Mme. Moriarty, Misfortune Teller (2015)

[Ina Garten Davita]

Red musk, vanilla bean, pomegranate, black currant, patchouli leaf and wild plum.

It's tough to compare this to the original since my bottle has aged so beautifully. I do remember thinking, "WHOA, RED MUSK" way back when my bottle was fresh.

This version is sweeter, fruitier revealing heavier pomegranate, richer (and more sugared) plum. I get lots more vanilla, coupled with the addition of black currant, the red musk is held tightly in check. This version seems more lighthearted than the original, but I have a feeling it will darken as it ages.

I love this fresh, new version, it would be amazing in hair gloss, bath oil, and atmos!

Will update this post with a photo when the pitchcard arrives.

[SadariEvenstar]

I don't usually like red musk. There have only been 3 blends ever that I have cared for with it as an ingredient. (Midnight Kiss, The Soldier, WILF, to give you an idea of my tastes.) I decided to give this a try anyway because it's legendary.

 

When it first goes on I can immediately tell that this is a red musk blend that I am going to like. It's more airy and gentler than any red musk scent that I have tried before. I can actually smell the other notes that are in it instead of them all being drowned out by the musk. I am liking this a lot at this stage.

 

However.... The dry down is dryer sheets. Not fresh, new, sharply soapy dryer sheets, but one that has been used. Warm, lightly perfumey, and it leaves you tasting soap in the back of your mouth if you breathe it in deeply. I'm disappointed, the first half hour or so smelled so good. I'm going to leave it to age a bit and see if it changes at all.

 

*I have never tried the original, so I can't compare it to that.

Edited August 29, 2015 by SadariEvenstar

[Jeni Mullen]

Ooooh ho. Mme. Moriarty was one of my first ever purchases from Bpal, well before I got into the social media and the forums. I had been frimped some Alice, went onto the website on the little card attached to it and picked up bottles based on art. Yeeees. I was in my early twenties. I can be forgiven, right?

 

The Madame and I had the best of times until I reached a half bottle, went back online to order and GASP. Gone.

 

I didn't order BPAL again until I ran into them last year at NYCC and revisited Alice (who decided she didn't like me anymore), discovered Eat Me and Jack and thus, my love of BPAL returned.

 

Anyhow, when the Madame returned, despite the formula change, I ordered myself way too many bottles. Black Currant plays well with me in Eat Me so I thought, why not? Let me tell you, I think this new formula is BETTER than the old. Please don't lynch me!

 

In the Bottle: Sugary, fruity musk. It's very, very light and for a moment, I was almost scared that this would be a fader. The scent in the bottle has almost no throw. If I leave it open on my desk while I type, I don't get much more than faint berries and pale musk.

 

Wet: Red musk and vanilla, this smells almost exactly like my red musk version of Red Shirt Diaries Hair Gloss (which I love). A moment later and the deep fruits come out. Plum and black current and pomegranate...you can absolutely tell that they are in there, though I can't pick out the notes. The fruit is THAT well blended.

 

Dry after 15 minutes: Patch and I don't usually get along but I'm not getting any patch at all. There's no smelly hippie scent to this. Maybe all the patch does is work with the musk to give it lasting and staying power? I don't know. Anyhow, the throw on this is amazing.I can smell my wrist at nearly arm length. I'd say that this formula is way more potent than the original.

 

Dry after an hour: Just had breakfast and walked the dog and yeeeeeees. Still there, just as strong! It's a spicy, lingering, sweet vanilla musk. It actually reminds me a lot of Eat Me on Red Musk, though the musk itself is very underplayed. I get more sweet fruits without the creamy cake in Eat Me but their similarities are there, for me at least. I'd call them cousins. Eat Me is young and cakey sweet. The Madame is older, worldlier, and while still sweet, is also very sexy.

 

ETA 12/4/15:

 

I put some of my beloved Madame on this morning and found myself pouting. It's already starting to turn into the more heady, perfumey and patchouli laden blend of her original version. I LIKE her original blend but I LOVED her new blend. Until now.

It seems she ages pretty darn quickly. She's still nice from a few months back but I'm not sure how often I'll reach to her any more.

Anyone wanting to original blend, get the new stuff and let it hang out for four months or so to age and you'll get it!

Edit: been a few hours and it's completely gone. This is just like the old Madame.

[paperdollsandbpal]

Oh my gosh I love this!

 

Never tried the original but this lives up to all the hype of its predecessor.

 

In the bottle its very red smelling! Fruit!

 

But after I finally put it on my skin I realize how much it reminds me of BLOOD KISS. That delicious red vanilla scent.

 

And I love blood kiss and only have an imp. So this makes me really, really happy!

 

I don't get any patchouli like at all... but that's okay.

