The Wellerman

[zankoku_zen]

Sugar, tea, and rum.

[Casablanca]

Soon may the wellerman come... and here he is.

 

He is surprisingly dark and fruity on my skin. To open, I get a lovely sugar note, a dark and fruity rum, and a little whiff of faintly astringent black tea. This isn't a sharp booze at all; rather, it's a soft, sweet, dark, and fruity booze that reminds me more of the "booziness" of Smut than straight-up alcohol. Perhaps that's why this also smells a little musky to me, though less so than Smut.

 

Not to leave another "X and X had a baby" perfume review, but I'm going to. 😏 The Wellerman sits on me like Smut and Sugar Skull had a baby.

 

Y'know, I'm kinda digging it...

 

After drydown, I also get a touch of warm spice in the blend. This is nice, a bit more holiday now.
 

ETA: A friend tested my decant of this, and the blend was different enough on her skin for me to postscript this review.

 

What on me was a sweetly dark and fruity booze, on her went brown and caramel-like, like caramelized sugar.  She had no fruitiness and little booziness; instead she got an almost coffee-like caramelized sugar.

 

She smelled it on her, smelled it on me, and said, “What the fuck?” Good times.

 

Your mileage (or sea leagues) may vary.

Edited March 15, 2021 by Casablanca

[Soupy Twist]

Werther’s butterscotch in the bottle. Oh, this is the good rum. Goes on as rum with sugar brûlee. Some lemon iced tea powder comes in as it dries, which is interesting and goes surprisingly well with the sugary rum. This is a sort of Pirates for Children scent. There’s something entertainingly artificial about it, like a bubblegum feeling. Turns into Lemonhead Candy once it’s dry.

[feyofthefellwood]

This smells like lemon tea with a lot of sugar and a drop of booze. I would definitely drink this if it were edible, and smelling like it is pretty nice too.

[zankoku_zen]

Brown sugar cookies? That's what I'm getting. Brown sugar cookies. Low to medium throw, average wear length.

[deadlyves]

This starts very strong on the sugar for me, but not lemony sugar which I'm grateful for. It's reminding me a lot of the sugar 13. The rum makes this a bit darker. I can't pick out the tea, it might be blending with the sugar. Overall this makes me think brown sugar with a hint of booziness that fades as it settles. After the booziness, it warms up a bit.

 

This stays in the same sugary family as 13 for me and similar to that blend i think this would be fun to layer with, especially with what the rum is adding to it. 

 

ETA: there's a softer note that comes out after about an hour of wear that I'm attributing to the tea. This is just getting better as it goes.

Edited April 17, 2021 by deadlyves

[Missanneshirleyofgg]

I went to chase down the notes for Mr. Morses Seances to see what note this was in common between it and Wellerman. Their is a familiarity between them. And I think it is the rum! So, for me this smells like the the boozy sweetness of Mr. Morses Seances with a side of the sugar note from the March 13 2020. So, sweet and boozy, and I agree that it can seem a little brown sugar cookie as the reviewer suggested above.

 

This is not a scent I will wear year round. For me, the rum note is overpowering the other notes. To my nose it is a dark deep rum, something rich and gourmand. I will definitely revisit this in the autumn when I prefer sweeter, heavier scents. 

[fairybites]

This was one of the few Fire Down Below scents that caught my eye. It's definitely sweet tea with a splash of rum alright, but it barely lasts on me! Not even an hour before it's mostly gone. 

 

On it's own it's a bit disappointing, but if you want basically a sweet tea single note this is probably close! Could be nice for layering.

[kscha2017]

Omg, pretty sure I can't pass a breathalyzer for awhile. Took a huge whiff from the bottle and my mouth and throat were immediately full of deep, dark, strong, piratey rum. Good rum. Old rum, in oak barrels, carried across the sea. Thick enough to eat for breakfast, sweet and fortifying. Strong and bold and in your face! I want to slather this on and find my nearest Ren Faire. Or lay on the beach. Definitely want to drink this.

[Little Bird]

I think that the Fire Down Below series is one of my favorites ever from BPAL.  A'Rovin, Leave Her Jonny, and Haul on the Bowline are all so wonderful and The Wellerman is like a refreshing little palette cleanser.  This isn't really boozy to me at all, but I do smell a caramelized tone that makes me think of creme brulee, and then there's this freshness like sugar water and lemon zest, with a note that's like fresh cream in the drydown.  Gourmand yet clean.  Settles into a fresh cream and lemon zest scent after about an hour and it's really lovely.

[a_bear]

Rum notes can smell syrupy and cloying on me, particularly in warmer weather, but there's something sort of lemony - not sure if it's the tea or the sugar or something unlisted - that helps with this one. I like this but it's definitely a cold weather only scent for me. Makes me want to drink a hot toddy.

[splendidissima]

In the bottle and wet, this goes on as rich boozy butterscotch - like some sort of idealized version of butterscotch schnapps! But then very quickly a lemony note emerges, and by the time it's dry, it's a sweet tea with lemon. Both stages are nice, but very different!

 

This has a big throw in that initial stage, but it also vanishes super-fast: after about half an hour, I couldn't find it on my arm at all. I like it, but I'm going to have to practically bathe in it, or keep reapplying every thirty minutes, for it to stick around!

[MamaMoth]

this is super delicious!  butter rum candies, brown sugar, and enough clean astringent tea to cut through all the richness. i agree that one of the notes has a teensy bit of a lemony cant, either the sugar or the tea. 

[ArtemisSelene]

In the bottle and wet I get hot buttered rum!

Once it dries a little I get that caramelized almost burnt sugar note with a hint of tea that's not overwhelming. Oddly enough ones it's been on a while it turns into a flat vanilla cake kind of note on my skin. I didn't get any hint of lemon like other reviewers. Body chemistry is weird yall 😂