Cathedral

[ajansuz]

Venerable and solemn: the scent of incense smoke wafting through an ancient church. A true ecclesiatical blend of pure resins.

This was a frimp, wonderfully so!

In the imp, strong resins, frankincense and myrrh, a smoky touch of vetiver, cedar, and something kind of waxy, like furniture wax but not lemony or citrus.

Wet, very smoky vetiver, myrrh, polished wood and wax.

Dry, the frankincense goes sweet and high but stays grounded by cedar. It's incense and old wood, positively lovely. My only complaints are that this has almost no throw on me and that my skin eats it after about four hours.

[Gold Dust Kitten]

Imp: Cedar wood

Wet: Beautiful polished aged woods. I can't tell which ones but cedar for sure. Vetiver is in here too, and this reminds me of The Coiled Serpent w/o patchouli. Resins.

Dry: Woods and resins. It's not really incensey to me because it doesn't smell smoky.

 

I'm looking for a holy-grail wood scent, and so far this is it. This actually smells more like what I expected Midnight Mass to smell like but without that yummy church incense on xmas and easter. I think it would be lovely layered with something vanilla, like Tombstone.

[Celtic Goddess]

Cathedral smells just like the Catholic church I spent a good deal of my childhood kneeling in. I always found the churchy smell to be warm and inviting so this one is another winner for me. It has just a hint of incense and is dominated by a soft, polished wood smell (I picture church pews warmed by the sun filtering through stained glass windows). So far, this is my favorite "mellow" blend...I think peacefull is the perfect word for it.

[boxxy]

of my first order of imps from bpal, this is the one scent i definitely want a full bottle of. this wasn’t even one of my top choices given its description. i think it somehow feels like what i imagined the lights of mens lives to be like. i personally prefer strange, evocative perfumes, so coming from that perspective, this scent is dazzling! i’m not good at picking out notes, so bear with me...

it doesn’t smell like incense necessarily...it immediately smells somehow dirty (as in earth/soil)...like wandering through a somewhat moldy basement of an antique store or costume shop. there is a cigarette/cigar tinge to it that also reminds me of old buildings, or the smell of furniture in an old building or old bar. i suppose this is the incense. i actually find it nostalgic because it smells distinctly like a shampoo i used when i was little--i forget what it was called--but i remember it had some exotic ingredient and i loved the smell. well, it smells like that, but rubs into some rich soil. another image this evokes is a luxurious casket in fresh earth. i just find it evocative and sexy. i was actually looking for a scent that reminded me of the witch character Beatrice, from the visual novel Umineko, and this scent does it.

[Circaea]

Wet, it smells venerable and old, like the vast stone interior of an ancient cathedral. Drying, it goes warm sandalwood and cedar, and seems more like the interior of a cozy, well kept church. It's very beautiful and calm, and goes to the list of "Loves" on my list. By chance, I tested it with a rose scent on my other wrist and got the impression of a vase of roses in a wood panelled room, heady with beeswax polish and age. Definitely a keeper. Both grounded and spiritual, but also amenable to layering with lighter scent notes.

[Maleficium]

Bear with me in my reviews, my nose is untrained and I can't identify many notes but can only add descriptive and emotive terms to what I smell.

 

IMP: mossy, oak, dusty and wet stone. Smells ancient, dark and foreboding.

 

WET ON SKIN: resin, dusty tomes, earth and very old wood. quite a heavy scent, so far i like it a lot!

 

DRY DOWN: Wow, yeah this one's a keeper. Cathedral is dark incense and that smoky woody smell that I love so much.

 

Verdict: Love! Not exactly sinister, but evocative of something ancient, powerful and looming. Fills me with a sense of reverence and awe, as I am inclined to do when faced with things much much older than I. Will absolutely buy a big bottle.

[ladyflash]

Prologue: I first became interested in this when I found out about the 2011 Yule fragrances. Midnight Mass intrigued me, but I wanted to try a GC incense fragrance first to start with something similar. My parents are devout Catholics, and when my mom used to make me pray with them every night, she would always burn some incense resin because she knew I liked it. I purchased a bottle of this from a forum sale, which I believe is still relatively fresh.

