The Hellish Tattoo of The Heart

[zankoku_zen]

But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eve. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man’s terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment! — do you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am.

Blood musk and pulsating black pepper, a throb of bitter almond, and cracked pimento.

Blood musk, spiked with almond and pepper. This is a peppery musky blend that I can see being well in the Ars Draconis line. Red, dirty, musky. Good throw and wear length.

[vonham]

Ah, this is my first review! I'm relatively new to BPAL and so when I saw there weren't many reviews for this I decided to add my own!

 

Out of the bottle: almond. I definitely smell the almond quite sharply out of the bottle and it made me wary

 

Wet: PEPPER! I really like pepper scents which is why I got this one. I still smell the bitter almond and I think it works really well together with the pepper. Wet it is borderline foody (kind of like red hots), but the musk really balances it out. Some musks turn to baby powder on me (I think like "white musk" and "skin musk" for bpal) but not this! I wonder if it's similar to the red musk that's in Wanda for example, because it does smell similar to me, and works on my skin like Wanda does. Because of the pepper though (I think?) , this scent does irritate my skin mildly, but I have ridiculously sensitive skin and I just deal with it because it's so lovely.

 

Dry: pepper! Dry the blood musk kind of ceases to do it's mellowing out work on me, and I get straight up pepper. I kinda like that, though. Also, when I sweat and stuff the musk sort of comes back to life.

 

Throw and wear length: The throw on this is incredible! I have very dry skin and so very few scents have good throw or wear time on me (sad face), but this one is amazing! It also lasts incredibly long on me. It's one of those scents that kind of just fluctuates with my body chemistry.

 

Anyways, I really really love this scent and it is competing with Wanda to be my new go-to. I'm definitely going to restock as much as possible before it gets taken off.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Dear lord I love red musk, and this does not disappoint!! Deep, dark, sexy red musk, with a big dose of sweetness from the almond (man is that ever a great combo of notes!!) and a healthy kick of spice from the pepper. Those who loved the Soldier would also love this I think (the Soldier is a red musk fave of mine). Oh ya, this is hoard worthy.

 

 

Dry: EVEN BETTER. It's sweet and spicy and musky and just utter YUM. Getting a bottle. Or several. Decent throw. Good strength, but not "knock you over the head" red musk. It's basically perfect.

[Convallaria]

Musky almond, more bitter at the opening, mellows down soon after. I got this for the black pepper note, but I barely feel any - only if I press my nose to the skin and take a deep sniff, and even then I doubt I would have spotted it if I hadn't known it was there. Lab pepper tends to be a no-show on me, I only really got it in Old Demons of the First Class' spice mix and a whiff or two in Ifrit. This actually reminds me of Old Demons of the First Class, but less aggressive and "masculine" perfume-like (though I'd say it's still very much unisex), with the sweetness of almond tempering the spices. The drydown is sweet, slightly spicy, musk. Long-lasting.