Whoso List To Hunt

[Heavenlyrabbit]

WHOSO LIST TO HUNT
Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind!
But as for me, alas, I may no more;
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that furthest come behind.
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow; I leave off therefore,
Since in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I, may spend his time in vain.
And graven with diamonds in letters plain,
There is written her fair neck round about,
"Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame."

Sensual brown musk, rich amber, English rose, oak bark, and moss.

This is a very wearable Musk with more presence than many other BPAL musks have on me. Musk that works very well with the Moss.

The Rose is there but seems off in the distance and perhaps hinting at the inaccessible nature of the prey.

Amber adds a certain richness.

Is there Oak Bark in here? This does give an image of being in a wooded forest.

People who have trouble with Rose or who don't usually get much out of Musk might give this a whirl.

Very pretty and restrained Floral that presents itself as a Musk/Moss girl.

[hkhm]

imp: bark. this is spot-on bark. it's brown and crumbly and... bark.

 

wet: the moss and bark are so woodsy and beautiful, the musk makes this smooth and mysterious, the amber is bright. the rose is sweetening this a bit but it's also on the verge of going soapy. still, this is wonderfully evocative.

 

dry: the rose does fade after a while and it leaves a very rich sweetness behind, it almost smells honeyed. this smells like overgrown, moist woods that have lots of towering oaks and mossy rocks. the amber and musk really tie this blend together well.

[noumenon]

Even though oakmoss scents often work really well on me (Banded Sea Snake, Fae and Jolasveinar are three all-time favorites), plain old moss doesn't turn out so well. Bat Woman, Parthenope and now, sadly, this one are perfect examples. That moss note just lands flat in my nose, a kind of dull, pasty note that swallows everything else in its path.

 

And it's so sad, because Whoso List to Hunt is one of my all time favorite poems, and the notes in this scent just sounded heavenly. I must have a blind spot in my nose....

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the imp, rose and maybe some amber?

 

Wet on the skin, rose is strongest note...bark and moss are there too.

 

Musk is more noticeable as the oil begins to dry on my skin. Dries down to rose, moss, and faint amber.

 

I will keep my imp for now, but probably not a bottle in my future.

[CynicalPink]

Imp: Baby powder

 

Wet: Powder's gone, replaced by a woody note. That's it so far, though

 

Drydown: Feh. Powdery nothing. No rose, no bark, nothing I'd call musk. Just amber gone bad.

 

Overall: I was hoping for a creamy wood and roses scent, which sounded SO appealing. Too bad amber had to crash the party.

[fairnymph]

Sniffed: Light yellow oil. Dark, woodsy, masculine and a little sour (from the rose, which is Empress-style). Lots of bark, almost dirty and crumbling, brown musk (it reminds me of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn), and a some amber.

 

Wet: Drier, warmer and still very woodsy. Loads of amber, that's both powdery and perfumey - in fact, amber is totally dominating within moments on my skin. Lots of the brown musk, which is pretty intense and masculine. A hint of sour/sharp rose, but it's distant. The bark is a bit softer on my skin.

 

Dry: Ughhh this rose is amping on me, it's totally the rose from The Empress and The Miller's Daughter and it's so sharply sour, almost bitter or rotten. The amber is powdery-perfumey and this stuff isn't even really dry yet. The moss is NOT my beloved oakmoss, but a more musty sort of Spanish moss.

 

Summary: Sour rose and powdery amber. I do love the bark note and the musk is nice, but not enough to save this. Revolting with very strong throw and longevity.

 

[VioletChaos]

strangely, i get no rose from this, and further more, hardly any notes that actually appear in the list show up on my skin at all.

 

instead i get what starts in the imp as a whiff of leather combined with burning leaves.

 

once it's in contact with my skin, i get the floral. not rosey, per se, but the sort that would be on my granny's dressing table, mixed into her cold cream.

 

eventually it dries down to an odd combination of cloves, "old lady" perfumed powder, and perhaps a touch of that oakmoss to finish it up.

 

in all: a strange mix of scents. not for me, but i'm glad i tried it.

[oakmoss]

Loved the idea of this, and really looked forward to it, so I bought a bottle right away. In the bottle, lovely rich spicy resin, with a bit of rose. On my skin, again, that delicious resiny goodness -- it reminded me of my beloved Penitence with a dash of rose.

 

For about 30 seconds.

 

Then the musk or something began a chemistry experiment on my wrist that turned into awful rotten stems that have sat in a vase for weeks. Really unpleasant, all traces of spice gone, just dankness and sourness. It's off to swaps (I wrote "swamps" which is about right) for this one, alas.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Straight up baby powder.

