Black Annis

[slugbait]

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

This smelled really interesting to me at first, I like anise and I thought I would like this.

On my skin the anise is the first thing I noticed. It reminded me a bit of the anise cookies (pezalles?) my grandmother makes every Christmas. It smells warm and comforting. Hmm. But after awhile the civet warped this into something funky like leather with licorice, and then a strange B.O. scent, which didn’t jive well with me at all.

I had to scrub this off it was making feel a bit nauseous, but it clung to me like a fly on poo. This would work alright on someone with the right chemistry, but unfortunately not me. This ranks up there with Czernobog. Swaps!

[grrrlennyl]

at first: this definitely isn't for me. it's dark, damp, and dirty.

on: i just put the tiniest dab of this on because i'm afraid of it. i can smell the anise, but...something dark and not-clean with it. oh, and my arch-nemesis (vertiver) is there, too. how fabulous.

2 hours later: this has faded quite a bit, but is still dark.

overall: as expected, this just isn't the scent for me.

[Miss Lynx]

This is possibly the most unusual scent I've tried yet. I couldn't begin to imagine what it would smell like from the strange combination of notes listed, and yet strangely, it smells more or less like I thought it would -- if that makes any sense at all.

 

On first application, it's very, very, very anise-dominated. Strongly licoricey, but not sweet -- I was reminded of Dutch salt licorice. I could smell some kind of earthy herbal and musk notes in the background, but the centre stage was all anise.

 

But within a few minutes, the anise began to fade, and soon it became painfully apparent that it had been the only thing holding the civet at bay. Civet and I are not friends. It smells like a cross between skunk spray, compost and something out of a cat's anal glands, which come to think of it is pretty much what it is (the latter, not all three). Nasty, nasty stuff, and quickly rising up to dominate the entire scent. I nearly washed it off at that point.

 

And yet... There were still some pleasant notes in there, that I could smell in and around the skunky miasma of civet. Enough that I didn't quite want to get rid of it. I just wanted the civet to go away, or at least to stop beating up all the other notes for their lunch money. Even with the civet, though, it was really interesting. It smelled a bit like tracking some stinky animal through a boggy forest. And seemed weirdly appropriate for its namesake, too. Kind of woodsy, swampy and inhuman.

 

And eventually, after an hour or two, the civet began to settle down, and I was left with an earthy, musky scent that was actually pretty nice. I like it now. But I'm really not at all sure that going through an hour or two of Civet World Domination is worthwhile to get here.

 

Grade: C+/B-

[kettu]

in bottle: whoa. This smells like black-blue-green mucky water with anise. holy weirdness, batman!

 

on skin: anise, watery dirty spicy anise. not hating this... but do I like it?

 

yes, yes I do. the anise stays with me the whole time, but it doesn't dominate, which is good. dark spicy earthiness with a bitter edge and slight anise-y water overtones. brown-black, blue, green with an edge of purple.

 

It's totally weird and I like it. I'll have to try it again, but yeah, liking it. This scent is just amazingly complex and my mind boggles everytime I open the imp.

[SeaMonkey]

The description both intrigues me and frightens me, but I snag an imp of it as soon as I can.

 

Its definately an.........interesting scent in the vial, but I like it.

 

On my skin its all cave lichen and anise. I don't usually like anise and make it a point to throw out all the licorice jelly beans, but this is really nice and I keep sniffing my wrist. Its a very damp, but interesting scent. Its very hard to explain to people who ask what it is, but this is on my list of bottles to get

[Little Bird]

I have no idea what cave lichen smells like... that said, Black Annis is mostly anise on me. It's like black licorice mixed with a spicy/citrus men's cologne.

 

15 minutes later... this is a nice cliche men's fragrance. I expected it to be dark and cold, but it's a very spicy and warm fragrance on me. It makes me think of a sophisticated, freshly bathed and shaven male, who is getting ready for a night on the town.

 

Not what I expected from Black Annis. I probably will swap my imp, since I already have a bottle of Wilde for my favorite 'smells-like-a-man' scent, lol.

