Plunder

[Lunasariel]

The scent of a pirate's bumboat, overflowing with stolen wares: tea leaf, cassia, cinnamon bark, clove, allspice, sandalwood, tobacco, peppercorn, and nutmeg.

In the imp: I was anticipating a SPICEBOMB! going off in a wooden cupboard, but instead, I get straight-up baked goods. Spice cookies, yeah, but cookies nonetheless. Or cake, maybe? Point is, flour, eggs, and milk were definitely involved in this at some point. It's warm, delicious, and exactly what I need on a frosty December day. If there's any sandalwood or tea down there, it's fairly well-buried.

Wet: Ah, there's the sandalwood. I still get cake/bread/cookies wafts from afar, but up close, it's much more pure spices, with cinnamon and/or cassia being especially prominent. The tea note takes a while to appear, but it eventually becomes a fairly major player. Ah, now I get the masala chai comparisons! On me, the spices and tea are a little more distinct from each other, if that makes sense, and they come to rest over an increasingly faint woody background.

Dry: The sandalwood comes to dominate. The spices, now aromatic rather than "spicy", and more omnidirectional than cooking/baking spices, provide an accent rather than being main players themselves. Now it's a soft, cuddly, woodsy scent - low throw, quite comforting. I still do miss the yummy baked goods stage, but this ain't half bad.

[achildoftime]

It's almost like gingerbread. There are a lot of spices at play, but they do smell baked and cakey. I'd attribute that to the nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove mostly. It dries to a more subtle scent, though. I get some of the tea leaf, but there's also something artificial and it kind of reminds me of modeling clay. I really wanted to enjoy this scent, but it just doesn't work for me.

[Juliamon]

This is quite spice-rack on me at first, heavy on the cinnamon/cassia and clove. Wet it's incredibly sharp and dry, and reminds me very strongly of my nana who loved to bake, her hugs smelled like this. Once it has an hour or so to dry and settle the sandalwood comes out, along with maybe (just maybe) a hint of tea, but the tea generally doesn't make itself known. It's just on the edge of chai, if only the tea would come out! But I'm not too disappointed since tea is unpredictable on me.

 

Medium throw at first, dies down after an hour but I think it's better that way, if it kept up the intensity any longer I'd start worrying I smelled like a spice rack fell on me rather than something I'm deliberately choosing to smell like. Very nice for occasional use.

[lady_pandora]

Woody cinnamon, a bit of peppercorn, and fresh rain! This is really nice. Fades to faintness pretty quickly on me, but might still end up as a hot-weather staple. The rainy note gives it a coolness that a lot of other spice blends don't have.

[fizzbangdangcharade]

Apparently my body really amps anything floral, because all I got out of this was generic flowers with an undercurrent of spiced rum (maybe a touch of dark sandalwood there.) Although the flowers were a little powdery (perfumed, if you will) and the spiced rum was a little too alcohol and not enough spice for my taste.

The throw was low, and while it lasted all day, it was barely there at the end. I’d hoped for something more, having read the reviews of others with better luck, but sadly this one didn’t work for me. (I passed the imp along to someone who it smelled more like a proper pirate's bounty on.)

[Ghost of a Rose]

Frimp from the lab, aged about 4 years

 

On me, it's cinnamon and wood, and stays that way. No tea, alas - a realistic black tea scent is my holy grail. But I was distracted while wearing this, and didn't try too hard to find the tea. Maybe I'll try it again in a couple of days, when I can pay more attention.

 

The cinnamon sweetens on drydown, which I like.

 

It's not really my thing (I love florals), but it is quite nice. I will enjoy it occasionally as a change from the usual. Thank you labbies!

 

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

[torischroeder9]

Imp purchased from a forumite, date stamped March 12, 2016. 

 

In the imp: Yummy spices -- clove, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, peppercorn. They're not overwhelming on my nose, so there must be some sweetness tempering them -- tea or tobacco or both -- but they're very much in the background right now. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, it's cinnamon, clove, pepper, and sweetness. I actually have a tea blend (of drinking tea, not perfume) that smells like this, so I can easily imagine the tea is there, but that I'm just not picking it out. It stays very consistent from the first drydown throughout its wear, a wonderful, beautiful spice. I only worry that if I applied it to my breastbone (my go-to spot for actually wearing perfume; I'm testing on my inner elbow), it might be too potent for actual wear in any kind of indoor environment. It's a very strong scent on me, with a lot of throw. 

[follis]

I am trying an aged imp.

 

Wet: Cinnamon fruit cake, peppery. 

Dry: warm cinnamon cakes

Later : soft cinnamon

 

Basically just cinnamon on me lol I don't hate it. I have a feeling I amp cinnamon a lot based on this and other scents. But unfortunately it means I overpower all the other yummy spices. 

[artisjok]

Plunder is a cacophony of nose-tickling cinnamon spice! There’s a bit of complexity from the other spices, though not much. It does seem to sweeten slightly as it dries down, and it becomes kind of musky and dusty in the end. I’m assuming that’s thanks to the sandalwood. 
Overall, it’s just too much cinnamon for me, and the dry down isn’t very appealing to me. Maybe I can later with a stronger black tea and see what happens. For now, it’s just not a scent for me! 

