Gomorrah

[butterbeer]

One of the Biblical Cities on the Plain, destroyed by God with fire and brimstone because of its people’s pride, prosperous ease, deceit, hedonism and indolence, and their callous, uncharitable hearts. A gritty, sordid and languid scent: ripe fig, date and currant with black herbs.

In the bottle: This smelled a bit like hospital and sex. Weird combo, I know!

On skin: It scents still very much like medicine, rubbing alcohol and old wood. It's vaguely sexy, but at first it seems like it smells horrible.

On drydown: My skin chemistry must be horrible! It turned into old wood very quickly, and now that's mostly what it smells like. It's also turning powdery and fading very quickly.

[milica]

It is gritty, but only for a minute. I would say that this is sweet currant on me, with just a tiny bit of herbs in the background, but only for a few minutes. Not very long lasting, and berry fruity all the way. Not for me.

Edited October 11, 2010 by milica

[voodoobaby]

It smells deep and dark with just a faint touch of sweetness. It's a smooth dark rather than a sharp dark, though. Underneath there's a hint of bitterness as well, but it's barely detectable. Definitely smells corrupt. I can't pinpoint any particular notes. It's certainly interesting, but I don't think I really want to smell like it.

[Venneh]

In the imp, I get nothing but black herbs. Not encouraging. ON my skin, it's the fig/date/currant combo with a hint of the herbs. We'll see what it does.

[imaginepageant]

In the Vial: I'm not sure what notes encapsulate the "gritty, sordid" part of this blend, but I'm getting acrid, smoky, burnt woods and herbs. It fits the idea of a city destroyed with fire and brimstone perfectly! I can't specifically smell any of the fruits, but the blend does have a light fruitiness behind all of that fire and smoke.

 

Wet: Ah! There's the fig! And I suppose the date and currant, though I'm not entirely sure what they smell like. It's losing the acrid scent, and getting warmer and sweeter.

 

Dry: Mmmm! So warm and woodsy! And even figgier. That's a fun word. Figgier. It's getting wonderfully spicy, too. GAH, I LOVE THIS.

 

An Hour Later: NO! It's turned into old-man-sweat mixed with cigarette smoke! And... a bit of fig.

 

Overall: Gomorrah, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?

[kirsten]

This smells godawful on me. I'm not sure what note it is (especially since currant tends to smell very nice on me), but the only way I can describe the smell of Gomorrah is a combination of cheap tobacco and ass. FORGIVE ME, FORUMITES. ;_______;

[brittanywut]

In the imp: Gritty and herbal-y.

 

Wet: Smoky/spicy fig. Still herbal-y. It smells kinda dirty.

 

Dry: Wow, this pulled almost completely herbal on me. Barely sweetened by the figgy-ness. It's alright but not for me.

[magcat]

I'm so glad I got this as a frimp, because I probably wouldn't have ordered it for myself! I haven't tried too many fruity BPAL blends, because I got Fae on my first order and it smelled way too sweet on me. Like one of those fake sugary fruit drinks. (But it was really nice when I put a few drops in my bath!) Anyways, I just got kind of scared off of fruit scents. But this one is awesome and I'm gonna start trying fruity things again!

 

Wet: Reminds me of a forest. Kind of earthy and damp, with something sharp (what I imagine vetiver might smell like, but I have no idea) and a bit of fruit in the background. A bit masculine, maybe, but in a good way.

 

Dry: Fig! But a "dark" fig. And a little bit herbal. It seems pretty light (but my nose is terrible at picking up scents, which leads to the occasional accidental slathering) and stays close to my skin, which I like. Fruity without being sweet. A lot more feminine than when it was wet. Sexy, but subtle; not like the super-spicy scents that I usually go for.

 

Lifespan: I put this on about 6 hours ago, and I can still smell it if I sniff my wrists. I was worried it wouldn't last long because it's so light on me, but it actually lasts longer than most of the stronger scents I've tried. And I've been moving around a lot today (moving in to my new apartment!) so it's probably been rubbing off onto everything.

 

So...I am in love with this right now. Gonna hold on to the imp for a few months before I order a big bottle (in case it changes with age), but I can see this being an everyday scent for me. And I get to tell people I'm wearing a perfume called Gomorrah. Obsessed~

[invisible iris]

In the imp: Strong bitter, strong sweet! The herbs give it a medicinal quality, and the sweet fruits lay low in the imp.