[Thaleia]

In the vial: Woods, darkness, and licorice, oh my! By definition I don't really care much for licorice, having had a bad experience with black jelly beans when I was younger, but I'll give this a go anyway. There's also something weird going on behind my eyes when I sniff the vial.

 

Wet: Almost immediately, the Fire of Love Headache came back. I tested/reviewed my frimp of Fire of Love earlier today, and I wasn't fond of that at all, and this smells very similar. It must be the civet, which I just found out is some sort of catlike creature ... how strange. I just did an in-the-vial comparison sniff test with Fire of Love and they DO in fact smell very similar to one another.

 

Drydown: The anise is pretty much gone, and I just smell strong civet - or at least what I'd imagine it'd smell like. Bad kitty. Bad kitty.

 

Dry: It's turning into Fire of Love, Take Two. Not for me, unfortunately.

 

Rating: 1

Edited December 23, 2005 by Shollin

[Meg]

In the bottle: Nutty chocolate, with a hint of liquorice. I swear, this smells foody.

 

Wet: a very acidic green note jumps out, I think it's vetiver or something similar. Then a bitter dark smell of bark and moss appears. I can smell the anise now, but it's absolutely not foody anymore.

 

Drydown: this warms up quite a lot and gains a sickly musky background tone which I think might be the civet. There's a slightly rubbery dark scent that's certainly the lichen, and it mixes mysteriously with the anise. It smells like liquorice, but not edible anymore. However, it's gone sickly sweet on me, with a little-old-lady scent.

 

Overall: It's certainly not unpleasant, and it is reminiscent of a dark, warm cave where animals live. I don't think it suits me, but it works very well as a slightly spooky yet pleasant blend, and it represents Black Annis very. I'm also relieved that the civet hasn't gone disgusting on me. However, I'd have liked more moss and earth to make it darker, and less sweetness.

 

Edited to add: it has gone disgusting, in a sickly sweet, pungent way. It reminds me of a little old lady's house with too many cats, with traces of cat urine that she's attempted to conceal with cheap perfume. It's very invasive, and it adds to the Black Annis image, but I really, really wouldn't wear it. Ick.

Edited January 9, 2006 by Meg

[couscous]

Civet doesn't go to cat pee on me. It does, however, smell like feces. No, I'm not kidding or being colorful, and I'm not trying to express my disgust. I don't really feel anything about it-It is what it is. Hey, given the choice between straight feces and cat urine, I'll take feces!!

 

Civet DOES calm down on the dry-down, and then it smells like...um anal sex, and I kind of laugh at myself and have fun while wearing it at that point.

 

 

I have tried 5 civet blends from bpal so far, mostly when I was first introduced to them last year. My "old" perfume, Opium, had a castoreum blend in it, so I thought I was going to be one of the women who could wear animal notes. I guess I was wrong!

 

So..yeah, Civet. You either love it or you don't. If you DON'T love it, but you don't HATE it, and you have an insatiable curiosity to find out if you can wear it, there are two blends I'd suggest you try. Fire of Love is one of them. Black Annis is another.

 

Beth was very, very smart to pair civet with Anise, as the anise dominates heavily- wet, dry, and beyond. The mossiness mixes in with the Anise to create a sinister environment, in sharp contrast to the way she used Anise in kabuki. The Civet is there, but the entire blend is so dark, so sharp, and so shocking that you can barely find the time to stop and focus on it. All you can think of is how you've never bought ANY perfume like this, and how audacious it really is. I like Anise, but no one else seems to, so if I wore this at all, I would be alone.

 

Dry, it becomes a bit problematic, because it ends up smelling a bit like spoiled candy, but this is a great blend to try if you want to push yourself. What can you pull off? Black Annis will tell you. It's also a great way to introduce you to one of the most polarizing notes on the forum. See if you can find it!

[desu]

In the bottle: Sharp anise with hints of vetivert and civet.

 

On my skin: The civet comes out to play on application, so now this smells like anise-flavored civet. Even though I usually end up loving civet scents, I don't know how to feel about this one.

 

Later on: The anise and civet are still going strong. It doesn't smell nasty on me, but I'm not sure I like civet in this particular blend. Not getting much of the moss, leaves, or vetivert at all in this one. These would definately help round out the sweet civet and ground it if only they'd make an appearance on my skin.

