A Glimpse

[zankoku_zen]

A quiet scent, gentle: soft brown leather, a rustle of leaves, warm skin, white sandalwood.

[zankoku_zen]

Brown leather, white sandalwood (which is sharper and slightly more cedary/lemony than regular sandalwood on me), and musk. This one reminds me to an Order of the Dragon blend. Like if the vampire brides and Quincy Morris had an unholy baby (meaning, Lucy and Quincy Morris finally got it on, but Lucy ditched all the roses). So yeah, ghostly, oddly seductive, and kinda out there. Medium throw and wear length.

[VetchVesper]

Oude no.    I got it distinctly upon first whiff.  Also, the dried leaf note is very pronounced and cologney on me, semi soapy.  So yeah, soapy poop cologne.  Not a win.  😕 

 

That said,  my chemistry makes dead leaves meh, skin musk smell funky (warm skin?), and leather - though I love it - soften to a background note.  So maybe I'm not the best judge of this one.  In the very least, those rustley leaves stand out a whole lot more than those other notes, which I love.  Very curious to see how this works on others.

[Missanneshirleyofgg]

Took two hours of wear to get the stank of poop out of it. Why??? These notes read like a dream. Two hours later its a sandalwood single note. 

[white_jenna63]

I couldn't remember the notes of this one, and the first whiff...I thought something strong like jasmine? It *did* dry down to something nice and soft, but not worth it to get there. Shame.

[Lucchesa]

Is there stealth oudh in here?  I accidentally ordered two decants of A Glimpse, so I'm going to wait until the next one gets here, but my first glimpse is stinky oudh, probably black oudh as that's the worst on me.  I guess some of the other reviewers are having the same reaction.  

[Casablanca]

The listed notes look lovely, but then: Poudh sneak attack for critical damage.

 

[Janis]

Immediate fecal oud with a fizzy backdrop of soap and toilet cleaner. It smells like someone took a dump and then tried (and failed) to cover up the smell. This is, hands down, the most toilet-y scent I've ever tried. Oh no!

 

ETA: a rinse with water transforms it into a soft, cologney, clean skin scent. If A Glimpse is pulling ultra oudh-y on you, give this a try!

Edited May 27, 2020 by Janis

[Jenjin]

I was gifted this bottle and worth a shot right? It's fine in the bottle, I didn't notice anything unusual, but on the skin it takes a turn. I can't say i'm getting an an indolic smell, but it does give me a "public restroom" sort of vibe. Clingy and strangely floral (warm skin is the culprit here). It does dry down to something mildly soapy, like fresh out the shower type vibe. 

[paperflowers]

Ok, so I always thought I liked oud.  I love Pumpkin Oud!  But I've noticed that in some blends, oud smells like dirty diapers to me.  My notes for this particular oud blend are:
Muted soap.  Something funky underneath.  1/10.  No.

[pommelo]

the closest thing to sweet toilet poop i've ever smelled, I don't understand how beth does it . i've definitely smelled this before, in mall toilets. it's warm poop with the astringency of pee, layered over with incredibly strong sweet toilet freshener. 

it does take 2 hours for the stink to pass, and then it dries down to a relatively soft and skin-close sweet brown leaf scent. 

 

[Argentwolf]

It's been a minute since I last acquired BPAL oils, and it only occurred to me to read the reviews of this after I had made the arrangements to get a bottle. I admit I was wondering what I was getting into by the time it arrived!

 

In the bottle: There's a sweet, almost floral quality to it, that shifts now and then to reveal a warm woodiness, or...something more pungent. Just a tiny spike in the nostrils at first, but it's easy to dwell on it, and it does smell a bit...earthy, and unpleasant. So I can understand why so many people get that indole vibe from it.

On skin: Thankfully the sweet, floral scent is what lingers and asserts itself. Phew! Leather notes smell sweet to me, so I can only assume that the components in this are blending into one whole that transforms them into something my nose translates as 'flowers'. There is a warm quality to it, though -- like the essence of sitting and nuzzling up to someone, and being able to smell their perfume on their skin.

Over time: It is not retiring or subtle -- maybe that's the oud's gift to me. This went all day long on me, and I was constantly getting whiffs of myself and thinking gosh, I smell good. The day's application was a dab on each wrist, so a modest amount goes a long way. It pretty much retains that floral quality all the while, maybe getting a little woodier over time. For me, at least, this perfume minds its manners and is very classy. Go figure! I'm a fan of this.