Plunder

[merivelle]

The scent of a pirate's bumboat, overflowing with stolen wares: tea leaf, cassia, cinnamon bark, clove, allspice, sandalwood, tobacco, peppercorn, and nutmeg.

Plunder and I are having a very strange relationship! I tried Plunder for the first time at the September will call and I fell head over heels in LOVE ! So I purchased a 5ml one month later, and was all happy and giddy to get this one home. I wore it the next day and it didn't smell all that much like the lovely fragrance I had swooned over a month before. I found it to be a washed out cinnamon, very little tea, and a ton of tobacco. I like the tobacco flower. It doesn't smell like cigarettes, and I am not a smoker either. However, this was not the hot, spciey cinnamon scent that I remembered it to be. It also faded very fast on me. So, I let it sit there for a few weeks and tried it again today. My initial reaction was ,"Root Beer". Wierd. However, on the dry down it smelled amazing: cinnamon, tobacco, and a hint of tea and spice. Awesome. The only downer was that it faded very fast on me. So, if you are thinking about trying Plunder, I would recommend getting an imp first. This seems like a scent that reacts very differently on various people.

[SarahScent44]

In imp, Plunder is spicy - I get a lot of cinnamon, especially.

 

Wet, on my skin, it smells woodsy and wonderful - I can't pick up any individual notes, but it's a great blend.

 

Thirty minutes later, I get wonderful hints of spices over sandalwood. I'm sad I never got any tobacco, but Plunder is really, really nice.

[Christine Daae]

This is one of my favourites from my latest order. I got this in the hopes of a nice cinnamon blend that would remind me of chai tea.

 

In the imp, and wet, this is a DRY cinnamon and spice. Very dry. Not a hint of sweetness or foodyness. Which is okay - I have Chimera for my foody-cinnamon needs (that one smells like cinnamon buns on me). The dryness might be because of the woods, but I haven't tried enough of the woods to really know.

 

As it dries, this blend turns to chai tea on my skin. It is exactly chai tea, but chai before you put the milk and sugar in. It smells the way my kitchen does when I'm brewing a cup. Ohhhh, but it is so lovely. And I keep getting wafts of this, too - usually what I amp is my least favourite note in a blend (LEMON! GRAPEFRUIT!), or I don't get any throw at all. This...is just lovely wafts of unsweetened chai tea.

 

OMGLOVE. <3 I am debating between a bottle of this or a bottle of Bengal in my next order.

[tinyvulture]

loose chai tea with cinnamon, clove and nutmeg, stored in a carved wooden box. all that’s missing is the milk and sugar. as far as chai blends go, i think the rich warmth of Bengal is a little nicer and more complex than this… but this is much stronger while Bengal fades away so quickly. so now I’m torn. which chai is better? well that depends on what you’re looking for, i guess. the mixture of spices is so nostalgic and comforting, and i love how the sharpness of the cinnamon is tempered by the dusty sandalwood and smooth tobacco. a keeper.

[grashopper8]

In the imp, this was so strongly 'hot cinnamon candy' that I had no intention of trying it.

 

But, in the interest of not being a snobby a-hole, I put a drop on my finger. Once again, I'm glad I didn't judge too soon, because this is not the same as it was in the imp!

 

The "red-hots" chilled out into a smooth, spicy note that blends in nicely and lets the rest of the harmonious notes swirl and play.

 

Ladies in search of Chai Tea, I hope you get your hands on some Plunder. Beth has listened to your pleas and created a scent just for you! It is a lovely combination of spices, most notably cinnamon and clove, and it is warm and yummy.

 

I agree with everyone else who said that this is the scent of chai tea without any honey or milk....I'm sure if I wanted to, I could layer this creatively to add those elements.

 

I'm not overly interested in smelling like chai, but this is quite pleasant. A great winter blend because of the holiday-esque spices. I will frimp it along because I'm sure someone else is going to swoon over it!