[Mary Mayhem]

Mostly this smells sweet to me. I'm not picking up any civet, but I am picking up something that smells like black licorish. It's turning almost foody as it dries down.

 

What I really want is the cave smell. But I'm a earth girl, so of course that's what I want.

 

I don't dislike this scent. I could probably get away with wearing it. It's not a favorite, though.

[jewelbug]

I was scared to try this cuz of the civet....but....I had no need to fear!

 

Imp: Woodsy. Astringently woodsy. There is a hint of sweet licorice to this, but mostly it’s a fumy manly kinda smell right now. It does manage to smell dark and damp, though, which is really fun!

 

Wet: immediately the anise comes to the forefront. Its like gummy black licorice chews. You know how good licorice candy can numb your tongue just a bit? This scent does that. I can practically taste it. And while I don't like the taste of licorice, I find the scent fascinating. Wet, this is pure licorice.

 

Drying: The licorice decides to share the stage with the others. Once again, this strikes me as a masculine scent. The civet and vetiver are there (in a nice way), darkening the blend, making it feral and giving a hint of damp earthiness. Something is reminding me of dry torture king/voodoo--I guess is the combo of woodsiness and spice with a slight sweetness.

This is so intriguing, cuz there is an alluring candy smell, but its got something sinister lurking. There is almost a hint of leather to this? Interesting.

Overall: Since this is reminiscent (to me, at least) of the blends my hubby likes (tombstone/voodoo/torture king--all woodsy manly smells with some sweet spicy food going into em), I will definitely have to try this on him. The anise is a really different and intriguing sort of spicy. It's sweet, but numbing, and just so distinctive. The woods are fresh, but at the same time feral and evil. I really think this scent portrays the legend well. Warm, but numbingly so. Sweet/nice on the outside, but ominous at the core. Yes, my hubby will be trying this…

I really think this is an excellent blend.

 

Oh, really good throw. Not sure about staying power, since I had to go to bed. Hope I don't have sinister dreams….

[provocateur]

Wow this blend went over and across the board with me. I didn't detect much of any thing listed in the notes outside of the anise, and maybe the lichen and oak leaf.

 

Sadly, I've discovered the evils of anise with this blend. I thought it was a hint of anise.

 

It was complete black licorice and ... throughout the entire process.

 

Wet it was just black licorice.

 

On skin: black licorice and leather (where's the leather coming from?)

 

Dry down: black licorice and smoke/incense/resin, somewhat akin to Djinn

 

an hour later, sweetness - black jellybeans.

 

I was really disappointed in how my chemistry reacted to this after reading all the reviews. Sadly, I'm off to find my own perfect hag scent.

Edited March 8, 2006 by provocateur

[Prolixity]

In the bottle: Wow. I smell cave! Damp stone, that unique wet-leaf-mulch scent, a faintly animal undertone, something sharp and green and growing.

Wet on skin: Dirt, rock, wet leaves, water. Sharp green herbal.

Dry on skin: Sharp vetiver, just a touch of that anise, and this layer of dirt/stone/dust/mud scent. This is a limestone cave in early May, muddy and thawing and starting to get wildly green with moss and plants of all sorts.

Over time: Anise! My god, I smell like licorice. The dust-earth-stone note is remaining an quiet constant in the background. Green growing anise, wild, not candy-anise.

Overall: I picked this for a wishlist scent on the strength of the description, and it's better than I hoped. I'd say this is feminine, but it's not a girlie feminine, and kind of mysterious. This is another scent that gives me powerful imagery and associations - applying this brings up vivid memories of scrambling around in the woods at Quarry Hill, mud and limestone and water and green growing things in spring. This is a very solid 4, possibly 4.5/5. The husband doesn't like anise, so I'm not going to go hunting for this, but I'm pleased to have a full imp of it. Maybe a small bottle sometime.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 0/5

Summarised in a word or two: Rotting liquorice.

 

In the imp: Stinky, rotty anise. This can't end well.

