The Book

[jolarocknrolla]

Old, yellowed parchment paper, tattered leather bindings. There's a distinct warmth to the scent, though it is ancient and brittle.

Sorry guys, this is going to be the worst review ever of a scent because ALL I CAN SMELL is Leather. It is all leather, leather and nothing else. Leather heaven. Leatherama. Leatherpalooza. If you love leather, this is for you.

Ok, it may also have a slight "dry" note to it, and something that vaguely reminds me of the Oak Leaf note in Black Annis??

On dry-down it also has an almost coconut-husk scent overlaying the leather (maybe that is supposed to be the "warm" note?). Like black coconut mulch? I may be crazy though.

[lookingglass]

This is my new precious! "Yellow", and "leather" were giving me great pause, but I have a very close relationship with books in general, and appreciated that The Book is honored here as a character, so I had to give this baby a go. This does NOT smell like chemically mall leather, or soft Ren Fair leather, or horse tack, or slick S&M black leather. This smells like a leather lined smoking room in a mansion full of dusty old books, seeped in years of cigar smoke and bourbon...and incense...like a creepy bedtime storybook...It has PRESENCE and BOLDNESS, and is a bit disturbing, but is so warm and wearable. You all might think I'm crazy, because it doesn't share notes at all, save for a creamy, vanillicundertone, but this scent FEEEEEELS like Banshee Beat and U Mutter Museum got together and wrote it all down. I'm in. :love!:

Edited September 6, 2012 by lookingglass

[Numanoid]

Hmm...get a nice mixture of leather and book, but then at the same time...something else. It is a very nice scent, but I think for a guy. Decant might have to go to a swap pile!

[whataboutprom]

I've had this on for a few minutes, and so far I am loving it! At first I got a sharp white floral, with maybe a tinge of yellow paper, which was strange. As I hoped, this blend warmed up and mellowed as it dried. I get a teensy bit of leather now, with old, yellow book pages and some other aged yellow notes that I can't pick out. Mmmm... if it keeps getting better as it dries, I will consider a bottle.

[Leopard403]

In the imp and wet on my skin there is a really "high" note that is quite unpleasant. Luckily, that quickly burns off and I get mostly leather. It's a literary leather that is a bit cologne-y and it would be gorgeous on a nerdy boy, but I'm not sure it's for me. In a burner in my house, yes; but not really a skin scent.

[zankoku_zen]

Leather and paper. This is nice, soft brown leather and a crisp 'paper' note. Its a bit dry, and fairly masculine on me.

 

I find the leather along the lines of Quincy Morris, in the sense that its brown leather, soft, and accessible as opposed to the black leather note from DeSade.

 

Leather lovers, take note.

[neuilly]

This is mostly a dusty leather note on me. There's definitely an 'old/ancient' element to it. It is very bookish, but I'm not huge on leather notes. It really evokes what it's meant to.

[ljaylh]

Uhmm.. I'm not really sure what to say about this. It smells like leather and paper, and that's about it. Not really pleasant, not really interesting, just... leather and paper. The leather smells new and dusty but fresh to me, rather than old and worn, and I guess the paper smells old (as opposed to, say, the smell when you tear the wrapping off of a new ream of paper for the copier at work) but.. yeah, it's just leather and paper.

[angelicruin]

Lots of leather and parchment in this...I like the scent, but not as a perfume. I would absolutely LOVE this as an atmospheric spray.

[livingdead71]

Yep, leather and paper. I don't really have much to add, except that this is a unique leather that I can't really compare to any other scent. Also, it's very nice! I've been looking for a good book scent, since I work at a bookstore, and I think this is it!

[Monday]

Wet on my skin: This is very faint, it smells almost exactly like a bland version of Sri Lanka to me.

Dry on my skin: I get dust and powdery woods and a hint of leather which is a bit odd because leather usually likes to amp on my skin. It's not unpleasant but it doesn't wow me either. I get very little throw.

[Coldfire]

Decant: Sweet leather and wood

Wet on me: Sweet booze-y, wood-y and leather-y

Drying Down: More paper-ish than woody now. Less sweet, more leather.

