When All Colors to Black Are Cast

[wendyb1063]

In night when colors all to black are cast,
Distinction lost, or gone down with the light;
The eye a watch to inward senses placed,
Not seeing, yet still having powers of sight,

Gives vain alarums to the inward sense,
Where fear stirred up with witty tyranny,
Confounds all powers, and thorough self-offense,
Doth forge and raise impossibility:

Such as in thick depriving darknesses,
Proper reflections of the error be,
And images of self-confusednesses,
Which hurt imaginations only see;

And from this nothing seen, tells news of devils,
Which but expressions be of inward evils.

– Lord Brooke Fulke Greville

Ink-black musk and dried blackberries, midnight opoponax and sweet labdanum.

The dark sweetness of these notes called to me strongly before I ordered it.

Upon initial application, the dried blackberries seemed to give this scent a sour funk, and I was worried. After a few minutes, however, that dissipated, and I was left with a dark, fruity blend with a grounding of dark incense. It's not foody or overly sweet, and the musk is not powdery.

It's got some punch, too: I could still smell it on my wrist after exercise and a shower.

I can see myself getting addicted to this one. I think this is going to age remarkably.

[tboogie95]

This is one hauntingly wicked scent!

 

 

In bottle its very strong and almost sour blackberry with a very cold dark shadow of a very deep musk note.

When dry the musk really shines while the opoponax and labdanum make the throw feel like a scary dark room...the blackberry turns this scent into one wickedly unsettling masterpiece!

 

Very evocative and super super evil smelling

 

 

[galahad]

In the Bottle:

Black musk, quite oudh-like and a sour kick

On the Skin:

Straight up black musk and oudh. Gradually the labdanum sweetens and smooths out the blend and a very slight blackberry note murmurs beneath. Doesn't take long for the whole to become a delightfully sleek musk with a touch of sweetness

On the Drydown:

A little tart berry peeks though as this dries down further. Was hoping for more blackberry. This is a very dark blend and should be magical after prolonged aging. If find it a little funky as it is now.

[VioletChaos]

In The Bottle: Rich, swirly dark incense and blackberries.

Wet On Skin: The juice from the blackberry is coming out as the oil warmth on my skin. I know it indicates that these are dried berries, but I gotta say, so far, they seem *quite* ripe to me, and I'm into it!

Dry Down: Stays true as deep dark incense dribbled with blackberry juice. I *adore* blends with blackberry and am super pleased with how this one has turned out!

[zankoku_zen]

Inky black labdanum and sweet blackberries. This one is a dark purple blend in vibe to me. Dark fruits, and inky resins. Good throw and wear length.

[patina]

Funky strawberry incense indeed with a somewhat dark luxurious background.

Blackberries can get too sharp on me. These are fine, but they're a little bit Kool-Aid or craft store berry scent.

 

Probably not for me but not bad.

[Lucchesa]

OK, I give up.  I adore blackberries.  Blackberry pie may be my favorite food on the planet.  So I keep trying to find a blackberry scent to revel in, and I keep failing.  But When All Colors to Black Are Cast looks like it was designed for me.  Dried blackberry -- that might work better.  Inky black musk, my beloved opoponax -- I don't have as much experience with sweet labdanum, but sweet resins are my jam.  Mmm, blackberry jam...

 

In the imp, When All Colors is darkly purple.  I get a lot of black musk and dark resins with a sweet dark blackberry swirling around it all.  But on my skin, I get berry candy.  Just generic berry, and it swallows up all the other lovely notes.  An hour later, I still have berry candy on my wrist.  Five hours later, it's faint but starting to smell more like it does in the imp, and if this could be amped up to normal strength through the life of the perfume, I would be buying at least one bottle.  But my skin mutates blackberry into a fake, overly sweet note that crowds out everything else.  I need to accept that I love many many BPAL components and that blackberry just isn't going to be one of them.  

Edited November 17, 2018 by Lucchesa

[annemathematics]

kinda cloying blackberries with sweet syrupy resins. there's a touch of musk dust, but this isn't a dry or powdery scent in the slightest.  if I'm gonna wear a fruity scent, I tend to like darker, resin-heavy beasts with a touch of fruit.  this is more for folks who like more fruit-forward and -focused blends.  shopping mall goes goth vibes. hot topic candies for your skin.

[Juliamon]

I don't know if this is just one that's going to need a long, long time to age into something wearable, or if it's just doomed from the start. I almost blind-bottled this based on the notes, it reads like a list of all my favorite things... and yet, somehow they all combine to smell exactly like the girls' locker room in high school. Overly fruity drug-store body spray and chemical-laden hair products trying in vain to cover up the funk of adolescent bodies that don't have time to shower off the sweat because you only have 5 minutes to get to your next class. I wonder if, like Lucchesa, BPAL's blackberries just don't like me. I should have learned from Bewitched.

 

Too lazy to scrub it off, it had a low throw and lasted an average amount of time.

[donkehpoo]

Wet: Blackberries and black musk, along with some funky sour note.

 

Dry: The black musk took over the entire blend; there's still some blackberry lingering, as well as that weird sour note I'm not fond of, but it's not really doing it for me.

[theredkilt]

This smells VILE!!!! It's smells like the ointment nurses apply to disinfect open wounds. I smell a hint of blackberries and a lot of sourness; but the whole thing just triggers negative associations for me. 

Edited December 4, 2018 by theredkilt

[LizziesLuck]

All of these notes are loves for me, so I admit I have high hopes. Also, on a side note, this scent is actually called "When Colors All to Black Are Cast" according to both the bottle and the poem.

 

Wet: Yassss. This was just what I wanted. Evil , sexy blackberries. Dark syrupy opoponax and labdanum, hints of gritty black musk (this is not that clean, somewhat lemony black musk the Lab sometimes uses, at least not to my nose) and tangy-sweet-tart blackberries. As advertised, but with a hint of...angst. Yes, this scent is angsty.

 

Dry: This takes quite a while for the notes to all really warm and blend together beautifully on my skin, but once they do, this is magic. Dark, tangy blackberry and syrupy resins. This will get even better with age. I really love it, and hope those who thought it would be amazing but were underwhelmed find they love it too with some age. I am actually really glad this has sat waiting to be tested for several months now, otherwise I could have passed it up! A reminder of the magic of aging some scents...

[roseus]

Starts of inky and syrupy on me, then goes quite sour and musky. A miss for my chemistry. 

[m.valor]

When i first got this i didn't like it at all. I thought it was sharp, sour and weird and so overwhelming i had to wash it off. But I'm so happy i put it away to age! I decided to try again and i was worried at first but in just a few minutes it changed to something amazing and now i can't stop sniffing my wrist. It's mysterious, dark, expensive berry scent, perfect for dark fall and winter days. Im ready for them now! Just beautiful 💜