Severin

[euterpe414]

... Dry black teas, Earl Grey, and leather.

Wow I can't believe I haven't tried this one sooner! Severin is a really smooth, sexy tea and leather scent. I love how the bergamot and leather interact in this one, and the lovely hint of citrus I am getting. This is a really nice refreshing blend, perfect for any weather. It reminds of sitting in a comfy chair sipping a cup of tea, feeling completely at ease and relaxed. I am definitely foresee a bottle of this in my future.

[LadyCrow]

Okay, I've officially got very peculiar skin here. In the imp, I could smell both the bergamot and the tea. On my skin, I got the bright lemony bergamot overriding everything, sort of like the Earl Grey with some great big wodges of lemon. The scent started out with nice throw, and then gradually faded closer to my skin; I was hoping the leather would show up in the drydown, but I swear I couldn't find any whatsoever in all of the bergamot and tea -- which had vanished into faintness in a very short time. Wanda did this to me, too; do I have to resort to Dragon's Hide to get leather to stay? I mean, the bergamot is great, but if I wanted essential oil of bergamot, I'd buy that.

[indicolite]

In the locket: Iced tea.

 

Absolutely, totally, very good lemony iced tea. Earl Gray iced tea, to be specific. I am not getting leather at all, nor am I getting any impression of a submissive little sex maniac of a Count. This Count would not be asking his mistress to behead him, as the original Count von Sacher-Masoch is said to have done; this Count will have endless rounds of iced tea in the sun with Wanda, under those big patio umbrellas, possibly with frilly paper umbrellas in his iced tea, talking idly about how they are going to decorate their living room.

 

But is it ever refreshing on a hot day like this one.

[Trish]

In the imp: Soft tea and citrus. I hate tea so I can't tell if it's green, black or Earl Gray. That is I hate drinking tea - I'm discovering I quite like wearing it! On second sniff I can *just* detect a little leather in the background.

 

Wet: The citrus immediately becomes stronger. Uh oh. It's not a category that always plays nice with my skin (unless it's straight out lemon). Bergamot has a particular tendancy to turn sour.

 

Drydown: Oooh leather! Soft worn leather with a bit of citrus tea soaked into it. It's actually very soft and gentle which is the complete opposite of what I expected! Somehow I imagained something more.... aggressive. Possibly because I keep associating it with Severus Snape!

 

Dry: The citrus has now returned and is dominating the leather, but it's not going sour thankfully. Tea with citrus (Earl Gray tea I assume) that's been spilt over a piece of very soft worn old leather. Then for about 30 minutes the Earl Gray and leather take turns at being the most prominant note. Not as though they're competing with each other, it's far friendlier than that. Eventually the leather "wins" (or rather the citrus disappears) and this is where it suddenly becomes quite a bit stronger and a little more what I thought Severin would be. However it's still not exactly aggressive either! Soft leather with a tiny hint of tea that gradually fades until all that is left is leather. It's masculine but not overly so, has a little throw and has average last.

 

I rather like this and the imp is a keeper.

[prettybird]

In the bottle: Earl Gray with lemon, well mixed.

 

On skin: Unf. So sophisticated. Bergamot's a personal favorite, as it smells simply divine with my body chemistry. I smell just like a well sugared cup of Earl Gray, which is just fine by me. I feel so very... academic wearing this. I never do get the leather, but I think I'm just bad at identifying that particular note. Long lasting, but without getting annoying. It's slightly more lemony in my vial than in my imp, for some reason. I'm in love.

 

So like Severin, without being whiny and annoying for fifty pages. This was my third vial purchased, and I anticipate running right through it.

[Styx]

Severin

translucent oil

 

Imp: limey, citrus scent.

 

Skin: The opening is Earlgrey tea, with a strong tang of bergamot. Then it turns into a mens-cologne like smell, probably the leather doing that. It does smell very polished and has that "company executive" feel to it. Once it hits this stage, it doesn't morph anymore.

It stays as Earlgrey tea gone gym-training.

 

It may smell good on a man but I don't see a woman wearing it - I find it very masculine.

It works well with Wanda side by side, which is nice.

