Xiuhtecuhtli

[HKB]

Patron of the Aztec pantheon, he is the personification of light within darkness, warmth in the cold, and life in, and after, death. He is a creative and destructive God of Fire and Light, and is appeased only by sacrifice, trial, and the slaughter of his people's enemies. Copal, plumeria and sweet orange and the smoke of South American incense and crushed jungle blooms.

Weird, this smells like banana to me. Not a fruity, sweet banana but more leafy and green banana. Maybe like a banana leaf or a plantain.

[Venneh]

So, according to the Lab description, I should be getting copal, plumeria and sweet orange and smoke and South American incense and crushed jungle blooms. We'll see how this actually goes.

 

In the imp, I'm getting a faint tropical floral with orange in there. Well, that seems accurate save for the incense and the smoke and the copal.

 

On my skin, the copal is combining with the flowers for an intoxicating scent very vaguely reminiscent of Giant Vulva, with a spike of orange. Let's see how this goes. And it quickly fades into nothing, with a faint hint of incense and smoke. Meh. Swaps/sales.

Edited November 28, 2009 by Venneh

[Sawasdee]

Definitely orange is the standout here, I'm guessing the resiny smell is the copal. Then it's whoa floral, but with a dirty underlying of smoke. Hmm, the mixture of these contrasting smells is not working, it's a very unique scent, but too much for me.

[aquazoo]

I smell the florals first. Then I get the orangey spice. A little bit creamsicle.

 

[hmelt004]

I love very few florals, but this one really works on me. I was going to buy a bottle before I realized that I owed about six imps. It is complex and sweet and tropical and green and very, very difficult to pin down. I will try. I want more converts to this most unpronounceable of florals. Copal is a resin, orange is a fruit, and incense is, well, incense. So this is not JUST a floral. The plumeria stands out but is pretty balanced by the orange and all the rest of the stuff sort of sings back up. It is love.

[Saya]

It starts off as a citrus blend but after a while it eases into this really pretty stage where the floral elements and copal make more of an appearance. It's a nice blend, on that merits an all day test. For now I'll keep the imp and see if this one continues to play nice with my skin chemistry.

[Rouge]

In the vial - This is a sweet and heady blend at first sniff, thick with copal. There's also a wet, saplike note I recognise from other tropical BPAL blends.

 

Wet on the skin - This is lovely! There's a rush of orange at first, which is absolutely mouthwatering. Close behind it is a damp floral and more of the sweet copal.

 

Next stages - The tropical jungle flowers are becoming more and more prominent, with the orange fading away and the plumeria coming to the fore.

 

Dry down - While I'm not sure about the mid-notes, I like the sweet freshness of the top notes and the resiny base. I'll keep it in the back of the box for now and try it again when the weather warms up (it might be May but it's still freezing in Wales!)

 

If you like this, try - Chimera

[bandobhran]

This was one of the first scents I ordered, when I finally broke down and decided to try BPAL earlier this year. Having studied pre-columbian cultures and art at college, this(and Tezcatlipoca) was a no-brainer when deciding what to try.

 

I think this is quite possibly my favorite bpal to date. It's rich and sweet-but-not-sweet, with the floral aspect and the orange interacting peacefully and the copal mellowing it out, grounding it, and at the same time making it somehow more. I don't really get a specific "incense" note that's separate from the rest, but as South American incense tends to be primarily copal, it could just be a slightly smokier variant of that, mixed with the rest.

 

Oh...and for the "unpronounceable"... I seem to recall it being pronounced CHEE-oo-teh-COOT-lee

[antihero]

May become a new favorite of mine! It starts out as a nice floral, but drys to an ... incense-y orange, if that makes sense? Something sweet with a bit of a bite. It does kind of come out as masculine smelling on me, but I like it too much to care.

Edited June 1, 2010 by antihero

[SophieCedar]

The sweet orange took over and combining with the plumeria smelled like sweet grapefruit to me. The incense and copal underneath smells a bit like strong white musk. Very similar to Cheshire Cat, amplified. Smells MUCH different than I pictured it! It's still nice, but I was totally surprised.

[dronzeka]

Why did it take me so long to try this?? This has shot up to one of my top ten scents!

 

I'm very bad at identifying any kind of incense notes, but I think I do get quite a bit of copal in this. It's very citrusy on me, not quite orange, but I think the combination of the orange and the plumeria turns into a more citrus-y scent. So far, I haven't got any smoke out of this (although I suppose incense smoke just smells like incense, not smoke?); it's lovely, well-blended bright citrus with a copal base - it feels quite bright and dry overall, and lasts very well on me (again, the copal, I think; it's a very strong base for me).

