The Blasphemare Reliquary

[LadyMedb]

THE BLASPHEMARE RELIQUARY
But, which saint's remains does this vessel hold
Ethiopian myrrh, Damascus rose, boswellia, galbanum, and copal.

OK, so I bought this unsniffed, because it had roses and incense. I was hoping it would be perfect for me...

...and it is!

The roses come on first - they're dry, but not soapy. The rest of it smells kind of like Cathedral, which is an all-time favorite of mine. It dries down sweetly mysterious, and very balanced between the floral essences and the resins - the flowers are light and not overpowering, and the incense is divine. It's like a more sophisticated Rose Cross.

Love it.

[alicia_stardust]

I pretty much love resins enough to roll around in them. The Blasphemare Reliquary is soooo gorgeous, and not just because I love resins. The combination of these particular resins with the damascus rose is just amazing and it's like nothing I've ever smelled before.

 

The rose is so subdued and diffuse; it's there but it seems to wind its way around the various resins in an almost ghostly fashion. The myrrh adds a nice darkness and the other resins are more atmospheric, complex, sticky, and warm. This could almost have a church-like vibe to it due to the resins, but it's not quite there; it's softer and darker in some ways and the ghostly rose is beautiful. This smells so good on me, but I bet it's a fantastic room scent as well.

[sarada]

Looking at the list of resins in this, it was an obvious choice for me. There are already quite a number of resin and rose scents so I didn't expect it to be wildly different, but Blasphemare Reliquary really does stand out from the others.

 

The resins are very deep and rich indeed. If boswellia is basically frankincense, and it is coupled with myrrh, you know you're going to be starting off with a deep, dark base of something like Midnight Mass or Penitence. That scent, like a shadow beneath a cowl in a forgotten monastery, glitters with the dry, gold-dust shimmer of copal, layered with ages of ash. The rose is a faint memory -- someone walked through the catacombs once with a bouquet, and left them to fossilize in a lightless tomb.

 

All of the darkness of the finest resin scents, suggesting medieval cloisters, shadows and smoke, but alleviated with the brightness of copal and the soft breath of rose. Definitely one of my favorites in my favorite collection!

[savage_rose]

I can barely smell the rose in this...it's almost like a rose afterthought. The myrrh adds an incense vibe to the blend, and is very light on me. The entire scent is light! But I can make out the gentle tang of resins, interspersed with rose and a bit of myrrh. The scent warms as it dries, and it becomes a very light, pretty incense-rose blend.

 

If you're not a rose fan normally, give this one a try. The rose is much lighter than in most blends, and it balances with the other blends beautifully.

[sofaking6]

When I first put this on, I didn't have the notes in front of me and the first thing I thought was, why is Hated Vetiver suddenly delicious on me? I really like deep dark scents but feel I miss out on so many by not being able to wear vetiver, and so the Blasphemare Reliquary is really a jewel for me. The incredibly rich resins with the slightly dusty copal is mesmerizing and beautiful. I cannot make out the rose on its own which is rare since I normally amp amp amp it. Just a testament to how well-blended this is. This will be a bottle for me, and one that will see a lot of use!

 

This does not morph much while it dries - it lightens a bit and becomes more identifiable as incense is really all. The throw is close-to-medium...but it did waft all over my car while I was driving into work Gorgeous.

[greenranger]

Wet, on, incense. Frankincense? Oh, it must be the boswellia. There's the myrrh, and the scent that I think is galbanum.

 

Drying...is that rose? Eek, I forgot it had that. I really hope it doesn't take over. So far the incense is slightly more in charge than the rose.

 

So far so good. The combination of resins seems to be enough to keep the rose in check. It would be really nice to have an incense and rose scent where it wasn't all ROSE.

 

I think we may have a winner! Myrrh, with the aid of it's trusty companions boswellia, galbanum, and copal, has subdued rose! I think I can detect the rose as a flowery edge to the scent, but it is mostly lovely resins. It is almost close to Penitence, with a bit of rose. Mmmmmmm.

Edited July 1, 2008 by Aerinha

[Scylla]

I'm shocked to find that The Blasphemare Reliquary has rose in it! Usually I amp rose (in a bad way) like nobody's business, but not here!