[wolfie13]

I'm shocked that this scent is not getting more love, what with all the posts looking for "chai tea" scents and all. It's even forced me to crawl out of my 50-reviews-behind hole and post one.

 

I love the spicy scents and have tried very nearly all of them, LE and general catalog. However, much like Goldilocks, never found one to be "juuuuust right". My skin chemistry is picky and many are too sweet, too burnt, too dry - I could go on. And most of these scents have. Moved on, that is.

 

But this one is perfection on me. I now have my signature "spice" blend.

 

The most obvious notes are probably the cinnamon and tea, with pepper and tobacco highlights and a touch of sandalwood just smoothing things out, without the scent actually becoming a "sandalwood" scent.

 

This one is also rather unchanging on me from bottle to wear to drydown (though I catch the nutmeg more after a time, which is lovely), and sometimes I just like that consistency.

 

Try it!

[yeahbutnobut]

Plunder

 

In the imp: ohh, glorious sweet cinnamon. Like Bengal without the honey.

Wet on skin: now I smell pepper, and oddly, some anise?

Dry: chai! This smells like dry chai tea, I smell the cinnamon and cassia, with pepper and clove, and a bit of nutmeg. I swear I smell aniseed here even though it’s not listed, but I don’t mind-anise scents seem to be growing on me these days. I also smell the sandalwood and tobacco which take away the foodiness of the scent.

After a while: this still smells like loose chai …now it sweetens a little and the spices seem to become more rounded. It’s still a dry spice, hot and fiery, a little dusty, not creamy but pleasantly sweet. I still smell the anise, but maybe that could be clove now? Some clove notes have a slightly cool undertone to them in a similar way to how anise smells both cool and warm. This also reminds me of the spices in Silk Road but with a black tea note instead of the green tea I smelt in SR. this is really good.

Eventually this turns to a lovely blend of spices and sandalwood with a bit of tobacco. Now I can’t pick out the spices as much, they’ve all merged together really nicely. There’s something almost like Mr Jacquel to this now, but with tobacco instead of patchouli, and no amber. It’s warm and dusty and dry, exotic, like the scent of spices from oriental markets in an antique chest, or even a treasure chest. It smells even more like Mr Jacquel over time, without amber…but the spices are very similar.

Verdict: this really does smell like a dry mix of spices surrounded by the fragrant woods of a great ship. This is a dry and gloriously spicy mix full of warm cinnamon, with a lovely sandalwood base. And yes, there is a hint of chai to it, not creamy chai but dry chai which hasn’t been made into a drinkable tea yet. I love spices and cinnamon scents, but I’m not sure if this is my favourite BPAL cinnamon scent, or my favourite chai scent yet. It’s very nice, but I still prefer Bengal, Eclipse, Priala and Sin when it comes to BPAL cinnamon. The drydown reminds me of Mr Jacquel, but I prefer MJ because of the amber, which this lacks. I have a feeling this will age gorgeously so I’ll keep the imp for now and think about whether or not to get a bottle.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Yes, the imp.

If you like this, try: Bengal, Al Shairan, Three Witches, Silk Road, Chimera, Sin, Mr Jaquel, Priala

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

Plunder = Bengal - honey. Although I usually like honey, it was just too much in Bengal, so I'm delighted with Plunder! It's the straightforward chai scent I've been looking for--tea and spices and nothin' else. It gets a little sweeter on the drydown, but overall it's spicy and not sweet, like a more complex Three Witches. Completely appropriate for male or female pirates. Also appropriate for holiday gift/booty giving, as it might appeal to a wide variety of new BPAL converts. Great stuff!

[Trish]

As soon as I saw this I bought a bottle without a second thought. There was no way on earth this was not going to work for me, not with my love of spices, sandalwood and tea.

 

And I was right! It changes very little from wet to dry on me, except there's an initial burst of sweetness that quickly fades, and the sandalwood gradually emerges as it's dries. Otherwise this is just a lovely wonderful dry spiciness. I can pick out mainly cinnamon and cassia, with nutmeg, clove and allspice also apparent. The tea and peppercorns remain in the background, plus a little sandalwood. In short it smells like a spice rack! And I adore spice racks!

