Horreur Sympathique

[rachel2205]

The perfume of a hellbound soul, gleefully lost to iniquity: blood musk, golden honey, thick black wine, champagne grapes, tobacco flower, plum blossom, tonka bean, oakmoss, carnation, benzoin, opoponax, and sugar cane.

In vial, grassy and very sweet. Dry on skin, it's syrupy but with a juicy element - almost fruity. It seems like there might be a touch of anise in there.

[savage_rose]

Sweet, cool, sophisticated. The grapes are so soft and subdued here, and this is just a lovely berry floral that is perfectly balanced. So elegant!

[VioletChaos]

in the imp: YUM. sweet, like cherry pipe tobacco, plus a faint spicy note.

 

wet on skin: the champagne grapes have taken over! they smell more like concord grapes o me, but fresh yummy early autumn grapes none-the-less.

 

dry down: the grape has settled down, but just a bit. it's mixing with the cognac and something else to become a sort of more refined Kool-Aide.

 

in all: if ya like the sweet/fruity, you will dig this.

 

 

 

 

 

ADDED Feb. 3:

 

in the imp: the wine for sure, and some non-descriptive sweet stuff.

 

wet on skin: more sweet wine and a bit of the champagne note.

 

dry down: the wine has sadly evaporated and now it's just a very rich, very sweet, very heady floral mix.

 

in all: if you like your florals dark and a little fruity, this is the one for you.

 

 

[donnatron]

Imp: Almost a candy sweet/tart scent. Definitely getting hints of wine and honey, and I can detect what I think is dragon's blood. Very complex and almost foody.

 

Wet: Ew. The honey and wine, as they are want to do, start to battle it out and things get sour and nasty. I, however, am smarter than them and sit back to let them tucker themselves out. Underneath the scent I can smel something a little sweet and spicy.

 

Dry: Gorgeous. All the notes are too well blended to really distinguish in any meaningful way, but this is just a sweet, fruity, slightly spicy and smokey scent. It's very, very complex and very sophisticated. I'm kind of in love.

 

Throw: Average.

 

Overall: The drydown is a bit icky for the first ten or so minutes, but it evolves into an absolutley beautiful scent. Definitely recommended if you want a lighter, sweeter smelling Blood Kiss.

[mhickle]

In the imp, this almost smells like chocolate cherries to me. It's very sweet, but surprisingly not too heavy. At first swipe, it's still sweet, but more fruity. It was very familiar to me at this stage, but I can't for the life of me place what it reminds me of! As time goes on, it gets a little more flowery. I like it, but I'm not sure it's something I would wear very often.

[Suu4LC]

Ooo-I like this in the imp. A rich purple/red fruity sweet wine scent. Sexy! I love the note list for this-tons of things I love!

 

Hmm...it kind of loses some of its initial loveliness on my skin. It doesn't seem as complex and I'm not picking up all of those notes that sounded so appealing. Kind of a generic wine scent with a touch of sweet red fruit and some florals. Nice, but not OMG. And there's some note in it that just kind of makes the blend a bit "off" for me. Not as rich and wine-y as I would have hoped.

 

This isn't bad, but it isn't something that would need to go on my wishlist. I can see it being really badass on the right person though.

 

ETA: Dries down REALLY powdery on me. Bleh.

Edited June 27, 2008 by Suu4LC

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Dark amber oil. Honey! Dry wine and grapes, sugar cane, deep fruit, tobacco flower, other florals. Sweet, fruity, floral.

 

Wet: Less syrupy, more complex; benzoin and tonka sweeten but provide depth, the grapes are wonderfully tart but also raisiny-plummy. Velvety, feminine florals with a hint of spicy carnation.

 

Dry: Still very sweet and winey-grapey, but also pleasantly tangy and with stronger resin and floral notes. A bit of earthy oakmoss has emerged, and some sexy musk too. Feminine, womanly.

 

Later: The fruity-grapey-wine notes dominate still from a distance; they might be too sweet for my tastes, as this is almost candyish. I love the complexity the other notes lend, but they lie much closer to the skin.

 

Summary: It reminds me of both Bordello (the same sweet but dark and somewhat tart grapey wine) and Kali (the honey, luxurious florals and deep resins). Grape, benzoin, honey, musk and oakmoss drydown; hints of florals. Sexy! Good throw and great lasting power.

 

And probably bottleworthy, if I can bear the sweetness.

[zankoku_zen]

I really get the champagne grapes in this one - this is a deep, sweet wine. Boozy and tasty.

 

It dries into a powdery/honey sweet something.

 

Nuts. I really liked it wet.

[innocent]

Honeyed wine. I was actually planning on ordering this one when the lovely Lab included it as a frimp. It does wonderful things on my skin - I never would have guessed honey would be one of my favorite notes.

 

One summer I worked on a dig at a rural Spanish mission in CA - Horreur Sympathique smells just how the winery there did. I would love it just for that.

