Baron Samedi

[kettu]

A notorious voodoo priest, who eventually rose to become one of the funereal Guédés, alongside Baron Cimitère and Baron La Croix. He is a Guardian of the Crossroads: the pathways between our world and the realm of the spirits. As a Master of the Graveyard, he ensures that burial rites are performed with skill, and he helps ferry souls to the dark realm. In his honor, we have created this scent: our spin on traditional Bay Rum.

got this from em_h today at the most recent Toronto meet'n'sniff (did she get another one? did shapeshifter give it back? Idunno. but I have it now).

pungent pungent spice. dark, brick red spice with some more spice added in and some bay to even it out. The bay ends up smelling a bit like men's shaving cream, but there's enough clove and cinnamon and other spiceywhathaveyous to draw attention away from it. I *think* I smell a little cigar/tobacco, but it's mostly just very strong, longlasting spice with some pungent bay in there.

I'm keeping it but mostly to wear if I go to another tambour. Edited January 18, 2006 by Shollin

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle, Baron Samedi is all about the almonds, and some herby/spiciness. On the skin, I still smell some almonds, but wow, clove! Clove, and much of it. There's something else a little bit green, maybe the bay part, and perhaps a bit of woodiness...but mostly it's a wonderful smokey, spicy smell. Think clove cigarettes, only not as sweet. Ah, lovely. I like this a lot, despite my fears that it would smell too much like Port-au-Prince. I'm quite pleased.

 

And as a warning, this is a strong, very heady scent. I only applied one little swipe with the wand on my wrist and I'm dizzy from the scent. Proceed with caution!

[The_Merf]

In the imp: I was having a really hard time pinning this down until I read voodoobaby's review above mine: yes, this is almonds. I know this is a spin on bay rum, but I can't smell a hint of booze.

 

Wet: This immediately becomes boozy upon touching my skin, but not in the 'I'm-gonna-retch' way that Grog and the first 10-15 minutes of Devil's Night react, which leads me to believe that there isn't anything buttery in here.

 

Drydown and wear: I was on the fence about this one when I tested it, but now that I wear it on its own, I quite like it. It certainly has excellent throw, and I am becoming more of a fan by the minute, quite honestly. I'm also detecting something smoky in here (I would say frankincense, but...) and it becomes stronger as the scent dries. Really lovely--thanks to the Labbies for the frimp.

[mulletspeak]

Baron Samedi smells of the tiny barbershop on the island where I grew up; the scent of cherry pipe tobacco and bay rum would waft out the door on hot days. This has a strong base of almond, yes, but the cherry spoke to me immediately, almost too sweet when wet, but drying down to spiced rum, tobacco, and perhaps, chocolate? Very masculine and very comforting, reminiscent of "Swisher Sweet" cigars or chocolate covered cherries.

[bifemmefatale]

The Baron definitely has almonds in the bottle, but they die back immediately on my skin, and out come the spicy cloves of bay rum, but it's smokier than Jazz Funeral. I think there is some frankincense in here, as the cloves smell burnt and resinous, like a lit Djarum. Unfortunately, not a good scent for me, and I had high hopes for it after liking Jazz Funeral and Salome so much. Seems none of the almond scents want to stay almond on me. *pouts*

[Rewth]

apparently bay rum has a lot of clove in it, because that’s what I'm getting off of this. A lightly boozey clove… maybe a bit of pepper too and a slight orange citrus as well? This is nice. Foody, yet dark, with a lot of heavy spices. I rather enjoy it, but T screws up her face at me whenever i make her sniff it. i think its jsut a little too sharp for her tastes. tough. i'm keeping it.

[GypsyRoseRed]

On me, this is the same dry as it is in the imp - booze, smoke and tons o' almonds. Not my kind of perfume, but it's a very interesting scent.

[PixieSkull]

Imp: Condensed sweetness, sortof buttery, some sort of white fruity scent.

Wet: This is dirt mixed with marzipan, must be what the white fruite scent turned into. There's got to be some sort of amber or frankincense in here.

Dry: This smells like a spicy, buttery fruit tart.

 

Category: Foody

Rating: 2/5

Overall: This was an okay scent, but lackluster for me. I'm not a gourmand person so this was partly lost on me. Didn't smell great on me or my mister. I'm sure someone else will like this more than I have.

[Ryvre]

I got this for my boyfriend, since smelling like rum isn't really something I want to do. (No, really officer. I swear I haven't been drinking!)

 

In the imp: Almond and booze.

 

On him: Deep, rich rum. There's some sort of spicy note, maybe clove. It's nice- maybe not nice enough to buy a bottle, but we'll definitely keep the imp.

