Banshee Beat

[The Poison Queen]

A tousled, sexy mix of patchouli, vanilla, and hemp.

I was generously frimped a decant of this to try by the lovely Sunshine, I was very excited!

In the imp: A strong sourish patchouli-vanilla, and something else, almost like acetone. Uh oh. Definitely NOT what I expected. No headache, always a good sign for me! I almost didn't want to smell it because it was compared to Goblin, which is literally the only scent I've run into that made me physically ill.

Wet: Vanilla nailpolish remover. D: D: D: D: This is the worst thing my skin has ever done to a scent since Lady Una and the moldy coffee incident.

Drydown: An almost non-existant vanilla with a faint tinge of nail polish remover.

Dry: Stale old hotel room. The kind that's been smoked in for a long time but is no longer a smoking room, but you can still catch a whiff of that old unpleasant smoke, though they've tried to cover it up with a nice room spray.

Oh well. Probably all the better since it's expensive and hard to find. But with all the hype I was really disappointed.

[BlueberryPie]

Well, that clears things up. What turned me off of Roadhouse wasn't the tobacco note. It was the hemp. Something about it makes me nauseous. This blend was very disappointing, considering the hype. I wish I'd gotten more patchouli and vanilla, as I'm sure I would've loved that, but hemp is clearly a Note of Doom for me. Oh well, that's one more ultra-rare bottle I don't have to worry about finding more of.

 

SCORE: 1/10

[Erinofhere]

I got this from the forums (Decant) and it arrived today. I tried it out on my wrist and then ran out to have lunch with a friend. All through lunch she kept sniffing the air and saying things like "something smells really good". Finally I shoved my wrist under her nose and asked if this was what she smelled. She grabbed my wrist and just kept it there. She looked up with this half panicky half happy bewildered look on her face. I explained it was a BPAL oil and it can be very hard to get.

 

She sort of pouted and said so I guess I won’t be getting it for my birthday.

 

While I love her with all my heart and would do anything to make her happy...I am not coming off my decant of Banshee Beat. No way. This is the S@*$!. Ahhh the vanilla is just wonderful. It's deep, it’s dark it's sexy as hell. The Patch in this is the good stuff, not the cheap stuff we used to wear in 7th grade. Together they form a very wearable, very unique and very swoon worthy blend of hippy sexy that I just have to have more of.

 

I MUST HAVE A BIG BOTTLE. It’s crazy hard to find big bottles isn't it? I was really hoping I would hate this. But Alas...it's true love and now I will be pining away for it until I can secure a big bottle for myself.

 

A co-worker just said I smelled like CC Euphoria. HUH? No I don't. Her nose must be off. Okay well maybe if I really think about it Euphoria and Banshee Beat may be a bit similar. I'm sure there is vanilla and patch in Euphoria...but for the record that really is stretching it. They don't smell alike silly coworker.

[Teaker]

I splurged on a full bottle of this, unsniffed, and I'm glad I did. The patchouli is very different than other patchouli blends I've smelled- it's nothing like the earthy patchouli in Goblin or the woody patchouli in Depraved. It's very velvety and soft, and not the prominent note in the blend. When combined with the sweet vanilla it's an almost-foody-but-not-quite cloud of sweet soft lovelyness.

 

At first I didn't like the hemp- it smells like you would expect hemp to smell, kind of herbally and a bit hippyish. But I've grown to really like it, it's what makes this different than just a sweet vanilla perfume.

 

This has fabulous throw and staying power on me, the best of any bpal I've ever tried. My only issue is that occasionally vanilla smells like play-doh on me, and this is no different. But I can usually get about 6 hours or so before it becomes a touch yucky, and certain times I wear it it doesn't happen at all and stays lovely all day! So if you have issues with vanilla, be warned this might cause a few problems.

[Atrous]

This was generously frimped to me by the lovely Sunshine. I wanted to know what all the fuss was about.

Sadly, I had the exact experience that Blueberry Pie had.

 

As soon as I put BB on the same stale, nausea inducing smell hit me that's in Roadhouse. I thought it was the dandelion at the time, but no, it's the hemp. In Roadhouse it came off as sickly smelling, stale beer. In BB, it comes off as BO; I'm guessing because of the mix of hemp with dirty patchouli.

 

I had the notion that I would love BB because patch and vanilla are win notes but hemp just comes in and ruins the party. So, now I know that Hemp is a death note.

 

But, I can see why people love this scent. The vanilla & patch are fantastic. I think it might be the same vanilla as Tombstone (which I adore). I'm kinda relieved. At least I won't be cutting off my right arm for a bottle.

