#occupywallstreet

[angelicruin]

Rock the protester cliché! This is a filthy friggin' patchouli, dark, deep, rooty, and strangely sexy, with cocoa absolute, tobacco absolute, and bourbon vanilla.

Sniffing the bottle, I immediately scent the cocoa absolute and the patchouli.

Wet on my skin, starts off 100% patchouli. Shortly after application though, I pick up the cocoa note and as it dries further, the tobacco note emerges. Once fully dry, I can finally smell the bourbon vanilla under everything else.

As in the scent description, this patchouli is very strong and rooty and it's definitely the strongest note on my skin, but the other notes do help to temper it somewhat.

[Mellifluous]

Ok, so I originally tested this at the WCWC, and was a little disappointed because I was hoping for a chocolaty version of Banshee Beat, and #OWS turned out all patch on me, with none of the other notes listed making an appearance. Then 2 days later when I was decanting a bottle of the Seekim, i realized the cocoa had completely separated down at the bottom, and wondered if that may had been the problem with OWS. So I was very excited when I got my order in the mail yesterday when I noticed.... there was no separation D: Tested the oil, and darn it, its the same. Just patchouli. It is a nice, soft, and veeery mildly sweet patch, but close to a single note on me nonetheless. It is a good blend if you like patch, but yeah.. wasnt for me.

Edited October 22, 2011 by Mellifluous

[mxtine]

I also hoped this would be a chocolatey Banshee Beat. I have to accept that it's gone and nothing can come close to it.

 

OWS is a woody/rooty patchouli, similar to The Coiled Serpent but a bit sweeter. I smell a bit of cocoa, but unfortunately this oil is virgin-fresh from the Lab so I can't detect the other notes very well. I freakin' love patchouli, so it's not a complete disappointment...besides, this will age and get richer.

[marared]

This is a big ole whack of patchouli. I can smell a bit of the cocoa and a bit of the tobacco, but it's mostly woodsy holy-cow-patchouli. Filthy indeed, but in a good way - I need to give it more time on my skin to be sure, but for once, the tobacco doesn't turn all greasy-gasoline on me.

 

Edit to add: When it's had several hours to sit on the skin, it's really lovely. It's still distinctively woodsy-patchouli, but it's not so loud and not so filthy. The tobacco definitely does not take over (thank goodness!) and works with the cocoa to mellow the patch. I really like this now, and can't wait for it to put on some age.

 

After a second test tomorrow, I'm sending this off to the aging box in the closet, to be huffed every few months or so - I imagine this sucker will take a couple of years to truly mellow out.

 

If you like Boomslang and you like a lot of patchouli, you'd probably like this.

Edited October 25, 2011 by marared

[violetblue]

Beth is spot on to call this filthy patchouli! The patchouli comes off super strong and a little sharp - while Goblin is soft patchouli and tempered with the coconut, this is in your face almost single note patchouli. I am curious how this will age and if the sharpness, almost sourness will possibly fade. I get the chocolate but it does not sweeten this blend to my nose. I really like it though, as I love patchouli heavy blends.Luckily the tobacco does not go all pipe smoke on me in this blend. I don't get the vanilla much but I don't miss it really either.

[Iceblink]

Hoo boy, yeah--this is SERIOUS patchouli, strong and heavy and almost rubbery during the wet stage. Intense! After about an hour on my skin it really begins to mellow and the tobacco/cocoa/vanilla are giving this a soft and complex sweetness. Very nice once it's dried down--and in a few months this should be spectacular, once the patchouli has aged.

[Ilex]

Ooh, nice earthy patch. Almost astringent when wet.

 

Having let it mellow, I'm really getting the vanilla as a second note, and the tabacco blends so well with the patch I hardly notice it (which is good, sometimes its a note that will go sicky sweet on me). Weirdly, I don't really smell the cocoa. At all. I shook the bottle up really well before applying, and checked it by holding the bottle up to the light to see if there was cocoa oil at the bottom, but nope. No cocoa.

 

I love it all the same, in spite of the missing cocoa. Its a very straightforward, simple oil that I can wear without odd morphing happening and, best of all, it has the hubby seal of approval. He even can tell its not straight up patch, he smells the vanilla and likes it. This is a rare thing.

