Harlot

[Mermaid-on-Land]

Based on a Romany incense blend reputed to induce sexual dreams: Somalian rose, Moroccan rose and Bulgar rose with a sultry dribble of cinnamon.

 

Oooooh this smells good on application! I never really gave much thought to roses before discovering BPAL. I never really thought they were for me. But I've liked every scent I've tried so far that had roses in it so I think I've been converted. This is fresh and dewy roses on first application. Then over a couple minutes the cinnamon blooms and mingles with the rose scent. They combine into something more complex than just 'cinnamon and rose' that I really like. This is sweetly spicy and freshly rosy. Color feel is deep purple and red. The throw is pretty good in the beginning but lessens quite a bit on dry down. It faded really fast on me sadly. Oh well, I like this one enough to try slathering it the next time I wear it and see how that works to get it to stay!

[Casablanca]

Wet on my skin, Harlot is a beautiful red rose mix, lush and full. The cinnamon spices this floral lightly at first. Underneath them, I smell a little musk and a little something vanillic, maybe tonka.

Harlot dries into a stronger cinnamon, in the usual way cinnamon plays on my skin. I really like cinnamon, but I have to limit my cinnamon buys, lest I wind up with a box of cinnamon single notes. Rose is a strong player, too, though, so I'm hoping it can hang.

At a half hour, the cinnamon has surpassed the rose in strength. The roses are a cushy red background to the cinnamon's dusty fire.

At an hour, Harlot has quieted to a spicy, warm skin scent. Most of the rose has faded out, but it leaves a ghostly red impression of itself.

This could make a pleasant spicy alternative to my current go-to rose, The Book, but it would need frequent reapplication, since it doesn't last two hours on me.

[lizabelle]

I was expecting to love this, because "spicy rose" is basically my favorite scent category. I don't exactly dislike it, but it's nothing like I thought on my skin. One of the roses (possibly the Bulgarian one?) goes extremely powdery on me, and the effect is very old-fashioned and girly. The scent reminds me a bit of Lush's Turkish Delight, but even more powdery. I get no cinnamon at all. On my skin at least this is more like the perfume the harlot wears to seem like a dignified lady!

[DiesMali]

In the imp: ...dill pickles?

 

Wet on my skin: Okay, so my skin did this thing recently where red rose smells like dill pickles on me for the first few minutes of wear. Don't ask me, I dunno. So yeah, for the first 2-3 minutes it's sour pickle.

 

Dry: THANK THE MAKERS. As this dries, it's now a somewhat subtle, spicy blend of rose petals and cinnamon. This was worth the first few minutes of pickle juice. Sultry, warm, sexy. A good one for rose lovers who like their rose with a little extra "oomph" from spice instead of greens or dew. Sadly, it fades fairly quickly on my skin, but it's nicer than I expected while it lasts.

[ramblingrambler]

Often I have to close my eyes to experience a scent. I think this is because my nose isn't as developed as many here, but that's okay with me: I have a long, pleasurable road ahead, honing my olfactory palate. I say this because with Harlot, I have to close my eyes to know what I'm smelling. And it smells good.

 

In the imp, it's quite subdued, and doesn't have much of a smell to me. Wet, it's all cinnamon, but not Red Hots cinnamon, just a warm, tingly spiciness to an overall subtle fragrance. I can't tell yet that roses are blossoming until they do; they literally blossom petal by petal, one by one, on the skin, and open to dewy earth and sky as they journey through their life into death through wear. It's beautiful, the full arc of life here, moving from birth to death from opening to close. Wow. The three roses are blended so well here---there's a hint of green stem, but it's otherwise a bouquet of rose---and the spicy, sharp hint of cinnamon throughout.

 

I'm in love.

 

The imp is lab fresh from a few weeks ago, so I'll have to revisit once it has aged some. I've a few Harlot imps from swaps, but I can't properly review them without knowing how aged they are. I've marked the date on this one, so I'll come back in a few months to update.

[bluethorn13]

This was one of the first imps added to the cart of my first order. I was so very excited. It's not a BAD smell. But it does go very powdery on me. so after a few minutes of dry down I have powdery old fashioned rose and cinnamon bear smell. Not really what I expected. I don't hate it, but I don't find myself reaching for it very much at all.

[DiZZysTARdust]

I purchased this for the blend. I love rose. I was also drawn to the claim in the description that this is a based on a romany blend. In the bottle i smell at first soap. It kinds of turns rosy in the bottle but it's a little wishy washy. I think i smell it but then it goes back to soap, then suddenly comes out again. I can't detect cinnamon at all. On my skin the roses just kind of vacate. The cinnamon is very faintly detectable. I was horribly disappointed by this, i have to say. It is has no throw at all and didn't last long. Last time i tried it on i actually put another blend on top of it after about ten minutes and it dodn't affect the second blend whatsoever.

[SardonicGinger]

I was so happy with this one by the end of a long night. It had faded to a subtle but still noticeable scent.

 

Wet: Very rosey. Barely any cinnamon.

Dry: Still mostly rose, but the cinnamon finally started to show. Rosey with just the right amount of spice.

 

I love this on me. It is one I will definitely be buying a full bottle of.

[VetchVesper]

Harlot is flirty smelling. The rose is the perumey variety, but it's not soapy, and the cinnamon keeps it from going into old lady territory. Rather, I'm reminded of some sort of sugary cinnamon rose confection. I'm not having any skin irritation, which can sometimes happen when cinnamon's involved, so that's a definite plus. On me, this is a simple, sweet, and upfront rose. Pretty.

[DryFrogPills]

Just tried my imp of this today, freshly arrived yesterday.

 

In the bottle: Roses, soft and flirty, but no sense of soapiness, powder, or a little girl attitude. Promising.

