Prospero

[sookster]

The "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avator and its seal - the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.

But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys. This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince's own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of ingress or egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within. The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the "Red Death."

There was beauty, there was wine: a rich Sangiovese vintage swirled through opulent amber, rich plum, champaca flower, and arrogant white musk.

straight sniff from bottle is the most gorgeous heady plum wine

once applied this is superb!! the musk and powdery amber combine with the heady plum
note...in fact, this is the best plum note in a blend to date...after 30 minutes or
so i do believe i detect a smidge of violet...this is very well done, indeed...

[gingersnapp]

In the bottle and when first applied, this is the most gorgeous deep dark red-purple wine that I've ever smelled. Up close to the skin after a few miuntes of wear, the amber and musk add a powdery spiciness. I'm hoping for a bit more champaca as this wears throughout the day, but it's lovely already! I'm so glad that I was able to order a bottle.

[Czarina]

In the imp: grape juice and hint of vinegar.

Wet: red wine.

Drydown: Sweet red wine and musk. The hint of amber makes the overall effect somewhat powdery.

 

Intoxicating.

[alhbooks]

Wine in the bottle, rich plum on the skin, and very reminiscent of Crypt Queen to me because of the plumminess. Dark purple fruit, getting fruitier. This is a good cold-weather scent on me, very warming and rich.

[Finny]

Plum wine.

 

Beautiful fruity wine, a little sweet, and the amber makes it a touch spicy. The musk gives it a wonderful earthy quality. Gorgeous on.

[dawndie]

In bottle: spicy red punch

 

On skin: dark red wine blooms; I could drink this straight up

 

Half-hour later: mellow red wine, slightly dusty from the amber. Every so often I get a woody hint, which might be the champaca flower but reminds me of a wine cask

 

In conclusion: I love the red wine blends and this is a perfect example. Delicious and a bit boozy. Love love love it.

[alicia_stardust]

This is a dark red wine that is smooth and sweet. The wine and the plum are so very gorgeous together. They dominate the blend in a deep red-purple richness, but the amber is underneath it all and has a soft powdery resin quality. I can't pick out the champaca but the white musk is there in the background.

 

I really think this is pretty. It is very distinctive and if you like plum then this is probably one that you should run out and buy!

[naeelah]

In the bottle, this smells like grape soda. Actually, what it really smells like is this crappy blackberry red wine that my friends used to buy in college. It tasted and smelled like a grape or cherry soda, but with a winey undertone.

 

But fear not, because that quality dissolves as soon as it hits your skin. Immediately, a much drier red wine note begins to surface, balanced by a very rich plum. It smells like the same plum as Bordello. I've had some bad luck with wine notes in the past -- I think it was Madrid that smelled like mulled wine on me, only sickeningly so -- but this works well for me. Hunter Moon's wine note was very plummy and berry-ish. Here, it is distinctly dry. It isn't berry-like at all. With the wine for balance, the plum here isn't nearly as candy-like as it can be in Bordello.

 

In the background, I can just pick out the amber and champaca. The amber is lovely, glowing and soft. It's the perfect bridge between the dry wine and the juicy plum. The champaca seems to be adding a very light smokiness. It's the smokiness that stands out first. The actual perfume of the flower only lingers in my throat after a long inhale.

 

I'm not getting much musk. I wonder if my nose isn't blending it with the wine note, and that's what's making it seem so dry. However, compared to some other blends, I would say the musk isn't particularly strong here. It just hovers in the background, binding everything.

 

My nose seems to be slightly broken today, but it seems the throw on this is pretty good. I put on a light amount, and I can smell is wafting up at me from my wrists. Wear life is about average. This one doesn't morph hugely. The notes shift slightly in balance, of course, but there are no major changes.

