Pumpkin Musk and Black Oudh

[abejita]

A strangely romantic, disturbingly erotic perfume.

This is a weird one, but in a good way. The pumpkin is not what I usually associate with BPAL pumpkin notes-- it's none of the usual super sweet and spice. It does have sweetness, though. Pumpkin musk is an odd concept, but, yeah, that is what I smell. It's a gentle, sweet musk. A touch sexy. The oudh is dark and rich without being heavy. It's a nice oudh-- I get neither band-aids nor barnyard. I really like this one. Every time I smell my wrist, I catch another nuance to it.

 

 

[Dark Alice]

This is sexy mildly sweet pumpkin musk with black oude that slinks in the background. It's weird but delicious. I am glad I sprung for a bottle. I think I need a back up partial.

[zankoku_zen]

Oudh with a touch of pumpkin spices. This one is musky oudh and pumpkin spice. Medium throw and wear length.

[puellacaerulea]

In the decant, I get sweet-ish pumpkin along with the musk and oudh -- unusual, but really nice and well-balanced. After I apply it, I get something that smells like cinnamon to me, which I'm less jazzed about, but it does fade after about an hour. After drydown, the pumpkin fades into the background, and I mostly get dark musk and oudh with a subtle sweetness to it. I may try this one in a scent locket, as I like the more pumpkin-forward scent from the decant. I probably don't need a full bottle of this, but will definitely hold onto my decant.

[Juushika]

In vial: Light and slightly sweet pumpkin with brown undertones.

On me: This is beautiful when it goes on, a mild and gently sweet pumpkin that avoids being either waxy or powerdery. It gives way to the oudh, which I don't know that I've smelled before but do like: a resinous, complex scent, rounded and deep, a little piney, not too perfumey. The pumpkin adds a slight sweetness and not much else, and as this wears the oudh grows increasingly piney and less complex. Limited throw.

 

Verdict: I want to like this more than I actually do. There's a golden moment during drydown when the elements balance each other and are unusual and beautiful, but I don't love this on either fabric/hair or skin, and it doesn't have a lot of oomph. But I'll keep my decant, and I imagine it'll improve with age.

[DianesTulpa]

Wet: mostly spice! and perhaps a little bit of sweet pumpkin

 

Dry: This smells mostly like Pumpkin Spice to me. And the spice is mostly cinnamon, with perhaps some nutmeg thrown in.The oudh grows over time giving it some depth and woodiness. Not a soft wood though, more of a pine (as Juushika mentioned above). Overall this is a solid autumn spice scent, but I prefer Samhain and the Pumpkin Spices of last year so I likely won't require a full bottle. 

[Follow My Nose]

It may just be the way my skin chemistry interacts with this scent, but I totally get Streets of Detroit mixed with pumpkin pie filling. It's gorgeous and unusual!

 

The pumpkin and spice pops up right away, but softens as this dries, giving more focus to the dark musk and oudh notes. The scent stays really well-blended, and has good throw & staying power. 

 

If you are a fan of Streets and pumpkin, you need to try this one!

[doomsday_disco]

When this first arrived, it smelled somewhat like Snake Oil in the vial, but with pumpkin in the musk. That has changed after a few days of rest.

The pumpkin musk in this features a spiced pumpkin, but the musk itself kind of makes me think of scents like Old Demons of the First Class and Server Gremlins. Maybe it's a Siberian musk infused with spiced pumpkin? (I can't be sure, since I have never tried that single note.) The pumpkin musk remains the most prominent aspect of the scent for several hours, but the black oudh comes out more over time, darkening and dirtying up the scent, making it a musky, spiced pumpkin oudh.

I guess I prefer gourmand pumpkin scents, but if you are looking for a pumpkin scent that's different than the usual pumpkin offerings, you might enjoy this one!

 

[biggnerd]

On me this smells like root beer/sassafras with a slight squashy, vegetal tinge.

[mishi-bear]

This one was really funky on me and not in a good way. I really liked the oudh note in this, but the pumpkin musk kills it. It's a sort of artificial candle pumpkin, sweet and waxy. Funky and gross.

[monocainsheresy]

Sweet, squishy pumpkin musk and ever so soft oudh in the background. Neither goes funky or overpowering on me, which is fortunate because musk and especially oudh can get really bad really quickly. But this is perfect, soft incense notes from both sides.

