Nanny Ashtoreth

[Dark Alice]

Middle Eastern flowers, amber, honey, blood red-berries, whip leather, and polished paddle wood.

Wood...plus something masculine. This scent evokes memories of my father's friend from when I was a child. Mr. Beeman would always pick me up when I was little and give me a hug.....I am amazed at how beth has managed to capture this scent/memory in something that is for book!

[lookingglass]

Yes...lots of leather and wood. Not my big faves, but they dry out with the slightest touch of slightly sweetened amber nicely. I'll save it for when I have to kick some ass...and wear it layered with Heitiarae.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Leather

 

Wet on me – Warm leather

 

Dry on me – After about 6 hours the leather fades and the honey and the amber and the flowers begin to make their presence known

 

Overall – The dry down is gorgeous and the leather is a good leather; warm and clean smelling, but it is a long time to wait for the pay off

 

[catatonic1242]

In the imp: Men's cologne. I really can't pick out single notes from sniffing this, but to me it smells like walking down the men's fragrance aisle at Sephora. Nice, but generic.

 

On, wet: Leather, yay! Leather is one of my favorite notes, and I love the leather in this. The red berries and the honey are apparent, but I don't get much floral out of this.

 

On, dry: Leather and wood with a really sweet, non-floral background. I really like this one, and could see wearing it in a lot of different situations. I also feel like it's fairly unisex, but that's just because the florals never emerged for me.

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

 

 

Decant: I get the flowers.

Wet on Me: I get the flowers and light berries and

leather…mmmmmm

Drying Down: Mostly still the flowers with leather under it.

So far no amber or honey overpowering anything.

Dry: flowers and leather…hot dayum this is nose to

wrist worthy! Keeper!

 

[Molls]

I tried this on the other night, and while I was really digging it - leather, amber, flowers & honey = mmm... - my guy came over and the 1st thing out of his mouth was "who's wearing that Old Man Cologne?"

Guess it's headed to swaps...

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Pale peachy-amber coloured oil. Leather (the sharp, chemically kind in De Sade), amber, and deep, rich wood. A suggestion of flowers, but no honey or fruit. Surprisingly sharp and masculine.

 

Wet: LEATHER (or, as it registers to me, West Coast Cocaine). Less wood, and amber still very faint, possibly conflated with the coke-powderiness of the leather. A tiny smidgen of berry.

 

Dry: Solvent-soaked, WCC-ish leather still dominates (ha!), but the wood has a dry, round edge that makes me think oak. It combines in a way with the leather that really does evoke polish.

 

Later: Getting a bit of honey, FINALLY, although it's extremely buried. I think it's merging with the amber a bit, reminding me vaguely of O. A sort of light sweet-warm, softly powdery glow.

 

Summary: Biting, brutal leather, dry oak, and a smidgen of honey-tinged amber powder. A very, very slight variation on De Sade. No flowers or berries in the long run. Good throw.

[RainbowAshlyn]

I get leather, leather and also leather. I was dubious about it in the imp, but I really liked the sound of the berries and honey so I tried it on and I had to find a way to scrub it off right quick! This scent is NOT for me, haha.

[mejuxtaposed]

The Nanny left me quite confused.

 

Wet: All wood and leather. Very manly and cologney.

Drying: I get a hint of berries, and boy, and they delcious.

2 Hours: Wood. All the juniper and leather.

3 Hours: A hint of the berry with a smack of leather.

4 Hours: All cologne again.

5 Hours: Back to the red juicy berry, not a manly scent in sight.

6 Hours: Back to cologne.

 

Well. The good news is this lasted really long on me... the bad news is WTF?

I my notes for the day I wrote "Why can't this make up its mind?" I wrote down times and everything and it literally changed once an hour.

 

I have no idea.

 

[crebbsgirl]

I was amazed by how much I really liked this. The flower were fairly dominant here, but as a girl who doesn't like florals, I was surprised to find myself huffing my wrists. These are INTERESTING flowers. Non-soapy flowers, non-headache-inducing flowers, non-cloying flowers. The honey was a really great grounding note combined with the smoothness of the wood. I didn't get much of the leather here, it was fairly tame. Overall I really liked this, and I can see myself getting a bottle when I finish the decant.

[tragedy]

My hubby has been getting very excited every time I get a package, wondering if one of the frimps are gonna be his.... This is another one.

Wet: all leather and wood, I dont get any of the other notes at all.

Drydown: More of the same. Its a good mens cologne scent with pretty good throw. Definately not one I can wear though.

 

Edited to note: although I love the smell of bpal leather on him, on me it turns to burning rubber.

Edited May 26, 2009 by tragedy

[rayvn1]

Strong leather - very DeSade-ish with honey and a pinch of amber mixed in. Since DeSade was a little too much for me, even as a leather-note lover, this may turn out to be a good substitute Godd throw and great staying power.

[angelicruin]

On my skin, leather and wood dominate. I'm not getting any floral or berries. Amber is more noticeable as it dries on my skin. More of a masculine scent. I will keep my decant, but will pass on a bottle.

[topazphoenix]

Whip and wood and honey is kind of a weird combination, but it's not unpleasant. It is rather reminiscent of men's cologne though.

