Satan And Death With Sin Intervening

[hipslike___cinderella]

Opoponax, benzoin, orange blossom, mahogany, karakarounde, white tea and vetiver.

A quizzical one, this is!

Without a list of notes, I would swear on my soul that I was smelling verbena. In the imp, I think, "Ah! A woodsy verbena!", on my skin I think "POW! Verbena and mahogany!", on fade-out I think, "Mmm, dramatic white tea and a hint of verbena". Imagine my confusion when I finally looked up the notes and saw no verbena. I have to re-read them a couple of times to believe it.

So, in the bottle and also in wet stage, this is slippery, woodsy, and the white tea is very obvious. It this had a color, it would be golden with some green, burning a little darkly. The white tea stands out more on my skin, and I'm tickled, because this is the white tea I've wanted; every other blend I've tried with white tea have been whispy-light, perfumey, and frankly, boring. This is a ballsy white tea. I found myself slathering and sniffing unconsciously. I love how the deeper I snuffed, I could unearth the woods, yet at sniff it's white tea and orange blossom. Lovely depth. At the end of the day, I decided this wasn't for me particularly (just not my kinda thing), but I'm impressed with the play of notes and will break out my imp from time to time.

ETA: February 4, 2008... I revisited this imp and found a whole new something wonderful! It's now a sweet and resinous orange blossom white tea, with just about the prettiest and lightest vetiver ever. I can't believe I thought it was blasts of verbena 5 months ago. I have slathered this all morning and cannot quit huffing my wrists. I love this, and hence force need a whole bottle. What a little aging will do! Edited February 4, 2008 by hipslike___cinderella

[Rheliwen]

This is very comforting.

 

It's a sweet resiny scent. I smell the benzoin foremost. There is a tea-like quality to this without actually being able to smell the tea note. I also get the cola scent I also find in Antonino. I'm assuming it's a vetiver aspect since both blends have it. It's a wonderful vetiver, one that I actually love (I HATE most forms of the stuff, but this one is light and creamy).

 

I'm sort of reminds me of a grown up citronella candle...but so much better.

[Morganza]

This is great! I'm new to BPAL, but so far this is a favorite. On my skin it's a bright citrus, but longer lasting than other citrus scents I've tried (I'm looking at you, Embalming Fluid!). I assume that's due to the resinous/woody ingredients in Satan & Death With Sin Intervening.

 

Wet: sharp & sour lemon candy

Dry: citrus tea

 

I give it a 5 out of 5!

[hkhm]

imp: orangey tea.

 

wet: very bright, strong citrus. there is another creamier, golden scent but i don't know for certain which note it is.

 

dry: a sweet, golden, coft citrus floral. quite light and pretty.

[akiko]

Bottle: Resiny orange

 

Wet: bitter orange. It's kind of like Tweedledee's older, sexier cousin.

 

Dry: Orange and spicy resins. I really like this one, and I'm glad I tested it.

[t_for_tau]

Spicy satsumas! This is fantastic stuff. Resinous, citric and slightly sharp, with the cleanness of the white tea. Lovely!

[Miss Lynx]

I hadn't been too sure what this one would be like, as it's got some of the incensey notes I really like, and orange blossom which is one of the few florals that works really well on me, but also wood and tea notesd, both of which are kind of hit and miss for me, plus the mysterious kakarounde which I'd never heard of. Plus, wood and vetiver together often result in a men's-scent sort of feel.

 

But upon first sniff, it's a lot sweeter than I expected -- the orange blossom's very much a presence, and the vetiver and mahogany are fairly subtle. I googled kakarounde to find out what it was and what role it might be playing, and it turns out it's a floral -- an African flower oil used in aromatherapy, with a slightly similar scent to jasmine. Well, that explains why the scent's a lot softer and more feminine than I'd anticipated...

 

It's got a definite dark, earthy undercurrent, though, so it's definitely not a stereotypically girly scent. Androgynous might be a better term for it, with its citrus-floral sweetness (both orange blossom and tea notes tend to be somewhat citrussy on me) over a very dark base.

 

In the early stages, I quite like it -- it's very distinctive, not too much like anything else BPAL has done. But eventually it seems like some of the resins that give the scent its richness fade, and what's left is mainly overly-sweet florals over somewhat funky-smelling wood. Not so good at that point.

 

All in all, very interesting, but probably not a keeper.

 

Grade: B

[zankoku_zen]

This was a citrusy incensey blend. It was slightly woody, and perhaps I smelled something tea-like in it.

 

Very surprised by this one. Definitely one of the better incense blends that I've tried in the past couple weeks.

[greenranger]

First whiff, orange blossom, backed by vetiver.

 

As it dries, the orange blossom backs off a bit and the scent becomes more complex. I'm having trouble pulling out the individual notes, but, it's a complex spicy sweet dark scent on me.

[hellomoonglow]

Initial application: wet lemons.

1/2 hr.: salty, wet lemons.

45 mins.: Pepper and smokey.

 

Weird. Possibly the weirdest morphing BPAL I've ever tried.

[crebbsgirl]

Whoo-boy! This was citrusy at first. The orange blossom was present, yes, but there was something almost lemony as well. As it dried, this blend became GORGEOUS! The oppoponax came out and added a wonderful darkness, while the benzoin added a vanillic sweetness, while the orange blossom blended in with the mahogany to create a smoothness that remained light but not as citrusy as the outset. I was pretty indifferent to this when I first put it on but the drydown is just incredible. There was a vague reminiscence to Hanerot Halalu here I have to say.

