Djinn

[jj_j]

An ancient, free-willed race created from the essence of Fire, much as man was created from Earth. They prowled the land at night, vanishing with the first rays of dawn. Myths surrounding the Djinn paint them as many things: benevolent champions of mankind and slaves to mad sorcerers, malicious incubi / succubi and energy vampires, or malevolent harbingers of madness and disease. The Djinn are ruled by Iblis, the Prince of Darkness, who bears unspeakable contempt for man. The scent of black smoke, of crackling flames, and smoldering ashes.

Out of the vial, Djinn is sharp and acrid, much like stinging, eye-reddening smoke feels. I have no idea what the notes in this one are, but they're familiar and disturbing to me. I don't hesitate to tell you that, while not the smell of a campfire or woodsmoke, this IS the smell of destruction a fire leaves after it's consumed all it can.

When I was a child, just before my seventh birthday, our home burned to the ground. Djinn makes me think of the look on my father's face as we walked through rubble that was still smoldering on the concrete foundation of our house, and the eerily pleasant scent of melted metal that hung in the air around what was left of the washing machine.

That said, it's also the defiant scent of transformation and renewal. It's not unpleasant, as my imagery might lead you to think - Djinn dries down to the cold October air filled with flying bits of burning paper and other cinders, dry autumn leaves burning sweetly in the melee, and the combination of soot and soap on my mother's skin as she shivered in her bathrobe and we watched our neighbors run in and out of the house with whatever they could save.

In the end, this scent has the character of ashes rubbed between your fingers; so smooth and velvety you keep rubbing a pinch between your thumb and forefinger, entranced by the texture and motion.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Djinn is a combination of midnight Mass incense and my parents’ fireplace when it isn’t lit. Dark grey and crumbly, with an odd lemony/soapy note hovering in the background.

 

Wearing: Still grey and crumbly, but I agree with jj – this is far more a wake-of-destruction scent than the fireplace that needs to be cleaned. It’s making me think of ashes on snow – there’s no heat to it, the flames have long since died out – and once it dries past the old-fireplace scent it’s actually quite nice, and much lighter than I thought. I’m not sure I like it enough to keep, but I’ll try it on at least once more before I pass it along.

[Nadirah]

I really enjoyed this one out of the bottle, but an hour after I had applied on my skin the fragrance turned sweet on me. Djinn was still pleasant but completely different than it was out of the bottle. This is the morphing power of BPAL oils. Not sure if I would buy a big bottle but the sample is definatly a keeper. I'm curious to see how it changes on my skin in the passing weeks.

[Vaniclion]

Sweet dry grass. Things have a tendancy to go sweet on me, so... I dunno. I get the sense of sage, an offering burned on a altar.

 

This has to be one of the most complex scents I've smelled in a while, as I can't really pick out any single note except perhaps sage. Then again, I'm not a tremendous note-picker so *shrug*

 

It's okay. Not the best scent for me that I've gotten from the Lab, but I do know others are enjoying it. It's similar to Sol, which didn't get along with me at all, but makes sense considering the nature of the inspiration for both.

 

On drydown, I'm getting less sage and more cinnamon with some sandalwood. I do think this would make excellent incense, and perhaps out of the smoke a genie will appear.

[la-roja]

I couldn’t identify any of the single notes in Djinn. It is a very powerful, strong, acrid, sharp, dangerous, and unfriendly smell. This is not a come hither scent; it is the scent of raw, feral, and probably hostile power. Very, very deep down I got some hints of sweetness but I’m not sure that was Djinn, it could have been the moisturizer I applied 5 hours or so before trying Djinn.

 

I don’t care for this scent aesthetically nor am I interested in putting out that kind of scent message. I can see this being really sexy on the right kind of man or a really rare woman but it isn’t for me.

 

~Roja

[skg]

Out of all the imps that i got in my last order this one popped out at me during the initial sniff & check.

I'm not a fan of green scents but this has a bite of metal too it which compliments the green note perfectly.

As stated previously there's no real discernable individual notes (altho i do get that slightly lemony soapy finish that bottoms out with a (sandal)woody sort of bottom note.

This is a completely out of character scent for me but i totally love it and will be putting it at the top of my 10ml list.

 

*edited to add*

I wore it again today and just as i passed my daughter in the hall she very worriedly asked if I smelled something burning.

I walked back into the room and she looked at me rahter incredously and said, "oh, nevermind...it's you".

 

I'm on fire baby!

Edited July 16, 2004 by skg

[antimony]

Wow, this is an amazingly *different* scent.

 

It smells like ashes and metal (how does Beth make a perfume smell metalic?) in the vial and wet. As it dries down, I'm also getting the cloying sweetness that other people have mentioned.