[stellans]

I love the way this smells in the bottle, all wood and leather, but once it gets on my skin it goes to straight men's cologne, and not a good kind. It smells like the drugstore-type knockoffs: English Pleather, or Draker, or something. Just not good. I'm going to hang on it (it's just a half-bottle) and hope age brings something to this.

Edited September 2, 2010 by stellans

[enui]

Wood and leather, definitely a men's cologne scent, but a very good one, nicely balanced. However on my skin it has very little throw; I applied liberally on my wrist, and I have to stick my nose to it in order to smell anything

 

I need to try this on the BF

[Lady]

Nanny Ashtoreth is one of my all-time favorite BPAL scents. I usually can't wear any type of floral as it goes laundry detergent overwhelming flowers on me. But not with the Nanny. She is a cologne for a woman. There is sweetness and some softness, but the wood and leather are there to remind you that she is in charge and it would be a in your best interests to remember that at all times.

 

I've read a few people saying this is a scent for a dominatrix and I wholeheartedly agree. If you have a business meeting or need to do some unapologetic ball busting with a smile, give the Nanny a try.

[lilwhiterabbit]

This smells so good in the imp. The wood and leather are subtle and subdued--just a hint, really, while the florals, honey and berries are the top notes. My initial impression was this was a very clean, no-nonsense kind of scent. Very elegant. On me, though, I lose everything but the wood. The boyfriend is a carpenter and he has declared that, on me, Nanny smells like a cross between cedar and pine and, while he likes the smell of wood, he doesn't think it really works as a perfume. Poor Nanny. I think she's going to have to be passed on.

[heleng]

This was a gift from my Witch, thank you for letting me try this even if it's not quite as expected.

I get leather,more leather and wood. No honey, berries or sweetness.

I agree that it is very masculine.

I'm not sure when I would wear it. I will try this again when I need courage to deal with a difficult event.

[Venneh]

Out of all the scents I'm decanting out for my Good Omens circle, this is the one I want most desperately to work. In the bottle, I'm getting leather, wood, and I think honey and berries. If this goes right, this could be wonderful. On my skin, I'm getting leather, wood, and honey. Fingers crossed that this keeps it up. Ends up being a really sweet leather with honey and berries, a definite relative for Liz, and a definite keeper.

 

Second full skin test to make sure I like it. Leather and wood and a honey/berry undernote, a very dommish and sexy sort of scent.

Edited March 31, 2010 by Venneh

[girasol]

Wow, this is really not at all what I was expecting. I was maybe misled by the "Middle Eastern flowers" part of the description, but I was anticipating something sweet and spicy. Instead, this is very cologne-y, and TBH I can't really pick out any of the listed notes, except maybe leather. It's not horrible, but it's very much not me.

[tailoredshirt]

Okay, this is good. Like, really good. I knew it would be, and I'm so glad I'm right!

 

When it first goes on, I get berries and honey first. The idea of fruit + anything sweet usually makes me want to scrub something off immediately, but this totally works on me. The berries are sweet, but I think everything behind it is really balancing it out and making it smell delicious. The leather and polished wood are definitely in there, and they come out more as it dries. I don't really get the flowers, but they might be in there, adding more oomph to the blend without me realizing it. This is really well-blended. On me, I don't find it classically masculine, especially with the honey and berries.

 

I mostly got this bottle because I love leather and wood notes, so I'm slightly disappointed that the leather isn't stronger, but that's okay. I have other leather blends where the leather is stronger. But I don't have anything like this. Nanny Ashtoreth is definitely a keeper.

 

 

[gypsyjolie]

I got to try some aged Nanny. It is really sexy! Soft worn leather is the main component, with a gleaming polished wood (or wood + beeswax/honey, perhaps?). It's not so sharp a leather as many BPAL leathers are on me, but I never get flowers or berries distinctly. Just a warm woody sweetened beeswax-y almost musk-y leather. It's very comforting and would be good on me or my guy. Low to medium throw, long staying power.

[Lirion]

So apparently I needed to take the listed notes in reverse order.

 

Initially all I get is the polished paddle wood. That's it. It' rich and strong, and not unpleasant, but still it's wood. On dry down some of the whip leather starts coming out. It's quite a rich leather smell, especially backed by the wood. More and more leather starts coming through and blending with the wood until I can't distinguish separate notes.

Very masculine on my skin. Especially since that's all I get out of this blend. Wood and leather. It stays close to the skin too.

It would smell fantastic on the right guy.

 

But, where are the flowers, amber, honey and berries?

 

The notes I was really looking forward to.

 

It's not that this is a bad scent, it's just not for me. I like deep and dark scents, just not this masculine.

 

I should note that this decant is aged a couple of years when I tried it.

[Aldercy]

I am really enchanted with this. It's heavy on the musky, honeyed wood (oak? I think it's oak), but there's this sheer glaze of berry that is just perfect. I'm really picky about berry notes and fruit in general, but this is not fake or candy-like at all. The florals are somehow both voluptuous and dry at the same time-- full-bodied and spicy, but almost sandy as well. I don't get any distinct leather.

 

I can see how this could turn masculine with all the woodiness, but it doesn't go that route with my skin chemistry. The polished oak is really golden and sweet. It comes together so nicely with those sandy flowers and berry glaze.