Mary Read

[notjonathan]

Salt air, ocean mist, aged patchouli, sarsaparilla, watered-down rum, leather-tinged musk, and a spray of gunpowder.

I'm normally not into aquatics at all, but this was a happy surprise. It's really well balanced between teal and amber: aquatics dominant when wet, fading to balance with the musk/patchouli/leather/rum/sarsaparilla. I'm straining to catch the gunpowder. After a while the balance shifts towards the sepia tones. Similarly balanced, I think, between masculine and feminine. Really complex. Reminds me strongly of Dee, not in the specifics but in the balance and poise.

[esmetutu]

I tried this on my husband as I thought this would work on a man nicely. So this review is based on that perspective.

 

Wet: Seems a bit too feminine for a man, slightly banana-y, strong scent of musk, rum, and the typical "ocean" scent which smells a bit like clean laundry detergent.

 

Dry: More masculine, more cologne-y. Like a Cool Water type.

 

Missing: No gunpowder, patchouli (husband amps patchouli too!), sarsaparilla.

 

Bottom line: Nice blend. Great for a guy if he likes aquatic colognes. Good for a girl who likes complex fresh scents. Tombstone's pretty much Holy Grail for my husband, so this one, unfortunately, goes in the sell pile.

[surlygurl]

This imp lives in my 'aquatics' pile and doesn't get much love (much like the rest of the aquatics). Today, for some odd reason, I put this on.

 

Wet, it's straight boy cologne *cringe*. Almost immediately the sharpness fades and I'm hit with woods (patch & gunpowder?) behind a wall of ocean spray. Also a touch of spiced rum. This is a complex scent! A clean aquatic shot through with dark spices, bright but kinda dangerous. Unisex. Definitely a "mood" scent.

[mazikeen]

This is an imp that has been lying around forever, in my nebuluous pile of scents that I wasn't really into yet didn't want to get rid of. I was suprised to find that I've almost used up the imp! Clearly, the appeal of Mary Read grows on me slowly.

 

I love patchouli, leather, & musk and am intruiged by gunpowder. I don't smell any of them here, though. Or rather, they're probably there silently doing their work and making the other elements behave better.

 

I do get the "salt air and ocean mist" in droves. This is really salty. I usually do not like aquatics because they seem so cologne-y... but this one is different. I LOVE the salt element.

 

This is great to wear on sticky humid days-- its refreshing and light, without being at all subtle or tame. I'll use up the imp and I'd be happy to have another someday. I'm also interested in giving aquatics in general a second chance, and I'll be on the lookout for anything else salty.

 

 

(What timing! I just bought the trade of Cursed Pirate Girl. I'm definitely going to wear this when I read it. Images like these fit this scent perfectly.)

Edited June 5, 2011 by mazikeen

[saralaughs]

A very sharply sour aquatic on me. Rum tends to do that on my skin chemistry.

[voodoocatwoman]

I love this scent. In the beginning, it is mostly musk and seaspray, but then it softens and I can smell patchouli with a tinge of sarsaparilla. I can see how some would think it masculine. There's a tiny bit of rum at the end of the sniff.

[KindKit]

I got this as an extra in a PiF package, and I approached it with some trepidation because of the dread patchouli. I'm a longstanding patchouli hater--the smell of it has been known to make me nauseated. But I liked Mary Read in the bottle, so I tried it on my skin. And it was gorgeous. It has a lot of the notes I love in Jolly Roger (salt, rum, a hint of leather) but with a bit of spiciness from the sarsparilla and a primal, earthy note that is--you guessed it--the patchouli. I can definitely smell the patchouli in this, but it's used so judiciously and blended so skillfully (perhaps it helps that it's aged patchouli?) that it's really beautiful and I can understand what other people like about it.

 

So, not only did I find a new scent I love, I've also been freed from my absolute terror of patchouli. I'll be more willing from now on to try scents that include it with notes that I like.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: This has a bite! The salt air and leather are opening up my sinuses hardcore.

 

Drydown: It sweetens and become pleasantly spicy. I am suddenly transported to a pirate ship no question about it. The gunpowder and leather are there but somehow it doesn't read too masculine.

 

Dry: Still spicy and adventurous. There are moments where it goes powdery and moments where the leather amps up, but generally it stays true.

 

 

Overall this is an impressive depiction of the concept. It is a pirate's life. Yet, it's female.

 

As the day wears on I tire of the leather, but leather fans and pirate-types will love this for sure.

 

5 out of 10 bones

Edited July 2, 2013 by BoneBone24

[ProfessorXH]

One of my first frimps!

 

In the bottle all I smell is rum. On my wrists, wet, I found the sarsparilla quickly and then it faded just as fast. Now in the dry phase I get nothing but a leather and pipe tobacco scent (which I am guessing is the salty air). It felt a bit too masculine on me... I much preferred Lysander or Nemesis in the unisex scent department so far. But I do believe this would be yummy on a man!

