Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht

[Chapanis]

Amber, cream accord, white honey, apple blossom, skin musk, caramel, and teak.

I am not a foody lover. This was not one of my initial top picks. In the bottle it smells like foody caramel. On the caramel moves back and fresh crisp green apples and teak come forward. I didn't think I liked apples in perfume, but this is nice. The woody teak and amber notes ground it and warms it up. Cream is very light and far in the background with the musk and caramel. Overall it is very well blended and quite nice. This should be lovely in the fall, but is not to strong for warmer days either. I am glad I have my bottle.

[midnight_aeval]

This is very much a sophisticated, sexier 'Creepy' in the final dry down stage. This one is dolled up, ready for the show, but I'd rather have the plain old carmel apple from the cart outside of the Grindhouse. I love the unsophisticatedness of Creepy, carmel and apples, that's all I require, sorry Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht!

[lefthandmade]

From the vial and wet on the skin I get rum, which is strange because there is no rum listed with her.

It's probably the caramel playing tricks on me but in the initial stages she does remind me slightly of ELEGBA even if she calms down very quickly and gives room for something I can't really describe. Is this the teak? She stays close to the skin and maybe she's a little woody but I think I get the skin musk, and the cream.

I'll let her do her magic on my skin for a little while and check on her later.

 

I braved it and put her on both wrists and behind ears and even in the cleavage. I don't think she can go wrong on me.

Ooh i'm getting apple now, from the inside of my wrists, blending with caramel and something interesting happens. She's not a candy girl, oh no, she's very sophisticated. She reminds me a little of RED LANTERN, only she's cleaner and nicer.

 

Oh crap there her cream goes sour on my wrist. Let's hope she gets past that stage and that's all it is. ELEGBA did back in the day.

 

Aaand we're back. She recovered and it didn't take long.

No she is very very gorgeous. A bottle is already ordered.

 

Just before posting this i layered her with RED LANTERN and it's a very good combination. Suddenly she's a very bad girl, but without losing her beauty.

[kakiphony]

In the imp: Caramel with a hint of something light and floral on the front of the palate as I sniff.

 

Wet on skin: Caramel, but not a deep dark caramel. This is light and golden. The floral I smelled in the bottle is missing at this stage.

 

Early dry down (10 minutes): The floral note I smelled at the beginning has risen, lending a more sophisticated vibe to the caramel. I tend to stay away from all florals except fruit blossoms, since they seem to be light enough for me to escape the rhinitus reaction most florals cause. (The orange blossom in Vixen and the ylang ylang in Hetairae, for example, work quite nicely on me.) The apple blossom in this is staying true to that generalization. It is definitely a floral, but it is light and sweet enough that it is not making me sneeze.

 

Late dry down (45 minutes): This really is very like Red Lantern, only without a smoky note. The caramel lends on on-going sweetness, but the star is the wood mixed with apple blossom.

[Andrea912]

I am pulling no caramel, which bites because that's why I ordered it. Lovely cream honey; skin musk; very soft, though; I'd have to bathe in it for any effect long term.

[windbourne]

GRRAH. This one tops my list of 'things I tried because I -wanted- to love them, even though the notes made me sigh heavily'. Things I can't seem to wear: cream (turns to dust), teak (takes over and beats up everything else in the room), apple blossom (sickeningly sweet fake apple almost every time), and most caramel.

 

The initial whiff on my arm gave me an unreasonable amount of hope -- it was lovely, sweet, but not excessively so, with a light apple-y tone over caramel and sugar, with just enough muskiness to keep it from being pure dessert.

 

I gave it five minutes, and she showed me the face I feared -- and now, after an hour and a half, it's become uber-sweet dusty, woody Horrible. I'm not expecting it to change much after this point.

 

Long story short -- if these notes like you, then bless your chemistry. ^-^ I wish I could wear them, but I still can't. Phooey.

[Wwindy]

Such a gorgeous note list, and such a fascinating blend in the vial!

 

Amber, cream accord, skin musk, and teak are all generally fabulous on me, and indeed they are here. The apple blossom is very faint on me, probably a good thing since I'm not a huge fan of either florals or fruit. I don't even mind the sweet caramel, which is quite strong in the imp and on initial application -- it meshes nicely with the other notes, and dies down somewhat as the blend dries. Alas, what it leaves in its place is something oddly gritty and discordant, not really burnt but... aha, I know! On my skin it smells like heated-up brown sugar, as opposed to caramel, if that makes any sense.

 

I like everything here except that one off-putting element; I'll test again in a few days and see if it works better then. Otherwise I think I'll be keeping my decant, but not going for a bottle.

