Miles

[Dedee]

A charming, mischievous, and inexplicably sinister blend of balsam of Peru, honey, skin musk, and black pepper.

This one really interested me. I had never tried balsam of Peru, so wanted to step out and be daring! Here goes my first 'first review'!

wet: Wow! It is a fresh scent. I think all I am smelling is the balsam, not getting any of the honey or skin musk but it smells wonderful. It reminds me of walking through Hoh Rain Forest in my old home state of Washington after a fresh rain. Green and cool and strangely comforting. Making me quite homesick actually!

on skin: still all balsam, but maybe now the honey is coming through, for it smells just a bit sweeter now. I'm still not picking up the pepper or skin musk.

drydown: the throw and last is amazing on this! I put it on last night and can still smell it this morning.

verdict: Though I don't know if I would have bought it for myself if I had smelled it at a Will Call I think I am falling in love with this one. It is VERY different from my stash of BPAL loves, but it reminds me so much of home I don't think I can live without it!

WINNER!

[dreamingjune]

In bottle: very clean with a green quality. I almost did not bother to skin test this.

 

Wet: knowing that there is balsam of Peru in here I was expecting rich, sweet balsam leaning towards benzoin. Instead I am getting the more green balsam notes of blends like Ü. There is definitely a light, hay-like honey note and maybe a touch of pepper.

 

Dry: The sweetness of the honey is coming out more to balance out the green balsam notes. The honey has definitely become sweeter without going into Womb Furie territory. I really do not smell much pepper, but I get the sense that this note just keeps things balanced. The skin musk threatens to go into cologne territory on me (funky skin chemistry..) but the other notes keep this in check.

 

Overall, this is a very clean and green scent without being the typical herbal. It also does not go soapy, which is quite an achievement on my skin. There is just enough richness from the balsam and honey, yet it is definitely not sweet or foody. I see this as being very unisex too. It may not be quite what I was hoping for, but I think this one will be a huge hit if people have the guts to try it.

[crebbsgirl]

This does start out pretty heavy on the balsam and black pepper. It was pretty green and masculine feeling on my skin. As it warmed and settled, the skin musk and honey came out a little more. It sweetened and softened during wear, but it took about an hour to get to a stage I liked. I may age this a bit and retest.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: The pepper really shines in this. I’ve never smelled a pepper dominant cologne before. Fascinating. The balsam and honey work together to form a canvass for the pepper. The skin musk is soft and sexy. Wet: Still pepper dominant with skin musk second and that lovely sweet balsam/honey canvass. I am not a big balsam fan, but this is a clever usage of it. Dry: Mostly balsam with a peppery edge.

[mymymai]

ITI: With a cold, these notes are harder to detect. I certainly get skin musk, tingly pepper, and just the faintest impression of balsam. For a scent that is charming and mischievous, I would expect something a little less subtle.

 

Wet: Ah, pepper, musk, and balsam trumpet their presence on my skin, yet honey, such my skin usually amps, fails to make any impression.

 

Dry: I get musk, pepper, and something rather soapy.

[Alethia]

Thoughts before testing: Honey, pepper, and skin musk are all big time win notes on my skin, but I don't think I've ever smelled balsam of Peru.

 

Wet: Very pine-y (the balsam?) and heavy pepper! This is really nice wet.

 

Dry down: It starts to turn cologney, but the pepper and balsam are still very prominent. This might be too masculine for me.

 

Dry: The balsam overpowers all the other notes, which is a pity. I would have liked a little more skin musk and honey.

 

Final thoughts: This wasn't for me, but it smells FABULOUS on my little brother. The decant is living with him now!

 

Verdict: Not for me, but lovely on the mens

[surlygurl]

Wow! This is very nice! The balsam and pepper are the 2 standout notes right off the bat. Unisex heading towards masculine. Then the honey weaves in & out; it doesn't sweeten things up, but it does add a new dimension. As it dries I get more of the skin musk, sexy & smooth. If the honey doesn't turn sour like it normally does, this will be a bottle purchase.

