Psychological Horror

[Gin]

It smells perfectly normal: a lovely, unassuming, traditional mid-20th century musk with something not quite right lying underneath.

On me, this is Johnson's No More Tears Baby Shampoo, and it amps to high heaven.

[imaginepageant]

In the Vial: Musk, straight-up. But as the description says, there's something not quite right about it. Something a little sweet, but almost... burnt. It's definitely a red smell. I want to say neroli, but usually neroli rapes my olfactory system, and this is very subtle. Others have said it smells like baby powder, and yeah, it does, but it's so much darker.

 

Wet: Okay, now it's getting lighter, and closer to baby powder. And soapy. And floral. Hmmm - powdery, soapy floral? Rose, is that you?

 

Dry: Maybe it's not rose; my skin turns even the most complex blends into single note rose, but that's not happening here. Others have mentioned violet, so I guess that's what it is. Otherwise, this is still quite powdery and soapy, and very clean, with some musk lingering behind it. It doesn't smell dark at all anymore. It still has that odd burnt quality to it, though. Also: this has an enormous throw.

 

An Hour Later: It's very faint, and nearly gone. All I'm getting is a whiff of a powdery floral.

 

Overall: I think this fit the description quite well, in that there was just something wrong about this blend. Clean, soapy floral paired with musk? Doesn't really make sense to me. Plus there was that odd burnt smell to consider. I didn't hate it, but it's certainly not my thing.

[theseagrows]

i had originally been uninterested in this one, but people's review made me more excited for it. however, their skin chemistry must be very different from mine!

 

this starts off with a slightly burnt kind of foody note that also smells kind of like a parchment/paper note i recall from other scents. (needless to say i do not like it.) once that disappears this becomes a weirdly musky aquatic scent. it's not exactly white musk, but there is something else added to it. it's SO familiar, but i just cannot place it. off to swaps with this one.

[ShinoTenshi]

I have been dying to get this since I sniffed a friend's bottle and fell in love. The scent in the bottle is a little sweet, a little fresh, but with a bit of a sharp undercurrent. I can't seem to find specific notes, but almost a foody note in there somewhere? I actually get the tiniest bit of Dorian in the mix too, don't know why, but YUM! I happily applied and went to work. This is where the "psychological horror" really started to hit...

 

All day I kept catching a whiff of something rancid, something disturbing, and I couldn't figure out what it was. I would sniff my wrist just in case and only caught the sweet freshness I loved so much from the bottle. At a loss, I finally re-sniffed the bottle and caught the same sharp acrid scent chuckling manically from the oil within. Oh, horrors, noooooooooo!!!!

 

Yup, this happens to be one of the few scents that turns to cat pee on me I am very nearly devastated, but nonetheless, impressed with how well the oil lived up to its name....

[Wren12]

Hmmmm....this is much sweeter than I hoped...I'm getting some type of high floral notes from this one, with a sharpness to it I can't identify.

 

Drying a bit of a sweet musk peeks it's head out. Whatever is causing the sharpness may keep this from the swap pile.

 

At least I don't get cat lee like some people, hehe.

 

ETA: on further reflection this is going too high and too floral for me.

 

/sigh. I wanted to like it so bad.

Edited December 5, 2012 by Wren12

[OctoberGwen]

What a fascinating oil. It captures the concept really well, I think.

 

Wet, all I can smell is a strong chemical note - like cheap hairspray. After a bit this begins to die back, and quite some time later I get an unassuming powdery musk with a bit of violet. And that horrible chemical note lurking underneath.

 

Psychological Horror doesn't unnerve me quite as much as Whitechapel did, but it's close. I am so glad I got to try this!

[lookingglass]

Psychological Horror is the Other Miss Forcible's equally disturbing, less foody sister. Wet, it's musk, musk, musk...soft powdery notes, and skin scents of various levels of cleanliness. On the drydown, it becomes deeper and more complex. I am thinking a bit of rose, maybe a touch of violet, a sweet yet dusty note, and scalpy, creamy orris. It definately has a vintage feel, and I love it!

Edited November 6, 2013 by lookingglass

[Veronica]

I have a bottle that I got frimped (frottled?) in a swap labelled "Psychological Horror B-Movie Prototype (not for sale)"--so really not sure what is going on there...but the scent in the bottle matches the notes listed here and people's reviews, so I'm going to drop this one here (vs. B-Movie which seems to be incredibly foodie). On me, this is exactly described--predominately a creamy musk, not too warm, but very lovely, a skin scent if there ever was one. Whoever drew the connection to Buck Moon was spot on. A few hours after drydown, the soapy violet that had been lurking in the background comes out full force, almost medicinal and herbal. I love the long musk stage of this one, but since I have enough similar musk scents and I don't particularly like violet, I'll pass and let this one move to a new home.

[LiberAmoris]

I've had Psychological Horror for years and bust it out from time to time when I want a powdery, lovely skin musk. This is definitely powdery, but it's a Hitchcock blonde kind of powdery—classic, clean, with something absolutely not quite right underneath. I also get violet, like some other reviewers, and maybe orris? I have to be in the right mood for this one, but when I am, I absolutely love it.

[Lucchesa]

It doesn't happen often, but I developed a strong dislike for this from the get-go. It was strongly musky on my skin with a burnt or industrial undertone. And violets, I think, which are nearly always a disaster on me. It does improve somewhat as it dries down, but not enough to salvage it from the negative initial reaction. Swaps.