Bengal

[blood*rose*flowers]

A sultry and unruly blend that emulates the ambient scent of the markets in ancient Bengal: skin musk with honey, peppers, clove, cinnamon bark and ginger.

In the bottle: Earthy fresh scent of cinnamon bark, mixed with the pepper and ginger.

On wet: Cinnamon, not as cooked but the smell of the fresh bark as well as the scent of the dry spicey scent of the pepper and ginger. Soon the clove comes forward

Drydown: A smidge of musk is hinted at in the back. This scent is HOT. But strange in some moments I get the hot humid reaction of being in a steamy jungle with deep green trees giving off hot scents from their bark, but then it changes to the heat of the desert with the dry scent of the hot air mixed with the brush growing in the hot sands.

Overall: This is a hot cinnamony scent with a touch of clove and ginger this has a amazing spice to it. With a tiny touch of the honey to add a hint of sweet. I think this will be a perfect scent for keeping warm in the middle of winter.

[joseybird]

Got this imp from the wonderful blackrayne *hugs!!*

 

In Vial: Like the crumb topping on a crumb cake with a peppery kick!

 

Wet on skin: Pretty much the same at first--very heavy on the cinnamon, and the peppers are more prominant than the pepper in Three Witches.

 

1st Stage: The honey becomes fairly obvious early on. BPAL honey invariably goes nasty on me (unless it's with milk), but the honey note in Bengal behaves on me the best way to describe how it relates to the other notes would be to direct you to put some honey in a cup of black Chai Tea--it's just like that =)

 

2nd Stage: I begin to smell the clove and the ginger, the ginger being the more prominant of the two. This is reminiscent of Three Witches, but the latter is MUCH more clovey, while here the cinnamon and pepper take front and center. I'm really getting the heat from the peppers, although it's definately not an Inferno-like heat (the cinnamon isn't Red Hots cinnamon, thank goodness!).

 

3rd Stage: As this dries down, the cinnamon softens and sweetens, and the musk finally peeps out. This is definately a pale musk (white?)--I love those!! The musk really serves to transition the firey spices down to "skin scent" stage in drydown. The ginger is more prominant at this stage, co-starring with the cinnamon and pepper. I can still smell the cloves in the background though--beautiful

 

Last Stage: The very late drydown of Bengal is a delicate, soft cinnamon and what smells like white musk, like the reminants of a dream of the Bengali spice market.

 

Conclusion: A winner!! Much more cinnamon and pepper than I expected, but I am SO glad to have a scent that smells just like Chai! The honey and pale musk are beautiful additions, and make this scent really wearable ^__^

 

If you love Three Witches, give this one a shot =D and if you love cinnamon and haven't yet ordered this...

 

WTF ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!!???

[pranashakti]

Thank you so much, Josey!

 

In the vial and first applied...this smells like babka dough. Traditional Polish sweetbread with raisins, and I help knead plenty when my Babcia (grandmother) was alive. There's a foodyiness that's not sweet - it's almost yeasty, and it's alive in that way that rising bread is alive. Reactive and warm.

 

This sweetens upon me pretty quickly, and the scent rounds out amazingly when the honey comes out to play. The "yeastiness" doesn't go away completely, but is moved into the backround and grounds this nicely. The ginger and pepper come out at this point and the clove and cinnamon just flit in and out of the blend, which is lovely.

 

Completely dry I do get that "Chai tea with honey" vibe, but definitely black Chai. More clove but still only a touch of cinnamon, and it's definitely the bark rather than the spice. It's slightly woody and not overwhelming at all, and while I loves me some cinnamon it does have a tendancy to overwhelm with my chemistry. Not so here...I can distincly smell all the spices and they're working together beautifully. The Chai tea doesn't last long, though...when the "skin musk" takes over it smells like...well, skin. Hot, sexy, sweaty skin that purrs while it undulates. The first note I get may well be the skin musk...I've not smelled it before and that reactive and warm scent is back strongly now. Very sexy and very very alive.

 

For me, this isn't Three Witches at all. The components are similar, but where Three Witches got right up in my face and yelled at me, Bengal slinked on over...in much the way a cat will "sneak" into your lap and then act like it's always been there. Speaking of which, mine's trying to lick off my Bengal as I type...

 

This is an amazing blend, and I'm thrilled I have a 5ml on the way. If you like to purr, you might order a bottle for yourself. I feel like a playful Bengal Tiger kitten with this on. Powerful, playful, warm, fuzzy and sexy as hell. Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeow! I'm off to sharpen my claws on the carpet...

[tesao]

in the imp: spice! warm, dusty, pungent spice.

