Narr

[Casablanca]

The affable fool who uses his own obtuseness and ignorance to his advantage: milk, honey, and wild fig with ambrette seed and almond buttercream.

Narr opens thick and rich and sweet.

It's a buttercreamy milk, heavy with almond and honeyed fig -- that's about the order of strength of the notes on my skin.

At first, the ambrette is just darkening the blend a bit, its nuttiness blending into the almond. But in drydown, after the initial honey cream rush (which was pretty heady stuff), the ambrette comes into its own on my skin, building its nutty sort of musk. It reminds me a little of the ambrette in Fortuna Primigenia, which was kind of ambergris-like to me, but here it's mingling closely with almond and harder to separate.

The buttercream milk and honey settle down surprisingly fast. What begins as omghoneycreamheartattack quickly mellows on my skin into a nutty, sweet ambrette with creamy and figgy qualities.

[follis]

Bottle: Super rich, warm vanilla fig cake. There's something like citrus on my nose.

On: Sweet, nutty, warm

Dry: Super sweet milk-- I know it sounds strange but it makes me think of warm milk with lots of honey. I'm getting a lot of sweetness on me.

30 Mins: A little less sweet, more nutty. Definitely getting some sort of buttercream here and still a very warm scent with that citrus musk note again.

Much later: The ambrette seed comes through and lingers at the end, which on my skin and nose, to me smells like nutty, citrus musk. It's not unpleasant but I don't know if it's for me.

 

I think this would make a lovely winter scent. Honestly I am really pleased to have a foody Fool scent and the lingering ambrette note works well to stop it from being cloying and too sweet for too long. Worth a shot if you like sweet food scents.

[Juliamon]

In the imp: I'm mostly picking up the honey, fig, and almond. More almond that expected. Smells like a gooey honey-coated dessert.

 

Wet: MUCH more almond than expected. I haven't tried a blend with almond before and it must have been instinct warning me I would amp it. Either that or the ambrette is amping it. No milk and the fig is doing little more than add sweetness to the almond, making it unpleasantly cloying.

 

Dry: The honey finally reasserts itself, but it's still not enough to stop the almond. It's basically honey almond buttercream, and while it smells like something that would be tasty to eat I don't like smelling like it.

 

At least I learned a thing about myself from this.

[donkehpoo]

Wet: I've been trying to figure out how to describe the wet stage, and this is the best I can come up with; milky nutty honey. (Say that 5 times fast.)

 

Dry: Very similar to the wet stage, with the addition of fig. The milk note is heavier now, if that makes sense.

 

While I think it's a nice, pleasant scent, I don't think I'll need a big bottle. (I almost think I'd like it more as an atmosphere spray!)

Edited June 16, 2018 by donkehpoo

[Melissa_Officinalis]

So I think I really love this, but I don't know why. It's kind of the most un-foodie foodie smell ever. It's very well-blended, mellow and yummy, but I really can't pick out any individual notes.

 

I'm wearing Narr on one arm and Dragon's Milk on the other, and while they're not really similar, they're somehow...complimentary. They both have that low-key, comforting, warm-blanket kind of thing going on.

 

I predict good aging, and am happy I blind-bottled.

[Lucchesa]

Alice was the first BPAL I fell head over heels in love with, so I'm always up for a milk and honey combo. Wet, Narr is super sweet and ultra foodie, but as it dries the fig and ambrette seed contribute an earthy nuttiness that takes the edge off the sugar overload, although the buttercream lasts and lasts. I'm not always in the mood for something this sweet, but Narr is really really good on me.

[theseagrows]

This starts with sweat almond buttercream and a bit of milk. t's very comforting. after a few minutes i think i get a bit of ambrette seed added to the mix. then i get a really strong fig. the fig seems to amp up too much on me, though it has balanced out the sweetness of the buttercream. overall this is just too sweet and nutty for me, plus the strong fig just makes it too strong. oh well, it sounded beautiful, and i am glad the milk didn't go sour, still not quite what i expected.

[RedPersimmon]

Wet: Big hit of honey up front. Soft, sweet musk. A hint of earthiness and resin.

 

Dry: Soft, figgy musk. Not almond-heavy, thankfully. I tend to amp almond. Some floral amber nuances in there, too.

 

Dry-down: Nutty vegetal, floral fig. Waxy.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: I always worry about milk/cream notes. They aren't always great on me. But this combo of milk and honey reminds me of both Alice and Dana O'Shee - it's lovely. Warm, comforting. I want to say maternal, as well. The almond comes through strongly on me while wet. From experience, that will likely fade. I can't smell any fig or ambrette seed yet. Hope they come through later, I love both notes.

 

 

Dry: Soft, warm and comforting - the honey and milk come through in equal measures. I really can't detect any of the other notes, sadly. I do enjoy this, but not sure I love it. May see if aging brings out the other notes.

[VioletChaos]

In The Bottle: Milk, honey and almond cream. YUM!

Wet On Skin: All milk and honey, all the time. The alining has become less distinct at this stage and the fragrance on the whole is reminding me of lat Yule's Eight Maids A-Milking hairless with its chestnut cream note.

Dry Down: Milky honey. Reminds me of Milk Moon from 2006. Also a little like Nonae Caprotina, if it were regular milk instead of goats milk, since goats milk has a little more of an edge.

In All: A lovely foodie blend, glad I got a bottle, IO just hope aging brings out a little more of the notes!

