Bien Loin D'Ici

[Heavenlyrabbit]

This is the house, the sacred box,
Where, always draped in languorous frocks,
And always at home if someone knocks,

One elbow into the pillow pressed,
She lies, and lazily fans her breast,
While fountains weep their soulfullest:

This is the chamber of Dorothy.
— Fountain and breeze for her alone
Sob in that soothing undertone.
Was ever so spoiled a harlot known?

With odorous oils and rosemary,
Benzoin and every unguent grown,
Her skin is rubbed most delicately.
— The flowers are faint with ecstasy.

The Scarlet Woman, aglow with sensual indolence: red musk, benzoin, caramel accord, golden honey, and spiced Moroccan unguents.

Takes its time unfolding on my skin. The red musk is in the forefront along with the spices.

I imagine this is what Smut might have smelled like if my skin chemistry reacted so adversely to it.

The sweetness is very laid back on me, as per usual.

Sultry blend that reminds me of Love blends, for sure. Unique but in the same vein as some of the Oriental Wanderlusts, too.

Great choice if you aren't the floral person.

[loverstreet]

In the Bottle: Uh-oh, did I forget this has the dreaded honey in it?

 

Wet: Whew, no honey on me. Instead mucho musk and something unidentifiable (the mysterious UNGUENTS?)

 

Dry: OK, I divide my scents into 3 categories: daytime (ooo, I can't wait for everyone to smell this delicious scent!), night-time (mmm, this will set the mood), and Husband-Only (lock the door, baby!). This is absolutely in the third category.

 

Great animal musk, similair to Smut, but much better on me. There's a touch of sweetness way in the background - must be the caramel - and the honey, which usually amps like crazy on me, is non-existent.

 

Unfortunately, I must go wash this off, as we are having dinner at the pastor's house, and it might put a damper on things if I ravage my dh at the table. (now, when we get home, that's another story!)

[icing]

When the bottle’s closed, the outside smells of talcum powder and sweet but unidentifiable flowers to me.

 

During the first few tries, wet and dry, I was met with something very much like Burt’s Bees Hand Salve (the one with rosemary in it)… only mixed with talc.

…the unguents must have turned into the medicinal form, just for me!

 

Now it’s 100% talc, from wet stage on, and it gets stronger with time.

O and La Petite Mort did the same (or turned to baby powder)… I thought skin musk was the culprit (as anything with ‘flushed skin’, ‘skin musk’, and the like will turn to powder on me), but now I’m not so sure that’s the main cause (and red musk can either vanish or turn to dryer sheets on me, so I’m not jumping to blame it here).

 

…As far as this particular blend category goes, it might be that I’m just meant to remain unloved – but I will age this one (though that didn’t help with O or La Petite Mort) just to be certain.

 

If anyone knows a healthy way to shake up one’s chemistry, I’m all ears and eyes.

[edenssixthday]

Bien Loin D'Ici - This scent got the rare "OH MY GOD!!!" reaction from me from the very start, and it didn't stop. I am in loooove with this scent, and I can hardly believe it because honey and caramel usually ruin otherwise perfectly good blends. I just love the fact that Beth used the word "unguents" in her description, too. Very cute. Okay, so this opens up as a really smooth and creamy scent that's slightly sweet in a non-sugary way, but also musky, and it's also a touch earthy. The throw is really strong, and the tiniest bit on the back of my hand (where I do some of my initial testing) not only covered my entire body in a veil of scent, but continued to do so after I washed my hands, and even after the throw faded, I could still smell this on my skin 4 hours after I applied it, which is really good for my dry skin (especially after washing it!) and also for something with honey and caramel in it, which tend to fade quickly on me. This is most definitely bottle-worthy. I love love love it and can't stop sniffing the back of my hand where I applied it!

[AliBabble]

in the imp, this smells almost too sweet to me...i think it is the honey and moroccon unguents that are giving me this impression - like overly-sweet incense. it smells like an indian shop, or a buddhist temple. there is a slight fruitiness too, like fruity honey. on my skin though, it immediately smells spicier, and deeper - again, very incense-y, and what i think of as "eastern spices". it's actually a really interesting scent, if not exactly a "me" sort of scent. after a while, the caramel comes out, but this is very well-blended...the notes are completely merged with one another. i'm on the fence about it - if you like "eastern" incense/spicy blends, you would probably adore this. i'm not sure it works that well on me. however, i have a thing for morocco, so i'm gonna see if these moroccan unguents grow on me. it's actually very pretty, but smells more like an incense i'd burn, rather than a perfume i'd wear.

[Brianne]

In the vial:

Uh oh is that diapery smell?

 

On me:

Well the diapery smell is gone - I was afraid maybe jasmine was in here @__@ Thankfully, it doesn't seem so. However, this goes on SO STRONG on me. I mean, it's a pretty potent blend. And it's far more herbally than I ever would have guessed. I'm getting a strong lavender note with a strong incense note.

