On the Balcony

[Lycanthrope]

A haven of warmth glowing within tumultuous darkness: rose-infused amber, copal, and blood lily surrounded by labdanum, opoponax, and myrrh, and splashed by ozone and rain.

I took a big risk on this, because it has a few death notes, such as 'rose infused amber,' yet has a few intriguing aspects like the combination of the promise of aquatics with warm resins. This is a very weird, yet interesting oil!

This is a rich, deep orange/reddish oil and quite thick. From the bottle I'm getting tons of the resins - amber, copal, labdanum. Definitely getting tons of that costus note, it smells almost like some of dilute single labdanum I have at home for massage purposes. There's a dirty note of myrrh here that lends the true 'darkness' (wow!). Through this very murky blend of resins, the lily and rose are peeking through.

Both of these flowers are the kind that would cut you, watch as you bled out, and then step over you, clove cigarette in one hand, martini in the other, and then laugh. Although neither is really dominant, you can tell that they are hanging out in the background, a little bit of burgundy and small flashes of crimson. It's a little confusing because the airy top note of both that may be 'dewy' actually may be the 'splash' of rain and ozone note. This is definitely not an airy, breezy ozone by any means.

The drydown is super weird. It's not really 'pleasant' by the standard definition of the word, but for a person who loves bizarre scents, it's mostly a sweet resin with menacing florals. It's more biting than Cathedral, yet I get a hint of the 'church incense' from this. Over time there's a little bit of rain, a hint of storm in the background.

I'm not sure I will need more than one bottle as this is really, really strong.

[theseagrows]

the ozone and rain had me apprehensive on this one, but i can't really smell them. i like this scent a lot, probably because, as i've mentioned before, i have a penchant for bpal's sexy red musk scents. this is definitely one of those! at least on my skin. i think i'm getting the rose-infused amber and blood lily with the resins in back to balance it out. thankfully no ozone or rain here! keeping this decant to add to my big red musk collection

[SnappingTurtle]

I tried a decant of this one, because the ozone and rain and red musk didn't cancel out the risk from the myrrh and opoponax. Good thing. Once the oil is on my skin, the good notes disappear leaving only miasma redolent of old lady department store perfume.

 

Not destined to be a bottle purchase for me.

 

 

 

[stellamaris]

This is freaking delicious, on the same page for me as Hilma, with something sort of high, but very lush and grounded. Yes I know that does not make much sense. To my nose this is very old school Guerlain perfumey, without the headache. Like the dry down of Mitsouko (which I think was a 1930's blend? Will look it up...)OK, 1919 it was launched. This is like the idea of a classic perfume, the remembrance of one.

Edited March 1, 2013 by stellamaris

[AmyO'Shields]

I love this so much...but my decant is really weak. :-( I'm letting it sit and hoping it gets stronger with some age...if so it will be a bottle purchase. If not, I will just keep the decant. :-) resins, lily and something I can't put my finger on...very nice. I agree with the Mitsouko comment above!

[parrot_suspect]

I was worried about the possible rose and floral notes, but they really don't seem to be that apparent. This isn't what I'd consider a floral scent.

 

I really like this, although it's hard to describe what it smells like. It's kind of sweet and fresh and soapy and resinous and musky all at once. Like a feminine version of a high-end men's cologne. The opoponax is a sweet kind of myrrh, so that's probably why it registers as "sweet" to me. But by "sweet" I don't mean high-pitched or sugary. It's not the least bit foody.

 

It reminds me a little bit of Sheol from the GC, and a Salon blend I can't recall the name of right now.

 

It's bright and fresh and "clear." Not fuzzy or powdery at all. A really nice "clean" sort of scent. And yes, I would say, perfumey. Elegant, even. As it dries down it becomes a little more resinous and sweet-incensey. I may have to get a bottle of this.

[brilliantcat]

Imp: Floral yet somewhat aquatic and resinous at the same time.

 

Wet: Same as in the imp. It's very complex. I get a not-overwhelming rose and lily primarily, over a resinous base, with some ozone floating around. It does remind me of a classic, high-end perfume; not the stuff most designers are coming out with today but the elegant ones of yesteryear.

 

Dry: It's not me at all, but it smells like an elegant older lady or perhaps a vintage flapper with kohl-rimmed eyes, smoking from one of those long holders.

[Blood onmy hands]

On me, this starts off as unpleasantly perfumey, sharp rose soap. I get some of the powdery amber and sweet, resinous myrrh in the drydown, but it's still too much on the perfumey floral and soapy ozone qualities for my tastes.

[tziporra]

Okay, On the Balcony. I don't fear you and your "rose infused amber". Let's do this.

 

Wet:

Gah! Sharp rose! All rose! Dear copal, myrrh and laudanum, please save me!

 

20 minutes:

Some pleasant Incensey drydown starts to happen. But it is still dominated by sharp florals. I would never wear this when I could wear Sheol.

 

In a scent locket:

On the other hand... It is just stunning in the locket where my chemistry isn't around to destroy the beauty of the rose. I wouldn't mind if my linens smelled just like this. I might try scenting a sachet with it. Or if I see a DISO I'll just swap it.

 

Tzi

[thekittenkat]

In the imp: A melange of notes, fighting a bit to be dominate.

 

Wet: The floral/ozone/rain combination is still in competition with the resins--very strange.

 

The dry-down: This might benefit from some aging. Right now it's just a bunch of notes in a struggle that's not very pleasant, but is trying to be.

[mistressfizz]

Pale, mauve rose, distilled through sleet with a thin coil of incense. It's very delicate and floral, velvety and soft. It's an interesting take on rose, with the mixture of ozone and water framing the flowery notes quite nicely. I wish it would stay this way on my skin, but unfortunately as this dries, it gets more powdery and a bit sour, more dense as the myrrh and resiny components settle in, overpowering the rose and rain. If this had not morphed so much on me, I would have liked it much more.

[milo]

I'm getting lots of myrhh at first, which then goes kind of powdery. I blame the rose, as rose does that to me quite a bit. There's a bit of a sour quality, so I'm thinking the rose is doing that to me too. So sour and powdery along with the myrhh. The myrhh is quite nice, though, I recognize it from the SN Golgothan Myrhh. This blend, though, is not for me.

[zankoku_zen]

Ded Moroz, is that you?

 

Okay, so to me, On the Balcony smells very similar to Ded Moroz, with the rose infused amber and some of the ozone/air mimicking some of the colder snowier notes of Ded Moroz. It's warmer though, with hints of copal and myrrh.

 

So yes, very closely similar. I like On the Balcony, but that's because I really enjoy Ded Moroz.

[LizziesLuck]

I received a half-decant of this as a frimp.

 

Anything with rose-infused amber is worth a shot to me!

 

This is quite perfumy, as amber sometimes is on me. That doesn't keep me from liking it though. The rose-amber dominates, the other notes round it out. A bit of the aquatic note comes through. It's lovely. But I'm not sure if it's something I feel the need to hunt down a bottle of. The longer I wear it though, the more I like it. It's feminine and romantic.

[Cali]

I wanted to try this so bad; so many interesting notes! There's that lovely rose note, the same rose as in The waltz and The peacock queen. The dark, syrupy notes quickly fade a bit, and turn more dusty.
I can't decide whether it's more like a floral old lady's perfume or a bold, modern women's perfume. It's strangely sexy and, while there's a darkness to it, so softly sweet. Nostalgic perhaps.

And it genuinely takes me back to when I was in Crete, in the hotel room, sitting on the balcony as the sky suddenly turned very dark indeed.

Really like this and I'll be holding on to this for now!

Edited July 29, 2017 by Cali