The Turkish Village

[jolarocknrolla]

Thick Turkish coffee, cardamom pods, Damascene roses, and buhur.

Out of the bottle all I smelled was strong, sweet and slightly spicy coffee and that impression carried very much through the wet stage. After a few minutes you get some of the rose but it is not a fresh floral rose to me - it is more like Turkish Delight or arabic rose paste. In the background you get a tiny bit if inscense (is that what buhur is?) and you get more of that on drydown. In the end the coffee mellows out a lot and you get more of that sweet rose paste and inscense ... it is powerful when wet but the throw becomes more moderate on drydown. I know musk wasn't listed as a note but the inscense has a slight muskyness to it i think. Lasts a good long while on me.

[malibusunny]

In the bottle, all I got was dark, dirty coffee at first, and then, when I looked away, there was rose. I have only sniffed it from the bottle at this point, but that rose surprised me (I think I forgot it from the description, and was thinking this was going to be coffee and spicy cooking fires, for some reason, so it snuck up on me. Interesting.

[ellebelle]

This was all coffee and cardamom on my skin. Heavy, intense, dry coffee. The rose note is there, but it is in the background and does not predominate. I'm not big on foodie scents, so I passed on this one, but it would be awesome as a room spray.

[Antoinette]

Dark, thick, rich coffee. It's not until this dries a little bit that the rose peeks out, the buhur even further in the background on my skin. This rose reminds me of the color pink. It remains in the background and gives the rich coffee scent a delicate and feminine balance. It's an interesting and quite beautiful juxtaposition of scents. I can imagine wearing this on a chilly day and being warmed by it.

Edited April 30, 2013 by Antoinette

[Poenari]

Initial sniff from the tester bottle was such strong coffee that it overwhelmed my nose. Coffee just doesn't work for me, and I couldn't detect any of the other notes, as my nose was stuck on the coffee. Pass.

[kashmira]

This is such an interesting blend. In the bottle and wet on skin, it is deep rich coffee -- no cream, no sugar, just black thick coffee. Soon it begins to morph and the rose peeks out. It is not your typical flowery rose -- it is definitely an exotic, mysterious rose. I wouldn't call this a 'foody' scent nor would I call it flowery -- it has a life of its own. I can't detect much cardamon, so I'll be curious to see how this ages. I'm hoping the cardamon will come out and further deepen the scent.

[fetish911]

This blend really surprised me. Now, this is fresh from the mail today so it may change when it settles down. Wet on the skin- I am getting cardamom first and foremost. That almost lemony sweet baking spice and true as could be like sticking your nose in freshly ground cardamom. Followed by a lighter waft of coffee. That is about all i am getting here.

After this dries...cardamom. Thats it. Where was that amazing coffe i smelled for a second ? i am not sure what happened to it but this is all spice on me. I wouldn't even call this foody. Maybe as a stretch a "gourmand" scent?

 

Maybe as this ages there will be more coffee presence. As of right now i am a bit disappointed as its all cardamom. I dunno.

 

Eta to say...Kashmira your bottle sounds like a dream! Maybe we should switch!

Edited May 10, 2013 by Fetish911

[Wwindy]

SCAdians: This smells exactly like Your Inner Vagabond, at Pennsic. No, really! Coffee, overlaid with a little spice and a little sweetness, plus a hit of rosewater. It's *very* evocative.

[Blood onmy hands]

Dry, spiced coffee with a little bit of powdery, sweet rose. Fades quickly to mostly a sour rose with light coffee and an almost powdered sugar smell on me. I'm disappointed with the coffee note in this one. It's a lot weaker than I thought it would be, almost like a watered down cup of coffee that has cooled long ago (and has a bitter, metallic tone to it).

This lasts about two hours on me and doesn't have great throw. I'm glad I only went with samples of the C2E2 scents this year, because none of them really smell good to me.

[OctoberGwen]

I adore this. It is blended magnificently. I definitely get strong coffee, I think a hint of the cardamom, and a lovely sort of rose that I don't recall smelling before. It's an exotic, slightly sweet, slightly spicy gorgeousness of a scent.

 

Win!

[Dark Alice]

This is by far one of the worst smelling BPALs I have ever encountered. The coffee is burnt, dark, and bitter. But the cardamom keeps it smelling clean. And then the rose comes out. Thankfully I am not amping this rose...but this scent is definitely not for me!

