Thirteen (13): August 2010

[windbourne]

A base of bitter dark chocolate with thirteen baneful and beneficial bits including pimento berry, pink pepper, tolu balsam, bergamot, golden honey, tobacco absolute, champaca flower, and paprika.

Woo! A new 13! The last three were terrible on me, but this one stands a good chance of supplanting the June 08 as my new favorite. The bottle is lovely, too; instead of just being a colored label with a number, it has a very nice vintage 'dance with Death' image. As for the scent:

In the bottle, it's quite bitter and spicy, definite peppery and balsamic notes. (On a bad day, or with a slightly less sweetened base, it could almost smell like salad dressing. :} ) It becomes much sweeter once it's on the skin, with the honey and chocolate kicking it up. There's a nearly waxy aspect to it as well which I find pleasing. As it dries, it goes through a tooth-achingly sharp-and-sweet phase where the spices completely disappear on me. They come back after a while, though, and this ends up a pleasingly spicy honey with only a tiny bit of chocolate.

This is possibly the -least chocolatey- 13 I've ever tried, and I'm completely fine with that. Throw is significant, and it seems as though this will have some decent staying power. Nom.

ETA: Latelate drydown, the tobacco and champaca really pop up and start throwing out waves of deliciousness. This is very lovely, though not something I'll be able to wear to work.

[hkhm]

bottle: soft, spicy cocoa. a more dusty, dry chocolate scent than usual.

 

wet: this is lovely! very little coco or chocolate. instead this is a sweet, spicy blend of pepper, honey & tobacco. beautiful.

 

dry: a bit more cocoa comes out as this dries, a nice undertone to the honeyed spices.

[wl552]

Oh, wow, hmmm!

 

In the bottle: a sweet, powdery, almost fruity cocoa. Interesting!

 

Wet on skin: I honestly can't pin this down. The cocoa is laying low and I get a very sweet, but biting smell.

 

Dry: Well. As the Mr. says, "shit, hell, damn, piss, f*ck"!! Honey, you better not amp, damn it!! Don't do it!! Gah, I can smell the honey and it's trying it's best to do that rancid thing it loves to do on my skin. If it stays down, it'll be okay, but it's not looking good. The honey is trouncing all the other notes... might as well have a note list like this: Golden Honey. If I sniff deep enough I might be picking up a little berry and what might be either the paprika or pink pepper or both.

 

Later: Well into the evening, it's faded quite a bit, but I still get that honey note above all else.

 

Overall: I'm not generally huge on the chocolate note usually, but in this case, I really would wish the cocoa were a bit stronger. The honey (when will I learn??) just refuses to cooperate with me. In this 13, it (the honey) actually is less bad than in some other oils, so overall it isn't omgtheworstthingevergetitoff, but I do believe I'll let it rest and see what happens.

Edited August 28, 2010 by wl552

[Lysi]

In the bottle and wet on my skin, this smelled exactly like a chocolate-covered cherry without the cherry. It's got to be the chocolate/honey mix that's doing that. I adore sweet, foody scents so this is deliciousness to me!

 

Dry, the chocolate goes just a bit powdery to me and turns into Chocolate Necco Wafer!

 

I wish this lasted longer because it smells wonderful, but then again I only tested about a drop just in case. I happily give this one a 5/5 and plan to do a much more slathery test later! My first 13 is a smashing success!

[Lethran]

In bottle: Dry dark chocolate dominant, underneath it is strangely sweet. It turns out the berries, honey, and bergamot create something that feels like cherry without smelling like cherry, if that makes sense. The chocolate picks up the spices and forms a team with them the sweeter elements form a second team. They eye each other, but create two distinct scent impressions. Wet: a touch astringent. It is berry dominant on the skin and the tobacco and honey speak up. The chocolate and spices are still present, but they more modify the sweeter parts, than stick to themselves as they do in the bottle. As it warms, it richens and complicates. I’m loving the bergamot in this, I really am. It’s nothing like I expected, but I’m okay with that. Dry: Dark chocolate and barries. Lots of berries. It’s nice, but not brilliant.

