Shadow

[Franny]

“How the hell did you find me here?” he asked his dead wife.

She shook her head slowly, amused. “You shine like a beacon in a dark world,” she told him. “It wasn’t that hard…”

Grey oudh and bay rum luminous with amber.

This is what Shadow's skin would smell like if you hugged him and smelled his neck. It's sexy. This has bumped up to the top of my list, already a favorite. I can smell all three notes but they blend together so well. Nothing here is overpowering, they just meld together.

[zankoku_zen]

This is more subtle and watery than I expected. I get oudh, amber, and a whish of bay rum. It's clean, masculine, and smells good. Like this is a good person sort of good. My skin just eats this up though. Low throw and wear length.

[galahad]

In the Bottle:

Fragrant parchment

On the Skin:

The bay rum is restrained leaving the amber and oudh to play so nicely together and just adding a spike over the low rumbling resins. This is a soft, cuddly scent and has a warm elegence.

On the Drydown:

Has very little throw hovering just above the skin. I had very high expectations of Shadow and mostly it doesn't disappoint. It is understated, warm and refined. A plastic vibe does waft in and out which I am hoping will fade with age. I like.

[whisperstilled]

If you had told me Shadow would be a soft, very low throw scent, I wouldn't have believed you. Nevertheless, here we are! I was expecting something more in line with Alan McMichael, but what I got was a smokey, light bay rum scent with just a touch of amber. Absolutely sexy guy cologne all the way, and just a little sweet. I just wish it was stronger!

[Dark Alice]

This is what I wanted Coin trick to smell like..and I like coin trick. Shadow smells of gorgeous amber, grey oude with the barest hint of metal. Coin metal. I love it. So glad I have a full bottle coming...

[sarandipitee]

I didn't like Alan McMichael but I adore this.

 

I think this is the only bay rum note I've ever been able to wear. It's close to the skin and even though the rum and Amber are warm there's this cool, silvery vibe from the oudh. Shadow-like.

 

Very happy to have a bottle. I wish that my other half liked perfume oil because I would love to snuggle up and smell this on his skin.

Even though it's masculine I feel good wearing it.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Wow. This is gorgeous amber on me. Sweet, rich. A little perfumey. Not getting the other notes at all, which I am kind of OK with, because I love this amber note SO MUCH. It's perfect. Almost a little musky? I was expecting this to be masculine from the bay rum or smell like poo from the oudh (oudh hates me), but instead I am getting sweet, glorious amber. Pretty happy about the whole thing, and wishing I had just ordered a bottle. Amber is one of my favourite notes.

 

 

Dry: Sweet amber, and still that hint of muskiness which I am loving (no clue where it comes from though.) Just a hint of rum. No stinky oudh. This is awesome, need a bottle!

[Little Bird]

I'm going to have to get a full bottle of Shadow. I love the sweet, spicy, rich, clove scent of bay rum, and the amber in this is warm, toasty and not as powdery as bpal's ambers usually are to my nose. Sweet and spicy, but mellow and easy to wear. I was afraid of the oud, because bpal's oud notes tend to be odd and fecal smelling to me, but I'm not getting any dirtiness or oud from this.

 

Smells like thick vanilla, sweet clove, and sandy, dry amber.

[Jenjin]

This must be crafted from the finest of components, because it is richly divine. Just after application, the delicious bay rum and opulent amber appear first, with something I can only describe as smelling "charcoal grey" from the oudh that grounds the sweetness. Seductive and addictive, it finishes with a caramelized vanilla sugar cozy smell that warms me all over, like nuzzling with lover by the fireplace. Please have your way with me sexy Shadow.

[happygoth]

I adore this. I'm not normally one to like masculine scents, but the amber warms the bay rum so nicely, and the oudh gives it such a lovely little sharpness, it almost smells like clove? I dunno, there's a spiciness to it that I can't quite put my finger on.

 

Part of what may make this palatable to me over other bay rum scents (Alan McMichael, for example), is that this has such a low throw that it's not overpowering. Maybe it's the amber? I don't know, whatever it is, it really works.

 

I think I'm in love. May have to buy a backup.

[Janel Kisner]

Hmmm, I must be the outlier here because I do not like this one. It does have a soft spicy, masculine scent which must be the bay rum and amber. However, I also smell a tiny bit of feces in the background. I tried to give it time to change in the hope that it would go away, but I had to remove it within 30 minutes. Am I the only one? I'm glad that I only got a decant of this. My decant is going into the swap pile.

[Casablanca]

I was going to skip this one, changed my mind based on reviews, and am glad.

