Spellbound

[angharad]

Perfectly enchanting! An irresistibly sexual, utterly rapturous blend of three roses, radiant amber, and sensual red musk.

Such absolute beauty in here. This isn't a scent I wear often because it's usually too rich and heady for me. Today, though, I wanted it. I wanted the gorgeous, rich, deep red roses dripping with golden amber beads. This is floral-yet-not, dry, slightly powdery (but not in a bad way), and has a hint of spice about it. My husband always gets excited when I wear this one because it's all nag champa to his nose. The longer this oil is on my skin, the sweeter and prettier it becomes. It lasts for several hours, is very strong upon initial application, but calms down to a close body scent after an hour or so. While I don't wear Spellbound anywhere near often enough to justify a bottle, I'm definitely glad for my imp.

[Lethran]

In bottle: musk amber, rotting roses. Wet: Alternative/wiccan clothing and insense shop. Lots and lots of rose over the other things. Sexy in an old-fashioned way. Dry: Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose.

[butcherbaby]

in the imp i get a lovely sweet amber & musk, touched by rose- it's gorgeous!

 

on my skin though, it's STRIDENT SCREAMING ROSY ZONKERS OMG ROSE ROSE ROSE!!!!!

 

i get NOTHING of the beautiful incensy resins or even a hint of any other scent. this is one strong mean ass rose, and apparantly it's trying to kill me. and i *LOVE* rose. ~sob~

i have literally tried this half a dozen times to see if i could get it to work..lighter application, different body parts, diffferent times of the month etc. and it just plain hates me.

 

oh well....off to swaps and to torture myself with all the rest of the lovely lab roses that don't get along with my skin/

[rachel2205]

I think Spellbound is fab!

 

Wet, and for the first hour or so of drydown, it has a very green rose smell, which mixes interestingly with the musk to give a roses-meets-Smut scent. After a while, the rose becomes softer and sweeter, mingling with the muskiness to create a pretty scent that has an old fashioned sense to it, but an edge of naughtiness.

[saykisses]

Well, this scent is a tricky one.

 

In the bottle: I find that all of the components in this blend are mixed together equally. A nice, light, summery scent.

 

Wet on skin: Barely any throw. All rose with a hint of the amber. Underneath seems to be a darker smell here, like wet ash.

 

Dry on skin: Completely rose. Very strong throw, which gives the entire room a sickly smell

 

After fifteen minutes: Still almost completely rose, but also somehow a melancholy, gray scent. Throw isn't as strong, thankfully, but still noticeable. A bit more mellow, but the wet ash has returned and the amber and musk aren't there at all.

 

My skin does amp rose very much, though, so on others the other smells might come out more.

 

Overall, I find Spellbound not to my liking. Somehow it makes me think of rotted rose petals on the floor of a house that has burned to the ground. It makes me feel sad and lonely.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Roses, roses, and musk. Oh, and roses.

 

Immediately on skin: This is strong on the rose (sweet, fresh, and a little sharp) with a base of dry musk and warm amber blending in.

 

After a little while: The sharp note from the roses has toned down and what I get from this now is a very rose-filled scent with a base of soft musk. It’s a little dry, though the roses make it a little fresher.

 

Overall Impressions: This is what I was expecting from the description, but the amber seemed to have disappeared after a while. But overall this is a nice rose scent with a little musk, and perhaps on other people the amber will stick around, too.

[Deyja7]

I got this as a frimp, and having read the description, was looking forward to trying it. In the bottle it didnt seem too bad, flowery and feminine.. which isnt my thing, but i tried it anyway...

 

Omg, i smell like potpourri. This had strong throw and wearlength.. which was not very good in this case. It reminds me of when you've had a dish of potpourri around for so long it's collected dust,.. if you stirred it up, that's what i'm smelling.

 

Overall i think if you don't like rose, stay away. But if you do, definitely worth a try.

[ouch!]

The wet stages of this perfume are AB-SO-LUT-ELY STUNNING!!! Yes..it's rose but it's a dark, incensey, smokey rose. It just about resembles rose to me so, if you're usually scared of them this blend might still work for you.

I'm not too fond of rose myself but since smelling "Othello" and this, I can be turned. I think it's kind of similar to "Scherezade" or I'd say a girly version of "Czernobog", it's that sensual, sexy red sort of smell. I adore red musk too so. I think I'm probably a bit biased.

 

This would be a very sensual scent for a woman to wear out in the evening when she's dressed up very glamourously!

