Aziraphale

[Ginspu]

Ethereal musk, blonde woods, and dusty Bible accord.

My first review!

Ooh, I like this. Instead of the dry book smell others are getting, it starts out as a very musty-book smell, which I actually like. For me, it is very evocative of the stacks at the library of my university. Then what I believe is the musk kicks in a bit and softens it up. It’s not exactly the kind of scent you’d wear to feel sexy, but perfect for a cloudy day when you just want to feel comfortable and curl up with a good book. (Which for me is most of the time, heh.)

[heartlilly]

I was a bit surprised at sweet this became on my skin without being too sweet.

 

It is the most light gentle wood, surrounded by sweetness with a touch of dust. Really lovely.

[blu°]

When I had first tested Aziraphale, it didn't really make much of an impression to me. I recorded it as a pleasant, woodsy blend, not unlike one of the better (not overley cologne-y) masculine commercial scents out there. Dry, woodsy with a sweet musky base. I liked it but hadn't considered even the idea of getting a bottle.

 

That said, any time I have a job interview, I reach for it. First of all, it complements Gainful Employment which on it's own is just not smelling "nice" enough. Second, it's a gender-neutral, leaning to masculine, blend that is not too strong, neither too weak, and I suppose hasn't much potential to annoy people with different tastes than mine. It makes me feel at ease and helps me to behave naturally in the interview situation.

 

The longer Aziraphale is on my skin, the sweeter the musk base gets. The woods are never lost and it really is such a great, snuggly, warm scent that still works as a work blend. I think it's a signature one for leaving the impression of being competent in a relaxed way.

[Lavada]

Oh dear.

 

*giggles* No. No no no no no. *giggles a little more* Impossible. I must be mad. *stomps down on The Fangirl Within to no avail* This can't be what I'm smelling... it just can't. *makes small squee noise* Ahem. It is quite possibly the naughtiest smelling BPAL I've tried to date.

 

In the decant and on for the first minute, it's all very soapy woods and I thought that was that... but then came the second minute, and the third, and... The wood is still light, but thankfully no soap; in fact, it's a little peppery to me (all the better to tickle your fancy, my dear!). Said woods are the base of a delightful aged paper smell and the musk is only detectable in the throw. It must be the musk, because it's coming across as clean skin. Clean but excited, if you know what I mean.

 

The throw is quite good, but it's a light scent and that definitely adds to the 'naughty' quality - barely perceptible and sometimes you have to pause to wonder if you're not imagining it. I don't know about wearlength yet, but an hour in and it's still going strong!

 

Conclusion? This is a... dalliance... in the corner of a quaint little bookstore.

 

Now, to try this with the teeniest bit of Crowley at the same time... *gives in to The Fangirl*

[lilacea]

I just rediscovered my decant of this, and the aging process has really done this oil justice.

 

Papyrus, light sandalwood and light cedar are joined by warm, rich, almost fruity musk. It really blooms now and has a richness it didn't posses the last time I tried it. There's a slight hint of powdery dust, but this is really close to the skin.

[coldandsleepy]

In the imp: mmm. I get dusty books for sure, and some nice cedar. There's a tiny hint of musky sweetness.

 

On me, wet: hey, where did my books go? Bring back to the dusty books! All I have now is a big blast of cedar and... apple juice? Musky apple juice? Uh oh.

 

On me, dry: cedar and cat pee. I don't usually make any sort of connection between cedar and urine (unlike some people who use cedar shavings as animal bedding!) so I don't think it's that. I think it's the ethereal musk going all weird on me. Yuuuuck.

 

Throw and duration: not a terribly lot of throw (thank goodness) and not a very long duration (again, this is good).

 

Overall: Sure smells nice in the imp. But really, it's cat pee on me. No thanks.

[naeelah]

Aziraphale is lovely! I was afraid that this would be too cologne-like, and while it is decidedly unisex, I think it avoids smelling like cologne. I don't find it too masculine. I'm not sure how old my decant is, but I think it's safe to assume it isn't very fresh.

 

Wet, it's golden musks with a liberal coating of dust. The musk is, as another reviewer described it, almost fruity and juicy. It is not nearly as crystalline as I might have expected. It feels more effervescent than bright, if that makes sense. The wood and paper notes blend together somewhat, creating a soft foundation and bridging the dryness of the dust and the richness of the musk. Other people have smelled cedar in this, but my nose isn't finding it.

 

I keep waiting for it to change, and so far, it hasn't. Even an hour later, I can barely detect any difference. I think the musk has become less prominent and sweet, but the dust and paper have not. It's still a dusty Bible with an ethereal shimmer around it. It has gotten a little bit softer. It had light throw at first, but now it's very close to the skin.

 

Compared to something like The Lurid Library, this is definitely sunnier. Lurid Library smelled exactly like a used book store when fresh, and has become a little bit darker, with musk and incense, with age. Aziraphale remains light and ethereal, no less dusty than Lurid Library but not nearly as dark. If it's a used book store, it's a well lit and well maintained one. I'd definitely recommend it for fans of dust and paper notes, but it's also worth trying if you like simple, light, bright blends.