[Babylon]

Very lemony citrus at first, but Severin quickly dries down to a sophisticated leather and dry tea leaves smell. This is a wonderful scent for leather-lovers!

[funkmoppet]

Mmmmm - another scrumptious tea blend.

 

Lemony, luscious tea with the faintest breath of leather underneath. It goes wonderfully creamy on the dry down.

 

Refreshing and sexy. Yummy!

[poisons_sanity]

This smells like lemon and pepper. I kinda like it.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Very dark citrus tea.

 

Immediately on skin: Lemon and tea with a definite leather scent underneath.

 

After a few minutes: This is a lot more subtle than I thought it would be… the leather is a nice light note in the background, and the fresh tea scent is rather nice. The citrus that I first smelled seems to have disappeared though. It’s a very light unisex scent.

 

Later on: This has faded quite a bit. The leather has come out a little, but it is a mellow scent rather than a sharp one which I usually get from the leather blends. It’s slightly powdery, but not in an unpleasant way. I really need to have my husband try this!

[labeth]

It's been a while since I tried Severin, but I forgot to post a review, so I'll put up what I remember.

 

I bought Severin off of someone on the forum because I have had generally good luck with BPAL's tea-related scents thus far. However, the leather note in this one unfortunately spoiled my track record there. It smelled like someone spilled a cup of tea on someone's new leather couch. While that isn't necessarily a bad smell, I don't particularly want to smell like furniture.

[500ml]

There is a quick and a slow way to do this review of Severin and the quick way goes like this: YUM! Fresh tea in vial which turns to tea and leather on my skin - who could have thought up a better combination? The tea does settle down after a while leaving a faint leather, but it's ever so nice. I think what I like most about Severin is that the leather isn't too much in yer face as I've found that leather can amp on my skin. The tea really keeps the leather note under control.

[MaidenGenevive]

Severin

 

At first this came off lemony-fresh to me. Then it transformed to tea, a light, refreshing green tea. It was tea to me, but certainly not black. The leather wasn't present at first, but slowly started to creep in. But, it's not the leather I expected. It smelled like sickly animal to me, and mixing with the green tea did not make for a pleasant effect. The leather grew stronger and stronger to the point where I couldn't take it any more; I washed it off feeling mildly grossed out.

 

[1 - Hate] .. [2 - Dislike] .. [3 - Like] .. [4 - Really Like] .. [5 - Love]

 

1 : Not at all what I thought it would be.

[Phantasmagoria]

Severin to me smells just like fruit loops. And chewing tobacco, in the later stage (no, I haven't ever used chewing tobacco. I just know how it smells). I'll probably have to give this more than one run to see if the chewing tobacco smell was just a fluke.

Edited September 18, 2007 by Phantasmagoria

[lilacea]

Wet: Light, fresh lemony black tea.

 

Dry down: the bergamot pops out to create a more Earl Grey like tea, the leather sits under this comfortably. Then I get a very distinctive field mushroom vibe taking over once it's had a bit of time. Field mushroom and bergamot .

[angelicdemise]

From the description I didn't think I'd like it. I'd never had good luck with citrus scents, and the tea and leather made it sound just too heavy and masculine. Then I got the imp and tried it on my skin. It's just a perfect light scent for summer. The leather and tea give it a nice base and citrus makes it light and fresh. There's something in it that I can almost "taste" when I smell it- something that reminds me of the way I remember church smelling when I was a child. Funny how a scent with such inspiration smells so innocent to me!

[swilde]

Venus in Furs is a favorite novella of mine. I read a first edition print in the sensory dep room of a dungeon so this was a happily received frimp! I gave it to the bf because he has a black leather wardrobe and drinks lots of loose leaf Earl Grey.

 

Like Severin, this scent is honest; bitterness mixed with happiness. A bright smile and a sensual embrace from a beautiful redhead in ermine; the brushed leather of the inside of her coat. Perfect for fall

[mhickle]

My first review! Here goes...

 

First sniff and application: Quite lemony.

