Black Forest

[ImperatrixMundi]

This is the captured scent of a cold, moonless night, lost deep within the darkest wood. Haunting and desolate, this scent evokes images of fairy tale tragedy and half-remembered nightmares. Thick, viscous pine with ambergris, black musk, juniper and cypress.

This is the nices BPAL pine scent I have tried so far and my Boyfriends favourite scent. I like it a lot more than Jabberwocky or Thanatopsis and it is the first GC scent I actually got a bottle of.

It goes on very PINE but mellows out quite a bit soon after it dries. Then the ambergris really comes out. It is a little more complex than that but to be honest, I cant pick out the other notes.

[voodoocatwoman]

This scent is magnificent.

 

In the imp and wet: pine forest after a rain. Fresh and clean and invigorating.

 

Dry: The pine is still there but it is soft and doesn't have any of the astringency I usually associate with pine. Laced in is a sweetness that must be musk and ambergris.

 

Just gorgoeous and definitely a fall scent.

[cyphersushi]

Initial impression: This seems interesting...

 

In the imp: Oh, I smell the wood and something that softens it, Probably the musk - yummy!

 

Wet: The musk and the pine plays nice with eachother and the woods is a nice background. Nice throw too

 

Dry: The musk keep this from being a male scent. Now it is nicely dark and cosy like a soft grotto under the pine trees where two people have just had a .. nice time

[Iceblink]

Oooooh. Black musk with pine--not so much pine that it takes over but just creates that foresty feeling. I'm picking up the ambergris a bit too. This is unisex and warm. And heavy! Couldn't wear this in the summer but it'll be great for the holidays.

[isisonearth]

Imp: Pine smacks me in the face. There is something strangely soapy about it too.

 

Wet: Evergreen forest with a soft somewhat powdery note of ambergris. It is a gentle forest scent with a ghost of something sweet.

 

Dry: Very complex. The notes of pine, juniper and cypress are distinct but make a chorus of evergreen. The musk make sit dark instead of bright and there remains a thread of sweetness...the witches house made of candy off in the distance.

 

This seems perfect for the winter holidays. I can imagine burning it in an oil warmer when the nights turn cold and reading fairy tales to my kiddo.

[Saya]

In the Bottle

The pine is really strong in the imp, but it’s a sweet pine scent rather the pine smell you get out of comerical cleansing products. I think that’s the ambergris. My chemistry and pine usually make me smell like I slept in a janitors closet so we’ll see how this one goes.

On My Skin

Thankfully the pine isn’t dominating the other notes in the blend. The pine seems to be doing well with the ambergris and there’s a bit of juniper in the background too. I’m not getting any musk or cypress yet.

 

After a Bit

An hour and a half later and the ambergris is in full retreat. The pine and juniper are running the show now. While it’s still not a cleaning product scent it certainly isn’t as compelling as when the sweeter element was there.

Rating 1-5 (5 being the best)

Scent – 2.5 Throw – 3 Longevity – 4

Over all – 2.5

 

Final Thoughts

This is probably my favorite pine blend so far from BPAL, it’s too bad that the scent didn’t stay the same it was the first 30 minutes after application. It’s something that I’d consider when going out during the holiday season, but I wouldn’t wear it often. I’ll keep the imp, but don’t think I need a big bottle.

[Coldfire]

Imp: TREES! Yummy Pine and juniper and cypress

Wet on Me: I feel like I am standing in a forest and it is love!

Drying Down: Mostly pine and cypress now with a touch

of the black musk hiding in the shadows. Hard to work when

Wrist is becoming glued to nose.

Dry: Total dark forest-y love. Keeper! Must get bottle of this.

[plunderparlour]

I guess i'm in the minority here. Pine just does not like me. I smell like a car freshener. glad this was a frimp.

[angelicruin]

Imp: sweetened Pine-Sol cleaner

 

Wet: I can now pick up the pine, juniper, and cypress notes

 

Dry Down: Woodsy with musk

[Hawke]

Oh yes, pine. Almost a single note in the imp.

 

Wet on the skin, this turns into a Christmas tree. Though the oil is by no means dark green, the scent certainly is. It has quite a lot of throw, too, just like evergreens usually do. As it dries, I get the sweetness other people talk about in the review thread, but I don't think it's ambergris. I think it's juniper. I don't know for sure, so I'm not going to stake any money on that, but that's my feeling. There's also another wood note beneath or behind the pine, less cold, less sharp and distinctly grainy.

 

Once this has dried, I'm surprised that there's no cedar in this, because I get a very faint wood shavings or pencil smell. It's not something I'd put in a locket and I burn tarts rather than oils, as a general rule, so it wouldn't work there either. Still, I like this right up until the end.

[Brianne]

This is REALLY REALLY piney on me. It's like thick pine sap, very dark and green. Definitely foresty!

[caitilarkin]

In the imp: Strong, astringent pine

 

Wet on skin: Sharp pine, slightly sweetened (not sure if it's the ambergris or the musk that's having a tempering effect on the pine)

 

Dry on skin: Morphs from single-note pine to a blend of pine and musk

 

Relatively short wearlength on me (2-3 hours) and the pine loses much of its potency after the first hour. This will be nice for winter, especially layered with berries or a wintry floral.

