Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht

[Belladonnastrap]

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

I feel like Mario from the Super Mario Brothers video games series reviewing this lol. "It's-a me! Belladonnastrap!" Anyway I'm so so thankful to Beth and the Lab for letting me take part in this amazing series. I love you guys! I'm not worthy!

First Sniff
Like Red Lantern and O got together and did nasty, dirty, NAUGHTY things in the backroom of a honey hive. I keep reading that this smells like one of the Shunga scents (which I never smelled so I can't attest to that) but I suppose it makes sense considering in the picture a guy has been killed right after coitus. My skin chemistry rarely amps caramel until much much later but I do get the lovely skin musk note in O that makes me go "Oooooooooh." I can't smell any apple on me which is odd because next to skin musk and amber, apple is the one note that you can smell on me miles away. It's somewhat foody but yet not. I'm a big fan of gourmand scents that don't leave one smelling like a bakery and this delivers. It's a very sensual smell. Go me!


Wet
Ah-HA! There is the caramel and apple. Pretty much the same as first sniff but wet the more subtle nuances come out. Make no mistake this IS somewhat foody but it's upscale. The apple prevents the whole scent from becoming just O or Red Lantern 2.0 by giving it a bit of tart and tang to it. No cream accord yet but if it's anything like Loves Philosophy it'll take a couple of hours for the cream to kick in on me. I do want to talk about the honey note though. It doesn't smell like any honey I'm accustomed to. It is honey, make no mistake about that but it's a light almost fruity honey.


Drydown
BRB HUMPING ARM. No seriously, this is delicious. All the elements mellow into this rich, heady scent that is pretty subtle until you get close and then BAM! All the elements smack you in the face with deliciousness. The cream really comes out to play on the drydown of this , you'd think it would bump it over to ZOMGSWEET catagory but really it enhances everything else. Up to this point I got no teak whatsoever. Zilch, nada. Now I get the teak and wow, it completely elevates the perfume into something else. It's a dark gourmand scent. I suppose I'm a bit biased but I think the perfume perfectly captures the scene and mood of the painting. There's that deep decadent er...sexual aspect of it but there's a definite tang to it. The staying power is pretty darn long, I put it on around 8:00am before I left for work and I (and my co-workers, this ish has some major throw whoa!) could smell it around 2:00pm. It was even remarked that around my desk it smelled like sex, so a word of caution with that

Aftermath
PLS BE TO BUYING ME KTHXBYE. Let me stop, no this is an amazing scent. I'm thrilled that I was able to be a part of this and I'm ecstatic that I smell so GOOD. Beth always amazes me with her creations but I think with the Carnaval she has completely and utterly outdone herself. If you're a fan of O, Red Lantern and to a lesser degree Honey Moon & Loves Philosophy do give this scent a try. I proudly give this my stamp of approval...which is good since I'm the cover girl

[shriekingviolet]

Initial Impression:

Honeyed caramels with a kick of something darker lurking underneath

 

After Wearing It:

From the note list, the early buzz on this scent and even the way it smelled in the bottle, I was expecting Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht to smell pretty foody but it wasn't much at all on me. That teak note that was lurking in the background really bloomed when it hit my skin, so when I sniffed my wrist right after application the first thought that came to my mind was "mmm teak-y." Which made me giggle, as it seemed like a very appropriate joke given that this scent was made with Karyn in mind. (to anyone who doesn't know Belladonnastrap well enough to get that, the theme of the summer forum layout was due to her incessant begging me for a tiki skin) I'm assuming an unintentional one, but way clever if it was on purpose!

 

Anyway the teak note is gorgeous. Dark but not harsh, and not dry like some wood notes can be. It combined with the honey, skin musk, amber and a touch of caramel to create a very richly dark scent that was deeply sweet, but not at all cloying or foody. I didn't notice any of the cream accord in this scent, which was a good thing for me. "Milk" notes are hit or miss on me. Sometimes they're light and creamy, sometimes they're sort of sickly cloying, or at worst they go sour on me like curdled milk. I don't know how cream would have played on my skin with the teak, so I was grateful that it never showed up. I didn't notice the apple blossom either, but I think I was just too distracted by the heavier notes to notice it.