 

on my wrist, wet: cinnamon, clove, ginger, allspice. with a hint of ... something else.

 

on my wrist, dry: my husband came and sniffed my wrist and: that smells really good on you! this is exotic. it smells to me the way i have always imagined that the Spice that comes from Makers on the planet Arakis would smell. Dune. heady. hallucinatory. sought after. out of this world.

 

drydown: all of the above rolled into one. i was worried at one point that it might turn soapy, but it never did. i kept getting whiffs of it all day, and wondering: what is that i'm smelling. it always surprised me when i remembered, oh, that's ME!

 

so, just like Spice, a little goes quite fast, and it is addicting. any day now, my eyes will turn blue on blue.....

Edited August 12, 2005 by tesao

[sitanpu]

I received a frimp of this with my lab order today, and this smells lovely. On my skin, it smells a LOT like the Vintage Vanilla incense by Candles by Cows. All spicy but warm and rounded..

[requieminblack]

First sniff from the bottle- MMmmmm yummy!! Spiced honey!

 

After 20 minutes- This is a Leigh Ann scent if there ever was one. I am in LOVE. Honey is the dominant note followed by cinnamon, clove and the pepper. It's very warm, sticky and spicy sweet. The spices are subtle in this - the cinnamon and clove are there but they won't knock you off your feet. I think people who are sensitive to spicy scents would be ok with this one.

 

Summery- Ladies and Gentleman, we have a winner. Finally, a catalog scent that will be one of my top 5 BPAL scents! Yea!!

[wickedgoddess]

Wet - this is the most gorgeous combination of spices imaginable! I get ginger and honey, with cinnamon and clove in the background. Not at all like Three Witches, this is absolutely delicious, and pretty darn foody.

 

Dry - Not much throw, so I reapply and want to gnaw my wrists off. Yeah, this will end up in my top three! But then it fades away in about an hour leaving behind only...orris? Is that orris I smell? That's all that's left. No spices nothing. My heart is broken! I will keep this and love this, but I really wish it loved me half as much as I love it. Keep in mind, your mileage may vary, this is purely my bum chemistry.

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 5.

[lorajc]

I was iffy on this when I ordered it, as ginger is hit or miss on me, as well as honey. I was hoping this would be the strong cinnamon scent I've been longing for, but it is not. Again, the cinnamon is very understated on me and the honey, pepper and ginger take over. It does smell similar to Chai Tea but I think the musk and honey makes it creamy, as well. I have to wear this a few more times before I make a final decision on it.

[MsBraz]

In the imp: Honey and baking spices. It’s Baklava!

 

Wet: Sweet honey and spices. I’m still smelling Baklava (the greek pastry) Mmmmmmmmm. The throw was never intense and pretty much had to sniff where applied to smell it.

 

After about 3 hours it’s changed to powdery sweet and almost gone.

[Khaman]

This blend needs more love.

 

Today I received an imp of Bengal in my mail, thanks to another forumite's fantastic kindness. I was hoping for a sweet chai smell. It is exactly what I got. I love this imp and I've only just put it on once. Love it. Thank gods I'm not a slatherer, because I have to get this thing to last until I get a bottle order in. (Come to me, next lunar update...)

 

In the bottle - almost overwhelmingly sweet with an odd dark tinge to it. I felt some brief misgiving about that, wondering if Bengal wasn't going to work out after all.

 

On wet - Honey on me. Absolute buttloads of honey for a couple of minutes until a hint of peppery spice starts to ring out.

 

Over the next several hours, the honey, while still prominent, becomes more of a velvety soft background for the pepper and a waft of rich musk and what I believe is the clove starts to really pop out. I never quite got a definable cinnamon note, but I'm still training my nose and probably just missed it between the pepper and musk.

 

Fantastically rich smell. I adore it already.

 

--One small caveat if you wear it as a neck scent and have sensitive skin - you may experience a light spice-induced 'hickey' for about an hour. No other problems in my case, but you could definitely see where the scent was put on.

Edited September 10, 2005 by Khaman

[Ina Garten Davita]

First Impression: Want to eat it!

 

Second Impression: This is Dunkin' Donuts Creamy Vanilla Chai, this is spiced poundcake soaked in honey, this is a scent that would fill and warm you if you were cold and hungry. Bengal smells grand on me, so grand I may end up knawing my arm to a bloody stump.

 

Final Anaysis: Worthy of multiple 10ml purchases. The ULTIMATE fall and winter perfume.

[Reinaluna]

Bengal: Love it, Love it, Love it! This blend is just full of spicy exotic goodness! I get a lot of the peppers and ginger but the sweetness of the honey and clove tone it down so that it is not soo nose irritating. A very wise choice I made.

