Witches’ Kitchen

[Seajewel]

Bourbon tobacco absolute, nagarmotha, vetiver, tomato leaf, gunpowder, yarrow stalks, brimstone, vervain, seared leather, and castoreum accord.

[birdieflyaway]

This is really more lovely than I was expecting, I was thinking it would be more 'dark witchy' with the gunpowder, leather and brimstone - it's more cottage witch. But that's fine! It's quite herbal and eucalyptic, which is probably coming from one of these notes that I'm unfamiliar with. Tobacco is light, a wee hint. It's rested for 72hrs so I'll be experimenting with it again over time and will update if anything changes. I'll enjoy it.

[starbrow]

This witches' kitchen is strong and scathing. The burn of fiery ingredients is intense. I can feel sharp peppery explosions going off in my nose, a thunder of gunpowder, and a sear of castoreum torching the back of my throat. It takes the stern yet approachable boot leather and smokiness from Escape from the Autumn Carnival and lights it on fire. There are fresh ingredients - a crispy tomato leaf, mentholic herbs - but the smoother ones like vetiver and nagarmotha do nothing to tone down the more explosive notes, at least at this stage of aging. It'll be interesting to see if the meld becomes a touch more mellow over time. 

 

I can't imagine this ever being a quiet perfume, though. I smell the chaos and ferocity of the brewing and casting happening in this kitchen, and it's absolutely a Mood. I could imagine the potions dungeon in Harry Potter smelling like this near the end of class, as everyone's brews come to a boil (and some blow up). You have to be prepared for nasal anarchy.

 

I described this perfume to some friends as 'man-repellent' and I stand by that description one thousand percent. But I really could picture a number of people enjoying the dangerous energy Witches' Kitchen gives off. If you've ever smelled a black pepper duet/trio and thought, that's awesome but give me MOAR ROAR, you need this Weenie. I can't take the heat in this kitchen, so I'm gonna get out of it as the saying advises, and leave the cauldron-exploding to other braver souls.

[jiggahava]

Hmmm, a lot more menthol-y than I expected. Better let this brew sit longer. I was hoping this would be more castoreum-forward since it's a rare note in the BPAL catalogue, but I don't detect a whiff of it. Mostly nose-burning vetiver and a very herbal brimstone (or gunpowder). An hour later the menthol note persists.

 

I hate to say this about a new blend, but so far this is not the kind of scent I would wear and I don't care for the menthol notes at all. I will say though that for such a heavy sounding blend this is suprisingly light. 

 

Okay, nearly 4 hours in the menthol smell has died out, and I'm left with a super light, herbal smell. It's not bad, but it's nothing that differentiates it from other herbal blends. Light throw.

 

I will age this for at least 6 months and see if any of the other notes come out before I decide if I want to sell it.

 

Edit: It's been a year and aging has not helped at allllll. It still smells like a toothpaste mint-bomb. Off to ebay it goes.

Edited October 20, 2023 by jiggahava

[MamaMoth]

yoinks, this one comes on STRONG with the camphoric menthol opening. 

 

within 30 minutes, it's such a demure soft herbal-tinged leather with a touch of grassiness. 

 

within an hour, it's mostly gone.  WHAT.  

[Lin Swanson]

My first wearing of this was so confusing and surprising I had to wait to review until I could repeat it a time or two. I get aggressive gunpowder and mint, with backup herbs. It's so shouty! And yet, I kind of like it, it's a smell that says "back the F up, I'm dangerous"

It takes a while to settle down into the skin, but first comes more warmth - the tobacco and leather, maybe? - and then more herbs, and now finally I am smelling the whole kitchen. Leather apron, cauldron of potion stewing over an explosive fire, somebody brought a gust of cigar smoke in with - dammit, Gytha, you're smoking your pipe back there, aren't you!

The morning after I wear this, I get strangely intriguing hints of smoky herbs. Something interesting happened at this abandoned campsite, for sure.

 

Long lasting on me. This is a scent for days where it's my way or the highway. You may like my way by the end, but I'm not making any promises, nor will I wait around for you to decide.

[ghoulnextdoor]

I am so curious to know how this sits on other people’s skin, and what sort of smells jump out at them from this kitchen sink jumble of kitchen witchery. It’s not listed in the description, but what I experience immediately and intensely is a minty aspect, cool and camphorous and mentholated. I’m not a huge fan of mint, but this isn’t the unpleasantly spearminty toothpaste variety that makes me gaggy, this is more like a cup of fresh, strong emerald-hued mint tea. I keep looking at the notes, though, and thinking, “where is this even coming from?” Maybe a combination of tomato leaf’s distinctive velvety astringency, vervain’s lemony-grassy aspects, and yarrow’s pineiness? Huh! As it wears, the mint loses its manic fervor and almost becomes a bit sleepy, there’s a warm woody aspect that surfaces, like a worn wooden tabletop where upon aromatic and sweet herbs have been processed and dried, tinctures and elixirs have been portioned out, and all of those oils and essences have worked their way into the grain. At this point, what began as a really energetic “wakey wakey!” perfume now urges you to curl up and take a lovely little nap.

[MolyH]

When I first opened the bottle, there was an immediate blast of MINT before it vanishes just as quickly as it came on. Aside from that couple of seconds of mint, this is a very spicy scent. I meant that literally, hot spicy. It's almost nose-burning. It reminds me quite a lot of Forge of Vulcan.

[Ennikar]

Sniffie tested basically blind, I got a pretty powerful opening that's on the verge of mentholic (looking at the notes, probably the nagarmotha, maybe with yarrow and vervain). The main impression I got was leather with other notes swirling around indistinctly on top, and that's where it sits for a good while, though it slowly gets less strong. Reading the notes, I get the vetiver and maybe some of the other herbal or animalic notes. The bourbon tobacco is MIA as far as I can tell, but I'm not really annoyed because it doesn't seem like it would fit in well here.

[zephyr35]

On my skin, this opens with a blast of herbal leather, like a leather satchel a witch has used to store her herbs in while gathering them in the forest. I get something spicy and almost minty as well, and a feeling of dusty dryness that makes this smell of dried herbs rather than fresh. It's strong right out of the bottle and stays very present as the leather and herbs slowly meld into something that's almost cozy, if you consider sitting in a witch's workshop while they brew potions cozy (sign me up!). I'm not getting any bourbon tobacco, or anything to sweeten this one up, and that's okay, this one is all about the strong, herbal notes on me, with a backing of soft brown leather. I really like this but not sure I need a full bottle.

[t_for_tau]

Wow, it's been a while since I've had to immediately scrub a scent off, but this one had to go. Inexplicably this is STRONG mint - and not like the fresh herb but rather definite chewing gum. Chewing gum and leather, to be fair; if you want to smell like the leather jacket belonging to an inveterate gum chewer then this is for you!

 

Seriously, though, I feel like some people will genuinely love this, but since mint literally makes me nauseous it was immediately scoured off. I can confirm that it's persistent... I have absolutely no idea where the mint is coming from because none of the notes suggest it. I was hoping for tobacco and gunpowder and tomato leaf and I'm particularly sad that I'm not getting any castoreum in particular since it's one of my favourite notes and so rare in bpal.