Masquerade

[kettu]

A festive, dazzling blend, layered in mystery and intrigue. Patchouli, ambergris, carnation and orange blossom.

My nose is SO confused! The different notes are all vying for attention, but not in a dissonant sort of way. I feel like I'm being spun around a dance floor and I'm getting dizzy with all the different directions I'm being pulled.

The orange blossom made itself very apparent at first, and I thought, "Wow, this is such a fun scent!" And then the patchouli came out and it got all dark and mysterious. I've no clue what ambergris actually smells like, but there's a non-carnation element that pulls every once in a while, so that's likely it. The carnation spices everything very smoothly.

Right now, it's playing the earthy, patchouli note.

I really don't know what to make of it! I like it, for sure, but I don't know how much! Weird.

***Final thoughts***
The patchouli became the dominant note and I smelled it on my arm even after my shower. I decided to let this one stay with Lynx, as I feel she will appreciate it more in the long run. Edited February 16, 2006 by Shollin

[theseagrows]

yay another patchouli scent i can wear! (which is a rare thing i tell you.)

 

masquerade is warm, spicy and a bit earthy. i loooove carnation and orange blossom, and luckily, mixed with those notes, i can handle the patchouli in this. it's warm and has a bit of a bite to it which i love!

[Galen]

Peppery floral at first, this quickly develops into a very smooth blend - rich and feminine without being flowery or heady. As it dries down further I can smell something softly resinous and a touch of coconut...

 

A truly beautiful blend, although it's quiet and doesn't call to my need for something that is both beautiful AND startlingly unique.

[Diva Urd]

On me, I don't get much of the patchouli, which is strange (it usually peeks out at least for a little while in most other blends, since I seem to amp it somewhat). What I do get a lot of, though, is the neroli. After complete drydown, most of the other notes come out (aside from the patchouli, which is still AWOL) and turn this into a rather pleasant scent.

 

While I don't consider this scent unpleasant, it just completely failed to wow me so far, I'm afraid. Well, maybe if I try it a couple more times - we'll see what happens. I don't see myself reordering "Masquerade" as of right now.

[TheStormCellar]

Going on, this smelled really sweet and kind of woodsy. Now that it's drying down on me, it smells like The Pipefitter. Seriously. You go walk in the door of The Pipefitter on State Street here in downtown Madison and I smell just like that smell. Faint patchouli incense. Weird. I like it, but I'm not sure I like the idea of smelling like a store. Don't get me wrong, Pipefitter is an awesome store, but I'm not all that keen on smelling like it. I think I might use the rest of the imp in my aroma diffuser to scent up my apartment, but I doubt I'll use it again as a perfume.

[fiddledragon]

Scent in bottle: Patchouli, carnation, and orange blossom. It's a very green, plant-like smell.

 

Scent on me:

Wet -- Very carnation, with the patchouli at the back. Quite nice, and still very squished-flowers smelling.

Dry -- This is the smell of chlorophyll! Green plants and growing things! With just a touch of patchouli. I'm very confused, given the notes and the name, but fine. I'll go with smelling green.

 

Conclusion: Oooo, yay. This is from another swap, along with another imp of Kali, which I'd really wanted, and was sort of an impulse-swap. But this is going on my bottle-list now :-)

[moon_lemming]

In the imp, this reminds me of a LUSH scent. Which usually means neroli, but I think it's the carnation/orange blossom combo this time around. The orange blossom stays incredibly bright while it's wet, but as it dries the carnation gets stronger, and something spicy comes out. I don't know what ambergris or patchouli smell like, so I'm not sure which of them is the culprit, but for a few minutes after Masquerade dries, I smell like incense in a bad way. (I probly shouldn't admit that patchouli tidbit, but I'm not sure what patchouli smells like on its own, THERE, I'M A BAD SNIFFER. )

 

BUT. But after three or four minutes, the spicy carnation comes back with a bit of the orange blossom peeking from behind it. It's pretty and sexy and LOVE.

 

Then, unfortunately, it turns to cedar. Cedar with a hint of orange blossom. Well, then.

[filigree_shadow]

At first this is kind of bitter and woodsy, which doesn't surprise me much because carnations are almost always bitter on me. But then the orange blossom comes out and makes it kind of sparkle. I really wish I was getting more patchouli from this, because I like patchouli.

 

Then it warms up, and it smells a lot spicier. This is interesting, but it's not the sort of scent I usually wear. It's a sweet spice. A little too much for me.

Edited April 24, 2006 by filigree_shadow

[themerrybaker]

Masquerade has signs that it is a blend that rewards patience, but an hour is about all I want to alot to having a scent settle down.

 

 

 

Masquerade morphs back and forth between a bitter undertone that confuses me: is it bone dry dust? or is it water? There is something sweetish and peppery and something that reminds me of squashed bug.

 

 

 

On the good side, when not sniffing my wrist trying to figure out "what the hell's going on here?" I catch a really delightful aroma.

