The Masque

[lanablade]

... 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.

This starts off VERY heavy floral on me. It smells very commercial on my skin. I can't smell anything really but the flowers and something musky/heavy underneath that really just makes the floral even more oppressive. I did eventually catch the honey in it, but as barely there as it was, it almost smelled sickly. That could be the rose, though, which has been known to be a bit of an odd scent on me. Once the flowers kicked it, a very nice sweet, soft scent was left if I pressed my nose into my arm. Reminiscent of the remains of perversion or snake oil, two of my favorites. It's just too bad my skin likes to amp flowers because I can't stand heavy floral perfumes.

*le sigh*

[metaldog32]

I bought a bottle of this outright simply because I loved Poe's story and because of the whole clove and incense combo. As I have stated in previous reviews I am a HUGE fan of fragrances that use incense and well I happen to be pretty fond of clove too. I have been wearing this for three days.

 

Initial sniff from bottle:It's tough for me...I kind of get a melange..some incense..some floral..must be the carnation..maybe a touch of rose??? Like some other reveiwers have stated..Masque sort of has the same feel as Gypsy Queen but again..this is just from whiffing..nothing yet has touched my skin.

 

Applied wet on skin:Ahhh..it's floral..spicy carnation..a bit of the rose..and yes..I get the incense.. ....this smells good..heady...there is a sweetness to this..I assume it's the honey?? MMMMmmm...I really enjoy this phase. Again..it sort of has the same feel as Gypsy Queen..but it's a different fragrance..just the way it translates on me..heady..a bit complicated.

 

Couple of minutes on skin:It's a bit of a morpher..the players have changed up a bit. Floral has changed up a bit...not so much the spicy carnation anymore..more so the rose and I think the jonquil..but it's tempered with the clove/incense in the back along with something else..maybe this is the labdanum...maybe the patchouli..maybe even the amber??? It's a warm heady melange of floral and incense..but it has the clove/patchouli/labdanum that lends the earthy(not dirt-like) vibe underneath it all.

 

This is the same complicated but intoxicated rush I had when I first tried Kali out..so many notes re-surfacing and then retreating....I loved it. I am loving The Masque right now too.

 

Half an hour:So now it's floral softened considerably and in the back...with more the clove/tabacco/patchouli..which by the way is beautiful in this blend..and a soft roundness which I have to assume is the amber..for at this stage I also get a touch of sweetness..maybe it's the labdanum..maybe it's the amber..maybe it's the honey??? I can't say either way.

 

I can't stop smelling my wrists..and when I applied it in my hair I was loving it too..more floral/honey/incense. Yesterday a male co-worker came over to ask me to do him a favor when he suddenly grabbed me and nuzzled my neck sayng I smell sooo good. HAHAHAHAHAHA..I know!!!

 

Drydown:It's all just a memory now...but what's left still makes me smile...faint whiff of tobacco..sweetened just a touch...I honestly can't make out anything else.

 

Throw is soft to medium..and lasting power is 5+hours.

 

Bottome Line:The Masque is just a hands-down winner for me..almost making it to the "holy grail" status. I love its' complexity and the way Beth has the notes seamlessly transitioning from the top through the heart and then to the wonderful base of the fragrance. Stellar..and something I would absolutely LOVE to wear in the fall and winter. Lurid barbaric revelry and folly should always come to a party smelling this good...

[supremegoddessofall]

My lovely honey, dripping with incense! Oh, this is fantastic. Reminds me of some of my favorite Indian incenses. Touch of the florals, but on me this is 90% honey and incense.

[fiddledragon]

This scent mocks me...appropriate for a Poe blend.

 

I was so delighted to get this in a mystery imp pack -- so many notes and most of them things I love! When I put it on, it's a chaotic but lovely clash of incense, honey, and woods, with some of the sweet tobacco lurking around the edges. However, after about 10 minutes, it's dried to almost a single-note sandalwood. A beautiful, true burned sandalwood incense scent that I adore, but still...with all those notes, you'd think some of them would stick around??

[eanewsom]

I got some spiciness from the carnation, but strangely, not from the clove. I didn't smell the rose or amber, either. (I may have smelled the myrtle and jonquil but I don't know what I'm sniffing for with those!) The incense and sandalwood meld wonderfully and the honey sweetens it nicely, but when I put it on, it just isn't me. It smells great but it belongs with someone else.

[phedre]

in vial: tobacco leaf and florals, maybe the carnation. a touch of sandalwood.

 

wet: clove and patchouli come out. tobacco is still there, but dying down a bit. incense definitely appearing!

 

drydown: Pretty! sandalwood and incense softened by carnation and rose. Not something I'll hoard, but I like having a bit of this to try once in awhile.

