Adam

[Monday]

Adam, our suicidally romantic scoundrel. His scent is a palette of somber colors, melancholy memories, and lupine, savage beauty: black leather, pale sandalwood, ambergris accord, and the memory of a long-lost Victorian fougère.His internal life seems to be reflected in his lair, so his perfume also possesses the scent of the wood of his guitars, the rosin from his violin bow, the musty wool of neglected Oriental carpets, the plastic, metal, and magnetic tape of his reel-to-reel, the dust that permeates everything.

What with all the notes there isn't much of anything going on in here strangely. It just smells. It might smell of a herbal carpetty thing with a fading perfume of benzoin and sandalwood. I just know it doesn't smell of leather or rosin.

[ralenth]

This is a leather lover's dream. At first, it's a rush of well worn leather on the skin. As it dries, the fougère surfaces. It is almost like a marriage of a less visceral incarnation of DeSade and Villain. After thirty minutes, it is a softly musky leather with a hint of genteel cologne. Love, love, love.

[Atrous]

Adam smells like a worn, leather jacket that has absorbed particles of its surroundings. There is a slight woodsiness, the ghostly wisp of a man's cologne, whiffs of ambergris, and other fleeting notes that my nose isn't trained to discern. It all swirls, peeks out, and hides again around that leather jacket.

This one's a must for folks who love leather blends.

[zankoku_zen]

Adam was dark, inky tape, wood, wool and black leather. As far as black leather blends, Adam is the last scary of them, and enjoyed the inky black tape and hints of wool that I'd get.

 

Dark, masculine, leather.

[tinyvulture]

I like how the description almost makes Adam sound like a hoarder. A sexy, sexy hoarder.

His scent, at first, is fully enveloping black leather. That's it. It takes about ten minutes for the leather to calm down. The I get tiny hints of the Victorian fougere, the sandalwood. But mostly it's a rich, buttery leather. So warm and rich, I would almost call it chocolaty. That's got to be the ambergris at work. This is so good. And sexy.

[Lethran]

In Bottle: Leather Dominant with strong wood, fougere, and rosin in second. Sandalwood blurs the line between Leather and sandalwood. Ambergris enriches the rosin. Wool is soft, but easy to detect. Hints of plastic, metal, tape, and dust. The dust supports wool. Wet: Sexy and masculine on the skin. It’s still leather and fougere dominant. The rosin and ambergris are a bit softer and supported by wool and dust. The metal, plastic, and tape are sharper and more distinct, giving an ozone/electrical feel to this. This really does suit Adam. Dry: Mostly leather with some fougere and a touch of resin.

[keltiejean]

This reminds me of putting on your boyfriend's leather jacket. Warm, leathery love. I don't find it overly masculine, perfectly.

 

For those that have tried Eve, this has that certain "dusty" element that Eve posseses.

[Diogenes]

Ever since I got the scent not long after it came out I have been completely obsessed with it. Perhaps it's the visual associations as well but I bought it primarily to go with my Gothic Lolita / Elegant Gothic Male Aristocrat outfits and I have to say, it's simply perfect for it.

 

'Adam' is a very woody scent — I can see where the rosin / violin associations come in, considering I used to play the violin and really liked the smell of rosin then too — and, to that extent, can be compared to 'Yggdrasil', which is also a very woody scent. The biggest difference, though, is that the woodiness of 'Adam' is capped off by the hint of plastic that's referred to in the description, and it keeps the scent elegant and dark, rather like the character himself. And that only makes me doubly love the scent: the first time I smelt it I thought, oh, is that it? but the more I used it, the more the beautiful undertones pushed through, and the more I began to appreciate how subtle they'd manage to make the woods. 'Yggdrasil' can on occasion become slightly powdery, and while that isn't a bad thing – it reminds me of some of Tom Ford's scents – you sometimes want something that's just that bit more nuanced in its olfactory composition. And I'd say that 'Adam' really has that subtle complexity that makes it a really, really special and unforgettable scent. In short, it really is a scent that you can't stop thinking about.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: A barely-there clean leather note. Whispery.

 

Drydown: An airy pairing of leather and sandalwood, sweetened by fougere and possibly the rosin too. There’s something sort of rubbery in there, the plastic I suppose. Light and peculiar, like a pale cologne mixed with the scent of a microphone stand.

 

Dry: Ooh! This reminds me of The Robotic Scarab! It’s delicate but masculine, and full of history. This blend has a rare combination of masculine/dark notes that I love (leather, ambergris, wood, dust) and more delicate/appealing notes (creamy fougere, sandalwood, spices) that make it smell good to other people’s noses too! Papery and soft, rich and storied. This isn’t a strong scent, but it’s powerfully haunting.

