So Below

[porcelina]

Amber and black copal with black coconut, Sumatran red patchouli, green cardamom pod, and golden musk.

So Below sounds perfect for me on paper but on my skin, it's another story. maybe the black coconut is messing with me or something. the scent is sharp and the amber goes REALLY powdery like, as soon as it hits my skin. at first it smells like rotting coconut mixed with powdery perfume and it' a thick, sticky, heavy scent.

i can smell the yummy golden musk hiding under there somewhere and as it dries, the musk starts to envelop the other notes. i'm disappointed in the lack of cardamom and the patchouli is laying surprisingly low.

as it dries, it's not as bad as my initial reaction and actually starts to become somewhat pleasant, but i have to get past the first unpleasant stage to get there!

i'm totally surprised by this set because i thought So Below would be the clear winner and only actually ordered As Above for completion's sake, but As Above was the clear winner.

more surprisingly, combining the two on my wrists sends both scents straight to plastic hell, so i think i will wear them separately for sure.

[annemathematics]

this smells like sweaty musty grimy dirty-from-too-much-filthy-fun coconut and I love it. the coconut is coconutty but not actually that foodie, if that makes sense.

this is both a comforting scent and a sexy one. so below is amazing.

[Missy_killer]

In the bottle: Amber and coconut, with a bit of musk to deepen the scent and making it less sweet.

 

On: Amber jumps at me first with its usual honey-like sweetness. coconut isn't far behind but it doesn't smell like coconut, if that makes sense. When I think of "coconut" I see a white and creamy smell, very foodie and sometimes it does smell like sunlotion. This, however, doesn't smell like any of the usual stuff. This is dark, but not even toasted. I have no idea what's going on.

 

Another odd thing is that when I sniff close to my hand I pick up chocolate, and I have not a single clue where the chocolate is coming from. Also I am accompanied by vanilla. I would like to say that So Below is a lot sweeter than I thought it would be, it's a happier scent than what I assumed by reading the notes. It's very foodie, but at the same time not.

 

My mother said it smelled like the perfume some Africans are wearing, it's spicy and heady but it doesn't smell bad or gives you migraines. She also made a comment that it smells like incense.

 

Two or three hours later and the sweetness has dried up, the coconut is huskier and the vanilla has come out more. I would say So Below is gorgeous, but i'm not sure I need an entire bottle of it.

[Monster]

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this yet! So Below has to be one of Beth's most gorgeous creations. Anything with her black coconut note in it ends up working out so well on my skin. I love coconut in all it's many shapes and forms, but black coconut has a drier, woody quality. It doesn't read as sun tan lotion but rather, gives you the impression of fresh coconut water spilled over the outer, sun-scorched husk.

 

So Below is that perfect black coconut note against a well-balanced bed of amber/patchouli/copal. The cardamon really ties everything together in the dry phase. It lightens the resins up and gives it a warm, green tropical sort of feel. I get the impression of burning incense on the beach at sunset. It's smoky, golden, lush and green.

 

I wore this scent all summer and don't think I can wear it any other time of the year, it's a perfume for hot days and bare shoulders. Sniffing this now in the wintertime is making me long for summer. I've since purchased multiple back-ups and will continue to give HM my money for a zillion bottles of this stuff. <3 I sort of wish we still had the option to purchase 10mls. I go through this stuff so fast.

Edited December 19, 2014 by Monster

[gingiemay]

Mostly I get coconut and amber from this, with a bit of golden must. Almost no patchouli or cardamom, but I hope as it ages it will plump up a little.

[kajacana]

So Below is a frakking miracle.
Need more detail? Okay, here we go.

In the bottle: Guys, I literally do not know what I'm smelling but whatever it is, it's making me swoon. Something amber-y, I'm sure, because my nose recognizes a wisp of a hint of something that reminds me of, like, The Lion. But there's something more complex about this one, something else there in the initial sniff that makes me go "HMMMMMM YES TELL ME MORE."

Initial application: Heavens to Betsy. It's amber, it's coconut, it's soft and sweet yet also powerful (a little goes a long way) -- methinks the Sumatran red patchouli gives it that extra punch, that je ne sais quoi which elevates this blend into something truly unique.

