Thirteen (13): March 2009

[Tibicina]

This 13, created by Brian Constantine, is a sign of the times, illustrating chaos and hope, and strength during adversity. Bittersweet dark cocoa is surrounded here by 13 complex aspects, including exotic musks, caraway, allspice, aloes wood, lucky hand, Irish moss, and bamboo. Beneath it all is a glowing core of glistening cherry.

Since people might be considering whether to order this or not, I thought I'd put up my impressions since they had it at the Will Call on wednesday.

This isn't the usual sort of scent that I like, but I kept sniffing my wrist the entire way home. There's a lot more spice and wood than the other Thirteens I've smelled. I wasn't getting much chocolate once it was on my skin, though I'd smelled it in the bottle, but that may have been that I'd been smelling the box of chocolates and it just couldn't compete with those on chocolate. What I did get was this lovely, deep, complex blend of spices and wood, like I'd opened up a spice chest and was breathing in the air inside.

There didn't seem to be a lot of throw on me, but there was enough that I'd get whiffs of it for the rest of the night as I moved my arm around in the process of doing other things.

Anyway, I found it lovely and complex and I was sad that I could not get a bottle right then and instead had to wait to order on-line.

[catatonic1242]

This 13 has a deep red label.

 

In the bottle: Spicy dark cocoa with a touch of wood, and at the very bottom, bright, fresh maraschino cherries. Every so often I get a whiff of something that smells like liquor.

 

On, wet: The cocoa, which was dark in the bottle, is a little bit lighter now and a little bit drier. There's wood there, certainly, though to my nose it's not so much freshly cut wood as it is freshly polished. I can't smell the cherry any more.

 

On, dry: It's very much warm chocolate on me, a lot like how Milk Chocolate and Buttercream smelled on my skin. Further back in the throw, the bright red cherry lingers underneath, and the spices are so well mixed that I'm not getting any one note dominant over the other. The wood gives it a nice earthy balance but isn't especially obvious. This is a very nice, smooth chocolate blend.

[hkhm]

bottle: rich cocoa, spices and cherry.

 

wet: the cocoa is a backdrop to a magnificent spicy cherry scent. this is very much like kabuki, just with a dash of cocoa powder.

 

dry: much more cocoa when this dries. the cherry is soft, perhaps not as strong as the cherry in kabuki but there spices are still there and yummy.

[greenranger]

The label is a madder red color.

 

The chocolate in this smells melted to me, at first, and then becomes cooler and fresher...like reverse time lapse or something. The cherry is mostly a fruity sweetness rounding out the scent. The bamboo is part of what is making it seem wetter/cooler/fresher as it comes forward.

 

This is very different from February's 13. There's more chocolate, less spice, and there is an overall feeling of coolness to the scent, rather than warm dry spicyness which is what I get from February's 13.

[Twitch]

Oooh! I get to be one of the first to review this one. Cool!

 

In the bottle: Well, the first thing you get is BPAL's amazing cocoa note. It's like chocolate, but better. The cherry does follow close behind though, it's certainly not a background note as I was expecting. I also get something else, sort of like a brandy, overall it smells of those liqueur-filled chocolate-covered cherries.

 

Wet: The chocolate immediately starts to die down on me. I'm left with something resembling cherry lip balm, but deeper and more complex. Probably not something I would normally put on myself, but pretty nice anyhow. The liqueur impression stays, but it recedes to the background. This stage is pretty much dominated by that deep cherry scent, hopefully the chocolate will make a return on the drydown, but if not, I can live with it.

 

Dry: Doesn't really morph too much from the wet phase. The chocolate never has yet to return on me, which is a bit of a letdown, but it's still nice enough. I'll probably be putting the bottle up for swaps.

 

2 hours later: Pork? Is that you? Why do I suddenly smell like chocolate-covered salami? Maybe this is just a fluke with my particular body chemistry, but this is definitely getting swapped.

Edited March 29, 2009 by Twitch

[Zirah]

I was so excited to get in on such a limited edition! I was doubly excited when my Cn'S happened in under 2 weeks, and triply excited when the USPS got me the box in TWO DAYS.

 

...but that was where the excitement ended for me.

 

Sniffing the bottle I can smell chocolate, liqueur and a fruit stand in the sun. Everything seems heavy and over-saturated and I make this face: D:

 

I try it on anyway, knowing that my chemistry does strange, strange things to scents.