 

 

 

So, if a masquerade is something that hides what it really is and spreads confusion, this blend is really aptly named.

[Medici]

In the imp: Patchouli with a touch of citrus.

 

Wet: Patchouli and orange with a hint of floral. The "citrus" makes it a little tangy, though its otherwise a pretty dark blend. It's got a bright little sparkle and shimmer.

 

Drydown: No carnation at all, which is the primary reason I wanted to try this one. If you added dust and a bit of resin to this, I think you'd land pretty close to The Masque. Both blends smack of dimly lit ballrooms with low-burning tallow. Masquerade is simultaneously comforting and mysterious, and it reminds me a little of The Haunted Palace - save the sharp smack of blood orange. The orange blossom mellows Masquerade out considerably.

 

3.5/5 on Medici's Scale o' Lurrve

[Dandelion]

In the bottle, this is an almost sweet scent. The orange blossom and carnation are almost more noticible than the patchouli, which I like. And it does remind me of a masquerade. I keep thinking of the ballroom scene from Labyrinth and wanting to dress up in a dramatic gown and mask. And huge hair that defies the laws of physics, of course. Totally looking forward to wearing this.

 

But on my skin, the patchouli takes over, which I don't like, and the florals only give a hint of sweetness. I'm not a big patchouli fan, or a fan of really inscencey scents. And that's all I get. Wah. Doesn't smell bad, just doesn't smell me. Seems like other people are getting better reactions, or like the darker scent. But as for me, this is going to be the starter scent for my swaps pile.

[dragonryder]

Sadly enough, the patchouli outweighs everything else on me. This one is just not for me.

[Brianne]

In the vial:

a sort of bitter-green patchouli smell

 

On me:

I had a good feeling I was going to like Masquerade - which is odd because I'm not the biggest patchouli fan and it has a high potential to wrong on me, and I'm not particularly into the other notes either. But something about the combination made me think it would work well for me. And it does. It's not a favorite by any means, but it's very pleasant and it definitely has a very Rennaisance like vibe to it. I think I feel this way because it smells just like this one soap/incense shop that I always visit at our local Rennaisance Faire. It's a smell of mostly patchouli but there is a lot of other sort of resiny-incensey smells going on too that give it that vibe. The patchouli is definitely in the foreground on this, and it's not a dusty patchouli, which I'm thankful for. It has great throw because I kept catching big whiffs of it throughout the day. The funny thing is, if I sniff my wrist closely though, it smells very much like cedar and I don't care for it. But if I don't do that, it smells beautiful and like a womanly patchouli with a hint of powdery sweetness.

 

Final note:

I think it's a really pretty patchouli, and I would say it's in the same vein as Siren and Vixen - womanly patchouli

[urraca]

The orange blossom lasts an unusually long time on me, and much though I love its scent, I don't like it on me. The dry down is not overly patchouli; it is not overly anything. I don't get the carnation and this does not remind me of Masque at all.

[Eunice]

The orange in here isn't all bright, sunshiney Florida orance. This is a quite sophisticated orange. I can almost make out the patchouli in here but it is a richer scent, not dirty stinky hippy patchouli as my BIL likes to call patchouli. This is a bit spicy which goes nicely with the orange. What a wonderful smell!

[gwyllgi]

This smells, to me, like a spiced orange ball. A spiced orange ball that's gone off. I'm not really sure where it's coming from, but once this hits my skin it takes on a strange sort of sourness - it's sour and musty. It smells like a spiced orange ball that's been in someone's closet for a few years, stuffed behind the awful painting that Aunt Marge gave you last Christmas.

 

In the imp, it smells like a faintly spicy-sweet patchouli, so I'm sure that the ickiness is coming from my skin. It's a bit heavy for me to see wearing it in a locket and it's not a room scent I'd particularly go for, though, so I suspect this one will be going off to find itself a better home.

[urbanruralferal]

The first thing I thought when I put this on was "Green". it started out very herbal and almost menthol or eucalyptus. There was a dark streamside mossy feel to it.

And then it moved on to something sweeter, but the sweetness didn't sit well. It's a boggy almost putrid sweetness, a bit like the mullein in Czernobog. I think it is the carnation. It has that spicy quality. I like it but it is weird.

 

Completely dry and the morning after, I can still smell it on my wrist. The patchouli really comes out as it dries, and the carnation/whatever is still there...The disparate scents seem to be better integrated with time. What a strange ride getting to this point, though.

 

Over all it may be too sweet for me to wear regularly, but I'm going to try a little on a lightbulb and see how my room smells.

Edited June 2, 2006 by urbanruralferal

[ViciousBleu]

I got this free in my first order of imps and wasn't quite sure why. All the scents I ordered were light and even clear looking in the bottle while this was dark and a little scary looking. Before opening it, I looked up the blend online only to exclaim an: "Alas, patchouli!"

