Calico Jack

[artisjok]

Calico Jack is a manly man. He uses manly cologne with his sea salt air. He washes with a brisk manly soap, standing on his wooden planks. He dries down to a manly, salty musk-touched wood with a faint touch of leather.

 

He’s not my type of manly smell, yet I’d wager he smells manly delish on my man. 

[pommelo]

THIS IS MAD LOVE, i don't find this manly at all!!! 

On wet it's like this overwhelming SEA note, like a tsunami that completely overpowers everything else. Ambergris? 

But within 5mins it recedes, leaving a very musky fruity shore, it's one of the most intriguing scents I've ever come across from BPAL! I'll try my best to pick out the notes, this is a huge morpher.

Foremost is the musk, if sea musk were a thing, this would be it. And I get little sparkles of.. lemongrass? and peppermint? But these sparkles fade quickly, revealing a warm spicy layer which are probably the plundered spices  

 

I got this as a frimp, never would have guessed how absolutely in love I would fall with it, it's so far out from my usual scent profile - florals.. I think it's the musk that's doing it for me, it's absolutely to die for.

 

*Edit: The drydown really reminds me of Hecate's drydown - kind of an almondy musk? They are both my absolute favourites from BPAL

Edited September 6, 2020 by pommelo

[Hesper]

Now here’s a sexy aquatic.

Alright, I live on a boat with my father who's a rabid Calico Jack fanboy, so this would have been a hilariously worthwhile frimp for the Lab to pick for me even if the scent were subpar. (Did someone divine about this? It's almost TOO funnily perfect...)

But it’s not. It’s dashing as hell.

It starts citrusy bright, green & crisp from the bottle. As it dries, you’re casting off from an island of citrus trees, carrying off a crateload of fruit against the scurvy—now salt-crusted leather starts to dominate the note, musky and worn with the sweat of working the deck. The sea air is bracing, a refreshing breeze blowing over the sails and filling the flag, during the heyday of the Calico bunch—before that fateful day when Bonny and Read were the only ones prepared to defend a drunken revel of a crew.   

Incredibly masculine, even though I’m not particularly attached to gendering scents (why shouldn’t men smell like sweet white moonflower?). This absolutely is the scent of Calico Jack, a bright citrus cologne overthrown by actual sweaty musky work, debonair and dashing rogue and total dandy fool. It’s fantastic. I don’t know how wearable it is for me—feeling sweaty and grimy is a Problem for me—but I adore the frimp, nonetheless.

[dancingchair]

Very strong aquatic cologne. I get a lot of oceanic musk, salty air, waterlogged wood, and well-worn leather. The spices are lurking under the surface of the waves of this perfume, adding complexity. It doesn't go soapy or laundry to me. I really enjoy this, it begins as a deceptively straightforward aquatic cologne but there's actually a lot going on and I am here for all of it. 

[Biocarbons]

The leather in this makes it smell masculine me, but it doesn't smell cologne-y at all.

 

This morphed a lot. Started out with a sunny aquatic breeze, a cloud of brown leather dust, and blonde woods. It morphs to be kelp dominant for a bit (the same kelp in Cthulhu). Then the musk picks up and goes a bit powdery. Now the driftwood (different from the blonde wood) is dominant.

 

This does live up to the description of a weathered deck of a pirate ship, all dry and salty/spicy drift wood with some underlying musk and leather. 

 

An interesting journey, but not something I would choose to put on again.

 

[Lucchesa]

There’s a lot of good stuff in Calico Jack, but there’s also a lot of aquatic, and that’s what’s makes this a pass for me. Lovely spicy musky woody salty leather and laundry detergent. 

[AbbyNormal]

I’m suddenly feeling the need for dalliances with Blackbeard and to play turtle vs. crab. 
 

This is an absolutely lovely, somewhat masculine scent. I don’t know if I need a full bottle or if I’m ok with keeping Port Royal as my main pirate scent, but either way I’m super happy I ordered an imp. 
 

In the imp: very aquatic with musk and wood. No real signs of spice, but I’m picking up a bit of salt and a little soapiness. 
 

Wet: mostly the same as in the imp, with a tiny bit of leather and a spot of greenish something. It’s not what I’d expect from kelp, but im not sure what else it could be. 
 

Dry: The salt. OMG the salt. My mouth is literally watering and I can taste the sea spray. I can sense the spices now, but in a spilled on the floorboards and washed away by salt water splashes. The musk and leather are there, but like a shipmate almost out of scent reach. This is pure freedom on the water, sun in my face, a good breeze, lips covered in sea spray, and absolute happiness. 

[RoseThornAndOak]

Ok I need to know about turtle vs crab. Annd how did I sleep on this scent so long? It is aquatic, for sure. There is a bit of ozone but it is softer than many, not electric and zingy. I think the other notes are tempering it. The leather is not strong or chemical. It's smoother than black leather, although it's not as soft as say the leather in Rogue, Black Haus, The Montebank, or John Locke, although it's edging there and miiight be the same leather note. I think the aquatic notes keep this from sloshing too much in that direction (I find those sweeter). There are some spices, the wood and kelp are present and salty, just enough to add to the atmosphere. The musk, if I were to wager a guess, maybe a clean musk, blue musk (maybe, not quite), or aquatic musk of some kind? It's not red, black, brown, grey, Egyptian, animalic, russet, African, golden, or skin musk. It's just nice, fresh, and clean with a badass edge.

 

Yeah, I'm getting a full.

Edited Sunday at 12:05 AM by RoseThornAndOak