Morocco

[sarada]

The intoxicating perfume of exotic incenses wafting on warm desert breezes. Arabian spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia.

It took me this long to see Macha's wonderful comment above that this scent is almost but not quite like the headshop smell I'm longing for! I can't believe I didn't seek this out before and I have to thank ivyandpeony for hooking me up!!

It's funny that I tried the rather new Silk Road before the longtime lab favorite Morocco, as I feel like Silk Road is almost the perfection of the Spice Market scent that winds its way through so many favorite BPAL fragrances. Morocco is a close cousin, that's for sure! Warm, dusty, spicy, just a hint of florals (that would be the carnation I guess?)...it does come across a little perfumey on me at first, I get just a twinge of the perfume headache that I sometimes get, when I inhale too deeply. But I do feel as though if I walked by someone wearing this, they wouldn't think "Who's wearing perfume?", they would think "What faraway land have I just arrived in, and why am I suddenly sitting on a camel?" or a flying carpet perhaps -- I'm obviously drawing all of my analogies from old Popeye cartoons and for that I apologize.

I think that with Silk Road and Scherezade on their way to me in bottle form that I might have enough wonderful mysterious desert spice scents for the moment but I can definitely see acquiring more Morocco in the future. It dries down to an almost perfect non-foody spice on me and it doesn't burn my skin at all the way blends with too much cinnamon do. It's a classic!

[Femke]

10 mls, here I come.

 

I got an imp in a swap as someone had it on offer. Do you know Hugo Boss's Deep Red? Well, on me it smells exactly like that, but more BPAL, less evil Hugo Boss-P&G-animal-tested-commercial-artificial-crap.

 

A beautiful deep scent, very sensuous. I'm crap in identifying notes in a perfume, but it is one of the most beautiful BPAL blends I've known so far.

[Orodemniades]

Oh, I'm so disappointed.

 

I wanted to love this, but unfortunately it was vanilla in the imp, vanilla wet, and ever so slightly spicy vanilla on the drydown. Vanilla's all right, I just find it a bit boring.

 

On me it's a very femmy scent - sweet without any particular depth. It also fades almost immediately. I'll keep the imp...maybe.

 

24 hours later... so I woke up in the middle of the night to the most wonderful scent wafting from my wrists. I've changed my mind and will be ordering a bottle after all !

 

A good scent for when you need some comfort.

 

 

 

Oro

Edited April 21, 2005 by Orodemniades

[PurringPulsar]

Morocco

 

In the imp: I don't know but here it smells like musk and/or resins. And woods. Yup it's a woody smell. Probably sandalwood but someone else said cedar, so it could be that as well.

Wet on skin: wood wood wood! Maybe a bit of patchouli or musk, but I think it's sandalwood and something deeper and 'greener', maybe the cedar. It's sweetening out, I can just about detect some spices underneath the woods. Maybe even a hint of something lemony?

Dry on skin: this is quite nice, an exotic mix of woody notes and something else, possibly the musk, and some spice. This is a very deep dark scent, remeniscent of the enclosed souks in Marrakech selling all sorts of exotic wares. The wood is very strong in this and it's almost masculine (in fact, I'd imagine it would smell oh-so-sexay on a man!!!) but it's lovely and soothing. I think this would be nice in an oil burner as a room fragrance. It's very sexy and heady, perfect for the night time. For some weird reason, I think this smell will go well with Lush's Tramp. I think it's the initial earthy 'deep green' notes in them both.

After 15 minutes: this is amazingly complex. There's something rich and deep, I think it's the woods and musk combination, and it's very mysterious. I don't know but there is definetely a warm, comforting spice smell in this. It's like the warmth of a sunset, like the one I glimpsed over Marrakech, and evokes the magical star filled nights I saw every night when I was on holiday in Morocco, or a richly furnished tent or souk stall filled with exotic carpets and Berber jewellery and silverware.

After 30 mins: I can't pick out the notes so much but it is still, to me, an earthy, woody musk, then hot spices, and something slightly sweet at the end, but it isn't overly sweet. I can even detect a bit of smoke. The colours deep green and sunset shades come to mind when I smell this. I can't smell carnations or vanilla like others, just sandalwood and musk and spice-what spices? Probably cardamom and saffron, I'm sure. Maybe one of the spicy notes is carnation because that has quite a sweet spicy smell, I think-so that probably solves the mystery of what that lovely sweet spicy note is at the end of each sniff. And the sandalwood here is so exotic and sensuous, I think. I can see why others think of deserts because this has a 'hot' smell, but to me it's more of the comforting warmth of a desert sunset when the heat is still there but it's mellowing out, and the sky is tinted with fiery shades.