 

It ended up going on the back of my list without even drying it on the skin, until I was going to watch my mom give a tarot card reading. I thought it would be a perfect time to try a mysterious scent and I kinda liked it although it was much heavier than I'd wear. I might've given it a try if I hadn't gotten to my mom's house and had her ask me "What perfume are you wearing? It's not your kind, give it to me."

 

And so ended my brief affair with Masquerade. I do have to add my mom was right, she's much more a fan of heavy scents and she pulls this one off better than I ever good. I think this smells wonderful on other people, just nothing special on me.

[kourika]

Oddly enough, the strongest smell I get from Masquerade once it's dried down from the initial "what on earth is in this?!?" is almond. It's not overpowering like some of the almond scents I've tried, but it certainly seems to be formost to my nose.

 

It's not a bad scent, but it's doesn't wow me either. Overall, I'll enjoy my imp, but I don't think that I really need a big bottle either. It's just nice, nothing exceptional, to me.

[edenssixthday]

Masquerade - The patchouli is the first note I pick up on, and it tricked me. I thought for sure it was teakwood or rosewood. Right behind it was something floral, but the patch overwhelmed it to the point that I couldn’t identify it. I was certain I didn’t like the scent. It was too warm and woody. At the point of dry-down, the scent turned soapy on me, but oddly enough, about 90 minutes later, the soapiness disappeared and the carnation and orange blossom suddenly burst through, and it became a sweet, warm floral scent that is almost pretty. The patchouli scent remains in the background and is now obviously patchouli (as opposed to masquerading as teakwood or rosewood). The most amazing thing about this scent is that when testing, I applied to the back of my hand. I have vigorously scrubbed my hands several times over the course of the last several hours (not to get rid of the scent, just because it’s been a part of my daily activities and washing off the things I’ve been doing) and the scent has not gone away. I’ve been wearing it for at least 4 hours now, with quite a few hand washings, and the scent is still evident. If it weren’t for the fact that it’s soapy for the first 90 minutes, I would probably wear this scent for the staying power if nothing else.

[Diana]

Wet: slightly perfumey, can detect orange blossom & patchouli right away.

 

Dry: the scent becomes a bit spicy, possibly from the carnation. the patchouli is warm and slightly woodsy. Sweet & spicy & earthy all at the same time. The spiciness fades a bit, then it is a warm scent with just a hint of the orange blossom fruitiness.

 

I really like this one... it might have to be an eventual 5mL.

[nerdcraft]

in the imp:

A deep, complex scent with some wet fruitiness in it. Orange? It has a slightly astringent, medicinal quality to it - almost like cedar or pine.

wet:

Ooof. Sort of like Halls menthol cough drops at first. Settles down into a spicy, deep scent, with the brightness of orange blossom on top. That note (weirdly) reminds me of Lolita, although overall this scent is completely different.

dry:

Oh, bummer. There goes the orange blossom. All that's left on me is spicy patchouli (which is actually not bad...I generally don't like patchouli, but this one is very soft and lighter than I expected) and the carnation, with a tiny, tiny hint of citrus-y orange blossom if I really sniff the crap out of my arm.

 

season: winter

office-friendly? probably, slightly heavy for me

 

overall:

I didn't have too many expectations for this one, but found it to be an interesting spicy blend. It's darker than the perfumes I usually choose for myself, but I can see it being great on wintery nights when I want to feel a little mysterious. This could work on either a lady or a dude, in my opinion.

[crazyredhead17]

Of the four notes in the description, I've only had one (that I know of) in other blends, so I won't be identifiying too many notes.

 

In the imp, it's a deep, earthy, spicey scent. With a side of soap and sinus headache.

 

Wet, it's spicy soap with some patchouli mixed in.

 

As it dries, it's an earthy, slightly spiced scent, with strong floral undertones. Something soapy is still there, tho, and the floral end of things is making my sinuses unhappy. I may give this one another wear in a couple months, but I'm thinking that this one's aimd to the swap pile.

 

While I am sure that there is a floral BPAL blend that will work on me, this one is not it. For now, I shall stick with my foody scents.

[karengypsy]

In the vial: Sweetness and wet earth.

 

On me: What a complex scent! This is sweet, earthy, musky, tangy... At first I wasn't sure if I liked it, but now I think I actually might. It smells rather nice on me.

 

Verdict: Keeper for now!

 

Rating: 3/5

[juniperus]

Thanks to the lovely Urraca for this imp.

 

Bottle: sharp carnation with a hint of the orange blossom, mainly

Wet: I can detect the ambergris behind the carnation, the sharpness is softening.

Dry: patchouli is still only a hint at the bottom of the pack - the notes are still crowded in the mid-range, but things are deepening and growing richer so I'm interested in how this will finally expand.

Later: the patchouli, ambergris, and carnation are really balances, the orange blossom has largely disappeared and taken the very top with it, but this is warm and lovely...festive does fit, yes, as my impression is the whirling of dancers, golden candelabra filtered candlelight, and passion hidden behind facades.