The Forest Reverie

[Aether]

A sunlit ancient forest, dotted with wild roses, grape vine, and queenly lilies, clothed in swirls of opium smoke.

Well, this smells like lots of opium on me with a hint of grape if I smell it from the right angle. I got told I smelled like an old lady when I was wearing this, I'm a young man so this didn't thrill me lol.

[impolight]

:::THE FOREST REVERIE:::

 

So many formulas to love in Bewitching Brews...

Ah, where does the time go?

Who needs silly things like calories when there are so many wonderful experiences to sniff?

Forest Reverie seems intimidating because of the floral profile's largesse...Roses are indeed wonderful, though Lilies can, unprovoked, be as subtle as having your hair brushed by a back-hoe... Shall we delve?

From the Imp: Whoah! Kick ass and violence! Yeah!

At first impression, this was remniscent of, "The Black Tower".

From the uncapping, this was all wineskins, loam, and charred wood.Having an opportunity for a few seconds recovery, the nose thinks it might recognise something floral... Though it's wee, distant, and whimpering beneath the weight of a fallen battle-horse.

Could there actually be a spot of Vetiver lurking in here somewhere?

A secondary sniff offers much the same interpretation with, if anything, a bit of mossiness. This is very assertive and likeable so far!

Not the dreaded floral bomb that threatened to pop the stitches of the Lab's notes.

Illinition: Still dark! The florals are here, yet more in the sense of petals floating in a large bbowl of wine... There is still a Vetivery mossiness, too...Just plain weird that it's nowhere in the notes.

Rose leers solicitously from the shadows, honey and glitter somewhere on the small of her belly.

Yeah, this is great! This could be the result of an unholy union of 'The Black Tower' and 'Highwayman'.

The Forest Reverie is a nice surprise.

On Her, this could work though only in the most stygian sense.

On Him, The Forest Reverie is gleefully debauched and would work wonderfully in the same vein a 'Satyr'.

The hits just keep on coming!

Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs has proven time and time again to be the unrivaled masters of the aromatic multiverse!

Get some of this while you are able! You won't be disappointed.

Forest Reverie gets a solid 5 out of 5.

[theseagrows]

at first, the grape is way too prominent for my tastes, but once it dies down ,this is quite nice. i often like BPAL's smoky notes, and it does me good in this scent. after drying it's kind of a smoky-musky-rose with maybe just a hint of lily.

[SophieCedar]

Wet: this is WHOA strong. 1st I smell the grapes, as I tend to amp them anyways, then some kinda evergreen and patchouli. Then there's wet rose mingling with the grapes and the evergreen confusing the hell out of me. This scent is turning me around and around...I'm still waking up with coffee by my side..

 

Drydown: I smell the opium and lilies however they're turning acrid. Probably because of the evergreen and grape, both of which are really iffy on me. I tried this once before, thinking maybe my experience was a fluke, but no. This is just too bizarre on my skin for my little brain to handle and amping like crazy. Coming back to this in summer/fall.

 

ETA: ok wait.. It's burned off a little more. Now I smell opium smokey grapes with an evergreen background. Kinda nice now! I think the 1st test, I was so horrified that I just washed it off too soon.

Edited February 12, 2011 by SophieCedar

[Suu4LC]

Lovely dark oil in the imp. Sot of a sharp grape scent, definitely a green/viney scent, cloaked in opium.

 

Yes, this is pretty much a very sharp green/lily scent-has an odd sour edge to it was well...and a sweetness that others have identified as a grape note. Definitely opium smoke in there as well. This really is not like any other bpal (or perfume for that matter) I have ever sniffed.

 

It kind of loses its uniqueness on full drydown though-ends up being a slightly powdery opium/green scent.

 

This was an interesting one to test-wet, it really was one of the most unique bpal scents I had tried, so I would recommend everyone at least get an imp of this to experience!

[mxtine]

This is like rotting wet grape blunt wraps in a stale opium den. I really dislike grape!

[blktauna]

This is really yummily smoky with a hint of wood, a nice mix of lilly and rose with just the faintest of occasional juicy grape jam reminders on the back of your nose. I like it.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Floral sweetness corrupted by vetiver-ish smoke into something unpleasant.