 

This is great for plum and wine note lovers alike. Give it a try even if you haven't liked wine notes in the past, because I think you'll find it well-behaved. Champaca haters probably shouldn't be afraid. If you wanted to like Bordello, but it was too sweet for you, try Prospero! Bordello is one of my favorites that I wear most often, but sometimes I don't want such a sweet scent, so I look forward to having Prospero as a drier alternative. It's rich, equally dry and juicy. I think this is one that will age beautifully, and I hope that the amber and champaca become stronger with age. I'll report in in a few months!

Edited December 7, 2007 by naeelah

[Northernskygal]

I promise.. I tried to like this! It went something like this..

 

:sniffs bottle: Yikes! It smells like Dimetapp (or however you spell it - it was the cough syrup you had to take when you were a kid)

 

Okay.. maybe it just needs some skin to really.. blossom. I like amber and champaca.. and eating plums so here goes.

 

One dot of oil on my inner wrist.. :sniff sniff:.. it smells familiar.. it is...

 

Cooking grape jello! No kidding, on me that is imediately what I thought of.. you know when you have the boiling water on the stove and you are stirring up the jello powder.. that is my dearest Prospero on my wrist. I gave it a wee bit to.. simmer (no pun intended, I swear it!) and.. the cooking grape jello scent is still there but.. it has a more.. winey feel to it now.. like.. a wino cooking grape jello

 

Overall, it isn't a bad scent.. and I actually found it to be one the more entertaining to have my family sniff so, I am glad I tried it, though I will be looking for a new home for it.

[edenssixthday]

Prospero – This is my favorite of the new Poe blends. It doesn’t smell like wine on me, it’s just a strong plum-amber scent on my skin. It’s bright and crisp and yet it has depth and warmth. I really love this scent. It fades on me quite quickly, but I do have a couple of scent lockets and fully plan to use this is them.

[LadyCrow]

My experience was more peculiar yet than Northernskygal's.

 

In the decant: Rich wet grape, very much like the note in Blood Phoenix.

 

First wet: Grapey grape grape. Not getting so much plum yet.

 

After a few moments: The amber and champaca are mixing really weirdly on my skin. In fact, I would almost have pegged the combo as a foody note, specifically nutty.

 

There you have it, mostly ladies and a few very hip gentlemen. On me, me and my apparently bizarre chemistry, Prospero turns to a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich. Remind me never to wear this around hungry small children, for fear of triggering a feeding frenzy.

[jupiternf]

In the imp: Plums and grape bubblegum.

 

Wet: The fruity notes remain, but the sweetness is taken over by the amber and champaca.

 

Dry: My skin amps the musk, a faint whiff of sweet plum wine remains.

 

I would actually have loved to have this last week, when I went to a sake bar for dinner- it has a plum wine vibe overall for me that suggests swanky outings downtown.

[Iceblink]

Rich red wine that quickly dries down into a faintly fruity white musk on me. Emphasis on the "faint" part because I can barely smell it! It's lovely but so light and it's fading fast. I love BPAL's wine note, and it usually is long-lasting on me, so this one is an oddity.

It does smell great while it's there, though!

[Teggy]

Prospero is the most "purple" scent I've ever experienced. Sadly, it's all wrong for me. I think it's the white musk. The powder quality kills it for me. It smells like a sugary grape candy. Dang! I really wanted "plum wine" or just "red wine with plum" and it's just not.

 

Drat.

[tinyvulture]

in the bottle this smells like rich, sweet wine. it’s absolutely bursting with grape and plum, strong and bold. it quickly loses strength, though, as the musk and amber come forward and turn the fruits soft, warm and powdery. light florals linger in the background. i adore plum, so i should love this scent, but it fades so quickly on me. if only it stayed strong, i think it would be an all-time favorite.

[SarahScent44]

In the imp, this is bright yet rich - there's the dryness of red wine with the fruitiness of the plum.

 

On my skin, it's all plum and flowers, with just a hint of the wine - it's a really full scent.

 

When it dries, it's sweet and boozy - but that spells success for me!

[Tramp]

in the bottle and on wet - plumtastic. The plumiest of wine. Plumtasmagoria.

