Eldritch Dark

[ljaylh]

The Miskatonic Valley’s premiere sex shop. Black and red musks with honey, leather, and sugared black rose.

 

I never tried the ED bath oil, so I can't compare this perfume to it, but here's my review anyway

What I get - above all else - is the sugared black rose. I always have problems with rose... it amps like crazy on me, but I think it's the leather that's keeping the rose in check here - the soft warmness of the leather is a perfect partner to the lovely dark rose. Honey is another note I usually have trouble with, but not here! Another YAY!! Actually, I can hardly detect any honey at all - if it wasn't a listed note, I probably wouldn't know it's there, except for the powdery feel of this blend which is likely coming from the combination of black musk and the honey.

The red musk is a nice touch - it doesn't really stand out on its own at all, but along with the leather it gives the whole thing a nice warm base.

I nearly let this one pass me by, because of the honey and the rose, but I'm glad I tried it because the musk/leather combination is stunning. Unfortunately - as usual - the rose eventually drowns out all that other good stuff and what I end up with is pretty much all sugared rose with warm leather in the background. Boo.

[suki]

I never tried the bath oil, so I've no preconceived notions about this scent. Let's jump in with both feet, shall we?

 

In the Bottle: LEATHER. And also leather. And, did I mention leather???

 

Wet On Skin: Leather, now with rose! At this stage, the rose is coming across as a dark, rich red. Almost a black rose, but not *quite* there yet.

 

Dry Down: Amazingly, the leather has been clamped down quite a bit by the rose! Leather scents are always dicey for me, but this one, at dry down, is more like a hint of leather, just enough to add depth to this VERY compelling rose. This is a sugary rose, for sure. But don't think for even a moment that this is anything like Hope from the Carnival. Where that sugared rose is all sweetness and light, this one is deep, dark and sinister. If you can't think that something sugary can be sinister, you need go no further than this scent.

 

In All: I get none of the musk notes. This is merely an interplay between the dark rose and the leather. I shall age this and see what happens next!

[Monster]

If this were the last perfume on Earth, I'd be OK with that. I mean, I'd miss my beloved Urd but this stuff is SO dreamy After seeing the note listing, I knew it was going to be love at first sniff.

 

Out of the bottle, Eldritch Dark is mostly leather and musk. When first applied to my skin, the leather is still dominant with a perfect backdrop of red and black musk and a gentle breath of sugared rose. Usually, red musk takes over, but this one balances beautifully with the black musk. As it dries further, the musks soften the leather creating harmony with the three notes. The leather in this isn't a hard, aggressive leather, it's soft, well-worn and makes me believe the Eldritch Dark shop owners keeps their naughty leather toys in the back of the store.

 

The sugared rose comes out more as this dries (I amp rose and sugar notes). The rose is most present in the final dry down phase. It's definitely a black rose, deep, dark, gently sweet and plays off of the musk and leather notes in the most perfect way. I love the way Beth is able to paint a picture using scent, she never ceases to amaze me. This one makes me think of a dimly lit store (possibly with candle light) draped with burgundy and black velvet, decorated with dried black roses and a back wall full of beautiful leather flogs, cuffs and other toys. This ends up as a well-balanced, musk/leather/black rose combo on my skin.

 

Eldritch Dark is exactly as described, smells better than I imagined it would and totally lives up to all of the hype. Love love love!

Edited March 8, 2014 by Monster

[Smaragdina]

In the bottle and wet this is almost straight leather, but after a few minutes... This is what I wanted Whip to smell like on me - sugared leathery roses! I'm sure the musks are there, but they just add depth; all I'm getting is sugar-glazed leather (warm, smooth, black leather) and deep burgundy-red rose in equal measure. It's very well-balanced and VERY sexy. There is no way in hell I could wear this during the day.

 

Rose can amp to nauseating high hell on me, so I'm so glad this worked!

Edited March 8, 2014 by Smaragdina

[Zii]

SO thrilled to have hunted down a bottle of this! I wasn't able to make a post order and this was the one thing I was super bummed to miss.

