'Tis Strange

[Seajewel]

Both bog and castle, moor and battlefield, chivalry and nightmare: scarred leather armor, moss-covered stone, shadows upon shadows, and billows of black incense.

Edited August 28, 2021 by Seajewel

[doomsday_disco]

The leather is the star of the show at first, and I think it is reminding me of the leather in De Sade Resurrected. The moss-covered stone and black incense lurk behind the leather for a while, and then it becomes mostly leather and incense, but by the end of the day, it has morphed again, and it is now moss-dominant on me backed by what is now a musky, funky, farm-y type of leather. I think it might be some black oudh or something mingling with the leather note.

 

I liked how this one started off, but for some reason, it didn't end up smelling good on me in the end... there may be some oudh in the black incense.  

Edited September 6, 2021 by doomsday_disco

[birdieflyaway]

Come to mama. YES and YES. I get immediate big smoky incense, which I've been craving, and a lighter leather. The leather is kind of scorched, maybe? I'm not sure I can identify the stone here, but I'm thinking it's contributing to a sharpness in this that I like. It doesn't have that dusty tinge that sadly happens to me with a lot of incense blends. This one has been in my top 3 rotation this week and will be for a while ahead.

[Casablanca]

Oh, smoky smoked smokeness. Right out of the gate, 'Tis Strange offers great black billows of smoky incense that seems to clock in somewhere in the frankincense-champaca spectrum at first, but later reminds me more of sandalwood.

 

With some warming on the skin, a black or blackened leather note wafts up. I can't tell if it's black leather or a blackness borrowed from the incense smoke, so let's call it smoke-blackened leather. The suit weathered battlefield conditions, and whosoever knows its original color isn't here to vouch for it.

 

I don't really notice mossy stone, but there are plenty of shadows to go around in this blend. There's also a bit of something earthy and grounding, almost like patchouli. The effect of this blend reminds me of Midnight Bonfire, more than anything.

 

ETA: And actually, similar to Midnight Bonfire, I keep smelling a sweet little floral note in this. I was ignoring it, but it really just wants to stand out, so I came back to mention it. It might be my skin.

Edited September 23, 2021 by Casablanca

[Failmingo]

I've been sitting with these since they were in the prototype phase. It's been a unique journey because neither of these blends -- the other being THE LAST SYLLABLE, I'm gonna crosspost my review there -- are something I would normally reach for on its own, but layered together there is a strange effect that is intensely pleasant to me.

 

In the bottle THE LAST SYLLABLE ("Photos pinned to cool plaster walls, discarded papers, a web of strings, a mirror, a doll, singed straw, scattered books, and unfurled magnetic tape") is musty, damp, papery, almost institutional. It truly smells like studio space in a loft or warehouse. To me that's an exciting and almost mystical scent, the  potent combo of reference materials, art supplies, and empty space. Agree with others that this is more "new books" than "old books," although the humid plastery note really keeps this out of a comfy and cozy contemporary setting. Kind of like shoving your face into a cardboard box of newly-printed pamphlets that has been left in a crumbling old storage unit. (Incidentally, the little Cycladic babydolls featured on the label actually were formed out of plaster, painted to look like stone. So it's very fitting that they ended up repping this scent!)

 

On the skin it all seems to calm down a bit, and that's when I start to get old paperbacks. I can't detect the singed straw, it must be a very minor component. I probably wouldn't think "mirror" at all, except when I compare it to some of the other BPAL blends that are "glassy" I can trace the continuity between them. This is an intense "sense of place" perfume that strikes me as both contemplative and kind of creatively energizing; it ultimately wears pretty close to the skin and isn't super long-lasting. 

 

It appears to have very little in common with 'TIS STRANGE, which also aspires to a "sense of place," namely the backdrop for the story of Macbeth. So it's time as well as place that separates them, and in the bottle 'TIS STRANGE kind of sets me back on my heels. It has a singed quality, definitely the incense smoke set aloft on the kind of bitter freshness that the moss imparts. The leather is trackable but kind of subdued. I'm a little surprised at how warm it seems, given the darkness in the description, but on the skin you get a sense of the inky, scorched darkness that's revealed as the smoke lifts, like descending a winding castle passageway lit by torches. The scent is definitely martial with a real melancholy and unease to it, and the incense isn't like a sacred church blend -- more like a funky pagan brew meant to expunge evil spirits. I get something almost spicy sweet, like cinnamon or dragon's blood? This one has a bigger throw of the two, for sure.

 

Now's the part where I cross the streams, and layer them. It would seem these two don't belong anywhere near each other, but there is something about how the incense and leather IMMEDIATELY ages the paper in the book smell, and how the industrial studio space is IMMEDIATELY warmed and dried by the smoke and spice. Together, they create one of my favorite scent experiences in recent memory, blurring the Old World with the New World in a way that strikes me as distinctly occult. I can barely tell where one ends and the other begins, and that's a good layering experience, friends! In term of "sense of place" I'm now reminded of that kid in The Neverending Story hiding out with a book in the school's attic amidst all sorts of insane theatrical rubble. And of course, since I'm wearing twice as much perfume, it hangs around with me quite a bit longer.

So that's my combo review. And here's a reminder that the show these are inspired by -- "The Last Syllable" by Independent Shakespeare Co. -- can be accessed for free right here: http://www.iscla.org/the-last-syllable

 

 

[zankoku_zen]

Dark incense, stone, gleaming leather covered in blood. This smells like straight out of Castlevania. I imagine this is what a Belmont male would smell like. Good throw and wear length.

[Sunny the Wizard]

This one here was my first full-sized bottle and the first scent I wore from BPAL. The perfume gods must've been smiling on me, because it's the scent I default to most often, probably the closest I'll get to a signature scent considering how much I need novelty.

 

In the bottle:

Strong initial scent of leather. It's a scent that just puts 'black' in your mind; black mud, black leather, black billowing clouds, black musk.

 

On me:

The leather note sticks around at first, although I don't really get any moss or stone from it. Instead, my skin massively picks up that incense scent and runs with it. We have a little occult store in my city that always smells like every type of incense at once, and that's just what I end up smelling like as it wears. Full hippy store, but not irritatingly so, it still keeps a lot of its depth with subtle musky notes that round it out. It's a scent that makes me feel dark and dangerous, bold bloody and resolute.

[a_bear]

I got a bit of leather up front, but once it settles, it's a cool, atmospheric, mossy scent without veering into cologne territory as moss notes tend to go for me.

 

Maybe I'm over-influenced by the flavor text, but it did make me think of Stephen Black in JS&MN having to parade around Lost Hope.