The Illustrated Woman

[schackjj]

Skin musk, smoky vanilla, pine pitch, patchouli, Indian resins, golden honey, and tobacco.

Interviewer: Have a seat, Skin Chemistry. Ms., is it?

Skin Chemistry: Yes. What is this about, exactly?

I: Got your report on Illustrated Woman here. Headquarters has a few questions. Sure you won't mind answering 'em. *looks down at clipboard*

SC: Is there some kind of problem? My work's always b--

I: I'm sure. Let's just get through these questions and you can be on your way. Says here you wrote "Early impressions of overwhelming pine and menthol." Are you aware that no one else in the company has noticed menthol?

SC: Well, no, but I--

I: Are you always such a free spirit, Ms. Chemistry?

SC: I'm sure I don't know what you mean! (indignantly)

I: Uh huh. *flips papers* Next impression: "straight to menthol, with hints of patchouli and tobacco." Menthol again, Ms. C. *raises eyebrows expectantly*

SC: Well, that's how it smelled to me. (nervously)

I: Right. *makes notes*

SC: What are you writing?

I: It all goes in my report. Moving on. *refers to clipboard again* Nothing in your report about vanilla or honey. Care to explain?

SC: I only report what's there.

I: That's what they all say, lady. (bored) According to 96% of company employees, vanilla and honey are there and menthol isn't. But I'm just a company drone. Whadda I know? I'll write it up and send it back to HQ.

SC: What'll happen to me?

I: Like I said, lady, not up to me. I just investigate. But if I wuz you, I'd keep my nose clean. Har har.

[Coldfire]

Not sure HOW I could top Shackjj's review. FTW!

 

This was a from her decant circle:

 

Imp:Pine and.....something I can't quite

put my nose on.

Wet on Me: Sweet Pine. I can smell more of the

Vanilla and patchouli

Drying Down: Fabulous deep richness with a touch

of sweetness. It's everything.

Dry: I can smell everything but as rotating scent

glances. This is rich, complex and deep but not overpowering

The throw is perfect and the stay beyond my wildest dreams!

 

This is so good my wrist is glued to my nose! Well done!

[innocent]

The Illustrated Woman is my very first BPAL 5ml. I bought it unsniffed to celebrate the completion of my tattoo (which took about 5 months and 16+ hours under the needle)... I was a bit worried, especially when so many reviewers were taken aback by the pine pitch...

 

But I got lucky! This smells wonderful on me, creamy spices with a hint of tobacco and the lightest touch of pine. As others have noted, this scent is much lighter than I expected - almost like my skin, but sexier. I go through perfume very slowly, but I think I'll be getting at least one more bottle before the Carnaval leaves.

 

ETA: Okay, maybe two more bottles... the more I wear this the more I love it. I've tried a lot of imps, and this is my favorite BPAL to date. I'm glad it was my first 5ml!

Edited July 4, 2008 by innocent

[beachbabealways]

Ooooh I love this! It's very sexy. It smells almost like Jil Sander's Sun. It's amazing how similar these two are. They both have the same dry down. (Sun's dry down ... The exotic and woody dry down is composed of Patchouli, Amber, Vanilla and Musk.) I'm pretty sure Beth does not always give us every single note in her perfumes (some things have to be secret) so maybe there's a bit of amber in TIW??

 

I can pick up every note in this. I get the pine pitch when it's wet but not on the dry down so if your afraid of that I wouldn't worry too much.

No menthol in my bottle or on skin. So sorry schackjj, I feel bad this didn't work on you.

 

So far this is my favorite from the CD with MME Moriarty coming in second (now).

 

Bravo Beth!! And Congrats Shelldoo for having such a sexy perfume made in your honor.

 

Multiple bottles? Maybe one more now that I discovered it's like my bottle of Sun.

 

ETA: I changed my review overnight. After sleeping with TIW (lol) and waking up this morning I realized that TIW is almost exactly like Sun (and not Amir). So I went to my perfume cabinet and grabbed my bottle of Sun. Sprayed it on and was like "Hell yeah, I knew the TIW smelled like something I already had in my possession. My husband also said it smelled familiar so I asked him and he agreed.

Edited June 27, 2008 by beachbabealways

[theal8r]

Gosh, I really don't get a lot of pine in this. I get a golden, sweet smell. I wasn't thrilled with it in the bottle, but wet it was sooo lovely. Sadly, now that it is dry, it smells like a slightly soapy department store perfume. Not bad, but not bottle-worthy for me. I think I will keep the imp, though, as there is something sexy in here. I'll have to try this one again.