[Eliyetres]

In bottle: yellow-orange colour. In bottle I smell fresh sea and dark, black leather. Not the type in Liz, more as in Rogue. And tobacco. This was actually very masculine. I like that, but this might be too much evenb for me. Later on it gets more sweet and I can feel it getting on my headache. Damn, I wanted this to work. I'll keep it for a while and see if it settles down a bit.

[Smaragdina]

Preconceived notions: How could I resist trying a pirate scent? This ought to be fun.

 

In the imp: Oh wow. Blast of rich, salty aquatic, followed by warm, almost buttery sweet leather/sarsaparilla.

 

Wet: Wonderful salty aquatic with warm, sweet, earthy notes. Something almost woody in there. Very pirate-y but fainter than I was expecting.

 

Drydown: Salty, slightly boozy aquatic. I can smell the patchouli and leather swirling around under there, but they never really come to the surface. This doesn’t really morph on me. It just stays a salty aquatic with this odd, wonderful warm undertone, and the gunpowder starts coming in at the end, this rich graphite sharpness. This is really interesting. It stays very close to the skin and I find myself wishing it didn’t – this is a loud pirate scent, I want to be able to smell it!

[captnklaus]

Oh rum- sweet, delicious, warm and buttery rum! I was very interested in this scent and had a bottle of it in my cart before even trying it. Luckily, I got an imp of Mary Read as a gift, and immediately after trying it bought the bottle. To me, its mostly a warm, buttery rum, with leather (which usually doesn't like me) and a bit of smokiness from the gunpowder. I get the saltiness, and ocean mist, but on me the rum and leather dominate. Which is great because I love everything about rum Mary Read is a dangerous yet sexy lady and I love it.

[fufu_berry]

I was really worried when I smelled this in the imp - it was very strong, with kind of an astringent, soapy smell.

 

Wet, it was still pretty cologne-y, with just a little bit of the patchouli peeking through.

 

After about an hour, the sarsaparilla really started to come through, and it smelled almost powdery, with a hint of metal. It reminded me really strongly of a free makeup bag my grandma got from Estee Lauder, spilled some powder in, and then gave to me to use for a coin purse. Old coins and makeup - really weird!

 

After a couple hours, I finally started getting the salty ocean smell I was hoping for, with a little bit of the rum and patchouli. It mellowed out really nicely, but the stages it went through to get there were very odd. I'll definitely hang on to it, but make sure to apply it a while before I'm going out.

[milo]

Wet, this smells kind of fruity, oddly enough, as no fruits are listed. Dry, salty leathery musk with a hint of sarsaparilla. This is 'OK', but not sure I'd wear it. Though I'd consider it gender neutral, it leans towards the masculine side on me. Definitely a dark female pirate kind of scent!

[Floria]

Very evocative. BPAL's themed blends don't always remind me of their sources of inspiration, but Mary Read is fabulously piratey. This reminds me of the smell of a wooden ship, combined with sweet, non-solventy rum. I can smell just a hint of leather underneath. I think it could also work on a guy who liked sweeter smells, if he had cooperative chemistry and didn't mind the name.

 

One of my current Pathfinder games is set on a pirate ship, and Mary Read will be just the thing to wear to game along with my tricorn.

[Scorianelle]

There is unfortunately not much I can say about this. At least it has helped me learn that I probably don't work with aquatics. From the moment I opened it through to when it was fading from my skin it smelled like 'Sea minerals'. You know, the 'sea mineral' smell that they put in handsoaps and bodywash? That. It's not bad, I even had that type of bodywash for a while. Ultimately though it was pretty boring. I think I'll have to rely on Anne Bonny for my Pirate scent.

 

Colour association: Sea-glass green.

[Quillifer]

This was another star imp in my recent order. In the imp it smells a bit disjointed - rum jumps out, and sea air, with a lot of space in between. On the skin though it pretty much instantly smoothes out. I find this to be similar notes to Jolly Roger but smoother and subtler, and less of a morpher. I think it has less throw, which is useful since JR is pretty masculine on me, and this is also blending very well into me but staying detectable, if that makes sense.

[elinox]

First Sniff: Salty sweet booze.

 

Wet: This smells similar to Jolly Roger, although not as full of spicy rum and more geared towards a female. There’s something different in this though, perhaps the gunpowder?

 

Dry: As it’s drying, it becomes very light and feminine. Once it dried completely I could barely smell it, and that’s saying something! I think I caught a hint of the salty ocean, but other than that it’s faded almost into nothingness is less than a half hour!

 

My Reaction: As I kept sniffing my wrists, I would come away with the occasional salty water smell, or sarsaparilla, which is nice. However I have Pool of Tears as my go-to aquatic scent and Thombstone’s sarsaparilla was stronger and more enjoyable than this. It’s a warm scent, which is probably helped by the leather, but it’s just simply too light on me! I had high hopes that this would be a feminine form of Jolly Roger (which works great on my husband but not so much on me). However, it just faded away too fast that I don’t see a point in keeping this, despite it being for a female pirate and the notes mentioned in it. I feel like I’m doing something wrong with BPAL as most scents end up being so light or flowery on me!