 

On skin, wet: You know... this isn't nearly as bad as I thought it'd be. I definitely catch the anise, but it's not overly strong -- it's kind of... sweet. It's a bit green, and has a distinctly sharp, unpleasant kind of muskiness to it, but it's not horrible.

 

On skin, dry: ...I spoke way too soon. As it dries it becomes sharper, darker and much muskier. It takes on a very... damp, green, rotting kind of quality. It makes my nose tingle, and the anise starts to get stronger. Eventually, I had to wash it off. Yuck.

 

Conclusion: Others have loved this, so it definitely appeals to some, but definitely not me -- I don't like anise, don't like civet, and mostly don't like vetiver. But, I'm glad to have tried it.

[Caltha]

Black Annis

This one's weird and surely lives up to it's name. I like it at first, it's a warm and cosy scent of moss and anise, not bitter and masculine like the forest scents usually are. But as it dries the animal comes out and, well, urinates. It gets sweeter and warmer still, somewhere in between cosy and gross. I'm afraid gross wins.

[herongale]

reaction: Well, back to the annis tutorial. Annis is a plant which provides a licorice-like extract that is used in the US to flavour licorice candies instead of, well, licorice. The reasons behind this are tedious be the main thing to know is that annis REALLY IS A LOT LIKE LICORICE. When I saw this as a freebie from the lab I groaned, because annis is one of my nemesis fragrances. In the imp I can totally smell the licorice, but it also smells like shoe leather and... capers. This causes much shuddering, but I put some on the dorsum of my right index finger.

 

I am a sport. I will try anything once.

 

This goes on surprisingly soft, but before I can kneel down and say prayers of thanksgiving for the lack of offensiveness, it turns totally babypowder. Evil, insideous babypowder. It's a kind of lavendery-annisy fragrance, giving it a sickeningly sweet undertone like rotting fruit. I don't get vetivert or civit or any of the other frighteningly non-girly things this fragrance is meant to represent, but I think that all of these manly musky pungent notes are coming together to give me the sad, sad fragrance of a squished mosquito in June.

 

verdict: not QUITE as bad as Lush's Figs and Leaves soap, but getting there. Yech.

[nancybridget]

I adore eating black licorice......but wearing.....I wasn't sure....

 

At first it's lovely annis, syrupy and delicious. Then it mellows a bit, retaining it's licorice base, but with gentle woods and musk. Many hours later my wrist sniifs of powder and sweet civet. I could also swear there was moss or something green and herbaceous in there. Just a hint of annis remains at last sniff.

[MistressTera]

Fresh From The Imp: Something like a cedary insect repellent. Not very pleasant.

 

Wet On My Flesh: Quite masculine, actually; pungent with that cedar undertone. I'm not finding any licorice, which is probably good, since I don't care much for licorice. I'm not sure what that pungent bit is, though.

 

Drying Down: EWW. It's as if someone half-washed a crap covered bathroom with bleach. I *so* want to wash it off now. Badly.

 

Hour To Integrate: N/A. I WASHED IT OFF SO NYAH. I'm still gagging.

 

End Of Day/Final Report: I'm guessing the massive poo odor was the civet combined with the licorice, since I'm pretty sure I've worn civet before without that icky reaction. This is definitely a swapper.

[locuraelegantia]

ANISE hello!

 

but also, chocolate soap? am I crazy?

 

kind of sweet and swampy at the same time...

 

I'm not terribly familiar with civet or vetiver, as notes I can pick out for myself, so I couldn't tell you how close to the front they are.

 

It's a mossy Christmas cookie, this one, very foreboding, just as you should expect something that eats babies would.

[bookishgrrl]

I tested this on both myself and bookishguy (he couldn't resist). Even though neither of us is overly fond of anise, we were eager to try the challenge of vetiver(t)/civet... bring on the hag!

 

Wet: me: Anise tinged herbals. Smells like this expensive absinthe we *cough* allegedly *cough* smuggled in a few New Year's Eves ago.

Wet: him: Good-n-plenties. All anise, all the time!

 

Initial dry: me: strong throw. Still a lot of anise, but complex: has become heady, spicy, with sweetness underneath. I don't get 'dank caves' at all, more dry and warm.

