Black Lace

[bonny]

The embodiment of Victorian funereal elegance. A delicate sugar-spun vanilla cream cotton, stained by tobacco and incense smoke, Indian musk, and drops of cognac.

i have a decant and a bottle, both from the forums- my decant is a gorgeous, smoky dark vanilla. no morping on skin, wear length is decent. can see where it might come off as a little 'cologne'-y from the alcohol note but this is amazing on me. not one to wear to grandma's house. this is for sitting in a dimly lit bar playing the femme fatale. on the other hand.... i hate to say it, but my bottle is actually almost horrible. it's similar to the vanilla-scented plastic i got from snow white, or maybe a vanilla scratch n sniff sticker. i'm desperate to believe the bottle will age in to smelling like my decant but i'm also terrified it's the other way around

[patina]

This is...pretty much as already described in other reviews. It has a smoky, musky vanilla, which to my mind is very hard to make smell bad. (however, it does have that "new vanilla" smell which is rather faint and disappointing. I hope it gets better.)

The tobacco doesn't smell like an ashtray and the whole scent alternates between overly clean and overly dirty.

 

The only problem for me is the cognac. I'd tried Hellfire, which should have logically been wonderful, but it was disappointing. I think I'm less than in love with cognac- which is odd, because I have irrational love for the smell of other types of booze. However, this is just me. If you don't have an odd issue with cognac or tobacco you'll potentially love this.

 

Edit: Oh, grr. Now it's turning sour. The cream must be curdling. Not good.

You know, I really think I prefer Hellfire.

Edited February 26, 2010 by patina

[Beckiemort]

Of the 2009/2010 batch

 

Wet: Smells a little like caramel on top of a slightly floral laundry degtergent on sun dried sheets (This may sound a little disgusting, but is actually quite a unique and beautiful scent).

 

On the skin: Eventually I start to pick up a little spice underneath the soft sweet quality and I alternate smell the sugar-y quality, the linens and that lovely spice. The tobacco is starting to make itself known in combination with the other scents as well. Having never tried a linen scent before I am surprised (well I really shouldn't be though with Beth's uncanny and amazing ability to create seemingly impossible to create scents) at the exactness of the linen. Finally I am getting more of a soft vanilla, that still has a caramel quality but is now identifiably vanilla.Starts as this nice sweet linen-y vanilla with a little incense-y spice for the rest of the wear. The scent starts off innocent but the tobacco adds something to tarnish the innocent reputation, it is a great scent, and its not to heavy for day time wear but still sexy enough for going out on the town.

 

[doublehelix]

Very strong on the inital application. This smells like smokey vanilla on the drydown. Very sexy, i'd wear this on a hot date

[krazyanjel]

This is by far my favorite scent to date, and entirely unexpected, as it doesn't smell even remotely close to what I had imagined it would. It falls more along the lines of what I expect Black Heart would smell like. Light, crisp and fruity. For some reason I can't shake the smell of apples. More a crisp green apple on wet that dried down to a deep, juicy red apple. I get no vanilla. Zero tobacco. There is nothing heavy to this scent on me. It has almost a tart quality to it. Strange. Very strange. Skin chemistry works in mysterious ways... One thing I do know, is that this is stunning!

 

When I shoved my wrist under the husbands nose, he remarked that I smelled like carpet sprinkle. Odd. If they sold sprinkle that smelled like this, I would never leave my house.

[anomie]

Bottle: This is much cleaner than I'd expect from the notes list; cotton and something fragrant and dark, which feels like the cognac.

 

Wet: Man, I can barely smell this at all. Sadface. I think the musk is starting to come out, though.

 

Two minutes later: O HAI MUSK AND INCENSE OM NOM NOM. Tempered by the vanilla. Phew, I was starting to wonder if I'd gotten a dodgy bottle or if my nose was broken!

 

Sweet, musky, beautiful.