 

Unfortunately the dry stages are not as swoonworthy. The musk is more apparent and kind of takes over..not that I mind. It's still nice. I just think that the wet stage is where the magic happens with this blend on my skin!

Edited August 8, 2008 by ouch!

[hlinspjalda]

My first BPAL purchase.

 

In the vial this reminds me a lot of my favorite pre-BPAL scent, a Moroccan one which is a combination of roses and amber. This is more heady, though, more rose and less spice. There's a warmth underneath, that must be the musk. Wet, it's very strongly rose-y; the warmth has been replaced by the spice note. A few minutes in, it's changing radically; I think it's the musk dominating the florals. And it kind of makes my head feel strange, with a tickle at the back of my throat too.

 

Half an hour later, after an extremely unsettled period, it's gone very damask rose over a base of warm and slightly bitter spice. A heavy scent on me, probably more powerful than I'd want to wear most of the time.

 

One hour in, the rose has mellowed a good bit and the amber, still tempered with something slightly dry and bitter, dominates.

 

Three and a half hours: almost no floral at all. I don't object to it, but I won't need more of it either.

 

Seven hours: no change for the last three and a half hours.

 

Still faintly noticeable the next morning, i.e., 18 hours later. Nothing if not persistent!

[girl_android]

In the imp: incense, dark rose. I think it's the combination of amber and musk that is giving me the impression of incense here.

Wet on skin: The roses dominate, but there's a hint of something sweeter in the background

Dry: a more subdued rose, with a kind of spicy powdery background.

 

I don't know whether I feel I'm an appropriate age to be wearing this - it feels to me to suit a more mature age than I would appear to most people. Having said that I tend to feel older than I look, although that's not difficult considering I still occasionally get checked for ID (: Perhaps, it might be something to wear on a night out where the people contact wouldn't be too crowded - a dinner out, versus a night out at the opera/movies/sit-down concert. I wouldn't say it's necessarily old ladyish, just that I don't feel old enough to do it justice, and I feel like I'd just be playing dress-ups if I were to wear it out.

Edited August 29, 2008 by Girl Android

[archaeopteryx]

I love Spellbound. I bought an imp of this from someone and immediately knew I was going to have to get a bigger bottle.

 

To me, this smells like Scherezade combined with roses, no doubt because of the red musk. I don't pick up on the amber so much. Mostly I'm getting rose with red musk. This is a very pretty, sexy scent, like Scherezade.

 

Spellbound has a lot of throw. This I discovered when I put on a small amount and my husband walked into the room and the first thing he said was, "You put on BPAL, right?" Guilty. It also is very long-lasting. Four hours after I applied it I could still smell it on my wrists.

 

This is definitely one of my favorite BPAL blends.

[TessaGi]

In the Bottle: In the imp, Spellbound has got this weird heavy spiciness that reminds me of chemicals. Gradually that changes into heavy red rose blossoms and some sort of spice, which is probably the amber and musk.

 

On Wrist/Wet: Heavy Victorian rose perfume with a kind of acrid stink from the musk.

 

On Wrist/Drying: I rubbed my wrists together to spread out the scent and warm it a little - what a difference! This is still Victorian rose perfume, but it's mellowed and deepened. The musk isn't acrid any more, rather, it provides a nice backing note and balances the roses out wonderfully. The amber surfaces every so often and adds a bit of toned-down sweetness to counter the floral sweetness of the roses.

 

Later: The musk has faded a bit - this is almost pure, heavy, sun-warmed red roses in a garden, just beginning to wither and dry in the heat.

 

Final Verdict: I imagine this is what the evil stepmother in a Victorian fairy tale would wear. It's the scent of a confident, sexy, elegant woman (perhaps of questionable morals) who knows what she wants and will stop at nothing to get it. It's a keeper - I can't wait to wear this in my scent locket.

 

EDIT: Even Later: Two hours later and Spellbound is giving me a killer headache. Even after scrubbing my wrists twice, I can still catch wafts of it. So good for staying power, but bad for my head. :/

Edited September 11, 2008 by DorianGrace

[diamondstars]

This smells like every generic hippy shop in England. I mean that in a good way though, definitely on my 5ml wishlist!!

[Molls]

Well, I'm about 2 hours in, and I really have to agree with hlinspjalda... this is a very "heavy" scent, and it's a little too much for me. I've never really worn rose scents, because I hadn't found one that I loved. I don't think this one is for me, although it is beautiful.

I'm not washing it off yet, I'm hoping that I will get that "Scherezade" type feel from it, like Archaeopteryx...