Initial dry: him: still mostly sweet good-n-plenties.

 

Later: me: fragrance is still close to initial drydown, but further developed into an amazing predatory animalistic RARRR sort of scent. Heady. Spicy. Visceral. Older (though not really hag, just... mature.) Civet? fine! No odd smells. I was worried because some of my least favorite smells in the world include: cats, cat pee and cat spray. Whew! Vetiver(t)? No prob!

Later: him: both throw and lasting power still going strong. Though less complex on him than me. Mostly still good-n-plenties. Much sweeter on him than me. No problems with civet or the vet.

 

This scent has personality with a capital P. So much so, and so different from me, that I almost feel like I can't live up to wearing this (aside from the fact that I don't overly like anise as a scent). The thing is... deep down I know that once in a while I'd WANT to be the kind of woman that could pull off Black Annis. It's not 'me'... but I don't always want to feel like 'me.' There are some nights I don't want to smell sweet and approachable, I just feel predatory, dark and evil. Wearing this would completely inspire me. Saving the imp for special occasions...

[juniperus]

Bottle: lichen and oak, dark and damp.

Wet: what does vetiver smell like? civet? I'm catching something that I don't recognize. Oak receding some.

Dry: I'm catching the anise, now, but it's not sweet like ouzo or Good and Plenty. Bitter, like really good, imported licorice. The oak and lichen really keeps it grounded. Dark, deep. Not quite dank. I'd like a little more of the oak back - I liked that note.

Later: Almost masculine in its darkness. Very earthy, complex in its layers of..dark dampness. A damp, chill, overcast sort of scent. This totally turned on me about an hour after I wrote posted this. It went from sort of dank and gothy to creepy old man smelling. Seriously. And it had staying power, so I smelled creepy old man all the way through my ceramics class. I hope it didn't have much throw. uuugh, totally Aqualung. I dunno, but I got caught up with images of children flayed and I'm at a loss for words here. I like the scent, but ... EW!

[ladymissspyder]

I'm not having any problems with the anise in this per se. The anise on me has a true scent - perhaps a little more on the fennel side - but it's not doing anything that some of the other reviewers have complained about.

 

I just don't like anise. :/

[pickman's model]

Unsurprisingly, I was scared to try this one. But I got it in a swap as a frimp, and as usual, curiosity overcomes. I know vetiver is usually a Very Bad Idea, moss is a great one, and I've been too frightened to try civet.

 

I sniffed the imp, and I get anise, just straight anise, with a bit of something damp and cold. Thus far, not too scared.

 

So I dabbed a bit on. Holy black licorice, Batman! This was crazy-strong black licorice, sitting on a rock in a cave.

 

Oookay, the civet is out, I think. This is civet, as it's pretty animalistic. I will preface the folowing statment with the note that I can't wear animal scents. Musk (save really light white musk) turns into the nastiest thing ever on me. Why then, does civet work? I don't smell like poo, or unwashed bum, or cat pee. I smell pretty good in civet.

 

Vetiver and I don't play well. It usually goes nasty and sharp, and it's working here. Rather well.

 

There was a point in the drydown where I had this sort of bug-spray thig going, but it lasted like 2 minutes and is gone now. My only complaint is that this is too masculine for me when it's done morphing around. This is quite possibly the strangest scent I've ever smelled, but it just calmed down into this sorta good-cologne thing on me. Makes me a bit dizzy, but it smells okay. I'm really confused. It's not for me, but I think I'd like it on someone.

[g026r]

pickman's model brought this one over to try, so I figured I'd find out whether I could wear civet.

 

In the bottle: black licorice, with a faint hint of something feral.

 

Wet: faint hint of black licorice, and then the civet kicks in. It smells like I've spent all day rolling around in a goat pen, and haven't bothered to shower. It's eye-wateringly strong, it's terrible, and it's sending me to the sink to try and scrub this stuff off.

 

There's still the faintest hint of licorice though.

 

Dry: Never got to that point. There was no way I was going to make it through the wet-phase.

 

To sum up: civet? Doesn't work on me.