The Enterprise of the Night

[Emma E]

Inspired by the opening pages of Circle of Blood. The scent of vice and darkness: flashing neon, oil-tinged petrichor, fading perfume, smeared lipstick, and the faintest touch of gunpowder residue.

Got this from a decant circle.

Petrichor is right! On my skin this scent is mostly the wonderful, loamy sort of petrichor you find in a well-mulched garden after a drought-breaking rain. There's a slight waxiness which I assume is the lipstick, and what I'm supposing is the gunpowder but smells mostly like asphalt. I was a bit wary about the note of smeared lipstick and I can see that being amped by someone's skin chemistry to become unpleasant (and very worthy of the name), but when the primary note is the petrichor and faint florals it combines well to be very intriguing. It strikes me as a good encapsulation of late-afternoon strolling through a botanic garden in leather jacket and shoes.

I'll try this again in summer; it seems to me the kind of scent that would be weather-dependent.

[ralenth]

I am completely floored by this blend. Just... wow.

 

Wet: Hollow floral note with hints of aquatic.

Drydown: Suddenly, it's a luscious tropical floral explosion, as if the rain awoke the garden. The aquatic underrcurrent grounds it, and gives it depth. Ozone flares briefly.

 

Dry: Mostly dripping hothouse florals, with something intriguing underneath.

[ltrittipoe]

I agree completely with ralenth's review, until the complete drydown. I get a lovely floral, unusual and like standing in the middle of a garden in the city..... Luscious flowers, not too heavy, the dirt they are growing in, and the smell of the city streets - like after a rain, that slightly sharp scent. And I love, love it. I kept getting whiffs of this unusual, gorgeous scent....

 

and suddenly, hairspray. Pure, old fashioned aerosol hairspray. I believe it's AquaNet. And it's very stompity, all the other notes are gone.

[Xanon]

Reading Ralenth's review was the only reason I tried this on my skin. I was hessitant because, while I could smell the lipstick and gunpowder, it was a screaming public bathroom soap to me. There was a brief moment in the dry-down that smelled lucious and gave me hope! And then 10 minutes later I was back to the soap. Such a disappointment.

[windbourne]

Objectively, I don't dislike this scent. But it was a battle to convince myself to actually put it on my skin and keeping it there for more than five minutes was very difficult. It smells like everything I can't stand about living in a city. Oil, wet cement, waxy lipstick, soap, grime. Public restrooms (YES. Xanon nailed it -- that kind of soapy.) Dirty streets.

 

I get a sense of the florals that people are describing and the petrichor, which does appeal to me, but it's not what I end up smelling. I noped myself right out of this one. Nope, nope, nope.

 

(It's a great representation of those first few pages, though, dang. )

[annemathematics]

Enterprise of the night shifts a lot, reminding me of the candy in Charlie and the chocolate factory that morphs through an entire meal.

 

Enterprise opens with a juicy floral perfume smudged with new lipstick smell/waxy texture. That floral notes settle to the back and I can smell the puddles in the street (similar to the element of marsh in palus nebularum, sans frogs and moonrocks).

 

After an hour what remains is smoky and dirty, like pavement after an old car has passed. This is likely the gun powder? it is similar to the asphalt in black ice. although black ice felt very sinister and this does not.

It reminds me of blood popsicle in that it is an experience that is surprisingly also a pretty and wearable perfume. I wish I could describe it better! I'm excited to see how it will shift with time. Right now I like all of the stages but the throw is on the lighter side from being fresh from the mailbox.

[zankoku_zen]

This one has some of the elements of Gun Moll - floral perfume, waxy texture, but with aquatic notes.

 

So take Gun Moll and Black Ice. Stir. And you get this.

 

Dark, grimy, floral.

[milo]

Kind of fresh, kind of fruity, a bit of sweetness, like honey. I'm finding this one rather 'meh'. It reminds me of scented lipstick, actually, and of Gennivre, though this one is a tad bit fruitier. This would be great for someone who likes lighter scents.

 

I'm not getting anything 'dirty' or grimy about this scent. Weird.

Edited November 5, 2014 by milo

[mymymai]

• ITI: Ugh, that’s way too aquatic for me. It reminds me of toilet bowl clearer combined with overbearing white florals and anti-freeze.

Wet: It’s a bit nicer on my skin. I get something along lines of lemon verbena, which I suppose might read as neon. The petrichor is more pronounced and more agreeable but slightly honey-ish. The green/aquatic tone is still present and slightly disconcerting, like grass and crushed nettles.

Dry: That’s a negative for me. Floral honey, toilet bowl cleaner, and grime.

[savage_rose]

Sweet, slight floral perfume with a bit of an edge to it. Not a lot of throw, but when you put your nose to it, it's unexpectedly strong.

[Little Bird]

This is a jumbled, soapy mess on my skin. It's a harsh, disinfectant sort of soapy with dirty, smoky undertones and a weird, green, honeyed floral something? But mostly soap.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: This smells like a summer night after it's rained. Not what I was expecting, but quite pleasant. There's other, subtle payers happening here, but overall the impression is of a hot evening and rain on the pavement. I am liking this so much more than I expected! I do get hints of wax that suggest lipstick, but it's secondary to the atmospheric scent that's happening.

 

 

Dry: Surprising in so many ways! 1) this is aquatic. I wouldn't have expected that. 2) I like it!!! I never like aquatics. But this stays true, not going soapy or "drier sheets". It's clean, without being headache inducing to me. It's sweet and clear. I wonder if it's the "fading perfume" that's coming through now that it's dry that I am liking so much. There's something familiar, yet vague about it that I find comforting. I'm honestly not sure if I would wear it, it's not typical "me" but part of me strongly wants to purchase a bottle.

[doomsday_disco]

In the (carded) imp: Wow! There's a lot going on in this one. I get some smokiness, which I think is the gunpowder reside, the petrichor, and some orange, which I think could be one of the ingredients in the faded perfume (or perhaps the neon?).

 

Wet: Orange blossom perfume, petrichor (definitely the scent of wet pavement), a bit of ozone, the gunpowder residue... even the waxy lipstick! But the floral perfume is the strongest component on me and seems to be getting stronger over time (there are some heady floral notes in this one!).

 

Dry: The faded perfume and petrichor are the main players on me, but I'm still getting the lipstick and gunpowder residue in the background.

 

Sadly, this veered into soap territory on me, probably because it is predominantly aquatic (or maybe because the notes clash on my skin). I'm not able to pick out anything anymore aside from it smelling like a clean, perfume-y floral aquatic.

 

Verdict: This one was definitely a scent experience. I just wish it hadn't turned into soap on my skin. It's an interesting scent that I can't pull off with my skin chemistry, which is too bad, because I was really enjoying that petrichor note during the wet phase of the scent.