The Blasphemare Reliquary

[yeahbutnobut]

Ethiopian myrrh, Damascus rose, boswellia, galbanum, and copal.

The Blasphemare Reliquary

In the bottle: a slightly masculine but gorgeous dark resin scent.
Wet on skin: mmm, myrrh! This is a beautiful dark sweetish resin!
Dry on skin: this is gorgeous! This is myrrh that makes me purr! It’s predominantly myrrh but there’s a greenish and sappy gloss from the galbanum, a touch of frankincense and copal too, and just the barest, barest hint of rose (nowhere near as strong as Tabula Smargadina). The myrrh in here is slightly similar but also unlike any other myrrh in BPAL. It smells rich and dark, a tiny bit masculine but not in a bad way. It smells aged, with a hint of almost amber-like sweetness. It is wonderful. This reminds me of something though…maybe not another BPAL but maybe a scent memory of some kind. All I know is that this is magnificent.
After a while: oh, this gets better. The myrrh becomes richer, darker, deeper and more complex. So does the galbanum, which really gives that deep green aspect to the scent. the myrrh here is incredible, it develops these amazing tones of smoke, moss, leather, ambergris and even wet cold stone. Now this smells like incense burning in a cave, there’s a surprising mineral aspect to this scent which I love. It also smells a bit more like a masculine scent, but in here that’s a good thing. It’s a manly aspect that I love-I tend not to like the sharper manly scents but the dark and smoky ones? Mmm.
The scent becomes more and more myrrh-y over time and I think this myrrh is one of the nicest myrrh notes I’ve ever smelt. So rich, dark, haunting and multifaceted, it smells ancient, it smells sacred, I can’t stop sniffing it. it smells like nothing else in BPAL, it is such a unique resin scent.
Verdict: this is one of my new favourite myrrh scents! this is another example of how Beth excels with resin/incense scents, and never fails to surprise me with innovative new resin combinations that are unique, like this one…it smells so different from other BPAL resins and contains one of the best myrrh notes ever. It’s a dark and slightly greenish, murky and mysterious, haunting incense scent. the rose is subtle, and I love the way the copal and galbanum enhance the myrrh, which on it’s own seems to have so much complexity to it. smoky, earthy, deep, unusual, arcane and intriguing, this scent is amazing and I bet aging will make this even more incredible.
Emoticon rating:
Is it a keeper? Yes! I need a backup-maybe two!
If you like this, try: Minotaur, Priala, Parlement of Foules, King Cobra Edited October 12, 2008 by Shollin

[voodoocatwoman]

I don't have the slightest idea what most of the ingredients in this fragrance even are, so I can't talk about what notes I can detect. What I can say is that this reminds me of something solemn and revered. Church incense comes to mind as a possibility of what it feels like. When it dries down, it turns a bit sweeter but still maintains that serious and pure aura.

[surlygurl]

I must be an absolute freak, because I smell..... Tiki King. Right down to the coconut . I've only had it on for 15 minutes or so, but so far I'm astounded at the similarity. I may edit this if it changes. Tonight when I get home I'll do a comparison.

 

eta 1/7/10: Now that it's aged a year, I get coconut (hence the tiki king vibe) and resins. Its quite sweet. No rose, no copal. Sweet myrrh (I guess) is the big player. Also a little bit of green. I like it much better aged

 

eta 11/9/11: Now I get myrrh+coconut and gentle rose. It turns right to coconut on my wrists, but in my hair, it's a drop dead gorgeous blend.

Edited November 10, 2011 by surlygurl

[Miss Lynx]

I think I may love this. I know I at least very much like it.

 

The incense-and-roses combo has been done before, in Rose Cross, Parlement of Foules and All Souls, but this one is different. More incense and less rose than Rose Cross (which pretty much turned to single note rose on me), and less ethereal than either of the other two -- the incense here is a lot heavier and darker, more like Cathedral or maybe The Pit and the Pendulum, with just a subtle layer of rose overtop to leaven it with a bit of sweetness.

 

The rose and the resins are balanced perfectly, even on my rose-amping skin -- it's heady, slightly dark, ritual incense, with just a breath of rose, making for an almost intoxicating combination. If you've ever smelled rose frankincense -- frankincense resin with essential oil of rose blended into it -- just imagine that with, with a dark, bittersweet myrrh undercurrent plus the slightly mind-altering richness of really good copal. And there's something almost a little dusty about it, that gives it a sense of ancientness.

 

It's something I could wear in ritual or as a perfume -- it's gorgeous enough to be well worth wearing just for the scent, but it's also got, as others have comented, a sense of sacredness to it. It's how I'd expect to smell after just coming out of a ritual where a copious amount of really good incense was burned, and maybe rose petals were strewn on the floor.

 

Yes, I think this is love. I can see a bottle of this one in my future.

 

Grade: A

Edited October 4, 2008 by Miss Lynx

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Bitter, smoky, woody resins and a touch of spice.

 

Immediately on skin: This has a lot of resins to it, but it’s very rich and thick. There’s a light spiciness and a nice woody finish to this scent as well.

 

After a little while: This has a glorious dryness to it that I’m loving. It’s very rich and dark, but warm and very golden-smelling as well. It has a thick incense vibe to the whole blend, plus an undercurrant of wood.

 

Overall Impressions: I’m testing this and Bezoar together, and while I get a lot of resin from both, this is much richer and darker. It has a thick resin/incense/wood vibe going, and I would imagine it would be great on a man as well as a woman. It’s a little bitter, but that balances all the sweetness in the resins very well. Overall, I really enjoyed smelling this.

