Montresor

[Tramp]

"Drink," I said, presenting him the wine.

He raised it to his lips with a leer. He paused and nodded to me familiarly, while his bells jingled.

"I drink," he said, "to the buried that repose around us."

"And I to your long life."

The black fruit and vanilla oaken notes of fine Medoc and De Grâve, but not a hint of the elusive Amontillado.

This smells of black current/cherries with a liberal dose of alcohol but without smelling "boozy" if that makes sense. It has an amazing amount of throw - really packs a punch. It goes through a cherry cough syrup phase before settling down. The golden oak notes are some of the last to come up for me but are fantastic once they do.

(For the Lush fans it reminds me a lot of Skin Sin) Edited December 12, 2007 by Shollin

[Kittyflop]

In the bottle – Lush fruit and…. Pipe tobacco.

 

On wet – Lush fruit and vanilla!!

 

Drydown – The vanilla and pipe tobacco bounce back and forth around the fruits. This is not too sweet – a rich, velvety, fruity winey vanilla.

 

Throw/duration – Very odd. I think I now know what people mean when they say ‘skin scent’. The throw on this is almost nothing – within 15 minutes of applying, I can’t smell it wafting at all – have to put wrist to nose. But, putting wrist to nose, it’s still there 6, 8 hours later. As if my skin is reserving it’s lush goodness for only it’s most intimate acquaintances.

[LittleGreyKitten]

Montresor gets a gold star from me. It is the one single fruity BPAL that 1. smells fruity on me and 2. doesn't turn sour and transform into buttfruit. Instead, it stays deep, dark red fruit with this amazingly interesting other aroma that gets stronger. The vanilla oaken note, I guess- it's great. It reminds me a bit of Miskatonic U, not in any way it smells but in the way that it has an under-aroma that makes the scent. (Books and wood in Misk U, oak and vanilla in this). Anyway, it's fun. Spicy and deep burgundy in my mind's eye. I must admit that despite it being a wearable fruit scent on me, I may not reach for it a huge amount. Fruit isn't a favorite note for me even when it works... though BPAL has been known to make me eat my preconceived notions before! A keeper though, it's completely unique. I'd give it a 5 out of 5, for being interesting and amazing.

 

Edited: My review was of a very lab-fresh one. Now, after mellowing, its even better. The fruit is less sharp, more deep. There's way more "backbone" to this scent now, in a great way. The vanilla is way more prominent. I really liked it initially but didn't wind up wearing it much. That's going to change, now that the oils have melded together better.

Edited May 6, 2006 by LittleGreyKitten

[Shollin]

Reposting:

 

First sniff: When I smelled it from the big bottle at the Lab, I thought Montresor just smelled like wine. Now, I’m getting more of a deep, dark, rich fruit scent, with a hint of booze. It’s reminiscent of wine, but doesn’t exactly smell like wine.

 

Wearing: Slightly tart berries soaked in dry red wine. At first, this had very little throw on me, but as it dried it developed a fantastic deep-red aura of dark fruitiness. My visit with Montresor turned out much better than Fortunato’s.

[sarahmarie]

To me, this doesn't smell like wine, exactly - as Shollin said, it is reminiscent of wine. That doesn't stop it from being nice, though! It's deep and dark. It's a fruit scent that doesn't go tart or overly sweet on my skin - instead it gets sort of...deeper and darker, and harder to describe. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about it as a scent for myself, but I'm intrigued and will definitely keep it around for a while. I need to get a feel for this one - one wear, while long-lasting, wasn't enough time to get to know it, for me.

[Malista]

Repost of the review the crash ate.

 

A fine Medoc, indeed! A dark, heavy wine redolent of black cherries and currents, but very fermented and grapey, withal. Mellow woody notes with a hint of vanilla (not sweet – if you have tasted much wine you recognize the kiss of the oaken barrel, which is dry, but deep and round) keep the fruits from getting out of hand. I smell like a clumsy sommelier.

 

For all its winey aspect this is very wearable. Not maybe to the office, where I don’t really want to smell as though I just got done with the dessert course of a very long and very late dinner, but definitely out to eat, or to parties and such-like, or just for a lovely evening at home.