[mryan66]

Black lace was the first Bpal scent I received. When I opened the bottle the first thing that came to mind was 'oh no, its ANGEL!' another whiff and angel was replaced by my grandpa; Cigars and brandy. On the skin is when this smell gets busy. Wet, Cognac and cigars still, but the best of, with sort of a rich mahogany behind them, and naughty chocolate sneaking around the edges. As it dries the woody/dark cherry thing hangs on, but the tobacco fades to something softer, some kind of fabric. I guess this is supposed to be the 'lace' I don't get lace, but something more substantial-like linen or broadcloth. As for flowers at this stage, there might be a bouquet of orchids expiring in a distant, shadowy corner, but it’s only a fleeting ghost. It really difficult to describe this scent in notes, I’m not good at that anyway! So this is what I get, poetically; this scent IS viva Victoriana! But more specifically, I get Mr. Rochester in his dark, hot parlour getting intellectually SNAPPED by Jane;

 

“still he looked preciously grim,

cushioning his massive head against the swelling back of his chair,

and receiving the light of the fire on his granite-hewn features,

and in his great, dark eyes; for he had great, dark eyes, and very

fine eyes, too--not without a certain change in their depths

sometimes, which, if it was not softness, reminded you, at least, of

that feeling.

 

He had been looking two minutes at the fire, and I had been looking

the same length of time at him, when, turning suddenly, he caught my

gaze fastened on his physiognomy.

 

"You examine me, Miss Eyre," said he: "do you think me handsome?"

 

I should, if I had deliberated, have replied to this question by

something conventionally vague and polite; but the answer somehow

slipped from my tongue before I was aware--"No, sir."

At the final dry-down of this fragrance there is a sweet garden smell, maybe Jane at the window in spring, or Adele’s light little girl perfume as she leaves the room.

 

No funerals in this one for me! But I would say it is a dark one. Despite the tobacco and booze, I think this is a predominantly feminine scent. To me it is really reminiscent of angel, only not offensive in the way angel is, having a tendency on some folks to dry down to nasty sex B.O musk [ECHH!!!] or on other people, sleazy, oily nightclub date. Angel should have been this nice, rich and warm and slightly sexy and foody, without making your eyeballs turn into little Xs. Also, this is one Bpal, at least for me, that you actually have to wash off to get rid of [Not that I would!] After washing my jacket and drying it, the ghost was still there. Black lace makes me wish this stuff came in bigger bottles!

 

[ElinaMakropulos]

This is by far my favorite scent to date, and entirely unexpected, as it doesn't smell even remotely close to what I had imagined it would. It falls more along the lines of what I expect Black Heart would smell like. Light, crisp and fruity. For some reason I can't shake the smell of apples. More a crisp green apple on wet that dried down to a deep, juicy red apple. I get no vanilla. Zero tobacco. There is nothing heavy to this scent on me. It has almost a tart quality to it. Strange. Very strange. Skin chemistry works in mysterious ways... One thing I do know, is that this is stunning!

 

When I shoved my wrist under the husbands nose, he remarked that I smelled like carpet sprinkle. Odd. If they sold sprinkle that smelled like this, I would never leave my house.

 

I totally get the apples. It smelled like L'Autunno for the first hour or so, that incensey-appley smell. Now a couple hours later it just smells faintly spicy.

[aislingeach]

On me, Black Lace smells almost exactly like Morocco, perhaps with an extra caramel-iness. I thought I'd spilled Morocco on my shirt or something, until I sniffed the skin-test patch and realized what it was.

[TulaMontage]

In the imp all I can smell is wet tabacco and congnac. Where the heck is my sugar spun vanilla cream??????!!!!!!

 

Wet on my skin flowers, petals, flowers, florals, yuckies blah.

 

Drying down to nothing much of anything. I am horribly disapointed. I could cry. I wanted a slightly smokey vanilla cream slathered in musk. I never got ANY of that. It has dried down to the faintest breath of tobacco and congnac. Thats it.

 

Perhaps age will bode well with this one... But I doubt I can keep it long enough without getting annoyed at it LOL!

 

 

[deviant kitten]

This is one of my top 5 favourite scent for sure! In the bottle, it is sugar vanilla with the clean fresh scent of cotton

On my skin, this doesn't morph a whole lot- it just warms up a little. Still a bright freshness from the cotton, but it just becomes.....warm and lovely. I don't know whether it is the cognac, tobacco, incense, or musk that does it. I suspect it is the tobacco and cognac. I DO NOT wear musk well, and thankfully this does not turn into pure musk like other scents with musk do. I don't care for musk AT ALL. This, however is amazing! It is a lovely warm weather scent. I suspect this will age veeeeery well!

