Psychodynamic Discharge

[cherrycherry]

In certain cases, emotionally charged complexes of representation, which have become autonomous and dissociated, seem to automatically and compulsively press for discharge and realisation through haunting phenomena…. Hence, the so-called haunting occurs in place of a neurosis.

 

—Albert von Schrenck-Notzing

 

Repressed rage, terror, and subjugated sexuality erupting through fierce bursts of uncontrollable psychic phenomena: black leather and red musk with aged black patchouli, Chinese rose, black pepper, coconut meat, Haitian vetiver, and igneous red ginger.

 

I bought this one because every single note appealed to me. I expected it to be dark and sexy and yeah - that's just what this is.

Now, when I first opened it the leather note slapped me in the face and I was, for a brief moment, worried. The only other leather blend I can handle is Whip and I really have to be in the mood for it. I sniffed nervously and then skin-tested it on my wrist, hoping that the leather would calm down soon and let it's fellow notes have their say. I'm happy (and relieved) to report that as soon as the oil reached drydown, the leather was whispering instead of shouting and the red musk, patchouli and coconut were right where I needed them. I absolutely love red musk blends and this is no exception. Altogether, this blend is extremely dark and powerful but also sweet (the coconut) and very slightly spicy. This is the perfect unisex blend and so far, my favourite of the Spiritualism collection. I think that in a year's time, this is going to be one of the sexiest blends I own and will be reserved for extra special date nights and very private moments. Shadowy, hot and visceral. 10/10!

[Velvet Lilly]

A Masterpiece with a funny name. (I’m rather going to enjoy telling people the answer to “What are you wearing?” with this debonaire beauty.) In the bottle I get the bevy of notes in a saucy display, like a spiritualists ornate window display…….then on my skin the leather raced with the red musk, and as it warmed…..the leather won….blooming into soft, *perfectly tailored glove leather dancing softly with the red musk and coconut meat. As it dried down, the other notes played all around that leather, giving it different facets of tone and scent. On the dry down it got a bit sweet and an incense kind of note lingered....and lingered...A truly remarkable journey.

This is one of the sexiest bottles in all of ever.....
Where Whip is a definite "you must be in this specific mood to handle her" kind of thing. THIS is a "come one, come all, the night is young" kind of beckoning, sexy, thing I can wear all the time.
This is definitely my favorite of the Spiritualists and maybe of the Yules. I think this will be a huge, much sought ofter bottle.
This is what I imagine Cullen Bohannon, Mal or River, Wyat as well as Josie Earp and Lestat smelling like....... sex in a leather duster....

[bheansidhe]

Huge billows of black and carmine stage smoke, filled with lit sparks of pepper whirling like evil fireflies. A hissing rattle of dried coconut sleeting down on a well-worn leather duster.

 

Confused yet? Psychodynamic Discharge is glad to hear it.

Edited December 16, 2014 by bheansidhe

[LiberAmoris]

Psychodynamic Discharge is as dynamic as its description. Leather isn't always the best note on me, but here it's balanced beautifully with the rose, pepper, red musk, and coconut. The vetiver is exactly how I like it: a sharp, slightly disruptive green spike that knows its place. The ginger is subtle on me...this is mostly leather, red musk, patchouli, rose, and coconut. It smells like a leather jacket worn by a god. I can imagine myself reaching for this in certain moods, but I think this would be unbelievable on my husband. Like Whip's bad-boy boyfriend riding in on a motorcycle. I may give him this one and get my own bottle. I agree that this will be very popular...buy it now or hunt it down later!

[unxolve]

Didn't care too much for this one. Putting it on was a pretty loud, confusing experience, like having a snarling red and black monster on my wrist.

 

Once it settled, it was like a lady dressed in red (the musk?) with a background of something intriguing. Too much lady for me, and I'm not sure what I thought of the monster either. Still, a very distinct perfume.

[Deliciousness]

In the imp: Red musk, almost along the lines of Smut ... a little grape-y.

 

Wet on skin: It's like a dirty red musk! If red musk decided to go out and play in the summertime dirt ... oh, the "dirt" is the patchouli.

 

Drydown: Patchouli and red musk, with a little something underneath, but I cannot pinpoint what it is ... maybe vetiver? It's dark and earthy, so I'm guessing that's what I'm smelling. After a few hours, this fades down to a dusty smelling red musk. Pretty, but laking the teeth it had at the beginning of wear,

 

Conclusions: Dark, earthy and a little feral at the beginning ... and tame toward the end of wear.

[TallGrrl78]

You are quite the oddball Psychodynamic Discharge...

 

Out of the gate wet I get...chocolate mint? Maybe a slight nuttiness in the background? Then it shifts more herbal...there's some sort of warm/cool thing going on. After all the notes finish the process of fighting it out on my skin and the scent dries down, this is a gorgeous leathery red musk coconut. The coconut is warm and just like it says "meaty". It feels dense and thick. It's sexy as hell.

