No. 93 Engine

[suileach]

Beeswax candles reflect flickering light onto a brass-coated boiler engraved with the words "Solve Et Coagula". The gargantuan boiler sends torrents of steam into rigid pipes that exert force onto innumerable pistons and turbine blades. The motion is harnessed to propel energy into gargantuan cogs and gears that move liquid metals, herbs, and resins into a series of alembics.

Balm of Gilead, benzoin, frankincense, balsam of peru, beeswax, saffron, galbanum, calamus, hyssop, mastic, lemon balm, and white sage.

This blend is so freaking amazing I'm struggling to find words for it. It's like...like an engine fueled by honey mead, crushed flowers, and warm, spicy resins.

I recognize the Balm of Gilead from Sagittarius - god, I LOVE this note - and when I first opened the vial there was a strong, almost peppery bite of some kind. At first I thought I'd opened the wasabi honey scent (Nostrum Remedium) by mistake!

The beeswax is abso-effing-lutely GORGEOUS in this. I want to eat my arm. It is that delicious and realistic smelling. I rarely have luck with BPAL's honey or beeswax, which has typically made me quite sad indeed, as I adore honey. But this..this works on me and by far surpasses my expectations.

GET THIS SCENT. It is awesome. It's like wearing happy, buzzing mechanical bees!



eta: This is super long wearing! It's now 14 hours later, and my arm still smells like honeycomb. Edited May 5, 2008 by Shollin

[scarletgenesis]

Really long wearing and beautiful! I'm getting full-frontal resins here. It's like all these resins and herbs got cooked down into a golden syrup, and then strangely, spread over a copper pipe. Sounds sort of weird and obscene, but it blends together so well that it is as if the notes in this blend were all trying to find themselves, and realized their true purpose when they came together as one.

 

 

So glad I got a bottle!

[Ina Garten Davita]

This is rich, herb-infused mead. The sage/honey combo is unmistakable and completely divine. The benzoin gives a smooth vanilla-like backdrop. Mechanically delicious.

 

Honey is a big problem for me. I adore the scent in the bottle but my skin hates it. This might just be the exception.

[tartchef]

No. 93 Engine just had to be tried... frankincense, beeswax, saffron, YUM!

 

In the vial & wet, there's this strangely familiar scent - sweet-tart-faintly powdery, sort of evergreen & citrus with a crumbly resin background... As it dries, the crumbliness smooths out, and the spiny evergreen needles give way to glossy leaves. The sage emerges, just a trace, as does the frankincense & beeswax... the lemon balm is still a bit punchy, a high crunchy citrus note that masks the other layers somewhat. Shame, because what I can sniff underneath is amazing... the beeswax note here is especialy fabulous, creamy & waxy with a touch of strong honey. Married with the frankincense & other resins, it's the perfect dripping-candles-at-Mass scent

 

I'll hang onto my imp & see if a few weeks of aging bring the lemon balm in line - if it works, No. 93 is big bottle material!

 

ETA: So I posted my review, then went downstairs & carried a big basket of laundry back up. That small bit of activity must have upped my body temperature by a magic half degree, because suddenly all the lemon balm is gone & I am awash in possibly the most divine honey & incense scent ever made... Holy crow, Beth, this is stunning. It must be the mastic, throwing off this amazing smoke, and the honey is salty & waxy & just... gah!

 

So, lesson learned. Do your laundry!

 

ETA much later: Holy hell. A bit of aging & No. 93 just keeps getting better & better. The lemon balm calmed down about 3 months ago, and the rest of the notes have melded into a stunning bright resinous scent that is absolutely divine. This is giving aged Sri Lanka a run for its money

Edited September 23, 2008 by tartchef

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Herbs, lemon, and spices.

 

Immediately on skin: This is an interesting mix of deep resins, herbs, lemon, and warm beeswax and saffron. It’s a balanced scent, with notes hitting all ends of the spectrum: the lemon balm is rather high, while the saffron gives this a grounded feel and the resins and herbs flit around in the middle. The balm of Gilead is very obvious in this, and gives it a dried, warm flowers type of overall feel.

 

After a little while: Something in this is starting to turn my stomach a little. I think it’s the combination of the balm of Gilead plus the beeswax and saffron (and maybe some of the other notes… I don’t know what half of them even smell like). Anyway, this smells oddly dry, slightly sharp, and creamy at the same time.

 

Overall Impressions: This has a lot going on; it’s a very complex scent. It’s very resinous, warm, and herbal with that odd craft store note that the balm of Gilead lends to this. There’s just a hint of the lemon balm upon drydown, but it blends unusually with the other notes and the combo of everything just doesn’t smell right to my nose. I’m sure this will be magic on others though.

[iiinterstate]

First impression: lemon and herbs.

 

a few minutes later: lemon and herbs and....honey maybe?