[ltrittipoe]

Beautiful! I really don't know how much of the differences are new vs. aged - but there are subtle differences. The new Mme is fruitier, the currant doesn't stand out but adds a sweet fruitiness. This is a bit sharper & more perfumey than the original - all that aging smoothed out the original so much! And brought out the patch. In this new version, I'm getting red musk, vanilla and wet, juicy fruit - with a hint of patchouli in the background.

[SimplySyra]

This is my first foray into Mme Moriarty's legend so I cannot compare it to the old version.

 

On my skin, just dried, it comes across as a very light red musk. This is much lighter than my normal experience with red musk. It's very airy and ethereal almost. I get a hint of vanilla and something that I know is the fruit because I've read the notes but doesn't read fruity so much as dark and red.

 

Dried more fully, I get a faint woody base that might be the patchouli. If it is, it's well hidden. I wouldn't have identified it as patch without knowing it was in there.

 

This does smell quite perfume-y and there does seem to be something hinting at the soap Sadari got. That being said it's very pretty and quite unique.

 

I do find on me that my skin sucks it right up and the throw and stay are not immense. Still, the bottle just came yesterday so this one may need some time to sit and deepen.

 

ETA: About an hour the woodiness comes out. It's a beautiful soft wood. This must be the patch. Hours and hours after application I'm left with a soft spicy vanilla. Lovely!

Edited September 2, 2015 by SimplySyra

[LizziesLuck]

Currants can go either way for me, and plum is usually not good, so I'm nervous/excited to try this and see!

 

Wet: Fruity, boozey, smoky. Very strong. Musky.

 

 

Dry: This is amazing. I can't stop huffing my arm. This is so sexy to me. If it goes powdery later I'm ma cry. Need a bottle. Want to bathe in it. The musk is amazing. I'm not sure what patchouli leaf smells like, but I'm wondering if it's this smoky quality. It's hard to pin down where the fruitiness is coming from, but I think it's pomegranate - a bit tart, a bit sweet. Pure amazing. Unique and complex and endlessly interesting.

[tangibilia]

Yojenitan's comment on it being linked to Eat Me is spot-on, especially in the dry down - Mme. has the same currant-cream sweet note, minus the cake and plus a deeper, richer 'red' note that I'm going to attribute to the musk. I'm not good at picking out individual notes, but the pomegranate (plum?) really anchors the scent without driving it into being too fruity, especially in the crook of my elbow. Not getting much patchouli at all.

 

The scent wears fairly close to the skin for me (lowish throw), but sinks in to give a decent longevity to its lasting power. I love how it evokes this sense of sexy, quiet confidence, without being overtly carnal. It's very womanly rather than girlish as well, absolutely lovely!

Edited September 10, 2015 by tangibilia

[Aviatrix]

It's been a few years since I sold my bottle of original Mme. Moriarty. Not because I didn't like it, but because I simply didn't reach for it very often, so it deserved better attention than I was giving it. So I can't remember the intricacies of the scent.

This new version is rather good as well. I don't normally do red musk or patchouli at all, but in this blend they are both tempered really well by the other notes - the red musk doesn't amp all over the place to the exclusion of every other note, and the patch doesn't go too smoky.

It is a sultry, slightly smoky, delicious fruity scent, and it feels like the blackcurrant complements everything else very well.

I'm still undecided if I should buy a bottle of the new one. This one has a ton of throw on me, and I'm not always comfortable with wearing perfume that has so much throw, so I don't know.

There is nothing to complain about scent-wise, this truly is beautiful and very fitting for the character. It also lasts a long time on me.

[claudia6913]

This is different from the original. However, like the original I can tell this will need to age a bit. Though hopefully it won't need to age 8 years like the last one. I can tell the black currant is added in there, but it enhances the blend, not detracts. Everything else is beautiful and sweet. The musk is blood red and the patchouli leaf gives it that hint of earthiness without being overwhelming. The plum will likely come out with some aging like the original.

[hroki97]

Mmm, it's very warm &lovely! Freshly tested right out of the box, so I don't know how it will change over time seeing as I have never tried a fruity scent before.

 

*10 minutes later*

 

....Okay, so I might be a weirdo but if I REALLY smell my wrist, like straight up huff it, I get beautiful plum and vanilla and musk, but if I smell a little less, and focus on the green I get lots of smoky patchouli. Hopefully someone will get what I mean ?

 

But over all to me, it's best described as a grilled (smoky) plum barely sprinkled with vanilla sugar. So.... delicious.

[missnix]

Damn, this is gorgeous! I never got to try the original, so can't compare, but this has definitely shot up into my top 10 BPAL scents.

