The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

[sarada]

Perhaps he would never have dared to raise his eyes, but that, though the piping was now hushed, the call and the summons seemed still dominant and imperious. He might not refuse, were Death himself waiting to strike him instantly, once he had looked with mortal eye on things rightly kept hidden. Trembling he obeyed, and raised his humble head; and then, in that utter clearness of the imminent dawn, while Nature, flushed with fullness of incredible colour, seemed to hold her breath for the event, he looked in the very eyes of the Friend and Helper; saw the backward sweep of the curved horns, gleaming in the growing daylight; saw the stern, hooked nose between the kindly eyes that were looking down on them humourously, while the bearded mouth broke into a half-smile at the corners; saw the rippling muscles on the arm that lay across the broad chest, the long supple hand still holding the pan-pipes only just fallen away from the parted lips; saw the splendid curves of the shaggy limbs disposed in majestic ease on the sward; saw, last of all, nestling between his very hooves, sleeping soundly in entire peace and contentment, the little, round, podgy, childish form of the baby otter. All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.

Sublime peace, ecstatic joy, and thunderstruck awe: terebinth pine, patchouli, brown musk, linden blossom, honey, mallow, blood orange, heliotrope, and golden amber.

Yes yes, I admit I am excited that this is also the name of the first Pink Floyd album. But it is an almost perfect collection of favorite notes for me as well, running the spectrum of the palest hints of dawn to the full golden brilliance.

Shimmering dark blue-green pine hovers lowest on the horizon, cool and bracing, refreshing and sparkling with dew. The rich deep earthy patchouli and musk lay low, but keep the other notes balanced. Honey pours like warm golden light over the darker tones, brightened by the songs of bright, fruity heliotrope and crisp linden. The earthen, resinous, honeyed and bright floral notes evoke an almost unbearably beautiful mix of colors in my mind.

Sniffing it is almost like watching a landscape painting being created, first with the darker tones at the bottom, then watching the brighter orange and golden colors come drifting in. It's a bit like a basket of many different kinds of incense, as well -- patchouli, pine and amber, but also a mix of mellow florals. I enjoy watching -- I mean smelling -- the different phases of this as it wears, but I imagine I'd also like it all jumbled together at once in a locket. It's not as heavy as I tend to like my scents, but I think this will be a favorite.

Now I think I'll listen to the album that is this chapter's namesake, to complete the effect!

[bookofblues]

just got my Piper at the Gates of Dawn 5ml. It's still cold and not well settled from travel, but I've got to try it out.

In the bottle it's orange and pine and resin (perhaps the patchouli and amber?).

On the skin...it smells just like the bath, beauty, and medicinal herb aisle at an Indian grocery.

Very odd, and it is growing on me by the minute. Wow. Truly unique, in a wearable way.

[angelicruin]

Arrived today...had to try it out. In the bottle, I can smell the patchouli faintly, but mostly woods and orange, equally balanced.

 

Wet on the skin, this is a very balanced scent. Nothing really overpowers anything else. I worried about the patchouli note because I tend to amp that and don't really like it, but it's perfectly balanced with the other notes.

 

As it dries, the predominant notes on my skin are orange, pine, honey, very light musk, and amber. Another lovely scent that could be worn anytime and anywhere.

[tartchef]

Incredibly well-blended... intellectually, I know it's mostly pine & blood orange I'm smelling, but there are none of the sharp edges or sinus-searing fumes one might expect from that combination. The deep green & red-orange are blended by a warm wash of brown - sarada's nailed it, comparing The Piper... to a painting. The brown is dry & sedge-like, dead reeds & grasses, home to little dust-colored birds & mice. Bittersweet, vegetal, very still... despite the inspiration, this is the scent of twilight to me, the autumn sun setting low & red behind a copse of pines, casting a ruddy glow over a damp, fallow field.

