Unsettling Portraits

[zankoku_zen]

Dust and cobwebs drape from gilded frames like filmy shrouds over a gallery of leering, long-dead relatives: crackled amber resin, faded turpentine and torn canvas, pulverized frankincense, verdigris, and crushed malachite, lead white sandalwood, smoky umber, and lampblack.

[Penance]

Boy, I did NOT know what to expect from this one since the ingredients are so strange.  Well, this one's weird, folks.  I think we all expected that, but it's weird.  Not unwearable, though, but I'll get to that! 

This starts off smelling like minerals and sooty powderiness (not baby powder, more like the very fine ash out of a coal bin) in the bottle.  As soon as I apply it, I get hit with a huge thwack of turpentine, which, thankfully, passes quite quickly.  The scent from there is linear: it settles into what's ultimately a sort of ashy sandalwood with a slight amber base over something I'd read as old paper but is probably canvas.

 

It doesn't really read as "perfume" (as in a scent I'd wear on my body, not a perfumey type scent), but could be awesome for an atmo spray.  I think since it reads more masculine, it could potentially be a good scent for a man who doesn't like the run of the mill.

[artisjok]

Unsettling is right.
This scent is the kind that warns you with chemical tang, and then sneaks up behind to smother you in a thick sweet powdery cloth that fills the nostrils and absorbs energy, sucking out life force. Struggling just drains you more quickly. Grinning faces leer our from dust-laden frames, and your vision swims out of focus.

If not for the turpentine & verdigris, it would probably be a comforting powdery embrace. Instead it has tiny rows of teeth, pallid flaps of skin, and a sick sense of humor.
I hope some of what I expected to be darker notes (lampblack, smoky umber) come forth with a little more time, or the amber & frankincense.... even a stronger mineral sparkle added to it would improve the mood it evokes.

*shivers and looks warily around at the walls*

[VetchVesper]

So odd.  It has a powder, minty, minerally quality that is just very hard to describe and categorize.  Unique and atmospheric.  Unisex.  It reminds me a little of the smell of makeup.  It's a little bit green, but definitely not in a juicy way.  Verdigris works.  If I wanted a perfume for the color and texture of rust on copper, this would do nicely.   I like it, but less as a perfume and more in the way that I like the smell of Sharpie markers.    Someone wearing this would smell unsettling.  Like - "What is that fascinating smell.  Oh, it's you?   Humans aren't supposed to smell like that.       ...Come here, I want to smell you some more."

 

ETA:  This has actually really grown on me.  It's so unusual, and has a very good wear length.  Late in the dry down, it becomes more obviously a warm amber, and is a bit more traditional.  It takes many hours, so if you can't get past the strangeness of the earlier stages, the amber's not going to be worth the wait, but for me, it's an added bonus.    

 

ETA 2:  Yeeeah...  I bought a last minute bottle.  It's just so utterly odd and unique, and really is a fascinating smell.  

Edited May 9, 2021 by VetchVesper

[Casablanca]

Strange and highly chemical. Certainly unsettling.

 

Soft mineral turpentine, canvas, and wet clay -- oh, no, there is the lampblack. Acrid, chemical black Sharpies. 

 

This is the smell of a workshop for making something unwholesome.

[lookingglass]

As an artist and lover of bpal spooky concept and dusty scents, I just had to try this. It's terpenic, yes, but tries out to be a very wearable, balsamic amber, quite different from others in the catalog-not nearly as sweet. There is a bit of dusty/powderyness with the lampblack and fabric notes on the drydown, and a creaminess reminicent of the texture of oiil paints mixed with cold wax medium. I can easily imagine many seipia tinged, cracking colors. It wears close to the skin and I'd say it leans masculine in that the resins smell quite fresh and sharp. Definately an interesting and evocative blend!

[silverbottle]

The first, primary thing I get out of this is actually something very sharp and spearmint-like. So far, that aspect doesn't go away with time entirely, but does die down and mix well. It turns medicinal for me for a little while after that, but other notes that are less sharp rise up within 10 or 15 minutes, rounding it out and making it more complex. Hints of amber and sandalwood might be the next things I smell, and then something that I can't place, but makes it powdery and slightly chemical-y (nicely so, to me, rather than acrid). Over the next half hour, something warm, dusty, and ash-like continues to rise. What might be amber and sandalwood continue to grow, while that spearmint-like scent melts well into the mix (instead of standing out like the sharp end of a needle), giving it a cold, ghostly feel.
 

I have difficulty picking out different parts, but I enjoy the scent.

It's unsettling in a really fun way. Somehow, it's a scent that is more than what notes make it up, I think; I don't know that I'll ever be able to pick apart what all I'm smelling, exactly, but it does smell how I would expect a hall of haunted art in a old, ill-kept or abandoned house to smell. It also smells a bit like a shared art studio where people have just put away their various projects and gone away, leaving it abandoned for now, with the fumes still hanging in the air... but haunted.

It's definitely an unusual fragrance. I can certainly see where it would not be most people's cup of tea. It's one I will gladly wear just to please myself, rather than trying to smell nice to others. I think it's a fragrance that's particularly nice for fall and winter.

[SophieCedar]

This smells like a couple Lush scents, faded and mellowed.... I'm thinking 29 High Street? Yes! That's it! The warm amber glow of 29 High Street! Its like I can smell gardenia and a bit of lime and tonka and everything! Oh wait. There's also a distinct books/bound hardcovers smell too. Even better!

Its warm, comforting, sophisticated, and enlightening. These portraits can stare at me all they want! Lol!

[zankoku_zen]

Mineral sandalwood, amber, frankincense. This one smells like an antique parlor. Gender neutral to masculine. This to me smells like a place, more than actual perfume. Medium throw and wear length.

[hhelix]

I love this in all its atmospheric weirdness. I was drawn to it for the art supply association and it does not disappoint. I agree with earlier reviewers that it starts off kind of chalky and mentholated, like a whiff of an old medicine cabinet. Then the turpentine thwacks you in the face and is gone. I get the sharpie reference, but to me it's more dried pans of watercolor paints. Gradually the weirdness dissipates and you are left with a raspy growl of resins for the remainder of its life. I am glad I scored a bottle and will definitely treasure it, as it is so unique in my collection.

[LavenderCoffee]

In the bottle, it smells like a bit like painter's palette. The turpentine has a moment of prominence when freshly applied, but it recedes into the blend fairly quickly. What I think is the smoky umber is playing nicely with the frankincense after 15 minutes or so, and there's a bit of something metallic in the mix. I agree that it smells a bit like an antique shop! It's not as unsettling as I thought it would be, and definitely not unwearable, but I bet it was a lot more daunting when it was first released. A pleasantly unusual atmospheric scent.

[ghoulnextdoor]

-At first: a decimating wave of nostalgia, something that smells like memories and echoes of hearts long silenced
-Minerals and sooty carbon, oil, and wax and flickering flame
-The taste of oxidized copper and ghostly pigments
-At the last: the portraits have been taken down for a cleaning, dusted and polished, and the heavy curtains drawn to let the sunlight scour away the shadows. A slightly sweet, vaguely citrusy lightness remains.