Calocyclas

[Lycanthrope]

Black leather accord with olibanum, black pepper, white sandalwood, luminous Asian blossoms, and sheer elemi.

Wet in the bottle this smells ashy, dry, brown, gritty. Earthy.

On the skin it definitely throws a very potent, dirty leather note. This is not the clean leather note of Brom Bones, this is deep and snappy, and worn well. This, however, is not a masculine dirty leather, the blossoms and white sandalwood are detectable immediately and give this a lightness that is both softening yet really pulls this into contrast. This reminds me of a much more complex The White Rider, in that there is that heavenly sandalwood present. The black pepper is not terribly apparent but this is a scent that smolders. I wonder if there is a little white ginger lily and ylang in this, since it veers towards exotic.

Over time this mellows into a sweet, smooth, gently leather, mostly floral resin note, with a hint of carnality and naughty civet-like musky sweetness.

I don't know why but this reminds me of a really beautiful, slick-black leather designer purse. Even though I don't own one. I put this on my skin and behind me is this woman in a beautiful perfect black dress, holding one of those 1940s cigarette extenders, tilting her head and asking me in a disinterested tone "well, sir, why don't you just buy it if it's so good," as she gets out a compact from said purse and adjusts her kohl.

ETA: Holy cow! The drydown on this is amazing, it reminds me of some high end perfume I once had, I think the woodsy part of the drydown of Bond No. 9's Andy Warhol Silver Factory. I must continue to test this!

[Xanon]

I will be honest - my heart SANK when I sniffed this in the bottle. Something (elemi, maybe?) was astringent and very off putting. It was with the sheer knowledge that skin chemistry can really change a blend that I attempted a skin test.

 

At first, well make that about 15-20 minutes, I felt the beginnings of a headache when I shoved my nose against my skin. I kept hoping that the leather, sandalwood, or "luminous Asian blossoms" would do something, ANYTHING! That astringent note just kept intruding on anything that COULD be lovely about this blend.

 

Then my lovely husband started complaining about there being no food in the house - so off to the shop we went. I forgot to wash off the oil.

 

And then something magical happened. The funk burned off and I was left with an absolutely STUNNING result. Sophisticated, swanky, sexy... YUMM. If I can get through the horrible beginnings, this will be a keeper. I can't wait to see how this ages.

Edited July 9, 2013 by Xanon

[tziporra]

So MY this is woody on me.

 

First I smelled wood. Then nice incensey wood. Then on the dry-down, it's pretty much wood!

 

I had really high hopes for this, because I like Asian blossoms, and leather, and all the things (well, I didn't know about elemi and was worried because of "pickled"), but yup. Wood.

 

 

I am wearing my FAVORITE woody scent on my other wrist (Olisbos) and it is so much better than this that I'm just going to go wash this off now and apply more of the other.

 

Tzi

[Numanoid]

Wet in decant: Like above, gritty, a bit dirty

 

On Skin : UGH!!! Not good... for some reason, on me, it smells like some kind of leather that got peed on!

 

Drydown : No change...just dried up to the same dirty pee smell. Very disappointed, but hey, I have a decant to pass on!

[mymymai]

ITB: Resin-infused oil rubbed on rich, supple leather and the uplifting ephemeral scent of elemi wafting over everything.

 

Wet: Leather, olibanum and sandalwood smoldering in a censer, elemi and a hint of black pepper. It's gorgeous and reminds me of a family friend's house who lives in the Pacific Northwest wilderness in a rustic log house.

 

Dry: Once dried, the leather (and older. well-worn and supple leather note rather than something new) is most dominant, followed by the olibanum and sandalwood, black pepper, and finally, the elemi.

[Gateau]

This is a very nice rich black leather accord, well blended without the nutty or minty edge I sometimes get. With that I get a rising amount of sharp white sandalwood. Both of those notes tend to amp on me, so I have a hard time getting much else from this. I think on me it's a little masculine, but I suspect it will be very fine on my husband, if I can manage to smear some on him.

[Monday]

Calocyclas starts out smelling like licorice, there's dark woods and something like printing ink in the background. This stays woodsy and industrial but sweet on my skin for a good time. Not an appealing combination. After a while the sharpness burns off and it fades but it doesn't morph.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Manly wood. Dark and dry.

 

Drydown: Rich, warm, and slightly sweet. I’m mostly getting the sandalwood, leather, and olibanum. There’s something golden to it, almost ambery. Deep and cozy, with a touch of brightness from the elemi.

 

Dry: A deep, woody cologne. Very sexy. Glowing wood over soft, shadowy leather.

 

 

 

 

7.5 out of 10 bones

Edited July 31, 2013 by BoneBone24

[Floria]

At first, the sandalwood is very dry and a little dusty, but after the other notes come out to play it's much more wearable. The black pepper seems to serve as a bridging note, merging the spiciness of the leather accord with the dryness of the sandalwood. The leather isn't harsh, and it helps balance out the dustiness of the pepper and sandalwood. In the early drydown stage, it's a rather butch scent, although not MANLY. Later in the drydown, the flowers and resins come out and it gets sweeter.

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: Leather. Pepper. And a smidge of floral.

 

Wet on skin: Same as above. The leather and the pepper are the two strongest notes here.

 

Dried down: I've been learning a lot of new names for these components over the past few days. Olibanum is apparently another name for frankincense. It comes out a lot stronger in the drydown for me, maybe minged with the slightest bit of sandalwood and elemi, but I can't really pick them out - they're either faint or too well-blended. The leather's still going strong, although the pepper may have faded a bit.

 

Throw: This doesn't really have much throw from the amount I put on. I don't think it's my nose today, so I'm starting to wonder if I really don't use very much to test compared to some other people.

 

Verdict: **** 1/* I want a bottle of this. It's a very non-perfume scent, and I'm fairly sure won't be reaching for this bottle too often... but I want a bottle anyway. It's just so spicy and rich. Also, since the lining of my leather jacket got shredded, and I haven't worn it as much in the past couple of years, I think I've been missing the smell of old black leather. From the above reviews, it sounds ilike this scent might morph into something sweeter later on, so I may update my review with that if it happens.

Edited August 7, 2013 by Magycmyste

[milo]

Dark and spicy indeed. Black leather at first, kind of aggressive and manly. Pepper then comes out, and I find it to be a black leather mostly with non sweet spice. Aggressive and dark. May smell great on the right guy, but this is not for me.

[zankoku_zen]

Spicy pepper, leather and something that smells like licorice. What?

 

Honestly, its like a pepper/leather blend on me, and these are two BPAL notes that rarely work for me, if at all.

 

PASS.

[Aromantism]

It is the most disappointing scent I've got from here so far. It is watery, and completely characterless. Skin test did not improve it either.

[Zii]

This is utterly yummy. it's the same deep leather that I love from Black rider, spiced with dark pepper. I'm not getting much of the flowers, but I can smell the warm spice of sandalwood under the really dirty leather.

 

This may in fact be one of the first perfumes from BPAL that is a bit too manly on me. I think I'm going to try this on my boy and see if it's nicer on him. it's a super sexy scent but it's just a bit too intense right now. Perhaps a rest will bring out the flowers to temper it a little. I am still very happy to have an imp of this.

 

--edit--

 

this is just getting nicer and nicer as it dries down. it is still very much the pepper and leather from the earlier stage, but there is a sweetness to it as the black note of the leather backs down. there is still no obvious floral presence, but it might be part of why this has sweetened so much as it dries.

Edited November 14, 2013 by Zii

[Zorra]

I didn't think much of this scent a year ago. Today I tried it again and wow! Why didn't I get a bottle of this?!?