 

Amazing. I don't need a bottle, but I will cherish my decant

[GhillieDhu]

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this one. Patchouli, amber, honey, and orange are some of my favorite notes of all time. Pine, heliotrope, and linden blossom I've tried and liked. Mallow and brown musk were the only question marks... I have weird luck with musks. It was just difficult to imagine what everything would smell like together. But the Piper does not disappoint!

 

In the bottle it's a piney-orange mishmash, and wet on my skin it starts out a rather offputting bitter green orange... but once it starts to warm up, it's the most amazingly complex, glowing scent. It has a little of everything - sweet, sour, bitter, earthy, green, floral, musk. If this was a color, it would be translucent sunset orange and gold, surrounded by shadowed deep greens and browns. After a while, it settles down into mostly orange, honey, and musk with a trace of pine and sweet heliotrope in the background. (I used to wear Charlie Sunshine a lot, but had to stop because the white flowers and light musk turned on my skin. This is a darker, earthier, more grown-up and all around yummier citrus-honey-musk!) The musk in Piper is not something I've smelled in other BPAL blends. It's not black or red, and not rank or sexual at all. It's a small-furry-animals sort of musk, like nuzzling a rabbit or hamster. Delightful and appropriate.

 

Out of all the Yules, this wasn't an OMG scent straight away for me (that distinction belongs to Midnight Mass!), but it's the one I find myself reaching for most often. Complex enough to provide plenty of wrist-sniffing entertainment, but light and understated enough to wear anywhere, anytime. This may be the first BPAL I could consider a "signature scent." If it doesn't turn weird on me in the next couple of months, I'll have to pick up a bottle (perhaps two).

[porcelina]

piper... could either have smelled really good or really bad on me... it's the latter. astringent and chemical.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Pine and orange with something softening the blend.

 

Immediately on skin: This smells like it should be sharp, but it isn’t. The first thing that hits me is a mixture of pine and orange, but it’s so smooth. The other notes are indistinguishable but this is overall very warm, smooth, and faintly sweet under the top notes of pine and orange. It’s slightly musky, slightly floral, slightly sweet and very unusual.

 

After a little while: This has turned… odd on me. Central to this scent there is now an earthy, musky note that all of the other notes blend into. The blend is overall now very solid, earthy, and slightly citrusy with hints of pine and musk.

 

Overall Impressions: This started out relatively nice, but something came out on my skin that strikes me as slightly bitter and very substantial in the blend. It’s earthy and almost cloying, and sucks in the other notes, releasing hints of them as they blend into the central scent. It’s hard to describe, but this isn’t something I would wear.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

3 notes that i don't like, 3 notes i do like, and 3 that can go either way - i had no idea what to expect from this blend, that's why i had to try it!

verdict? 6 to 3, i lose. although it smells disturbingly similar to Lush's Karma perfume (the spray, not the solid), which also doesn't work on me (even though i love the soap & the solid perfume)

patchouli-musky cedar-y pine powder. not for me.

[jehrichardson]

Wow.

 

In the bottle and freshly applied this is biting and fresh pine. Like sap that you've got stuck on your fingers after pulling those sticky little amber pearls off a pine tree.

 

After a few moments it calms down into a warm and musky and rich melange of delicious. There's a touch of pine, a whiff of floral (so faint!!), musk, the briefest visit of citrus. Mmmm! *thud*

 

Mostly, it is well blended and long lasting. Three times when wearing it lately people (husband, coworker, and random person) have come up to me saying "What smells good??" so this seems to have some universal appeal.

 

I may get another bottle of this when the next lunacy comes around... that would be my first intentional double-up (my other doubles? lab accidentally doubled up my order for Nuclear Winter *yum* and I forgot that I'd won a bottle of Hay Moon and bid on another on ebay *whoops*)

[Czarina]

Very odd. The listed notes blend into a mix that smells like fermented straw. and burning pot.

 

Not unpleasant, but not at all what I was expecting. No sweetness at all, more acrid.

