Darkness

[lucymoonstar]

The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,
The moon, their mistress, had expir'd before;
The winds were wither'd in the stagnant air,
And the clouds perish'd; Darkness had no need
Of aid from them -- She was the Universe.

Bottled gloom; the essence of oblivion. Blackest opium and narcissus deepened by myrrh.

This was an interesting one. I got this as a freebie and was pleasantly surprised! Initially wet when I sniffed my Imp I could smell a strong floral fragrance which I didn't like but I went ahead and applied the oil to my skin. To my surprise it started to spice up immediately - the floral was very subtle and the opium came on strong. I LOVE opium and I was so happy that this fragrance ended up spicy and not floral - I could not smell any myrrh. After it was on a period of time I could still strongly smell the spicy opium. I really like this one but I doubt I will get a big bottle.

[amunnefret]

Not a scent for the shy and retiring! This is a powerful commanding scent that demands a strong self-confident wearer.

 

While many of the oils I've tested eventually mellow to something quite tender and gentle, Darkness keeps a tenacious ignore-me-at-your-peril presence well into the night.

Strongly almost stridently spicey, lush, sinewy - no hard edges here. The panther of perfume oils! Gentle souls beware.

 

I'm partly impressed partly overwhelmed - suspect Iain would carry this one off better than me on most days. But on a good day hear me ROOOAAAR!

 

Will have to smell test him when he comes home tonight

[Pixie-elf]

I think there might be some Jasmine in this.

 

It's very nice, it's dark, deep, and a tiny bit spooky....

 

If Darkness wore a scent, it would DEFINATELY be Beth's blend of Darkness, because it hits the nail on the head!

 

It smells smokey, and jasminey, and floraly...

 

Sadly it's not me, I might try it again later on but it's just not me. :/

[bellis]

Whoah. This is easily the most sexual BPAL scent I've smelled yet. This is sweet and smoky and it just changed and I'm starting to smell something dusty and earthy. This gets more androgynous as it dries down. I think I would have difficulty not jumping the bones of someone who smelled like this, man or woman.

I don't know if it suits me, but I would absolutely love it on someone else.

[shelldoo]

this is a very sensuous dark narcissus, w/ a deep swarthy myrrh background, opium is on vacay for me, this is very tantalizing

[Fyre_in_Winter]

At first this smells very similar to a certain kind of commercial perfume... the very caustic, overly perfume-y perfumes from the late 80s. I was entirely prepared to wash this off, but I got distracted and it sat on my wrist for another 15 minutes before I sniffed it again. Wow, it has changed drastically. It went from hospital smelling (acrid flowers + powdery + hint of latex) to smelling of soft, dry and dusty flowers and a hint of powder. Not baby powder, but the expensive dusting powder a lady would use. I suspect there's some type of musk in here that gives the quality of something soft brushing across my nose whenever I sniff it.

 

Darkness is very, very nice, but a little too "perfumey" for my taste. I bet my mom will adore it though.

[Shollin]

First sniff: A purple so deep it’s just this side of black, flowing and velvety. I don’t know why I was expecting Darkness to be heavily resinous, but it isn’t.

 

Wearing: It’s a much warmer scent than I expected, swirling and enveloping and oh so deep. It’s a warm darkness without being too heavy or too close. Like sitting on the porch on a summer night.

[unfake1]

It smells like a garden full of dark, exotic flowers on a humid summer night. It's quite intoxicating and delicious. I love it!

[requieminblack]

First sniff from the bottle- Mmmm, spicy opium!

 

After 10 minutes- Oh wait, it's not spicy really, just a really dark opium. This is a true opium smell *blushes* , not at all like the commercial perfume. This is what I imagine a dark smoky Victorian opium den to smell like.

 

After 30 minutes- Hmmm, this one doesn't really morph much. It stays true to it's wet scent the whole time. It is still a dark and smoky opium.

 

Summery- I think I would like this better if it were spicier. I bet it will be fantastic layered with Three Witches!

