The Deep Ones

[angelicruin]

Black algae, drooping seaweed, salty brine, and crushed coral.

Aquatic, salty, and citrus on my skin. Unfortunately, shortly after application, it turns to detergent soap on me.

[Aldercy]

Lovecraft aquatics FTW, apparently. I've been unimpressed with almost every aquatic I've tried except this and Y'ha-nthlei (an all-time favorite, actually).

 

I think I like this precisely because it's not the usual "clean" take on ocean scents. It's a foamy, dark green, slightly muddied sea smell, not sheer soapy waters. Briney with a definite citrus edge (kind of a pulpy white grapefruit, but there could be lime zest too). Slinky and amphibian.

 

Not the kind of scent I'd slather on for a social event, but it's a very evocative novelty for me.

[muteddragon]

I'm really surprised I like this one. It's salty, and I don't know what it is so it must be aquatic? Clean, and not at all like seaweed, which is delicious. It's comforting. Smell a sea scented candle and I guess this would be it.

[voorishsign]

Not as dark as the description suggests, which I find a bit disappointing. No seaweed, no algae or anything like that. A very clean, ozone-y aquatic with a slight sweetness that briefly turns to detergent during drydown but then settles back into a pleasant watery smell. I like it, but not enough to buy a bottle. I still have Cthulhu and Y'ha-Nthlei coming my way, hopefully at least one of those will satisfy my craving for a darker aquatic.

[laslibres]

Smells like ocean! Sort of planty, a little salty, and very aquatic. Some aquatics are lightish-blue-smelling, or almost gray, but this one is _dark_ blue. Wow, it does smell a little bit like salty sea water! But not in a gross way. And that’s not the dominant note…it’s mostly just pure aquatic and ozone, with a bit of an herbal, flowery tinge. This is so lovely, it’s _deep_ somehow, and cool and calming. I might need a whole bottle. Just might.

[theandorran]

In the imp: This is not at all what I expected. I was anticipating something very aquatic, sea-like, like Jolly Roger or Sea Foams Blood. Instead, I get... fruity hand soap? What? Nevertheless, I kind of like it.

Wet: It smells more aquatic wet, but not quite like a Jolly Roger. It's more like the memory of the sea than the sea itself. Or, actually, as I write this, sea-scented soap. You know, the stuff that's supposed to smell like the ocean, but doesn't really? It just has an oceany feel to it? That's what this smells like. I still kind of like it though.

Dry: Much the same as it was wet. Not at all what I was expecting, but I kind of like the feeling that smelling it gives me.

[impolight]

:::THE DEEP ONES:::

Initially, this is SUCH a profoundly Lovecraftian fragrance!

The Deep Ones sets the ideal tone for mad, drippy things that slithered through an opened window and made a dank puddle on the floorboards while you were poring breathlessly over some tome chock full of macabre pulp...

And only when the gramaphone wound down did you swim up and out of your reverie to focus slowly ( and oh, so grudgingly) on the leering monstrosity before you; filling up the room with the miasma of lightless squelch.

You next dislocate your voicebox and saturate your undergarments in a fit of unmitigated despair...

And then, The Deep Ones lands on the skin...

Eh? What the eff happened? Apparently, blind terror has never more rapidly subsided, and arboreal heroics ensue as you fetch a stout evergreen bough and sorely smote the last traces of Algea from the beastie's hide before basting it in a coniferous sap and putting it out of it's misery with a handy-dandy pillowcase full of pinecones.

The Deep Ones is an extraordinary formula in the sense that it metamorphosizes from a force of sheer terror, to a comedic irony, to a dignified reserve gazing out and over the steely grey waters of a forested, New England Seaside.

The Deep Ones is a classic, distinguished fragrance.

This could confidently stride through the halls of a college campus, donning a smart suit and a rakishly tilted fedora.

The Deep Ones is Gray, Black, Silver, and Evergreen.

An ideal introductory fragrance for Him!

[Schmoozy]

 

Count me as another who was surprised when I first tested this. It was not at all what I was expecting. From the notes and name alone, I imagined a deep, dark aquatic scent. This is not salty, but sweet, and slightly perfumey floral. Don't get me wrong - it's pretty, but I was hoping for a little more seaweed and blackness.

 

[Shollin]

First sniff: Unsurprisingly, this is a dark and murky aquatic, with just the faintest hint of sunlight filtering down from above.

 

Wearing: It’s lighter and fresher on me, one of the pretty wind-and-rain scents. I’m surprised by how much I like this one, actually, given how dark it was in the imp; it stuck to me all day and still smells very fresh and nice. A keeper.

[ModderRhu]

The Deep Ones

Woo! Juniper!
This smells like very expensive bubble bath. I like it.
I think a woman could pull this off just as well as a man.

4 out of 5

*This was frimped to me from the Lab! Edited May 10, 2010 by ModderRhu

[Balame]

In the Imp: This smells fruity in an odd way - the more I sniff it, heck yes, that is grapefruit! Who'd have thought? Strong and acidic but pleasant.

 

Wet: It really does smell like a wave of saltwater to the face, save for the grapefruit. My gosh, it's really putting me off. I would've loved a straight up "sea" scent, why the bitter sweetness from the fruit? It's certainly not dark to me, almost trying to be girly in an obnoxious way, like the cheap spritzers some girls will use after a shower.

 

Dry: Well, I can say that's it's not as annoying as before, but the predominant smell is still grapefruit and some sort of floral. Algae and brine, not so much. I do get a hint of the enjoyable salt from before but it's been shoved to the background.

 

Verdict: Not what I was hoping for. It's not a terrible scent but it's more standard than I imagined, and has a good dose of "fresh summer's day" rather than "unknowable terror of the depths".