 

This is an amazingly complex scent, but, ugh, on me it smells like the day after a building has burnt wafting over a sticky-rotting-sweet orchid/lily smell.

[quinkel]

I got it in a swap and am attracted by the name as my boyfriend often tells me about the Djinnii in Morocco near the water and in the sink (never cry in the shower as the Djinn get to you and make a strange twist in your face...I really, I know a woman who got that:o)

 

Oke, the scent is hostile but also i could not stop sniffing my wrist. It might have some vetiver?? Because there is someting that reminds me of Hurricane and Bluebeard.

 

This is not an everyday scent but I can think of certain moods when it will fit. As it gives me the feeling people will avoid me when I use it

[Becky]

this one is very interesting! I got it as a bonus in a swap and I'm very happy! I don't get a metallic smell in it, but definalty ashy. on me it smells like the smoke after you've blown out a candle. it smelles smoky but you can still smell the candle scent underneath the smoke. actually, its more like after you've snubbed out inscence. smokey and scented. I think it will be great for fall!

[hypothermya]

Bizare as it may sound, I like the smell of kerosene, and white gas, and lamp oil. Even citronella (although it's my least favorite fuel) holds a special place in my heart (nose?). So a scent that's all firey and smokey... This, Brimstone and Gaslight (in the up & coming section) are *all* on my wishlist. And I finally got ahold of this one.

 

First Impression

 

Someone else had mentioned smelling vetiver in here. I think they may be right. There's a bitter tang in the scent from the bottle, and it reminds me a bit of Hurricane...although less of the rotten wood smell, and more of the burnt wood smell. There's also something distinctly chemical smelling about this...

 

Wearing It

 

Wow. When I put this on, the scent damn near exploded on my skin. I only put on a little, and suddenly I was overwhelmed with a smoky smell -- the exact scent of a large wood/gas fire when you're sitting directly downwind of it. It's not the smell of smoke that's lingered away from the blaze, but rather the choking taste of it while you're trying to clear your eyes of the stinging haze. I've gone to an event called Burning Man several times, and sat in the inner circle when they burned the 50+ ft. tall wooden man. This is the smell that I get when I'm smothered in the smoke, and the heat is tingling across my face. It feels odd to smell it without that heat. And my eyes are tingling, but I'm pretty sure that it's some form of allergic reaction -- I'm horribly sensitive to some of the notes in these perfumes, and it's kind of hit or miss as to whether or not I'll be allergic to a given one... But the fact that my eyes are stinging and I'm feeling a bit dizzy just reminds me of being that close of such a huge consuming blaze.

 

Lasting Power

 

The scent mellows out pretty fast. Within a half an hour, that overpowering smoky scent has died down to the scent of old logs in the fire place -- the scent that you get as you're turning them over, and prepping for a new fire. It's actually rather homey feeling (or at least it is for me, since I grew up in a house with a fireplace which we used every winter). I'm still getting a bit of an allergic tingle, but it's pretty tolerable at this point. After having it on for an hour, it's more of a haze around my body, and I actually have to sniff around to get a sense of it.

 

 

Nice. I'm going to see if I can't get my boyfriend to wear this, since it'll probably make me unable to keep my hands off of him for the rest of the night... On me, I really do like it, but the allergic reaction is a bit much for me. Same reason why I can't wear Tears, which is one of my all time favorite perfumes from BPAL. C'est la vie.

[VelvetSky]

Out of the imp and onto my skin, this is one wicked scent. The sharp, smoky, almost caustic smell of smoldering wood...for a few minutes I actually fear that someone will smell this on me and be disgusted.

 

In a very short period of time (luckily), things start to mellow and turn from smoky to sweet...I smell beeswax now, and something almost floral/minty underneath. The drydown of Djinn is actually quite creamy and tame, an almost 180-degree evolution from the initial shock of the smell of burning.

 

This blend is a fantastic example of Beth's talent for scents that change character in a very dramatic way.

[Northernminx]

Fantastically complex.

Smokey in the bottle, so much so that I was hesitant putting this on this morning.

 

On my skin it stayed smokey, sharp and crackling. It's the smell of ashes and wood and the sting of smoke the second after you douse a fire. It's almost angry at that point, but soon drifted off into something more wispy and sweet. The ash smell is still there, but it's a cooler ash now, a little less biting, very herbal and masculine though.

 

Sadly after a few hours this rather soaped out on me so I'll add it to the pile i"m sending to my beloved to test

[allamanda]

When first applied I smell smoke, possibly some myrrh in here? Then I think cardamom, eucalyptus and after a while lavender. There is something else that could be mint or sage or possibly a combination of both. I’m getting a sage note but it seems fresher and greener. I can also smell incense and as I am hooked already I am guessing Frankincense.

