Death Cap

[Seismogenic]

A lethal poison bundled up in a dainty, innocent little package that was oft times found in ancient witches’ flying ointments and astral projection balms. A warm, soft, ruddy scent, earthy and mild.

Here's another case where the geologist is drawn to the dirt scent! I've heard Death Cap mentioned as one of the quintessential BPAL dirt scents all over the forum, and thanks to very generous decant circle frimpage on the part of dpoulsen21, I got to try it now. Thank you!

In the imp: Soft dry dirt, a little bit sweet.

Wet on skin: Even wet, this manages to smell dusty. Still soft dirt, but of the sort that would actually grow stuff, not pure rock dust.

Drydown: Freshly dry, it's still sweet dry dirt. The sweetness seems to be a little vanilla-ish, or perhaps even vaguely cocunutty. At one hour in, I still can't pinpoint exactly what it is that's making this dirt sweet, but it does remain delicately sweet dirt.

Five hours later: This one is not a morpher - it's still soft sweet dirt, and it's still quite present.

End of the day: Still a little bit of sweet dusty dirt.

Overall: In terms of mixing sweetness with geology, Death Cap is a cousin of Black Opal. If Black Opal is the source rock, then Death Cap is the soil that has weathered off it and has been altered enough by other processes to be entirely its own thing, even if still obviously related. While the combination of sweet vanilla with minerals in Black Opal confuses the heck out of my nose, the sweetness of the dirt in Death Cap doesn't have the same reaction. Rather, it just comes across as an exceptionally fine silty dark soil, similar in texture to powdered sugar; perhaps I get that impression of consistency from the sweetness of the scent. Anyway, it seems to me like this dirt would actually be quite fertile, never mind the word "death" in the oil's name. I definitely like this one, and will absolutely be keeping this imp. Edited April 28, 2009 by Seismogenic

[tragedy]

I a HUGE fan of dirt scents, I got this as a frimp and couldnt wait to try it out!

 

In the imp: it smells like floral dirt, hoping for more dirt!

 

Wet: Dirt!! Yay!! Its a nice dirt too, not like heavy potting soil dirt, that I still like, but I prefer this. Theres a papery powdery floral in the background, something very faint and very delicate.

 

Drydown: The incence comes into play a bit, but I can still smell the dirt. I'm glad this isnt one that morphs the dirt away.

 

I gotta get a bottle!

[janelle_hell]

This doesn't smell "deathly" at all to me; it smells like dirt after a spring rain & the resulting mushrooms. Reminds me of when I was a little kid and would go outside after it rained and dig in the dirt to look for worms. This is a very "wet" scent without being "aquatic"- Death Cap doesn't have a saltwater scent, more like a rainwater scent. Very evocative, but I don't know if I'd like to wear it as a scent. I'll keep the imp I have for when I want to be reminded of a nice, rainy day.

[milica]

this is everything it says in the description, warm, earthy, soft... but not that mild, it's pretty strong and longlasting. to me, this smells like wet earth, mushrooms and sweet like dry figs.

 

nice one, bit I don't know if I can wear it as a perfume, muddy note is too strong in the begining.

[angelicruin]

Inside the imp, mildly sweetened earth.

 

Wet on skin, smells much like it did inside the imp. I'm getting a rich earth note, but instead of being bitter (like most dirt scents are on my skin), this has a hint of sweetness and wood.

 

It dries to much the same scent it was wet. Actually, quite a lovely scent. Very mild.

[catattack]

Imp: Earthy sandalwood.

Wet: Sweet sandalwood and cedar.

Drydown: Sweet sandalwood. But something mossy and murky makes an appearance. A hint of dirt is here.

Overall: It's been a long time since I first tried this. I didn't like it then. But now, I'm enjoying this blend. It's much sweeter and lighter than I remember it being. It's a sweet, almost carmel scent. A previous poster said "vanilla pudding & dirt". Yup. It is. And it's actually very good.

[ralenth]

Source: eBay frimp from BPTP

 

Imp: Warm and a little earthy. Okay, on second sniff, very earthy.

 

Wet: Dampened earth in a darkened space, with a tinge of toxic sweetness on my tongue.

 

Drydown: The sweetness becomes stronger, but now I'm getting something fetid creeping up underneath the damp earth. I'm really not good with earthy scents, so it's hard for me to pinpoint.

 

Dry: Sweet, rich earth with strange note skulking around on occasion.

 

Overall: Death Cap is certainly a lot sweeter than I had imagined it would be. I keep sniffing my hand. I'm intrigued, but I don't think I'd reach for this one.

[donnatron]

Imp: Dark, sweet earth. None of the acrid quality I sometimes get from other BPAL dirt notes.

