Liaison

[joyfulgirl]

A big bud of moon hangs out of the twilight,
Star-spiders spinning their thread
Hang high suspended, withouten respite
Watching us overhead.

Come then under the trees, where the leaf-cloths
Curtain us in so dark
That here we’re safe from even the ermin-moth’s
Flitting remark.

Here in this swarthy, secret tent,
Where black boughs flap the ground,
You shall draw the thorn from my discontent,
Surgeon me sound.

This rare, rich night! For in here
Under the yew-tree tent
The darkness is loveliest where I could sear
You like frankincense into scent.

Here not even the stars can spy us,
Not even the white moths write
With their little pale signs on the wall, to try us
And set us affright.

Kiss but then the dust from off my lips,
But draw the turgid pain
From my breast to your bosom, eclipse
My soul again.

Waste me not, I beg you, waste
Not the inner night:
Taste, oh taste and let me taste
The core of delight.

- DH Lawrence

The loveliest darkness, the core of delight: Moroccan black musk, white tea leaf, Indonesian black sandalwood, frankincense, honeycomb, jonquil, and clove.

in the bottle: musk and clove, yet this somehow feels MUCH lighter than other scents with those notes. kind of odd.

wet on my skin: baby powder. all baby powder.

dry on my skin: no change, just baby powder. i had someone else confirm that it wasn't just my nose...damn my skin chemistry! i am so sad...based on the notes this should be amazing on me. perhaps it's the honey/clove combination?

[lothien]

This was sort of a craps-shoot for me. One of those "if everything behaves, this should be awesome" sort of bottles.

Right out of the mailbox it was so intensely sweet floral that I had to wash it off, so I put it aside for a few days.

 

So, round two...

In the bottle and wet, as Joyfulgirl said, musk and cloves.

As it dries, it's still unquestionably musk, slightly woody, sweet. But no naughty honey, which sometimes goes musty on me, just a hint of "honeyness" and the jonquil is there, but not crazy, like the first try. There's enough clove to remind me of carnation, but it doesn't smell like the spice, per se. Actually, aside from the musk, nothing jumps to the fore. A really lovely, sweet, long-lasting scent, even applied discreetly. I'm even pleasantly surprised that I can apply this and walk out the door - there's no half-hour of letting it settle before I'm not self-conscious.

 

Wears nicely, doesn't morph much at all. Subtle enough that I'm comfortable wearing it to work, and yummy enough that now and then I stick my nose down the neck of my shirt for a fresh huff.

 

In the beginning, I wasn't sure I loved this scent, but the longer I have it, the better I like it, and I have wound up wearing it every day. Glad I bought a bottle.

 

ETA: I don't seem to get any tea from this. Once in a while I will think I have a ghost of tea, but I can't be sure I'm not imagining it.

Edited February 5, 2012 by dragonsidhe

[Dark Alice]

Wet: I don't smell a damn thing. Weird!

 

Now dry...this blooms into one of the sweetest resins I have ever tried. The dark musk blends with the frankincense, with the clove, and honeycomb. It's just so sweet and dark and delicious. I hope this ages well and some of the sweet mellows but overall...this is a keeper.

[strahlend]

On first application from the decant something seems a little sour, and I get a hit of a high pitched floral.

Next I'm getting more distinct impression of black musk, but it's not overwhelming.

I smell the frankincense lurking in the back, but it's not the star here. I'm getting mainly black musk and a sharp floral. There's also something reminding me of opium in the background.

It takes just a little while for this blend to settle down. When the frankincense comes forward just a bit more it helps blend the musk and florals together.

Overall though, this scent remains sour, powdery, and sharp with my skin chemistry.

[Heavenlyrabbit]

Dark Alice said it for me "sweet, dark and delicious". Jonquil can be a heavy weight but everything else here keeps it absolutely in place.

[angelicruin]

I get lots of frankincense, clove, and spicy musk on my skin. It is a dark, seductive fragrance.

[hlinspjalda]

This one's full of notes that I love, with one troublesome one: jonquil.

 

In the vial: Very strong sandalwood and frankincense.

 

Wet: A nice frankincense note, lots of sandalwood, but something a little disquieting in this one. Must be the jonquil; we don't get along well.

 

One hour: Much better now that the clove woke up and joined the party. I get a sweet honey-musk base, lots of wood and frankincense, a touch of clove, and a brightness atop everything else that must be the tea leaf. This is pretty good on me.

 

Once the clove activated, the jonquil dropped back. It got into a really pleasant zone and stayed nice on me for seven or eight hours. The tea didn't last as long as the other notes, being a bright top note that faded steadily.