[lostluckkitten]

I should note that I tried this scent the day after I received the bottle, and I thought, "nice but meh." A week and a half later, I tried again, with a better result. So it seems resting this one a bit does good things to it, so don't judge a fresh bottle too quickly!

 

At first application, the pine pitch is very IN YO FACE. Or at least in my face. It borders on "too much pine" for about two minutes until my skin soaks it in and beats it into submission. The next 30 minutes or so bring about a drydown very similar to Golden Priapus - vanilla and pine, but with a lingering smokey tobacco and muskiness (good musk, not bad musk).

 

Whereas GP gets a little bit doughy on my skin after a while, this does not. I think the honey keeps the vanilla from moving too much into the "cookie" stage - it stays golden and soft. I don't want to say it gets powdery, because it doesn't, but it is soft. Like the honey and vanilla are blurred at the edges with musk and tobacco. It really does smell like smoked vanilla. Difficult to describe in words, but really something good. The pine is always there, but it's never overpowering.

 

Several hours later, there is a golden waft of smokey vanilla that I catch every once in a while, and the musk stays sexy and warm close to my skin. Very pleasant.

 

Definitely a good one. Not sure if I want a second bottle yet, but we'll see if the next few months bring about an OMG MUST HOARD chain of events.

[mooncityminx]

I tried this out at first mistaking it for The Grindhouse. Needless to say I was very confused.

 

In the vial: Pine pitch, that must be it. That is some smokey pine.

 

Wet: Effervescent pine, this is almost medicinal at first, then it gets sort of spicy, I think it's the clove. The Illustrated Woman is not subtle.

 

Dry: I can't quite process how unique it is, to be smelling a realistic pine forest, complete with campfire smoke, alongside aggresive clove. A person who would wear this as their personal scent would have to be okay with comanding attention, she's a alpha female. It's beautiful and in-your-face.

[tazjia]

I will start by saying that honey is a deal-breaker note for me, and pine is usually not a good thing.

Also, patchouli and I have a fitful, on-again/off-again relationship.

 

When I first put this on, the pine pitch and honey were both very present, but somehow balanced each other out.

 

Ten minutes later, I left my study and got a waft of something seriously yummy... and then realized it was still the Illustrated Woman! On drydown, not only can I *not* stop sniffing my hand, but I'm finding it has serious throw.

 

I agree with the earlier comparison to Black Lace -- the tobacco and vanilla feel very similar to me. I think I get even more vanilla, though, and the honey/pine pitch combo is adding a sweetness that's not in Black Lace.

 

Definitely need at least one bottle, possibly three.

[forspecial_plate]

I got lucky and landed an unexpected decant of this. After the rave reviews, I really wanted to try it even despite the honey. This scent goes through some changes as I wear it. For the first few seconds, it's just plain odd.....kind of savory/foody like Indian food or something. But as it settles on my skin, it becomes rich, woody, and wonderful. I love the way it smells for a while......I'd say, maybe an hour. It's just deep, somewhat dark, and somewhat complex but well blended. Then, after a while, the honey note really settles into my skin and kind of takes over. It's unfortunate because it's a note I really don't often get along with, and I was so hopeful that for once it was going to work. It's just too much honey after a while. I'm definitely going to hold onto my decant and try it again from time to time, if only to get that first stage of rugged beauty.

[Indigo78]

This is initially seemed to be the cave scent I've been coveting to no end...

 

When I first opened the bottle I got that damp subterrenean scent and *swooooned*

 

I hoped it would be just the same on my skin. It is, for a brief moment, but then a spiciness develops and the scent definitely sweetens. The smoky vanilla mixes with the Indian resins; the end result is beautiful, (although I can't help but be a little sad that the gorgeous "in the bottle" scent disppears).

The wear length is average, as well as the throw.

[Athenae]

In the imp, I thought ... oooh.

 

Then, on me, it was like a Christmas tree threw up. Pine, pine, pine. I do tend to amp it, but held out hope for honeyed tobacco. Alas, no luck.

 

A.

[whisperingmachines]

At first: Pine. But not necessarily a bad pine.

When it dries, it mellows out a LOT. This is a very "quiet" and mellow scent, which isn't a bad thing- sometimes I like something that isn't loud and out there like Mme. Moriarty. My mum says it smells good too, but I think all BPAL smells good to her

 

This would make a great body wash... and soap...