Edited September 15, 2005 by Reinaluna

[Gin]

Bengal

 

The spices are divine... ginger, cinnamon, clove... but then there's the honey note. Honey always goes sour on me, and Bengal is no exception. Too bad, because this would be a top favorite if not for that.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Honey and Clove

 

On Skin: YUM! This is so sweet. My favorite note, honey, comes forward at once. The clove, cinnamon and ginger spice it up but compliment the honey’s sweetness. Pepper is usually a bit bitter to me and I don’t smell it yet. Wow, I love how sweet it is and the super spicyness of the cinnamon burns my nose lightly if I take a deep whiff. This is so nice, and so intriguing, seductive and spicy. This will make someone lean in a lot closer to you, it really does capture attention. Sadly, the honey is fading quickly. I may try layering this over the “O” alcohol spray I made to see if it adds to the sweetness and staying power.

[~AmusedMuse~]

My Impression:

Definite cinnamon and ginger notes to the honey is almost unoticed with all this spicy goodness. This totally caught me offgauard. My scale of 1-5...4

[Imbrium]

First sniff: spicy honey.

 

On, this is really, really cinnamony on me. I get a sense of honey in it, but it's more of an "aftersniff" - I smell it, I smell cinnamon, and then as I move away from my hand, there's the honey. Of course, as a caveat - this is realy honey and real cinnamon I smell, and not an impression of either one. If I didn't know better, I'd think I was involved in some sort of tragic but delicious pantry accident.

 

It's funny, if I don't try to smell my hand, this smells complex, and oh so edible - honey and cinnaomn, with a bit of heat, for lack of a better word.

 

Of course, I first tried Bengal a few weeks ago, and it smelled like Big Red cinnamon, and nothing else. I don't know if it's a chemistry thing, or if the scent is just growing on me, but I do like what it's turned into this time around, so here's hoping it stays that way.

[Eldritch]

In bottle: Egads. Honey and sugar! When I was a kid, my mother would make me toast with cinnamon and sugar and honey for weekend breakfasts. It had to be enough sugar for four days in one slice. This is what the bottle smells like.

 

Wet: I am sweet. Good gravy. I also get this cinnamony-milky background, but mostly honeyhoneysugarhoney. This worries me because Honey Moon was not my friend. Mrph.

 

Dry down: Still honey, but not OMGIWillSmotherYou honey now. I think I'm getting some tea undernotes. Black tea? Possibly? And something a bit lemony. lemon tea and honey? Oh! That's what it remind sme of. honeyed tea. Like the tea you drink with a sore throat. The lemon must be the ginger.

 

Dry: Eh. This is stale honey with a wee smidge of tea grinds. I think my chemistry has rejected it. Honey tends to not like me much, I think. Such sadness. I could see the possibilities in it.I was so excited for chai, but all I got was honey weirdness. Not for me.

[Thorne]

I would like to announce my undying, eternal love for Bengal. We are going to have 1000 clove and nutmeg and honey scented babies and live happily ever after, amen.

 

This is my new OMFG scent, and I want to bathe in it. In the imp, it smells like honey with a little tea, but once on the skin it just blooms into fantastic spicy gorgeousness. Cinnamon! Cloves! Nutmeg! Pepper! Sugar! Ginger! And the honey just simmers underneath it all, sweet and thick - my mouth literally watered when I put this on, y'all.

[sarada]

In the imp my first thought was that I'd probably pass on Bengal, since the musky scent really doesn't seem to go with the spicy notes...but I know that it's always worth testing these oils unless I absolutely know that something is going to make me ill (i.e. butterscotch, ugh).

 

And after all I do like the "skin musk" where it pops up in other blends. So let's see.

 

Ahhh, there we go. This really works marvellously on my skin, and the muskiness is no longer mismatched. Now it's simply allowing the spices to come out and blend nicely and mixes them all up in a gorgeous cloud of spice cabinet scent without the dreaded "cinnamon potpourri" effect. The musk helps it to last and gives it a lot more throw.

 

As for the spices, the clove is at the forefront, and ginger is nice and strong without being lemony. The cinnamon doesn't bother me for once, and neither do the peppers -- both of those have been known to burn my skin. It does feel a little hot on the underside of my wrist when I put it there, briefly. The honey isn't the sticky sweet kind that I often dislike, it's much more understated and soft like what I get from Honey Moon.

 

It doesn't smell like a cup of chai to me because it's missing the tea element but it does smell like my Indian spice cabinet and makes me want to start mixing up some garam masala.