[tesao]

darkness. this is aptly named....imagine yourself in a medieval castle, lit by hundreds of candles that have just been blown out by a gust of wet, cold, wind. doom, despair, that sharp smell of the wicks smoking.

 

i WANTED to like this scent. but the myrrh doesn't appear to react well to my body chemistry. it steadfastly refused to blend with the other fragrance notes. although it lasts quite well on me, that myrrh is still standing out and saying SMELL MEEEEEEEEEE.

 

if myrhh works for you, i would definitely try this. especially if you are in one of those gloomy moods.

 

once again, beth has proven her skill at blending AND at naming scents!

Edited April 17, 2005 by tesao

[quimerula]

The Lab sent me this one with my order, so thank you very much!

 

It's dark, strong and almost masculine wet. Opium and myrrh going out in the first line, with the almost green, dry and spicy touch of the opium balancing the sweetness of the myrrh.

Slowly narcissus comes, and the scent goes softer (just a bit softer).

 

So strong and evolving, sexy and dark... don't wear it if you want to pass near someone unnoticed.

[Gin]

This smells cold and melancholy. Cold marble halls, cold flowers. In spite of that, it's quite pretty. It smells a bit like carnations on me.

[gingersnapp]

Oddly, on me this is a warm, deep golden smell. I think I am picking up the narcissus and the myrrh as the strongest notes. It's a.... thick smell, I guess... I can't really think of a way to describe it. Thick sounds like syrup to me, but this isn't a syrupy sweet blend. It's just deep and languid and it grabs you and wraps you in itself until you can't come up for air.

 

I was afraid of this blend when I received it as a lagniappe from the Lab, but I'm very glad I was able to try it because I really really like it.

[quikslvr]

Definitely dark. I like the opium, but there's another note that turns me off. Softens into just dark opium as it dries. High mystic-esque.

[blaqpearl]

This one almost knocked me down when I smelled the imp. It must be the narcissus that I just cant get along with. Maybe it was the myrrh and opium fighting. who knows? I really need to find an opium scent thats more friendly to my nose.

[Dark Sparkle]

This is such an intriguing scent, I wish more commercial upscale perfumes would smell like this!

 

First, I get a wiff of something flowery, must be the narcissus, with something smokey, incensy underneath, yumm. At first, the narcissus is very compelling on my skin, but few seconds later this is just pure smokey incense bliss gently supported by the narcissus, which thankfully remains in the background. I am so in love with this scent it's uncanny . I agree with the other posters who compare this scent to blown out candles, and I tell you, this is one sophisticated smoking candle, wow!

 

It lingers a really long time as well, it is one of those scents that wafts in the air around you, sorrounding you in a cloud of sweet smoke - I use this imp quite sparingly too.

 

Must get more, lots more

[elphaba]

I got this as a frimp from the Lab, which was nice because Funereal Oils is the one section of the site I haven't really delved into at all.

 

My friend and I both had the same experience on trying Darkness. We put it on, wore it for a bit, decided we didn't really like it, and promptly had someone compliment us on how beautiful we smelled. In my case, the compliment came from the friend who had already decided she didn't like it. I think, in this case, it was less a matter of body chemistry than of the throw being more lovely than the scent close to the skin.

 

And, oh, does Darkness have throw. True to its name, it envelops you in a haze of opium incense. It smells like a head shop I used to frequent in college. The opium was the dominant note for me but there was something else, something bitter, that hung closer to my skin. It was so overwhelming that it made food I ate taste bad...and this is a feat, because I'm not sensitive to bitter flavors. Was that the myrrh? I always thought I liked myrrh. Now I don't know.

 

Overall, Darkness was just too heavy for me. It is a scent that closes you in and shields you from the world in a protective opium cloud. I can understand the appeal of that some days, but the underlying bitterness was more than I could handle. I'm not goth enough for Darkness.