 

I like it quite a lot and will be evaluating it again for bottle status.

[Incendiare]

I thought the black sandalwood would have me running away screaming in terror, as that note tends to be much too dry and burnt, and so not sandalwood to my nose at all. Surprisingly, in the vial, this remind me of lot of Mourning Lace, but it's sweeter and its clove isn't as intense. Actually, once I apply this to my skin, it immediately moves away from ML. The white tea leaf bursts out to give this a sharp freshness, and the clove actually took a chill pill and wandered off somewhere. I'm liking the frankincense in this blend. It provides warmth and a slight tinge of darkness.

[surlygurl]

This is a pleasant scent. Everything blends together and creates a dark warm musky scent with a slight clove bite. Fresh on my skin, it *glows*. But as it dries, the frankincense (I think) backs off and lets a softness take over. The jonquil - which is lovely on me in this - dies down with the frank. I much prefer this scent fresh.

[sunshinedaisybliss]

Wow - the jonquil here is really sweet, very heady indeed. When combined with the black musk and black sandalwood here, and the sweet hint of honeycomb, it gives me a super-sweet but super-dry powderiness. It never quite gets to baby powder status, but it's definitely powdery/dusty.

 

Clove? Are you sure? Not in my decant.. nope, it's just not there. And frankincense, which usually amps horribly into screeching lemon nastiness on my skin - well, that's not the case here.. I can hardly smell it.

 

This is one of those BPALs that isn't really one thing or the other on my skin - it's just a nice smell. It's not musky, it's not dark, it's quite sweet and flowery - it's just nice, but rather unimpressive in its niceness. As surlygurl said - it's.. pleasant. But I don't really do "pleasant" - I like my BPALs to be unique and unusual and intense, and Liaison just isn't any of those things. So to me, it's vaguely unsatisfying and pretty forgettable. I was hoping for a more dangerous liaison, but instead I got a disappointing liaison. Ah well.. can't win 'em all

[Scentophile]

Wet in the bottle : Picked up first peppery clove. Second was a floral.

 

On tester wand : Good quality sweet sandalwood incense

 

Skin : Sweet powdered musk with a faint hint of clove. Musk and clove blended into my skin within 20 minutes. Powder with a hint of lavender left one hour later.

 

According to my mother, I smell strongly of incense. Bf calls it "sexy powder".

 

I like it but don't love it. Must test again at a later date.

[milo]

Heady floral and delicious black musk at first. The floral fades into the background after a bit and we're left with a soft, comforting black musk. It's a bit of a different take on a black musk, I don't think I've ever experienced florals with it, but I really like this, it's dark, feminine, and comforting somehow. Glad I took a chance on this one, and went straight to bottle.

[Wwindy]

Straight to powder on my skin, much to my annoyance! With the possible exception of the jonquil, everything here should have worked on me, but it really doesn't -- this is nothing but powder from the moment I apply it. *sigh*

[stellamaris]

This is great. It's sweet flowery, then incensey. Wheeeeeee. Love this.

[zankoku_zen]

Sandalwood, frankincense, tinges of clove, honey, musk with a white floral overlay. This is a sweet, resinous floral.

 

Sexy, but not for me.

[Little Bird]

This sounded really good to me (sandalwood incense with dark musk, honey and cloves? yes, please), but this turns powdery and perfumey on my skin. It's like baby powder, dusty clove, a whiff of incense, and a spritz of perfumey, sharp white floral. I haven't been liking bpal's clove scents lately (Fledgling Raptor Moon, Arachne of Lydia and Mourning Lace all have this weird, powdery/dusty clove that oddly reminds me of chapstick :/), and this isn't working on me either.

[whitsunweddings]

In the imp: Musky clove and frankincense.

Wet: Honey-sweet frankincense with hints of clove.

Dry: The same clove note from Copulating Mice, mixed with musky incense and honey. A tad sweet for me, but not bad.

An hour later: Went completely powdery/generic on me. Bum.

[Lorna Brigid]

Oh Liaison, you naughty little minx!!

You weren't supposed to work on me because of that black musk thing.

But ohhhh..... I sniff and my eyes roll back in my head. You're hired!

This is like... a powdery Poison!

Wet, I get the sandalwood and clove. Frank says hi, but not too loudly.

Dry, the black musk rounds it out and powders it down a little, but not in a bad way.

This is very well blended. Very nice. Want moar!

[Monday]

I confess I really didn't like this oil when it was fresh, the frankincense stomped all over the rest of the notes. I got the decant only because jonquil was listed but i didn't get any of it.

But now, oh boy...

