Depraved

[NoirRosaleen]

A salacious, lecherous, leering scent - dirty and dark, slapped with a wet sweetness. Earthy black patchouli swelling with apricot.

Depraved was yet another freebie thrown in, and...I was undecided, for a long while.

The apricot I got, yes, but instead of patchouli it was combined with...black pepper? Very odd. I wore it for a few times, but finally decided to trade it (after my husband said "WHAT is that SMELL?" in tones of irritation and disgust after I came down the stairs wearing it last time). I love, love, love the apricot, but the pepper just doesn*t work for me.

Off to trade it goes...

Kethry

[DukTape]

Depraved smells good on me. I have never had the dark patchouli before, and it's quite fdifferent from the other kinds I've smelled. My husband commented, "Oh, that's nice" the first time I walked by him after putting it on; about half an hour after I did. Someone mentioned compost, and I notice that a bit, too, a richness, nourishing. But it's also a little menacing, kind of on the edge for someone as conservative as I am. I feel as if I might do something dangerous while wearing this. I like that.

[surf-tormented]

Very strong oil for a change! My only problem with it is that it reminds me of patchouli mixed with apricot oil. Since I have patchouli and apricot oils, I can pretty well blend them myself and come up with the same thing.

 

I can still smell the apricot the day after I put it on, which is nice because a lot of these oils don't last very long on me. It is a nice idea and interesting combo, the smell of earth with the smell of sweetness.

 

I didn't get any "pedophile" vibe from this, should I have?

[Ishtar]

I quite liked Depraved in the vial and wet. Contrary to most blends, this one seemed to pick up strength as it dried, ending up being a little overpowering after complete drydown.

 

However, I can tell this is going to be fabulous as a scented lotion. I don't get anything dirty from this, just a very ripe apricot bursting with flavour and the underlying darkness and earthiness of the patchouli. And to think that before BPAL I wouldn't have been caught dead wearing patchouli!

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

Dirty apricots. I really did not think this could possibly smell so much like...dirty apricots. Depraved is a scent of innuendo--the way a dripping, overripe peach, all round and fuzzy, can sometimes make you A double entendre scent, all dirtiness and flowing juices (wink, nudge). Filthy-minded but nonetheless sweet, Depraved is a wild romp in an orchard, rolling on soft dark earth with the fruit trees looking down on you and chuckling amongst themselves. Not a seduction scent...more of a pleased-with-yourself-afterwards scent. This would make for a great bath oil after a session of debauchery.

[zapevaj]

It's amazing how well one can pick out the elements in this one- first the patchouli, then the apricot. And they're blended so well! The patchouli is way too strong for me, though (I'm beginning to think I don't like patchouli.)

 

-Rae

[etherealchild]

In the Bottle Over-ripe fruit... that needs to be thrown out. That's what I am getting

 

Wet Apricot and patchouli, loud and clear. It is very strong right now. It's a syruppy, sticky, juicy fruit; the kind that is way too soft, and is about to start showing black blemishes all over.

 

Drydown It's hardly fruity anymore. It smells musky and firey. It smells the way I would imagine brimstone to smell. WTF? I smell like FIRE????? lol.

 

Two Hours Later I no longer smell like fire. It's very faint now, but much closer to the original smell. Three people have commented on how I smell kinda like crayons. They are right, I do.

 

Verdict I'm not a paticular fan. I don't like patchouli, nor do I particuarly care for fruity scents, so I wasn't expecting much to begin with.

[quinkel]

I want to make a love song to this one is i could sing...

 

Patchouli is a note that works great on me and so is abricot/peach. I like Katharine and March Hare also very much but Depraved won! Katherine is the very innocent sister of Depraved. This is dark and dirty and a "don't fool me' scent

 

The Abricot and patchouli are perfectly balanced and the lasting power is brilliant.

 

On the 5 ml list

[sarada]

This is one of the most edible-smelling scents that I have gotten from the Lab so far. I can just taste the apricots when I smell this -- that wonderful peachy, dry leather tanginess -- you can practically run your tongue over the rough, dry texture of dried apricots when you smell this. The rich, deep, earthy patchouli roots deepens this feeling -- it feels like you are digging your toes into fresh, damp earth and curling them with decadent pleasure as you linger over the sticky orange fruit.