 

Wet: Overripe fruit and patchouli. I know there is no patchouli in this blend but that doesn't stop me from smelling like a hippie store. Also, overripe fruit. I cannot describe this smell beyond sickly sweet and tangy.

 

Drydown: Patchouli. My boyfriend poked his head in the room and asked if I'd been burning incense. I smelled like a pagan store -- mixed herbs and spices but utterly generic.

 

Overall impression: I am not pleased. But. I've been told to let the bottle sit and age and not to give up on it yet. I WANT to like this scent SO BADLY because I love 13, Friday the 13th, and the idea of the blend. But it is just NOT WORKING on me right now AT ALL. Sadness!

[wl552]

in bottle: cocoa and cherry liqueur

 

wet on skin: Ooo! Same as in bottle- a sweet cherry liqueur with a swirl of cocoa

 

drying: the spices are floating lightly to the top of this scent and I like it. It's staying on the sweet side, but isn't overly foodie. So digging this right now.

 

later: CHERRIES!!!!!! I love cherries. Spices are mostly gone and the cocoa is playing nice. It's a zippy scent that really makes me happy. It's sweet without being sickening.... perfectly balanced between sweet and tart. Awesome.

 

Overall: After my heartbreaking trials with 13's travelmates, CT:SO and CT:Dorian, March 13 has put a smile back on my face and a spring back in my step. *hugs bottle tightly* This one isn't going anywhere but on me!

[Dianora]

In the bottle this smells like... butter. And cherries, but mostly butter. On my skin, this goes on really thick and, like Snake Oil, leaves a yellow smear till it's rubbed in and dried. Wet, it smells like more butter, with a hint of wood. It's kind of sickening, and I was thinking I'd have to wash it off before I left the house. However, as it dries down, the buttery smell morphs into a sweet wood smell, which melds nicely with the cherry. The blend becomes reminiscent of Antikytheria Mechanism, but without the tobacco and smoke, and just the sweet, dark wood.

 

It's nice, but I'm really not sure if I'm a big enough fan of the dry result to stomach that initial butter phase. We shall see, I will have to try it again once it's settled.

Edited March 30, 2009 by Dianora

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the bottle, it's chocolate & cherries.

 

Wet on my skin after initial application, it smells much like I sniffed from the bottle, chocolate covered cherries and musk.

 

As it dries, the scent takes on a spicy sweet cherry & wood scent.

 

I'm glad I took a chance on this one. It's really quite pleasant.

[gleipnir]

This is my first review EVER.

I felt like I had to buy the March 13 2009 because it was the day that I defended my PhD thesis! So even though chocolates aren't usually winners for me I took a gamble.

 

In the bottle: this smells like pure cocoa, and I can smell cherry behind it.

 

wet on skin: I feel like the chocolate fades, and the moss/cherry come out more. I am pleasantly surprised.

 

after drydown: my fiance says I smell like a tootsie roll. I can definitely smell the tootsie roll similarity but it still does not smell like pure chocolate to me. I still smell a bit of cherry and wood/moss which balance out the chocolate and help it from being too overpowering. But the chocolate is stronger overall after the drydown. Maybe even a bit of a carmely chocolate smell.

[wolfie13]

Hah! That's too funny - I was just sitting here thinking I smelled Tootsie-roll ish and then happned to read the above post!

 

At first I had more of chocolate-covered cherry smell, then..... see above. I actually love Tootsie Rolls but don't really want to smell like them.

 

However, as this dries down I'm getting a bit more of the cherry smell, and maybe a wood-type smell? (I didn't look at the ingredients again before posting this, which I usually do.) Kind of like a combination of chocolate and Red Queen?

(I realize how that sounds on paper - like, not good. But it's intriguing)

 

Full disclosure - I almost never like chocolate and/or foody scents. I have no idea why I even purchased it, considering that as well as the fact that I've never liked any of the Thirteens I've tried, much to my great dismay.

 

But there's something about this that keeps forcing me to keep sniff. Like it keeps luring me further in with the passing minutes. I bet this will age really well. Try it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Inventrix]

In the bottle, it was pure dark chocolate liqueur. I would almost have been willing to swear that it WAS chocolate liqueur if I hadn't known better.

 

The drop of syrup oil I put on my arm to test was a surprisingly rich brown, which fit well with the chocolate smell. Wet, it turned into a much more dry, cocoa-powder scent with other undertones that I finally placed as those scratch'n'sniff things I had when I was a kid. You know, scratch the chocolate bar, smells like chocolate. It smelled like that, with some cocoa-powder and a teeny bit of cherry. Not very impressive.

