Hand of Glory

[tailoredshirt]

Beeswax, dry leather, black pepper, saltpeter, nutmeg, Mysore sandalwood, and oak bark.

Okay, the reviews for this were scaring me, but I'm relieved that this doesn't actually smell like a burning hand!

It starts off with a lot of sweet, creamy beeswax and some spice, with a hint of sharpness from the leather underneath. But as it dries, the whole thing smooths out a bit, and the leather comes out nicely without being in your face. The beeswax is kind of a waxy vanilla on me, which I love. I also get a hint of salty musk, which lends to the skin scent the blend is aiming for.

Overall, this is what I wanted Western Diamondback to be: vanilla-spice and leather. Delicious!

[impolight]

:::HAND OF GLORY:::

 

Gosh... This was probably one of the first stories that frightened the fizziness out of me as a child.

I happened upon a collection of macabre ghost stories in the library and decided against reading the rest of the tome after finishing the story. It was a particularly rainy year and there was (I later learned) a cat in the shrubbery outside of my bedroom window bewailing its plight and manifold miseries using vocalizations I hadn't thought possible to have originated from a feline larynx (my fevered brain depicted some kind of bleeding, zombified infant that wanted me to pick him up and hold him close; away from the cold, so he could gnaw off an ear and pull eyeballs from their sockets).

The Carnival Diabolique's Wünderkammer category has yet to disappoint in any capacity.

Every last one of the included curiosities has been fantastically proportioned.

This category, if any, truly personifies the carnivalesque.

This is the classically gothic, morbid fascination that would have compelled Lovecraft and his peers to step through the flap and quail in the shadowy confines at the mysterious horrors displayed herein.

From the Bottle: Crazy good. Apparent from the first draught is the Leather and Beeswax.

These give the uneasy, inappropriately beautiful impression of dessication, mummification, and dark magic.

This is sweetened by the Nutmeg, especially, and the Black Pepper. The warm spiciness of these two also insinuate the preservative motif.

There is something very much like candlelight here (suggestive from the Beeswax?).

Spectrally, Hand of Glory is deep, rich brown, leaden, crimson, and candleflame.

On the Skin: Beeswax maintains a stranglehold on its dominant postion.

The spices also stay true to form.

The morph comes from the fantastical surge of the woodier elements at this phase. The Oak Bark really gives off the impression of a gnarled and twisted tree deep in some shadowy forest that filled the hearts of many an outlaw with dread as it was one of the final sights to take in before swinging from one of it's sturdier boughs.

The Sandalwood is one of the Lab's loftier notes, and it brings a specialized, arboreal sweetness to this particular blend.

Fans of No. 93 Engine from the Phoenix Steamworks and Research Facility will recognise a familial bond here, and fall head-over-heels for Hand of Glory.Yet again, Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs has produced a Wünderkind of an olfactory treat. The Hand of Glory will keep this reviewer spellbound for a long time to come.

On Her, The Hand of glory is infernally exotic. She should be propped on a velvet cushion and worshipped in unspeakable ways.

On Him, The Hand of Glory is cataclysmically charismatic.

There are dark, dark magical workings that will effortlessly seduce and then jeopardize the unwary soul in a glittering snare.

The Hand of Glory is an exquisite incantation that should tickle the tongue and linger on the lips of every last believer and and sycophant, and devotee of the Lab.

This will prove an unequivocable cure for skepticism.

A 5.9 out of 5.

[CiaoBonefish]

When I first heard about this blend I WAS SO EXCITED TO TRY IT! Hand of Glory? Come on what an interesting concept, and the notes sounded lovely too.

 

In the decant this is sharp leather with beeswax. It's even a bit sour. Kind of off putting. After sniffing it in the decant I put it away to test for another time. A few months later (aka NOW) I pulled it out and it was very much the same scent I had smelled before, but it had grown a bit smoother and I was willing to test it now. Always test scents on skin! They change so much!

 

On skin it started off as that sharp leather and slightly sour beeswax. After a while the beeswax gets creamy and sweeter losing its sourness. The leather is still a bit sharp but it has smoothed out somewhat and become a bit peppery. A bit of a confusing smell. Kind of like peppery beeswax? BUT WAIT it has not finished drying down! At the drydown it is just LOVELY. The peppery-ness I was smelling before is gone and I'm left with lovely worn leather no doubt deepened and smoothed by the other notes in the blend. The beeswax has become MUCH creamier, kind of like vanilla beeswax just as Tailoredshirt mentioned in her review!

 

Glorious! I also wore this before I worked out and nearly swooned! Creamy beeswaxy vanilla with warm rounded out leather!!!! Reminds me of The Bow and Crown of Conquest plus sweet beeswax! (FYI The Bow and Crown of Conquest is all leather and vanilla on me, not much else)

 

Delicious and I will definitely need a bottle! I'm sure this will only improve with age

[meredevachon]

I finally broke down and ordered some of the CD scents unsniffed. I'd been curious about them pretty much since I found BPAL years ago, but had held off on getting any.

 

In the bottle: Chemically, which I almost always get when the Lab's blend has a leather note. A little astringent even.

 

Wet: Ah, there's the beeswax. And the "random chemical" scent morphs into leather when it hits my skin.

 

Dry down: I'm gonna just sit here and sniff my arm for awhile. That's okay, right? Leather over wood, polished and made more supple with beeswax. Hints of pepper and spice to make you pay attention.

 

Dry: Rich and indulgent. This is a scent of temptation. A "Come to the Dark Side" enticement in leather, wood, and wax.

 

Overall: Why did I wait so long to try this? It's gorgeous.

[volpe]

In the bottle it strongly reminds me of, of all things, Gran's Christmas pudding. It doesn't actually smell like one, but the balance of sweet and spice is such that it's all I can think of.