 

Wet: Some sort of cypress or juniper is what I get when it’s first applied, still very antiseptic. This antiseptic quality doesn’t really go away as it dries, but it gets more dried out and ashen.

 

Dry: Gomorrah is a really strange scent, to my nose. It is quite burnt and ashen smelling, really like a burnt bundle of herbs, and then the syrupy sweet of fig and date sort of squeezes out the edges of the scent. The longer it sits on my skin, the more the syrupy sweet fig pushes the bitter ashy herbs aside, which makes sense because I tend to amp fig. After an hour or so, it’s settled into a slightly burnt FIG.

 

Verdict: Weird, not entirely unpleasant, evocative scent, but still too much syrupy fig for me.

[angelmecha]

Imp: All dark herbs. It smells resinous and darkly green.

Wet: Herbs subside and leave what must be date. It's not juicy enough for what I perceive to be currant, nor warm enough to be fig. It seems almost single note at this stage and has a really close throw.

Drydown: THERE'S the fig! This perfume mellows considerably. It doesn't have the sharp and, as others have described, acrid effect it did in the imp. It's warming and mellowing and at this point is all fig and currant. As time goes on it kind of fluctuates between being quite woodsy and returning to the creamy fig and currant. It seems to settle on being woodsy/resiny at the end.

Verdict: It's nice and the fig/currant portions of it's drydown were quite pleasant, but overall this has sort of turned into a too-generic wood that I'm sure will be assessed by those around me as, per usual, "incense." Nice, but not noteworthy. 3/5

[AnyseLawsBray]

In vial: Very green & pulpy, reminds me of the greenery I used when I was working as a florist. Slightly earthy, reminiscent of wet ferns.

Wet: Still green, very 'real' smelling. It's like I'm in the walk-in cooler, surrounded by cut foliage and flowers still tightly budded.

Dry: The herbal phase fades, and the sticky fig, date & currant take over. Soggy fruit, almost prune-like, is the only thing present in drydown.(Surprisingly enough) I really did like the green part, which is new for me! Usually it's the other way around, but then again I'm not really big on super sweet fruit scents either.

 

Verdict: Interesting, but not for me. I love fig, but the date/currant made it too overpowering for me to enjoy wearing. If the greenery had stuck around longer, I may have liked it more.

[orata]

Love it! And I'm surprised that I do, since I normally have a sweet tooth when it comes to scents. At first I thought this smelled gross and musty, but I skin tested it and enjoyed it a lot. To me, this is a dark, soft, cleanly earthy fig scent with a touch of greenery and smoky incense. The earthiness is very clean, if that makes sense--not the mildew musty vibe I can get from strong patchouli. Maybe dried fig rather than sweet and juicy--but fragrant and addictive and deep.

[mymymai]

In the Imp (ITI): My first impression upon sniffing is is Oh Yeah!. I like the sensual and darkly oriental nature of the scent I'm getting on first sniff. It's intoxicating.

 

Wet: Earthy herbs with a slight soil tinge, luscious fig, some date, and ...odd...something with green quality that's slightly like juniper.

 

Dry: Fig, a hint of sweetness from the dates and currants, and some herbiness that tend toward a soil note along with that touch of green. Its' lovely and very subtle when dried.

[brilliantcat]

In the bottle: Very tart, the currant most likely.

 

Immediately after application: Fresh, almost sharp from the herbs. It deepens quickly into an dark, meaty fruit scent. Sweet and spicy.

 

Warming up: Sweetly spicy.

 

Fading: It turns into a plain sweet/fruity scent when fading.

 

Faded: Average throw, average wear.

 

Overall: Pretty, but probably not bottle-worthy.

 

Rating: 3/5.

[ianastar]

At first it had a very licorice kind of smell, but on the dry down you could smell more of the berry and fig. Its not bad, but not something I would find myself wearing very often.

[PumpkinGuts]

Welp, I'm certainly not smelling the dates and figs I was hoping for.

Just pencil shavings and dirty patchouli stank. It's a shame; if the fig note was stronger, it might be kinda nice.

[mermaidsdream]

I keep reading these descriptions, and wondering if my imp is mislabeled, or if it's aged; or, perhaps, I just don't know what 'fig' is supposed to smell like!