 

After a few minutes, though, the scratch'n'sniff feeling went away and it smelled like a box of chocolate covered cherries rolled in some sort of yummy spice powder. Still mostly the chocolate, but the cherries were getting stronger. A while later (half an hour, maybe?) as I was going over to the boyfriend's, I got a sudden BURST of cherry! The dark red kind, not maraschino. It was like someone went and broke the chocolates open.

 

Drydown is about the same; dark chocolate rolled in spices, cherry liqueur and deep red cherries. I can see the resemblence to Tootsie rolls, although it's not what I would've thought of on my own. There's a hint of some sort of musks and maybe wood right up against my arm, but otherwise it's just the chocolates. I haven't yet decided how I feel about smelling like food, but I can see myself wearing this for special occasions or when I'm in an odd mood.

 

The throw on this is impressive, though! For me, at least. I seem to get pretty lousy throw in general with the ones I've tried so far, but I was getting wafts of this from my arm - inside my sweatshirt sleeve. The forearm, mind you, not the wrist, so it was making its way down my arm, out my sleeve, and up to my nose. I am impressed.

[Halloqueen2]

This is a strange one. Firstly, not sure why I even ordered it...not all that happy about chocolate smelling stuff, despite the fact that I ordered White Chocolate, Marshmallow and Coconut, and a previous 13 from last year. Way more then enough chocolate for me...HOWEVER, I'm very glad I did order it. This 13 is much different from the others, less chocolate than any I've tried so far. This does start out with a very non sweet, non powdery, mild cocoa (not chocolate). In fact, I may have missed it if I hadn't already known it had cocoa in it. It quickly goes away and takes on more of a resinous almost herbal smell with a touch of cherry waaay far in the back. It never becomes sweet or fruity on me, nor does it scream chocolate. I would say it morphs into more of a woody almost spicy smell, keeping in mind that the dry cocoa and threads of cherry wander through periodically. I like it alot, and glad I got it. If you are a resin, musky, earthy, heavy scent lover, you will probably like this. Can't compare it to anything, really. The closest that I can come to is Earth Phoenix, and it smells nothing like that...just from the same "class". It's very unique. My only complaint is that on me, despite the "heavyness", the throw is light and wear time fairly short. Still, I'll slather and enjoy. Best of the 13's on me, so far.

[Suu4LC]

Mmm! This smells very good in the bottle-deeep dark chocolate with a nice mix of spices (reminds me a bit of Green Label 13) and underneath it all that rich cherry core-cherry doesn't always work on me-but it is very promising here!

 

Oh yeah baby, come to mama! This is super sexy dark chocolate/cherry on my skin-this is what Vice DREAMS of being. The cherry doesn't go funky at all-and is just the PERFECT amount. On my skin the spice mix starts to come out a lot more-alllmost a bit too much! Where is my dark choco going??? Grr! I am going to see how this dries down-damn, what an interesting blend!

 

Hmmm, on full drydown I lose the cherry almost completely! Nooo! It really ends up being almost identical to Green Label 13 from '08 on me ;_; So much so that I don't think I would need both! This is still a great dark choco/spices blend though!

 

 

 

[unlaced]

In the bottle: cherry liqueur and light colored wood. Maybe some chocolate in there…

 

Wet on my skin: strong alcoholic cherry! I can tell there’s some chocolate in there somewhere but geez Louise…

 

Drying/Dry: It morphed fast from an alcoholic cherry shot of some kind to cherry slurpee. Still some minor chocolate in the throw but if I sniff it up close, fake cherry syrup slap to the face! I smell no yummy spices, no woods, almost no cocoa. This is terrible.

 

This 13 sounded like everything wonderful to me. I love cocoa, I love wood, I love fruits, spices are just even more fun to add to the mix! Why is this just a cherry slurpee on my skin?!?!

 

[tuesdaynexxt]

I LOOOOVE this Thirteen!

 

It is the most happy-making scent ever! Okay, after thinking about it and checking the scent description, I do get a bit of woods. But really, this one is like eating a cherry Tootsie Pop in a hippie store! I don't know how else to explain it! But it makes me smile!

 

And the label is amazing!!