 

Intro: Incense and more incense in the bottle.

 

Exposition: So much incense resin up the wazoo...but not my favorite one. I don't remember which one my mom uses, but this one reminds me of the smaller crystals of incense resin from the Catholic supply store. I wasn't a big fan of the smaller crystal one. It's growing on me, though. It still smells great. Very good throw. However, after two hours it dries down into really musky patchouli. I like patchouli, but not like this. Fortunately, the patchouli stage doesn't last very long, and it finally morphs into a sweeter incense.

 

Epilogue: I'll have to wear this more to see if it actually did smell like patchouli halfway through, or if I was just crazy. The "good" incense that my mom used didn't smell like this, so I was slightly bummed. I think I had different ideas about the fragrance than what it actually smelled like. Still, I like it and will wear it again.

[persephonehazard]

I was seriously excited about this one. Church is one of my favourite smells; it's a kind of ancient-smelling incense blend that I adore. Since I was in my mid-teens I've favoured extremely high-church traditional anglo-catholic places; like a little bit of the best part of the romanticised middle ages right in the middle of my weekend. It's magical, is what it is. The grandeur and the drama and the gilt and the reverence...I love it very much, and I love the idea that I could potentially smell like that. I already seem to spend most Sunday afternoons sniffing my hair, with the traces of the smoke clinging to it.

 

After I'd opened the imp and had a good sniff, I wasn't quite as excited as I could have been. Resinous, certainly, and decidedly incensey, but somehow not quite...right; there was something missing, and I couldn't quite figure out what. This held true on wet, but all through the initial drydown it began to warm and broaden until I realised why I wasn't smelling the insence I was after - this isn't a swinging censer during High Mass, this is sitting after the end of the service on a darkwood pew much polished by centuries of use, breathing in the lingering smoke as the last echoes of the enormous old organ fade silently from the air. The throw wasn't brilliant and it wasn't surrounding me in itself as I would most have wanted, but I slathered plenty of it on and waited to see how things developed.

 

And then, a couple of hours later...THERE IT IS. Right there. Exactly what I wanted. That one sniff catapulted the whole scent from three stars to five, from 'hmm I like this imp well enough' to 'OMG I NEED ALL THE BOTTLES NOW'. It smells exactly right, exactly what I was looking for. I'm posting the review now rather than in a few hours time because I don't care what it does next, I'm thrilled :-D I wish it had more throw, of course, and didn't stay so close to my skin, but whevs. I am in love.

Edited January 17, 2012 by persephonehazard

[curlsandpearls]

Bottle: Soap. Dirty soap. Weird. The first time I’m getting soap off a BPAL scent.

 

Wet: Now I’m getting incense, but initially it’s still weird, wet, soapy incense. The warm resins slowly come out. After a few minutes, the oils—frankincense, myrrh, maybe?—begin emerging. But they’re not strong enough; I still have a limp soap scent hanging around. I close my eyes trying to picture the various Catholic churches I’ve attended with my family over the years, and there’s something just a little too clean about this scent. It’s not “full” enough, if that makes sense.

 

Dry: It’s picking up in strength, and the oils and resins are slowly coalescing, but it’s not strong enough, not full enough, not warm enough—just not enough. A little on the thin side. When I’m told that I’m going to be transported to a cathedral (or basilica, or around-the-block Catholic church, or whatever) with all the smells and bells and chants, then I want to be transported, to be there, practically choking on the incense. Honestly, this doesn’t even smell like incense to me. Also, in the drydown it starts to smell like something from my spice rack, but damn if I can think of what.

 

Later: Basil-cilantro. Not even an hour in, that is what I’m getting right now. Not incense, not oils, not pure resins, meh. Washing it off. Swap pile.

[bibzerneth]

This is a really pleasant scent, all woods and incense. I'm not sure if it's pretty enough for me to wear but it would definitely be a great room or drawer scent.

[Viridian]

Was frimped this, otherwise I never would have tried it with all the woods and vetiver.