[hipslike___cinderella]

As a forewarning, I have a funny relationship with super-popular BPAL blends: being that I usually don't like them at all. I tried not to let this get to me, as I was determined to give Illustrated Woman a shot anyways. Well, oh. My god. Just smelling the vial, I knew everyone's praise must be true. This is OUTSTANDING. Thick, musky patchouli, vanilla, tobacco and honey, and resins with a but fat captial R; all cut across with crisp pine pitch. I've tried some BPAL pines here and there, and I don't know the actual difference between pine and pine pitch, but this is glorious. Not medicinal at all or even particularly "foresty". It took me quite some time to have the courage to test it, as it was so good in the bottle I didn't want an epic skin chemistry failure to depress me.

 

Imagine my disappointment when upon trying this I got walloped in the head with vanilla. Eeek! The pine pitch vanished into the ether and the balls to this blend shriveled up entirely. leaving me with a timid honeyed vanilla. Sheesh. If for nothing but a clinging memoryof how great it was 10 minutes before, I hang out and see where this blend goes.

 

So later... I now see what all the fuss is about. It's the tobacco! Hi, tobacco. The scent gains body again and while the pine pitch never returns, the patchouli swells a bit and the vanilla has chilled out. So; this is a morpher, a skin scent, sexy and should be agreeable for many types of people. A wee bit lighter than I hoped, and I wish I could be one of those who amped the pine pitch. Regardless, this is a masterpiece and sure to go down in BPAL history. Miss Shelldoo is a lucky lady!

[filigree_shadow]

The only note in the description for this scent that I don't usually like is pine pitch... and guess what it smells like to me? Yeeup. Pine pitch. Oh sure, there's a great deep resin scent underneath it, and the tobacco is contributing a very nice dryness to the scent. But it still smells sticky to me. It also goes through a phase where it smells like, um, lobster. I swear I'm not making that up. I have no idea why it smells like that either.

 

I'm not willing to give up on it just yet, though. Those other notes sound too fabulous to give up on it already. I'll see how aging affects my decant and then go from there.

[marared]

While I can tell there's patchouli and tobacco in this, the pine is the dominant note in the imp.

 

I only gave this a very teeny dab, as this landed in my mailbox by mistake - I probably wouldn't have tried it at all, because I don't really like pine, but I thought that perhaps the vanilla would come out more on the skin, and in fact it does. It steps on the pine and pushes it into the background, and it turns into more of a resiny smoke smell. I definitely like this better as it dries, but it's still not something I'd purchase for myself in the end.

[Monster]

Wow wow wow!

 

I was so so excited to try this one, every note listed is something I absolutly love and I'm happy to say I wasn't disappointed at ALL!

 

Out of the bottle: Sweet, fresh pine with a swirl of musk.

 

Wet on my skin: I'm still smelling the pine, it's definitely not too sharp or masculine smelling at all. As I smeared it over my wrist I could instantly smell the honey and vanilla come through, I think they mellow out the pine just enough. Pine sometimes has a tendency to completely stomp out all other notes...not in this case.

 

Dry: The pine steps back a bit more and allows the musk and other earthy notes to take charge. The vanilla and honey are there to keep it from smelling too masculine. Beautiful! My husband says this is one of his favorite scents on me. I dabbed some in my hair earlier and he wouldn't stop sniffing the top of my head while we were out.

 

The Illustrated Woman definitely unique and incredible. I can't think of another Bpal blend that smells like her. I'll be grabbing another bottle of this, she's going to me my new "signature" scent.

[terrenity]

Bottle age: Two weeks? Ish.

 

In the bottle: Whew! I like pine, but this pine means BUSINESS! I can actually see where schackjj got the menthol comparison.

 

On: Pine continues to thrash about for a little bit before calming down, and then...

 

Dry: Baby powder. Nice baby powder, but baby powder nonetheless.

 

I'm heartbroken. I ordered a 5mL unsniffed because I was SURE it would be lovely, but it turns out I'm in the 5% of BPALers with skin chemistry that hates this blend. I'll try it again in a locket, and age it if that doesn't help, but at the moment this looks like The Illustrated Woman is sadly destined for the swaps.

[heathercaley]

I love it I love it!!

 

But what's disturbingly funny is that I put it on and said "mmmmm.. smells like gasoline" which is just plain wrong and silly on all kinds of different levels.