 

Like the poster before me, I find that this has a grapefruit vibe - it reminds me very strongly of something I used to wear pre-BPAL, I think Guerlain's Acqua Allegoria Pamplelune (the grapefruit one). It's also nothing like what I'd have pictured from the description - I see "incense" and I think dark and heavy, and this isn't at all! It's so lovely!

[sarielswish]

In the vial, it's a beautiful orange and plumeria. I <3 it. I hope it stays this beautiful on. Serious deep jungle life. Very nice. Color, fuschia.

 

Wet on my skin, so far so good. I'm getting sweet orange and plumeria, with a hint of incense smoke. God, I wish there was more plumeria in the catalogue. :-)

 

10-15 minute drydown - Well, hell. I think the copal is disagreeing with me, because something smells distinctly like tree sap and I'm not talking about the good pine sap smell and it's overtaking EVERYTHING. No more plumeria, no more orange, no more incense. Just sap. *pout*

[JasminDreams2010]

Dry, sacred, complex, luxurious, a little mysterious. I bought a bottle on a whim unsniffed and I am so glad!

To me this smells like a worship blend- something to wear in deeply contemplative meditative states. I would wear this if I have the fortune to go to Mount Shasta again. I am not getting jungle from this as much as desert- arid climate with scrub brushes and a beating sun- somewhere you go for a showdown with your shadow self.

I agree with the above reviewer that wants more plumeria from the lab- they always do such a lovely job with that note in such inventive ways. This ain't your grandmother's plumeria, though. I can smell the orange and what must be the copal, but the flowers are breaths, bare hints.

In the bottle- sinister bitter orange, patchouli- two notes I generally avoid but magically work on me here.

first five minutes- the orange sweetens and comes alive on my skin. I have the type of skin that turns everything to sandalwood, which is nice on this blend. It becomes creamy, smoky orange

drydown- some of the florals begin peeping out. Oh, this is sexy but it does hang a bit close to the skin.

4.5 out of 5- the .5 points were deducted because I would ideally like a bit more throw. This one lasts, though, it wafts for quite some time.

I wanted to give this a thorough review because it's a very beautiful, evocative blend. Not my usual cup of tea; normally I like sweeter, bold florals like delight or sacred whore of babylon. I am a pisces and this screams LEO! to me in bold capital letters. I would wear this when I want to borrow Leo's confidence and shimmer. I think this is totally perfect for a sun god. I could see this working on a guy.

[donnatron]

Bottle: I can't believe I've never reviewed this one. My bottle is a 10ml so this is definitely a review on the aged scent. I recall it being very heavy on the orange when fresh. Now it is heavier on the copal and quite resinous. The citrus is detectable but less so. Fresh, I remember this reminding me a lot of Angel. It now smells more distinct and a lot more resinous.

 

Wet: Copal and I usually get along but it veers briefly into playdough territory before righting itself. The wet stage is kind of a jumble. The plumeria is still strong and reminds me of some of the floral sweetness from the Hanging Gardens. The orange smells like the sweet peel with a bit of the bitter rind. Very true to scent but also not really blending together well. I smell copal distinctly underneath the florals and citrus.

 

Dry: Heavenly. It takes its time but it dries down to a beautiful copal with orange peel and a slight floral edge. It reminds me again of Angel and definitely smells more like Angel in the throw than in the up close scent. It's absolutely divine. Very fresh and tropical and perfect for summer. While all the scents were distinct in the drydown, it becomes more of a dreamy copal the longer I wear it.

 

Throw: Strong.

 

Overall: I always forget that I have Xiuhtecuhtli on hand, but it truly is a magnificent perfume and is one of the friendlier complex scents because it reminds me strongly of an existing commercial perfume and is great at helping to develop a nose for different blends.

[ResinManiac]

First Sniff: Lemony high end guy's cologne.

 

Wearing: It's like a guy just walked off the beach/basketball court into the room. A beach/basketball court not in this country. Vaguely cheap sunblock vibes here...

 

Final Thoughts: When last I mentioned I liked colognes I meant on the men in my life, but not on me!! This shouldn't be worn by anyone with a preponderance of estrogen in their system.

[Ghost of a Rose]

ETA: Thanks for the frimp, labbies!

