The Sleeper

[filigree_shadow]

Night-blooming jasmine, opium poppy, wild rosemary, Calla lily, oakmoss and crypt musk.

Mostly what I get from The Sleeper is jasmine. The night-blooming variety is usually a little better for me than regular jasmine, but it's still too much for me in this one. It seems musky and a bit cloying. It's not nearly as bad as other jasmine perfumes I've tried lately (i.e., Ligeia) but still too much jasmine for me to like it. Edited September 20, 2007 by Shollin

[Tulliver]

Lovelylovelylovely.

 

This started off in the bottle and wet on my skin as almost completely pure rosemary. Such a lovely scent and always puts me in a Shakespeare frame of mind. However, this is Poe so...

 

On dry down, the jasmine and lily scents come through beautifully, while the rosemary never actually leaves but just frames the other two. There is an EVER so subtle musk scent which gets slightly stronger as time goes on but it's never overpowering. I can't quite get the poppy - at least I don't think so, and I get no mossy scent from it either which in a way is a shame, but what I DO get is quite lovely enough that it doesn't matter too much.

 

It's a light scent on me. I've noticed one or two mention its heaviness, but I get none of that at all. All I know is, two hours later, I cannot stop smelling my wrist. The throw's not major on this, but the scent sticks in close to the skin and lasts beautifully.

 

I love this blend. That is all.

[asciident]

Wet: Sour body odor, sigh.

[stellans]

Ack! What once smelled sweet and luscious now smells sour and icky. Jasmine, you hateful wretch, you betray me once again. Sadly, I couldn’t bear wearing this blend... I hunted down a bottle when a decant seduced me into love. That love has now departed, along with my $ to the eBay seller. Woe. Edited June 5, 2010 by stellans

[rayvn1]

A very well-balanced jasmine with the dark musk and poppy rounding it out. I'll stick with On Darkness for my poppy needs, but it was nice to try this one!

[Lamia]

In the bottle, this is a pleasant floral, if a bit old-lady-ish.

 

Wet, this turns skin musk AIIEEEEEE This means sour body, but thank goodness that went away fairly quickly.

 

Briefly, there was a hint of fruit behind the floral. Left wrist smells of vetiver (guessing that is the musk) and the right of oakmoss.

 

Boycat loves this, tried like hell to lick my wrist. This goes back in the bag.

[impolight]

:::THE SLEEPER:::

 

Okay...

This was a first as far as an experience with an "aged" oil goes, so the anticipation has been

more than a little...twangy.

Time and again, a reviewer would expound on the virtues of aged BPAL formulas. Being newer to this, it felt as though there were an exclusive Hellfire Club of sorts with an elusive portal.

anywho, an aooportunity presented itsself where a swapper had purchased an obscene amount of these (who does that?) back in the day, and had reluctantly admitted to the tragedy that not all of her beloved bottles would make it for wearing and so this one was offered up...

An oil based on some classic Poe?

Bitchin'!

 

The first impressions were the inverse of what some of the original reviewers of this fragrance had opined. Here, there was very little by way of Rosemary's astringence. From the bottle, though Oakmoss was on the lurk, there was not very much at all by way of greenness... This was much more... BLACK.

I would concede to there being a trifle of Vetiver in the, "Crypt Musk", but there is something else in it that smells of a deeper excavation. This is black soil with composting, forested herbaciousness

flitting throughout!

The night blooming Jasmine is nice, luxurious and heady in The Sleeper. Opium Poppy is prettily present as well! While an earlier reviewer already shared their sentiment of favoring the Poppy used in, "On Darkness", it is very nice that it is not even close to shy in this blend at this stage!

The nose has yet to identify the Calla lily... S'awright!

 

On the Skin: Blacker still! It would not at all be a surprise that there was a little turpentine in this! In South Africa, there is a variety of Mango that smells so much like Turpentine when a ripe one is opened, the nickname of it's varietal is, "Turpentine Mango". Makes one wonder...

Yes, yes, yes.... Black, Black, Black!

Oakmoss, "Crypt Musk", Vetiver, Turpentine, Suet, Charwood...

The florals are still all here in the outer rim of the firelight, eyes aglint, tittering in frequencies that fall more into the auditory range of bats and spectors, but the fragrance that is The Sleeper has transmogrified from a voluptuary boquet in honor of an impossibly beautiful youth, to a mad, howling, slavering grief that scuttles amid mud, rot, and shadow.

The Sleeper is an entirely beautiful fragrance. It is haunting, solemn, and in awe of the brevity with which the lot of us have to endure the overwhelmingly fantastic planet teeming with heartbreak at every turn.

4.8 out of 5

[countessmouse]

Whenever a scent has jasmine, it's always a toss up to see whether I get the "sour" or the "flower". This one is sour and musky. The calla lily is trying valiantly to move to the forefront, but it ain't happenin'. It has the potential to be a wonderful scent, just not on me. Meh.

[achildoftime]

My nose mostly got the jasmine and poppy. It doesn't smell particularly heavy or somber. It's mostly a nice jasmine with some poppy and a suggestion of smoke. I imagine it's lost some complexity over the years as I don't get any rosemary, oakmoss, or lily but it might also be my nose or chemistry. I think it's pleasant enough, and is a nice smoky floral, but it doesn't send me through loops with excitement.