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Dirty patchouli

On Application

Dirty, dirty burnt-rubber patchouli

 

Dry Down

This reminds me of a stronger Schwarzer Mond. Stays above for ages and about 45 minutes into the drydown becomes a nice sweet patchouli. I'm going to keep it to age.

 

Rating (0-5)

4

[surlygurl]

Fresh on skin: Orange (the color) with a citrus that isn't orange (the fruit). Earthy brown from the patchouli, but it doesn't smell like patchouli (or earth). It more gives the impression of soil and tree trunks. A bit of dark green. I get a picture of an abandoned field with a few old pine trees on either side, the sun slowly rising up from the earth.

 

Drydown: the picture is broken by the threat of the cosmic cleaning lady & her bottle of lemon pledge. She hovers & threatens, but eventually a deal is struck and the lemon pledge fades into a part of the whole.

 

Dry: something goes to powder and takes the rest of the scent along with it. Which, for this scent, is a good thing. Sweet & earthy, a touch of sharpness through the powder.

 

Not bad. Interesting. This needs to be tested a few more times, mostly because it's so strange.

[Alchemy21599]

I adore Pink Floyd, so I had to at least try this scent.

 

In the vial: very pronounced pine with a bit of sharp citrus.

 

On skin: Patchouli, but not overwhelming. The blood orange is still lingering.

 

Dry: I really like this scent, but I'm not sure if I should wear it, or use it as a room scent. I'm a bit worried that the orange (which is behaving itself at the moment) might turn sour. The amber keeps this blend soft and comforting. I will keep my decant and see how it ages.

[birdiefu]

Wow, this is an interesting scent. Not exactly what I expected, but still pretty nice.

 

Wet, I get the orange, and a very mild earthy scent. It's like the smoothest, nicest vetiver imaginable. As it dries, I get a yummy polished wood scent from it, and the orange fades. Now, pine is usually intense and Christmas-tree like on me, but honestly I don't smell pine here. It is more like a sophisticated wood like teak or mahogany, and is very much like Antikythera Mechanism on me when dry. There is a very subtle sweet note with a twinge of something so familiar (but I just can't quite place it, and I don't think it's the honey) drifting around a high-class warm wood scent.

 

Very well-blended scent. Though I am pretty familiar with most of the notes listed, I just can't single a lot of them out. Nice, and should age wonderfully.

Edited November 23, 2008 by birdiefu

[Brianne]

Strangely appealing. Sharp patchouli and pine on top, but has the mellow and golden sweetness of honey with orange. I like how unique this is - definitely not going to be for everyone, but I think this will make a really lovely holiday scent

[innocent]

The pines waves hello and rushes on, leaving me with a scent like lemon verbena (though that's not a listed note). There are hints of other things, brown seeds and streaks of fur... but on my skin the citris overpowers.

[Wwindy]

Even though I was a little dubious about the orange and floral notes, I ordered this unsniffed because I loved the concept so much!

 

On initial application... whew, that is one shrill, high-pitched blast of orange and pine! Sopranino panpipes?!? As things start drying down and mellowing out, though, Piper turns into a gorgeous musky patchouli with a hint of citrusy sparkle, rounded out with sweet warm honey and amber. I think this is the same heliotrope note I liked so much in The Sportive Sun; I'm not normally a floral fan but there's something about that heliotrope-amber combination that really seems to work.

 

There wasn't a whole lot of throw for such an earthy scent, and it didn't stick around very long, but I'm hoping that's because I was experimenting with lotion today. I'll try again and see how it does on clean skin tomorrow.

 

This is a beautiful concept and a beautiful blend, even if I do have to keep slathering. Anyway, I'm so in love with the label art that I'd be keeping my bottle no matter what!

[greenranger]

Ah, that pine is lovely! I can smell a bit of the orange, and I think I can detect the amber and the patchouli. The flowers are fortunately faint(no, I am not much of a floral person).

 

 

Drying, everything begins to blend much more. I am unfortunately losing the pine. Maybe I need to look for more terebinth pine notes in other things. It's still nice, but, I will have to see how it sticks around on my skin to know whether the bottle was a good idea or not.