 

Now, is this the spice scent that I want? I like that this lasts a long time on me and the musk really blends in well with my skin and helps me to waft it around and carry it with me for longer. I can probably use the imp sparingly and get a lot of mileage out of it so I don't think I'll need a bottle right away but this is definitely something I'd like to have around on cold winter days. Al-Shairan might be winning the spice contest on the overall fragrance but Bengal wins on overall chemistry reaction for me, and for staying power. I guess it's a tie! But I'll probably wait a bit for a bottle of this.

[shelldoo]

in the bottle, i get a spicey wine type smell. intresting

 

wet, honey and cloves w/ a hint of cinnamon

 

the honey fades pretty fast on me leaving me w/ a ginger, clove, cinnamon mixture, that is hot and spicey. the musk is nonexistant on me

 

 

edit to add

 

after days of slathering this...and it going on the top 10. i should say the honey doesn't leave. it hides for a bit, then becomes the base of the whole thing, so it has a sweet skin honey note, w/ the ginger, cinnamon w/ a hint of clove. it is amazing. JUST AMAZING

Edited September 20, 2005 by shelldoo

[sh1mm3r]

My imp of this just came today and I was way more excited about it than I was about the lunacy oil that came with it.

 

I immediately applied it on my right wrist, took a big whiff, and ended up in tears. Not because of the spices, nope, but because it is so perfect for me, and is just what I needed after a stressful and trying and draining week.

 

Wet, I get sweet cinnamon and white pepper - spicy not letting the sweet be overpowering. *dies*

 

As it dries, more of the ginger (a la Gingerbread Poppet) comes out, and it settles into a sweet murky musky smell of honey and cloves.

 

I feel like my wrist has pulled autumn out of hiding. As if summer has been officially banished, and I can finally get out my cozy sweaters, make a cozy cup of tea, and read a good book. In fact, that's what I think I'll do, right now.

 

This makes my heart happy - my top two scents are Honey Moon and SN Honey, both which I can't get more of. Guess which catalog scent is now on the list?

[laochodia]

This is cool chai tea, made with fresh spices and utterly addicting. Cinnamon and honey are the top notes, with juuuust enough clove and pepper to keep it from being too sweet and a base of musk/leaves. It lasts forever and, if anything, gets stronger. Yum!

[wolfie13]

In the bottle: I mostly get HONEY, and pepper and ginger.

 

Upon wearing: The above plus a big shot of spicy cinnamon/clove and a skin-type musk lending an almost creamy quality.

 

After about 30 minutes: A soft, milky honey with spice around the edges.

 

I'd say it's in the foody category, but it's a foody scent that non-foody lovers like myself can love too! That edible yummy quality without being overly sweet or obvious.

 

ETA: I have completely run into trouble! After an hour or so, the throw on this all musk and honey - loud musk and honey. It has an almost baby oil scent that I worried was offending people. (This is all my evil chemistry, though - it always amps up honey and causes certain musks smell this way on me.)

You can only smell the spice notes on wrist-to-nose sniffing. And I was SO excited about this one too. Now my bottle has found a new home.

Edited October 17, 2005 by wolfie13

[Northernminx]

Sweeter than I thought, spiced honey is an excellant way of putting this. Clove and cinnamon are definitly present but the spiceness is balanced by a soft, golden sweetness that make this incredibly warm and exotic. It's a great cold weather scent but I can also see this as a great summer scent, exotic and sexy and sweltering. Definite YUM

[UltraViolet]

In the bottle

spicy honey foody

 

On

Nice. This has every one of my favorite spicy ingredients (barring cardomom and nutmeg). I dunno, it's not as wonderful as I thought. I thought it would be a replacement for the beloveds "Aries" or "Three Witches" maybe. Nope. Not that spicy. More foody.

 

30 minutes

Oh yeah, this is much better now. I smell more of a cream and sugar kind of smell along with the spices mentioned above, which was totally and utterly missing when it was first applied. The cinamon, pepper and clove are finally taking the lead (as it should be) instead of the honey (yeesh) taking the lead as when first applied.

 

Throw:

a bit more than average

 

Scent category:

Foody/Spicy

 

Summary

When it's wet, it's not at it's best on my skin. As I was almost about to dismiss this blend, out comes the drying down creaminess and the amping up the more robust ingredients.

At first it doesn't really have any legs, it's just kind of wobbling around trying to decide what it wants to smell like, then it plants itself and says "I'm here!".

It's like "Eclipse" meets "Three Witches".

 

Purchase again?

My initial "Maybe" has turned to a "Yes".

 

1-5 rating (5 being best)

4