 

Wet: Ah, there's that acrid quality I know (and love? No. Not particularly). Sharp, biting dirt over a sort of weird sweet quality. Reminds me of Black Opal. With dirt.

 

Dry: A core of really beautiful, sultry vanilla and... dirt. There's something in the dirt note that just doesn't work out on my skin. It makes it a bit too sharp or a bit too pungent or something and it just sort of makes an otherwise interesting scent a little too off. I really like the core scent but the sort of sharp zing I get from the dirt note is just not making it work for me. It's interesting, definitely. Glad I smelled it.

 

Throw: Good.

 

Overall: It's an interesting sort of scent and as the dirt scent kind of wears off and becomes less aggressive I like it more. However, if I wanted to wear a light, buttery vanilla with a bit of a mineral/organic tinge I already have Black Opal and don't need to go through the weird drydown. I can guarantee, however, that you have likely never smelled anything like this perfume before.

[sylvanusurban]

In bottle: Earthy and sweet.

 

On me, wet: Earthy and sweet. It’s interesting – this is like the earth note from Zombi, but mixed with sweet milky coconut! It’s a pretty smell, but at the same time it’s an acutely weird smell.

 

On me, drying: This totally reminds me of a coconut – the “dirt” note is the earthy, brown smell of the husk, and the sweet note is all smooth milky coconut flesh. It’s not artificial, cloying suntan-lotion coconut scent – it smells like it just fell from the tree! Not what I expected, but really nice.

 

Later: The earth note fades into the background, and the coconut scent, now warm and vanilla-tinged, comes into the foreground. Eventually the vanilla/coconut starts smelling more “mature,” less fantastically delicate and fresh, but it’s still quite acceptable. Then the coconut fades and it’s mostly vanilla.

 

Verdict: Lovely. Lovely! A keeper. Who knows – I may even want a bottle of this at some point. Probably the nicest thing I’ve tried so far, especially during that exquisite interim period before the final drydown. If only that lasted longer.

 

[krissstephens]

the earth note completely faded into the background on me after an hour or so, and the sweet notes were lovely and still there when I woke up the next day

[Siberia]

This is really good. In fall I hunt for mushrooms for fun, and this scent reminds me of being in an old growth oregon forest, picking chanterelles in the deep humus of soil and evergeen needles on the forest floor. I agree with previous reviews that there is the faintest hint of coconut in the wet phase. I don't get a whole lot of the fungus smell (maybe the faintest whiff), but the most beautiful forest and clean humus smell, only sweeter. The soil scent fades first and it settles down into a sweet earthy and slightly evergreen scent. I would say throw is medium and after about 6 hours or so, my skin had mostly eaten it up. One of my favorites so far.

Edited June 25, 2009 by Siberia

[sarajane]

Vanilla-y, coconutty sweet.... DIRT.

 

If the dirt note wasn't there, I would absolutely love it.

Edited July 26, 2009 by sarajane

[Saya]

I really dislike dirt notes from the lab. None of them have ever worked for me.

 

This is a bit different. This is a creamy, coconut blend that I love. But every so often I'll catch a whiff of the dirt note lurking underneath the surface. This blend gives me conflicting feeling. On one hand it's quite lovely, but then there's this terrible note that will sometimes pop up.

 

I'll have to retest this one.

[wildgratitude]

I am an admitted lover of dirt scents, so I was pretty sure that I was going to love this. When wet and first applied, it was very dirty, mushroomy, and earthy - like a Sumatran coffee. When it dried down I smelled the most lovely cedar, not the icky B.O. that cedar is sometimes misconstrued to be. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

This is really good. In fall I hunt for mushrooms for fun, and this scent reminds me of being in an old growth oregon forest, picking chanterelles in the deep humus of soil and evergeen needles on the forest floor. I agree with previous reviews that there is the faintest hint of coconut in the wet phase. I don't get a whole lot of the fungus smell (maybe the faintest whiff), but the most beautiful forest and clean humus smell, only sweeter. The soil scent fades first and it settles down into a sweet earthy and slightly evergreen scent. I would say throw is medium and after about 6 hours or so, my skin had mostly eaten it up. One of my favorites so far.

You hunt for mushrooms? That's supercool. I'd be way too afraid of ending up poisoned.

[redderz]

In the imp: Ouch, dirty and musky. That puts me off instantly. But I'll give it a chance.

 

Wet: Argh, dirt, dirt dirt. And wood. Not something I want to smell like. It's not awful, but it's not for me.

