Dead Man's Hand

[edenssixthday]

... Our Dead Man’s Hand is the quintessential western scent: dusty rawhide and oiled leather.

Dead Man’s Hand - This smells exactly like the tack room in my mom’s barn! It’s exactly what I smell when I walk into that room that is full of dusty window sills, bits of hay strewn on the floor, and tons of leather -- saddles, reigns, chaps, boots, cowboy hats, etc. and the scent of leather oil that was rubbed into them the last time they were set in that room. Whenever I go to my mom’s house and head out to the barn to visit her horses, I always stop in the tack room and breath in a long, deep breath to catch that scent of Wild West oiled leather. Now, I don’t have to go to her barn to smell that scent, because Dead Man’s Hand smells is an exact duplicate of that scent. It’s really amazing! The blend sticks really close to my skin, but lasts for hours and hours on end. I doubt that I’d wear it as a perfume, but I love that I can get that “tack room” scent any time I want!

[Naamah_Darling]

Oh my god.

 

This is the leather-store leather smell. For real. Wet in the bottle, this smells like the suede tables at Tandy Leather.

 

It goes on velvety and smooth, warming up from its initial coolness to a soft, hot saddle leather scent. Very simple, very clear, and unmistakeable.

 

It has an almost chlorine/aquatic smell to it while it's wet, which is just . . . weird, but the suede leather scent is quite true. It stays pretty steady, and has an almost old-bookish smell to it at the end that's quite nostalgic.

 

Overall, it's not pure sex the way the De Sade leather note is pure sex, but it is the real leather smell I love.

 

It's a shame this was a limited edition and is now quite hard to find. I wish I had a full bottle of this so I could play with it and layer it with some other stuff, because I think as an individual note mixed with, say, vanilla, amber, and/or an incense, it might be even better. Or tea – green tea – and white musk with a dash of tonka.

 

Aaah, the possibilities.

[Diana]

This doesn't change much at all from bottle -> wet -> drydown. It really is the scent of rugged, raw leather. It isn't as soft & refined as De Sade. This isn't fancy leather jackets and pants from a store. This is going to the western store and digging through leather scraps, surrounded by dusty leather goods of all types. Amazingly accurate. Yee-haw.

[aidenraine]

AHHHHHHHH *falls off chair*

Oh man, I am in the leather shops of the town I grew up in- New Hope. I was just there last week and had to wait for a fairly long time while my husband tried on hats. As I paced around, this is exactly what I smelled. It's completely accurate. I feel as though I am off to play poker in a saloon.

 

Now I admit it, I cheated. I hadn't played cards in so long (used to host a poker game), and was just dying to try this imp. I cannot speak to its luck-producing qualities.

 

Wow, the throw on this is really mighty. Am I suddenly wearing leather chaps?

 

[Voleuse]

Wow, leather. This isn't the headache-inducing (for me) leather of De Sade, however. This is warm, worn, brown leather, distilled into a scent. It's a comfortable scent, though sadly it fades quickly on me. Otherwise, I really like it.

[slave1]

In Bottle: LEATHER

 

On Skin: Did I just walk into Wilson’s leather store? This is leather to such an extreme it’s overwhelming. It is powdery/dusty smelling… very dry. This is perfectly an “Old Out West” scent. If I was to do any roleplaying or dressed up as someone from that era I would have to wear this, it is so authentic! But… I have no desire to dress up as a cowboy so I see this scent probably going unused for the most part. I’ll keep it for my collection but I can’t wear it again, it’s giving me a huge headache, sadly. Maybe use it as a room scent if I have a “Deadwood” viewing party? SUPER strong throw and long wearlength.

[elspeth]

This scent is like truly walking into a tack store full of leather saddles and reins. It reminds me of working in a stable. It is a very strong almost manly scent that stays very true. Not something that i can wear because leather doesn't like me but it is a great oil for those that leather does like.

[steffanina]

Dead Man's Hand-

 

In Bottle: Ohhh, leather, but sweet leather--I like this so much better than my first whiff of De Sade. I hope this works for me!

 

Wet: Ohhh, yes yes yes. Beautiful deerhide, or maybe new calfskin! Oh, rapture. I hope the dry-down on this remains as lovely!

 

Dry: Yup, I completely love this scent. It's everything I was hoping De Sade would be. Stays this lovely sweet leather scent all the way through.

 

Overall: I love.

 

ETA: It's funny, but everyone says this scent is more raw leather, while De Sade is more refined leather, and I see them as the other way round. This--Dead Man's Hand--is the leather you'd purchase in a leather shop, all soft and sweet and ready to be worn, while De Sade to me smells like you just started tanning the stuff and it smells burned and reeking still.

Edited October 6, 2006 by steffanina

[supremegoddessofall]

Fabulously rich leather! Yum! It's wet, salty, musky, and sexy. Mama want!