[kikithepirate]

Wow. Just... wow. I bought a bottle of this half-expecting to hate it, just as I've hated pretty much all of the uber-popular scents: Antique Lace, Snake Charmer, Snake Oil, the list goes on and on. But WOW, this is amazing! As others have mentioned, certainly the smoky vanilla is the main player here, but it's hardly alone. There is a spice (from the musk? Tobacco? Or maybe the incense?) and also a faint fruity smell... I see that others have mentioned apple, but I actually thought that it was closer to pear, myself. That fades away after a few minutes, though, and you're left this really beautiful, warm, spicy scent. Wow.

 

 

[good_mourning]

I've been fortunate enough to be able to sample many of the highly sought after BPALs, and the original version of this is, literally, the only one I have ever thought was worth all the fuss (also the only incense note that has ever worked for me!). Smells like a scary, intimidating old lady, but in a totally awesome way. Imagine if Mrs. Havisham was the sort of person to punch you out if you looked at her funny. This would probably be my One True BPAL if I weren't worried about running out.

 

And if that weren't enough, the re-release has taught me some of the wonders of aging. (My bottles are from the Christmas Miracle when Black Lace mysteriously reappeared on the Dark Delicacies site with no announcement and we weren't sure whether it was going to come back or not; I note this simply because there are apparently significant batch variations.) I've always thought people made a bigger deal of it than it necessarily warrants--I certainly can't tell much difference with most scents--but I am now a believer. The new version is like the original's slightly younger sister who isn't quite completely furious with the world yet; but in a year or so, when the florals have died down a bit, I bet it's going to start swingin' too.

 

 

[cyanidenoir]

My nose is wonky

After reading all the rave reviews and searching long and hard for someone to swap with me for this scent, my day finally arrived to sniff to my heart's content. The moment I opened the bottle and took a sniff, I started to sneeze. There is a very strong note in this blend and it attacked my delicate nose. So I put the bottle away, thinking perhaps my nose would have a different reaction at another time. Nope. Still sneezy when I come into contact with this.

This makes me very sad because, allergies aside, this is a lovely scent. Almost haunting.

 

Maybe I should try again sometime?

 

[bloody sore]

Thank god I ordered this the first time it came out, and got a hold of a bottle from the second release. Both are very good, and it seems like the latter will become the former with some aging.

I have no idea why I like this scent, it breaks all of my rules.

I get a lot of vanilla, a dark, not so sweet kind. It mixes amazingly with the tobacco, so really, it smells like smoking good vanilla tobacco. It reminds me a lot of the stuff my dad used to sneak and smoke as a kid, I always loved it when he would because he would smell so good.

The older one is more smooth, more vanilla. The newer version has a sharp tang, but lasts longer.

Love love love.

[raisin]

Had really hoped to like this a little, but I get entirely the sugar-spun vanilla and very very little else. There might be a hint of something smoky that keeps it from going pure candy, but mostly... no. I'm not enough of a sugar or vanilla fan to like this much at all.

[Pepperminx]

When DD put BL back up I was ecstatic, because I only had half a bottle left of the original. I got about 5 bottles just to hoard, and I love them. Then I started hearing about the apple note and I couldn't help wonder if my 5 hoarded bottles smelled like apple, and I just couldn't smell it myself.

 

It's been driving me nuts.

 

I made a DD order a week or so ago and tagged a BL on, just because, and they arrived today. HOLY HELL BATMAN! Now I've got a BL that has apple in it, for sure. It's not a bad smell, but I much prefer (and am relieved that) my stash is mostly non-apply.

 

There are scents blend with my skin so you can't tell what is me and what is perfume. Then there are those that lay on top, but is not in your face. Black Lace, on me, extends from my body. It's very loud and got good throw.

 

It's sweet, creamy and boozy goodness with a hint of smoke and cologne (plus that one bottle that also has apple.)

[FathomBelow]

In the bottle: Oddly, this is all Christmas spices with sharp scent of pine boughs.

