Tombeur

[galahad]

Deadly and seductive: vanilla-infused sandalwood, blood musk, antique patchouli, vetiver, lavender, bitter almond, amber, and a trickle of Snake Oil.

In The Bottle
Snake oil, lavender and patchouli. A little unsettling because of the lavender/patchouli interaction.

On Application
Interseting. Almost a wintergreen and snake oil vibe. Wow. Very different than I expected from first sniff.

Dry Down
There is a really unusual trat berryness to this to start with. The notes do not play well together to start with and then, magically (just when I have crossed it off my must haves list), it turns incredible. Sweet and powdery dry, I can start to make a out the snake oil spiciness and the amber and patchouli. In the end, lovely.

Rating (0-5)
4

[countessmouse]

An odd combination of the patchouli, lavender and Snake Oil that smelled a bit like an old headshop and only lasted about 2-3 hours. No throw, no longevity.

[obsidienne]

Wow, gorgeous Snake Oil lightened and made more complex by the other notes. I love Beth's antique patchouli note, which is exquisite, it almost smells like metallic patchouli but without being, um, metallic. That made NO sense at all, but I can't describe it any other way! The amber is rich and warm and a touch dry, the vanilla is rather light, and I can't really detect the vetiver, which is a huge relief. Result? Slinky, warm, sexy Snake Oil variant.

 

This blend has three of my "total fail" notes in it - blood, vetiver, and bitter almond, and I can barely tell.

 

Love! Hoard!

[loverstreet]

Wet: Root Beer, then Snake Oil

 

Dry: On my right arm, Snake Oil and sandalwood. On my left arm, gorgeous lavendar and musk.

 

After two hours: Very nice blend of vanilla, musk, lavendar. The Snake Oil has faded back (yea!), the patchouli is miniscule. Verah nice!

[GardenCat]

I really wanted to love this one. I think the blood musk, antique patchouli & vetiver are just too much together for me. It is RMW, so I'll give it another go another time, but I bet this would smell awesome on my man!

[Truelove]

Tombeur - this one is quiet nice, but not spectacular. Nice smooth soft blend - I can smell the sandalwood, patchouli and snake oil, but little else which is a shame. A keeper as an imp, but not a bottle for me.

 

 

[Akurarei]

Tombeur

 

I was really worried about the patchouli & clove; neither really suit me.

 

In the Bottle:

Musk, Vanilla & something kind of dry

 

On my Skin, Wet:

Patchouli! NOOO!!

after a couple of minutes, the patchouli goes away to be replaced with red musk, deep dark vanilla, and extra sugary Snake Oil!

 

On my Skin, Dry:

no patchouli anywhere, just that glorious musk, vanilla & SO combo.

this is great! I don't even detect the questionable clove which tends to appear in the dry phase.

 

Verdict:

a wonderful scent - I really love it!

buying one or more backups prior to 2011

10 of 10 Ranking!

[thebirdofhermes]

Alas, I can't do the usual in the vial and wet stage reviews because the vial is all packed up to be swapped off and I did not take notes either time I tested it until the dry stage.

 

So, dry.

 

At first, I kept thinking it was the love child of Snake Charmer and... the uber-linen/"apple" version of Black Lace. That is seriously what it went to on my skin, with the caveat that it did not have the throw of either. (Though, really, nothing except Snake Charmer has Snake Charmer's insane strength and throw on my skin, so it's not fair of me to try and compare any scent's throw to that. Tombeur could have at least had the very nice throw of Black Lace, though.) It's like a fruity, linen-y Snake Charmer. I have no idea how the heck that happened with the note list, but there you go.

 

Also, I think I'm finally beginning to pick out Snake Oil as a distinct scent. Which is also telling me that I probably shouldn't ever waste money on buying Snake Oil, but should I ever get frimped a bit, it would be a safe one to keep. Why, no, I have never tried Snake Oil straight.

 

What throw there is keeps with the Black Lace/Snake Charmer mix, though up close after a while, a spicy dry bitterness comes out. The bitterness is distinctly recognisable as lavender, though it's not so bad, I suppose. With the fruits and sweetness, I'm put in mind of Lurid, just a little.

 

I'm trying to figure out where I keep getting fruitiness from, and I must conclude that blood musk is a dragon's blood blend and not a blood accord blend as I had hoped. I also think it's the vanilla with the dry sandalwood that's reminding me of the vanilla cotton of Black Lace.

 

All in all, not a terribly unique scent for me, and nothing I'll seek out a bottle of, all things considered.

[Gold Dust Kitten]

Tombeur is Snake Oil for men. It's a very masculine blend, yet totally wearable for a woman. I'm surprised my nemesis Vetiver is behaving in this. I tried this on my skin and it's very strong, so I'd only need a teeny drop. It actually smells better in my hair.