Dry: Soft leather and paper! my library scent!

[Lethran]

In bottle: I like the parchment note, but there is a touch of something sinister that I’m not sure I like. Wet: Parchment with varnish? Ink? I’m still not sure I like it, though it is interesting. Dry: mostly ink with some parchment. Much nicer on the dry down when it looses the chemical edge and smoothes out.

[mistressfizz]

Sniff: Dusty and soft

 

Wet: Impressive! It really smells like an old library book that has been stored within a box of blonde cedar, with hints of sandalwood, a touch of incense and smudge of tea. It really does embody a parchment smell. Kind of woodsy, kind of leathery, slightly powdery, musty and old.

 

Dry: This stays pretty much the same on dry down. It does get more dusty and fades pretty quickly on me. I think it's wonderfully evocative, but not sure if it's something I'd wear frequently. I think it would work better as an aromatherapy or atmospheric scent.

[yeahbutnobut]

The Book

 

In the vial: a slightly cologney but definitely bookish scent, reminiscent of Philologus and India Ink.

Wet on skin: resinous leather and ink, pages and dust, a dash of pleasant perfume…

Dry on skin: this is gorgeous! The predominant scent here is of ink, specifically the same India ink as the single note, with those wonderful resin and sooty/peppery tones to it, but this one has a stronger paper note to it, which reminds me of other bookish scents like Buggre Alle This and Lurid Library. The paper here is wonderfully aged and yellowed, and I’m actually surprised-other reviewers are saying this is leather heavy, but I think this a lot less leathery than the other book scents, this is much more about the smell of the pages rather than the cover. There’s a wonderful incense smoke scent too.

After a while: it smells just like old paper now! Just like a book with a crinkled, worn cover, yellow dog-eared pages falling out…the kind of book that has been read, re-read, read again and loved. A much purer paper smell with printed ink-whereas before it was more like ink that had been written on the page by hand with a fountain pen, now it smells more like the second hand books I’m familiar with. It now also has that old library smell that I love, a tiny hint of bookshelf, a coating of dust.

Verdict: it’s a darker version of Aziraphale, or a younger Dee. It seems as though the pages of this book have been absorbing incense smoke through the centuries, but it doesn’t smell like a Bible in a church-it smells like something a little more magical, more occult, the sort of book that is full of spells or incantations to summon spirits, though the incense does fade to leave a more straightforward ‘old book’ scent. If you missed out the chance to try India Ink SN or have trouble finding any to test, this is the closest in the GC to that scent. That particular ink note seems to be used in there, along with a wonderfully authentic paper note. Of all the book/library scents, I think this one is the most accurate.

Is it a keeper? definitely, and I need to get a bottle one of these days!

If you like this, try: Dee, The Buggre Alle This Bible, Aziraphale, Lurid Library, Philologus, India Ink SN, U (Mutter Museum)

[Blood onmy hands]

I don't get the leather and ink from this that some other reviewers have mentioned (sadly, I would love a leather and ink scent!). The Book smells like dry cedar, spice (kinda reminds me of taco seasoning :/) and sickly sweet powder on me. The sweet powder has something to it that reminds me of shops that sell cheap oils & incense. The drydown after a half hour is mostly that powdery, sweetish incense smell on my skin. Gives me a headache

[captnklaus]

Ah, The Book. And here I thought Norman would be my favorite of the bunch.

 

Both in the imp and on my skin I am getting predominantly leather. But its definitely a different leather than other ones I have tried (and also loved). Its a worn, soft, brown leather. I can't actually pick out any specific woods, instead I just get deep old leather and yellowed parchment. This is an old loved book that has been passed around, forgotten, lost, rediscovered, reread, maybe found in a box in the back of a used book store, then passed around again. Someone cozied up with this book in hand, hidden in a big ol' blanket by the fire and read it and read it and read it until the pages started falling out; then they tried their best to repair it and read it again, probably out loud.

 

I ended up testing this one side by side with the Lurid Library and very much enjoyed this one more. Where Lurid Library was sharper to my nose, The Book is soft without being powdery, warm without feeling spiced, and comforting by feeling familiar.