[Nepthys]

This went on wet smelling like cherry and almonds - much like Jergen's lotion as a matter of fact. That's not a smear, I like the scent of Jergen's. But after only 5 minutes it turned earthy and boozy. I could smell patchouli, tobacco and a faint note, quite pleasant, of an expensive bottle - maybe Southern Comfort, but definitely not rum. Ultimately it settled into a well-balanced blend of almond, earth and good booze: the comforting scent of a smoke shop, very masculine and solid and clean. I really like this, it's like wearing the flannel shirt or bathrobe of a beloved grandfather.

[emzebel]

In the vial, this is all rum...on my skin, the spicy notes that characterize bay rum come out and this is a yummy spicy rummy goodness. This is definitely a masculine scent, but not a *male* scent...certainly something us women folk can wear too.

[draconix]

In the bottle: Mmmm... (that's always a good sign). Slightly almondy with a kick of spice underneath. Very nice in the bottle.

 

On my skin: Wet it is very sweet-almondy, reminds me quite a bit of how Inferno smelled wet actually. However, drying, this takes on a very different scent than Inferno. It's a sharp, spiced smell. Cloves, Bay and something vaguely smokey and boozy. Like a hole-in-the-wall pub or something.

 

Final Thoughts: Who cares if it's supposed to be a guys scent? I'm really liking this. It's not overly masculine... as long as I don't smear it on (it's true that a little bit of this goes a loooong way) it actually just ends up being a nice, spicey kind of smell. It fades quickly to a good stopping point, where it sits at for a pretty long time. A great scent that will probably be going on my "To Buy a Bigger Bottle" list. Yay for frimps!

[maewitch]

Almond and clove, and musky, smoky background. It's a lot more subtle than I was anticipating. It does remind me of this rum we once had that was as dark as molasses and very deeply spiced.

 

I actually quite like this.

[juniperus]

Bottle: boozy and sweet cherry-y.

Wet: correction, almond-y.

Dry: spicy and boozy and sweet - I'm really liking this, and normally boozy notes don't like me at all.

Later: I wouldn't have believed it for a second, but I can actually wear this, and I rather like it. It's very mulling spices on me, but fun nonetheless.

[laurahcory]

Mmm... spicy! Cloves, allspice, almonds, rum, and something I can't quite put my finger on, but I like it. The Baron is definitely a keeper and may be my first "big bottle" purchase.

 

As others have noted, this one does have a lot of staying power. On me, it doesn't have a powerful throw, but what there is lasts all day. I'm hoping it's not too masculine a scent for me to wear, but if it is, that's too bad, because I'm wearing it anyway.

 

Edited to add: Cherries! Another friend who has an imp of this said "cherries," and as soon as she said it I realized she was right. That's the first thing that hits me when I sniff this, but it disappears almost instantly on my skin.

Edited June 6, 2006 by laurahcory

[eviltemptressdq]

me, the Queen of not liking anything that says "rum" on it, actually likes this one! I get almond... like Dana O'Shee almond, but more sweet. There is a tang...

 

after it was on a while, the almond completely disappears... and I smell just a spicey clove... smells like those clove cigarettes that were so "cool" in highschool. hehe. Delicious!!

[HennaFairy]

bottle:

spicy, cinnamon

 

wet:

same

 

dry:

spicy - I can't recall what bay rum smells like.. This is a masculine spicy scent though

 

overall:

nice, not really me.

 

rating: 5/10

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

as i've said before, i *heart* bay rum...

 

i don't get any here.... this is ALMOND. with a side of Brimstone. i get the tiniest bit of something that might've been near a bay leaf and a clove pod once, or had it described to them with great longing... but.... mostly ALMOND.

[Nekomata]

All almondy bay rum. This is a good masculine scent, but not so great on me. :/

[yeahbutnobut]

Baron Samedi

 

In the imp: almond…but quite a dark, almost burnt-woody or roasted almond scent.

Wet on skin: yup, this is a very dark and nutty almond scent-and I think I can smell vetiver underneath?

Dry on skin: now the almond fades and the scent is now of tangy, herbal, boozy and oddly effervescent bay rum, with the dark heavy scent of vetiver underneath. Whoa, that's some deep vetiver here. This is the heavy as lead vetiver that takes an eternity to come off the skin, I think. Intense and smoky and gritty, slightly sweet as well, but with the lighter, tangy scent of bay rum above it. This reminds me of one of my uncle's perfumes, or the vetiver oil my mum burns to fragrance the house.