 

It's very fruity, but in a rich and complex way, not sugary and shallow. Red musk is not a favorite of mine, but here it's subdued and difficult for me to detect, honestly.

 

This actually reminds me of another perfume I sampled recently, but I can't think of what it was (maybe the new, nothing-like-the-original Black Opium?). It reminds me of the term "fruit-chouli" that gets thrown around, usually with negative connotations, but this is so lovely. It's sweet, but not too sweet; dark but not difficult to wear. It's also strong and seems to have good lasting power; I've gotten compliments all day from co-workers, which tells me that I definitely don't need to apply as much as I am used to (I don't actually like my perfume to be detectable by others, especially when I'm in the office).

 

I'm debating if I need a backup bottle, and I've only ever bought a single other backup before, so you know it's good!

[GoddesShel]

This is fantastic. This is what I have been looking for, for quite a while now. A fruity, red musk heavy blend, with limited patchouli, just enough to ground it but not overwhelm. (Sorry, patch lovers!). While the original Mme. will always have a very special place in my heart (and on my wrists, LOL), this one is better for public consumption.

 

I did a side by side (well, wrist to wrist, ) comparison, and basically, what everyone else has said holds true for me, too. It's a sweeter, juicier, redder, fruitier, lighter version of the original - the currant really boosted the fruit, and I LOVE IT.

[recklesslysober]

I wasn't a fan of the original but this one is lovely! I get a medicinal quality at first but fortunately that goes away quickly. You can definitely smell the juicy red fruit of pomegranate, similar to The Fruit of Paradise but much more complex, grounded, and a little darker. I'm really glad I gave the new version a shot.

[izile]

went out of my comfort zone on this one.

 

In the vial: kinda musky patchouli with black currant sour-fruity in the background.

 

wet: patchouli, not too strong, but nothing else is coming out to play with it at all. :-( maybe maybe a little vanilla if I sniff real hard.

 

dry: and the red musk killed it. It smells like a slightly patchouli scented old woman's panty drawer. Powdery, the word "skanky" keeps coming to mind, but not like THAT, like, literally, you had to go find something in grandma's underwear drawer and the dusty, musty, old smell, maybe there's a patchouli sachet in there, but it's old and not strong enough, bit of a sour funk in the background...

 

pass.

[doomsday_disco]

In the decant: I'm actually getting more of the red musk and patchouli leaf than any other note. I do smell some of the pomegranate and vanilla bean notes, but this isn't as fruity as the notes made me believe it would be.

 

Wet: Red musk, patchouli leaf, and pomegranate. This one is quite heady on me. I thought the scent would be sweeter, due to the plum, currant, and vanilla bean notes, but it kind of reminds me of Snake Oil with the presence of a tart pomegranate note (and without the spices). When I inhale really deeply, I get the vanilla bean note, which is lovely, but it isn't as strong as the other notes I've mentioned.

 

Dry: I'm still getting lots of red musk and patchouli leaf. The vanilla bean note has come out more, so the scent is sweeter than before. It's hard to pick out the different fruit notes, but I still feel like I'm getting more of the tart pomegranate note than any of the other fruit notes.

 

Verdict: I'm going to hang onto my imp to see how this ages, but I don't really think it is my cup of tea (red musk, pomegranate, patchouli, and plum are not notes that I love). Maybe I will understand the hype once this ages?

[annemathematics]

red musk and red fruits and vanilla. huffing at my skin, it's certainly pretty, but almost too bright and too clean for me. I want something deeper/darker/stickier in my scents.

 

as I'm wearing this, however, I keep getting these incredible wafts of the most amazing and outstandingly magical red musk-vanilla combo I have ever smelled. I see what all of the fuss is about. beautiful!

[Little Bird]

I don't think that the 2015 version of Mme Moriarty really smells anything like the original. 2015 is strangely clean and almost white musk & hairspray smelling to my nose. It doesn't have any of the rich, thick, fruity, bold, dark, sweet qualities of the original. This also doesn't last anywhere near as long as the original did on me. 2015 goes for about a half hour before fading into a faint, musky, dusty smudge on my skin. I don't even recognize this as the same fragrance

[milo]

Starts out very sharp and medicinal. I'm getting the black currant and musk, along with the medicine. After a bit, it is just a faint whisp of what the glorious, voluptuous, well-rounded scent she used to be. Still, I am curious as to how this one may age. I may need more than a sniffie just to see. I find Misfortunteller v3 much closer to the original, so if you want to check her out, wander over to Etsy to see if she's still there.

