Khrysopelex

[zankoku_zen]

Caraway, amber, saffron, bergamot, and neroli.

Orange (hello neroli), caraway and saffron. It just smells spicy ODD. Like old man spice and leather that has been cleaned in orange cleaning liquid.

I know, not a flattering description. But that's what it smells like to me. Edited April 5, 2010 by zankoku_zen

[SophieCedar]

Got a sniffie of this.. straight up rye bread to my nose! I applied to see what it would do.. still dark rye bread. I think the caraway is too strong to allow anything else through. I can sense a roundness because of the amber, saffron, and bergamont, however still mainly caraway. Unique and I'm sure uncharted territory however too strong for me to actually wear around. I would like it as a house/atmosphere oil, though! Yum!

Edited April 12, 2010 by SophieCedar

[lucyboo21]

Wet, rye bread with extra carway seed. Actually smells good, just not sure if this is what I want to smell like.

Then it goes to to a NASTY wet dog eating rye bread smell. Had I not been driving during this stage I would have been scrubbing it off.

Good thing I didn't scrub it off as the wet dog stage lasted about 15 (very long) minutes then morphed into a lovely warm dry spiceness.

Final verdict: If you can put up with the wet dog phase the dry down is worth it.

[aquazoo]

A bright, golden scent! Lemony, and also metallic. I get a little licorice; I think that's the caraway. Maybe a little fresh bread, too.

[nekogrrl]

This smells exactly like a casserole my mom used to make, which had caraway seeds in it. While the perfume has a slightly different scent to it thanks to the amber, I'm still not particularly enthused about smelling like my sister's favorite childhood meal.

[yeahbutnobut]

Khrysopelex

 

In the imp: caraway! This smells like a spice cupboard. But that’s no bad thing.

Wet on skin: this reminds me of the Kinnabari prototype! Dry and dusty and spicy.

Dry on skin: this scent is fascinating. It’s almost identical to Kinnabari, I think, but a bit nicer. Caraway is the dominant note, and it’s amazingly complex. It smells like a spice cupboard or a spice market, but it also has a mineral aspect to it that makes me think of dust, clay, and something about it reminds me of paints and pastels and brings back memories of art classes. In fact, something about this smells like pencils! It also smells very much like how I’d imagine a desert to smell-hot, dry, dusty, and sandy, I see sunset colours when I smell this. The saffron really enhances the golden, heated, arid scent this has. I can also smell hints of sharper bergamot and neroli as well.

After a while: pencils. Ok, I said there was a hint of pencil to this scent. Now it’s all pencils all the time. I don’t know what’s doing that but there’s a woody note here that my skin turns to the smell of pencil shavings-especially coloured pencils. And crayons! So yes this scent does seem to tickle my creative side and makes me want to get arty, but do I really want to smell like a box of crayons and pencil shavings? The good news is that I can smell some amber now.

Thankfully that Eau de Crayola seems to calm down after 2-3 hours and the amber is really, really showing off. What glorious amber, with surprising throw, this is the Dreadful Lies amber, but without the powdery scent I sometimes get from DL. There are still hints of woodsy caraway but they are a lot more pleasant, and the throw this gives off is not pencils but wonderful warm amber. At one point it does smell a tiny bit like Khrysee…before fading away.

Verdict: this one is strange! I’m not sure if it’s the caraway that smells like a mix of dry red earth, pencil shavings and crayons, but this is what it smells like to me! At times compelling and nostalgic, evocative of my creative school days, but at times it drives me crazy simply because it smells like pencils-and I don’t want to smell like a pencil! Or a crayon, for that matter. The drydown makes up for it though, once the amber shows up, mixing nicely with the saffron and neroli, and creating a lovely glowing golden drydown. If it smelled like that all the time I would have got more, but the pencil stage is too much for me to take.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? maybe a decant.

If you like this, try: Labores Solis, Zenobia, Helios, Iron Phoenix, Khrysee

[Argentwolf]

Aha! Those who are pegging the caraway as rye bread nailed it, to a point. It's got a sweet, licoricey sort of undernote to it. Alas, it's very, very faint...

 

...and is hidden under a huge pile of rust and burnt rubber.

 

So, if you want to smell like cleaning your garage or living in an abandoned building, here, take my imp and go nuts.

[filigree_shadow]

This smells like rye bread to me. I'm suddenly in the mood for a delicious reuben sandwich.

 

Can't see myself wearing it as a perfume.

[Lethran]

In bottle: They are not kidding about the caraway. So, it’s caraway dominant with neroli a distant second, and saffron a more distant third. The amber and bergamot are soft but discernible. It does give an impression of gold. Wet: more complex on the skin. Still caraway dominant, but less overwhelmingly so, which allows the other element more play. This isn’t my sort of thing, but it certainly is unusual. Dry: The caraway backs way off, becoming a well blended element in a complex whole. It’s now amber, bergamot, and neroli on top, with caraway and saffron giving it an exotic edge. I genuinely like it at this stage of it’s development, and it is certainly unusual.

[Scorianelle]

This has got to be one of the oddest BPALs I've had the pleasure of trying. I've worn it a couple of times now and I'm still not sure how I feel about it!

 

First Sniff: Fascinating! Paper and a musty/musky smell with a touch of incense (amber) and menthol (bergamot or neroli?).

 

Second Sniff: Terrible! Bitter, astringent dust and fumes.

 

Wet: Uck. Musty tar (caraway). If I smell it too much I feel sick.

 

Dry (30 mins): Welp it's definitely bounced back. There is an almost fruity note perched lightly atop dusty paper (amber and saffron). It's nice.

 

Dry (1.5 hours): The first time I tried this the saffron and caraway had mixed to become a musty almost damp smell, that the amber saved by making it smell like old books! Like sitting in the rare books collection of the library. However the second time I tried it the musty caraway dominated, which was more like moldy old books - not as pleasant at all.

 

Dry (3 hours): This was the nicest during both attempts. It's mainly amber and saffron there is no fruit aspect and little caraway. I think I like saffron.

 

Throw: none:

 

Colour: Burnished gold.

 

I can definitely see where the name came from, and this is certainly one of the more interesting scents I've tried. I feel I've learned something from it, which is always good but as to whether I'll keep it.... I'll have to see. This is definitely an inside scent. For study perhaps?

[neuilly]

Wow, definitely agree with the rye bread. Very caraway dominant. It's comforting in an odd way, but I can't see me wearing it.

[WidgetAlley]

Imp: Bitter, spicy neroli, caraway, and something like dry cedar wood.

 

Wet: Sweetly bitter neroli, spicy caraway, bright bergamot. Really lovely, a little incense-y, a little citrussy, oddly sweet. Smells a lot like a very nice spiced black tea... reminiscent of The Lion on me.

 

Dry: This ends up smelling like chocolate-incense-tea on me! Not sure where the chocolate is coming from, but it's lovely-- very similar to The Lion but a little foodier adn less dry. I will definitely enjoy this.