 

ITB: There is that beautiful deep black leather of Black Rider that I love so much, sweetened by what must be the honey and roses.

 

Wet: Rose tempered lushly with the deep, deep leather I adore so much. I was worried that this would be rose heavy, but this isn't a musty grandmother's rose. It's black, in your face, and seductive. The throw is massive and is almost all black leather and sweaty musks. It also is slow to dry, spreading out rather than soaking into my notoriously oil hungry skin. I get the honey more than the sugar as far as sweetness, but all it's doing is bending what could be a heavy, masculine dark scent firmly into the feminine.

 

Drying: This is very slow drying for me, which is always a good sign as far as longevity. The rose is making itself much more known, but I am still amping and throwing the lovely musks and really stunning leather. This really is quite something. This is not fresh leather, per-say, but a well used, oiled whip type leather, and despite how dark the scent is, it is firmly on the side of feminine, though I am sure a guy could pull this off.

 

Dry: This ends up being a deep, punchy rose and leather on the drydown. The roses almost feel green and sappy. The harsh edge has also mellowed off the leather, making the leather play much better with the other scents. On me, I detect no sugar (thank god) and just the slightest bit of sweet honey. There is an aura of seductive sweetness about this whole perfume though that really separates it from a lot of my other leather based perfumes. While I don't see myself wearing this on a day to day basis simply due to how sexy and in your face the throw is (one drop from the cap on my hand has scented the whole room), when I need to get my sexy on, this will be my go to oil.

[vanilla323]

In the bottle: musky rose

 

Wet: I smell tobacco, musk, and rose. It's not sugared at all for me. It's rough and leathery but weirdly not that strong. I had to sniff my skin to get those notes.

 

Drydown: Mainly musky rose. I wanted more sugary goodness but it's not that. This is a sexy scent don't get me wrong. Would be good on the hubby maybe but not for me at all. I was hoping it would be strong too. With lotsa throw and staying power but oddly it didn't have that.

 

I love the label though, super cool.

[aquazoo]

Starts with an herbal blend. Then it starts oozing into my pores and becomes part of my skin. I wasn’t expecting this to be so good. Honey & leather combine to make something both naughty and really really nice.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Oh no. Leather. Not the black kind that I can wear. The kind that smells like disgusting chemicals on my skin. It's drowning out everything else, and it's terrible. Boo! Hope this morphs (like, a lot) as it dries. Yuck! Stupid skin!

 

 

Dry: This pretty much broke my heart. I LOVE all these notes, but can only wear some of the Lab's various leather notes. This, it seems, is not one of the ones I can wear, and of course I have amped it to the exclusion of all the other lovely notes. It's finally lost the chemically edge, and it's somewhat pleasant now, but not amazing, not worth the disgusting chemical phase I had to go through to get to this. *sigh*

 

I may do a full day test another day, I feel I don't want to give up on this yet. But I have a feeling it will eventually join the swap pile. Sad.

[Blood onmy hands]

I didn't try the Eldritch Dark bath oil, because the bath oils make my skin break out like mad, but I'm definitely enjoying the perfume oil. Dark, black leather (like a black leather jacket) with a bit of powder and smoke from the black musk, sweetened up by an ever so slightly honeyed red musk. Warm, musky, sexy black leather. Red musk, leather and rose all amp up on my skin, but I'm not getting any rose here. Black leather and sweet red musk.

[Lucchesa]

I got to try a decant of Eldritch Dark, and I love it. Certain rose notes can be problematic on me, and red musk has a propensity to go all SN Red Musk, but I had a good feeling about this one. Psychodynamic Discharge worked surprisingly well on me recently, so I guess I need to look for blends where red musk is reined in by black musk.

 

This is primarily a black musk blend on me. Leather and honey, yes, especially when wet, and a little sweet rose on drydown, but an absolutely gorgeous black musk grounds this and slow-dances with the red musk and steals the freaking show. Good throw, though the wear length is only average on me. But while it's around, it's sexy as hell.