 

 

I love the original Mme, and still have a couple of bottles of her in my arsenal. Ahem. This one is quite similar, almost to a 't', but the older version is richer and longer lasting. Someone said back aways that this version is more wearable, and I tend to agree. The original is really 'in your face', but I still love it. This one is a bit more subdued, like a business suit with expensive matching lingerie underneath. It is 'there', but more socially acceptable. One thing I love about the original, is that there is a wonderful vanilla plum with a touch of incense that develops after several hours, newer version, not getting that, in fact it fizzles pretty quickly into nothing. Still, this is still a great blend, more incense than the previous version, less plum. I'm hoping that age may bring out the delicious vanilla that is in the previous incarnation, but I'm really surprised at how quickly she fades.

 

hehe I see I did a review a ways back. Sniffles are hard to review, and I was able to slather this time. Aaaand after doing a side by side, the new Mme falls flat:( Maybe age will help with that though. Still keeping my bottle, cause it is similar, and I'll need more once my precious is gone.

Edited July 4, 2016 by LiberAmoris
Merged two reviews made by same member in topic

[Coldfire]

this new version kinda reminds me of my beloved Makhanitis. It's not replaced Makhanitis or Banshee Beat is my favorite but dayumn it's ranking up there! Just lovely deep red dark fruity goodness on me! I may have to order a few more bottles. And yes...it smells fantastic NOW...but I can't wait to smell this one aged!!!!

[Larinessa]

This is red fruit... And soap. I'm thinking it's the currant that's doing it for me. I get faint wiffs of the plum, and of the vanilla, but there is definitely something soapy in there for me. *sigh* That's 0 for three on this release of the Carnaval for me

 

Edt: the soon to be hubbys opinion: Down dryer sheets.

Edited October 3, 2015 by Larinessa

[astarinel]

Sharp! I didn't really like the original Mme, as red musk and dark fruits is not really my olfactory jam, but I thought I'd give this a try.

 

Like others have mentioned, I find it significantly different from the original and I don't really like it. Red musk rarely works on my skin, but that combined with whatever is so sharp in here (patchouli leaf, I guess? I know all the other notes are fine on my skin...) makes this verge on weirdly medicinal.

 

Almost no fruit during the wet stage, very little sweetness. I love vanilla and fruits, so I was hoping those would be more prominent here, but they aren't really for me.

 

Man, the people at the beginning of this thread talking about bright sweet fruits are making me wonder what the heck happened. I wouldn't even think there were fruit notes in this blend if I hadn't read the notes list.

 

I'm going to hang on to the imp in case aging does... something. Just in case. :/

[lady_pandora]

I never got to try the original Madame, but based on the notes list, I thought my skin might turn it into something similar to The White Witch. And it does. I think I actually like Mme even better, but it's close enough that I'm not sure I can justify a bottle of this to myself. I'll reach for them in very similar moods.

 

This starts out red musk, thick bittersweet fruit, and patchouli. There's a cough-syrup vibe at first, and I say this with love--I generally like the cough-syrupy ones. Then the fruit becomes really round and smooth and juicy, and I can pick out the plum and the pomegranate against a smoky background. I think the smokiness comes from a synergy between the patchouli and the vanilla--I can't really pick out vanilla here, but I think it's what makes it so smooth, and I think it's the same husky vanilla/patch thing that WW does, or that Black Cherry Love does. Bordello also comes to mind--when I tested Bordello a few months ago, I noted that it needed something else to really make it feel complete, and now I know what it is--the smoky incensiness I get here. This is truly lovely, and womanly. I would say WW is stronger on the patchouli and thus more hippie-ish, while Mme is stronger on the fruit and thus more lush.

 

In the later stages, the fruit notes seem to dry out and become less juicy, and then there is less difference between Mme and WW. Like I said, I'm not sure I'll need a full bottle of this, because my skin just does such similar things with them. Definitely keeping the decant though.

[sarandipitee]

I wasn't a fan of the original Mme, which even aged was nothing special on my skin.

 

But this Mme, she is incredible.

PLUM, gorgeous plum with pomegranate and currant. The mildest red musk ever mingled with a little bit of leafy green and vanilla.

 

Makes think of a sweeter sister to the original Snake Charmer.

 

Multiple bottles for sure - this could be a new signature scent.

[Klepz]

Let me start off by saying that I love the original Mme. My bottle is from 2009 and and doesn't get much use, though, because it is incredibly sexy and incredibly powerful. It takes over a room and doesn't feel appropriate in most situations.

 

This is a similar scent, yet a little different. This is also a red musk punctuated by luscious red fruits and patchouli. BUT it's sweeter and tamer. I think the black currant gives it a cotton-candy like vibe in the background. The vanilla, pomegranate and plum are a little juicier and fresher - even from the start, the fruit in original Mme. was quite dry, almost dusty. This one is similar, just a little sweeter and fruitier.

 

I do wonder if they won't get more similar with age, though. This is still Mme., just slightly more wearable, and I love it