The Black Apple Of Saturn

[tdiym]

THE BLACK APPLE OF SATURN
Dried Arkansas black apple, opoponax, cypress, myrrh, tobacco absolute, quince, black musk, and galbanum.

I just received this yesterday so maybe it needs to take some time in the bottle to rest. Brand new out of the box it was very powdery, powder being one of my death notes. After a day I put a little bit on and unfortunately I'm not getting much apple from this one. It has lost some of teh powder but I had wanted more apple and less of the other stuff. This one is a disappointment for me. meh.

[angelicruin]

A very dry apple scent on me. The black musk, cypress, and myrrh notes are strongest on me layered over the apple note. The tobacco comes out several minutes after application. From wet to dry, this remains very dry, slightly powdery, and stays close to the skin--not a lot of throw for me.

[Larinessa]

I like this a lot. Maybe even a top ten scent.

 

In the bottle the apple and musk are most apparent. This is a DRY apple. Some incensey notes apparent as well, predominantly cypress.

 

On me, the dry apple takes on an almost champagne quality, and the cypress becomes more apparent. The mhyrr comes out more along with the black musk. Very lovely, subtle throw considering the notes.

 

This is very unique addition to my collection and a lovely fall scent. Back-up bottle worthy for sure for me. Thanks Beth, I love it!

[HerbGirl]

It always amazes me how much different scents smell to me when I actually have a bottle as opposed to sniffing them at will call. ? Anyway...

 

Black Apple of Saturn is all Apple and Oppoponax on me...and that makes me a very happy girl. So Good.

 

ETA: Now that this has had some time to settle, I'm able to pick out more of the notes in the blend...like Tobacco and Myrrh. I would love to have Cypress make an appearance, and I think I'm smelling the Quince as well...this is some really good stuff. I love it.

 

ETA: The Cypress has shown up! The Black Apple of Saturn is amazing.

Edited November 2, 2011 by Herb Girl

[whataboutprom]

In the bottle I get strong apple, not exactly like dried apple but not bright or candy-like either, plus myrrh and black musk.

 

Wet on my skin, the apple isn't as strong, and myrrh is the strongest note with black musk the second. I wasn't expecting to like this from the smell in the bottle, because the apple was so strong it strangely verged on cough syrup territory, but on my skin the apple blends quite well and is not foodie at all.

 

I tend to amp myrrh and sometimes it can be too overpowering, but the apple and musk are keeping it in check so far. I can't pick out the other notes individually. The overall effect is a warm, golden resiny incense scent.

[edenssixthday]

The Black Apple of Saturn - This is GORGEOUS. GORGEOUS GORGEOUS GORGEOUS!!! It goes on with the strong scent of black musk, reminding me a lot of the musk used in Panther Moon. Almost instantly the myrrh and tobacco start to warm up on my skin giving it an amazingly warm vibe, and the myrrh especially takes on this awesome sweet and gritty huskiness. The quince gives it a bit of sweetness, too, and the apple isn't very evident, but it lurks in the background providing another bit of juicy, fruity sweetness. All in all, this is STUNNING. I love it so much. The scent has really strong throw and the staying power is beyond anything I've encountered with BPAL before. I put it on in the morning, didn't reapply at all, took a bath in the evening, went to bed, and in the middle of the night when I woke up, I could still smell it on my wrists.

[patina]

Far sweeter than I expected. Immediately after putting it on, it smelled candy-like and artificial. Then the apple toned down, turning into a sweet, tart slice of dried apple (not totally dry, still chewy). There's some undistinguished dark stuff in the background that smells a tiny bit artificial. Overall there's a craft store vibe that I'm not liking. I haven't tried the other apples, but should I want an apple perfume in the future, I'd probably go with the Poison Apple instead.

 

Edit: Wait, this has turned into fresh green apple (quince?) It's a lot less crafts-candley and the cypress is nice. I may actually want to keep this one.

It's a bit similar to Black Death without the sandalwood and clove.

Edited October 13, 2011 by patina

[Finny]

Musky dry apple, a bit of incense, and a soft fruitiness. Delicious smelling. I bet this one will age beautifully.

[StrangeSniffer]

I think this one is my favorite of all the apples.

