Incantation

[Quillifer]

A profound and entrancing potion. Deep, wispy, and unfathomably dark: vetiver, dark woods, crumbling and burnt black sandalwood and a drop of lemon rind.

 

Funny thing about this: on dry-down it smells both deep and sheer at the same time. Like sunlight reflecting off a lake, but with clear water, so you can see a long way down to dark stoney depths. Not that it's at all aquatic - or stoney.

I adore this and somehow it smells to me like meeting myself (although I know I don't smell like this).

[mermaidsdream]

I received this as a trade.

 

In the IMP: Fresh, clean, with a scent that almost reminds me of fresh basil (in a good way)

 

Wet, on my wrist: This almost immediately morphs into something spicy. Still a bit clean, but it's not what I was expecting. It starts turning soapy.

 

Dry: Irish Spring soap.

 

It's only been about an hour since I applied it, so I'm hoping as it wears, it'll turn into something I can wear. I have a feeling this will end up in my "trade me" pile

 

ETA: several hours later, and it still smells strongly of soap. DO.NOT.WANT. Trade pile it is.

Edited December 28, 2012 by mermaidsdream

[heyjjudette]

Very masculine and dark on me. I love masculine scents, but it's a bit too much for my skin!

 

It is a delicious scent though. That lemon keeps sneaking around the other notes in the scent.

[Zii]

Wet: Lemony, very green vetiver! Despite not really being the actual smell, this is a broken sapling sort of green.

 

Drying: That initial blast of green has calmed down, and it has an aspect that smells like moldering leaves, not unlike a leaf pile after the rain.

 

Dry: The little bit I applied quickly became snuggly and close to the skin after the initial lemony blast of throw. It is similar to the scent of Irish Spring soap in it's clesn sharp greenness, but it is a sappier, more natural version. Vetiver, which is usually sharp and low on my skin, is barely playing a factor at all, but I suspect that might change with age.

 

This is overall an amazing, yummy and truly green scent and I may get a bottle of this! i absolutely love it!

[lunabee34]

I think this smells like wood and vetiver; a bit smoky; no lemon at all.

 

I can see where the forums get masculine from this scent although I don't read it as an exclusively masculine scent. I also am surprised at the people who described this perfume as light or springy; body chemistry is so interesting. LOL I think this scent is deep and pleasantly green, like a forest or a handful of herbs stored in a cedar box that's a bit burnt around the edges.

 

This scent stayed essentially the same from application until it faded. It didn't have a lot of throw and it faded within a few hours. I liked it and I'll definitely use the imp but it's not going on my list of scents to purchase in a big bottle.

[flaer]

Initial Thoughts: Definitely not a scent that I see myself wearing. It started off as somewhat lemony and a slight sickeningly sweetness lurking in the background.

 

After about half hour: Oh god, get it off my wrist. It reminded me of being carsick at the backseat of a car on a warm and humid day. One of the few scents that I actually rinsed off because it made me physically sick (Headache).

 

Wanted this to work, but unfortunately, no On the other hand, I'm somewhat amazed by how it evokes memory of being sick.

[bulletslc]

Wow! A vetiver scent that works on me!

My main impression is of an overgrown forest

With ivy and moss everywhere. Occasional shafts of sunlight

Pierce through shadows.

This smells very clean, foresty and masculine. I wish i had

a guyfriend to slather this on. However i am not adverse to wearing

masculine scents from time to time.

[tyche]

Incantation was the first bottle of BPAL I bought! It will always be a favorite. The scent is woodsy, but also has some florals. It's like stumbling upon a patch of wildflowers in the forest after a brief rainshower.

[DiesMali]

Blind testing a free imp.

 

In the imp: Sharp, fresh greenery.

 

Wet on my skin: This smells like what I wanted The Lilac Wood to smell like. It smells like flowering lilac bushes, green trees, fallen and rain-damp hardwood logs, and GREEN. Greeeeeen.

 

Dry: Looked up the notes, and what do you mean this doesn't have lilac in it? It may be the lemon interacting with something in the vial, or my skin, or both, but I could swear up and down that there's lilac greens and flowers in this. It smells like a deep, old-growth forest of both deciduous trees and evergreens, and some of the bushes and wildflowers are blooming in the sunshafts coming in through the trees. It's a lovely scent, and as mentioned above, what I'd hoped for in The Lilac Wood. So pretty and green!

[Lunasariel]

In the imp: Here's the thing: I can distinguish the sandalwood and the lemon rind (specifically, they smell like Meyer lemons to me), and definitely the woods, but the overall effect is of a fresh, woody floral. Similar to Elf, but with stronger woods and no honeycomb.

