

DRYDOWN:

 

Older: This fades away into almost nothing. Within an hour of application, it is ALL gone.

 

Newer: This has much more "leg" and morphs a few times. When the older scent is gone, this has turned much more resiny than originally. But within another half-hour or so, while still strong, it has some of what I call that "funky myrrh," the powdery and slightly wonky sweet scent. It's not a bad scent, just much more myrrh than frankincense. THEN, another half hour later, the myrrh has mellowed and it's back to a very subtle but still noticeable resin.

 

OVERALL: I love this blend. I really do. I wish I had more of the older imp left to tide me over for a few (months? years?) until the newer one ages enough to be fully frankincenserized and that I had enough to slather so that the lack of legs could be offset.

 

On a scale of 1-5, I give it about a 4.25 more because of the variables -- the scent I like more doesn't last, the scent I like but not quite as much does. Both remain keepers.

[wisdomeagle]

Nommmmmm.

 

It makes me think of walking into a New Age/witchy shop more than church, but either way, is a comforting, wonderful homecoming scent for me. I can't distinguish frankincense and myrrh, as both are present in my church's anointing oils, but the combination is one of my favorite scents, and this didn't disappoint. After having it on my wrists for 10 minutes I decided to go ahead and put some on my neck as well, and I'm pretty sure I'd like a bottle.

 

I love the smell of incense, and incense is what I got. It does, indeed, do what it says on the tin, and this is sweet, rich, holy, gorgeous.

[keileya]

[Review from elsewhere, brought here for posterity!]

 

In the bottle: smells very sandalwoody, actually, which is probably the combination of the frankincense and myrrh layered together. My nose tends to read that as church-pew wood a lot of the time because of associations.

 

Wet on skin: rich, complex, and layered. The frankincense backs off a little when it first hits my skin and lets the myrrh have center stage at first.

 

Drying: oh there's the frankincense. Very sweet but still rich and layered, and unlike a lot of frankincense/myrrh blends it doesn't reach back into my olfactory memories and make me want to genuflect! (This is a good thing.)

 

The two main notes are going to be flirting back and forth for the next hour or so, I think. The myrrh has better throw, but the frankincense is more dominant up close. Praying this doesn't go to powder in me in 20 minutes the way frankincense sometimes can.

 

Dry: Yay! It isn't powder! It's very rich and yet somehow still austere. The frankincense is very pure-smelling without the plasticky aftersmell some accords get -- it smells like very high-grade resin, but -- aha, that's why it doesn't make me want to genuflect; there's no note of smoke to it, so my nose doesn't think it's incense-y. This is frankincense and myrrh left to mingle and then crushed and steamed, not scattered on charcoal and burned. I think that's why I'm getting sense-impressions like 'bare' and 'austere'. I almost wanted to say 'thin' except it's not -- it's a very broad scent with a lot of different subtleties to it, and it's different on different bits of my skin based on how I applied it -- but my nose is expecting smoke and isn't getting it.

 

I like this one and it smells really good on me (and yay! no powder!), and it's a really nice resiny myrrh that I quite appreciate, but like is not falling-over-in-love-with. I'd wear it again, but I'm not going to go running out and buy a bottle of it. (Unless it takes a right turn at Albuquerque in another half an hour or something.)

 

An hour later: there's that right turn at Albuquerque. It's backed off a bit, and it's more of a delicate whisper of scent now -- catching a whiff of the lingering dregs of incense when you walk past the open cathedral door an hour after Mass has ended -- but the notes at the very edge of the wafting area have separated out in a very curious fashion: one minute I get the woody end of the frankincense, one minute I get the myrrh, one minute I get that sandalwood I sniffed in the vial, one minute I get the more sweet and sharp and delicate end of the frankincense.

 

That's interesting, but the real right turn at ABQ: with my nose right up against my skin, all the notes layer together and come out as the single-note Baltic amber I used to wear fifteen years ago, the way it used to smell on me in the morning after having been applied right before bed and mixed with the smell of warmed skin after a good night's sleep: amberish and resiny and very spiced and antiqued. My skin is trying to make it go powdery, and I can smell the struggle, but the scent is winning. The simple complexity of it is growing on me a lot. It's a very stacked scent and I'm really liking the way it unfolds separately on the skin. Definitely no longer austere -- now it's more like someone who appears austere on the surface and has layers and layers underneath. (Oh my God, I just described Severus Snape.)

 

I think this one deserves setting in the "try again in two months once it's aged a little" pile to decide if I want more of it or not. If it's going to age into something less stacked, I don't think I'll want more of it, but if it keeps doing this deconstructed morphing thing, I think I might.