[mineralgirl]

Just so you know.. I'm a foodie and I hate almost all florals. That may help when you're reading my reviews.

 

In the bottle .. my first thought was that it was ‘warm’ … on the skin it is spicier and stronger. I can smell the sweetness of the honey but it’s balanced by the champaca. It’s an herby spiciness… but it’s really kinda cool. The pink pepper that I love so much is there but not overly noticeable. I barely get the chocolate but it’s playing nicely. This one is very well blended, I think. The longer it’s on, the more cocoa I get. At final dry down it’s more of a sweet herby scent. It’s a keeper.

[ModderRhu]

in the bottle, it smells like chocolate cherries. Then I sniff it again, and it smells like pepper Sniffing again, smells like pure dark chocolate. Weird!

 

On my skin, though, I think I mostly smell the champaca. It smells kinda like tuberose, very fleshy and voluptuous. A badass flower.

 

I like this very much.

[talula_fairie]

My nose is still sniffly from a cold, so I may have to edit this later.

 

In the bottle, I smelled chocolate, honey, and a bit of spices.

 

Wet on my skin, the chocolate disappeared pretty fast and the champaca flower became stronger. The scent develops a sweet, incense-y quality to it.

 

Then it dried and smelled amazing. The honey, bergamot and spices came out to play with the rest of the notes rounding it out perfectly. It's a warm and lovely scent. Very complex.

 

The more I wear this one, the more I love it.

Edited September 7, 2010 by talula_fairie

[plainjean]

Oh..this is heavenly. In the bottle, it's very rounded, the honey and dark chocolate and tobacco all standing out but complimenting each other beautifully. Once on, it's a wonderful spicy mint chocolate. After it has dried, it turns into a smoky, honeyed, spicy dark chocolate with a hint of berry. The tobacco in this reminds me of the tobacco in The Antikythera Mechanism, which is one of my favorite blends.

 

Overall, I took a gamble buying this, since I didn't know which notes really worked for me at the time. Since then I've figured out that pretty much every note in this is a note of win for me, so yeah! I love this!

[mxtine]

In the bottle, this reminds me of Kali, but with more chocolate. Wet on skin, the bergamot and bitter chocolate take center stage smelling exactly like a dark-chocolate covered orange candy. A few minutes later it starts to smell peppery. The lovely champaca flower is coming out, making my arm smell like a fresh stick of nag champa incense.

 

An hour later, there's a sweet floral smokiness hanging lingering close to my skin. Very interesting blend. <kicks self> Why didn't I buy 2 bottles of this?

[Fury]

First off- most badass label art for this puppy.

 

Second off- noooooo!

 

I love 13 blends, and especially love 13 blends which might turn to bitter-sweet, peppery chocolate. Though, to me, this is very much a fruity 13 blend despite the pepper and paprika. No tobacco, just floral fruity chocolate- and chocolate, which unfortunately reminds me more of cheap Halloween sweets (the off brand ones you'd get a few of in your bucket, slightly powdery and dusty treats likely stored from the year before) with strange berries and honey.

 

I'm really, really hoping that this ages nicer, as I would love some dark bitter chocolate tempered by spices and a smidge of honey. I have a feeling I am going to be very envious at the next Meet n Sniff of folks who amp better notes than I do.

[Juniper]

In the bottle, an overwhelming impression of wet, dark chocolate, with a hint of tobacco.

 

At first application, it was, briefly, a very nice chocolate-covered cherry.

 

Dry, it seems to go through stages of scent, all sweet. I think the champaca flower is what gives this the hint of floral, without really being floral at all. It's so hard to describe! I can't pick out the bergamot, but I think it's one of the things that holds this scent together, and melds the notes together. This is a sweet scent, but not at all cloying (and sweet scents tend to become nauseatingly sweet and cloying on me). The sharp tang of chocolate from the bottle mellows out into a really warm undertone on my skin, and the tobacco further enhances that impression of warmth. I LOVE how all the notes blend in this, once it's had time to warm up and settle in on me. Beautiful. I'm so glad I took a chance on it.

