(Not So) Penitent (Mini) Magdalene

[sarahmarie]

Candle wax, smoke, red sandalwood, a dusting of kitchen spices, and a dribble of vanilla ice cream.

 

To me, the candle is the star of this show. It's the perfect candle scent, suffused with love and glowing. The sandalwood and creamy spice is there and beautifully blended, and all together it is really just perfect and lovely. It's a very warm, safe, comforting sort of scent - or rather, those are the feelings it evokes for me. I think Ive been looking for this scent for a long time and didn't even know it. Beautiful!

[lady_pandora]

In the bottle, this is a strong, sweet, boozy vanilla.

 

Wet on my skin, I smell beeswax and something herbal. Then it seems to almost disappear for a few minutes, and when it returns, it's beeswax and a bit of the red sandalwood--mostly the beeswax. I'm pretty much only amping beeswax at this stage and it's a lot like Lights of Men's Lives. Which is fine, because that's one of my favorites, but I definitely hoped the other notes would come out and play, and they did.

 

As it continues to dry, I get a little more of the wood--this isn't as rough-and-tumble as red sandalwood sometimes feels; it feels "smoothed out" somehow--and a little more vanilla.

 

It's right at the half-hour mark that smoke makes an appearance. This is a quiet, soft smoke, not knock-you-back-off-your-feet smoke like I got recently with Wild Indigo Duskywing. It's definitely more like a candle was just blown out.

 

And that seems to be where it lands: beeswax, a little sandalwood, a little vanilla, and some soft smoke. I get no kitchen herbs except in that one moment in the beginning. This is really lovely, and like others have said, a comfort scent. It's not very strong on me and has little throw, but this kind of scent is more for me than for the world anyway.

 

ETA: The second time I wore this, I amped the sandalwood and vanilla more than I did the first time, and less of the beeswax. I kept being reminded of Monster Bait: Underpants. It's not a dupe, and as a caveat I haven't smelled Underpants in many years, but I couldn't shake the association (this is a VERY good thing). It was a combination of the softness of the sandalwood (though that was white and this is red) and the boozy decadence of the vanilla.

Edited December 9, 2014 by lady_pandora

[Mokiefraggle]

I love this. It's yet another totally different vanilla to my collection, because I've never had a single BPAL with a vanilla note smell alike yet.

 

In the bottle and wet on skin, it's sandalwood and a light beeswax-y sort of smell, faintly honeyed, with a little smoke, and a thick, creamy, spicy vanilla that's just delicious. It doesn't smell like vanilla ice-cream that's just been scooped, but rather the sort of scent I associate with it after it's gotten melty and even has sat for a little while, getting sticky. I think it's perfect for the intent of this particular scent.

 

Dry, it gets a bit more sandalwood, and the spices and vanilla become a sort of heavy, mellow background. It's warm, luscious, and it lasts me for quite a long while. Not quite up to Snake Oil's all-day-all-night standards, but a single application holds up for most of the day, with a soft, subtle throw that doesn't grow cloying. I think my first Lilith purchase is a success!

[astarinel]

On, it immediately reminds me of The Lights of Men's Lives, with that creamy beeswax. Here, though, it's even more vanillic, but I am definitely getting the spice-wood background. I personally tend to dislike spicy notes, and they can be a little dry or bitter on my skin, and they seem to be doing that a little bit more here than I would like. I'm interested by all the reviews that mention strong vanilla, because I don't really get that. The beeswax is definitely the strongest note, but the rest of them are all present, and this scent is ultimately much less sweet and creamy than I expected.

 

As a result, it isn't a "me" type of scent, but I found it to be very balanced and very much like the note list. Low throw, moderate lasting power.

[Balame]

This is so good!

 

The vanilla “ice cream” note reads like a soft, sugary vanilla cookie on me. There’s a dribble of candle wax and delicate spices (more like the spices in Morocco vs “rawr” sprices like cinnamon or clove) and just a hint of sandalwood.

 

It makes me think of baking vanilla cookies in some sort of fairy tale fantasy kitchen. Definitely a nice mental association! Cuddly and sweet yet romantic too.

Edited December 4, 2014 by Balame

[DevilsCandyCane]

Edit again - redoing this completely because after two days in a warm room, after a week of cold international shipping, this has changed entirely and gotten so much better - it barely had any smell at all initially and it was cold and bitter and strange but it's really blossomed

 

In the bottle it's all creamy vanilla icecream and a little spice, really sweet and comforting and lovely. Sadly it seems to hate my skin, I think I blame the red sandalwood for that - on my skin the creaminess and the vanilla *immediately* vanish, and all that's left is cold dirty bitter spices, like really bad incense. Happily though, it ROCKS in my scent locket! The creaminess and vanilla and gentle warm spices stay, and the candlewax comes out a little too, it's really smooth and warm and beautiful, and the combination of vanilla with possibly a little nutmeg actually gives it a tiny hint of eggnog, which I *love*. The smoke is so far in the background it might be purely my imagination, so it's not at all the candley-smoky thing I was hoping for (Hand of Glory is one of my all-time favourites, so I was hoping for the smokiness to be similar, in a girlier version), but it's absolutely gorgeous in its own way and will be in my locket A Lot

 

...and given how much this has blossomed just two days after opening, I think it will continue to age fabulously over the next few months...I hold out some faint hope that perhaps one day I might be able to wear it on my skin, but that's probably pushing it!