[Mishinka]

Wow, that is sweet in the bottle. Caramel and honey and apple-y flowers. There's a note in it I can't quite identify, I would say either the musk or the teak. It just doesn't fit in with the sweetness.

 

Wet, the skin musk and honey come on strong. I might notice a bit of apple in the background of this one too. I'm not noticing the teak or the caramel, but this is an odd, musky-sweet smell. I really liked the skin musk in the Tamamo-no-mae, but this isn't quite the same note. That smelled just like skin warm from exertion or being in the sun, but this one is really strongly musky. The contrast just doesn't work for me. Especially now that it's dried super-musky with a funny sweet note to it that I think is apple. Yes, apple. Musky apples. Pass, thanks.

[Magpie]

OK, when I first smelled this in the imp, it was 'Miskatonic University's sweeter, naughtier, less coffee-addicted sister'. It still gives me that impression, but it seems to oscillate between caramel with a slightly sharp scent like sandalwood (Miskatonic University's tendencies for me), honey apple blossom loveliness and verging on the slightly soapy.

 

Weirdly enough, Miskatonic University goes to caramel on me, and Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht seems to morph vaguely in the direction of irish coffee! I like this, though it isn't as creamy-candy-sweet as I expected. I don't have Miskatonic University here to compare, but the nice thing about this is that it doesn't have the flat yucky sandalwood tendency that Miskatonic University (among others) has. Mm, rather like, though it strikes me as too like Miskatonic U to really make me sit up in my seat. Warms up beautifully, and is quite subtle and close to the skin on me.

Edited July 16, 2008 by Magpie

[tehriaz]

I can't sniff this even lightly without coughing. this is one of the most nauseating bpals I've ever smelled. it's burnt plastic and cloying head-aching sweetness.

 

this is HORRID

[nekogrrl]

I get a lot of Glowing Vulva, just much much sweeter thanks to the caramel in this.

 

On the skin, now it's teaky creamy caramel. Can't really smell the amber or musk, although I think they keep the cream and caramel from taking over completely and going HIIIIIIIII!! WE'RE SWEET!!

 

It's nice, but I don't know if I want a full bottle.

Edited July 18, 2008 by nekogrrl

[moon_lemming]

My last experience with amber (Inez) was not that pleasant, so I'm hoping it will take a backseat in this blend. Even though all signs point to HAHA, NO, since it's the first note listed.

 

First sniff... actually repelled by the scent in the imp. I think it's the cream plus the honey, it is very very cloying.

 

Okay, on me, this is just gross. My skin is amping something WRONG, so everything blended together smells like celery dipped in caramel. Sprinkled with salt.

 

That did not go very well. Um, yay no amber?

[astarinel]

A very foody, buttery caramel. It was incredibly, overpoweringly sweet on me, with almost a nuttiness that made me think of caramel popcorn or cracker jack or something. This had a lot of staying power on me, and a decent amount of throw that made me crave caramels for hours. I don't really like smelling like "single note caramel" and I was really disappointed that the other notes seemed determined to hide behind a thick, gooey wall of caramel.

 

While I like foody scents, too much cloying sweetness or buttery scent is definitely a deal-breaker, and this falls into the cloying range.

 

ETA: Tried it again after a few months before swapping it away, no change. So apparently the amount of caramel wasn't an age or mixing issue for me, it's just that my skin is all, "Caramel? YES! TURN IT UP!"

Edited December 6, 2008 by astarinel

[moontess]

Huh. Caramel. I forgot about that until I opened the decant. For some reason it smells familiar... *tests*

 

...oh. *calmly chops hand off*

 

It was Incubus. Freaking (admittedly evil) celery salt. I'm going to blame this on how my skin translates the shared characteristics of caramel sweet/skin musk/bright floral (or in Incubus' case, herbal). Excuse me while I dispose of my hand.

 

Lavada, I should check your other reviews for scent twin status, because Incubus = celery on me too. And, at first, so did Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht. I put it on and even my husband agreed it was warm celery. Blech.

 

But we had went out to dinner tonight so I didn't have a chance to wash it off. And now that I've given her a chance she smells of skin musk and caramel. But the celery stage lasts too long for me to get a bottle.

Edited July 21, 2008 by Shollin

[djsiberia]

wet/in imp: delicious. creamy amber caramel goodness.

 

on me: um, while still wet, it reminds me of red lantern.

 

dry down: um, not digging this so much. it's turning into a sharp sickly sweet gooey mess. it's starting to get that perfumey scent that i'm not too fond of.

