gentle-twig

disclaimer: i have never ever tried any of the lab's "textile" notes or patchouli leaf, but i do like regular patchouli. so i have no idea how this is going to be. in the bottle: strong but light vanilla and honey, not heavy like O is to me. there is also something just a tad barbershoppy to this blend... not sure if it is the leafiness of the patchouli leaf or the silk. all of this is positive to me even though i wouldn't usually go for and wasn't expecting a barbershop blend. it smells good. wet: wow! this really is a "floating" smell. so light yet not exactly bright and clean with good throw. i'm getting a vanilla / honey / patchouli blend right off the bat. no smoke, which is a little bit of a disappointment, but this smells pretty good. there is something almost humid about this blend? i would definitely echo the "steamed" comments of some of the previous reviewers. actually, there might be just a little smokiness that is blending with the patchouli, but it definitely isn't prominent. i'm wondering if i'm getting benzoin or not. it could be part of the vanilla/honey accord i'm picking up, but it's not sticking out too much on its own. drydown: not much is changing, but it goes through a patchouli phase and then a benzoin phase this is nice and very unique! it is sweet and maybe even cloying to many, but it is so interesting to me despite the sweetness.

in bottle: this is so sharp! i'm not too familiar with oudh but that must be what i'm getting. i hate to say this but it smells a little like cat litter. wet on skin: the cat litter smell is being softened a little by the vanilla, but it's still there. there is a tiny bit of incense detectable, as well. no tobacco yet. drydown: this definitely softens/sweetens within the first few minutes. i just think i might not like oudh? i'm praying the other notes win me over. after maybe 10 minutes i'm getting oudh with a backing of vanilla. i'm testing this at the same time as to his mistress going to bed, which definitely has a gnarlier patch note. here i'm not getting any patch at all! the more this dries down, the more the oudh calms down. it doesn't smell like cat litter anymore, it's just lending a brightness to the otherwise sort of darkly sweet blend. i wish it didn't start like that, because now even the well behaved oudh is still reminding me of cat litter. I'm about to wash this off after about an hour, but it is starting to be palatable. I'm still getting mostly oudh, but at this point it is being held in check by the vanilla and a tiny bit of tobacco and patchouli are detectable. i can actually say i like it at this point and will give it a full day test soon to see whether this is how it stays. i hope so ! i want to keep this around to let this age a bit. it seems like the sharpness of the oudh might mellow out and the rest of the notes are favorites!

In bottle: patch (reminds me of the patch note in goblin) and a little bit of fig. wet: very soft comopared to what i was expecting. it's actually really hard for me to pick up individual notes. i guess i'd say it smells similar to how it did in the bottle but suffused across a backing of what must be vanilla and benzoin but really doesn't smell distinctly like either of those notes. it's not that this is faint at all, but it is pale and soft at this stage. drydown: wow this is so beautiful. i put some phoenix and dragon on my other hand and wrote a description and while that was going on the fig has really come out. at this stage it is a figgy patch that reminds me of the grave pig, which is one that i always was on the edge of getting a bottle of but never did. the vanilla is making this just a tad smoother/creamier than the grave pig. this has a pretty decent throw, as fig and patch tend that way on me. it's dominitating phoenix and dragon (ironically?). by the way, this is STRONG. i'm going to go wash this off to do some more testing, but after about an hour this feels pretty stable and so nice. A very successful blind bottle!

Nosferatu is my favorite rainy day scent because it is warm without being at odds with gloominess. I have also been really into the recent anniversary scent Mandeville's Phoenix this rainy week in CA!