 

This one is quite sweet, verging on candy at times, but on me the sweetness is just kept in check.

 

[greenranger]

On me wet, sweet honey, sugar cane and sugar.

 

Drying, the flowers come forward, along with the wine and champagne grapes.

 

The musk has shown up. I can't pull any of the other notes out of the blend anymore; it's a sweet, musky floral scent. Very nice! From the notes listed, this also has a chance to be a long lasting scent on me. I hope.

[SeaMonkey]

This became a carnation single note on me and gave me a headache by the end of the day.

[sparkybish]

in the imp: Definitely a sweet juiciness

Wet: Oh I'm digging this. It might be a juicy one that will work for me. I'm getting a white wine/champagne sort of smell which keeps the fruity smell from being too fruity

Dry: This is a fruity blend I can get behind! I think it may go on the 5ml wishlist!

[caffinatedangel]

Imp: Wet, Juicy, tart. Not sweet, but like a very dry, twiggy wine.

 

Wet on skin: Juicy explosion for a second, with musk/honey popping like fireworks.

 

Dry: For a moment it got too powdery floral for me, but then quickly was tamed by something else. This is a gorgeous blend, like most other reviews have said. It fits the description perfectly. It's dark, red/purple like blood. It's sweet and it's also brooding.

 

All the fruit notes: wine, champagne grapes, plum really make it juicy and sweet. They work together beautifully and smoothly.

 

I've never had the tobacco note before, nor am I skilled enough to determine the oakmoss. I also don't know what opoponax smells like. However, something here is green and plant like. It gives the fruity notes a backbone in reality. Like walking through a vineyard or picking berries. Then the carnation (the only floral I spot) I could live without. But it does seem to lighten the blend, and give it a faint perfumey air. That's the only real negative of it, and I despise florals. But this one is behaving well.

 

Blood musk is delicious, I'm learning I LOVE musks. I need to start figuring out the difference between all of Beth's musks . But it isn't the main thing, it's just a background scenery thing.

 

Also, I adore tonka. It always clings to my skin, and stays for hours after the rest of the scents have vanished. So do florals, and leather. In this case, I was left with Tonka and Carnation, it seems. But it was the spiciest, most delicious carnation I've ever come across. I think Opoponax (my sister tells me it's resinous, so I think it's here) may also have stayed and kept carnations floral from becoming powdery. Apparently, floral powder + incense = beautiful.

 

This is like what I imagine blood smells and tastes like to a Vampire. It's wet, juicy, ripe, gritty, real, earthy and human. If this thing had more throw I'd make it my fav scent ever. However this may be a perfect everyday scent. So I'm not overwhelming to peers, but I can still smell good to myself and anyone who gets too close.

 

Imp keeper, at least. Possible bottle asking for a birthday or Yule.

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Honeyed wine and something tart.

 

Wet: Very grapey, with the honey. It smells a lot like Arnaldus of Villanova's recipe for "wine to benefit the whole body," which is wine boiled down by a third and then sweetened and spiced. There's a background of floral, too, but it hasn't developed yet.

 

Twenty minutes: More grapey, less sweet than before. There's at least one sweet floral in there, but it doesn't smell like carnation. I like it, but it almost feels like my nose is on an overdose, like there are too many scents to tease out.

 

One hour: Very grapey, also honey and a floral. Resin in the background. Still smells like a medieval boiled-wine cordial.

 

Two hours: More honey than grapey now, with some less sweet florals obvious. I like it very much, but it still smells almost like something one would eat or drink.

 

Three hours: Honey with pungent florals and a hint of grapes. I like this because I like honey scents in general, but this one's not as exciting as I'd hoped. Still, it's nice to be able to wear something with oakmoss in it and not feel icky.

 

Four hours: More complex now, less honey, practically no grape. Still got some staying power, though. No sign of oakmoss or carnation yet.

 

Five hours: Much as before, but some mossiness showing up now. Still nice.

[djsiberia]

wet/in imp: wine and tobacco and sweetness.

 

dry: grapes, tobacco, a little musk, but mostly its sweet grapes and plums with whiffs of tobacco.

 

hmmm..not sure what i expected from this going into it, but it's certainly not for me. i prefer midnight kiss to this.

[angelicruin]

Wet on the skin, I smell the honey and sugar cane. As it drys down, the musk, wine and grape notes come out. Very smooth scent. One of my favorite GC offerings!

[mgrazulis]

I'm allergic to tobacco flower...but I want to test this one!

 

In the imp: honey, thick wine, grapes, plum blossom.

 

Wet on the skin: herbally oakmoss and spicy tonka bean, a bit of dryness, then some more honey.

 

Drydown: the blood musk is sweet and waxlike. It's not totally unpleasant, but it is very boozy. There's a lot blending in at this point that hard to distinguish what is in the mix at this stage. No trace of the carnation,tobacco flower or resins. I think they're dancing in the alcohol and can't hold their own!