 

Needless to say, I bought a bottle. And so did the boyfriend's sister! I'm afraid that this scent has made me want to try all the other book-inspired scents I can get my hands on.

[Zorra]

I LOVE The Book, it's paper and ink and something that makes its faintly sweet in a booklike way.

 

BUT

 

The Book has given me the worst skin reaction ever. I had used quite a lot after a cautious first dab and then I went to a concert. Halfway the concert I realized I was scratching my wrist. I have had skin reactions before, usually to sandalwood (and was told I react to the solvent that was used to take the oil out of the wood, which makes sense as I don't react to all sandalwoods, just some), but those skin reactions start the next morning and are relatively mild. What I have now is driving me crazy. I need all my self control to not scratch my wrists until they bleed. None of the remedies that work on my usual milder skin reaction work on this one. This is the fourth day now, because it started the day I was wearing it. I do hope it won't last longer than the usual 5 days, but I am not counting on it. I wonder if I am the only one with this skin reaction.

[ivyblossom]

As a librarian who has absolutely nothing to do with books professionally (technology only), I thought it would be ironic to smell like the physical media that forms the basis of people's ideas about my profession and thus about me personally. And I do love books as a human being, so that's alright. I debated and debated about which book scent to go for, and this is the one that won out.

 

No kidding, this smells exactly the way I remember my dad's 1960s softcover copy of The Fellowship of the Ring smelled the first time I cracked it open to read it in 1986. My dad's Lord of the RIngs books had been sitting around in his basement library for a number of years untouched, stacked in with other paperbacks (mostly cheap romance and mystery novels of my mother's) that have probably imparted a certain old paper smell to them all. They had those beautiful tan pages that you know probably started out white. Thick paper with a texture to it that comes either from the paper stock or just from years of sitting on a shelf. You open it up and start reading and fall face first into a story that pulls you entirely out of the world you live in. Middle Earth smells like old, tan paper covered in old ink.

 

That's what this smells like to me. A 1960s fantasy/sci-fi softcover. That's my kind of physical media, I have to say. I love this one!

[milo]

Brittle indeed. This smells mostly like a musky sandalwood to me. Quite cologney, like a 'white' sandalwood. A bit sharp, but does kind of smell like old books that my Grandpa had in his basement. It's OK, but not something I'd wear.

[lohengrin]

In the decant: Unfortunately, this just smells like men's cologne to me. This is usually a bad sign.

 

On skin, wet: Yeah, this is all generic cologne on me. No leather, no parchment.

 

On skin, dry: No improvement on drydown. Super disappointed!

 

After an hour: Eventually a little bit of leather peeks out, but overall it's still very much department-store-cologne on me. Sadness.

[alterosen]

There seems to be some strong batch variations with The Book.

I first had a decant that I really liked - it was dusty parchment with some spice but not too sweet, then slight leather followed by soft incense at the end. I swapped it away thinking I wouldn't wear it that much but then snapped up a partial bottle when I saw one available. Unfortunately, that batch was super strong with what I'm guessing is the chemically ink note that Gwydion also noticed plus a rather harsh leather that I don't care for at all.

 

I wish I had the softer more cologney version

[JuliskaMarie]

In the bottle: Old, dry, cracked & tattered brown leather. There's some old dust too & a hint of paper.

Wet on skin: A really old, leatherbound book & a little bit of something greasy or oily. One of the other reviewers mentioned varnish & that sounds about right.

Dry on skin: *Whimper* This smells just like an antique bookstore! Old leather, ancient parchment, dust & a hint of magic! I LOVE it!

After a few hours: Faded, but even prettier! Antique bookstore still! The vanilla-ish smell that old books get is showing up more now.

Verdict: I. LOVE. THIS. Sometimes I just want to smell like books, y'know?

[aquazoo]

Old and crispy paper. I’m not getting any of the leather, just the paper.

[Anita]

I get a hint of leather and some super luscious sandalwood, it's beautiful and has a paper "feel" to it in my nose. A decent amount of throw, but does fade quite quickly. I wish it had more staying power but I am fine with having to reapply regularly.