Liaison

[naptimenow]

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

 

Got this as a decant. In the vial it smells like musky sweetness, though I can't pick out much in the way of individual notes.

 

The first time I tried it I was really disappointed, it sounded like a great combo of scents to me and it smelled delightful when I tried it on, but it disappeared entirely within 30 minutes. Very disappointed. On wet it was a great big hit of sexy musk cut through with tea and jonquil that died down within a minute or two, and then the frankincense and sandalwood really came through strongly for me. That hung around for about five minutes or so, and then it faded away to a pleasant but rather nondescript honey floral sweetness that I had to essentially flatten my wrist to my face to smell and by the half hour mark even that was gone like I never had anything on at all.

 

Most of the other bpal I've tried has faded within a few hours or so, but I can still tell there was something there at the end of the day even if it's too faded to identify, not so with Liason. It was as gone as if I'd just showered it off. I nearly resigned it to the swap/sell pile straight away but it was so beautiful while it was there that I decided to try it again later.

 

Second try a few days later and it's gone a little bit better though it's definitely still not lasting as long as many of my others. For my second try I slathered it on a bit thicker, in the hopes of that helping it to cling a bit better.

 

On wet it was again a big hit of musk though I think I could pick out the frankincense more than the floral/honey sweetness alongside the musk this time, though sweet notes were definitely there underneath keeping it nice and light. Really delicious scent, again I just wanted to eat my wrist, and it's definitely stronger this time. This time it didn't really morph away from the musk until the 5-10 minute mark, which is much longer than before! The jonquil really made itself known at this point until about 30-40 minutes when everything started slowly fading away to let the honeycomb come through with a hint of the clove. It's not quite the same as the beeswax in some of my other scents, the honey is definitely there though it is waxy but in a very pleasant way. I can see why it's smokey to others, it smells a bit like fresh edible honeycomb mixed with lit beeswax candles to me.

 

The honeycomb got stronger and hung around until now, which is heading towards the two hour mark, so I think I might hold onto this one after all. No throw at all and it is started to fade away again but I'm very fond of the honeycomb smell right now. It at least deserves a third chance. Might need to experiment with layering it over a moisturising oil or using it another way to see if I can extend the life. I'm tempted to buy a bottle just so I can slather it and make it last that way, but I don't know that I'll be able to extend it that much longer just through sheer quantity...

[LiberAmoris]

2015 version:

 

Liaison really does capture love in the dark. The black musk here is no joke, like a heavy drape of sky in which there's no light. Pushing through that, I can smell the frankincense and clove, and something sweet/floral, which must be the honeycomb and jonquil. The black sandalwood comes out on the drydown, and provides another dark sweep of scent. I'm left with an incense-driven dark floral that seems like Morocco's nighttime counterpart. I like this, especially once it's fully dry.

[filigree_shadow]

What a delightful surprise. This is really nice. I had no idea what to expect, and a couple of those notes are often really bad on me (frankincense is an asshole). This smells great, though. A very nice, smooth, super lightly spicy (clove) musky scent.

 

This is one of those scents that's not like "oh, that's so unusual" but very definitely "ooo, that smells good." I could totally see this being someone's signature scent. Great in any situation, and different enough to be noticeable.

 

I like it. Did I not make that clear? I like it.

[Ishtar]

This is very light on me, which perhaps was to be expected given the number of airy notes in this blend. Still, I was surprised to find the black musk unconspicuous to the point of being nearly unnoticeable. There's none of its usual lemon-tinged powderiness to be found here. The most prominent notes on my skin are the jonquil, tea leaf and clove. What I had pictured in my mind as an opulent, exotic scent turns out to be a well-behaved floral with a slight touch of honey. Very pretty and office-appropriate.

 

- Updating this review several years later to mention that Liaison has aged spectacularly well. I didn't have high hopes in that department given how light this had started out, but... wow! The black musk and honey have both come into their own after years of aging, and the whole blend has blossomed into one of those warm, creamy florals with a touch of powderiness that BPAL does so well. It has gone from pretty and rather innocuous to sensual and elegant at the same time. Simply fantastic!

