India Ink

[GypsyRoseRed]

To celebrate the CBLDF's event and celebrate our love of comics, we created an India Ink single note: a lot inky, a little papery, a little resinous, and strangely wearable.

A rich, dark spill of wet ink on paper. Seriously. That's exactly what it smells like, and while I don't get any floral qualities from this in the least, I am picking up on something slightly peppery. It really just smells like ink!

[Mellifluous]

I very much agree with GRR. This is most definitely a pure ink scent. Its crazy how dead on it is! It actually brings me back to my youth in art school, with acrylic and goauche paints right along with india ink itself. It reminds me of the moist sturdy brown paper towels we had, when cleaning up as well. This is like an art studio in a bottle, at least for me, in having some background in it. I think this will be a very nostalgic scent for many people, especially artists.

[Dark Alice]

A rich, dark spill of wet ink on paper. Seriously. That's exactly what it smells like, and while I don't get any floral qualities from this in the least, I am picking up on something slightly peppery. It really just smells like ink!

 

 

This is dead on in its description. Wet this smells like fresh wet, black ink. As it dries, it smells like peppery paper. It's like leaving your black ink pen down to long on a piece of think post or resume paper. It's actually quite nice.

Edited July 17, 2012 by Dark Alice

[mxtine]

This is such an amazing scent! It's not registering as perfume to me, but it really smells like the India ink I remember from art classes in college. There is a strange resiny smell that reminds me of one of the notes in Ivanushka or the 2010 bottle of Midnight Mass when it was fresh (frankincense maybe?). There's also something that smells like fresh motor oil.

 

I am getting the "peppery paper" others mentioned in the dry down also.

 

Rad.

[fufu_berry]

Art was the only class in which I was nervous about passing, and I never got past pencils, so I can't say that I'm familiar with the scent of india ink or ink in general. In the bottle, this smelled kind of pine-y - lots of resin and sap. On, I definitely got the paper/ink smell, sort like a stronger-smelling newspaper. However, I also got a kind of odd earthy vegetable smell, like cooking a winter vegetable soup. The vegetable smell dissipated after about 20 min, but it took most of the rest of the scent with it. I don't know how much I liked this as a scent to wear on me, but it was very interesting. I'll give it a few more tries before I decide whether to hang on to it or not.

[boxinghelena]

India Ink:

 

Smells like resinous paper on me. Sadly, I don't know if this is a scent I would wear.

[tdiym]

when i was young, i studied at art school in the bowels of the big art museum in my city, and this fragrance is the smell of walking down those wide, flat concrete steps under the museum entering the school. it's fall when the air is cool and the smell of turpentine and linseed oil are fragrant hallmarks that the bustly world of downtown was upstairs, outside, and behind me. it signals the entry into another world underground: exciting, interesting, challenging, creative, stimulating, unique.

wet in the bottle i got turps from the resins more than i got ink but i put it on and huffed sniffed and was transported back in time and place. now that it's dried down, here comes the linseed oil, too. instant nostalgia. art school. perfect.

[alhbooks]

Yup. Spilled ink describes this perfectly on first application. The slightly peppery back note starts up after a couple of minutes.

[absinthetics]

Spilled ink. It's a bit industrial smelling. But it's Very interesting! I don't get a pepperyness from it yet but will update after some wear time.

 

Ok, so the pepperyness came through quite heavily on dry-down. Unfortunately it overcame the papery-ness. Which is what I was hoping for. I love love love my fairy for getting this, as it has extreme sentimental value (it's my favorite art media), but I think I have to pass on a back up bottle as it will not get extreme use from me.

 

An amazing blend though! So creative!

Edited July 31, 2012 by Absinthetics

[Alshneato]

Smells like ink on paper for sure- I get a little something that reminds me of Wiley Grasser...

[violetblue]

I was very lucky to score this on EBAY and pleased the seller (GypsyRoseRed) would be donating some of the money for it back to the CBLDF!

 

I don't know why, but the minute this oil was announced I wanted it.

 

I have an older sister who is an awesome artist and she always had some kind of art thing going on. As a kid, we shared a room (think 70's, shag yellow carpet). I got into her pot of india ink and metal pens for it and tried my hand at calligraphy. (yah right.) When she discovered me using them, she was just thanking god I hadn't spilled any. I can't imagine what would have happened if I had gotten it on the furniture or carpet. I don't know why I always remember that. I haven't seen my sister in years, and this, for some reason, made me feel close to her. The crazy thing is, I could not remember what the india ink smelled like and it bothered me, because I tend to remember scents extremely well.

