Black Annis

[Suu4LC]

... Black Annis' perfume is a mixture of damp cave lichen and oak leaf with a hint of vetiver, civet and anise.

This is mostly vetiver (boooooo!!!) with dark moss and a snap of black licorice.

I do enjoy that licorice note (need moar anise blends!) but you have to really enjoy vetiver to enjoy this blend. The anise almost makes the vetiver bearable (I'm a tried and true vetiver hater )

Okay, this is actually probably my favorite of the vetiver blends I have tried. The rich dark greenery and AMAZINGLY gorgeous anise note (whoa god Black Licorice heaven) make this blend really lovely. It's not for me, but I Beth really created something wonderful-who would have thought vetiver and anise go together so damn well?

[bubblefish]

This is an amazingly dark and murky scent. Also, I'm totally getting tobacco from this one. It's not in the listings, but I can smell it. Maybe it's the vetiver or civet?

[Rianna]

Got this as a frimp with my last order.

 

Sniff: Really strong vetiver and anise. I like it. DH hates it, but he hates all anise/black licorice.

 

On skin wet and early dry: My world smells like a bag of licorice allsorts, only earthier, and I love it! DH still hates it.

 

On skin dry: A great big cloud of powder. I stopped by my mom's house and she even mentioned it smelled like I was wearing baby powder. Not cool, Black Annis.

 

Overall: This is not fair. I get great throw and hours of wear, but it's powder within a half hour of application. I really wanted this to work.

[cometgirl21]

I received an imp of this in my last order. This is a blend that by all rights should not work on me. On me, it's a smoky anise. I don't like anise. I don't like vetiver or civet. So why is this so lovely on me? I love it.

[Redillon]

I was looking forward to this scent just given the dark "history."

 

In the bottle: Very wet and green/herbal with a some earth and wood notes. Interesting......

 

On my skin: It's sweet on my skin. The vetiver comes out (which I love) and then out pops some leather and a hint of annis and a touch of civit but just on the back end (no pun intended). You can still smell the mossy green-ness.

 

After 25 minutes: It mellows quite a bit from when I first put it on but it doesn't change much on my skin. The green/earthiness is prominent on me though.

 

Do I like it? Well, I don't dislike it. As I said in the beginning, it's interesting......

[patina]

I was looking forward to something dark and licorice-y, fearing that it might smell of cats or worse.

 

On smelling it-

Oh, anise heaven. The civet seems to be behaving itself as well. Then oakmoss comes out and I can sort of see the cave-floor thing.

My only problem is that I'd really prefer a cooler anise blend. On me this is brownish (the vetiver?) and the civet warms it up a lot.

This works much better in the winter or in cold weather on me.

 

Funny story, I wore this to bed once, thinking "wow, this smells good, I can't imagine anyone thinking it's scary."

That night I had a Dawn of the Dead-style nightmare (the new one with fast zombies). I never have bad dreams. I think my subconscious picked up on the canabalistic associations of the name and ran with it.

It's still a good smell, though.

Edited January 26, 2010 by patina

[smgudan]

Wet on Skin: a lovely spicy clover musky scent, I love it!

 

Dry on Skin: cheap cologne. oh well.

[voorishsign]

Apparently, and I hadn't noticed this before, my skin amps anise. Quite a bit. Shame, because it only makes this smell like slightly smokey licorice. Not an unpleasant smell, but not something I'd wear - me and food notes just don't go together.

[impolight]

::: BLACK ANNIS:::

Though the Lab's retelling of the origins of Black Annis fills the mind to overflowing with despair and disquiet, the fragrance itsself really is more than a little lovely.

From the Imp, there seems to be mostly a wooded smell... A thick and formidable clutch of evergreen. There is almost certainly Licorice or Anise in this as well... A note that goes with dang near anything!

On the skin: Wow! What the Hades is THAT?The Lab's notes aren't handy at the moment, but the latest addition to this boquet could be Wine, Fruit, or even Leather O_o.

 

( Lab Notes reference: Vetiver? Really? Invisible here... Lichen? okeedoke... Loving this!)

 

Black Annis is actually quite gorgeous!

This evokes a cup of tea enjoyed on a crisp morning during a stay at a heavily wooded cottage while wearing a leather overcoat...

Nice!

Black Annis is black, blue & burgundy.

This is the fragrance of a self-sufficient sybarite who prefers an air of mystique and seclusion.

Black Annis is wonderfully unisex...

Smug and polished on Him,

deliciously al dente on Her...

Black Annis is an amazing feat!

[hkhm]

imp: this smells like damp stone.

 

wet: this is amazing sweet vetiver on my skin. there is a teensy whiff of anise which is lovely against the vetiver. can't stop huffing my arm.

 

dry: i suppose if you like vetiver (like me!) you'll like this scent. the vetiver is not overpowering, it's sinuous and sweet with a spicy backnote of anise and perhaps something wet and green (not really mossy but that's what i suspect it must be). beautiful.

[reverendsquid]

In the bottle. Lovely lovely vetiver, sharp anise and something unidentifiable underneath it. It is sweetish and sort of musky/organic. Civet maybe? I've no idea.