 

Final Thoughts:

Overall I would describe this scent as being like a darker and more complex version of O. It's very sexy and a little on the heavy side, but wonderful. One of my favorite Grindhouse scents for sure!

[kikithepirate]

It's funny how different all of the reviews of this scent that I've seen so far have been. It changed DRASTICALLY from the bottle to application to drydown. In the bottle, it's sickly sweet, making my co-worker wrinkle her nose as she sniffed it. When she sniffed it on my recently applied arm, she said "it smells like incense" as she made a face. I agreed that it was a bit too strong and sour smelling - really strong apples with a hint of sour milk/plastic, which is exactly what Candy Butcher did on my skin, so I knew to blame the cream.

 

HOWEVER, after a few minutes, it calmed down and the caramel finally came out to play, calming the cream down into something acceptable.

 

Then later, more apple blossom with hints of caramel, still very strong, even slightly powdery. I don't think this scent is for me - it's almost too sweet, which is something I never thought I'd say! I will say this, though - this has some crazy strength to it! Wow!

[iiinterstate]

Whoa, I can definitely smell caramel in the bottle. And apple blossom.

 

Fortunately things calm down and become less dessert-like on my skin. And its changing fast. I think the teak just grabbed ahold of everything else and beat it into submission. Not like the teak is overpowering or anything, I'm just aware that its there and that my skin isn't having a party with the amber and the honey.

 

Caramel sometimes turns to coffee on me (in a yuck way) but this is light enough to be okay. And it isn't cloying, as caramel can be sometimes.

 

The apple blossom comes back after a little bit, along with what I assume is skin musk. To be honest, this is precisely what I had hoped O would smell like. I don't know how this will do in the warmer weather, but its yummmmmmmy. Must try on the fiance.

 

 

Overall Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht is a blend that walks the thin line between foody and musky on my skin. That's a good place to be. A+

[Honeygirl]

Bottle: Red lantern and Glowing vulva layered but sweeter

 

Wet: The caramel is really strong right now. I like it, but so far I like RL better.

 

Drydown: I can smell the teak more strongly now. With just a touch of honey.

3.0 outta 5

[lostluckkitten]

In bottle: Sweet caramel and honey, edged with apples.

 

Wet: I am amping the apple blossom and honey. It was very apple blossom at first; smelled like sweet new apples, drizzled in light honey.

 

Drydown: The wood and skin musk comes out, along with the caramel. Total yum. It smells differently on me up close then from a slight distance. Directly on my skin, it is warm, skin musky caramel, but not super sweet caramel. Milky, warm caramel. From a distance, it smells like sophisticated caramel apples, if that makes sense. Sweet, caramel-covered apples with a musky honey edge. It's foody, but not like the typical cake-cookie-pie-caramel smelling scents. Definitely a sophisticated foody. Not boring or sticky sweet at all.

 

Overall: The teak is a very minor player in this blend, or at least on my skin. For the first hour or two, it has the innocence of apples and sweetness without being ZOMG TOO SWEET. The amber does not go powdery on me like it does in some blends, like O (thank god!), it just adds an overall golden feel to the blend. After several hours (at least ten), I can still smell musky, sexy amber-caramel on my wrists. This blend is neither light nor dark, but somewhere in between.

 

Yum. Yum yum yum.

 

ETA: After letting the oil rest for a few days, I've found after wearing it again that the teak is coming out more. Not sure whether it's because the oil rested or if my skin chemistry is different. The teak is more pronounced once the oil dries and after several hours. It adds well to the blend

Edited June 12, 2008 by lostluckkitten

[lmaunu]

Yum . . . caramel, honey, and apple blossom are the notes that are taking center stage with this one. Based on previous reviews, I was expecting it to smell more like O, but I got very little of that association, probably because the caramel leaves only a little room for the honey to peek through. I don't have Red Lantern, but I do have Misk Valley JV Baseball, and this definitely reminds me of that one, but it's much more sophisticated and sexy. I love this one!

[CordeliaSeduced]

In the bottle, this was all caramel and honey with light apple blossom. I was so praying that when this touched my skin, it would be musky caramel, amber, and honeyed cream! This went immediately to soap. Apple blossom got right down to business and soaped up the whole scent (at least, I assume it was apple blossom, because I wear all the other notes fairly well--maybe it was the combination?).