 

It smells just vaguely enough like the inside of a church to be evocative. Not something I really want to wear (for one, it's got a lot of throw and I tend to be in closeish quarters with scent-sensitive people a lot) but a candle in this scent, or using it as a home fragrance, would be interesting. I like it a lot more than I'd anticipated based on the notes, because woods don't play well on me. I think myrrh makes it work because myrrh plays really nicely with my chemistry. I kind of just want to keep my imp around to sniff now and then.

[whitsunweddings]

In the imp: Dark polished wood.

Wet: Wood wood wood!

Dry: Sweet incense (I've never been inside a Catholic church, as far as I can recall, but this doesn't smell like the incense you'd get in a head shop - like Gaueko does - so I'm assuming this is of the more ecclesiastical variety). The wood is still quite prominent. This is a nice scent, but I think I'd perfer it as an atmospheric spray (so my tiny little bedroom in the seventies monstrosity that is my house could become a CATHEDRAL of DOOM) than as a perfume.

[Quanta]

Got this hoping it would smell something like old books and wood, and because you can't get imps of Aziraphale.

 

In imp: Sharp and woody and a bit sweet.

 

Wet on skin: Sharp and woody. A bit like pine.

 

Dry: Mostly pine, with a little bit of something sweet and incensey afterwards.

 

4 hours later: Most of the pine has evaporated, leaving light incense and maybe a hint of the book smell I was looking for.

 

I like woodsy scents, so I'll definitely be hanging on to this one, but it looks like I might have to get a bottle of Aziraphale anyway...

[jkfagtongpun]

I got this a year ago and never reviewed it?!

 

On wet: I get straight up resins. Lovely, heavenly (no pun intended). Loving it.

 

Dry: it fades to a slightly woody, chocolately incense. Absolutely LOVE it. But it has no throw and fades all too quickly for me. If I could somehow get it to stick around longer it would be a perfect all year 'round scent.

[catalyst]

Oh my god. I love this. I don't care what the description says, this is cedar, sandalwood, frankincense, myrrh, and a touch of something else in there that's kind of smooth and polished. Maybe a hint of beeswax? Might be a whiff of sweet church incense. I don't know what. I don't care what. This is freaking awesome and has just zipped up into my top ten of all time. It starts off sharper, of course, and more complex, but ends as about 2/3 cedar and 1/3 resins, which seems to last for several hours on me. It's the bright, clean wood I was looking for.

Edited June 17, 2012 by catalyst

[Gwydion]

In bottle: I’m thinking it’s palm dominant, though that could be an accidental accord of pale wood and incense. There might also be tonka with the same caveat. It may contain sandalwood, as I’d swear that’s the core of the incense, with likely frankincense. It does have a calm, meditative feel. Wet: The blonde wood is even stronger, the cedar and sandalwood differentiate out more. It smells less like palm, so I’m thinking that was my nose making an accord. The incense comes out more complex, though I’m not having much luck placing anything but the frankincense. Really, it’s wood dominant. Dry: Mostly sandalwood.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: A touch of sweet smoke wafting over gritty stone.

 

Drydown: The stone note combines with a deep and serious wood note. Cedar, I think. The smoke fades leaving a waxy trail. It evokes strength and wisdom.

 

Dry: As it dries it fades into a light resin. Slightly sweet with just a hint of stone. After a few hours the cedar returns, giving the scent a distinctly masculine vibe.

[Pittseminole]

Origin: Frimp from the lab

 

In the Imp: Cedar. It's like I'm standing in the middle of a lumber yard.

 

Wet on skin: Lots-o-Cedar! But, there's also a little incense in the background that I like. If the incense was stronger than the cedar, I'd be happy.

 

Dry on skin: Way too much cedar. Unfortunately, cedar is one of the few wood notes I truly hate. Incense/resin notes come out a little more on dry down but not enough to overpower the cedar.

 

Overall: I'm terribly disappointed in this. The incense in the background is beautiful. Unfortunately, I hate cedar and it takes over on my skin.

[mermaidsdream]

In imp: green, woodsy.

Applied: still woodsy, but it's a clean wood, with just a hint of smoke;

Drydown: turns creamy sweet, with a lot of patchouli.