Verdict: this is totally different to what I usually wear as it seems more deep, woody and mysterious, but I think it's growing on me-I feel compelled to sniff sniff sniff! The musk and sandalwood mingle to make a gorgeously sexy scent with a hot, smoky spicy blend in the background adding to the fire. It definitely brings up images of Marrakech and it's famous evening market and the exotic marketplaces that can be found there, which to me are also happy memories of my holiday there. It's a very soothing smell, like a gentle ray of the setting sun wrapping round you, warming you and comforting you. I'm undecided as to whether I'll get a bottle but I love it right now.

 

EDIT June 16: I tried another imp of this stuff today, and it smells even more beautiful...the carnation! The carnation!!! the last Morocco imp I tried was all cedar and sandalwood, very nice, but there was no carnation at all...but this one has it, a beautiful spicy-sweet carnation note that has made me fall in love with this once more. *swoons*

Edited June 16, 2005 by yeahbutnobut

[Lit Chick]

I had such high hopes for this. Sigh....

The notes are very sexy, warm, just gorgeous. But on my skin this quickly went too sweet and foody. Very pretty, but not me.

[elphaba]

Morocco was my most-anticipated scent in my very first order but, a month later, I still have mixed feelings about it.

 

My first sniff out of the bottle I got musk, which immediately turned my mind to more commercial perfumes, and I was bitterly disappointed. I put it on anyway and was surprised that the musk didn't give me a headache, but really, musk is a scent that just doesn't appeal to me all that much. Perhaps it's the memory of all the headaches from commercial perfumes.

 

About four hours after putting Morocco on for the first time, I was walking out to my car and the most gorgeous aroma came drifting through the air--something sweet and spicy and warm. I actually looked around to see where the smell could be coming from before I realized it was ME. Wow.

 

When I put my nose to wrist to confirm, I got the musk again, sitting close to my skin. Damn.

 

Everytime I put Morocco on, I relive the same scenario. Gorgeous smell wafting through the air, icky musk next to my skin. I suspect that if I liked musk better, this one would be a true winner. As it is, I'll use up the imp and try to remember to just enjoy the throw and resist the temptation to breathe deeper.

[joseybird]

I could have SWORN I'd reviewed this before, but I looked through the reviews and found nothing, so...

 

This was a bottle in my very first order, and I had bought it unsniffed. When I opened the bottle to sniff...CEDER! I applied a bit, sniffed...CEDER! so I sold it...

 

That was back in february.

 

But since then I've read reviews, and thought, "Damn...why didn't I smell that at all? It sounds like something I'd LOVE!" So I sold my soul to kmasden for a Black Broom Bottle =)

 

I open the bottle...

 

soap STRANGE!

 

I apply a bit, let it sink in, sniff...

 

OMG it's Silk Road and Antique Lace's LOVE CHILD! It's a creamy, lightly spicy blend...the musk is the warm, comforting variety that makes Antique Lace so universally loved I don't think there's actual vanilla in here, but somehow the blend makes it seems like there may be a touch...I think I smell the carnation, but it's very soft and sweet and not as obvious as it is in Maiden or Alice.

 

This is incredible absolutely divine...gosh DAMN....

 

Edit:

 

I have this rpg character who's a traveling storyteller/dancer/sexy momma. This is the the scent your nose catches as she passes by; the aroma of market spices lingering on her sari blends with the oils in her hair to create an aromatic memory that will linger long after she has dissapeared from sight.

Edited May 30, 2005 by joseybird

[tracey]

In the bottle, I think Morocco smells like everything else I own, it doesn't have any distinguishable scent.

 

When it's first on and wet it's very overwhelming the me and I'm always certain I'm going to hate it. I've worn it several times and feel exactly the same each time. It's got this sharp sweet smell that I can't place and I just have patience that it'll warm up.

 

Once it's been on for about two hours .. oh glorious. I love this scent after it's been on awhile and it just gets warmer and deeper as the day goes on. I can put it on at 230am when I go to work and still smell it when I go to bed around 8pm, it's just delcious and cozy.