[voodoocatwoman]

Death Cap is definitely a morpher and thank Bob for that. It starts out as earth... dirt... loam. I know there are a lot of fans of the dirt note, but after I have spent the time showering and am planning to spend a day at the office conducting hearings, I do NOT want to smell like I have been rolling around in the mud. Call me wacky but it doesn't quite fit the image I am trying to project. So I sniff my wrists on the way out of the house this morning and decide to wash it off when I get to work. Not ten minutes later, I put my purse and keys down and do a last sniff before heading to the restroom... and holy moly! No dirt! What I have on my flesh is vanilla musk. Slightly spicy, very warm and just beautiful.

 

There is a bottle of this in my future. For sure.

[Balame]

In the Imp: Resinous and dry, like the orris was in Dance of Death, though not that extreme. Certainly woody.

 

Wet: I have to admit, I thought this would end up like some of the earthen scents I’ve come across which only made me feel like I’d been left in a desiccated, parched forest to die. This has more going for it. It’s warm and spicy, which again reminds me of DoD, but it also has more of a subdued effect. As if you were to grab a handful of very fine soil and then mix it with a helping of sandalwood.

 

Dry: I smell more delicate spices and the unusual sweetness some of the other members have described. It’s a unisex blend, doesn’t lean toward being either overwhelming or "pretty". Though it is more soothing now that the initial blast of TREE has died down. Sadly it’s hardly been forty minutes and the scent has practically disappeared.

 

Verdict: It’s all right. Didn’t have the wow factor in my opinion, but I don’t hate it, and I think anyone that enjoys earthy notes but prefers not to feel like they’ve been kicked in the pants by the patchouli wagon will like this.

 

Rating: 2/5

 

[Reaver]

Sweet, almost sugary soil. It's almost got the mossy note from Black Annis in it (which I love) and I can't believe this was sitting in my 'to-try' pile for so long!? This is gorgeous! It's like curling up and hibernating, it's so comforting. It's very nuzzly and I really wish that I had applied this to a more accessible place on my arm. This scent is so 'friendly' you almost want to have a tea party with it. It won't offend you mum, and your boyfriend will probably think it's alright as long as you spend time with him as well.

The downside that I can see with this scent is that it doesn't last too long on my skin, but I can handle re-applying every hour or so to smell this good.

 

9/10... why can't you last longer?!

[Aldercy]

Yep, this is the purest dirt note I've yet encountered. Not as sweet as Earth Phoenix and not as herbal as Planting Moon. My color impression of Death Cap is that it's kind of a reddish, clay-based earth. Georgia dirt. There's really nothing interfering with that single note for me.

 

 

[obsidienne]

Death Cap makes me think coconut, maybe some vanilla, and dirt -- especially when wet. It has a slightly plasticky element to it, but overall it's a nice fall scent. It dries to something lightly resinous and dry-smelling, with the vanilla-coconut still hanging on; I suspect that's where the plastic note comes from. The dirt note seems to be replaced by the resins (I keep thinking sandalwood or myrrh, but don't quote me on that, as my sinuses are having a reaction to something else I put on earlier today).

 

A little bit of sweet, a little bit of warm, and a little bit of dry dirt.

 

A light scent, not a lot of throw.

[Rheliwen]

Mmmmm, pure delish!

 

Initially I also get coconut, cedar and even a little leather...maybe some vanilla in the background. It sort of reminds me of a sweeter, less sawdusty Tombstone.

 

However, once this sets for a while I get sweet earth (not dirt, just an earthy, round quality). It actually reminds me of the long-departed Dissipation, although a little less sweet and more earthy.

[Sawasdee]

I got this as a frimp, and had never tried a dirt scent before, and was very surprised that I liked it!

In the vial and when first on, it's really strong dirt, then after a minute, it's starts warming up with with a sweet creamy vanilla, giving it a softer feel. Mmmm, vanilla dirt combo is very nice.

What's this now, patchouli? Uh oh, patchouli dries down to baby powder on me. Yep, after it dries down, I can still smell some of the dirt and sweetness, but the baby powder ruins it.

[heleng]

This is an amazing scent.

Wet it smells like a damp and mouldy cellar in a Georgian house. It really captures the fungal scent of rot and decay.

Dry it becomes softer, more powdery and a little touch of vetiver pops up.

Very soon it fades to sweet powder.

I can't imagine wearing this as perfume but I'm keeping the imp to sniff as it is such a evocative creation.

[tinyvulture]

Dirt, dry earth…combined with something sickly sweet, like caramel? I’m biased…dirt scents just aren’t for me…but yeah, really not enjoying this one much.

[Venneh]

In the imp, I'm getting a really resinous scent, not really sure how to place it.

 

Once on my skin, I'm getting a dirt note, with patchouli or something else, either patchouli or vetiver, and either way it's one of my death notes. Need to get this off, now. Swaps/sales.