The Obsidian Widow

[roseus]

Pinot noir, dark myrrh, red sandalwood, black patchouli, night-blooming jasmine, and attar of rose.

 

In the imp and wet all I got was wine. It was a nice wine, dark and grape-y. But dry is MAGIC. The pinot noir, rose, and jasmine blend wonderfully into something that's somewhere between fruity and floral, but entirely sultry and mysterious. The myrrh and patchouli add depth and nice grounding aspect, with the red sandalwood adding a little sweetness. Normally these notes read as warmth to me, but not in this blend. It's not cool toned either, but somewhere in the middle. It makes me think of running through the city at night, red lipstick, the adventure not quite over.

[Bassmastadroog]

Definitely a well blended oil. Upon opening cap, as well as application, the Pinot noir is immediately evident. I don't love that part, but it faded almost immediately. Jasmine is the next strongest note on my skin, and I believe I'm actually pretty okay with that note! I've never smelled it knowing what it is before. The attar of rose, interesting scent from Grooming Scene in a Brothel, also pokes out, but overall it stays pretty balanced. Perfumey, warm, dark red in color with a speck of white floral, and it dries down into a red incense and breath of jasmine for me. Nice. I'll use the imp, but definitely not an every day scent so I'm not sure if I'm get a bottle.

[Coldfire]

Imp: dark, red and foreboding
Wet On Me: getting slight traces of the wine and sandalwood
Drying Down: oh the rose is doing me a heckin pls to be stop amping on my skin and doing me an ewwwww
Dry: Rose. drat that damn rose on my skin

To the trade bag

[lizabelle]

Oh no. I've found another rose blend to love. BPAL is just so good at them, but I had no idea how much it would hurt my wallet when I first started trying them.

 

In general I'm a sucker for a good jasmine/rose mix and this is a beautiful one; it starts out with cool, sweet jasmine and the rose slowly amps to an exactly perfect 50/50 mix with it. Before the rose really hits the wine is very present and fruity, making a very interesting mix with the jasmine. Over time the wine fades into a lovely dark base, almost taking the place of a resin, and the sandalwood and spices make it feel sexy and surprising. The final result is like Rakshasa but turned darker; since Rakshasa is one of my favorites, I basically have to get this.

[LizziesLuck]

I love the sound of this, but in reality, wine is pretty iffy, and jasmine is a no-go. Still, I wanted to give it a shot.

 

 

Wet: I can detect both the wine and jasmine, but they swirl amongst the other notes, and so far aren't an issue. This is quite interesting. I get rose the strongest, which is not what I expected. I should have though, I amp rose to high heaven. Good thing I like it.

 

 

Dry: I think I like this!!!! Which is crazy. It's mostly a rich, heady rose. I get faint hints of jasmine, but it doesn't smell like cat pee or feces. Faint hints of wine, but it doesn't smell like sickly sweet grape candy. This is kind of a miracle, and I am tempted to get a bottle simple for the fact that I can WEAR this!! And there's jasmine!! So crazy.

[Pixie-elf]

So, I have Black Widow on one wrist, and Obsidian Widow on the other, to see how they compare.

 

In the Imp: WIIIIINE!

The Wine note says "Hey there!" and pretty much just crawled up my nose, a lot like Black Widow's did. I feel kind of like I could actually have drank this Pinot Noir, with as strong as this smells. Then a little Rose rears it's head. Oh please don't dominate...

Thankfully it isn't, and the Jasmine is also entering the stage. Along with a little of a sweet, almost fruit note I noticed in Black Widow? It's not taking center stage, it's just there, anchoring the roses and Jasmine. It's really gorgeous.

Oh God, after like 20 minutes I'm amping roses again. If you like roses, you'll love this.

It's really a lovely blend, where I said Black Widow was Nyx's little sister, Obsidian seems to be perfectly capable of throw. She has way more roses than Nyx. Less Jasmine. Still nice!

