Frederic

[Seismogenic]

Victorian whimsy and piratical romance: a reluctant seaman’s chypre sloshed with a mix of bay rum, patchouli, amber musk, dark woods, tea rose, and red currant.

Here's another reason why I should stop looking at past LEs. February 29th is kind of a special day for me, and as soon as I saw there was a celebratory scent, I wanted to sniff it. (No, I don't share a birthday with Frederic! It's just that the anthropomorphic personification of 2-29 is a major character in a comic that I write and draw. This character has a serious attitude problem, and aims to misbehave until he gets his way and gets to be on the calendar every year.) The fact that this is a Pirates of Penzance scent in addition to just being a Leap Day thing makes it even better. Such a fun show.

In the imp: To my nose, this is pretty traditionally cologney, though with an added dash of patchouli.

Wet on skin: This sweetens up as soon as it hits my skin. I'm guessing this is the bay rum taking over, since it is also a little spicy. I might be getting a tiny bit of the rose in there, too. Whatever is going on, the patchouli has all but disappeared, and I don't mind that. It's kind of a humid sent in a way, like something near the water, but not the water itself.

Drydown: The sweetness persists in the newly dry stage. The rose and currant are definitely there, though nicely blended with the rum and amber. Nothing is blanking anything else out. There's something grounding in there too, which I assume is the wood, since it doesn't smell like patchouli. At about an hour in, this has changed to be Y HALO THAR, ROSE. The spice of the rum is still there, and a bit of the sweetness of the currant, but these just temper the rose a little. It was at this stage that someone noticed my BPAL for the first time ever. One of the other guys in the seismology lab assumed it was one of the girls in the lab rather than me, since rose is not exactly a typical guy scent, but I was at the next computer over and had little doubt.

Five hours later: The rose has been restrained again, still present, but as an underlying sweetness rather than a top note. I'm getting much more of the wood now than I was at any other stage, and I find it nice. The rum and the rose make it a gently sweet and spicy wood, not too dry or too waterlogged.

End of the day: There's still a good bit of scent left, though at this point, it's all dry wood with a touch of musk. No more rum, spice, rose, or anything else.

Overall: Based on the description of the notes, I had absolutely no idea how I would feel about this scent. I was particularly wary of rum, since I did not want to smell booze-saturated. To my delight, there was no soaking in alcohol, and the entire combination was wonderful and complex. The mostly-rose stage of the drydown was my least favorite, though only because it was the least complex stage, not because I dislike the smell of rose. I ended up enjoying this one very much, and will certainly make use of this decant, at least.
Gotta say, though, Frederic is far too gentlemanly of a scent to suit my February 29th character! Hehheh. That character would probably object to rose, anyway. Edited September 5, 2008 by Seismogenic

[forspecial_plate]

It actually took a few months for the patchouli to settle down enough....for a long time, I didn't think I'd be liking this scent. The patchouli was just a little too sour and woody, and combined with the rose, kind of turned me off. But I tried Frederic today and found it to be a very pleasant ambery/woody/musky scent. It was the promise of amber musk that drew me to this scent in the first place, and I think it's a blend that overall is going to age well. My only complaint is that I have several other "masculine" (if you call this masculine, which I do) blends that stand out more, and have more originality. But this is nice enough to keep around, even if I end up decanting some out to swap.

[butcherbaby]

i bought a partial of this on ebay on a whim because the notes sounded good.

 

in the bottle i get a sharp woody note and a very earthy patchouli, and maybe a touch of booziness from the bay rum.

 

wet on the skin the wood peaks pretty quickly, and i get a pungent burst of patchouli. within a few minutes both of these settle down and i start to get a whiff of the amber musk, a slight sweetness that slowly gets stronger & blends with the patch for a lovely deep sweet spicy throw. i think the bay rum is coming out as well, that seems to be a particularly good note for me.

the wood notes remove themselves to the background as supporting players for the earthy spice fest going on in front. i am reminded a little of madame moriarty, if only because this could be in the same scent category- a brother or cousin (yes it is somewhat masculine, which in no way will stop me from wearing it )

as it dries down the throw just gets sweeter and spicier, it's really gorgeous! i think i'm going to wear this tomorrow instead of testing another decant.

after a couple of hours it is softer and i can begin to smell the rose.....mmmm, creamy delicious rose, with the spicy bay rum backdrop.

the throw is good and wear length seems average to long.

i'm really glad i picked this up and i will be looking for more!