 

Wet: The opening notes were rather unfortunate: the lemon is more definitively lemon, but in a cleaning fluid kind of way, and the vetiver also asserts itself in a way I wasn't crazy about. Thankfully, this stage didn't last long. The lemony cleaning fluid and skunky vetiver calm down gradually, so after ~15 minutes or so I'm left with a woody floral that's actually fairly true to ITI. I'm definitely getting DiesMali's comparison to The Lilac Wood. (Note: I've never smelled The Lilac Wood myself, but this is how I imagine it would smell.)

 

Dry: Unsurprisingly, the lemon burns off fairly quickly, leaving mainly sandalwood. However, this is an unusually woody sandalwood - I like!

[Teamama]

In the imp, smokey wood and aromatics. Can't pick out the lemon.

Wet, more of the same, with an undertone of plastic (?) that faded quickly. A little powdery, the way sandalwood can be powdery.

Dry, the lemon is there in the background. I'm catching a hint of ponderosa pine up close on a hot summer day, walking on dry needles. Overall, it's perfumey sweet dry wood with a little bit of citrus way back there.

 

Nice, but I'm not inspired to need a full bottle (yet.)

[stubbornfire]

I can't believe this has lemon rind in it?? I sniffed it and the applied it right away - it smelled deep and lovely with just a but of, uhh idk how to word it, "up!" To not make it too dark. I...guess that is the lemon rind??

 

I will have to test it again later, definitely, but at the moment the vetiver, woods, and sandalwood are dominate and smell wonderful! Someone else mentioned it smelled like Herne or Cernnunos had her back and yeah, I see it. A hot nature dude who is surprisingly chill.

 

I also, out of curiousity, layered some of the Solstice Scents Sycamore Chai frimp I received over it. Incantation whipped all of the foodieness from it! Sycamore, in return, made Incancation more mellow, like a witch's cottage kitchen at night or something. If that makes sense. Like the hot nature dude put on twenty pounds, had a couple of kids, and is more down to earth than before - and somehow this just makes him more desirable. Where is this even going anymore, laughs.

 

A+++

[Veronica]

This dries down to a soft flora with a hint of darkness. You get a hint of something charred but underneath that is velvety vetiver, keeping it from being to smoky. Lemon is in the background keeping it all clean and intentional smelling.

Edited December 21, 2015 by delighted

[Casablanca]

Curious! First impression: lemon, vetiver, pine and maybe spruce and other woods, and sweetness. (I think it's a floral sweetness, but at other times it reminds me of sugar cane.)

The sandalwood steps out after a few minutes on my skin, a sandalwood I quite like. I don't know its name, but it doesn't smell burnt to me, and I want more of it. It's dry, rather than burnt.

 

The sweetness fades and the other woods come out stronger. I think of pine, spruce, cypress, oakmoss, and sage, but I don't know. Something...

I like it.

Edited September 21, 2016 by Casablanca

[Lulusque]

One of my favourites so far. It starts very fresh with a woodsy undertone. As it dries down, it becomes more woodsy, smoky and mysterious, while retaining some freshness. It has a great staying power too. Beautiful!

[Deliciousness]

In the imp: Something that reminds me of incense, but it's fresh - almost outdoorsy in a way.

 

Wet on skin: This blend is a little sweet, a little smokey yet very fresh! An odd a scent combo - but it really works! I think I detect some herbal elements at play ... sage maybe?

 

Dry down: The freshness backs off a little and the deeper aspects of this blend start to come thru.

 

Scent wise, this is surprisingly light considering it contains vetiver, and "dark woods". The lemon rind really makes this blends stand out. Count me surprised by this one - I really like it!

[puellacaerulea]

This scent's really interesting in that manages to be dark/woodsy and fresh simultaneously. In the imp, I get slightly smoky woods and lots of citrus -- it's almost like a stripped-down, darker version of Manhattan. When it dries down, the lemon tones itself down quite a bit, and the wood notes get a bit softer and more pronounced. It stays surprisingly close to the skin on me. It's still basically woods and citrus, but much less in-your-face and borderline Lemon Pledge/Irish Spring as it is in the imp. I'm really glad I was frimped this, because I don't know if I would have tried it otherwise. Seriously considering a bottle once the imp runs out.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: Not as dark as I thought it would be! I mainly get the lemon rind and sandalwood from the imp, with some smoky vetiver behind those notes.