 

To me it really needs to be warmed, like cashmere covered skin warmed. The smell is exotic on me and reminds me (some notes) of the perfume Opium. I think it's the carnation since it's that slight musky sweet sex smell.

 

Overall: it's a keeper .. though I don't like it for the first couple hours.

[aritei]

This is one gloriously, sexy scent! I should get a 5 mL in the next order. . .

[mobilejessie]

I bought a bottle unsniffed, and when I opened it I thought I might die. Wet, it smelled like an incredible mix of incense and spices. As it dried on my skin, my reaction could best be summed up with the following paragraph of freaking out:

 

ACTHFPB! SO GOOD! DEFIES WORDS! GOOD GOOD GOOD!!!!! Morocco is fabulous, excellent, fantasiic.... let's just call it excefantastifabulous. On me, it smells like the most perfect, magnificent, flawless sandalwood with very light, dry spices waiting in the wings. It smells EXACTLY like the sandalwood fan that I carried every single day when I lived in Japan. When I smell my wrist, I'm instantly back in Kyoto, bopping around Shijo Avenue. I've been looking for a sandalwood scent like this for ten years, and I'd finally given up.

 

THANK YOU BETH! THANK YOU FOR SENDING ME THE SCENT I HAVE BEEN HUNTING FOR SINCE I WAS SIXTEEN!!!!!!!

[tesao]

in the bottle: spicy, clove, cinnamony, but not the normal cinnamon...more nuanced, like the cinnamon from sri lanka, not china

 

on the wrist, wet: i've never been to morroco, so i can't say. it reminds me of the markets in cairo, which sell spices and tea and flowers and incense is burning and people are smoking hookahs. floral, but not overpoweringly so.

 

on the wrist, dry: there is now some sandalwood in the mix. it really does remind me of the hanh el halili bazaar....all of the warm, exotic scents at the same time but constantly changing.

 

overall: this is going to be my first larger bottle purchase. i have to have this around all the time!!!

[DameBecca]

After reading the reviews here I am so sad. I wanted it to be everything that has been written about it, and it was the complete opposite on me.

 

In the bottle: Sweet, powdery and soft, light floral with just a tiny tiny bit of spice behind it. Lighter and more subtle than I expected. Very unobtrusive, like a background scent.

 

Wet: It's staying very true to the bottle. Still very powdery. I am very surprised by this one. I was expecting a scantily clad, fiery-eyed harem dancer enchanting men in a dusty tent, but instead found an innocent, young girl, smiling shyly from a perfume tent in a bazzar on a quiet afternoon. Much more understated and softer than I expected.

 

Drydown: It's still staying very true, with the powdery side coming out a little more. The carnation is the strongest note, mingling well with the musk. I smell very little spice and no sandalwood.

 

Overall/Comments: It's a "pretty" scent, very soft. Way too powdery and floral for me. On my skin, it's just flower and musk, two scents that don't really rock my world. The carnation is just awful, actually. I had to wash it off after a while becuase it was bugging me. I was looking for something spicier and warmer, along the lines of Madrid, but just got "Blech". Usually my skin will pick up any sweet/foody notes and bring them to the front, but I didn't get any of the vanilla and spices that a lot of reviews mentioned. I really wanted to like it, but it looks like there will be an open space in my perfume box soon....

[wickedgoddess]

Wet- the scent is reminiscent of Snake Oil, only lighter.

 

Dry - I get a bit of carnation and some musk, but it is very faint, even after slathering it on. Trying it a second time I get the same reaction. This isn't what I expected at all! It's soft and light and the spices are very subtle. I guess that's why it's described as "wafting on a breeze."

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 3.

[fragrantgrasse]

I finally got around to ordering an imp of Morocco, I have been resisting it for a while, and now that I have tried it and love it - am wondering why I waited so long to order?

 

It is incredibly lovely & is everything I want in a fragrance.....evocative, warm, subtle and evolving....this is one of the BPAL scents that softly morphs into a second skin scent. Mildly spicy & exotic it also is sweet and milky.......like a cup of chai tea!

 

As many reviewers of Morocco have stated - this is one to order and reorder, it is timeless in it's appeal and most certainly a wear-it-everyday-scent.

 

yum.

 

 

edit'd for grammar and spelling

Edited May 14, 2005 by fragrantgrasse

[shelldoo]

in the vial soft, femenine, sexy did i say soft?