 

This is my favorite of the Wunderkammer scents I've tried so far. It's difficult to pick out the notes in it, but I am loving this resinous/incensey blend. It reminds me of Lancome's Magie Noir when it is first applied.

[filigree_shadow]

Imp sniff: Sweet resins. (What a surprise, right?!)

 

On, it's a lovely sweet and deep resin scent. With the resins, the rose in it smells more like rosewood than rose to me, which is great. Mostly, it smells like copal* (mmm), myrrh, and that beautiful rosewood-like scent. After it's been on for about half an hour and it really warms up, it's gorgeous.

 

 

*Fred Soll's copal incense smells awesome and is one of my favorites of theirs -- I think it's similar to Blasphemare Reliquary.

[tinyvulture]

the boswellia (frankincense, basically -- right?) and myrrh give this a somber, mystical, “church incense” feel, but what i’m really loving is the warm, dry, piney sweetness of the copal. i’m a sucker for all sweet resin blends, and the copal just elevates this to golden wonderful perfection. i don’t even notice the rose. if you want a rose and incense blend, try Rose Cross. this is all resins, and i have no complaints about that!

[Sushi-n-Sake]

In imp: Wonderful, woodsy frankincense

Wet: Resins galore, and rosewood

Dry: More subdued, but still sweet resins and rosewood

Verdict: I agree with the reviewers above - I usually amp rose until I get physically nauseous, but not here! The rose combined with the resins does come across as a beautiful rosewood and church incense fragrance. So happy I found a blend with rose that I can wear!

[slave1]

THE BLASPHEMARE RELIQUARY

 

In Bottle: Sweet and earthy

 

On Skin: Ooooo. Now this is fun. It is super powdery sweet… like honey dust. The myrrh and resins really give it the most gorgeous deep and dark feel. This is freaking sexy, I want a bottle for sure. It feels naughty and seductive, a true come hither scent. Yes, this will be a night scent for me for sure. Even the rose behaves itself which is rare for my skin chemistry. It is there though, sour and a bit sharp, but it’s needed as a nice contrast to the heavy nature of the other notes. I love this as a perfume and would also love it as an incense or room scent. Give me more now!! Moderate throw and average wearlength.

[sookster]

straight sniff from bottle is myrrh and copal...resinous, indeed...

 

once applied the myrrh is astonishing!! the copal combined makes

a smashing combo and there is just a hint of floral...like an incense rose...

 

this really is so gorgeous and i am thrilled to own a big bottle

[nekogrrl]

So I finally get my Acts V and VI in the mail. First up is the Blasphemare Reliquary.

 

Wet: CEDAR HOMG. Yes, I know there is no cedar in here, but for some reason, all the resins blend together and make cedar. It's a very sharp, biting cedar, too.

 

Dry: Now it smells like rosy cedar. And it's also started to give me a headache. So sadly, this is going on the swap pile.

[moon_lemming]

Just as I feared, on me the Reliquary is all myrrh. It's a sweet, not-too-overwhelming myrrh, but it's pretty one-note. At least I knew going in that my skin amps that note, so I wasn't disappointed, heh.

[kawaiiferreto]

Unfortunately for me, the Blasphemare Reliquary is underwhelming. It's about the same wet and dry for the first 2-3 hours: indistinguishable resiny-dry scent. I usually have a good track record with myrrh in particular, so I surprised at how unimpressed I was with this scent. I didn't get any of rose, which is unfortunate because incensy rose sounds lovely!

 

Hours later I happened to catch a whiff of something beautiful as I pushed back my hair. On further inspection, it was my wrist! Many many hours after dry down the rose came out to play and it mixed oh so nicely with the resins, but I'm trying to be pickier with blends and stick to things that are nice on me from the start, not from 6 hours later .. Alas, off to swaps.

[dawndie]

In bottle: sweet dust

 

On skin: lots of resins and dust (myrrh is quite dusty on me)

 

Half-hour later: a bit softer and sweeter with rose, but this isn't the all-encompassing BPAL Rose that I'm used to in other blends; this is subtle and deferential to the resins

 

In conclusion: I love me a good resin blend, especially without any accompanying wood notes (which end up too sharp). This is like the opposite of Parlement of Foules, which is lots of soft rose with barely any resin. Serene and lovely.

