Voluptuous Wantonness

[zankoku_zen]

Preternatural hedonism: silken billows of scarlet musk and red oudh with sugared fig, opoponax, wild plum, Siamese benzoin, vanilla husk, tobacco, and mimosa.

[starbrow]

There were a lot of starring-role notes to live up to in this lineup, but Voluptuous is up to the task. The first whiff was plum: dark, gothy plum with sweet tobacco, just like A Savage Veil. That makes me so happy, because plum is my favorite note from BPAL, and it holds hands so beautifully with the tobacco here. Creamy oudh has perhaps a touch of fire and spice to it, with lots of sweetness from the vanillas and sweet resins and the sugary fig (which I can just barely pick up on, and which I probably wouldn't have guessed on my own that it was in here). Mimosa is definitely overshadowed by the plum! 

 

Now what exactly is scarlet musk? WHO KNOWS? To me, it is not red musk at all. I'd call it sexy without being raunchy. It is - maybe? - a little dribble of wine, a little cinnamon and spice. This blend does burn a bit on the inside of the elbows, so it is possible it has cinnamon in it. I will have to try it on my cinnamon-bomb friend to know for sure. But it is a very sultry background for all these hedonistic notes to play across. 

 

As sensitive as I can be to tobacco notes, this one is sweet and toothsome, probably because of its perfect dance partner, Wild Miss Plum. They are a couple with perfect presence, swirling and twirling in the air for hours, even as fresh as they are right now. They should only get better with age. Fans of Savage Veil, CP Shadow in the Elevator, Bordello, and A Complex Wiggly Sigil (which has that same scarlet color with the resiny oudh) should give this one a whirl. 

[VioletChaos]

In The Bottle: There are so many high-level competing notes that its actually really hard to pull apart the scent. However, if I was forced to discern, I'd say some tendrils of the scarlet musk are in the mix, a hint of sugar and a smirk of plum. (that's right, I said smirk and NO ONE CAN STOP ME.)

 

Wet On Skin: The tobacco roars to life the second this oil starts to warm on my skin, which is unfortunate for me, as tobacco quickly envelopes other notes when it dominates with my chemistry. Still, I'm hoping it'll mellow when dry.

 

Dry Down: The plum and benzoin combine to make this a very incense-y blend indeed. Not headshop-style, like backwoods Louisiana magick style. That's the influence of the tobacco (which *has* settled, thankfully) and the oudh as well.

In All: medium to high throw- a little goes a long way, so test carefully at first. This scent vacillates between high-end fancy perfume (same realm at B340) and deep incense. If either of those are your cup o tea, check this out. As for me, I'll hold onto it for a little bit longer to see how it ages, but otherwise, I think I'll send it off to someone who'll appreciate it more than I.

[Little Bird]

I don't tend to like bpal's oud notes, but their 'wild plum' note is absolute heaven and I liked the other notes listed for this blend.  Much to my delight, this is about 90% plum on my skin.  Sweet, juicy, mellow, almost creamy, purple fruit.  It's sensual and exotic, but also comforting and familiar.  The other 10% is hints of dry, earthy, gritty tobacco, dry wood and slight smokiness, and what smells like black pepper.  Dries down to plum on a dry, woody base.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

Mmmm, sexy fig!  Seriously, I don't know when I've smelled a fig scent so sensual as well as yummy.  Beautifully blended with vanilla and plum, but it still smells like perfume not dessert. 

[VetchVesper]

Perfumey, fruity, luscious, sexy, and red.  That's how this smells in the bottle and when I first put it on.  Sadly, something in here goes off on me within a few minutes.  I've seen people mention band aids on other fragrance reviews, and that's sort of what I'm getting.  Something weird, like old rubber eraser, quickly becomes the most prominent note.  I have no idea what it is, and it makes me sad b/c otherwise, I think this is beautiful.  😢  A well.  Off to the swap mobile!

[LadyLuckless]

A luscious red musk blend distantly related to Scherezade, Mme. Moriarty, and Snake Charmer. Very close to Witch Dance, but fruitier and without the smoke. Super sexy! 

[torischroeder9]

In the decant: Wild plum, sugared fig, and mimosa. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, it's wild plum and benzoin. As it dries, the benzoin dies down, and the tobacco amps up... and up... and up. The drydown is plummy tobacco on my skin. There might be some oud and musk grounding the plum, but it's a bit hard to tell: 1) because I don't know what scarlet musk smells like; 2) on account of all this tobacco. The tobacco dominates the scent's throw for well over an hour, but gradually, some muskiness does emerge in the skin scent. If this note is scarlet musk, I'd call it much calmer and more refined than red musk but still sweeter and fuller bodied than the brown musks (often in puppy-type blends) I've tried. 

