Daruma Doll

[OctoberGwen]

Red musk and almond husk with sweet fig, Bulgarian rose absolute, blood orange rind, and green cognac.

Oh, this is lovely, and it reminds me of another BPAL blend but I can't put my finger on it. If I think of it, I'll come back and edit.

I happen to looooove red musk, and it loves me, but if you are afraid of it then Daruma Doll is one you may want to try. The red musk is subdued and blends quite beautifully with the fig (normally a note I dislike), almond husk, and Bulgarian rose (one of my favorite roses.) The blood orange rind is just a whisper, lifting things up a little bit, and right now I'm not getting the cognac but this bottle is only a day out of the mailbox and I expect it to show up with a bit of settling.

I love this blend and will almost certainly put it into regular rotation.

[Little Bird]

Daruma Doll is mostly red musk on my skin - warm, sultry, slinky, almost fruity-wine-like musk. The blood orange gives it a bit of a bright, fruity, citrus twang and there's a hint of woody fig and red rose. The drydown is all red musk on my skin with a hint of blood orange, but my skin amps up musk notes.
I like this well enough, but I already own a lot of red musk heavy blends, so I'm not sure if this is one that I'll be keeping.

[Haltija]

Mainly a gorgeous fruity red musk with a touch of rose. I don't get any almond and that's great because usually almond can turn blends really weird on me. The rose is faint and just makes it a touch floral.

 

I love red musk so this is a total winner on me and I think I may need more.

[Casablanca]

Bottle: Sweet cherry wine-like musk and almond.

 

Wet: Strong musk, fig, warm summer cordials: cognac and amaretto. The almond is somehow boozy for me. The mix is sweet and bold and cherry red.

 

Dry: Red candied fig.

 

Later: By four hours of wear it had turned to a powdery vanilla on me.

 

I’d like to get more blood orange in this. For me, the blend is just too red and heavy, and I think I want more citrus... or something that lifts. I might add the blood orange oil I have to a sample and see what happens.

[freyasfae]

I got this from a Lupers decant circle. I thought the description was just too intriguing not to try!

 

Like Casablanca, the almond is boozy on me, which may be the cognac, but it reads more like amaretto on me. Considering that I usually dislike anything almond, this is a very pretty scent like all the Lupers have been. I, too, want more citrus pop from it, and the rose is very subtle. I will probably put this in my sale/swap pile, but I am glad I got to try this interesting and complex concoction!

 

Also, like OctoberGwen said, this is a good initiation into red musk. So far, I have been iffy about it, but with this one, I think I could find one I really like if it is combined with some of my favorite notes.

[LizziesLuck]

I will admit to being concerned about the orange rind in this - citrus is so iffy on me. But I had to try this anyway because red musk!

 

 

Wet: Wow, this is lovely and compelling and really well blended and I like it the instant it's on. There is a lot of orange to it, but it's not yet turned to awful powdered orange cleaner as it sometimes does. The rose is coming through, a very sweet rose. This whole blend has a very sweet, thick, almost syrupy vibe to it. I like it!

 

 

Dry: The sweetness in this amps to high heaven as it dries, and it becomes a bit sickly on me (I think the almond is the issue?). The red musk is not dominant as I had hoped, and the orange, though it has faded to the background, has gotten rather powdery. I think there is potential for this to be amazing on someone else's skin!

[VetchVesper]

This is all almond and rose on me at first, very sweet and syrupy. After a bit, the fig starts to come out, and during dry down I get lots of red musk, but I never get the orange or the cognac, which I was pretty interested in. This is a very nice, sweet rose though, where as sometimes rose goes sour on me.

I think almond fans might really like this one. It's sort of Hecate meets Hedeylogos.

 

 

Edit: This has really come into it's own with a bit of aging. The red musk is much smoother and lends a lot more of a resinous vibe to this, and the almond and rose have blended with it to be a truly lovely, rich scent. Probably would have considered a bottle if it had smelled like this originally. Ah well. I shall enjoy my decant.

Edited August 7, 2016 by VetchVesper

[Merrou]

First actual post on the forums and I'm surprised there are only six (now seven) reviews for this scent because It's beyond amazing. So let's get started

 

Bottle: This smells like a dessert liqueur in the bottle. I can pick up the sweet fig and the almond makes it almost like amaretto without being straight-out boozy.

Wet: The rose springs to the forefront and mixes in with the rest transforming the scent into something like rosewater or lebanese tea.

Dry: Everything mellows out and settles into an amazing scent that's blended so well it's difficult for me to pick out any single note. It's sweet and floral, but not cloying with excellent throw. I've been getting compliments on the smell all morning which is a first. Definitely going to be wearing this one a lot.

[Teamama]

Third test of my decant, and I reluctantly have to admit DD is not for me. My skin chemistry just does not play nice.

 

In the vial: almonds and sweet musk, and a hint of citrus. Nice!

Freshly applied to my skin, for about a minute: complex red musk and roses, and a little leather (?) Not a lot of citrus, and no almond.

And then: RED MUSK, BABY! It's all over. Red Musk had a couple of drinks too many, and has started doing a combination trombone solo / striptease that's making rose and blood orange and almond slide down in their seats and hope nobody knows that they came with Red Musk.

[yakiguri]

Daruma Doll starts off as juicy HAYYY RED MUSK as all red musk blends too, but quickly the almond and fig seeps in. I don't really get the blood orange (unless that's juiciness when the blend is wet), rose, or cognac.

 

Hoping more aging will make this a bit more interesting. It's nice, but doesn't really stand out among my other red musk blends.

[zankoku_zen]

Soft red musk, red rose, and cognac with a hint of almond. Actually, this is a heady, boozy musky blend. Very soft and sophisticated red rose blend. Great throw and wearlength, as all thing roses.

Edited May 2, 2016 by zankoku_zen