Expressive Head

[rivercitylizzy]

 

EXPRESSIVE HEAD

Expressive Head, Jaroslav Panuška.

Teakwood, patchouli, green pepper, clove, white cognac, vetiver, and champaca absolute.

 

I would have to say first off that Expressive Head is definitely an attention-grabber, both for it's startling label artwork and for the scent within I picked it up with my first-ever order of BPAL Weenies because 1) it has patchouli, 2) it has vetiver, and 3) it has spices. These tend to be a recipe for delish on my skin and Expressive Head did not disappoint me (though it may certainly send the vetiver-phobic RUNNING )

 

In the bottle: WHOA dark woodsy skanky earthy VETIVER, made even more raunchy by the Teakwood and of course, Patchouli. Breathe in a little deeper if you dare--it's SO worth it--and you get the incredible blend of spicy lush tropical floral that is the clove and champaca, and maybe a touch of the crushed grapeyness (slightly fermented) that is the cognac. Hard to pick the pepper apart from the Teak-Vet-Patch triad, but I'm sure it's there...

 

I was girding myself up for a 12-hour day at work and as vetiver is one of my comfort scents I sallied forth and tested it on my skin, one dab on each freshly showered wrist from the cap.

 

Wet: The Vetiver-Teak-Patchouli complex is much less overpowering on the skin and OMG beginning to let the other notes emerge and they are LOVELY together!! I can smell the Champaca, but it is not overpowering either, just a beautiful full tropical bloom that, along with the cognac, adds a nice femininity to the earthy notes. Also the spices are emerging more and beginning to give an incensey feel to the blend. Wow. I want to curl up in bed with this for a blanket and ride out the storm system currently on its way.

 

Dry: I managed to leave the house anyway and drive myself to work. On the way, wafts of Expressive Head are reaching my nose from the vicinity of the bottom of my steering wheel, where my sweater & jacket-swathed wrists are resting, and making me feel euphoric. I smell like a heady incense being offered up to the gods in a balmy equatorial temple--the kind that has no walls, where the incense melds with the scent of perpetually damp trees, leaf litter, and white flowers that bloom year-round. I'm getting moderate throw with my wrists pretty well covered, so I'm guessing throw on bared skin would be moderate to high.

 

Expressive Head kept this gorgeousness as is for a good 6 hours before the vetiver-teak-patch softened to a more genteel backdrop to the champaca & cognac. 12 hours later, it's barely there but still pretty. I'm definitely glad I got a bottle...and may need to consider a backup

 

ETA Second Test...different chemistry, hm.

 

In the Bottle: Can you have a different "nose" on a different day? Today the vetiver took a backseat when I first sniffed, and I picked up on the Champaca, Clove, Pepper first with the Teak-Vet-Patch making an incensey haze in the background.

 

Wet on Skin: Okay this time it's much greener than my first test--not a bad thing, not soapy, just different from the first wear. Makes me think the vetiver is more the green type and less the rooty type. Fascinating! As it warms up to my skin, though, it begins to get "back on track" with my first experience, all the notes playing nicely together and giving me that "warm, fuzzy" feeling I loved about it so much. Hooray!!

 

Dry: Oh, I'm so relieved! Expressive Head went right back to being that euphoria-enducing, primal temple scent I fell for earlier and I'm happy it's done so because otherwise it might have been too similar to several other BPAL vetiver blends for me to consider keeping. But no, still unique, still amazing, still on the "may need another bottle" list

Edited October 22, 2011 by rivercitylizzy

[Ah Xia]

Vetiver, not harsh and scorched as it can sometimes be, but sweeter and very earthy yet still sinister. It's a strange melange of notes that definitely captures the unease one gets from viewing the painting. Very unisex but not too 'cologney'.

[Redillon]

I was excited by all the notes in this belnd! I love a woody, spicy, green blend and this scent has it but.....some how it doesn't work for my skin chemistry.

 

In the bottle: It's green and woody. I really like it.

 

On my skin: It wants to turn to BO. It's right on the edge of spicy and stinky. UGH!!!

 

Dry down: RIght before it fades away on my skin, the spiciness finally beats up the BO. But then, it's gone.

