Steam.Goth

[Mellifluous]

STEAM.GOTH
Oil-spattered brass, engine grease, and a warm splash of Victorian aftershave.

Wet: I get the brass, with a little bit of oil, along with slightly pungent herbs.. similar to creosote.
Dry: Just 3 minutes in, a sweetness opens the scent up. its not strongly sweet, but noticeably more so then in the wet stage.The brass is still there, and i'm noticing some musky wafts. I'm getting some clove also, and just noticed the herby scent is gone. Brass, clove, maybe a peppercorn? This is a very masculine scent. It has a kind of bayrum scent, but with brass.

For the final drydown (3 hours later) I'm left with a sweet musky, still slightly metalic blend, which is very nice. There is a slight reappearance of the creosote, and a tiny bit of a floral that comes out, but i cant place it. I want to say violet, but the brass is making it hard for me to pin down (that and i'm crap at identifying florals, as I tend to avoid them)

Overall its a really nice scent. It starts really masculine, but I think the drydown leaves it right in the middle.

[VioletChaos]

A very warm thank you to my Witch and Angel, Gypsy Rose Red for making all my Bat's Day wishes come true this year! xoxo

 

On to the review!

 

In the Bottle: A very light, clean lavender -like, essential oil kind of clean- and a sparkling touch of brass.

 

Wet On Skin: The brass note is coming out more strongly. Usually I'm not a fan of the metallic notes, but this, mixing with the aftershave- which is now blooming- is just lovely.

 

Dry Down: I understand the herby quality that Mellifluous was talking about, but to me it comes across as a really good Victorian men's cologne. This is where the metal note really comes in handy- this might be too floral for anyone but a Dandy, but the Brass really grounds the scent, makes it have a depth it would be lacking otherwise.

 

In All: Light throw and subtle, but definitely with it's own presence. This is actually the only one of the five 2011 Goth scents my boyfriend purchased, and, while I am not interested in wearing this mySelf, I'm very much looking forward to smelling it on him! A true Gentlemen's scent.

 

 

[Gwydion]

In bottle: The aftershave element is particularly delicious. It is unusual, while still being clearly aftershave. The industrial elements blend beautifully with each other and support the aftershave in a particularly sexy fashion. Wet: The brass is dominant on the skin, which is interesting in an entirely different way. It is not quite is sexy as I thought at first, as one of the aftershave component turns a little on my skin, but I’m still loving it. Dry: I’m wondering if there isn’t a sandalwood component in the aftershave, as it smells rather like sexy sandalwood dominant men’s cologne now. I really do love it, despite its imperfections.

[edenssixthday]

This is a really clean, sophisticated scent. The engine grease is clean and fresh and the aftershave is crisp and gentlemanly. The brass is the least dominant note, but gives the scent a nice, clean hint of a metallic edge, but not sharp-metallic, more rounded-metallic. It's a really nice scent that fits the inspiration quite well.

[Ondine]

I usually don't like the metallic scents much but this plays out like aftershave or cologne on me. A masculine or possibly unisex fragrance that smells clean, not sharp, and a little herbal.

[cfrancesca]

This smells like nice, clean, smooth metallic brass with some aftershave and a hint of herbs and spice. It's settles into a smooth cologne scent. I like this but I think my decant will be enough.

 

eta: Sadly for me, I'm amping the herbs and brass in here, the aftershave cologne is still very present but not as strong as I hoped it would remain.

Edited May 20, 2011 by cfrancesca

[sarandipitee]

I love metal scents (Unfortunate Shopping Cart, The Robotic Scarab) but this doesn't work. Something in the grease or aftershave goes very herbal to the point of celery salt. The right person could pull this off and I'd love to smell it on a guy. Just not for me.

[zankoku_zen]

Steam.goth is a lovely, sophisticated man's blend. Very bay rum, hint of metal and a whiff of cologne.

 

I bet on the right guy this would be absolutely dynamite!

[stellans]

Sadly, this is another Bats Day 2011 release which doesn't work for me. There are many of BPAL's unisex and/or masculine scents which I love, and I had high hopes for this one, but for some reason it turns to total high-pitched aftershave on me.

[Little Bird]

Steam.Goth doesn't really smell like grease, oil, or anything gritty/machine-like to me. My first thought when putting this on was "bay rum!" and I definitely get something sort of dry, spicy, masculine, clove-like and sharp from this. There's a clean, bright sort of metallic scent that mingles with the spiciness as well. After about a half hour, there's just this high-pitched, sharp, clean scent left on my skin. It makes me think of pale gold. It's hard for me to describe, because the scent feels so thin and simple on me. I smell it and think 'clean, sharp' and not much else, if that makes sense. I think that I was hoping for something more like Mechanical Phoenix (which is a darker, almost resinous, metallic-cologne blend that has a lot of depth to it). I like the previous year's Bat's Day/Goth blends a lot more than this year's.

[thekittenkat]

In the bottle: A brassy metallic scent, tempered by lavender.