Wet on skin: Same, and definitely not what I was expecting.

As it dries: The sharp scent mellows, and I can now recognize what I am smelling as the cleanness of cotton combined with the tang of tobacco, the sharpness of cognac, and a teeny bit of the wood of the incense. A sugary sweetness from the vanilla is detectable in the very background, providing enough warmth to make this inviting. Overall, though, much cleaner and lighter than I thought – this wouldn’t be bad for summer.

After it dries: The scent becomes a bit sweeter, but without losing its overal coolness.

Final opinion: This is giving me the weirdest and clearest picture of a luxurious hotel lobby made of cream-colored marble, in a hot, humid location but vigorously air conditioned. Perhaps I’ve been to a hotel that smelled like Black Lace? Whatever the reason, I will reach for this when I need something refreshing and stimulating. This smells of anticipation.

 

[impolight]

:::BLACK LACE:::

 

A bottle of this was being practically given away recently, so, how could the opportunity be resisted?Reading the description, it inspired a rankled sort of covetousness. Missed the 13th anniversary? Poo. And, more poo, also.

From the notes listed in the blend, this was expected to be delicate, or perhaps a reserved sort of quietude. Lace almost implies quite a bit of fussy acrobatics as not to muss the handiwork...

One supposes it could also trim a hankie.

From the bottle: Mmmm! Actually, this is more than a bit of the old formidable!

The strongest pair of notes, at first impression, are the Cognac and the Indian Musk.

Together, these have an almost Leathery effect. Spice and antiqued wood factor into this as well.

At this phase, Black Lace has the feel of being something that the nose would detect in a library at a very prestigious library where your grandfather studied archeology... Or had wild throes with grandma having read one too many passages by Anais Nin...

Black Lace seems, so far, like it would compliment some of the Lab's formulas like, 'Antikythera Mechanism' or 'Snake Oil'.

On the Skin: Lovelier still! It is insanely difficult not to feel terribly underdressed while wearing the fragrance that is Black Lace... Unless you happened to try this on just before entering the opera house in London, or some other such frillery...

Then you are just plain despised for your obscenely unjustifiable amount of good fortune.

So far, the Tobacco has been very ... genteel in it's behaviour. It is hardly noticed,

especially alongside that wonderful, wonderful incense fragrance... erotiCopal?

Black Lace is equally formal and gorgeous on either Him or Her.

Black Lace is perfectly spellbinding... Could be even moreso as it ages.

Thank you, Schnanni!

Black Lace gets a 5 out of a yummy 5!

Hats off to the Lab!

[talula_fairie]

At first, I smell the cotton, and a LOT of vanilla. Vanilla, vanilla, vanilla, vanilla. It's not a bad vanilla at all, and since I'm a vanilla fan, I did not find this to be undesirable. After several hours, the tobacco came out and it was a really complex, beautiful scent. It lasted FOREVER as well (over 8 hours), which BPAL almost never does. Very good throw too.

[thebirdofhermes]

First off, this bottle is second-hand and I am assured it is not the apple-y version.

 

In bottle: Having said that... I smell apple. Faint, and lurking around the edges, but I do smell apple at first. It does resolve itself into a fresh note, like warm sheets straight from the dryer, so I imagine that the apple in the one batch is just a hyper-strong linen note. Aside from the linen note, there is a sweetness and a soft hint of alcohol.

 

Wet: Pure linen single note. Close throw.

 

Dry: Ah, holy carp! Where did this throw come from?! I only dabbed on enough to test, and it's got some crazy throw to it. Like, easily a good foot away from my arms. Oh, but aside from the shock, I have to say this is really nice. I'm getting a lot of linen in the throw, but there's definitely an over-layer of something sweet and rich, like a cream liquer. I can definitely pull out the sugar and the cognac if I focus, but overall they blend together with what must be vanilla (though I cannot detect it as a distinct note) to form the creaminess. I am, as yet, getting no incense or musk, though the tobacco rounds things out with a soft smokiness... not quite the scent of a room that's been smoked in a lot. Perhaps more the scent of a room that has stored tobacco for a bit. However, it's very subtle and only comes out after I've focused too long on the primary notes.

