Black and Red Candy Canes

[zankoku_zen]

Every year at BPAL, we put up our tiny black Yule tree in the front parlor. It has red lights, and it’s decorated with whatever we have handy. I don’t remember when we got this little tree, but it’s been a Yule staple here as long as I can remember. There are always black and red candy canes on the tree; I don’t know what they actually taste like, because these things have been with us forever and are a bajillion years old. They are probably lethal by now.

 

Red musk, star anise, clove bud, labdanum, opium pod, and black patchouli.

 

Anise, clove, hint of opium and red musk underneath. There's a whiff of mint as well, I swear. This one is an anise-red musk blend. Good throw and wear length.

[Katillac]

I also swear that there is a whiff of mint! 

Wet-1 hour, I can smell everything, and it's glorious. Anise heavy (which I love), clove and opium in the background, and then (moving my arm away from my face) it's just a warmer red musk. 

I amp red musk (which is okay by me, because I love red musk), but yeah, this just turns into a *slightly* different red musk on me. Which is good for my wallet because that first hour had me wanting to buy multiples to last me forever. For sure going to keep my bottle (and if you amp red musk like I do, it's different enough to be worth a bottle purchase). 

Love it, but not going to go all Smaug over it. 

[starbrow]

I like dark and spicy blends, and everything in here sounded like a winner with the possible exception of the star anise. That first blast is ANISE and PEPPERMINT - not one of the listed notes, but it's pretty potent. As it dries, the mintiness calms down and more clove and opium pops out, with the faint whiff of the patch underneath. 

 

Not sure yet how often I'll be in the mood to smell like evil candy canes, but this one is it!

 

Update: one year later, and the mintiness is very subtle, while the muskiness and spices have aged beautifully. When I put this on again, I swore it was black musk, that's how good it is on my skin. The clove is doing amazing christmasy things here, and this smells like DARK CHRISTMAS all over. Yum!

Edited December 9, 2019 by starbrow

[patina]

This was a difficult one. I almost bought a bottle straight away because I love red musk and clove.

 

When I first put it on I was underwhelmed by a scent like stale mint that must be the anise. The red musk was unusually shy and the opium and flat patchouli just made everything smell even more stale, like candy gone bad.

 

However, I've only been wearing it a little while and the scent's already warmed up and gotten better. There still isn't a lot of throw but the red musk has gotten over some of its shyness. I think once the patchouli's had the chance to age a little this is going to smell amazing.

 

Edit: After settling a while the clove has come out and it no longer smells like mint. So now it's red musk, anise, and clove, and also weirdly like a clove-scented candy cane.

Edited January 15, 2019 by patina

[frizzlechicken]

This one was odd for me. Upon application and for about two hours after, it smelled exactly like a little rosin bag that you'd use when bowling. I don't mind that. But then after the 2-hour mark it morphed into some sort of minty acrid clove. That's the best description I can think of. It skewed almost a little "cat pee". Might be my skin chemistry, but this one's a miss for me (thankfully it was a decant).

[Aveya]

So, on initial application, this was very strong in the red-musk front for me. Very dark, very deep, slightly dry, but def. musky. A big whallop of Clove for me as well.

After a few moments the anise poked out for me, in this 10 min. marker is when I get the "mint" vibe that others mentioned. I think it's more of just anise + clove + maybe opium. It's got that high-note feel in your nose like mint but not quite there.

 

Personally this is a lovely scent. I'm going to get a bottle and stash next to Le Lethe -like scents. Round, robust, I want to say almost heady. Warm and dark at the same time. I was worried about red musk because that one seems to be a hit or miss with my skin, but it's a hit in this one!

 

Also - I'm in love with thick deep dirty patchouli scents, and that's not a front runner in this blend. It's in there, but it's not WHAM in your face like other blends can be.

Edited January 19, 2019 by Aveya

[Lucchesa]

If I had had a chance to read the reviews, with the persistent mention of mintiness, before ordering decants, I probably would have skipped this one.  Mint is near the top of my no, thank you notes.  But the listed notes all sound so lovely.  So wet, of course I get red musk and mint.  Assuming there's no actual stealth mint in here, I tried to prise it out.  I think some of it is from that almost camphorous black patchouli you get sometimes. Or maybe it's the opium -- my skin turned Laudanum into peppermint toothpaste without any mint note, as I recall.   Even against powerful notes like red musk and black patch, the mint kept holding its own, which was not what I signed up for. 

 

After two hours, Red and Black Candy Canes becomes the scent I had hoped for from the description (or, in starbrow's words, evil candy canes).  Sweet, spicy opium-tinged red musk against a backdrop of patch.  This is the red musk I long for, sultry but not all-encompassing.  I love this.  But I don't love that it took two hours to get here.  I wonder if aging will bring it into line faster. 

[tinyvulture]

Anise, clove and definitely some mint as others have said. Evil candy canes, definitely! All backed by warm red musk, which can amp on me but isn’t this time. I’m not really noticing opium or patchouli. The spices and peppermint should be soothing but ultimately are kinda fighting with each other on my skin. Off to swaps where it’ll behave better for someone else.