Palus Putridinis

[DiesMali]

The Marsh of Corruption: murky patchouli and dank oakmoss drowning in a mire of leathery bourbon vanilla, bitter clove, bog cypress, cumin, and vetiver.

In the bottle: Murky bog water. Literally, this smells like the murky water and scrub oaks in the marshes up in the Rocky Mountains.

Wet on my skin: ALL the vetiver and patchouli, with a bit of leather.

Dry: This is incredibly evocative of the scent description. I don't know how, but it does actually smell like a marsh at first. This is definitely vetiver and patchouli dominant on me at first, with oakmoss and the leathery vanilla coming in under it. More leather than vanilla there, definitely. As it continues to dry and warm on me, the clove and cumin start coming out just enough to spice up the dank, damp bogginess of the rest of it. There's just enough cypress to "green" the scent, taking it from muddy brown to a muddy green-brown. The cypress isn't there really as a note in itself, and is under even the clove and cumin in terms of its presence. This is a fairly masculine scent, and I happen to really, really enjoy it. Definitely one for patch/vetiver lovers.

[Mechanical Death]

When this lunacy went live I took a gamble on the notes. Several appealed to me-- patchouli, moss, the leathery bourbon vanilla, clove, and maybe the cypress if it didn't pull too piney.it has the makings of a beautiful blend. However the cumin and vetiver were making me very afraid. I amp vetiver like no tomorrow, and cumin in blends has always thrown me off... savory smokey? However after reading some first impression in the will call threads I bought it on impulse with my Lilith blends.

 

I was not disappointed.

This is glorious!

It's like banshee beats smokier, unisex cousin.

 

I was legitimately afraid when I opened the bottle, I was prepared for it to be a heavy vetiver mess, it was just so beautiful. I actually said outloud "oh wow, this is stunning", and I have rarely had that kind of a reaction even though I Have over 300 bottles (no I don't have a problem >.>)

 

Up front it's all glorious bourban vanilla with a woody background. "leathery" is an apt quality descriptor, because It doesn't seem like there is a true leather note in here, but there is a hint of that sweet black leathery smell. as it dries it is a lovely mix of faintly piney greenery, not astringent in any way, and not overly strong (I don't like strong pine, this is light), and smokey cumin which is not as savory as I expected, but I can pick it out as being a familiar smell to cumin.The bourban vanilla is taking a back seat after it's initial sweet blast on the skin.

 

I don't detect any clove or vetiver until it's dried down completely, but by then all the notes seem to be playing in a truly lovely harmony. The vetiver is well behaved, and not amping and eating the other notes. the soft bourban vanilla has resurfaced and carried the clove with it. It has medium throw. in closeness around me I smell smokey sweet rich vanilla, a hint of spice, with a rich smokey lightly woody backdrop.

Every note in this blend shines. It's just one of those blends where everything works, and not one thing tramples another, or fades completely. It's insanely lovely, and not nearly as heavy as I expected from this list of scent ingredients

 

edit: I totally skimmed over the scent description where it mentions patchouli. NO WONDER I SMELL PATCHOULI! haha!

 

GET SOME. It's amazing.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Mechanical Death

[MuskWitch]

Wow. Damn my body chemistry.

 

This smells beautiful in the bottle, I don't get that marshy boggy thing, I get the leather, vanilla, patchouli and a hint of clove.

 

WET on my skin, same thing, mostly the leather, vanilla, a hint of patchouli, and clove, not bitter clove though, just a nice spiciness, and a bit of the vetiver is showing through.

 

As it dries down something else comes to the surface. Starts out like "Hmmm, I thought this smelled beautiful, what is happening?"

 

When it is dry, I start looking for the unwashed (for several days) person who apparently snuck in and is under my desk. BO? Really bad BO? What the?

 

Apparently my body AMPS cumin in the worst possible way. All I smell is BO. All the loveliness disappears.

 

I so wish this could be as beautiful ON me as it is in the bottle.

 

Off to the swap/sale pile.

 

*sigh*

[tziporra]

I have fallen for exactly zero lunacies in my complete BPAL experience up to this one.

 

Oh. It's so sexy. It's so very very sexy. Like riding a motorcycle behind a clove cigarette smoking, black leather jacket wearing, vanilla infused person of ambiguous gender on the way to dirty dance the night away and shoot whiskey for good measure.

 

Insanely sexy. I cannot get enough.

 

On me it dries down to much more innocuous sweet vanilla laced with the faint after effects of clove and that wild night.

 

Gah. So glad I have this.

 

Tzi

[annemathematics]

this is dark and sweaty and amazing. heavy on the patch and vetiver, musky leather and cumin. rich and animalistic.

I can see this scent as not appealing to the masses, but it's a true treasure to me.

[Failmingo]

Coming out of hiding to report that I got to sample this tonight and have been thoroughly corrupted.

 

The cumin keeps this from plunging as deep and dark as the clove and leather might otherwise dive together (as they do when you smell straight from the bottle). Instead the whole blend swirls and hovers together in a sort of stagnant middle layer, like brackish water swirling in warm sunlight, giving off a faintly sweet steam -- that's the vanilla and cumin dancing together, right on the edge of an edible smell.

 

As in Snake Oil, this is merely an enticement to lure the nose down into the darker, more mysterious notes. However, I found the latter dried off sooner, leaving one to luxuriate in the steam instead of fully losing one's boots in the muck -- a decidedly non-putrid experience overall, but I love those early stages when you're nervous because you're not quite sure how deep those puddles might be.

 

Edit: No, there it is -- a lingering stink, which I think is still the cumin. Beth just described it to me as "sweaty." I love this scent!

[zankoku_zen]

Palus Putridinis, my guess, does not work for everyone, especially with the vetiver and cumin. Thankfully, both of them seem to be in check. I mainly get vanilla, clove, patchouli, and a touch of leather.

 

It toggles between darkly sexy and then being a masculine animalistic sort of blend.

 

This will require further testing.

[Lydialove]

I picked up a partial of Palus Putridinous - but my first couple of tests only resulted in confusion. I was expecting something in the dark green and dark brown category - maybe something grassy and smokey. I wasn't sure if bog cypress was going to be alright on me ( aquatics don't generally work on me at all) and while I love to cook with cumin a great deal, I wasn't sure it would be something that would work on me as a fragrance) Maybe it would be too earthy

 

But instead I got ... candle? A sort of waxy sweetness. Not so much brown or green as tan. Very sweet tan candle with a cuminy aftertaste. Confusion.

[Little Bird]

I wish that I could pull the cumin note out of this, because the rest of the blend is wonderful. The cumin just adds an off, sweaty undertone to the whole thing, which I especially don't like when it's mixed with the patchouli. All of the other notes come together into a lovely, complex, masculine cologne, sweetened with vanilla, but the patch and cumin combo, along with some smoky vetiver, just ruin the drydown for me.

[tinyvulture]

Definitely has that sluggish, marshy feel! The oakmoss is earthy and wet. The patchouli is fairly soft and sweet, and the leather and vanilla are even more faint. I’m not really getting any clove, cumin, or vetiver. There’s no sharpness to this scent at all, it’s muffled and constrained by the overall murky dampness. I like it but don’t love it.