A Dead Death

[LiberAmoris]

The deadest death, most deadest of deadlies: sweet blackened patchouli, blackcurrant, cypress wood, and vetiver.

 

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[torischroeder9]

I was frimped this with a bottle purchase on eBay, so I really did not expect to be the first review, but here goes. 

 

In the decant: Immediately, it's sweetness and a hint of char. As I keep sniffing, I can also pick out the patchouli itself as well as vetiver. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, it's a hot mess for just a moment before deciding to be sweetness and vetiver in this stage. As it dries down, the patchouli also becomes detectable. Given additional time to develop on my skin, the blackcurrant surfaces as a background note, keeping the blend from developing the... funk... that woods, vetiver, and fresh patch can all get to on me. 

 

Interestingly, this settles down to become mostly patchouli on me, with a hint of sweetness and a whiff of grassy vetiver. I say "interestingly" because on me, it's really not like death at all. I'd probably look for the patch to mellow over time, possibly playing up the blackcurrant, but overall, this is already a softly mellow woody scent, not super rotting or festering or charred or anything.   

[zankoku_zen]

Blackcurrant, wood, and smoky patchouli. This is mainly a smoky patchouli blend with some woods and black currant thrown in. Very manly, actually. Good throw and wear length.

[Penance]

Preconceived notions:

 

I've been wanting to try this one since the notes sound great and the label art is amazing.  I can see this one being a winner, but maybe not something that will need to stay in my collection since it sounds a bit similar to several other BPAL scents I already have?  Still really looking forward to trying this!

 

First sniff:

 

This has that "BPAL Smell" as I refer to it.  It's the smell I associate with the early days of my addiction before I had any foody scents in my collection and it was all dark and mysterious.  This is right in that vein.  I'm smelling a mix of sweet patchouli, vetiver and cypress here.  I'm hoping the vetiver doesn't get too aggressive on my skin, but this is pretty much what I expected.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Pretty much the same as in the bottle, though I get wafts of the blackcurrant.  It doesn't smell fruity necessarily, more like a dark, purpley-black sweetness that blends beautifully with the patchouli. 

 

Dry down:

 

Everything's getting a chance to shine, now!  The patchouli is grounding this nicely, along with the vetiver, which isn't too intense.  Over that is a layer of deep, rich wood (the cypress, which I love and reminds me of redwood, particularly here) and that soft, purple-black sweetness that's not identifiably "fruit," but adds the same sort of sweetness that the Lab's dark purple fruit notes tend to add to anything they're in.

 

The final verdict:

 

This is similar in a lot of ways to various scents in my collection, which should tell you that I like it!  It's pretty much exactly what I pictured.  BPAL in a bottle for me; the smell of my early BPAL collecting days.  Gender neutral, leaning masculine, though it works well for this lady!

Edited July 16, 2020 by Penance