[Teaotter]

Updated March 2013:

 

This has changed dramatically since I first got it. No more redwood log at all! The bottle smell is now strongly stinky-patchouli, but it doesn't smell like that at all on my skin.

 

Wet, the patchouli is still strongest, though the other notes put in an appearance. But within fifteen minutes, this smooths out into a sweet vanilla-over-woods scent. The patchouli is honestly *sweet* now, with the cocoa and tobacco playing back-up as a woody underlayer to the patch and vanilla.

 

I kind of miss my raw redwood log, but the aged version is it's own sweet mystery.

 

***

Original review:

 

In the bottle: sharp, astringent. Almost chemical. If that's the patchouli, it's the first time it's ever smelled like that to me! It's a bit frightening, to be honest.

 

Wet: A wave of dirt that resolves into something woody. This smells like a redwood log to me, vaguely sweet in an herby way but totally, totally woody. It still doesn't smell like any patchouli I'm familiar with.

 

Drydown: Okay, that's patchouli! It's still dominated by a woodiness that I'd almost swear was redwood or possibly cedar, but the spicy complex patchouli scent is definitely coming in. Or maybe out. This has a floating sweetness I think is the vanilla somewhere behind the wood notes.

 

Dry: This is unlike any patchouli scent I've ever smelled. Very woody, spicy, and complex. I can't identify any cocoa in this scent, but the tobacco is part of what I'm reading as 'woody' here. The vanilla adds a sweetness, but no creaminess to this, though that may change as the perfume ages. This is a jagged, broken tree trunk, spiky and rough and fascinating.

 

The throw is remarkably sweet and almost gentle for something that I keep thinking is going to knock me over every time my hand gets within six inches of my nose. Long-lasting on me. I imagine this will age into something incredibly awesome.

 

ETA: This scent is addictive. I didn't think I really liked this stage of it at all, but I've been reaching for it non-stop for the last three days.

Edited March 28, 2013 by TeaOtter

[nineveh]

While wet, this is very disappointing: a thin scent of plastic and pencil shavings. Once it's completely dry, however, it blooms, becoming a sleek, dark, woody scent softened by cocoa and sweetened slightly by vanilla. It strikes me as quite sophisticated, more a high-end fragrance for someone who works on Wall Street than a protester cliche.

 

On my skin, it doesn't smell at all similar to Banshee Beat (I get a lot of vanilla from that), not even the same kind of patchouli. I was kind of worried about that, but I'm glad to find out that having a bottle of each isn't redundant.

[AmyO'Shields]

I think this is the Patchouli used in Luperci...but I could be wrong. http://www.bpal.org/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/00000288.gif Holy it slaps me around! I think this one needs to sit in the corner for a bit and think about what it's done... http://www.bpal.org/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/icon_smile.gif This should be fabulous after some ageing.

 

ETA: I'm seeing mention of people getting Cedar from this...and good grief I wish I did!

 

ETA: I sold my first bottle and just bought another because I gave up too soon! http://www.bpal.org/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/icon_smile.gif I AM a patchouli freak and I know this will age well. Fresh out of the hot mailbox (so sad...poor oil!) the globules of cocoa are stuck to the inside rim of the bottle and on the bottom so I roll it and it starts to assimilate a bit. NOW I get the cedar shavings that others have mentioned and it's kind of a nice lift! I smell very thin patchouli that definitely needs time to age, a touch of cocoa and nothing else. I'm wishing that I kept my other bottle because it would be glorious already by this point...and I can't wait to smell this bottle in a few months. Right now this is a 5/10, and I predict it will become a 10/10. I have hope!

 

Eta: So. This guy took a while to mature. I just decided I needed to smell this again and am so glad I did. I don't get any cocoa, but that's ok. This is a redwood/cedaresque patchouli. It has smoothed out. There is no more high pitched whiney smell anymore. It is comforting and I am so glad I kept my bottle. What a gem. Only took just over 5 years :-)

Edited March 8, 2017 by Herb Girl

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

i LOVE patchouli. love it. it's my comfy-cozy-i'm-at-home-now scent. i have many patchouli oils from many places, some upwards of 30 years old, some cheap cologne sprays that are just fragrance oils and alcohol. i love 'em all.

