The Death Of Sardanapal

[hipslike___cinderella]

Red wine, gurjum balsam, dark myrrh, honey, cassia, lemongrass, palmarosa, elemi, cognac and olibanum.

Initially, given the list of ingredients, I couldn't decide what to expect, nor did I completely comprehend the painting. I just sort of dove in head-first.

The imp wafts of cassia right away, and just a hint of wine, and a good plop of honey. All together it smells pretty straight-forwardly of sweet booze. Right away when I apply my first thought is, "oh god, this is going to be hard to review". And my second thought is, "oh wow... what is that?". It's regal-smelling. Golden, red... um, tall shining walls, gold-plated staircases, mural-sized Romantic period paintings. Well, this is the first stage.

Within 10 minutes, this explodes on me like a firecracker, literally. The cassia burns but I'm holding through, dammit! This is smoldering in scent... suddenly heavy and spicy. Specifically, heavy honey, wine, and fire. I don't know what in the list of components produces "fire", but is is there, for sure.

*Later on I researched the painting and understood the story better; basically, everyone in this painting was commanded to burn to death in order to escape a mob capture. I neary got the chills reading this because, seriously, it smells like a rich, boozy party that was set aflame. Wildly evocative and well-done. Unfortunately, I must retire this imp to wildly evocative sniffing only, because the cassia gave me a pretty wicked rash (and I've been able to do cassia before!).

[hkhm]

imp: cassia and honey. to me, this is the waft of chai tea.

 

wet: there's the myrrh! myrrh blended with cassia and covered in honey. this is an incredibly rich and think perfume.

 

dry: honey and cassia (not cinnamon, cinnamon burns me while cassia does not) with a sort of black tea scent that is separate. beautiful.

[Bagfish]

Honey and cassia when first applied on my skin, with a waft of wine lees. As it dries, the palmarosa becomes visible (smellable?), but then the dark myrrh kicks in and the cassia amps itself up until this is a hot, heady, spicy blend. It's all a bit too much, and is somewhat intimidating to wear.

[taramarie]

On me, The Death of Sardanapal has a top note of honey, a middle note of red wine, and a base note of myrrh. It's very sexy and heady. Unfortunately, it started to burn so I had to wash it off. Someone else can enjoy this one.

[inurbanus]

Whoa -- plasticky grapes and CASSIA straight out of the imp. For the first fifteen minutes of wearing this, I smelled like a stick of Big Red gum. Luckily, the spices eventually faded and left behind a mixture of honey and resin. It was very faint, and I couldn't really figure out if I liked the smell or not. Weirdly, Sardanapal reminds me of lots of different BPAL blends, The Dodo and Athens being chief among them. I like both of those better than this, so I guess Sardanapal is a no-go.

 

2.5/5

[greenranger]

I put this on last night, and I can still smell it on my arm.

 

On me, the strongest note is the cassia, but, it isn't just a cassia smell. The myrrh and olibanum, and the wine and cognac all love my skin, and I can detect them fine. There's a hint of sweetness that could be the honey, or the myrrh.

 

The lemongrass, which was the one scent that I was worried would amp on me wasn't detectable at all.

 

I am very fortunate that I can wear cassia and cinnamon, and that neither burns my skin. I really like this scent.

[fairnymph]

Sniffed: Yellow oil. Sweet, rich, spicy and boozy. Red wine, honey, balsam, cassia, and cognac jump out at me. It also has a deep resiny/dark feel below these notes. Slightly sour and slightly citrusy, and I almost get a hint of creamy coconut (?).

 

Wet: Less sweet, more citrusy, with lemongrass and elemi emerging. Still loads of booze (especially cognac, which is now stronger than the wine) and cassia, which to me smells very cinnamony in this blend. Barely-present myrrh, though I do get some very light frankincense (olibanum).

 

Dry: I think some of the olibanum is merging with the balsam, so I smell them as one - the combo with the honey and booze reminds me a fair bit of the base of Kali, but this is much more masculine. I do get a bit of palmarosa now, very lightly - sort of a faint, dry floral.

 

Later: Not a lot of morphing with this one, though the sweet/sour notes seem to have settled into a lovely balance. The honey here is a really lovely, rich, heavy honey, and it's strong on my skin. The cassia never becomes too spicy-hot, it's just an exotic edge.

 

Summary: Final drydown: faintly cassia-spiked honey with cognac, balsam, and olibanum. Quite pleasant, and unisex. A tad too spicy for me, but a lovely, very well-balanced blend. Low throw, fades really fast.

[tacey]

This is a disaster on my skin -- a chemically, play-doughy mess. I didn't like it much to start with -- the wine note hit me wrong, I think -- but it's completely unwearable.

[SophieCedar]

In imp: cherry cough syrup

 

Wet: spice comes out instantly. There's a sharp wet fruit reminiscent of mulled wine. Very syrupy. Cognac can definitely be noted.

 

Drydown: stays pretty much in that same order, add palmarosa and elemi.

 

Not something I'd wear all the time. This is a very rich heavy intoxicating scent that can easily take over your senses until you can't even taste your dinner. Interesting though!

[tailoredshirt]

This didn't smell like much at first, but suddenly it bloomed on my skin and smelled...not great. :/ I agree with the reviewer that said it smelled like wine past its prime. It was kind of musty. As it dried, I got more of the honey, and now it is smelling like a slightly musty herbal wine with honey. Not really my kind of scent, but it's interesting.

[milo]

This one is kind of herbal at first, it's a herb that I am unfamiliar with though, it's smooth and green. Dry, the red wine comes out and it's kind of sweet along with the herbs in the background. This reminds me of some of the Shunga blends with wine in them. There's also a bit of spice. This is quite lovely, not too 'winey' or fruity with just the right balance of spice and herbs. There is a dusty quality that is a bit annoying, so I'm wondering if there is pom here. Nice to try, but I don't need any more.

[jewelbug]

Wet, this was like a very woodsy scent, lighly spiced with cassia.

 

Dry, it took me a while, but if you've ever been to a Penzey's spice store, this smells exactly like walking into one of those. Wood displays with a mishmosh of dried herbs and exotic spices. Its sort of what I imagine an old traders ship would smell like, you know, if it didn't have all the dirty sailors. Really pretty awesome how much it smells like that.

 

Late in the drydown, I get a lot more honey, and the penzey's scent has tamed quite a bit. Never really got wine or booze out of this, though.

 

Overall: I enjoyed the experience, and I love cassia. The exotic spice/herb combo was pretty neat..but as much as I like shopping at Penzey's, I don't want to wear it everyday as a perfume.

[porcelina]

death of sardanapal is all strong, spiced wine on me at first. initially, i could see wearing this in the fall or winter. i noticed zankoku_zen mentioned olive in her review and i weirdly got that note for a minute but it faded. eventually it ends up as a soft spiced wine, but the scent is not really rich or bold enough for my tastes.

[Lucchesa]

Delacroix's Death of Sardanapalus is a hot mess: violent, chaotic, sensual. He took source material from Byron and made it even crazier and more apocalyptic. The composition makes no sense at all -- where is the rest of that horse? The head of the academy of fine arts called him in to tell him to tone things down or he would be blackballed from future exhibitions.

 

The perfume captures all of this perfectly. Wine, cognac, incense, spices, it's chaotic at first, everything vying for my attention. But it settles down beautifully into a sort of mulled wine scent, almost cozy and holiday-like, and quite long lasting. I will wear this every time I teach French Romanticism.