[rayvn1]

I snagged a bottle of this recently and very glad I did! It's manly, but with a slightly floral tinge in the background that interacts really well with the slightly boozy quality I get as the main note. Swashbuckling with a softer side

[dane666]

A bit of the "Dandy" In this one if ya know what I mean. Dosn't smell overly manly on myself and I get the feeling this will age wonderfully. My gal has a cold so she didn't have much of a reaction to it, but me-thinks I like it!

Edited December 2, 2008 by RazorDevil

[mooncityminx]

In the vial: sweet woods and incense

 

Wet: red spices, sweet woods, soap. This is making me think of my bottle of Count Dracula, but with soap, and something a little less masculine that I can't identify.

 

Drydown: Sweeter still. This is now reminding me of Dragon's Bone and Schwarzer Mond, so it must have a similar note somewhere. But I think this is the fragrance of an actor, who plays many parts. I think I might like to smell this on my husband. There's something cola-ish going on here.

[hlinspjalda]

In the bottle: Patchouli, bay rum, amber. This smells great!

 

Wet: Swoony goodness, patchouli, bay rum, amber, a bit woody, and there's a bit of citrus. This is my first scientific test of this scent, which I purchased after a trial at a meet ‘n sniff. I'm so glad I acquired more; this is utterly fabulous!

 

Half an hour: Some of the sweetness has worn off, but it's still fabulous. I have patchouli-amber with bay rum on top. Although no longer sweet, there's still a citrusy-mossy impression. Currant barely ever registers on me, so it's no surprise I'm not getting any. Not sure if that's a particularly stemmy rose I'm smelling or a fragrant wood, but there's something in there.

 

Hour and a half: Still wonderful. I adore this. I would love it if (a) my husband would try it, and ( he smelled like this when he wore it. Have to work on "a," there.

 

Four hours: Faded some, but still nomm. It's patchouli, amber, bay rum, and wood pretty much in that order.

 

Eight hours: Still there. Sourer now, in a woody kind of way, but still getting the patchouli amber bay rum effect.

 

This is a "more than one bottle" scent for me.

 

[zankoku_zen]

As a rose amper, I totally amped up the tea rose in this one. A hint of citrus and lots of rose with hints of patchouli. Very masculine rose here.

 

After about two hours, the rose has faded into the background and I get more of the patchouli/rum/wood combination. Still masculine.

 

My husband doesn't like roses and I'm not sure how I feel about the first two hours. I think I will pass this on to a more loving home.

[Sweetie666]

This is one of my favorite bottles! All I smell when I wear it is bay rum, patchouli and wood. It's to die for lovely!!

[CreamyJade]

In the imp: Salt, patchouli, woods.

Wet on skin: Patchouli, musk, woods.

Dry on skin: I get the rose now, and it really mellows the blend out. It doesn't make it feminine at all, it's not harsh, but it smells like a cologne. A sophisticated gentleman's cologne!

Final thoughts: I had always been curious about the blend so I bought a decant, but after smelling my imp again this morning, I had the urge to get a bottle. Now that I'm wearing it, I like it, but I'd prefer it layered with something else, either with pear or sugar, to make it more feminine. I'll keep my decant and pass the bottle over to my boyfriend.

[donnatron]

Bottle: Bay rum and patchouli to the exclusion of all other notes. I really dig the patchouli used in this--either it's due to the combo with the bay rum or it's a slightly different variant from the other BPAL patchoulis I've tried. It's very warm and sweet and now that I think about it, I could be smelling it's combination with the dark woods which is giving it a bit more of a fuzzy edge.

 

Wet: Bay rum and patchouli. And the weensiest little bit of rose. This is surprisingly powdery right off the bat.

