Haunted

[viciousviolet]

A mournful, poignant scent, thick with foreboding. Soft golden amber darkened with a touch of murky black musk.

I love Haunted. I adore both amber and darker musks, so this one really worked for me. The first whiff is deeper than the drydown, which is softer and more golden than the initial scent. All in all it is one of my preferred "evening" perfumes. My beau loves it on me, which makes it all the better!

[shriekingviolet]

Initial Impression:

Sweet and deep. there's something mournful about the scent. Like a bittersweet ending at the end of a movie.

 

After Wearing It:

I liked this wet and I liked in the tube, but I absolutely hated it on. I could smell the amber if I sniffed my wrists (which was nice), but it was the black musk that I kept smelling as I wore it. It was just too much. If I lived in a woodland area, I'd have been worried about getting attacked by horny bucks that would mistake my scent for a doe in heat. Granted, I think I might have put a little too much on, but it really wasn't any more than I usually apply.

 

Final Thoughts:

So disappointed about this one. It seems to work well on others, but I think black musk might just clash with my body chemistry.

[Donnababe]

Haunted is my favourite, I shall be ordering a big bottle. It's lovely. Quite light, a bit sweet and a very soft comforting scent for me.

[Gothabillywench]

Haunted is one of my all time faves. I adore it. Cutting & pasting the reviw I gave it over on Gothauctions here (excuse cross-posting but saves me retyping!)

 

Haunted: Like smelling a cloud on a balmy Aussie summer twilight, when the sky is all pink & purple with lightning cracking between it. Feel: warm, like being enveloped in a warm cloud Looks: dusky purple clouds. Tastes: vanilla & spice- not sweet vanilla either, but proper fresh black pods on a shelf next to cinnamon sticks

[catiebloo]

Smells very sweet to my nose, so personally i think the description and name are a bit misleading, but i guess it's different on everyone huh. I'm not picking up any individual notes at all. Actually, on closer sniffing it's kind of zesty, like lemons, but not a sharp shock of lemon, like lemon bon bons. I'll get back to you on that. After having been on a all day in a smokey pub i can confirm that this scent is a winner It lasts most of the day and when it's faded a bit, it smells exactly like Lush's Floating Island melt!! Really soft and "Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh" like. Makes me feel all cosy, like the advert where the woman's sitting in the chair and it gets bigger and hugs her

[Damask Rose]

This one is lovely but actually has too much musk in it for me. It reminds me of a perfume my Mum had when I was little. I think it was Yardley Musk or something like that. Has a very sweet musk smell. Lovely, but not my kind of thing.

[blackrayne]

I really like the blend of sweetness (I assume from the amber) with musk here. It almost has a light, powdery feel to it, but it is subtle (or maybe there's still a faint bit of Queen Mab on me from early this morning).

 

I really like this one...I can see myself wearing it on occasion.

[antimony]

I love Haunted... this is one of my day to day scents. It's dark and rich, but still light enough to wear to the office without knocking people out in the elevator.

 

When I first put it on, it smells really sexy, then it dries down to a subtle musk. It makes me feel very powerful, feminine and confident, but as if I don't have to try to be those things, it's just a given.

 

This is good stuff, everyone should give it a try.

 

Edited a year later to add:

This one just gets sweeter and sweeter as it ages. It finally got to be too sweet for my taste, and other scents have replaced it for every day wear.

 

But if you feel it's too dark, put it away for a few months, then try again.

Edited December 4, 2004 by antimony

[sirensongsouth]

This is a great day-to-day scent. I love musks because they give such good clean skin scents, and the amber in this one combines with the musk for a clean, gentle powdery scent. This one stays very close to my body and feels like wrapping yourself in a nice warm soft blanket, cuddly and comfortable. I do want to clarify by saying this is a powdery scent, I do not mean the types of scents where the first thing you think of is powder, merely that this is a great skin scent with a touch of powder. Almost the effect you would have if you dusted yourself with really nice powder after a shower but didn't bother to sniff until half a day had gone by.

[red_jezebel]

Haunted works amazingly well for me. It's almost overpowering in the bottle but settles down once applied.

 

The amber and musk combination works wonderfully (I adore musky scents) - a very warm, snug scent. It makes me imagine I am sitting by an open fire on a big (faux) fur rug with a glass of mulled wine or hot honey and lemon whilst the snow or rain is falling. Yet, beyond the amber and musk I also found I could smell slight fruity tang, that gives it a slight boost.

 

It's definitely one of the longer lasting ones - after 12 hours I could still smell a hint of it. I would wear it at any time, although I think it lends itself to evening wear perfectly.

[Alice Aforethought]

This smells surprisingly fruity and clean when first on. After drying down, the musk emerges a little more and makes it a pleasant, if sweet, light scent. One for taking long walks with on summer evenings - a hint of the knowledge of autumn, and the fading of flowers.

 

Definitely better once it's been on for a bit, and it does last a good while.

[jj_j]

No exorcists needed here! Haunted is really lovely - warm with balsam(?) under the amber and bit of spice. Not Christmas-in-a-can, mind you ... sensual without being heavy; like a lover you retired who pops into your head one day and you can't stop thinking about them. This one lasted all day and just got warmer and more velvety as it went on.

[Polexia]

Lovely lovely lovely! I imagine this is how a phantom smells as she passes through the walls of her english mansion. Strong right out of the bottle but dries down to something soft and warm with a hint of sadness. The amber really seems to stay with me and I just adore that.

