The Convocation

[Tramp]

A small sign in the hotel lobby announced that the Washington Room was taken that night by a private function, although there was no information as to what kind of function this might be. Truthfully, if you were to look at the inhabitants of the Washington Room that night, you would have no clearer idea of what was happening, although a rapid glance would tell you that there were no women in there. They were all men, that much was clear, and they sat at round dinner tables, and they were finishing their dessert.

There were about a hundred of them, all in sober black suits, but the suits were all they had in common. They had white hair or dark hair or fair hair or red hair or no hair at all. They had friendly faces or unfriendly, helpful or sullen, open or secretive, brutish or sensitive. The majority of them were pink-skinned, but there were black-skinned men and brown-skinned. They were European, African, Indian, Chinese, South American, Filipino, American. They all spoke English when they talked to each other, or to the waiters, but the accents were as diverse as the gentlemen. They came from all across Europe and from all over the world.

A macabre mélange of swanky men's colognes.

A light sweet musk. Very subtle and sophisticated. No bay rum in your face like some drunken eurotrash wannabe hipster. This hottie is the real thing and doesnt need to flaunt what hes got. And I want to crawl into his lap for an hour or three for some up close and personal sniffing time. It is such a gentle scent that I just love it.

[penemuel]

Oooh... first non-floral BPAL to be total fail on me. I really want the scent that Tramp got, because what I smelt in the imp was the men's cologne department poured into a bucket.

 

Once I put it on, I got that, plus the men were all sweaty now. And their gentlemen's club has some mildewed ceiling tiles somewhere... It's not fair.

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is musky and warm...

 

once applied this is really arousing!!

not in your face but definitely there...this is the most

animalistic musk i have ever encountered in a perfume...

 

i can't stop huffing....there is a sexual sweatiness .... you have

just got to try it to believe it!!

[Gwydion]

In bottle: In does indeed smell like men’ cologne. There is a powdery light upper end and a pleasant piney edge with a hint of citrus. Wet: Sexy, clean, a little vicious. It is lighter in feel than I expected, but still quite heady. As it warms, something musky and faintly leathery comes out. Dry: Ooo! Leather and sexy, sexy men’s cologne.

[forspecial_plate]

This goes through some morphing, as you might expect from the description. At first it's somewhat traditional, soft and a little spicy, definitely towards the masculine end of the spectrum. After a while, it becomes very animalic, or animalistic, whatever the word is. That is some musky musk! I would almost swear there is civet in this, it reminds me quite a bit of some of the older scents where Beth was using civet a bit more often (Satyr for example). Except, this is a bit softer and lighter. After an even longer while, the musk settles down a bit, and like Gwydion's review before me, I was reminded of leather. Kind of a quieter relative of Iago (the scent), but still slightly menacing.

 

So, do I like it? I'm not sure! Civet has always been rather worriesome to me. It's just a little too animalistic and realistically musky for my taste. But that is a smaller part of this scent as a whole, and I only catch the civet-y musk when I sniff up close. The throw is more pleasant. This scent shifts around a lot, and I may have to wear it a couple more times to really decide if I like it. It's definitely unusual.....I don't remember very many other bpal scents like it. It didn't grab me as an 'instant love', but it may very well grow on me with some time.

Edited December 9, 2008 by Forspecial Plate

[Coldfire]

Decant: masculine vibe alright. Clean and light

Wet on me: wow…this almost has the same scent vibe as

Devin…a guy’s cologne from a long a go boyfriend

Drying Down: WOW it smells more and more like Devin.

It’s clean and light and not quite citrusy but not floral either.

But hot DAYUMN am I loving this!

Dry: wow…less like a direct memory of Devin..but traces..much

like my memories of the boy who wore it. Thanks for a lovely trip

down memory lane.

[Minerva]

I loved this in the vial... Then it began to dry to a rich, golden musk and then in the stage long after application I swear I could smell a hint of aged leather, like an old leather jacket in a thrift store. I like this for my husband!

Edited December 21, 2008 by Minerva

[voodoocatwoman]

I really didn't find this to be too masculine at all. I would have no problems wearing it myself. On application, it is incredibly spicy and warm. On drydown, I get musk, lovely but feral musk. I would consider this a winter fragrance. LOVE.

[PurringPulsar]

In the imp: powerful mens cologne, alright. I smell anise in here as well.

Wet on skin: whoa, pungent or what? Its strong musky manly cologne.

Dry: very pungent mens cologne. The first thing Im reminded of is Toad. This is like Toad x10. Much stronger, more masculine, a little bit aggressive and unsettling. As for what I smell in this cologne? I smell honey/beeswax, anise, lots of tobacco, possibly some petitgrain or bergamot-one of the cologney citrus notes. Some ozone/clean linen as well. There are possibly some woods and herbs and flowers too. But theres also something very unpleasant too, that reminds me of, well, saliva? Or that bad breath/morning mouth smell. Its musk, but more animalistic than usual. Maybe there is some civet here too? And something reminiscent of something rotting, like rotting fruit.