 

Dry: Frederic is a dream. Dry I get a nice, high pitched top note from the currant which is what keeps this from getting too masculine or overbearing. The amber musk and rose sort of combine together into mid-notes. The amber musk is very golden and warm. Maybe this is what I smelled when I thought Frederic seemed fuzzy? Underneath it all I've got that drop dead gorgeous patchouli/bay rum/dark woods combo. I'd also hazard a guess that there's a drop or two of salty sea air or seaweed accord in here. There's a definite fresh tang of saltiness to Frederic--maybe something from the chypre?

 

Throw: Good.

 

Overall: I do love me some Frederic. He's a good companion for freezing winter days and for hot, languid summer ones (applied, of course, with a lighter hand). Interesting, unusual and a little like wearing your man's favourite sweater or button up shirt after he's changed out of it and the scent of his cologne and skin is still clinging to it.

[Monster]

I love Frederic This is actually a masculine scent I can't wear, but my husband pulls it off oh so nicely. Frederic reminds me of my honeymoon in Orlando...it was the only scent my husband wore the whole time. Sniffing this now is bringing up some wonderful memories of running through Disney World wearing sparkly Minnie Mouse ears

 

Ok...on with my review!

 

In the bottle this smells like bay rum and musk.

On my husbands skin this is a smoky, musky incense with just a hint of sweetness from the red current. This actually smells EXACTLY like the incense a friend of mine always bring back from New Orleans every year. I'll have to figure out the name of them.

Frederic is definitely a masculine scent but I think the right girl could also pull this off. I tend to like more masculine scents but I think there's just a bit too much bay rum in this for it to work on my skin.

Dry, this is all powdery incense. Frederic is dark, mysterious and drop dead gorgeous!

[Phaedra]

Wet this is a masculine cologne blend- sweet, woody and earthy. When first on this is sharp, dry woods and a sort of sour note (almost like a band aid??). It could be a citrus note I think. After a few minutes an earthy note develops- this must be the patchouli. After about an hour, a mossy rose note develops. It's really softened and mellowed. On the dry down this is a creamy, earthy blend with hints of rose and moss. It still has quite a bit of throw and I get wafts of the men's cologne notes. Nice but a little too masculine for me.

[Aldercy]

I wonder whether there's a bit of ceder in the "dark woods" note?-- my nose is so sensitive to it that I have a hard time paying attention to anything else in a blend, so this is mostly aggressive wood and cedar when wet, with a little rum. Very manly. But I've found that my skin can manage to burn off the harshness of such notes if given enough time, so let's see....

 

...

 

 

If I breathe lightly instead of really huffing my skin, Frederic is very nice and kind of like a livelier, more luxurious Midnight Mass. The amber musk and redcurrant are responsible for that, I think. The more I let it dry, the better it gets. The tea rose is starting to peek out which is fine as long as it doesn't take over. It seems to finally settle into a smoky, musky incense with spicy fruit juices and rose petals floating in and out. Way better than I expected.

[EmpressPixie]

I bought this on eBay at the beginning of my BPAL spree. Before I knew that roses and amber go powdery and the roses that don't powder give me a massive headache. But I just can't let it go! Let me explain:

 

On drydown, it goes powdery. Light powder over rose, woodsiness, patchouli, and something dark and slightly sweet and oozing. If I can get past (ie, ignore) the powder, it's gorgeous. Just gorgeous. And after an hour (or two) the powder fades and what is left is so lovely. The long lasting drydown is actually -- on those days I want to smell dirty, manly, fabulous -- so amazing that I think it is totally worth the first hour or so of powder.

[Invidiana]

Yarrrrr matey! This be mighty strong, just a dab will do ye! Even so, it's still a very seductive blend. The leather and wood and bay rum really come to the fore here, with a generous splash of seaspray and a sweet, heady undercurrent of patchouli tempering them, keeping anything here from venturing into butch territory. Even if you're afraid of leather, this isn't one to be afraid of--unlike De Sade, which is distinctly manly leather and smoke, the complexity and fruity/floral undertones of Frederic make it very wearable for women in small doses. This is a convenient one for wearing out when you know you won't be home for hours, because only a couple dabs and it lasts just about as long as a voyage on the high seas (now, just avoid the Bermuda Triangle....)

[voorishsign]

A scent I'll be honest I had not heard of before rawgirl75 sent me an imp Sounds good, mind you . . .