 

Okay, an hour after that, and I think I'm going to call it. Though there are other notes, this is just too much tobacco on me.  

[zankoku_zen]

Okay, so this is like Madame Moriarty and Lucy's Kiss had a sexy vampire baby. You have red musk, plum, and whiffs of tobacco, fig, mimosa with an overlay of incense. And its a feral baby. If you ever wanted to be a deliciously sexy creature of the night that takes the blood of men (and maybe other bodily fluids) without any compunctions, give this a whirl. Dark, sexy, deadly. Medium throw and wear length.

[roseus]

This ends up as a much drier, dirtier, less sweet Mme. Moriarty. The tobacco is quite dry on me, and the red oudh very present, making a woody incense-like scent the base, with a dirty, earthy quality. The next notes I get are the red musk and plum, making that red Mme. Moriarty association.  It gets a tiny bit sweeter as it dries and a little smoother. Really pretty but Mme. Moriarty works better on me. 

[donkehpoo]

Wet: Tobacco and... oudh. More tobacco than oudh, but ... that darn oudh is making me nervous. (As always.) Some light sweetness overall to the blend as well.

 

Dry: The oudh is gone.. which for me, is good! Oudh can take over a blend for me, but we're on good terms here. I'm mostly getting tobacco with a touch of plum. I think I'm amping up the tobacco so much, it's unfortunately drowning out all the other notes.

 

The notes are amazing.. but this was a skin chemistry fail.  

[SophieCedar]

Ohhh man. This is my perfect scent and I'm never letting go. Like just as magical as Gun Moll and Red Lantern. Its sweet opium-like warm red and the fig just *glows*.  Sugared red, no bandaids, oudh is playing nice. Fantastic.

 

I've found my scent profile.

Edited February 20, 2020 by SophieCedar

[Okupsidedown]

Voluptuous Wantonness

 

In the bottle: Very thick, scarlet resin. And a subtle waft of something akin to root beer. Licorice root or sassafras or even fennel. Can't really pick out any single notes.

 

Wet: Ooh, this is a lovely oudh, especially after yesterday! Vanilla husk is almost smokey. Black plum, while not making any major statement is sweetening the scent. Not getting musk yet. The mimosa is very subtle, but adds a lovely, light green floral. Tobacco is sharp and rich.

 

Dry down: She settles rather quickly, single notes are tough to pick out, and the musk is coming forward. There's a slight woody note, which I'm guessing is the oudh? The woody note is almost spicy?

 

Dry: More wood. A little musk. Teeny bit of plum. It's a beautiful scent, but I don't love it for some reason.

[skyturtles]

Wet on my skin: Wow, this is indeed sexy. There is sweetness, there is smokiness, there is musk gluing it all together, in a lusty syrup..

As it dries, an unfortunate leather note arises. It must be the oudh. I don't love it as much anymore. The sweetness is gone, replaced by

something masculine & metallic & worn. For a moment I thought I might need a bottle, but that need has passed. Sigh.

[MamaMoth]

this is a complex but subtle little nugget. 

 

plum definitely takes center stage,  but it's like a plum musk. oftentimes plum reads a little musky to me anyway, and here it's just a little more-ish. i don't smell anything remotely like what i identify as the typical bpal red musk.  it's sweetened and rounded by a resinous-ish vanilla-ish note... maybe the benzoin bolstered by the opoponax, but i'm not really detecting the opoponax on it's own.   the tobacco and fig also feel like they're teaming up to give it some sweet meaty body, but the tobacco has slightly more presence, and nothing ever pops out as definitively fig. all this sets atop a softly woodsy base.  mimosa is completely mia, but i think it might be doing some unseen heavy lifting in there, keeping this blend from going too heavy. light to medium throw, it doesn't really announce it's presence but it's definitely there.  sweet enough for me to enjoy,  but not sugared or overly sticky... but i tend to like my perfume pretty sweet, so take that with a grain of salt. or sugar. 

 

i started off feeling a little lukewarm about this one.  i liked it, but didn't love it.  but the more i wear it, the more unique it feels, and the more i'm coming to really like it.  i keep getting these whiffs of a delicious plum+more in the throw that i don't get when sniffing up close.   i agree that there is a mme moriarty vibe going on, but so much less assertive.  this might be one i reach for as an alternative, because sometimes the madame just has too much presence for me. 

 

edit:  hours later i am still getting phantom whiffs of plum musk, but i am now sensing some definite bpal red musk in its dna.  really lovely. 

Edited April 19, 2022 by MamaMoth