The Orgy

[violetblue]

The Orgy, William Hogarth.
A dissolute fougere with wet honey musk, distilled spirits, rose water, white lead powder, Venetian ceruse, and Spanish leather beauty marks stained with port wine.

Even after 8 years I am horrible at notes, but this is awesome! Very sweet and wine-y, with that incense scent I love so much. What I was hoping for - not getting the leather really, which is a good thing for me!
(on reapplying - a peek of leather sneaks out but it's not the leather I am used to, probably sweetened by the honey, which is winning and not musty like some honeys go on me.)

[zankoku_zen]

Honey musk, cologne, hints of wine, leather and rose. The cologne is mostly present on wet, and dissipates in the drydown.

 

This is a sophisticated, perfumey honey musk. Very sexy. Unisex, but a teensy bit more on the masculine side for me.

[Aldercy]

Mmm... the part of the description that sucked me into getting this one, the "wet honey musk," is definitely the highlight of the blend. It's complex and very suggestive. The honey note is reminiscent of that present in Door (kind of watered down and slightly smoky), but The Orgy has really roughed it up with the underlying scents of raw, throat-burning alcohol and harsh white face paint. You really can smell the lead powder. It's very distinct from everything else. I don't get any wine or leather, but it could come out as this mellows with age.

 

This is amazing and very much how I would expect a room full of 18th century debauchery to smell. It's one of those highly imaginative "you-are-there" blends that I really love. It's a little too... specific... to wear very often, but I'm certainly going to keep the decant.

[yakiguri]

Whew, definitely agree that this is a "you are right there" kind of scent but I wouldn't wear this, probably because all I get is the face paint, and it dries down into band aids.

[Monday]

I agree with Aldercy that this does indeed smell like you're right there. My first impression was that this really smells old-fashioned. The lead-facepaint is prominent after that I get honey and rose water. The leather amps after a while and joins together with the lead powder. There is a sweet berry-ish scent to this which may also be the lead.

 

The painting itself is definitely interesting. I keep wondering why that woman in the back is trying to set fire to the painting on the wall.

[Minerva]

I totally agree with the old-fashioned vibe! I am actually really surprised by this, I thought I would dislike it because of the association of the "lead" note and the honey--which honestly never smells sexy on me. This perfume though... WOW! Makes me think of putting on special pink lace lingerie and special stockings that I usually never wear to work because they are too expensive. The powder note is most noticeable to me but that's okay because I actually love a good powder note. This is so pretty! I'll probably pick up two bottles

[WidgetAlley]

Leather does NOT work on me, but I'm happy to try this anyway.

 

Imp: Sweet, thick, sticky, sexy honey, very much like the honey in O (but fresher and more... um.. real? Somehow.) Powdered rose buds and a faint hint of mead. VERY very feminine but also very classic.

 

Wet: I applied lightly 'cause this sucker is strrroooooong. The first thing that comes up, oddly, smells like... fir? Or birch? Something woodsy, which is unexpected. Then rose, then powdery amber, then sugary wine. Far in the back, I'm getting a slick vanilla plastic smell that must be the leather.

 

Dry: Honey, dried roses, and wine. Not my sort of scent, but gorgeous, and I think, destined to be very popular!

[Little Bird]

I was hoping that this would be strong leather and wine with hints of rose & honey musk and no powder, but it's pretty much the opposite of that. It's sweet honey, baby powder, and perfumey rose on my skin, with a whiff of fruity wine as it dries down. It's sweeter and not as dark as I wanted it to be, and I'm not a fan of the powdery qualities.

[brilliantcat]

Imp: Port, powder, a tinge of rose, and honey.

 

Wet: Sexy, syrupy honey and port with an odd chemically smell I imagine to be the lead. Quite suggestive and raw.

 

Dry: Honey musk and port. I wish there'd been leather obvious in this but it smells quite beautiful and sexy as is.

[milo]

Lots of wine and honey at first, it then does a complete turnaround. Sweat and musk and dirty skin, so yeah, a bunch of wine drinkers decided to have an orgy. I really can't believe how this morphs, and into something very evocative and fitting of the painting, but definitely something I don't want to smell like.

[Balame]

I didn't expect to like this one (rose works rarely and I wasn't sure I'd like lead), but it's very evocative and intriguing.

 

How to describe it? The "wet honey" is literally just that. Like you stuck your hand in the honey pot and it is fresh. So decadent and sweet. I also smell what I can only describe as a pink sugar. If you've smelled BPAL's pink musk before, it's sort of like that. Like white sugar baked in cookies, but with an extra "girly" vibe.

 

The wine is fruity but not overly alcoholic. And the lead sort of gives everything a metallic vibe. Not getting the rose or any sort of florals. It's very unusual, and I might actually want to wear this if it weren't so intensely candy sweet.

[filigree_shadow]

This doesn't smell as floral as I expected it to. It's kind of a jumble of notes that winds up reminding me a bit of Bess, for some reason. Maybe because Bess has grape and this has wine. It seems like that's the most prominent note, on me.

[Lucchesa]

I purchased The Orgy buy one, get one free with a backup of a bottle I really wanted.  This was the free one.  I wanted to try it because I love Hogarth and it's one of my favorite of his images, but I was worried about the rose and even more about the lead.  And sure enough, the opening is rough.  It's pretty much bandaids and alcohol. A wound, in other words.  Sadly, it doesn't get a whole lot better on me.  The alcohol dissipates, but instead of leather and port I get sweet rosy bandaids.  I'll have to pass this one on.