Faustus

[QueenFae]

An infusion of incalculable power and irresistible temptation. Truly an exercise in megalomania and self-gratification: frankincense and cinnamon, darkened by violet.

This immediately strikes me as a very masculine blend. The cinnamon and frankincense combine evenly to form the top note. It's very spicy and woodsy smelling, I even thought there may be some sandalwood in there. The top is nice enough, but violet is my mortal enemy, and the strong undercurrent that runs through the base spoils the smell for me. This is a strong blend and does have quite a bit of throw. Just not for me.

[femmefatale]

Hubby tried this one since some reviewers said it was more masculine. At first it was rather sweet. I could've sworn I caught a bit of honeysuckle.

As it dried down it took on a smokey incense smell. Really very nice. I think I'll be trying this one myself soon.

[AmyAngel]

Faustus: Smells very perfumey to me in the imp. With the imp closed it's sweet and pretty. On, starts out strong perfumey then almost immediately turns powdery. 20 minutes later, still powdery. Good powder, but still powder. It's sweet and nice, but not at all what I expected. After about an hour, still powder. Guess this one's not for me. It's mostly disappeared after an hour and a half, and what little is still there is basically baby powder.

 

I guess my skin doesn't like something in Faustus!

[filigree_shadow]

Woah, I get a whole lot of cinnamon at first. As it's drying the violet comes out, kind of sweet and smoky. This smells really "perfumey" to me; it has that sort of stinging property that I normally attribute to the alcohol in perfumes. I think maybe it's the frankincense that's making it do that.

 

I think the cinnamon is just a little too much for me here. I like violet okay, but I like it best when it's creamy. The spicy/incensy violet isn't working as well for me.

[lapillus]

In bottle: Spicy sweetness

 

Wet: the violet is beginning to come out and sit on the frankincense and there may be a hint of cinnamon as a distinct scent. This is the first scent I’ve had with cinnamon and so far I don’t seem to be having the problems so many others do (then again I’m used to strong liniments on a daily basis.)

 

Dry: a lighter frankincense (my skin tends to amp it to the near exclusion of other things.)

 

Later: scent stays the same but something in it is making me queasy. :-(

 

Summary: Nice light incensey smell however not something my body likes. Off to trade it goes.

[TrinitySydney]

Faustus....wow..this one really morphs and how! It's almost unrecognizable from what it seemed when I first popped the lid on my frimp. At first I smelled what I nearly always smell when there is frankincense or myrrh involved....pencil shavings.

But after about a minute, the pencil shavings disappear and I got a nice soft cinnamon *just* grounded by frankincense. Now, after about 3 minutes, the frankincense is only barely detectable with a nicely balanced violet-cinnamon in the forefront. It's really lovely. I can't see wearing this every day or it being a staple, but I can see being in the mood for this often enough to get a bottle.

I'll also be interested to try this on my husband and see how it enhances his wonderfully always-sexy scent.

Edited March 6, 2007 by TrinitySydney

[neuilly]

A slightly cinnamon light frankincense powder?! And there's a sweet edge to it. Wow, I can't even figure out how to describe this;. Fascinating scent but not really my thing. The violets definitely come out more as the scent remains on my skin...

 

and wow I just had a flashback to my childhood, I completely smell like my godmother did.

[dixiehellcat]

My first BPAL, and what a surprise...should've read the reviews. LOL. I didn't expect to like it, but I do. The spicy definitely hit my nose first, but as it dries the violet comes out. It really is a little powdery, but in a very nice way, with a hint of spice to balance it. As I type I keep sniffing the inside of my wrist. *g* I'll dab on a little in the morning & then off to work & see how it wears all day.

Edited May 15, 2007 by dixiehellcat

[brownbear]

This one starts out heavy on the frankincense. It's heavy and dark brown. And dry. This stays mostly frankincense for me. It's good.

[aClearInferno]

Faustus.

 

.First impression

Flowers in the bottle, with a sharp touch of spice. Warm incense (most likely the frankincense) on the skin, replaced again by violet. Invigorating to the point of nausea, like being woken far too early in the morning.

.Laters

Frankincense wins, soft spice and powdery cinnamon; reminiscent of Christmas mulling spices or possibly sappy pine bark.

.Last

A bit too energetic for me, although later on makes a good meditation scent. Gets the limbs moving, so best for cold, dreary days.

Edited July 19, 2007 by aClearInferno

[laslibres]

Oh, Faustus, I love you. Yes, it is rather masculine, with the woodsy-smelling frankincense notes, but I find that a lot of "masculine" blends smell good on me, so I dig it. In the imp, it's very much with the frankincense, but with a kind of sweet underlay from either the cinnamon or the violet, I'm not sure. On me it remains very incensey, and it also smells a bit woodsy...like an unfinished wooden chest, or something.