 

this? this is like a teeensy drop of patchouli drowning in a vat of pencil shavings ground up with cedar oil. like, this is pretty much how i imagine an old cedar chest might smell if i stumbled across one in an attic...forgotten for a century and filled with precious and most-loved belongings that were carefully put away with traces of a perfume still clinging to them.

and maybe the things in that cedar chest were divided into layers with the papers that are scented with patchouli oil, that were at onetime used to package goods shipped from the Orient. (if i've got my historical minutiae right!)

 

i've had this on for nearly 12 hours now, hoping it would become delicious, and it just keeps making me sad.

[cyberpuff]

#occupywallstreet is my second BPAL lava lamp. Meaning: There is a layer of goo at the bottom of the bottle, and large dark chunks floated around when I rolled it. Then those chunks stuck to the side. And there's still thick goo at the bottom. People, we have cocoa absolute! Now that you have the visual:

 

In the bottle: Perfect patchouli, with a hit of cocoa and vanilla.

 

Wet on skin: The patchouli that others have describes as astringent comes forward. But I coaxed a dark chunk out of the bottle with a toothpick (i know, I can hear screams of horror over this unorthodox testing ) and it makes the patchouli less cleaning solution and somehow more floral.

 

20 mins later: This is gorgeous on my skin. It's a very rich, sweet patchouli that somehow doesn't scream "OMG, Hippy!" I don't get dirty from it, I get deep, dimensional grounding. The sweet is nothing like the dirt syrup experience I had with Banshee Beat.

 

1 hour later: Same as the 20 minute mark, but less throw. Not a lot of throw to begin with on me.

 

Overall: This has surprised me. I really thought I was just buying a scent to support the lab's donations, because I really appreciate that they do these things. I was afraid this would turn into a Banshee Beat scent and I wouldn't get to enjoy wearing the scent, and also because part of me still instinctively recoils in fear when I see patchouli listed as a note. I guess I'm just a hippie at heart ( ) because the stuff smells great on me. And I agree with others about the aging on this one- should be fantastic. I feel bad for people who are getting the pencil shavings/cedar, I have none of that here.

 

edited cuz my spelling typo was just embarrassing

Edited October 31, 2011 by sheena

[Dark Alice]

I think this is the Patchouli used in Luperci...but I could be wrong. Holy it slaps me around! I think this one needs to sit in the corner for a bit and think about what it's done... This should be fabulous after some ageing.

 

ETA: I'm seeing mention of people getting Cedar from this...and good grief I wish I did!

 

This just sums it up my experience perfectly. This patchouli is down and freaking dirty and just bitch slaps you. The chocolate is in there but barely and so is the bourbon vanilla but again the bitch slapping patchouli! Gotta love it! I think aging will help mellow this out and become gorgeous!

[judas_kiss]

Got this for my husband, although we ALL know I HAD to try it out RIGHT when it got here. About 2 seconds on my skin, I KNEW this was HIS. It is a FILTHY as fuck patchouli. But, by "filthy"? I mean furtive, desperate groping in a dark alley behind a protest or the filth of cheap printer ink stained on your hands after writing a piece that the feds will take note of. This is dark, dirty and deep. This scent is sweetened up only SLIGHTLY by the other notes. I feel that this sweetness has a very "skin" quality...like skin that has just been rinsed off.

 

I could see Jack Kerouac smelling like this, or perhaps Bob Dylan in his heyday. This has a sexy insurgency to it, along with a certain urgency...it's brilliant.

 

We'll be buying another bottle this week, or maybe even two if finances allow. This is something I don't want him to run out of anytime soon. LOVE LOVE LOVE this.

