The Manuscript

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

A ghost story – Your father didn’t tell me it was a ghost story...

 

It’s not, Sir, it’s – more like a story… with a ghost in it.

A leather-bound manuscript, ink barely dry. A Gothic ghost tale, personified. The pages are permeated with a preternatural, otherworldly quality – but only slightly, as the ghost is a counterpoint; leather and paper and splotches of ink, with a hint of ghostly chill.

jinkies, i don't wanna be first. but here goes!

we have had two prototypes of this at the DSLE, and in both of them, in the bottle and wet on my skin, i get the lumber aisle at Home Depot, and high quality saddle leather.

leather that reminds me of Dead Man's Hand, more than other more recent BPAL leather.

On skin, once it settles, there's an almost creamy something that comes out - reminds me a bit of parchment or papyrus? and the leather/wood smell mostly goes away.

i heard several folks mention the India Ink note, but i have a bottle of that and i didn't get any of that smell from this.

overall, a bit odd, but i think also very wearable, and gender neutral.

[absinthetics]

The leather is soft and feminine. I do smell the india ink note in this and it adds a slightly plasticine effect to this scent. Over time, after dry down, it goes away and the overall impression is sweet and papery and the leather goes into the background.

[Invidiana]

When I first smelled this I immediately thought leather, paper and ink--which I was dead on about--but there was something else, something sinister int he background that I just couldn't figure out. I didn't have a list of notes in front of me at the time but actually reading them for the first time, I see what it is that I had a hard time putting my finger on. It was the ghostly chill. Kind of like Beth's snow note, but more....evil, if you will. I love anything that smells like old books, especially haunted old books, so this is right up my dark and twisted alley.

[zankoku_zen]

So take the creepiness of Miskatonic University, throw in some Dead Man's Hand brown leather and papery Two-Ply Bristol with a liberal splash of India Ink. Have I made enough BPAL references for you yet? Good.

 

You get something that smells like an old leathery grimoire. You know, the type of book that you happen to find in an antique shop in Barcelona, and its written like its the Voynich Manuscript and you just know its... well, not... all right.

 

Brown leather, paper and ink. Masculine to me, but chilly. It smells ghostly.

[Numanoid]

Fresh out of the mailbox!!

 

In bottle : Very beautiful leather.... it is soft which I was hoping for. Also that hint of ink. I love leather scents, but if they are too overbearing, then it borders on too masculine.

 

On Skin : This warms up nicely and I get the ink, leather, and manuscript. Not notebook paper, but like someone said above, it has that old feel to it.

 

Dry down: Stays true...ink gets a bit pale, but it's present. I get the leather bound smell. Amazing how Beth does it. It has low throw and stays close to the skin. It is a lovely scent. I think this is unisex, but a hair more towards for the guys. I don't get "ghostly chill" out of this, but it is a lovely, old leather bound pages. Almost like the smell of a worn leather wallet!

Edited November 15, 2015 by Numanoid

[stellamaris]

Yes. Very leathery. And like a book.

I love the idea of this, love having the imp. It's not a "me" perfume, considering 9 out of 10 are...

The leather is really all I can smell here, but it is lovely "soft" leather.

[Aviatrix]

This is mainly a slightly dusty leather on me, with an undertone of what I presume to be ink? It does indeed have a chilly feel to it, even though the leather is very warm. So….cold and warm at the same time?

[Little Bird]

I think that The Manuscript is my favorite leather scent from bpal. If I try, I can imagine that it has leather, ink, a chill, and fresh, new notebook paper in it, but mostly it smells like walking into a leather store at the mall. It's all new leather jackets, and smells soft and clean, almost creamy, in the way that new leather does.

[childdoll]

In Bottle: Very soft leather... faint papery smell. I get the impression of ether in a way. It's hard to describe... like chilly dust and smoke? Probably one of the hardest scents for me to nail down individual notes, but it's very ephemeral and light.

 

Wet on Skin: Very light on the skin. Soft, airy paper with slight hint of leather.

 

Dry Down: Partically fades away on me the moment it dries. Low throw. Only left with faint scent of soft leather. After only 5 minutes of drying and I can barely even tell it's there anymore.

 

Overall Thoughts: This is a very interesting scent, and my first time trying out a BPAL "leather" scent. I think it's a very gender neutral scent. Oddly wispy, but it fades away so quickly on me that I'm not sure if I really want to keep it. Also not sure if I like the leather notes on me, as soft as it is... just not sure if this is a "me" scent. But I could see it being an easy favorite for others.

