Whispers of Monstrous Things

[The Poison Queen]

Pointing to a chair, table, and pile of books, the old man now left the room; and when I sat down to read I saw that the books were hoary and mouldy, and that they included old Morryster's wild Marvells of Science, the terrible Saducismus Triumphatus of Joseph Glanvill, published in 1681, the shocking Daemonolatreia of Remigius, printed in 1595 at Lyons, and worst of all, the unmentionable Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred, in Olaus Wormius' forbidden Latin translation; a book which I had never seen, but of which I had heard monstrous things whispered.


Yellowed fragments of vellum and parchment scrawled with unnamable horrors invoking ghastly abominations: decaying papers and moldering leather with sickly-sweet tonka, inky musk, black sandalwood, black fig, sugandh kokila, and pimento leaf.


In the bottle: Uhhh. Sushi. Not fishy but cucumber rolls, with a hint of wasabi. That is VERY interesting. I really smell cucumber.

Wet: dusty cucumber, paper and leather, with a touch of sandalwood. Much better on, and I think aging will erase that cucumber smell, but boy it made me want sushi.

Dry: Musk and mouldering papers with a bit of sandalwood and leather. Definitely worth keeping to age, I would love to see how this develops.

[Roogna]

very sickly-sweet, emphasis on the sickly. I think it's the leather and tonka that smell almost mildewed...after reading the Poison Queen's I agree with a bit of cucumber, though it's still a little more mildew than cucumber on my skin

and faint inky blackness permeates, but no specific note jumps out

[Atrous]

This one's not good.

It doesn't morph at all. Just stays the same throughout.

It smells sickly, salty, rotten. There's a Fishiness about this blend but not fresh fish. More like it's been laying around for awhile.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: I have no personal experience with sugandh kokila, so this review is a touch speculative. I can think of no other blend like this. It’s unique and distinctive the pimento leaf and ink are sharp and strong, working together beautifully with what guessing is a partnership of sugandh kokila and vellum. There is a parchment spicy woody feel to that leads me to guess that’s what’s going on. The leather and sandalwood are soft support to that partnership. This fig is soft, and ties things together. I have no words to describe this fragrance properly, but am mesmerized. Wet: Even inkier on the skin. The pimento leaf separates out and softens, though it still plays beautifully with the ink, paper, and woods. It is more steampunky now, with an industrial edge to it. The vellum strengthens, moving to second strongest behind the ink. I think I like it better in the bottle, but I love the old library feel of this, with the woods forming shelves for the scrolls, and leather bindings of old books. The fig winds sinuously through. Dry: Mostly ink and the woods, with a touch of parchment.

[tinyvulture]

Cucumber, as the Poison Queen said, and mold and darkness. Picture Books in Winter also has notes of old books and leather, but it's sweet and soft and comforting. This isn't even close to that. It's the bold, strong scent of something rotten. Not familiar with the sugandh kokila or pimento leaf notes, and curious how they contribute to this scent. But, I just can't...it's making me slightly nauseated.

[Monday]

This starts out smelling like woodsy cucumber. Or old dank shed. Or indeed moldy old book with tentacles creeping from inside.

It gets better though. On my skin it turns into the best sweet, spicy sandalwood ever. (For the people who are familiar with it it smells a bit like Purol.) Very evocative and fitting.

This is totally unique and I like how it turns out. Don't let the cucumber at the start stop you from trying this one.

[zankoku_zen]

Black musk, sandalwood and green herbs that smells like cucumber. It's the black musk + greenery that really breaks my head. And my nose. The greenery lends a certain eerie luminescence to the blend.

 

Black, dusty, green.

[Dark Alice]

Pimento leaf and pickles. This is nauseating. Will not smell this again.

Edited January 10, 2014 by Dark Alice

[Aviatrix]

When I first put this on, it smelled like what I can best describe as waxy cucumber sandwich. I got somewhat worried!

 

The cucumber sandwich disappears eventually, but the waxy quality remains, as the dusty paper note comes out to play. I'm getting some of the sandalwood as well, and a teeny bit of leather. I can't comment on the sugandh kokila, as Im not familiar with it.

 

I wouldn't say this one is particularly good, since it all has this moldy, waxen atmosphere. But it was better than I expected with the initial cucumberness. I won't be getting a bottle.