[ltrittipoe]

I LOVE this!

 

Warm, rich, thick coffee with heady exotic spicy rose. This is just gorgeous on, and so well blended that it is a very natural scent, like I am sitting in a cafe with a huge arrangement of roses - those huge non-hybrid ones, with petals falling everywhere - and a cup of strong, rich, VERY sweet coffee in front of me.

 

 

 

 

 

ETA: ok, I just looked at the notes again. When I looked up Damascene Rose, that is exactly the rose I pictured. And I agree that it is pink. And buhur is incense? From what I could find out. That is the smoky spice that is peeking out in the background!

Edited May 24, 2013 by ltrittipoe

[sarandipitee]

I ALMOST passed this over. Rose and I have a horrible relationship. I ask her to tone her shit down and she always has to be the CENTER of the damn universe.

 

Here, she's almost behaving. Just being a TINY bit demanding.

 

At first this is the richest, thickest, chewiest coffee with a syrupy undertone. It's perfect. The best freaking coffee I've ever smelled.

 

And then the Rose arrives to the party. She's a young blossom - a little tarted up, but that's ok. The dance off between Rose and Coffee is spectacular; an epic showdown that results in this heady, sexy as hell final number of a drydown.

 

The Coffee stands aside just enough so that Rose feels like she's won. But in reality, they perfectly compliment each other. She stops from being a screaming floral, powdery headache and he remains on the cusp of being too foody.

 

I've got no idea where the cardamom pods or the buhur factors in but I don't even care. I'm hoping over time they may peek their heads out and stop being such wallflowers with some age but for now I am content.

 

This will be a scent I more than likely wear just for me, but I am totally happy with that.

 

HUGE love to my C2E2 pick up fairy - you're da best!

[zankoku_zen]

Turkish Delight, coffee and roses. This coffee is rich, chewy, and foodie. And underneath, I get the rose note curling out from the thick, coffee overlay.

 

Very arabic, exotic, and toothsome.

 

Not my type of blend, but very interesting.

[Numanoid]

Got a decant of this...

 

Sniff: Yummy coffee and chocolate...perfect! Not too sweet or overpowering as some coffee notes can be, to me at least!

 

On: Coffee and choco fade in the background and the rose comes out...that too isn't strong, but being that I am not a rose fan (and was nervous about that note) it hangs around for a bit!

 

Drydown: The rose fades, which is good, but there is still a hint of it, so rose haters, don't worry! The mellow coffee and choco note comes back and they blend wonderfully!!! I love this!!

[ljaylh]

OK - who stole all the coffee and spices and incensey goodness out of my bottle, and just left me with Turkish Delight and rose?

 

I was really hoping for that thick, rich, gnarly coffee smell - you know the one, the type of coffee that when it's brewing the whole street knows about it. I was kinda hoping for not-too-much cardamom, because it tends to turn into eau de curry powder on me - so I guess it's good that I'm not finding any of that at all in here, and I reallyreallyreally wanted the buhur to give everything that gorgeous eastern incense-y tone. The one thing I didn't want - a rose explosion - is exactly what I got, although in the bottle I can smell the dark sweet coffee, the hint of spice, the swirl of incense smoke - it's my skin that's messing this up (as expected, because rose hates me and the feeling is mutual)

 

If the rose would just GTFO of the way for a moment, I know the coffee is there - I can *almost* smell it, but no... rose has to take over everything. Screw you, rose - I've had enough of you ruining all my BPALs. In here, the rose is making everything a bit cloying and overly foodyish - it's like sickly sweet sugared rose. BOO!

 

Overall, and very sadly, all I get for about an hour is Turkish Delight and rose... but then... but then!!! yes - the rose does finally calm down and let the coffee and buhur peek through... and this is when I think for a moment that maybe this will turn out OK. But even then, I don't really like it - the Turkish Delight smell is still there, and it's sweet in that urinal cake way which is never a good thing. But I stick with it, because I am stupid hopeful - and once I manage to make it through that unpleasant stage of feeling like I've been trapped in Barbara Cartland's bathroom, I find that it's dried down to a weird and equally cloying smell that gives me hints of stale coffee and baby powder. I'm just not sure this will end up being a keeper because although the rose mellows, it never really goes away and it's just not playing out very successfully on my skin. It's actually giving me a slight headache

 

edited to add label photo:

Edited June 13, 2013 by sunshinedaisybliss

[fufu_berry]

I had a similar issue to SSDB - when I sampled Turkish Village at C2E2, I got a lot of delicious coffee and a light incense background, but I tried it again a couple days ago, and it was fuzzy sweet roses (a weird description, but that's all I can think). It wasn't terribly unpleasant, but it wasn't too great either, and it faded fast. I'm going to give it one more shot, but if that doesn't work out it's off to swaps!