[storme]

Wet: ssssspices, in a good, warming way, like everything for chai kept in one drawer.
Dry: a glorious melange of warm, sweet spices. Smells like there's honey in this even though there can't be or it'd explode on me. Beautiful.

[FebruaryOwen]

Received this as a free imp with an order.  

In bottle: Oh I'm in love.  Foodie, cookies, but not cloying; sweet and slightly spice-y.  Definitely makes me think of Christmastime and candles.  

On skin: Still a warm and baked scent, but somehow also green and plantlike hints.  Almost a menthol, but not overpowering.  

After a few hours: This reminds me both of childhood holiday decorations in my parent's house, and also weirdly of gardening, though I'm not sure where the earthy green growing scent is coming from.  Maybe sunscreeny?

I love this and will be keeping the imp for sure.

[whipwaif]

when I first applied, I was hit with an overwhelming sweetness that actually made me nauseous. like a mixture of a cinnamon broom and a gingerbread cookie. I love those two scents....but only on those specific items and not my skin, unfortunately. 

 

after awhile, it does morph into 100% dry cinnamon and nutmeg. I smell the tiniest hint of sandalwood which gives it a musky undertone, but this just doesn't work on me. would recommend if you want to smell like a winter spice blend though. 

[bkwy.aesthetics]

What a warm & cozy perfume! Received this as a frimp. Love the smell, but this one is a fast fader on me, as most cinnamon-heavy fragrances do. But while it lasts, I love how it smells!

 

In Bottle: Warm, sweet, and spicy. Reminds me of an antique spice cabinet. Cinnamon bark is definitely the strongest note, the rest just supporting it.

 

On Skin: The tobacco and sandalwood amp up to compete with the cinnamon, the rest still dancing in the background. There is a lovely woody quality to this scent, which further ingrains the mental imagery of a spice cabinet, which is a very happy smell for me. 

 

Dry Down: Stays quite linear after the application to the skin. Only lasts a few hours on me tragically. But a very nice, predictable fragrance!

[roseus]

In the imp this is all dry, sharpish, spice. I get mostly the cinnamon and clove. It's the nice soft, sweet cinnamon. On my skin the clove calms down a bit and I can pick out some of the other spices, namely allspice and nutmeg and I get a little sandalwood. Overall the blend gets softer (not in terms of strength!) and a bit sweeter. As it dries further I get tobacco, it's not the dominant note but definitely giving a round base for all the spice to play on. Really delicious.

[skyturtles]

Ooo, this is nice! I can pick up the cinnamon/cassia, but it's not too overwhelming. The clove is not, as well. The tea leaf, peppercorn, allspice, nutmeg are all there... I'm genuinely impressed at how this all blends together so well, since there are a lot of power players in here. It's all tied together with a slight woodiness, which may just be the earthiness of these spices before they are ground and made into foody goodness. I don't think I need a big bottle, but I definitely enjoy it.

I had to look up what a bumboat is. ☺️

(My imp is of unknown age.)

Edited November 9, 2021 by skyturtles

[dancingchair]

Strong cinnamon, and oddly smelled like hot sauce to me a bit? I had to scrub this one because it did not agree with my skin.

[a_bear]

Dominated by the cassia/cinnamon and sandalwood on me. The tobacco here must be a dry one rather than a heavy, syrupy one. I think the tea helps keep the scent kind of light. I like this on its own, but it's also good for layering.

[MolyH]

I keep all my BPAL perfumes in a solid wood cabinet, and when I use these perfumes, sometimes, a little bit of oil dribbles on the outside of the bottle, and as time passes, the inside of that cabinet has begun to smell like an unidentifiable swirl of complex scents. This perfumes smells exactly like the inside of that cabinet. Just an almost sharp chaotic mix of too many notes to pick out.

[Lecter]

Hot hot hot! This is the truest cinnamon bpal perfume i have smelt and I’m in love 

[Ennikar]

Cinnamon/cassia ahead and above all other notes. After a couple minutes I can see it as a dry spice cabinet scent or an unbrewed chai, definitely not a baked-goods or sweet-milky-chai type spice, but still mostly cinnamon. Maybe a bit less cinnamon and a bit more sandalwood in drydown.

Decent throw for an hour or so, then ~4 hours as a skin scent. I'm keeping my imp, and and will probably use it mostly for layering.

[Tungerine]

This is pretty much all cassia and cinnamon. The other notes come out more eventually, but there's just too much cassia for me.

[sudenmorsian]

Right after opening the vial I get an in-your-face burst of strong cinnamon and a hint of cassia. Nice, I thought, and put it on my skin. When wet the cinnamon is still dominating and after couple of minutes happens something that have never before happened with BPAL: my skin gets red and irritated. I've tried and worn many perfumes with cinnamon and spices but this is the first time my skin reacts. 

 

The reaction isn't very strong nor itchy so I don't hurry to wash it off. During drydown other notes start to appear and this is very much chai spice or chai tea to me. Very nice and quite strong. Sandalwood is noticeable and pretty. I don't get any tobacco, though.

 

This is very much like Bengal with these chai spices but I like Plunder better, this is deeper and more intensive while Bengal is very soft.