[Haltija]

Dusty and soft leather first off, almost goes very powdery. I never smelled India Ink so I don't know if it's the same ink note from that one but I do smell one and it's actually quite nice. The powdery tone stays for a while until it starts drying. That's when the "ghostly chill" comes out and it does smell like a cool breeze wafting over old leather book pages, it's so interesting.

 

I like this one but I don't know how much I would wear it. Will keep my decant though (:

[russetfox]

Scent review! wet in the bottle so much leather. On my skin mostly still overwhelming leather, get a little parchment and ink. Dry many hours later still a nice old book. At some times I get a small wiff of something in the background that is a bit chilly. Reminds me a little of First time I saw a ghost.

 

I think I might amp leather, but this only like my 5 oil being worn for more than like 30 minutes....

 

I wore it today to work to do a time test. I have tried this a few time on other days to test the scent and reactions. I totally love this oil, but had some major issues today. I spent the day with my eye and nose running. It was very odd, but it was also a day of way to much random perfumes being sprayed around the area which could be what had set me off. I am gonna have to test this again in a week, then next month and see if maybe female issues caused the hype in allergic reaction. I have 2 bottles so I really hope this does not give me issues in a few days.

 

12/25 figured out the issue is not female or strictly allergy. I have a stinking head cold which is compounded by the other two issues...

Edited December 26, 2015 by russetfox

[porcelina]

the manuscript is not at all what i expected and differs from other bpal "book" scents but in a realy really nice way. the paper dominates and then there is a dry leather note with a hint of peppery ink. and then just to make it weird, but in a good way, there is a "ghostly chill" that i swear smells kind of like cucumber. this is really nice and just a little bit spooky. i love it.

[Poenari]

Upon first application, all I could smell was leather, and the chemical kind of leather smell at that. When I took my wrist away from my nose, there was a distinct whiff of paper and ink. I currently have no other book scents and Misk U was horrid on me. This is not horrid, it's exactly as described. However it's not my kind of scent. I'm very glad I tried a decant though, as my Crimson Peak experience would be incomplete without having done so.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Ink dominant. It really does smell like ink on paper. The leather blends well with the pages. This is the perfect old book scent. Wet: Richer and more nuanced on the skin, still ink and paper dominant. Dry: Leather and the ghost of ink.

[PrinceofcatS]

I didn't buy this when I was buying Crimson Peak scents because only one of the reviews I read sounded appealing, and I thought it was a fluke of that person's skin chemistry! But, no! I bought a decant of this, and I didn't even want to, because I have All That I Possess and I was like, do I really need a second leather scent, really? I'll never wear it! But a decant seemed like just the right amount. Oh, I am KICKING myself because I have no idea if I'll be able to afford another large purchase from the lab and I was waiting for the Lupercalia update before I made any plans and I'm planning a trip out to visit a friend of mine, etc etc etc... but I have to get a bottle of this, it's imperative.

 

This is exactly what I think Edith's signature scent should have been like - maybe a bit creamier, maybe a bit sweeter, but this is it.

 

Wet in the bottle it's an incredible, effervescent wet green scent, beautiful as can be, which makes no sense, right? I put it on and the green scent becomes freaking INK. This sweet, chilly, green scent that is completely recognizeable as ink.

 

I could not believe it; it functions exactly as a pretty floral would on me but it's not a floral at all. It lingered, this strong, black-and-swirls-of-blue chilly ink note, for half and hour to an hour before it consented to let some other notes come forth, while maintaining its dominion over them all. First an almost creamy parchment smell came out - not quite vanillin, but definitely yellow paper - and then, proportionate to the parchment as the binding would be to a big thick stack of paper, a hint of sweet, powdery leather comes out. This is the same leather note as was in All That I Possess, but it's fainter here, adding nuance and soft loveliness to the dry crisp paper and that wet, sweet ink. (I haven't tried any of the leather blends in the GC so I can't tell you if it's the same as anything there - but it's not a hard and masculine leather that reminds me of a Western, as I've tried in department store perfume blends. It's like a soft, worn leather that reminds me of very well-used clothing - in this case, a lady's gloves, or, you know, the binding of her personal novel.)