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

Given my feelings about both spiders and jasmine, it was definitely "impish" of the Lab to include an imp of this with my last order! However, you just never know until you try it on. I don't smell jasmine at all: on me, the Widow is rose blended with the wine note I associate with Lady MacBeth. There's a hint of myrrh on the drydown, but it doesn't have a great deal of throw. I like it but do not love--I generally prefer the "fresh" rose scents to the murkier ones, if that makes sense.

[Nikki Scarlet]

This was originally an imp ordered by a friend of mine that, in the end, she decided wasn't what she'd hoped it would be, so she said I could add it to my swap pile. Before I do that, though, I wanted to give it a try. It's not really something I would normally think to order for myself (oh no, patchouli is one of the notes . . . ), but you never know you'll like something until you try it!

In the imp:
Immediate first sniff reaction is "WHUF, WINE." I'm not a drinker and wine in particular tends to give me a bit of a headache. However, after the first sniff I start getting some of the florals, which are nice.

On me, wet:
Boozy. Headachey. But then nice flowers. But then wine again.

On me, dry:
Roses floating in wine. . . . Aaaand something sour. Yecch. I like rose but there are other rose scents that don't make my head hurt.

Verdict:
Not for me. To swaps you go!

[gloame]

Grape? Rose? Grape-y roses. I can't decide if I love this or hate it. As it dries, the grape goes more wine (thankfully) and there's this really unusual mix of dry rose and jasmine. Rose is usually a death note for me, but I love jasmine. Here, the rose is really working and I think I like this a lot. Maybe not enough for a bottle, but I'll keep the imp.

 

Where I'd wear this: A long, dark walk home in a women-kicking-ass movie

[achildoftime]

I'm not crazy about any of the notes listed, but this almost works for me. I get a lot of red wine, but the patchouli makes it deeper and more wearable for me. When I sniff it, my nose doesn't immediately register the flowers. After a second of lingering, though, I notice some jasmine. It's a little heavier than the scents I usually wear, so I had my beloved sniff and he mostly just got talcum powder. Sure enough the myrrh had made everything turn to powder. That makes the decision easy, I guess.

[cassiejaynebunk]

This is almost all rose on me, mixed with the scent of nail polish. I can start to smell the wine on the dry down and the jasmine, but it stays strong on the rose, until at the end it dries down into powder. *sad face* i love patchouli, but i get none of it here.

Edited February 17, 2018 by cassiejaynebunk

[torischroeder9]

Interestingly, I received two imps of this -- both from post-Lab sources on the same day. I thought it would be fun to review them together. 

 

Imp 1 is a medium yellow in color; its label looks to be the newer of the two, though I can't definitively attribute that to age and not storage/exposure conditions. Imp 2 is a dark gold, almost orange color. 

 

In the imp: Imp 1 smells prominently of pinot noir, with myrrh and sandalwood readily detectable. In Imp 2, the pinot noir is still the main player, but the attar of rose is much more present at the outset. They are both still recognizably the same perfume. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, Imp 1 is pinot noir and sandalwood, with patchouli also making itself noticeable. Imp 2's wet stage is attar of rose and patchouli; the pinot noir isn't predominant at all. (Testing in separate elbow crooks, so the scents should not cross over each other.)

 

On the initial drydown, Imp 1 becomes attar of rose and myrrh, with the pinot noir detectable but very much along the edges of the scent; it really is like the "ghost" of the scent. At the same stage, Imp 2 is almost entirely attar of rose on me (this is a fairly common occurrence for anything rose + me). 

 

At approximately thirty minutes after application, the scents from both imps are identical to my nose. The attar of rose is the dominant scent, softened by the mrryh and grounded by what I'm assuming is the sandalwood and the patchouli. I can't actually detect these last two scents, but I have a lot of other BPAL scents where one or both of them is working as a grounding scent, and the attar of rose is behaving as if one or both of them is present (I can smell the rose and only the rose, but it feels deeper, and it's not giving me a headache or going at all soapy). 

 

This is a seep, sophisticated, femme fatale rose on me. Rose scents aren't often my thing, but I may make an exception for this one. However, I do get lots of throw from this -- as I usually do from rose -- which may limit its appropriate wearing venues. 