 

[patina]

phooey. I wanted to like this so badly.

 

There is indeed some murky aquatic but I mostly get detergent...and fruit. That's right. There's grapefruit and a strong overripe bananna smell to this.

Edited May 15, 2010 by patina

[moon_lemming]

Lolwut? Fruit? I might have laughed a little when I sniffed this in the imp -- The Deep Ones: you expect dark salty briny dark darkness, right? NO! FRUIT!

 

It made my cat sneeze, and he is sort of terrifying if he's pissed, and sneezing sort of pisses him off; does that count as dark?

 

So in the imp, it's grapefruit and . . . fruity but planty at the same time. Who knows. It is too well blended for me to pick apart. On my skin, it's grapefruit and something balsamic. It gets more aquatic as it dries.

 

Once it's dry, it's more what I expected: soap. Oh yeah, aquatics will never fail me. This would be a blue-and-white soap, I think.

[Venneh]

Seaweed, gentle aquatic in the imp, which is surprising, considering the namesake of the scent. On my skin, this is a bit heavier on the salt and seaweed. We'll see what this does. Ends up going to salty cologne, sadly, not quite for me.

Edited July 13, 2010 by Venneh

[voodoobaby]

CANDY! This is like eating candy on a sunny, salty beach. Not at all what I was expecting, but really nice and pretty and bright nonetheless. I'll probably keep it as a warm weather scent.

[mxtine]

Hmm, this is a deep green aquatic. It's rather nice initially, then it turns into detergent.

[Monday]

A salty aquatic floral (honeysuckle or jasmine). Very pretty and light/ sunny.

[ajansuz]

In the imp: A very salty aquatic, ozone, and something sweetly fruity, almost but not quite citrus. A sort of less sharp Cthulhu.

 

Wet: For a few hot minutes, it almost smells like Tide laundry detergent. NOOOO!

 

Dry down: Thank goodness, the soapy Tide scent goes away. Salt and brine come up in a very clean, very refreshing scent. Really, I want my clothes or linens to smell like this more than I want to smell like it on my skin, but I do like it quite a bit. Not dark or slithery at all.

[milo]

Very pretty mild aquatic that doesn't go soapy or cologney on my skin. Probably the first one ever that hasn't gone like cologne. I would say there are some white florals here, but they aren't screaming at me and making the blend sharp. Very nice, though it's better suited for a room scent or adding to non scented cleaning products to me, as aquatics aren't really 'me'. Nice to try though!

[calivianya]

I received this as a frimp from the Lab. Aquatics mostly smell like dryer sheets on my skin, and this one is no exception.

[Honey]

Fruity Gods?

 

 

Imp: Ohhh, lovely sweet grapefruit! Plus aquatic notes.

 

Wet: Still yummy sweet grapefruit. Slightly marine notes

 

Dry: Grapefruit and spices.. ginger and anise? Still fresh and aquatic like a cologne.. but.. hey, this ain't bad at all. To me this is rather fruity fresh than really something salty from the sea. Will be kept and tried for a full day.

[Suu4LC]

Oh goodness. I am not an aquatics fan, particularly salty aquatics, but in my quest to try all the bpals, I'm going to have to suck it up and give this a go. In the imp, it is pretty much what I expected-intense salty aquatic, though not quite as seaweedy as I was fearing. Smells like a dark blue aquatic to me in the imp.

 

Yeah on my skin this is a heavy blue/black aquatic. Salty, but not overwhelmingly so. Sometimes aquatics just go so weird on me, but this is rather behaving itself. Its sort of calm and pleasant actually.

 

This was actually far more mellow than I would have thought. It lost a lot of the saltiness when it dried down and was a soft dark/blue aquatic. It's not really for me, but if you fear aquatics like I usually do, this was actually quite pleasant and tame on drydown.

[karykeion]

Cthulhu didn't turn out very well on me, but I'm a hopeless Lovecraft and aquatics fan, so on this goes! Nice dreary day to do it, too.

 

In the imp: Hmmmm uh-oh. Smells a lot like Cthulhu, but then again I didn't think Cthulhu smelled much like the ocean in the imp.

 

On me, wet: Oh jeez that does smell like the ocean! It's like Cthulhu but a little brighter and sort of fruity. I like it! The ocean smell comes out a lot more as it dries. It's becoming this sweet, cool, salty, slightly fruity-floral sea scent that I want to wear everywhere. I just hope it doesn't turn into that weird dead ringer for shampoo that Cthulhu did. If not, it's definitely immediately going on the bottle list.

 

On me, dry: Doesn't go shampoo. Instead, whatever note it was that reminded me of shampoo in Cthulhu takes the sea scent and makes it deep and clear. This darkens a little as it dries, but it keeps its floral-fruity note and its clear salty blue feel. I'm going to give this a full test on its own, and it may go on the bottle list. We'll see, but for now? 2 for 3 wins for the Lovecraft line.

[fufu_berry]

I didn't get the citrus that a lot of the other review mentioned - it went on a little soapy and sour, kind of like bubble mixture (you know, the kind you mix up to blow bubbles). But after an hour or so, it got very brackish and salty, exactly what I was looking for. I drove over to the beach to see how it stacked up, since I've been looking for a scent to remind me of the ocean in San Diego when I'm away. It was remarkably similar - lots of salt and seaweed, and a little bit of a sweeter smell, like the smell of your hair after you've been swimming in the ocean. I don't know if I think it really smells good on me (I tend to do better with the spicier and incense scents), but it really evoked good memories, so I'll definitely be keeping it.

[loubric]

Sniffing the IMP it's very fruity and soapy.

On me it's a lovely orange soapy smell. Clean, salty and creamy. Orange soap. I like it.

Edited August 23, 2012 by Lilly