Tympanidium

[Caper]

Black licorice root, aged red patchouli, white sandalwood, orange blossom, lemon peel, and dried jewel-toned fruits.

Out of the four Song of Nature bottles I ordered unsniffed I decided to try this one first.

In the bottle it smells great. I get a sort of masculine scent, which is probably the sandalwood as I associate that with my dh because it smells wonderful on him. I am always afraid of licorice and anise because I loathe them. I can barely detect a hint of it wet, it reminds me of Tarasque, so maybe a hint of tea?

Mixed with the gentle licorice and sandalwood base, I get a touch of freshness from the lemon peel. As it dries I definitely get more of the orange blossom and red patchouli I associate with Ravenous. The lemon and licorice really brighten it up with a higher pitched scent where Ravenous is very sultry and low. I like it. I love Ravenous and this is like a work appropriate version that isn't as sexy.

What I don't get is the jewel-toned fruits. I expected something a bit heavier on the fruit, but I don't think that this scent needs anything heavier on the fruit because it is perfect the way it is.

[Atrous]

Bought a bottle unsniffed because I love all the notes except Black Licorice Root. I've never tried anything with licorice but was willing to give it a try since anise is a great note on my skin.

 

In the bottle: Can't pick out any individual notes, just dark and masculine.

 

Wet on the skin: The same but now the sandalwood and patchouli are coming out with something cloying in the background. The wet stage is not good. It's actually a bit offensive.

 

Dry on the skin: Really morphs into a beautiful, subtle scent. Licorice come out in a pleasant way; just enough to make this interesting. It plays well with the orange, lemon, and jewel-toned fruit. Sandalwood and patchouli move to the background, creating a woodsy base. I see this more as a unisex scent. Bright and sweet on top with dark undertones swirling throughout.

[rhubarb3point14]

I bought this because I love BPAL's licorice note, and I am not disappointed. This is fairly similar to Tanuki no Senkimochi, one of my all-time favorites. The main difference is that there is gentle well-aged patchouli instead of myrrh, and it lacks the fuzziness of TnS's brown musk.

 

Very somber and ancient-feeling, yet soft and hopeful.

[Zaani]

Whenever I put this on, I think, "Why did I want to get backups of this?" And then it dries down, and I think, "I have to have backups of this!" It's dark and sweet, and I love it!

[SophieCedar]

I vote this the sleeper hit of the bunch. You either love or you hate black licorice...but this is sweet, spicy, resinous, earthy, and hard to pin down. The wet phase is distinctively licorice with orange blossom. The drydown, it becomes so much more. Kinda close to the skin, but I bet guys are going to love this. Its more unisex than anything. This is not patchouli heavy, mind you. Color impression is burgundy and speckled black with shots of amber and maroon.

[Gateau]

I love the black licorice note and that it sticks around for a long time. Less love for white sandalwood, which makes everything smell like masculine cologne on me. I'd slather it on the hubby, except after about an hour I get a sweetness from the orange blossom and fruits that might not be his thing, though worth a try.

[beakerwill]

From the first sniff, this has struck me as a more delicate Kabuki variant, due to the licorice and fruit combination. It has the same "nose feel", but isn't as bold and in your face as Kabuki. The longer it has been on my skin, the more apt that comparison has become. This isn't a problem, as I love Kabuki, and the lack of throw and comparative delicacy is much more work appropriate.

After 10 mins of wear (on wrists - mileage may vary in cleavage, etc), it has faded to a delicate, sweet licorice/patchouli blend, lightened and brightened by the other notes. Very little throw, less than my norm - which isn't much!

It hasn't had any perceptible changes between 10 minutes and an hour; still very much a close to the skin scent, but I keep finding my wrists next to my nose, lol.

Hmm. Maybe I should convince DH that I need a big bottle of this one too...

(decant by Ralenth)

[stellamaris]

OK, this is like the perfect perfect-thing. It's as if I had a skin scent custom made for me. It has the same feel to me as Arana or Self Portrait, but a little softer in pitch but not in tone. hmm, that makes sense to me...like it's a bit softer but not in power, it is very rich and complex.

Love it.

[Ilex]

Well. I was hoping I'd adore this, I love licorice and patch, but I only think its good, not omg I must have a bottle (yay for decanters and decant circles, ralenth in this case). It a bit too well blended for my tastes, I was hoping the notes would distinuish themselves a little more, early on the licorice jutted out some, but in the dry down it was less present.

 

The juicy fruits reference worried me, but it just lends extra sweetness in a nondescript way. The stinker of the bunch was the sandalwood. Stupid powdery generic perfume sandalwood messed up the whole party and kept this from awesomeness.

 

It was strong with some good throw, almost too much, I had to wash it off for dinner.

