Fearful Pleasure

[Christine Daae]

Dried orange peels floating in simmering cider, roasted apples, smoldering firewood, chimney smoke, sassafras beer, warm hawthorn wood, and oakmoss.

There isn't much to be said about this blend that hasn't already been said a thousand times over - it is the scent of mulled cider, with hint of nose-tingling smoke. It's dead-on, and incredibly evocative, but I'm not sure that I really want to smell like this.

...which I guess is okay because it raised welts on my skin. Oh well. I guess this one will have to go to a better home. Edited October 17, 2008 by Christine Daae

[MeiLin]

Fearful Pleasure is one I've SO wanted to try! This Halloween and Yule, Beth really seems to be apple-centric, which is JUST FINE WITH ME! Apples, I lurve dem. Wet it is a dry cider, not sweet, with a smoke back. Dry it's the not-sweet apples, smoke and wood, moss, guh. Massive win.

[porcelina]

i want to love fearful pleasure, but it smells like a cheap autumn candle on me and fades within 15 minutes.

[gwynhwyfar]

If you don't like fruit, stay away from this one.

 

Since I do like fruit and this one likes my skin ... I'm happy. *beams*

 

This is dried slivers of spiced green apples, those clove-oranges hanging over the fireplace scenting the air and a hint of smoke and wood. It's just a hint, so it doesn't make me wheeze. Mostly, it's just those lovely fruits, sweet and spicy and very edible.

 

Definitely on my short list for 'weenies that I covet.

[cecelle]

In the bottle: Appley, but with some unpleasant background notes.

Wet: Oh my gosh, *horrible*! If something doesn't change quickly, I am washing this off. All I am smelling is smoke and something sharp in the background.

 

After 10 minutes: This is more like it. It's now calmed down to a warm apple cider, though the smoke is still pretty strong.

 

After 20 minutes: Well, this is what I hoped it would be! Spiced apple cider with a warm smoky scent in the background. This is really nice now!

 

I don't get a lot of morphing on my scents usually, and this one really morphed big time. If I can hold my nose for the first ten minutes, this is going to be a marvelous scent LOL.

 

Good throw and staying power - it lasted at least 4 hours on me, and most scents don't make it past 2 on me.

[Leopard403]

Ye gods, how I wanted to love this. And I do: In the bottle. Because in the bottle, it smells just as all the reviewers described. On my skin--and, sadly, even in my scent locket--it smells like cheap Autumn potpourri. I want to smell it, I just don't want to smell like it.

 

Sad.

[Neyahala]

I was hoping for good things from this. I've been searching for a fall scent, and I've found it. This is everything everyone else talks about. I was so worried because one of my friends said it when to cheap potpourri on her, but I tried it today and it smelled warm and cidery. It was everything I was hoping it would be and more. I'm so glad I'm swapping for another bottle of this, because this scent is so much love.

[akiko]

The first of this year's 'weenies to say "BUY ME IN A BOTTLE!"

 

Imp: Apples. Red apples.

 

Wet: Mulled cider. I smelled so much cinnamon that I worried it would make me itch, but it must have been a combination of other smells.

 

Dry: It's a fall evening by the fire. I'm not getting smoke per se, mostly the cider and orangey-spice, but it evokes the fireplace.

 

I need you in a bottle. Yes, I do.

[Ohmaude]

Apple cider is something I know and love. We just made gallons of it at our house with my grandfather's 100+ year-old cider press. Our house smells of hot-spiced cider for all of October, it is so awesome.

 

It goes without saying that I adore BPAL autmumn apple scents; Creepy, Harvest Moon '06, Samhain.. I was so excited to try Fearful Pleasure I could hardly wait for my decant to arrive, and almost ordered a botttle. I'm glad I was patient, because this sadly misses the mark.

 

Fearful Pleasure is cider-y goodness, but there is something about the oakmoss/orange-peel/smoke combo that turns this into potpourri/yankee candle. It smells as if I have stepped into a hallmark gift shop two weeks before Halloween. I imagine this is wonderful with the right chemistry, alas I do not possess it. I'd be heartbroken if it weren't for my most loved Samhain.