 

I think I amp lemon balm which is kind of a bummer, I was really interested in the complexity of this blend. I'll hold on to this imp for a little while and see how everything settles, then give it another shot.

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is herbal, lemon and honey...wonderful!!

 

once applied this is sooooooo amazing...the beeswax and saffron come forefront and

then take a step back...the notes in this are so well blended and utterly unique...i am in love

 

a big bottle purchase is most definitely required !!

[penemuel]

No. 93 Engine is AMAZING. Spicy resinous herbal sweet -- all at once! YUM! Oooh -- that must be the beeswax and benzoin, and the saffron, and sage, and *faints*

 

Must have bottle!

[gypsysingleton]

This is very nice...

 

It starts off sweet and then goes mildly spicy (I'd swear that there was carnation in this but I don't see it in the notes)

 

I wish I got more of the notes like the safforn, lemon balm and frankincense but an hour in I'm still only getting spicy carnation (weird..)

[Honeygirl]

Bottle: Balsam, beeswax and saffron, all warm

 

Wet: Love this! I smell the beeswax and balsam primarily, then under it is saffron, lemon balm and other warming scents like frankincense. I need a bottle.

 

Drydown: I don't understand how the lemon can make this a light scent and everything else a warm scent, and have it mesh together so perfectly.

3.5 outta 5

[Jilara]

TRAINS!! It smells like a steam train! But the most polished and well-oiled steam train ever.

 

It goes on wet with a smell of lubricating oil, then a bronze fitting smell comes out, and it becomes all about hot bronze with fascinating oils and polishes as it dries. It also has a slight undertone of brass and cannons just fired. But the overall impression is definitely that of a train engine.

[Heavenlyrabbit]

Must. Have. Bottle

 

This will age so beautifully.

 

There is nothing like this in the BPAL Lexicon. Can't think of anything to compare it to.

 

And it's general catalog. We are all so damned lucky. I could cry.

[windbourne]

I'm beginning to think that this one is one of my Scent Grails, as it were. Beeswax + herbal notes + warm golden tones = magic!

 

In the imp, it doesn't smell particularly lovely to the nose, being somewhat sour and waxy, but as soon as it touches my skin, the beeswax and frankincense and everything else blend together into a super-gorgeous whole -- incense and candles and dried spices. To me it smells like night in the kitchen of an abbey with one lone candle left burning to keep the night away. It's beautiful, golden and mysteriously pure.

 

The throw varies considerably depending on how much I've applied, but even the tiniest amount lasts for quite a long time -- at least four hours before it starts fading to obscurity. It remains quite consistent in tone from start to finish, though on me (as you may be able to tell) the beeswax and frankincense are the strongest notes. The lemon balm seems much stronger wet, but fades out almost entirely.

 

This scent is definitely bottle worthy. I've already transfered my imp into a mini rollerball vial for easier slathering, and I can tell it won't last long.

[AliBabble]

the imp i got of this is my absolute favorite thing, from my last order. happily enough, there is something in this which, at first, reminds me of the TAL white light, which is an amazing, magical scent for me. 93 engine is very satisfying, because it's not really sweet - it's more zingy and herbal, but very calming. at first it's almost like eucalyptus, then reminds me a bit of turpentine (i love the smell of turperntine). i think it's the balsam (i used to use wella balsam shampoo, and there's a hint of that smell). the scent warms up and gets more resin-y, and saffron-y. this is the best thing i've smelled from the lab in a while. i want a bottle.

[savage_rose]

For whatever reason, this smells like a spicy vanilla on me...there are a hint of herbs in the background. But it's basically just a light, soft scent on me. It's nice enough, just not what I was expecting!

 

ETA: I tried this again at Whole Foods, and it was like a vanilla herbal cologne...it smelled SO good.

Edited May 31, 2008 by savage_rose

[ElinaMakropulos]

Right out of the bottle and on my skin I get sweet, warm resins. I absolutely adore this scent, it's sexy without being overtly "womanly" and my husband and I can share it. It's a cup of mead sweetened with honey and herbs, it's sacred resins in a shadowy stone temple, it's the wax cone of scent atop an Egyptian princess's plaited wig, melting in the sun and scenting the air, light yet rich.

 

It's genius!

[sarada]

Okay. Wow. I've been wearing this on my skin, in my locket, at night, and during the day, for a week now and I am so overwhelmed with love for this blend that I don't even know what to say about it. But for anyone who watches my reviews -- this could very well be a new all-time favorite for me. Don't hesitate to scoop it up -- it is perfect.