 

On skin: I can wear vetiver happily in very small amounts and in complex blends. Unfortunately, The Forest Reverie is not such a case: the smoky, slightly acrid vetiver is the same that made Hurricane, Love's Torments and Santa Muerte unwearable. At least the vetiver calms down somewhat after drydown, and makes an uneasy truce with the floral notes. This dry stage is a stark juxtaposition of thick smoke and sweet florals, of which rose is most prominent. Now The Forest Reverie is more pleasant, and reminiscent of Liz: both are smoky/sweet-floral blends based on different notes, but Liz is so much better than this. Colour impression is pale pink underneath a layer of black grit.

 

Verdict: Truly, trees and flowers seen through a thick acrid haze. Even though The Forest Reverie ends up much better than I expected, the initial wet stage was quite unpleasant, and I already have Liz which is a far superior interpretation of smoky/sweet-floral. Don't think I'll keep this around.

[Cattastroficka]

This is another fave of mine. Today is the first day I've tried it.

 

 

To me this is musky, deep, floral and clean all at the same time.

 

I smell floral in the imp with smoke and musk.

 

I keep applying it because I like it soooo much.

 

I say 5 out of 5 if you like resiny florals. I do! I do!

[AnyseLawsBray]

In vial: Woods! Pines and evergreens.

Wet: Something strong, maybe the grape vine? Acrid, and very.

Dry: The wet phase was hard to get through, but the drydown is beautiful. Rose & opium smoke. So soft & sweet. Almost seems musky, but gently so.

 

Verdict: The trees are pretty scary at first (pine/evergreens do not like me) but the end result is lovely. I don't know how I feel about this. I may keep the imp around until I can find something that works better for me.

[WidgetAlley]

I have zero idea what to expect from this. Let's roll!

 

Imp: Sweet grape incense, herbs, and super-heady opium smoke. It's an interesting combination. There's musk in there too for sure, one of the darker ones-- black or red? It's kind of sweet and delicate and overpowering all at the same time.

 

Wet: Dark heady smokey rose, which is running strongly to soap/powder on me, and opium smoke, and head-shoppy incense. And some grape kool-aid. It's a very odd combo on me, almost fizzy and sort of root-beer and tobacco-smoke like. LILIES! Lilies, that's what I'm smelling, that delicate girly note in there with all the rough players.

 

Dry: Heavily sedated lilies , with a healthy touch of soapy herbal grapes and a touch of evergreen. I can see how if grape vine and rose worked on you this would be a gorgeous blend, and totally different from the more traditional Lab combos. If you're rose person, you've gotta try this! Wish it worked on me. Ah well.

[whitsunweddings]

In the imp: Pine, rose, maybe a bit of opium?

Wet: Pine pine pine.

dry: Reminds me quite a bit of the wet stages of Bess - grape with herbal/piney notes, I guess. There's a sweet smokiness from rose and opium, but it's darkedned by the pine. I quite like it.

[Lailya]

I received this as a frimp in my first BPAL order and I wasn't originally sure about this when I read the description. In the imp, however, it smelled intriguing: smoky grape, with just a hint of rose beneath it, so I figured what the hey, I'll give it a shot.

 

Oh dear God.

 

Upon application, this immediately turned foul, pretty much what I imagine a burning vineyard would smell like, and the throw was huge: at the time I tried this, my mother was sitting on the other side of the room and she got a really strong whiff of it. I'd applied it to my left wrist, but the skin on my left hand started itching (classic sign of an allergic reaction for me) as well as a minor reaction headache. I had to immediately wash this off, but it lingered. Ugh. Nasty.

 

I tested it again the other day to see if maybe skin chemistry at another time of month would alter anything and nope, still burning vineyard nastiness. Couldn't scrub fast enough.

[Soniadevi]

I bought this as an imp ages ago... and hated it from the first sniff! I really tried to like it, but there was always something really sharp, acrid, like leaves burning in the forest, not nice- the sunlit forest was more like the sun went through a lens and started a fire, anyway, you get the drift. After that episode, I seem to have received a frimp of this in every single subsequent order! Like a ghost haunting me! I kept sneaking them to my friends as "gifts" and felt really evil about it the whole time!

 

Today, I was wondering what to wear, and at the last minute I thought: "What the hell, I'll give this another try!" since the little devil was sitting there in the bottom of my BPAL hatbox, lonely, friendless, unlike it's fellow imps who have their own baggies per BPAL run inside a larger box... and the strangest thing happened...