[penemuel]

This is a dusty book in a dusty book store. I would like to smell the musk now pliz. I do not want to smell pencil shavings. It's starting to look like light woods do not work for me, unlike the delicious dark woods in other things...

 

As it dries down, the musk is starting to warm up and sweeten the woods a little bit, and the dustyness of the paper scent is backing off, so this is good. However, it's not a bottle scent, that's for sure. I like it enough to keep the imp, but it's not really a me scent.

[fairnymph]

Sniffed in imp: Sharp and planty, with dust, linen, and musk notes. Masculine.

[Lycanthrope]

Cedary, dry, incensy... bookish incense, like the abramelin type in a few of Beth's other blends. Not terribly smokey but with plenty of bright resins. Underneath is a very clean, very unisex soft musk. The musk plays secondary to the paperbacks.

 

This is terrifically sexy but also very understated.

[theseagrows]

i get something slightly perfumey from this, which must be the musk? it's almost a fruity-musk though, strangely enough. i also get some sort of woods and a pencil-shaving thing here, which i think may be the dusty bible accord. this is a very interesting scent, it reminds me of pale yellow. it's very soft on my skin, and i think it's fairly unisex.

Edited May 5, 2008 by theseagrows

[DogNPonyShow]

This scent is perfectly Aziraphale. Light musk and sandalwood that dries down to a dusty book note. It's very clean and airy, and stays close to the skin with little throw. Just what I'd imagine an empty, ancient little bookshop would smell like.

 

This is definitely among my top favorites now and totally warrants a bottle or two.

[Miss Lynx]

I feel a bit odd reviewing this after reviewing the Buggre Alle This Bible, because so many people compared that one to this one, and I'll be doing it the other way around. But I agree that there's a definite similarity.

 

Of the two, I like this one better... The BATB had that same incense-and-old-paper aspect to it, but this one feels more... alive, somehow. Maybe it's the musk that livens it up. Whatever the cause, my reaction to that one was just sort of ho-hum, but this one is really kind of nice. It's not so much a "me" scent, as it is a bit on the masculine side (though actually, not all that much -- I could get away with wearing it), but it's something I'd love to smell on someone else.

 

It's funny -- everyone talks about how dead sexy Crowley is as a scent, and I'd have to agree, but this one's actually kind of sexy in a different way -- and "I have a brain as well as a body" sort of way. I might want to shag someone who was wearing Crowley, but I'd be more likely to actually date someone who was wearing this. Er, assuming in both cases that the person was a good match for the scent, that is.

 

Grade: B+

[starwild]

If this is what angels smell like, I will have to be a very good girl so I can go to heaven.

 

 

 

Where I will then proceed to be a very bad girl and do extremely naughty things to the Heavenly Host.

 

Guh. It's so perfectly Aziraphale! Wow, Beth, what a masterpiece! It's light and sunny and refreshing and quite masculine, but in a bemused and innocent sort of way. I can't quite decide whether I want to playfully ruffle this scent's hair or grab it by the collar and drag it into the nearest dark closet for Seven Minutes In Heaven.

 

...okay, fine, I CAN decide.

 

Lovely, lovely scent of musky, soft paper and I get a tiny bit of vanilla, almost. I can completely see this as the intelligent, adorable, and not-so-smooth-talking angel who gave Adam and Eve his flaming sword and then lied to God about it.

[Lumina]

Okay, so I told myself I’m not allowed to order anything else from the lab until I’ve put a bunch of reviews up. So Aziraphale gets to be first ‘cos it was a Good Omens community on lj that first pointed me towards Bpal!

 

Snagged a 5ml of this on ebay (but missed out on Crowley. )

 

In the bottle: Wow, those are strong woods! The sharp woods are hurting my nose. There’s something else, sure, but it’s buried under the woodpile.

On skin:

Notes: The scent yields clean woods, nice and rounded. Cedar and sandalwood. I don’t get the ‘dusty Bible accord’, for which I am not altogether sorry. ‘Ethereal musk’ is listed. Now, I’ve never really thought of myself as a musk-wearer, but this is actually rather excellent. It’s giving the blend a lovely creamy glow, and preventing the woods from being pencil shavings. The resins in this scent don’t stand out strongly in themselves, but are at work in the blend. I’m getting frankincense and possibly benzoin.

There’s something in Aziraphale that’s looking at me slightly aslant as if it knows it could, in other circumstances, eat me for breakfast.

I think this may be what other reviewers’ are experiencing as a cat pee/BO smell? It’s in with the woods on first application and it wants to make me smell like fresh mildew, but fortunately it doesn’t develop and it buggers off after a minute or so. I can’t ID the note that’s responsible, which makes it hard to be properly suspicious of it in future.

 

Throw/wear length:

Aziraphale is a fairly light scent in spite of the woods, and I steeled myself for the possibility of it disappearing after the first half hour, but it surprised me and kept going for most of the day. Aziraphale’s a lingerer, in the best possible way: the throw is not going to leap around and batter everybody around the sinuses (I’m looking at you, Samhain!) but it just creates a lovely personal aura that wafts around you gently and is very comforting. I anointed my hair with some and the effect was rather like having my own personal halo.