 

Wet: The sandalwood note is the first to leap out at me, and it's actually a sweet sandalwood (probably Mysore, as it reminds me of Al-Azif and Kit, but somewhat different – and yet, it doesn't really smell blackened or charred to me). I expected this to be a lot darker, given its description. Behind that, I get the lemon rind, which adds some airiness to the scent without being distinct, in-your-face lemon.

 

Dry: The sandalwood note continues to reign, with a bit of lemon peel and dark woods lingering in the background. I'm not able to pick the vetiver out of this one, so if it's there, it's a variety that doesn't want to stomp all over everything else.

 

Verdict: Surprisingly light! I think this could be a nice scent on a guy, but it's not one I'd reach for myself (and I like Al-Azif and Kit more than this one).

[Lucchesa]

Retesting and reviewing some of the things in my swapbox. My old notes for this one only said "bad." Incantation is not "bad." It just isn't me. On my skin, there is no sweetness to this scent at all, and I prefer my darker notes to be tempered with some molasses or caramel or the like. This might be a good choice for someone trying to avoid sweet notes entirely.

 

It's not the bbq vetiver of malediction; I think it may be the grassy vetiver some reviewers mention. It's a very dry sandalwood, a hint of lemon peel, some woods. Not bad at all, really, though on the masculine end of unisex. It is lighter than I would have expected from the notes, and only lasts a couple of hours on my skin.

[Darkersolstice]

So. Red Queen smells like wood on me, but Incantation is the woods, and that makes a lot of difference. Last night, I tried it as a bedtime scent without reading the notes, and I landed on it being pine-dominant before I got to this thread. Is that what vetiver does, that "astringent like pine bud candy" smell? I'm all for it. The lemon peel lifts without drawing too much attention. There's something 'clean' in here without it going full-on soapy to my nose. I'm entranced.

 

While some people seem to be finding it too masculine for them to wear, I think I'd call it 'not overtly feminine' instead. It is not sweet, not flowery, but very green and herbal. For something I found myself describing as pine-y, I think it'll still be a superb summer scent, hearkening back to my days at overnight camp as a kid.

[surlygurl]

I remember having an imp long ago and not liking it, but taste change. When an imp of it arrived recently, I decided to take a chance.

 

In the vial: not bad, kind of pretty.

 

On my skin: not baa... NO. Just *no*. Smokeless burnt earthy things. And teenage boy body spray. Forever. I can't pick out individual notes or nuances; its just bad. Why can't it be beautiful like the very first whiff? Even a locket wouldn't save it now. :-(

Edited June 28, 2018 by surlygurl

[torischroeder9]

In the imp: That is some vetiver right there. Also, smoke. But the smoke note is distinct from the vetiver. 

 

On my skin: 

 

Vetiver, and... not quite smoke... more like char. 

 

After about 10 minutes, it turns to vetiver, woods, and soap. 

 

Yeah, folks. Vetivery, woody, charred soap is where this one stays on me. 

 

This is a BPAL secretly in love with someone else's skin chemistry. 

[monocainsheresy]

Oooh - the vetiver and lemon rind combo is very reminiscent of Bram Stoker, and the woods are somehow lending this a strong licorice note! No smoke on me.

 

Bram Stoker's fun sister.

[ladyphlogiston]

In the vial: sharp and resinous

 

On my skin: initially this smells a lot like pine. Conifers don't do well on my skin, so it isn't pine, but still. As it dries, it gets a little deeper and much rounder. The sharpness goes away and some almost floral notes start peeking out. It's a little powdery, in a soft, pleasant way.

 

Once dry it gets more woody, leaving a complex woody-grassy-medicinal thing that's just okay. That's disappointing. 

 

Verdict: Sadly, this goes in the "scents I love until they fade unevenly and leave me smelling like a cabinet" pile, which will probably get destashed eventually. 

 

Input from family:

Husband: that's pretty! I like it (smelled during the round stage) 

T, age ten: mint

K, age seven: Ick!

Z, age four: my toy bat says it smells like zebras 

S, also age four: you're right, it's zebras! 

[RoseThornAndOak]

Starts out very woodsy, but somehow dries down to a handsome, almost vanillic woods cologne. I feel like this should be next to all those conventionals in the pour homme section, I think this would smell incredible on a guy. Will try with Mr Roo and see what he thinks. It has an indolic punch similar to oud but not quite as pooey, with the lemon rind giving it a lift into a brighter and more wearable blend, almost slightly adjacent to Dorian, if Dorian was darker and brooding in the dark woods. I like it but it's strong, so be careful. Much prefer Deep Midnight's Professor M for a vanillic, dark woodsy musk blend w/o indoles but may still hold on to the imp. Might work better on clothes.

Edited August 1, 2020 by RoseThornAndOak