 

It no longer smelled of acrid burning forest! Now it smells exactly as described. A soft dry bed of leaved, warmed by the sun streaking down, with a faint whiff of flowers and fruits, with incense burning very gently. All of a sudden I can't stop sniffing my wrist, disbelievingly.

 

Maybe my skin chemsitry changed? God knows. But now the Forest Reverie smells exactly as it should. Perhaps I'll allow this imp back to the fold with it's other fellow imps friends!

[patina]

This scent starts off in the imp and on the skin as profoundly unpleasant: strong pine and burning grapes. However, possibly due to my skin chemistry, this turns into a forest in the warm afternoon sun with hanging muskedine grapes everywhere. It's sweet and there's an undertone of patchouli.

 

I'd say this is generally on the masculine side due to the deep patchouli and pine. This smells a lot like Arcadia, if that imaginary place had a smell. I expect Pan to show up at any moment.

[mymymai]

In the Imp (ITI): Dense pine and juniper are all I can get out of the scent in the imp. As a fan of green, this bodes well for me.

 

Wet: Thin, dense forest (pine and juniper still), with swirls of indulgent opium smoke set against the dimming sunlight. If I concentrate, I can tease out the rose, but no lilies, which is fine by me.

 

Dry: Delicious fresh opium smoke against a faint green backdrop of grape vines and a forest in the far distance. Delightful!

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Deep and fresh.

 

Drydown: Pine with something sweet and brown. Somewhat off-putting. Opium-drenched roses amid dark evergreens. I think I’m detecting the grape just a bit, but instead of the fruit it smells more like the stem.

 

Dry: An odd combination of forest-y freshness and a devious dankness. It becomes softer and smoother with the rose fading out early on and then returning to the forefront later. Soft and perfumey.

 

 

 

 

This is an odd little morpher. I was needlessly worried about the grape, which never fully showed up. The rose, however, ultimately made this blend a touch too perfumey for my tastes. I think I will retest at some point, however, because the opium and forest notes were quite lovely.

 

Something tells me that people who typically don’t go for forest scents might like this one.

 

6 out of 10 bones

Edited June 21, 2013 by BoneBone24

[tharsei-thanate]

Received an imp of this from a generous forumite!

 

Wow, the oil is really dark. It's a bit intimidating, to be honest! It's like I'm about to dab some wine on my skin.

 

In the imp: Oh, how lovely! This is a fresh, green forest! I can smell pine and grass and leaves and resins! I adore forest blends, so this is wonderful. I can also smell a subtle yet delightful sweetness. I can't quite figure out what it is (is it the lilies? the grape vine? the opium smoke? all of them seamlessly blended together into one gorgeous note?) but it's amazing. If my skin keeps it like this I'll be so happy!

 

Wet: Ah. That's a change. It's grape vine, but it doesn't smell really pleasant. I mean, it's not awful but it's a bit... overripe? It's certainly dark and heavy but not really in a good/sexy way. Luckily it's not disgusting, just a bit unpleasant. Hm, wait, it's getting a bit better. It smells kind of perfumey now. Unless that's another note interacting with the grape? Not sure.

 

Dry-down: I think I'm catching a whiff of the lilies, and if I concentrate I can almost smell the beautiful forest that was in the imp. Also, the grape is getting less dark. There is something in this blend I just can't put my finger on that's really nice. It could be the smoke, I'm not really all that familiar with opium smoke.

 

Dry: The grape is still there but it's brighter. There's even a little tang to it. Also, it's perfumey in a way that's bugging me. It's nice but it's reminding me of something and I just can't figure out what. Maybe I'd be able to pin it down if my skin wasn't drinking it up so quickly. There's barely any throw left.

 

Further on: I can almost smell pine and that beautiful sweetness from the imp but it's so ridiculously light now that I honestly can't tell if it's actually there or I just think it's there.

 

Man, this was so much better in the imp. It's not too bad on my skin but it's just so different from what I was hoping for. Also, I don't think I got much rose, if any.

 

Actually, hold on, I'm gonna cut off a frayed bit at the bottom of my shirt and dab some oil on that and see how it smells there. This could be a blend for a scent locket.

 

Mmmm, forest. No wait a sec, it smells like... eucalyptus?! Nooooo, I don't want that! Where did that come from???

 

I can't win. Dammit, it smells so amazing in the imp.

