Orpheus Charming Animals

[Dark Alice]

Dark myrrh, teakwood, olive blossom, a scattering of crushed asphodel petals, and a drop of green cognac.

This is such a clean, woody scent. The olive blossom, asphodel, and cognac are the front winners while it's wet. As it dries, the teak wood starts to peek out to say hello, but only subtly. This would smell amazing on my husband. Such a lovely, subtle manly scent.

[Little Bird]

Starts off as powdery, cool, clean flowers over a subtle, clean men's cologne smell and dry wood. This is also strangely almost minty smelling on my skin.
Orpheus doesn't really smell anything like what I was expecting. It's watery and clean cologne, but with dry wood, and a hint of smoky incense and creamy, powdery blossoms in the drydown. Light, subtle, clean, both warm and cool, and hard to pick out the individual notes...
Dry, warm wood with a bit of smoke, but also a clean edge to it... cologne-like, but powdery.

Edited August 19, 2016 by Little Bird

[zankoku_zen]

Myrrh, teak, asphodel and cognac. This one is a warm-cool blend. Both the asphodel and cognac bring a splash of cool, but the base is this warm myrrh and teakwood blend. Gender neutral. Good throw and wear length.

[Elspethdixon]

In the imp - cool, cologne-y sort of scent

Wet - Sweet/cool teak and cognac. Something in this smells cool and almost minty (the oil even felt tingly/cool on my skin in the same way as mint). There's a hint of something unpleasantly musty, similar to the fusty/sour/musty wet stage of some honey blends.

Dry - By ten minutes in, the mustiness has faded away, just as it usually does with honey notes, and the minty/herbal element has also gone, leaving smooth/sweet/warm teak accompanied by something clean and cool and by something else which reads to my nose as fruity honey but which is probably the cognac (which doesn't smell boozey at all). This is one of my favorite Unicorn blends so far. I can see how it reads as masculine to other people, but on me it's very sweet and gentle, like a cooler, fainter, less sweet Antikythera Mechanism without the tobacco/vanilla, or like The Gift from this year's Lupers but with less honey.

It doesn't morph much after this point, though by the one hour mark it began to fade down to a skin scent and the smooth/cool teak has become warmer and softer/fuzzier. I don't get much myrrh, except for one spot on my left wrist where it smells warm/dry and incense-y (my right arm and the rest of my left forearm are all soft, warm/cool wood). I would swear there was either amber or honey in this based on the warm/powdery finish of the drydown, though neither are listed in the notes.

Like all the Unicorn blends I've tested so far, Orpheus has very light/limited throw. Good wear length for something so light, though - it faded to a faint nose-to-your-wrists skin scent after about two hours, but that skin scent stage lasts a while. Six hours after application, I can still catches traces of it if I press my nose to the skin of my wrists.

[VetchVesper]

The most prominent note in this to/on me is the cognac. I've smelled it in other blends, but never so forward. It gives Orpheus a very masculine, cologne edge which I find very nice. The wood almost smells like tobacco to me and there's something very soft and faint in the background that smells like herbal mint. The cologne smell balances more with the wood and herbal notes as this dries down. I'm not familiar with all these notes b/I like this a lot. It smells somehow classic yet unusual. I will be needing my husband for further experimentation.

[AernJardos]

Orpheus smells almost exactly like the old recipe for Paloma Picasso on me. It's a dark smooth forestrial floral, not a sharp pink girly floral, but a seductive rich brown floral. It glides across the nose like satin. The myrrh definitely lends a warmth which the teak embraces whole-heartedly. The asphodel dallies in and out, weaving the breath of flowers without subjugating the rich woods. The cognac lends an intoxicating depth to the mix. A femme fatale from the 1920's wears this while on the prowl.

 

Orpheus Charming the Animals holds true for me the entire time, from first application to 7+ hours later. It simply does not change, other than a teeny bit more mellow after the first 5 minutes. Orpheus has a medium throw, I can smell it about four inches from my wrist. I apply this a little lighter than some of the other BPAL perfumes, although not quite as lightly as Inutterable Horror. I ordered a bottle the day it came out and am absolutely thrilled that I did, 5/5 stars. One of my new favorites.

[theseagrows]

i smell mostly asphodel, i think. it's a medium strength floral with something greenish, i'm guessing cognac. i have really loved some olive blossom scents from the lab, so that's why i was drawn to this primarily. after awhile i get some myrrh and woods but this smells pretty soapy on me overall so far. the asphodel continues to morph into that sort of rotten floral scent. this is just too strong/soapy on me, unfortunately.

[Lucchesa]

Wet, Orpheus Charming Animals is a lot of woody myrrh with some non-traditional florals, but as it dries down the cognac note becomes more and more prominent.  It really does give the feeling of green cognac, which is a cooler variant of the usual warm brown liquor.  Olive blossom can go soapy on me but does no such thing here.  This actually works better on me than I had expected -- it doesn't read as floral after the first few minutes but as a smooth, mellow, perfectly unisex cologne. No throw (normal for my skin) and average wear length.  

 

ETA the painting was restored recently:  

Edited May 27, 2020 by Lucchesa

[Lecter]

Green and a bit alcoholic? Definitely forest-esque. More masculine leaning