[Balame]

After nearly 10 years of BPAL (how time flies) I'm very rarely surprised by blends or find something that works on me when I expect it shouldn't, but Narr is an exception. I was lucky enough to get a tester of this from my kind decanter, otherwise I never would have tried it.

 

I usually hate almond. No matter how often I've given it a shot in BPAL blends, it's unfailingly come across as a sickly sweet, cherry cold medicine scent on me. For the first time it's very sedate here, and the milk is smooth and frothy. When I put this on my impression is of coconut cream with a lightly honeyed/floral (ambrette) edge. It felt like it could be in the same family as Lovers & a Fan, and considering that's a favorite, this was a big plus.

 

Not sure why or how I'm getting coconut, but it's really nice. The buttercream note might make you think this would be cloying, but in fact it's an airy scent and feels quite springy to me. I've about used up my tester now and am actually considering a bottle. It's just a damn good foody blend that's surprisingly light and dreamy.

 

I agree with the other commenter saying it's reminiscent of Dana O'Shee, but again, it's gentler with the almond behaving far better for me. Feels low-key lickable.

[zankoku_zen]

Rich almond honey butter cream cake with a whiff of fig. Heavy, foodie, rich. Yup. CAKE FOR DAYS.

[Aveya]

Source: TPP Decant circle

Preconception: Fig has played weird with me in the past so I'm skeptical, and I'm not usually an almond girl. But was excited about that buttercream note and thought I'd give it a shot.

 

Imp: Milky amaretto. Reminds me of horchata.

Initial Skin: It's all wet nutty milk.

Drydown: Get these MASSIVE wafts of cloying foody heaviness as it morphs from first stage horchata and into something heavier. It's inconsistent to say the least.

 

Verdict: Bipolar - Horchata vs fig cake with dripping gobs of honey almond buttercream.

 

It's having a cosmic battle on my arm trying to decide it's identity. Rough for me personally, but the foodies should love this scent - no matter which side wins out.

 

Edit to add: It's obviously Horchata WITH fig cake. Gotta wash down that icing somehow.

Edited May 12, 2018 by Aveya

[doomsday_disco]

My testing experience was similar to zankoku_zen's. This was mostly almond buttercream on me, and it remained that way and was pretty strong for a long time. By the end of the day, I was left with some honey. I didn't get any fig, but maybe that was because I couldn't focus on it as I had so many other scents on my arm at Drag Con.

 

I almost bought a bottle, but I told myself that I already have Bienenstich and a lot of cake scents as it is. If you want to smell like almond buttercream cake, though, this one should be up your alley!

Edited May 14, 2018 by dementia_divine

[LiberAmoris]

Narr is sweet almond buttercream with honey and milk, skewing very sweet and foody on my skin. The fig note helps cut it a bit, but it's dessert from the wet stage to drydown. Delicious stuff, but something I'd need to be in the right mood for, as it makes me hungry!

[Elspethdixon]

I amp almond to the skies, so despite milk, honey, and fig being some of my favorite notes, I was sadly expecting Narr to be a too-sweet almond extract SN (like Eden, where I was hoping for fig+coconut with a hint of almond and got almond+almond with a hint of almond). I can happily report that I was mostly wrong. This is the rare almond-including blend where the almond behaves itself and shares the spotlight... eventually.

 

Wet/in the imp: Milky honey and almaretto

 

Freshly applied: Pure almond extract. The devil's confectionery flavoring strikes again.

 

Drydown: After the initial almond-extract/amaretto blast, Narr dries down into a slightly-fruity honeycake scent that's not as sweet as I expected it to be. The almond reigns supreme for at least the first twenty minutes, but then begins to gradually morph from almondy-almond almond cake into honeycake. The fig and ambrette give it a depth/warmth/richness that keeps the cake and honey combo from tipping over into cloying. If Dana O'Shee and Sharing of the Cake Between the Lion and the Unicorn HG had a threesome with Cockaigne, their cake-scented gourmand lovechild might smell like Narr.*

 

 

*_{^{Actually, those three scents layered together are more cloying and sticky-sweet than Narr. I know this because after my pleasant cake-triumphs-over-almond surprise with Narr, I got all three out of my cabinet and tried it for comparison.}}

[Teamama]

Narr isn't foody on me. The fig is almost floral, it's so sweet and fragrant. Milk stays in the background (good!) Almond is almost undetectable (very good!) Honey & ambrette are subtle & warm, almost amber-y. Poor Monkey is my other fig favorite; the fig notes seem similar.

[artisjok]

When I first got Narr, I had a similar experience as most of the other reviewers- rich sweet foodie almond milky goodness with a dash of muskiness. 

Now, it’s totally transformed! The fig has barreled it’s way to the foreground. 

The image I get: The Fool smells warm marzipan wafting from a cottage window, held aloft by the fresh spring breeze. He leaves the road, drooling and hungry, and finds there’s a large fig tree growing right beside the kitchen window. He fills his pockets with the fruits and steals a nibble of marzipan before any one can notice him. Back to the journey, now replenished and ready for the next adventure!  

 

Narr is is now a very fresh blend with decadent foody backing. 

Edited January 11, 2019 by artisjok

[monocainsheresy]

Notes from strongest to lightest: Honey, milk, buttercream, fig, and ambrette seed. Foody in a perfumey way. Surprisingly low throw.