 

Overall - I do like this one. Verdict is still out on whether or not I'll get a bottle.

[LateOne]

Been wearing this for a year now and just got around to joining and posting a review.

In the bottle: Very green. Made me wary at first.

On wet: Still green, but with incense starting to kick in.

Drydown: Frankincense, myrrh, cedar, rosewood.

Dry: Same as drydown. Maintains for 4-5 hours on my skin.

 

If you’ve ever been to a special Catholic mass where they burn incense, this is EXACTLY what Cathedral smells like dry. It’s got a bit of throw, so use it sparingly unless you want to reek of a church (I love good incense, but there’s a limit). This would work well as a room scent. I’ll absolutely buy another bottle once I run out.

[Chanteuse87]

I like this one a lot, but it's a stranger morpher on me.

 

Wet: Weirdly enough, hubby and I both get CHOCOLATE right when it's put on, and for a few minutes after. Nice, but strange. Then it quickly warms into wood, vetiver, and sweetish spicy incense. Lovely.

 

Dry: A slightly woody, vetivery, but very sweet dry down. I really like it, although it wears extremely close to my skin and fades relatively quickly. I'm excited to try it as a room scent, but I very much like it as a perfume.

[welcometothefamily]

In the Imp: Harsh and strong. Not picking out any individual notes, but I don't like it at this stage.

 

Wet: Still quite harsh and smoky, but not as strong. Smells a bit like burning rubber too :/.

 

Drydown: Softer, less harsh, slightly sweet, definitely resinous. I'm getting that smooth nutty tang that normally comes from cedar as well.

 

Verdict: It's alright, but not for me. I've got All Souls for an incense fix.

 

2/5

[BlueberryPie]

Like the description said, this was nothing but resins. It's one of the only BPAL perfumes that smelled like a perfect single note on me, and didn't morph at all during the entire duration I had it on. This has the perfect name -- this is exactly how a church smells like in my imagination. Sadly, I don't think it's really me. I love the scent, don't get me wrong, and I want to beg a friend of mine to wear it every day. But it just doesn't quite fit with my image of myself in my head. Alas. I wish I was the kind of person who loved this perfume.

 

SCORE: 7/10

[wisdomeagle]

[note: I am brand-new to perfume as a hobby so my ability to distinguish smells is fairly undeveloped, and I don't have much to compare this to. That said...]

 

I was really looking forward to this, because church is one of my favorite smells, and I was disappointed that I didn't love it more. The note I was able to distinguish was cedar, and this mostly seems to be competing ceder and too-strong-and-indistinct perfumey smell. The ceder starts fresh and mellows to warm, and I did get the sense of old-building, although more like a used bookstore or antique shop than a church -- I didn't get any incense.

 

On me, it was best in the maybe 1-2 hour mark, warm and cedary; then the perfumey note kicked back in. I washed my wrists some and that helped soften the scent, which has still lasted forever -- it's been 12 hours and I definitely still have a distinct scent on my wrists.

 

On my stuffed dragon, it smells like a cedar toybox. It's a better scent for her than me, I think.

[Heaven_Star]

Imp: cedar and incense, quite green wood

 

Wet: CEDAR. It deserves to be yelled because it's big initially. The incense pulls it back fairly quickly and it's straight up catholic incense - I didn't know I had a clear idea of what that smelled like until I sniffed this. I'm not getting a lot of rosewood or smoke here like others are, maybe it'll come through later. I'm loving it right now, though!

 

Dry: It doesn't really morph on the drydown. It's bright cedar and myrrh/frankincense. The cedar is really beautiful, though, it's fresh cut and the resins are great!

 

This is one of those super evocative scents that make you appreciate BPAL genius. This smells like a cathedral. Not a run down one, not a modern progressive one, not a sarcastic or ironic twist on the idea, it's what a cathedral smells like when everything's working as it should. When it's clean and the same old ladies go to pray there who have been going since they were born. The wood is well polished, there's a lot of light.

 

This was stored fairly deep in my imp collection, which is strange because I'm sure I liked it as much as I like it now when I put it on for the first time. I think this is going to be moved into a more regular rotation, because I'm really having a moment with it here.