Totality

[zankoku_zen]

The splendor and terror of Totality: an abyss of black patchouli, tabac, burgundy pitch, smoky frankincense, and black fig surrounded by a glowing nimbus of fossilized amber.

[zankoku_zen]

Dark patchouli, tobacco, whiff of fig, on a base of amber. This one is a dark tobacco-patchouli-amber blend on me. With everything else in enough quantities to act like glimmers on the amber. Medium throw and wear length.

[Failmingo]

I was a little afraid of this scent! Afraid because of what it embodies, and also afraid that I wouldn't like it, because I couldn't really imagine what it would smell like from the description. I was afraid of falling too hard for TOTALITY from a distance, and then discovering that it just wouldn't work between us in person.

 

And then with all the Lunacies canceled, and not being allowed to come into the Lab to work, I didn't end up having a chance to try it, so TOTALITY ended up fading from my list of potential partners altogether.

 

But then! Ted dropped off a whole box of all the partnership collaboration blends so we could photograph and review them during the lockdown. TOTALITY appeared on my actual doorstep, as if by magic! And then it was like I NEEDED to love it, which made me even more scared to smell it.

 

But now I haven't smelled of anything else for at least five days. 

 

In the bottle: No joke about that abyss. Often there are crags and snarls and spikes that kind of break your fall a bit as you descend into one of these scents, but not here. The smoothness of the glide is part of the terror. Because, how deep does it go? The patchouli and frankincense don't claw at you or hold you back, they just grease the rails taking you down. Kind of at the last second, right when you think it might be going sweet, a scrud of smoke wafts up out of it... but no fire! It reminds me of the black hole effects in the film INTERSTELLAR. At first I thought I was detecting a leather note, like in SNAKE'S KISS (smelled side by side to confirm), or paper, like in bloodmilk's BOOKS, but I believe it's just the place where the pitch hits the fig and tangy tobacco. But if quizzed blind, I definitely would have guessed there was leather here!

 

So overall, in the bottle, the scent's character lives in a kind of indefinable nether-region. I love the text references to fossils, because there is something distinctly protean and inhuman about this scent experience. It's undeniably sensual but not exactly mammalian or even terribly organic at first, if you know what I mean. I'm thinking of tar pits, maybe.

 

Wet on the skin: The notes immediately seem to warm up upon contact with the skin. Here's where that amber starts to glow, and maybe there's something a bit mentholated from the pitch, and the tobacco becomes more identifiable, actually reminding me of fresh cigars. So yes, more glimmerings of organic life, but there's still something very "Before The Dawn of Civilization" about the whole thing. 

 

This is the phase where I began to get very addicted to this scent. It's just so mysterious and brooding, and lures you into those murky depths by teasing with half-obscured answers. 

 

I asked Galen what he thinks the dominant notes in this blend are, just from smelling it, and he said fig, amber, and tobacco. He can track the patchouli in it, but I really can't. It definitely reminds me a bit of GOMORRAH, an old love of mine, but TOTALITY is bolder, darker, smokier. It seems like the throw would be pretty robust. Hard to tell in quarantine!

 

Dry: More of the heady fumes related to the pitch and tobacco, warmed by the amber. You can't really lean into the sweetness without getting pushed back by something else, it's mesmerizing. I look forward to this "glowing nimbus" when I'm first putting it on, it's a mysterious vapor lifts you out of that abyss... but never all the back way into the light. TOTALITY-dwellers are creatures of no world!

 

 

 

 

[doomsday_disco]

In the decant: Fig backed by some pitch. This smells like the same fig from Lola Lee Loo to my nose.

 

On me: The sweet fig reigns, backed by the pitch and dark resins. The heavier notes are never able to overtake the fig, but the scent does become less sweet over time as they engulf the fig in darkness (I'm getting more pitch, tobacco, and patch than frankincense or amber on my skin -- but the patch here isn't super bold, which surprises me because black patchouli notes usually are pretty loud).

 

Verdict: Totality is a much darker scent than I'd really gravitate toward, but I'm glad I got to try it. The fig in this didn't go waxy on me, as it is sometimes wont to do, and it was nice to experience the sweet fig juxtaposed with the darker notes. Although I'd be unlikely to reach for it, I definitely appreciate this more than Nasty Woman, and I think it would be nice to smell on someone else.  

