The Deep Ones

[Lucchesa]

Black algae, drooping seaweed, salty brine, and crushed coral.

 

Aquatics are not my thing, generally. This was a frimp and when I saw it was recently discontinued, I decided to try it. And at first it went well -- much brighter than I expected from the description. I think lovers of aquatics would really like this. But as it dried down, I got more salty seaweed smell combined with a soapy feeling that together started to turn my stomach, which was already not doing so well with my simultaneous test of The Chicken-Legged Hut, and I had to wash it off. Oh, well.

[highpriestess]

Out of the bottle: Lotus, I smell lotus. And something dark and murky, I can smell the saltiness and the wetness of this one.

On my skin it goes much more salty and musky. There is a soapiness but I think I might like aquatic scents, this one is clean smelling but mysterious. Like jumping into a cold ocean at dusk.

After it dried: It's sweeter and cleaner smelling, there's that musk again. It's more seabrine-y and frothy. I like it more on my skin than I thought I would.

[cassiejaynebunk]

i think this is pretty masculine, at least on me and to my nose. it's a great aquatic, exactly as the name suggests, it is deep. it's definitely salty, what a merman would smell like. i may give it to the boyfriend to try out.

[monocainsheresy]

Oh nooo absolutely not

I've had my imp for about 2 years and when i first got it it was straight up low tide at the docks. Not fun.

It's mellowed over the last year and is nowhere near as intense now, and i can see how it could turn into the nice aquatic that other people have experienced, but it's still a scrubber for me.

[torischroeder9]

In the imp: Thick, humid, and faintly sweet. 

 

On my skin: 

 

Wet, the humidity and faint sweetness continue. It reminds me of cantaloupe or honeydew, though it doesn't necessarily actually smell like that. As it dries, the sweetness fades, and the salty brine becomes the most prominent note -- though the faint sweetness lurks in the background, keeping the brine from being overpowering. 

 

Given time to develop on my skin, it's what I think of as quintessential aquatic. It's one of the first that doesn't go soapy or otherwise icky on me. It's the smell of being out on the ocean rather than standing on a beach or other shore. 

 

It's a nice aquatic though aquatics aren't generally my thing, and this one does develop into a scent I consider masculine on me. 

 

The throw is good, and while I'm likely to wash it off before I can test its true wear length, it's been on me long enough that I can stay it doesn't pull a fast vanishing act. 

 

 

[ka hulu]

I didn’t know this was discontinued, and hadn’t even given it a sniff until today. But I have a 5 mL coming in the mail, so, time to  at least test the imp!

 

In the imp: A bit aggressively soapy/fruity. Not sure I want to try this on, after all.

 

Wet: Vibrant aquatic, with a compelling bright ...citrus? 

 

Drydown: Somehow actually conveys the sensations of descent. The scent is like nothing I know, but ”feels” like dark lower rooms of aquariums along the Pacific coast. The same feeling of seeing nurse sharks resting in a shadowy nook near the ocean floor. Columns of swaying kelp, seen/felt from below. I notice my breathing has slowed to my “diving” rhythm. Whatever the scent is, it’s calming and deep. Cozy, even. 

 

Further down is a fleeting thin papery note, like rice paper. Then just that steady rhythmic deep marine blue, and the beckoning juicy note of some deep sea fruit that has yet to be brought to the surface and named. 

 

Not the trenches or abyss, but definitely nearing the midnight zone. Beautiful while it lasts. Glad to have garnered a bottle.

[puellacaerulea]

In the imp: Pretty much everything you'd expect from an aquatic, but darker, greener, and deeper. It's not aggressively salty, but it's definitely a deep green, ocean-like scent, with something vaguely sweet hanging around. It goes a little powdery on me (not sure what note's doing that), but it's still primarily aquatic. I'd call this one unisex, but given it's darker and murkier than some other BPAL aquatics (it doesn't have the fresh, clean aspect of Undertow, for example), I could see it leaning a little more conventionally masculine.

[doomsday_disco]

This is all salty, soapy aquatic on me, sadly. I got some of the seaweed early on in wear, which I wasn't feeling at all, but it was quickly overtaken by the salt and the soap.

 

Aquatics don't typically work on me, so I knew this one probably wouldn't be a win, but I'm glad I got to try it!

[ShadowEtienne]

I am so glad that I have finally gotten a chance to try this one, and slightly devastated that it is discontinued. I knew I was probably going to like it, Picnic/Springtime in Arkham scents, especially the aquatics, have been consistently good to me.

 

The Deep Ones is definitely the cousin to Cthulhu, Yha'nthlei, R'Lyeh, and Kingsport, all of which I love. But I may like this even more than Cthulhu, which is one of my absolute go to scents. I put a tiny bit on to test initially, and went back about half an hour later to put onto he proper amount that I'd wear for the day because it was beautiful on me. 

 

Like Cthulhu, this is very evocative on me. It is reminiscent of being on a coastal headland on the NorCal coast after a heavy spring storm has passed. The air is fresh and full of sweet salt breeze rushing in from the Pacific. Huge drifts of kelp have crashed up on the cliffs below, but they are fresh and salty-sweet as well, but also deeply aquatic and with the sinister promise of rot. Flowers and grasses were crushed on the headland in the storm, but there is a waft of bruised white florals in amongst everything else, and crushed greenery.

 

The water here is deep and cold and a touch threatening. It crushes things against the cliffs of the headland, but also brings freshness and coolness even when just a few miles inland it will be very hot. And out on the cliffs, one feels a little bit like nothing in the world can reach you. There's something mysterious and surreal.

 

This has gotten long enough, but I'm going to have to be on the lookout for more of this! I'm so glad for the bottle that I was able to get.