Ae. Albopictus

[absinthetics]

Saffron, pimento, cardamom, beeswax, cajeput, tomato leaf, geranium, and pink pepper honey.

What a great scent in the bottle. The first impression is the honey, saffron and cardamom. The beeswax lies waiting in the background and there is a tang of tomato leaf. I would say this is a pink and green scent. Very interesting!

[orata]

Wow, this is such an interesting one. Like Juniper Hairstreak, I expected this to be awful from the description, but it's actually fascinating and pleasant. The beeswax, pink pepper honey, and pimento are the strongest notes: my overall impression of it is spicy, peppery honey. It feels cool and light, though, not crushingly thick, cloying, or heavy. The saffron and cardamom make it smell a bit like visiting the Indian grocery store, and the tomato leaf/geranium/cajeput (tea tree) give it some herbal freshness. I like the mixture of the spicy and herbal notes, which keep the honey and beeswax from coming across as too sweet. I think it might smell a bit too headshoppy or Indian-foody for me overall, but I can see a lot of people loving this one.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Really different. It’s very late spring/early summer afternoon. There is a sense of warmth and of lying about in the sun, of bees hovering over flowers, and the sharp bite of mosquitoes. Very clever for a day feeding mosquito know for spreading deadly fevers. The saffron, beeswax, tomato leaf, and pimento play together brilliantly and together give the strongest impression to the nose. The geraniums are soft and sort of the afternoon on a warm day outdoors feel to the thing. I like that the beeswax and honey work together with the geraniums to hint at the hum of bees. The pepper in the honey works with the touch of sharper tree oil, which I’m guessing is the cajeput, to suggest the mosquito’s bite. Tomato leaf contributes to the sense of garden with the geranium; while saffron, cardamom, and pimento suggest the start of the fever. This is a beautiful scent poem before I even put it on my skin. Need I mention, I’m already in love? Wet: Sweeter on the skin, with the tomato leaf, geranium, and pink pepper honey moving to the forefront. The effect is simultaneously sweet and savory, outdoorsey with a real bite. Omnomnom. Less subtle on the skin, but still stunning with it’s shifting alliances. As it warms, the tomato leaf and pimento gang up on the sweeter elements and it goes primarily savory for a while. Then it softens and the beeswax, saffron, and geranium, rise… You get the idea. Something is combining to make a leather accord that collapses like a man made of insects into components again if examined too closely. It changes minute by minute. I’m not sure the pimento/cajeput dominant phase was entirely apropos, but wait a minute or two and the cardamom, honey, and geranium strike back. This is the most fun I’ve had with a scent poem since a friend let me skin test Storyville. I think this will not be to everyone’s taste. It has it’s viscous and awkward moments; it is fickle and strange; sometimes smells like gardens and fevers and other times like leather. It is to my taste though. I love it for the complex songs it sings to my nose, it’s sunny garden feel, fever sweat, and savory bites. Dry: Mostly that accidental leather accord to my nose, with touches of cajeput, pepper, honey, and saffron that I can still pick out individually. I love it, but I still suspect it may be for a specific audience instead of wide appeal.

[yakiguri]

The only note I can distinctly pick out is beeswax--everything else is an herbal mash. A sweet herbal mash that at times veers close to the sugared incense note in Midnight on the Midway I've grown to love...but Albopictus disappears and reappears with a randomness that's quite annoying. Just like a mosquito.

 

I'll give it another whirl before the Metas come down to see if it decides to stick on my skin for good--otherwise it's off to the swap pile.

 

EDIT: Ugh, this has turned into a piercing herbal that I couldn't place until Wwindy said it--bug spray. Off to swaps.

Edited May 26, 2012 by thatbrownelf

[Wwindy]

I think maybe I'm crazy -- or my nose is?

 

This goes on as a mix of gentle and prickly notes; after it starts to dry down, there's one element that I really, really like, but can't quite pinpoint! The beeswax, maybe? It does seem familiar... Having said that, the overall impression I get from the waft (rather than from having my nose pressed up against it) is... bug spray. Seriously.

 

Er... well-played, Beth?

[ModderRhu]

Tomato vomit. I hate that I don't love any of these bug smells

[Ilex]

Sweet and sharp, both at once. Interesting. Not a lot of morph from the bottle to dry down, either. Honey (really distinctly honey, I think beeswax just emphasizes the honey smell versus being its own note) and tomato leaf, with a bit of extra sharp from the cajeput and pimento, which waft up occasionally. If the pimento and cajeput wasn't in the notes list I wouldn't have picked them out, but since I was sniffing for those notes, I notice them. Not a bit of cardamon (sigh), geranium or saffron.