 

Two hours later: I'm heading off to bed now, but so is the oil; it's tiptoeing gently out the door, doubling back only occasionally to clear its throat and remind me it used to be here. It lasted long for a mass, but short for a perfume oil

 

[second test]

 

Came back to this today, 2 months later, and it's changed a bunch, but is still incredibly stacked. The frankincense is way more prominent, and it's smelling so much more like a Catholic church now, but it's still doing very interesting things even though the interesting things are completely different.

 

...and, two hours later, it's gone to the amber again. Lasting much longer this time, too.

 

I think I'm enjoying it more this time with a little age.

[Lunasariel]

In the imp: Sweet incense with an herbal edge. Maybe a bit of a piney zing to it?

 

Wet: A calming, grounding scent, which is a little odd, considering it starts off so sharp. It's doing that thing many incense blends do on me, where it's quite sharp if I deliberately smell my wrist, but if I just catch a random whiff of myself as I turn my head, it's much sweeter and broader. Also like my other incense blends, the sharpness decreases and the sweetness expands over time.

 

Dry: After a few hours, it settles into a soft, sweet, resinous smell that lasts all day, and I do mean *all* day. It's the kind of low-key, almost "your skin but better" scent that is clearly settling in for the long haul.

[Veronica]

Very spicy and warm myrrh. A little heavy and thick smelling, like Anubis but with a spicier, sharper background. Not for me.

[MistressOfHell]

Penitence was a scent that I had really been looking forward to try but when I first put it on I got a very sharp and unpleasant, almost chemically smell.I was absolutely devastated since I absolutely adore the scent of old churches.
After about 2 hours that heavenly incense smell finally came out and it was gorgeous. As a result I decided to just age my imp a bit in the hope that that initial sharp smell would lessen. Two months later and my goodness. Almost nothing of that initial unpleasant smell remains and it's all churcy goodness. Definitely a big bottle.

[Astarial]

Incense scents have never really called to me very strongly, so while I wouldn't have opted for this myself, I got it as a frimp and I'm glad to have the chance to try it - just to know how I really feel about these two notes.

 

In the imp, this smells.. wet, and maybe resinous. A little bit spicy, and almost a hint of fruity sweetness in there. On my skin, the wetness dries up and it's a spicy, woody blend. It almost veers into bugspray land, but steers clear. Not much morphing at all through drydown.

 

There's nothing bad about this blend. It never smells off or bad. Neither of the notes seem like they're going wrong, and though I don't know what they smell like independently, there's enough subtle complexity if I huff it that I don't think either one is taking over. If you like incense, if you like woodsy, I'm sure you'll love this... but I think it's just not my thing.

 

On the other hand, I do think this would smell a lot more appealing on a guy than it does on me. Not in the sexy cuddly nuzzly kind of way that I get from patchy, musky blends, but I'd probably think a guy wearing this smelled nice enough.

 

So like I said - not bad, but not for me.

 

Edit: So after a few hours, when I sniff it I get a wonderful smoky aroma. This, I like, and would definitely nuzzle on a guy. This did only arrive yesterday, so maybe I'll let it sit a while and see if more of that smokiness comes out earlier on.

Edited December 16, 2014 by Andyl

[d0gbones]

In the imp: Myrrh

Wet: Myrrh and I can pick out the frankincense

Dry: I wish this lasted longer because I love it. The frankincense ends up the most prominent but it's definitely bulked out by the myrrh and I get an almost waxy scent, like beeswax.

[Mermaid-on-Land]

Got this as a frimp from the lab with an imp pack order! Totally different from the other ones I've tried so far. I have previously smelled frankincense resin and loved the smell, i remember thinking it almost had a lemony quality to it. I can't quite separate the myrrh from what i remember of frankincense here as it blends pretty well to my unpracticed nose lol but it smells great when I sniff my wrist. Sadly, the first time i tried it I could only smell it up close It had very little throw on me. This is sweet and incensey. It's definitely a very clean incensey smell, like other reviews mention, not a smoky quality at all; and it has a very bright feeling to me, not any darkness to it. It develops a tiny bit of a dusty note a couple hours in which I don't mind. I don't really catch the scent much moving around. This gets maybe just a little sweeter as it dries, and loses the dustiness eventually. It smells really good, and perhaps even picks up a bit more throw far into the dry down. Hmm, after I wrote the initial notes for this, I wore it a second time and had a random person ask if it was vanilla perfume. Maybe it has more throw on me than I realized? Also, I don't pick it up as vanilla at all but it definitely has a sweetness to it. I really like resinous and incensy scents in general and this is really pretty, i'll definitely use the imp!

