Antony

[Koumori]

The embodiment of Classic masculinity. A warrior's scent: the green hills and grasses of the battlefields, the resinous incense from the prayers to his Gods, and a touch of the musky leather of his armor. Ambergris and frankincense with sage, and basil.

Ah, I wanted to love this one based on the description, and I do! There's nothing girly about this scent at all, but for those who prefer gender-neutral or masculine-leaning scents, this one's a winner. In the vial I thought it had a very "after-shave" smell, but upon drydown, the resinous scents mellow into a masculine, woody scent with green undertones. It's a subtle scent, not at all overpowering, and on me it only lasts a few hours before demanding re-application.

[Thanatopsis Azraelis]

This one's a winner, one of my favorites so far. I just slathered on about half my imp -- definitely going to need a big bottle of this!

 

Koumori is right, there's nothing girly about this scent at all. Classical masculinity like the description says. I was so disappointed when Czernobog turned into Robitussin on me, Iago just wasn't my thing, and my chemistry immediately soaked up Villain, but Antony more than makes up for this. Not only does it completely work, but it's a very *me* scent. It exudes a sense of strength, nobility, and piousness. Nice, nice stuff.

 

*sniffs self again* Oh yes. Big bottle, now. My only complaint is that I wish it were stronger, but it's strong enough.

[Lady_Ell]

The description sounds so fascinating and when wet it's a complex, sharpish, bright scent - nonfloral, yet not particularly masculine, either.

 

As soon as it dries on me, it becomes spicy and powdery and kind of nondescript. It's not bad, in fact it's kind of pleasant, but it's just not that interesting and it isn't something I'm particularly excited about smelling like. I think on someone else this would be great, but there's an ingredient in here that just doesn't like to be in contact with my skin.

[Vaniclion]

I get a different effect every time I wear this.

 

Fresh out of the bottle this time, it's a delightfully rich herby green smell. Like wallowing in a herb garden like a large, contented cat. I'm really getting the basil and sage this time around. On drydown, it's starting to go a little soapy on me... but that's okay. It works for this. I'm unsure what ambergris smells like, but I'm not getting any of the leather that I'm aware of except perhaps as an after-smell. Frankincense adds a thick incensy smell to the whole thing which I like... I'm just unsure I'll wear it much.

[amberbella]

Got this in a swap and it's beautiful. It's the gentleman's scent I was looking for for hubby....not a dirty manly, but a fresh, confident, clean manly. I love it....but sadly hubby smelled it (on me) and said "eh". ARGH!!!! Perhaps he'll like it better on him. You can bet he IS going to try it.

 

I'll add more when hubby has a chance to wear it.

[Lexy]

My sister, her fiance, my husband and I were in the Humboldt redwoods playing frisbee golf. A troop of boys charged by and my sister said "Mmmm one of them smells like a MAN!!!"

 

Um... no, that was my husband wearing Antony. She ordered an imp for her fiance

[Lit Chick]

 

This is simply lovely. I'm not even sure I'll share it with DH... well, maybe.

 

First sniff - it's very bright and fresh. I smell green grass (but not mowed lawn grassy), a hint of lemon, and what must be the basil. It's a beautifully clean, sunny scent.

 

First wet dab - it turns masculine, and a bit generic. It's still quite nice, but not me. There's the tang of most cologne.

 

Initial dry - Mmmm. Spicy, and still fresh! The herbs are back, and they've been peppered. I do not smell musky, incense or leather as separate notes, instead they deepen the freshness, make it very sexy and intriguing.

 

Fully dry - The nose-tickling pepper has calmed, and I'm left with sweet herbs and spice, perfectly balanced.

 

This oil makes me feel very narcissistic. I'm overflowing with confidence - I'm sure eveyone is finding me as witty, charming, and pretty as I do.

[Idlewild]

This settled down very quickly into a unified scent on me. I can't pick out any individual notes. It sort of smells like those candy musk sticks dissolved in red wine on me, which sounds culinarily disgusting, but is warm and mellow smelling. I feel like I'm wrapped in my old leather jacket. I'm a woman, but I didn't find this too masculine at all. It definitely does boost my confidence. It makes me feel like I'm home.

[inkstone]

This was a giftie from the Lab.

 

Wow, another masculine scent! I agree with the above reviewers -- there's nothing feminine about this at all. It smells herbal over the frankincense. Nice, but I'm way too much of a girly girl to pull this off. Off to swaps.