 

I absolutely love patchouli but I have never worn it on its own because people have a tendency to groan "Oh great, here come hippies" when you come into their presence dripping with patchouli. That hasn't stopped me from appreciating that most complex and earthy scent, but I tend to like to combine it with something else. The Lab pefectly uses patchouli to root other scents down in the earth and to darken qualities that you might not have even known they had. What a brilliant combination!

 

On my wrists this faded very quickly as fruit scents often do, but no matter, I'm used to slathering on more whenever I need it. I definitely need a big bottle, but I have a couple imps to last me awhile. This will be a nice summer scent.

[Penance]

I got an imp of this as a gift from Finny.

 

First sniff:

 

Whoa, this smells like March Hare made with patchouli instead of clove. I smell apricot most prominently if I inhale deeply, but I can pick up a hint of earthy patchouli in the background if I inhale very lightly. I was a bit worried about this one because of the mixed reviews, but this is actually even better than I could have hoped for. My only wish is that the patchouli will come out more once it's on my skin.

 

Wet on skin:

 

A little bit more earthy, but still mainly apricot. It reminds me of sitting under my next-door neighbor's peach trees when I was little, eating the fruit fresh off the tree and digging in the dirt. It reminds me of his orchard and of growing. This is a very homey kind of scent for me and one I really like.

 

Dry down:

 

About even amounts of patchouli and apricot now. It manages to be both earthy and rich and juicy and fruity at the same time and I love the effect it creates. It's not overpoweringly earthy or musty and it's not overpoweringly fruity, either. It does seem to fade pretty quickly on me, but I don't mind having to reapply it every few hours.

 

The bottom line:

 

March Hare's farmer cousin. Depraved digs in the dirt and plants and picks the apricots and March Hare bakes those apricots into tarts. I love this one!

 

-----------------------------------------

 

ETA: I recently received another imp of Depraved and it's definitely different than the one I reviewed initially, so I feel like I ought to update my review to include my impressions of this one, too. I'm not sure if it's a batch variation thing, an aging thing (I don't know how old either of my imps are/were at the time of testing) or something else entirely, but the different is noticeable.

 

First sniff:

 

Lots of black patchouli! I absolutely adore patchouli, especially the black variety, and this has it in spades. I smell very little apricot here. In fact, it's so faint that I'm not sure I would have picked it out without knowing it was in here. It just lends a soft, subtle sweetness to the scent rather than making it fruity.

 

Wet on skin:

 

I get a little bit more apricot once Depraved hits my skin, but it's still a predominately patchouli scent. This is the rich, deep, earthy patchouli that I love and so many other people hate. It smells almost like musty soil and it's incredible. At this point, it's slightly sweeter than in the imp, but not by much.

 

Dry down:

 

Patchouli heaven! I could seriously cry right now, because I've been kicking myself for being an idiot and not getting a bottle of the Lab's black patchouli single note when I had the chance and this smells very, very similar to the single note!

 

There's so little apricot here that it's barely registering and I'm positive that I'm only picking it out because I knew in advance that it was in here.

 

The bottom line:

 

This is the polar opposite of the first time I tried Depraved. This isn't March Hare made with patchouli instead of cloves. It's patchouli. Dirty, musty, heavenly patchouli. This is March Hare's hippie cousin this time around. And that cousin has given up apricot farming completely in favor of dousing himself in patchouli oil and wearing organic hemp overalls. I think I might be in love with him.

 

I'm definitely going to be ordering at least two bottles of Depraved in my next order and hoping and praying that it's the same scent that's in the imp I've been wearing while writing this review. If I knew for sure that it was going to be the same, I'd stockpile because this Depraved soothes a lot of the sting of missing out on the single note.

Edited January 11, 2011 by Penance

[diabolique]

this reminds me of the layering escapade i did with titania and lust. fruity, patchouli goodness. i seriously love this. evanesce offered this to me in a swap, and i intended on giving it to my boyfriend, but he expressed total disinterested in patchouli. i'm keeping it now because I LUH IT. for the juicy pricot, if nothing else.

 

it was love at first sniff, and now i'm hellbent on trying the other apricot blends. march hare, here i come.

