Perversion

[girlcalledmoment]

The perfect scent to wear to your next bondage ball, dungeon adventure or sojourn to your favorite pleasure dome. Smoky rum and black tobacco with a whisper of steamy leather with a splash of crystalline chardonnay, layered over a sensual, sweet, and deceptively magnetic base of tonka.

It tugs on my heart to think back to the vial of Perversion I had, back then. That's because it was such an evocative, emotive scent, worthy of five stars. For me, it was a heady cherry brandy being rolled around a fat brandy glass by a lean hand. An exchange was taking place in a dark and cobwebby room, low-lit, and with candles on the tables. The wax had dripped on to the wood, pooling and hardening like lava. Another figure, large and dangerous in leather boots and belts, drank straight rum, and his moll - a glass of Chardonnay. They were all feeling boozy, and the talk was of hazardous plans that could bring riches.
And on top of that, it smelt so very much of a band of squatters I knew, with degrees, music, poetry and drug habits - of the tie-dye flag in the window blocking the summer out. They were Other - not like me. Perversion as I remember it was warm, embracing, but alien. Sexy and aloof. Thrilling.
I loved this blend, and have some on order from the lab, to see if it's as gorgeous as I recall. I remember the boozy sweetness, a hint of coconut, and a close-up of vinyl red lipstick.
5/5

[frecklestars]

In the bottle: coconut, with rum and tobacco. it's dark and a little unfriendly, kind of like going into a small club for the first time and all the regulars just sort of stare at you. it is sweet, but in a thick and (again) dark sort of way only. hardly a friendly little slice of light cake.

 

On my skin: there's something almost like pineapples like comes out when it's on my skin. the sweetness gets far lighter and turns to coconut in some sort of fruity drink (the kind with the umbrella). far less dark than it was in the bottle, which is disappointing. the tobacco is still there, but it's sweet as well. maybe my skin does this with tonka-based scents? turns to rum as it wears on.

 

Last thoughts: it's too sweet and light for me to be interested in wearing on a regular basis. it's like a froo-froo drink with too much coconut and an afterthought of rum.

Edited April 2, 2011 by frecklestars

[pinkgyrl]

I thought this would be so strong on me after reading the notes! I think I have a really fresh imp though, so that might make a difference. Or, my skin is just eating it up.

 

I get cream and a little bit of nuttiness (the blend, not me...hee!) I thought I smelled vanilla - and indeed, I looked, and it does cotain tonka - it's almost an amber smell on my skin, but it's probably the other notes blending together to create that warm sensual note. I get the tiniest bit of a sweeter booze smell tinged with just a breath of tobacco (almost that sense of when you think that you smell something and you're not sure so you go to investigate the smell - just a whisper). It's not overly sweet on my skin, and it's incredibly interesting compared to my preconceived notions of what this would smell like based on the listed notes - not at all what I was expecting; I'm definitely going to retest - and I think this is going to end up on my bottle list.

 

If I think about it rationally, it would be a softer scent - since a lot of people try to hide their perversions and fetishes and such This is definitely the stereotypical "secretary in glasses with a bun" or the "man in a stodgy business suit" feel versus a scent like "Whip" which screams full body leather and a sex swing in the bedroom

Edited April 20, 2011 by GirlinDenial

[valnillarose]

The most prominent note in Perversion is, to me, the tobacco. It's not a smooth tobacco, either. Perversion is a sweet, raw tobacco vanilla with an edge to keep it from being too syrupy and gourmand. If this tobacco note had been in a commercial perfume I'd have snatched it up in a heartbeat. As it is, Beth does the best vanillic tobacco I've found (Tom Ford, take note!), and because of scents like this, I'm done with commercial fragrances, possibly for good.

[Ella LaRose]

not bad, I really like the coconut and vanilla smell, it is dark and not too sweet, but I just can't get over the tabacco scent, definately not a note I like!

[theredkilt]

This perfume almost turns feminine on my skin, but it is breathtaking. There's vanilla, cinnamon, coconut and maybe iris accords. It's a perversion indeed to wear this scent anywhere but not on an intimate date or in the bedroom.

 

It reminds me so much of Hypnotic Poison

[invisible iris]

Perversion smells like bad judgment.

 

In imp: Woah. Different.

 

On skin: Booze. Is what I smell. Wine and then liquor, etc.