 

Fresh on my skin, Shadow is a sleek blend of clove-spiced, ambery, woody bay rum over a dark cologne musk. More often than not, I don’t like cologne musk smells — but I like it here. That part starts on the strong side, but mellows quickly into a contributing dark smoothness.

 

The spiced bay rum is exotic and, in this blend, somehow comforting; the oudh is a nice woody oudh without the fecal tones I got from Bestla and Nevertheless, She Persisted. As a bonus, this isn’t like anything else I have.

 

I like it.

[milo]

This is a luminous amber as described. It is slightly spicy and suits the character superbly. This is amazing now, and I can't wait until it has some age behind him. I too, was going to skip this fella, due to oude generally being a stomping bitch on me, but so glad I didn't based on reviews.

Edited July 5, 2017 by milo

[dixiehellcat]

I'm getting nothing masculine on my skin from this! it's a spicy amber with the rich oudh backing it up. Can't smell the bay rum at all. I got a decant just to smell it, I knew for a fact this was the one AG I would not want to wear, and for crying out loud, it's the only one I love! geez Beth. lol.

[rawgirl75]

Shadow is REALLY good. I don't know why, but this reminds me of a very simplified Hellhound On My Trail. Hellhound had a note that was very problematic for me (either the galangal, hyssop, or High John the Conqueror root), but this is just perfect! I also think fans Frederic or Plunder might like it too.

[Lunasariel]

In the imp: A light, elegant, sexy cologne. The amber (a light, summer-weight amber, like in Lyonesse) is most prominent, followed by oudh and bay rum, mostly in that order. The bay rum, too, is lighter and breezier than I'm used to. But on a summer day like this, I'm grateful.

 

Wet: Ooh. Ooooooh. This scent opens like a flower (although decidedly not a floral) to become deeper, richer, and headier, but still essentially itself. I almost want to say there's ambergris in here, as it's doing that "your skin but better" thing that ambergris does on me. All the elements are still there, and in roughly the same proportion, but this is more of a summer night perfume than a summer day perfume, if you know what I mean. Still refined and subtle enough to wear to work, but this is definitely date night-appropriate.

 

Dry: If ITI was a summer day and wet was a summer night, date night, this is after-dinner drinks and dessert at his place. It settles in and becomes, as galahad says, downright cuddly, while still being extremely sexy. The bay rum warms up, becoming more distinctly boozy and sugary, and develops a slinky, sexy aspect. The amber (and what I still swear is ambergris) become almost vanillic. Right now, it reminds me of Haunted - a soft, spicy, musky amber. But while Haunted is unisex, this leans distinctly masculine.

 

I'm not sure this is quite Shadow - it's a little too suave and debonair for how I imagine him - but it is a damn sexy masculine scent!

[fundercat55]

Warm amber, a bit of spice from the Bay Rum, and a bit of sharp oudh. Sexy, clean, softly spicy, and wears close to the skin. This is exactly what you want someone you find attractive to smell like when they hug you close. I cannot stop huffing myself when I wear this one. I don't find it overly masculine, but I do file it under "sexy man scents" in my mind.

My only complaint with this one is that it is sooooo low throw that I feel like I practically need to bathe in it. Medium wear length.

[lilyluxe]

This is a really sexy, smooth blend. I think that it suits Shadow perfectly, and I totally believe he could smell like this. If it were a color, it'd be brushed steel.

 

It's a delicate, sweet scent where the simplicity of the notes plays to its advantage. I am not a drinker and have no experience with the smell of bay rum, but this doesn't come off as alcohol smelling in general imo. The amber is the slightist bit smoky and spicy, as well as vanillic.

 

It's very delicately spiced, and I suppose it is masculine, but my opinion is biased because I am a woman who tends to love masculine scents and can't tell the difference. It doesn't smell like Old Spice or anything, that's for sure!!

[theredkilt]

Shadow echoes, to my nose, The Lion (GC Collection). It starts out so nice and the bay rum adds an interesting layer, but 30 minutes later the scent disappears entirely from my skin. 

 

[Madame Mew]

In the bottle, I get clove and oudh. On the skin, it becomes a sweet clove and musky amber. I tend to amp clove on th skin, so I don’t get a cologne feel here as I think the clove is dominating the rest. It’s really gorgeous and I think it leans masculine but is easily gender neutral, bouncing between a muted brown-based grey feel in my minds eye. 

[skyturtles]

I have an aged imp. Wet on my skin, the oudh soars with a halo of amber - there is just the barest hint of bay rum, which is more herbal than sweet, but not so much that it's medicinal. It is indeed masculine, but I could also argue for unisex. A bit too woodsy for my everyday wear, but I still enjoy it. It reminds me of the warm wood of a Minnesota log cabin.