 

 

 

8 out of 10 bones

[milo]

Gritty leather at first. After a bit, more woods, less leather. It's not a nice leather blend to me, it kind of smells a bit rubbery, or like somethings been sprayed on it. Basically rubbery, woody leather. Not for me.

[theseagrows]

hmm i wasn't even sure what to expect from this one. this is a soft, worn leather, not a fresh black leather at all. it basically smells like a woody leather to me and a hint of amber or musk, which is probably the fougere. it's softer than i thought it would be. i also get something a bit rubbery, but luckily it is subtle. i like this, but i think this may smell better on my boyfriend so i'm going to test it on him.

[AmyO'Shields]

Dreamy, woodsy leather. When dry, i smell some rosin and sandalwood. This is a beautiful blend and reflects the character perfectly, in my opinion. So, on me, this dries down to a gorgeous soft leather on a bed of creamy, woodsy sandalwood.

 

Beautiful, and unisex.

[Alistair miles]

To me this smells like a dusty masculine nothing. I'm not sure how that works but I like it. It's a sold guy scent an I am a fan.

[Anne M.69]

Wet it's black, almost gritty leather, and I'm almost put off by it, which is almost immediately pushed out of the way by the fougere. I amp fougeres so I should have expected it, luckily I also like them..

I can smell the rosin and sandalwood now though, there is a sweet woodiness coming through under the fougere but it fades in and out like a distant, half-heard scrap of music.

Very evocative, Adam is true poetry in scent form. (Ironically if I type Adam on my phone one of the auto complete suggestions is Lambert, and the scent does remind me of him.)

Edited September 24, 2014 by Anne M.69

[Diane Bass]

I apologize in advance for the length of this review. There simply aren’t enough words.

Adam and I are so very deeply in love. Like long-haul love. I’m talking about the scent, of course (but if you run across the vamp feel free to point him my way). It sounds like my experience is a little different from a number of the other reviewers, which makes me think maybe I’m imagining some of it. But I’ve tested him out many times and it’s always a roller coaster of olfactory delights. Methinks he’s just a little bit fickle and is particular about who he really opens up to. Or maybe I’m just romanticizing again… I digress. This is this most mercurial of the BPAL oils I have tried so far, and it’s lovely at every stage.

In the bottle: Ozone, plastic and a breath of rosin. The plastic-y note is never bad and is always nostalgic, for me it can range from a water bottle to too-warm vinyl records.

Wet on: The rosin, sandalwood and ambergris immediately bloom on my skin, leaving the ozone and plastic scent to the background. Rosin and sandalwood seem to be duking it out a little to decide who gets to be center stage. After a short while the saltiness of the ambergris fades and a veeery subtle sweetness is starting to come out to play, I think it’s the fougère as there’s a tinge of green to it.

1 hour in: Mmm, ambergris out front again, followed closely behind with sandalwood or rosin (or both) with creamy fougère rounding it out and a paper thin layer of wool to tuck it all close together. At this stage, if I breathe deep I can actually taste this one, warm and a little spicy. I think the leather is just starting to peek out…

2 hours: Warm worn leather! Fougère and rosin have taken a back seat and all the other notes are currently playing hide and seek, blending with the leather to support it. I can almost detect each individual one if I try, but then one of the others takes over again.

3 hours: The fougère has stepped up to the front, with warm leather and ambergris backing it up. Now it’s creamy, earthy and a touch sweet. Sandalwood is popping out occasionally to say hi, but mostly hiding out still.

And on and on… The leather note stays pretty prominent from this point on, but the other notes continue to dance around. One day I actually clocked this one in at 22 hours. I could still smell it after almost an entire day’s wear, only one drop between two wrists. I wonder how long it would last on me if I didn’t, you know, shower.

Verdict: This was my first BPAL buy, and I bought a back up bottle within weeks of the initial purchase. I am still working through a very generous selection of scents from my evil enabler but I keep needing to take a break from new smells in order to swathe myself in Adam once again. I fully expect to one day find myself desperately searching for aged bottles to hoard.

PS. OLLA Adam and OLLA Eve are absolutely stunning when layered together, I’m sure that’s no coincidence.

[Allumina]

So Adam has jumped up to be probably my favorite BPAL scent. I even, for the very first time, bought a backup bottle because the thought of running out is so sad. The weird thing is, I wouldn't actually say it smells really good, not in the way where you'd slather a bunch on before going to meet people. But when I'm alone, or going to bed, or wanting to feel like a cool, goth aloof vampire (this happens alarmingly awesome) Adam is there for me.