 

Wet, it made me think of the office copier room - all copy toner and paper. Dry, I get more paper. I can see people mentioning industrial and machine oil. Those came to my mind too. Not sure if I will wear this, but I see myself sniffing it from time to time and just smiling at the bottle, remembering the fun I used to have with my sister.

 

Kudos to Beth for creating such a unique blend, and one that will benefit others too.

Edited July 28, 2012 by violetblue

[MCS4096]

I am so so grateful to the person who answered my ISO and gave me the opportunity to get my hands on this, thank you Like violetblue, as soon as I read the announcement I knew I wanted it, and I made an ISO post..

 

As everyone else has said.. this is a dead ringer. If you are not familiar with the smell of ink, this is deeply resinous and very peppery.. almost like a spice cabinet smell-- cumin, or something like that. There is a hint of this note in the recent Blood Moon I think.

 

It is strong and distinct.. not something I will wear super often, but a scent that's so evocative to anyone in the art world that it's irresistible.

[zankoku_zen]

Peppery ink. On wet, it has this bit of linseed oil going on, and it reminds me of when my sister used to do art in high school and college. As it dries, the papery note comes out more thoroughly and it ends up like a big blotch of ink on heavy paper.

[mojomomma]

I spent way to much on this, but for some reason had to have it. I am not sure it is a scent I will wear, but the nostalgia it brings back is well worth it. I do at first get that very strong ink from the bottle and while still wet. Then this turns into something that is a memory. The scent sort of reminds of a bookstore my mom owned. The newer books that still had that ink smell, mixed with the older books whose pages had begun to turn and had been handled by many along the way. I do not think of this as a perfume scent but a memory in a bottle. Some scents just bring us back to a place or time in our lives and this one does that for me. I am not sure I will keep the whole bottle as I think an imp just to take me back once in a while will be sufficient. The rest like a good book should be shared and loved by many.

[ljaylh]

I've been holding off on reviewing this, because it's taken me a few times of wearing it before I've been able to decide how I feel about it

 

It's... uh... inky. When I first opened the bottle, I had to look twice because it smelled *so* inky that I really expected the oil to be black. It's actually kind of a dissonance thing for me - it smells so much like ink that my poor brain thinks the oil should be tht dark black and it has trouble aligning the smell against the visual. But, my weird brain aside, yeah... inky. There's also something quite sinuous about the smell, like the oil should be thick.

 

I completely agree with violetblue - this is all copy toner + print room smells, on me. We have a very large in-house print facility here at work, and India Ink smells exactly like that room does when I walk through the door. After it's been on my skin for about half an hour, I can pick up the resins more clearly and I also get a bit of the 'pepper' vibe that others have mentioned. And also the industrial/motor oil smell.. yep, it's doing that on my skin as well. So ultimately, this turns into ink+mechanic workshop on my skin.. which isn't quite as hideous as it sounds, but not exactly nice either.

 

Credit where it's due - this is genius, the scent is bang-on for what it represents. It's an interesting scent, for sure, but I honestly can't see myself ever wearing this as perfume - I kind of don't really like the smell of it.

[Hadewig]

To me it doesn't smell anything like India Ink. I have several jars of India Ink and they all smell sweeter, less peppery/burned. It reminds me more of ecoline, gouache paint and charcoal to be honest. I dapped a bit on my hand and after a few minutes I started to feel really nauseous and had to rinse that smell away.

[cfrancesca]

This is such an interesting scent. When it was wet I got lots of ink but also smokey almost acrid vetiver type smell, along with some resin and the peppery scent others have also gotten. Once it dried and settled on my skin it completed smoothed out and actually smells so much like ink and paper it's amazing. Not something I would wear but a very cool novelty type scent.

[ami226]

Definitely interesting!

 

I've never smelled actual India Ink before, so I'm afraid I can't compare.

 

As for this, I get a slightly herbal/inky scent. I do get some resins later on with a hint of licorice and paper? Not for me, but I was definitely grateful for the chance to try it!

[ajodasso]

Amazingly, I'm able to wear this!

 

I agree that in the bottle it's a bit more peppery and herbal and less sweet than actual India ink.

 

On my skin, it turns into a dark, sweet, resinous anisette. It's the most fascinating BPAL scent I've ever encountered.