In Egypt is the city of Heliopolis, that is to say, the city of the Sun. In that city there is a temple, made round after the shape of the Temple of Jerusalem. The priests of that temple have all their writings, under the date of the fowl that is clept phoenix; and there is none but one in all the world. And he cometh to burn himself upon the altar of that temple at the end of five hundred year; for so long he liveth. And at the five hundred years’ end, the priests array their altar honestly, and put thereupon spices and sulphur vif and other things that will burn lightly; and then the bird phoenix cometh and burneth himself to ashes. And the first day next after, men find in the ashes a worm; and the second day next after, men find a bird quick and perfect; and the third day next after, he flieth his way. And so there is no more birds of that kind in all the world, but it alone, and truly that is a great miracle of God. And men may well liken that bird unto God, because that there ne is no God but one; and also, that our Lord arose from death to life the third day. This bird men see often-time fly in those countries; and he is not mickle more than an eagle. And he hath a crest of feathers upon his head more great than the peacock hath; and is neck his yellow after colour of an oriel that is a stone well shining, and his beak is coloured blue as ind; and his wings be of purple colour, and his tail is barred overthwart with green and yellow and red. And he is a full fair bird to look upon, against the sun, for he shineth full gloriously and nobly. Sulphur and myrrh crackling with clove, Himalayan cedar, and red sandalwood. This was pretty much a no brainer blind bottle for me from this year's Phoenixes. But I was still really curious about it for a couple reasons. All of the listed notes are winners on me, but I had never tried a blend with (I think) any of them in combination. I was especially curious as to how the clove would play with the woods and myrrh. And what was the sulphur going to be? Mandeville's Phoenix opens with myrrh brightened by something I can't place (maybe it's the cedar? it almost has a slightly citrusy feel). I was expecting vetiver to stand in for "sulphur" but I'm not getting any. After about a minute the clove and sandalwood start to add a little depth, but the myrrh is still dominant. After a few minutes, this is mostly myrrh and sandalwood with a little bit of clove. Myrrh has obvious funerial / ecclesiastical connotations and sandalwood always feels like such a serious note to me, so while this is certainly a sort of melancholic blend, the clove is a really interesting touch that adds some warmth and playfulness. The longer this stays on, the more the other woods come out and the less myrrh-dominant it is (although the myrrh sticks around, for sure). The cedar averse shouldn't be wary of this blend, it mostly just stays in the background adding some welcome brightness. This fits in well with my collection, perhaps a little toooooo well given my other myrrh loves, but this blend is pretty special and I would recommend it to any myrrh or sandalwood fans! ETA: Now that this has had some time to settle, I am getting some smokiness midway through the drydown. I love a smoky scent! But this phase also lasts maybe an hour so I wouldn't be too concerned if that puts you off.

I'm having a very similar experience to Aviatrix. A very fresh rose cooled quickly by snow yields to a musk-dominant scent a few hours in. The musk is pale and the blend after it's dry reminds me of a less woody Edith Cushing. I'm seeing this as more of a sleep scent than as something I would wear in the day.

Not a recommendation, but I am so excited to try my first snow scent (The Bear Prince) ! A rosy fuzzy musk is very safe territory for me so I can't wait to see what the snow does to it!

So beautiful. Wet this is all ambergris, an almost citrusy frank, and benzoin. Dry the sandalwood comes to the fore, supported by the ambergris and resins. I feel like most sandalwood scents don't quite do it for me even though I love sandalwood itself. This preserves what for me is an austere note (sandalwood) while adding some excitement in the best possible way.

OK I posted in here about possible dupes for Dior Homme Intense a while back but I just tested Haunted and dry it smells so much like DHI on me even though it shouldn't.

Wet this is dark, dark, musk. I love it! Almost immediately, I get a spike of citrus. I've heard this can happen with black musk. It's not overpowering, though, and it still smells musky. As it dries, the amber comes out to play but the musk sticks around, as well. Simple, but so lovely. Ok now that this is dry it is so so sexy. Dry amber and a smidge of dirty musk. It reminds me of a slightly more sexed up version of Dior Homme Intense, which is one of my favorite commercial fragrances.

In the bottle this smells strangely buttery. I'm thinking it might be the vanilla interacting with the amber? Wet I'm getting the vanilla musk with something a little dryer in the background. I'm thinking it's the sandalwood. As it dries, the amber and vanilla are dominant with a brightness from something... maybe the oudh? Soft, pretty, with just enough of a kick to keep things interesting. I'm getting the same vanilla musk/oudh moment as Atrous.

Ok so looks like I'm getting a different experience than everyone else. This is weird in the bottle. I'm getting a funky, dank honey / rose. Wet I'm getting a slightly rosy moss-dominant scent with a little cypress and a sweet honeyed background. I'm not sure what to think, but it's definitely interesting. Dry it's definitely a little rosier, but still a weird combo of rose, moss, honey, and cypress in that order. I'm not getting myrrh or toadstools that I can recognize. I'll let this age a little and see where it gets me. I'm hoping the myrrh comes out a little more. This is a weird one for sure, but also strangely fascinating.

I don't think I have enough stand-out favorites for your methodology to work for me, RasAlgethi, but I do try to rate everything I test (and not just BPAL, but mostly BPAL) on a love/like/dislike/hate scale and then have a weird algorithm that is very unscientific to see where things stand and here are my top notes: 1. Tobacco 2. Vetiver 3. Cedar 4. Amber 5. White Musk 6. Orange Blossom 7. Teakwood 8. Black Musk 9. Clove 10. Herbs (unspecified) I feel like the top 4 are solid loves, but the rest are kind of surprising with the exception of clove.

This line just screamed La Ronde du Sabbat to me. It's a sort of dark & dirty take on ecclesiastical incense from the current Pickman Gallery collection: Oman frankincense, black clove, and tobacco tar.

I wouldn't describe it as an incense blend precisely, but the way the clove and frankincense work together in the current Weenie "La Rand Du Sabbat" is just gorgeous and is putting a whole new spin on frankincense for me.