[bulletslc]

I was gifted a decant of this. I'm in agreement with the above reviews that say there is something sour or bitter in this. Fro, the above comments i guess its the hemp. The vanilla is lovely and the patch woody and pretty but that bitter note makes this a no go. Which doesnt upset me as i really didnt need another unicorn. :-)

Edit- I've been getting more and more into patchouli scents and now Banshee Beat smells really good. A dear friend gave me a mini bottle for Christmas. I also have a full bottle of Revenant Rhythm hair gloss on its way.

Edited December 19, 2015 by Bulletslc

[vanilla323]

Oh my! I just realized I never reviewed this and it's my HG scent! My favorite! My baby!

 

Well for me it's the best patchouli ever. When you sniff it from the bottle that is what you get first. The sexy and almost delicious patchouli. Then when you dab it on this baby opens up! It's all vanilla and amazing. This vanilla is perfect as well, and they mingle just perfectly together. I never really get full on hemp but I think it is there to balance everything out and just make it work.

 

The other great thing about BB is the staying power. It sticks around all day and on to the next. I spilled a bottle of it (OH SO TRAGIC) a LONG time ago on the top of my perfume box and to this day I still smell it on there!

 

I love my BB!

[LexieBlom]

Banshee Beat bottle

 

Wet/Bottle - Patchouli and Hemp galore, but not much Vanilla. VERY Similar to Ask The Nearest Hippie which makes me happy.

 

Wet/Skin (5 minutes) - mmmmm that Patchouli. Still very hem heavy which I also love.

 

Dry/Skin (30 minutes) - The throw on this is magical. It's like a sexed up ATNH, and I couldn't love this more.

 

Why are you so hard to find?

[LizziesLuck]

Apparently I forgot to review this! I had had Revenant Rhythm hair gloss and bath oil for quite some time before getting my hands on Banshee Beat. I find them pretty much identical, and hope that eventually there will be a Revenant Rhythm perfume as well, so we can all stock up!

 

It's the sweetness of this that I love so so much. It's somehow more than the sum of its parts. The vanilla is in perfect harmony with the patchouli - the patch doesn't dominate like it sometimes does on my skin. A favourite, for sure!

[celestia]

♔Banshee Beat

 

I had no idea I even owned this... but I found it in my stash from when I lived in Australia years back.. so this is the original version, and it's definitely been aged well.

In the Bottle: Sweet herbal patch, dirty but smooth?

Wet: Sweet gnarly patch. Creamy, herbal and dirty. Dry and medicinal- herbally scent gives the impression of incense and coupled together with vanilla creates a can't incensey green herbal musk. I would not wear this, but it smells great on me.
Great now I smell like dead leaves and ash.

Drydown: WOW how come it took so long to get to this stage? This is MUCH nicer, much sweeter, still dry but less herbally- more feminine. a little straw-like It's raw and gorgeous and you know what? I still don't like it! What on earth possessed me to pick this up? It must have been really early while I was still exploring what I liked and did not. It's a very dry, sexy and earthy scent. But I am none of those things and probably why I find it difficult to enjoy on an olfactory level. I do like it more than Hellhound but it Is definitely not me and should not be here. It has since found a new forever home, where it will be appreciated and loved properly.

 

TL;DR: Sweetened, almost sugary, gnarly-earthy-dirty patchouli

[djnevermore]

I have a LOVE-dislike relationship with BB. It's everything everyone else has said in terms of sexy, dark, hippie (think belly dancer troupe), but sometimes and only sometimes it goes quite plasticky on me. Love it when it doesn't but it's almost quease-inducing when it does. It's 7 years aged too, so I don't think it's a matter of aging. I wish it would make up its mind!

[Lucchesa]

I was generously sent a tester of Banshee Beat by a swap partner who adores this scent and was still kind enough to share it. I put on just a dab tonight after dinner, before watching a movie with my family. And I immediately understood what the fuss is all about. It went on gorgeous and has stayed that way for several hours now. Just the sweetest, chewiest, sexiest patchouli and the smoothest vanilla and a little bittersweet, earthy hemp and together they are flipping magical. I couldn't stop sniffing my wrist all through the movie. Maybe this one could be resurrected, too? Please???

[RavenintheWind]

I bought a bottle of this (on sale) way back when it was new, and I tried it and found that the patchouli note did its usual thing on me and amped enough to make my allergies act up. And the hemp note was too harsh on me. So I sold this bottle on pretty quickly to some other happy BPALer instead of hoping it would mellow over time. It smelled interesting in the bottle, but with the way any patch heavy BPAL never works on me, I had no hope of it aging to fit my skin chemistry.