 

The wierd thing is - I'm not getting any of those notes actually listed. Every single one of those notes usually work on me and then I put this on and what I've got is a strong herbal incense rather than a sweet, musky blend as I was expecting. Musk is usually dominant on my skin but for some reason, it's just not really coming out much in this.

 

This is another blend that is somewhat "old lady" -ish on me. I know everyone has different ideas of what makes a scent an "old lady" smell and it's usually tied to what our own grandmothers wore - my great grandmother always wore strong, old fashioned incense like scents and this makes me think of it. It's potent, mature and a little too incensey and heady for me.

 

I'm not sure how else to describe this scent, other than to call it an herbal incense scent.

 

Final note:

You know, it just happened to work out for me because I was SO SURE that this blend was going to work for me. It sounded perfect for me and I wanted to get a bottle but couldn't afford it so I had to settle for an imp for now. And as it turns out, I just don't like it. So it worked in my favor that I couldn't afford the bottle! This scent is not at all what I thought it was going to be!

[HappyLoveJoy]

This doesn't smell the least bit good on me and it sounded like it should have. It smells like I've taken some cheap overly-sweet men's cologne and poured it into a toilet bowl that has some old urine in it. That's how badly my chemistry twists these beautiful notes and it never got pretty even hours later. Must be the unguents. This oil is verrrry potent and far-reaching.

[goddessrobyn]

This is very musky on me... and not in a "mmmm sexy, musk" way... more like in an "oh wow, musk ox!" way

 

after 30 minutes or so the musk dies down and the honey comes out and then it's very soft and sweet and lovely... very sensual, sexy and sweet...

 

I want to lick my arm to get the taste of it

 

but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't taste very good

 

I'm not sure if I want to keep this for the swoon worthy scent I get now or swap it for the musk ox scent I get in the beginning

[shelldoo]

in the bottle: smut only amped up.

 

wet: the honey becomes more prominent, but it retains that smutty edge. although this is not as sweet as smut, and has a sharper edge.

 

after this scent dries, it still retains a similarity to smut, but it is smut that has rolled around in some honey, making this a soft, stickey, sexy smut. i loved smut, still do, some of yall have seen my smut hut, and this is every bit as good as smut. i am so glad i can get some anytime i like.

[akw]

At first, I would have sworn I smelled citrus in this. Maybe I've experienced rosemary and citrus together so much that I made the association. After a few minutes, the sweet notes come through, and I think maybe it's actually honey or caramel and rosemary.

 

On me, this is happy and summery with light throw. Very pretty.

[Iceblink]

The comparisons to Smut are right on. I'd call this "honeyed Smut" or at least a sweeter Smut. If Smut '07 was a bit rubbery on you, give this one a try (and OMG how this will age!).

[xoe]

this didn't smell like the description at all to me! weird. It started out like nag champa and dried to a musky rose. must be my skin doing something funky. very nice though.

[noumenon]

I'll see your Smut comparisons and raise you an O. The red musk doesn't play out on my skin like it does in Moriarty; it's a lot more like the skin musks in Smut. And the Honey reminds me strongly of O when it's dry and warm on my skin. I think the spices implied in "moroccan unguents" were more evident when it was wet, because now it's just a smooth, musky honey.

 

So now instead of having to layer Smut with O, people can just use Bien Loin D'ici instead! Unfortunately for me, I didn't like either of those, but I know they've got their fans here.

[filigree_shadow]

I almost ordered a bottle of this unsniffed, but, fool that I am, I didn't. I got an imp instead. Argh!

 

This is one of the best red musk blends I've smelled. It's sexy and sultry, deep and rich. I absolutely adore it with the caramel and honey.

 

Ahhhhh. Lovely.

 

This is the sort of scent I'd like to smell like every day. It makes me feel mysterious and beautiful.

[slave1]

BIEN LOIN D'ICI

 

In bottle: Light sweet resins

 

On Skin: I bought this as a bottle unsniffed just because all the notes sounded like winners to me. Sadly, on my skin things didn’t come across as planned. At first it smells slightly medicinal… and like a bandaid. Then it starts to develop and the musks come out, quite feral… almost reminding me of Enraged Orangutang Musk. The benzoin is sweet and resinous. The honey (my favorite note in the world) is very light and hard to tell it’s even there other than it sweetens the blend. The caramel is also super light. Usually in blends where it is present, it’s the first note I smell. Here it is just an echo and not foody at all. The Morocaan spices are quite obvious though… this is a resinous spicy exotic blend but with a very light feel nothing, heavy or dark. I think it’s a beautiful scent, not really sexy as it is feral, but interesting none the less. It’s like a cleaner and much lighter version of Smut. Also, as it develops, it takes on a soapy tone. Starts with a strong throw but as it develops it’s throw and body fade…. So I’d say a medium throw with average wearlength.