 

I... ah... really like this, actually. Which surprises the heck out of me, as I got it hoping the linen and sugar would be very faint on my skin. They are the dominant players, yes, but... um... ::clings to the wee bottle:: You'll have to pry this out of my cold, dead fingers.

 

EDIT: I just want to edit this to add that I, at one point, had a bottle of the original release version (ergo, there was no 'apple' note at all coming from the bottle). I did not like that version, as I found the linen note to be far more subdued, whereas the smokiness of the tobacco and incense, along with the musk, were amplified on my skin. It has since been sent to someone who loves that version. I now have two additional bottles that smell more strongly of linen/apple than my initial bottle, but as they dry down to the softly smoky, creamy fresh linen goodness I fell in love with, I have no complaints with them. Which practically cements in my mind that the apple note is really just a very dominant and aggressive linen note. (And, to be fair, I would NOT have termed it apple if others hadn't said apple. It has always come across as linen to me. I imagine it's probably the addition of sugar and cognac that tip things towards apple.)

 

I still find it ironic that I, who ordinarily hates cotton/linen scents, prefer the more cottony version over the smoky musky version, which is what my typical scent preferences tend to.

Edited September 16, 2010 by thebirdofhermes

[sunlitgarden]

Black Lace (resurrected)

 

I seem to have the "appley" version of this scent. In the bottle and wet it smells like fresh, tart green apples and crisp cotton/linen, with a bit of vanilla sweetness. The apple does back off as it dries. What remains is rich and dark, probably a combination of the wood and cognac, but still mixed with the vanilla/lineny freshness. It almost smells a bit salty or aquatic, like one of the pirate-wood scents, when I press my nose to my wrist. The tobacco comes out a bit later on, but it's fairly faint, and mixed with incense. This scent is an interesting mix of things...

 

Edit: After several hours, it has really smoothed out into a sweet yet dark vanilla. I really like this stage - I just wish it went straight here! Maybe more aging will help.

Edited August 11, 2010 by sunlitgarden

[moon_lemming]

Resurrected Version

I've been putting off ~~officially reviewing~~ Black Lace because it's one of those blends that just SMELLS LIKE ITSELF to me; I can't really pick anything out.

 

I take that back, I can pick out the apple. When it was first mentioned that there seemed to be a batch of Black Lace that smelled appley, I was like . . . "Oh, that's NOT supposed to be there?" because I had never smelled the original and didn't know it was an aberration. But yes, my bottle of Black Lace has a distinct crisp apple note that burns off as the oil dries.

 

Aside from the apple, I don't know, I guess I get an evil vanilla mixed with cotton. You know how Poisoned Apple smells like evil apples? Black Lace does the same thing with vanilla (plus cotton). I love it.

[violetblue]

My bottle says DD anniversary and is not the apple version....

Man, why does this not work on me?? I get the inside of an antique store, that smell when open up antique furniture drawers, mixed with potpourri/heady perfume.

I wanted to love you, but this just turns too powdery on me.

[brilliantcat]

Oh wow, this is a morpher for sure! I just ordered this when it was announced that it was disappearing after the current stock sold out. It has some of my favorite notes and seemed like it would be a perfect fit for me. My bottle has the DD anniversary label and it's definitely got an apple-y start.

 

In bottle, I get what I think is the linen note, very crisp along with perhaps the booziness of the cognac. Immediately after applying I get apple. Tart, fresh apple. Very little vanilla, no tobacco, no musk. It fades pretty quickly into the linen/vanilla-ish stage. It took around an hour to really warm up. Now I'm getting a sweet, almost dusty vanilla and the tobacco. I'm not terribly fond of the linen but I LOVE how tobacco notes smell on me and the one in this blend is quite lovely. The throw is fairly strong, as others have mentioned and I get sweet vanilla in a cloud around me. Skin-close, I get musk and tobacco. I am so glad I let this warm up completely! I wasn't impressed with it until I did. Now I understand the love. However, it's not good enough for me to wait forever for it to warm up and/or deal with the linen note, especially when other people would love it and give it a good home. Happy to have had the chance to try it, but ultimately not for me.

 

Edited to update impressions.

Edited June 6, 2011 by brilliantcat