Skeletons Dancing to a Tune

[Seajewel]

Dry white sandalwood with a flicker of amber, blood musk, and red pepper.

[Casablanca]

Spicy red pepper and spicy musk alongside a pretty and dry white sandalwood. The chili pepper mingles with other spices, not listed -- I think nutmeg, cinnamon, maybe cardamom. And the spices rule this roost.

 

In drydown, some perfumey amber wafts in, another warming effect in an already spicy-warm blend.

 

Potent spiciness mingled with amber, musk, and pale sandalwood. I like it.

 

[DigitalCoyote]

Wet: Vicks and pencil shavings.  I am confused.

 

Semi-dry:  This is getting tingly--I bet the lab's cinnamon is in here somewhere.  This is a warm, earthy smell.  It's not dirt but it's definitely got that spice cabinet near the oven in use with.  That and some comforting wood without it becoming Christmassy.

[puellacaerulea]

Oof. I had high hopes for this one (sandalwood and pepper? y plz), but it's not working out on my skin. It's warm sandalwood with a slightly spicy note in the decant, but once applied, the red pepper (and maybe also the blood musk?) amps up in a way that makes me think of cinnamon-heavy potpourri more than anything else. The sandalwood also gets a little more high-pitched than I'm used to. Overall, much less sandalwood and much more heavy spice than I expected, so something to be aware of if you're spice-averse.

[torischroeder9]

In the bottle: Red pepper, sandalwood, and yes, something that is like a faint odor of Vicks Vaporub.

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, it's blood musk and camphor. As it dries, the camphor idea dies down, and I get more amber, rounded out by blood musk, dried out by sandalwood, and with a bit of red chile. It's more perfumey than gourmand and more traditionally masculine than I was expecting -- though the scent is both warm and refined. 

 

After a while, though, the blood musk and amber absolutely bloom on my skin, backed by the sandalwood and graced by the red pepper. (I am spice-philic, though, so what I perceive as a nice amount of red pepper might be a lot to others.) This is much more like the unisex, round amber and musk blends that I love so much. 

 

This is one that is much different in the bottle than it is on my skin. And, yes, the scent in the bottle is a little scary, but it smooths out very quickly into something... honestly, elegant and beautiful, with just a little bit of a kick. 

[Okupsidedown]

I've worn this a couple times and the end result was adoration! Pepper in any variation has become a favorite note of mine. It clips the scent off at the end. I love it. Red musk can be a little messy and pepper renders it neat. Precise. And there is a dryness. Not necessarily sandalwood, just a lovely dryness. There's a whisper of juicy red musk, but with the dry punctuation of pepper and wood.

 

LOVE!

[groovyrooby]

This was a lucky blind bottle for me! I love sandalwood and Dragon's Blood. And I love black pepper, though I didn't know what to expect with the red pepper. Well...

 

All the notes are present & nicely balanced. The sandalwood does the bone dry, swirl-of-dust thing. The blood musk has that hot, dry desert air spice to it, like Al-Azif or Dragon's Musk. And the red pepper is a cindery, cinnamony Red Hots (minus sugar) kind of spice, like Low Key Lyesmith or Hexentanz (both loves). It's right up my alley! It has a slight bitterness to it, in that palo santo/creosote kind of way. Husband said I smelled like cinnamon candy (BINGO!). We are both highly potpourri-averse, especially Christmas potpourri, and neither of us found that here. The bones and blood musk steer the cinnamon a different direction.

 

I've doused myself in this for an evening out with friends and layered it with a dab of Endless Corridor, which turns out to be very close to Bloody Corridor (also LOVE). It's a delightful, dry red musk that is beautiful alone and fun to blend.

 

[Ennikar]

This is the thing that's impressed upon me that 'blood musk' and 'red musk' are, in fact, different. I get a strong cinnamon impression, almost like cinnamon candy, but not openly sweet. It reminds me strongly of olympic orchids dev #3, if you're familiar with that - mostly a very-slightly-sweet cinnamon, with a touch of wood and resins that are stronger, relatively speaking, in the dry stage.

[zankoku_zen]

Cinnamon and dragon's blood musk, is what this smells like. It's cinnamon, musky, and resinous. Red. Medium throw and wear length.

[Threemoons]

This one played out very differently than I thought it would.  I was expecting a sort of dry, hot, red sandalwood thing.  Instead, here's what I got: In the bottle:  A blast of REALLY sweet hot cinnamon, like biting into a fresh cinnamon stick fresh from a good spice vendor, and a tiny bit of another spice--clove husk?  On, wet:  Wow, the hot cinnamon REALLY picks up, along with a dry sharp note of real red pepper, as in fresh cut small hot red peppers.  Stays really hot and dry for a long time; really struggling to find either the sandalwood or amber in it, or even the musk for that matter.  The "blood musk" is a faintly metallic bend on the hot red notes in this blend, and it stays front and center.  Only after a few hours do I get the beginnings of a sandalwood note, which is in fact a gentle white sandalwood, like one of the fancy sandalwood fans from an Asian market or similar (ie not incensey or soapy).  As the cinnamon dies down a bit, I get a bit of sweetness almost like a very light skin musk (that must be the amber).  Zero gourmand vibe on this oddly enough.  This really is a spice front and center blend.  Medium throw and wear.