 

I really want to reiterate that this is mostly ink, and that the ink is like a beautiful wet flower note (my favorite kind of floral), but is, I remember from my days of trying to write with a fountain pen, most definitely ink through and through, and that it's goooorgeous.

 

This has immediately become one of my favorite scents of the Crimson Peak collection. It's not the tragic, dusty black flowers of Lucille or the bright ballroom amber of Fairytales, but it's also something I picture myself wearing more than I wear either of those. And it's the only one I got as a decant! I'm gnashing my teeth. I must have it before it goes or I will never forgive myself.

[unxolve]

Wet it's a fresh slap of leather and ink, fuck, it is so, so good.

Whoever said cucumber/melon, there is just this very hint of green and I think that's dead on. But then from it wafts this black, beautiful ink and hidebound leather. In other blends, the leather kills it, but with the Manuscript it comes in rolling waves. I smell it once, it's ink. I smell again, the soft back of a book.

 

This is the best. This is the super best. I'm rolling in it like catnip.

 

Dry it settles into a vanilla-green beautifully blended thing. That almost reminds me of?? Tea?? And then it's green, green, green, green, like ectoplasm melon just dragged itself right up from the pages.

Edited February 13, 2016 by unxolve

[doomsday_disco]

Thanks to Absinthetics for raffling this imp, which she received at one of the movie screenings!

 

In the imp: Black leather like whoa, with a hint of the ghostly chill mentioned in the description.

 

Wet: Smooth, worn black leather, followed by the ghostly chill, which is more prominent on my skin than it was in the imp. Perhaps it is due to white mint? I know I've smelled the note before, but it's difficult to place at the moment.

 

Dry: The leather note has calmed down, I can still smell that ghostly chill, and I can finally smell the pages of the book!

 

Verdict: I'm pleasantly surprised by this one. I am usually not one for leather-dominant scents (unless the scent contains a sweet note), and this one is still too strong on the leather for me, but the chilly note actually goes well with the leather. Since I don't see myself reaching for this one often enough, I'm going pass it onto a friend who enjoys leather and cold notes.

Edited February 15, 2016 by dementia_divine

[FeralFae]

This is very evocative and probably one of the creepiest scents I've ever tried from bpal. On the bottle it's an overwhelming leather scent with a SCREETCH of the ghostly chill note that makes me feel sort of uneasy about this. Once it dries down, it's not so much that it changes, but i can begin to smell both the ink and the paper a bit more. On me it has a huge throw, I can smell it with my wrist completely away from me even when dry.

 

This is sort of perfect, actually, once it dries down. It smells exactly like a creepy, newly written manuscript. I'm going to try to layer it with Edith once she arrives, because as a reviewer said before, this seems like the perfect Edith scent.

[HerbGirl]

Soft leather, paper/ink and fresh, cold air. This is fantastic.

[Roogna]

ink heavy! and I agree with those above - cucumber/melon

I get a beautiful leather too but underneath and not in every sniff mostly it's the cucumber melon then the ink

I confused and a bit sad the leather isn't more dominant, but it is an interesting blend - just not right for me

[Cali]

Definately as the description says. A story with a ghost in it. It's really like the dusty, antique smell of walking through an old manor/castle. Thick but smooth leather, inks and sturdy paper. Unfortunately my skin turns this into stale cake, but it's awesomely spooky!!!

[iskhavin]

Menacing, meaty black leather and ink. A hint of something citrusy peeking through - is that the "ghostly chill"? This one is definitely spooky.

[bulletslc]

Dusty leather with the sweetness of parchment. And a hint of chill. Very wearable!

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Ick. It smells like chemicals. I have The Book (ParaNorman) on my other arm, and the contrast is interesting. The Book is warm and comforting, this is cold and jarring. I don't like it so far. I think maybe it's the ink note I am really disliking. Not pleasant on me.

 

 

Dry: Chemicals. Not for me!

[Lucchesa]

I keep trying the Lab's manuscript/library scents (The Book x2, Buggre All This Bible, etc) and keep being disappointed by how instantly they disappear on my skin, if they ever bother to turn up at all. But hope springs eternal, and I am stubborn. And my persistence is finally repaid in The Manuscript. Not only does it stick around, but it has some throw, which I hardly ever get with my skin chemistry. Soft brown leather, a little dusty, ink and paper, and that ineffable chilly note that may be what anchors this to my skin. I love this -- I'm so delighted I got the opportunity to try it!