 

As it dries, I smell the Earl Grey tea leaves emerging past the lemon, really more or less shoving it aside! The scent becomes more complex on my skin, and the lemon has become a whisper. I've buried my face in the steam of a cup of tea, and my favorite kind of tea at that.

 

Just a few moments later, the strong Earl Grey note fades and I'm left with a very subtle smell against my skin. This has a fast fade time, softening to an almost creamy version of the initial scent...

 

EDIT: Put it on again today before leaving the house for work. It had already faded completely by the time my drive in was half over, so maybe 1/2 hour later.

Edited November 6, 2007 by ViolaVanWilde

[maribouquet]

imp: citrus?

wet: oh yeah, tea and bergamot. nice!

dry: the leather comes out a bit after 10 minutes. It smells a bit sour on me.

[Apple]

Bergamot, bergamot, bergamot! That's all she wrote. And fifteen minutes later, even that was gone. No leather, no tea, no lasting power. It is citrusy and fresh and would be good for someone who enjoys very light fragrances, but it doesn't have enough depth for me.

[Ravenclaw79]

Leather? *sniffs arm again* Hey, maybe, yeah! Funny how sometimes, I don't really notice a scent until I read that I'm supposed to be looking for it.

 

To me, this smells like tea, but not strongly, like a weak cup of tea with a little lemon juice in it -- not a candy-sweet lemongrass lemon, just a trace of it (which is awesome, 'cause every other scent with lemon I've tried so far has been overpoweringly lemony). It's a tea you might drink if you had a cold, a soothing tea without any honey in it. And yeah, now that I know to look for it, there is something slightly leathery about it, too.

 

This is the first everyday sort of scent that I really, really like. I may need a bottle, 'cause I only have a half-imp right now.

[erraticprophet]

Initial Impression: tea and leather

 

On Wet: Earl Gray tea and leather

 

On Dry: tea and leather

 

Final Impression: there was an odd licorice and lemon stage in there, but I'm glad I stuck it out because it turned quite nice in the end. Light throw.

 

Rating (on a scale from 1-5): 3

[FandF]

Tea with lemons.

 

I'm not sure I want to smell like ice tea but this smells pretty nice. It dries down to a yeasty lemon bread, in a good way.

[naeelah]

I didn't rush right out to try this one, because I was afraid it would be too dry, or too masculine, or too leathery (BPAL's black leather note tends to disagree with me). But I liked the tea note in Famine so much that I became eager to try this.

 

Wet, it smells EXACTLY like a nice cup of Earl Grey. A good Early Grey with lots of bergamot. Actually, it probably smells more like the leaves in the tin than a freshly brewed cuppa. I don't really pick out the black tea note so much -- it's there but, it's overpowered by the very lemony bergamot. In the background there's a hint of leather. It blends so well, I'd hardly notice it. I think that's contributing to the overall dryness of the scent, the quality that makes it more like unbrewed tea.

 

Once dry, the tea note and the leather note both become a bit stronger (or, rather, I suppose the bergamot note has begun to burn off), but the overall quality is much the same --- dry, lemony tea. As you'd expect, the bergamot continues to evaporate, leaving primarily leather and tea.

 

The throw is pretty light, and unfortunately, so is the wear life. It's almost gone in just 2-3 hours. Luckily, it's GC, and I don't mind touching up!

 

I've tried lots and lots of fresh, crisp, lemony scents from BPAL, and not a single one grabbed my fancy. It's just not a type of scent that I wear. But this, I love. I figure my collection needs at least a couple of light scents, for when the occasion arrives, and this is a great candidate to fill that niche! Try this if you like: Famine, De Sade, Kumiho, Embalming Fluid, Baoban Sith

Edited January 3, 2008 by naeelah

[akiko]

Oh, tea, I like you so much. How I wish you liked me.

 

Imp: citrus. Nice bergamot tea. I don't get leather, but I'm OK with that.

 

Wet: Steeping Earl Grey tea. (One of my favorite things in the world.)

 

Dry: Bergamot. Maaaaaaaaybe some tea if I sniff really hard and use my imagination. Possibly some leather, but it mostly is a balancing/deepening to the bright citrus. Unfortunately, it lasts about 2 hours before fading.