 

Unfortunately on the far dry down even my skins power of over sweetening scents can't compete with the cajeput and the scent goes herbal bug spray, as others have mentioned. Which is a hilarious end for a scent that's named after a mosquito. The whole "come eat me" honey combined with the herbal bug spray is rather witty, given the inspiration.

[calivianya]

First impression: sharp and cologne-y! This is very much a mosquito bite when I'm smelling it in the vial. A little pepper, saffron, and maybe the geranium? It's hard to tell. I don't even know if I'm going to be able to stand to wait for this to dry down. It is honestly a little bit nauseating. I was hoping for a spicy honey/beeswax smell, but I'm not getting it here. Oh, this is bad. This may be one of the 5 worst BPALs I have ever put on my skin. I don't think this is a keeper.

[stellamaris]

This is really different, and really good. I've only had the imp less than a week and find myself looking for it. This is very complex, not at all sweet, spicy, and somehow soothing. It has a nice bite too, har, har, but really, it's a tiny bit peppery. Unisex but not cologne or too boy. Perfect for summer.

Got my big bottles of this, and I have to say, this is really wonderful. It's surely not for the faint of heart, it's quite specific, but so lovely.

Edited June 29, 2012 by stellamaris

[Little Bird]

Very sharp and unpleasant . Albopictus kinda smells like perfume alcohol and reminds me a bit of bugspray. I normally love tomato leaf and geranium, but there's something bitter and herby about this that doesn't smell like either of those notes to me.

As it dries down, I get more of the thick, sweet, warm beeswax & honey notes, but it's still mostly a sharp alcohol smell.

I'm not sure what in this is turning so sharp and funky on me, because I'm normally fond of almost all of the notes in this, but this one isn't a keeper for me.

[lohengrin]

In the decant: Green, a bit musty, and just a little touch spicy.

 

On skin, wet: Similar to first sniff but with a bit more spice and a worrying hint of soap.

 

On skin, dry: Spicy soap. Which is a nice change from the floral soap I so often get, but it's still soapy.

 

After an hour: No change from the initial drydown. I blame the cardamom for the soapiness, but one of the other unfamiliar notes could also be the culprit I suppose. Never did get any honey or beeswax.

[Caper]

I really like this one wet and thought it might be my fav, but the drydown changed that. It's just a tad too sharp for me.

 

I think the tomato leaf was what I liked wet, and I think the geranium is what makes the drydown too sharp. Must.stay.away.from.geranium.

[surlygurl]

Of the handful of decants I got from this series, this is the one I love. In the bottle it is sharp and funky and kind of heavy. There are too many notes to say what is what. On my skin, it's heavy and sharp. I can sense the tomato leaf and the pimento. The heavy bit - cajeput? - just sits there. But as it dries I get some sweet and some spicy breaking through the somber savoryness of it all. Ultimately it all blends into a spicy sweet herb garden.

 

This is one of those scents that wafts up from my desk and I just want to drift away with it. I'm hoping that it smells as good on me and that my chemistry doesn't muck it up.

 

eta: Now that it's aged a bit, it is glorious. Spiced honey, not quite edible. It glows pink and copper shot through with green, perfect on a warm summers day.

Edited March 15, 2013 by surlygurl

[Dark Alice]

This is one of those scents that doesn't blend well together on my skin and I can smell each and everyone of them when I sniff.

 

Saffron, Tomato Leaf, and pimento are all check and trying to battle for dominion on my skin. So far no one is winning and they are all giving me a headache. Time to wash this off.

[ami226]

On the skin: Tomato leaf and honey? Really interesting! Kind of a green honey scent. Not too sweet. After a bit this one does take on a cologne feel.

 

Definitely different, but a little too green for my taste.

[milo]

Quite herbal, aggressive, slightly spicy in a hot desert kind of way. This kind of reminds me of 'Sunbird' and 'And There Was A Great Cry In Egypt, in fact it's pretty darned close to Sunbird. At first, it turned me off, quite cologney, but then turns into the hot desert blend. I'll wear this when I"m in the mood for heat, but otherwise, I'll keep the imp, upgrade not necessary.

[zankoku_zen]

Pink pepper, honey and beeswax. On wet, it had a highly aggressive, dry heat, slightly spicy hot desert quality like Sunbird and one of the other Egyptian protos (Set, Sekhmet?). As it dries, I can smell some of the components more distinctively.

 

Hot, aggressive, sweet honey. Honey with a bite.