[Mokiefraggle]

I didn't think that a two-note scent would be as impressive as I found Penitence. I love both notes, so I was bound to try this frimp, but I was pleasantly blown away. For some reason, I thought it might smell a bit like Anne Bonny, even if they only really share one note, but I think I like Penitence better. It's trading in Anne Bonny's sandalwood kick for a myrrh note I really like, and yet the whole thing smells both a bit like a church and a bit like unburnt incense. Nice.

[Casablanca]

It is what it says it is.

 

The myrrh is sweet in this one.

[LizziesLuck]

I've had this same imp for years (like, 10 to be exact). Can't believe I never reviewed it! I don't ever wear it, but for some reason I keep it...

 

 

There's a lot of Frankincense in this (my skin amps it) and it's so beautifully aged that it's sweet, golden, and almost syrupy. Then the Myrrh comes in, and it's equally sweet. It overpowers the Frank (which I am happy about, I like Myrrh better) and is simply gorgeous. Part of me wants to track down an aged bottle and wear it occasionally. Or use it as room scent. I'll have to test a fresh imp next time I have the opportunity, to compare.

 

 

ETA: I now have an imp from 2015 to compare!

 

It's quite similar to my super aged imp. Golden, warm, sweet. This is a tad bit woodier, I think. And the Myrrh dominates the Frank a bit less. I do quite love it, and will likely keep this imp too, because I am weird like that. Even though I have never worn it, and may never wear it.

Edited August 9, 2017 by LizziesLuck

[milo]

Definite resins here. I really like the smell of this, it's like pure resins, as opposed to something like Crucifixion, which is pretty much this with a smattering of rose. That being said, I think I like my resins mixed with other notes. I would love my house to smell of this, and it was pretty nice to do yoga to tonight, but I think I'll save this for my future diffuser.

[gloame]

This is really nice. It smells... IDK, ancient. It feels sacred to smell it. Not a perfume I'd wear, but I'd love my house to smell like this all the time.

[achildoftime]

I'd really like to wear resins. They should, in theory, be rich and lovely. But myrrh smells like soap and nothing is going going to change that. My skin just thinks that myrrh is meant to smell like the most generic, utilitarian soap there is. So Penitence is church soap. Oh well, can't win them all.

[Lucchesa]

Yup, that's frankincense and myrrh all right. Which is not what I want to smell like every day, but in certain (penitential?) moods, on a dark rainy day, it's heaven. This is more frank than myrrh on me, at least at first, in its dryer incarnation. And I get about a foot of throw, which is unusual for me. After about an hour it has settled into something really beautiful, softer and warmer and sweeter, with the two incenses blended into a single cloud of lovely. I tested this about an hour before going to bed, so I'm not sure how long it lasts, but given how full-voiced it was an hour in, I suspect it has good wear length.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: Exactly as it says on the tin: frankincense and myrrh

 

Wet: Frankincense and myrrh, in that order. The frankincense note in this is pretty strong. I enjoy the frankincense and vanilla combo of Hope and Fear Set Free, but without any sweetness to tame it, frankincense can be too sharp for me, and that is certainly true of the frankincense in Penitence.

 

Dry: Once it is dry, the frankincense calms down somewhat, and the myrrh note ends up playing a greater role. It's a soft, sweet myrrh, the kind I like. After a few hours, it's all soft, cozy resins. I prefer this phase of the scent.

 

Verdict: I like the end result, but the frankincense is too strong during the wet phase for my liking. I'm going to try layering this with something like SN French Vanilla to see if I enjoy it that way (since I'm running really low on Hope and Set Free), but I can't see myself reaching for this much on its own (since I typically enjoy scents that are sweetened or sugared in some way).

[zazkea]

This has been described a lot, and much of my review repeats what has already been said:

 

Frimp:

myrrh en frankincense.

(golden brown oil color)

 

Skin, wet:

Only the frankincense, but myrrh usually tends to have no scent on my skin. However, myrrh likely makes it sweeter.

The image is: A place: a general (not catholic church) sanctuary, with stone figures on both sides and some candles, but also colourful fabrics, and a bit deteriorated shelter around it. The religion is none I'd know, so it may be more the belief of the people holding this together; but if this place is deserted, then who has lightened up the incense and candles?

 

Dry:
This is a comforting mood-scent. It shifts a bit too much towards frankincense, and this is just tamed by resins. Unfortunately as usual, the myrrh vanishes upon skin contact.

Hm - I can't wear this every day, but I like this scent very much.