Drydown: Not a ton of throw, but I can smell it on my wrists as I type, and I only put on a single dab from the reducer cap. It is ridiculously pretty and I want to hug it but unfortunately I can't because it is a perfume oil and I am a human.

coconut isn't far behind but it doesn't smell like coconut, if that makes sense. When I think of "coconut" I see a white and creamy smell, very foodie and sometimes it does smell like sunlotion. This, however, doesn't smell like any of the usual stuff. This is dark, but not even toasted. I have no idea what's going on.

^That, exactly.

It's not foody coconut, it's not fleshy raw coconut, it's not suntan-lotion coconut, it's not Obatala coconut... it's darker, more like the shell of the coconut (HOW MANY TIMES CAN I SAY "COCONUT" IN ONE SENTENCE, MY GOD, I'M LOSING CONTROL OF THIS REVIEW). It smells like I'm sitting under a coconut tree wearing sweet amber perfume. (Actually it smells like the ecstatic dance of my soul, but that, I'll admit, is a rather more abstract concept and therefore probably useless to you, dear reader.)

Some amber turns to baby powder on me. Some doesn't. This doesn't. It's got a slight powdery quality, if that makes sense, but I'm not getting powder from it. There must be something in the blend to offset the powder factor.

I love cardamom but I can't distinguish it in this blend. I'm also not getting any of the usual in-your-face patchouli-ness, which is fine by me (although I don't know the first thing about distinguishing between the different varieties of patchouli). And I have no earthly idea what black copal is supposed to smell like, but the Google tells me it's a sweet resin, and that seems right.

So Below is coconutty, resin-y sweetness. It's perfect, I love it, the end.

This review brought to you by a really big glass of wine.

[Malaena]

In the imp: Amber.

 

Drying: Amber, amber, amber. It's fairly masculine to me. If I sniff close up I get a hint of coconut.

[Ryan Hemphill]

So gorgeous!

 

Got just a decant of this, but a big bottle of this is in my future. Just need to try out As Above first to see if this one's sister will be joining in on the order.

 

It is amber and patchouli and a whole lot of sexiness. This one really reminds me of a more masculine version of Prosperous Flowers of the Elegant 12 Seasons (which is another fave of mine). At first I wondered if it was too close to that one, but after wear for a while I realize that it def deserves a place in my collection.

[dottie_doom]

Dark and alluring are the first words that come to mind. I was excited because this scent contains many of my favorite notes (sans patchouli, we have a tenuous relationship). Luckily the patch works for me in this case, and is an all around lovely, lovely scent. I do wish the coconut was a little bit stronger, but I LOVE coconut so I always want more!

[paperdollsandbpal]

I love As above, but So Below is my favorite out of the two.

 

It is really creamy/dusty and I love it. I'm not getting much cardemom though but hopefully it shows up after a while. This keeps changing on me.

 

I'll probably come back and write more on it later after wearing it some more.

 

I LOVE THIS though.

[vanilla323]

This is sadly all musk and patchouli on me and not in a good way. I don't get any sweetness at all to balance it. I almost smell a tiny bit of leather maybe too. I also smell no coconut just the musky dirtier notes. Hmmm unfortunate since it seems like a love for so many others. Low throw but decent staying power. Glad I got to try it though.

[lady_pandora]

Mmm, this is dead sexy. It's dead sexy in a unisex way, and in a very non-vulnerable way--I feel badass in this, but also really comfy. It's like the best pair of jeans you ever had.

 

First couple of minutes I weirdly get a chocolatey scent with coconut and something non-foody that I can't identify. Then it's kind of a musty wood for a few minutes. But once it settles, it's an incensey smoky wood with occasional slight wafts of whatever is chocolatey. Later on, the "wood" note seems like it might actually be coconut husk. Someone upthread mentioned Brown Jenkin and I agree, though I feel like I've been comparing too many things to Brown Jenkin lately! Anyway, it's a gorgeous incense/spicy/wood scent, and way more complex and luxe than those three words can really convey, but I can't break it down any further than that. Keeper!

[Little Bird]

I usually love patchouli, but bpal's red patchouli tends to smell like sweaty armpit on me. So Below is mostly baby powdery, musky amber, warm and golden and way too powdery & perfumey for me, with that earthy, sweaty armpit undertone. I do smell some coconut in the drydown, but not enough to save this blend. I'll pass on this one.

 

Decant of 2017 version.

Tons of baby powdery amber, sour musk and hints of oily, sour coconut and woody, dry patchouli. The patchouli isn't going funky/sweaty, but it's still too much powdery amber and dry, woody weirdness.