[malanna]

Immediately after application, this is a slightly plastic orange, with black flecks. It’s not quite an orange, in that it’s a bit dark. Perhaps this is blood orange or neroli. (Okay, actually, after re-reading the description, this is apricot, but it doesn’t seem like an apricot to me.)

 

Drying, the “plastic” note deepens so it’s not quite plastic, but a dark undercurrent. I suppose this would be the patchouli, but it’s slightly warm—sort of like lavender. Depraved stays in this state for a few more hours.

 

Around the third hour, this is just spicy and slightly peppery, even though I’m not sure there’s pepper in this scent. This is a bit earthy. Not dirt-earthy, but grounded earthy. I suppose this is the patchouli, but it isn’t very head shop-ish.

[pkwench]

Depraved

 

Wet it was a very, very ripe and decadently sweet fruit scent. Almost like cherries about to burst they were so ripe. But then I put it on and HOLY PATCHOULI, BATMAN! Fruit? Nah. Apricot? Nah. It's ALL patchouli and, god, I don't know what it is with my skin and black patchouli, but it's like a freaking amplifier. The little dab becomes this HUGE and hairy patchouli scent. Woah.

[cuervosueno]

I must have got this as a freebie, since I don't think I would have ordered something that was pachouli and apricot. Pachouli, maybe, apricot no. anyway, I sniffed it in the bottle, said nah...then decided to try it.....

Very interesting. I tried it without looking at the descrip. and I never would have guessed what was in it. One me it was a nice woody/amber...I was guessing that sort of mixture, maybe with a bit of musk too. Then I looked it up--what a surprise! But after about 10 minutes the apricot began asserting itself against the pachouli--and it made me want to lick my hand.

It is sexy and earthy, with yes, a bit of depravity....

A very nice scent..and after reading through these I might try imp and march hare.

Still, this wasn't a keeper for me....it just didn't make me fall in love with it and at the moment I'm trying to stick to things I really love and will wear.

[scourgeotheseas]

I'm not a fan of patchouli to begin with, so this freebie was simply a test.

 

In the bottle: Incense and dirt, with a hint of fruity sweetness.

 

When I put it on, I vaguely smelled ripe apricots for a few moments before the patchouli completely took over. And I mean completely. I didn't smell fruity, or sweet, or anything except "Agh! Patchouli!"

 

I gave it to my mom. It had amazing staying power on her -- 6-8 hours later there was still a whiff of it, and by that time it had dried to a much softer version of it's original self.

[klowey]

This one turned out very weird on me. When I first put it on, I could smell apricots and anise.

 

However, once it wore on a little it almost completely disappeared, but what I could smell was autoclave tape. I'm not sure what's stranger. That my skin turned this to autoclave tape, or that it only took a couple of sniffs to recognise something I hadn't smelled in over 10 years.

[Theravada]

The lab description of this one is exactly right:

dirty and dark, slapped with a wet sweetness

.

 

In the bottle and when first applied it's a perfectly balanced mix of warm, fuzzy apricot and dark, earthy patchouli. After a couple of hours the apricot has faded and the black patchouli is in control.

 

I'm not sure if I would wear this frequently, but this reminds me almost exaclty of one of my favorite incense blends (called 'Desert Patchouli') that I can't find anymore!! So I'm very, very happy. I will be using this in my burner all the time, and probably experimenting with making my own incense. This warm, sweet, earthy smoke blend is absolutely delicious as a room scent! Thank you, Beth!!

[leapylees]

I've tried this twice now. The first time I made the mistake of slathering it on and I found it overwhelming. The apricot was overpowering and the scent lasted a good 36 hours (very unusual for me), by which time I had decided I hated it.

 

The other day I decided to give it another chance, and I'm glad I did. I tentatively applied a only very small quantity of it, just in case. Well, it didn't change much on my skin but it smells like apricots being crushed into the ground - apricot with the patchouli making a dark, earthiness behind it. I don't normally like fruity scents so I think the patchouli 'saved' it for me. I have no idea how long it lasted on my skin as I applied it 2 or 3 hours before going to bed and it was gone by the morning. I won't be buying a 5ml of it but I will be finishing the imp.