[Ina Garten Davita]

First Impression: Light musk with the barest hint of leather.

 

Second Impression: It must be my chemistry because this, like the "masculine" white musk blends like Whitechapel and Villain go very sweet on me. The leather on this is working for me. Think Villain with leather rather than citrus.

 

Final Analysis: I'm loving the "traditionally masculine" blends. The drydown on this is nearly undetectable from Villain on my skin. Just wonderful.

[Splendid Molerat]

Antony is a very clean, masculine scent -- someone in the husband/father category.

 

Sort of like walking with the man on a cool, early Autumn day, the warmth of his skin and leather jacket mingling, thin wisps of woodsmoke and burning leaves, and that lovely scent of hair with the last grass pollen of the season blown through it.

[Askeladden]

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your BOOTY!

 

God, I feel like teh sexx0r in this stuff. It actually takes about thirty seconds to get going -- when first applied, it's a sort of sharp generic herbal scent, but during the whole dry down, it mellows and mellows and gets sweeter and rounder, without ever getting syrupy (as sweet scents are wont to, on me). I'm a huge fan of Titus Andronicus, but Antony is far more subtle and well-behaved; I only put Titus on about once every two weeks, just because there are precious few situations in which I can safely smell like an overpoweringly growly incense-dripping madman. But Antony is a gentleman, through and through. You know that feeling when you're barely able to restrain yourself from grabbing and snogging any well-formed specimen within arm's reach? But you do, because you're noble and honest and upright (and your girlfriend would kill you)? That's the battle Antony sets up in me with a clang and a clash, and it's one I don't mind fighting.

 

P.S.: Ambergris.

 

ETA -- ARGH! After about two hours of pure sex, it turns into horrible treacle-sweet blecch. What did I do to deserve this? Well, back to the drawing board. {sigh}

Edited January 28, 2005 by Askeladden

[Reinaluna]

Antony, This is one of the masculine blends that I would wear myself, I love it! When first applied it smelled kind of citrusy and I dont go for citrus but then the Frankincense and Ambergris come to the surface and give it this sweet ambery, honey aroma with a little sharp kick. I dont know about a bottle yet but I am using this Imp.

[TheDarkMother]

Leather and basil...Oh I hope that it turns out this good on my skin!

 

In the Bottle: Basil and grass, a very green scent that is just very masculine and lovely.

 

On Me: Actually, this isn't as totally masculine as I thought that it would be. The leather has a sweet scent to it, which could be with the addition of the frankensence. The basil and grass add to that with an almost sparkling quality, if you can understand what I mean.

 

I love this fragrance and this would be an excellent bottle to get.

[isyche]

Antony smells like fresh, clean, green grass and herbs and leather. For some reason, I think of brown leather, not black – an adventurer in faded leathers resting in a sunny grassy field in the late afternoon.

 

Antony could be sexy, but it's not trying to be. It's more innocent than the other BPAL leather scents I've tried – it's a daytime, not a nighttime scent. I could give this to my teenage little brother and not feel weird about it. Or I could wear it myself, as it's one of the few masculine scents I've felt comfortable wearing. A definite keeper.

Edited February 13, 2005 by isyche

[Bard]

This is definitely the epitome of the classic, rugged hero of yore. It reminds me of period films out of the fifties and sixties, where Jason, Sinbad, Hercules were macho and tough but groomed and clean shaven. This is a very classic scent. It reminds me of my dad: the protective warrior, stoic guardian.

 

It's a scent for Superman, and if you're Superman, or have a Superman in your life, it's worth ordering this.

 

On me, however, it's a bit too faint, and a it vanishes too quickly. I suppose I'm just not manly enough for Antony.

 

 

Antony Haiku:

"My hero," she sighs.

With a kiss, she accepts the

Vanquished pickle jar.

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: This smells fantastic - a green herbalness, a resinous muskiness, a sweet grassiness... there is the slightest hint of a mint note as well. This seems more unisex than masculine to me.

Wearing: The frankincense and what I am assuming is ambergris (a spicy musky note) take center stage when wet, but as this dries the green notes really take over. The basil sweetens up on my skin, and the result when this is dry is a beautiful sweet green scent with some musk and resin undertones. Gorgeous!

Final Impressions: I am so pleasantly surprised by this! I just had no idea how beautiful this would be on my skin. I'm adding this to my 5ml wishlist!