Overall impression:

This is very much a unisex scent, and it is English, without a doubt. It’s hard to pinpoint what it is precisely, but there is a quintessential English factor in this scent. It’s evocative of damp summer/autumn weather, and secondhand bookshops, and it’s making me want a cup of tea and plate of scones. (There goes the diet!)

 

Rating: Based on my general scent preferences, I wouldn’t have gone for this one at all. I’ve been preferring spicy, warm, smoky, incensey blends, which really isn’t Aziraphale. So I’m kind of shocked that this is my favourite Bpal scent so far and I’m giving it 5/5. What I love about Aziraphale is that it’s very complete, balanced and serene. It’s a perfect match for it’s namesake. And it doesn’t smell ‘perfumey’ on me. I also love that it has a calming/comforting effect on me, which only one other scent has done so far. (Another) bottle required!

:D

[Iceblink]

Woody musk. A hint of incense? And *paper*--this really does smell like books! Aziraphale is, as he should be, much more polite and refined than the Crowley. But he's still got sex appeal in his own way.

[sideviewhotel]

Oh, Aziraphale. Even after aging you still smell like soap. It may be my body chemistry being off this week, so I will have to try it again, but still. DO NOT WANT.

[taramarie]

In the bottle and wet on my skin, Aziraphale is old paper and woods. Dry, it's musk and woods. It's on the masculine side of neutral, but I think anyone can wear it. It's damn sexy and a cousin of Port Royal.

[jizatt]

This was dusty, almost cedar wood when I first put it in. After it dried, the musk came out and the wood behaved better. I could *almost* smell the paper too. But the dry version on me was almost a cinnamon, light musky, wood.

[Methos]

In the bottle... He smells odd-- not one chord, but several voices. Then, I put it on. Up front is a nice scent that smells like hot chocolate powder. That doesn't last long, sadly. Then, I get musk and the blond woods and a LOT of it. It's not bad-- just strong. I put on too much. O_x; My mental image: An empty church, with wooden pews. In the middle of a random pew, a blond angel sits reading a book, with his legs propped up on the pew in front of him. O.o;

I later ended up layering my Wolfsbane on top of Aziraphale. ! My little green things, poking up from a pile of leaves in early spring... were suddenly in a forest with lots of trees and furry little things about. o.O;

[Dianora]

I got a frimp decant of this, and was so pleased! I ordered a 5ml of Aziraphale and Crowley unsniffed, and this was like a delightful little preview for the package I am oh so patiently (honest!) awaiting. I popped off the lid, and the scent in the imp is musky and musty, faintly masculine but very much a "white" fragrance. It smells like a ray of light shining in a dusty old bookshop, if that makes sense to anyone else. Wet on the skin, all these lovely floral notes come out to mingle with the very pale musk scent. After it dries, on me it become poignantly sweet, a hint musty, and feathery soft with the unmistakable scent of paper! After several hours, the scent clings to my skin almost imperceptibly, but still very light and sweet as I catch a waft every now and then. This gives me a pleasantly long lasting scent too, which is a miracle as my skin eats most oils.

 

I must say that I am totally blown away by this scent! I expected to love Crowley, as I love wearing scents that are dark, spicy and faintly dangerous. I must say though, I've worn this for two days now and I love, love it! My poor brain is reeling... I don't like sweet florals or "white" scents! The musty paper in it has hooked me though, I'm so eagerly awaiting my 5ml, now more excited about Aziraphel than his demonic counterpart.

 

(I'm an English Lit major; the smell of musty books excites me more than it has any right to. If I met someone wearing Aziraphale, I'd probably lure him home and keep him forever.)

Edited October 20, 2008 by Dianora

[rayvn1]

This is fantastic! Perfectly represents the straight-laced (most of the time) Aziraphale. I get pretty much what the lab scent describes - a light musk with a background like a grove of birch trees. Made me think of wandering through a yellow leaved forest while reading an old incense covered tome. Perfect!

[gnl]

Bottle: Very woody in the imp, a light cedar/pine smell.

 

Wet: Still a little bit of the cedar, but it's mostly a musky paper scent, like an old book. There's something a bit aquatic there too, which I hope will behave itself, but it's nothing prominent.

 

Dry: The aquatic note has thankfully disappeared. The wood scent is stronger again, cedar without being overpoweringly woodchips - the dusty musky paper scent's helping with that.

 

Verdict: A man would do well wearing this, I think, but it's not overtly masculine. It's not something I can see myself getting more of, but it's a nice calming and pleasant scent so I'll keep what I have.

 

3/5

[voodoocatwoman]

Aziraphale is a very interesting scent. I detect a light musk... and dusty paper. On drydown, it turns mildly powdery but is still very pleasant. It is like being in the old section of a bookstore. And I am a bibliophile so this is smells like home.

[zankoku_zen]

I get some of the light musk, dusty paper and linen --- but really, it just smells like pencil shavings on me. Nice pencil shavings, but still... pencil shavings.

 

SAD!