[starbrow]

From the notes, I would expect this to be a SPICY blend. But oh no, it is a cozy, by-the-fire kind of sandalwood, gently spiced like a warm mug of tea, lots of warmth and comfort without much <i>zing</i> like I'd expect from red pepper. This dries down into a wonderfully reminiscent piece of nostalgia for me that I have NO basis of scent reference for, but I'm sure there is a particular cologne that this smells like and I adore it. Clean and cozy and warm and inviting. More than the sum of its parts.

 

I don't have any other BPALs that really smell like Skeletons Dancing to a Tune, or that bring back that particular scent memory, so I snagged a bottle and happily. It is so different than the other Weenies of 2021 too, the opposite of burning; it soothes rather than scorches, and makes me happy without being sweet or feminine at all. I could very easily wear this all summer long because of how easy its profile is, a sleek and sophisticated sandalwood murmuring at musk and creamy spiced notes, but everything so rounded and wearable. It's just the perfect all-year-round gothy hygge scent.

[Diesis]

Look, I’m a simple lady who takes stuff at face value. So when something says red pepper, my brain says no. BUT I accidentally followed this post instead of the vanitas I meant to & several BPAL reviews later, I ordered it based on everyone saying it felt like a Yule, or that it smells like cinnamon sticks, cozy fires, etc. I started to think maybe I don’t know what a red pepper smells like.

 

Having said all that, this is one of my new favs & I keep reaching for it without thinking & using it as a sleep blend. My pillows smell amazing. For something with no sugar, no cinnamon, no “spices”, & no indications of hidden notes… it is a true surprise. 

Bottle: Warm soft cinnamon. Like the powder on top a latte. 

Wet: Wow, hello CINNAMON. It’s like that gum, Big Red? Or Trident cinnamon. It’s some spicy cinnamon.

First phase of dry down: Cinnamon has had a moment to calm itself & the amber is taking on a soft red feeling. That warm cozy note that I can’t ever place but notice it in amber scents with red musks or spices. This is he phase I look like a still from 15 Minutes of Fume because I just sit there smelling my arms. Hella of a throw at this point too. Half my house realised I had it on before I was in the same room. 
The majority of the dry down: So good. It’s a red scent, but fire flicker red, glowing embers red… NOT retina burning red or fire trucks. It’s soft & warm & I wanna live here. The sandalwood is actually noticeable now, but as a backdrop only. The musk & amber are the most noticeable, with that cinnamon spice scent out front. I have no way of explaining the scent other than “Cinnamon sticks, dried out after mulling. With a soft, hazy warmth that reminds me of a cozy sweater & hot cider.” If you are a sucker for the autumn scents & “aesthetics” but when they are closer to a winter perfume (mid November scents? I dunno), this would definitely be your jam. Maybe I’m biased as I am an autumn baby that is closer to winter, but I wish I just smelled this way effortlessly. It feels like home to me. The throw for this is a nice one. Not big, but not smash your face into your wrist scent. Just a enough to leave a ghost trail of fireplace cinnamon. 
At the end: It lasts a solid 4-5 hours in that majority scent, but I can still smell it after about 12 hours. By then it is a hint of cinnamon with a sheer red musk permeated into sandalwood. It’s so nice, but by then it’s a skin scent only. However, if someone smelled like this when I leaned in… I’d  have zero complaints. 
 

I think this is the best blind buy that I would have NEVER reconsidered if not for the reviews on this forum & Facebook. So thank you, fellow Beeples. I love this. Trying to debate another bottle for backup, or another LE & honestly, I’ll probably get a backup. Or 8. 

[zipegs]

I am going to fistfight whatever in my skin chemistry is making some of the sandalwoods in these Weenies turn to rubbing alcohol on my skin. I love this guy in the bottle—he's a cool, ambery, dragon's blood-y sandalwood with a bite of cinnamon. On first application, it really blooms and warms up a bit—the sandalwood turns hot and dry, and I get a bit of a kick from the red pepper. But it starts turning rubbing alcohol pretty quickly. I don't mind a little sharpness to my sandalwood (actually, I'm planning on keeping this decant for now at least because this blend in particular just seems to toe the line between sharp sandalwood and straight-up rubbing alcohol on me, and I love what I smell beneath it so much that I'd hate to abandon it entirely) but these guys have been testing my limits. Thankfully, unlike some other blends, the rubbing-alcohol phase seems to mostly come along with the heart notes, so I get some good top and base not wear without that taint. Glad I picked up a decant of this, and if my skin chemistry didn't mess with it, I'd DEFINITELY be grabbing myself a full-size or two