 

Still, I'm keeping this imp. I can just sniff it straight-up if I ever need to be transported to a far away forest. I'll do more skin tests, too. Maybe my skin chem is just being weird today. Maybe the oil just needs to age. I'll get that forest on my skin someday, I'm determined to make it happen!

[Monday]

Frimp from the lab. Smells like a nice forest avec toxic waste dump site. This goes straight to the top of my Do-Not-Ever-Want-To-Smell-Again list. Really, I'd rather wear Saturnalia all day.

[BlueberryPie]

Oh wow. This has several distinct stages on me, and every single one of them is its own distinct shade of horrible.

 

When first applied, this is stringent and sharp, like insect repellent.

 

As it dries down, it turns into cheap, supermarket air freshener.

 

And as it continues to dry, out of nowhere, this sour, bitter, just plain wrong note comes out of nowhere.

 

And in its final stages, the sour note just plain stinks, so I end up smelling like an onion.

 

I have no idea what's causing this. According to a friend who also dabbles in BPAL, it might be the opium, as she's never tried a perfume with opium in it that smelled good. I'm gonna try another perfume with opium (Belle Epoque) today to see if she's right. But I am very disappointed. I was hoping this would work on me, especially since other rose scents had worked so well on me. (The fact that my kind of sort of boyfriend likes roses helps too.)

 

I think I'm gonna give this to a friend. *sad*

 

Score: 1/10

[Ajila]

In the bottle - A deep piney tree sap

 

Wet on me - A deep rich incensy sap

 

Dry on me - A soft hazy sap

 

Overall - Surprisingly soft in the end but not really my cup of tea

[Zii]

Wet: Opium smoke and wood. There is something a little sweet that reminds me of grape, but the floral is not there at all, which is not a bad thing.

 

Drying: This is starting to get much more distinctly piney and I am really love it. The grape is less candy like and more fruity but it's just adding a lush sweetness to the background and not overwhelming the scent.

 

Dry: Now it feels much more like floral, but it's a very wearable floral. It really does feel like walking through a forest filled with flowers. The pine and sap really dominate, and I really love how snuggly and comforting this feels. Like the evergreen forests in Maine during the summer. Just lovely.

[DevilsCandyCane]

This smells *exactly* like Blood Popsicle! ...except a hell of a lot nicer, richer and more complex

 

Really compulsively huffable, not something I would wear out, but rates highly in the 'interesting smells to wear while reading/writing for my own sniffing pleasure' stakes... Once dry, there's a *teeny* bit of green woodlands, the main body of it is rich and warm and gently fruity (the grape, maybe?), and there's just enough of the opium smoke to darken it down and make it interesting. It really does smell like a bunch of poets getting stoned in a sunlit forest, and I think it's awesome

 

Not quite a bottle, but I'll be grabbing more imps on my next order...

[blacksh33pboi]

First off is something piney and bitter with a tinge of smokiness. I have no idea what opium is supposed to smell like (poppies... ? :v) but the smoke is definitely there. Looking it up on fragrantica, it's apparently dry and a little powdery with 'balsam touches'. Perhaps that's where the pine is coming from then? Along with the trees in the forest, that is. ;p Thankfully I can't smell anything powdery on me, though it was a little bit present in the imp. About five minutes in, something a little sweeter pops up. And then, 10 minutes later, the flowers and grapes are beginning to come through. The grape, as others have said, is not sickeningly sweet or fake and just provides a nice fruity sweetness to the smokey piney mix. The pine eventually dissipates quite a bit and it is, as others have said, 'smoky grape', with a hint of floral in the background. This is definitely a journey of a fragrance! The name is definitely apt. There's something ancient and mysterious and magical about it. Anywho. At the half hour mark the pine is sometimes making some surprise cameos and I'm catching a little bit of the dry/powdery aspect of the opium. After about an hour, I'm catching whiffs of cypress. Eventually, the scent transforms completely from heady, smokey and mysterious to calm and slightly sweet (cypress and a hint of floral with a teeny bit of the grape and smoke still there). Coming down from a high. I'm a fan of forest smells anyway, and this was a really cool twist on that genre, so I think I'm gonna need a bottle of this one!

[Veronica]

A dry earthy smoke scent--really like an herbal headshop--with fruity grape accent notes. Not what I was expected, not my kind of scent. Fully dry, the smokiness fades to the background to become a warm faint incense-y note over sweet grapes. Still not for me.

Edited February 16, 2015 by delighted