The Black Apple Of Saturn

[Rho]

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

Preconceived Notions: I wanted to try this for the apple, tobacco, and black musk.

In the Imp: Unusual apple with what I could have sworn was mellow patchouli. Must be an illusion due to the combination of other notes.

Wet: Whoa, apple. O_O A very juicy, quirky apple that definitely smells black somehow.

Dry: Okay. That interesting, quirky apple has settled down and I can smell the earthy element that I thought was patchouli in the imp. I honestly don't know what it actually is, and I can't decide if I like it in this setting.

Even Later: The apple fragrance melds and combines with the rest of the notes and it slowly loses strength. I'm having such a hard time describing this scent. On the one hand, it's lovely in a way I just can't grasp. On the other hand, it's confusing me to the point that I'm not enjoying it, if that makes sense. My favorite part of it is definitely the strange apple note; I wish I could get a bead on that and smell it on its own to really understand it. Instead, it's just jumbled up in a mix of "who-knows-what," and I can't relax with it on.

Overall: While something about this scent intrigues me, it's not for me. 2/5

[surlygurl]

This is one I was I was really looking forward to.... When I visualized the scent, I pictured something dark, a bit sharp, a bit earthy.

 

On my skin, the apple comes out. It's lying on a bed of sweet powdery resins. Now, I really enjoy dark scents, but this is not dark. It is sweet. Up close, it's a combination of craft store candle and head shop. Or a very cheap but nice incense that you'd find at the local 7-11. I want to love it, but I want to find fault with it at the same time. I can do neither. The throw is very pretty, more than girly but not quite womanly.

 

I'm conflicted. Can you tell?

[CreamyJade]

In the decant: Green galbanum notes, dried apples, opoponax

Wet on skin: Apples, resins, quince, tobacco

Dry on skin: Dried apples, incense, black musk, resins

Final thoughts: I don't own many apple scents (actually, I only own Snow, Glass, Apples), but I wanted to try this blend because of the darker tone of it - to find a resinous, musky apple scent would be marvelous, no? Unfortunately, I don't seem to be in an apple mood lately, because the fruitiness of the apple is unpleasant to my nose, but sits at the heart of a great body. The overall scent is to my nose a "perfumey" apple, retaining the dark resinous and musky drydown notes I love.

[Suu4LC]

Reading the scent description, I would have never thought this one would be for me. I don't generally like dark scents and none of these notes jump out at me as something I would want. I'm a super foody/light florals kind of girl usually. But when I sniffed this proto at will call, I fell in love.

 

In the bottle this is sweet and sexy and smoky. Evil sexy apples, but not in a delicate Snow.Glass.Apples way, in a dark, vampy, rawr kind of way. On my skin, it's sort of the same. Not really "appley" to me. Just fruity, juicy, sweet, sexy and smoky. A little Lune Noire-ish to my nose in some ways. It's hard to describe, but it's sexy and beautiful and I love it!

[detritius]

A wickedly dark, smokey apple. Under the apple, I get spice, musk, tobacco, and smokey wood. Out of all the Celestial Apples, this is the one that seems to most autumnal to me, because it's more crisp than juicy, and the apple has an almost cider-ish note to it that I can't explain, but really, really like. This is like sitting around a campfire on a cool autumn evening, drinking hot apple cider and telling ghost stories. Love it.

[milo]

Fruity, voluptuous, musky, and very sweet. If this weren't so fruity sweet, I'd probably like this, as I can detect the black musk in the background. Nice to try, but I wish it were a bit more muskier and less fruitier.

[ami226]

On the skin: Sweet! Smells like candy apples to me! It has a slightly sour apple smell with a blast of sugar sweetness that just makes me thing sour apple flavored candies.

 

Not for me, but it is really yummy!!

[porcelina]

first impressions of black apple- not good. metal, and something medicinally fruity- maybe the quince? a thick, viscous scent.

 

on my skin- dried apple, concentrated and resinous. still getting a cough-syrup note that i'm not liking. it gets overpowered by the black musk, the resins and the tobacco, but it's there underneath it all. there's not a whole lot of apple left, but i know it's there. this is really strong, smell-it-from-a-mile-away stuff.

 

as it dries, the medicinal quality fades and it becomes powerfully dark and resinous. i like dark and resinous, but i'm not sure there's enough that's special about this for me to reach for it over one of my preferred resin blends (schwarzer mond, midnight mass, etc).

[anastasia]

i waited a year to review this and am waiting till christmastime to wear it. i have to admit when it was new it was a little rowdy but i knew it would settle down. there is a hoodoo roomspray which certain types of strip clubs and maybe some taxi drivers use which comes in all kinds of apalling 'flavors' like strawberry and coconut but which contains a special component called "nine indian fruit oil" when this was fresh i felt it smelled like nine indian fruit oil. which made me skittish admittedly. but as it has aged it has really come together and is darkly rich and incensey and fruity and jubilant. and so i will be wearing it at yule instead of halloween because it smells like a feast in a great hall acknowledging the darkness but celebrating the return of the light.

[mymymai]

ITI: I smell black apple, some musk, and quince. It's rather sweet, actually.

 

Wet: Very sweet, almost candied apples, with tones of quince and dark musk. I'm not smelling the other notes, but it might because I have a cold.

 

Dry: Ah, now I get the myrrh and the opoponax, all of much smell with the apple, concealing the sweetness of earlier significantly. And now the tobacco absolute comes in after come concentration. Again, this is another scent I prefer dry.

[vthesiren]

Starts off MUCH sweeter than I thought it'd be, very tart and powdery. Reminds me of apple chips or apple rings - sweet and chewy.

 

It stays fairly sweet on the skin, but then the resins come out to add some depth. At this point, it actually becomes a bit dark, and it smells WONDERFUL.

 

I will note that it left a pretty obvious red blotch where I swiped the imp wand, though there's no itching or pain. If I re-test and wind up with the same results, I'll forgo hunting down a bottle, since that's a bit worrying. :/ It's a shame it's doing that, since this is definitely one of my favorites so far!

[bellumed]

A good autumn scent: a nice dark red apple, sour and hard.

[tinyvulture]

Arkansas black apple looks quite interesting, it’s not a variety I’ve seen here in TX. This perfume definitely seems “black” or at least “dark purple” in its overall vibe. Lots of dark mysterious resinous  notes. Like opoponax, myrrh, galbanum…so, this isn’t a foodie apple scent. Not at all. It’s much more of a sensual perfume that happens to have an apple note. As well as a quince note, because that’s present as well. And the black myrrh adds warmth, gives it presence, makes it full-bodied. I like how the resins and the fruit notes play together. Kind of veers between sweet and powdery, to more tart, and then back to sweet. Will use up the decant for sure.