Edited June 22, 2017 by Little Bird

[chrisann]

So Below went foul on my skin. I agree with Little Bird about the sweaty arm pit part, but I got the added bonus of the cardamon pod blasting acrid, gritty, dry yuck into the mix. Gag reflex foul on my skin. I couldn't wash it off fast enough!! It made me queasy. So bummed that I'm not experiencing the "win" must of the group is getting. It went to someone who loves it.

[Teamama]

Forum purchase. Oh, yum!

 

SB is fantastic. The coconut & amber are a sweet dream team, (mostly) taming the patchouli's animalic properties. The copal is pretty subtle, but it's definitely there. I'm starting to think I have an olfactory "blind spot" for the Lab's cardamom pod note, because I can't find it, and SB isn't the first blend with cardamon pod that I've missed it in.

 

During the wet stage, the patch is little bit raunchier than I like, but it smooths out a lot on dry-down. I'm looking forward to testing it on Teapapa :-).

Edited July 4, 2016 by Teamama

[LizziesLuck]

I adore all of these notes except copal, which I like but don't love, but still, excited to see how these all combine on me!

 

Wet: Wow, that patch note is gnarly, but in a fabulous way. And that coconut! The patch/coconut combo in Goblin did NOT work for me, but this really is. It's warm and sexy. Makes me think of a woman in a sexy dress, head thrown back in a throaty laugh. No clue why that image pops into my head, but it does.

 

 

Dry: Wow how did I miss getting my hands on some of this for so long? That coconut! It's gorgeous. I love love love this. I need more. As if the coconut holds up in that mix of notes...I am stunned in the best way possible. This is stunning.

[lookingglass]

I'm late to this party, and even though I had a pretty good idea what this would smell like, So Below has been keeping me guessing. It is full of notes I love, and seemed like a no brainer. But on first wearing, my nose didn't "get it". It sits close to my skin and read like...not what I was expecting. I initally thought..."niche edp that I would buy for my husband", but now I want back ups-for myself. It has a kind of transparency and lightness in it's resinness that I don't recognize in oil format. I was expecting something denser. But I love it! I'm always looking for dark blends that are lighter weight, and they're few and far between (Hippie Ghost and Scheherazade are others); like...I always wear black (for real), but the density of the fabrics I wear change with the seasons. I aim for my perfume wardrobe to have similar variety.

 

But back to So Below. I've had to wear her all week to understand.

 

It starts out with bright, transparent resins and wet woody note (???), like wet oude, which is confusing to me. It's not creamy or sweet initially. I can't find the cardamom, which I am intimately familiar with and had been huffing with ecstasy via My Little Grotesque the week prior; there it is in the initial blast of the scent. In So Below, I have to wait...

 

Drying down I start to smell the coconut...it's dry and husky yet subtle. I wear Goblin all the time (coconut, bezoin, and patchouli)-but that is chewy and sweet (and why I waited to try So Below...did I need them both...?...YES! YES I DO!), and this is very different. It's not coconut heavy at all, not as thick. The patchouli emerges, not as floral as the red patch single note...it's all golden, encapsulated in the dry, clear, slightly sweet copal...kind of musky, woody. THEN the whole thing starts to become creamy...

 

To call it "dried down" seems inaccurate here because it seems to have melted, like incense in a warmer. I smell consecrated. It's it perfect for me to wear when I want to feel like myself, but I don't want my scent to project too far. I just smell like a relic. Warm...golden...statuesque...smoldering. Hours later, I get a faint scent memory of Cody Wild Musk, which just makes me so happy!

 

I really have to slather this one. The sillage is ghostly. It lasts all day and I get slight wiffs of it, but it sits very close to the skin.

 

Instant favorite. Never leave me...

Edited November 6, 2016 by lookingglass

[torikitty]

In the bottle: earthy, overly sweet fruit, not picking up coconut

Wet: I know this sounds horrible, but putrid, fruity pie. Like the fruit is overly ripe. I'm guessing I was amping the copal and cardamom? I can smell the potential of this calming down.

Drydown: First poster is spot-on! Musky, almost vanilla coconut, with a hint of cardamom in the back. Ends up smelling a bit like sweet leather on me. Slightly incensey. Really nice, thankful it morphed into something really lovely.

[whisperstilled]

Bottle: Strong amber and coconut, with a little spicy bite from the cardamom and a hint of patchouli and musk.

Wet: Uh oh, I think this is the 'powdery' amber that doesn't get along with me so well. I'm also getting strong cardamom, much more so than I might have hoped. The cardamom is giving my skin a faint tingle, but thankfully this one doesn't seem to be hitting my allergy to spicier notes.