[zankoku_zen]

This smells like a Christmas tree. In fact, this is a great blend if you're not looking to spend on Yules. It's got the pine, with a hint of berry and just a bit of chill. This is a pine forest on a cool autumn, perhaps early winter, day. It's woodsy, musky, pine with enough of the berry to give it a bit of sweetness.

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Strong pine tempered by the cypress

 

On Application

Mainly cypress and musk. Very nice!

 

Dry Down

A deep cool pine forest on a sunny hot day. Dry, dusty and resinous. I love cypress. It is a soft and sweet piney/resin smell and in this instance helps to keep the whole blend from becoming too overpowering.

Rating (0-5)

4.5

[milica]

very nice pine scent, but black musk and juniper are ruining it for me somehow. and it gets a tiny bit sour on me after an hour, so... off to swap.

Edited November 30, 2008 by milica

[blacklacestatic]

in the imp: A super-duper dose of pine weighed down heavily by black musk.

 

Wet on skin: Pretty much true to what I was smelling in the imp, but it goes a little sweet and sour. Not sure if this is for me. Really piney.

 

Drydown: It goes a little sweeter and smoother, but it's still one hell of a dose of pine. It's very dark and I can see how this can represent a black forest very well.

 

Overall: I like it as a scent experience, it reminds me of cold, dark winter nights. It's not going to work out for me as an everyday perfume though. I can still appreciate it a lot, and am happy I was frimped with it.

[kjirstiben]

I've found that I really love these evergreen scents, and Black Forest was no exception to that rule.

 

Freshly on, it smelled strongly of pine at first, then started to sweeten up slightly.

 

After an hour or so, there was a scent to it, like it was trying to go sour, but since the scent has so much depth (evergreen depth), it's not something you can pick out.

 

The end, though... it did go a little sour on me... then abruptly disappeared. How odd.

 

I wonder if it was the black musk that made it disappear like that on me? This will take more experimentation...

[rayvn1]

So beautiful I love pine, musk and juniper so this was a good bet! It's a lighter, sparkling Jabberwocky on me. If only the mister wasn't so specifically sensitive to pine! "Did you open some floor cleaner?" indeed Well....I love it!

[Argentwolf]

It's definitely a PINE scent -- but that's not to imply that it's offensive. Rather, it's a very green, fresh, 'pure' sort of pine -- the sort you'd get straight from the tree, rather than seeming like a cleaning product. Underneath is a faintly sweet, almost creamy sort of aroma -- the ambergris, perhaps, and/or the juniper.

 

Soon after application, I can also detect a cedary scent -- that must be the cypress. After a long moment of piney goodness, it turns into a more subdued, generally-woody scent.

 

It's really lovely, and perfect for wintertime, of course -- and though I don't need a bottle, I will definitely keep the imp for a day in summer when I am longing for some Christmas in July.

 

If you are looking for a good 'winter' scent from the GC, get this. It's absolutely what you're looking for.

[rarepineapple]

In the bottle: O my good God, Pine! It is basically like someone stuck an entire forest into a tiny imp--it is exactly like being in a forest. And since the scent is very cold, it matches the description so well! Wow. That is so awesome.

 

Wet: Pine! And, something almost sour? V. strong.

 

Dry: This goes soft on me. And sweeter. And, almost, spicy?

 

Verdict: I was a little afraid of this one at first, because I have bad allergies and I was afraid this would set it off--flower scents and outdoorsy scents tend to do so, but this actually doesn't seem to be setting them off so bad, so far. I actually kind of like the end product, now that it has turned softer and sweeter. This is def. a scent for when I'm feeling masculine, though. It has a certain power to it. I think I'll keep it.

[ouch!]

PINE! Again, this is the second pine scent I've pulled out of my imp box to wear at random in two days! This is pine as everyone else has said..so..sorry to repeat. It's not as scary as the pine in say...Jabberwocky (Which was the last Pine scented oil I pulled out). However it still dominates quite a bit with my chemistry.

 

The dry stage of this is way way softer, the musk comes out loads and it's more powdery, I take it this is the ambergris. It's still foresty because the pine has left a trail of greenery behind.

 

This is a good fall scent along the lines of Samhain to my nose. Quite powdery and slightly green with a big twist of musk!

 

[amanderinorange]

In the imp: definitely pine, but not as strong or as sharp as some of the others that I have smelled. Much nicer, I think.

 

On me: too much pine, but pine isn't normally my kind of scent.

 

Overall: Fortunately the hubby likes this one (a surprise as he doesn't like pine scents) so I will have to see how it smells on him.

[magikalbrownies]

this smells like the illustrated woman to me...very pine'ey..

[crebbsgirl]

Well, this is predominantly pine with a sharp ozone-like edge to it. VERY cologne-y and masculine on my skin. I normally favour the heavier blends, but this is just a little sharp for me. Biting even. I prefer my scents to be smooth and slinky, and I am not getting this vibe here. Fresh there was a touch of dryer sheet, and that faded as it dried. Overall this is a very woodsy scent. I think this would smell amazing on my fiance, but it's not for me.

[tragedy]

This is a lovely forest scent, pine perfection! I've been looking for a good pine scent for layering with dirt to come up with the perfect woodsy smell.

This has good throw though and is quite strong on me, so it may not work, but still one of the best forest scents ever!