 

In the imp: Clear, almost colorless oil, with just the faintest tint of greenish yellow. My first impression of the scent is "men's cologne". But it is an unusual one, with undertones of mysterious and intriguing things. It's what I call a designer blend, meaning that all the ingredients blend in together into a unique scent of its own in which there are no specific notes that can be easily identified. But by trying hard (and already knowing what's in it), I can distinguish the orange, copal and/or incense, and non-specific florals; in that order. The florals are barely there - this is definitely a masculine scent with that astringency that men's colognes have.

 

On me, wet: On my skin, the orange comes out strongly and dominates the scent. The astringency that I noted in the imp is almost completely absent. It's less like a generic men's cologne, and I like it better (it's still masculine, but more interesting.) The orange is not sweet or foody at all, due to the resiny incense undertone.

 

After 1 hour: The scent has remained pretty consistent, just going a little powdery and fading slowly. And now the copal is the dominant scent, with the orange in the background. The overall impression is still "men's cologne." I like the copal, but the men's cologne - not so much.

 

After 1 1/2 hours: Still mostly men's cologne, but now with a definite note of baby powder as well. All of the resins tend to do that on my skin, but luckily I do like the scent of baby powder.

 

After 8 1/2 hours: I can still smell it faintly on my skin, and strongly on my clothes although I only put it on one wrist.

 

Verdict: Meh. I never did notice the plumeria, unfortunately, as it is one of my favorite scents. Nor did I ever smell the smoke. I really like the concept of this and the ingredients chosen to express it, but to me the idea wasn't realized. Instead of Ancient Aztec jungles, I just channeled department store men's cologne. This is a pleasant enough blend, and long-lasting, but not one I would wear. It's too citrus-y and decidedly too men's cologne-y for me. I'll give it another chance, but I'll probably end up giving it to one of my sons or putting it in the swaps pile. A man might like this very much.

 

My rating: 3 stars

Edited October 7, 2011 by Ghost of a Rose

[Klolly]

I wanted to try this because I keep hearing about Angel perfume and heard this is the bpal equivalent so I was curious. I've never smelled Angel perfume so I can't say if it is similar or not. What I can say is that this is definitely perfumey enough to smell like a dept store perfume. Anyways, on me this reminds me a lot of Bathsheba for some reason only without the plum, which is weird because I don't think they share any notes. I just feel that it all combines to give off an aroma that reminds me of arabian musk maybe? I don't know. Anyways, I smell the orange but it's not tart or zesty. It's more like an orange that's been soaked in spices or something. I think the plumeria is giving it warmth but it doesn't really smell recognizable. I don't get the incense but I have a feeling the arabian musk vibe had to do with the incense. This is very sophisticated, luxuriant, and womanly. I had a fall candle a long time ago when I was pregnant and smells still made me nauseous and to me that candle shared a very similar note with this and with bathsheba so for negative association I don't see myself wearing this again although it's nice.

[mimieux]

I ordered a bottle of this unsniffed, purely on reputation alone--I am SO glad I did. This is amazing. So unique and unlike any of the other blends I've sniffed thus far. Xiuhtecuhtli is a special entity all of its own.

 

Wet, it's a blast of orange creaminess with a punch of incense. Upon dry down it just gets better- smoother and more confident.

 

All comparisons to Thierry Mugler's Angel are correct, but if you hate Angel, don't let this scare you away! X is so much more than Angel.

 

Definitely one of my favorites. I can't wait to see how it ages. It's gorgeous now; I wonder how it can possibly improve?

[venusinfurs]

I got this as a freebie from the lab. I would have never ordered this on my own!

 

Imp: Lots of orange. Fresh, green orange, not sweet or sugared orange.

 

Wet on skin: Fresh orange is still strong, but now it's slightly floral. Smells like an expensive men's cologne to me. Smells summery, but like a sultry summer night in a jungle, not a day at the beach.

 

Dry on skin: Wood? Maybe that's the smoke I'm smelling, but there is not a hint of flowers left on me. The orange faded some, so now it's a smoky woody orange. Still very masculine, but still seems more like a "summer" cologne. I like the smell of it, but not sure I like it for me. Maybe I will give it to the fiance

 

Overall: Not the orange creamsicle and plumeria I was hoping for, but still an interesting and well done scent. Definitely not my style, but might hold on to it in case I ever get in a mood. I think my chemistry amps smoke to the point of overpowering everything else in this. After about 5-6 hours I smell like a cedar box with no hint of anything else.

[TheHuman]

Very sophisticated. It's not a girl's scent. Slightly astringent like a man's cologne. A hint of flowers and citrus with deep rich smoke, spice, and incense to keep it balanced. I seriously love this stuff and it lasts forever with a good deal of throw. Perfect!