[theseagrows]

wow, this is very fresh and green, and is a typically "masculine" scent. i'm not sure what i expected from balsam of peru, but it wasn't this! in the imp it smells slightly fresh and i can smell the black pepper, but on my skin that balsam is amped very high and there's just a smidgen of black pepper. i think i sense the tiniest bit of skin musk, but not much honey. this has a lot of throw and is very strong. it really isn't my kind of scent, so i will swap it.

[lohengrin]

In the bottle: A little perfumey, and a little woody, almost.

 

On skin, wet: Still a little perfumey and sort of woody, now with a hint of pepper.

 

On skin, dry: I'm getting a very fresh/clean scent that other people seem to be associating with the balsam, but it's actually identical to how Sara Pezzini smells on me (minus the leather) so I think it's actually how skin musk turns out on me. There's still a little pepper and a little of that sort-of-woody scent.

 

After an hour: Fresh and clean and just the faintest touch of pepper. No honey, which is disappointing, but it's still quite interesting and may save me from having to buy a bottle of Sara Pezzini.

[zankoku_zen]

On wet, this might as well be Black Pepper SN, and after about two hours it dries down to some woody, slightly perfumey, slightly musky, hint of black pepper blend.

 

Too much for me to handle.

[Little Bird]

My decant of this is mostly a slightly soapy, slightly baby powdery, cool, clean skin musk. There are hints of sharp black pepper and an almost watery smelling honey as well, that seem to weave in and out of the scent. I wish that it were stronger on the black pepper for me. I thought that this might smell nice on my hubby (I love it when he wears black pepper scents), but it turns really powdery on him.

[milo]

Lots of Balsam Peru at first, and then a bit of honey and some kind of aquatic come out. This is the same honey from Door and Sarah Pezzini, but much more muted. This is clean, masculine and refreshing, though I would never wear this, but it is kind of nice. I like the honey, it's a nice touch to the evergreen, and makes the concept seem less sinister, and maybe there's something cuddly under that exterior. This is a clean guy, the outdoors type but is perfectly comfortable in the city as well.

[tziporra]

Stopped in BedlamBedlam in Seattle to try any bpals they had hanging around and I came upon this. Honey and skin musk are both superstars on me, so I slapped it on. Right off the bat it was all Honey! which was great. Since then it has been getting woodier and woodier, but the honey musk notes are keeping it from being too dry on my skin like woods usually are. Now it is just warm dark woods. Very much like the inside of my old wood chest that has been storing my perfumed sweaters for the last ten years. I don't get much mischievousness, but that is probably because the pepper is in hiding somewhere. The something sinister I definitely feel.

 

A real winner on me, I am so happy I picked up a bottle!

[porcelina]

my allergies have been so bad lately that i have not been able to smell at all, let alone properly test new bpal! but i'm all hopped up on sudafed right now so let's get testing!

 

miles is my first test subject. hello, miles. in the bottle you smell… kind of sweet but kind of astringent? that is rather contradictory.

 

on my skin… at first i have no idea what i am smelling. then i get the musk, and it starts to smell very nice. the honey/skin musk combination is pretty sexy and the dry pepper really spices it up. i'm not 100% sure what balsam of peru is supposed to smell like but various sources are telling me things like "vanilla, green olives, spice, balsamic bouquet" which sounds really weird but i think i can pick it up here. it's not 100% sweet; it's a little bit drier and, frankly, a little bit sinister. this is a close-wearing skin scent with a bit of a ticklishly peppery throw. it's pretty unique and i like it but i hope i don't start sneezing again.

[hlinspjalda]

Balsam of Peru, skin musk, and honey are three notes I like a lot. Recently I've had to rethink several of my perfumes in these categories, so I was excited to test Miles.

 

In the vial: Very close to my ideal scent in that category (Giant Vulva, Velvet Nudie, I'm lookin' at you!), but with a noticeable tingle of black pepper.