[feline.by.design]

I was unaware of the ingredients in my freebie imp of Depraved when I put it on, so when I realised I smelled like the kind of air freshener installed in public toilets, I really had to take a look and see what's in this oil so that I knew never to smear this on again.

 

It's APRICOT!!

 

Sorry folks for the most unflattering BPAL comparison ever, but Depraved reminds me of air freshener, a really strong container of air freshener kept on top of toilet tanks.

 

It's so sad, the black patchoili I like, but the apricot... APRICOT!!! Cursed thing, begone!

 

To explain my reaction, I must make it known that I'm not fond of apricot scents. I actually detest anything smelling like apricots, peaches or raspberries. I love eating the fruits fresh, however I loathe anything scented or flavoured like these fruits. I don't know why. It isn't like I was bullied by someone shoving a peach or apricot in my face. It's just the scent of these quite repulse me. Raspberries I'm willing to chance, but both peaches and apricots I draw a hard and heavy line against.

 

Anyway, well, now that I've cemented my freakishness upon you all, for those of you who don't have my affliction may enjoy Depraved. I, on the other hand, will stick to the sniffies with berries that better agree with me.

 

-doreen

[stardreamer]

I like apricot, but I'm always leery of anything with patchouli in it, so this was a "should I or shouldn't I?" scent. The lab solved my dilemma by tossing it in as a freebie in my last order.

 

On application, I could smell the apricot very strongly, but also the patchouli underneath. Unfortunately, the latter outlasts the former; after several hours, the apricot is definitely an undernote. R. described it as "a sneezer" when fresh, and "really nasty" later on. Given that I've already got 2 apricot scents (March Hare and Siren) that I like really well, plus the apricot single-note, I think I can afford to pass on this one.

 

Oh, and Pkwench, your description made me giggle!

[anaethema_x]

I feel like...like...a junkie needing a fix baaaaad. My palms are sweaty, my heart is pounding, my fight or flight mechanish seems to be turned on....hehehehe...um, yeah. Kinda like when you were younger and doing something so wrong, but you couldnt stop.

 

I got four scents with this package from the lovely Sibyl. I didnt even read the tag yet...all i did was smell the bottle...and I started laughing...a really deep disturbing laugh I havent had...well, in a long time.

 

Depraved is DEFINTIELY a good name for this one. Damn it, addicted already...

 

BOTTLE: deep, musky..kinda sweet

 

WET ON MY SKIN: Oh My Bloody God!!!! Visuals...so many visuals...some not so good, but thats ok now... it reminds me of this apricot face scrub i used to use that would scent my skin lightly afterwards, then the smells of the loamy, slightly wet, moldy ground of the cemetery where ALOT of things happened. God its making my heart pound so hard...like reliving things or something.

 

DRYDOWN: The apricot is ALOT mellower, like the darkness tore the bright sparkling innocence of it away, leaving a memory behind. The majority of the dark note isnt *gone* kinda mixed in, stained I guess would be appropriate. Tainted.

 

Gods above and below I have to get me a huge bottle of this scent!!

Its amazing how they can bottle experiences like this.

[Northernminx]

Dark, herbal patchouli at first, I wasn't expecting this to go fruity as I had totally forgotten what was in it. As such I thought I was going a bit mad when this dried down into sweet, over-ripe apricot. The apricot itself is a gorgeous scent but I'm finding the darkness in this one just a little too unnerving. Innocence defiled perhaps? Nice but not me.

[ashtonrose]

I was hoping that it would fade to a nice apricot, but all I got was patchouli. The chemicals in my skin do not carry patchouli very well.

[Countrymouse]

I like patchouli, and I love apricot, so I had high hopes for this one. March Hare and Imp are also two of my favorites, but the earthy black patchouli in Depraved and I didn't get along very well.

 

In the bottle: dirt

 

On application: apricots covered in dirt

 

Final impression: My skin just turns this scent to dirt. I was really rooting for the apricots to win out in the end, but no luck. I usually try to wear a scent all day before I make a final decision, but after 3 hours I just couldn't take this one anymore and had to wash it off. I'll stick to Imp.

[Finny]

Dirty Apricots.

 

This smelled like dirty apricots on me, it wasn't nice either.

 

I love apricot and I love patchouli. Together though?

 

Off to a new home it went.