 

ETA: 12/3/08

Okay... this has become one of my favorites. I think about it all the time, and love wearing it. After about 4-5 hours, the rose has all but faded away, and I'm left with the amber-y musk, which is still a pretty scent...

Edited December 3, 2008 by Molls

[tacey]

Rose scent, primarily, but with an amber glow. Nice, discreet rose. Hard to be excited about it, but this is the first rose I don't feel a little self-conscious wearing to the office.

[obsidienne]

I am wearing this in a scent locket today, since I gave up on my oil-eating skin, and I feel sort of enveloped in a warm, rosy, somehow woody amber & rose glow. A very different type of rose!

 

Edit: 6 hours later, and the amber and musk have gotten thick, sticky and a little bit unpleasant... and soapy? The rose went into hiding for the most part, as well. But thanks to the scent locket, it's still going strong! I'm going to compare this to Black Rose tonight (same components, basically).

Edited November 6, 2008 by obsidienne

[crebbsgirl]

I had super high hopes for this because wet, I got red musk and faint roses. However, as it dried, this was screaming ROSE as per usual on me. I couldn't detect the amber or musk at all on me. Damn skin chemistry.

[Mianjo]

I just did a thread search, and I am surprised that no one mentioned how much this resembles the TAL Blinding Glory of Love--minus that initial rush of mintiness that I get from BGoL. My husband loves that scent on me (as do I), but I feel strange wearing it around anyone but him. At least now I have something I can wear whenever I like, without feeling like I have to be "careful".

 

On my skin, roses and red musk. I usually cannot wear rose--it turns into rose-scented nail polish remover on me. In this scent the roses behave themselves and the red musk is tempered by the gentle powder of the amber. Lovely scent for an evening out.

 

The throw is incredible. I put a tiny bit on my forearm to test--two swipes with the imp wand--and I could smell it without lifting my arm. I left the room and when I came back I could smell that the perfume had permeated the room. Insane. It might have been the minotaur who lives in the walls, but whatever.

 

Anywho...those of you who cannot wear rose might want to try it. It might work!

[Reenah]

Straight up Snake Oil + Lucy's Kiss. It's a little less medicinal than SO and more warm, but still quite similar. I can see why most BPALers will LOVE this, but it's not for me. Not enough food.

[themerrybaker]

For such a dark oil, Spellbound had a very faint throw. I don't detect the red musk, but the amber keeps this from becoming overpoweringly rosy.

The rose is dark/fermented, as in Peacock Queen not the fresher, sweeter roses in some others.

Maybe someday I'll be in a mood for rose, but not today.

[septima_pica]

(as Kalirren:)

 

A lot of the perfumes which I like best among the BPAL products are very cohesive scents, and this is no exception. I'm surprised by the number of people who report a quasi-bipolar nature to this perfume. I don't get that at all. septima_pica thinks that it may have something to do with my male skin chemistry?

 

Musk is the most noticeable note and makes up for most of the rather impressive throw. The roses are very well-behaved, and play a very agreeable second and third violin. The amber does the same thing as it does for me in Hymn to Proserpine (another favorite of mine) in that it roots the whole scent and binds it together.

 

I tried this at will call twice as I was going through the GC without remembering what its name was, and every time as I was going back home on the bus, I thought to myself, "if only I knew what this is, I think it starts with an S, because it's awesome"...I got a bottle of it the third time, needless to say.

[milo]

I knew there was red musk in this one right away, but boy am I surprised to see the rose in the description! A rose blend that works for me, Yay!! This is very reminiscent of Lust, Scherezade, and Sin to me, very yummy red musk, and now that I know there is rose, a hint of floral. The rose is barely detectable, though and is very well blended together. Amber is there, but again, the musk is in the foreground. This is definitely a bottle worthy blend to me, but I do have two imps to use up, so it'll be awhile.

[mazikeen]

Red musk. Anytime a blend has red musk in it, all I smell is... red musk. And I find red musk to be a little boring.

 

Not for me. I passed the imp along to someone else to enjoy.

[rayvn1]

Mmm this is like Baghdad mixed with Scherezad! (sp?) Rich and warm red musk that is thick and syruppy with a sweet swirl of roses. Fantastic!

[ami226]

Wow! Definitely getting a rose potpurri/Scheherazade scent! I don't think the boy will like this one at all (all florals smell like generic soap to him), but I think it is lovely! Definitely not a full bottle scent, but definitely more than an imp is needed...