 

Wet: Very nice! The honey isn't overwhelming, the skin musk doesn't go slightly skanky on me the way it occasionally does, and the pepper's keeping in step. This might finally be what I hoped Giant Vulva would be: the honey-balsam-musk scent of my dreams.

 

One hour: The balsam has taken the foreground, with a pleasantly warm and spicy impression. The honey and skin musk still smell nice together, but somehow less feminine than in Giant Vulva. I'm not getting any noticeable pepper, but maybe that's what's working so nicely with the balsam. I quite like this.

 

I bought a bottle of this.

[JazzieCazzie]

Had this on my wishlist based on notes and curiosity and received an imp in a wonderful swap.

 

I apologize in advance for a very confuzzled review. It is a very complex blend on me and hard to define.

 

IN THE IMP: Balsam and pepper are predominant. I get cleaning fluid but not in the standard unpleasant way ... for example, I hate lemony cleaning fluid but quite like piney cleaning fluid. It's just that strong pine and industrial feel that makes me think that.

 

Dabbed admittedly lightly on my wrist and in the crook of my arm.

 

WET: The honey, which usually amps big time on me, does amp but more quietly and subtly, making it sweet but not really honey-like. The musk makes it a little ... stuffy? I'm getting more images and evocations than specific notes. It's got a "coat closet" smell for me, like wet wool. A little damp and mossy. Earthen. But it's not strong enough to be unpleasant or in-your-face. It's quite subtle and, as such, quite intriguing.

 

DRYDOWN: The honey does come more to the forefront when it dries (but, again, is more a sweetness than a honey and without the notes I might even have thought there was a touch of chocolate or cocoa in here). But it's more like an ornament on a Christmas tree of the other notes than a main player. I also smell something cooking (the pepper, of course).

 

OVERALL: This is more an array of images and memories for me than a scent I'd wear. It's not unpleasant by any means, it's just not for me.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 3.

[aquazoo]

I do get the skin musk to start. A little fruity, a little peppery.

[d0gbones]

In the imp: Pepper and balsam

Wet: Strong pepper. Like, a foody pepper rather than the usual BPAL pepper, which makes it hard to tell what else is going on in there.

Dry: This one's the most masculine of the series and my least favourite, but it's still really nice. The pepper is just a bit too much for me, without it though it'd smell like a generic cool men's fragrance.

[ralenth]

Bottle: Peppery soft musk.

 

Wet: Straight up spicy peppercorns. Achievement unlocked: secret pepper single note.

 

Drydown: The peppercorns dissipate rather quickly, leaving behind a soft skin musk with hints of basalm and a faint pepperiness.

 

Dry: The end result is a sweet muskiness that clings to the skin with a teensy bit of spice. This is much nicer than I was expecting from its initial stages.

[kattalog]

Wet: Slightly soapy, delicate musk and just a bit of sweet honey. Pepper gives it a dry, sharper edge.

Dry: Miles is a well blended, smooth scent with its balsam, honey and musk. Its almost a bit sweet but not noticeble honey-sweet. As it dries the pepper and balsam adds warmth, like a layer above the soft honey and musk. On me, Miles is rather calming and soft than mischievous. At the end most of the sweetness is gone and left is the balsam and slightly spicy pepper.

Lasting: 4 hours

[LizziesLuck]

I love all these notes, but curious to see how they play together.

 

Wet: The pepper kind of slaps me in the face. I kind of like it. Hoping the other notes start to shine through a bit more though, I like scents with more sweetness to them than this currently has, but the pepper is a really neat scent. It's perfumey in this, the way that cardamom can be perfumey (in a good way! It is, after all, perfume.)

 

 

Dry: Sadly this remains all about the pepper on me. I do like it, it's just such a strange scent to me, I can't see ever wearing it. Too bad, I think if I hadn't amped the pepper so much it might have been great.