The Antikythera Mechanism

[Victory]

Teakwood, oak, black vanilla, and tobacco.

Sometimes wood lovers on the forum have described woody scents as if they were looking at the wood itself, which I always thought was a beautiful image, but never one that I've experienced myself. Wearing The Antikythera Mechanism though, I get it. The image I get- and best way to describe the scent- is of a beautiful piece of wood (medium dark, not blonde) that's been highly polished and beautifully cared for, and on top of it, an almost frosting-like thick layer of vanilla spread on top. The teak and oak are absolutely gorgeous, and the vanilla isn't fake or plasticky at all- it's beautiful. The tobacco I don't smell by itself; I think it's buttressing the other scents. The raves about this blend are justified- this is a beautiful scent.

ETA the scent description. Edited September 10, 2008 by Victory

[zenvodunista]

IF you love Black Lace (or missed it), and Glowing Vulva at Ryogoku Bridge (or missed it) get this.

 

OH! I am so glad this is general catalog! Fantastic!

 

N.

[Hayet]

Drippy and syrupy teak, with a dash of cologne and a swirl of vanilla. To DIE for. MMmmm!

[ravenfeathers]

in the bottle oak, snake oil, and dish soap?

wet on skin i can barely smell it, but there's a soft smell of all the various notes.

dry on skin this fades really fast on me. it's not as glistening, golden, or gorgeous as haloes and, given my love for haloes, really comes across as a really poor echo of that great scent.

 

it's fantastically red in the imp; i might have to retest this with a bit more oil, just to make sure.

[Hawke]

I got this because it is, in theory, like Glowing Vulva. From the imp, I can see why, though this is sharper and a little fizzier than GV to my nose. Possibly because it's lab-fresh.

 

Wet on skin, I'm mostly getting the vanilla, which is slightly doughy, but not too bad. The fizziness disappears. And the woods peek out from behind the rest.

 

While this is drying, something like sarsaparilla appears. I think it's a combination of the vanilla and the oak that's reminding me of Tombstone. This smells to me like a cross between GV and Tombstone. I can see why people love it. I am definitely keeping the imp and will ponder a bottle when I've used up the last of my wee amount of GV. It's not quite the same, but pretty darned close.

[meredevachon]

I'm in love!

 

This is the second time I've wished I'd gone straight for a 5ml instead of ordering an imp first, and I'm negotiating with myself on how long to wait before adding a bottle to my collection.

 

In the imp: Teak, something bitter-not-quite-medicinal, and a roundness I'm pretty sure is from the vanilla & tobacco.

 

Wet: The teak's stronger now, but the vanilla's blooming too, making it hard for me to keep my wrist away from my nose. I don't want to stop sniffing.

 

During dry down: I only thought I'd liked this before, now I know what real love is. Tobacco joins the vanilla and teak in the best way. It's like walking into an empty shop that was a tobacconist for decades, so the fragrance of all the tobacco has melded into the walls and then faded over time. Sweet and warm and round.

 

Dry: Overall I've got a cozy almost decadent feeling, interspersed with wafts of stronger scent (sometimes smoky, sometimes expensive whiskey, in addition to the vanilla-teak-tobacco I'm crazy about).

 

I can kind of see the comparisons to Perversion (which I finally got a bottle of in this same order), but the moods they invoke are so different for me. AM is curl up in a big comfy leather armchair with a good book. Perversion is take over a corner of a bar with your friends and drink and laugh and talk about sex until the wee hours.

 

I love this on me, even more than I thought I would. But I really wish I had a guy to try it on, because if it's this good on me... *mrow*

 

Definitely in my top five.

[femmefatale]

Oh my. This is beautiful (well, it's ok in the bottle...but on the skin.... ).

 

The is just a gorgeous blend of aged, polished wood, fine vanilla (not foody at all), and tobacco (very slight). The vanilla and tobacco create an almost yummy pipe scent, but not quite. It's more vanilla than that.

