Sentimental Initiation

[Rho]

Red and black musks with bamboo, myrrh, bitter clove, patchouli, vanilla orchid, and king mandarin.

Preconceived notions: First off, I love the artwork for this one; intellectually, I wouldn't think it's my style, but emotionally, I'm drawn to it and find it beautiful. The notes listed for the fragrance oil could be hit or miss. I love red musk, orchids, and the idea of mandarin, but bitter clove and myrrh are not appealing. I'm hoping the combination hits me in the same way the art does: with surprising appeal.

In the decant: Zesty... furniture? It kind of smells like oak furniture polished with fancy oils. Potential!

Wet: I think that's black musk. I'm not super familiar with black musk, but it's definitely musky! The red musk gradually edges its way into the fore as this dries down. During the wet phase, my brain is still translating Sentimental Initiation as polished furniture.

Dry: The clove is here, and I don't like it. That is a personal preference; if you like clove you might like the clove in Sentimental Initiation. The effect is distinctly spicy and pretty dry. In fact, when I get my nose close to breathe in, my tongue feels dry and my mouth is gets a bit cottony. Power of suggestion?

Red musk is present, and that is a part I really like. Not much to say about it; it's what you'd expect, and it's good.

I'm sad that I found no orchid or mandarin. My chemistry must have cancelled them out, or else they're too well blended to pick out by themselves. My tastes run sweet, so I was hoping those notes would pull Sentimental Initiation out of bitter musk-land, but it didn't work out.

Overall: This is far from an unattractive blend, but it's not stellar on me. I would classify Sentimental Initiation as a alluring, serious, mature fragrance that leans feminine. It feels solid (like furniture, ha) and is nice and spicy.

Unfortunately, the combination just doesn't call to me. I think I'd enjoy smelling this on somebody else; somebody who had the personality to pull it off.

3/5 for the creativity of the blend, but 2/5 as something for me to wear.

[stellamaris]

This is kind of a Perversion with something deeper for me, I get a heavy burnt sugar from this. Love love love this, not sure if it's BB worthy, I will be trying the imp more in the next couple of days.

 

Got my big bottle, and I figured it out, for me this is Perversion plus Snake Oil. It is pretty perfect, so happy I did get the BB. Snake Oil fans, get this now!!

Lasts all day besides!

Edited December 4, 2011 by stellamaris

[tinyvulture]

I went through a phase of loving red musk because it’s so bold and sexy, but lately I find myself appreciating black musk. It’s more understated, but its soft warmth does a good job here of toning down the brashness of red. There’s a lot of clove. The myrrh and patchouli are very sweet. They sort of smell like Coca-Cola. No trace of the mandarin orange for me. This reminds me of the studio where I practice yoga, for some reason. So it’s making me feel really calm. Soft, sweet, incense-y. It would make a lovely room spray, too.

[KakashiMorph]

In the bottle: Heavy mandarin with vanilla orchid and a bit of bamboo. It reminds me of those disposable wipes that every beauty shop gives away.

 

On my skin: The moment I apply it the beautiful clove, musks and myrrh come to the surface, making it a sweet, fascinating scent. The mandarin goes to the background, stopping it from becoming too sweet, but overall it is wonderful; with clove in the front line and mandarin in the rear. After a few minutes the mandarin becomes more prominent, leaving the spices in the background and making it an almost bitter scent. The clove is still there to keep it in check though.

 

Drydown: It dries down on me as mandarin with a trickle of clove and musks that keep it from being bitter. I would have preferred it if it were spicier, but I still like it.

[sihaya09]

This is very much in the same scent family as The Soldier and Red Lantern. It's all RAWR RED MUSK when applied, and then the bitter clove comes to the forefront to make a dark, bitter muskiness that is only slightly rounded out by the orchid. A very heavy scent-- a nighttime scent. Bold and very darkly sexual.

[Kamanjah]

My notes: A deep reddish oil as it goes on. Wet on skin, sweet with a little bite of something herbal or woody. Quite nice, wet. Ah, bet the bite is the clove and maybe bamboo. Definitely get the musks and patch. The musks and myrrh and patchouli are playing well together, don't really smell any vanilla orchid or mandarin.

 

An hour later – smells like it has tobacco in it, reminds me a lot of Interfector.

 

Six hours later, still about the same amount of scent as there was 5 hours ago, but more musky, so this is quite long lasting on me. Interfector with musk. Eight hours later - nice mix of musks over a little myrrh and patchouli. Really nice now.

 

I like Interfector and I like myrrh, musk and patchouli so this is a win for me. Dark and slightly sweet.

[ami226]

On the skin: Eeeeeep.... I am getting pretty much all dark musk. Powderiness with a bit of herbalness.

 

Not for me at all.