 

On, it's fascinating. Beeswax, wood, a hint of smoke, pleasant spice. Like many BPALs, it seems like it releases notes in waves, but so far this is not happening in a predictable makes-chemical-sense sort of pattern. It's not that some molecules of the oil are evaporating into scent at different points in the dry-down, it's that it's messing with my head. Sometimes I get a strong puff of black pepper, but mostly I don't smell that. More often it's a dry, dusty, papery grey scent that both absorbs and amps the smoke, like I've got an old book that was partially burnt long ago and has been sitting in an attic since. Sometimes there is a distant medicinal undertone, like formalin, soft enough not to be unpleasant. It is an old biology lab cabinet sort of smell.

 

I like it.

[Circaea]

I was diabolically frimped this by a very generous seller. Forgotten were my purchases, as the wicked smoke of an unhallowed fire rose up from my sinister hand. At first, the smell of burning was all, getting stronger and stranger. Then a soft sweet leather and beeswax emerged.

 

This smells similar to Tombstone, one of my favorites, in its dusty herby vanilla, but the beeswax lends a creamy softness. The drydown is all soft lovely beeswax, very gentle, like smokey, salty skin, but better.

 

I immediately had to track down a bottle, even though the Carnivale Diabolique had pulled up stakes and left town. Magically one appeared, of the same vintage (2008) as my clever little frimp, by a seller who shared my birthday. The bottle arrived, and I annointed my left hand. As I put the bottle away, a glass container fell from the bathroom shelf. I picked up the pieces with my right hand and cut it. The unprotected hand... Without delay, I blessed my red right hand with this unholy oil. Use it wisely and its powers are yours.

[Celtic Goddess]

This one is absolutely gorgeous. It’s sweet and spicy but not at all foody. I don’t get the leather in this one but the beeswax is amazingly warm and creamy. The nutmeg, pepper, and oak bark turn this into something really unique. So far, this is one of my favorite scents from BPAL (I just ordered and received my backup bottle). Too bad you can’t get Hand of Glory in lotions or soap form…I’d slather it on in globs.

[tharsei-thanate]

Purchased an imp from a forumite! I wasn't expecting that much out of this but when I put it on I was blown away! There's a blast of beeswax and oak that was like getting slapped in the face with nostalgia- though it doesn't bring to mind any particular nostalgic thing, haha. It's like the essence of nostalgia.

 

It then morphs into something very similar to No. 93 Engine, as another reviewer said. I'm not a huge fan of No. 93 Engine but it's bearable. It then smooths out and becomes sweeter, and the warm leather emerges with the sandalwood.

 

Overall, this is pretty good! I'm surprised I didn't get spice- my skin usually amps spice- but I don't mind! I'm not too keen on the Engine stage during drydown but the wet and dry stages are so nice. <3

 

I might have to hunt down a bottle.

[Beckiemort]

I received a sniffie of this in the Switch Witch round.

 

In the bottle it is such a beautiful scent. The leather is prominent, but it's a softer, worn leather - definitely a lived in feeling. The blend is further softened by the lovely beeswax and vanilla. In the bottle it's perfect a sweet, feminine like scent with the edge of leather and spice.

 

Unfortunate my skin destroys this one. Within 5 minutes it is all baby powder all the time, and even more unfortunately I apparently amp baby powder. I'm pretty sure that this is the beeswax that turns to powder on me as this has happened before in other blends with both honey and/or beeswax. It's unfortunate that the leather and lovely spices from the bottle don't stick around but they definitely dissappear under the overwhelming powder of the beeswax.

 

However, not all is lost with this scent as I think it will make a perfect scent locket addition. I'm sure I will be able to enjoy it if it doesn't interact with my skin.

[fufu_berry]

Realized I hadn't review this!

 

Wet: Oak and nutmeg - woodsy spicy.

 

Drydown: Beeswax amps way up. Beeswax tends to go vanillic on me (which I don't like, but may be a plus for others), but the sandalwood and leather seem to help keep this a bit more earthy and not too sweet.

 

Dry plus: Leather comes out, still very creamy from the beeswax and a little sweet with the nutmeg. I would probably like this a little drier, but I still enjoy it when I can handle a bit of sweetness.

[DevilsCandyCane]

I wasn't sold on this when I first got it from the lab, but I rediscovered it a couple of weeks back, don't know if it's aged *beautifully* or whether my nose was just an idiot first time around, because...damn, this is my favourite BPAL in the world right now!

 

In the bottle it's beeswax and leather, slightly sharp, but when it dries down it becomes amazing - beeswax and candle-smoke with a hint of sweetness, perfect gender-neutral balance and I think it's pure sex. BPAL smoke scents usually do nothing for me, and anything involving a 'burning' description I've found is quite sharp and icky, but this - this is bloody gorgeous, and it lasts for hours.

 

I really, really hope it comes back with the next Carnaval, my bottle's almost full, happily, but I need to *hoard* this shit!!

[vanilla323]

This is my favorite beeswax scent so far. It smells like actual beeswax with a touch of nutmeg and sandalwood. The throw wasn't very big and the staying power weak (which is why I eventually sold it). But it is a wonderful scent if you love the scent of beeswax. Which to me a very very light earthy sweet honey scent with no powder. And that is what I get here.

[sarandipitee]

Sharp leather and pepper on my skin. I've got maybe 2 BPAL oils containing leather that I can wear (I amp leather to high heaven and it can bug me) so I don't have much hope for this one. I get a tiny hit of beeswax but this one is pretty much an old leather coat with spices.

[russetfox]

I got a decant from a friend. I have been wanting to try this for so long, off Dorian'S reviews and raves. It is gglorious. In the vial all I get is amazing beeswax. Once on my skin, I get somewhat spicy leather mixing with the amazing beeswax. Drool