Totentanz

[HerbGirl]

Shadow musk and blood musk with opoponax, aged patchouli, leather accord, black pepper, and bitter clove.

I've been waiting for this one!!! Yes...the only notes that I was worried about were clove and black pepper but this is so beautiful!
Blood musk, clove and opoponax...om nom nom
I'm not getting the leather yet but I can smell just a hint of pepper as I'm exhaling after I sniff my wrist (if that makes any sense!)
This is warm and sexy...I love it and will need a bottle. Great stuff!
Forgot to say that I'm not picking out much patchouli here...I bet it will come out with a bit of aging. This is beautiful.

ETA 23 Nov I wore this today and now I know what it reminds me of - Le Lethe! Om nom nom Edited November 24, 2013 by Herb Girl

[ladymeag]

Leather, clove, and pepper and I are old friends. Blood musk and I usually keep our distance, however. I'm glad I didn't!

 

In the bottle: Leather! and clove! and sweet, sweet, sweet blood musk. Uh-oh.

 

On my skin: Starts out very sweet with that blood-musk-cherry but then very quickly goes a little woody and a little spicy. It's not as spicy as say, Sin or Spanked or Hatta, but you can kind of tell it's in the same spice family. Definitely musky and my spouse described it as smelling like a really high-end aftershave. This also seems to have a woodsy incense vibe, kind of like I get off of Dracul. Does Beth make gallons?

 

If you like this try: Old Demons of the First Class, Hellfire, Dracul

[Mellifluous]

Very similar to Our Lady Of Pain. But take out the lavender, and add a dark spiciness. No orchid is listed, but I do smell the same 'black orchid' note from OLOP. This does have a darker musk though, and an extra dark herbal/spice kick.

[LadyMedb]

It is spicy and red musky, and therefore dry and sweet/sour at the same time. I really enjoyed this scent, but I already have Fenris Wolf filling this niche, so I figured I'd pass. It might smell better on my boyfriend than on me.

[zankoku_zen]

Spicy, musky black leather. In alot of ways, I agree with Melliflous's assessment in that this is similar to Our Lady of Pain, esp. with the dark musk and a hint of orchid. However, it's a much more aggressive cousin with the addition of leather and black pepper - two notes that I amp up to death.

 

So while I deeply love OLOP, Totentanz is too leathery for me.

 

On the other hand, leather fans rejoice. This is a spicy, deeply womanly leather.

[Poenari]

One of my all-time favorite scents from the GC is Blood, so with the notes described in Totentanz, I had to get it, especially with the addition of patchouli . At first application, it does have an initial resemblance to Blood, and there is definitely dragon's blood as the most likely blood note. I also detect the clove, which again resembles Blood. I really don't detect patchouli, but I think that could come out after aging, or maybe it is just present enough to keep this nice and dark, the way I like it. After drydown, the leather comes out to play, but thankfully this is not the chemical leather that I detest. It is fortunately the kind of leather note that warms against your skin, softens, and lets you sink into it like a worn comfy leather chair. This scent is just beautiful and has great throw. It's not for the faint of heart. Now I just have to decide how many backups I need!

Edited November 17, 2013 by Poenari

[MCS4096]

Oh I had high hopes for this blend!

 

Unfortunately I'm finding more often than not that if a blend has red musk in it, it completely overwhelms any other notes. Even leather, which is very strong on my skin. This quickly becomes straight red musk and nothing else.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: I’d call this blood musk dominant, with shadow musk and opoponax support. Patchouli is as strong second, with soft leather support. Pepper and clove give it a spicy edge. Wet: Mildly patchouli dominant, with strong musk seconds. The shadow musk does a lovely job tying the patchouli, leather, and blood musk together. Of the musk/opoponax complex, the blood musk is still strongest. The clove is stronger on the skin and lovely with the leather musk, and patchouli. This is a touch more patchouli and musk than I like, but the scent is so beautifully designed and blended that I don’t think it matters. Dry: Nuanced musks mostly.

[GlowJob]

This bottle was thrown onto my latest group order as a gift to my boyfriend but of course I had to get a test in to see how the scent differs once it hits our skins.

 

On him this is definitely leather dominant. The clove and pepper make an appearance after an hour or two on the skin but the musky leather is what holds strong through the wear. It's masculine and sophisticated and lasts a very long time.

 

On me Totentanz is a little stranger. I know it sounds crazy but this makes me think of a leather version of Chrysanthemum Moon. It definitely has a floral edge on the drydown. Maybe my brain is just interpreting the heavy musks as a heavy flower though. I don't really get the clove or pepper, which is sad, but it's nice if I want something with a sombre, dreary feel. The only reason this isn't a keeper for me is that my skin seems to eat it right up.