[akw]

Wet, I get just a trace of the herbs, but within a minute or two, even before dry down, I'm getting rich, spicy, slightly floral chocolate. As it dries, the honey comes out and tobacco, maybe only because I know it's there. It's complex and beautiful.

 

I have the 13 with the black label and Thirteen spelled out. I get way more herbs from that one. It has aged into something gorgeous, and I can't imagine what this will be like in a year. Almost wish I'd ordered two.

 

Win!!

[animalcule]

I tried several times to describe this, and have failed. It seems very complex to me, and it's morphed a great deal (without a single unpleasant stage). I agree with PPs that it's sweet, spicy and somewhat herbal(but not dry), has a lovely floral aspect, and the berry note is quite strong (but somehow it's not foody). I really love it, and I wasn't expecting to. I will be keeping this bottle and look forward to seeing what aging brings.

[ow1goddess]

I love this! I finally got one that smells like cocoa without going to choco scratch-n-sniff sticker after 30 minutes. I can't pick out much except sweetness, cocoa and spices because I'm lousy at notes in complex blends, but this has a kind of Mexican hot chocolate smell to it. Everything is really balanced so it doesn't come over too foody but ti's still really warm and comforting- a perfect autumn scent. I'm just sad I'll have to hoard it.

[ajansuz]

I wanted to wait until tomorrow to try this, and I just couldn't make myself do it. It smelled way too intriguing in the bottle. It reminds me of bottlecaps candy, a kind of fruity, soda-y scent. So, on the body it went!

 

Wet: Woah! Pink pepper and pimento pop all spicy, and for just a split second, I got some sort of dill pickle thing going. That went away almost immediately, the sharpness toning down. Sweet berry goodness, and yeah, strangely cherry cordial without being precisely cherry. No cocoa yet, which I was really hoping for.

 

Dry down: Suddenly, this is all root beer fizz, but like a real root beer, not the sickly sweet cheap brands, something home brewed, rich and deep. The root beer hangs around, too, root beer and sweet tobacco, like smoking a cheroot on the back porch in late July and drinking your soda.

 

Medium throw. I'll have to edit for how long it lasts. It's an intriguing, constantly morphing, playful scent, not at all what I'd call sexy or sensual, but fun and flirty, a little bit girly. I never thought I'd like smelling that way, yet I do. I'm glad I bought this.

 

ETA: Several hours, and the scent is still going strong, but man, it is so strange! In the crook of my arm, it's sweet berry, like bayberry, and honey. On my wrists, it has now morphed into a clone of Yewberry Infused Honey when it has been on me a few hours. This scent is such a chameleon!

 

ETAx2: So I wore it again, and this time I finally got some of the wonderful cocoa people have been talking about. I dunno if it was a skin chemistry issue or the bottle having a little time to settle. I gave it a good roll before applying. So delicious and subtle. It's not a terribly foody scent, more like a suggestion of food. I'm totally in love with this and sad I only bought one bottle.

Edited September 10, 2010 by DarkSinestra

[naturalcyber]

I am terrible about picking out most notes so I won't try. All I can say is that there isn't actually any chocolate to this one to my nose.

 

In the bottle it was bitey and something that I hesitate to call spicy exactly, all over a sweet undertone. Very delicious.

 

It smelled almost exactly like that wet but the bite changed a little and got wetter smelling. I want to say it almost smelled like there was a dash of dark rum in it? There isn't any rum listed in the notes though.

 

Dry, there are two radiuses of scent. Away from the wrist, the bite is still there (spicier now but still rum-like) with a sweet, juicy undertone. Close to the wrist it's a very dry spicy scent that's almost smokey.

 

I was desperately hoping this 13 would work on me and I am so glad it did. I almost wish I'd sprung for a second bottle.

[childoftime]

I. Love. This!

 

In the bottle: Sweet cocoa with berries! Promising, indeed. This cocoa looks like the same dark, thick oil that separates out in Hellhound and others. Definitely roll the bottle before you put it on!

