The Triumph of Death

[Invidiana]

 

THE TRIUMPH OF DEATH

The Triumph of Death, Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

East Indian black patchouli, red sandalwood, dark musk, peru balsam, ambrette seed, vetiver, and ambergris accord.

 

Ah, dusky woody evil. There is a lot of dark patchouli and sandalwood with a thick resinous balsam that gradually sweetens as it keeps drying down. The fact that this is red sandalwood accounts for some additional warmth and a shot of sensuality that penetrates the darkness. No vetiver death here! The vetiver just anchors everything in the background like an all-encompassing veil of shadow, and the black musk also contributes to that ominous feeling. There is a deep smokiness from the vetiver for sure but it's sexy and smoldering rather than overpowering. This scent is very evocative of the colors and images of the painting without actually smelling like a scorched battlefield but rather evilly alluring. If you're a fan of Samhain, The Hell-Gate of Ireland, Samhainophobia et al like I am you will love this one too.

[Ah Xia]

Wet, this definitely has a pimento-y sort of note and something that reminded me immediately of growing up on a farm. Not a hay-coumarin thing, but something a bit organic and visceral. As it dries down, it smells a bit dusty and the red musk is more apparent. The scent is not as heavy as the notes would suggest and becomes quite faint with my particular chemistry.

[ltrittipoe]

From the listed notes, I really thought this would be instant :love!: for me. However.......

 

All I get is.... pot. Marijuana.

 

And it doesn't morph in any way. It took me a while to figure out what it was the The Triumph of Death reminded me of, but once I figured it out, that was all I could smell! I even tried layering a little Snake Oil over it to see what would happen, but the Snake Oil was stomped down (!).

 

 

Off to the swaps. Single note marijuana is just ... not me.

Edited October 16, 2011 by ltrittipoe

[CreamyJade]

In the decant: Vetiver, woodsmoke and earthy patchouli.

Wet on skin: Vetiver and earthy patchouli.

Dry on skin: Vetiver, smoke, patchouli, sandalwood, and a black musk note that's turning disagreeable on my skin. Not for me...

Final thoughts: I'm beginning to think that I now have a bad reaction to the Lab's black musk note (nooooo!!), because the blends I've tried with that note lately are turning to a cumin-like armpit sweat note on my skin that makes me do faces when I sniff it (I experienced this with Batty last weekend). Ignoring my skin chemistry, Triumph of Death is a masculine scent that could be smoky-woody-glorious on the right person. It's just not me...

[Poenari]

This is very sharp on me and the patchouli isn't at all prevalent. All of these notes should be a win for me, but it is making me wrinkle my nose and not in a good way. It's one of the rare cases in which I'm actually going to have to scrub this one off. Sorry that this one didn't work out, but glad I tried a decant.

[strahlend]

On my skin this is sharp and pungent wood with a sort of green undertone. I wouldn't have thought of pot, but in the initial wet stage and reading ltrittipoe's review I can see where she got that impression.

On my skin the green (not sure which note might be the source of that) quickly amps up to being slightly aquatic, combined with this sharp wood it's seeming sort of cologne-like.

I want to like this. I feel like I should like this. I like what are called masculine scents, woody-lightly aquatic- sort of cologne scents are right up my alley. Right now though it's just not knocking my socks off. I can think of at least five other wood and/or aquatic scents that I really love in the GC so I don't feel too urgent about this scent. Hope I don't regret that later.

[patina]

I like patchouli and dark musk. I'm sometimes ok with vetiver, but this...

It smells extremely unpleasant in the imp, and ends up mildly unpleasant on my skin. There is something farm-like about it.

 

I blame red sandalwood and ambrette for my dislike. If there was some kind of spice or sweetness to this, I'd probably like it.

 

Try this is you'd like a dark, woody vetiver with a bit of a pimento note.

Edited October 29, 2011 by patina

[Little Bird]

I love black patchouli (love it in Depraved, at least), red sandalwood, and ambergris, and I have mixed results with vetiver, dark musk, and balsams.