[patina]

Nice.

Imagine Old Demons of the First Class, but with the Neroli removed and replaced with red musk. This is something along the lines of Sin but a bit smoother. Sin in a leather jacket.

 

On first application, I get something nasty, almost fecal for a moment, but it only lasts a moment and I know from experience that it'll disappear entirely when the scent ages.

[mymymai]

ITB: Bitter clove, leather, dragon's blood musk, and patchouli swirl together in something that is darkly foreboding while still being spiced enough to be deliciously resinous.

 

Wet: The clove is even stronger on my skin, but I can now pick up with pepper along with the patchouli, musk and leather. Brilliant.

 

Dry: Light patchouli-rubbed leather with a subtle tone of clove and opoponax. It has mellowed down considerably into something just lovely.

[milo]

Lovely lush, juicy musk at first. Very voluptuous and heady. Dries to a metallic tinged musk. This reminds me of touching metal and getting the scent on your hands. Not very pleasant at all. I wish it stayed how it was wet.

[stellamaris]

This is really beautiful wet and dry, surely a bottle purchase.

[Alaeidrel]

I am so conflicted about this perfume. Is it worth a kind of noxious dry-down to get an amazing final stage?

 

Wet, I get mostly blood-musk, which always registers as a little sickly and too sweet. Lilacs are not my friend.

 

Dry, at first, it's all clove and oppononax. It smelled so similar to Mopsfledermaus that I totally wrote off keeping it, because I already have a lot of Mops. It doesn't help that Mops hasn't been going well on my skin lately, so it just wasn't speaking to me.

 

Then... two hours later... somehow it's absolutely amazing. I forgot to scrub it off and suddenly the leather blooms and the pepper pokes it's nose out and it's subtle but absolutely beautiful. I couldn't figure out what scent kept catching my attention but I needed so much of it. At the end, it's violet-colored and metallic with just a little clove.

[Zii]

My bottle was aged for 5 weeks before I touched it, so this is a pretty mellowed out bottle.

 

In bottle: Leather clove and musk. Yum.

 

Wet: Sweet musky incense. Must be blood musk, seeing as I'm not familiar with that note, but a lot of reviews say it's a sweet musk. The leather quickly makes itself known, which deepens and cuts that sweetness that was bordering on headache territory.

 

Drying: Holy leather and clove batman! I cannot stop smelling my wrist. I feel so incredibly sexy wearing this!

 

Dry: This scent only gets better. The throw is the sweet blood musk and clove, which complement each other perfectly, and when you get up close and personal, this scent is warm and seductive leather. I bought this for the black pepper/leather combo, which really is not the main feature, but there is a light kick of tingly pepper complementing the spice and leather beautifully.

 

I never thought I would find a better leather on me than Loviatar. While that will always be a leather near and dear to me, this is much more my speed. It is a very masculine scent on me, which is something about it that I love, but there is this odd, seductive sweetness about it that is still very feminine. I really feel like I might end up wearing this one a lot!

[Nemi]

Dark and sexy.

 

It reminds me a little of Mircalla, but I like Totentanz more.

 

I'll save my bottle for when I want to feel really sultry

[JazzieCazzie]

Actually bought TWO imps in a decant circle. That's how high my hopes were for this.

 

IN THE IMP: Musky, resiny, sharp.

 

Dabbed on wrist and in crook of arm.

 

WET: Wow. Odd. Burns a little. Patchouli and clove are predominant for the first moment or so but after that pepper chases them away and gets all stinky on me. It's weird with pepper because, on the one hand, that was one of three notes in the ORIGINAL Aries, one of my favorite all time blends, and yet in the last several years I've found that it ruins a lot of other promising scents for me. It makes me smell like a restaurant kitchen after they have shut down for the night.

 

DRYDOWN: Yeah, I smell like a bag of takeout.

 

OVERALL: I really should love this based on the notes. Or even LIKE it. But I don't. It goes really rank on me, to the point of having to wash it off before I go out.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a generous 2.

[rayvn1]

Finally tracked down a decant of this one. I too was worried about the clove, but this is a soft cloud of musk and rich leather on me. Delicious, with decent throw!

[Lucchesa]

Totentanz is terrific.  Lots of red musk, but the blood variety, which is dry and coppery instead of fruity.  Mainly red musk, in fact, which is par for the course with red musk on me.  But the other notes are there, pepper and clove tickling the nose, leather and patch.  (If I'm being honest, I couldn't make out the opoponax.)  Dry, spicy, sexy red musk parading around in leather.  It is NOT a sweet scent on me:  totally unisex.  It's strong, with more throw than I usually get, but it wasn't super long lasting on me.  I'm so glad I got to try this!