 

In the bottle, you can definitely smell the apple. I can pick out the black musk, and there's a bit of smoke that I'm guessing is the myrrh?

 

Wet on my skin this is a beautiful smokey, woodsy apple scent. Its almost borderline spicy to my nose. On the dry-down however, the apple does take a backseat to the other notes, which isn't too bad because they certainly make up for it. I agree with the other reviewers when they say that its very dry, fall scent.

[maoric]

In the vial: Super thick dry apple, slightly earthy

 

Freshly applied: Dry, slightly sweet apple, very quickly overtaken by deep, heady resins

 

Drying: The apple returns! It's a warm, red apple, but definitely dried and not overly sweet. Though it's much more resinous than appley on me (not surprising with three resins versus the apple). It seems to creep sweeter as time goes on, but the resins are so deep, earthy, and strong that they keep it grounded and prevent it from joining the "it's nice, but too sweet" pile I have.

 

Later: There was a very short hint at one point that the resins were going to go into a "soapy" territory like they did for me in Penitence, but thankfully they didn't. This is a sweet, dry, red apple kept at bay by some strong, earthy resins. It's really, really good. Three hours in it's still going strong. This is definitely on a backup bottle list.

[dawndie]

Wet: bubblegum!

 

Initially on skin: super-sweet candy apples

 

Half-hour later: this has softened and darkened nicely with musk and incense

 

In conclusion: I don't go for most apple scents, as they're too sweet and foody, but this one's great -- very autumnal and dark. My favorite 'Weenie so far.

[calivianya]

I had very high hopes for this one. I expected it to be the winner of the apples, and maybe one of my very favorites of all the Weenies.

 

Wet on my skin: Wow, this is off-putting and rather surprising. The apple is extremely strong, almost candied, with those darker notes in the background... on my skin, it doesn't blend in an appealing way. It almost reminds me of the sickly dark bubblegum smell of Black Lotus, except this isn't quite so vile. I put quite a bit on, and I'm about to be knocked out by it. This oil is strong on my skin. After about five minutes, the sweetness of the apple calms down - much to my delight. Now I can see where other reviewers are going with the "dry apple" smell - I can smell the apple, but I am also getting woods (cypress is a note I haven't learned to distinguish yet) and resins. I am quite liking this now. I'm glad I didn't wash it off immediately, like I was thinking about doing. After about ten minutes, the black musk starts to go feral on me in a bad way, as it can sometimes do. That resins/wood/apples smell has been joined by a sharp dark sweaty smell. This is unfortunate. I guess this is one of the black musk blends that just doesn't work for me.

[Little Bird]

In the bottle, all I can smell is the cypress (pine needles and dry wood), but I can't smell any cypress at all once this is on my skin.

On my skin, this is really lackluster and not dark or resinous at all, which is what I was expecting. It has a sort of mushy apple, apple juice, and a touch of herbs smell to it. It's slightly perfumey and definitely not a crisp apple scent. It has a muted sweetness and herbal quality to it. The drydown is much the same, but starts to get baby powder on me.

I'm really surprised that I'm not getting any incense, resins, tobacco, or black musk from this, as those are all notes that are usually pretty strong on my skin. But this is a bland, herbal, mushy, powdery smelling apple on me. Not bad at all, but probably not something I'm going to wear again either.

[coldandsleepy]

What a strange scent this is on me. On first application, it's all apples and quince, apples and quince. Surprisingly sweet and sticky. Then everything else starts to come in, in a big rush of incense and men's cologne. I don't really get tobacco from it and I don't really get a distinct musk from it-- but that's okay. I'm surprised by how much I like the apple-quince-incense-slight cologne smell.

 

The only thing I don't particularly like about this is how strong it is. I dabbed a tiny bit on one wrist and it was overwhelmingly powerful for about the first hour it was on. 4 hours (and several non-related handwashes) later, it's nice and calm and probably can't be smelled by anyone other than me, but that first hour was intense.

[kirsten]

One of the very few BPALs that has legitimately given me a headache.

[rivercitylizzy]

Just got a decant of Silver Apple of the Moon and Green Apple of Venus from Catseyes Happy Halloweenies circle--thanks chickie Since I now have either decants or bottles of all the "Apples", I decided to test four of them today and now am covered in appley goodness LOL!!