 

Wet, on skin: Spicy, fruity in a way I can't pin down at all, and just that hint of cocoa and honey. Oh, my--this is gorgeous!

 

Drydown: This is a big-time morpher, as you can probably tell by now from all the varying descriptions just on the first page. The chocolate and fruity honey is still there, but the pimento and pink pepper are warming it up, and the champaca and tobacco are keeping it from being too sweet. The bergamot and paprika aren't really popping out at me, though.

 

Dry: This scent is amazingly well-blended. It just smells sweet and spicy--almost smoky, and it does it without being too sweet or super spicy. Just beautiful.

[angelicruin]

Cocoa and berries. Think this might just be my favorite version of 13 that I've tried yet.

[ayelienne]

I didn't plan to buy this when I saw it go up, but then I got a phone call from my mom the morning of the 14th to tell me that my grandmother had died overnight. She always used to tell us that she was born on a Friday the 13th, and then she died on a Friday the 13th. I knew that I needed to get this, and the beautiful label gave it an even deeper resonance. This blend is darkly sweet and exotically spicy, complex and perfect. It makes me feel happy and sad and bittersweet.

[alioth]

I really wish that I got the same 13 that everyone else in this thread did. On me, 13 is just that generic bpal 'sweetness'--think bpal box smell with a little extra chocolate and something cloying-red-sweet. Not that my bpal boxes don't smell nice, but I was hoping for so much more. Off to the swaps with this one.

[portalkat]

I love all of the "13" blends and this one is no exception. I was expecting to find a drier, darker chocolate note, but I'm finding it to be more in line with the chocolate in the red label "13." I think that my favorite parts of this blend are the champaca flower and the way the it mixes with the honey, chocolate and bergamot. The bergamot seems to give it a brightness and it just helps to punch out those other notes. I love this.

[pixiedoo]

This is the first time I have purchsed a 13 scent and I couldn't wait to wrestle it out on the box this morning to test.

 

In the bottle: Sweet, spicy cocoa. I can smell the sweetness of the cocoa and the honey combined with the kick from the pepper.

 

Wet: Dark sweetness, spicy warmth and a hint of champaca flower. It smells wonderful already.

 

Dry: Utterly amazing! It smells sweet, spicy, slightly smokey and almost creamy. The cocoa and honey give it a beautiful sweetness but they are kept in check by the spiciness of the pink pepper and paprika. In the background there is a smell of incense that gives the scent a richness and depth. All the notes blend seamlessley into one another and the result is outstanding.

 

It is an incredibly complex, warm and sexy scent that I have fallen in love with. I haven't stopped huffing myself since I slathered it on this morning. My only regret is that I only ordered one bottle.

[violetblue]

Thank you to yokaitenchi for the decant so I could try this one! This 13 is blended so well, it's hard for me to detect the notes... I do smell the light chocolate and berry, and as it dries, the lovely honey and champaca peak through and there is that underlying sweetness without it being too foody for me. It reminds me somehow of bubblegum, the pink old fashioned kind, but not in your face like Jailbait. I am not detecting a lot spiciness, but it works for me. Light throw but I still wouldn't mind having a bottle of this.

[jewelbug]

This one really surprised me--it was not at all what i expected given the list of notes.

 

In the bottle, this is most certainly a chocolate blend, which is what I have come to expect from 13's. Chocolate and some lovely spicy smoky fruity things.

 

Wet, it is less chocolate (though still detectable), with some really spunky pink spicy smokiness going on. I really like it.

 

As it dries, the chocolate seems to fade, and it starts to smell more and more like Pink Moon 2005 to me. Which I totally don't understand, since I'm not aware of any shared notes? Not that I mind, since I love PM05.

 

To make sure I wasn't going nuts, I swiped some of this 13 on one wrist and my Pink Moon 05 on the other--the similarity is uncanny! Pink Moon has some floral to sharpen and differentiate it, but the base of the two scents is remarkably similar on me. This 13 ends up smelling like Pink Moon 05 had some vaguely chooclate/vanilla babies.

 

Yup, so that's the verdict: a slightly foodier Pink Moon 05. I likey!