Belshazzaz v3

[fairnymph]

Fruity - red cherry, I think? With maybe some soft cassia and/or sweet clove?

Edited June 5, 2010 by fairnymph

[midnight_aeval]

This was one of the last minute adds to my list because I didn't find the tester until it was almost too late! I sniffed the bottle and it was like grape juice. As I'm skin testing it the grape juice is still out in full force (I suppose it could be wine, but I don't detect a boozy note I get from most of the blends that contain wine - it feels more 'purple' than 'red' anyways). The drydown is less sweet, a bit sour, but still grape!

[ljaylh]

 

Hmm.. interesting.. first up - no cherry for me. This is a Good Thing. Grape? Yes.. perhaps.. but not the type of grape that I'm used to in BPALs.. this isn't the candy type of grape or the purple type of grape.. it's the wine sort of grape. And whilst I agree with MA that there's no boozy note here.. I'm categorising this as a wine blend. A very VERY dry red wine - like an old vintage Merlot or Pinot Noir - deep, purple/red grapes - definitely old fruit, not young and fresh wine - with a touch of pepper and smoke. The wine-ness backs off when it's fully dried down, allowing the smokiness to come to the front and reveal a slight spiciness.

 

There's more to this blend than purely a wine-like fragrance though - it's quite complex, but so well-blended that I can't quite pick out what else could be in there. It may be a touch of musk, or perhaps something earthy like a black patchouli.. maybe even some wood - teak, perhaps.. it has a slightly exotic flavour about it. For a prototype, it really does seem quite complete - it's very full-bodied and deep, with just the right balance of top and bottom notes to keep it interesting.

 

This really does seem worthy of Belshazzaz, the last King of Babylon - it's a feast of smells with a definite exotic edge. If you like those rich incense/smoke blends with dark red/purple undertones, you're probably going to really dig this one.

[zankoku_zen]

I think Belshazzaz actually has some blueberry in it - because on wet, it kinda reminds me to blueberry sweet tarts. I've found out that BPAL's blueberry smells more like blueberry candy than actual, fresh blueberries (sort of the way grape candy, well doesn't really resemble real grapes at all but we associate it with grape anyway). As it dries, I get more of the red wine, clove and I would say also some cassia.

 

I'm not a red wine/booze girl, but the addition of the spices makes this mighty tasty!