Mantis

[batsy]

Crushed herbs and sweet amber resin with a streak of patchouli, neroli and golden musk.

In the vial: tangerines and freshly cut-into pumpkin. Wow, my mind is weird.

On the skin: Still getting that pumpkin. It's citrus, as well. Very green, very clean, very girly. The patchouli is popping now and ruined it for me. Still can't believe the pumpkin smell... wild.

[roxyhead]

I think it must be the amber that I identify as "just perfumey smelling perfume" when it's nothing floral I can smell in it, the stuff that gives me a headache. I can't smell any patchouli or musk, and think any herby stuff or citrus is probably all in my mind, since it's so faint, and my eyes and nose are starting to burn when I didn't exactly slather it on. I think I'm not an amber person. Oddly enough, the vial smelled sort of like sweet peas when I pulled the tape off it, possibly I was just imagining it in fear that it might be like Desdemona. I don't think I can leave this on to see how it mutates, even though the scent doesn't seem too unpleasant, I don't want a migraine.

[Meg]

In the bottle: Very aquatic neroli. A lot of sweet herbs and a hint of woodiness.

 

Wet: Herbs, like freshly cut stems, still with hints of ozone, and something a bit aquatic underneath that's probably the neroli.

 

Drydown: It dries down into an aquatic neroli with green hints of herbs and something rather citrusy. Very sporadically I get a hint of patchouli, but it disappears nearly immediately. I get the musk, it reminds me strongly of Enraged Bunny Musk, in fact.

 

Overall: It's a soft, sweet, clean blend, that smells a bit fruity and slightly powdery, like clean sheets. The patchouli here is really fleeting, and the sweet resin and neroli dominate it. It's not at all how I'd expected it, a very mellow, yellowy blend. Not something unpleasant, but I wouldn't wear it.

[cybra111]

Mantis

 

In the vial: rubbing alcohol

 

On me: Powdery amber, warm soft and musky sweet. Actually very nice! After a bit, the green herbs emerge and make this fresh and light. Patchouli must be keeping it from being too sweet, making it earthy. A complex yet not overpowering scent.

[QueenFae]

This is light, fresh, sweet and lovely. The top notes are very plant like and green, with maybe the barest hint of citrus fruit. The patchouli and amber combine to form the most gloriously lovely undertone. It's such a sweet undertone, it almost reminds me of fig.

 

I love all the notes, in this, and this is a really pretty scent. Beautiful!!!

[eleventhousand]

Very fresh and green and then it morphs into chocolate?

 

An odd one, this.

[LadyCrow]

No wonder this one got away, given how fast it tries to escape!

 

Wet: Green grass and herbs -- maybe a little fresh mint.

 

Later: Neroli, tempered by amber. The musk and patchouli are barely there.

 

This scent was disturbingly true to its name, in that I had to exercise trickery to get it to stay perched on my hand. The interplay between the neroli and amber in the middle stage is very nice; it reminds me somehow of tall, dry grass. The fruit at this point is bright but muted, not noisy the way it is in Kuang Shi. Mantis is interesting enough that I wish it had been able to stay longer -- in both senses!

[Em-]

Well crap.

 

Mantis has been on my secondary wishlist for years, but I never really gave it any priority - I like all the notes, but none are my OMG FAVORITES, so I just kept passing it by.

 

Well, I just swapped for an imp of it and...damn, it is absolutely gorgeous - green and herbal and light and fresh...with an underlying burn of patchouli and musk to keep it from being completly etherial...I love it...and now it is lost to me...

[Babylon]

Delicious. Mantis starts off smelling like grass, citrus, and amber. It smells vaguely metallic. As it dries, the amber becomes more rich, and the herbal-grass smell sits itself on a deep bed of patchouli and musk.

[CrazyPretzel]

In the imp: Strong sweet herbs, like cut grass.

 

Wet on me: Still the herbs and the neroli comes out. This is a very warm, golden scent. Clean, too - reminds me of freshly-washed hair and freshly-laundered sheets dried in the sun.

 

After a few minutes: Interesting - sort of sparkly and earthy at the same time. The herbal scent reminds me of Allison Gross, but the amber and neroli make it much more golden and pixie-like.