[theseagrows]

oh i love this one. why do i have to fall in love with long-gone LEs? it smells like a musky-floral with tobacco to me. it actually reminds me a lot of what gypsy queen and horreur sympathetique would smell like if they reproduced. wonderful...i will hunt down a bottle of this!!

[PixieSkull]

Vial: Earthy and damp, nice.

 

On: Surprisingly, the tobacco works on my skin very well and the labdanum must be the lovely extra to the scent I can't quite pick out.

 

Overall: I'm surprised I liked this scent so damn much, I never would have bought it on my own. It's so pretty!

[Lionesse]

In the bottle: honey, amber

Wet: flowers... carnation? honey, very floral.

dry: faint traces of floral, thats it. its gone.

 

I love the painting and Im sad, because I was hoping for the tobacco, clove, incense and "red" scent I was reading about. And on me it went all flowery and died. *sigh*

[urbanruralferal]

hmm. I wa excited to try this and finally got my hands on a decant, but

Oh My.

 

Imagine a rose and a cinnamon/spice bathroom air freshener getting together and having a lovechild.

 

This is it.

 

On me of course. I am sure that on you, all of Beth's artistry will surface and swirl.

[dawndie]

In bottle: really perfumey red wine

 

On skin: musty incense, then more floral

 

Half-hour later: Lots of clove and incense with the florals (rose and carnation). The carnation is behaving, probably beaten into submission by all the other ingredients

 

In conclusion: this is a busy blend; there are a lot of ingredients and they all seem to be jostling with each other. Clove, carnation and dusty incense are the big players here. Nice when I'm in the mood for something dark, snooty and sophisticated.

[forspecial_plate]

This scent is really wonderful. The Masque is not subtle. I smell heavy, sweet florals, made more sweet by the honey. There is some incense smoke as well, and a slight sense of woods from the patchouli and/or tobacco. I think the tobacco is coming out more strongly as it dries. Reminds me somewhat of Chrysanthemum Moon, but I think I actually like The Masque even more. I think this would be great to wear at a party or in a group, because it seems like it would really stand out. I may have to find more than 1 decant of this.

[CiCi]

Sniffing from the bottle it smells like heavy floral. I'm really not into rose florals so I set it aside and thought I would review it later and probably give it to my daughter who likes florals. A few hours went by and I kept smelling a beautiful spicy scent that I knew had to be The Masque. It is not remarkable at first but if you wait a little bit, the beautiful notes blend nicely together and this is really outstanding! The rose seems to fade and I can only smell the carnation, which is good because it is my favorite flower. The carnation, honey and incense make this a nice daytime scent or a sexy, sophisticated evening blend. Now I am going to start seaching the forum for sales or swaps for this one since I was only able to get 2/3 of a bottle and this one and I know it will go fast!

[Jheya]

In the bottle: Dark and deep, incense and (oh help) clove.

 

On skin: Happily, so far this has managed not to amp to evil clove death on me. There's incense, with a touch of tobacco wafting through.

 

As it dries, spicy carnation begins to come through and my nose begins to tickle. Luckily, it's not so strong as to result in a day long sneezing fit. And why, hello clove. It's making its presense known, but thankfully it hasn't amped up to a level where it drowns out everything else under a blanket of clove doom.

 

Though it's deep and dark, this blend is surprisingly light on me. Alternatively it may be more that I think this is the case, because after the carnation made me sneeze a few times my nose made it harder for me to smell things, heh.

 

It smells pretty in the bottle, but not so much on my skin. Even though it works a lot better than I thought it would when looking at the listed notes, sneezing plus a definite presence of clove? I think that this one may not be a keeper.

[Babylon]

This smells similar to Svadhinaopatika to me. Honey, incense, red sandalwood, and amber, but also a light clove (this probably would have been a heavy clove on me fresh, but it's aged beautifully) and carnation. The patchouli does come out upon drydown as well. Wonderful.

[Ms Density]

The Masque has aged so beautifully. When I first got it, I thought it had potential but it was a little too sharp on the floral side; perfumey. I got it out today for the first time in a year and it’s all clove and honey and carnation, and my chemistry loves it.

 

A bit like Alice, if she grew up and covered herself in honey dust and started smoking clove cigarettes (no more drinking milk in the rose garden). Just the smell of the clove is giving me a lovely tingling sensation at the tip of my fingers and the tip of my tongue. The tobacco comes out toward the end, and this really smells like an unlit clove cigarette. It’s a relaxed, sensual scent for me rather than a blood-tinged chamber.

 

I’m so sad that I only have an imp of this. This is perfect for this time of year. I'd love to slather it.

