Cleric

[zankoku_zen]

CLERIC
Rose amber, frankincense, myrrh, champaca flower, Peru balsam, cistus, palisander, cananga, hyssop, and narcissus absolute.

This review is for the prototype of Cleric.

Still resinous, and this one has a slight peppery edge which actually turns out to be cedar on the drydown. I think there's also some dragon's blood resin in it, since the color of the oil is slightly reddish. But yeah, resinous, slightly woody, and kinda spicy. Very different from the released version.

I actually enjoy both types of Cleric - released and unreleased.

And uhh... that just sounded dirty.

[theseagrows]

hmm, i think i'm mostly getting myrrh and maybe the rose amber and peru balsam? this scent honestly smells a lot simpler on my skin than the notes make it out to be. the frankincense must be subtle because it doesn't turn leadlike on me. i'm not as clear on what many of the other notes are, but i do not smell narcissus. if there is rose in this, it's very faint. mostly resins with a hint of floral. it's alright but not really what i was expecting.

[joyfulgirl]

not sure how i haven't reviewed this one. cleric is in my top 10. it's the very first bpal i ever tried and it's still on my list of most-beloved. and what's more: it's just gotten better with age.

 

in my bottle from 2011 (aged almost 2 years), it's a dark, sweet swirl of incense, rose and woods. i never got overly floral notes from this, which is one reason i always loved it.

 

once it hits my skin, it opens up and the rose amber and frankincense really take center stage. the myrrh is there, but it's not super powdery (i've noticed that the powdery tendency has declined as it's aged). except for the rose (which i love in this blend), the floral notes really don't come forward at all...they're just kind of a nice, fresh, slightly sweet backdrop.

 

as for the rose, it's not the fresh, dewy rose that kind of drives me nuts (although that is very pretty, it's not for me). this is almost a rosewood-y type rose. it's lovely and it feels somehow antiqued and aged even in a brand new bottle.

 

this is one of my go-to scents when i want to feel confident, focused and present. it's got good staying power on me (especially in my hair) and will last a whole day without reapplication - though that doesn't stop me from keeping a little rollerball of it in my desk. it's gorgeous without being super sexy, so it's a great blend for work.

 

anyway, i'll quit gushing now, but i'll say this: even if you're not a huge rose fan, give this one a try. if you love incense, give this one a try. if you love sweet woods, give this one a try. basically, just try it!

[mymymai]

ITB: Hello, myrrh! When I try to concentrate more, I just get the impression that this is a light white scent, fitting for a cleric.

 

Wet: Balsam and champaca have become dominant, but I can still detect the myrrh and now rose amber in a small quantity.

 

Dry: The myrrh is sweet and alluring when combined with the frankincense and rose amber. I don't smell much else, but what is on my wrist is beautifully soft and resinous.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - A warm woody incense

 

Wet on me - A rich deep rose with a sort of woody undertone

 

Dry on me - Polished wood and incense

 

Overall - Nice, but not my cup of tea

[lucycat]

This was a frimp from the Lab.

 

In the imp: Peppery incense

 

Wet: Rose appears almost immediately. It’s strong, especially considering how little I applied.

 

Dry: The frankincense returns to balance the rose. It’s a frankincense and rose duet.

 

On the back of my hand, this fades faster than it does on my arm. On my hand, after less than two hours I get a soft, resinous spicy blend—there’s no rose, but it’s probably the amber part of the rose amber. I can’t pick out a particular note, but to be honest, I couldn’t identify many of the notes listed in this blend. It’s pretty, though.

[Rip]

When I first apply Cleric I mainly smell incense tinged with rose. It's not my favorite scent but it's not horrible either. However, given time to dry down the rose note fades and it evolves into this lightly sweet incense scent that I absolutely love. This would be a winner for me if not for the fact that Cleric, like a lot the RPG series, has almost no throw on me.

[Magycmyste]

I thought I had tried this already, but I guess I hadn't. I don't know what some of these notes are, but rose, amber, frankincense, myrrh and champaca seem to do well on my skin. Narcissus seems to hate me.

 

In the bottle: Incense with a little floral, and a bit of herbal sourness, but not a bad sourness at this point.

 

Wet on skin: Frankincense tinged with rose. I can enjoy that. I can sense the narcisssus wanting to come out, and I'm hoping the florals and incense will beat it into submission. Go find another playground, narcissus!

 

Dried down: AS it dried down, the champaca blooms beautifully, mixing with the rose and incense. Absolutely gorgeous. I'm still getting whiffs of that narcissus, but the other notes I love seem to be taking over the stage. There is a tart woodiness if I sniff my skin, but it's faint and blends in well with the rest.

 

Throw: This has some serious throw on me. I can lean back, relax and tpe and still smell the champaca and rose and incense. Beautiful.

 

Verdict: ***** Phew! Now that I've realized that narcissus and daffodils don't really work on my skin, it's a relief to know I can still wear blens where it's not so prominent. I'll probably just have to test them one at a time. And if my wrists don't start to stink later, I'll happily keep my cleric bottle.