[milo]

Hmm, I thought that I wouldn't care for this very much. It's not bad, not really something I'd wear, but not bad at all. I'm getting mostly the cardamon and chocolate, rather than coffee and rose. This really reminds me of a '13' blend. Gritty spice and dark chocolate, maaaaybe a touch of rose. Rather enjoying this one, and glad I have a decant.

 

Wow, no chocolate listed. Must be the coffee.

Edited July 21, 2013 by milo

[ajcj213499]

This is wonderful. BPALs Coffee note is one of my favorites, although I was a little worried about the rose, which is a smell I like, but it doesn't often work on my skin. The coffee and rose combine fantastically- the coffee balances out the rose so it's not too flowery (usually I'm not a fan of florals except in spring). It also has a nice wear length.

[suki]

How did I miss this when it first came around??? In the bottle, Turkish Village is all thick Turkish Coffee, all the time. As it begins to sit on my skin, the rose peeks in, as rosewater. the combination of the two *almost* seems like chocolate and a hint of floral. Which is weird, but also really pretty lovely- if unexpected. As it dries, the coffee starts to recede and the rose comes more to the forefront. It's VERY reminiscent of the rose in Victorian Rose Milk v1- it has that light creaminess to it, but with an afterthought of rich, Turkish coffee.

 

I'm going to keep my bottle and see what happens next!

[Alaeidrel]

I love every note in this and I thought it would be a hit. Right off the bat, strong, dark coffee. But the more it dries the more it gets this weird, sour, bitter note like the coffee oil went rancid in with a bunch of flower petals. Yuck!

[Mountaingrrl00]

This is not one I wear very often, but there's nothing like it to warm me up on a super-cold winter day. It smells like my grandmother and her friends, lavishly dressed, coming into a warm New York apartment for a party on a cold evening. All the rich perfumes mingle with the coffee and roses and there's this swath of old-fashioned festivity.

[DevilsCandyCane]

Wasn't sure initially, but after getting to the drydown I'm loving it - definite keeper!

 

The first blast of coffee is very similar to Mornings in New Orleans, it's quite a sharp, almost herbal, slightly perfumey coffee note, which resembles no coffee I've ever smelled in my life (whereas the Misk Uni coffee note, that smells like coffee from the outset, I love that one!), and I initially thought, oh bugger, it's that one again - applied wet it was strong and dirty and scary. But it very quickly mellows, and the rose comes out to save the day - I agree with an above poster that it really smells like rose turkish delight, which I love, that was the note that made me want a bottle

 

Its final drydown stage is exactly what I was hoping for, turkish delight, a hint of genuine rose, and a soft warm background of strong-but-milky coffee - it's very comforting and relaxed, definite sitting in a coffee shop on a Sunday morning, with a good book and a plate of something sugary type of scent

[rayvn1]

Off the bat it was a rich coffee with a dab of rose and incense. Once it dried, however, my skin sucked away the coffee note yet again and left me with incense and rose. That's nice, don't get me wrong, but not what I was going for. I may have to stick with Bah as the only bpal coffee scent to actually stay coffee-smelling Aw well...

[LizziesLuck]

I love cardamom. A lot. So I will try most anything with cardamom in it. Cardamom, coffee and rose?? Now we're talking!

 

This is fairly light on me, not overpowering. I get mostly a perfect blend of strong black coffee, and dry dusty cardamom. There are hints of rose and incense. But just hints. I can't wait to wear this for a full day.

 

There are some similarities to Café Mille et Une Nuit, to me. But I find Café Mille to be more heavy on the spice. It's more of an "Autumnal" coffee. To me this is a lighter, more "summery" coffee, if that makes any sense. Either way, there's a home for both in my collection.