 

In the imp - boozy! And how! This is all bay rum, all the time. Unexpected but fun!

 

On wet - red currant lightens the bay rum, patchouli, musk and woods darken it. I can detect the tea rose very faintly. I think this is going to have one of the most awesome drydowns known to man.

 

Drydown - I was right! Thankfully the booze goes away a bit because it was just a bit too heavy, now it's just spice, woods and musk, lightened by the red currant and tea rose, with the zing of rum. This is a great summer scent, just the thing to wear while lazing about and catching a tan

[Verios]

Now that it's summer, I found myself reaching for this bottle this morning--unlike pirate moon, which, while nice, I didn't find really made me think of pirates when I wore it, Frederic does. For me this is primarily dark woods, although something (I assume the musk, or the patch) prevents them from being too much--I also get a hint of saltiness/seaspray, and the bay rum...it continues to amaze me, how much this makes me think of a gentleman pirate. I think I get whiffs of the tea rose, at times, but it's subtle--at most they're just helping to round this scent out.

 

This definitely tends towards the masculine, but not to an extent where I don't find it perfectly wearable. It's not overly boozy, either, so it's one I have no issue wearing to work...love it! (I may have to try to get ahold of a backup bottle...)

[parrot_suspect]

Bumping topic for reviews of Frederic 2012!

[ReallyZeb]

2012 version

 

In the bottle I get strong men's cologne and nothing but cologne ... but once it dries on my skin it morphs into something much softer. There's still the backline of cologne, but there is a soft powdery rose over the top and a hint of some greenery, maybe bay leaves or some other leaf of that ilk. There's a tiny bit of sea spray if I sniff close but the throw is all woodsy. I get no rum and no berries at all, and thankfully no strong leather note.

 

It is quite masculine, even though I tend to like some masculine blends - but strangely I can imagine myself wearing it while lying in the shade on a boat in really hot weather. Not one for general use for me though - I'd rather smell some tall dark interesting stranger wearing it!

[Jilara]

2012 version:

I actually got this for my husband, but figured I would try it out, myself.

 

Wet, I get briney dust, with a hint of wood. Dust??? Really, it smells like a warm attic in an old house. Drying down, it becomes more woody, and a slight, light floral comes up.

 

Dry, there is still a bit of brine, but the dust has dropped out and the floral is quite strong. Reminds me of...lilac vegetal lotion? It's definitely a light, sweet men's aftershave sort of scent, with just a hint of woodiness. Hmm, even I could wear this. It's not too masculine, but rather like a sophisticated light floral.

 

Thumbs up to the pirate apprentice!

[milo]

Frederic is indeed dark, but in a good way. I'm getting something slightly sour and musky at first, but he dries to a lovely dark musk with a bit of patchouli. This is reminding me a bit of bpal 'darker' blends, like Silas Ruthyn, Schwarzer Mond, but without the cola note. It kind of reminds me of a more darker masculine Snake Oil. This is very nice, though a bit too masculine for me. This would smell AMAZING on a guy, methinks, so I will save the decant..

[zankoku_zen]

2012 version

 

Heavier on the bay rum, chypre and amber musk. The chypre and a hint of roses is sniffed on wet, but as it dries its a woody, musky, bay rum sort of blend.

 

In fact, it's quite masculine and sexy. Mmmm, I like this pirate.

[Mergekat]

Definitely get the men's cologne vibe too. But strangely smoother here that reminds me a bit of cola (Is that the bay rum mixed in?). I'm also picking up the traces of patchouli, and some floral which I assume is the tea rose. The rest must be well-mixed in there, because I only get those 3 main notes. I give it about 4 stars out of 5. I'll see how this one ages, and if other notes appear.

Edited July 28, 2013 by Mergekat

[mymymai]

ITB: I get rum and thick patchouli with a little bit of salt. Attractive.

 

Wet: Thick, black patchouli steeped in bay rum surrounded by tobacco and red currants. As it dries, I get a bit more amber musk. It's lovely and dashing.

 

Dry: The salty wood reminds me of the shore along the Washington coast. After that, I can detect patchouli, light tobacco. It's a bit more manly and pirate like once dried.