 

Montresor dries down to a dryer finish, very smooth and still fruity and oaken. The vanilla rounds it out and gives it a sort of matte luster. I really like this! I also want a morsel of cheese and a few slices of pear, now, to go with my arm.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Funky wine

 

On Skin: Ick, in the bottle this was like wine that was “off”. After I put it on my skin, I still get the wine note, but something super medicinal as well. I swear it smells like cough syrup. It is super fruity, but there is something making it quite funky and isn’t really working for me. It is super boozy and I feel a bit drunk just smelling it. It’s a lot more sweet and syrupy than wine now… it’s like a cherry cordial but without the crème. After a drydown of about 15 minutes… it mellows out a bit, but it still quite sickly sweet. I saw the above comparison to Hearth, and in a way I can see that, the cherry tobacco note maybe… but this scent isn’t as woody to me. Right now I’m not left with a great impression of this scent, but I may try it again later to see if maybe my mind will change.

[sookster]

straight sniff from the bottle is a booze-laden tobacco.....perhaps that cognac

that was in "the imp of the perverse"...

 

once applied this doesn't do a whole bunch of morphing with my chemistry....

in a way, it quite reminds me of samhain 2005, albeit samhain has a sweeter, much smoother quality to it.......i think i need to age this bottle and see what

happens as it is a very unique perfume.....

 

how ironic~

i pulled this out yesterday (march 8th to the date one year later) and it

is sooooooooo gorgeous... ...aged to become

so stunning...extremely smooth and sweet and resinous...gah!

i am thrilled i kept this

Edited March 9, 2007 by sookster

[jewelbug]

Bottle: Deep Red/Purple fruity/berry wine. Its deep and sweet and boozy. Mmmmmmm…..

 

Wet: On, this is dark and boozy. It almost has a hint of dusky chocolate to it, like a dark wine might. There is a very dark fruit to this, but its smooth, not a tannic wine, but round, creamy, chocolate-y and smooth.

 

Drying: Some more perfumey notes come out for a bit, and there even seems to be a hint of caramel to this. A smooth deep woodsiness comes out under the fruity wine, but at this stage it is primarily a deep berry.

 

Dry: This settles into sweet dark dusky wine, with vanilla chocolate and caramel undertones. I generally steer away from the strong berry blends, but this berry is one that I very much like—deep, woodsy, smooth, creamy and rounded wine. This lasts only 3-4 hours on me, though the first 2 hours have remarkable throw.

 

Overall: I drink a fair share of wine, myself. But if my wine tasted like this smells, I’d drink even more. I’m contemplating getting another bottle.

 

ETA: I thought this was gone, but I could actually get a faint fruity sweetness on my skin 9 hrs later. Very light, but undeniably still there as a faint skin scent.

 

ETA2: Its June 18th 2007, so a bit over a year later, and when I put this on today, it amazed me how rounded and more oaken/vanillic this has become. I know I'm not typicaly a wine/berry scent fan, but I love this even MORE aged than I did when I first reviewed it. Its rich, sweet, and absolutely lovely. Mmmmm

Edited June 18, 2007 by jewelbug

[zenvodunista]

reposting from the Crash of '06. if it's a double, i apologize! furthermore, it's from my excel notes.

 

strangely medicinal. Like cherry cough syrup. Yes, that's it! Cherry cough syrup. I wonder if it will calm down with time?

 

n.

[Epee]

I have to agree with a few others. On me this smelled exactly like cherry cough syrup. Specifically like red Robitussin, which was the bane of my existence as a child. I like many of Beth's other blends, unfortunately this one didn't work out.

[The_Merf]

**Repost of missing review**

 

In the bottle: This smells dead on to the description--a dessert wine, with a vanilla/oak base. It reminds me of Lilith, but there isn't quite as much bite to this one.

 

Wet: This continues to remind me of Lilith (one of my favorite BPAL oils), but I love the creaminess and the warmth provided by the vanilla. I can't really detect the "oakenness," which is a shame, as I love woody scents. Still, I like how this goes on my skin.