 

This blend has great throw and lasts a while and maybe on the right skin the notes will play nice. But on me....sigh. I loved the artwork too. Off to the swaps.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

oh pepper and vetiver, you can ruin anything, can't you?

instead of the deliciousness of Teakwood, patchouli, clove, white cognac, and champaca absolute...... i get root beer and fireplace ashes.

[AmyO'Shields]

I actually quite like this...not enough to get a big bottle, but I was very scared of the Vetiver. I think the Vetiver is balanced nicely by the Teak and Patchouli, and the clove doesn't ruin the blend. I was hoping the Teak and Patchouli and Champaca would win over the Vetiver, but it turned out to be a tie.

[patina]

The Vetiver is very present, but it doesn't overpower the champa, clove, and cognac. The champa here does have a kind of rootbeeresque scent. Right now, this is a bit manly for me, but I think this is one of those scents that has to be smoothed out by aging before I can appreciate it. It has the potential to be very pleasant dark scent in the future.

 

Edit: actually, as I wear it, this is getting smoother, spicier and more likable. I may get a bottle.

Edited October 27, 2011 by patina

[wrestlingentropy]

It's actively ugly at first sniff in the bottle. But, I love the strong vetiver upon initial application! Then the teakwood goes into this really oppressive powdery phase after a couple hours. (Which is the same thing that the teakwood in the Antikythera Mechanism does on me, unfortunately.) I wanted to love this strange little beast, so I'm sad that it goes off into dryer sheet territory on me.

[stellamaris]

OMGosh the Sleeper Hit of the Autumn BPALs!!!!!!!

I have never had so many people grab me and say "What are you wearing, you smell amazing!!!" Including my friend who is also a BPALer who said "and if you get back ups make sure I get one"...

 

It starts out WTF is that heavy sort of burning smell, but that is quickly replaced by incensey vetiver not too heavy on the patchouli perfection. Heaven. And long lasting.

[Ghost of a Rose]

My imp is a decant from schackjj, The Goddess of Decanters (to borrow a quote from another participant in our decant circle.)

 

In the imp: Oil is clear and a dark orangey amber color. It's definitely a dark smell - wood, pepper, cognac, and vetiver are prominent.

 

On me, wet: It smells exactly like cigarette tobacco, which isn't even in it. With a hot clove-and-pepper spiciness in the background. I can only detect the patchouli if I think about it.

 

On me, just dried: It still smells like tobacco, but now there's also a very sharp menthol-like note. This is certainly an interesting blend - the things it smells like most aren't even in it! Very masculine and powerful (in mood, that is - I don't mean that the strength of the fragrance is unusually powerful.) I totally get the connection with the artwork.

 

After 10 minutes: The mentholic sharpness was very short-lived and is completely gone now. I smell smoky tobacco and spicy clove. If I sniff hard enough, I can also get a bit of champaca in the background. I'm thinking that the tobacco smell comes from the combination of the wood with vetiver. There's some earthiness to it, too, which surely comes from the vetiver.

 

After 30 minutes: Now the tobacco has morphed into more of a smoky wood note. I don't smell the clove as strongly as before, but there is still the bite of pepper. The overall scent has faded and isn't quite so aggressive.

 

At about 1 1/2 hours, the incense starts to come into its own, almost equaling the smoky wood note.

 

After 3 1/2 hours: The scent is faint, and mostly champaca, with some of the smoky wood still lingering.

 

After 6 1/3 hours: I can still smell it a little, now almost all champaca.

 

VERDICT: Although I like this, it is way too masculine for me to ever wear. But the strong woodiness of it might make for a great room scent in a oil warmer. I'm curious to try it out on my sons to see what they think. As a fragrance for men, I think it would make a nice change from the usual sharp astringency of most men's colognes. Instead of their coldness, this is warm - even somewhat hot - so it would be a lovely cold-weather scent for a man.

 

My rating: 4 stars

[aoiphe]

(another decant from shackjj)

 

This is certainly not one for the floral/foody-loving crowd.

 

I love me some vetiver-spicy-woodiness, so I had very high hopes when I saw this in the Pickman list. When wet, it's a slap of vetiver and champaca, which then dries to very masculine dry green woods. Too masculine for me. After two hours, though, it's soap. So... off to swaps...