[mgrazulis]

I don't know if I can add much more than sarada in my impression of this. The base of cool blue pines, rich earthiness of patchouli lies beneath a bath of golden warm amber. Once drenched the florals lift upward into a crisp ethereal and celestial burst of linden blossoms. There are other more mellow yellow florals. Suddenly I have a huge smile and I want to bless the day, be happy to be alive. Bright oranges and golds...the piper's calling us to join him.

 

[Nia]

My first impression is that it smells like a forest. I asked for a ml in a decant circle for the name alone, because I was scared of the pine smelling synthetic, medicinal, or like house cleaner, but fortunately it is not like that at all!

 

The warm and sweet ingredients control and balance the pine. When it's completely dry, the pine almost disappears and what remains is extremely evocative of a forest. I love linden tea and this smells quite a lot like it. The feel is similar to Robin Goodfellow and Oberon, or like Yggdrasil without cedar.

[themerrybaker]

By the way, which one's Stink?

 

(Couldn't resist a little Pink Floyd action there - and Piper is actually very nice)

 

 

Piper at the Gates of Dawn changes quite a bit between initial application and full drydown. When wet there are Traditional Victorian Christmas Oranges and all manner of herbal. Dry, a clear sweet honeyed patchouli that evokes the bearded hippy side of Pan. I will be wearing this a lot over the winter and also look forward to seeing how a bit of aging will go.

Edited November 29, 2008 by themerrybaker

[auburnette]

The Piper At The Gates of Dawn

 

Wet, in imp: sharp pine and earthy patchouli. There's a strong note which I can't identify but think may be linden blossom as it reminds me of Cottonmouth.

 

Wet, on skin: How odd, oranges? With amber lurking in the background. Oh, I see that blood orange is listed as a note - it jumps out as soon as this is applied to skin. I think the amber is the same amber as in Inez, as I can detect that odd biscuity note that it does on me, but this is not so distracting as there are lots of other notes surging to the foreground.

 

Dry, on skin: As it dries down I get lovely wafts of scent, which is a good sign. Up close it is quite sharp. I can tell that this one is likely to be a morpher. The biscuit has disappeared which is good, it takes a long time to go in Inez. The loaminess of the initial patchouli has gone, with something warmer and muskier coming through.

 

Overall, I like this but don't love it, so my decant will do me just fine.

[hlinspjalda]

In the bottle: Warm, earthy, a little sweet

 

Wet: Very warm. Resinous, earthy, maybe a little woody. Still sweet.

 

Half an hour: Complex sweet amber blend with a touch of something dark and sharp in it. I don't usually react well to heliotrope, but if this is the worst it's going to get then I should be okay with this one.

 

Hour and a half: An earthy amber blend now, warm and sweet. The heliotrope didn't break the deal! Even better, I can make out just enough of the linden to make it a "must have" scent.

 

Three hours: Still warm sweet and earthy amber blend with discernible linden. This one is a win. I am so relieved; I desperately wanted this one to work for me!

 

Four hours: Still win. Even my daughter says so.

 

On re-testing several days later, I also got a strong note of unfamiliar ("brown") musk. I guess Pan would be kind of musky, wouldn't He?

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is sharp, breathy patchouli pine...

 

once applied i immediately get the orange note and a touch of floral and amber...wow...

so completely different than what i sniffed!!

 

after awhile there is some musk and this works lovely with the other notes....ya gotta

give this one a try peeps!!

[Iceblink]

Wet: very sweet honeyed oranges with a touch of pine. As this dries, the patchouli and amber come out gradually and the pine note fades. The drydown is a sweet musky amber, but I'm starting to pick up some of those floral notes too. I don't know if I've tried anything with brown musk before, but the musk note here isn't familiar. This is a bit of a morpher--that initial fruity stage turns into something quite different--and hard to describe, but I like it.