 

I'm torn. I'm thinking I need a bottle of this but the decant is super full so I'm going to play around with it before I buy...

[SophieCedar]

Wet: vanilla infused sandalwood: check. blood musk: check. antiqued patchouli: check check. lavender: check. vetivert: check. beyond that it's a little fuzzy. There is a dryness that many others mentioned. I think this is because of the lavender and sandalwood mixing with the vetivert.

Drydown: uh oh.. I need to try this again later. It smells like cow patties on me. I think my sense of smell is messed up.

[milo]

Ooh, this is lovely! At first, this is a gritty, woody Snake Oil, running to the masculine side. As it dries, it becomes sweeter and warmer. I still get wood, patchouli and snake oil, and the vanilla is adding a really nice sweet touch. No lavender to speak of at this point. Though this is a bit masculine for me, (though I'd still consider it unisex) it is so warm, dark and comforting, I'll probably wear it at home on occasion. This is a powerful, confident blend, and I bet it will get even yummier with time.

[yakiguri]

I can't believe I found my HG scent in my very first BPAL order. O_O

 

In bottle: Vanilla, musk, and something sharp. Maybe that's the patchouli? (I'm still training my nose.)

 

Wet: Earthy, vanilla-y musk grounded by something dark (vetiver?) that keeps it from being sickening or cloying. Yum!

 

Dry: A warm, dark, smooth, slinky, sensual vanilla and red musk combo that just screams (to me anyways) MANEATER. Which I guess for the kind of vampire a Tombeur is is an apt description. But Tombeur doesn't literally scream; it wafts, like curling smoke luring, coaxing someone closer. It sure does my hubby.

 

Tombeur is seriously my favorite scent, and my default "me" scent. It evokes a strong, dominant woman who oozes confidence and would devour you alive, but rest you on a velvet cushion while she does so. And she lasts, boy does she last, 9 hours of you-can't-resist-me-why-are-you-even-trying sexiness and strength.

 

Just try and pry my hoarded (and continue to be hoarded) bottles out of my kung-fu grip.

 

Edit: I can't spell. >_<

Edited November 10, 2010 by yakiguri

[Schmoozy]

I kinda have a love/hate relationship with Tombeur. Some days I can rock the scent, other days the scent wafting off the wand makes me gag. It's the blood musk and vetiver, which really only last for about a minute until they almost disappear right into the background. Then sometimes it's the bitter almond that wants to ruin it.

But most of the time it's this freaking awesome blend full of notes I love and meld together so seamlessly. It's sexy and masculine and just frigging gorgeous.

[filigree_shadow]

Oh. This is one of those ones. One of the ones that smells very different depending on where I put it.

 

I put some on the back of my forearm. Nice. Musky -- rather like red musk, actually -- dry, slightly powdery. Not bad, but nothing that's making me dive for my wallet and hit the sales posts. I can smell the vetiver in it when I get up close, and it smells mostly like a pretty animalistic musky skin scent. On the prowl, for sure.

 

Being of the fair-haired, fair-complected variety, I tend to have dry skin issues in cold weather, and that does sometimes affect my perfume oils -- often the ones that are complex with musk or resin notes. So I thought I'd give it a whirl on the inside of my forearm, just to see.

 

Goodness, it doesn't even smell like the same perfume. The inside of the forearm swipe is strongly patchouli with a little bit of vetiver, and something so sharp it almost smells like anise. Hunh. Okay, let's try one more spot.

 

On my throat, it smells kinda similar to Death Adder. Obviously I can't get my nose to my throat to sniff my skin there, but the scent that wafts up is much more like Snake Oil than the other two spots.

 

I like all three scents. As you can guess, I'm pretty much sitting in a cloud of Tombeur right now after practically bathing in it, and it's wonderful. Sometimes with these ones that are morphers, I only like one of the varieties so I never wear it because I'm not sure what I'm going to get out of it. Well, I like all of these.

 

I'm glad we can still buy this on the BPAL site because I'll be adding a bottle to my next order.

Edited November 20, 2010 by filigree_shadow

[CreamyJade]

In the bottle: Patchouli, sweet sandalwood, a touch of vetiver (but only ever so slightly).

Wet on skin: Vetiver, patchouli, Snake Oil.

Dry on skin: Smoky vanilla, musky Snake Oil, a bit of lavender. Oh yes. I get no almond from the blend.

Final thoughts: Whoever said "Tombeur is my VILF" is right! While I thought I'd be all over VILF, which ended up being all leather (fortunately, the boyfriend recuperated my bottle), this is the true vampire blend for me. It's a musky Snake Oilish scent, plus a delicious smoky bonus. It's not masculine to me (my boyfriend said that it was too sweet for him to try), I find it leans towards the unisex - it's very sensual either way!

Try if you like: Snake Oil, Death Adder, Asp Viper.