[stellans]

I had such high hopes for this one, because I love patchouli and champaca, and vetiver is usually quite nice on me as well. But some reason, this blend is all vetiver...only in the last vestiges of scent on my arm is there anything there but vetiver, and it's so very, very faint. I'm not sure I want to buy a bottle which is only enjoyable in its very faintest, last bit of existence. I'm going to have to think about this one. No stars for this one, but no "x" either. Yet.

Edited November 3, 2011 by stellans

[Monday]

I'm having the same problem as Stellans. In the bottle this is bold vetivert but on my skin it's a very, very faint minty vetivert. I'll have to see if it gets any stronger over the next days...

[Teaotter]

I'm glad I'm not the only person who got a strange mint note out of this, because it honestly confused the heck out of me.

 

Wet: Skunky body odor. Must be the vetiver-patchouli combo.

 

Drydown: Minty body odor. I'm not kidding. Mint and rotting logs and mushrooms in a bed of body odor and vetiver. But there is something beautifully floral in the throw, as long as I don't get my hands too close to my nose.

 

Dry: This settles down a bit, but there's still a rotting log around here somewhere. The throw is sweeter, though, with a murky floral note, a hint of raisins, and the back-of-the-throat sharpness of pepper. The throw can still knock a man out at ten paces.

 

Verdict: For all my talk of body odor and rotting logs... I'm going to hang onto this. The throw is spicy and addictively earthy. If the body odor ages out a bit, I'm going to love this.

 

ETA: It's only been a month, but it's already smoothed out beautifully. No more random mint note! No more stinky body odor! This is dark, moody, smoky shadows with a fascinating sweetness.

Edited December 10, 2011 by TeaOtter

[ljaylh]

Warning - everytime I use the word 'vetiver' in this review, it will be written as VETIVER.. because that's how it is in Expressive Head. OK? OK

 

Speaking of warnings, this BPAL should come with one: WARNING: VETIVER AHEAD! Ahead. A-Head.. Expressive Head, geddit? Good grief man, as soon as I dabbed this on the VETIVER leapt off my arm, ran up my nose, and invaded my head. All I could smell was VETIVER - dark, nasty, gnarly VETIVER. But thankfully, after about 15 minutes the VETIVER had calmed down a bit.. and things improved.

 

Mmm.. this is a lovely warm patchouli - slightly sweet, and a perfect partner to the VETIVER. Green pepper is a new one to me, but I can smell it in here - it's green without being leaf/plant-y green, and a bit ticklish on the nose but not in a sharp or unpleasant way - I actually really like it, it's different. Clove? Maybe - not really noticing it, same with the cognac and champaca. Teakwood? Nope.. not getting that at all.

 

So half an hour later, and the VETIVER is still going strong - it's nowhere near the nasal assault that it was at first, but if I take a deep huff of my arm it still coils up and grabs me. A light huff and I don't notice it as much - it's the type of VETIVER that gets right into the back of yer nose, like some deranged black booger that you can't get out. And now I can definitely smell the cognac.. also the champaca.. but they're very very light - just a slight top layer of sweetness over the patchouli and VETIVER, and the green pepper is still hanging in there - it's got an almost lime smell to it, which is really interesting - actually, it's kind of like a minty lime.. very interesting.

 

I just don't know about this one - that VETIVER business is really too much for me, but the dry-down of Expressive Head is very enjoyable and I do like the end result. Would I wear it, if I got a bottle? Yes, I think I would. But do I need a bottle? Not sure. Plus - I suspect this VETIVER is going to get more gnarly with age, so.. I just don't know

Edited November 10, 2011 by sunshinedaisybliss

[edenssixthday]

Expressive Head - If I wouldn't have skimmed the reviews and the ingredient list after applying this, I'd have had no idea there was vetiver in it. I don't smell the vetiver at all. What I smell is patchouli, green pepper, champaca, and a tiny hint of clove. I was super curious about this scent due to the green pepper. Green pepper is one of the only things I refuse to eat, so I was super curious how it would smell in a perfume oil. It's quite odd, because even though I've never smelled green pepper perfume oil, I was able to identify it right away because it smells like feet...just like a real green pepper smells to me. Salty, sweaty feet. That's kind of how this scent smells. Like salty, sweaty feet with patchouli, champaca, and a tiny bit of clove. There's also something rubbery about it, so it kind of smells like salty, sweaty feet in 1980s "jellies" shoes. I dunno, this just does NOT work on me. But it's weird and interesting!