 

It strikes me as exotic-smelling, and I do kind of get a rush of ego from it, which is appropriate, considering. It's pretty sexy, and it makes me feel confident, so I tend to wear it whenever I have an important presentation or if I have to seem really strong. Maybe that's also because it's kind of a masculine scent that it makes me feel that way...I dunno.

 

Overall I'd say it's dark, frankincensey, woodsy, and a little sweet. Ten out of ten!

[elenore]

In the bottle: faint spicy smell.

 

On, wet: I smell the violets at first, but then the cinnamon and frankincense starts to come out. After a minute the frankincense is dominating. Whoa.

 

Drydown: the violet is coming back out...but it's a subtle violet, not soapy. It mixes well with the spicyness.

 

Dry: a warm floral. I kinda wish the spicy would stay longer. I can smell the cinnamon ever so faintly but the floral dominates on me. I'm not so good with the florals.

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: Incensey

 

On Skin: Incensey with a touch of powder

 

On Skin on Him: Vick's! I'm beginning to wonder what smells like Vick's to him. He's given that answer a couple of times. My guess is the frankincense, although I'm not basing this on anything concrete. Just a very poorly educated guess.

 

On Drydown: The violet is very predominant and very powdery. There is definitely a strong masculine base in the form of an incensey sandalwoody smell, slightly spicy

 

On Skin on Him: Incensey, spicier than on me.

 

Verdict: On me, this is the male cologne version of talcum powder. Sort of clean, sort of old fashioned, sort of perfumey. The husband also has this on and he's not so impressed with this. Although when I did apply it on him, he held out the other wrist afterwards and looked mildly disappointed when I told him I only had Faustus to try. Sadly, Faustus is for neither of us.

[Ilex]

Ecclesiastical candy? Frankincense and cinnamon, indeed. I’m not getting the violet, although perhaps that’s what amping the sweet on me.

 

For some crazy reason, the frankincense note really evokes Jerry Curl (you know, that hair goop from the eighties) as much as church for me. If I can get past that association, then it is not bad, if too sweet.

 

If it wasn’t so candy-like, it’d be really nice, a bottle worthy scent even.

[Honeygirl]

Bottle: Cinnamon

 

Wet: Herbally cinnamon and violet

 

Drydown: Spicy violet, I don't usually like violet but this is the best violet I've ever smelled!

I'll at least test it one more time!

3.0 outta 5

[Jocelyn]

This smells pretty masculine on me. I don't get any cinnamon which is nice, it's mostly churchy smelling stuff with a deep herbal scent. I like it, it's just not girly enough for me.

[fabricdragon]

different body chemistry = different scent.

 

I was, frankly, expecting a masculine scent from Faustus... not on me! Since i am a girl, this is ok. On me this scent smells powdery and hints of floral, with the warmth of the cinnamon and the frankincense saving it from being "little girl cute". My husband said it smelled familiar, and he compared it to the big pink box of powdered Chantilly... its a warmer scent than that, but there is a striking similarity on me.

 

although not what i was expecting, it doesn't give me migraines like typical "store perfumes" do, so it will probably become a daily scent for environments that don't tolerate some of the hard core or more Goth BPAl scents.

 

i do wear my oils sparingly, which can affect the scent.

[manusdei]

faustus so good mmm.

 

i just got a new bottle and it made me remember when i first tried it. i remember putting it on and being very confused how everyone was saying it was so masculine, when all i was getting was this weird floral perfume smell (albeit a nice one.) i guess violets tend to go strong and powdery on me, but only when they're fresh.

 

so it sat around for a couple months, and i decided to bust it out again and see if it was the same.

 

omg. this is all frankincense and cinnamon, with a little touch of violet. it's sweet but moody. the cinnamon really makes it smell like dark, smoldering incense. it's really something amazing, i wear it all the time now.

[Torrain]

In the imp, I'm getting violet and frankincense.

 

On my skin, frankincense starts coming out (I have deduced this through the process of elimination). Huh. Frankincense is apparently a nice sort of men's aftershave smell; clean and masculine without being musky.

 

2 min: cinnamon starting to come out, along with a thin, high, slightly soapy floral note which I assume is the violet.