 

Dry: Spicy rum and tonka give it spiced creaminess, but that’s not what’s sweet here, it’s just spicy, like a really good rootbeer herbal/spice combination. Tobacco adds raisin to the spice mix. Intoxicating. Illegal. Chardonnay adds the fruity boozy note, I dislike fruit, but this kind is good. Leather makes it naughty, a bit of smoke makes it dangerous. Juicy boozy bad behavior. It all blends unbelievably well. Perversion is evil, crazy, amazing. A bad influence kind of scent. Unleashes wild things. Scary, but addictive.

 

DH says “It’s like ‘Raw Power’ Iggy Pop in a bottle.” (“I’m a street-walkin cheetah with a heart full of napalm,” says Iggy.) He made me include that in the review.

 

Major throw on this one. Hoo, boy!

[angelicreprieve]

This is divine! Need to add it to my big bottle list

 

Smoky, smoky, smoky, with a hint of leather and under it all the sweetness of tonka peeking out from time to time ...my left wrist smells sweeter then my right wrist, and definitely noticing more of the leather over time ... not getting any boozyness from either the rum or the chardonnay, but I'll keep trying to pick out the individual notes ...

Edited June 6, 2011 by angelicreprieve

[DeCuvieri]

Normally I would do the sequential review after time goes on and the scent morphs, but Perversion on my skin is a one way street. In the imp we're talking liquid sugar, but once applied it goes straight to rum and maple syrup. Very dark and heavy, but I don't like smelling like something in my grandmother's candy dish. This one is definitely going up for trade.

[JLH]

I love Perversion even more than I thought I would! This scent smells. Like. Sex. At first, I smell a lot of smokey spiciness from the rum and tobacco. As it dries, the leather comes out a bit more, and I can detect a bit of tang from the chardonnay. The tonka keeps it a bit sweet and rich. But over all this blend is a single, smooth, smokey-sexy scent.

[ziggystardust13]

Perversion is my favorite scent ever. That is all.

Edited October 10, 2011 by ziggystardust13

[Autumnsky]

In the bottle: This is all smoke, and fruity sweet wine (more riesling than chardonnay), with a sharp twist of leather.

 

Wet: The fruit pops, but so does the leather.

 

Dry: Warm, rummy tonka with a little leather around the edges.

 

The leather note in this is nothing if not tenacious.

Not bad, per se, but a little too masculine for me for most days. I'll have to try it on the Mr. again and see if it will work for him...otherwise, this is going to be a swapper.

 

ETA: My office-mate can smell me three cubes away (I barely dabbed!), and says it smells "like old lady".

Incredible throw, but definitely not a keeper for me.

Edited July 18, 2011 by Autumnsky

[zebracakes]

Age: Unknown.

Imp: Very incensey and honey sweet.

Wet on skin: Smoky, sweet musk, honey, and leather.

After 10 minute dry down: Amidst the smoke and leather, a cake-like scent emerges. I’m guessing it’s the tonka.

Overall: Tobacco, Leather and cake.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

[claudia6913]

This is a heady scent, swirling shadows and smoke. The tonka is more earthy with a touch of sweetness, the chardonnay brings a hint of brightness, and the rum/tabacco with a hint of leather gives it a "bad" or "dirty" vibe. Very sexy though. The very first time I tested it, I thought for sure it had cloves in it, but I wonder if that's an effect of all the notes, or maybe just how the black tobacco smells. Because even now, while the clove impression isn't as strong, it's still there.

[aleciarivas]

Ok I've tried this one several different times now and all three times it just… disappears! There's nothing, not even a hint of where I applied it! It takes about an hour to go away completely, but when it does it's literally as if nothing was there! Weird.

[Circaea]

Ah, hell, this is sexy.

 

Wet, it's boozy, fruity, loosely leering. Then it just disappears. Let me slip into something a little more comfortable, it whispers...

 

A hot minute later, Perversion slithers back dressed in smokey leather, dripping in coconut oil, puts its hands on its hips and fixes me with a smoldering stare.

 

Just went on my bottle wishlist.

[Gateau]

Imp -- floral or fruity, light leather

 

Wet--fairly generic, the touch of leather

 

Dry--this opens up beautifully. Much less boozy than I'd expected, plenty of leather and tobacco for dryness but soft, a touch spicy. I really like it, more than I'd expected to.