[Aviatrix]

I'm getting mainly a blast of frankincense and myrrh, with a bit of the balsam in the background. I'm sorry, but that's all I can make out. It fits the concept of a cleric very well, and I'm definitely going to experiment with layering it with the other RPGs, but I won't be getting a bottle; it's too nondescript for me.

[Malloriel]

I think I was so excited by the prospect of finally finding a scent with myrrh (and no patchouli) that I completely dismissed how many floral notes are in this scent. Until this imp order arrived, I was a total BPAL virgin, and for that matter not really exposed to scent experimentation. That said, I do know my scent profile is dark and sweet, and myrrh is one of my favorites (I keep a hunk of resin in my purse.), and florals are not generally my cup of tea, which is why I wasn't super excited when in the bottle it had so much floral.

 

In the Bottle: What is this? Is this what Shalimar smells like? I imagine this is what Shalimar smells like; incense, floral, and powder -- I get very strong powder notes while it's in the bottle. I can't pick out any individual element, but maybe with more experience I'll know enough of what I'm smelling to name them.

 

Wet: Incense and powder. Warm, spicy, and a little masculine. It reminds me a bit of the original Old Spice (which my dad still uses exclusively), but with something sweet -- maybe rose, maybe narcissus, maybe amber. Why did I ever think rose would stand out with my chemistry if I knew myrrh and other spices blend better?

 

Dry: I'm all spice now. Strongly myrrh mixed with frankincense, and so little of anything else I can't possibly identify what might be mingling there.

 

Overall: Something about the particular spicy warmth of this scent prevents it from being what I'd ever consider a signature, but I do smell spicy and amazing. It's much better and more mellow than I anticipated when I opened the imp, which was a huge relief. I don't know that I'll be getting a 5mL for this, but I am happy to have tried it.

[JuliskaMarie]

In the imp: I don't know what most of these notes actually smell like on their own, but this is definitely how I would imagine a Cleric in D&D to smell - mysterious, magical & holy!

Wet on skin: Pretty much the same! It's changed slightly, but I can't pick exactly what or how. It's a bit woodsier than I normally like, but not enough to put me off it.

Dry on skin: Changed slightly again - now it's a bit drier, but also sweeter. Strange, but pretty! Still smells right for a D&D Cleric!

After a few hours: This one just keeps morphing while still suiting the name! The rose amber, frankincense & myrrh are quite easy to pick out now. It keeps changing, but so far I'm liking everything it changes into.

Verdict: This is really nice - a holy (I really think it's the myrrh/frankincense combo giving it that feel), woodsy, magical smell. Not a daily scent, but very, very cool! I really need to try layering this with some of the other RPG scents!

[ltrittipoe]

Wet, this is a gorgeous incensey floral, sweet and resinous.

 

 

Dry, it turns to nail polish remover.

Whatever note does this to me..... It is in Lady Luck Blues as well. Pure acetone.

[sammy]

This is all resin and sweet incense heaven. I don't get a lot of the florals at all, they're just faintly in the background once it completely dries down. I've tested this about three times now and decided I must have a big bottle. This was a surprise winner for me....I was frimped it in a package from a forumite and I tried it on a whim not knowing what to expect. What a wonderful, delightful surprise!

[DevilsCandyCane]

In the imp it seemed almost metallic, and I nearly didn't skin test at all. The wet stage was very strange and cold-smelling, but once dry, on me this is Midnight Mass but much richer and more complex and evocative. Midnight Mass I was always fairly 'meh' about, but this I'm really quite liking - it has the same holy, church-y feel to it, but it's a much prettier scent, the rose note is really coming through now - it's a warmer softer sort of 'church-y' than Midnight Mass, which always smelled somehow cold and dusty to me. This is church-y, but pretty at the same time...

[Lunasariel]

In the imp: Largely dried herbs, like what a cleric would carry around for healing and blessing. There's also a hint of soft florals (maybe some dried flowers in with the dried herbs?) and resins adding sweetness. Overall, this somehow feels like it's in the neighborhood of incense, without actually *being* incense, if that makes any sense.

 

Wet: It's shifted from primarily dried herbs to primarily incense - maybe the cleric has stopped traveling, and is now in a temple? The soft florals are still there as backup, although they're settling down from "omnidirectional soft florals" into "almost definitely rose." The resins are now much more notable, and blend very well with the incense. I'm actually a little worried at this stage, as lovely as it is - both incense and rose notes sometimes go sour on me after a few hours, and when they're together, the effect is both hastened and amplified (see: Hymn), so I hope that doesn't happen here. So I'll keep an eye (nose?) out for that, while still enjoying the lovely floral incense while I've got it.