[brilliantcat]

It kind of smells like waxed parchment and old, rotting leather at first. I think I get the cucumber vibe others have mentioned but it's not bothering me. On, it retains that waxiness. This is not soft, suedey leather or shiny new black leather, this is decaying leather. I'm picturing some of the locations in fantasy games like Skyrim, dungeons and caves and old abandoned ruins where there are overturned ancient books and scrolls. I get a touch of sweetness from the tonka or fig (or both). On drydown, the decay softens considerably and the waxiness disappears. It's become a warm, broken-in kind of scent that's actually quite pleasant.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Whoa, this does actually smell like cucumber. So weird. Cucumber and spice.

 

Drydown: Vegetal cucumber, spiced with something dry and woody - probably the sandalwood. Everything else is layered very soft and thin, giving off just the barest hint of leather and tonka at the top of the bottom. As it dries the blend sweetens a bit, taking the vibe from vegetal to vaguely tropical.

 

Dry: Whispers is an apt word for this blend. The notes are all so thin. But there is an exotic edge in there too. Rather than whispers between lovers, these are whispers of danger and scandal. Each note is light but detectable, and somehow fuzzy and translucent. What I’m picking up most is vaguely spicy, sweet, and golden. My guess is that it’s the sugandh kokila, which google tells me is some sort of cinnamon berry. It’s all very difficult to describe, but I very much enjoy it. This is one that must be experienced.

[patina]

Immediately after applying it smells like cucumbers and an old dank shed. The leather and paper here is very decrepit and dusty. The cucumber goes away quickly, leaving leather and paper. Then the fig and Tonka show up. It's not juicy, more of a dried fig, but it is cozy and comforting.

 

Dusty old books and a little fig and tonka.

 

The drydown is far, far better than the original smell.

[MCS4096]

All cucumbers, all the time

 

Ok, if I look at the note list I can pick out what I'm supposed to be smelling, especially the soft woody sandalwood, the earthy fig sweetened with tonka, and the acidic inky musk (not really getting much in the leather department actually), but the throw will no doubt be interpreted by others as cucumber

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: A mish-mash of the dark notes poured over dark leather.

 

Wet: Tonka-scented papery fabric.

 

The dry-down: Didn't really change much in the drying process, just with an occasional hint of the leather binding of the book. There's a dish somewhere of figs. I really liked this in the decant and didn't expect to do such crazy changes--it just was dark and then Booom! it was sweet. Strange how that happens.

[mymymai]

ITB:I get wet parchment, pimento

Wet: It's oddly watery and resinous, like cucumber wrapped in pimento leaf, wet paper, cold fig tea, and long burned-out sandalwood.

Dry: It gets sweeter as the fig warms up and mingles nicely with the sandalwood, ink, and parchment. It's rather pleasant.

[milo]

Smells like yellowish decay, really not pleasant. Softens up a bit, and the cucumber comes out, but this is a definite pass.

[fabgab]

I came to read the thread to find out if I was completely and utterly out of my mind. I just received a decant in a swap, and it was one I asked for, so when I opened it and smelled cucumbers I was instantly confused. I couldn't remember the exact description or notes, but I was thinking it was on the resiny spectrum and so I ran here to both remember the notes in the scent and see if anyone else got cucumbers. Then I read all the remarks and decided someone should come to the defense of this.

 

In the imp: Cucumbers! Juicy cucumbers, and dry hay. Or almost woodish, but in a mellow, dry way, not the resiny wood of a Heavenly Love and Earthly Love, or an Anubis.

 

On wet: Cucumbers are receding, morphing into the papery thing I'm supposed to be getting. There's the barest hint of leather, and not in that "some musky dude is wearing a fresh new black leather jacket and that's all you can smell and deargodmakeitstop!" that I get from leather (I'm not a fan in general-- though I have liked the dab-of-leather-in-a-sexy-resin type of leather, like Olisbos and Variety of Pleasing Amusements. Hrm, weird pattern there! )

 

As it dries more, I really do get the feeling evoked of dry paper and an old leather cover, and some light but sweet softness (tonka?) to it all that really brings it together. Granted, my skin tends to amp any sweet notes, so that may be why I get none of the mold that others do. But I'm getting the description from it, and I don't always get that, so I'm super bemused right now. It doesn't have a lot of throw, at least not on me, but it's close to the skin with a mellow, not-too-dry and not-too-sweet, not really "feminine" and not exactly "masculine" either (in the traditional assumptions of those terms of course). I'd try this on just about anybody. It could go another way on a dude, I'm guessing. And I love that it's a bookish scent, since Miskatonic U didn't work for me either.

