Noctule Bat

[GoldenRubee]

Haitian vetiver, licorice root, wild plum, immortelle, and white sandalwood.

Noctule Bat has a strong vetiver vibe first wet in the bottle and wet on the skin, but it fades very quickly. Licorice root and soft florals were next with Sandalwood coming in strong on me. After half an hour the dry down is much different and it is so much lighter and sweeter than the opening. All the scents flow together nicely with the vetiver and sandalwood having equal strength with neither one taking over the other. Everything melds together nicely and I look forward to this blend aging.

At first this was a pretty strong scent and I was a little worried that I would smell too masculine but the drydown is gorgeous and I am very glad I purchased this bottle. I love Beth's vetiver scents and much to my happiness, this one is terrific.

[VioletChaos]

In The Bottle: Mostly that glorious, smoky vetiver, but there's a sweet underlying note, which I'm betting is the licorice. So far, I'm enjoying it.

 

Wet On Skin: The vetiver is still out in front, but I'm getting notes of a flower, something similar to fresh-blooming lilac, which I think is likely the immortelle. The two are playing off each other quite nicely. It's a surprising twist, but I'm curious to see where it goes...

 

Dry Down: The immortelle has definitely taken a front seat in this mix, and there's a hint of the sandalwood there, too. At this stage, I get no plum or licorice, which I'm a bit sad about, but what's come up is actually like a more robust version of B340. I really love that scent for the hottest of hot summer evenings, but I find it's too light and floral for me the rest of the year. Noctule Bat strikes the balance of the sweet-but-not-cloying floral, but with the vetiver to ground it. I'm enjoying the interplay so much that I might experiment with adding some Haitian Vetiver SN to my wrists when wearing Noctule just to see what happens!

 

In All: Low to medium throw, a good, light floral for those who like them, with a bit of heft to make it a viable option into the Fall.

 

 

[Little Bird]

I think that Noctule Bat is my favorite of this year's Bats Day scents. I'm surprised by how much I like this, because it's full of notes that usually don't work for me when they're in bpal blends.

Noctule reminds me of Lenore (both heavy on the vetiver and plum), but this is smoother and not quite as smoky and harsh as Lenore is on me.

I get lots of dark, heavy, slightly smoky vetiver with sweet, dark, glossy plum and a hint of slightly medicinal smelling black licorice. And none of that really sounds good to me, but this blend works for me somehow. It smells pitch black, sexy and dangerous to me <3. It's exactly how I was hoping it would smell, and is a dark, glossy plum scent that I can actually wear. Very happy to have a bottle of this one.

[elka_knits]

this one was the bat I was least excited about. I almost didn't pick it up cus of the vetiver. In fact I just tried it on today, despite having it for a couple of weeks, because it reeks of vetiver when you open the bottle and well yuck to vetiver. First few minutes all vetiver all the time then the licorice comes out and it smells like a really really strong licorice candy. I swore I could taste Good n Plenty since the vetiver harshened up the licorice and that is the harshest licorice I can think of. okay I thought of altoids for a minute with their curiously strong but I don't know if they have a licorice flavor. After a say half hour I started getting plum but not sweet juicy plum. I could literally see the green-ish flesh with the deep purple skin bleeding into it but it was a flavorless plum. More the fleshiness and promise of plum than plum itself. Since then~ now at an hour~ I am getting sweetness and I can only assume that is the immortelle {with which I am unfamiliar} and the resinous sandalwood. yeah I know sandalwood is a wood but since it appears in many incense blends I think of it as resinous.

 

What a trip

 

Still unsure about this one but honestly.... What a Trip.

Edited May 30, 2013 by elka

[zankoku_zen]

Vetiver, licorice and sandalwood.

 

Smoky bacon on wet, and then a slap of licorice which gives it a weird anise sweetness. As it dries, the bacon part disappears and I get more of the licorice/sandalwood vibe going on. Slightly masculine on me.

 

Dark, smoky, brooding.

[milo]

Holy vetiver at first, along with the licorice. They are fighting, but the vetiver is winning Pretty much all vetiver with a hint of licorice. I'm not a big vetiver fan, but I do like it for it's medicinal properties. Pretty harsh, green and smoky.

 

eta: after a bit, the two seem to be more equal. Nice masculine scent.

Edited August 1, 2013 by milo

[porcelina]

Noctule Bat is basically ALLLL vetiver, and the strongest, smokiest, most creepily meat-like vetiver, at that. I don't really get anything else out of the bottle! I'm sad because I liked the sound of this but it is just not wearable for me.

[VetchVesper]

Vetiver and a dark, pruney plum are the notes most prominent to my nose.  This has a similar vibe to Black Moths but is a bit darker and more masculine.  I get the barest hint of licorice root in the background, more of a coolness in the front of my nose than an actual smell.  It's not a sweet licorice, more earthy.    I'm not familiar enough with immortelle to know if I'm smelling it in the mix or not, though I have vague impressions that it's a floral with a powdery herbal tone. 

 

Noctule Bat is potent stuff.  After half an hour, it mellows somewhat, but steer clear of this one unless you're a vetiver fan.  Dark, smoky, brooding, and bitter are all good adjectives.  overall, I really like it, but sometimes I add something a little sugary to tone it down a tad.