 

Drydown and wear: All was well with this scent, and I was even considering another 5mL, until a friend of mine said, "You smell like strawberry milk." I hate strawberry milk. I consider it one of the most vomitous substances in the world. I had to scrub the perfume off. I haven't been able to try it on since. I intend to layer it with Lilith to try and recover things...if I have to sell this bottle because of that stupid comment...sigh.

[filigree_shadow]

I gave myself a very liberal swipe of Montressor, and frankly I'm amazed that I can barely smell it. It definitely smells like wine and sweet berries -- actually it smells exactly like what I would imagine a wine barrel smells like.

 

It's not the very dry wine of Wanda, it's sweeter, and I think it's much nicer than Wanda.

 

I like this one a whole lot -- it's one of my three favorite Maelstrom scents. It has basically no throw, but my skin smells divine. Kinda makes me want someone to be close enough to discover how wonderful I smell.

[Rheliwen]

Hmmm, I can definitely see how some of you are getting that cherry cough syrup vibe. Frankly, I'm suprised I don't associate the two myself...especially since I DETEST anything cherry.

 

That being said, this reminds me of taking a big whiff of a merlot oak barrel right at the winery. Very concentrated and potent. The berries are tart and a little bitter. They give off almost an anise quality because of the bitterness. They remind me of black cherries, black currants, and purple grapes.

 

Keeping this altogether is the vanilla. You can't really smell it per se, but if you concentrate, its vibe is there, rounding out the sharpness of the fruit. The oaken notes become more prominent after about an hour of wear, but they were always there, they were just eclipsed by the berry notes.

 

Overall, this really does smell like wine. Almost like what a wino would smell like at the end of the night...haha! I don't get the dessert wine thing because, to me, this is sweet, but not desert sweet. There is a lot of bitterness here. I think of it as a highly concentrated wine scent...slightly syrupy. Definitely something to wear on a night of debauchery.

Edited March 12, 2006 by Rheliwen

[UploadedLobster]

(re-post of lost review)

 

In the bottle: Ooooh, cherry and sour grape taffy! Nice. Very edible.

 

On my skin: AUGH AUGH AUUUUGH rancid blackcurrant gummies! This is unspeakably bad. Imagine you've bought a bag of cheap blackcurrant gummies from a gas station, lost it under the driver's seat, and forgotten about it. It sits there next to a heap of grimy old receipts, a friend's empty pack of cigarettes, and a bottle of 10W-30 motor oil until a few years later when you decide to sell the car and you have to clean it out. If you found that bag of blackcurrant gummies, opened it, and ate one, it would taste the way Montresor smells on my wrist right now.

 

One hour later: Still AUUUUUUUUGH. No improvement. I am a goddamn warrior princess for not washing this off already; I do this for YOU, review-readers.

 

 

Lobster Rating

Better than: riding your bike into a tree

[Fyre_in_Winter]

I'm pretty leery of any scents containing wine, as they have a tendency to turn into grape cough syrup on my skin (and I abhor grape anything). I was extremely pleased with Montresor, however.

 

I won't beat around the bush and just say that it smells like really funky wine in the bottle. I put it on my wrist and my gods, it became incredible. The black fruit was very reminiscent (to me) of whatever combo is in King of Spades and Queen of Clubs. Yummy stuff, though it seems to stay in the throw pretty much. Up next to my skin is where the delicious oaken vanilla mojo really works its magic.

 

A very comforting and laid back scent. Being a Hearth '04 fan, I wish there was more of the cherry tobacco to it that others have reported, but Montresor is more than sufficient on its own. I bought Andra's bottle on the spot.

[candygirl]

I would have gladly welcomed the grape cough syrup scent because I used to love Dimetapp (compared to the nasty taste of Robistussin - especially the green one - Dimetapp was awesome)!

 

In the bottle, Montresor was very boozy cherries. On my skin, it was a very loud cherry cough syrup for about five minutes. Then it slid away quietly and left a trace of sour cherry (no booze) on my skin. It's okay, but I don't like the end product enough to sit through the initial boozy smell. I might like Montresor layered with something else though. I'll have to experiment and see what I can come up with. *insert mad scientist laugh*

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 2/5

Summarised in a word or two: Wine-y.