 

I like it!

[milo]

Acrid, planty and medicinal. This one is pretty bad on me.

[Marla Moreau]

In the bottle: Wet garbage

 

Wet on skin: Wet garbage

 

Dry down: Better and better! Whatever was making it smell like garbage goes away really fast and I can really smell the old worn leather and paper - though during this phase I would describe it smelling like an "old man", then it smells strongly of polished wood (I think some would read this as the cucumber but it doesn't smell like cucumber to me), then the fig note amps (I <3 you, fig) and become dominant - but not sweet, very fresh like a fig you just sliced in half, along with the smell of wood, with a whiff of paper and faded leather in the background, fig becomes more sweet and paper/wood comes forward more. But there's still something a little off, maybe it does smell a little moldy. It's an interesting scent, not something I'd wear everyday, but don't regret getting a bottle (part of a lot) - very complex and morphs a lot on me. Ends musky, which is quite pleasant. Doesn't last very long though, very little throw, more of a skin scent.

Edited August 30, 2015 by MarlaMoreau

[aquazoo]

Something rotting, long-dead leaves. Luckily that fades fast and I get the parchment. Paper and medicine.

[LizziesLuck]

So, I have to admit, upon review, this is not likely to work on me. But I have always been drawn to the name. And I do love Tonka and musk, sandalwood and fig. But in the bottle, I smell none of those.

 

 

Wet: Vegetation. Like, a vegetable garden. Wow, that's some realistic leaf smells right there! It's dying down though, and the leather and paper are coming through, but they have a rather chemically smell to them currently.

 

 

Dry: The sweetness of the Tonka and musk come out, and make this so much more wearable. The green smell is still very strong, but also very pleasant. Reminds me a lot of Zombie Green HG. In fact, even though this scent really isn't "my thing" I can see myself wearing this with Zombie Green on occasion! It's really very different and somewhat compelling, and I just love the name so much!

[tauntonlake]

Wow. This is NOT your granny's perfume . If you're one of those, who secretly loves the smell of really old sweat socks moldering away in a gym bag, then this is the scent for you. It's not that bad, of course .. but it IS dank.

 

I have a SUPER aged imp, so maybe it smells better when it's fresh, I don't know.

 

I don't think it's wearable, unless you're into smelling like last week's fish ... but it is very interesting, as a scent goes. I keep going back to smell it, because I find it fascinating in its own right. But I can't pull off wearing it.

[Lucchesa]

I guess I'm in the minority here, but I found Whispers of Monstrous Things quite pleasant.  In the imp it does have a kind of sickly, cloying smell (but no cucumber -- maybe that's aged out of it?)  But on my skin, it warmed up and became just sweet, not sickly, the sweetness of fig and tonka.  I got the parchment smell that is usually really fugitive on me, some dark musk, some greenery -- all in all, the image I got was of an ancient library overgrown by strangler fig vines.  But in a nice way, not a horrible way.  Lasted about 5 hours on me.  

[supreme_c0rt]

It's all sushi here too. Salted nori, rice, lemon squeeze, a bit of weak wasabi paste. And I like it, it's not unpleasant at all. This phase lasts just a few seconds before it vanishes entirely into a faint memory of old library books. Then poof -- all gone. The whole thing is over in minutes. 

 

Keeping it for the weirdness factor alone! I love this weird sushi book! 🍣

[DiZZysTARdust]

Interesting in the bottle. Very sour and almost musty. Really evocative of papers left in a basement or the like. 

 

Freshly on the sourness peaks then burns off. It seems like the pepper might be the culprit. After that the blend settles into this warm, subtle musk. It's really well blended, almost sweet but in a more neutral way for sure. As it dries the sandalwood kind of pokes out a bit and smooths over everything really nicely.

 

This has a medium throw and lasts a good long time, stuck with me through a 9 hour shift in a bakery. Throw had faded towards the end but still a nice close to the skin muskiness