Her Strong Enchantments Failing

[Hattress]

Her strong enchantments failing,
Her towers of fear in wreck,
Her limbecks dried of poisons
And the knife at her neck,
The Queen of air and darkness
Begins to shrill and cry,
"O young man, O my slayer,
To-morrow you shall die."
O Queen of air and darkness,
I think 'tis truth you say,
And I shall die tomorrow;
But you will die to-day.

- AE Houseman

A final confrontation, alight with black fire and poisonous smoke: incense and bruise-purple toxins, a tangle of thorny blackberries, and pale rage.

I'm still not great at describing scents, so bear with me on this.

In the bottle: My first thought was that this smells an awful lot like Lamia to me, but chillier and lighter. I don't for the life of me know why, though. maybe the 'pale rage' is Lamia's 'pale orchid' note or something, because I do get a vaguely floral sense from this blend (but maybe that's just the way the blackberries are playing in this one).

Wet: Same as in the bottle. The only thing my brain can say is "this reminds me of Lamia, but it's not as dark".

Dry down: I think I'm getting a hint of the blackberries, creeping around the edges of things. Overall, it's striking me as a light incense (and I mean light--most incense notes I've run into with BPAL make me feel ill, but this one doesn't) with a shade of sweet/floral. There's...something else there, too--whatever the "bruise-purple toxins" are, maybe? It's a little like A Brilliant and Ruby Colored Fluid in that I can tell there's something, but I really can't pinpoint what it is.

For anyone who's like me and is wary of this scent because of the mention of "black fire and poisonous smoke", don't worry. I don't get anything smoke or burnt-smelling out of this blend.


Overall, I feel like this blend really matches its name. This is the Evil Queen at her weakest moment--there are shades of what she used to be, the danger she used to pose, but they're fading. The incense doesn't knock you down, because she's the one who's falling. And she's pissed about it, but she's past the point where she can really do anything about it.

 

EDIT: Oh, and since I forgot to mention: there's pretty good throw with this one; I get a strong whiff of the scent every time I move my arm. And so far I've been wearing it for about 2.5 hours, and it's not showing any sign of fading. This is probably a scent that I'll have to be careful with (again, oddly similar to Lamia this way), because a drop too much might be enough to push this over the edge and into "all of my coworkers can smell me coming down the hall" territory)

Edited October 6, 2016 by Hattress

[Dark Alice]

Wet: Every note is here and it is glorious. Dry: Grape bubblegum. I was sad. B/c this was going to be an instabuy, thankfully I got to try it at NYCC.

[VelvetSky]

I ordered this one because of the "thorny blackberries", and it certainly delivers. On my skin, HSEF stays pretty linear from top to bottom, with the sharp, fruity berries mixing with a dry, woody incense. I expected more fire and smoke, but that's all pretty subtle. More of a warm, smoky aura than individual notes that you can pick out.

 

As the perfume develops, I'm getting an herbal, sweet soapiness mixing beautifully with the jammy blackberries. No bubblegum in the final phase for me, thankfully, but definitely soap.

 

Blackberries is the star here. Thumbs up!

[annemathematics]

Leading on me is a bright fruit note that feels clean and very purple. Slightly blackberry but also very concord grape. Intertwined with said purple fruit note is something like a wine note. Not boozy, but rich and a little tangy/fermented. All this over incense smoke (more myrrh than champa on me).

 

It's nice. When this first landed, the fruit was so bright and sweet that it felt more candy-foodie than what I generally wear, but it's settled into something darker and intriguing that makes it a keeper for me.

[LizziesLuck]

This is the last of my blind-bottle Weenies I have left to try - I am a little leery, based on other reviews, and the scent in the bottle. I haven't had great luck with my blind bottles this year.

 

 

Wet: Grape cough syrup (which I always rather liked) transitioning into grape candy, with hints of smoke coming through. This is not BPAL's typical blackberry note that I love so much, it has none of the tartness of blackberry. The "bruised purple toxins" must equal grape. The incense note in there is to die for, if the grape candy would just settle a bit, this would be glorious.

 

 

Dry: This gets a bit darker, less candy sweet Still very rich purple fruit, almost syrupy. Still more grape than blackberry to me, but much less artificial smelling now. If you like sweet, fruity scent with just a hint of incense, I bet you would love this. As for me - the jury is still out. I think I'll let it settle a couple of weeks and try it again before I decide.

[Coldfire]

Decant: purple. it smells like purple. a combo of purple flowers and fruits
Wet on me: smoke and purple
Drying Down: definitely getting a sinister type note. that toxin over the sweet purple. More purple fruit than flower now.
Dry: dries to a soft fruity purple incense. lovely.