 

On drydow - *shudder* Burnt, grape plastic cool-ade. The kind Satan likes to drink. Thankfully it faded super quick so I wasn't forced to gnaw off my arm in order to save myself from the stench.

[ivyandpeony]

I took a chance on champaca, which can be the flower of doom for me when it shows up in what otherwise looks like a fabulous blend. There were so many notes that I drool for in Prospero, I had to roll the dice... I adore amber in any shape or form, plum is absolute heaven, and Beth's white musk makes me weep with happiness. So 3 outta 4, pretty good odds!

 

The plum in this one is absolutely gorgeous, rich and grape-y and winelike - if you even think you like plum, this one's a must try. And the amber is gorgeous and spicy. But dammit, the champaca did it to me again. It must have enjoyed ruining Khajuraho for me so much that it was determined to screw up Prospero too. Ah well, it was fun trying.

[zankoku_zen]

For me, this is like a sweet grape soda. It is by far the most purple scent I've ever tried --- but it's too sweet. Prospero is a sweet, plum and grape dessert wine.

[HappyLoveJoy]

I adore everything about Prospero. The initial blast of fruitiest grape and plum, the golden amber emerging to take a bit of the candy edge off the fruits, that wonderful thing Champaca flower does on my skin and the musk softening it all up and keeping it pretty. I usually don't care for fruity blends because they tend to be too bright and sharp but this one is deep and dark and gilded with a great balance of sweet and tart. I love being able to smell the underlying perfume and not just the fruity topnotes. I finally broke down and got a bottle and every time I slather it on, my 5 y/o son thinks I'm eating gummi candy. He'll say, "Mmmmm, I smell something that tastes really yummy!" or he'll ask for some of what I'm "eating". Apparently it's a winner for him, too.

A++

[Poenari]

I do not like grape juice. I do not like grape candy. I do not like grape jelly. At first sniff, Prospero smells like all of these. Why then, do I love it so? On first application, it is the grapiest grape of all, but something about it attracts rather than repels me. After a while, the grape softens, the musk comes to the forefront, and the amber grounds it into a spicy warmth. I just can't get over how surprised I am at how good I smell when I wear this.

[forspecial_plate]

This is a dark red wine that is smooth and sweet. The wine and the plum are so very gorgeous together. They dominate the blend in a deep red-purple richness, but the amber is underneath it all and has a soft powdery resin quality. I can't pick out the champaca but the white musk is there in the background.

 

I really think this is pretty. It is very distinctive and if you like plum then this is probably one that you should run out and buy!

 

Oddly enough I can't smell the champaca either! Usually that's a note that comes out real strong on my skin.

 

Anyway, I do like this scent. Wine and fruit blends can be touch and go for me, but when they're right, they can be oh-so-right. This is a good one. It does veer a little towards candy grape, but not terribly so. It is deep, somewhat dark, but I think the white musk is giving it a refined quality that saves it in the end. Almost like Montresor but cooler, and slightly more.....austere, maybe? The wine stands out above the other notes for me. I think the amber just supports the overall blend in a beautiful way, and doesn't stick out a lot.

[Blood onmy hands]

In the bottle and on my skin, this falls somewhere between grape flavored bubble gum and grape cough syrup (blech). As it dries down, it's sort of an artificial grape popsicle + a hint of cough syrup.

 

Wine, amber, plum, champaca and white musk sounded all sorts of sexy, but this is all artificial grape smell on me. Turns a little powdery after about 15 minutes, and has disappeared entirely by the half hour mark.

Edited June 8, 2012 by Little Bird

[maribouquet]

Woo, straight up grape with a white musk back! Wine notes usually don't like me, and Prospero and I are not meant to be, I'm afraid.

[hkhm]

bottle: grape. pure grape. almost like a grape sn.

 

wet: much better! the plum comes out with the amber and gives this a much more boozy feel. very bawdy.

 

dry: the musk has warmed and along with the amber and plum, this smells divine. might have to get another bottle...