Black Lace v1

[Invidiana]

I held off on reviewing this one for so long because I wanted to do it properly.

 

First of all, I am honored to have been able to help the Lab in contributing to Jewel's fight against cancer by winning this auction, though I do not know her personally. She remains in my prayers.

 

Now for the scent:

 

Before I go any further, here is the description for the released Black Lace as a basis for comparison: a delicate sugar-spun vanilla cream cotton, stained by tobacco and incense, Indian musk, and drops of cognac.

Beth mentioned briefly that this prototype of Black Lace had more pronounced vanilla and incense notes, and that it definitely does. This is not a “delicate” scent as the released is but markedly more heady. I would probably call it Black Brocade in place of Black Lace, because to me it seems to be the scented version of a sumptuous brocade woven with an intricate scroll or damask pattern. I cannot really detect the cotton or linen notes which are evident on the drydown of the released. The vanilla is a major player from the start, not so much a vanilla cream note like that in Detestable Putrescence or Boo but more of a thick Bourbon vanilla like that in Celeste (though this blend smells absolutely nothing like Celeste). I do detect hints of spun sugar, though it is more of a subtle flourish of spun sugar than the prominent spun sugar note of Boo. There is also something of a booziness to the vanilla slightly reminiscent of XCDL13, which I’m contributing to the cognac note. It isn’t a blend to knock you over with booze, but the cognac is able to hold its own. The sweet tobacco and incense smoke are in about equal proportion to the vanilla, maybe a tad stronger overall on the drydown. I pick up a tobacco note very similar to that in Havana, backed by thick, sweet resins that must include one or more varieties of dark amber. I should note, as I probably have half a million times in my other reviews, that my skin tends to amp the sweetness in resins, and all notes that have any for that matter. In the final drydown a warm, sensuous musk emerges, which I’m taking to be the Indian musk. This blend also has tremendous staying power on me; again I should note that besides amping the sweetness in resins and vanilla my skin also clings to them tenaciously. When I wore it one night it was the first thing my nose picked up the next morning.

 

This truly is a gorgeous blend that melds with my skin as if it were made for me. Maybe in the future the Lace series could branch out to a cousin in this vein called Black Brocade. It makes me think of a séance or phantasmagoria (like that one particular postcard that’s gone out in packages—anyone who’s gotten it, you know what I’m talking about!) in a smoky Victorian drawing room, a bottle of fine cognac on the table, tendrils of incense smoke entwining with tobacco from the men’s pipes and the women’s perfumes of vanilla and exotic musks. Of course, at least one of the women would be wearing a gown of richly textured black brocade glowing softly in the candlelight.

 

No matter how many times I wear it, Black Lace v1 will always remind me of the special connection I had in giving someone the gift of hope, of the distinctly human empathy that binds us all, even if we have never met before.

Edited December 14, 2011 by Invidiana

[ellebelle]

My review will not be nearly so eloquent, but thank you Invidiana for letting me try this! To me, this is a foodier version of the released Black Lace and the big thing that stood out to me is that I think this oil has a trace of some nut in the blend, as I got a touch of the rancid nut smell on my skin (it's like I'm allergic to the nut oils or something!) if I had to guess, I'd say almond. But this is very pretty and I'm glad I got to give it a whirl!

[ljaylh]

Invidiana is eleventy billion varieties of awesome for sharing a little bit of this with me!! I can't possibly write as eloquent a review as she did, but I'll give it a go anyway

 

This v1 of Black Lace is way more dark and heady - it's a more grown-up version; more sensuous and smokey and sexalicious. I'm a big fan of Beth's cognac note, but where in the released version of Black Lace I find that the cognac gets a bit lost within the brightness of the tobacco and sweetness of the vanilla cream.. in this prototype version it's rich and sumptuous and much more out in front. Mmmm cognac

 

The incense in this version is also much more prominent - and again, that was another of the elements that I always wish would come out more from the sweetness of the released version. In v1, the incense is smoky and dark and exotic and I'm pretty sure there's a dark resin in here - perhaps it's a musk, but it seems more resinous than musk usually does so it's probably something within the incense. I find the musk in Dark Lace to be slightly cloying sometimes, but there's nothing like that going on at all in v1 - if there is a musk in here, it's much less.. err.. musky. There's also a big difference in the tobacco - to my nose, there's very little tobacco in v1, where in the released version I find the tobacco to be quite bright.

 

The vanilla in here is definitely different - in the released version the vanilla is quite sweet.. but as invidiana mentioned, in this one it's is a rich, boozy, syrupy vanilla - the perfect partner to the cognac.. together they present a warm, heady, lusciously swoonworthy sweetness that has a different tone completely - it never crosses the line into foodiness or candy-ness, not at any stage from first application to complete drydown (although the vanilla definitely comes out more at drydown, when I first applied the oil I didn't really notice it that much). Gorgeous.

 

I agree with another observation of invidiana's.. the linen/cotton tones seem to be missing from this version completely - when I do a side-by-side comparison between this prototype and the released version, it's really obvious that Black Lace has cotton/linen but I'm not noticing it at all in the prototype and I think that's perhaps the greatest difference between the two.

 

To me, this is much more 'black lace' than Black Lace is. Way more dark and smokey and sensual, way more sophisticated, just.. so much better. Black Lace is the black lace that stays under your clothes and behaves itself.. but Black Lace v1 is the black lace that shows itself off and says RAAWWWWWWWWR. I have to be honest and say that I've never really managed to totally love Black Lace - it's nice and all, but I've always thought it's just a bit too sweet and perfume-y, even my years-old bottle of the original version is still that way, so personally I wish Beth had decided that this prototype version was The One because I would buy vats of it and wear it whilst I go on a debaucherous mission to seduce Dave Grohl, Chris Cornell, Johnny Depp and Jim Morrison (who is only pretending to be dead). And maybe Slash too, if I have time. I don't mean to criticise Black Lace, because it's a beautiful blend in its own right, but this v1 is just so perfect that I can't help feeling a little sad that I can't get more of it.

 

OK.. I have to finish up now, because I'm going over to invidiana's house to steal her bottle

[zankoku_zen]

This review is for Black Lace v1 prototype. I didn't know if this should be a separate review thread or not.

 

More vanilla, more tobacco, and definitely more cognac. Way boozier than the original released blend. The resurrected version was kinda appley on me.

 

This one is definitely a tobacco/cognac heavy blend.