[Monday]

Wet: Etching ink. The type that you have to dig out of its can and heat before spreading it on your prepared plate. Mechanical and resinous.

 

Dry: Way more woodsy. It's a kind of celery-like woods. The incense is also still around. The printing ink has faded to the background.

I have come across this note in Fire Eater, if you like India Ink it might be worth it to seek out Fire Eater too.

 

Well it's not the India Ink that I use to draw with which smells a bit clay-ish. But I also love printmaking and this SN reminds me of happy hours working on etchings and lithographies and manning (well, womanning ) the giant ancient printing presses.

[Blood onmy hands]

I tracked down a bottle of this and regret the money & time I spent on it, lol. I usually love art shop smells and ink smells, but this smells like black pepper, maple syrup, powder and bitter celery on me. Weird and unpleasant. It doesn't make me think of ink or paper at all...

Edited July 9, 2013 by Little Bird

[calivianya]

I'm scratching my head in confusion, but in a good way.

 

This really is inky. Chemical, dry, resinous... and yeah, definitely a little peppery. The dry quality of it is dusty, like old paper. This is really interesting, but I think my brain is subconsciously wigging out about this being a perfume. It doesn't smell like something I should be putting on my body at all.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

5mL from OlfactoryMaven bought on LJ

 

Preconceived notions:

 

The idea of this scent intrigued me when it was announced, but I didn't want to deal with the hullabaloo of finding an angel to get me a bottle and wrote it off as something I didn't need under the circumstances. I kept thinking about it, though. I read the reviews later and saw how many people either disliked it or didn't find it wearable and should have been put off, but decided to take a gamble anyway, because that's how I roll with BPAL a lot of the time.

 

First sniff:

 

I definitely see where the reviews are coming from. This is acrid and a little industrial, but definitely inky and a little resinous. I can see why people find this off-putting, but I keep coming back for another sniff. Strange.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Not acrid, but still somewhat harsh. Very true ink scent with hints of what smells like cumin and frankincense. It sounds like a bizarre scent and it kind of is, but it's honestly not as strange in person as it is "on paper" (which conjures up images of a pen and ink illustrator eating curry in a church).

 

Dry down:

 

Ink for sure. Not ballpoint pen ink, either, and not copier toner. It's been so long since I've smelled real india ink that I can't quite remember exactly what it smells like, but this definitely isn't your "standard" everyday ink. The cumin has eased up noticeably, but it's still there and the resinous vibe has gotten slightly heavier with parchment (or some sort of heavy stock drawing paper, maybe, not printer/copier paper) in the background.

 

The bottom line:

 

Completely unique and strangely awesome in that "only the Lab could pull this off" sort of way. My mom hated this (although she did agree that it was very unique and that it smelled like some sort of art ink), but I actually really like it. It's definitely not a crowd-pleaser of a scent, but neither is Rivet.Goth and it's a winner for me, too. I wear perfume for me, not for anyone else, so I'll happily wear India Ink even though I may not be popular for doing it.

[suki]

This is soooo weird and amazing. When I smell this in the bottle, I get straight-up old-school typewriter scent. It's ink, alright. but it's ink ribbon and it's also a bit of grease in old gears and it's metal. It's all those things, and yes, it's one of those "How did the Lab DO this?!" kind of scents. On the skin, it stayed true to that for about an hour, which is pretty much par for the course when it comes to single notes, I've noticed. But now that it's settled down and even fading a little, now I'm getting something slightly smoky/spicy in there. And that is both intriguing and also means it's going to be fun and interesting to layer.

 

This, to me, is the beauty of a single note- a pure, simplified version of some specific thing we encounter in this world, precious in it's singularity, but also something that has the potential to Play Well With Others.

 

Love it!

[Gateau]

More art nostalgia here.

 

My grandfather was a commercial artist. He freelanced and worked from his studio at home. He also painted (oils) and did a lot of pastel work. I spent endless happy hours by his side, in his basement studio in my grandparents' house in Queens, drawing or posing for him and just soaking it all up. Then I studied etching and spent a lot of time in studios filled with the mingled smells of thick ink, solvents, oiled presses, and wet paper. I felt like home.

 

This is what it smelled like. Absolutely took me back 40+ years to these very specific places.

 

Bless you, Beth, for making this. I'll enjoy every drop of my decant. I know my mother and sister will get a charge out of it too.