Askalaphos

[Lyssa]

Ceres was resolved to win her daughter back from Haides. Not so fate permitted, for the girl had broken her fast and wandering, childlike, through the orchard trees from a low branch had picked a pomegranate and peeled the yellow rind and found the seeds and nibbled seven. The only one who saw was Orphne's son, Ascalaphus, whom she, no the least famous of the Nymphae Avernales, bore once to Acheron in her dusky bower. He saw and told, in spite, and by his tale stole her return away. The Regina Erebi groaned in distress and changed the tale-bearer into a bird. She threw into his face water from Phlegethon, and lo! a beak and feathers and enormous eyes! Reshaped, he wears great tawny wings, his head swells huge . . . a loathsome bird, ill omen for mankind, a skulking screech-owl, sorrow's harbinger.

The daimon that tends the orchards of the Underworld: pomegranate, wonder-flowers, asphodel, and black soil.

When I opened the imp, the first scent to hit me was the pomegranate. I don't know the smell of wonder-flowers or asphodel, so all I can think is that they take away the edge from this being a purely fruity scent. Well, that and the soil. The soil really is black. It reminds me of gardening and packing in wet, soft ground. It's crumbling and full of nutrients for the flowers and pomegranate -- nutrients FROM DEATH.

I think I'd really like this blend much more if not for the soil. It's the perfect balance of sweetness from the pomegranate and flowers. The pomegranate is juicy on my skin. I'm a bit obsessed with Persephone, which means I will often make myself drink pomegranate juice even if it's sometimes too tart. In Askalaphos, the pom really does come through, but it's not kicking the other notes to the curb. The longer my nose hovers over my wrist, the more soil I get. It doesn't make much sense, but imagining the soil makes me think of crushed Oreo cookies minus the filling.

The soil dirties the pomegranate and makes it earthier, which could really work for some people. There's something else, too, that is almost minty about this. The soil kind of sours it up a bit for me, but so far I still like it a lot more than I thought I would. It has nice throw, and most of what reaches my nose is sweet, but not overpoweringly so.

Edited an hour later to add: this scent fades really quickly. The dirty flowers aspect is a bit stronger, but overall it's now an echo of what it was.

[dawndie]

Wet: watery floral

 

Initially on skin: lots of "clean dirt" and light flowers

 

Half-hour later: pom has finally appeared, a little bit of sweet fruit among the watery flowers

 

In conclusion: this is very pretty, lots of florals without giving me a headache. Worth waiting a bit for the pom to show up.

[Ghost of a Rose]

My imp is a decant from schackjj, The Goddess of Decanters (to borrow a quote from another participant in our decant circle.)

 

In the imp: Oil is clear and nearly colorless, with just a tint of ivory. The first thing I smell is the very realistic black soil, and it is by far the strongest note. In the background I can smell the pomegranate and then the flowers.

 

On me, wet: For a few seconds, the black soil is still the dominatrix, then the pomegranate very quickly takes over. But the soil remains a strong presence. It's a really interesting and unusual juxtaposition. I can smell the flowers, too, but they stay in the background.

 

On me, just dried: The flowers come out more strongly, so that now all three notes are equally balanced. It's a bit green and herbal, too - apparently from one of the flowers. I'm not familiar with either of them, so I can't say which. This isn't a particularly sweet scent - the soil damps down the sweetness from the fruit and florals.

 

After 15 minutes: An oddly unsweet - almost salty - pomegranate, and black soil. I'm not getting much of the floral note at this point.

 

After 30 minutes: The saltiness has dissolved, and now it's a more typical pomegranate. But the soil note emphatically keeps this from being foody. It's kinda like old pomegranate juice that has been sitting around in the fridge for months and has developed a surface of gray-green mold. Only nicer. If that makes sense.

 

After 1 hour: Pretty much the same, except that maybe the pomegranate has become a little stronger than the soil. But not by much.

 

After 1 1/2 hours: Mostly pomegranate, and greatly faded.

 

After 3 hours: What little scent remains is all pomegranate.

 

Verdict: Pleasing and very unusual. It's floral only in the first 15 minutes on the skin, and the flowers are never a strong presence, so I think I can safely call this a unisex fragrance. After that the scent stays fairly consistent, pomegranate and soil. This blend has the strongest soil note I've experienced so far in BPAL. It's pleasant - not nasty dirt, but rich, dark, garden soil. I will wear this in a perfume locket (as well as on my skin) to retain the florals and to make the whole fragrance last longer.

 

My rating: 4 stars

[V294]

Very nice. It's very bright and aquatic, it I think that is the Pom + Flowers, but the dirt is there, anchoring it. I really like it, though there is a bit of a sharp green end, but I'm waiting to see if that fades after a bit. Overall though, quite nice .

 

Actually, yeah I can tell already the sharpness is fading, yay! Hopefully the whole thing won't fade .

[Little Bird]

Askalaphos goes on like black potting soil and bright, perfumey white floral. The earth notes fade as it dries down and more of the tart pomegranate creeps in. I like the black soil note, but it doesn't stick around on my skin, and the other parts are too sharp/tart for me. Simple, and starts off strong, but fades surprisingly quickly (only lasted about 2 hours overall).

[angelicruin]

Wet on my skin, it's mostly rich earth. It sweetens more as it dries and I begin to scent the pomegranate and floral notes mingled perfectly over that strong soil component.

[tajana]

Oh boy. I really enjoy some of BPAL's dirty, earthy, soil notes, but a few of them really disagree with me. This is one of them. There are traces of a sharp, funereal white flower and sour pomegranate, but mostly this is the smell of mildew and decay. Had to wash it off.