[Lethran]

In bottle: chocolate covered cherries. Full disclosure, a friend who went to will call told me this was lovely spicey wood on her, so I got it even though I amp cherry and musks are not my friends. Your mileage will likely vary. Wet: cherry tootsiepop. Slowly, lots of comes out. OMG musk. Did I mention the musk? And the cherry. So much cherry. Dry: The bamboo finally says hi and is lovely. There is something else nice in there, but I have no way to tell if it’s moss or the lucky hand as neither species is familiar. Unfortunately the cherry tootsiepop/musk thing stays overwhelming, though not as badly as initially.

[MeiLin]

On me: OMIGOD ALMOND! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!! I had to wash it off. I got none of the other lovely scents people were describing. It was FOUL.

[WidgetAlley]

Swapped for a bottle of this with the awesome Twitch.

 

Bottle: Make sure you roll this one well, because I can see a layer of chocolate on the bottom! In the bottle this is incredibly strong, deep, dark chocolate, with a concentrated, intensely fruity cherry, something that smells a lot like teak, and spices. It's rather reminiscent of a dark chocolate cherry-chili bar (they are delicious, by the way.) It's a wonderful smell and is making extremely hungry.

 

Wet: All musk all the time at first, which is interesting. Definitely getting red and black, but maybe some Siberian too? It's not terribly animalistic but it is very strong. Underneath is spiced wood and sweet cherries, and below THAT is the chocolate, a rich dark background note. God, I want to eat myself... I think I'm getting a little of the bamboo, too, there's a wet green scent somewhere in the middle of it all. I can't possibly use the word "intense" enough to describe this. It's manhandling my nose-- it's not that it smells bad, really it's delicious, but it's almost like being punched in the nostrils.

 

Dry: Damn.... this is so heavily layered and complex it's giving me a raging headache. It's a great scent, but apparently not something I can wear. Swaps!

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

Cherry haters do not fear! I usually despise cherry notes in my perfume, but this is...uuuuhhhnnngggghhhh. Excuse me, it's REALLY good! I mostly get dark, classy high cacao content chocolate with the least cloying cherry core imaginable...the core of this fragrance is glistening, just like the description says. I don't get any Tootsie roll similarity, though. I can't pick any of the herbs out of this blend individually, but they are undoubtedly present, adding complexity. This is a real winner for me. I'm so glad I gambled on a bottle of this baby!

[surf-tormented]

This is one of my favorite BPAL oils. It is what I wanted the box of chocolates oils to be, not too sweet and a nice blend of cocoa scent with other notes.

 

This is cocoa without sweetness. Chocolate, wood, spice and musky. It's a food based scent for us who don't like foodie scents. It is weird, but I get no cherry in this like others do. I get mostly spicy woods and dry cocoa. It's a great combo. It is very sophisticated smelling. Probably more of a man's oil, but I like it too.

 

I am happy I bought it, since I wasn't the happiest with the last 13. It was a little too sweet for me.

Edited April 7, 2009 by Madame Nyx

[riflmom]

MMMMmmm...

Mild dark chocolate is the backdrop for wonderful spicy/woods. Wet, this had much more chocolate than spice. But dry, it's a super blend with just a hint of cherry. Not sweet at all - the cocoa melts in with the spices, musks and woods.

After about an hour, it's almost faded away (darned skin!). But that' what scent lockets are for...

My wonderful sister sent me a decant of this - now I wish I had bought a bottle!

Edited April 8, 2009 by breadwoman

[steffanina]

13-

 

In Bottle: Red musk and cherry-chocolate.

 

Wet: Red musk and cherry, though I'm not sure about the chocolate. It might be a psychological need to pair chocolate with the cherry rather than me really smelling it, even though chocolate is an element listed for the scent.

 

Dry: I seem to amp red musk until it's sickeningly sweet. I'm not blaming that on the cherry; that's just what I do with red musk. Red musk is better as an occasional sniffer for me. Once it's faded it's nicer, but it's hard to wait for it to fade and get there. Too strong for me.

 

Overall: Not for me.

[Lamia]

This is the first 13 that doesn't work on me - waaaaaah!

 

The chocolate is nomm as always, but the thick fruit (yeah, ok, Tootsie pops works as a description!) goes away to leave a soured dairy smell. Someone above mentioned butter, I get more of a milk/white cheese rancid note.

 

The dairy sourness does eventually go away, but WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

[caitilarkin]

In the bottle: Spicy, woody chocolate (not getting any cherry)

 

Wet on skin: Hi, cherry! Thanks for coming out to play with the chocolate!

 

Dry on skin: The cherry is bright and strong, but it's balanced by the chocolatey/herbal/spice/wood elements.

 

Lasts over 12 hours on me and the cherry fades considerably after the first 2-3.