[stellamaris]

Love this. I get no leather though, maybe when my big bottle comes it will come out.

I love the tonka, but it's more complex. This is what I wanted Liz and Illustrated Woman to be. Vanilla but more intricate, and less fleeting.

This also has the burnt sugar of L'Heure Verte.

Heavenly, sweet but with a bite.

Edited September 30, 2011 by stellamaris

[KindKit]

When I first applied this, it seemed hardly there at all, just a hint of rum. In my notes I called it "the amazing disappearing scent." But then a few minutes later it burst into life. Lots of leather, with the rum and tobacco as dark naughty background notes. On me it sort of goes back and forth between the leather and the rum dominating. There's a sweetness to the scent (the tonka and perhaps the chardonnay, the latter of which I never noticed as a distinct note), but it's extremely well moderated by the earthiness of the leather and tobacco and the sharpness of the rum. The rum fades out after a couple of hours, but the leather and tobacco still make for a great scent. I absolutely do not smell the coconut that other people claim to notice in it (thank heavens).

 

In the brief time I've been exploring BPAL I've tried several scents that I like a lot, but this is the first one I would call sexy. And it really is, although in an unexpected way. The leather note isn't whips-and-chains leather to me, it's furniture leather, and the whole scent to me is very "discreet nineteenth-century gentleman's club where gentlemen of a particular persuasion could take their particular friends." It's an odd, old-fashioned, mannered or perhaps constrained sexiness, and I love it.

Edited October 12, 2011 by KindKit

[glassdeer]

Interesting, and not quite what I expected. I don't get leather or smoke at all, but rather coconut-y tonka and fruity tobacco in equal amounts. It's nice (and I like it loads more than Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille, which was pure Christmas potpourri on me) but I'll need to try a few more times before I can really give a verdict.

[OctoberGwen]

This is an interesting one, and probably smells amazing on the right man or woman.

 

Before the sparkly wine note faded, I sort of liked it; sadly it then turned into pure pipe tobacco and leather. Not my sort of scent at all, I'm afraid.

[MadameGorgon]

This THEfirst scent I ordered from the lab. I was so excited!

 

Good thing I only ordered an imp.

 

This smell is "hangover in a bottle" for me. Including the headache and nausea. :cries:

 

I put it on and am instantly transported back to the mad bad days of my misspent youth. I get the impression of waking up in the backseat of a car with the horrid dawn rays searing my dried out eyeballs. I have some kind is sticky rum drink spilled in my hair and a crease on my face from the leather upholstery. I don't know where I am or who I am with, but I know I did something stupid.

 

I don't usually like to leave reviews so negative, so I must say that I have since come to realize that I can wear NONE of the BPAL scents with leather notes. :cries eyes out: Not even Coyote where it is so soft or Western Diamond back mixed with my beloved SO.

 

I apparently amp leather like CRAZY and (Sorry Beth!) I get "new car scent" which has ALWAYS made me nauseated.

[rhubarb3point14]

This smells like single-note pipe tobacco on me. Sometimes my skin is not very creative!

 

It's a good-smelling scent, but it's a very manly fragrance to me. Might be less strange on a guy.

Edited November 12, 2011 by rhubarb3point14

[halation]

This is so. damn. sexy. I love it. If this scent were a person I'd do whatever it told me to. So often tonka will take over a blend for me, but the leather -- glossy, black, very expensive leather -- keeps it in check. Not cakey or sweet for me, just rich and alluring vanilla. Tobacco can be nauseating on my skin, but here it's just a suggestive whisper, and it's good pipe tobacco, with a hint of cherry and incredibly smooth. The rum and the chardonnay are present, but somehow they're not boozy, and when they mingle with the tobacco the result is a seductive just-got-rubbed-down-by-a-very-hot-masseuse aura of coconut oil and wantonness. It has good throw, morphs little once it's on my skin, and lasts for hours -- a rarity for me, particularly with lighter, fruitier scents. Perfect for going out, but even better for staying in. Generally I prefer heavier, drier, less-perfumey scents, but I love this one.

[archergrl]

Tested on my bf and it dries to a yummy smell but too sweet for my taste (as a boy smell) and in my opinion it doesn't match his personality.

 

Wet on my skin is ok but I really like this one dry. Definitely not an every day scent but good for a sexy night out

Edited December 31, 2011 by archergrl