[megank4]

Yes, a bit of snake oil first, followed by a red musk and a bit of chocolate. A bit sickening on me actually.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Rich and juicy-red, very decadent. There's a whiff of Snake Oil.

 

On skin: I got my decant from a circle in August. When I first tested it, there was a lot going on -- a melange of spicy, woody, dry, berry-sweet, smooth, rich -- and I didn't get a strong scent impression (nor any Snake Oil). But now, four months later, Tombeur has aged amazingly: so much depth and complexity has emerged, and it is now coming into its own as a distinct scent. The creamy, slightly dry-dusty Snake Oil base is definitely present, but made smooth, full-bodied, and glowing red by the other notes. It's more complex and subtle too -- while Snake Oil screams "sexy!" (fine by me!), Tombeur whispers "seduction" in an alluring, dangerous tone.

Colour impression is live, pulsing, crimson blood. Tombeur is also like the sister of Schwarzer Mond: both are dark, deep, slightly dusty blends. Schwarzer Mond is dustier and black, while Tombeur is lighter, red, and smooth.

 

Verdict: I was thinking of swapping my decant, but no more. Nope. Tombeur is here to stay, on top of being a great variant on Snake Oil, it stands on its own as a blend too.

[Altaira]

This is kinda cloyingly sweet and... scratchy? A feeling at the back of my throat like licking frozen snow. It's an unpleasant sensation. There is a high note that I can't quite identify (lavender?) that is starting to give me a headache. Overall it is just too strong on me. I think I would like it if it wasn't so aggressive.

[dawndie]

In bottle: smutty musk

 

On skin: that peanut-butter musk from Smut with some Snake Oil resin

 

Half-hour later: sweetened up just a tad, but still lots of musk and resins

 

In conclusion: this is the classic Snake Oil sticky resins with extra musk, giving it an aggressive "oomph." Like Monsieur Moriarty instead of Madame. In this cold weather I'm in the mood for something dark and assertive.

[Lirion]

In the bottle:

OMG that's sexy! Lots of snake charmer resonance, a little panther moon, as previously mentioned. No lavender thankfully

 

Wet on skin: Very very soft, no throw, some vanilla and a little snake oil, still no lavender.

 

15 minutes - uh-oh... Well, the scent gets stronger, but... Lavender gone wrong It's sharp, and sour and it's the dominant note now. It doesn't smell right for lavender either. But whatever's turning it off is also souring the musk, which is the only other note I can detect, aside from some very faint vetiver deep underneath, which isn't helping in this instance because it's adding more bittnerness

 

Very sad now

 

I'm going to try this again in a week or so and see if things are different

I really hope so as it had so much promise.

[ajansuz]

This is a completely different scent on me and my husband, but it's something both of us can wear, and we're both loving it. On my husband, it's a very masculine scent. The lavender and vetiver come out on him making it somewhat dry and like a very natural smelling men's cologne, not at all commercial. I couldn't stop sniffing him the night he wore it, and it had a nice medium throw. There was something a little chocolatey. I don't know what caused it, but it was delicious without being foody. Patch was there as a faint, earthy undertone.

 

In the bottle, I could smell the Snake Oil very strongly with a hint of something sweet, maybe amber, and the sort of herbal/floral scent I associate with lavender. I was a little nervous, because usually lavender does very bad, very nasty things on my skin. There was the faintest smoky curl of vetiver, which I adore.

 

Wet this morphs like a chameleon. At first it was predominantly Snake Oil and vanilla. Lavender took over the show for all of about one hot minute before getting slapped back by the amber and patchouli. I don't think I've ever smelled blood musk before. It's more cloying than red musk and incredibly assertive. Fortunately, the cloying died back pretty quickly and just left a very sexy, animalistic vibe.

 

As it dried down, it got extremely sweet and resiny. Almost a head shop scent, but not quite. Huge throw, near headache inducing. I held on and waited it out. In that phase, it reminded me tremendously of Horreur Sympathique.

 

After a few hours, there's nothing to pick out anymore individually, just a deep, slightly disturbing sweet resin that I can't stop sniffing over and over.

[cuervosueno]

I couldn't decide if I liked this or VILF better, but I think in the end, it's this, which is good since VILF is gone anyway. They are quite similar on me--just VILF has leather where this one does not. When I first tried these, I got hopelessly confused on which was which (simply because I couldn't remember which I'd put where) but I kept going back to smell this wonderful scent--both dark and woody, with something slightly astringent that made it sophisticated, and finally I realized it was Tombeur. It's hard to pick out individual notes here--I know for sure I get the hint of lavender (and here it reminds me of an elegant fougere) and a bit of patch and/or vetivert, but mostly I just get a dark, slightly dangerous scent, that is very appealing. Might be bottle worthy.

