Workshop of Filthy Creation

[patina]

I collected bones from charnel-houses and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame. In a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at the top of the house, and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase, I kept my workshop of filthy creation; my eyeballs were starting from their sockets in attending to the details of my employment. The dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials; and often did my human nature turn with loathing from my occupation, whilst, still urged on by an eagerness which perpetually increased, I brought my work near to a conclusion.

The workshop of filthy creation: electricity-scarred cypress beams, ancient stone slabs, damp metal, the coppery tang of coagulating blood, and ozone.

First review! I think most people were too hesitant to touch this.

The first thing that comes out is the cypress. It's not too harsh and it almost smells like tobacco. I'm pretty sure there's some myrrh involved somewhere. Overall there's a sleight rootbeerish smell.

Ozone is very iffy for me since scents like Lightning often turn into pure soap. Metallic scents can become sharp, manly aquatic cologne. The damp metal note here is surprisingly pretty, though. It's a clean, true unisex scent that would work very well on a guy. I'm actually getting a sense of charged electricity from this one.

Very pleasant, not sure I'm in love with it but it was unusual and surprising. I hesitate to compare it to Ekhidna, since Ekhidna's spicy and murky and has an almost sour note but I can't think of any scent that comes closer to this.

Clean, unisex rootbeer with an electrical charge. No contents of the slaughterhouses, thankfully.

Edit: With aging, the rootbeer smell mostly disappears to be replaced by cypress and metal. Still a good smell, though.

[Monster]

When I first read through all of the descriptions of the Frankenstein scents, this was the one I was most excited about. When I think of Mary Shelleys story, the workshop is the first thing that comes to mind. I've always loved the idea and imagery of a Victorian laboratory...a secret refuge filled with oddities, rusty contraptions, bones, old books and manuscripts. One of the reasons I love BPAL so much is their ability to capture moments, places, images, memories and bottle them into little 5ml vials. The idea of having access to my very on filthy Victorian workshop was very appealing to me. I couldn't wait to get my hands on a bottle of this.

 

First whiff out of the bottle is resin and red musk. Oh boy! This is going to be good!

 

On my skin wet I'm detecting mostly wood...the cypress beams. Cypress usually smells sharp on my skin but this is well balanced out by the red musk (which I'm assuming is meant to represent the blood). I'm not getting any dragons blood or anything along those lines. As this dries an almost salty aquatic note comes out (very much like The Phoenix), along with a shimmering metallic note that I can't quite put my finger on...it's elusive and shows up in quick flashes, much like lightning! This isn't aquatic, it's still very woody and resin laden.

 

The final dry down is still a woody resin and is incredibly similar to The Phoenix.

 

I'm not sure why this scent hasn't been getting a lot of love. I can think of at least 5 forumites who would die for this one. Resin and wood lovers, come hither!

 

[milo]

Quite harsh and metallic at first, but dries down quite nicely to a light and airy stone/wood combination. I really like the stone note in Night's Bridge, and this smells like the same note here. There's a touch of greenery along with the sweet stone, and this is turning out quite nice on me. Not sure if it's bottle worthy, as I have Nigh't Bridge already, but I may seek out a decant. Nice!

 

eta: Further along, the is just stunning on me with soft woods and the airiness of the stone. A partial is at least in order here.

Edited January 21, 2012 by milo

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Yum! This very much captures its concept. Cypress dominant, with stone, metal, and ozone competing for second. The blood is more a piquant hint, as makes sense, haunting the blend with darker mysteries. I beautiful evocation of place. Wet: still cypress dominant, but the metal moves into a close second. The stone is distant third. The ozone winds through the elements, tying them together, with that hint of blood still pricking the edges. As it warms, the metal dominates, switching places with the cypress. This is rather a shame, as I have other metal blends in my collection, but nothing else with that gorgeous cypress note. I still love this, but I wish it smelled more like in the bottle. Dry: Settles down to a beautiful cypress/metal blend with hints of the other elements haunting it. Lovely!

[zankoku_zen]

Metal, ozone and cypress. In some aspects, it smells like smoky leather with a hint of blood. Manly, brooding, dangerous.

 

If someone were to pretend to be a vampire, back from the grave, I'd suggest this blend to them.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Red musk (the blood) tempered by stone and wood.

 

Wet: The metal note has risen to the top.

 

The dry-down: And there it stayed. There's hints of all the other notes, but this metal note domination is why I tried only a decant. Also, I'm not a big fan of red musk, but wanted to try the Workshop for the wood, stone, and ozone notes. Not for me, alas. Smelling like a workshop did sound rather interesting.

[MCS4096]

To my nose this is mostly similar to Inganok Jewelers, a blend I love. It's in the same family as Night's Bridge, and has some of the same spice as Minotaur, amazingly. I like it a lot, and I didn't get a chance to give it a proper test before the Yules are about to leave-- I have a lot of blends that are similar so I hope I'm ok holding off on this one!

[Little Bird]

This scent is really strange and chaotic on me. It's mostly a high pitched, masculine, clean, sharp ozone & metal blend, but with an odd, resinous, smoky sweetness from the blood? I also get a bit of the woodsy cypress. It smells both clean and gritty/dirty on me at the same time. I got a partial decant of this to test, and don't think I'll need more. Too sharp for me, and the notes just don't seem to mesh well on my skin.

[orata]

A dark vetiver-like note that must be the cypress starts to lift as a slightly fizzy ozone and metal scent emerges. I smell a bit of red musk and resin underneath it all, and maybe leather? It is dark and woodsy and resinous, masculine, just slightly red-musky, and much nicer than the ominous description might have you believe--I think it would be a great scent for fall. It actually reminds me a little of Crowley, but smokier and without the lighter fougere/vanilla elements.

[ami226]

On the skin: Resin with a green wood. I'd say this is definitely leaning toward the masculine though. Any man who smells like this...

 

Not for me though, and my SO has plenty in his collection already!

[yewberry]

Oh, I'm falling in love with this scent. It took a few tries, but especially in the dry down (when it lingers on and on...I love scents with staying power). There's definitely a tiny bit of vetiver in there. I think that's the electricity scarring mentioned in the description. But it's tempered nicely with the ozone, cypress, and blood notes. In the end it reminds me of a kinder, gentler Agnes Nutter.

[achildoftime]

It's less workshop and more laundry room on me. I don't know if it's the age or my chemistry, but it's the very clean and slightly metallic tang of laundry that has just finished the wash cycle. It's all ozone, water, and stone. I like it, because it feels very fresh and clean, but it's not nearly as sinister as one would expect.