The Masque

[maribouquet]

... Honey and carnation, rich incense and rose accord, myrtle, red sandalwood, amber, jonquil and clove propel you through the revel, finally seating itself in the final, patchouli, tobacco and labdanum drenched darkness of the blood-tinged western chamber.

I smell the honey at first, and I suspect something among those top notes is giving me a sour, plant-like smell. This warms up as it dries, and becomes a little smoky and I like the labdanum (or what I think is the labdanum?) However, it's not quite doing it for me. It's lovely, but I'll swap this one. Edited February 22, 2008 by maribouquet

[agnusdei]

I smell the honey at first, backed with the smoky, slightly dirty scent of incense. The patchouli, tobacco, and resins make a slightly bitter scent, but there is just a hint of sweet petals and green stems from the florals that balance the cacophony of darker notes wonderfully. After a few minutes the mild sourness from the wet phase disappears and the carnation comes out in full stride. The scent now is much more creamy, it almost seems milky in its softness. A spicy, honeyed carnation with a whisper of smoke and resins. The amber is detectable as well, but the rest of the notes blend together into a single slinky, smoldering entity. The drydown is more of the same, mainly spicy carnations with honey and amber... which is exactly what I was hoping for. It has the same glowing second-skin quality that most of my favorite blends seem to have in common, and indeed I could see this being a favorite for sure.

[iiinterstate]

Such complex blends usually get all weird on me, or else my skin panics and amps the hell out of one note out of confused desperation. However, The Masque is not doing this.

 

 

This starts out as strong carnation, and then within SECONDS fades into a complex honey/floral/incense. I'm usually not big on florals at all, but this is one I need to wait on and give it the proper chance...cause I LOVE me some incense.

 

Honey gets stronger, then there's some tobacco (more love!) I can still pick up the spiciness of the carnation but it isn't overpowering like florals seem to be on me usually. No rose has shown up yet.

 

It seems to settle on honey and clove with a hint of carnation and the occasional waft of tobacco...if you can call that settling. Definitely more feminine and perfumey than the things I usually wear, but that means my fiance will almost certainly like it

 

I'm glad I jumped on a bottle of this! I really like it a lot. If you are a fan of the Lab's honey note you want to check this out.

[carrickfergus]

This honestly is "Love Me" with more floral accents. It's toned-down but otherwise about the same.

[Juushika]

In the vial: Warm spicy florals, but I can't make a guess on the notes.

 

On me: This is a warm red scent, like sunlight pouring through stained glass to color the room within. Golden-red floral (I can't can't pick it out, which saddens me; I can pick out a touch of rose, which for once doesn't go screaming bright on my skin—based on that, don't necessarily let this rose scare you away if it's normally disobedient), thickened with resin, touched by incense and spice. But within an hour it all but disappears, leaving only a warm but indistinct ghost of itself behind.

 

Verdict: It contains so many notes that I love, and yet ... The Masque doesn't do much for me. It reminds me distinctly of Masquerade (without the citrus, which disappears on my skin), only I prefer Masquerade and it lasts longer. There's something about The Masque that I can't pin down, but whatever it is I don't like it. Not a bad scent, but it's not for me. I'll pass this along.

[crebbsgirl]

This has become my new favourite. I absolutely adore The Masque. It is by far the most complex scent I have ever worn. Almost all of the notes are distinguishable individually, but they are so well-blended it's truly amazing. Wet, I get carnations and honey. As it dries, the sandalwood and incense come out, but don't chase off the flowers and honey. A couple hours in, the patchouli makes a very understated appearance. Its truly a beautiful scent. I had trouble with Masquerade going sickly sweet on me, but this is wonderful, so they weren't very alike for me at all.

[zankoku_zen]

This is a really complex scent. I can smell a bit of honey, carnation, patchouli, tobacco, amber and other bits and pieces here and there. It's a complex, almost slightly manly cologne. It smells of power, decay, old castles, drunken revelries and something else. Something otherwordly.

 

Decadent and mysterious.

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Sharper than I expected, with an herby, almost vetiver edge. I can make out patchouli, but almost nothing else that's on the ingredient list.

 

Wet: Oh, my, this smells good. Intense, spicy resinous base with strong florals over it. This has a lot of potential.

 

Twenty minutes: Holy cow, this is wild. Deep, complex, sweet, spicy, dark, heavy. This is like wearing black velvet and sexy shoes and a $500 hairdo while you're in the spooky basement of an ancient manor for nefarious purposes while there's a fancy dress ball going on upstairs.

 

One hour: Carnation, clove, rose, and something else sweet over incense and resin. I like this a lot even though the patchouli went bye-bye. The red sandalwood has soured just a little bit, but that gives balance to the intense floral and sweetness, so it's not a problem.

 

Two hours: Honey rose clove over resin. It reminds me a bit of the honey-rose combination in Jezebel, only spicy and warm instead of brightly sweet. It's just the faintest bit powdery, so I guess it's got one of the honey notes that goes powdery on me.

 

Four hours: Wow, still sweet and warm and spicy, although still with that powdery tinge. Keeper.