After a while: that unpleasant note, the civet-ish one, doesnt fade. It does linger, at times getting stronger, and it still has that saliva like smell to it. I really dont like it. I still smell rotting fruit too. However, by now I also smell smoke, almost like a tobacco smoke note. Before I could smell cigars and pipes, now they are being lit. it also now smells mossy and powdery, a bit sweet too.

Verdict: I knew this wouldnt be my thingIm not so keen on the overly masculine aftershave-ish scents (though I do like unisex scents). This is very much a masculine mix of colognes and manly scents. I smell sharp, butch colognes and thick, heavy tobacco. But the thing that I find unsettling in this scent is the musky aspect. Normally I love musks, but this one here is really animalistic. Its like civet, or along those lines, and smells a little unclean and feral on me. I think this one will be passed on to someone else.

Emoticon rating: style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/00000132.gif

Is it a keeper? No.

If you like this, try: Toad, Famine, Casanova, Vicomte de Valmont, Hellfire, Wilde, Black Annis

[Little Bird]

In the vial, this is like a sweet, clean musk and something dirty, like motor oil. Maybe a hint of anise.

 

On my skin... this is weird. It's sort of like an ultra musky spearmint and dirty rest area bathroom plus cleaning products smell. Something reminds me of cigarette smoke in the drydown.

 

Cigarette smoke in a rest area bathroom :/

 

The Convocation is not the sexy men's cologne that I was hoping for. This just smells all wrong on me.

Edited April 5, 2010 by Little Bird

[zankoku_zen]

This one definitely smells like sexy man's cologne on me, with just a hint of leather.

 

I might have to purchase a bottle for the hubby!

[Ceri]

In the vial: Spicy, musky and warm.

 

Wet: Smells like...tape & leather? The leather note is really strong.

 

Dry: Sweaty men playing with tape and leather.

 

Overall: Something went wrong somewhere and I had to wash this off. Not for me.

[lilacea]

A subdued colonge, with hints of citrus, smoke, leather, musk and a boozy gin like quality. It's pretty soft and understated, wearing close to the skin. The dry down has a super soft wood feel to it. There may be a touch of vanilla in there too. It's quite inoffensive and subtle for a colonge blend, it may be worth a try for those who normally stay away from masculine scents. ETA: I'm getting a splash of dry bergamot tea on the dry down too.

Edited April 12, 2009 by lilacea

[sadtomato]

wasn't very manly to me.

there was a lot of sweetness to this on me and something dirty as well.

unfortunately, there was a very sharp and sour scent that came through at the end of this and ruined the whole thing for me.

[MelesMeles]

In the bottle: Sharp sour plums, dried wild mountain oregano, a slight rotting (but somehow not in a bad way, like decayed leaves)

 

On the skin: All the sourness vanishes, sweet herbs, ripe pears, a very light cider vinegar

 

Drydown: Becomes dusty, losing the sweetness, a forest floor with dried herbs bursting underfoot, warming, images of a terribly elegant and sinister man in Edwardian dress standing in the corner of a shadowy room. Unmistakeably masculine, and almost slightly bestial but very very subtle.

 

Overall: I really like this one a lot, and could see it as a daily office scent.

 

Edit: Update...

 

Well, I was a bit overeager. A few hours later, and the vanilla has become very dominant, which really takes it into the feminine category for me, so probably not a keeper. That's okay, I know a young lady who will love it!

Edited May 25, 2010 by MelesMeles

[edenssixthday]

So many other people noted a musk scent, but I don't smell that at all. I smell incense and dry woods -- white sandalwood, frankincense, resinous woods. Really lovely, subdued, sincere, and serious.

[Monday]

In the imp: The Gentleman, this smells just like the Gentleman.

On my skin: It's the Gentleman plus Severin. I get thyme, tea, leather, something woodsy and musk. Not too much cologne and no civet in sight. It's actually very nice I can't think why this isn't more popular.

If you've missed out on Severin this is the scent to go to.

[whisperstilled]

Wet: Swanky men's cologne, per the description. Sharp musk and something vaguely cedar.

 

Dry: Annnnnd baby powder! Fancy baby powder, for very fancy babies.

[sasqa9]

Sweet, powdered musk with a sour note.

 

It smells instantly familiar: Jicky. This is so much like Guerlain's Jicky that I dug out a sample and dabbed it on the other wrist. Yup, that's it. I won't call it a dead ringer, but it's close.

 

Both scents have a powdered sweet musk with a touch of fancy bergamot-lavender -- and both go 'diapery' on me in the same way. It's a skin chemistry thing, and so unfortunate. I put Jicky on a man once and about fell over in awe at the swoon worthy scent: elegant and utterly gorgeous.

 

The Convocation is actually better on my skin than Jicky, which picks up a 'bad breath' note in addition to 'diaper'. Convocation also has a bit of leather, which is nice. An hour later, the bad notes have burned off and the sweet, powdery (yes, swanky) musk remains. It's good now, but the journey here was too rough.

 

This isn't a scent I can wear, but I'm impressed.

Edited March 13, 2017 by sasqa9