[Razoth]

THIS is the scent of autumn - lovely real apple cider, sweet with that touch of fizzy bitterness, with an addition of mulling spices and cinnamon. I can't even smell the orange peels in this, which is odd because orange usually amps on me, and the cinnamon notes for once don't turn into a complete disaster.

 

Overall, a definite winner. I had to have a full bottle of this after just sniffing a friend's imp. My only lament is that it fades all too quickly on my skin.

[jenen]

1st IMPression: fresh apples! And spicy cinnamon?, clove.

 

Appllied: juicy apples; clove

 

Drydown: mulled cider; apples have faded a bit

 

Few hours later: mulled cider–fruit and spices have blended nicely

 

Verdict: I like this one. Not too foody, just spicy enough, nice progression.

[rayvn1]

What a great fall scent! I wore this all yesterday and it lasted a good long time with decent throw. The apple cider is prominent, but a bitter orange peel scent predominates when dry. I really enjoyed this one! Not too sweet, pretty bitter but very fall-ish

[Poenari]

I adore autumn scents and will wear them year round, or at least from late August through May. I love scents that are spicy, smoky, and strong. So I thought Fearful Pleasure would be perfect, although I decided to order a decant instead of buying a bottle unsniffed. At first, this was all fresh apple cider- slightly spicy, and not very strong. I thought it was ok, but not a real keeper because there just wasn't enough throw. But I've never had a BPAL scent morph on me the way this one does, and thankfully, it's all good. About two hours after application, I started smelling something smoky, like someone had a fireplace going. But I was indoors, and thought that wasn't possible. Then I realized the smell was me! The cider has faded, and I am catching wafts of smoke when I move. I really do love this and now I must buy a bottle!

 

Must update my review~

Now that it's been aged nearly a year, the smoke has become a lot stronger, as if you are standing over a wood stove stirring a pot of bubbling apple cider. You take a deep breath, and the smoke from the woodfire blends with the cider as you inhale. This has become even more long-lasting on my skin. I put some on yesterday afternoon and can still smell the smoke on my skin this morning, the way smoke from a bonfire stays in your hair. This is the perfect autumn scent if you like smoke, and I'm so glad I bought backup bottles!

Edited August 23, 2009 by Poenari

[maika]

In the imp, being totally true to nature, is VERY fruity.

Wet, the fruit notes totally disappear...it becomes a very smoky, woody scent. Much more suited to a man, I think. It reminds me of my father, actually...maybe I'll pass it on to him. Well, I would, except I don't think he's prepared to smell of anything other than Brut 33 (ick)

Dry, it doesn't change much from it's wet scent, although I do get a VERY faint hint of apple...it's not going to my Dad after all, but I think I know just who to pass it on to, it's just a shame he's too far away for me to smell it on him...

[cinnamonsugar]

This smells like delicious apple cider perfect for putting me into an autumn mood! It's warm and spicy and a little tangy. As it dried the tangy scent faded away and the spiciness completely took over, which I loved. My only problem is that it's a bit strong for my tastes. I put a dab on my wrist and another on my neck, which is what I usually do, but it was so strong it was almost to the point of making me feel nauseas! The next time I wore it I was very careful to put hardly any on, and it was perfect.

[LaurenO]

The first few times I wore this, I thought it was incredibly sweet, and a little too perfume-y for my tastes. I've just put it on again now to review, and while it's wet I'm getting something very sharp and unpleasant that I hadn't noticed before. I can smell apples, but they're fighting with something else. Possibly smoke. It actually reminds me a little of vinegar, or something pickled at least. Hmm. As it's dried, it seems to have settled. I can now smell apples and orange peel. It's quite nice. I'm not dying for a bottle of it, and I see where the candle comparisons have come from, but I'll use the imp.

[Luv2lindy]

This is turning out to be absolutely delicious and lovely!

 

In the bottle, I can smell the apple. Like baked apples, but not apple pie. A hint of something else woodsy is there, too.

 

Wet, it is strongly apple cider, with a hint of citrus and spices. It's not sweet or perfume-y at all on me.

 

Dry, it settles in very well. There is a bit of fireplace smoke and rich warm cider. It's rich and dry and very Autumn. I can almost feel the crisp coolness outside and imagine sitting by the fire with a cup of hot cider.