 

Rating 1-5: 1

[Victoriaoke]

*I'm new, so my nose isn't attuned to individual notes yet, which is unfortunate with this one because something in this mix HATES ME.

 

Oh, no, no, no. Something in this turned rancid on me and now my wrist smells like a cross between halitosis and that dirty, crusty old sock you inevitably find at the bottom of your gym bag. Oh, god, kill it! Kill it with fire!

 

What is doing this to me? Whatever it is, I need to stay far, far away from it.

[ajansuz]

This was a frimp, and when I first opened it I was very excited. It's a rich, complex blend that almost has a tobacco-like vibe, which is probably the leather and patchouli together, although I could also pick the patch out individually. It's a very salty aquatic, and I thought it would do well on my skin.

 

While it's wet, it's perfect, earthy and smoky, sexy and sultry. I thought maybe I had found the feminine pirate equivalent to my husband's love for Calico Jack.

 

Then the dry down happened. Men's cologne. I wish I knew what BPAL note does this to me. I haven't been able to pin it down yet. Not all of their aquatics do it. The ones that do wind up just smelling like a very cheap, flat men's cologne and almost give me a headache. If I could somehow freeze it in the wet stage, I'd buy bottles of this and slather. Unfortunately, that only lasts about 20 minutes. Then it's strong men's cologne for hours and never morphs further. Not for me.

[ScabbyLucy]

Patchouli you hippie bastard. You just had to read your head and ruin a perfectly good sea/gunpowder/rum blend didn't you?

[kajacana]

I got this as a frimp, and I'm pretty sure someone was paying attention when they put it with my order. It's like they noticed I like aquatics, and noticed I like spice/vaguely foody scents, and thought... hmm... how about you try those together? Nailed it!

 

In the imp: Very boozy - strong rum.

 

Wet on skin: The sarsaparilla, leather, and salt emerge.

 

Dry on skin: I get a vague whiff of the "men's cologne" thing that others have mentioned, and even a little potpourri if I try too hard to pick out the notes. But it all melts together so seamlessly that it just ends up smelling really good - the whole is better than the sum of its parts. I can see how some of the notes might be amped on some people and turn this one in a very unpleasant direction, but on me it totally works.

 

General impressions: This blend is complex, rich, and warm without being heavy. It's kind of like a less boozy, spicier version of Hellcat (which I also like). Reminds me of a worn leather bag full of spices. It's one of only two BPALs I've ever worn that make me think, okay, this just smells like me (the other is Dorian). Definitely going to order a 5ml.

[Missy_killer]

To my nose:This is a pretty sweet, manly cologne smell. I get some leather and something aquatic (duh)

On: Very aquatic and manly. Soapy clean, not what I had expected at all. I don't get any sarsaparilla or patchouli - which is odd because they are usually prominent on me.
Mary Read is very sweet on my skin, aquatic and a tiny dab of manly too. But mostly bright, soapy clean and sweet.

After fifteen minutes: Mary Read is still very sweet. What the eff? What happened to the patch and the rum? The leather and gunpowder? They never even got here! I don't like sarsaparilla, and it's usually veeery prominent on me but nothing of that either. Either my skin is wierd or this imp is weird.

Edited September 23, 2014 by Missy_killer

[brilliantcat]

In the imp, it's deliciously salty air with equally delicious buttery rum. The rum is stronger on my skin but that lovely salty aquatic is very much present. Over time, the salty aquatic takes over everything else. I don't get any leather, sarsparilla, or patchouli to my disappointment. It's still very much a pirate queen type of scent and I think I might layer it with grog to preserve some of that fantastic rummy undertone.

[JuliskaMarie]

In the Imp: This definitely smells like a pirate. Not like you *are* a pirate who is experiencing the smells around you, more like you are sniffing a pirate, up close. A slightly drunk one, who hasn't bathed in a while & is trying to disguise that fact with patchouli. I'm getting the scent of a dirty, musky, gunpowder-coated leather vest, drenched in patchouli & spilled drinks. There is a hint of salt air & ocean mist in the background, but only if I'm really looking for it.

Wet on skin: Patchouli. Lots of it. Mixed with sarsparilla & watered-down rum & spilled onto old leather clothing that has been worn a lot & rarely washed. The salty air is there but just barely. My husband came in at this point & commented that it smelled like "floral-type lollies" - I have NO idea what he's talking about, but I think he's referring to the patchouli-rum combination, as it is a little on the "sickly-sweet" side.

Dry on skin: Musky patchouli. So much patchouli. I am not a patchouli lover, but at least it's not dying on me like patchouli has been known to do. I can only smell the other notes if I'm sniffing really closely & even then they're barely there. I'm now smelling more "hippie" than "pirate" & it's starting to make me feel a tad queasy.

After a few hours minutes: I wanted to let this sit for a couple of hours in order to do a complete review, but within about 15 minutes of it drying, I was beginning to feel really queasy & after about 20 minutes, I had a headache from it, so I had to clean it off.

Verdict: I'm not sure what I was hoping for this one to smell like when I ordered it, but that was most definitely NOT what I was hoping for! I'll be adding this one to my swap-pile.