Nyarlathotep

[joseybird]

Brooding, yet electric: the scent of buried secrets, roiling nightmares, the essence of the Crawling Chaos, the Father of Knives and Locusts, the Hunter in the Dark. This is the blackest of ritual incenses charged with flashes of ozone.

Thank you Penance!

Softly smokey, slightly metallic and ozone-ish (but not harsh...does that make sense?)...this smells so unique to my nose that I hardly know what to make of it! This definately smells like a place or a deity...it smells of something not living, or unliving...a presence, perhaps. I'm imagining a table in the backroom of a little museum...this is the smell of the artifacts on the table.

[iliadawry]

In the bottle: all tang, citrus and ozone.

 

Wet: still, all citrus and ozone -- lime or grapefruit, though, not orange or lemon. Lovely and sharp, mind-bending.

 

Dry: Incense twines with the ozone, the citrus bleeds away. It smells metallic and holy, in a chilling, alien manner.

 

This is such a keeper -- I can't explain. I've been wrist-sniffing forever here.

 

/ili

[VelvetSky]

Nyarlathotep was a swap from another forumite, whom I love for giving me the chance to try it.

 

Impressions: Cold, herbal, soapy, and only incensey to me in that it's extremely dry.

 

The yummiest note in this fragrance is the lime. It's absolutely perfect. I can't stop smelling my skin, basically because of this exquisitely perfect note of lime.

 

Lovely.

[Orodemniades]

Imp: sweet-ish, lemony, a bit astringent. Is there lavender in this? Cuz I'm smelling something that's making my stomach turn a smidgeon...

 

Wet: Oo, it's quite sharp, reminds me a little bit of Old Woodsman Insect Repellant, which again, I love, but not something I want to wear outside of a camping trip!

 

Drydown: Hmmm, this is sweetening up considerably, but not in a foody way...it smells quite aquatic, actually.

 

Overall: I like it, but not enough to keep, I don't think. Nonetheless, it's a lovely, light, white, clean, slightly salty scent, just not for me.

 

Oro

Edited June 4, 2005 by Orodemniades

[tart]

Nyarlathotep smells black. While wet, it is like a black incense mixed with citrus. After it dries, the scent that is left is sort of airy, but still heavy. It's still like a smoky, powdery citrus-incense blend, but with something herbal as well, and not black. I wouldn't mind smelling this on a guy.

[shelldoo]

wow not nearly as dark as i expected.

 

it is citrussy, and a touch smokey, and very aquatic, summer rain storm. nice for an aqutic which i usually dislike.

[itsuki]

Upon application: Reminds me of a specific men's cologne that I can't remember the name of, but darker, with a hint of incense and something slightly tingly. Ginger, perhaps?

 

10~20 minutes: Reminds me of a masculine version of Danube.

 

2 hours later: I'm pleasantly surprised by how the scent has morphed. It has warmed up to my skin, the incense comes out to play a little more, and there's just a nice, mellow tang to it.

Edited June 19, 2005 by itsuki

[Eros]

In the imp/first applied~Fresh, tart lemon w/a hint of sweetness, *almost* like lemonheads candy, but not quite.

As it dries I get hint of dry, sweet spice(if that makes any sense), and eventually mellows to add a subtle hint of creaminess to the lemon.

Very nice, on my skin, not dark at all. But alas, gave me a headache.

[MissAnthropy]

In the bottle: fresh, bright, ozone. VERY ozone.

 

On: such an oddly clean, and yet almost too soapy scent on me. I don't smell any 'dark' types of notes in it. I can't really even pick out any notes other than something a little herbal.

 

And even more strange, the more I wear it, the more soapy it gets.

Final thought: I think perhaps if this was an actual soap scent, I would LOVE it. But, I've never been one for ozone scents, and this one is not only ozone-y, but, very laundry detergent-ish.

 

Like how I make up my own words to describe things?

 

I think perhaps this one is going into the swap pile. I know someone else out there is going to love this. It's just not for me.

 

 

-Leslie

[olympia301]

 

This one is very difficult to define. There is a citrus-like component to it as well as a vanilla-like background always present. I suspect there is a little bit of Black Musk (or something like it) somewhere in the blend because it does have staying power beyond its drydown, and it is insidious. It is beautiful and subtle. There may be the merest hint of menthol in here.

 

A small but persistent scent. It's all about intellect and not at all about sex. A great business scent. I would say it is a cousin to Silk Road but less about earth, or Chaos Theory VIII but less about air.