 

Immediately on skin: This scent smells like baby powder on me… with a little bit of dry wood. That’s about it.

 

After a little while: This stays mainly a baby powder scent, but now I also get a little bit of moss to go with the dry woodiness. Just a touch though. A light touch of dry cologne to go over the baby powder.

 

Overall Impressions: This scent is just not good on me at all. It’s mostly baby powder, which I think is the brown musk. This scent is dry, and has just a touch of wood and moss to go with the baby powder. I’m disappointed that this smells so wrong to me.

 

[blacklacestatic]

In the imp: Creamy, yet woodsy and earthy. Very well-blended, no individual note stands out from the rest. I don't smell rose at all here, and only a slight bit of amber.

 

Wet on skin: A little dusty, a bit masculine and soft. It's warm and cozy, like a soft blanket. Soft, sweet woods.

 

Drydown: Soft, warm, fuzzy and musky. This is a dry scent, yet it's very comforting. A cuddle up by the fire scent.

 

Overall: Perfect for me. The woods are soft, and the amber softer. The rose is almost undetectable unless you search for it, so all you rose haters out there, don't let that deter you from trying this. I know this is vague and kind of spacey sounding, but it feels like this has some deep, rich history to it, like it could have been worn by secret lovers in the past. Another fantastic love potion from the lab.

[LizzyLies]

In the imp, it totally smells creamy to my nose, almost like peanut butter. However on the skin it's absolutely marvelous. It's earthy, slightly creamy, and definitely woodsy with just a touch of amber--and I loves me some amber.

I don't see this as an everyday scent, but for days in the fall and winter where I want to feel like I've just had an amazing trip through the woods--while remaining completely cozy.

[hespera4523]

First off, a word about me and my opinion of Rose as a note.

 

That word is: "Ewwwwwwwwww."

 

Anyway, when this came up all shiny and new, I had a long debate with myself about it. Eventually my love of Anne Boleyn, Thomas Wyatt, poetry, and all things Renaissance overcame my fear of the evil Doom Flower, so when it came time to get another bottle of Snake Oil for the cellar I snuck an imp of this into my order. Boy howdy, am I glad I did.

 

Rose is an afterthought. A ghost. No real "knock you over the head with a large hammer made of silly putty and throw flowers in your face." Brown musk and amber, yummy yum yum yum. This is deliciously soft and sensual, like a beautiful velvet gown. Okay, it is powdery. I happen to like the powdery. I think that the powdery scents have a bad rap, and that there is an Anti-Powder Secret Society that is disseminating bad information about powdery scents...maybe working with the Illuminati. This is dry and soft and nothing like freshly washed baby butt or old lady powder. The moss and bark keep it from being so overly sweet. This got raves from the guys I wore it around and will be added to the big bottle box promptly.

[kbrighton]

I do like this scent. Oh yes--very much. It's different from anything I've tried so far, it's dry like Coyote is dry, actually it has a lot of the qulaities I like in Coyote but in a stronger scent.

 

From the imp I get rose, but not a sweet rose. This is like the memory of rose in a forest too dark and dry for rose to bloom. As it dries the rose, amber, musk, bark and moss vie for position. The first time I wore it I did not smell rose at all, the second time rose was stronger. Eventually, once the gentle pushing and shoving is sorted out all the scents blend together into something beautiful, warm, dry and woody. I feel as if I am wrapped in a cloak of, not quite velvet--perhaps it is bark and moss which have been woven together to make a soft amber colored wrap.

Edited August 30, 2009 by Columbine

[isisonearth]

Imp: Wow...this really packs a wallop. Amber but so dark and rich it must be that brown musk...its like velvet.The barest hint of rose.

 

Wet: On the skin it is a bit woodier than in the imp but still very mysterious and appealing. I'm really not getting much in the way of rose.

 

Dry: That brown musk is still just wowing me. Obviously a note I need to explore further. Whoso makes me thing of a dark wood armoire full of brown velvet gowns that hold a lingering touch of their wearer...skin musk and rosewater.

[Little Bird]

When I wore this, my husband said it smelled like: "Flowers. But not very good ones. It smells like plastic flowers that someone sprayed with cheap flower perfume." The rose, of course, amps up on me like there's no tomorrow, and the amber tosses baby powder all over it. Sweet, powdery, perfumey rose... a shame, because the resinous, woodsy, musky qualities in the imp are gorgeous (and totally nonexistent on my skin).