[brownbear]

I just realized that I never reviewed this one. It is very deep and dark and heavy. On my skin the notes I like the best (honey, clove, and sandalwood) get a bit lost. As it dries more it gets more sexy. The smoke and incense burn off a little and the other notes get to breathe a bit.

[AliBabble]

this is the masque from dark delicacies...

it smells very unusual...my first thought is that it smells quite green, like plants - like a greenhouse. is my bottle mislabeled? i'm not noticing cocoa or carnations...anyway, it gets almost anise-y or like basil...i really like this actually, although it doesn't seem to correspond to the notes at all, it's almost medicinal...it definitely deepens and develops a bit of spice and incense. this scent is very alive, and very well blended. i suppose the sweetness i'm smelling could be the combo of honey, carnations and clove...but the components definitely make a blend which smells like something else entirely - herbal, woody... i think this works well on me - it's very unusual, but natural smelling - subtle and mysterious, not feminine, really. something which would require a smoking jacket at a lodge, or something...

[Delirium1009]

DD version

 

In bottle/imp: Bitter resin, patchouli, and light spices.

 

Immediately on skin: This is very sharp. It smells like white flowers and some bitter resin melded together. It’s a bit powdery as well. There’s no sweetness to this right now whatsoever.

 

After a few minutes: This has sweetened up a little and now there’s honey drizzled over the whole blend. It smells like honey and incense, with light spices and an earthy base of patchouli. The whole blend has a bitter feel to it though which the honey has not gotten rid of.

 

Overall Impressions: All of the notes listed made me think this would be a complex warm sweet floral with an earthy base, but what it is in actuality is a very earthy scent with light overtones of honey, incense, and spice. It’s nice, but not what I was expecting.

[dixiehellcat]

In imp, strongly incensey, reminding me of All Souls 06 which is one of my faves.

 

On arm wet, a bitter note like what Delirium mentioned above. After a couple of minutes, a green smell emerges similar to what AliBabble described, and after a couple more, a floral. This is such a neat complex scent. Wonder what it'll do in a few minutes more...I'll be back to update. lol

 

ETA--5 minutes or so later, the honey bursts forth and sweetens all in its path. There's something just a bit powdery in the background, not sure what. All in all this is very nice. Me likee. I can haz bottle.

Edited December 5, 2007 by dixiehellcat

[lefthandmade]

my first impression is green and i'm thinking maaan and i got a bottle unsniffed of this one... i'm about to take a shower and go to bed so i won't be wearing it all through drydown and the end phase but i get a whiff of rose and incense and suddenly i like it.

 

next day i can't wait to put it on and it is good. it's like a journey, starting with the green i got right away, light and a little bitter. it fades and gives way for the rose and from there it's sweeter as they all usually are, and then it takes you down a dark little path with different interesting stories before it ends in something a little caramel-y. it's not a very long path, i think maybe 2 or 2.5 hours on me.

totally worth it though. there are so many stories i'm almost worn out.

[blacklacestatic]

In the Imp: Smells like a Greenhouse, wet with sweetness. I smell the Honey note in there too. It reminds me of summer greenery

 

Wet:The Carnation and rose notes make themselves known, as well as a spicy kick I can't identify. It's very pretty. The Greenhouse smell has turned into more of a florist's shop smell.

 

Dry: Now it's morphed into clove with an incense backing. This is one heck of a complex scent, changing constantly, but with each phase smelling great.

 

Overall: I am a very satisfied customer. This is not just a perfume, it's an experience. I want to wear this again and see if I get the same phases. Very unique.

Overall 4 out of 5

[jupiternf]

In the Imp: Faint sweetness and intense green/ sandalwood.

 

Wet: I get the darker notes right away- pungent tobacco, patchouli, and warm amber as it starts to dry... there is a half dry stage where honeyed incense emerges and I swoon a little, and finally...

 

Dry: Where did everybody go? Sandalwood stands alone.

 

This was the Poe scent I was most looking forward to. As it turns out, I like the Tell Tale Heart most, and this one was eaten mercilessly by my skin chemistry until only sandalwood remained.

[SarahScent44]

In the imp, this is an amazing, swirling scent - I'm finding it quite hard to get anything specific out of it.

 

On my skin, I can detect floral and amber and incense.

 

When it dries, it's very incense-heavy - I don't really get anything else out of it.

[Eemia]

This starts out as strong tobacco, with a deep spiciness and a hint of woody floral. The spiciness is very smooth, but still has a peppery bite from the carnation. The sandalwood adds a nice earthiness....and it adds a masculine quality that balances out the florals.

 

I love the smoky tobacco paired with the rose. This rose isn't overly rich where it takes over the other notes. In fact it's very quiet and sort of dry. I never really smell the honey, or even much sweetness. Mainly this stays smoky and spicy.