 

First, there's an herbal beeswax scent that reminds me of my favorite parts of Luperci -- this is also the strongest when I wear it in the locket or first put it on. The simmering warm waxy scent of ritual, a perfect balance of the natural and the alchemical. On my skin and after long wear in the locket the overwhelming scent of warm, gritty, earthy resins is the main note -- the sort of ecclesiastical resinous incense of Heavenly Love & Earthly Love, but even stronger and without the powdery notes. Could this be any more perfect?? The resins are sweet, a tiny bit spicy (they seem to be playing dress-up in robes of carnation and myrrh).

 

I am constantly intoxicated with the beauty of this scent. It puts me in the mind of dark cathedrals converted for use as alchemical workshops -- green growth breaking through the stained glass windows, climbing over the wooden pews as the air fills with the honeyed smoke of beeswax candles and crackling, melting mounds of fresh golden resin.

 

This is really GC? Really?? I can get more whenever I need it??

[Reaver]

This is lemony beeswax, but green. A little bit like a cheap scented candle, but pleasant enough. This is NOT the honey that my skin hates and makes me headachey and grouchy. This is bright beeswax with Yankee Candle Pine and Cedar. It's fairly constant from imp through wet to dry for me, and fairly flat.

 

Conclusion - Keep the imp, see how I feel later.

4/10. Expected a lot more.

[alicia_stardust]

No. 93 Engine is sooooo amazing. It has a honey-beeswax-herbal vibe to it, and that sits over a bevy of warm resins. Something about this is almost atmospheric, magical, familiar. I get a bare hint of saffron and the Balm of Gilead is freaking amazing! It's truly unique and completely a work of art. It's going to be a favorite for a lot of people.

 

(Is it just me or is there a stage in there that smells just a little bit like Voodoo Queen?)

[inurbanus]

No. 93 Engine actually smells like a church to me. I know that there are plenty of blends out there that are based around the concept, and since I really like resin-y scents, I've tried and enjoyed a lot of them. However, most of them are based solely on resins, while No. 93 Engine incorporates the whole "church" package: I can smell soft incense smoke, beeswax candles, even a little bit of stone. It's very atmospheric, and I don't know how often I can actually wear this one, but I really love the smell -- I know it'll make an excellent room scent, that's for sure. If you like resins, you should really try this one. It's different, but that's part of its appeal.

 

4.5/5

[kelpsoda]

This is really different, and unique. And I have no idea what half the compents smell like, so bear with me.

 

Wet: I can smell the lemony beeswax right off, but then I get a sharp, spicy, sickly sweet smell on top of that. This has some bad moments where it reminds me of some industrial cleaner.

 

Dry: It calms down, but is still heavy into the resins and herbs, sharp and golden. Not my thing, but definitely interesting.

[slave1]

NO. 93 ENGINE

 

In Bottle: Beeswax, herbs and resin

 

On Skin: Number 93 is just a good number, so of course I was drawn to this. Plus I *heart* the scent of beeswax more than I can explain. I smell it right away here, there’s no hiding it. The resins and incense are lovely, very mellow and just enough… just a nice spicy haze like the scent of a room about 15 minutes after the incense has burnt itself out. It started herbal but the herbs fade quickly as does the lemon. Overall on me it is soft, velvety, exotic and warm… entirely gorgeous. Fans of incense need to try this blend. It really comforts me and blankets me with it’s softness. This is bottleworthy for sure! It has a light throw and average wearlength.

[Sushi-n-Sake]

In bottle: Beeswax, citrus, and resins

Wet: Beeswax and frankincense with a hint of herbal

Dry: A lovely warm blend of resins

 

Verdict: No. 93 Engine has made it into my top 5. This is a perfect resin blend, and I do love my resins!

[lysithea]

This was very resiny, with a sweet edge. I expect that it will age well. Initially, there was something that reminded me of Black Phoenix, although I haven't a clue as to why. I can't wear BP without it turning into cola and dried flowers on me. Go figure.

 

No#93 Engine was a lovely resiny blend with long wearing notes of honeyed beeswax and herbs. I didn't pick up the lemon balm. Usually, that note amps crazy on my skin. The saffron was very well behaved here as well. The balsam and mastic lend an interesting touch making this very unisex without being overly masculine nor swinging too far towards the feminine side - a great match for those that like to play with gender balance in their fragrances.

 

The drydown is just too lovely to describe accurately. This blend is unique and one of my favorites of the Streampunk line.

[greenranger]

In the imp, sweet and resiny? A tang of oiled metal.

 

On me, beeswax. Then, several scents that I can't recognise, but, together they smell like very pleasantly scented machine oils and metal. Moving parts lubricated with natural oils, rather than petroleum oils. The beeswax has been swallowed up and blended into the rest of the scent, and now I can't pick any one thing out.

 

 

This is neat! I'm not entirely certain that I will want to smell like this often, but, the scent does make me think of a machine shop where everything is polished, lubricated, and fueled by things that aren't petrochemicals, and the main metal isn't steel, but brass.