 

But it's not a purely masculine scent, it's very unisex. I can see both dh and I wearing this. I'm very happy I got a bottle and I can see this aging extremely well.

[sleepflower]

Oh my god. Just. Oh my god.

 

In the imp I get something sharp and cologne-ish.

 

As soon as I put it on, it turns to heavy, polished wood with a coat of vanilla, but more like vanilla the 'spice' rather than vanilla the 'food'. There is the faintest hint of sweetness, but it is almost an afterthought to the scent as a whole. A little goes a long, long way on me--luckily enough because I cannot stop dipping my nose in my shirt and sniffing!

 

It is sophisticated, more masculine than feminine, but it smells like it would work well on anyone. The first time I tried it on I immediately thought about being in a dim room, either with wood paneling or decorated with heavy wood furniture, working at a table with just a candle or small lamp as the light source.

 

This is definitely a favourite.

[Phaedra]

Wet this is sharp tobacco and warm vanilla, somewhat masculine. When first on this is warm vanilla and a sharp, almost metallic note. After about a half hour there's a nice woody note developing along with the very warm and dark vanilla. This doesn't change much more on me which is fine because I love it! On the drydown this is a gorgeous blend of tobacco and smoky vanilla. This is a new favorite GC for me and I think this will be very popular. I also love that it's got a connection to ancient Greece

[NixieCakes]

So, I dont see what all the fuss is about. All I get from this is plain ol' sunblock. Bizarro! But then, I make my husband try it, and it is f-ing marvelous. It is beautiful. I want it to smell like that on me. He won;t even wear it. Damn.

[GeorgeJr]

^^^ That is just sad NixieCakes .

Today I put some on first thing out of the shower from a bottle I've had maybe a month or two . It was very nice , a little woody with some smoky vanilla mixed in . Later in the day , I was sitting here at my desk , where I have a imp holder . I have a imp of AM in it , so I figure " maybe I could stand to reload a bit " . The imp is at least 6 months old , maybe 8 .

Why am I typing this ? The oil in the imp is a LOT stronger smelling . The not so old bottle is nice , but the throw is pretty laid back . The older imp , let's just say I don't have to bring my wrist up to my nose to smell it . This is such a wonder wood scent , not really green wood , but wood sitting out to build thing out of . The tobacco is further back in the older stuff too , & while there is some vanilla it too is being pushed away by the wood . Not that I mind

[OhioSky]

This is just gorgeous. I love vanilla scents, and BPAL makes the deepest, most complicated vanilla scents! This isn't a foody candle style vanilla, it's more like vanilla flavoring for baking, which is awesome. I didn't know what to expect of the teakwood because I've never really encountered that note before, but as soon as I put it on I had no problem picking it out and identifying it. Smells just like it's name.

 

This oil really smells just like it's description. The vanilla and tobacco and teak are all there, in fairly equal parts to my nose, and so well blended. Beautiful!

[caitilarkin]

In the imp: Wood notes with a strong medicinal tinge

 

Wet on skin: The medicinal note disappears and the wood and vanilla blend effortlessly.

 

Dry on skin: Wow. WOW. This dries down beautifully: the wood notes are in charge, with the vanilla adding creaminess and the tobacco adding a touch of smoky sweetness.

 

This lasts more than 12 hours on me, has a strong throw, and morphs into an irresistibly polished, creamy richness.

 

Gorgeous--I'm ordering a bottle right now. This has rocketed right to the top of my list.

[jewelbug]

Imp: Deep woody vanilla. This wood has a definite sharpness.

 

Wet: Dark vanilla-polished wood.

 

Dry: Dark sweet vanilla, no more furniture polish, less wood than wehn whet, but the woods provide a great balance.

 

Overall: This is VERY similar to glowing vulva on my skin. This is a little less buttery/foody/creamy, but its so close on my skin that I wouldn't be able to tell the diff unless they were side by side.

 

PS: Smells a lot more woodsy and REALLY sexilicious on DH.

[brettashley]

Whoa. I the Antikythera Mechanism!! =] And I didn't think I'd like it at first too!

