Unicorn Hunt

[eilliM]

Sweet red amber and red currant swirled with bourbon vetiver, cassis, mimosa blossom, and red wine grape.

A little woody in the bottle, but very berry on the skin. Still wet; I almost thought it was too sweet & spiced (I made my husband take a whiff and he said "Christmas."), but after it dried, the berries evened out with the amber and vetiver making it a less "festive" spice and more comforting like an oaky cabernet with pie. I really, really love this after about an hour.

Now I have to get my husband to quit singing Carol of the Bells.

[macabre_fae]

I don't like to leave negative reviews, but this is definitely a swap/sale pile bottle for me. It is totally not what I expected based on the notes in the description. I was hoping for a wine like scent, but instead I get heavy cinnamon and Christmas spices. It reminds me far too much of working at an arts & crafts store at Christmas time, and that is not a memory I want to rehash. I don't get any amber, no red currant, and no grape or mimosa. Just the cassis and maybe vetiver. No wine or sweetness at all.

 

I don't have much to add to that, but I will say my love for The Abduction of Prosperine on a Unicorn makes up for my disappointment with this one.

Edited August 11, 2016 by macabre_fae

[whitewhale]

What I can only assume is a combination of the amber, vetiver and cassis is the strongest mix of scents right out of the bottle. It's a "hot" fragrance - on the skin and in the initial stages of the drydown, it smells like cinnamon, but candied cinnamon - almost exactly like those tiny red hot heart candies you see around Valentine's Day. This is definitely a scent with a "dangerous" edge - it's spicy and dark in a way that's intriguing but ultimately leaves my skin hot and me feeling like a jar of potpurri or something. This is, in all honesty, my least favourite of the bunch... and yet I can't quite convince myself I don't like it just yet. Very strange...

[Mergekat]

I tested my Unicorn Hunt bottle today. It reminds me a bit of the Velvet Tiger blend (likely the amber and vetiver), though it is a bit spicier from the currant and red wine notes. I can see why some have compared it to Red Hot Candies or Big Red Gum. It leans more to the festive Autumn and Winter scents for me. It is a fiery red unicorn! I think it has more akin to the nature of the Red Bull (from The Last Unicorn) than an actual unicorn. With those notes I was hoping for a fighting karkadann or a qilin creature version of the unicorn categories, and instead got the bull that hunts the unicorns. Uncertain now if it's a keeper as I may have to wait for the seasons to change to get a better perspective.

 

[kmasden]

I like this! A lot! I apply without reading notes to remind me, and this one was interesting right off the bat. I got a slightly tart smelling cinnamon bark combined with the vetiver. It was dark and really strong. I go back and forth with vetiver the way I do patchouli, I tend to not be able to wear it for long and it really stays true to itself on my skin. I thought that would be the case with this but it wasn't. Instead that nice strong slightly sweet cassis smell remains and slowly the vetiver dies down and i smell the the red wine, the current. I'm left with a strongly spiced, slightly red wine fragrance, that quite frankly is delicious. As much as I love the red wine scents, I've never been able to wear them. I'm not a huge foodie either because as much as I love spice, it can cross the line real quick. This is perfect to me, grounded, spicy, tart and syrupy all together. Love it! Definately ready for fall. I think this one will play well with others too for those that like to layer.

[quickdrawkiddo]

I like the scent of this one a lot, but it left bright red blotches where I applied it and actually burned. Occasionally I've had the skin around my throat get a little red when I applied a scent with cinnamon or cubeb. But I've never had a reaction this strong before so I had to scrub it off. It's too bad - I like amber, currant, and vetiver a lot and they smell just as great together as I would have hoped.

[Blood onmy hands]

I'm confused by this scent. It's tons of sharp cinnamon and buttery, sweet cinnamon on my skin, with an undertone of dry, woody, sharp amber (that turns slightly powdery in the drydown) and ashy vetiver. The wine and fruit is nowhere to be found for me.