[Lethran]

In bottle: They are not kidding about the patchouli. It’s a nice patchouli, but very strong. I do like what the vanilla and tobacco do with the patchouli, but I think I’d prefer a more balanced blend of elements. The cocoa is barely detectable. Wet: better on the skin, though still rather more patchouli than I’d choose for myself. The tobacco makes its move as it warms, and the cocoa starts to come out. The cocoa is deep, dark, and powdery, and is clever with this particular patchouli. I am not sure it’s going to work, but it certainly is interesting. Dry: I think this is officially way too much patchouli. I do think the tobacco and vanilla are lovely, even after the cocoa burns off, but the patchouli over balances everything and is just too chemical on my skin. It’s a shame.

[Gateau]

I got this mostly for the good cause, but had some small scintilla of hope it might work on me, if the cocoa, tobacco and vanilla could poke through AND it was the right kind of patchouli filth, meaning the kind that smells like fresh dirt. Sadly for me it was ALL the acrid rotting cedar log kind of patchouli, and the merest drop of it on my skin from inside the lid overtook my senses for hours and hours. I never got a note of anything else.

 

It's possible that after a long aging period I might get something I could wear, but instead I found it a good new home. Maybe someday an aged decant will find its way back to me and I can try again.

[tuesdaynexxt]

This...this is amazing!

 

I get the lovely patchouli, rounded by the cocoa. Tobacco comes through on the dry down. I don't get much vanilla at all, and I've worn this several times already. I love patchouli, but was afraid this was going to be like Banshee Beat, which I've tried a couple of times and had to wash off.

 

When I got this last week, I too was getting the strong, woodsy, almost medicinal patch. Warning to those who've already swapped it away: mine has settled down at an unheard-of rate, and is now a MUCH gentler beast! I opened my backup bottle to double check, and it's true: it's already mellowed into more gorgeousness!

 

LoveLoveLove this one!! Resisting the urge to get more!

[jarvenpa]

Yeah, ordered it because what a great selfish way to support the protests (and have more perfume, Marie Antoinette would have been proud of me). But also...vanilla was mentioned, and vanilla on my skin can do no wrong, whatever sort it is.

 

In the bottle...wow, that's certainly patchouli, omigod.

 

Wet on my wrists: well, that's really strange, it smells of asphalt and tar and puddles and yeah, that's certainly patchouli. Very bitter, very dry. It's not a comforting scent, that's for certain, but it is provoking, yes it is.

 

And after some hours...that's odd, is this cedar? sandalwood? It's gentled down a whole lot, and I really like it. Doesn't seem like patchouli so much as something very woody, very deep.

 

I think it would be awesome on a guy, but I'm liking it for my elegant self as well. This is likely to age really, really well.

[strahlend]

I love patchouli. It's one of my favorite notes and for the last 15 years I've almost always had a bottle of patchouli oil in my perfume box.

I ordered this with enthusiasm.

 

Appearance of the oil: there's no dark stuff floating around in my bottle anywhere.

 

When I sniff the bottle: I get patchouli and vanilla, it smells fantastic.

 

When I put it on my skin: any trace of vanilla vanishes and it doesn't even smell like patchouli at first, it smells like someone threw vetiver on a pile of burning tires.

 

After a little while it lightens up enough that I can tell this is a patchouli oil, but I can't detect any of the other notes.

And then it's gone!

Amazingly enough for a scent that starts out almost offensively strong, after about an hour and half or two hours it just vanishes.

 

Maybe there were mixing problems with this scent, I don't know. It seems like the reviews are more drastically different than usual.

I'm hoping that if I stick this in a drawer for a year or two it will mellow out or develop or something.

 

Edit to add:

It's been a bit over a month since my original post and it still smells like burning rubber for the majority of the time it's present on my skin. Guess I'll check again at 6 months.

Edited December 7, 2011 by strahlend

[taramarie]

Disclaimer: I'm not a patchouli fan, I bought this to support the cause.

 

In the bottle, #occupywallst is straight patchouli. Wet on my skin, the tobacco and cocoa are beneath the patchouli. Drying, I think maybe the bourbon vanilla is starting to come through. If I was fond of patchouli, this would be my ideal scent. I can see where a patchouli fan would like #ows, it's strong and deep. It's just not me.