The Triumph of Death is like smoky, dark vetiver, a harsh and musky blast of men's cologne from the black musk, and something oddly green, herby-woods, and sour (the balsam?). The overall feel for me is a bitter black-green scent.

I don't care for this scent at all, and it's really strong on me. It winds up being too sour and dry smelling, not sweet or smooth enough for me to find it wearable.

[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 almost the color of amber, but a little more orangey and with a greenish tinge. Patchouli and sandalwood are the first notes I smell, but I can pick up all of them that I am familiar with. I'm not sure what the Peru balsam, ambrette, or ambergris smell like.

 

On me, wet: Sandalwood, patchouli, an animalistic musk, and a bit of vetiver smokiness. It is a unisex-to-masculine scent and very dark - as suits its name. This is interesting but I'm not sure if I like it. It verges on the stink of dirty socks, but a sharp spiciness as well as a touch of sweetness rescues it from quite being that.

 

After 15 minutes: It's a little sweeter, spicier, and less animalistic; but otherwise pretty much the same. The spiciness is cool enough and sharp enough to make it lean towards a men's cologne type of scent.

 

After 30 minutes: The animalistic note is gone; otherwise it's the same as above. I do like it now, but I would like it better on a man than on me.

 

At about 35 minutes, it underwent a sudden drastic change. It is now mostly wood and smoke, having lost the men's-cologne sharpness, making it more unisex than masculine. I'm liking it even better.

 

After 1 hour: Still pretty much all wood and smoke.

 

After 2 hours: Faint, now mostly incense.

 

Verdict: Too animalistic and strongly masculine for me to wear. But I like it well enough, especially in the late drydown.

 

My rating: 3 stars

 

(Edited punctuation)

Edited October 31, 2011 by Ghost of a Rose

[Dark Alice]

Dark, animalistic patchouli which I love. But the vetiver kills this for me. It makes it too dark and too bitter. So sad as this could have been wonderful.

[sunshinedaisybliss]

All I get is.... pot. Marijuana.

 

Yes! I get this, too.. it smells like sticky buds

 

*ahem*

 

So this is a bit more 'red' than I was expecting.. that red sandalwood has a totally different feel to regular sandalwood - it's warm, and a bit snuggly. Interestingly, the black patchouli and vetiver are very subdued - having tested Expressive Head earlier, which was OMG VETIVER, I have to say I was a bit scared to try The Triumph of Death (there's only so much VETIVER my nose can handle in one day!) but this one's safe I'm really liking the peru balsam here too - very nice.

 

This is really quite a lovely scent - it's one of those BPALs that doesn't have a distinct fragrance - like I couldn't say "oh it's really musky".. or "it's dark and smokey" - once everything's fully dried down, Triumph of Death is so beautifully blended that it's hard to distinguish individual notes. I'm glad I tried it, but there's nothing particularly outstanding about it.. not enough to justify a bottle purchase - it smells nice, but it's not knocking my socks off.

[Teaotter]

Wet: Woody patchouli and sandalwood.

 

Drydown: The patchouli is strong and very earthy in this one. I don't get much of the myrrh or vetiver here, just that deep patchouli and the red sandalwood. But there's a fruity sweetness under there somewhere.

 

Dry: Gorgeous sweet myrrh and sandalwood finally beat the patchouli back enough for the rest of the notes to come out and play. Something in here reminds me of bergamot, only not quite as bitter as bergamot can get. I'm not very familiar with ambrette seeds or ambergris, so it could be those two together. In any case, this is lovely, and likely to get more so as the patchouli ages.

 

Throw is moderate, and it lasts quite a while on me.

[porcelina]

this is dark, earthy and malicious. the vetiver is most prominent, all smoky and smoldering with an oddly metallic tang on top of the blackest of black patchouli. the metallic note seems to die as it dries.

 

the musk underneath is really sexy with the ambrette seed and slightly sweet peru balsam.

