Michael Casts Out All of the Fallen Angels

[zankoku_zen]

Michael Casts Out All of the Fallen Angels, Gustave Doré.
White sandalwood, olibanum, styrax, galbanum, white dammar, valerian root, and white musk.

Warm sandalwood, galbanum and hints of resin smoke, and valerian.

Smoky, warm, masculine.

[whataboutprom]

I am getting pure white musk with my decant. It's a soft, snuggly musk, almost like a sweet rain kind of blend. I can't pick out any other notes, but the decant is still pretty fresh. It's nice, but I am interested to see if it will gain some complexity with time.

 

ETA: I'm trying this for the second time now, and I can smell a very dry, light, white sandalwood in addition to the white musk. I think this will age well.

Edited October 23, 2012 by whataboutprom

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Surprisingly pale and juicy. This is nearly all resins and as two are unfamiliar, I’m going to have a hard time telling you what is strongest. It’s a strong resin blend with Valarian standing out bright and clear from the pack. The sandalwood and musk are understated and mostly supporting the incense. I suspect the dammer of being the thing doing the lovely dance with the styrax and the galbanum of giving the streak of pale green with the white musk, but that’s guessing based on word descriptions of scents, not visceral knowledge, so again, don’t quote me. This is surprisingly complex and subtle, and while I’m not a big fan of olibanum I think it’s playing well with others here. Wet: More sandalwood on the skin. The complex dance of the resins continue, the valerian moves into support and blends better than it did in the bottle. It’s a good fit for a warrior angel, all that elevated incense with a sharp edge of danger under the devotion. As it warms, it gets a little pencil shaving adjacent, but mostly this is about the resins. Dry: Soft, sweet resin. I suspect a lot of people will misidentify it as vanilla or power, but it retains a surprising amount of complexity until late in it’s process, along with a sexy hint of musk. I think this may have been what I wanted from Paladin without knowing it.

[Nachtwulf]

This is sweet, faintly resinous, and clean. It reminds me very much of the first run of Midnight Mass, as well as There Was a Great Cry in Egypt. It is, basically, like a few other 'holy resins' blends I've gotten from BPAL, which all seem to differ only by a note or two... this one lacks the woods of Great Cry and the florals of Midnight Mass, or the sugar of All Souls. It's a 'cleaner' more straight forward blend, and is quite pleasant... for those that don't have any of the above, it's quite nice.

 

On the other hand it is a -lot- like All Souls and Midnight Mass, so I'm a little disappointed that it isn't more different than it is.

[calivianya]

Warm, resinous sandalwood, very akin to Cathedral. This is good!

[Monday]

Herbal resins, that sort of sums this scent up for me. Do not want.

[Little Bird]

The white sandalwood and white musk give this one a clean, creamy, powdery woods quality, and the incense/resin notes sort of hang out behind the sandalwood, just making things a bit sweeter & darker. It's mostly powdery sandalwood on me, but I do like this one and will probably keep my decant. It smells calming to me.

[milo]

Kind of sharp and woody at first leaning on the masculine side. This is mostly sandalwood on me, a little too masculine, and I don't really like the scent, so probably wouldn't like it on a guy either.

[brilliantcat]

Imp: Sandalwood and a hint of something herbal.

 

Wet: Strongly sandalwood with resins and something very soft and sweet. The fallen angels' lost innocence perhaps?

 

Dry: From a distance it's all resiny sandalwood and yum. Up close, and this is nose directly to the test spot, something has gone screechingly sharp and kind of burns my nostrils :x However, I highly doubt I would ever stick my nose THAT close to myself (I literally banged my septum ring on my hand trying to figure out wtf was going on), this is super lovely incensey resiny woody love. I may consider a bottle.

 

ETA: After letting my tester age for a year, I picked this out of my "retest and decide if I like it or not" pile. Sweet and resinous and beautiful at first, though it ends up extremely "perfumey" on me. None of that horrible sharp note I noticed during my initial test though, this is well-blended. Aging smoothed out any discordant notes.

Edited December 23, 2013 by brilliantcat

[melange]

If Michael had a voice, he'd be a tenor. This has a complicated qualiy that makes me want to sniff it again and again; it's pale and layered without being piercing. Don't hold me to it, but every now and again, I catch a whiff that reminds me somehow of Antique Lace.

[Wwindy]

Clear, crisp sandalwood plus overtones of light green, with a touch of musk rounding it out. This is a really nice blend for days when I want something woody/resinous but not too heavy or hippie-ish -- it's rich yet airy at the same time.

[Balame]

Gorgeous. Very overdue review... Michael is resinous and airy, almost smoky. But "thin" smoke, if that makes any sense. Like a puff of incense. Not too heavy. The musk is smooth and liquid, the sandalwood gently sweet and the incense gives it a solid backbone (olibanum = frankincense, but it's not harsh here). The styrax is really beautiful and gives this a slight vanillic quality.

 

It's very much in the same vein as White Rider and Cathedral. If you like either of those, this is definitely worth a shot. It's softer on the sandalwood, more pale white musk dominant, but retains a slightly spicy woodsiness.

[WidgetAlley]

Imp: Clean unburned resins, soft white musk, and something like a hint of sweet gentle citrus. Pretty and pure.

 

Wet: Soft sandalwood, a hint of the rooty valerian, clean musk and church resins, but not smoky at all. Warm and comfortable and close to the skin.

 

Dry: Musk, soft and warm, and resins. This reminds me of a cashmere sweater, soft and luxurious but not in-your-face.

[mymymai]

ITB: It's resinous but also green for the valerian root, styrax, and the galbanum.

 

Wet: It's very similar to its composition in the bottle, although there is a little more muskiness.

 

Dry: The scent stays very close to the skin. I get galbanum, sandalwood, musk, and dammar. It's nice, but I wish it were stronger.

[ralenth]

Bottle: Warm, muted resins with a vegetal tinge.

 

Wet: Reminscent of Rat Speakers, but rolled around in some jungle foliage. Warm, snuggly.

 

Drydown: It barrels straight down Powder Lane. It's a musky powder, but still a powder.

 

Dry: Achievement unlocked: baby powder single note.