...and I had such high hopes for this lovely! It's still beautiful in a locket, though. Sigh.

[scarletgenesis]

So all the notes in this (except maybe the apple blossom which I'm not sure I've worn before) should have worked wonderfully on my skin.

 

In the bottle, and on first application, this is like a smoky, nutty caramel, similar to Red Lantern and/or MVJBA. Yum!

 

Within about 10 minutes, it started to morph, and morph, and morph. My skin chemistry turned it into some sort of unpleasant hairspray, fruit salad, vinegar combination that frightened me and kicked my sinuses into high gear.

 

 

It seems to be calming down some now, and I get the caramel again, and the honey, and perhaps the amber. But if the previous morphology remains underneath it all, I will have to sadly put this one aside.

 

I'll give it a bit longer to see if the ickyness stays or goes away. I want this to be gorgeous, but perhaps apple blossom is a bitter enemy of my skin? Time will tell.

[waternight]

In the bottle: Creamy caramel and amber. Undertones of fresh apple blossom and woody teak.

Wet: Honey and apple blossom with just a bit of caramel... This is a lot lighter than I was expecting, and it's not nearly as foody as I was expecting either. The teak provides a warm, solid base. The cream and the caramel are warm and sweet and creamy, but they play second fiddle to the apple blossom, which is lightly drizzled with a light, sweet honey.

Dry: Soft, warm, gentle... apple blossom continues to be the dominant note, floating on top of a lovely, warm, sweet caramel. This manages to not be foody, and it's gorgeous.

[VioletChaos]

in the bottle: sweet caramel yumminess

 

wet on skin: caramel apple bake with cream on top

 

dry down: a sweet, smoky burnt-sugar and fruit combo.

 

in all: apple usually becomes horrid on me, but this might just be the apple blend for those of us that can't do them!

 

 

 

[Ina Garten Davita]

Have you ever made homemade caramel sauce? Brown sugar bubbling in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, pour over the heavy cream and there is an eruption of burnt brown sugar and cream lava. Beth captured that scent perfectly.

 

After a few moments on the skin a bit of woodsy floral undertones begin to peek out from under the rich cream and burnt caramel. After an hour or so this morphs into a bold honey musk and amber perfume with a base of caramel and teak.

 

I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying this scent because while I adore sweet scents (and amp sweet like crazy), I do not like foody/butter/cream/caramel notes and honey never turns out well on my skin. I think the teak and amber might be the lasso that are keeping the other notes from going funky on me for the time being. I know the aftermath drydown will probably turn me off, but this scent is comforting and delicious for now.

[Brianne]

I was expecting something a bit heavier than this based on the notes, but other than that I think it falls pretty much in line of what I was thinking! It goes on heavily amber on me, but then lightens - and sweetens - up with a very pale honey. The apple blossom steps right up and makes itself the center of attention - I would say that it is the dominant note on me! The musk and caramel are pretty soft and "quiet" in this scent, so the end result is something playfully sweet, but not heavily so, and pretty and fruity. A very girly, feminine scent - love it!

[savage_rose]

It smells like a relative of Gluttony in the bottle...I'm overwhelmed. But on, it dries down into this creamy caramel base, with gentle floral top notes. The apple blossom is more blossom than apple on me, but I really like it! It's very sexy and warm, but not in your face with it (unlike the fabulous art ). Surprisingly understated, in the best ways possible. Lovely!

[neuilly]

Straight off the bat this smells like caramel - a mix of Gluttony and Red Lantern. A few m inutes later the cream accord starts to seep out (mmm!) and then a few minutes later WHAM the apple blossom makes it's presence known. The remainder of the time it's a mix of caramel and apple. Heavy yet refreshing, sinful yet crisp!

[angelfish323]

Oooo . . .

 

This is a beautiful foody, yet sexy and not really all too foody, blend.

 

It's crisp from apples, sweet from the caramel and honey, warm and musky from the amber, and has a woodsy bite to it in the background.

 

Still wet, as I just applied it a minute ago. We'll see how it does on the drydown. So far, a winner!