 

In the Imp: sweet & tart at the same time; soft, but lush. I can't really place any notes in this.

 

Wet, on skin: soft, with a bit of spice. It's a little sweeter than I usually go for. We'll see how it does in drydown.

 

Dry: It fades somewhat fast, and the lingering scent gives me a soft currant, with maybe a little vanilla. It's almost baby-powder-y, but not in a bad way. I think this is another that's going in the "try it again" stash ...

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: a sweet fruity scent with a floral background

 

Wet on skin: Sweet, but a little dirty - a little gritty, as the description says - like dirty, wet corn cobs

 

Dried down: Same, but a little heavier on the corn cob

 

Throw: Not much of one.

 

Verdict: *** Eh, it's not horrible, but this scent isn't for me - I don't think I really like the "dirt" types

[Deliciousness]

In the imp: Sweet incense and fruit with a slightly smokey undercurrent.

 

Wet on skin: The sweet fruit turns to something a little charred while the incense note remains quite lovely.

 

Dry on skin: Sweet charred fruit in syrup, with a wafting herbal incense. The smokey and burnt tone does die down after a few hours. The remaining scent is slightly sweet and actually quite pretty, albeit faint.

 

This is an interesting blend. It's fruity, but with a blackened undertone. It's not bad once it's settled down a bit, but the throw is minimal at that point.

[doobdub]

In the imp, smelled mostly dark herbs with a bitter/smoky edge. Mixed with unscented lotion and applied, smells like a dankly spiced fig. I like fresh figs but I think they taste kind of odd because they're sweet, but unexpectedly light and also... musky? Earthy? This has more darkness in it than a fresh fig, but definitely has that weird combination going on. I like it a lot more on my skin than I expected from the vial.

[Zii]

Wet: Faint. A little herby, getting more so as it blooms on my skin. Not bad just...unremarkable.

 

Drying: Here it is! it's spicy and warm. I am very much getting the herbs, with a hint of fruity sweetness.

 

Dry: Strong on the herbs and the not sweet fig. I appreciate that it's fruity but not sweet, though it will remain to be seen how much I wear it.

[quickdrawkiddo]

I wanted to give Gomorrah some love because I feel like I never hear anyone talk about it! I got a frimp from the Lab, and at first it weirdly reminded me of this make-your-own-perfume kit I had as a kid, so once I got that into my head I couldn't smell anything else. Then I tried it again a few months later and went "huh, this is nicer than I remembered!" To me it's a very fresh, light herbs-and-figs blend. The fig note dominates it to my nose, but my coworker walked through the office and went "oooh, someone smells like herbs!" And it's strangely not foody, for a blend that's made up primarily of edible notes. It really grew on me as I used up the imp, and now I'm considering a bottle purchase because I found it so pleasant and uplifting to wear. It ended up being a great summer scent because it has great staying power but isn't oppressive in the heat.

[delicious4]

I recently picked up an imp of this, and at first I was kind of disappointed. Wet, it smelled like some kind of unpleasant bitterness. But as it completely dried, it sweetened up and I could really smell the fig. Very enjoyable, but I probably wouldn't buy a full size, but I will definitely get some use out of my imp.

[Minh Scent]

Reading the reviews, I wonder if the imp was mislabeled! I get a very light almost floral scent from the beginning and then the whole disappears in less than 1.5 hours! The description had me hoping it was in the Serge Lutens Arabie family, but not at all. I wouldn't kick it out of bed, but both Strangler Fig and Grave Pig give me more of a fig note and are longer lasting.

[petrichorandleather]

Origin: an imp acquired through swaps.

 

in the bottle: smells like bug spray, camphor. Crazy strong, crazy unpleasant if I'm being honest.

 

wet on my skin: bitter, tangy, black herbs... yes, all of these apply. It has a very sharp and pungent scent profile.

I can't pick out any individual notes but there's definitely smoke and some sort of bitter herbs.

 

dry: this is such an intriguing yet unpleasant scent! lol All of a sudden it's straight cedar. POTENT cedar.

I think this is much more suited to a man than myself. I can't say that I like this much at all, and yet I can't stop

sniffing myself! Most curious.

 

a few minutes later: now I'm getting some over-ripened fruit pulling through the cedar. The cedar is still very dominant.

This stage isn't so bad, but I still dislike it.

Edited March 2, 2015 by petrichorandleather