I get the musk, sandalwood, resins and the same honey note that's also in Blossoms in Springtime. It is quite sweet. The jonquil makes an appearance when Liaison is almost dry together with a very faint clove (I'm thankful for that because I can't stand clove).

I feel like Liaison is in the same scent-family as Blossoms in Springtime, they're probably siblings. Blossoms is the vanillary, innocent type, Liaison is more resiny and sexy.

I'm glad i kept my decant and may upgrade it to a bottle.

[crebbsgirl]

Holy crap how is this not getting more love? This is amazing on my skin, and it's full of death notes. I usually turn anything with frankincense to play-doh but here it stays sweet and resiny. The jonquil adds a sunny floral tone while the honeycomb prevents the sandalwood from getting too smoky and dusty. The musk is quite light on me and the clove is incredibly subtle. On my skin this ends up being warm and golden with a hint of musk.

[Haltija]

This is for the 2015 version

 

Wet on the skin I get nothing else except clove, black musk and frankincense. This is a very good start because I love all of these notes. The longer it blooms on me the more the sandalwood and honeycomb come forth. It's beginning to smell creamy, musky and a little herbal. Drying down I get a lovely waft of a sweet, musky floral with a touch of I don't know how else to say it but "smoke". It smells beautiful but in a demure way. I enjoy it

[Atrous]

2015 Version:

 

Some of the notes are lazy so this scent takes a while to develop.

Black musk, sandalwood, frankincense, honey, clove - these notes should just POP on my skin but in Liaison they are lighter, subdued. At first, anyway.

 

On first application I'm not getting much of anything but a wisp of muskiness. It stays this way for a bit and then the floral blossoms. Floral is strong and sharp and then fades to soap.

Again, it stays that way for a while and it's at this point that I'm thinking this scent just doesn't work for me.

 

Cut to about 20 minutes later and I can smell an old-timey, classic floral wafting up to my nose. Strong but not cloying. I huff my wrist and I also smell the sweetness of honey emerging along with musk buried underneath. There is a smokiness swirling around too. Over the next 10 minutes sandalwood peeks out then frankincense and lastly clove. I don't get any tea leaf.

 

This scent is well blended. It's floral and musk with a bit of everything else playing at the edges: resin, smoke, sweetness, and spice.

A nice, unobtrusive daytime scent.

[Lady_Fire]

This is very musky on me, in a good way. It's dark, maybe a little masculine. It's a very dark scent, but there is something bright, almost green to it? I wonder if that's the frankincense? I'm thankfully not getting any of the clove while it's still wet. As it dries some of the sweetness from the honey is coming out. I really like this. I'm not sure it's something I would wear, but it smells delicious and I bet it'd be awesome on my husband if I could ever get him to wear scents.

[erijona]

In the imp: green-smelling, slightly sharp floral at the top but still musky and warm from the sandalwood. The tea note keeps things smelling clean. I detect very little spice in the bottle

 

Wet on skin: The spicy elements warm up upon contact with the skin, especially the clove and sandalwood. I'm not getting the jonquil too much thankfully, just musk and tea with a woody, peppery end. It veers close to being 'soapy' or 'clean laundry' smell which I'm thinking is musk but the whole thing is slightly 'glowy' thanks to the frankincense. This changed a lot from in the bottle to my skin--it's now more spicy and peppery and almost potpourri-ish but nothing horrible. It comes close to being almost like baby powder but never quite gets there

 

Dry on skin: As it dries things get a little more sweeter. I can detect the honeycomb and clove more and they're all in front of a glowy, resinous frankincense and spicy sandalwood. The musk calms down a lot and the soapiness/baby powder smell backs off. The white tea and jonquil move to the side and make way for the others. I like the clove in here, it adds a nice smoky spice kick at the end and makes everything seem more seductive and mysterious

 

Later drydown: I like this much more as it dries than straight out of the bottle. It becomes a sweet warm honey-musk but with some resins and spice swirling around it at the side. The frankincense in here is really nice.

 

Thoughts: this one is a morpher to me. Smelling it out of the bottle I thought it would become sharp, flowery potpourri powder but as it dries on the skin it becomes very pretty and infinitely interesting.

[quickdrawkiddo]

Wow, this is... not what I was expecting. Based on the notes listed I thought this was going to be dark and intense and sexy. What I'm getting instead is a light floral-resin. Jonquil always reads as old-timey to me, though that might just be my personal association with that note. To me that gives the whole scent a throwback kind of feel, like something a teenage girl in the 50s would have worn to sneak out of the house and go watch her boyfriend drag-racing. What's crazy to me is how little black musk I'm getting, since that's a note that usually amps like crazy on me. It has a light, clean sophistication that I like, despite how different it is from what I expected.