 

As this dries it is harder to pull out any individual notes and I am left with a wonderfully rich, but dry, smoky incense. I ordered a bottle on the spot; I am totally smitten with this one.

[Miggins]

In the bottle, I thought this one was horrible. A chemical, almost after-shave, masculine smell.

 

But once on - :swoon:.

 

Wet, on me, this smells like ginger beer. Not icky, sweet, mass-produced ginger beer, but traditional home-made ginger beer. Biting with barest hint of sweetness. That's not a good description but go and smell some traditional ginger beer and that's exactly my wet smell.

 

Dry, it's gorgeous. Although I don't get any boozy smells from it, my immediate thought was Jack Daniels and Coke. However, after lying in bed sniffing my wrists, it came to me - it's the perfect Long Island Iced Tea, chilled but with no ice.

 

Strangely, I find Djinn really comforting. However, I'd be equally happy to wear it on a night out. A real surprise favourite.

[Lady_Ell]

Wow. This one's a morpher!

 

The first time I tried it, three weeks ago, I was on my period and it smelled completely different than how it smells today.

 

Three weeks ago - a metallic ashy scent that settled into a metallic cinnamon scent which I really liked a lot. It reminded me of High Priestess but with cinnamon.

 

Today - a metallic LEMON scent with an undercurrent of mint. No cinnamon at all. The metal goes away after a few hours I have a fresh, lemony, soapy smell. It's very pleasant and very clean smelling, but not too interesting.

 

I like this, but it isn't something I'm going to reach for. Swap pile, I guess.

[cuervosueno]

This one IS interesting! It's amazing how different it smells on different people and how it morphs.

for me, from the bottle, I get a bit a bit of that cold smoke people were talking about, and a clean greenish note...could be vetiver, but I wasn't entirely convinced it was....and yes, definately a lemony/soapy smell too.

My friend smelling with me didn't like it out of the bottle at all. She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

But when I put it on?

Hardly any smoky notes at all. At first, the lemon soap came out strongly, but as my friend noted, its not that bad

After an hour or so, it turned quite lemony on me...in a clean, true lemon way, nothing of the cleaning product in it. Now (about 5 hours later) its faded to a slightly sweet powder....

Amazing! It is like a djinn.....in the bottle it appears to be one thing, then it changes into something quite different....and in my case, a lucky change....

now do I get three wishes?

[darkling]

In the bottle: Djinn smells like ashes in a fireplace after the last few embers have burned to nothing.

 

Wet: The only thoughts that I had in conjunction with this scent wet are that it smells like black and red. I could not connect what I was smelling to any scent-related words.

 

Dry: Here is where Djinn took an unfortunate turn. It smelled completely of harsh black pepper and Indian spices. It reminded me most strongly of Tandoori chicken that had been left in the oven too long. While someone who adores food flavored scents might be up for this, I do not relish the idea of smelling like Tandoori chicken spices.

[glampyre]

Djinn

 

Djinn has a light Asian spice feel, over a mix of light woods. It's seriously one of my new favorites. I used to love "Opium" perfume, except that it was really too 'strong' too heavy, unbalanced, for me. Djinn is like an infinitely better-crafted version of what I wanted Opium to smell like.

 

I don't get any smoke or ash nor metal at all, it's really just light and spicy. I keep wanting to say , "It just smells Asian." Like Tibetan incense.

 

It's so interesting to read the reviews before mine, because, in smilies,

 

=

 

(Djinn + my skin = love. )

[jessamynit]

reading these reviews, it amazes me that every note someone has mentioned sounds right to me. sage? yes. ashes? yes. metal? yes. lemons, cardomom, incense, burning, yes yes yes yes. I couldn't pinpoint any of these myself but I agree with all of them. djinn has a nice, dark, spiciness to it that reminds me a bit of tears but with a lot more OOMPH to it (tears is a little too, I don't know, wispy for me). I have so far been very partial to the floral/ sweet scents from BPAL, which surprised me since I normally love musky ambers as well... but this one really stands out for me. something like opium, frankincense, darkness, power, sage, evil... I like it!

that said, I still don't know if it's a very "me" scent, but the imp is terrific, particularly on this overcast october today... it feels like a great october scent.

 

ADDED Oct. 17:

 

OK, I changed my mind, I MUST have a 5ml of this one! delicious!

all day long I was just sniffing and sniffing my wrists, not caring who saw

then a friend said "are you wearing vetiver? it smells amazing".

the lasting power is great but I felt no headaches or overpoweringness... I felt powerful!