 

It only has average last but that's longer than all other cinnamon scents on me (besides Chimera), and has average throw.

 

I have cinnamon proof skin (except straight after a shower), but even I sometimes get a slight tingling when I put this on. I would definitely advise applying with caution if you tend to be sensitive to cinnamon at all!

[daiconharuko]

Somehow bpal knew I liked pirates when they sent me this frimp with my order...

 

In the imp- CINNAMON EXPLOSION OMGZ!

 

after it dries down a bit I smell watery cinnamon (like cinnamon tea as someone mentioned)... but the other spices come out in a really nice bouquet.

 

I love cinnamon but tend to hate cinnamon sents, but this is really lovely.

[filigree_shadow]

Hee, I thought I read somewhere that Plunder smelled like chai, so I swabbed a whole bunch on the back of my hand without reading the notes, thinking I was in for a Sudha Segara-like experience. Uh, whoops!

 

This one's very spicy. But when I say "very spicy" I mean "has lots of different spices in" rather than "will make you think you are on fire." The spices are gentle rather than raw. It seems like I can smell all the different ones in here, and it's quite interesting.

 

Normally I can't wear anything with cassia in it because it's far too bold for me, and usually cinnamon is too strong and drowns out the other notes. Not in this one, though. Not at all. It's mild and quite pleasant. The sandalwood and tobacco make it seem even more exotic, to me.

 

Hmm. You know, I'm not usually in the mood to wear spicy scents because I'm just not a spicy sort of gal. And just by looking at the notes I would have thought I wouldn't like this at all. However... I like this. Maybe it'll be my one spicy scent in my whole BPAL box. I think that if I was ever going to have one spicy scent, this would be it.

[TereFaerie]

This is nothing but cinnamon on me, just too much cinnamon. Turns me red and I just dont get the delcious chai scents that others do. It smells more like cinnamon than Bengal. I wish I smelled the tobacco and sandalwood, but I will try it once more before I send it off to swap.

[fireweaver]

Plunder was like a cup of tea. It was very strange smelling something so very tea-like yet it wasn't *hot* I felt like my wrist should have been at least warm. I love this scent, and when layered with snake oil, I got an extra spicy, sweet tea

[aleciarivas]

Cinnamon and nothing but cinnamon. Fortunately I didn't react as poorly on the skin with this one as I did with other cinnamon blends, but ouchie! Still a tender spot all the same.

[Kimiko]

Plunder is an amazing scent on me, spicy, woody... It really reminds me of a pirate ship!

I love it very much and will soon be adding a bottle to my imp

[akiko]

Mmmmm.

 

Imp: Spices & chai

 

Wet: Spices and some odd soft note that reminds me of Morocco. Please don't go all funky on me!

 

Dry: All nice and chai. The note that was sticking out faded down or blended in, and it's all lovely.

[tartchef]

Well hellOOOOOO, cassia! As earlier reviews have noted, Plunder comes out of the gate with both barrels blazing, loud loud cinnamon bark & cassia to the exclusion of any of the other notes. Thankfully, it settles down pretty quickly & the rest of the spices come out. It's much drier than Bengal, but very much in the same vein. And Winterwind's spot-on comparing the drydown to Morocco - there's a trace of tea & wood as well, but the similarities are striking.

 

Ultimately, there's just not enough tea & wood & pepper here for me - clearly I amp the sweeter spices... Glad I just got an imp, but Plunder is a gorgeous scent in its own right.

[fountaingrl]

Oh so sad! The notes were amazing, and if this had worked, it would have worked BIG. The oil in the bottle smelled SSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOo good. Nuanced and deep and smoky and yummy but not sweet. I love something that smells like it should be sweet but isn't, and I am starting to discover that I really like a tobacco note -- I never would have guessed that, as a former smoker. I have been avoding them thinking they would stink. Newp! Tobacco is love on my skin.