[alexandra]

Wet: ooh, such resinous warmth, and so sweet. No rose though.

 

Dry: Comforting, rich myrrh, beautiful boswellia, just a touch of rose and the copal smells almost like benzoin I think, very sweet and warm. Orange-brown is the colour in mind.

 

And?...:This is a sweet, sombre, thoughtful saint in his cell the night before his undoubtedly grisly demise. I likey.

 

E.T.A

 

The BR just gets more amazing with age. Rich, deep and delicious. And more powerful. Now he's a stern sex monk.

Edited May 18, 2009 by labyrinthine

[edenssixthday]

The Blasphemare Reliquary - Thyis is an intensely resinous scent, and very incensey, but not smoky. The various resins blend in perfect harmony to keep the scent smelling deep, rich, husky, and highly enticing. The rose in the scent keeps it from being too dark and brightens it up a bit. It's just a lovely scent. It's fairly light after drydown, but still beautiful.

[Little Bird]

I don't smell any rose in The Blasphemare Reliquary, which is surprising, because I normally amp the rose in blends. I'm not really sure how to describe this scent. It's sort of a dry, dusty, sweet incense fragrance. I think I can smell a bit of dry woods along with the sweet incense and dust. This is a pretty light, subtle fragrance on me. It clings close to the skin and doesn't have much throw, leaving an impression of sweet incense and dust.

 

I like Rose Cross more for a rose + incense blend, and I like Midnight Mass & Faustus more than this for an overall church-y resins scent. Still, I think I'll keep my decant of this and see how it ages.

[cuervosueno]

I ended up getting a partial bottle of this pretty much on the reviews here, esp. those of you who said you couldn't smell the rose. I was quite interested in it when it was first released--I love copal and it isn't in enough scents in my mind--but rose really is a deal breaker for me.

 

But then there was Sarada and Scylla and everyone saying, no really, the rose isn't that big a deal...so I decided to go for it.

 

And I'm glad I did. This is gorgeous.

 

In the bottle it smells very woody and rather strongly of sandalwood, which is interesting because it doesn't have sandalwood in it. Then I get the bright golden scent of copal and frankincense, and I'm thinking, yeah baby, this is for me!

 

Overall, this is a dark resinous blend that is gorgeous on--like I'd hoped Midnight Mass or some others would be.

[Czarina]

In the bottle: resins.

Wet: resins and smoke. Just a hint of rose.

Drydown: myrrh. Copal. Smoke.

 

This is a warm, embracing scent. It wafts up from a scent locket like church incense from a censer. I feel like a Gnostic saint wearing this!

[AEris]

The incense and resins in this scent are just a bit too smoky and dark for me to be drawn to. It's a little like Sapphics, a lovely scent but maybe one notch drier and darker than the types of scents I tend to wear.

 

A well-executed blend, but it doesn't appeal to me personally.

 

3.4 out of 5

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Very resinous, but not specifically myrrh-like. Don't notice any rose.

 

Wet: Myrrh immediately, and another resin that's sweeter, I don't know whether it's the frankincense or the amber. There's floral, but this is mostly spicy resin.

 

Twenty minutes: Wonderful blend of resins: aromatic, sweet, bitter. Not much noticeable rose, though.

 

One hour: This continues to smell wonderful. From time to time a hint of rose peeks through, but it's mostly a bouquet of resins that balance one another out very nicely.

 

Two hours: Still yum, although something has gone just a bit sourish. This is probably the best resin-based BPAL I've tried so far.

 

Five hours: Faint warmth is all that's left. This one's definitely a keeper.

 

I'll need a bottle. It's like "Schwarzer Mond" on me, only sacred rather than profane.

[blu°]

I love this. It might be my favourite among the latest CD blends that I've tested.

 

While I love some rose notes, the stately, bitter Damask rose is not usually among them, but in here it works very well to give some sparkle and raffinesse to a wonderfully structured incense-woody blend.

[zankoku_zen]

I agree, that the rose in this is diffused and very subdued (I've got Tabula Sma on the other wrist). It's a warm, incensey, almost sticky blend. I have no idea how this could feel as sticky as it does, but it does. It's not sticky per se, but the impression of stickiness... well, it's very prevalent. Something here smells a little off though...