The Parliament of Monsters (2006)

[zankoku_zen]

Dust, incense, wet tobacco, and a curl of opium smoke.

Wow, this has to be one of the driest BPALs I've ever tried. On me this is dust and tobacco. Old frankincense and smokiness. It's fairly masculine.

I can see this being worn by a cowboy, despite the lack of 'western' feel to it - it has to do with the dust and tobacco that I tend to associate with cowboys...

ETA: to add description. Edited September 1, 2008 by zankoku_zen

[rayvn1]

I was so excited to get this one as a swap! The smell of wet tobacco is most prominent on me, a little sickly sweet but not bad at all! As it dries I get an almost lemony tinge that I associate with the Lab's opium smell on me. The incense is pretty subtle in the background. I like this quite a bit and will hold onto my imp with both hands

[crebbsgirl]

This was not what I was expecting at all. This is a very fresh blend. Something is slightly aquatic feeling here. It's sweet, but a dry sweetness. The incense and tobacco notes are prominent. I can faintly detect the dust. My skin eats this up, so it's pretty well gone within an hour.

[donnatron]

Imp: Dry, papery incense.

 

Wet: Kind of lemony. Disappears on my skin.

 

Dry: Ooooh. I have been sitting on this imp (not literally because I wrote that, thought about it and then was a little repulsed) for a year or so and have always been like, "Eh... do I even LIKE it?" Yes. Yes I do. It is the perfect blend for smelling like I spend a lot of time being mysterious and esoteric and doing wicked things without smelling like I have doused myself in the contents of a headshop. It's a light, dry resinous/incense-y blend and I dig it. Skin close, very mild and very, very dangerous.

 

Throw: Mild.

 

Overall: I don't even need to use the imp up to want a bottle. Damn. And we're so close to the carnival packing up and leaving town!

[Monster]

In the imp: Incense! Reminds me a bit of All Souls.

 

Wet: Mmmm sweet, smoky incense with a hint of tobacco smoke. This one gets right to the point, a very simple (yet beautiful) blend.

 

Dry: Just a single incense note to my skin. This is like All Souls on me...without the cake. Wonderful! This is also very mild and sticks close to my skin.

 

Overall: I just LOVE this one. This would probably be great for layering other scents as it is almost like a single incense note on me. Love love. I've gotta pick up a 5ml of this one soon. This will be a great addition to my CD collection

[Andrea912]

Dust and incense prominent; reminds me of All Souls without the cake element...meh, asi asi.

[angelicruin]

Inside the imp, sweet tobacco and incense.

 

Wet on the skin, it's swirling dust and incense with a touch of sweetness added from the tobacco note. Sweet without being foody.

 

This will probably just get better with age.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

sadly, something in this turns to cedar on me.

[wl552]

I just got a bottle in a swap today. Not sure how old it is, but it's very nice.

 

On me, it's very dry... definitely a dust incense. As dry as it is, I can pick up a sweetness in the background. I'm totally digging this scent and am super glad I took a chance on it unsniffed.

[voorishsign]

In the imp - very light, barely detectable. incense and a bit of opium.

 

On wet - This is very light - much lighter than I expected. Still mostly incense and opium - but I really enjoy the wetness of the tobacco, making this almost smell like incense and opium on a rainy night

 

Drydown - This is beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous, much lighter and creamier than I expected from the dust / incense / opium notes. Airy, warm, and beautiful resins. I'm going to give this a full test soon, and might consider a bottle.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Shollin
Removed scent description

[sarielswish]

In the imp, Oooh that smells nice. Dusty, smoky, and slightly sweet/sharp from the tobacco. Here's hoping it plays nice with my body chemistry. Color, parchment.

 

Wet on my skin, wow. I hope this one stays just like it is. OMG. I really can't describe it other than *guh*.

 

10-15 minute drydown - It's strong, but this smells sooooo good. This another 'I NEED A BOTTLE NOW' scent!

[talula_fairie]

I don't think I have any words to express how awful this blend smelled. I didn't get any of the notes that are supposedly in it, all I got was a sharp, perfume-y, Jean Nate type smell. Or maybe White Rain hairspray. Thankfully, it fades fairly quickly and doesn't have much throw. It did not morph and stayed pretty much the same through drydown. Eeesh.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

5mL from the Lab.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

This sounds really good. The only thing I'm concerned about is the "wet" part of the tobacco. That's about the only thing here that could ruin this for me. Or maybe the dust. I've had back luck with BPAL dust scents and it's not because I don't like the smell of dust. They just sometimes smell funky on me for some reason. Fingers crossed that this one's a winner!

