The Witches’ Rout (the Carcass)

[Sakari]

Agostino Veneziano
White sandalwood, opoponax, shriveled black plum, and vetiver.

Eep! I never (well, almost never) post reviews, because I'm not terribly good about picking out notes, but I feel the need to review this one! I blind bought a bottle of this, and it's turned out so much more lovely than anticipated. In the bottle it was pure sandalwood, but on my skin I feel as though all of the notes are working together to create a single and unique thing of loveliness. I can't compare this to anything else in the BPAL universe, except to say that the plum note, which is the last note standing as the scent fades (and it takes awhile--this on has moderate throw but excellent staying power on my skin) is the plum from Snake Charmer and Tarantula Fascinator.
If this collection of notes works well for you I recommend you pick some up!

[tziporra]

When I looked at the notes list for this oil I was quite confused. Why did I order this decant? It's chock full of Things I Don't Wear. But because I am a good little tester I try it out.

 

In the imp it's all sandalwood and vetiver. Sharp and dry. I do like vetiver, or rather, I like the things vetiver does in a perfume, so I'm game to plop it on my skin. It's bedtime and this is the only scent I'm trying before I go to sleep. Suprisingly, the sandalwood, usually just too dry on my skin, is kept well in check by the vetiver, and underneath it blooms the plum. Now, plum is A Thing I Don't Like, but this plum is reminiscent of something I might keep in a drawer to make the linens smell good. In fact, the whole concoction is evocative of opening a heavily scented dusty drawer to find a long forgotten treasure. It's actually quite beautiful.

 

In the morning the plum lingers on like the scent of fall baking (although it's not a terribly foody plum, I just can't break the association between plum and jam, which is a reason I don't wear it).

 

I deeply appreciate this fragrance. It's lovely and well constructed. I'm still not sold on smelling like plum, so I will not further our relationship with a bottle purchase, but I will use up every drop of my decant.

 

Tzi

[Nicnivin]

I'm a huge fan of both sandalwood and myrrh/oppoponax, so I was eager to try this out to see whether the warm woodsiness of those two would take centre stage on me ahead of the vetiver and plum.

In the bottle, the vetiver leapt out almost immediately, but it disappeared almost instantly once I applied it to my skin, leaving just the tiniest hint of sharpness to balance the plum.

 

Once it dried down, the plum edged forward a bit, tempered by the sandalwood and oppoponax. Not sweet, mind you... just warm and regal. It's a dry warmth, though: although this is the same plum note as in Tarantula Fascinator, it doesn't have the gooey wetness in this scent that it did when paired with chocolate.

 

This is a mature, queenly perfume that I can picture on someone like Catherine Di Medici—a powerful older woman who can silence a court with a single glance, and has no patience for cloying sweetness or girlish florals.

Edited November 13, 2015 by Nicnivin

[zankoku_zen]

Plum, sandalwood, and vetiver. This one is a dark, mature perfume. Deep purple in vibe.

 

Dark, sexy, queenly.

[sprout]

In the vial, smoky vetiver dominant over a bone dry sandalwood.

Wet, vetiver amps, smoky and sinister over a dry base of sandalwood and sweet myrrh. This is dry and wispy rather than sweet.

Early drydown, finally the plum emerges. It is a dessicated, dry black plum, a prune? Sandalwood has become more woody and less skeletal. Myrrh marries with sandalwood and vetiver and this is plummy incense burned hours ago, warm and woody. No burned character or powdery quality.

Late drydown: Sweet myrrh and sandalwood. Woody, warm, sweet.

 

Final analysis: Carcass indeed! A masterful creation, evocative of the painting in it's bone dry quality. The drydown is much more wearable art. Unfortunately, my skin ate the prune, I mean plum note, which was intended I surmise to add needed sweetness to counterbalance the dry woodiness of the resin notes. I'll retest of course, as I love the sandalwood enhanced by vetiver and opoponax.

[Laura S. Taylor]

As this was drying down, I got a carcass indeed. It smelled like decay!

 

But when dry, it turned into a warm, dusty scent. I like it, but it stays very close to the skin, will try slathering next time and hopefully I'll live past the dry down.

[milo]

Strong and aggressive. Sharp sandalwood, a musk (oppoponax?), and a touch of vetiver. My hands are itchy. Definite scrubber even though there was basically fumes with which to test.

[SophieCedar]

Vetivert fans will love this one. I see it as more of a gender-neutral to masculine scent, as the plum is very very dry. Smoky, dark, woody. Reminds me of the cadence of Third Charm, which was popular after the fact. Not identical in the sense of its smell, just overall feel. The vetivert mellows in drydown and it sweetens and gets more musky.

[skyablazing]

Interesting. On first application, it is incredibly sharp and dry, smoky woodsy vetiver and I am having misgivings about it because wow, this is too brash for me. It mellows with the plum coming through in a really nice way though, into a warm, spicy dusty sweetness with that background smokiness still going on in there. A great grounded neutral-to-masculine scent.

[Little Bird]

Starts off as smoky vetiver and powdery sandalwood, and I wanted to scrub it off immediately, but the drydown loses the powder & only has a slight woodsmoke scent to it. The drydown is more of a sweet, spiced plum and thick, resinous sweetness from the opoponax, with just a hint of black woodsmoke from the vetiver. I love it a lot in the drydown. Dark and cozy.

[MamaMoth]

i snagged this from the lab's recent etsy drop. it had never even pinged my radar before, but i could not resist those notes! 

 

OK! so if you're vetiver averse, this one might be scary. it starts off pretty aggressive here, and it has that peanut butter/bbq tone that i know turns some folks off. but it doesn't take long on me for it to really snuggle down into the sandalwood and and opoponax to create this gorgeously smoky, raspy, incensey base layer. it leans a little on the dry side at first, but then that plum swoops in and i am literally swooning. the plum of my dreams! it's every dark sweet gorgeous thing i love about the black plum note, compressed down into it's purest essence. it's not juicy or tart or fresh. it's deep and inky and sweet. it marries so well with that rough smoky incense, i almost can't stand it.

 

this one is slinky and vampy, purpley-red shading to black around the edges.  it has dark secrets.