[filigree_shadow]

Red musks blends almost always smell very similar on me because that note is so strong on my skin. I always end up saying the same thing in my reviews: "Yes, this is really nice, but one of these days I'm going to have to do a side-by-side comparison of all the great red musk blends so I can pick just one or two that I want to keep." I swear, I say that every time.

 

Same thing this time. This smells great, and the clove with the red musk is a nice combination. This seems sweeter than red musk blends usually are on me, too. I like this one and will keep it in the running for the eventual side-by-side.

[surf-tormented]

In the bottle, this gives me a Brahmin Moth vibe. It smells so close to that perfume, though the two differ in notes. Maybe it's the myrrh and spice combo? I loved Brahmin and this one is also good. Like Brahmin, it has a rich and almost hair spray type start that gets a kick from the clove and settles down into a more mature perfume. It reminds me of perfume you'd find at a perfume store, not so much a perfume oil. It feels very sophisticated on. As it dries, it still feels like a Brahmin clone.

I like it, but since I have a bottle of Brahmin already, I will probably pass this along to someone who don't have a perfume like this yet.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Black musk, clove and patchouli: dark and pungent.

 

On skin: Black musk, dark and forbidding, is the star of this show. Thankfully it is coloured and sweetened by myrrh, patchouli, clove, and a hint of orange. However, the other notes aren't entirely successful at tempering the pungency of the black musk, and it remains just this side of off-putting. Sentimental Initiation is a full-bodied, very deep and dark blend, in the same family of dark musks as Czernobog, Phantom and Misericordia.

 

Verdict: If the other notes were more prominent, I think I would've liked Sentimental Initiation a lot more. As it is, there's just too much black musk for me!

[brilliantcat]

So very many love notes in this! Rich, heady musks in the imp and on my skin, the clove bursts through to add delicious spice. This is love so far It's Smut with clove and patchouli. I may need to find some more of this

 

ETA: Retesting some of my decants to determine if I want bottles. In the imp, I get mostly patchouli and tobacco. The tobacco amps a bit on my skin and is quite sweet. It makes me think "toasted". The patchouli is keeping it from becoming cloying as it can often do on me. I also get more red musk on me than I could smell in the tester. I get a bit of dustiness/powderiness that I know is the black musk as it's ruined other blends for me with its powder of doom. As it dries down, it becomes sort of patchouli-dusty-perfumey-clove. Definitely don't need a bottle.

Edited December 18, 2013 by brilliantcat

[mymymai]

ITB: It's resinous and cold at the same time, which is interesting - patchouli, clove, orchid, and bitter clove.

 

Wet: The clove is very strong here, making the scent seem almost dusty. King mandarin and patchouli followed by bamboo and a hint of orchid follow the strong clove note. It conjures images of running amok through a spice shop.

 

Dry: IT's still heavy on the clove, but now I can pick up myrrh, which sweetens it, and musk, which softens the scent. Warm patchouli drifts underneath it all, making it a pleasantly spicy scent.

[Allumina]

Oh man, I like all the notes in this and was hoping for the lovely musk everyone else got, but on me this spent about 10 minutes flopping around before turning into burnt sugar. And not in a good way. Boo.

 

*Off to swaps*

[Missy_killer]

In the imp: This is very manly. I smell some gorgeous, spicy men's cologne with.. is that mulled wine? Yum.

 

On: Very strong and manly. I smell the mandarin, clove and patchouli, it almost smells a little like mulled wine but with a citrus-twist. And it is, like I said, VERY strong. Black musk is almost always a death note for me, so I was very worried when I tried this on that it would smell burnt or something other nasty like that. It doesn't, thankfully.

 

I had to wash this off after a while because it amped to high heavens on me and started giving me a slight headache. Now, it didn't all want to rub off so I can still smell it, but more vaguely now. This smells like Halloween. It's dark and mysterious but has a spicy twist.

[Ethaisa]

I set this aside to age, as something in the blend wasn't behaving on my skin; either the bamboo or the orchid , perhaps - so sweet. But now the musks and patch have melded into this wonderful concoction (tho the red musk remains dominant) underneath a dried clove'd orange. I regret I only have an imp of this; it's amazing.

[flowercake]

Once dried this smells strongly of patch, clove, and citrus for hours. If you love these notes and are looking for a unisex-to-masculine scent that will have a strong throw all day then this is truly the perfume for you.

[Lucchesa]

I would never have tried Sentimental Initiation without all the reviews telling me not to be afraid of the red musk. And they were right. Red musk is there, adding its va-va-voom to the mix, but it doesn't obliterate the other notes, and the mix is just gorgeous. The gentleness of the myrrh and black musk manages to manifest; the clove is present but not overpowering; I'm not getting much patch, nor much mandarin or vanilla except a kind of roundness. This isn't a sweet blend, but it is well balanced.

 

I always get good throw and staying power from red musk (although usually all I get is red musk) and I suspect this will last all day. The decant was a gift to me, and I am giving it away, but I will be on the lookout for more in the future.