 

Drydown: The amber turns a little bit soapy on me, unfortunately. Predominantly herbal-neroli; patchouli is not dominant but anchors the scent and keeps it from being too sharp.

 

Quite pretty; I'm glad I got to try this.

[Kelism]

I wish it would come back

 

This is the first scent I tried that was no longer available and I fell in love - go figure. It's a light green, and has an almost vanilla-like creamy undertone. I assume the creamy is from the amber and golden musk. I really don't pick up on patchouli and I'm not sure what neroli smells like. It doesn't smell herbal to me...just a very nice green (I cannot come up with any other way to describe it). If it were a color it would be something like this.

 

I WANT MORE!

[savage_rose]

Herbal, green, and slightly musky. It's slightly astringent, and lovely. Almost effervescent even. Like an absinthe shaving scent. I'm sad this is gone .

[Ohmaude]

I've had this in my "untested" imp pile for awhile. I don't know when I got it, but it was a frimp from a lab order.

 

So now that I've admitted to being a sloppy bpal lover (no spreadsheet, nothing), tonight is a hot summer night, (for here) and I just spotted the Mantis imp in the box, and went hmm...I haven't tried that one.

 

At first, Mantis is so very vividly green. Then with the sappy and leafy, it morhps into a screaming PERFUME moment, where the neroli and amber kick in at 11. In other words, it amps. The first thought that popped into my mind was "dryer sheet." Along with "get it off!" Luckily that lasts for only a few minutes, then it softens and sweetens; the amber gets powdery, the green goes soft lawn and the citrus stays strong. the patchouli is barely there, a touch of earth, that's all.

 

This scent, even thought it calms down after the drydown, isn't subtle at all, it ain't shy. It's sharp. It's insect-like! This scent will mate with you, and bite your head off as a nuptual gift! Once again a scent that invokes it's name so literally. Mantis, indeed.

 

I rank it's amp up there with Croquet in it's strong citrus overtones. I'm a huge fan of amber-citrus blends, but this is one I probably couldn't pull off all the time. The herbal aspect keeps it sharp. It's closer to being a traditional perfume than many of BPAL scents. It is unique and ideal on a hot, summer night while I sit on my back deck drinking basil and bourbon. This is what I love about BPAL: a scent for every occasion.

[zankoku_zen]

Sweet herbs, a touch airy, and with a whisp of tangerine. As it dries, the airyness turns a little into dryer sheets and it's a sweet, almost resiny based with the airy dryer sheets.

[Juushika]

Wet on skin: A little perfumy, some citrus, a little powdery, and all over a yellow-green scent. I don't care for this in the vial and don't really like it on me.

 

Drydown: The perfumy aspects fade and the scent becomes brighter and even more yellow-green. There's a bit of bite and sweetness to the citrus note, and it also smells a little herby. This reminds me distinctly of lemongrass. The throw also increases as the scent warms, but never becomes overpowering. Last about four hours.

 

Verdict: I wouldn't mind this on others, but it doesn't suit me—it smells fine, but it's not how I want to smell. It's a little too perfumy, and far too bright. Not keeping the imp.

[tartchef]

Well, I'm glad I didn't spring for a bottle unsniffed before Mantis was DCd.... on my skin, it's bubble liquid, with a trace of cloyingly sweet neroli & amber.

 

Feh.

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Very tart and evergreeny, with some sweetness at the very bottom.

 

Wet: Oooh. Still smells evergreen, but not rosemary, so I'm at a loss to know what the herb note is. There's patchouli, and neroli, and the rest of it just smells warm and sweet. Damn. Am I about to fall in love with another discontinued scent?

 

Twenty minutes: That elusive herbal note is still evergreeny, almost peppery. This works nicely on me, warm and sweet but so exciting with the patchouli and herb notes.

 

Hour and a half: Still herby-evergreeny, with patchouli, but less so than before. The musk element is creeping forward now. It's somewhat like white musk on me, but warmer and not so much like a critter. Still not getting much in the way of amber.

 

Three hours: Gentle musk base, muted patchouli. No amber, very light floral and herbs. Not nearly as scary-good as it was at first, although I do like it.

 

Four hours: Still very muted musk-patchouli. Not as much of a win on me as I thought it was going to be when I put it on. Oh, well; how many Discontinueds should I be in love with, anyway?