 

At first it's strong and has a crazy throw, then it starts to die down instantly. The throw stays mellow and about 5 hours later all I smell is soft powdery woods with a touch of tobacco.

 

I love it.. and will cherish my imp!

[sprocket21]

In the imp: This makes my nose tingle! Maybe it's that mysterious menthol clearing my nose?

 

On me, there's a lot of pine, and it's blending quite a bit with the tobacco. This is pretty sexy, and I'm surprised by how much I like it; generally anything that's described as "sexy" or "dark" is nigh-offensive to my nose. I can't detect the honey at all, but I think I get a bit of the smoky vanilla mixed in with the tobacco and pine. It's still making my nose tingle a bit to smell it though! Hehe.

[kakiphony]

Full disclosure: I tried this yesterday and wrote 90% of a review then. My computer crashed, taking that 90% with it. This is a recreation, and I can't swear I'm remembering every nuance.

 

In the imp: Pine sap. The kind that forms in sticky globs on trees and that people braver than me chew in place of gum.

 

Early dry down: The pine sap is quite dominant, and it seems sharper on my skin than it did in the decant. I get very little sweet or smoky from this. There is something resinous and a bit woody at the base that the jagged pine sap scent is sitting on, but it's not the usual molasses/wood I get from patchouli.

 

Late dry down: Huh. I smell like an old man wearing something truly wretched from a drug store -- like Aqua-Velva or Stetson. I have no idea what about this scent has turned it into my grandpa on me, but that's what it is. Usually, this happens from dark musk blends (not skin musk!). I never got any lovely tobacco or rounded resins from this, it went straight from spiky pine to old man musk.

 

This is one of those scents that makes bpal unpredictable and exciting to me. Based on the notes, this should have been awesome on me. Patchouli is my best base, honey is beloved, smoky vanilla and tobacco both do well on me, and pine has worked in some blends quite well (Organ Grinder specifically). Skin musk has worked before too. Yet, somehow, in combination, this blend just does not jive with my chemistry. It just goes to show that bpal is tricksy stuff.

 

I may let this age a bit and come back, but I doubt it will age enough for me to judge it again before the CD comes down. So this is probably not a bottle purchase. I'm still marveling because of all the ladies, this is the one I expected to buy.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Light amber coloured oil. Sweet, smoky, woody, resiny. STRONG. All the notes jump out pretty distinctly, especially the pine pitch and vanilla. Unisex.

 

Wet: A bit softer, but still very intense. The smoky vanilla and tobacco seem strongest now, followed closely by complex resin base. The pine is more resiny, less woodsy - it's not at all like wintry pine notes. The patchouli is light right now but fairly rooty/dirty, honey likewise is light and almost floral.

 

Dry: Ack, I'm having that same red-itchy skin reaction I had with Bezoar. Very slow drying oil, btw. While it reminds me of other blends I can't place, it's pretty unique. I'm positive one of the resins in copal...it has that hot/dry smokiness. The earthy and smoky and deep notes keep the vanilla and honey from being overly sweet, and it's even less sweet now than initially.

 

Summary: Dry, hot smoky resins and tobacco, which has an earthy edge abetted by the somewhat dirty patchouli. The pine is definitely a resin, not woodsy, but there may be other wood notes here. The vanilla and honey are lovely natural notes, but balance by the resins so this is only gently sweet. Unisex. Good throw.

 

Too smoky/dry/hot for my tastes in terms of actual wear, but it's a gorgeous scent that I'd love my apartment to smell like - and will doubtless be a very popular scent. Overall, really complex and unique and I wish I hadn't had reaction so that I could have seen how it evolved further over time.

 

If you are afraid of pine, try this! It's not your typical pine, it's more like balsam or a resin - sappy. I grew up with pitch pines (Cape Cod) and it's a perfectly nostalgic and evocative scent.

 

It and Bezoar are the only two oils to have caused a visible skin reaction - I'm guessing the culprit is a resin of some type?

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Very medicinal pine with a musky, warm, sweet undertone.

 

Immediately on skin: Pine is one of those notes that stand out to me a lot, since I really don’t like it. This blend on my skin is mostly pine, but it has a nice amount of musk and sweet warmth in the background. It’s sharp with a smooth finish.

