Brimstone

[Em-]

In Hermetic alchemy, brimstone is one of the Three Heavenly Substances, one of the primary alchemical Priciples. It represents the strength of will and the vigor of passion, and it is a symbol of the process of fermentation. A smoky, gritty blend, husky and gray.

First reaction in the imp: Ouch. The smell literally hurt my sinuses it was so strong and intense - very much the scent of fire...like the precurser to the ashy note in Kweku Anansi almost, but with out the herby woodyness.

On my skin: Ouch. The scent doesn't change and is not really my cuppa. I wanted to give it a fair shake, but after about five minutes, it literally started burning my skin (first time one of the Lab's oils has done that to me...and apt one, I suppose!). So, alas, I had to scrub it off...the burning didn't subside until I'd bathed my arm in rubbing alcohol...

[slave1]

In Bottle: Smoke.

 

On Skin: Egads, this is much too smokey for me. Sorry, it is pure campfire, I have to wash it off it’s making my eyes burn. No offense to Beth at all, because yes, it is pure “fire and brimstone”.

[Lycanthrope]

Whoa!!!

 

In the Bottle or Imp:

Sweet dark myrrh resin with a sharp blend of burnt wood scents... and I can get a whiff of burning charcoal, which is really, really freaky.

Wet, on Skin:

Still sharp, the burnt wood coming to me first is cedarwood, the myrrh keeps a menacing dark base under the toasted woods and rock, and I can smell a roiling mix of pepper and ginger.

Drying Down:

Smoke is starting to come off of my skin... at least the fragrance... this is very potent stuff. There's definitely vetiver in this, because I suddenly get a whiff of the dark, dry, biting essence.

Dry on Skin:

Is there some palmarosa in this? Some kind of sweeter, sharp herb? Every now and then this reminds me of that fiery kick in Lush's Flying Fox.

Over Time/Longterm:

It's sandalwood, vetiver, and sweet myrrh, all touched with smoldering charcoal embers.

Final Verdict?

So much fire! It's not bad, but I don't know if I could wear this in public, it's such a scorcher...

[ChupaChup]

My friend was gifted with an imp of Brimstone and let me try it. I really only got two notes out of this, dirt and ginger, hot, dry ginger with not a drop of sweetness. It smells very ashy and hot, absolutely a perfect representation of the inspiration. Not something I would wear as a perfume but amazing nonetheless.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Very smokey and fiery.

 

Just On: This smells like fire. And smoke.

 

An hour or two later: Oh absoutely fire and smoke.

 

Around 6 hours: A little smoke left.

 

12 hours: It's disappeared, just like magic.

 

Overall: This is pretty awesome.

 

After reading other reviews: This did not sear my nose, nor did I think it was overly strong. I really like this one, it really does smell like a campfire, and makes me want to run off and get marshmallows to toast.

[Firewaver]

Holy Smoke, batman.. this stuff is STRONG!

 

 

I got this off of Ebay in a lot if other imps that I wanted. I had no idea what to expect when I opened the bottle.

 

Oh dear, this oil is not for the faint of heart.

 

Wet, this smells like swirling, roiling smoke and ashes with maybe a touch of lemon!

Drying, it just gets stronger.. a tobacco and smoke smell comes out and boots me in the face.

Dry, its an ashy, grey smell that hates me. It hates me and wants to consume me in a tornado of smoldering ashes. There's nothing mellow about it.

 

I, unfortunately, am not man or woman enough for this scent.

 

It got under my fingernails as I was opening the imp, and I didn't stop smelling Brimstone all day.. it drove me crazy.

[luxuria]

This smells like smoke, fire, and ashes. And oh lord, is it STRONG!!!! Wowza. Not too much else to say about it. It mellows a little as it dries, but not much. Nice if you want to smell like you've been set on fire, but I think I'll save this for layering purposes. I love the "bonfire" smell, just with more of the wood and less of the pure fire! There's something sharp that cuts through the scent that I wasn't expecting and keeps it from being as mellow and relaxing as the aforementioned bonfire smell.

Edited August 8, 2005 by luxuria

[imaginepageant]

In the vial: I always seem to find perfumes in their bottle to have that alcohol smell, and Brimstone in the vial definitely has that. It makes it smell very, very sharp, but there's also a strong underlying scent of fire and smoke. This will clear your sinuses when you have the flu, it's that strong.