Edited December 12, 2014 by DevilsCandyCane

[ModderRhu]

I thought I loved this one but now I'm not sure. it smells too much like a beeswax single note to me with some vanilla. I would have loved more of the sandalwood. I think I need to have a face off between this one, The Lights of Men's Lives, and Hanerot Halalu.

[AmyAngel]

I'm trying this out straight from the mail, and on top of that I'm not feeling my best right now, so I'll definitely do a re-test in a few days.

 

Wet, I'm not really sure about this one, and I'd thought it would be amazing. There's something almost but not quite sharp, with a sweetness and some spice over the top of it. As it's drying it's edging toward powder territory, I'd swear there was amber in this... the bit of powder plus the warmth of the scent may be making me think that. As it's drying it's edging into the powder-scent deodorant sort of smell that I've had a few perfumes do before. Maybe sandalwood is the culprit? I know I usually do fine with spices and vanilla, and Luperci works well - it has beeswax, right? It's not as bad as some have been that went that way, but does have that feel to it. It's definitely a warm scent. but I'm not really picking out any individual notes, it's just a very unified sort of scent. If I really sniff deeply I'm getting a sense of smoke, but not really the smell of smoke, if that makes sense.

 

As it's drying more, it now smells very much like honey, and I like it better, though there's still that powdery dusty odd sort of thing going on. I'm actually getting more throw from it as it dries down more. I keep thinking I can almost smell what it's supposed to be like, but it's just not quite getting there.

 

This will get a re-test in a few days, but right now it's sadly not a keeper.

 

Edit: My co-worker is wearing this today, and on her it's gorgeous vanilla sandalwood with a hint of candle wax and smoke. I'm glad it works for her so I can smell what it's supposed to be like!

 

Edit: I ended up selling my bottle to my co-worker, and she wears it often. After a month or two, it's now a full-on cigar on her. It smells just like walking into a shop that only sells high end cigars! Nice, but unexpected. It doesn't morph much, either, it stays cigars all day.

Edited March 3, 2015 by AmyAngel

[alioth]

This is everything I wanted it to be--sweet and cozy with a hint of warm spices, with just enough incense-y smoke to keep it from being too simple or childish. It has the warm beeswax of Lights of Men's Lives, a lovely vanilla that might be a bit like Detestable Putrescence, and a creamy sandalwood note. Throw isn't heavy but it lasts for a good while. Love love love it.

[Minh Scent]

Oh, goodness...enveloped in beeswax and vanilla, a bit of sandalwood. It is warm, a sensuous, bordering foodesque but not crossing the too-sweet line. Yes!

[agirlnamedfury]

Yum! This is delicious... slightly foody but not overly so.

 

In the bottle it's all woodiness and baking spices, cinnamon maybe? Once on the skin though, I get that delicious sweet wax and vanilla, still with the same subtle spiciness, similar to some of the gingerbread blends. Warm and comforting! I keep getting whiffs of this off my wrist and the smell just makes me happy.

 

So glad I bought a bottle of this unsniffed off a forum member!

[milo]

Fruity with a touch of spice and resins. Resins disappear and we're left with spicy fruit. Spices conntine, fruit is drowned out and now its spice and resins. Quite pleasant and slightly foody, but not really my style.

[tinyvulture]

The ultimate beeswax scent. It's like a sweet vanilla candle. Simple, subdued, so lovely!

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: There is a lot f the vanilla ice cream and kitchen spices on me! Which I am loving. I can smell the wax and just hints of the sandalwood, but I am not finding it particularly smoky.

 

Dry: This does not smell as amazing on my skin as it does in the bottle, sadly. I do quite like it, but I am just not sure if it is wearable on me. It dries down to a creamy, spicy vanilla, with hints of wax and sandalwood, which SOUNDS like it should be awesome on me, but something just seems...off. I will have to test again and see if it's just me today - I am feeling a little under the weather (ok, I'm hung over) and that may be part of the problem.

 

Actually, this keeps growing on me as I continue to huff at it. It's certainly unique! I may like this after all.

[Blood onmy hands]

Smells like vanilla-spice scented candle wax dripping over an old, wooden table. Beeswax, vanilla, red sandalwood and a little bit of smoke and sweet spice. This sounded like it would be a cheap, waxy, cloying candle fragrance, but it smells like burning an expensive candle over an expensive wood, lol. I like the way the bit of smokiness cuts through some of the sweetness, and the red sandalwood is warm and grounding.