Edited March 23, 2007 by slave1

[lapetiteflower]

mmmmm. middle eastern perfumes, night queen incense and lurking underneath, glimpses of sweet honey and caramel. it starts off as a light floral incense......reminiscent of night queen. as it dries down i'm still getting curls of the incense, but wrapped around an exotic spicy musk perfume. sniff a bit harder and i get a touch of the sweets. exotic, divinely beautiful and just the right amount of depth......not too light nor too heavy.

[lightgatherer]

Wet, I don't like this and try to keep from smelling it. After an hour, it smells like a sweet red musk - not bad, but not inspiring. After three hours, this turns into the most amazing blend on my skin - sweet musky spice. Even though I usually amp caramel, I haven't been able to pick it out in this blend. I'm getting more of the honey, but it's subtle - mostly enough to add some sweetness to the blend. I'm glad I gave this a chance - after two hours I had added my imp to my swap list, but that transformation at the third hour has this now on my bottle list.

 

EDIT: Unfortunately, that gorgeous stage didn't last long. After about 30 minutes it went back to mediocre. This is back on my swap list again.

[vegasblueblood]

This is a lot more herbaly in the early stages than I was expecting. I don't get a lot of that strong herbal (rosemary?) scent in the imp but right after I apply it, there it is. I expected this to be a lot more sweet and incense-y right off the bat but there is rosemary and flowers described in that poem so I shouldn't be surprised by the herbiness and green tone. After about an hour, the sweet heady incense smell comes out and it's lovely. This is very strong--in a good way--and now, after about 6 hours of applying, it's still very much on my wrists in a sweet, somewhat powdery incense incarnation.

[gingersnapp]

Bought this for the honey, which I getting a little bit. The throw is spicy and musky, but if I put my nose to my skin, I'm getting something very similar to vetiver which makes me sad because vetiver and I do not play nice at all. It's usually thunderdome combat, to be perfectly honest.

 

Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

[Lucretia]

I was expecting this to smell sweet, but not at all! This is all incense and honey and spices on me, it reminds me quite a bit of the final dry down of bastet, although not as overpowering. It's not at all what I was expecting, but in this case that may be a good thing. I wouldn't wear this in the summer, but this would be perfect for rainy days and feeling cozy.

[Emma2403]

In the bottle: skin musk. Very strong skin musk. I'm having an attraction/repulsion reaction. I don't like it but I can't stop sniffing it.

 

On my skin: musk and frankincense (that would be the spiced Moroccan stuff, I guess). I still don't really like it, but find it terribly sensual, nearly animal. I don't get any caramel (which is good as it always ends up as burnt plastic on me) and only a hint of honey (good too as my skin amps honey like crazy). I cannot stop putting my wrist to my nose, and each time I think "no, but..." and so I sniff again.

 

After a couple of hours: spiced honey. The musk has calmed down finally.

 

Verdict: I know this is not "me", but I might very well keep the imp because it makes me feel so bloody sexy!

[Little Bird]

In the imp and on my skin this is a very musky fragrance. It's a slightly sharp musk that gets caught in the back of my throat and makes me cough when I smell it. A tickly, perfumey musk and slight spice. Like other reviewers, I was expecting this to be really sweet and it isn't.

 

After a half hour, the caramel starts to come out and soothe the sharp musk. When I sniff my wrists, I get an impression like, "Mmm... there's a slight caramel... Ah! Musk! *cough*" The caramel stage is short lived through. After I hit the 45 minute mark, this smells just like sharp, cold musk and dirt on my skin for some reason. Like the soil in one of the Garden's mushroom scents was mixed for a sharp musk. It's much stronger and has more throw in the icky drydown stage as well. I had to scrub this one off before an hour of wear.

 

I can't pull off the musk in this, and it doesn't even smell to me like red musk usually does on my skin. Bien Loin D'Ici is not really warm or sweet as I was expecting/hoping for. I'll be swapping my imp.

[maijasu]

I'm getting mostly herbs and musk from this, and very little honey or caramel. It's ok but not what I was expecting, and I'm not sure I'll be keeping it around.

[Athenae]

It's a sweeter Scherezade, wet, and dry it's a little more powdery but still red musk-y and sweet.

 

Love. Adore. Want more of. Please to be buying big bottle now.

 

A.

[QueenFae]

This is very deep, animalistic musk scent. The top notes are an array of dark, heavy musks and the low notes are powdery amber and spices. There is a strange, yucky smelling note that my skin is pulling out; it smells like true orangutan musk....the not so fragrant kind. It reminds me of being in the monkey house at the zoo. This scent wants badly to smell fantastic on me, but my chemistry is just not allowing it. I'm sure this would be drop dead sexy on the right person, but my skin is turning it to funk