[rayvn1]

Without reading the notes, I expected crazy amounts of vetiver, oppoponax and benzoin like other "hardcore" oils I've tried or something with a lot of Brimstone. What a surprise this was! It's beautiful and delicate. I completely get the verbena that an earlier poster mentioned. It's dry, "fuzzy", and spicy. I like the citrus-incense description others have talked about. Not a great deal of throw, but I've been huffing my arm for five minutes I so enjoy it. A dark, rich woodiness is starting to come through and blend with the incense qualities. This is one of my favorite Salons so far, but I'm an incense nut. Sometimes the listed notes don't work so well on me, but this is one of those oils where when it works - it REALLY works. Fantastic

 

Edit for grammatical fixing

 

 

2 hrs later: Oh. my. God! This is an amazing blend. It's settled into a spicy, peppery, dry Incense/vetiver combo that I'm absolutely wild for! Right up there with (and surpassing some of) my other incense favorites like Riding the Goat, Midnight Mass, All Saints, and Carfax Abbey - and it's a GC!!

Edited March 20, 2009 by rayvn1

[SophieCedar]

I had no idea such morbidity could smell so cheery!

 

In Imp: orange blossom and opoponax. Very bright like a floral infused glass of orange juice.

 

Wet: Pop! Orange attack with a touch of tea. The mahogany and benzoin is circling around the lighter sharper notes... Really does evoke 3 unique characters. Interesting!

 

Drydown: I think this would be more appropriate on someone else's skin. Better on a man or someone that does well with roses. I smell like an orange creamsicle. Oh well.

[voorishsign]

I'm really excited because this is my very first Salon oil! I was frimped a decant by someone from the forum and have heard good things about this blend, and the opoponax, mahogany, white tea and vetiver all sound good already. I have no idea what karakarounde is. I googled it and am still as lost as I was before.

 

Here we go.

 

In the imp - faint tea, orange blossom and vetiver.

 

On wet - mahogany, orange blossom and tea. Distant opoponax.

 

Drydown - Beautifully blended! Mahogany and tea stay strong. Unfortunately, the orange blossom ruins it for me. It overpowers almost all the other scents. No vetiver. Very nice, but not for me.

[Myrrha]

Thank you to ChaosKitty for the tester.

 

On me wet this had a delicate citrus-y orange blossom scent combined with what I think is the tea. Usually I like orange blossom but this one has more of an orange scent and combined with the tea it does something strange. Or is it the karakarounde which according to other reviews is a flower of some kind? By strange I mean... there is a note here that is unusual and sort of seductive and repellant at the same time.

 

Once it dried the rich wood note and the opoponax (I think I recognize this note from Death of the Grave Digger) come out. I like the light incense feel of the scent.

 

The strange note mellows into something a bit like nag champa and this becomes a light incense/floral scent. I like it. There is something very sensual about this scent but it is still light. It is gently, persistently seductive and nothing at all like a mainstream perfume.

Edited May 1, 2010 by Myrrha

[voodoocatwoman]

This blend is like getting whopped in the face with a two by four made out of mahogany soaked in vetiver. Oh, noxious. Get off my arm and out my nose. Be gone.

[milo]

This blend is really unsettling, and discordant on me. Tea and vetiver, and something really odd in the background. Something citrussy here too. Yuck, this is not for me.

[Balame]

This is one of those blends that I've loved for ages but never got around to reviewing... I guess because my adoration for it was such a given?

It all started when I got a super low partial bottle from someone during a swap. Years later I finally got a full bottle and I will treasure it for ages! It's a darkly sexy and exotic blend.

 

Interestingly enough, when I first tried the new bottle it started out intensely peppery with shrieking orange blossom. I was confused because I never smelled spice before and the orange was much more well-behaved, but I gave it some time since I figured it probably hadn't settled much after its journey. My patience paid off, and I got a strong base of mahogany, earthy vetiver and swirls of incense-y opoponax, all brightened by orange blossom. For me the tea isn't as pronounced as it is in other dark orange blossom blends (like Nefarious Plan), but I suppose it contributes to that flash of brightness amid the deeper notes.

 

It makes me think of a mysterious figure swathed in black, but there's a shimmer of gold in their attire. Maybe a glinting mask or necklace. It's powerful, but understatedly so. S&D is actually quite soothing as well. Whenever I wear it I feel confident but at ease. Perfect both during the day and for sleep.

Edited November 22, 2014 by Balame

[LavenderCoffee]

This is a lovely scent based on a striking painting. I thought it looked like a Blake but it turns out Fuseli influenced Blake. If I wasn't looking at the scent notes, I think the only thing I would have gotten straight away would have been the orange blossom, which is strongest when first applied. The white tea is much more subtle than I'm used to, but then again this imp could be old enough to learn how to drive. As it wears, there's a wonderfully sweet, almost nutty quality that compliments the floral. Not sure if this is from karakarounde or opoponax and benzoin playing with vetiver, or all of the above. Mahogany pops up and boosts the white tea a bit. I was not expecting such a complex journey but I have enjoyed it!