 

I think I need another bottle before this is gone. It would be the first scent I've purchased twice if I do buy another.

[Wwindy]

The world must be ending...

 

I HATE citrus notes. HATE 'em, I say! I also hate foodie scents as a general rule. But first Gunpowder snuck up on me, and now this! Somehow Fearful Pleasure is absolutely scrumptious, even though I can smell the orange peel. Er. Um. As a matter of fact, I have to admit I actually like the orange peel. I'm telling you, the world is ending.

 

Anyway. As others have said, this scent is spot-on accurate for the flavor text: Cider, not fresh apples, not apple juice, but delicious hot mulled cider with orange slices and maybe a few cloves and cinnamon sticks thrown in. After a little while the fruity notes fade back and the oakmoss and smoke come forward a bit more, giving a slightly more perfume-like effect. The smoke is never particularly strong on me, and I can't pick out the sassafras.

 

The blend doesn't have much throw on me, and even towards the end it doesn't really smell like anything you'd identify as "perfume" -- it's more like I've been hovering over a crockpot full of the aforementioned spiced cider long enough to have soaked up the steam in my clothes and hair.

 

I was inspired to test this yesterday because the weather was so hideously cold and wet and wintry, and it wound up being the perfect warm, cozy pick-me-up. Yum. Tartchef, you crazy enabler, look what you've done now!

[Argentwolf]

I got a variety of scents from this one over the time that I tested it...the first day, it was straight-on, overpowering apple juice, with a rather unpleasant...biological sort of edge to it. On subsequent days, however, it played very nice. One day, I could swear that all I smelled was sarsparilla...like a smooth, creamy, home-brewed root beer with a hint of vanilla. I have NO idea what was going on, that day, but I liked it! If it had done that repeatedly, I'd be clamoring for a bottle...that seems to have been a weird anamoly, though. Overall, it settles into spiced apple cider. It's a scent that's both sweet and warm and very evocative of Autumn. If you love apple scents, definitely grab some of this.

[moon_lemming]

Hee, Fearful Pleasure wavers between cough medicine and mulled cider in the imp. I mean that. I could twist the imp around and I would get one smell, then move it again and I'd get the other. CREEPY.

 

On me, DAMN that's good. Apples and cinnamon. No, not cinnamon. Something similar but not quite the same. They used to have these red apples in the Shoney's bar when I was a kid, like they were soaked in spices or something and dyed red? This smells like those tasted.

 

I would love this as a room scent, but it's a little too spicy for me to wear. I like my apple perfumes juicy, for the most part.

[Kimbernunk]

Absolutely super amazing dead on mulled cider, which is *exactly* what I was hoping for. I was worried that the smoke note would go out of control and kill it, but I barely notice it.

This did morph a ton on me - in the bottle it was all apples and a touch of moss; on skin it's cider with the distinct orange and spice that comes from mulling it for a while.

*drool*

I'm glad I have a bottle!

[smokey188]

I loved the smell of this, it's like a warm version of Snow, Glass, Apples but it burns me must be the cinnamon in the apple cider. Lovely but off to swaps it goes

[ouch!]

This pretty much is just Apple Cider, I can smell cinnamon a hell of a lot. NO smoke or wood whatsoever until it's nearly gone, then I get a very light wood.

 

This is lovely but it really just does smell like a thousand chriatmas candles I've smelled before. I will be keeping the bottle though as I don't have anything similar and it will be nice for the autumn.

 

The label art on this bottle is gorgeous!!

 

Edited August 30, 2010 by ouch!

[Deyja7]

I had such high hopes for this based on reviews, but it was not to be. My first experience with it was on a blistering hot day, pores nice and open, and i didn't think anything of putting it on the crook of my arm. (Multiple testing ftw!) It didn't react that badly, but it did nd up making my skin red and after a few minutes, having to be washed off. The second time i tested it, it turned my nose. There's this festering, fermenting apple smell, that just smells icky. After a while it settles down into a slightly spicy & warm apple smell, but something is still very off with this on me..

[savage_rose]

This is LOVELY. It's more of a spiced apple tea than an apple cider to me...very strong apple and nicely spiced, but not too sweet. And there's an herbal note adding a melancholy autumnal note (the oakmoss?). Warming but introspective.