[monocainsheresy]

The pinot, rose, and jasmine holding hands with the myrrh and sandalwood trailing along behind. No patchouli.

[BorealBacchante]

This is a gorgeous rose made sexy and dark by the rose attar feel the other notes give. Pinot is there but I don’t know if I would have identified it sniffing it blind. Just glows deep sexy red. Somehow very sweet without ever coming out of the inky black red impression. Took awhile for some patch to rumble out through the florals. I really like rose and love when it is blended so nicely. 

 

I really love this one! 

[supreme_c0rt]

Dark red fruit and jammy on the wet phase. To my nose it's grape juice more than wine. Tannins are very evident. Makes me thirsty for Kedem. This settles into a delightful jammy rose (like Lush's Rose Jam but not as sweet). I wish it would stay here forever. Alas. A few minutes in, the jasmine pushes its way to the front and it joins the myrrh to settle into an indolic, moody floral. The patch isn't noticeable and the sandalwood is similarly very quiet. They ground the blend but this is foremost a jammy rose/jasmine scent with dark grape resins.

 

If you like the hothouse jasmine variety (big indole) this should be up your alley. If you liked Caterpillar you will probably adore this (I find it has a similar feel but it's simpler). Widow is classic BPAL to me -- big assertive floral attitude but dark, moody, and sensual at the same time. I like this more than I thought I would even if it's a bit too heady for me.

 

Edited January 21, 2021 by supreme_c0rt

[Rane.]

I've an imp of this, maybe 2 or 3 years old. Never really worn it or studied it. It has all the notes I love, so I think I will buy a bottle of this. Spicy, a hint of rose attar, deepened with sandalwood, myrrh & patchouli, followed by the Pinot Noir & jasmine. Lovely!

[skyturtles]

This is... interesting. I have an imp of unknown age. Out of the imp and wet I get the myrrh with some fruitiness (wine I guess?) and the rose. On my skin the jasmine bobs in and out, attempting to take control over the rose. That myrrh and pinot keep it all from turning into a plainly floral scent. As it dries down, it really becomes softer as the resins go to sleep. Unfortunately I'm not a big fan of florals (= soap & baby powder) but this was creative and I can see why people would be a fan of it!

[splendidissima]

I also have an imp of unknown age! It goes on as loud wine and roses - I don't really get the other notes, but I think they're doing something to keep it from being too sweet, because it's not as sweet as I might've expected. Maybe a hint of sandalwood?

 

After a few minutes, it's calming down and less loud, but still very much wine + roses - dark deep red roses, a little spicy, a little woodsy.

[MolyH]

This smells like a beautiful, dry red wine. In fact, it's giving me strong flashbacks to drinking way too much wine with my dad back when I just turned 18. Eventually, towards the very tail end, the wine disappears, leaving a grapey floral, but this scent lasts and lasts and lasts. I put it on at 10am in the morning, and it didn't start fading until at least 6pm.

[sudenmorsian]

On 9/6/2013 at 5:44 AM, stillalive said:

Initially, I keep thinking "whoa, is that Blood Kiss???" but then I sniff my arm and nope, it smells nothing like Blood Kiss. But from a distance, there's something very similar about the two.

I was thinking that too! There's something distantly like Blood Kiss, but at the same time not at all.

 

Wet this is very much pinot noir. Wet on the skin the rose amps and I'm not very fond of rose, as there are only few rose scents that work for me. Not sure yet if this is going to be one of those. When wet this is slightly soapy on me but soapiness fades luckily. I was hoping to get much more jasmine as I usually love it, but there's just a hint of it. Well, the hint is still better than nothing at all. 

 

30 minutes drying and I think this is pretty nice but am I keeping the bottle? Not sure yet. Pinot noir and rose are dominating notes but the rose is behaving. I get grapes from the wine and jasmine is finally more than just a hint but not overpowering, not much patchouli. Maybe patchouli is keeping other notes from getting too sweet.

 

My loved one walked to the room and said immediately "mmm you smell very good", so there must be at least good throw. I think I am keeping the bottle for now and let it age. I suppose it will age well. 

Edited January 14 by sudenmorsian