Anne Bonny

[roisnoir]

Named in honor of the most notorious female pirate to ever set sail. Wicked, cruel, beautiful, intelligent, resourceful and dangerous: a true role model. A blend of Indonesian red patchouli, red sandalwood, and frankincense. A million thanks to Juliana Williamson-Page for inspiration!

Anne Bonny, in Bewitching Brews, is quite possibly my favorite scent. (It's certainly my "bad girl" scent.. LOVE this stuff!)

It goes on heady and dark, and has had people coming up to be in clubs telling me I smelled wonderful.

After a short while, it settles down a little, and is slightly spicy. I get goosebumps smelling it.

I do find that after a few hours (less, if I'm out dancing and working up a sweat) it fades away, and I need to reapply, but carrying around a bottle of something that smells this good is no hardship.

EDIT: Added Lab's description --Shollin Edited September 13, 2007 by clover

[Shollin]

First sniff: Aggressive. Somehow bright and dark at the same time… close darkness and torchlight and incense and the creaking wood of a pirate ship. (Who, me, influenced by descriptions? Nahhhh…)

 

I haven't tried it on yet - I'm hoping the incense works on my skin, as they often don't.

 

Wearing: On first application, Anne Bonny is pretty darn nice. Warm and dark and enveloping. And I smell my wrist a few minutes later and there’s the sharp-sweet resin thing happening again. *sigh* Ah well, at least I know Cathedral and Aureus weren't flukes - I just can't wear incense. *pout*

[allamanda]

From Bewitching Brews

 

Smelt good from the beginning, but very familiar. Can't place it (yet) but reminds me of how perfume used to smell. I am not catching any individual notes, so maybe it is just the overall blend I smell. Very pleasing, but not addictive.

 

Mellowing out to churchy incense, somewhat reminiscent of Icon perfume (yes, I still have some). My Husband's comment was, "sweetshop" ... disagree but.... obviously his nose is different.

[viciousviolet]

BPAL is perfectly genius at capturing specific literary or mythological tones, and as a case in point, Anne Bonny is the perfect wicked woman pirate scent! Somehow this dry, incencey, woody scent really captures the feel of seafaring devilment without having a drop of "aquatic" notes. It is a very sophisticated blend, good for both day and evening use. For a warmer scent, layering it with BPAL Single Note Myrrh or Old Athens cannot be beat.

[catiebloo]

A blend with all of my favorite oils yay! The Patchouli in this is very strong! Good job i like it huh! As it dries in, the sandalwood and the frankincense come to the fore making it absolutly delish! You could imagine this scent getting better and better as the night wears on while you dance yourself silly on the dancefloor.

[blackrayne]

I am more of a fan of lighter fragrances, so this one to me after first applying it is a little too strong.

 

Ten minutes later, it has settled down some, but still isn't something I would wear. It is too much like a strong incense for me, which usually gives me a headache, and this fragrance is no exception.

 

Chris just sniffed it on me and said it smells like sea salt and old wood...so while it does capture the essence of Anne Bonny, it isn't going to be on my "to wear" list.

[lorajc]

I'm a huge fan of resin scents, as they seem to really agree with my body chemistry. Deep, dark, woody and resin like scents have become somewhat of a trademark of mine. This is definitely one of the best wood/resin scents I have smelled in a while. I feel that all of BPAL's deeper/woody scents seem to have a nice balance to them and some of them are even really light on me. This one did fade after a few hours, but I won't mind reapplying. This is one of my favs so far. Good job Elizabeth.

[Nadirah]

I don't know why, but this one is very light on me... I almost bought a big bottle because I liked the name and ingredients but it is not happy with my body chemistry. I can barely smell this anymore . I really have to whiff at my wrist to smell it. I'm dissapointed as I really and truly thought I would love it.

[antimony]

Quoting myself from when I first ordered this:

 

Holy crap, I smell amazing. I smell like a catholic church, an antique furniture store and a forest at night all at the same time. In a good way. Wow. I am blown away.

[Alice Aforethought]

This is one which doesn't seem to change much on me between application and drying down. Some of my favourite oils, a gorgeous combination that is very deep and fairly rich but isn't too dark. It reminded me most, as others have said, of churches - for me, it's the scent of decades of church polish on the pews, and the memories of scraping off the deepest waxy bits with my nails and inhaling, but more alive and vibrant.

[chai_girl]

Wow...that description of scraping the wax off of pews really gave me a flashback. My knees even hurt a little...I remember sitting through the most boring masses while scraping the wax off the pew in front of me. I'll never think of Anne Bonney the same way!

[byrdie]

One of the original Imps Ears in my first order.

 

wet ~ Earthy, perhaps with some sort of alcohol scent in it. Strong and complex. Whatever's going on in this vial is trying to come out and leap on me all at once.

 

drying ~ Lush's Amazonian! Holy heck, no wonder I was baffled. I hope this oil stays this way, as I adore that massage bar.

 

dry ~ Scratch that: this is so not Amazonian. Now it seems to be drying into an old-lady perfume experience. crud.

 

verdict ~ My nose is confused. I really want to like it, but I think there's too much going on in there for me to be really fair.

[jj_j]

Anne Bonny and I didn't get along, which was too bad. Sniffing the bottle, I could smell wet, salty, wood. Absolutely amazing, and definitely something I wouldn't mind smelling like.

 

On, though, I smelled like the mop that had been used to clean up after Antonio Banderas's bar shootout in "Desperado," then left sitting in a wooden bucket of salt water for about six weeks.

 

The notes in this are soooo good. The scent is fantastic in the bottle, and other reviewers say it stays pretty true on them - so definitely worth a try if you don't have odd chemistry like mine.