 

Eldritch said it well, it is "a closed and close" blend. Nyarlathotep does not broadcast, but you can smell it on your skin. I would suspect that it would not do well in a scent locket because it would not escape the holes and roam the air abound you, so I would wear it on my skin and "recharge" it every so often.

 

This one is so subtle and refined, I am afraid that it will be overlooked and vanish one day. It should be more popular. So if you are looking for something to round out your order, to choose as a good "working day" blend, or just want to try an oil that few are raving about but is a hidden treasure, give Nyarlathotep a try.

 

The icon is from an old magazine cover about Lovecraft stories, it's supposed to be a portrait of Nyarlathotep.

Edited July 4, 2005 by olympia301

[fragrantgrasse]

Despite the description my initial impression of Nyarlathotep is one of a surprising quietness and over time it goes almost silent. No "screams of a nightmare" on the back of my hand.

 

The lightensss is a whisper of citrus, maybe lemon or lime but there is something else in this blend that is giving it power. I do detect the ozone and it is almost a top note here, but so far no incense notes - maybe a hint of vetiver?

 

I find I need to keep sliding the wand over my hand to refresh my impressions. As time passes I am also discovering the scent of wet stone, an edginess or almost a foreboding.

 

As others have mentioned this is a scent for you and no one else. Nothing evocative or provocative, no sillage, just the disquieting silence that follows a scream....

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: A dark smell in the vial - incense that is heavy on the frankincense.

 

Wearing: When wet, this smells like a citronella candle. As it dries, it becomes more apparent that the citronella is actually frankincense (I think). There is a incense note here as well, but it is in the background.

 

Final Impressions: This is... less dark than I expected the crawling dark to be. But expectations aside, I found this to be a very pleasant and wearable perfume.

[cupide430]

Nyarlathotep

 

Citrussy commercial like Szepasszony, but with a warm spicy note joining the citrus. This is a light spicy citrus blend that is a bit commercial smelling and would probably be great on a man.

Edited July 4, 2005 by cupide430

[pekeana]

This is miles away from anything I've liked before -- sweet!

 

In the vial, Nyarlathotep is very biting and sharp, fresh -- I can smell the ozone and the lemony-ginger that I smelled in Shub-Niggurath, too. I also smell something darker and heavier in the background.

 

On me, I smell... CINNAMON! Cinnamon, ozone, a touch of lemony ginger, and something that smells almost like burnt grass. It's smokey and incensey, but with the deep tang of ozone.

 

Think of crossing Scarecrow, Lightning, Three Witches, and Shub-Niggurath, and you have Nyarlathotep -- at least for me. I love it like whoa.

[darkling]

I tried this scent after sniffing most of the Springtime in Arkham line. Appropriately enough, Nyarlathotep reminds me strongly of Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth. It has the same ozone-cologne scent at medium strength but is paired with a watery citrus scent.

 

The citrus makes Nyarlathotep appeal to me more than the other Cthonic blends but that ozone-cologne scent just doesn't work for me.

[PurringPulsar]

Nyarlahotep

 

In the imp: there's a slightly lemon and/or pine like scent there, but I'm sure there's also frankincense, with darker resins in the back.

Wet on skin: mmm, incense! A lovely, dark resinous scent. There's certainly an Egyptian feel to this, but it's darker, like a scent that would be used to worship some of the more sinister gods. And I think I can smell a tiny bit of ozone.

Dry on skin: this is very unusual! There's that gorgeous resin incense scent, but there's also ozone coming up here. It's almost salty, and verges on metallic. It's almost disturbing to smell them together, and the electric, almost stormy or lightning like aspect of the ozone makes me feel uneasy, as it seems very un-Egyptian to me (I usually associate Egypt with blazing sunshine and the odd sandstorm, but never with thunderstorms.) But I really like the resin scent in this, that's what keeps it from smelling too unwearable for me.

After a while: now there's a hint of salt here, like the sea. This may be the ozone again. it's very strange, but for some weird reason, I quite like it. It's nice on my skin, and the salty ozone scent is quite fresh. And I love the smoky, resinous background the scent has, it reminds me of Djinn. It even has a slightly gingery note.

Verdict: I've not read any of Lovecraft's books, so this will be a description of the scent and what feelings it brings up for me-so bear with me here. This is a scent that both intrigues me, and yet feels unsettling. It seems unusual to have Egyptian resins and dark, smoky incense fused with electric ozone, and the combination of these scents together freaks me out a bit because it clashes with what I usually think about Egypt. But then again, this isn't your average Egyptian scent-this is dark, sinister, metallic, salty, and yet, for some reason, I quite like it. It has a refreshing aspect, and I love the resinous, smoky incense blend in this. I won't be getting a bottle, but I'll probably keep the imp.