 

I love this and I should have gotten a full bottle while I had the chance 

[theshapeshifter]

Realizing I never reviewed this when I first got it last year. Retrying today as I get impatient for autumn. The pumpkin in this is spicy and not foody - which I'm liking, because although I like other foody scents, a gourmand pumpkin is usually a bit too much for me. Basically, the pumpkin is just giving a sweet edge to the gentle woodsy musk. The whole scent is surprisingly subtle and stays close to the skin. 

[torikitty]

This is strong! I feel like the sillage lasts 3-4 hours, but it's really in your face the whole time. I feel like it's got the pumpkin from Pumpkin Spice Silky Bat HG, with the black coconut from Young Man with Long Hair HG. I took a risk because I was unsure of the black oudh. This behaves rather normally, except for the shouting at the top of it's lungs, and getting into mine with a faintest sniff. If you want a dark, sweet pumpkin that is loud, this is for you.

[silverbottle]

Bought a bottle back in 2018. I can't say it smells distinctly pumpkin-y to me, but I think I can see where others are coming from with that.
It does smell wonderfully dark, warm, and delicious without being too 'foody' for me. It's almost cozy, but not quite that. Or, not just that. It makes me think of something like resting in front of a fire in an otherwise dark room on an autumn night, after baking earlier, with a loyal dog that is actually a loyal hellhound.
I find that I have to moisturize well before wearing it or else my skin "eats" a lot of the scent, leaving mostly something similar to vanilla (but not quite vanilla) behind.
It seems to last a decent amount of time, and the smell can be strong.

[starbrow]

How have I never reviewed this? I have more bottles of it than I'd care to admit /o\  It's been hovering around/in my Top Five of all time for years.

 

This takes the darker pumpkin note that the Lab likes to play with occasionally - The Empty House, The Shadowed Veil, and Pumpkin Smut - and thoroughly corrupts it with thick black musk, a strong and sensual oudh, and some prickly spices. This is the darkest pumpkin to date. It is indeed gothic, smoky, shrouded in dread but also a dark beauty. One of its closest cousins to my nose, in fact, is Dark Lace, which has no pumpkin in it whatsoever. Both bring the impression of nag champa incense/headshop/strong and potent witchcraft going on. There's a slight kinship to Pumpkin Spice Snake Oil too, in its lasting sweet spices layered over something patchouli-esque and thickly musky, or Streets of Detroit, with its dense resins (same/similar black musk?) and corrupted aura.

 

A little of this goes a long way. Pumpkin Musk and Black Oudh seems to have gotten stronger over 4 years; either that, or I've grown more sensitive! (Very possible too.) Either way, when I first got this, I imagined I would want to smell like this every single day of fall. Now, having lived with it and its black magic, I feel like I have to be in a specific ~mood to wear this one. It's excellent for wearing out, because it lasts forever, and you will continue to smell it on yourself even through the many smells of the club or haunted house. But for home use, this is like getting dressed up in FULL goth witch queen regalia, just to swan about at home. Which is sometimes what I want to do! But most days, it just feels very Extra. All this to say, I still adore it, but I don't know that I'll end up using ALL my bottles in my lifetime.

 

I would wear this while: gothing it up to go out on the town for a bone-chilling evening

[ghoulnextdoor]

Pureed gourd flesh and nutty, toasted grains steep in dusky, caramelized sweetness. A slice of pumpkin bread devoured at a forsaken crossroads, where a witching-hour deal is yet to be struck.

[patina]

I am so confused. Is that red musk? wine? Maybe the "black" element in black oud is oppoponax? The oud must be giving it the perfect backdrop to vamp against. I meant "amp" but you know what? It's vamping. It is both loud and making a strong attempt at seduction.

Something does feel like toasted grains. Pumpkin seed as much as pumpkin. I like dark scents a lot but this is a screaming kind of dark and right now it feels like a bit much.

EDIT Overnight this settled down and stopped screaming. There are some lingering toasted grains. I stopped wondering if there was wine here, but there's still an element that is sweeter than I expected.

EDIT #2 Okay, I think I figured out the sweetness. It's got to be the pumpkin (weirdly waxy and maybe a little citrusy too somehow) plus maybe something in the black oud like I thought before.

 

EDIT THE THIRD Aging has made so much difference to this one. Before I got straight up obnoxious perfume. Then an almost soapy waxy mess. Now, after a month or so I get a slightly citrus, slightly spiced pumpkin and oudh. The pumpkin is actually a touch creamy and I hope eventually it will turn into the same one that's in my beloved The Empty House.

Edited Friday at 03:35 PM by patina