 

i'm thinking i'm going to stick with red lantern and o...

[gchris]

In Vial: Sweet and clean

 

Wet: Sweet, creamy, buttery carmel. Very foody.

 

Dry: Smells like butternut and carmel with a hint of something soapy.

[ankhfangirl72]

I get a creamy butterscotchy scent when it's still wet but dries down into hazlenutty goodness. Seriously, I know hazlenut isn't a listed note but it's what I get. A chemistry thing maybe? Anyway, after that the apple blossom comes out and mixes with the hazlenut. I'm not generally a fan of foody scents but this is gorgeous

[veronicafranco]

hmm. put me in the caramel-dipped celery salt camp.

where's the sad-yet-relieved-i-don't-need-this-one-either icon?

[Rovylern]

In the bottle: Honey and apples. Mmm.

 

Wet: Caramel apples and soft amber. So far so good, the teak hasn't come out to play.

 

Drydown: The skin musk comes out and makes this much less foody. The apple and caramel fades out almost completely, but the honey lingers as a very soft sweetness. I get a hint of the teak at the very end of the wear, and it does give me a bit of the sawdust that most wood notes do on my skin. This fades out quickly, but has a good throw while it lasts.

[Champagne]

When I put it in my arm and I enjoyed a honeyed apple, foody and sweet heaven, my bf was frozen in horror cause he sensed his most dreaded vegetable stink, yes my dears, he smelled celery on me in an instant I love Agrat and his complex sweetness but I think I`ll have to put in my solitary moments

[Epiphany]

Well, with my love of honey in general and my worshipful adoration of Glowing Vulva I figured I should give this a shot.

 

In the imp it smells very much like Villainess Grampa Joe. Creamy caramel toffee, with a bit of a boozyness.

 

Wet: Uh...ooohkay...what am I smelling now? The caramel toffee niceness was rapidly replaced by...ass. Yes. Ass. Don't ask me how I know, it was just bad, okay? As though somehow an evil fruity/floral wandered over to my Glowing Vulva and curdled it*.

 

Drying: Now, to be fair, the ass of this was very subtle, as opposed to the evil of Milk Moon 07...though it fits into that same general category of 'things that smelled nice in the bottle gone horribly wrong'. Also, in its defense, after concluding that fifteen minutes of sniffing and re-sniffing and making my boyfriend sniff my arm and both of us going "ugh! that's AWFUL" was quite enough of that, Agrat washed off with surprising ease. Points for not sticking around where it wasn't wanted.

 

So...yeah...no to that one.

 

*Thinking of this made me realize that if something DID happen to the Glowing Vulva I might have a spontaneous aneurysm. Dear lord. I need to get a climate controlled safe.

[any_old_actress]

First Sniff: Woah, this stuff is potent at first sniff. Apples and honey.

 

Wearing It: Apples still, but the caramel starts to kick in making it sweet and candy-like. The apple remains really prominent, but it mellows slightly to a creamy, honey apple scent. This will be really nice in the fall

 

Final Verdict: I like it!

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 2/5

Summarised in a few words/smilie: Musky burnt plastic.

 

Preconceived notions/pre-review thoughts: The listed notes are all ones I adore, but the mentions of "burnt plastic" leave me wary.

 

In the imp: Salty, slightly woody caramel!

 

On skin, wet: No sign of plastic yet, just a very golden, woody, musky amber-caramel that I'm finding absolutely beautiful.

 

On skin, dry: ....Burnt plastic. Musky, sweet burnt plastic, but burnt plastic all the same.

 

Conclusion: Caramel is hit-or-miss with me. It's fantastic in Red Lantern; not so much in Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht. I love it in the vial and while wet, so I'll definitely give it a try in a scent locket.

[arabella]

First Impression: Sweet with a hint of wood.

 

Dries down to: A very soft, slightly sweet scent that stays close to the skin.

 

Additional Comments: I don't get any apple blossom at all and, thankfully, the honey is beautifully contained by the amber, teak and musk. Honey, normally, amps up horribly on my skin and was the reason I hesitated to get this "lady" but I'm glad I did. After the first few minutes, it's almost impossible to pick out any individual notes as they all blend and become a soft, warm veil around me - a great blend for daily wear as it won't offend anyone. It does, however, fade very quickly on me.

 

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

[hepkitten]

GOD, Beth is good with honey scents. That said, though, the drydown did a funky sharp thing on me...I think it was the amber/teak combination that made it happen. Grr...I LOVED this at first. Locket, perhaps?