 

In the imp: sharp, medicinal tang. Kinda wary about putting this on....

 

Wet: mm, I'm getting more of the teakwood now. Still a bit sharp - like polished wood floors

 

Drying: Oh, this is getting yummy. The wood has subsided and allowed the vanilla to take over (can't tell what the tobacco note is - is that the smokiness? heh well that would make sense)

 

Dry: Oh dear. This is gorgeous. It's cologne-y, sure, but it's sexy when a woman wears it. PLUS I shoved my wrist under my boyf's nose - for once, he doesn't think BPAL = baby powder.

 

Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!! I'll give it a day to check wearlength but I definitely want to throw a bottle of this into my next order (even though it's GC! Oh dear.)

 

I can't stop smiling!!

[Mousesong]

It must be the teak, but I immediately get incense on this one. It smells exactly like the inside of a pagan bookstore. It's absolutely beautiful, and on the drydown I start picking up hints of the sweetness from the vanilla and this incredibly gorgeous richness that much be the tobacco I keep hearing so much about. Very intriguing, and kept me sniffing for a good long time. It also has impressive staying power.

 

Unfortunately even though it smells incredible and I could not keep practically trying to stick the imp up my nose, I can't see myself wearing it. Too evocative, if that makes sense. I'll most likely be sending it to a friend of mine who has developed an obsession for this scent, as a thank you for introducing me to BPAL.

[jencallisto]

In the imp: Fairly sharp spice-wood-sweet.

Fresh on the skin: Warms up quickly and goes a bit musky, but still with a sort of spiky forest note. For some reason it's reminding me just the tiniest bit of whiskey, maybe it's the wood-tobacco undernote -- it's kind of an earthy wood, if that makes sense. Gradually sweetens up, too, so there's also this creamy vanilla center. I smell a little like a Christmas candle, but in a good way. Perhaps that's the smokiness of the tobacco. It's a bit heady, to the point where I'm a little afraid it's going to give me a headache, but I also quite like it. We'll see how it continues.

10 minutes later: Huh. This is really waking me up -- it feels like it's clearing all the cobwebs out of my brain.

100 minutes later: This really has amazing throw. I'm really liking the scent, too -- it still smells a bit like Christmas cake candle to me (though not actually foody, exactly), but in this soft, creamy way, yet still with that bracing mind-clearing _something_.

3-4 hours later: Oddly, this has started leaning in a laundryish direction. If I put my nose right next to my wrist, I get a shot of brisk complexity, but just an inch away it's just a warm haze of generic vanilla candle.

5 hours later: Well. At least it's a warm, smoky, delicious vanilla candle. It just seems... a bit separate from me? Like, there's me, and there's this thing that I can smell, but no real melding between them. The naturalness of this scent for me just isn't there, even though I do like it. It also seems to be fading a bit fast.

13 hours later: There's still a lovely hint of it on my wrist, but I sort of have to search for it. It smells really good when I find it, though.

 

Verdict: I like it, and yet it doesn't quite feel like me, despite have all the right elements. I think I wish there was a bit more smoke and wood throughout as it develops on my skin. But I'll definitely give it another shot sometime.

[Coldfire]

Imp: oh the wood! The blend of the wood. Oh the joy!

Wet on me: Lovely wood blend and for once the tobacco is

not rancid on me.

Drying Down: still awesome woods…with traces now of

the tobacco and the vanilla.

Dry: Oh. Mah. Damn. Do I ever love this! I’m a nature

girl and I grew up watching my father make cabinets in his spare time in

his workshop. Oh the smell of the different woods. Thank you. This makes

me remember watching my daddy in the shop all those years ago. KEEPER!

[forspecial_plate]

I want to like this, I really do. I want all the beautiful things some other people got from this scent. But it just doesn't quite appeal to me.