 

After 5 to 10 minutes on the skin: There's no distinct cinnamon note on me, but there's a round rich warmth under the roses that helps make sure these are mature, deep, sensual red roses, deep red, almost like wine but with no alcohol element. Deeply feminine, but womanly.

 

After an hour: This has one of the most consistent drydowns I've experienced yet. It softens just a little on the sensuality, but there's no significant change in the notes, other than that. Not the most long lasting though, it's pretty much gone after three hours.

 

Judging from my usual feeling about rose scents versus this and Baghdad Resurrected, I think that Bulgar Rose may be the rose that works for me.

 

Edited to Update:

 

I was fond but not insane about this at first, but it wormed into my brain and kept calling me to grab my imp again and again. Ended up being the first thing I bought a full bottle of! And for that matter, that I'd be pretty much happy to roll around in forever like a cat in catnip. It's womanly, spicy, sensuous, and just absolutely wonderful.

Edited August 3, 2018 by DryFrogPills

[Lucchesa]

My grandmother had these hard pink soaps in her pink and burgundy tiled bathroom that were shaped like Mackintosh roses. You weren't actually supposed to use them; she had normal soap too. Harlot on me smells exactly like those soap roses. Old-fashioned rose soap with the tiniest edge of cinnamon. Not terribly long-lasting on my skin.

[Joyleaf_]

Got this in as a frimp from the lab.In the imp and in the first second of wear I smell freshly cut roses, but once the cinnamon starts- it overtakes all. Dries down to almost nothing, just the hint of cinnamon. Like I held red hot candies for too long.

[monocainsheresy]

Mmmm! Beeeeeautiful, creamy, warm cinnamon rose. One of my favorites.

[torischroeder9]

In the imp: I can pick out two rose scents. One, unfortunately, goes soap-rose to my nose. The other is the authentic sweet rose scent of the roses we had in my backyard growing up. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, soap-rose wins. 

 

As it dries, I think I can start to detect the cinnamon creeping up, but that could also be my hopeful imagination. 

 

After a few minutes, the soap-rose fades, and the real rose becomes the main player. The soap isn't quite gone completely, and I still can't really find the cinnamon. 

 

😞 [One Eternity Later...] 

 

I've been waiting and waiting for the cinnamon to show. It's not going to. 

 

The waft of this perfume is lovely; it's all the sweet, natural rose. Soap-rose dominates up close, though. 

 

 

[neuilly]

Very much rose soap on me, but I get the sense of it being a little musty - liek soap that's been sitting out unused and now has a little layer of dust on top. The cinnamon has little waves of being noticeable but this is predominantly rose to me.

[Bassmastadroog]

I don’t really get any cinnamon. It’s mainly a fresh dew rose at the start...then quickly becomes rose soap. I love roses, but I’m not into this one.

[CharB]

This is a beautifully succulent, deep rose, and you really can get a spicy waft of cinnamon around the edges. Its very feminine, and not only smells of a large bouquet, but one containing a few varieties of rose, as the description claims. 

Edited May 8, 2020 by CharB

[Supertrooper Omni]

Very sheer, mild scent. I do not detect the strong cinnamon that other reviews mentioned. The scent is very quiet, reminds me of oil of olay, or cold cream, or ivory soap. Mostly Johnson and Johnson pink lotion scent, soft mild powdery floral with touch of green stemmy smell if you search for it. The smell reminds me of a newly pressed compact of face powder.

 

I'm not sure if the imp I received was old, but to me it does not smell like Bulgarian rose, or any scent I'd identify as knock me on my ass rose. Such a different experience than other reviews! Low throw, very fleeting, barely there, though I applied a lot. 

Edited October 5, 2020 by Supertrooper Omni
Typo

[freyasfae]

I was expecting this to be a lot headier based on name alone, but it's a wet rose. I tend to amp rose, so I am not getting much in the way of cinnamon and incense, which saddens me, but considering that I amp rose, I am finding this to be a surprisingly light rose on me.

[JuliskaMarie]

In the imp:  As described, absolutely gorgeous!

 

Wet on skin: A slightly-rosy cinnamon- like a potpourri almost? I knew this would happen. Rose disappears on me. There’s a  fair bit more rose left than I was expecting though.

 

Dry on skin: Cinnamon potpourri, fairly faint.

 

After a few hours: Almost nothing left. The faintest hint of soapy potpourri.

 

Verdict: Won’t be wearing it like this, but I’ll probably use it in a scent locket.

[skyturtles]

Wet: It smells Middle-Eastern, or perhaps Arabian, with jasmine & amber & myrhh. Roses? It's getting more floral the more I wait. It started off sexy & bold but is softening down to a powdery, innocent seduction.

This isn't my jam but it's an interesting, well-made blend, to start off with. Now it's just kind of a baby wipe scent. Lolita...? Lacey & racey? I'm done.

[MolyH]

I've never had a problem with rose-scents--in fact, it's one of my favourite notes. I've never had a problem with cinnamon-scents. And yet somehow, this combination smells like sour soap on me. There's this strange, almost citrusy note that's driving me nuts trying to figure out what it is. I'm barely catching any rose either--it smells like my bottle of Peacock Queen that's been aged for too long or maybe exposed to the sun, where the rose has faded to this honey-ish scent that has barely any throw at all.

[a_bear]

Unsurprisingly, it smells like rose, but I don't really get any cinnamon or anything resembling incense from this one.

[Laughing Seagull]

Aged imp (2 years or so) test.

 

My impression is a rich, dark colored rose (as opposed to a watery rose like a tea rose). I wouldn't have guessed that cinnamon was present because I only detect rose. Very pleasant, but this had basically no throw and didn't last very long for me.

 

This Harlot was surprisingly timid and was in a hurry to leave.