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

"Noli me tangere [Don't touch me], for Caesar's I am, and wild for to hold, though I seem tame."

i've always loved that line and i confess that's why i bought this.

 

impsniff: my brain says i'm smelling burning baby powder.

skinsniff: the ashes of burned baby powder - the remnants of a massive baby powder bonfire in the middle of the woods.

 

very... interesting. but not for me.

 

 

[Iceblink]

This is beautiful. Musky and mossy with a bit of rose. It's a bit much for hot weather but I can see pulling this out once fall is here...and this reminds me a bit of Hunter Moon; if you liked that one this is a must-try. Very sensual.

[GhillieDhu]

I have to say this isn't at all my usual type of scent, but I like it! The combination of rose, musk, and amber is old-fashioned in the way that, say, a vintage Guerlain is old-fashioned - goes straight past "grandma perfume" into "classic". Immediately upon applying, I get ROSE! tempered by something dry and powdery and barklike. The rose in this is rich and incensey like the one in Thanatos. The brown musk is a soft, "furry" musk, no trace of skank here. In the drydown, this is an inviting woodsy, dusty amber sweetened by just a hint of rose. Reminds me of the famous center panel of the Bayeux tapestry for some reason.

[bubblefish]

On me this blend starts off very much sensually rich and intriguing, then slowly begins to morph into more of an earthy scent. It's an interesting progression. With the other components, the rose takes on such an interesting smell.

[Pottersville]

<sigh> I'm not sure WHY I keep banging my head against the wall of amber, but I do. Whoso List to Hunt is yet another brick in the wall, built by my funky skin chemistry, that grabs at any sign of amber and transmorgifies it into the cheapest drugstore knock off brand baby powder imaginable.

[crebbsgirl]

On me, the brown musk combined with the amber to very powdery results. The rose came out and overtook this blend for me, which wasn't overly surprising as I tend to amp rose. Overall this one is not for me.

[rayvn1]

I could have sworn there was black coconut or coconut husk in this! I get a rich, beautiful musk mixed with a creamy base. Really sexy scent

[Asafoetida]

In the imp I get lovely, musky amber that I would love to wrap myself in because it's so soft and wonderful.

 

...of course, on and wet it turns SOUR. Biting into a lemon sour, except without the lemon.

 

Then, during the drydown, it morphs to a powdery rose. Fortunately I did not amp the rose to headache-inducing levels as I usually do, but it does turn into the kind of rose scent that I could get in a spray at the Dollar Store. This one is a pass for sure.

 

Though it is interesting to note that I got hit on while returning a movie to a Redbox, which I've got to say is a first. He seemed disappointed when I answered his 'so what did YOU get' question with a nerdy movie... so perhaps this makes me come off as more demure and ladylike than I actually am, lol.

[Mousesong]

Noooo! I love both the notes and the name! Why did this happen to me?

 

This doesn't smell of rose or bark or luscious forests or anything similar on me. In the imp it's lovely and I couldn't wait to try it on, but as soon as I did--

 

WHOOMPH

 

--you know that feeling, when a smell is so dead up familiar, so strongly tied to certain memories, so perfect, that you get that weird emotional transportation feeling, like you're standing somewhere else, watching yourself? Whoso List did that to me, but not in a good way, because this was straight up emergency room. It smelled like that pink baby powder scented sanitizer used in emergency rooms, and I swear to god, I don't know if it was the actual scent or the projection (I'm going with the scent), I could smell stale vomit just down a hallway. I could vividly smell linoleum and people (musk, thanks?) and just... god.

 

Now, amber occasionally goes powder on me. And lots of smells go sour/vomit on me (yeah, it's unfortunate). But nothing has ever done something like this on me. To be entirely honest, I actually continued sniffing it for several minutes because I was so shocked at how uncanny the resemblance was. There I was, sitting in a mauve chair, listening to a baby crying and a lady moaning in pain, waiting to hear news about my mom and whether she'd had a stroke.

 

Not. Pleasant.

 

I hate my skin. Whatever that is lurking in the opened imp, it smells beautiful. I wish I could capture it but it escapes me--appropriately, given the name.

 

Noli me tangere indeed.

[Diva Urd]

Vial: Musk and something solidly woody - oak?

On: Oh yeah, there's the rose. It's not overwhelming, but it's there. It's tempered by something that makes it a bit hair-spray-y at first, maybe the moss? The musk lurks underneath, along with the stout woody note. I don't get any overt amber. It does actually remind me of furs, something about it smells like my mom's old fur coat.

Later: ROSE! Dammit Swap.