[Madame Mew]

Totality is one of my favorite fig scents! I am pretty much obsessed with figs and dark purple fruity scents in general. As far as fig, this is as gothy as it could get. The amber reads to me as a bit smoky, but that may be the pitch. Regardless, this does remind me of the cherry and smoky patchouli HG, which was a favorite of mine from the last Lupers - cherrybomb release. This does not smell anything like a classic Luper though. It's a beautiful, dark, fruit scent with a wonderful dark patch base. I LOVE THIS. 

[HerbGirl]

This is very interesting. I just got it in the mail and it has travelled far, so this is just a first impression. This smells like a sweet cola frankincense with a bit of patchouli underneath. This isn't a smoky frankincense, it's a glowing frankincense. I wonder how much this will change as it settles? I would be happy if it stays exactly the way it is. This is the frankincense perfume of my dreams. Glorious.

 

This just continues to bloom on my skin!!! Wow. 

 

Eta: 4 Dec 2021 - Totality has smoothed out even more with age but I agree with my review, simply gorgeous and perfect to wear during the Dark Moon/New Moon.

 

Eta Nov 2022 - now I smell the fig! This has become one of my favorites.

 

Eta Apr 2024 - wearing for the Solar Eclipse in Aries - this has quieted way down, throw is non existent. Beautiful glowing fig-frankincense-patchouli.

Edited April 8 by HerbGirl

[VetchVesper]

So, a lovely forumite frimped me a sniffy of this a while back, and whenever I give it a sniff, then look at the notes - it blows my mind. Up front, this is the figgiest figging McFigster of a scent ever.  I just can't fig--ure it out. I get NONE of the other notes until after about 20 mins of wear. As heavy as those other notes are, I'm really surprised, when they do finally show up, they are barely peaky out from behind the bossy fig. 

 

Tiny bit of pitch and a titch of frankincense. That's it. The rest is all fig. 

 

I wish the resins played more of a role on me. I agree this is the same fig as in Lola Lee Loo, and it is reminiscent of Gomorrah, though that fig seemed a little jammier. The fruit is too bright and tart on me to think of this as a dark scent.  I'm thinking of figgy fruit roll-ups. I'm thinking I amp the hell out of fig.  Weird. 

Edited August 1, 2021 by VetchVesper

[MamaMoth]

how hard am i digging on the haute macabre scents?  they all have that deep, mysterious, velvety gothiness that i'm am straight up here for.

 

on me, this is primarily a sweet tobacco/patch/fig with a swirl of light smoke.  i sometimes get a hint of something fleetingly woodsy... without looking at the notes, i thought perhaps a drop of cedar, but maybe that's the pitch?  it's fairly sweet on me, but it's the chewy thick sweetness that i amp from tobacco and fig.  there's a velvety resinous tone to it, but i'm not clocking the frank or amber specifically. frankincense can get a little loud on me at times, but i'm thinking here that it's just brightening up the darker elements.  i also would have sworn there was a little bit of spice, like a dry husky clove.

 

totality is one of those of-a-whole blends, where each note is hopelessly interconnected to the others.  i keep wanting to say that it's like a narcotic floral, but without any floral whatsoever.  but that doesn't make much sense, does it?

 

tbh, i don't think that i'm cool or interesting enough to actually live up to this scent, but wearing it makes me try to be.  #lifegoals

[Lucchesa]

Up front, Totality is a whole lot of fig.  As it snuggles in on my skin, I start to get the notes I'm really here for -- the patch, the tobacco, the pitch, but they are all cozied up with the fig, and it's not nearly as gnarly a patch as I expected from "abyss of black patchouli."  Gentle frank and amber are there but lightly, air notes balancing out the earth notes.  This is exactly what I wanted -- the earthy sweetness of fig and tobacco, the grounding of patch, something dark and something golden.  Perfect as the days get shorter.  I can tell this one is going to be a favorite. 

[Little Bird]

My skin seems to just drink this up. It has no throw to where I can only smell it if my nose is pressed to my skin where I applied, and I can't smell it at all by the half hour mark.

 

A sour, sharp, cleaning fluid-ish pine needle, set on fire, with dusty undertones. Dries down to a sort of fruity, deep, dark musk with hints of tobacco-patchouli (but not strongly earthy) and what keeps reminding me of nag champa. Dusty, lightly sweet, and fades so fast.