Edited March 9, 2004 by jj_j

[AnimeKitten]

I love this.

 

In the bottle it's dark and spicy and rich- must be the musk doing that.

 

When I first put it on it smelt spicy and kind of metallic- maybe I was influenced by the name, but I pictured a cargo of plundered spices, a deck covered in blood, and gold.

 

Finally, it faded down into a woodsmoke and spice smell on me- the same mental image, but a little furthere away, maybe with another ship burining in the horizon.

 

I love this. It's gorgeous. At some point I'll get a 10ml.

[xoe]

This perfume reminds me of my grandmother, and of the bathtub. Maybe because my grandmother and I went to catholic church quite a bit together. Where the bubble bath portion is coming from, I don't know.

 

I do like it quite a bit, but it's not really "me".

[skg]

This was one of the scents whose description was an immediate seller (and the fact i have a huge pirate fetish).

Upon opening the bottle it was very strong with a woody/salty scent.

On skin it was still very strong but with a sharp bite (but not acrid) with the main note smellling distinctly like cedar underlying that was a warm metal/salty smell and something that smelled a bit like sassafras (oddly enough).

Four hours later it's mellowed significantly and the sandalwood is coming through with a powdery amber-like finish.

 

Definately a keeper and something that i wanna try on my hubby as I think it's sorta a gender neutral scent even tho it's named after a notorious wench.

[magpiedee]

Honesty is the best policy, eh?

 

Okay then, and this is not a complaint, merely an explanation. As I always say when an oil doesn't work on me, I can tell how good it is, how complex and well-formed and amazing, it just ain't for me.

 

Anne Bonny on my skin smells like the cage of a ballsy old male guinea pig kept on cedar bedding.

 

There, i've said it. I'm sure it's the fault of my own skin chemistry, but I just can't wear this one. The lusty broad beat me down, and i'm going to wash her piratey musk off my skin. I've been hornswaggled, bushwacked, scallawagged and forced to walk the plank.

 

To the swaps with ye, lass!

[Ina Garten Davita]

First Impression: Warm and woodsy but not dry woodsy.

 

Second Impression: Smells amazing on my skin. It reminds me of wooden crates full of spices, carried on a ship from far away places. It's warm and wet, woodsy and spicy.

 

Final Analysis: Love, love, love it. It smells gorgeous in my hair wafting all around me.

 

Edited to add: This would be hot hot hot on a man. MMMMMM! (cold shower time, hubby's away on business.)

Edited May 5, 2004 by andrabell

[twistygirl]

Chris just sniffed it on me and said it smells like sea salt and old wood...

... and that is exactly what it smells like on me, too. This is a masterpiece in terms of invoking an image, because all I can think of is pirates or old ships at sea when I smell this. However, it's not something I see myself wearing, because I'm not sure I want to give off the scent of an old boat. I am anxious to try this as a room scent, though... I love the smell, just not as a fragrance on me.

[Hallows_Eve]

In the bottle: I loved it in the bottle. Heady, spicy, adventurous. However:

 

On Me: For some reason, after about an hour or so, it turned into a sort of fabric softener smell- like Bounce dryer sheets. This was sort of weird, because I like the "fresh out of the dryer" smell, but its not what I was expecting with a scent based of a notorious female pirate.

[VelvetSky]

I love this...and it loves me back. Wood, salt, smoke, even the tang of gunpowder (although I'm sure that's my imagination thanks to Elizabeth's awesome imagery). I'm picking up something sweet underneath the whole pirate ship thing...probably the red patchouli, although my imagination again wants to think casks of rum in the ship's hold.

 

No sandalwood at all until the very end....

Edited September 5, 2005 by VelvetSky

[Northernminx]

Quite a unisex scent on this one! In the bottle it was very crisp and strong, but I bought this one hoping that it would be perfect for one of my pirate characters.

 

Application was sea salt and wood and leather. An AMAZING blend of scents. It's like strapping an old ship to my wrist and enjoying the effects. Rugged but it mellowed a bit and just kept that nautical scent.

 

My boyfriend also tried this one out and it worked equally well on him. While this is a bit more demanding and strong than I'd wear every day, a definite keeper.

[any_old_actress]

FIRST SNIFF: patchouli with a musky undertone

 

WEARING IT: wood planks, treachery, sea salt & feminine power. this scent reeks of adventure...

 

FINAL VERDICT: after it dries for a bit this is a lot more wearable. the initial shock of musk etc may be a little too much for me though. good for days when you mean business...

[Gothabillywench]

uRGH!

 

I have no idea what's happening to my body but just over the last month, if that, my bod is rejecting or morphing scents in ways it never used to?!

 

I got this a while ago (almost 6 months) & really liked it & wore it. It was woodsy & spicy but in a very dry & wispy way.

 

Put it on to try for the 1st time in ages the other night & it smelt, to my horror, strongly of the ol' mary-jane?! WTF?

 

So, from what I initially remember this was a nice dry woody lightly spiced scent which was very autumny & pleasant. Just my body going haywire has made it smell like the one scent I truly loathe (hate pot & Red's allergic to it).

[malanna]

The scent does evoke the idea of a kick-ass female figure...but Anne Bonny's just not for me. I suppose I don't like scents that smell like wood and salt. On, it was very dark and made me think of leather (could have been the description affecting me). Two hours later, it reminds me of something I can't quite put my finger on. Ah, it's the smell of water sizzling over the rocks in a sauna, with the wood and sweat of past sauna-goers.... Not really something I want to smell like. I'll try it again over the next couple of days, though.

 

Edit: What I mean is, it's like an anti-perfume, but not in a good way.

Edited June 8, 2004 by malanna