 

on my skin musk is the one yelling in my face pick me pick me, bt it is a soft sweet musk, i am thinking white musk for sure.i so detect the sandalwood, and a slight scent of cassia, but the carnation just is not showing, which really would make this completely over the top wild. this is a gorgeous soft scent it is very romantic to me. it reminds me of a super soft creamy colored pashmina wrap, comforting, warm, gorgeous.

[brownbear]

Mmm

 

I like this one. a little spicy, warm. Everyone keeps saying that it's like snake oil minus the vanilla (i haven't smelled snake oil yet), but somehow i keep smelling vanilla in this. yup, vanilla, even after it's been on for an hour. I like the spiciness mixed in. I'm keeping this one!

[Nehushtan]

Morocco was the first BPAL scent I fell truly, madly, deeply in love with. When I put it on, it doesn't smell so much like I'm wearing perfume as it does like my skin is made of crystallized honey and spice. This is what I would smell like if I was a djinn.

 

Morocco is creamy and spicy and sweet, like bread pudding. The carnation note is especially interesting because my nose picks up the spice, not the floral, and it's absolutely wonderful how everything blends together. I can't pick out the vanilla if it's in there; it's as difficult to isolate different notes as it is to unravel the interwoven melodies of a symphony. When I wear this scent I feel exotic and irresistable, like a gypsy bellydancer who has been rolling around in a spice tent with her favorite lover, or like Esmeralda from the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

 

Loreena McKennitt has a song called Marrakesh Night Market--Morocco always puts me in mind of that song. This would be the daytime market, though, with the sun beating down on your hair and the smell of spices wafting up in the heat and dust. Gorgeous.

 

Edit: I just read yeahbutnobut's post above about the famous night markets of Marrakech. Ha! I knew I was onto something...

Edited May 23, 2005 by Sibyl

[scourgeotheseas]

Old Morocco

 

In the bottle: A creamy vanilla mixed with something that I can't identify but know I've smelled before.

 

On me: The creamy smell is quickly replaced by a combo of spices, light wood, and faint floral.

 

Drydown: This is just faint and kind of nondescript on me. Light, mostly gone to powder, and slightly spicy. Ah, oh well.

[FireInCairo]

This remindeds me of chai tea. However, it's rather a softened chai tea. It is very exotic smelling. I think there is a hint of vanilla as well. Very nice.....

[misty]

I had such high hopes for Morrocco. For some reason, it just does not work on me. And I thought I loved spicy scents!

[quikslvr]

Spices and musk. I like even wet. Reminds me of something from childhood. Consistent scent. I love it. Gets spicier later.

 

Already bought a 5 mL from a forumite.

[pensive]

Dry, exotic, spicy-sweet... ok, let's check it out.

(disclaimer: Your milage may vary, but come visit Morocco anyway.)

Imp: The cap popped and I nearly got covered in it. Shameful since I've still got cleaning to do.

On me, wet: Dry, spicy,

Drydown: I smell like spice cake sitting on a well cleaned wood counter. Back up. I smell like spice cake.

Impression: Who doesn't like spice cake? I love spice cake. I don't know if I can do spice cake in this weather, but I want to do spice cake at some point in my year.

Verdict: Wow this is gorgeous. I may have to rearrange my 5ml list for fall. This is late September and October and traveling to places I've never been.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: The spices make me think of when you open up a cupboard of spices you haven't used a while, and the scent of them hangs in the air. This is definitley peppery, and the carnation provides a slightly floral twist to a mostly dry, somewhat sandy-textured fragrance.

On me: This is very weak and difficult to smell. The pepper note is still there, and the musk, but something in the way they twist together makes me think of licorice. It's a warm scent, evocative of Morocco to be sure, but it isn't for me.

[urraca]

In the vial: this is the cake batter smell I don't really like that comes from spice notes. Oh dear, I don't have a good feeling about this.

 

Wet: it starts out as cake batter lifted with a little carnation. Now the spice of carnation I *do* like. The carnation soon fades though and then it is just cake. Meh.

 

After about an hour: A very dry and pleasant sandalwood comes through balancing the cake smell but all in all this just isn't me.

 

Memo to self: NO MORE SPICE!

Edited June 17, 2005 by urraca

[oakmoss]

This is a lovely blend. It starts out rather bolder, more spicy-flowery, then dries down into a more powdery softness that is quite comforting. It's like walking through a Moroccan marketplace in the heat of the day, smelling all the spices and blossoms, then settling down for a luxurious long nap with warm breezes blowing through the open windows... it's like that....