The Fire Dancer

[fairnymph]

Dark slightly reddish brown oil. Sweet, musk, and a little sharp - in a woody-green way. It reminds me of one of the Snakes. Definitely some red musk, and I think the sharp green note might be ho wood. But there is definite fruit here, too - maybe black plum? And some smoky, very dark and very smoky incense - maybe some vetiver, myrrh, frankincense, maybe some patchouli? There's a bit of a Mme Moriarity resemblance, too, but the strong green woody note makes this blend pretty unique.

 

A little softer and more - rounded. Things are blending together. There's a tartness here that I think is from the plum - actually, I am almost positive this is the same wild plum note from the Witch Queen - it's much stronger and more distinct on my skin, juicy-tart-sweet and sort of exotic. The ho wood, or whatever it is, has softened noticeably - it's smoother and drier. I also get a hint of spice now that I think is - coriander? And that could be what I initially interpreted as ho wood. Dry, spicy-hot, but with a bright green, sour-sharp top note at first that burns off into something still bright, but no longer sharp. The dark smoke and incense are just as strong or stronger, and i'm not great at picking out such notes, but there is definitely a little gritty vetiver, some musty-dusty blackened myrrh, and I think some black/smoked sandalwood, too. And I'm still betting on some frankincense and patchouli, though the latter is pretty light and well behaved and has an herbal tone - it's like the patchouli leaf in very well AGED MM.

 

This one dries rather slowly on my skin, as many of the red musk, incensey, and such type scents do. It really does remind me the most of the Witch Queen of all the scents I've sniffed because of that very unique wild plum note. The coriander has turned to dry, spicy-hot dust with no greenness remaining, and the dark, warm sandalwood note has amped up - it's pretty smooth and sexy, but too dark and warm for my tastes. The general 'vibe' of this blend and the slight floral tinge over a red musk base reminds me of Parker Lily, too. And I get a bit of Spawn of the She-Devil proto (have yet to try the released version) vibe. It's possible it's reminding me of one of the protos - NVPR4 - but without the smoky/dark/incensey base, and then it also reminds me a little of B.B3 but with way more complexity, darkness and depth and much less fruity-foodiness.

 

This is going sour again. I don't know what's giving that effect, either. I think possibly there is a sharp floral, one of those 'sophisticated' types, that's doing it - narcissus, maybe? NO!!!!! It's neroli, definitely, without a doubt. And it's only going a little soapy, mostly it's just sour and quite a bit sharp here and has made a huge dominating emergence, though I can still smell everything below. To me, this is definitely a feminine blend, but one for ladies who like their blends, dark, rich, red musky and incense-heavy. It's very... femme fatale. The final drydown on me is a tie between narcissus and wild plum, over an extremely well blended and heady, dark combination of red musk, the incense noted above, dark sandalwood and vetiver with a spicy-dry kick of freshly ground coriander to liven things up.

 

It's one of those blends that reminds me of a lot of other BPAL blends and is very 'clasically BPAL', yet at the same time, has enough unique facets to be very firmly its own blend, and not something one could substitute The Witch Queen or Mme Moriarty or a Snake Pit blend for. It has great throw and really fantastic longevity, too, and I expect it to be quite popular. But it's not for me.

Edited March 23, 2010 by fairnymph

[cfrancesca]

This reminds me of Playing with a Loaded Gun, with the "scorched ginger musk" (but without the effervescence), some red musk, slightly sweet and tart fruit with some smokiness, and earthiness.

[myth]

The first impression is sourness. Wood? Vetiver? I’m having a hard time with this one. But I also think there might be some red musk in there somewhere; I can smell it from the bottle and on wet. Dried sour, and a touch perfumey, so probably a floral, but still hard to pin down.

[theseagrows]

this smells like red musk and some sort of soft fruit scent, but not overwhelmingly sweet, as i can't really do fruity scents. maybe some florals and citrus too, but none i can really pick out clearly. i could see this being black plum as a reviewer above mentioned, but i'm not sure. it's got an almost clear, tea-like quality to it. the red musk isn't too strong in this, though it is the prominent note. later on, the florals/fruits come to the forefront more. it is a bit "perfumy" and is a very pretty scent.\

 

eta: now that this has been on for 40 minutes, it really reminds me a lot of bakeneko, and other scents in that vein. like a warm, citrus-tea-red musk scent.

Edited October 12, 2011 by theseagrows