[RockstarGirl]

In the bottle: Green, cool, and wet.

 

On my skin (wet): Sharp and green, with a slight bitter note (possibly the incense) - not really digging the bitter note, hoping it fades. Not getting the orange or plumeria at all (and I LOVE plumeria. Boo.)

 

On my skin (dry): The sharp notes are gone, and it's morphed from cool to warm. The bitter note has mellowed out, and there's something sweet now. I'm still not getting the orange or plumeria.

 

Verdict: On me, this one smells a little too masculine. I like it, but I don't love it and I wouldn't wear it.

[whitsunweddings]

In the imp: This honestly just smells like something I would spray on my stove to get rid of kitchen grease and 99% of household germs. A tropicalish floral, very harsh smelling.

Wet: The resins are starting to come out a bit, but yeah, still mostly an astringent floral.

Dry: Tropical flowers, maybe a bit of incense and orange, but overall a pretty nasty and artificial smelling scent tbh

[PixieSkull]

My review for the aged Xiu, approximately 8 years old, 10ml bottle.

 

The differences between fresh and aged are apparent from the start.

In the Bottle: Fresh has a strong citrus and damp bloom smell with a little incense waft and has a bit more bite where the Aged has more of the creamy resin and rich citrus and ripened flowers.

 

On Skin: My Aged Xiu has such a creamy incense quality! The copal is rich and warmed by the ripe and somewhat orchid-like floral, teeming with dried citrus rind soaked in dew. I assume the plumeria is the tiny bit sweet floral mixing with the slightly-metallic smoke to create the rich and earthy base over the brighter copal and orange notes that have gone cream with age.

 

Xiu is my all-time favorite scent from BPAL. It withstands the years and skin chemistry changes from when I was under 18 and now at 26. It's a bit more mature than most florals and very sexy and in-control. The copal and smoke notes are rich and not "dusty" like my other favorites, making this a good choice for most special occasions or everyday wear. Just gorgeous.

[Mokiefraggle]

Got this as a frimp with my Samhain order, and decided I had to test it. The thought of anything with plumeria makes me immediately leery; I've had a lot of failure with plumeria lotions and such over the years, so I'm justifiably nervous. It tends to turn sickly sweet and amp past 11 on me.

 

In the imp: okay, there's definitely plumeria there, but it's not at all the sort of heavy, cloying scent I'm used to from all the lotions I've previously had. The copal is there and balancing it out nicely, and the orange is strong and juicy as well. Lightly floral behind all of that, with a faint whiff of something like incense. I...could like this.

 

Wet on skin: uh-oh. And here comes the plumeria straight to the front. I can still smell that juicy orange and the copal, but that plumeria is definitely coming right to the top. It's not getting sickly sweet, but it's just so there and in-my-face, I'm not sure I can handle this.

 

Drydown: huh. The plumeria is actually toning down? It's back to something almost like the way it was in the imp, all neatly in balance with the dry note of the copal and the incense, and the lighter florals, though the orange is now in the background rather than right up in front. I think I can actually do this. I'll probably save it for spring or summer, as it's not the sort of scent I'd want in winter, but it's definitely wearable. The incense-y scents are a nice balancing note to the sweet oomph of the plumeria and other flowers, and the orange definitely keeps it from being cloying or totally dry.

 

BPAL keeps astonishing me. First I find out that grapefruit apparently isn't a death note for me, and now plumeria. Clearly, I still need to stay away from those scents in bad, mass-manufactured lotions, but BPAL versions are clearly a-okay!

[hexnut]

XIUHTECUHTLI

 

I ordered this and the imp arrived cracked and only one quarter full, my first BPAL shipping mishap. Naturally I tested it first.

 

 

Ex Vitro A lemony, "pale" cologne scent that permeated the shipping box.

 

Wet A pleasant light floral, with a bit of what might be orange. Sniffing closely got definite orange and possibly spice. At this point I looked up the description and decided I was also smelling plumeria.

 

Drying The scent went back to citrusy floral cologne, but in a good way. Over the next two hours it faded and became more floral than citrus, although not specifically plumeria. On my card I wrote, "respectable cologne/perfume". Twelve hours later I detected an extremely faint vanilla scent.

 

 

I liked Xiuhtecuhtli enough to want to try it again but the vial is empty and I don't want to risk a bottle purchase on the strength of a single skin test. I'll just have to order another imp.

 

 

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