 

Wet: Much better now! More like a masculine lavender, touched with the brass. The engine grease must be deep in the blend.

 

The dry-down: The grease seems to be rising to the top, like some sort of cooking oil, but not a buttery scent. Still a hint of brass, but the lavender seems to have vanished away. This is one for the scent locket, seemingly. It might do better on the bf.

[troublehunter]

In the bottle:

The faintly floral scent of the aftershave leaps out at me through the brass. It's a bit full on here, but exactly as advertised. I didn't quite except to find the aftershave to be as strong as it is in this blend. Which isn't, strictly speaking, a bad thing. (After trying Galvanic Goggles and The Robotic Scarab, both of which I liked better when applied than in the imp, I was really very excited to actually test this one out.)

 

Wet, applied to skin:

The brass comes out a bit stronger almost immediately. The faint, floral scent of the aftershave is still present, and the balance is a very nice (equal parts of both scents, I believe) one.

 

After some time:

This has dried and mellowed out to something very, very lovely and at this point is by far the favorite of the scents I've tried so far. The words that come to mind are sweet, warm, and sticky. (Almost like sweat, but I'm hesitant to actually use that word because it really comes with a gross connotation that doesn't apply to this scent.) I've seen references to 'bay rum' upthread, but that isn't something I've smelled before so I'm not entirely sure if that's the same sweet scent I'm getting. For lack of a better way of deciding it, it's just a very nice (and warm!) sweet scent.

 

Overall, I do agree that this is a rather masculine scent (though it does seem to end in something unisex). Through testing other scents, though, I've discovered I really do enjoy masculine scents. This one works very well for me, and I'm so glad to have snagged a bottle.

[midnight_aeval]

Steam.Goth leans more towards masculine on the scent spectrum, but it's surprisingly 'clean' enough that a lady could wear it. With the notes calling forth 'oil splattered' and 'grease' I would think that this blend would be far dirtier than what I'm smelling. This is like a fresh out of the shower/just shaved scent. In the drydown it is more metallic-clean.

 

ETA: super weird, this just turned very woodsy! Quite a morpher.

Edited June 25, 2011 by Midnight Aeval

[Diva Urd]

I received a tester of this from the wonderful Roogna - thank you very much!!!

 

In the vial: Herby aftershave. The herbs do make this smell slightly metallic, but they're mainly... herby.

 

On: The herbfest turns slightly oily and smoky, the aftershave is delegated to the background. Very evocative, and definitely perfect as a steampunk scent. However, as much as I am eternally grateful I got to try this... this is a tad too herby for me right now.

 

Later: Oily herbs. This one's a bust for me (thank goodness, I don't have the money to track this down ).

[milo]

Wet, lovely cologne, with a touch of engine grease. Smells like a clean guy working on an old muscle care. Dry, much the same, maybe a bit more cologney. I get images of a hot guy, great body, faded soft jeans molded to a . OK, never mind. Nice guy blend, and I enjoy the smells and images, but I'd never wear anything like this. I'll pass this one onto someone I can smell it on.

[mymymai]

In the Imp (ITI): The strength of the aftershave is nearly overpowering; however, I can just detect the metallic note of brass, which intrigues me.

 

Wet: Strong brass initially, then it gives way to fancy Victorian aftershave and just a hint of mechanical oil. I would love to smell my husband in this, but it is just a tiny bit masculine for me at the moment.

 

Dry: Wow, it’s a totally different scent – much more mellow, but much more powdery and floral as well. None of the brass or oil remain, which diminishes significantly from this scent’s appeal.

 

Other Impressions: Apparently it smells like my husband’s grandma, specifically her Opium perfume.

[Evilynn]

I usually like the brass-y grease-y scents (like the RPG Goblin), but the aftershave in this does seem to contain violet, which is the death note of all death notes on me, so off to swaps it goes. Before the violet amped to its vomit-y hell stench (ain't skin chemistry grand?) it was a nice warm brass scent mixed with engine grease.

[whisperstilled]

The aftershave does indeed contain violet, as the previous poster indicated. I'm almost relieved - now I can pass this sought-after bottle along to someone who'll cherish it! The notes beneath the violet are wonderful, and, indeed, very reminiscent of the Steamworks scents - I'm particularly being reminded of Robotic Scarab and Antikythera Merchanism. It has that oily incense quality that makes those scents so lovely.

[donkehpoo]

Wet: Metal and oil. Definitely greasy smelling. How the heck do they do that?!

 

Dry: All of the above smashed together with some cologne. Very much a steampunk vibe going on.

 

While metallic scents in general appeal to me, I'll pass on finding a bottle of this.

[fairybites]

Resembles a strong aftershave with metallic notes. Didn't pick out any grease notes, must have softened with age. Weirdly enough, I got a faint citrus smell during dry down and I'm not sure what note could have caused it since it faded as fast as it appeared on my skin. It also started to resemble vinegar when it was drying, but thank God that didn't last long.

 

Sadly, the throw isn't that great. I'd look towards other aftershave blends if that was the main note that appealed to you in this blend.