[rayvn1]

Dark and spicy, but not as complex as I assumed it would be. I'm getting a lot of the copal from Mictecacihuatl out of this, although the rose doesn't come through as well in this blend. Lacks the creaminess and in some ways the strangeness of Mictecac and the vagueness of this blend makes me want to swap it. Too bad, because I looked long and hard for this one

[catattack]

Imp: Sharp cologne

Wet: This is sharp and medicinal

Drydown: Men's cologne that's heavy on the rosecrucian (sp?) incense. I'm amping something sharp like frankincense. Don't think it's myrrh, as that's usually pretty mellow on me....hmmmm....

Overall: I thought I'd like this because I usually like myrrh and copal. This blend was too sharp and biting on my skin.

[Mountaingrrl00]

There's rose in this? It's almost entirely copal on me, wonderfully resinous and metallic and a little stony. I thought I smelled something like cedar in the vial, but that wood note evaporates on my skin. The scent does sweeten up a bit later on, in a honey/animalic way. The myrrh never goes fizzy on me, and the rose (I do get it faintly on the drydown) never goes soapy.

[Ashenrook]

Snuck a little peek from the decant I ordered for a friend. >.>

 

In the Bottle

Lots of resins and...wood? I didn't know there was wood in here. It's a very dry lovely smelling one, though. *looks at the notes* I guess that's the boswellia.

 

On Skin: Wet

What I'm reminded of instantly? Cathedral. Like others have said, too, only that it's its classier cousin. It's less musty, more sweet and refined due to the rose — a rose that is, thankfully, not overpowering. It is subtle and elegant.

 

On Skin: Dry

The spice of the galbanum is starting to come out a little bit, the rose fading away for the time being. I still smell the copal and myrrh (and just a hint of the boswellia).

 

Afternotes

Just a subtle, but beautiful, rosy spice nestled in this wonderful wooden box.

 

 

Verdict

On an American scholastic grading scale, I would have to give this a B.

 

This is something I would gladly have an imp of, but I can't see myself owning a bottle. However, unlike my friend, I am a lot less about the incense and spice. (I do like it, though) Plus, it doesn't help that I instantly drew a comparision to Cathedral, so it had pretty high standards to live up to.

 

Though I'm pretty sure my friend will like this! >_>

Edited September 21, 2010 by Ashenrook

[Penance]

Origin:

 

5mL from the Lab.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

Everything but the rose sounds great. I've read the reviews pretty thoroughly and it looks like other people aren't getting much rose. Honestly, that's the only reason I bought this one, since rose is an immediate deal-breaker for me 99% of the time. I hate rose.

 

First sniff:

 

Uh-oh. There are roses in this incense! I can smell them, lurking under the beautiful resins, trying to blend in with the scenery. They're doing a pretty good job of it, actually, since the rose smell is faint and mostly covered by dark, dry resins, but I can still tell they're there and it worries me.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Off to a good start for about three seconds (no roses to be found) and then wham, full-on floral attack! The Blasphemare Reliquary goes from dry resins (quite beautiful, but also similar in feel to Penitence) to powdery, rosy incense almost faster than I can register it. In all fairness, it's possible that the rose in this isn't quite as obvious to everyone else as it is to me. It's just one of those notes where if it's in a blend, it tends to jump out at me in a big way, even if I don't amp it.

 

Dry down:

 

Stronger and stronger on the rose as it dries. I was hoping it might pull a disappearing act and go away again on the drydown, but no such luck. I wish I was one of the people who gets little to no (preferably no) rose from TBR, but it looks like it's not to be. Instead, I get a strong, powdery incense scent made with dried, crushed rose petals.

 

I don't mean this as an insult (it's not, I swear), but at this stage, Blasphemare makes me think of someone's dotty old grandma...but a dotty old grandma who holds séances and likes to burn old, crumbling powdery incense while wearing her favorite dusty rose perfume. That probably sounds bad, but I think it could be pretty on (and for) someone else. It's not an old lady scent (in that it's not going to make you smell like an old lady). It just happens to call to mind that particular mental image because my brain likes to free associate in strange ways.

 

The bottom line:

 

I'm not a rose fan by any stretch of the imagination (Rose Red is the only rose scent I've ever been able to tolerate and that's because it has so much greenery and a crisp, fresh, plant-like smell rather than that heady/powdery scent I normally get from rose blends), so The Blasphemare Reliquary isn't for me, as much as I wanted to love it. My bottle's moved on to another home where (hopefully) it's lurking rosiness can be better appreciated.

[lookingglass]

I got this one because I love, love, love myrrh. I was a little afraid that it would smell just like Phantom (a favorite but I need MORE myrrh!), with the myrrh and rose, and it did a bit, initially. Drying out, though, it is much less rosey, eventually fading out nearly completely, leaving only a trace, reminiscent of mala beads made out of dried rose petals. Then the galbanum really emerges. I have always tried to love green/galbanum scents like Chanel 19, but they smell so dated and disappointing. This, however, lets it shine. A review a few back said this smells like Lancome's Magie Noir (one of my favorite mainstream perfumes), and it kiiiind of does. It's rich and clean at the same time-resinous and comforting. It is does have that 80's powerhouse kind of feel, but totally BPAL, so it's so much more wearable. Epic WIN.

[theseagrows]

hrm, i was excited most by the rose and copal in this. i think the rose and galbanum are most prominent, so it's a resiny-rose scent, but there is something that goes a bit sour on me. i think it's the rose here. rose can be phenomenal or terrible with my skin chemistry, but it depends on the blend. in this blend, i don't think it's working very much, sadly. i'll have to swap this one.