[Mountaingrrl00]

The black soil element attracted me to this one. It's rich and true, and really prominent at first sniff in the vial. Wet on skin, I get tart pomegranate too. The Lab's pomegranate has been hit-or-miss with me, sometimes going too candyish or fizzy, but here it's naturally tart and tannic, blending nicely with the soil. There's a light herbal-honeylike note on drydown, which I take to be the asphodel and wonder-flowers. The scent doesn't last long on me, but I sure enjoy it while it does.

[Incendiare]

Oh yeah, now that's mostly earth mixed with pomegranate. On me, there's something astringent about the soil. It's a bit on the sour side. A bit of a contradiction, but once I get passed the earthiness, I can detect a bit of soapiness, most likely due to the florals. After about five minutes, the pomegranate starts to slowly disappear on me. It's getting swallowed up by the domineering black soil. It's sure different, and fortunately not as offensive to my nose as I thought it would be (earthy stuff and I don't really get along). Still not my cup of tea, though.

[taramarie]

In the bottle and wet on my skin, Askalaphos is more or less identical to Destroying Angel -- I'm getting decaying plant matter instead of soil. Drying, juicy pomegranate comes through over the decaying plants. So on me, Askalaphos is basically Destroying Angel + Fruit of Paradise. Since I have an imp of the former and a bottle of the latter, I'm wondering if I really need this. I guess I'll put it in my aging box and see if the flowers show next year.

 

ETA: It's been about an hour since I put Askalaphos on and now the pomegranate is stronger than the decaying plants. I like this much better now but I'm still hoping the flowers will show with age.

Edited November 7, 2011 by whiterosepetals

[Jammies]

I get a wisp of pomegranate, a wisp of a heavy floral like rose and a big strong punch of high-quality dirt. In fact, this reminds me of Ace Hardware's store brand of topsoil, which is the best I've found in 15 years of gardening. It's certainly evocative, but since I can smell like this by rolling in one of my flowerbeds, I won't be buying a bottle!

[angelmecha]

OK-- I know pomegranate and dirt. The other two notes... no idea. So we'll see what I get...

In Imp: This reminds me of Graveyard Dirt. I can pick out a slight sour sweetness and something bitter lying in the earth and a hint of crushed flower petals.

Wet: Hmm. It's not terribly different once it hits skin. Sweetness and dirt. The pomegranate is getting more distinguishable, but it's almost a sugared pomegranate. It reminds me a *lot* of a Weenie I've tried in the past, but I cannot for the life of me recall what it is...

Drydown: So, apparently the two mystery notes are simply moist floral in my nose because this blend is clearly soil and pomegranate. It doesn't morph aside from the notes amping in turn; one minute it'll be strongly dirt, then strongly pom, then some floral, then back. They don't blend a lot. That's okay. I actually like it.

Verdict: 3.5/5. I want to keep trying this. It's earthy and sweet and very unique.

[WidgetAlley]

A nice lady frimped me a tester of this!

 

Imp: Tons of mossy, loamy dirt, a bit of juicy fruit and some very sweet flowers. Interesting mix of clean and sweet and earthy all at once. Pomegranate and dirt are both at times problematic on me but I'm hoping this will work since it smells really lovely.

 

Wet: A touch of bittersweet white flowers, a little tangy pomegranate juice, and a lot of earthy, mossy, wonderful dirt that doesn't go sour or scary on my skin. Hooray!

 

Dry: The floral in here is wonderful, and pushes the whole thing from being strange dirt-and-fruit into totally wearable. I probably won't need more than just a drop of this, as I'm still not a big pomegranate fan, but this is surprisingly nice.

[countessmouse]

Usually, when one of the notes is dirt or soil, I NEVER smell it. This one, on the other hand, was so prevalent that I couldn't miss it: potting soil with a hefty dose of pomegranate. Interesting and fun to try, but not my cup of tea.

[ami226]

On the skin: Hello, dirt! There is also a bit of sweetness/green tartness.

 

Definitely not for me.

[zankoku_zen]

Pom and clean dirt. It smells like soap and pom on me.

 

PASS.

[milo]

Very green at first, then the dirt comes out. I'm also getting a teeny bit of pom, but I wouldn't have known it was there but I peeked. Very strong at first, but it faded into a very faint dirt in no time flat. Not for me, but nice to try.

[milo]

stupid double post

Edited February 1, 2012 by milo

[brilliantcat]

In the imp: dirt, definitely. A hint of greenery and flowers, just planted. On me, less straight-up dirt though it is still certainly present. More floral but it's a fruity floral. I don't know that the pom is causing the fruity feel though; it smells different than any pom I've encountered. I smell like I've been in the garden planting. It's a most unusual scent, probably not my style, but amazingly blended nonetheless. The soil component is really just

[virusq]

I ordered Askalaphos for my sister, since she loves BPAL’s soil notes. It had pomegranate in it, so I figured I’d try it out. Very nice!

 

Wet, it smells like pomegranates or a nice fruit punch. It’s red, rich, and inviting, but not overpowering. The floral notes are not overpowering, either, which is a change of pace for my skin chemistry. They add something delicate and sweet to the mix. I can’t pinpoint the soil directly, but there is something grounding in there, that smooths it all over so it’s not super sweet.

 

Dry, Askalaphos mellows out even more. It settled down into a nice, earthy sangria and lasted for hours.

 

Very happy with this one, but I prefer Regina Erebi or Swank for my pomegranate fix, and the earth notes aren’t quite Zombi.