[Lamia]

I can't figure this scent out. I tried it once briefly before passing it along to someone else, and think it was "Evergreen/Fir". Now that I have reclaimed my totem, it baffles me. It's sweetly green, or maybe it's greenly sweet?

 

 

[stellans]

Amber on me often turns to aftershave, and this is the case for Mantis, at least while wet. However, once dry the blend turns fresh and herbal, not at all cologne-y. I smell only the tiniest hint of patchouli, and the neroli makes only the faintest of appearances. The musk is there, blending with the patchouli and neroli underneath the fresh herbal scent, all giving a deepness to the blend which is very pleasant. All in all, this is a bottle I will likely wear again and again, especially in warmer weather.

Edited April 25, 2011 by stellans

[rayvn1]

Mantis' patchouli and amber sounded like big heaps of win when I read the scent description. On my skin though it's straight up Irish Spring I'm hoping the longer I wear it, the more depth will appear, but it may be off to the swaps pile, darn it!

 

(I'm wearing Red Queen on my other arm. When my husband hugged me a few minutes ago, in a typically anti-BPAL reaction, he asked " Why do you smell like soap and Hallmark?" Rrrrrr)

[bubblefish]

Discontinued? Ack, no! *hoards imp*

 

This scent is so lovely. Sure there's a hint of citrus in there, but there's also a pleasing herby-floral smell, right about in the middle of that spectrum. And the patchouli and neroli and golden musk are just an amazing combination. *sniff, sniff, sniff* Mmmmm....

[mgrazulis]

Mantis is so wearable...and amber is one of my notes-of-doom. The intial wet is neroli with herbs. Slightly masculine until the amber and musk sweeten it up in the drydown. A slight touch of powder but not nasal tingling at all. Very subtle...the patchouli is late in and just barely there for the grounding. Light tones of gold and green. I'm very sad this is not around anymore. Would be perfect for late spring and all summer long...

[jizatt]

Having just had the chance to try this (its been way of fmy radar, never even seen it until a generous offer from a forum member!) -- Im sad that its discontinued. The notes are all on my yes list. Golden musk, amber, and jsut a hint of patchouli? So yes, I had to try it!

 

There is a certain generic perfumey thing that my nose has to get past on the sniff, before I hit the gorgeous. I think its neroli that I interpret that way, isnt it a pretty common classic perfume ingredient? Then I get the amber and golden musk. This is not the sticky golden I thought though, because its also got a nice green undercurrent from the herbs. I'm not sure it would have been a bottle purchase for me, but it is definitely staying in my imp box =) This says green and golden, all summer to my nose. I'd like to wear it in the bleak cold of winter to bring my spirits back up!

[Vega]

In imp: Orange and glowing; patchouli and neroli plus other notes. Like Omen, though it feels lighter.

 

On skin: Bright and shimmering, full, rounded, a bit humid and hazy but doesn't get too stifling. The patchouli makes a grounded, earthy base upon which all the other notes float in a kind of fragrant fog. Slightly herbal and freshly green, with an orange presence that must be from the neroli. I catch an occasional whiff of something drier and creamy, possibly the amber and musk making themselves vaguely known. Over time the patchouli tones down, and the scent gently morphs between bright green herbs and a dry sweetness, all lingering over a deep, rounded base. This is quite like Omen, albeit lighter and a bit more herbal in greenness.

A 'saturated' scent, like a photo over-saturated with colour. It puts me in mind of a mantis perched still on a stem, amidst a field of nodding flowers under a blinding summer sun. Colour impression is a bright, throbbing orange with flecks of emerald green.

 

Verdict: Mantis is an evocative scent: languorous and humid and radiant. I think I'll keep it! Omen is a bit darker and less herbally green, but I think it'd make a good dupe for those who miss this.

[filigree_shadow]

Green and herby (but not bitter or sharp herbs, more like planty) with bright neroli and a musky undertone. I might smell a little bit of patchouli, but it's not strong at all. It smells clean and pretty, but this isn't the type of scent I wear. Usually if I describe something as "green" it's not the right scent for me. I like this one more than most, though -- it doesn't smell soapy at all.