 

ETA: The association with Red Lantern is spot on. Red Lantern's younger, more innocent, sister on me. This is lighter, less incensy, and sweeter on me than Red Lantern is.

Edited June 19, 2008 by angelfish323

[SurrealReality]

In the bottle/imp: Caramel, cream, and apple blossom, with a bit of light honey

 

Wet on Skin: Caramel, cream, apple blossom, and light honey, with a bit of teak creeping in....

 

Dry: Mostly burnt teak with only touches of the other notes

 

My rating in the bottle/imp: 5 out of 5

My rating on my skin: 2 out of 5

Edited November 19, 2008 by SurrealReality

[suileach]

Gorgeous! Golden apples and glistening swirls of caramel are topped by a fluffy cloud of whipped cream. A wonderful dessert-like blend that positively sparkles with joy and pleasure. The caramel in this is positively luscious - so different, to my nose, than the usual BPAL caramel that unfortunately tends to turn to dust when it hits my skin. And, somehow, the teak doesn't turn on me either! This blend makes me feel like grinning from ear to ear. I love it!

 

...Sadly, the apple takes over after a half hour, stomping heartlessly all over the delicious cream and caramel and grinding them into nothing. Ah, but for a brief time, I thought I could actually wear apple...alas! A fleeting love affair.

[Josh]

Ah! Caramel and honey... sweet, warm and almost milky (cream accord?)

 

This is REALLY good, and thankfully I'm not getting any apples. After Inez and Marianne this is definitely #3 of the GG set, imo. Foody, but not in an annoying way. Very well blended... carmel, honey, cream and amber. Golden sweet.

[Iceblink]

This does smell like O and Red Lantern had sex on a teak table. That teak note is *strong* and keeps the whole blend from being sickeningly sweet and foody. There's a hint of apple blossom coming through that's light and gorgeous. Really nice! I love Red Lantern but I amp opium so much that the caramel in it doesn't last long on me so I'll wear Agrat a few times and see if she might be a nice substitute for days when I really want the caramel to kick in.

[Sushi-n-Sake]

In bottle: Caramel and little else

Wet: Caramel and amber, with a bit of apple blossom and honey. The wood is present but way in the back.

Dry: Caramel, honey, and a hint of apple blossom

 

Verdict: It's okay, but I prefer Glowing Vulva or Red Lantern for this category of fragrance. It verges on being headachy-sweet on me.

[Pepperminx]

Of the girls, this was the one I was the most excited about, but it smelled awfully scorched the day it arrived and I think it is caramel doing its thing. I had to put it aside for a couple of days.

 

The iffy scorched note has calmed down now. Thankfully it wears off pretty quickly and leaves behind a lot of apple blossom. I get a little honey, and I guess some amber too, the caramel has faded a great deal, but the apple blossom is quite persistent. A bit of wood, yup. But it's pretty well blended.

 

Not bad! Not my favorite so far, but I think it will age in an interesting way and so I'll be holding on to my bottle.

[Nia]

Bottled Tarte Tatin.

 

Sorry the review is so short, but honestly, it's bottled Tatin. Maybe Tarte Tatin duing really dirty, sexy stuff on a Teak Table.

Edited October 21, 2008 by Nia

[QueenFae]

Gorgeous, gorgeous gorgeous! Thick, sweet honey and amber slathered over with the cream accord ( one of my favorites) and underscored by a hint of caramel and apple blossom. This is just lovely, even better than I had hoped. This is like a hodge - podge of all my favorite BPAL notes in one! How delightful!

 

This is very sinful and extremely sweet and foody. Sort of like eating a caramel apple in the back of a honey hive. Very very different from any foody scent I've ever sniffed, but definitely a winner in my book !!

 

Fabulous!

[Dark Alice]

I have had this for awhile and I finally figured out how to post a review! At first sniff, it is wonderful caramel and appleblossom.

 

Wet: The caramel and appleblossom do this wonderful dance, sort of like the tango with caramel twirling appleblossom on the dance floor in a slowly and seductively to the beat of the music!!!!

 

Dry Down: My lovely tango has turned sour. The cream and the amber step on my appleblossom toes and go sour on me! Had to wash it off and I still smell some on my wrists! Off to the sale bin with this one.