[patina]

I'm getting a delicate, pale purple from this scent. A berry/grape incense store kind of scent with occasional rare flashes of what I'm guessing is belladonna or nightshade berry accord. Something that smells dark purple and toxic anyway. It's glorious.

 

Too bad it does a fading act.

[Aviatrix]

I think I have come to realize that I and incense don't get along very well.

The same thing that happened with Virgin and the Unicorn has happened here: the incense is overwhelming and a little sour, drowning out the other notes

I am getting a bit of the sweetness of blackberries, and something vaguely floral, but sadly it's mostly incense, incense, incense on me.

 

Throw is good, and staying power is good too.

[zankoku_zen]

Incense, blackberries, and a touch of orchid. .... Morgause, is that you? Because you smell regal and purple and incensey, and you changed your seasonal fruit from plums to blackberries, but its all with keeping in that purple fruit theme, so not really a deviation for you, is it? Strong throw and wear length.

 

So if you were looking for a blackberry version of Morgause, or Morgause didn't work for you because of the plum or you wanted her to be less flowery, here's something to try out.

 

All you witchy ladies that like to smell regal and powerful, this one is for you.

[thekittenkat]

In the bottle: A little incense, backed by those thorny blackberries that seem more like the lovely grape scent of wisteria. Perhaps a slight whiff of smoke.

 

Wet: A purple incense kicks into high gear!

 

The dry-down: The blackberries come back to the forefront, their sweetness subdued by that incense, a touch of smoke, and a gentle green floral note.

 

A lovely spring scent, but could be worn year-round.

Edited February 6, 2017 by thekittenkat

[whisperstilled]

Wet: Strong sweet blackberries and incense, something dirty and smoky. Blackberry candy and something medicinal that must be the toxins. Maybe a floral?

 

Dry: The blackberries are so sweet they remind me of pie. As it dries down I get more of a headshop incense thing, pretty similar to Nevar, actually, which I currently have on my other arm - incense, smoke, and something dirty. I bought this scent for the poetry, so I'll hang onto it for a bit and see how it ages.

[lady_pandora]

Her Strong Enchantments Failing starts out grape gum, and then shifts to a less gummy grape combined with an incense note I last smelled in 7 Word Love Story: Lust and something "clean perfumey." I think it's white musk representing the "pale rage"--I know Beth likes that kind of scent pun. I can see the comparison to Morgause, though Morgause gets jasminey in the later stages on me while this doesn't have jasmine. It's mostly a purple fruit/incense/I-think-white-musk blend.

 

And the morning after I tried it on, it was AMAZING. I have no idea what magic happened to this when I was sleeping, but it went from "This is a nice scent" to "HOMG." Definite keeper. Might be nice for when I want to jump somebody and then jump him again in the morning.

[piratemoon]

When I first wore this last year, I was put off because it immediately turned into cat piss.

 

I’ve barely worn it all year.

 

I came back to it and tried it today. OMFG.

 

Wet: It’s a misty purple scent, and the note I think was the cat piss is now simply an edge of musky smoke. There’s something almost boozy about this - a heady cherry wine, or the aftermath of a party covered with patchouli so your mother doesn’t smell what’s been smoked. This is slowly turning grassy and green.

 

Dry: Lilac leaf powder. A combination of powdered sencha tea and Parma Violets (mind, everything smells of Parma Violets to me). So green and yet so spooky. This is not a daytime fresh field scent. This is graveyard grass on a frosty November night; grass that crackles and breaks, alongside the out-of-season petals fallen from the grave offerings.

 

This is utterly glorious. It’s beautiful. I think I’m almost high on it. What a difference a year makes

[mistressfizz]

Mmmm, this has aged well. It starts off as grape incense, sweet, bold, bright. The incense holds it back from being too full of fruit. As it dries, it becomes more dusty, until it feels like a red musk tinged with deep purple. It loses some of the sweetness and brightness, replaced by a deeper, darker haze. It's really gorgeous and has become one of favorite scents on rotation!

[Lucchesa]

Her Strong Enchantments Failing does smell like a fey scent.  (Perfect for reading War of the Oaks with the BPAL bookclub!)  Wet, it's purple fruit and smoky incense.  I am perpetually in search of a blackberry that doesn't go all berry candy on my skin, and unfortunately this isn't quite it, because it goes through a phase which is pure berry Bubbalicious.  But the drydown is worth it.  The sweetness recedes and the blackberry gets entangled in the incense -- it's not a vetiver smoke or anything acrid.  It's a pale, dry incense, not a nag champa.  The effect is dark and light at the same time, earthy and ethereal.  I'm going to try this in my scent locket to see if I can avoid the berry bubblegum phase.