[for_the_nonce]

Yep, rich brown leather. However, there's something... clean and fresh here too. I don't know how to describe it, but I love it. This isn't a scent I'll wear often- hell, maybe even ever- but I can't bear to part with it either.

[GypsyRoseRed]

This is such a dead ringer for soft leather, and it's truly lovely in that sense. I'm just not sure it's something I want to smell like, because my skin amps it and I kinda smell like 'new car interior'. Smells good, but not sex-ay, which is what I was hoping for.

[zankoku_zen]

Leather. Leather. Leather. This smells like a leather shop (the kind that sells the actual hides... not the sex shop!).

 

On wet, it has more of that chemical smell that I associate with curing of hides. My grandfather used to be a shoe maker, and one of my uncles used to cure hides for him... and it's got that same sort of smell. It burns off after a while, and what you're left with is soft, supple leather. Definitely makes me think of 'brown' leather, as opposed to lack.

 

For some, the smell of leather is intrinsically sexual. For me, it's more of a nostalgic/childhood smell. That being said, as an actual perfume, it's too masculine for me.

[dirtytrip]

I have been waiting since I joined the forum in 2005 to test this. At long last. Fresh on this skin this is sharp. A deep, tangy oil comes burning through when this fragrance is wet on the skin, and this is probably meant to reflect the finishing compound on the leather, as well as the products Wild West-type leather goods might come into contact with on a daily basis. After a short while, that fades, leaving a mellow, sweet, well-worn suede scent. I dig it, like I do almost all the BPAL leather scents, and I'll be a'keepin' it. Worth the wait!

[Dark Alice]

wet: This starts out with like a lighter version of Brom Bones.

 

Dry: It smells like a really expensive soft leather glove...it's actually quite nice.

[magikalbrownies]

man --- this scent reminds me of a new car with a leather interior.

 

a little too masculine for my taste though.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Cloudy, almost milky oil. I'm a bit concerned. There are also strange globules on the rim of the bottle. It smells exactly like the description. It's that old leather smell, the same one from Western Diamondback.

 

Wet: Softer on my skin, but otherwise the same. I don't find it that dusty, but it sort of velvety. It's a light, comforting, evocative smell. Masculine, but it's working on my skin, too.

 

Dry: The oiliness has an almost metallic tang - I'm reminded of the motor oil notes from Mechanical Phoenix, Toad, and Galvanic Googles. It's sort of smooth but sharp at the same time.

 

Later: De Sade is (sharp, chemically) leather, but this is suede. A rawer, sharper note comes out over time to mingle with the buttery soft suede and metallic oil, all in good balance. Decent throw.

 

Summary: I wish this had stronger throw, but I really like this. It's so spot-on evocative and more than a little sexy. I like it by itself, and I think it would also be great for layering. Very little morphing.

 

 

[Twitch]

Thanks to dpoulsen for letting me try this one out, it really is fantastic. De Sade is possibly my favorite BPAL scent I've tried thus far, and has others have said, this is not De Sade, but it is a very different and equally incredible leather (or suede) scent. Throw is quite light, but this smells exactly like an american indian store, which I think smell just great.

[stellans]

To begin my week of 'Nothing But Rares" I chose my solitary decant of a fantastic leather scent: Dead Man's Hand. Contrary to one forumite's opinion to me in a PM, this is by no means a dry leather scent. Rather, it is the scent of a well-loved and often-worn pair of soft gloves, or maybe someone's favorite suede shoes (blue?). There is a definite softness to this blend, though it does start off with an oily tang which fortunately burns away quickly once applied. The throw is moderate, but the stay so far this morning is quite good; it's been a bit more than 3 hours since first application and I still catch it as my arms move. I didn't wear it in a scent locket because there is so little of it in the little vial. This is a wonderful accomplishment, IMO: the smell of leather without the actual use of animal products. And I want more. More, I say!

 

ETA: Since writing the above, I was lucky enough to buy not one but two bottles of this amazing leather blend (one with a vintage label). It truly is a remarkable blend!

Edited December 2, 2011 by stellans

[Gin]

Leather! (Obviously.) I get glossy black leather--after I looked up "Dead Man's Hand" and realized we weren't talking about an actual, old, dried, dead man's hand.

[lohengrin]

This is a review of an aged bottle.

 

In the bottle: Leather, and oddly enough something almost minty. Weird, no idea where that's coming from.

 

On skin, wet: Now it's pure leather, but more an old, sunwarmed leather than brand-new-shoes leather. No more weird minty note, either.

 

On skin, dry: It gets a little bit dusty, but still very predominantly leather. Oddly comforting for a leather smell, though.

 

After an hour: It stays very true to the initial drydown. It's like a tackroom kind of smell, I love it to bits.

[doublehelix]

This is quite masculine I would say, more so than a unisex blend. It's straight up leather wet, but on the dry down I do get quite a bit of that oiliness mentioned! It's the same smell of well worn leather which has been dutifully cared for, oiled, shined, throughout the years. I however find leather to be quite sexy, and the same goes for this!