 

But cinnamon is not! I had had trouble in the past with some hot smells -- pretty rare, but every once in a great while a scent would sting and it would be unwearable. But I never knew for sure what it was. Now I know -- cinnamon is the DEVIL NOTE on my skin, it burns so badly. I tested it last night, and by the time I could walk from my bedroom maybe ten feet away to the bathroom sink, I had red welts on my wrists. It is a no-go, which makes me sad. I don't think I can even bear to keep it as a room scent, because I want to wear it so badly it'll just make me sad.

[strangemodegirl]

Hmmm...I can't believe that I haven't reviewed this yet!

Plunder is one of my absolute favorites!

Spices are love. I am getting lots of cinnamon and clove and sandalwood. It lasts forever on me. Alot of people say they get chai tea, but to me, it's more like sticking your nose in a good spice rack. When I think of chai I think more of cardamom.

Anyway, I've already gone through half a bottle of this and have a second one waiting in the wings. I am tempted to get another one to age because I bet that this one is going to be even more fantastic after it sits for a while.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Herbals = the spicy cough tablets that you get from old fashioned corner shops

 

Wet on me – Again with the Herbals, but it takes on a slight dirty, almost stale, aspect

 

Dry on me – It goes through a creamy gingery stage, which reminds me a little of Gingerbread Poppet, before settling to a dry spiciness that is a little reminiscent of aftershave

 

Overall – I like the middle phase, but not enough that it would make me want more

[waternight]

In the imp: SPICE. Mostly the cassia and cinnamon bark, but with a hearty helping of allspice and sweet tobacco.

Wet: Same as in the imp, but gentler. I'm also getting some tea leaf, which is calming and sweetening the cassia and cinnamon bark. Now there's a bit of clove. This blend is quite sweet. Oh. Ow. It burns my skin.

Dry: I smell like a sweet Christmas candle!

[rconklin]

Whoo! This is a fun scent for me. I wasn't sure if I'd like something that was mainly spices (I love my flowers), but I really do! In the imp, Plunder is all hot cinnamon, with a bit of the clove peeking through.

 

The spicy cinnamon doesn't totally dominate this on my skin though. It drys through various stages of oh! tea! ooh! there's sandalwood! uh-oh, I've tripped over the tobacco! And finally settles into a spicy, complex blend. The cinnamon and clove are definitely still at the forefront, but the nutmeg, tea, sandalwood, pepper, and tobacco are very much present.

 

This really is the smell of a looted cargo of precious goods. And I smell as though I've rubbed all of my favorite cooking spices over myself.

 

Very, very nice.

[heartlilly]

This does remind me of loose chai with an extra helping of cinnamon. It is sweeter than I expected it to be, but far less so than my beloved Bengal, and much drier.

I agree with Winterwind and tartchef because the drydown is strangely similar to Morocco, but more cinnamony. It is also surprisingly light, not quite as in your face as I thought it might be, which was a nice surprise.

 

It is fantastic!

[seashell]

YES YES YES YES OMG this is so freaking GOOD.

Big thanks to all who recommended this to me when i asked for a spice scent recommendation!

 

I absolutely LOVE the strong cinnamon start..it could stay right there and I'd be happy forever..but then it gets even better in a few minutes when the other spices and stuff kick in!

I slathered this on the Man and then just curled up in his lap, put my nose in his neck, and huffed away.

If he was a cigar he'd be a pile of ashes now bygawd!

 

I want gallons of this stuff.

Edited March 15, 2008 by seashell

[Dark Angel]

Source: Imp from the lab.

 

Wet on, this is cinnamon and clove like whoah! Like I spilled ground cinnamon and cloves on myself. However, it quickly mellows out and dries to a warm, spicy rounded scent that is, as others have said, dry and not foody-gooey. Does seem to fade rather quickly but a definite favorite anyway. Both Silk Road and Morocco have something in them that just goes weird on me, and I'm very glad to find that Plunder lacks whatever note that is!

 

This is good stuff!