 

unfortunately the final dry-down is unpleasantly animalistic (in a, like, fecal kind of way... ) and the metal comes back. oof. i don't think my skin likes ambergris accord.

Edited November 10, 2011 by porcelina

[edenssixthday]

Triumph of Death - When I first put this on, it stinks. I mean, it stinks something awful. In fact, my first thought is that I remember reading the will call reviews before the Weenies were released, and reading that one of them was said to smell like marijuana -- and I knew immediately that this was the one. It doesn't smell like good, fresh marijuana, but like the old, burnt, tarry pot in the bottom of a pipe. (Not that I know what that smells like, of course. ) The vetiver is just totally gross and not blending well with the sandalwood or dark musk. However, I know that vetiver tends to dry down to something really warm and gorgeous on my skin, so I don't wash it off immediately, as I'm tempted to do. Sure enough, once it's dry, almost everything has settled down and the scent has this amazing warm, dry, smoky, woody, and slightly earthy quality about it. I'm so close to loving it, but the peru balsam ruins it, as it almost always does. Peru balsam smells a bit like woody vomit on my skin, and it's no exception in this case. I think I want to borrow sunshinedaisybliss's Note Removal Machine^TM once she invents it, and then I'd love this scent.

[stellans]

When I first opened the decant, I was afraid this Pickman's Gallery scent would be like another one, Expressive Head: all vetiver, all the time. I'm extremely happy to report that the vetiver so very apparent when sniffed in a container (decant) is just a minor player in the lovely drama which is The Triumph of Death on my skin.

 

When applied, the patchouli and musk seem to stake out their positions as starring roles, while the other notes (particularly the vetiver, ambergis and peru balsam) stay contentedly in the background. The sandalwood is almost an understudy: you know it's there, but it only comes on later, as if for the matinee performances. But it does make the last vestiges of this blend just as delightful as the initial ones, only in a slightly different way. I love how this blend deepens from the earthy patchouli into the incense-y sandalwood as it warms on my skin. This is going to be a bottle purchase. I award this 2011 Halloweenie 3 of 5 stars.

[milo]

Wet, I smell like a head shop, but I really think it's the vetiver, or something that smells like it! Thankfully this fades pretty quickly and we're left with a fresh, green smelling blend on me with a touch of sandalwood. I never would have guessed this would smell so pretty with the dark notes it has. I only trial tested this, as I'm going out soon and didn't want to smell like a just smoked a doobie. Will do a test with more oil later, but it is quite nice for initial interpretations in spite of the beginning stage.

[zankoku_zen]

Woodsmoke, patchouli and sandalwood. Scorched earth, fire with a touch of green. Evocative of the painting, and it veers into slightly masculine territory for me.

 

Powerful, green, smoke.

[rivercitylizzy]

From the listed notes, I really thought this would be instant :love!: for me. However.......

 

All I get is.... pot. Marijuana.

 

And it doesn't morph in any way. It took me a while to figure out what it was the The Triumph of Death reminded me of, but once I figured it out, that was all I could smell! I even tried layering a little Snake Oil over it to see what would happen, but the Snake Oil was stomped down (!).

 

 

Off to the swaps. Single note marijuana is just ... not me.

 

Exactly this! Wet in the bottle, it is MJ all the way. Wet on the skin, still MJ (with a little something faintly hay-like in the background, like someone tried to burn sweetgrass to cover up the...um...grass ). Dry, even after an hour and a half...yup, MJ, unless I really huff at my skin and THEN I can almost pick up the intended notes (red sandalwood, my beloved vetiver & patchouli) trying desperately to come out & play; I am not in love with Mary Jane.

 

I blame the ambrette seed, perhaps, or the peru balsam or ambergris or whatever, for bullying some of my fav notes and making them stinky and gross. Where Expressive Head was a wonderful (and euphoria-inducing, no joke) development on my skin, Triumph of Death is a crushing disappointment. Thankfully it's sticking close to the skin but given the longevity of several of the notes on me I'll probably have to scrub it off before bed. Boo.