 

Fresh on - The vetiver comes out strongly, and the anise sharpens it up. The organic smell is still there and stronger, no moss that I can pick out. This is very dark, earthy and grimy. It isn't a bad smell, but I can't say I'd want to wear this again. There is something quite unnerving about it, although maybe that's just the association with the name.

 

As it dries - after about 25 minutes, the vetiver and anise calm right down, and the sweeter smell comes out. This smells a little like musky leather now, with a herbal/medicinal tone to it. It's fading very quickly, although I didn't put a lot on as I thought it might be overpowering. It's a pity as it's actually quite nice now.

 

This is very interesting. I kinda like it, but er...I kinda don't as well. The jury is well and truly out on this one....

[superpopkid]

I've been wanting to try this for for two reasons, the anise and the civet. I love anise and I hoped I'd be one of those people who got black licorice from it. Civet is something I've never tried.

 

And it's stunning. The first thing I notice is a swath of green; a deep, multi-dimensional vetiver with what must be the lichen and oak moss. Immediately behind it flows another layer, which is much harder to describe. I think it's the civet. It's a dark gray-brown: earthy, musty and sweet. I don't know what actual animal musk smells like, but if actual civet is anything like this, I can understand why it was so sought after. It's hard to say if it's even a "good" smell; it's just endlessly nuanced and wrist-huffingly fascinating, the way gasoline smells fascinating. The civet layer seemed to deepen and sweeten during the dry stage, and the civet and green layers merged completely by the drydown. Fine throw and awesome longevity.

 

Oh, Black Annis. You eat children and declined to give me even a lick of licorice, but I love you anyway. There's nothing pretty about this scent, but it is beautiful, wild, and organic. It's a bit like Burial in that both read to me like complete stories that take place deep in the woods, but Burial is peopled by humans and Black Annis by elves. This is one of the scents that affirms why I got into BPAL, and why I continue to be excited by it.

[Venneh]

WHY HELO THAR VETIVER AND CIVET AND ANISE. WE MEET AGAIN.

 

Light application because of the above. On my skin, it's vetiver and mosses and anise. Will this end well? Probably not, but I'll still keep it on until I can't take it. ...Well, that didn't take long. Had to get it off because it was making my nose burn.

Edited March 29, 2010 by Venneh

[meredevachon]

Even before skimming the reviews, I figured this would be a love it or hate it kind of scent. Funny thing is, now that I've tried out the frimp I got with my last order, I'm sort of in the middle on it.

 

In the imp: Medicinal, sharp.

 

Wet: Could definitely smell the anise, with the other notes all kind of blending into the background.

 

Dry down and beyond: Anise slowly faded to something more balanced with the building dark, damp, earthy-woody whole.

 

Overall: I think it actually blends well on me, but it's just not a me fragrance, mostly because of the anise, I think. But I want to like the cool, damp, dark forest floor earthy sense. It's one I might wear if I were in the right mood, though.

[milo]

Wet, this is tons of sharp vetiver. It gradually gets more 'dirty rock', with a bit of perfume . I don't really get any anise here. Not really my thing. It kind of smells like you'd imagine a girl wearing perfume in a cave.

[Dharklady]

In bottle: Earthy, smokey (thanks vetiver) sweet greenery.

Wet: I’m not super familiar with civet, but the notes in this swirl and spin, painting a picture of a dark, murky cave, covered in moss. Inside lurks something feral and dangerous, just waiting for you to stop paying attention to it.

Dry: Upon drydown this lightened up though it never loses that damp cave feel. More of a smokey green scent overlayed on the stone.

Notes: Interesting and the scent provokes some wonderful imagery for the imagination to play with.

 

[starfish327]

in the imp: i get the vetiver, the musk and something woody.

 

wet: civet actually sometimes reads to me as chocolate, and this is actually foody on me wet (or it was today at least). it reminds me of walnut fudge).

 

dry: this is much more incensy than foody dry. i get the really dirty civet (love me some civet!) and the smoke. it's this gorgeous dirty black musk type scent on my skin. it is however a very heavy dark musk blend, with a really good throw. i barely applied any and i still got throw a good four hours after i applied it (which is extremely rare on my skin). i also wouldn't wear this much in summer but now that it's starting to want to cool down i can see myself wearing this one.

[krissstephens]

I didn't like it at all on first sniff, but tried it anyway. I hate vetiver, this scent is so not for me and the anise, blech I think I amp something horrid in this mix, I had to wash it off which has only happened to me once before with BPAL.

[notjonathan]

Strong in the vial: dark and musty, phantom vanilla and black rubber, the absolute faintest whiff of burning plastic (vetiver + anise, I guess).

 

It got more complex very quickly upon drying, in a nice way. The anise comes forward well, and the cave-y comments are accurate to me. I'm not familiar with civet so I don't think I could pick it out. For fans of vetiver and anise, which I never would have thought could blend so well.

[Helas]

Black Annis had been on my wishlist since I started BPAL, but I kept putting it off because the description scared me a little. I finally got it as a gift from a very generous forumite and I am terribly glad to have had the chance to try it, since it is surprisingly pretty and not just in a "sexy ugly" sort of way.