[olympia301]

Heavy. Heavy jasmine with something burning in the background, and that could be an electrical fire starting. This perfume makes me uneasy. I smell coconuts wafting by every once in a while. It's like you are temporarily blind and stuck in a room which is being haunted by literary spirits. A dead abandoned Tahitian girl floats by in a habitually upbeat cloud, a ghost covered in the vines which covered its corpse is slinking in the corner. It just seems as if the room is getting smaller and smaller and hotter and hotter.

 

An Austrian spirit in knee breeches, powdered wig and waistcoat marches by as if part of a parade, but you see he is sneaking marzipan balls and eating them while breathing through his mouth. The room starts to heat up with almond/hazelnut and the musk of those sweating ghosts.

 

This is another olfactory triumph. Darkness and discomfort are portrayed here throughly in this blend. It's not me, but for the agoraphobic, this might be the ticket.

[tinyvulture]

This is dark, and sexy. The myrrh and opium go together so well. I agree with other reviews that it smells like candle smoke. As it dries, it becomes more powdery and feminine.

[nineveh]

This is certainly bottled gloom. When I first put it on, I can smell the cool floral of the narcissus, which I don't really care for, so thankfully it fades away quickly. That makes the scent turn spicy, smoky, and weirdly hot-feeling, like I'm near something that's burning. This reminds me of Anathema without the fertilizer note. Apparently I'm getting a lot of opium out of this, since that's the common note between the two.

 

I like it but it's also sort of disturbing. It is definitely a fancy evening scent. I would probably get a bottle of this if I were the soirée type of person.

[theshapeshifter]

In the imp: Heavy, dark... I can't quite put my finger on it.

 

Initial application: Incense, with an overlay of sharp, nose-tingling woodsmoke.

 

After half an hour: The narcissus and opium are starting to come out, while the myrrh is turning a little powdery... but not in a baby-powder way AT ALL. I believe someone above mentioned this as being powdery in the sense of a really expensive, womanly, sensual dusting powder - that's it exactly. And the smokiness has turned gentle and wispy - the frequent mentions of blown-out candles are bang on.

 

I adore this. It's dark and ominous, yet entirely classic and womanly. This makes me think of getting ready for a big night out... taking my time choosing just the right underthings, putting on a sexy black velvet dress, lacing up a pair of high boots. A bottle of this has just jumped to the head of my 'need' list.

[dreadeddragon]

In the bottle: All opium. *swoon*

 

First on: Opium with myrrh and a hint of a slight floral, but just a hint. This is dark & brooding, what I was hoping Debauchery would be.

 

Drydown: It stays the same, which is lovely! This might become my signature scent! Well, ok along with Wrath & maybe another one or two. But it's definitely one of my favorites ever, and it also layers lovely with Three Witches.

[wingedcorset]

In the vial:

Woah! There's a cupboard at my grandmother's house that smells exactly like this. So much so that I can't get notes, just heavy floral and Grandy.

 

Wet:

Still smells like Grandy. It's warming a little.

 

Dry:

I'm reminded of the smell of hippie shops where I grew up (Humboldt CO, CA). A spicy incensey smell. It's pretty, but not what I want to smell like.

 

Drydown:

Faded to a gorgeous spicy floral. Yum! Too bad the it doesn't smell like this the whole time. I'd drown myself in it, were that the case.

 

Verdict:

I have 3 imps of this. I may hang on to one for the "Woah, Grandy" factor, but the rest go to the swaps!

[joseybird]

WOW 0_0 so THIS is opium!

 

This is the blackest scent I've ever smelled...I thought Damnation and Tarot: Death were dark...this is BURNT.

 

This is the slow blackout from an opium overdose.

[hologhost]

In the bottle this smelled very complex with many different smells I couldn't identify.

 

On me it initially smelled like smoke - and not really a warm fireplace smoke - smoke from something not very nice. Something like I would imagine evil dragonbreath would smell.

 

It then changed to a kind of floral with smoky underpinnings. Much nicer, but still not really me. Kind of graveyardy - like the smell of funeral flowers.

 

I wanted this to work, but I guess I'm just not dark enough.