After a while: now it gains that lemony scent that I get in some vetivers, and there is a slightly sugared sweetness to the scent, almost like treacle (it's a dark sugary scent) but the scent is pretty much all vetiver now, perhaps with a little tobacco adding smokiness to it. Which isn't bad, I quite like vetiver but this is very powerful and I know that it will stay on my skin for three days despite much rubbing and scrubbing…

Verdict: this one surprised me since I was expecting a light, refreshing spiced booze scent, similar to some of the bay rum scents I've smelt before, I was expecting something like the lovely Santo Domingo. This was not to be-after an almond introduction, this turned to Evil Vetiver on me! No cloves, no Christmas spice, just smoky vetiver with a touch of tobacco. Now, I don't find vetiver too repulsive or nasty as a scent but there's one type of vetiver oil which is exceptionally thick, dark, smoky and heavy and has incredible tenacity on the skin, and also has the habit of taking over a blend. that's the vetiver in here, alright. And it does blot out all the bay rum notes that I got at the beginning. It's not a bad scent-the vetiver has a nice incense like sweetness to it, but it's just a little bit too darkly masculine for me. Not to mention that it will take days of scrubbing to remove…I may swap this.

Emoticon rating:

[edenssixthday]

Baron Samedi - When I sniff the oil in the vial, all I smell is almond, with a possible hint of cherry (but I can't quite verify the cherry scent I may or may not be detecting). When I apply it to my skin, it is 100% almond. Bright, strong, sweet almond. And then I notice something spicy in with the almond that smells like clove. When it's wet, it smells somewhat similar to Port-au-Prince. As the scent dries, the almond completely fades, and I become aware of a really strong, dry, incense-like scent wafting all around me. It smells strongly of husky frankincense. For the next several hours, the frankincense is the dominant scent, and 4 hours after I've applied the oil, the scent is as strong as it was upon dry-down -- which is to say, I am still wrapped in a veil of one of the most enticing and thoroughly sexy scents I have ever encountered! Around the 3 to 3.5 hour point, when I sniff my skin up close, I c an now detect the sweet, boozy scent of Bay Rum for the first time. On my skin, this is overall not a Bay Rum scent, as the rum is very far in the background of the rest of the notes. It is around this point that I begin to wonder if the frankincense is entirely frankincense, or if it's blended with a bit of tobacco, as well. Needless to say, it doesn't really matter what's in it, as this blend has one of the highest turn-me-on factors of any BPAL blend and may rival only Amor (TAL) and Come To Me in sexual potency. Sure, this may smell good on my husband since it's such a strong, dark, masculine scent, but I'm not sure I'm willing to share. This is 10 ml bottle worthy, which I've only been able to say about 2-3 other GC scents. It's simply amazing and is going to become a staple in my fragrance repertoire.

Edited July 28, 2006 by edenssixthday

[fiddledragon]

From the GC Circle Swap.

 

Baron Samedi -- A dry almond-clove scent. I had no idea what bay rum was, and assumed it was a relative of actual sugar cane rum, the scent of which I can't stand. This is perhaps not my sort of thing, but it's kind of growing on me. It strongly reminds me of something I can't remember, which is interfering with my ability to judge whether or not I like it.

[septima_pica]

Well, with a scent named after le Baron, I knew I'd end up trying it eventually. Unfortunately, in the first hour it gets this baby-powder scent -- not sure what's going on there, I suspect musk is involved; curse you, musk! After two hours or so, it's still powder, though a little bit of spice is there. No, this is no good. (Why couldn't the Baron have -- oh, I don't know, tobacco and rum with chiles, instead?) This one's going, regretfully, to swaps.

 

(But it smelt so good in the bottle...)

[WidgetAlley]

Not my Imp, so this will be a quickie review. I love the idea of a scent named after the good Baron, however, and I hope it loves me back.

 

In the Imp: Almonds, gritty dry wood, maybe a bit of clove, bay, and.... sassafras? Birch? Something bubbly, anyway. Not really getting a rum feel from this, but it's masculine, spicy and pleasant so far.

 

Wet: Does this have vetiver in it? I'm getting a strong, bitter-wet green smell that I associate with vetiver, rounded and sweetened by almond and the gorgeous spicy clove and a touch of rum. Maybe some tobacco? Ohhh, this is nice. This is really nice. It's earthy and sweet all at the same time; very appropriate. I just took a shower, though, and it's a bit... tingly.

 

Dry: Everything rises and blends to become an awesome amalgamation of sweet-spicy-earthy-manly goodness. It's deliciously dark and smoky and a little mysterious, layered over green earth. I think I really like this..... I'm going to have to snag my own Imp and wear it a few times just to make sure, but this may be a big bottle contender. (No surprises there.... hooray! )

[sofiaviolet]

Caveat: I don't have the faintest idea what bay rum smells like.

 

This is really masculine. It smells ever so slightly familiar, but I can't place. I smell a bit of vanilla in there. Just a bit, but it's the only note I can identify. Okay, now some clove, methinks. I couldn't wear this as perfume, but it's pretty awesome and I'll be keeping my imp for other purposes.