Edited May 8, 2021 by Ishtar
2021 review update

[DiesMali]

This is a bottle of the 2015 Liaison, purchased last year. It was nice, but not WOW, when I first tried it, so I stuck it in a box and aged it 10 months.

 

In the bottle: Mostly honey and clove.

 

Wet on my skin: Thick, dark, powdery musk with waxy honey, clove, a hint of tea, and something floral. It's absolutely gorgeous at this stage.

 

Dry: This just just drop-dead gorgeous on me after aging since last Lupercalia. The thick, dark musk subsides a bit and blends in with that waxy pollen-filled honey and clove, and the tea and jonquil come out now. Surprisingly, the frankincense and sandalwood take a back seat for the first hour or so of wear, providing just a hint of glittering incense in the background of the other sweetly-musky notes. After an hour, the frankincense does come out a little bit more, but the primary notes on my skin remain sweet, dark, musky/pollen-y honeycomb, tea, clove, and jonquil for the full duration of the scent. It lasts a LONG time on my oil-sucking skin, in excess of 6 hours, and it's so lovely now that I think I'll likely need to track down a backup bottle.

[ImpImpImp]

2015:

 

This is so, so pretty. Has aged beautifully.

 

It morphs a good deal - the first couple of times I tested it, I wasn't sure about the initial wet phase. Too many notes competing at once, too much going on: darkness, sweetness, sharp and heady and deep all at once. But then it mellows out to the most beautiful black musk, clove and frankincense, with just a bit of the sandalwood and honeycomb coming through. It's a strong scent and somehow dark and a little heady at the same time - the inspiration is well represented! So glad I didn't swap this one...I see a lot of wear in its future, through several different seasons.

[elbow]

Like DiesMali, I wasn't super impressed with this when it was new, but the notes list suggested it would only get better with time. And it has! A year and a few months later, it's richer, darker, less initially floral, more harmonious. On me it stays close to the skin, lasts a good while, and is absolutely beautiful from wet to fading away. Now, do I wear it, or save it to see how much more amazing it gets over time? Decisions, decisions....

[agirlnamedfury]

Urgh, this turns into overly sweet baby powder on me. So sad.

[torischroeder9]

2012 version. 

 

In the bottle: Black musk, clean white tea, sandalwood, and a smattering of other notes flitting around in the background. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, it's musk, tea, frankincense, and clove. As it dries, it's a combination of clove and clean scents; I'm definitely getting tea and frankincense. Given time to warm on my skin, there's a bright, almost citrusy quality that I sometimes get from frankincense -- and of course, the clean crispness of the white tea is helping that to shine. The clove is very detectable but also very soft, melting into the scent rather than dominating it. 

 

It's very light and pretty on me, but in a resiny, spicy kind of way rather than in a sweet or a floral kind of way. It's nice to have a perfume that smells classy but also smells like me. 

[artisjok]

I inherited torischroeder9’s 2012 bottle~

 

This is thick romance. Darkly powdery, floral, slightly sweet.. the musk is dominating on me. It makes me think of of clandestine meetings in the park between a high class woman and her lover. Steamy nights and soft words. 

The brighter note of tea doesn’t show, nor do I detect the clove, yet I didn’t apply a full amount this test. At this point, the black musk makes it too powdery for me to fully enjoy. I still need to do a real full wear to make sure I’m not missing out on the other notes. I think the brighter tea and frankincense would lighten the experience and make it more my style. Plus, a little zing from clove would be quite welcome in such heavy love vibes. 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2019 by artisjok

[Lucchesa]

Liaison 2015 is one of those scents I can't come close to finding all the notes in.  Powdery black musk and sandalwood are there.  Tea I never count on because my skin tends to devour it.  It is decidedly not floral, nor can I find the spice, honey or frankincense, but they are probably all blending together to create the soft, sweet backdrop of this clandestine encounter.  Definitely a black musk blend, for lovers of Haunted and the like.