 

First sniff:

 

I smell a little bit of all the notes on first sniff. It has a pungent tobacco smell backed with dry, dustiness and a touch of something smoky.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Definitely wet tobacco. When I was little (for reasons I still don't understand), I found someone's half-smoked cigarette in the gutter outside our house after it had rained. Being the inquisitive child that I was (book smart, but with no common sense sometimes), I decided to suck on it. Bad idea. Parliament of Monsters smells like that cigarette-water tasted. Oddly enough, the smell isn't really bad (although the taste was horrible), although I wouldn't say it's really good either. Just kind of neutral. And unique. It's definitely tobacco and it's definitely wet. There's a dankness to it that's kind of hard to describe if you haven't smelled it before.

 

I do get a bit of the other notes, but mainly this is soggy tobacco.

 

Dry down:

 

As it dries, the wet tobacco note eases up somewhat, although it hangs on through the entire wear for me, and I get more of the dustiness. It's incense and it's smoke and it's dust. It's all of those things, but the overall impression is dust and desolation. Seediness, even. I can picture the "employees only" area behind a carnival freakshow. Where the carnies (and freaks) go to smoke cigarettes and complain about the weather, the gawkers and their lots in life. Everything's run down and beat up, including the people.

 

The bottom line:

 

This is a strange scent in a good way. I like it, although I'm no sure that it'll be something I reach for regularly. I'm definitely keeping my bottle, though.

[Drarra]

In the bottle:

The smells like wood, smoke and sweet tobacco.

 

Wet on skin:

The tobacco is coming to the foreground with the opium swirling just behind it. The incense is starting to peek out and add to the smokiness. It's all blending with the tobacco to be sweet - in a resinous way.

 

Dry on skin:

As this dries, I'm smelling more of the dust. It's blending together, and I'm getting a dusty tobacco. This isn't as oppressive as I would have expected; I thought these notes would come together to form a heavy smoke, but it's forming a smoke cloud where the wind is constantly coming through and circulating just enough for you to catch each note.

 

Final thoughts

This is delicious. I bought a bottle unsniffed based on the notes (they're all win for me), and this one definitely paid off. If you like woodsy tobacco scents, this is for you. It reminds me of Velvet Bandito.

[CreamyJade]

In the decant: Cedar and church incense. Promising!

Wet on skin: Oh delicious. It smells just like in the decant!

Dry on skin: Something's very wrong. After a while, I get slight soapiness and olives.

Final thoughts: I'm so fond of the Carnaval that, while it was still up, I used to go over all the scents from time to time to find hidden treasures that I had glossed over when they first came out. I hunted for a decant of Parliament of Monsters before trying a whole bottle and I'm glad, because my skin chemistry doesn't agree with one of the notes in this scent. Midnight Mass and An altar to cold, frigid, dreadful death are my go-to scents when I want dry woody incense perfumes (which can be read as: "At least I don't get that terrible olive note on my skin while wearing those two").

Try if you like: Midnigh Mass, An altar to cold, frigid, dreadful death, Carceri d'Invenzione

[brilliantcat]

In the bottle: Incense and opium.

 

Immediately after application: Incense with a smidge of dust.

 

Warming up: The dusty note is adding a bit of a sour smell. From a few inches away it smells wonderful, all incense and opium, but up close I get the sourness.

 

Fading: No more sourness, incensey with opium.

 

Faded: Average throw, average wear.

 

Overall: I missed the tobacco and the sour smell was a definite turn off :\

 

Rating: 2/5.

[DevilsCandyCane]

When I bought this, I was told by the previous owner that it needs mixing, since the oils separate, and I've found this to be true - if it's given a vigorous rolling first, the oil turns cloudy, and it smells great, but if I forget to roll it, it smells of almost nothing.

 

It starts out very similar to Cleric - that dusty, frankincensey church scent, with a hint of almost rose incense. As it dries down it becomes more incensey, and morphs from church into a pagan shop with dusty velvet curtains. This is the first 'incense' blend that has ever to me truly smelled like incense! I've buying so many scents with 'incense' as a listed note over the past decade, and I've almost always found them either too fruity smelling, or too frankincensey-churchy, but this, finally, smells absolutely like incense! At the end of the drydown, on my skin it almost turns to raspberry, like an incense stick somewhere between raspberry and opium, and since my stupid allergies have seriously limited the amount of incense I can burn, I really, really love this scent!

 

Throw and longevity are low-medium, but not too shabby

Edited November 24, 2015 by DevilsCandyCane

[SophieCedar]

What? I never reviewed Parliament??

 

Ok anyways, this is a favorite of mine. The sweetest incense and tobacco with smell of a dusty old hardcover book. The opium smoke gives it a lovely oriental mysterious darkness. Looking forward to the redux, since the CD opened back up.