The Black Rider

[monocainsheresy]

Black leather, oppoponax, tobacco, and black amber.

 

mmmmmm....

well loved, suuuper soft leather and sweet opoponax

[puellacaerulea]

This one's soft leather with a slightly powdery note from the amber. The opoponax makes the scent a bit intense, but not overpowering. Much like Villain, I really love this, but it definitely leans traditionally masculine, possibly too much for me to pull off. Still going to hang on to my imp and keep testing it, though.

[niffler]

In the imp: Sharp and musky, some of the sharpness is very medicinal, I'm guessing from the opoponax. A harder, shinier musk than Czernobog, if that makes sense. I couldn't pick out leather right away and kind of made a face at the opoponax as I set it aside. 

On my skin: Wow. Bitter black musk over top super soft leather. The bitterness fades as it dries on my skin, leaving surprisingly sweet, musky leather with a dusting of powder. Very pleasantly surprised since Fighter stayed so acrid on me—must be the amber in this one. I was not expecting to like this after smelling the imp, but I really enjoy it. 

[lady_pandora]

Received this as a frimp from the Lab, possibly a long time ago, IDK, I'm way behind on testing imps. This is really nice! My guess of the notes was a little off, I would have said honey and leather and maybe a little spice. I could see how amber and leather could create a similar effect. The amber and possibly the opoponax take off the chemical edge that leather sometimes has. I'm not ordinarily a tobacco fan, but here it just kind of folds into everything else. Really sexy; this is the leather scent I've been looking for, I think.

Edited June 4, 2020 by lady_pandora

[Lux667]

Received as an imp, as well.

 

Wet:  Lush floral and slightly overripe fruit notes
Dry Down:  Floral is faiding, leather and amber are really starting to come up

Dry:  It softens quite a bit.  The dry down leather and amber were very noisy but it definitely settles. 

 

It's giving me a headache though, so I think this one isn't for me.   Alas.

[deadlyves]

I mostly just get a smoky, tobacco leather. There's a slight creaminess added from the amber. Perhaps I'm picking up the opoponax, too, but I can't say I'm any good at picking that one out.

 

I like it, but perhaps more for other people than for me.

[myrrhmyrrh]

 

In the vial: opoponax first and foremost and amber as an afterthought

 

On me, wet: now I have put on leather boots and someone has taken out the fine tobacco, they run roughshod over the opoponax and even the amber

 

On me, just dried: some low note, and tar-ry – what in the bottle seemed a very feminine scent has become to my mind) overwhelmingly masculine, until the opoponax peeps out again, just barely. A metamorphosis of gender.

 

After 15 minutes: masculine and feminine intermingle now - I have not read the attached fairy tale (yet) but I am thinking of the bedroom scenes between Etta Place and The Sundance Kid from George Roy Hill’s 1969 film: there is the outlaw lover’s hard-riding, smoking, leather, and her delicate lace and heady undermuslins.

 

After 30 minutes: I can now smell a swirl of all the discrete (but hardly discreet) elements – the leather, the tobacco, the opoponax, the amber…., all of it by turns and at once

 

After 1 hour: leather and opoponax love and struggle and love again

 

After 3 hours: faintly, faintly now for something that started with such a ruckus!

 

Verdict : the leather and tobacco is not me at all, so I’m happy to have tried the frimp, but would never invest in a bottle, unless it were for my best fella, if only he would wear such things. Still it is magnificent, and for those who like mixes of this genre, both the mélange and the individual notes – absolutely, this is a keeper.

[torischroeder9]

In the imp: Tobacco over leather and black amber. There is something that's giving this a faint menthol eucalyptus vibe as well. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, it's tobacco over soft resin. After the initial drydown, in which the fuzzy amber dominates, I get mostly black leather. Unfortunately, the black leather note is often harsh and almost chemical on my skin; though the amber softens it, it doesn't eliminate the chemical quality entirely. 

 

This... just isn't me, though in fairness, I was never expecting it to be.  

[storme]

Wet: leather and warm amber, very promising.
Dry: a well-blended leather/tobacco/amber combo, warm and nice but a bit generic overall.  I suspect it might age very nicely!

[Jenesis]

I am so happy this is a GC! Fresh on (my bottle is lab-fresh) I get 'new handbag' leather, rather than 'dirty' leather. That simmers down very quickly to a warm, leather/amber mix with a little dustiness from the tobacco and warmth from the opoponax underneath. All of these things are wonderful and if I do say so myself this does suit me marvellously; I can't wait to see how it ages. I'll definitely hang on to my bottle for when I need to feel strong!

[fairybites]

Sharp dark black leather, giving me new car smell. This must be really aged cause no amber or tobacco from this imp that I can tell. Not a fan, it's a little strong. If you love any and all leathers, you should have this in your collection for sure!

[Rane.]

Have an imp of this. It's very deep, masculine, & leathery with the waxy resinous smell of opoponax. The amber & tobacco are the final notes to come out on me.

[alyelle]

I've got multiple imps of this scent dating back to 2012; this review is for a 2021 purchase.

Imp: Leather, amber, and tobacco smoke. 

 

Wet: A burnished, smoky leather rich with oil and a hint of incense.

 

Dry: Whiffs of leather, smoke, and resin borne away on a desert breeze. Medium throw, comparatively short life (just under 6 hours). 

 

Stars: ★★★½

[Sunny the Wizard]

Deliciously rich and leathery, on wet the tobacco notes are really strong and it smells delightfully masculine on me. As it wears it gets waxy and sweeter, and as people have said, there's some incense notes on here I find very compelling. I know this is meant to be based on Baba Yaga's black rider, but I can't help but think of an infernal midnight cowboy when I smell it, riding on a horse with brimstone hoofbeats and an appropriately wide-brimmed black hat. It's very masculine, decently aggressive in how the notes come together, and is something that I'll be sure to only wear paired with a leather jacket.

[MolyH]

The sweetness of the oppoponax is combining with the leather in a way that smells very honey-like and sweet. This would be a great leather scent to try out for people who hate leather scents, such as myself. Honestly, this is what a new, luxury car should smell like--dark and sophisticated.

[Jarek]

I got an imp of this with my Men's Imp Pack back in 2022. I liked it a fair amount when I first tried it, and it grew on me more too, to the point I would like a bottle of this one too. :3

In the imp and wet I get a lot of tobacco and what I'm presuming is the black amber, but also maybe the oppoponax? I don't really get leather yet. Lovely blend though 

 

Dry I can detect a bit of leather coming through but it is well blended with everything else. I can tell this is meant as a masculine scent, it smells dark too. It's got some throw to it, though I find most BPAL scents not super-prominent unless I accidentally put too much on (for me this is a feature). But it goes a little further than some others.