Asleep in the Deep

[zankoku_zen]

A hymn to all who sleep beneath the waves. Sailor beware! A lightless abyss of black plum, sea salt, opium tar accord, labdanum, and indigo benzoin.

[Casablanca]

Freshly on, in the first few seconds, Asleep in the Deep opens with plain airy salt on my skin. (I tend to amp salt.) Dark plum shortly follows, a plum with both purple and blue, possibly the plum blending with indigo benzoin. A little opium creeps in, and we have a salt-encrusted dark plum tinged with opium.

 

After drydown, Asleep is primarily salt on my salt-amping skin, but with a lovely background of dark, smoky, watery complexity. It's not that I'm getting a literal aquatic note, but the darkness, purple, and blue are standing in for it conceptually, and the opium adds a little dark and dreamy smoke.

 

Salt and opium don't normally do much for me. But I nabbed a decant of this on a sparkling whim, and I'm pleased I did. It is resonating for me, albeit in a curious, Alice-in-Wonderland kind of way. 

[Lucchesa]

I was gifted this bottle by an extremely generous forumite, and I have worn it several times, with varying results.  I hadn't ordered a bottle because although I love the salt note, I was afraid that the name might imply an unlisted aquatic note, and nearly everything aquatic goes to cleaning product on me.  When I applied this straight from the mailbox because patience is not one of my more notable virtues, I got, basically, plum dryer sheets.  The second time I wore it, I got plum when wet and that toothsome salt note I love, and it mellowed down into opium-plum-salt loveliness, dark and velvety, exactly what I was hoping for.  The third time I wore it, it was more like dark opium plum with a bit of dryer sheets.  And so on.  I am pretty confident, though, that this is going to age magnificently, and that each time I wear it the aquatic tinge is going to fade farther into the background.  If you are fan of scents purple, you need to give this a go.

[DiesMali]

In the bottle: Salty opium. 

 

Wet on my skin: Salty, plummy opium. 

 

Dry: Aquatics are a bit of a gamble on my skin, but this one is quite nice! It goes on as salty opium that quickly sweetens with that dark plum note, and the labdanum and indigo benzoin seem to be combining with the salt to bring it that dark, cold, oceanic feel. Definitely ocean, not a lake or river. That salty opium-plum combination is just beautiful, though, and is definitely the standout of this scent. It's not overly briny or fruity, and the labdanum and benzoin are a cool breeze atop the deep, dark water. This is a fairly unisex blend. For me, between the inspiration and scent, it is calling up mental imagery of friendly but slightly creepy deep-sea merfolk catching the bodies of drowned sailors, and then magically reviving them as newly-minted merfolk. 

[zankoku_zen]

Plummy aquatics. Dark, cool, salty opium and plum. Medium throw and wear length.

[Dharklady]

This is a very different scent then I reach for but I really enjoy what's happening with it. In the bottle I'm getting salt, sweetness from the benzoin and a deeper/woodier incense note (the opium tar accord or labdanum?). Wet I'm getting  airy salt and plum over a nicely grounded woody sweetness. The plum disappears quickly, replaced with the opium. Mid drydown, the focus is all on the deeper notes. The airy combo combines and lingers for a good couple hours after. Decent throw (I get whiffs as I move around) and lasting power.

 

[Vaporeon]

A dark juicy slightly smoky plum with fresh salt. Moody aquatic. Love

[VetchVesper]

I'm discovering that me and the lab's "indigo" descriptor jive. I'm also getting along better with their more recent aquatics, though their older aquatic scents still give me trouble. (Soap!) I decided to be adventurous and blind bottle Asleep in the Deep. I'm still weighing that decision. 🙂

 

The fragrance smells salty in the bottle but the note quickly dissipates on my skin. I'm left with something that smells like good bubble bath with dark, murky resins beneath it. There's a subtle spice and heaviness from the opium that mixes with the cool brine of the thinner aquatic notes that really does make me think of sinking deep into abyssal waters. Indigo musk and hints of plum become more prominent in the dry down, but the plum never smells fruity. I got no dryer sheets, thank goodness.

 

This is unlike anything else in my collection. Though I don't know that I LOVE it, I'm rather intrigued. I'll be keeping it around a while to see if it really grows on me. I think other reviewers are correct - this will age very well, and I want to sniff that process.

 

 

[Abyssgazesback]

Salty, almost popcorn at first. But then, as desired, that dark, musty rich plum rolls out. Salty plum popcorn. Seriously, where is the popcorn coming from? Now, there’s a dark, oozing sweet layer. Popcorn gone. That was weird. Oh LAWD that plum and salt and thick, sticky sweet opium. Almost orchid like. This blend starts out rude and settles into a deep, rich, sophisticated high end goth perfume.

[Threemoons]

Not what I expected at all, but I like it!  In the bottle:  Salty GINGERBREAD and popcorn.  Really.  On, wet:  Salt stays and sweetness intensifies a bit.  Gingerbread note stays but then gradually the plum and a sweet tarry note show up.  Also getting a tiny teeny bit of a deep marine note, but not a high, men's cologne marine note.  Drydown:  Salty sweet resins with a hint of really dark plum with sweet dark resins and yes, still some popcorn!

[Jenesis]

Alas, this opens with "salty sea air" but sadly turns to "National Trust Gift Shop" very quickly (that's soap/artificial potpourri stink, for the uninitiated).

Edited April 29, 2021 by Jenesis

[starbrow]

From beginning to almost end, this is saltwater-logged woods, very aquatic, very salty, very cologney. It gives me a headache every time I go to sniff it. I get zero plum, the faintest whiff of opium smoke. It is so very salted aquatics, and the effect is incredibly intense for the first hour or two. Gradually, the sweetness of the opium smoke begins to creep in. Still getting very little plum, although it's starting to smell faintly like the drowned-at-sea cousin of Evil on another spot down my arm. 

 

I just don't think Asleep in the Deep is for me. I adore plum, and I get basically none here. What I do get is headache-inducing, so I think it's got to go.

[Hesper]

I'm getting piney bourbon vanilla out of this. I want the plum and salt and benzoin you're all getting.

[Llanval]

I do like this a lot, but Asleep in the Deep starts with a big wave of corn chip salt that takes oh idk about 3 hours to fade, laid over salty, waterlogged planks and the typical masculine leaning cologne note found in a fair number of bpal aquatics.  the plum is honestly a no-show on my skin, or so quiet it simply lends a gentle waft of sweet/sour fruit. Also, for the first three or four hours Asleep reads very soapy dryer sheet and stays that way. Thankfully it is very high-end, fancy soap but it is still soap, which I am not a fan of.  I barely dodged a headache while wearing this in full, and that's very unusual for me 😕

 

I really wanted to get a solid read on bpal's black plum note, as I'm eying the Marshmallow and Black Plum duet but this didn't give me the insight into that note I was hoping for.

[LavenderCoffee]

I totally slept on this one when it was initially released (🥁) but have since enjoyed a different blend with opium, so I wanted to check this out. I don't understand which notes are contributing to the aquatic effect here beyond the sea salt, but I was not prepared for this lovely plum ocean!

It is a murky, sweet, saltwater plum when first applied, and after a few hours of wear, it becomes a muted plum on the sweet seabed of opium, labdanum and benzoin, with a trace of salt on my skin. Very pleasantly surprised by this.

[Little Bird]

The opium and sea salt are sharp and soapy, reading as a high pitched ozone on my skin.  I want the plum and amber-y tones, but they never really come out to play.  Over time, I can smell a little bit of sweet resin, but it's not enough for me.