 

The other perfume it reminds me of is Masquerade with licorice playing the role of ambergris and a much milder patch, and less orange blossom. Though with the sandalwood the analogy is not perfect. Masquerade is a favorite, and this may grow on me a bit too. It gets bonus points for not being perky and sicky sweet on me, it is a darker, velvety sort of scent and my husband said he thought it was sweet, but still good (and he is super hard to please).

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Hmm, the notes aren't really coming together for me. Powdery and musky.

 

Wet: Much the same as the cold sniff. These notes aren't working together.

 

The dry-down: Patch, anise, and sandalwood just didn't see to blend w/ the citrus blossoms and the fruits. Rather disappointed with the lack of the fruits.

[milo]

I'm getting a slight licorice vibe at first, not very much though. After a bit, it's a mild patch and licorice. Further on, less licorice, medium patch and more fruits come out. This is quite nice, it reminds me a bit of a little sister to Mme Moriarty. It's got a different patch, and different fruits. I quite like this, it's bright and sultry/sexy at the same time.

[astarinel]

The licorice is a little softer here than I expected, which is nice. This scent strikes me as unisex or masculine, and I'm definitely not smelling much of the fruits. It's mostly a well-blended skin scent of licorice, patch, and sandalwood (in that order, also, to me). There's a little bit of a fuzzy sweetness to this, which I guess might be the fruit and orange blossom. Orange blossom is a note that I either love (Katharina, Harlequin) or hate (Hunger, Vixen), but it's not terribly noticeable here.

 

On the whole it ends up being merely okay on me, I just tend to prefer my licorice scents more candied and was hoping for the fruits to come out here, which they never really did.

[zankoku_zen]

Licorice, patchouli and sandalwood. On wet, I get hints of fruity lemon, which seems to clash with the licorice and sandalwood on my skin.

 

PASS.

[Monster]

This starts out smelling very similar to Masquerade (patch and orange blossom). This is definitely more of a masculine scent to my nose. Sadly I'm not getting any black licorice (which I LOVE). This dries to a windex smell on my skin. So sad.

[mymymai]

ITI: Licorice, orange blossom, overly ripe fruit (like a week overripe), and sandalwood. There's something just odd about this.

 

Wet: Okay, the overripe scent is gone. Thank goodness! It's pungent licorice root (but in the best way), white sandalwood and patchouli on my skin. This is really nice, actually.

 

Dry: There's only a ephemeral red fruity tone and a touch of sandalwood left after a full day of work.

[Greenwoodtree]

Good lord, this is a keeper.

 

There are just a handful of BPAL scents that I know immediately are keepers...this has such a complex scent - I really dont smell any of the individual notes, thank god for that - and funny, I never would have chosen this scent based on listed notes.

 

I think what is REALLY appealing to me is the orange blossom and patchouli - and then that bitter lemon scent that reminds me of the old lemon perfume from when I was a kid...and somehow the touch of licorice root holds it together.

 

It smells sophisticated, feminine, calming...something I will try wearing several days in a row to see how it goes. An amazing blend.

[Aveya]

Oh my jeeze. I've tested tons of scents lately and it's miss, miss, miss. But this one is just 100% hit. this is a little gem. I'm definitely getting the hang of what scents together work great for me.

 

It's got that blurry earthy base from the sandalwood/patchouli thing. Warm and soft. Then it's got a lightness to it with the other notes. The "licorice" is tempered from going foody, and turns the blend into an awesome warm deep room full of incense with a fruit edge.

 

The fruit isn't deep and gloopy, but it's certainly dried. A faint whisp of sweet. Yum.

[ShadowEtienne]

I was gifted a decant of this in a forum order. I'm intrigued to try it, but definitely go over the list of notes with a bit of trepidation. Licorice in all its forms and orange blossoms are scents I love. Lemon peel and sandalwood and dried jewel-tone fruits are good in theory but sometimes hit and miss in practice on me (and a lot depends on which fruits). Patchouli has historically not been great on me, but I'm interested to see how it does in a mix with things that might keep it under control.

 

In the decant: very sandalwood forward, but a nice sandalwood, not sure how the other notes will play out because in the decant it's just screaming sandalwood at me.

 

Fresh on my skin: that's still pretty dominantly sandalwood. Getting a tiny hint of licorice (yay) and a bitter lemon peel (this is lemon peel going a decent direction on me to start off with. I do not smell the fruits at all, or the orange blossoms (sadly), or the patchouli (I'm OK with this).

 

On dry down: There's a sour grassy note that has become a small part of the backdrop of this scent that I suspect might be the patchouli, and that part isn't really for me. The sandalwood has remained dominant, and while I can enjoy sandalwood in a scent where it is a note that is well balanced, I don't want it as a predominant scent a lot of the time. Still no fruits or orange blossoms, though the licorice has remained present and friendly to me.

 

I don't think that the balance of this one plays nice with my skin chemistry.