 

LOVE IT!

Edited December 7, 2004 by Shollin

[Penance]

Preconceived notions:

 

I was expecting something acrid and harsh, like sitting too close to a bonfire with your eyes watering and I would have enjoyed that, really I would, but Djinn was definitely a surprise.

 

First sniff:

 

A bonfire made with pine needles and sappy twigs! This is really nice and strangely comforting. It reminds me of Christmas, truth be told.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Ashes and smoldering wood with a background of what smells like pine to my nose. This isn't a dangerous smelling scent at all. It's comforting like a blazing fireplace on Christmas morning. I actually feel warm wearing this and very content. I would have imagined this scent would be harsher and more primal, but it's warm and inviting on me, bringing back some very good memories of my childhood.

 

Dry down:

 

It's settled down into an ashy fireplace kind of smell with a persistent undertone of sappy pine. It's very comforting and makes me feel very secure, something I was in desperate need of when I put this on. This smell holds so many good memories for me that I couldn't even begin to list them all. They're all composited in Djinn, though, and the result is an overwhelming sense that all is right with the world, even though that's far from the truth right about now.

 

The bottom line:

 

Strangely comforting and instantaneously calming, at least for me. This isn't harsh and acrid, it's gorgeous, like sitting by a campfire made with green wood and pine needles and smelling the flames and ash and night air and knowing that, at least for that moment, you have nowhere else to be and no responsibilities to live up to apart from listening and watching and relaxing. A definite winner.

 

ETA: I meant to add this before, but it kept slipping my mind...I finally figured out what Djinn is almost identical to: those little pine needle incense sticks you sometimes find at specialty stores. The ones that come with a little log cabin burner where the smoke comes out the chimney. Djinn is the smell of those incense sticks when they're burning - a sort of smoky pine scent that's very distinctive and very comforting to me for some reason.

Edited June 24, 2005 by Penance

[surf-tormented]

It smelled very spicy and woody on my skin, dark and wicked. I have to say it is my favorite of the scents I have tried so far. It seemed to last a little longer too. I don't know if my skin messed with it, but I didn't get the smokey smell it listed in the description. To me if was very robust and strong, like soil in the forest after a rain, with an almost deep spice base of patchouli like herbs and woods like cedar. I loved it.

[grrrlennyl]

djinn

 

at first: it definitely smells like smoke and ashes. very burnt. however, there's a touch of something else to it, too. possibly pepper. a very different scent.

on: men's cologne. pungent and sharp, with a hint of smokiness.

1 hour later: still pungent, but with a bit of fruit to it. however, there's an overall feeling of something burning. interesting.

2 hours later: smokier. there's still that pungent, cologne note.

4 hours later: pretty much gone, but there's still a hint of fruit.

overall: this is really different from any of the other oils i have. i think this will be good once in a while.

[Azrhiaz]

Smoky and wonderful. I'm definitely getting myrrh-- this smells completely like midnight mass incense to me, and on me. Fabulous. Not something I'd be in the mood for every day, but I'll definitely keep the Imp.

[teza]

A couple people have mentioned myrrh, and that exactly what this did on me. I also got an initial explosion of scent -- it wasn't overpowering but it was strong and for the first few minutes I just kept sniffing.

 

This smells nothing like ashes to me: ashes are cold and dirty. This is strong sap, sticky on your hands; myrrh in a church. It's sharp and no-nonsense.

 

Initially, one of my friends asked me what I thought it smelled like. All I had was: It smells like boy.

 

This is definately a masculine scent, but not one I want to slather on Boy and sniff. For that, I'm waiting for Titus Andronicus.

 

(i look forward to getting that like nothing else. )

 

I love the smell of this. I have a candle that smells like this when you blow it out, that last final curl of smoke smelling JUST like this. I have incense that smells like this.

 

But I don't really want to smell like this.

[magikfanfic]

In the bottle: Something wooden and burning. Like the campfires I've gathered around. Or the fire we started in Kaity's fireplace in order to burn things in. There's something else under it like a floral or the barest hint of something herbal.

 

Wet: It's trees burning. The smell of pages on fire. Twigs and green leaves on a roaring blaze. It's green and fierce. Masculine with something more gentle underneath the rest of it. Like mint or maybe cedar.

 

Dry down: Kindling, Burning pieces of wood. I like this because of the memories it evokes, but I think it's too strong for me. I'd rather smear this on the boy and cuddle into his neck.

 

Dry: Still the wood on fire scent but also an odd aquatic tilt to it. I really like this, but it's not me. If the boy likes it on him as much as I think I'll like it on him I'm buying a bigger bottle.