 

Wet: The alcohol smell dies and the fire and smoke come blaring out; much more fire than smoke, though. It's very acrid, acidic, sharp, and sour, in the way that makes your eyes water if you breathe in too deeply. It's hot and chaotic and panicked and frightening. There's some sort of chemical burning in there, but god knows what... it's probably actual brimstone, that makes sense! I can also smell the faintest bit of cedar and wood, if I try really hard to block out the acrid burning. The first time I had Brimstone on, every time I sniffed it, I would exhale hard after and make a stunned "Wooooo" sound because it hit me so hard, each and every time. I imagine this is what hell would smell like, with fires consuming the bodies of the damned, sending the stench of burning evil flying through the darkness. I can almost hear the chaos of screaming, wailing, and crackling flames in the back of my head when I close my eyes and breathe Brimstone deeply in.

 

Dry: Stays pretty much the same as it was when wet, for a long, long time. I'll say here that I'm impressed by the longevity of this scent.

 

Many hours later: It's faded slightly, so that the acrid scent isn't so overpowering anymore, and it's become softer and marginally sweeter. It smells somehow... sensual now. Seduction rooted with greed, manipulation, and cruelty. It is the scent of being trapped by another person, and thrilling in it so much that you want to scream.

 

Overall: Not an everyday scent, but something I'd wear to dance at a rock/goth club. Definitely keeping the imp for occasions when I'll be pressed up against random strangers and grinding to Korn or Marilyn Manson.

Edited August 13, 2005 by decemberine

[girlmadasbirds]

STRONG and bitter. this is definitely a 'gritty' smoky scent. *nose burns* definitely not for me

[melrose]

Wet, on skin: Pepper and something acrid slaps me in the face.

 

Near drydown: Pepper, ashes and earth from under where a fire has been built. Yummy.

 

Middle drydown: Ashes and earth come to the fore, pepper steps back a bit. Still lovely.

 

Far drydown: Uh-oh. It seems the fire has been built in an unfortunate part of a cow pasture. Strong smell of urine.

 

This nails the lid in the coffin: My co-worker walked in and said ``What is that horrible smell? Did someone spray for bugs in here? My God, that's strong.''

 

No more Brimstone for me.

[PixieSkull]

In the imp: Sweet, spicy, peanut butter. I'll try it anyways, why not.

 

Wet: Still that spicy, gritty, peanut-buttery smell.

 

Drydown: I'm assuming the same, didn't keep it too long. Some pine in it.

 

Overall: Gross, too strong, not me. Bye bye, Brimstone.

[aessedai]

As everyone else has said, this one is very very smoky. I wonder what would happen if you layered it with a leather or some such scent!

[WidgetAlley]

Got this in a swap with the lovely Meredith P.

 

In the vial: Whoa, this is potent stuff, I can tell just by looking at it. I've never come across an oil quite this shade of dark brown before. It smells like incredibly spicy woodsmoke-- very familiar, but with an underlying harshness. Is there myrrh in here?

 

Wet: Cedary and smoky and take-your-head-off strong. I only applied a teeny drop, and I can taste it. It smells.... industrial, almost, and not entirely pleasant, but certainly powerful. A fairly simple smell, but acrid and quite bleak.

 

Dry: This doesn't morph on me at all, but the throw does creep down until it's a close, skin-scent, but still very pungent. I wouldn't wear it if I wanted to smell good, but I would wear it if I were going downtown at night. This just screams power and control. Not a wear-everyday, but I'll keep the Imp for when I really need it.

 

For some reason this feels almost medicinal to me, and I couldn't work out why, until I realized that it smells very similar to the Tiger Balm I use on all my MA-related injuries.

[roesmoker]

I did not like Brimstone at all, it smelled like a gas station on me - burning rubber. Waited but I never got any incense or Indian spices - too bad, because I would have liked that!

[Colère]

Bottle: Hrm. Bitter, dusty (sandalwood powdery?), and almost earthy (a less intrusive patchouli?). Dude, is that SAFFRON? It reminds me of an ancient bottle of oil (frankincense, saffron, & cedarwood) my mother made for Vassago conjuring purposes...

 

Skin: Dusty cedar shavings (hooray for smelling like a hamster cage)! Ah ha, THERE'S the arid/dry heat I was expecting, mingled with very distant, spicy sweetness. OH MY GOD, it becomes the wood section of a DIY store (one that also sells HOT, SMOLDERING ROCKS)! Way, way back there's a subtle sharpness that cuts through the heat; a slightly medicinal eucalyptus.

 

Skin, Later: The sharpness is gone, replaced by a rounded scent of smoky incense. While sniffing my wrists at the cash register my husband said 'it smells like vanilla' (I disagreed, and still maintain the non-vanilla status since I REALLY FUCKING HATE IT AND THE SMALLEST DROP IS ENOUGH TO SET ME OFF). Powdery dryness? Still there.