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: It is a man's scent, truly. I smell leather and lots and lots of green things, grass and sage and basil.

 

On me: It sharpens on me, and makes me think of food. Spaghetti spices, that sort of thing. It's not something I would like to smell of, but I certainly have no objections to smelling it on other people. It's a very rough-and-tumble 'tough guy' sort of fragrance.

[Ajila]

I was really suprised by how much I liked this, in many ways it's like Perversion, but with a slightly herbally twang to it. As it fades it loses the leather scent and becomes a very spicy lovely scent which lingers for a long time, in fact it stays on me the longest of any BPAL scent.

[OdetteOdile]

Antony

 

First impression: New furniture in a furniture warehouse in the country somewhere (actually a really nice smell, just not one I associated with perfume).

Then the sweetness of the basil started emerging and softened it. It got more masculine - but not in an astringent, abrasive way. A very, very tiny bit of powderiness came out, which softened it a bit more.

There's something about this that I find deeply comforting. I can almost see the man who'd be wearing this - he's wearing a rough-textured gray suit and has that depression-era uprightness that a lot of men from my dad's generation had - but younger, like a young Cary Grant or Gregory Peck. Every time I smell this, I get this happy, settled, calm feeling - like someone strong and kind is with me. It feels like my pulse suddenly slowed down.

This is a really amazing scent. I wouldn't get it for myself, but I'd definitely get it for a guy. In a funny way, it reminds me of what I love about men - the strange, wonderful alienness of how they look and feel and smell - the yin/yang rightness of it. Antony is now my second-favorite BPAL men's scent - right after Dorian. (It's an entirely different animal from Dorian, but equally evocative and distinctive.)

[tempete]

The Lab keeps sending me manly scents, but I have no boyfriend to test them on, so of course I test them on myself. Antony smells like generic aftershave initially, but then morphs into a slightly sweet musk with a tinge of leather that is undeniably masculine. While it's too masculine for my tastes, I imagine that it would make most men smell ...

[joseybird]

I've never smelled ambergris, so I'm sure that unidentifiable note is just that. If it is, it blends nicely with the frankinsence, giving a slightly sharp and resiny-spice feel that, when blended with the herbs, I find very unique and very masculine. This is not a seductive male scent, but it is strong and agressive.

[FoxMackenzie]

In the imp: Definately a boy scent...smells like fresh-cut wood and soap. Like irish-spring or somesuch...a boy just out of the shower out chopping wood.

 

On me: Pretty much the same - yay! Wonder if I can talk the boy into wearing this. It smells like clean, fresh, mannish soap! There's a little bit of sweetness in it, just enough to temper the masculinity and make it one of those fringe unisex scents.

 

~Fox

[Falathwen]

A free imp that I would never have tried and yet adore.

I had assumed this blend would be heavy and acrid on me - leather does not love my skin. Instead, it is light and energizing.

The grass and herbs are strongest at first. At first, I could not pick out the basil, but when I cut some from our porch garden I realized that I was imagining the scent of cooked basil whereas this is the scent of the fresh cut herb. The incense comes out as this dries down.

This blend evokes St. Francis to me, rather than a warrior. I imagine someone walking long miles over fields with the faint scent of incense still clinging to his robes. I will wear this delightedly and share it with my husband as well.

[Penance]

First sniff:

 

Mmm, gorgeous! I can't believe I waited this long to order this. I think I was afraid of the ambergris because I didn't know what it smelled like, but I still can't believe I didn't take a chance on this. Warm and slightly musky with a heavy dusting of sage and basil and a hint of frankincense. This smells like a sexy man although I definitely wouldn't say that this is strictly a masculine scent. I can see myself loving this already.

 

Wet on skin:

 

No real change from in the vial. On me, it's a close cousin of Oisin's, only with warmer musk and a bit of frankincense. Very sexy. I'm going to have to put this on my husband even if it means tying him down and slathering him in it.

 

Dry down:

 

Antony's the most stable scent I've smelled in quite a while. Any changes at all from imp to dry down have been negligable at best, which is wonderful because I love the way it smells in the imp. I can see this making a reasonable replacement for Oisin once mine runs out and this is a definite winner on its own.

 

The bottom line:

 

I sense a bottle of this in my future! Sexy and clean but musky at the same time. I love the combination of musk and herbs. Next step: try it on my husband.