 

8 min: *holy hell* did the violets come out. Uhm... this is a rich and spicy lather with violet bubbles. It really blossomed over the last six minutes when I wasn't looking; it's the sort of thing you'd imagine Faustus picking 'cause he can wear it out on the town with Helen or in the office when he's renegotiating the contract. At 12 min, much the same, although I'm beginning to worry about the possibility of it turning to floral soap.

 

25-30 min: a rich and spicy floral; it's lost the soapiness. Just frankincense sitting under thick violet, the whole run through with streaks of cinnamon.

 

45 min: cinnamon and violet are fading; getting more of the dry rich lather of frankincense.

 

At one hour, it's a lighter scent--still frankincense, but somewhat lifted by the violet. I'd quibble with the description, and say it's not so much darkened as cooled. Stays as cool violet and rich frankincense for hours, a nice light rich scent.

 

Love and coffee,

Frances

[suki]

i have high hopes for this one, as i love both smoky, resinous scents and violet. so let's hope...

 

in the imp: all resin. the frankincense in strong and sweet.

 

wet on skin: more of the frankincense, and a spicy tone of cinnamon. mmmm!

 

dry down: a beautiful mix of the two aforementioned scents. alas, no violet to be found, however

 

in all: a lovely winter-time oil, but don't expect the violet. ::sniff::

[sadtomato]

i wanted to love this one.

it smelled great in the bottle.

smelled realy good when i first put it on...smokey and i loved the frankinscence scent.

but when it dried on me, it was an overwhelming powerdy smell that ending up giving me a headache=/

no more faustus for me=(

[ceiswyn]

In the imp: A deep, rich, sweet, almost edible flower scent, with a dark and solemn woody backdrop.

 

On the wrist: The cinnamon really comes through, mixing with the violet to make a rich, sweet, foody smell, anchored by the frankincense. This smells like... mmm... opulence and power and temptation. The throw doesn't seem strong at first, but I'm catching whiffs of it, first violet and cinnamon, then frankincense, then all three inextricably intermingled, like robes of soft purple velvet. For OWoD fans, this is the scent of the Hermetic Order

 

One hour later: This is mostly violet, but still given depth by the cinnamon and frankincense, just detectable in the background. As time wears on, the frankincense slowly strengthens. A lovely, unusual scent.

[Pincushions]

At first whiff from the imp, I thought I would hate it... It almost made me gag at how strong it was. I think it may have been the frankincense or the violet, I'm not sure, but it gave me a bit of a headache. I've yet to try it on myself, but I decided to convince my bf to try it... At first it was VERY strong, almost unbearable for both of us... But, after a couple hours, it turned rather nice. Spicy, but the violet worked very well on him. It's hard to describe how I felt about it, it kind of reminded me of rough sex o.O ... Anyways, I like it on him, but only after a couple hours of drying... It's way too powerful and masculine for me to wear, knowing I would just amp the frankincense, which I think is what caused my initial headache. If I ever do try it on myself, I'll update.

 

Edit: The more my boyfriend wears it, the more I love it. Funny, since at first I found the smell almost revolting. Still don't have the guts to try it on myself but we'll see.

Edited February 8, 2008 by Pincushions

[donnatron]

I ordered this on name alone. I was pleasantly surprised to have this turn out to be one of my favourite scents from the imp lot.

 

Imp: Pure frankincense. There's also a bit of a sour, citrus-y smell like when you zest a lemon and get too much rind while doing so.

 

Wet: Frankincense x 10! It smells like frankincense when you burn it on charcoal or in an incense blend.

 

Dry: I want to say "beautiful" but beautiful seems too feminine for this scent... It's handsome, at lack of a better term. All harsh angles and surprises. The cinnamon peeks out on the drydown and the violet lingers in the background keeping this from getting too sweet or candylike, as violet is want to do on my skin. This is a really sensuous unisex scent. It has a real undercurrent of the rawest, naughtiest things you can imagine doing to another person. Very, very sexy on the drydown.

 

Throw: I put this on at about 11 o'clock Friday morning and around 3 o'clock when I went drinking with schoolmates, the boy sitting next to me started sniffing around and asked if I was what smelled so good. Bonus? That guy always stinks of patchouli, so he smelled it over that.

 

Conclusion: Sexy, sexy, sexy. I want to smell it on my boy but only because it's rubbed off my skin onto his.

[Nightroad103]

Imp: Mostly frankincense.

 

Wet on me: Still mostly frankincense, though I can smell the violet, too. No cinnamon.

 

Dry on me: I can smell the cinnamon a little, and the violet a little, but still mostly frankincense. It's a pretty light scent on me, final verdict will be decided by this evening.

 

ETA: It's real powdery. Boo.

Edited February 23, 2008 by Nightroad103