 

Dry: It swings back towards dried herbs, although still definitely in the neighborhood of incense. So it's not quite like the Catholic incense I grew up with, but, say, burning sage or something in that vein? It stays notably sweet, but the sweetness comes less from the florals and more from the resins at this stage. And finally, huzzah, the sourness never develops! Okay, maybe just a liiiiittle bit, but it's less of a sour note and more of an interesting take on skin musk - it smells very much like it's something that would originate naturally from my skin, in a sort of "I've been working hard and sweating a bit, but I still smell good" way.

[DiesMali]

In the imp: Sweet, silken incense.

 

Wet on my skin: LOTS of sweet incense and sweet flowers. For a moment, it smells like there is jasmine in this blend, but then I realise it's rose and something else I'm not familiar with. I'm not totally sold on Cleric at this stage - might be too sweet and flowery.

 

Dry: That's much better! Frankincense and myrrh with bouquets of flowers, white rose at the forefront of the flowers. It's a scent that somehow manages to mix bright and solemn to form a gorgeous, heavenly sort of rose incense. It really does invoke the idea of a Cleric, and does its job well.

[gentle-twig]

Opens with florals forward, with rose and champaca being dominant on me. Frankincense peaked its head out and I was expecting it to take over but then it disappeared completely, yielding to the balsam. Something mildly vanillic comes out (?) and then this seems to dry down to a myrrh and juuuuuust detectable florals (still rose, but now hyssop and maybe narcissus are there, as well).

 

At first I thought this was a definite no, but upon my second test I decided it's okay after all. I love myrrh, but whatever kind is used here is not exactly the deep, brooding resin that I'm used to. Still, it is nice, actually beautiful and majestic. I can understand the religious/mystical character of this, but it's less church incense on me and more like a vision of a goddess in a classical epic. Not for me, but it could be for you if you can pull off a very serious/solemn (without being dark), moderately feminine rose/resin blend.

 

ETA: After some brief research, I realized that cananga is another name for ylang-ylang, which, now that I think about it, is definitely what is reining in the myrrh. Also, my fellow enemies of rosewood (palisander) should have nothing to fear from this blend.

Edited June 3, 2015 by gentle-twig

[filigree_shadow]

Sweet peppery wood -- balsam and frankincense. It's not the type of thing I wear as perfume, but I like the scent of it. Smells rather sacred.

[lady_pandora]

I really really wanted to like this one, as a lover of rose and incense, but it's going wonky on me! Not even consistently wonky, but phasing in and out of wonkiness. I get mostly rose amber, frankincense, wood, and something lemony (possibly also the frankincense?), and it switches back and forth between being lovely rosy incense and...bug repellent. It reminds me of Off! or something. And then it'll phase back to pretty again. And then bug repellent again. Gah. Maybe I'll try aging it a bit.

[cemeterypolka]

Wet: I am reminded of Black Widow and The Caterpillar, which both have jasmine, but that's not the note they have in common that I'm getting here. There's a thick, dry, heavy, resinous sweetness I recognize. I'm getting proper elegant lady perfume vibes, like a Chanel scent. I think if I were to take away that association and judge the scent outside of it, it does smell reminiscent of ritual incense and stone churches. And FLOWERS!

 

Dry: Sweet, dry, red wine-soaked roses and frankincense, like Blood Rose soaked in Midnight Mass or Cathedral. It's super gothy. Like, maybe one of the gothiest BPALS I've tried.

 

I tried a frimp of this and bought a 5ml on the spot, because anything resin-y is my jam, so if you are similarly inclined, this is good.

[SimplySyra]

Imp: Incense!

Wet: Sweet incense. The familiar typical "holy" church incense so I'm guessing myrrh and frankincense.

Dry: The rose and florals are coming forward now and really sweetening this up. It's now red roses backed by incense. I would have preferred the opposite, I think.

Verdict: A nice enough rosy incense scent.This leans toward the typical feminine floral for me. I would have preferred more incense. I like it enough to keep the imp and think it would layer quite well which is the intention.

[Cali]

Isn't there leather in this? Not even a touch? It reminds me a bit of neutral.
Dry, bittersweet and a strong incense. Kinda dies on my skin, shame.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Mmm, do I ever love that rose amber! But there's a floral note in here that's overly sweet, almost bubble gum like (not unlike lotus) that I am just not a huge fan of.

 

 

 

Dry: Really sweet floral. Still has a gum-like quality that I am not a huge fan of. I don't really dislike it, but it's not doing a heck of a lot for me either.

[Casablanca]

From Cleric, I pick up champaca and frankincense primarily at first, pretty but a little rough and without much depth. I also smell rose amber and a little balsam, but nothing else comes through at first.

Cleric begins with light throw and fades to a close skin scent of myrrh, frankincense, and champaca, with a little rose and amber. Pretty.

[roseus]

Overall this is a sweet incense on me. The hyssop was the first thing I could smell in the imp, herby and almost camphoraceous. But there was a definite sweetness underneath. I don't get much rose, more amber and the other resins at the heart. The champaca and ylang ylang (cananga) are the florals I get the most. Rich, sweet, and a little heady. I think I may need a bottle of this!