 

I find it very rich, almost buttery, when I first apply. Then the drier woods take hold, and balance it a little. Still, something about it is just a little off for me. It's rich and dry at the same time, if that's possible, reminding me of some amber accords that I've tried (Eden Botanicals, I think), without really smelling like amber. I do like vanilla, but I have to be careful because sometimes it's too sweet or rich (Love's Philosophy). There is almost a hint of plastic in the early wet stage of this perfume. Overall, it's worth holding onto the imp to try again in a few weeks or months, but I just wasn't drawn to it in a big way. I can definitely understand how it's just "Wow" for other people, though.

[milo]

I was really expecting a scent twin to Glowing Vulva on this one. It certainly is similar, but it is more "woodsy" and masculine, maybe the male twin. This is a little too masculine for my tastes, but I sure do like it. A very sophisticated, I don't want to say "mature", but it kind of smells like something my Grandpa used to wear so maybe that's where I get the association. I'll have to try it on my guy, and see how it is.

[crebbsgirl]

Wet, the woods take a predominant seat in this blend. There is a sharp note as others have mentioned. As it dries, the vanilla and tobacco smooth them out. I can see this is going to age beautifully. The throw for me is moderate, and it seems my skin is eating it up as I just applied it three hours ago and I can barely smell it. I really like it, but I'm going to age it to see if it gets even better!

[rayvn1]

I can see why some people rave about this one. It is perfect! An amazing blend of tobacco, wood and vanilla. Not too sweet and extremely dark. I LOVE it on the husband also. I'm going to use any excuse I can to get this on either one of us

[Seismogenic]

Though I'd heard the hype about this one, that's not why I was interested in trying it. I have to say that the name is what intrigued me initially; I hadn't heard of the artifact before, but it didn't seem like the kind of name that could be made up, and BPAL prompted me to look it up. The fact that it is an incredibly cool artifact made this blend all the more appealing. Add in the fact that I like wood notes and vanilla, and that the woods-and-vanilla of Tombstone work so well on me, and I knew I had to give The Antikythera Mechanism a shot.

 

In the imp: Rich, dark, slightly sharp, sweet wood.

 

Wet on skin: This smoothes out immediately, and while the previous description still applies, it's harder to ID those as individual notes. Very nicely blended!

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, the tobacco becomes more evident, though it's not dominant at all. It's something that continues to smooth out the wood, and the vanilla is an undercurrent to that. An hour later, it's pretty much the same - wonderfully smooth, dark, and slightly sweet wood.

 

Five hours later: The same seamless blend as at the one hour mark, only slightly fainter. Definitely still very present.

 

End of the day: There's still a good amount of scent on my wrists, though at this point, it's mostly just wood, drier than it was before.

 

Overall: I can totally see why this is so popular - it's wonderful! It is, as others have said, a very refined smell; I agree with the assessment that it smells how polished dark wood looks, and that mental image does make me think of a room with antique furniture, which then plays into the whole steampunk thing. I am absolutely going to make use of this imp, if not more than that.

[teignmouth]

In the bottle: Teak and booze

On: Very heavy on the teak, a slight sweet smell under

On the dry down: Still lots of teak but it's starting to

Around half an hour later: Very very nice, still a lot of teak, but a fair amount of vanilla. It seems to shift inbetween the strong smell of teak and a softer vanilla scent. I'm really not getting much tobabbco, wich saddens me. This smells just like my great grandmothers attic to me and makes me feel so happy and nostalgic!

I'm very happy I invested in a bottle of this unsniffed!

[MCS4096]

In the Imp: The smell of a Victorian era gentleman's club.. teak and tobacco-- wood that is primarily sour, with only the slightest hint of vanilla.

 

Wet: Pretty much the same.. blows up in your face though-- VERY strong *sneeze*

 

Dry: The vanilla finally comes out-- I tend to amp vanilla, which does make this a sweeter more feminine scent on me than it was when it first went on. It becomes vanilla and tobacco, with only a bit of teak. I enjoy the concept of the whole Steamworks line, but I think I'll wear this one a few more times before I decide on a bottle as it is still a little more masculine (although it is gender neutral) than I usually wear.