[rivercitylizzy]

From the listed notes, I really thought this would be instant :love!: for me. However.......

 

All I get is.... pot. Marijuana.

 

And it doesn't morph in any way. It took me a while to figure out what it was the The Triumph of Death reminded me of, but once I figured it out, that was all I could smell! I even tried layering a little Snake Oil over it to see what would happen, but the Snake Oil was stomped down (!).

 

 

Off to the swaps. Single note marijuana is just ... not me.

 

Exactly this! Wet in the bottle, it is MJ all the way. Wet on the skin, still MJ (with a little something faintly hay-like in the background, like someone tried to burn sweetgrass to cover up the...um...grass ). Dry, even after an hour and a half...yup, MJ, unless I really huff at my skin and THEN I can almost pick up the intended notes (red sandalwood, my beloved vetiver & patchouli) trying desperately to come out & play; I am not in love with Mary Jane.

 

I blame the ambrette seed, perhaps, or the peru balsam or ambergris or whatever, for bullying some of my fav notes and making them stinky and gross. Where Expressive Head was a wonderful (and euphoria-inducing, no joke) development on my skin, Triumph of Death is a crushing disappointment. Thankfully it's sticking close to the skin but given the longevity of several of the notes on me I'll probably have to scrub it off before bed. Boo.

[stellamaris]

Don't love this one. Thank goodness I don't smell pot, bleech, but I do smell dirt. And just dark browns and dark. Not love.

Edit : So. I went back to retry this one, and I admit I layered it with the gorgeous Vampire Bride, but I did test on it's own and hot damn. It does smell like pot. But not unpleasant. I think it needs a sweet/citrus to keep it from being so rough. I kind of like it now...

Edited December 9, 2011 by stellamaris

[tinyvulture]

I’m glad other reviewers said it – this smells like pot! And heavy, heavy vetiver. I can’t pick out any of the other notes because I just keep thinking “oh my god, I smell like weed.” Yuck!

[filigree_shadow]

Yep, it smells like pot. Not exactly, but pretty close. And because of that, I won't be able to wear this. Because of my profession, I can't have people even thinking that I might be tokin' up.

 

[lilyliza]

In the imp: Ambergris, vetiver, something slightly sweet.

 

Wet, on my skin: The ambergris lightens this up a lot. It seems like slightly sweet dirt.

 

Drydown: Oh body chemistry. What have you done. Why did you turn this into something that smells very close to BO? I'm not even kidding. I'd take pot over this. Eventually the patchouli and ambergris get stronger, and this begins to smell better on me.

 

Dry: It's spicy, slightly sweet, and it smells a whole lot like dirt and decay. That makes a lot of sense for something called "The Triumph of Death". It's very interesting, even if it is a little unsettling.

 

I think this one captures the painting that inspires it very well, but I probably won't wear it often because it's so depressing. It does what it's supposed to do, lol.

[bellumed]

It’s not surprising, given the notes, that is smells very woodsy. Dirty-earthy, some sharp “pine needle” stuff going on too. I can see where people are getting a weed comparison, but I like the scent of pot so that’s fine by me! This is the sort of blend I would rarely wear but still enjoy smelling. If I go looking for it, I can maybe start to smell some of the “dry, scorched earth” feel that the painting evokes.

 

Pretty unisex, this one. Interesting, on my skin I’m getting a nutty sort of smell, the ambrette seed? Mmm, I feel like snuffling my wrists. I would never pick out Triumph of Death for myself based on the notes or inspiration, but it’s really quite nice! Earthy-sweet.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Well blended. Patchouli dominant with strong vetiver support. The musk and balsam also join the dominant cabal. Sandalwood, ambrette, and ambergris form a second, brighter toned cabal. This is really well designed for it’s concept, with a dark earthiness lifted by incense. Alas, there is no chance of this working on my skin, so no skin test.