 

After a while, the sweetness built up and the wine turned soapy. (and I was worried about tobacco flower?) I don't see myself wearing this at all. It could be my chemistry or maybe this hellhound soul just needs to find someone else to share in debauchery.

 

[sunshinedaisybliss]

I just got a bottle of this via a forum sale from the extremely lovely ClareN - I wasn't really sure what to expect as the reviews have been talking about such a variety of results.. but can I just say OH.MY.GOD. this is awesome!!

 

On me, this smells like bubble gum. That old-fashioned bright pink bubble gum! Who knew I was going to love smelling like bubble gum?!?!? I certainly didn't, but I can't begin to tell you how much I just want to lick my arm.

 

Honey usually comes out really strong in any blend I've tried, and carnation is usually woefully overpowering on me, but not here.. it's all about the bubble gum. Since the official description doesn't contain the words 'bubble gum' - can anyone tell me what that note might be?? Is it the grapes? The plum? The sugar cane? I'm not a connoisseur of these individual notes yet, so I would really love some help here from those of you who know.

 

Anyhow - I just had to come here and rave about this beautiful blend. Did I mention how much I love it??

[geng]

This is my first review so here it goes..

 

I got this as an imp on my first order

 

Never did I imagine that a scent that reminded me of church would ever be a good thing. Being forced to go to church for me was a painful experience. Every time I see that church I want to swear obscenities at it, it doesn't help that my job is right across the street. The only reward of going was communion and the sacrificial wine that followed. The first time I smelled this I instantly remembered the scent and the taste of the sweet wine that was poured. I can smell the grapes mixing with the black wine. It's sweet but tart at the same time. There's a kick to it at first, which I really like. It starts to change and everything starts to calm down. The wine starts to mingle with the syrupy honey and little by little flowers start blooming first the carnation then the faint smell of tobacco flower. Then after sometime it becomes grounded by what I suspect is the oak moss and tonka bean, still it retains it's sweetness. In closing this to me is provocative, sensual and a down right gorgeous scent. I can't wait to get a big bottle. Truly wonderful.

[Molls]

at first, overwhelming honey and grapes... after a bit, it mellows down into a sweet, syrupy scent - love it!

[crebbsgirl]

I was leery of this blend because of the black wine note, but that surprisingly wasn't what gave me trouble. The champagne grapes on the other hand, that is quite another story. This went bubbly and grapey on my skin. I didn't get any tonka or oakmoss here. I was hoping for a more resinous scent. What I got instead was something surprisingly light. The musk was very faintly present here, and the wine added some depth. The honey sweetened things up, but overall, I feel like this scent may just be too light for me.

[rayvn1]

In the imp this is overwhelming sweet grape. Once it starts to dry though it's a playful, lightly fruity, honeyed scent. Very pleasant - reminds me of frozen grapes, the same cool, refreshing scent and it almost sparkles

[milica]

sweet musky carnation and really sweet thick wine. and I like it, except wine note takes over everything, scent becomes too sour, and my imp went to my friend who can take the wine notes and that doesn't have evil evil skin chemistry like mine.

[beturtlement]

Imp: Sweet, fruity, with a certain... twang.

Wet: Still sweet and fruity.. I wanna say berries, rather than grape.. almost reminiscent of dragon's blood. After that settles for a few seconds, I get a mildly spicy (and a li'l sweet) floral.

Dry: After it gets time to chill, the flowers disappear and it all turns into a soft, mildly incensey, dark fruit.. with a pinch of spice.

 

..oh.. wait.. there're the grapes. Incensey, grapey (but NOT candy grape; real, juicy grape). This is a lot more foody than I had thought it'd end up being. It's like sweet, grape-ity incense.

 

/So/ not what I expected when reading the description, but pleasantly surprised because I thought I wouldn't like it at all.. from the notes, then again while it was still wet. It morphed so many times in such a short time span and I've had to cull my review down quite a bit. While this has elements of things I'd normally hate.... I actually like this. BPAL, and how my skin reacts to it, never ceases to amaze me. If Ludens (throat lozenges, but not the mentholy type

 

After all is said and done: Sweet, but not sickeningly so, grapey, quite foody, with a hint of incense.

[SensationalGrendel]

In the imp: Candyish, fruity wine.

 

On me: The first time I wore this, I couldn't pick out any distinct notes. I liked it, but it seemed uninteresting. I wore it again today, and it is beautiful. It smells like sweet wine, old wood, smoke and a tiny hint of feminine perfume. It reminds me a lot of a really rowdy, somewhat supernatural bar. It's still hard to pick out notes, but there are a lot. They work really well together and create a strong visual every time I sniff it. I got lots of compliments! I think I'll be needing a bottle for sure.

 

Edited January 22, 2009 by SensationalGrendel