[zankoku_zen]

Wine grape, red amber, and cassis. This smells like a spiced red wine + amber blend. The cassis is really strong for me. I smell like a cross between red wine and potpourri. Great throw and wear length.

[Haltija]

In the decant this did terrible things to my nose, I didn't like it. I love cassis and I love it blended with more spicy notes and so I was worried how it would blend with the vetiver and the mimosa etc...

 

It's quite pleasant after about 40 minutes to a hour. It's dried to a spiced wine like mentioned above, with a nice balance from the amber and red currant. I think I will save it for Winter as I feel it would be very comforting during that time.

[mamafuturama]

This is the first BPAL scent that has just not worked for me in any way, shape or form. I enjoy "different" scents, and will be honest...the "more out there" and juxtaposed the notes, the better. If I cannot wear a scent, I will find a way to use it.

Not this stuff.

First try on my skin let me literally BURNING, and I am not a sensitive skin type person. I had to use dawn dish soap to get this stuff off me and comfy again. All I could smell was prickly pipe tobacco and cinnamon. Someone suggested that maybe I should not apply to freshly showered skin. So, I tried a second time and this time only a faint pink blotch appeared.

The scent did go past the throat tightening golden brown tobacco leaves note and I occasionally smelled red wine grapes, not wine, but grapes...which was a neat experience. And again, everyone I asked said I smelled like cinnamon from start to finish. After three hour wear time, my husband said my wrist smelled of cinnamon. Seeing my disappointment, he helpfully added, "woods, cinnamon woods".

And thats when it hit me. The faint, tiny breath left on my wrist (this scents bark is worse than its bite) died down and became the exact scent of those 80's and 90's home decor staples known as "cinnamon brooms" or "potpourri brooms". You know the ones I am talking about, you can find them in craft stores still today. They are about 18 inches or so long, made of dark brown straw that has been bound and then doused in cheap, flammable home fragrance oils. People hang them on walls and use them as autumnal decor. In no way am I implying that BPAL uses cheap oils, I know that isn't true. What I am saying, however, is that Unicorn Hunt ends its skin life in the Michael's seasonal clearance aisle. In January.

No clue what I will do with this entire bottle. I can't gift it for fear it will cause the same skin reaction on someone else, and I cannot bear the initial cloying brown wetness to use it as a diffused room fragrance.

[Joyleaf_]

When I first apply Unicorn Hunt its like I opened up a jar of cassia at work and took a huge whiff. Almost a single note, but after a bit, I start to get hints of berries, currents. I don't get any vetiver in this blend, which is a disappointment for me personally, but vetiver haters can breathe easy. The only bit of amber is the warmth of the blend and the slight sweetness overall. I can see this getting a lot of wear in the colder months. Im so glad I blind bottled this one.

Another thing, I usually react fairly harshly to the presence of cinnamon in my perfume, all red and splotchy, but this blend doesnt give me that reaction. I love it.

[VetchVesper]

I was a bit scared when I started reading other's reviews for this. Wine is a bit iffy for me anyways, but cinnamon and I rarely get along. I would not have bothered with a decant of this if I'd known there was cinnamon. That said - I like this!

 

I definitely get what others have said about this smelling Christmasy. My husband actually said "red candles," which is pretty apt at first, except this is smoother and less sharp than your typical Christmas potpourri. What it really smells like to my nose is warm apple pie. There's rich red fruit, spiciness, and something that smells buttery and golden. Wet, this smells very foodie on me, which is weird, b/c stuff that's supposed to smell foodie on me, rarely does.

 

As it dries down, it gets more like mulled wine or hot apple cider. It actually reminds me of Alice's Evidence, b/without knocking me down w/ cinnamon.

 

Finally, the amber and bourbon vetiver resins start to come out more and balance w/the fruity notes, and this becomes a thick, golden syrup over a rich red, like golden light falling over a still life of fruit and wine.

 

I don't think I'll be buying a bottle, b/ I'm glad I got a decant and will enjoy it during the holidays.