Breathing Destruction From Their Lips Like Flame

[Seajewel]

Dried red fruits, pink peppercorn, black fig, nagarmotha, and vetiver.

[starbrow]

From first sniff, this was an OOOOO! A kiss both sweet and dark, reminding me of my first sniff of The Elephant is Slow to Mate. I knew I would be upgrading this from that love-at-first-sniff. The dried red fruits make the initial first impression, with what smells to me like red plum (yes, maybe the sour plum but here it so works!), a dark red apple, perhaps a red grape, maybe even like a muscadine, and black cherry. Delicious. They are woven into something almost patchy to me but of course that is the nagarmotha and vetiver, a velvety darkness for those sweet fruits to play in.

 

Both of these resins, while deep and blackened, are soft and easy to live with. If you fear a harsh vetiver, this one will try its best to charm you. The smoky effect is gently atmospheric rather than punchy or woodsmoky. I am curious to see how it stacks up against Elephant head-to-head, but I suspect Breathing Destruction will age even smoother than that blend.

 

I think the pink peppercorn is a "lively" counterbalance in the nose to all the sweet and deep and rich elements. Just a little vibrancy that keeps things bouncy. It reads hoppy to me, so sometimes this blend reminds me of a sour fruit beer, but I can actually dig that. The black fig doesn't dominate too much, either. This is medium-figgy, especially compared to Totality which is all fig all day long.

 

If this blend is this good already, fresh from its decant, I can't wait to see where it goes in a year. Instant bottle upgrade!

[Casablanca]

Dried red fruits and whole peppercorns, the sort that look decorative as yet unground in a shaker.

 

The dried red fruits smell mostly to me like dried cherries, red currants, and plums.

 

The peppercorns remind me of the look of table peppercorns from when I was a kid -- especially the reddish ones -- but the scent isn't an aggressive black pepper. It's also less playful than "pink pepper" notes usually read to me. It rests in a warm, almost festive space between the two, and combines with the dried fruits to remind me in a pleasant way of decorated tables for late-year holidays. I'm really enjoying how this blend spices without the usual spices.

 

The fig, which wafts in during drydown, further warms the whole and adds to that fall-winter holiday ambience. There's a tiny bit of a warm smoky-char note in the perfume before it dries. Other than that, I don't come across anything vetiver-like.

 

Breathing Destruction wasn't in my focus initially, but I'm getting such an unexpected warmth and nostalgia from it that I'm considering a bottle. It's unlike anything in my collection now, and I might want it as a friend for the cold months.

[HerbGirl]

What a perfect Autumn scent! The nagarmotha is barely detectable underneath the red fruits (I smell pomegranate, cranberry and tart cherry) and that is how it dries down for me. Very similar to one of the HM scents. I am so glad to have a bottle and have already made a dent in it in less than a week, lol. Very nice.

 

ETA I can smell the vetiver now! This is still all about those red fruits, but it is becoming more complex quite quickly. I love it.

Edited November 11, 2022 by HerbGirl

[saralaughs]

Dark sugared fruits with a just a tiny bit of pepper. It's a bit soapy on me as it's drying down but I'm also definitely getting some soil and earth.

 

Definitely a powder quality to it with a dark sugared fruitiness. Reminds me of pez candy.

[Greenwoodtree]

Oh how I wish the vetiver came out stronger! This was one of 2 scents I purchased for the Roe Vs Wade incident. 

What comes out fastest and stays longest is the fruits. At first it laid on my skin reminding me of Blood Kiss, one of my favorites. 

The peppercorn is a subtle little bite in the background. Still, where is my vetiver that wonderful earthy smokiness? Nowhere at this point. Maybe after it ages for a bit it will have more of that. 

The nagarmotha is also barely a whisper in the background of all these amping sweets.  

[zankoku_zen]

Dark red fruits, pink pepper and smoke. This smells like female vengeance coming for you. Like Furiosa from Mad Max Fury Road. Medium throw and wear length.

[Lucchesa]

Breathing Destruction is very sweet and almost pink on me. Wet it's the berry candy smell I usually get from berry notes.  I don't read it as specifically dried fruit.  Cranberry and pomegranate, maybe some cherry or even grape as starbrow suggests because that is always a very sweet note on me, and I feel like it's the pink fig I smelled in another blend recently.  It does develop into something a little richer, but the vetiver never shows up on my skin, and that's what would have made this work for me.