 

The anise note to me is very herbal and not at all foody, much closer to fennel tea than to black licorice candy. I'm not sure what "cave lichen" means in perfumery but I can definitely perceive a moss note, although it makes me think of tree trunks overgrown with fungus and moss rather than caves. Once again, I would not be able to recognize civet but I can distinguish a furry, musky haze in the background - it is warm and gentle and not at all aggressive.

 

The end result is wild and fey but in a subdued kind of way. This is what the fairy folk's underground palaces in traditional Celtic legends would smell like: beautiful but dusty and moss-overgrown and a little alien.

 

A surprising winner. Four out of five stars.

[strahlend]

I swiped this on before I left the house this morning because in the imp it smells interesting - like anise and cool water.

Then I had scent remorse all. day. long.

On my skin this quickly became overwhelmingly anise-y and developed a chemical leather/musky rubber dimension shortly after.

My skin ALWAYS eats up scent. Always. I can apply super strong scents like Agnes Nutter and have them disappear in a few hours. This scent, however, clung to my skin despite numerous washings. Murphy's Law of perfume - the scent you dislike the most is the one that sticks to you like glue and lasts forever.

I wish I would have gotten some vetiver out of this, it might have helped to balance out the sweetness of the anise, but such was not the case.

There are a hundreds of bpal scents I love, this is not one of them.

[anastasia]

wow, i got this a year ago as part of a gc imp pack with halloween implications. i thought i reviewed it and had come back to edit.

i know a year ago that i was pleased because it was the first bpal i have ever considered 'dark.' but i liked it and wore it a bit and then came back from visiting my boyfriend who lives in another state and quit wearing it because it embodied the bitter sadness of how i was feeling about our not being in the same place. but i get to visit again soon and feel i have recovered and the weather cooled off so i put it on again...

with a little age and my chemistry this has become very elegant and sophisticated. the impression it gives me now is of a gangly intellectually passionate orphaned heiress with thick beautiful hair and heavy glasses and a total preoccupation with music or math or something. this girl smokes really really good cigarettes non stop and her guardian smokes a pipe with really good tobacco almost as much and she borrows his jackets and sweaters. the impression is of a fury of smoking of the best quality tobacco.

this is the first scent i think might be a 'signature' scent for me. it is quite strong on me which i like but has this underlying pretty, pale almost fluffy anisette sweetness and something woodmossy like very good wool fabric and then expensive tobacco. i would say it is very fetish y in a quiet, dark, understated way. the masculinity seems borrowed - it is quite feminine but the feminine of a woman who is intellectually preoccupied and not aware of herself physically or a really beautiful feminine man also intellectualy preoccupied and wearing good clothes. this smells like a person who is full of complexities and totally un interested in self awareness because they are completely absorbed in another pursuit. top pick of all the 'absinthe' fragrances i have ever tried. mmmmmmmm.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: I've been putting off trying Black Annis because it smells like pure evil in the bottle. The moment it hits my skin though it becomes sweet & spicy.

 

Drydown: Sweet with a spicy/earthy/sinister edge. If I try I can detect the oak leaves, but I'm having trouble placing anything else. I think the sweetness is coming from the anise, but I'm not getting the typical licorice aspect of it so it's hard to say.

 

Dry: It stays pretty true but during hours 2 and 3 there are moments where it turns a bit plasticky. After that the sweetness becomes more vanilla-like and it actually reminds me a lot of Black Opal.

 

 

I'm really not sure where I stand with this one. I dig the first hour, and adore the final phase, but man those plasticky moments are ruining it! I think I'll try this out on my husband to see what it's like on him and perhaps play around with layering it too. Usually moments of plastic are a deal breaker but Black Annis is so intriguing that I'm having a hard time making that call.

 

6.5 out of 10 bones

Edited July 11, 2013 by BoneBone24

[Missy_killer]

In the imp: Hello Liquorice! I also get some..mint in here. Yum!

 

On me: The vetiver is behaving in this one, making Black Annis a dry or "powdery" liquorice. This is what I wanted Absinthe to smell like (but with more mint), and it is really good!

 

An hour later: Still dry liquorice.

 

 

Two hours later: Hm.. The liquorice disappeared and I'm left with some kind of manly cologne. But a soft and very gentle perfume, and not the sharpness that I usually associate with something "manly". I really like this scent a lot!

[Kayah]

Wet on skin it's those delicious lichens, vetiver and a tiny bit of civet.. and I can smell the anise, but it's subdued and in the background. Yay!

 

Drying, the vetiver develops more, but right behind it is the anise.. totally dry it's almost entirely anise. If you're an anise fiend and love it, this blend is totally for you.

 

Unfortunately, anise is such a hated smell and taste for me, that for years it wouldn't even register on my "what do you not like" list because I erased it. That's right, to me it DID NOT EXIST it was that awful. I can't continue ignoring it for the rest of my life, but I do not like how it smells, and for this reason alone, I won't be able to wear Black Annis