 

After a few test wears - I will be grabbing a bottle of this before the Yules come down.

[zankoku_zen]

Leather, red musk, rose, pepper, patchouli and coconut. OMG there's so much going on. This is primarily a red musk-leather blend but I ever just about every other element in this. In some ways, this really reminds me to Loviatar in vibe, and possibly because of the red musk and leather going on. There's a smoky overtone to it. I would describe this as Loviatar plus. Good throw and good wear length.

 

If you've been pining for Loviatar, give this a whirl.

 

Red musk, leather, sexy.

[theseagrows]

i love leathery, rosy, musky sexy scents so i knew i had to try this one! not to mention coconut

 

all i really smell is red musk in the decant, with a hint of pepper and ginger. immediately on the skin it's red musk and leather, mmmm mmm good. then the coconut comes through along with the rose and ginger. it becomes mostly leather and coconut, with the red musk in the background. after the drydown after quite some time, it turns kind of plasticky, i think from the coconut. i like this at the very beginning, but then it gets sort of anti-climactic for me. not bad by any means, i just have similar scents that work better for me.

[brilliantcat]

Roses and I don't usually get along but all the other notes are ones I love and that made this a must-try. It smells like a softer Whip in the vial. On my skin, the leather backs off and rose is trying to do her thing and stomp out all the other notes but I can still make out the coconut under there. Go coconut, go! Sadly though I do get some coconut, leather, and red musk, the rose muddles everything into a jumble of scents and not something cohesive. I blame my chemistry and its neverending battle with rose notes

[agirlnamedfury]

In the bottle: leather and patchouli with just a hint of roses. It also seems strangely minty or herbal?

 

Wet on skin: ROSE. again with that slight fresh, green minty-ness.

 

Drydown: The pepper comes out a bit, but it's still mostly roses... with some other notes I can't identify.

 

 

I don't know that I'm a huge fan of this one, it's very strange. I have to admit I bought it mostly because I loved the name! I'll try it a couple more times to be sure, but I have a feeling this one might end up in the swaps box.

[Atrous]

Hummm. I'm getting a bit of a different experience from most other reviewers.

 

First off, from bottle sniff to dry down I never smell any of the following: Red musk, vetiver, patchouli or rose. Which is weird because I tend to amp all of these but vetiver.

 

In the Bottle: Single note leather. Smells like the same leather as in Adam.

 

Wet: A clean, black leather with pepper and ginger giving it a spicy edge

 

Dry: The leather note stays put. By that I mean that the leather note doesn't fade but doesn't amp. A slightly sweet, pulpy coconut comes along to play. Neither note dominates the blend. They are both equally matched.

 

I really like this spicy, non-creamy coconut, black leather scent. I don't mind that none of the other notes are coming out...maybe with age they will. I'm certainly going to have to revisit and see how this ages. Also, like another reviewer, I do get similarities with Loviatar.

[mooncityminx]

I got a few decants of the "an Evening with the Spirits," series, and as a whole, I found them all to be evocative and otherworldly in a disorienting and kind of scary way. I mean that, like if a horror movie had smell-o-vision, these would be the smells.

 

I get a huge amount of leather at first, menacing leather, then something that smells like an large antique store. I can smell the ginger, but the way it combines with the musk and the leather, makes me think of a creepy old man who works at an antique store, the kind that has lots of old books, and old machines and just stacks of strange things. There's just something very unsettling about it, like being in someone else's personal territory. I think it also smells a little boozey.

 

It's interesting how these notes are all things that I like, and sounds really sexy, and yet, turns out really creepy, at least on me.

[milo]

I could hardly smell this one at first, and wrote it off as one of those 'disappearing bpal ones'. After a bit, I'm wondering what smelled so good, and realized it was me. I'm getting the red musk and leather and just a touch of red ginger. I don't mind the ginger, though red ginger can be an overpowering note, it is very subtle here. Not getting any patchouli, which is kind of odd...I'm on a red musk kick lately, and this one satisfies my need for the time being. I think I'm going to have to find a nice red musk luper. Suggestions? I like this one, but I bet I'm too late to find a bottle.

[marilyn eyre]

This is the sexiest scent I own.

On me, it's a rich dark leather with a tinge of dust, like a fancy chair in an old library. There's this lush coconut as a top note, with dashes of rose and ginger.

SO dark and rich, I love it to pieces.

[Blood onmy hands]

Lots of bold notes in this, but the red musk amps up like usual (luckily I enjoy the red musk) and it's mostly a heavy, grapey-red-wine-like red musk. Sweet and sensual. As it dries down, I get the smoky black leather and vetiver with an edge of dusty spiciness, but still mostly red musk.

[LizziesLuck]

Wow, in the bottle it's sexy. Reminds me a bit of So Below, somehow??

 

Wet: A lot of leather. It wants to go a bit chemically, but then I think the creamy coconut pulls it back and smoothes it out. The musk is....musky. Lol. The ginger is really coming out now. I keep wishing for a bit more sweetness to this scent. I feel like the best word to describe it is INTENSE. It means business.