 

Preconceived notions: Based on the description alone, I'd have maybe thought "creamy berry-vanilla," but based on the reviews, I'm betting wine. I don't like wine notes.

 

In the imp: ... Wine. Sweet, fruity wine.

 

On skin, wet: Sweet and fruity but not exactly wine -- similar, but not "wine" itself. No sign of vanilla, however.

 

On skin, dry: There's something "off" in this, as others have mentioned; something deep below the surface; something... dark. Woody (the oaken in "vanilla oaken notes", mayhaps?). Harsh and not me. The whole thing is much less sweet, much more tart. It reminds me of a local trade market.

 

Conclusion: I have nothing against Montresor, really, it's just not my thing; I don't really care for tart berry/wine-y scents.

[zillah37]

Oh Montresor!

 

*sighs*

 

Honestly, I felt drawn to you. It wasn't because of 'The Cask of Amontillado' though I do love that story. It was the black fruit and vanilla oaken notes that Beth decided to infuse you with. But yet I worried because people said you were boozy. And I'm not a huge, huge fan of boozy.

 

But Montresor, you are not boozy. Not on me. *sniffs wrist* You are fruity and lovely with a hint of vanilla around the edges. At first you are so bright and fruity you almost smell like passionfruit or melons. But you soften up and become cherries and grapes and *wine*, but not booze. You smell like a lovely Shiraz with hints of vanilla and a woody aftertaste. And then as you dry, you become a soft, warm vanilla that's not overpowering at all.

 

Montresor...

 

I think I love you.

 

Signed,

Me

[Blood onmy hands]

Initially, Montresor was the Maelstrom blend that I was most excited to try out, blinded by the delicious sounding “black fruit and vanilla” part of the description.

 

In the bottle... smells like grape flavored bubblegum.

 

On me, smells like sweet, thick grape juice and oak trees. Something about this strikes me as very regal, like a row of tall oaks along a well kept path, leading up to a great castle. This is probably supposed to smell like wine of some sort, but I’ve never drank alcohol, so I can’t draw the comparison at all. This doesn’t smell boozy on me at all though.

After 15 minutes or so, there is something complex and spicy about this. The overall effect is something very natural to me though... not so much a boozy manmade blend as it is something you might find out in the forest. The enchanted forest of your wildest dreams.

 

A half hour later, this is very unique and has easily been holding my attention as it shifts on my skin. It’s not overpowering at all, but it does have a good deal of staying power and throw on me. I actually believe that I can smell a bit of burnt vanilla along with the oak and sweet grape fragrance in the drydown now. It reminds me a bit of LUSH’s Cherie Ripe massage bar.

 

After a couple of hours, I’m getting mostly a powdery grape scent.

 

Overall, Montresor is better and more complex then I ever imagined that it would be. This is one of those scents that I’ll wear several times and notice something new about it with each wear.

[Meg]

In the bottle: Heady wines, hmm! And some vanilla, somewhere.

 

Wet: Booze, with woody and vanilla notes. Berry scents emerge slowly, hmm, blackcurrant!

 

Drydown: Blackcurrant, delicious and juicy and perfect! There's also a woody, rather dry note, reminiscent of a dry red wine. As it develops further there's a really deep wine/berry scent that comes through, with small whiffs of vanilla. Unfortunately, it doesn't have great staying power.

 

Overall: Very fruity and dark, absolutely delicious! I've been looking for the perfect blackcurrant scent for a long time, and I think this is the one. Yum!

 

[darkling]

Montresor is a sweet, rich black currant cordial. It is more fruity and sweet than boozy and has a simliar delicious black fruit note to my beloved Queen of Spades. I think I need another bottle. Yum!

Edited March 28, 2006 by darkling

[yeahbutnobut]

Montresor

 

In the imp: dark, dark, sweet, rich fruit notes. I'm guessing black grapes and blackcurrants.