 

On me, primarily it's strong leather and dust, which sounds kind of gross but is surprisingly nice and almost cuddly. After a while, I get what I think is the ambergris and the fougère, and something sandalwood-y. The leather never goes away, but makes room for a bunch of the other notes. This is masculine, and evocative, and nostalgic in the best way. This scent gives me lots of feelings that I can't place- it doesn't remind me of a specific event or person, just sort of swirls. It smells like the feeling of reading a really good book and getting caught up in the world-building.

 

For what it's worth, I can definitely imagine the character smelling like this.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Allumina

[Tal Shachar]

I get wood and...flowers and wood? Usually leather is a note that positively screams on me, so I don't know where it is this time. I know that when I smelled this the other day I could get the plastic and leather, but testing it today on skin, not so much. It's still lovely--something here is behaving like vanilla, possibly the wool making things softer and warmer. I love the fougere element too, a delicate green underlying the other notes. The rosin blends with the sandalwood at first and isn't easy for me to pick out, but then it gradually emerges and evolves. It's a beautiful dark, dusty scent...reminds me of German Expressionism but not nearly as nose-tickling as that one gets for me.

[Ginspu]

There is a shop in the area called Noir Leather. They sell vintage clothing, leather goods, and - in the back room - everything you could ever want for a well-stocked dungeon. Adam smells like this shop - leather, sandalwood incense, and the smell of vintage clothes - that vaguely musty, dusty cloth smell. It's really, really evocative to me.

 

Trying again after a few months: there is a sharp note in here which is kind of ruining the experience for me. Not sure whether it's the plastic or the ambergris but sadly, not for me.

Edited June 6, 2015 by Ginspu

[OctoberGwen]

Adam is the first wearable leather blend for me, and I would imagine that is because of its complexity. There is a lot of depth here and it's one of those blends that is greater than the sum of its parts. It really invokes the film's character. In the far drydown I get barely any leather at all, just a whisper blended beautifully with the slightly woodsy, sweetish mixture of all the other notes.

 

Like Eve, Adam is gorgeous, haunting, and unforgettable. I'm so happy to have a matched set of bottles.

Edited November 10, 2015 by OctoberGwen

[marilyn eyre]

Listen, all I can say about this scent is that it smells like a sexy male librarian that plays the violin in his spare time. So glad I smatched up a bottle. Word of warning: it's very strong, but in an oh so good way.

Edited November 21, 2015 by marilyn eyre

[Blood onmy hands]

I like the leather in this, but it's covered in the wool, dust, and baby powdery sandalwood. Dusty, powdery wood, that almost brown musk-ish, warm, wooly note for the carpet, and a hint of brown leather. Warm, very dry, dusty, woody... way too dry and powdery for me.

[Cali]

Ugh.

Ugh. This is sexy. I hate that I love this so much, hahah. So messy, a tad mysterious and dark. Oh man I'd love a bottle of this. I must admit funnel of love kinda smells like this to me, but that one's so much more pungent, this is softer, more dusty, less green.

Definately has a bit of a cologne thing about it, but cologne Adam's put on five days ago.

Masculine, unisex, badass. Beautiful.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: In the bottle this screams LEATHER and I was so worried it would be awful on my skin that I have avoided testing this for a while now. Leather is so iffy on me. On my skin it's nice leather no, not the horrid chemical mess leather can sometimes be. I feel like I'm really getting the rosin as well, it's an interesting scent. There's something spicy about it? almost peppery? I like that.

 

 

Dry: Musty old home/cottage and leather. Surprisingly pleasant. Not very me though, and I doubt I will ever wear it, so I will likely swap it to someone who will love it better.

[suki]

In The Bottle: Light, worn leather with a bit of a lavender-based men's cologne in the deep background.

Wet On Skin: The cologne has vanished and in it's place, alongside the still-dominant leather is...mint? It's bizarre, as there are no mint notes listed.

And yet. :shrugs:

Dry Down: Leather. Just a sweet, worn leather.

In All: Surprisingly light throw considering. I'm sad I'm left with *none* of the other notes, it sounded so interesting. However, I'm not really a leather fan, so this will likely get swapped ASAP to someone that can appreciate Adam's more abundant charms, alas.

[galahad]

In the Bottle:

Black leather, a coolness, musk and dust. Dark musk yet airy

On the Skin:

Musty carpet, a vague resinousness and black leather. The ambergris adds a lightness, There is a vague plastic quality which is actually quite nice.

On the Drydown:

This is really nice and comforting. There's the dusty lanolin of the carpet, black leather which doesn't over-power and soft resins in the background. Underlying everything is the plastic and metal which just add ambiance rather than featuring. Awesome!