[twistygirl]

Oh, Haunted, Haunted, could you possibly be my favorite BPAL so far? My dear Miss Polexia gave me a bit of this from her imp's ear because I adored it so much on her and I adore it even more on myself (if for no other reason than it's less embarrassing to continually smell one's OWN arm than it is to grab the arm of a friend in public and yell "LET ME SMELL YOU AGAIN!"). It reminds me of being wrapped in a soft, soft piece of rich antique golden brown velvet. Ah, amber, how I love you so. It is the teensiest bit powdery when it dries down but it's that wistful, womanly powdery smell, not the overwhelming fakey powder smell. This is glorious.

[dreamwalkblue]

I feel like the description on the BPAL website doesn't do this scent justice! Out of the 10 or so samples I've tried so far, Haunted is the only one so far that has truly stood out as a must-buy-immediately scent for me. It's a rather light scent in that it will not overpower, but it definitely has a presence. It smells "clean", yet it's not a soapy smell. While wet, there is a slighty lemony smell although when it dries on my skin the hint of lemon is gone and is replaced with the smell of lovely vanilla pods. Mmmm...

 

The *best* thing however, is that my girlfriend loves this on me - and she's the pickiest person I know when it comes to perfumes, I've been searching high and low for several months now for something that she'd like. While Haunted was drying down, she kept sniffing me and saying, "What are you wearing? I *hate* it....and yet I *love* it..." but then once it was done drying she couldn't stop sniffing me and cuddling closer. As soon as I'm done posting this review, I'm going to go an order a big bottle of this.

Edited March 23, 2004 by dreamwalkblue

[allamanda]

Haunted started off by smelling like icing sugar, then after a while lemon zest with bicarb. Sadly it didn't improve with dry-down and smells quite artificial. As weird as it sounds I could faintly smell dry soot.

 

This is really twisted on me and not pleasant, my skin-chemistry has turned it to lemon polish.

Edited March 23, 2004 by allamanda

[chai_girl]

I've been sniffing the imp I got last week and finally decided to put it on today. I really liked it when I put it on. It was a soft musky amber...then, for about an hour, it developed a musty (not musky) scent to it. I literally conjured up the image of a dusty attic and opening a trunk that had a soft sweet scent. I thought...okay, not for me...but then it changed again.

 

This time it became a soft powdered scent with the amber dominant but not overpowering that kind of hung around in the background...I found this to be more perfumey than many BPAl scents, but not in a bad way.

 

I IMed the other BPAL addict in my office after I'd been wearing it for about 4 hours and told her that scent was like memory that was lingering in the back of my head but wouldn't come to the front. It reminded me of something, but I couldn't quite place my finger on it...that is why I think it lives up to its name, Haunted.

[eleventhousand]

This is not as dark as I expected. It's deep and sweet, and I catch bits of citrus and baby powder in amongst the amber and musk.

 

Very nice.

 

 

 

**edited to add: ooooo. It turned weird on me! It smells a little almond-y and metallic...

Edited March 31, 2004 by eleventhousand

[friendthegirl]

This smells dark and thick to me, but it's not really heavy, if that makes any sense. (I'm so glad I'm not being graded on these reviews!)

 

I think I'm finally getting into what musk actually smells like.

[ViolentKitten]

First on, the amber packs a powerful punch for a while, and I rather like it like that with just a hint of the black musk. But soon the black musk makes its presence more known and they make a powdery soft and sweet melancholy song. It is a lovely scent, but when it dries down, it doesn't really do anything amazing on my skin.

[Ina Garten Davita]

The third time is the charm.

 

First Impression: Whoa, very strong in the bottle and when wet. Did not like this on me the first time.

 

Second Impression: I didn't like the second time either.

 

Final Analysis: I wore it today and it has captured me. It turned sweet on me, like sweet smoke. At first the amber note knocked me over, but once the dark musk came through it turned very sexy. Works very well with my natural skin smell. I'm happy I gave it another chance.

 

I wonder if changes in hormone levels (I'm a little pms-ish) affected the way this fragrance behaved on my skin...

[skg]

In the bottle i detected musky lemony amber.

 

Wet the lemon is strong in the forefront but on drydown sweetens and the amber resin pushes it in the background.

 

The amber and musk balance nicely with just a hint of tartness at the end and the staying power is very good.

 

I really liked this one and will defo be getting a 5 ml of it.

[andie]

I had to have a bigger bottle of this before I'd finished the imp, it was so great. I was worried it'd be super musky, but the amber comes out more on me, I think. I mean, I can smell some musk, but there's this wonderful rich golden aura all around it and toning it down.

 

I don't get a "sad" feeling from it like I expected from the name, but that's fine by me!

[Nadirah]

this is really a great scent, Very strong and long lasting, can almost be overpowering if too much is applied. Gives me a great feeling of Deja vu in a veracious way. I smell no florals or citrus in this, what stands out most to me is amber and musk. They blend together incredibly well. My little imp from october is nearly gone and I am contemplating a bigger bottle. Not sure if I can live without this one...

[Hallows_Eve]

In the bottle- Amber! I love the smell of amber. A little goes a long way, and if you are more sensitive, you may want to apply it on lower areas (knees, feet, hips) so that it wafts more subtly toward the noses.

 

On me- sweet and smokey amber, the musk is more subtle on me, but noticeable- a lighter musk. It smells downright exotic on me.

 

On my husband- less sweet and more smokey, but the amber comes out on him even more (I cant smell the musk on him at all).