[oatmealneko]

Wet - Citrusy, green, with some ozone. The citrus didn't hit until after I applied it to my skin. The green note (or whatever it was) goes away after awhile, & the citrus starts to fade. This is another one where the ozone & some other ingredient doesn't agree with me, so it turns into detergent with some citrus scent at the end.

[donsixgun]

So the first time I tried it, it remined me of a certain men's cologne...and I wasnt too impressed. After putting it on, it turned to a citrus ozone mix that again, wasnt really me.

But I gave it another shot, and wow! It changed on me! It became incense smoke and citrus, and it had a sharpness from the ozone that was just right. It isnt a dark scent, but rather a brighter one. I like.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Hmm, smooth and kind of sweet with a tinge of a sharp edge.

 

Just On: Like the imp, but maybe with a bit of flowers.

 

An hour or two later: I still think there might be flowers, but I can't figure out what else this is. It's not as smooth, has some grit to it now.

 

Around 6 hours: More grittiness. Very interesting.

 

12 hours: A bit of grit, and some flowers.

 

Overall: I really like this one. The morphing and the way it blends are so interesting to me.

 

After reading other reviews: I wish my nose were trained to pick out the notes the way others' are, but I can see where I get the things I"m getting out of this. The grittiness is likely to be the incense, which I tend to like, and the smoothness is likely the ozone. I never got lemons or fruit out of this one.

[sarada]

I tried this a long time ago because I was excited by the Lovecraft scents (pre-SIA) but my impressions of this at the time were rather indistinct. It came across as kind of a golden scent to me, which for some reason I also associated with citrus or fruit but I never got a clear impression of it at the time. Thank goodness the lab threw an imp of this at me and now I can try it again!

 

I think it was just a case of my nose being untrained in the way of BPAL previously because now this makes perfect sense to me! And frankly it fits in so well with the Springtime in Arkham scents I might have to get a bottle and group it in with that little collection.

 

The main impression that I get is one of resins...being very familiar with the lab's frankincense I think that might be in there, but there's probably also a hint of ginger (that would explain the flash of a lemony impression that we sometimes get). But definitely dry, incensy resins -- not like the sweet incense in Al Azif, but imagine a bitter, dry version of that kind of scent. And it's layered over this amazing ozone....I don't like ozone in many blends at all but man, it works in this!

 

Here's what I get from it: A dark, smoky ritual in a seaside cave. The water crashes over the black rocks and mist fills the entrance to the cavern, with the tang of seaspray lingering in the air outside. Inside the chamber, woods, bones and resins smoke in a censer while a hooded, masked figure conducts dark and unspeakable rites.

 

There was a slight, faint "perfumey" odor as this developed but overall the other elements drowned it out.

 

I put this on last night, and today I can still smell it on my wrist but now it smells like seashells recently taken from the ocean and drying in the sun. A touch of salt and ozone, and a dry, bone-like quality with the faint remembrance of those resins.

 

I really wish that I had "gotten" this the first time I tried it, but really it's amazing how your nose can grow (!) after you spend a few months being a complete obsessive freak. I really can't justify buying any more bottles right now but I'd like to nab a bottle of this while it's available, some day. And it would certainly help keep my other Lovecraft scents company!

[violetblue]

This one was a frimp and another reminder that ozone-y scents just aren't my thing. Quite dark and masculine, a little citrusy, and I swear I smell some lavendar too - would be rocking on a guy but wasn't nice on me at all.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: this was a freebie from the lab. big time ozone with a background of incense.

on: wow. definitely ozone, but not as strong as i expected. almost citrussy. fresh.

half an hour later: this is way stronger now. i really don't like ozone.

1 hour later: much, much lighter.

overall: ozone and i don't tend to get along, so this isn't a keeper. the best thing about it is that it faded quickly on me.

[~AmusedMuse~]

My Impression:

Wow lovely citrus and incense at the same time. Definely ozonish, but not to the point that it is overwhelming. After drydown it is yummy. A definite masculine scent and I would drown in it err him

[girlmadasbirds]

i didn't get anything incensey at all from this.. just a VERY strong ozone note that reminded of men's cologne

[Monster]

This one is a very heavy and dark perfume..perhaps a bit too mature for my tastes...maybe a bit on the masculine side.

 

The heavy incense is very prominent in the bittle, not very citrusy...yet when it dries something a bit citrusy comes out.

 

Not for me, perhaps nice on an older gentleman.