[Invidiana]

Half the notes made me cross my fingers they'd be victorious, and the other half, well....unfortunately that was the half that ended up winning. To my nose this is all bitter GERANIUM wet followed closely by tomato leaf and pimento. It's only the drydown that I get some lovely beeswax and honey in the background, but sadly not enough to take over the geranium and tomato leaf of death. Reminds me a lot of Jerusalem Cherry Honey, actually, that same standing-in-a-tomato-patch scent. Fans of that type of stuff will love this, but it's not really my thing.

Edited July 15, 2012 by Invidiana

[surf-tormented]

Double post, sorry!

Edited July 16, 2012 by surf-tormented

[surf-tormented]

It's sweet without being gross on my skin. It might be the spiciness of the blend overpowering the honey and beeswax notes. I can smell the pepper, the cardamom and pimento. The rest, like the tea tree and geranium blend into one pretty herbal note to my nose. I am not a fan of honey blends, but I would buy a bottle of this. I am trying like mad to get the final drops out of my sample and luxuriate in them. It's so fresh and inviting. This would be a honey blend for those who dislike foodie blends. It smells like newly cut lawn in the summer, maybe by a tomato garden of some kind. A bit like Garden Path with Chickens, but peppery and sweet, too. I can smell it after I close the sample, it's that strong. I love strong scents! It lasts on my skin and reminds me of living in the country. After a while, it reminds me of this thick black ice note I find in some Conjure Oil perfumes like Stiricide, that sweet ozone note that has. It's remarkably unusual!

Edited July 16, 2012 by surf-tormented

[voodoobaby]

It smells very hot, in a vital, nonspicy way. It does remind me of warm blood (the concept, not the literal smell). I get a lot of honey/beeswax, a lot of geranium and a fair amount pepper. It's sort of like a (much) less sexy VILF, which I love.

 

Someone used the word "prickly," and I get that. Prickly and warm, and more of a "skin scent" than one might expect. Unique and oddly pleasant.

[whitsunweddings]

In the imp: Tomato leaf and cajeput dominant, though it's still quite sweet.

Wet: The green notes againt honey-sweetened spices. I really like it!

DryL This is basically just like Jerusalem Honey, but spicier. Beautiful, but probably too unusual to make getting a bottle worth it.

[ravenscanary]

Source: Lab bottle

 

In the bottle: Super herbal, very green and pungent.

 

Wet: Bugspray. Hot, cologne-like bugspray. Actively unpleasant to my nose for the first 5 minutes despite the fact that pretty much every note in this blend is normally a winner for me.

 

Drydown: After 5 minutes the edge has come off the chemical note and the more mellow notes have come out to play. I got this largely because of the tomato leaf, which is one of my favorite notes ever from BPAL, and, unfortunately, it is very soft here to my nose, but the beeswax has mellowed the peppery-spicy notes enough that I'm not unhappy with it. There's definitely something sharp and biting about this scent.

 

Verdict: Nice, but not entirely what I was expecting.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Intense pepper and tomato leaf and the other spices.

 

Wet: Alas, the geranium jumps out. This reminds me of the potted plants that my grandmother had blooming on her front porch all summer long, a nice memory.

 

The dry-down: More and more sharp = me, more and more sad. I was hoping for a tomato leaf/honey/beeswax-dominated blend, but no such luck.

[Katlyntje]

I sprung for a full bottle of this and I am so glad I did. I'll admit, the thought of something themed on a mosquito kind of turned me off at first. But then I thought about it again "This is actually almost perfect since I live in Maine where we joke about the mosquito being the state bird." Then I actually looked at the notes and realized that it just might actually be perfect. So I bid on it. And I won. And victory, well, victory smells spicy and green and sweet

 

In the bottle I get a fragrance that is resinous and sweet with a little spicy bite lingering behind the rest, like that barely-heard whine of whirring wings that heralds the presence of that tiny summer vampire, the mosquito. Wet on my skin I'm getting a lot of wet geranium and tomato leaf, as if I were spending the cool summer morning before the sun gets too high in the sky to weed and water and generally spend some time in the garden. As it dries down I start to get that little bite of spice again with some beeswax and resin. The tiny vampires have scented blood and are coming to claim their rightful prey, ie anything bigger and slower than them that pumps the sweet red nectar of life through it's veins. The longer this stays the less of the geranium there is and the more the spices come to the fore. The sun has come up enough to assert it's influence and evaporate the dewy freshness off the garden plants, turning the day hot and muggy, perfect mosquito weather.

 

Hours later this ends up smelling very much like gentle chocolate and leather A little confused on that but it's pleasant so I guess I'll just go with it