[V294]

dark and subtly spicy. Nothing too overpowering which is good because based on the notes I was....afraid.

[Blood onmy hands]

Expressive Head is mostly dark, dank smelling vetiver and dark, powdery teakwood on me. It makes me think of rotting logs in a forest. As it dries down, the clove gives it a bit of sharp spiciness. There's also something like a whiff of soapy men's aftershave. All in all, it's too dark and flat smelling, and not really as exotic as I was hoping it would be on my skin...

Edited November 14, 2011 by Little Bird

[surlygurl]

This one is odd, in a likeable way.

 

Fresh on, the vetiver has me running for cover. Almost immediately *other things* come out and soften it up. I've only had it on for an hour now, but it is warming up into something interesting. It's a little spicy, a little dirty (as in DIRT, but I don't like soil/loam scents, and there's none in the description). No champaca, which I love, but I expect it will show up later.

 

I'll keep updating through out the day, because I have a feeling that this will keep changing...

[milo]

This smelled very strong and slightly bitter in the imp, so I was a little apprehensive to try it on. On, still STRONG woods, masculine with a touch of something really unpleasant, I don't even want to say what it smells like. Dry, a different story. Soft woods, and a touch of leather. The teakwood here smells rich, heady and masculine, though I bet some females could pull this off. I'd be all over a guy wearing this, it's very comforting and snuggly. I like this, but it is a bit too masculine for me. I'm thinking this will be astounding with some age behind it.

[zankoku_zen]

Scorched vetiver and pepper. The pepper mellows out and the clove comes out, but it ends up masculine and aggressive on me.

 

Spicy, peppery, dark.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Whoa! Lots of vetiver, backed up with the teakwood and the green pepper.

 

Wet: Ah, now the clove and champaca come through a glass, darkly.

 

The dry-down: Getting some of the clove, but the vetiver and green pepper have come roaring back. Not sure where the patch wandered off to. Tried on the bf, and on him it's woodsy green pepper all the time. Not sure that I like this, but it does illustrate the painting amazingly.

Edited December 12, 2011 by thekittenkat

[yewberry]

This one's so very my cuppa. It feels almost like the masculine twin of Bien Loin d'Ici. There's clove and patchouli at first, but they faded quickly on me. The vetiver is indeed martial as others have mentioned, which is matched sniff-for-sniff with the sharp pepper note. The champaca is the grace and beauty in this one, though. Keeps drifting in and out, sometimes obvious, and sometimes nearly undetectable. A strange, morphing enigma of a fragrance. Fascinating...

Edited April 10, 2012 by yewberry

[mymymai]

ITI: Teakwood and patchouli with hints of cognac and pepper. Oh, very nice.

 

Wet: Stronger teakwood and cognac together with a little vetiver now. I still like this a great deal.

 

Dry: Mmm, the wood is balanced - teak infused with patchouli, champaca, and clove. Wonderful. I wish I had gotten a bottle of this.

[Poenari]

I tried this when I initially received my decant in 2011, and got OH HAI VETIVER!!! Now retesting after a year, the vetiver has mellowed. Now that I've had a chance to try the Single Note Siberian Musk, I swear I can detect that in here, although musk is not a listed note. But my first reaction was enough to recheck the notes because I really thought I would find siberian musk listed. Interesting... Oh yes, vetiver is still prominent, but all the other notes have blended into a spicy woody blend. Very nice a year later.

[tinyvulture]

Mega-vetiver. Where are you, cognac? Where are you, champaca? Vetiver-godzilla has trampled you all into dust. Vetiver is all that remains, with the faintest clove cowering in the background.

 

OK, if you love vetiver, it's pretty nice here. It's very warm, very earthy. I used to do well with vetiver scents, but I think my body chemistry has changed and now my skin really amps it. This could just as well be a vetiver single note, as far as my nose is concerned.