Wet on skin: this smells like fruit juice! Or black grape fruit juice mixed with red wine…it's very sweet…I detect some blackcurrant in here too.

Dry on skin: mmm, this is very delicious! it's a sweet, black fruit scent. It's grape and currant with hints of wine and other berries, but much darker and sweeter than other grape and blackcurrant scents. But it's very, very sweet, there's no bitterness or sharpness, but there's a hint of dryness. I'm thinking that the sweet scent may be vanilla. However, though this scent is boozy and dark, almost mature and aged at times, there are times when I smell this and think 'blackcurrant Fruit Pastilles!' and 'Ribena!' which means there must be blackcurrant here-albeit a sweeter and more sugary one than in other BPALs.

After a while: after five minutes the scent becomes pure blackcurrant candy with splashes of Ribena and just a bare hint of wine. But the fragrance that is predominant here is that of Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles-blackcurrant flavour. I'm not kidding, but on me, this smells like sweets. Sweet and fruity and fun. I was hoping for a bit of dark, crisp wine, or something tart to counteract the sweetness, but the scent I have here does bring back childhood memories…but it's a bit too sweet for me!

After some time-maybe an hour, this candy phase does tone down and the wine note returns to add depth to the scent, it's not as sweet now, but it's also softer at this stage. I really like this phase of the scent, it's a lot more grown up than the fruit pastille scent!

I really like the drydown after a few hours, it's that wonderful smooth autumnal fruit scent with a hint of smoke that I sometimes get in other BPAL scents. It's almost creamy or musky at this point as well, and smells a bit like there may be a bit of plum in there too. After about 6 hours it is less smoky and more sweet and plummy.

Verdict: this is an interesting take on the fruity wine genre. There are some stages in this scent which I adore-like the drydown after an hour and from then on it just goes through these lovely phases of smoky autumnal smooth fruit scents, from wine/port to black grape to plum and maybe currant as well. But there's a stage when the scent is just applied when it smells like candy. It smells exactly like blackcurrant fruit pastilles or blackcurrant jellies, and Ribena! Usually BPAL blackcurrant notes are dark and tangy and tart, but this one smelt sugary sweet…a bit too tooth-achingly sweet for me! Because of this, I probably won't get a bottle-but because of the lovely smoky wine and fruit drydown, I'll keep the decant.

[sarada]

I chose a bottle of Fortunato and an imp of Montresor, and though I'm tempted to get more of this one I think I made the right choice for my tastes.

 

This is very sweet and fruity, at first -- a hint of vanilla and a slight sour tang of wine. It reminds me a little of a fruity, medicinal syrup but it's softened by that hint of vanilla and made more sophisticated by a sharp green wine note.

 

Very similar in theme to Fortunato, but sweeter and simpler. They become more similar at it dries...but then the oaken vanilla takes over as this one dries. It reminds me a bit like a fruity, sweet tobacco in the later stages, or the lingering smoke after someone has been smoking it.

 

If I didn't have so bloody many bottles this would be a bottle purchase for me, but I have to try to pick and choose now so I am going to go with Fortunato for my fruity wine cellar!

 

ETA: Yeah well I had to get a bottle eventually! This is really the perfect partner to Fortunato. Instead of being crisp and icy-green and stone-cold around the edges, with wine-soaked wood, it has a sweet but hard wooden core wreathed in that hint of smoke.

 

Since I love wine scents, and I love fruit, wood, and certain kinds of "sweet smoke" scents, this one grew on me until I absolutely had to have more. For the love of God, Montresor!

Edited October 17, 2006 by sarada

[isyche]

On me, this is all rich, deep, dark dry wine – claret or port or something very saturated and heady. Dark, dark red and thick and almost suggestive of blood...actually, it reminds me a little bit of the boozy bitter wine/blood combination in Centzon Totochtin. It's not a happy bubbly sweet fruit scent, but more of a menacing dark one, appropriately.

 

Montresor is one of those very evocative and interesting BPALs, and I will definitely hang on to my decant just to sniff because it's so different, but it's too heavy for me to actually wear.