[grrrlennyl]

Tombeur

 

On: Wow. This is really strong on me. The notes are all pretty identifiable, especially the patchouli, musk, and lavender, but they go together well. Vetiver tends to mess things up on me and almond isn't always great, so I'm curious as to how this will develop on me.

1 hour in: I can smell the vanilla-infused sandalwood, but this is mostly earthy musk, patchouli, and vetiver on me. Sweet, but dirty.

2.5 hours in: Mostly a sweet wood scent with a bit of patchouli.

Overall: This was pretty, but I have other oils that work better on me.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

A generous frimp from Mellifluous.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

Everything about this sounds made of win except for the almond. I despise almond. And the feeling is mutual. Almond makes me physically ill. But because I'm a masochist and an idiot, I had to try this one anyway, just on the off chance that it would work. Fingers crossed, but I'm expecting the scent to be nice but my reaction to be...not so nice.

 

First sniff:

 

Well, good news right off the bat. I don't smell almond in this. And if i don't smell the almond, it doesn't make me sick. Huzzah!

 

What I do smell is...honey? Seriously, this smells like the honey filled plastic tubes I used to love to eat when I was little. I think they were made with wildflower honey. They had a sort of herbal tang to them that was pretty unique and that's what I smell here. I'm thinking it's a combination of the vanilla-infused sandalwood, lavender and amber. It's a pretty scent, although not what I was expecting. I was anticipating something dark, resinous and sensual.

 

Wet on skin:

 

This smells even more like honey on me now. In spite of it not being what I was anticipating, I actually like this. The almond is still nowhere to be seen. Instead, Tombeur is a sort of grown up, naughty, gourmet honey scent. It's not just sweet. There's a very distinct herbalness from the lavender and a sort of resinous vibe from the sandalwood and amber. The patchouli's probably making an appearance here, too, but it's blending so well with everything else that it doesn't stand out to me, even as a lover of all things patchouli.

 

Dry down:

 

There's not much change in Tombeur on me. It smells essentially the same on me from wet stage to drydown. This has to be one of the most well-blended BPAL scents I've tried. Everything just melds together to where I can't pick apart the scent except to extrapolate from the listed notes and say "Aha, that faint herbal edge is the lavender!" or "There's no honey listed in the notes, so it must be the vanilla sandalwood and amber combining...maybe the Snake Oil, too." The almond, thankfully, gets lost in the mix, along with virtually everything else. That's a a good thing and my stomach is very thankful for the reprieve.

 

The bottom line:

 

I would definitely say this is a sexy scent, but for my sexifying needs, I prefer The Infernal Lover. I like Tombeur, but I don't think that I'll be needing a bottle of it. I'll definitely be keeping my decant, though.

[imaginepageant]

In the Vial: I'm very wary of trying this, because vetiver and I do not have the best relationship. But, my rule is to try everything once, so let's get 'er done. I do smell the vetiver, but it's lurking beneath the other notes... waiting for its chance to jump out and get me. I just know it. I get more than just a trickle of Snake Oil in this, the blood musk comes across as red musk (or are they the same thing?), and the combination of vanilla and patchouli hearkens to one of my favorites, Banshee Beat. Maybe this won't be so bad after all!

 

Wet: Goes somewhat powdery right off the bat; oh amber, why are you being so mean to me lately? The Snake Oil is still quite pronounced, but the vanilla and patchouli are fading. Oh, and there's the lavender, coming out with guns blazing; very green and herbal at first, but it softens after a minute. Happily, I'm not getting the salty meat smell that I usually get from vetiver!

 

Dry: I must say, I'm very pleasantly surprised by this. It's similar to Mme. Moriarty, Misfortune Teller in that it's a sexy, red Snake Oil scent. I'd say the Snake Oil and sandalwood are the strongest in this, followed by the amber and its hateful powderiness, and the blood musk. The vanilla is coming back, as is a bit of the patchouli, and the lavender and vetiver give it a sharp kick. I could swear there was some honey in this, too.

 

An Hour Later: I kept getting wafts of the throw and thinking, "What does that smell like? It smells like something, but what?" Then it finally hit me: DORIAN. How in the hell do I get Dorian out of this? HOW? Only in the throw, though; up close, it's still primarily Snake Oil, but it's gotten much lighter than it was before, which is odd considering how many heavy notes it has. It's a light, sweet Snake Oil with a backing of patchouli, a hint of red musk and resiny amber, and that phantom honey note.

 

Overall: Wow! I like something with vetiver! But do I like it enough to get a bottle? Probably not. When it comes to Snake Oil blends, I'm content with the original, and Mme. Moriarty, Misfortune Teller for something with a twist. I'll be using up my decant, though!

 

Later: WELL. Tombeur just got a "You smell good!" from my boyfriend - his first unsolicited reaction to BPAL. Perhaps I will need a bottle of this after all!