 

I recently bought what I believe to have been the last bottle of this from Dark Delicacies. It's going on the short list of Most Precioussss!

[stellans]

I have bottles of both releases of this blend: the original for the Into the Maelstrom line, and its resurrection for the Retail Exclusive Dark Delicacies line. There is little to no difference (at least to my nose) of the formulation of these blends, so age is the dividing line, in my opinion. The older blend is what I'm wearing today, and it is exquisitely beautiful on my skin.

 

Aged to perfection; that’s the bottom line. This blend’s lighter notes have given way to wonderfully lovely patchouli-amber-clove-sandalwood, with honey adding just a tinge of sweetness. I get practically no floral notes at all, and in my opinion that is not something to mourn. The incense-y goodness of this blend is just amazing, and it lasts on my skin for a good 3-4 hours, with plenty of throw. I’m hoping the Dark Delicacies release will age the same way, but since I probably won’t use that bottle until this one is done, I have a lot of goodness to look forward to in the future. Yum!

Edited January 7, 2011 by stellans

[fairnymph]

Sniffed: Deep orange oil. Slightly spicy INCENSE, with a bit of dragon's blood. Definitely some amber, patchouli, and tobacco too - smoky. A little glimmer of delicious honey, and some slightly sour rose accord.

 

Wet: More floral, with lots of rose coming out and a little bit of jonquil and carnation. Reminds me lots of high quality incense. More clove, which is sort of woody and sweet as well as lightly spicy. Rich, warm red sandalwood - almost creamy.

 

Dry: Honey and carnation amping, while rose has faded a bit. More amber and clove, too. Very warm and spicy in feel, and a little powdery. The dragon's blood is faint enough that I don't find it a problem here. The tobacco is a dark, gorgeous note.

 

Later:Incense and honey amping further, and amber has gone distinctly but softly powdery. Jonquil gone, and I never got any myrtle. Going musky, and this stage reminds me a lot of Gypsy Queen, but with clove, honey, and tobacco added.

 

Summary: Expensive rose-scented incense with clove cigarettes, carnation and warm, honeyed ambery powder. Nice, but not me. Good throw.

 

[milo]

This is very medicinal, and I could swear there is vetiver here, as this seems to be amping to me. There is a fresh floral along with the vetiver, and I'm wondering if I got a mislabelled decant. There is no spicy incense, just a floral vetiver.

 

Tried this again, as I was soaking wet from getting caught in the rain before. There is definitely a sweetish honey incense now, but I still swear there is vetiver. The honey is more like a "nectar" if that makes any sense. This is "OK", but not really me.

Edited May 12, 2009 by milo

[kakiphony]

In the imp: This is all dry patchouli and oud in the imp. It's much less flowery than I expected and smells quite masculine. I'm intrigued. I smell no hoeny or rose.

 

Wet on skin: It's immediately much less dry when it hits my skin. The patchouli is syrupy, and made more so by the sweet top note of the rose. I'm not sneezing and I actually really like this sweet rose. It's lush and deep at the same time. It's less like a floral in a garden than it is like a bride's bouquet which has been drying for several years.

 

Early dry down (10 minutes): I sat at the bus stop and huffed my wrists this smells so good. It started to develop a smoky, powdery incense aroma over the top of the patchouli, and the rose was just a very small player. It reminds me of cone incense I used to burn in college called Rose Cross at this stage. Very nice.

 

Late dry down (about an hour): This has gotten more and more powdery as it has dried down, and also sweeter. The base is more amber than patchouli on me, lending it that dry powder feel. The incense is definitely still the predominate top note, but it's a sweet incense with just the slightest hint of floral and a drizzle of honey. I can't detect rose as a separate note, just as something sweet and slightly herbal/floral in the background.

 

Verdict: My Switch Witch is evil. This is lovely, and I will probably never be able to get my hands on more. :sigh: But now I know that I can do rose as a supporting note, and that I even like it. The Masque has opened my eyes to a whole new set of scents. Thanks to my evil Switch Witch!

[satinworship]

This was a frimp I got from a very nice lady. Smelling this in the imp, I didn't even want to try it, since all I could pick up were rose, which I amp strongly, and clove, which I don't really like (having goth friends smoke clove cigarettes around you constantly can do this).

But I was persuaded to give it a go, and I'm glad I did.

 

This smells sort of like Samhain in that it has clove, mixed with sweet incense like spice. However, I think the carnation in this gives it a tiny bit of a floral backbone, it kind of softens things out and gives the other scents something to stand on. I get clove, rose, some amber, some incense, some sweetened sappy honey, and carnation. Overall this just blends down into a really beautiful scent, where no one thing really stands out, but everything contributes to a slightly spicy, slightly naturally sweet, clear smell. This evokes the color burnt orange to me, and makes me think of warm fall days around Halloween, when mischief is in the air, and it's sometimes still hot enough to play around outside at dusk. I think this really does a great job of capturing the spirit of The Masque, now if only I had more...