 

I bought a bottle of Black Apple of Saturn (along with Glittering Apple of the Stars and Golden Apple of the Sun) unsniffed in my Weenie Order of Doom (well, for me anyway) but was waiting to test it until I got decants of the last two Apples. So here I am

 

In the Bottle: Oh, this is a dark and incensy blend, very rich dry apple--not fresh & juicy, which I kind of like. There is plenty of black musk and the bitter astringent edge of cypress and perfumey resinous myrrh and galbanum up front here.

 

Wet on Skin: During this phase the tobacco comes forward though it is by no means overwhelming, which is good because some tobacco notes can go sickly sweet on me. Here is is just a whisper giving a slightly sweet and smoky base to the dry apple, resins, and rich dark musk. It is a gorgeous balance of sweet, dark, and incensy and I love it!!

 

Dry on Skin: Not too much of a morpher and throw is a bit lighter than Glittering Apple of the Stars was on me; after about an hour it's sticking pretty close to the skin, a coy, come-hither sort of sensual blend. It is pretty similar here to the wet phase for me, which is a plus because I find that so lovely. It may not be a Top 10 or backup bottle necessity but it is beautiful and I will cherish the bottle I have!

[kirbymonk]

For me, this starts off wonderfully but ends in tragedy

 

In the wet phase, it smells like rich candied apples. As soon as it dries, it turns crafts-store on me and the throw is VERY strong. I really wanted this to work for me, but alas, my skin doesn't want to play nice.

[Incendiare]

Very dry in the vial, and full of cypress. On me, the apple and black musk show up. This is actually nicer than I thought it would be. It's very dark, but mellower, and the apple blends very well with the resins. The longer this is on my skin, the more the apple fades, and the more generically resiny this gets.

[zankoku_zen]

Dry apple, musk and tobacco. It's sort of a 'manly' apple scent on me.

 

The musk turns powdery on me, but overall its a dark, musky apple. Sadly, the throw on this is pretty strong for me.

[despite_the_faerie]

The only thing I can think of when I smell this is Undertow, which I do like. That's my review.

 

I'm very helpful, I know.

[V294]

kind of sweet and medicinal on me. That's fading and the musk is coming out to play (yay). Very dry and nice, but sweet too. Interesting, though I think a decant will be enough.

[rabbitwhisperer]

This smells exactly like the store Hot Topic to me. I sort of like it's dark, incense-y sweetness, but ultimately as a grown up I think I'd prefer something with more complexity and depth than... an angst-ridden teenager with Mommy's credit card.

[Jammies]

Initially, this is an apple-pear scent, but then the black musk takes over, and I get a dry, bitter, powdery scent. Interesting, but not me.

[holborne]

I was a teeny bit dubious about this one because I don't love apple scents; I ordered it mostly because of the opoponax, which is one of my two or three favorite notes. I'm really glad I did, because I adore it. On me, it has a non-cloying sweetness, and the sweetness is mixed with just enough resin-y warmth to make it lovely. It's one of those scents that I keep catching a whiff of and going, "Ooh, what is that lovely smell?" and then I realize it's the oil. I ordered a back-up bottle.

[sunshinedaisybliss]

I love apple scents, but I don't really enjoy wearing them.. so I thought I'd try this one because I figured the resins and black musk might balance out the apple-ness of the whole thing. I was also hoping it wouldn't be too sweet. And cypress hates me like a centipede hates pedicures, so I was hoping that wouldn't spoil everything.

 

Yay for the triple win! This is much much more than just an apple scent, and it's not too sweet! And I can't even smell the cypress at all! Huzzah!!! It's warm, kinda waxy (myrrh and opoponax are usually very similar-smelling to my nose, and both tend to go a bit waxy on my skin), and the tobacco gives a lovely dry gold tone.

 

But the star of the show here is the black apple.. it's got a sweet base, but a dusky dry top layer - really lovely, and unlike any other apple I've tried in BPAL so far. Sadly, it does end up getting overly sweet after I've had it on for about 30 minutes.. that nice dryness goes away, and a little bit of soapiness creeps in. So ultimately, this ends up being just another pretty apple blend that smells lovely but isn't wearable as a perfume for me. Bummer.