 

After a little while: The pine stays pretty present in this, but the other notes really come out and blend with it. After just a few minutes and now on my skin this is a very musky, creamy, and slightly sweet pine scent. It’s very warm and has a feel almost like coconut. The vanilla, skin musk, resins, and honey really blend nicely into the pine, while the tobacco kind of smooths over everything.

 

Overall Impressions: This is a gorgeous pine scent, and has a LOT going on. It’s warm, musky, and creamy and you can smell each and every note, BUT at the same time, it all blends together seamlessly to create this really unique scent. I don’t like pine, so I wouldn’t wear this, but I can see this being a huge favorite.

[eatingthesea]

in scanning the reviews, i have to say that forspecial plate's assessment of the illustrated woman as "rugged beauty" is pretty accurate. to me, this is what the gorgeous, mysterious and haughty woman who rides into a dusty town on a horse, naked, in the wild west days, smells like! when i first smelled/tried the woman, i felt the pine was too aggressive, but i must say -- i feel sorry for those who have the overwhelming pine scent throughout. for me, this scent is worth the pine assault just for its evolution ...unfortunately, the tobacco does dissipate after some time, so that i can't describe the scent as a vanilla-frosted pine tree that is smoldering (one of my first impressions!). after awhile, it is simply a musky, piny vanilla. not too much smokiness. it is definitely unlike anything i've smelled before, incredibly unique, but the only thing that gives me pause is 1) its lightness, and 2) its appropriateness/style. i don't know how "me" it is. i think i'd love smelling this on someone else; maybe i just don't have big enough balls to wear it, lol. i'm going to have to come back to this review at some point, because i just can't pin down exactly how i feel about this complex little lady.

[agnusdei]

I am not a fan of pine, it tends to be overpowering & sharp on my skin & is just generally not something I want to smell like. But The Illustrated Woman, her pine is like nothing I've smelled before. She goes on predominantly pine, but it's gentle, sweet scent that I wasn't expecting. It feels chilly, almost like mint, but it completely lacks in any bracing sharpness and is instead light & cool like a welcome breeze. The pine pitch may be the most easily noticed top note, but the skin musk is most certainly the heart of the blend. It's got the smooth familiar skin scent & the personalization that it provides, mingling with tobacco smoke, softly spicy resins, & the subtle sweetness of vanilla & honey. I had totally forgotten there was even patchouli in here, because I'm not really picking any up. The pine never completely goes away, but after an hour or two it fades and becomes a delicate coolness to contrast the body-warmed feel of the skin musk. All the while, skin musk & friends are getting to shine, becoming stronger, sweeter & smokier, with a bit of a shimmering powdery quality. The Illustrated Woman is ultimately a lot lighter & softer than I was expecting, but is still such a gorgeous scent. I've already worn her a couple of times and each time have been impressed with how uniquely soft & sweet the pine is, an more importantly, have really liked that note. If I have any money left after buying a few thousand bottles of Inez I will be picking up a bottle of the Illustrated Woman for sure.

Edited September 16, 2008 by agnusdei

[goddessrobyn]

Okay...

I NEED to go to sleep but I HAD to review this before I do...

 

When I first put this on, I smelled... NOTHING! Seriously... you could not smell ANYTHING. I even asked the DH for a second opinion and HE couldn't smell anything.

 

Then... slowly... this started to warm up and BAM! SEX!

 

Seriously... this is everything that I hoped O, Snake Oil, Anne Bonny and all the other forumite favorite sexy girl scents would be but all of those smell like ass on me and this... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

The closest comparison I can make is to Chimera... it has that spicy bite to it but there is a wonderful creamy vanilla under it that keeps it soft (and has the added effect of making me want to lick my wrists... which I've tried and, like vanilla extract... it doesn't taste like it smells!)

 

Other than "spice" and vanilla, the notes are hard to decipher NOTHING (not even the vanilla) stands out or screams "HELLO!"... everything is in perfect balance... well blended.

 

Also, other than the 15 minutes of NOTHING, this hasn't changed much since my initial application, or I guess I should say since it initally showed up

 

Finally, it doesn't have a lot of throw... its definitely one that s/he'll notice as s/he leans in to nibble on your neck (and one of those blends that will INSURE that nibbling does occur!!), but not something that a stranger standing at an "appropriate" distance is going to necessarily catch on to.

 

I REALLY wish that CD would make a permanent stop a la Arkham... there are just too too too many beautiful scents and not enough time and money to purchase them all in the quantity that my obsession demands.

(Beth... I hope you're reading this!!!! )