[Tess]

In the bottle - A very complex scent! Rose, tobacco and sandalwood are most upfront, but there's honey and clove in there sweetening the deal.

 

Wet - The tobacco popped out for just a second...

 

Drying - ...and then was pushed away by the rose. The sweetness seems to be mostly disappearing on me. The floral notes are getting tied down to some extent by the incense and the deeper scents, but rose is still right there in the front. (What is it with roses doing that to me, lately?) I am -not- getting carnation, which makes me sad, since I love that note.

 

Dry (2 hours) - Hrm, powdery but actually a very nice honey/rose/sandalwood. Surprisingly decent throw still, too.

 

Overall - If it didn't take the rose so long to settle down (and if the rose didn't powder out so much), this'd be a keeper. Oh well, it's still quite a lovely scent.

[Lamia]

I almost didn't test this one, because I smelled it and went ARGH CINNAMON BET IT'S GOT CARDAMOM RAWR WELTS RAWR!

 

Fortunately I checked the ingredient list This is hot delicious cinnamon, but not IN YOUR FACE. It's smooth and delicious and sexy, with the sweet powder of successful amber. Sadly, it's a quick fade, but while it lasts it's definately in the top 2 of the Poe scents.

[donnatron]

Bottle: THAT honey. There is one honey accord that I just cannot stand the scent of in the bottle. Depending on its companions it sometimes works on my skin, sometimes not. There is also myrtle here. Distinct, green myrtle.

 

Wet: The wet phase of this is weird. There's something here--maybe a blood musk?--that makes this smell like... well, the coroner's office. The florals and the amber are there, not exactly awesome, but present. This is actually truly unfortunate on the drydown.

 

Dry: The drydown is worth it. A sweet, honeyed myrtle and rose drift over a touch of smoky tobacco and patchouli with a bit of a blood musk tinge. It's very faint and fades quickly but is worth it while it's dry.

 

Throw: Minimal.

 

Overall: It's too bad the drydown is so repulsive. I'd be slathering this like crazy all day long to sustain the short but beautiful dry phase.

[rayvn1]

This definitely smells as complex as the listed notes but it never really takes off for me. It's very nice but I get a faint dusty carnation and incense with a hint of labdanum. Pretty, for sure, but not necessarily a keeper on me.

[aphrodite]

I got a decant of this in a lot I won on ebay recently. It smells like chocolate on me, straight up. A delicious chocolate, but I have some other chocolate scents already so I may end up re-selling this one.

[Ella LaRose]

It's funny reading the reviews and seeing how much opinions vary on this scent!

I have spent years looking for a good carnation scent for me. Lush's potion got me addicted to the dark spicy carnation.

I finally found a bottle of it and jumped in it without testing first. Score!!

This is spicy carnation, sweet incense, light green touches in the back ground.

Sp for this resin only girl, I have finally found a bottle of it, and i jumped on bring it back with me:) first every floral scent love!

[mymymai]

ITB: Spicy, warm, resinous - pure sumptuousness to my nose. It reminds me of dark velvet.

 

Wet: It smells like there is my beloved ambergris in here, but I know that it isn't here. It must be the combination of tobacco, amber, and labdanum. I also get clove, a touch of spicy carnation, and a hint of rose underneath. This is swoon-worthy!

 

Dry: This is still so delicious - honey, amber, incense, tobacco, sandalwood, and a touch of rose. I think I need additional bottles of The Masque.

[JazzieCazzie]

Gifted with an imp off my wishlist by a lovely forumite.

 

IN THE IMP: Very promising -- all resin and comfort smell. Not as sweet as I thought it might be with the honey and flowers.

 

Dabbed on wrist and in crook of arm.

 

WET: Upon application it becomes even richer and more complex. The honey does amp but in a subtle way, adding some sweetness but not in the least bit cloying. The rose and other florals are also more notable but evened out by the resins and incense and the spice of the carnation (which, though a flower, I don't think of as a floral because it's so uniquely spicy.)

 

DRYDOWN: Still a winner!!! The floral notes, though somewhat predominant, work so beautifully together that while I can pick out almost every individual note (all except clove, sadly -- I heart clove), they also blend into a completely unique combined scent.

 

OVERALL: I love this (and I admit that I have been testing a few dozen scents in recent weeks, most of which I thought would be keepers and yet only a very few have been). I am not usually a big fan of THIS complex a blend that includes this many florals, but this is an exception.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a strong 4.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Honey, florals, and something medicinal. Hmmm. The medicinal smell is fading quickly though. This is lovely, but very light. Really lovely though.

 

 

Dry: Gorgeous. The honey is actually almost like a honey musk. The florals are light and soft. I don't actually get any of the darker notes, only honey and florals. It's really pretty. Tempted to track down more....

[ziggystardust13]

I enjoy how this one starts out. Soft honey with a spicey kick. Not overly floral. I can definitely detect the clove! Slightly incensey vibe. Not getting much patchouli at all.

 

Unfortunately, this dries down to musky honey single note. Works for some! But not for me.

Edited October 25, 2016 by ziggystardust13