 

Dry: It calms down quite a bit. Mostly leather on me, made creamy by the coconut (what a gorgeous combo, but I do wish the leather was a bit more well worn, a bit less new). It's musky, for sure, but I wouldn't actually be able to place it as red musk, except that it lacks the sweetness of the other musks. The ginger is a bit sharp, but has calmed down considerably. In all, this is a truly unique scent. It's a bit sexy, a bit discordant (but in a pleasing way). It's not AT ALL me, but I think that would make it all the more fun to wear it. I can't see wearing it much, but I also can't see not having it in my collection. I'm sure it'll only get better with age.

[galahad]

In the Bottle:

Deeply spicy leather, red musk and vetiver blend. There is an intense huskiness to the whole

On the Skin:

Dark weathered leather blackened by vetiver. The earthiness of the patchouli murmurs under the surface. The red musk is present adding a rich spiciness and the black pepper definitely has a kick as it develops on the skin.

On the Drydown:

This is a very warm spice blend backed by leather and sweetened a tiny bit by red musk. Rose is never obvious. As it dries down further this flips to a spiced leather blend rather than the other way around. On the extreme drydown, this is reminiscent of Behind the Veils becoming a mature and elegant perfume. Nice for winter

[TorchedEarth]

This one keeps changing on me & I love every bit of it. In the bottle it kind of reminds me of hot, wet cement. Right after I put it on I got a dragons bloody red musk & cinnamon. As it’s drying & wearing, I’m getting wafts of all the notes listed at different times. The only things I’m not getting much of is the ginger & rose, but I’m pretty happy about that.

This is a really lovely & complicated blend. The chaos of it makes me happy.

[DiesMali]

In the bottle: Hot, wet, black leather and asphalt.

 

Wet on my skin: I swear to dog, this smells like a black leather-clad '80s punk rocker smoking a cigarette in an alley during a rainstorm. Extremely evocative of that exact kind of scene.

 

Dry: Leather, vetiver, and coconut-sweetened musk with patchouli are the main players in this, at least on my skin, and while it's not at all what I was expecting, I REALLY like it. The vetiver is definitely burnt ash vetiver, the leather is black and worn, but well cared-for, and the musk and patchouli give a very 'organic' sense to the grit and ash. Rose and cinnamon aren't really obvious, but I can tell they're in there because of the cool tinge of spice they add to the dark, gritty, dirty leather and vetiver. I get no ginger at all, which is fine. YMMV, but on my skin, this is a darker, edgier cousin of Highwayman (if the gardenia in that one disappears on your skin, as it does on mine, you may get a similar feeling from Psychodynamic Discharge). It quiets down a little as it wears, allowing a hint more rose to come out and letting the sweetness of the coconut and red musk tame the gritty leather/vetiver...but only slightly.

 

This scent starts as that black leather-clad '80s punk rocker smoking a cigarette in a rainy alley, ends with The Crow teaching you how to unfasten all those buckles on his pants. /fans self

[Lunasariel]

In the imp: Oof! This is a ballsy, dark, growly scent, with throw good enough that I can smell the uncorked but covered imp sitting a foot away from me. The leather is black and fuck-off, the patchouli is at its grittiest, the vetiver is very prominent, the musk is animalic (which is a little odd, since red musk usually reads as sweet to me), and the pepper is spicy to the point of abrasiveness. I'm glad I didn't decide to test this on a day I have to work, lol.

 

Wet: Still very dark, very sexy, and VERY not work-appropriate. The vetiver, black leather (and boy is it black leather), and patchouli are all front and center, with only the barest hint of red musk, which is indeed coming off as a little sweeter, to smooth the edges.

 

Dry: It settles down into a take-no-prisoners, darkly sexy scent, mainly leather and roses. The leather is still a very black leather, as opposed to my usual well-worn leathers and suedes, and the roses are similarly dark. Coconut and red musk provide an earthy sweetness that takes off some of the sharpness. There's just a hint of vetiver remaining, lending the whole thing some grit. And maybe a touch of ginger?

[marared]

I should have known better. I amp red musk like CRAZY - it literally dominates over every other note in any blend on my skin. I hoped there was enough of a variety of other notes to keep this one under control - I can smell the coconut/patchouli in the imp, but as soon as it his my skin, it's straight up red musk.

[Lucchesa]

Unexpected total win! I wanted to try Psychodynamic Discharge for two reasons: 1. I love the name and 2. the label painting was included in an exhibition at my museum several years ago and I gave a talk on the artist. But I expected this to be a failure on my skin because red musk always struts to center stage and shouts down the rest of the ensemble. Not here. Here she plays nice. Still sexy as hell in her thigh-high red latex boots, but she lets black leather have the first line, and coconut and red pepper get to share the stage, and rose comes out in the second act. Frankly I'm not differentiating much patchouli, ginger or vetiver but I think they're keeping red musk in line. This is fantastically sexy, with good throw and wear length.