The Harlot's House

[claudia6913]

The dead are dancing with the dead, the dust is whirling with the dust: angel’s trumpet, violet, white sandalwood, oude, copaiba balsam, angelica, white tea, olibanum, and oakmoss.

 

Soft floral, not overpowering, not assuming, it just is. Kind of wafts around without imposing but letting you know it's there.

[BlueberryPie]

My nose must be crazy, because I swear I get a rose note in this. But then again, the only rose scent I've tried so far is Roses, Pearls, and Diamonds, and it's rather faint on me in that one. So maybe my nose just hasn't learned what roses actually smell like yet.

 

I wish the white tea note would come out more on me, because I love tea scents. But overall, this is just a very floral scent on me, with the faintest whiff of sandalwood. Which isn't a bad thing at all. I enjoyed this a lot. I thought I was going to think it was generic at first, but there's something about the subtle freshness to the florals, something tempering it down and making it not piercing or cloying that really made this blend for me. I'm now wavering on whether to get a bottle of this.

 

The main problem I have is that my skin eats this up, so after an hour, there's almost nothing left. And I want to get a bottle to see if the problem improves when I slather, and I can't slather properly with an imp. I'm too paranoid about using anything up. (I have so many almost-empty imps at home that I refuse to use.)

 

Score: 9/10

[Ajila]

In the bottle - A high pitched sweet/sharp floral bouquet with a hint of pepper beneath

 

Wet on me - Sharp green sappy florals with a hint of pepper

 

Dry on me - A calm cool floral

 

Overall - It's quite a classy scent, but it's not really me

[littlesparrow]

This is really good - bright and refreshing...it's not too feminine, I feel like a man could get away with wearing this...I can't really pick out any individual notes but I agree that it's classy. It's very very nice! Maybe bottle-worthy!

[filigree_shadow]

I think my imp is pretty aged at this point, because I'm having a lot of trouble identifying particular notes, and it's certainly not the heady floral soapy perfumey scent other people have described. It's light, sweet, pretty, and a little woody. It seems like I can tell there's sandalwood in this, and the sweetness seems to be coming from the tea. I don't know what this imp smelled like when it was new, but I bet aging has helped. It's pretty nice, and I'm not a fan of florals.

[Veronica]

Clean, white floral scent. Soft and slightly "wet", very faint.

[SophieCedar]

Wow! This is the 1st blend I've experienced where angels trumpet was notable and actually stuck around! Its wet, purple, green, earthy, clean. Reminded me of Devil's Nightcap from LUSH for a sec. Violet becomes more prominent in the drydown but its still sufficiently obscured by the rarer floral and base notes.

 

Overall, I truly like it. Nice floral that's just this side of different. I'd say wear this to confuse true floral geeks...they won't be able to identify the notes clearly. Plus, its got hella throw!

[Kay Torres]

I really loved this when I first got it from the lab; it was a fresh, pretty floral with just a hint of woodsiness. Now that it's had a bit of a sit in my drawer, I hate it. My skin DEVOURS the floral notes and it's just wood and tea. Very STRONG wood and tea that makes my eyes water. I smell like the man after he's been out cutting (only nowhere near as delicious) - it's sort of briny, woodsy, bitter and very sharp. It sort of reminds of the smell of a rotting fallen log. Not feeling it. I need a scrub.

Edited July 29, 2016 by SunsetKay

[gloame]

This is really pretty and I love it. I definitely smell the violet, and it's behaving very well! The sandalwood and balsam are mixing into an almost-cedar, which I love. Oakmoss to keep it from going too sickly sweet with the violet, and tea to soften it. Very nice!

Where I'd wear this: Spring holiday in Seattle

[VetchVesper]

It's interesting so many people are getting floral from this, b/c on me it becomes a very clean, astringent, sort of woody herbal. It's really interesting, and it actually does remind me of the smell of an old house. Like... one with old hard wood floors and cabinetry that's not dirty, but definitely has a smell from all the age.

 

There's a bit of floral in the opening, though I didn't guess it was violet till I looked at the notes. I also smell the oude, which might be what's reminding me of that old house smell. It's a little funky, but not going strait to "poo" as some oude does. Then a sort of astringent, green herbal thing starts creeping in, which I'm guessing is a mix of white tea and angel's trumpet and who knows what else. Then the balsam peeks and there's a camphorous quality to the whole thing. This phase is very woody before it slides to a sort of soapiness. Not floral soapiness, but again, clean and herbal. This smells to me like clean old house. It's very atmospheric and not at all what I expected, but I'm glad I got to try it out!

[dementia_divine]

In the imp: The angel’s trumpet, white tea, and oakmoss stand out to me the most, with some resins (I think mostly dry sandalwood) lingering in the background.

 

Wet: I’m getting angel’s trumpet, white tea, dry, white sandalwood, and oakmoss, with a bit of sweetness from the violet and a touch of oudh darkening the scent.

 

Dry: This actually smells really sharp on me. It’s very high-pitched, almost like nail polish remover. I think one of the floral notes has decided it is at war with me. Behind that, there’s some oakmoss and dusty resins.

 

Verdict: It was nice to be able to try this, because I love trying scents inspired by poetry, but alas, The Harlot’s House does not jive with my skin chemistry.

[milo]

Fresh and airy. I'm thinking from the tea. Not getting one particular floral, it's just well blended. It threatens to go powdery after a bit, and becomes rather sharp. Not for me, but nice to try.