Dry: Sweet coconut tempered by amber, which is starting to fade. The cardamom gives it an astringency. The musk is definitely there, but very well blended, and the patchouli is sweet. It's a beautifully blended scent, but perhaps not my cup of tea! I'll gladly pass along to someone who will appreciate it more.

[roseus]

In the imp: gritty patchouli, amber, coconut, and... cocoa powder?

 

Wet: cocoa and patchouli....

 

Dry: Phases in and out of a pleasant dark, spicy patchouli-coconut thing and sweaty armpit. Will try again later but this might be a bust.

[Madame Mew]

I don't have the most trained nose, but boy, this is unique and lovely. My husband said it smells like a headshop on Melrose. His descriptions are so delightful. Having someone else tell me what they get from these in all stages has been super fun and we end up educating each other. Taking my man down the rabbit hole with me.

 

In the vial, I got mostly amber, and a bit of the coconut.

Wet, amber, sweeter coconut and musk.

Dry, the patchouli came out and rounded out the amber.

 

This is my first time wearing a scent with musk, and I have to say I am mad at myself for not trying it sooner. It really works with me, and lasted from 6 pm until I turned in around 11pm. I will be trying this again over the weekend. I don't know if I can wear this to work, since I keep getting whifs as I type, but will definitely be good for a night out (or in).

 

*Update: Wearing this at work. It keeps changing on me, and I keep smelling myself (in a good way). It is really warm and comforting, and I am pretty sure that you have to be pretty close to me to smell this. I don't like it for the first 15 mins, but then I fall in love. HOW?! It plays with my emotions. I don't think I will buy a bottle, but will be using it for fall and special up close and personal occasions.

Edited July 13, 2017 by Madame Mew

[strick9]

Fresh out of the mailbox from the reopening of the Haute Macabre store in Oct 2017.

 

In the bottle: This is blended so nicely that it's hard for me to pick out individual notes without extensive smelling. I do, however, get the resins and the red patchouli. There's a hint of spiciness from the green cardamom pod, and this is one of the main reasons i was drawn to this scent in the first place. Black coconut is there in the background. It's really lovely in the bottle.

 

Wet: The resins start high, grounded by musk making an appearance- not a ton of patchouli here, but there's definite earthiness.

 

Dry: The coconut really comes out once it starts to dry, but it's not foody/sweet coconut. It's what I imagine coconut dried over an open fire would smell like. The golden musk rounds this out, and I really have to search for the cardamom pod, but it's certainly there. I honestly don't know the difference between sumatran red patchouli and the others- I don't pick up much of the patchouli earthiness/funkiness that i normally associate, but there is a certain note that mimics that a touch. I do wish there were more of it though!

 

Overall, I'm very happy to have a bottle of this, and I really think it will age beautifully.

[cassiejaynebunk]

This is all musky coconut and light amber on my skin, and the longer it dries down the more it turns into Banana Boat suntan oil. not unpleasant, just not what i expected. i get no patchouli from this and I am a patchouli whore so that was disappointing.

[Aveya]

Imp: Bright. Something tart/sweet kind of smacks my face

Initial Skin: Something wonky. Buttery tart I dunno.

Drydown: red Patch and amber become the main focus on later dry. But whatever Golden Musk, I think, comes across a little wonky to my nose. I feel like there's sandalwood in this but.. I dunno.

 

This one wasn't a winner for me, and that's purely just my personal tastes. It turns into a golden red patch amber blend, with extra woods. The LATE drydown is the most beautiful, getting warm and skin-musky for me. Not enough to warrant a regular wear for me with all the other scents out there I love. But solid.

 

I'll swap mine for someone who might love this.

[supreme_c0rt]

I could have sworn this had oudh in it. It had that immediate indolic black oudh stank; that barnyard, heady thickness. This was worrying, but once it dries down the effect fades out into a smoky, deep vanilla-like coconut patchouli. Dark, sexy, and beautiful. Win.

 

EDIT: I was skeptical about it working, but I just tried layering with As Above. They really do go well together. In fact the things I dislike about each sort of fall away, and each one plays on the other's strengths. Vanilla and oakmoss lead, with just a touch of leather and jasmine following. Lovely!

 

Now I suppose I'll have to wait for a re-release of the full size. 

Edited August 4, 2019 by supreme_c0rt