The Necromancer

[Seajewel]

Dusty tomes, russet cashmere, green velvet, and leather, frankincense and cinnamon bark, galangal root and fig, rosewater and lilac cologne.

[katharina]

I had such high hopes for this scent, that were unfortunately, dashed. It's only rested about 20 hours, so I will retry in a week or so and update if anything changes.

 

I have a love affair with cashmere, leather, and rosewater and felt neutral or slightly positive about the rest, particularly the green velvet note. On me, this scent is almost entirely lilac cologne. Now, don't get me wrong, I can delight in a subtle lilac undertone to a scent, you know the kind--where it's almost a creamy, purple scent. This one however, leans strongly on the colgne and smells almost like a citrus-y lilac. It's not bad, but not what I had hoped for, nor something I can see myself smelling like regularly.

 

I hope resting longer will allow the cashmere, leather, and rosewater to develop further. I'd also love a peek of dusty tomes and green velvet too. If not, off to the swap pile it will go.

Edited October 20, 2022 by katharina

[Missanneshirleyofgg]

Let this rest a couple days before testing. Right now this is an odd one on me. Not sure what I’m smelling or what I’m thinking about what I’m smelling. Sometimes I get a little bit of green cucumber from paper/book accords. Those are the ones I dislike the most. Right now what I’m getting from this perfume is a light cucumber and cinnamon with the velvet note. I like the velvet note. And the cucumber style paper note is not bad. What’s confusing me is the cinnamon. Or maybe it’s the paper and cinnamon. Without a vanilla or or perhaps a creamy blended resin to ground everything. I am not able to smell the rosewater, or the lilac. I think those two notes would’ve been a welcome addition to this as well. Like I said … confused. Like blindfolded and swinging at a pinata I can not see and am not even sure is there.
 

 I may revisit this and I may let this review stand as it is a metaphor For when I cannot interpret a scent and have no clue what actually I smell.

[Beary Strange]

I actually quite like this one, but then I am a bit of a fabric note addict. On me this is strongest on the green velvet, dusty tomes/old book smell, cashmere, leather which reminds me of the white leather in First Class Upgrade, and frankincense. The cinnamon bark is very subtle for a cinnamon and seems to be tying everything together in a really lovely way. The lilac cologne does read as such to me, and is quieter on me than lilac flower tends to be. When first applied, I do get a bit of a cucumbery vibe and I pick up the galangal root more, but both fade fast for me. And then there's the fig, which is more adding a light sweetness rather than being  figgy fruit. There's a lot going on here and it's a bit unusual, but I think it comes together well, and will be upgrading to a bottle. It's like a very wealthy necromancer's chambers, all rich velvet curtains, expensive upholsteries, resins and spices wafting about, and of course musty old books. If you're a  fan of unusual fabric notes, white leather, and cinnamon this is worth a try. And I hope we get more velvet fabric notes in the future, I'm definitely a fan.

Edited December 19, 2022 by Beary Strange

[skyturtles]

I absolutely cannot get enough of this one! There is a slight resemblance to Doc Constantine's Sassafras Strengthener, something herbal and bubbly and sweet without being gourmand. It's somehow refreshing. Does it feel expensive? Yes, that too. The cinnamon is not overwhelming in the slightest. The lilac does not make it a floral. Leather usually makes me nauseous, and that is not happening here. I LOVES IT. My only complaint is that the label on the bottle seems of a lesser quality than what I have come to expect from BPAL. I'll chalk it up to their recent move.

[theseagrows]

this smells bright, green and effervescent at first. not what i was expecting. i think i am getting galangal root (looked it up and it's like a more citrussy ginger), cashmere and green velvet with a cologne that does not read as lilac (yet.) later on i think i get some frankincense and a tiny hint of rosewater. then the fig takes over and this goes plasticky, as bpal's fig can do. in a nutshell, effervescent green fig with cashmere. it's ok but that effervescence is just a bit too high pitched for me and the fig too sweet. i wish i got more velvet, leather and lilac but alas my skin is displaying most of the other notes of course.

[Rane.]

Interesting, & will age nicely. Right now it's too young, but overall impressions are a smell similar to herbal with candle wax, slight floral, airy, & a little sweet like candy. Dusty, light, I get the faintness of the rosewater & lilac cologne. I also get a similar smell to opoponax. The herbalness is definitely galangal root, which smells amazing as an incense btw!! So seeing that in this bottle made me buy fast!

[Viiinylflowers]

I love this oneeee.  It smells like a sophisticated cologne kind of scent - the pretty victorian man kind bpal does sometimes that smells to me like smooth fresh greenish lavender water and kind of blended out herbal chypre.  Wilde, watson, and jareth are in a similar arena of That Kind of Scent to me (all different in their own way of course) if I’m making any kind of sense.  It’s not a Kool Breeze Arctic Blast Spicy Pine Tree Man/Wall Street Man kind of a cologne, but something coming from more natural and fresh/gentle elements.  I hate “cologne” smell, but like this style.  
 

This smells like those I mentioned above to me at first - but with this studious mage like theme.  Honestly, it smells exactly as I expected/hoped from the picture, and from my past experience with similar styles of scents from bpal.  

 

Its like he’s got various faded sachets of sophisticated faded dried herbs in his cloak, and he’s just slapped his cheeks with some refreshing but mystical greenish herbal likac-ey lavender water cologne : D 

 

Then it gets textured and so beautifully smells like green velvet somehow - somehow, that texture has been translated to a scent, which is wild.  And it smells like the velvet is all infused with whatever smells have rubbed onto it from his magical /necromancy mage man doings.  
 

Next it gets a little fruity/slightly tart almost from the hint of fig.  (This doesn’t last long thankfully, as it wasn’t my favorite part) 
 

And finally we’re back into green lightly incensed velvet territory, but with more of a musky + dried herbal chypre scent, and I kiiinddaaa get dusty tomes at this point a little.  Like it smells softly dusty musky dried magic stuff and a lil papery.  
 

It’s a weirdly sexy scent.  Like… beautiful and nice clean smelling ethereal vintage mage creatures with cloaks and secrets and mysterious baggies in their pockets wear this.   It also smells like huffing this necromancer’s green velvet cloak.  (And you want to do so because he’s so magical and pretty and his cloak is not gross, just smells like lovely things) 
 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by Viiinylflowers

[ghoulnextdoor]

This necromancer is an incredibly learned worker of the dark arts who is very secure in their knowledge and would never be up in someone’s DMs being a “well actually” know-it-all and they’ve got better things to do than troll the comments section with their obnoxious devils advocate scenarios. They’ve got quite a subtle presence, you hardly even know they’re in the room, they’re just minding their own beeswax and working their magic in the background. How do they fragrance their person? It’s a faint perfume of mild, milky fig, and heady lilac–but just the barest dab, on skin softened with sweet almond oil and warmed in cashmere cloaks.

[Tamarinda]

In the decant: Something bitter, something citrusy, and a cologne smell.

 

Wet: Fruity, smokey, cologney.

 

Dry: I hate that I don't really have words to describe this because I kinda love it. There's a hint of citrus from the galangal riding over some smokey cologne. It's just a touch sweet, from the fig I suppose. Everything is so well-blended in this perfume that it's hard to identify individual notes. I really like it when this happens. All my favorites have a touch of "what am I smelling?" to them. Really glad I can't smell any lilac.