[stellamaris]

Ok, so I am a supporter of the protests, I bought 3 bottles of this, wanting to be supportive, and as a bonus, I love patchouli, to the point of when I read reviews that say "ewww gross dirty stinky hippie patchouli" I usually push that scent to the top of the Must Have Now list.

This is not disappointing, it's a very nice patchouli, but strangely there is something very luxurious to me here, um, very furry. Like a furriers shop. Like Marilyn Monroe's mink coat. Really. I feel like I am breathing into fur. Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad thing for me...

 

Strange, nobody else gets the fur thing, maybe it's just me...

 

Got my backups yay, I put this one in my hair everyday, I adore it, and hope it's energy gives Power to the People...

Edited November 24, 2011 by stellamaris

[BlueStar]

This is quite possibly my favorite scent yet from Black Phoenix. Beautifully complex in it's simplicity. Right off when I twisted the cap I pictured myself on the bridge of Serenity next to Captain Malcolm Reynolds. It is the scent of the misfit, the naughty man on the raggedy edge. The scent of aiming to misbehave. It is an electric adrenaline jolt, about to fly through blood thirsty Reavers and bring hell itself down on The Alliance. Occupy is the very essence of rebellion and revolution.

 

When it hits my skin the patchouli is diabolically intense warming slowly and subtly with the creeping incandescence of bourbon vanilla.

 

A few minutes later the abject rapture of cocoa absolute peeks through the ducky haze to make it's presence felt. The tobacco note is light on my skin but adds a certain depth to the scent that is indispensable.

 

In dry down--where all BPAL shines the brightest for my skin chemistry--it's rock stardom, beat poetry, French Revolution, Abbie Hoffman on steroids, and one heck of a wild after glow. You can't stop the signal!

 

I hope it's LE status doesn't mean it will be gone before I have the chance to stock pile it. If only I could get enough of this scent I would wear it EVERY day and I don't think it would ever get old.

 

[Autumnsky]

In the bottle, I was sure this was one for the man of the house...I love me some patchouli, but the bottle sniff of this is SOOOO deep brown and "dirt-wet" patchouli I was certain it would be too much on me.

 

Wet on my wrist, the patchouli was loud, but I could still hear a wisp of vanilla in the background, and that tangy tobacco...cocoa, not so much, but....

 

This has dried down into a soft, warm, sexy, inviting kind of patchouli...reminiscent of the Molinard Les Senteurs Patchouli that I wore for years....there's a float of powdery cocoa, and the vanilla lends a sweetness, but it's far from foody. I'm in love.

[rinster]

Based on initial reviews, I was expecting this to be over the top funky patch, but it's much smoother than I would have thought (or other reviewers have a more sensitive nose than mine, which is entirely possible!)

 

With Banshee Beat, it was pretty easy to identify all the components (especially the hemp, which went a bit astringent on me while wet). Right now I can't pick out the vanilla, tobacco or cocoa per se, but I know it's contributing to the overall effect because it's definitely not a patchouli single note. If this is a dirty hippy, it's a very well bred, clean cut, well spoken one!

[vanilla323]

#occupy wallstreet

 

In the bottle: Strong dirty patchouli! That is all I smell not sweet but dirty and dank!

 

Wet: Never really wore patchouli thought I'd give it a try but not agreeing with me at all. Too strong and "harsh" still dirty. No cocoa absolute or bourbon vanilla. Maybe the bad smell is tobacco???

 

The dry-down: Now just lighter but still all the nonagreeable notes as wet. Not digging this. Will probably give it to someone who loves pachouli, clearly my skin didn't.

 

Final: 2/5

 

UPDATED REVIEW: 1/14/14

 

Not sure it was aging or maybe my skin changed but I LOVE #OWS now! The patchouli is strong but sexy and the other notes balance it out with just the right amount of not sweet but foodiness maybe. I did give away my first bottle but now I have another one, and a backup on the way too!

 

Final today 4/5

 

UPDATE: 1/26/14

 

Sadly I now remembered why I gave up my original #OWS it was staying power. As strong as this is on application I needed it to stick around much longer. It made me sad. But when I compare it to other patchouli scents I have it just didn't hold up to them. Sorry #OWS.

Edited February 4, 2014 by Ichigo