 

Verdict: The smoky incense I described borders on being 'generic, non-descript incense' after some time. It's a pleasant scent, but becomes increasingly weaker as time goes by. I also have a feeling that the end result isn't too dissimilar to Salome (at least on me), and Christ knows I'm superficial enough to choose one over the other just because of a name.

[herdivineshadow]

This is a very smokey blend and smells like burning pine and incense mixed with a hint of something spicy. This isn't too bad, even though I'm not really a big incense fan.

[carolinachiquita]

Wow this is a strong scent. It reminds me of Lush's middle earth turns to rock/waylander soap, its that muddy, smoky, soily scent. When I put it on in the office someone said 'ooh I can smell smoke'! Its very strong, but not very me! I just with my fave blends would be this strong!

[Aurelius]

Wow, this is a very strong and long-lasting blend. In the vial I smell smoke. Once it hits my skin it smells almost like rain on the sidewalk. Then I smell dirt. And then more smoke. This is a fantastic blend, but not one that I would normally wear.

[pekeana]

Eh... we can say that I'm not particularly fond of the burning scents, s'kay?

 

In the vial, this actually made me gag. I don't know why.

 

On my skin, hullo... patchouli, dark, dank cedar, heavy oak, acrid smoke, and something that almost smells like a hint of leather. Maybe the leather is part of the smoke components, I'll never know. Alas, it's *strong*, and I'm having an adverse reaction to it, so it's going bye-bye.

[Stumbeline]

This was a frimp from the Lab.

 

I can't really smell this in the vial. It clears out my sinuses and 'gritty' really is the best way to describe it. I was really apprehensive about putting it on my skin. On me, it's a chalky dirt smell for the first half hour or so. Then it gets lighter, and there's something lemony? I've had it on for about two hours now and it's still pretty strong and actually very sweet. It's an interesting scent for the way that it morphs. I don't dislike it, but I'm not sure I'll wear it much.

[wickedgoddess]

Wet - black and smokey. This smells like a darker version of Djinn; more charcoal than smoke. It definitely lives up to its name.

 

Dry - More of the same, there's not much morphing here. There's quite a bit of throw with this oil, although it seems to burn itself out in about an hour. Lovely, but very similiar to Djinn, which I like just a tiny bit better.

 

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

[AlaskaSnows]

Wet: Ashes. But not nice wood fire ashes like some people get, I smell chemical fire and burnt paint and house, and something very caustic. It hits me, this is the smell of a tire on fire.

 

Dry: Now it is more like wood smoke, I only used a DROP of this because I knew it wasn;t to my taste. It does smell more like a normal fire now, but like a wood fire someone threw a paint can in or something. I will swap this on, it's an imp everyone should smell once.

[Fefferbella]

Wow, I'm so glad the lab tossed this in as a frimp with my last order!

 

Brimstone is amazing. The SPICEY ginger and cinnamon, coupled with a thick musty earth notes is gorgeous!

 

Deffinately not something I can see wearing as a perfume, but certainly something I'll be glad to keep around when my allergies are acting up! This stuff cleared my sinuses like nothing I've ever tried before!

 

I love Brimstone!

[glittergal]

I had a really unusual experience with this one. I got it as a frimp with my last order. Once it dried, my experience was very similar to a lot of others'.... very smoky, strong, campfire-like, acrid. But, wet.... it actually started off smelling desolate and cold. To me, it smelled like a still-damp big gray boulder after a bone-chilling winter rain. It smelled musty and, well, just very cold!!! I guess this is a testament to how hard it is for our nerve endings to tell the difference between extreme heat and extreme cold.

Overall, I find this one fascinating, but not something I really want to smell like.

[fiddlehead]

Ah, now this is the kind of scent I expect out of BPAL. Very unusual and downright dangerous smelling

 

Fresh on it smells like something is on fire. BBQ, a house, I dunno. Whatever it is you better find out soon, just in case you need to call the fire dept. How in the holy heck does Beth DO that? As it dries, the burning smell calms down but there's still a smoky note hanging around. And a sort of soil-ish note. There is definitely another familiar note coming out but I can't figure out what it is. Some kind of wood, I think.

 

Brimstone is my first foray into this family of scents. I'm anxious to see how it compares with Djinn. I couldn't wear this often, but when Fall comes 'round again I will be definitely digging it out! This also makes me curious about Tarot:Death.

 

And I just got a whiff of the "boulder" smell! How wonderfully bizarre!

Edited January 25, 2006 by fiddlehead