Pisces 2017

[patina]

Mutable Water: the essence of faith. This is the scent of belief, be it in oneself, mankind, the gods, our myths, or our potential. This is the willingness to explore the darkness, the push towards the edges of fantasy or delirium. This is the perfume of the Psychopomp and the Mystic, the Saint and the Madman; this is the scent of the lifegiving salt of blood and ocean, and the darkest depths of the sea. Red musk and brine, ships’ planks of thorny acacia, an indescribable abyssophelagic musk, soporific lavender, and a strange, sweet waft of benzoin.

I had to try this because I had no idea what the notes would smell like combined.

It's BPAL ocean scent combined with red musk. The musk is softened a little by the lavender and benzoin. It's not a strong lavender, I can barely tell it's there. But I can definitely pick out some sweetness from the benzoin. It smells...tender?

Sometimes the red musk and wood is the strongest element, sometimes the lavender and benzoin are detectable. But the brine is always there. It's an effect a bit like rolling waves. There may be some inky almost berrylike musk underneath everything, it's hard to tell. Overall, it smells like red musk dryer sheets. It's cozy.

 

On drydown the brine dials back some and the scent doesn't resemble an aquatic any more. I'm even more sure there's a dark blue musk somewhere here.

Edited February 27, 2017 by patina

[JasminDreams2010]

Being a Pisces I had to try this. Aquatics can go either way on me. At first the notes are all jumbled together and its a pretty scent that captures the madness and spiritual depth of Pisces; it swirls and changes and wafts. I get a gentle sea scent with sort of a wooden incense and just some light lavender.

 

But then my skin does this thing where it's like O HAI RED MUSK and the musk comes in and stomps on everything else. And then it smells exactly like... Funnel of Love from OLLA? Which was pretty enough, but not for me. Weird... I may have to give the bottle a rest and try again. I like it before the musk goes all psycho-killer.

 

If I were to pick a truly Pisces scent from the bpal lineup it would've been Lilith's mermaid or the gentle but wild Pele, y'hanthlei or even death adder. Stupid musk.

[slyvanestra]

Being a little new to picking out scents specifically, I may get this a little confused, but please bear with me.

 

The first thing that comes to me is the brine and acacia- if that's the woody note I think I'm getting. Ships at sea, with teak to seal the deck too- the musk, I'm sure. That's what hits me coming out of the bottle and with my nose over the locket, perhaps a little too close. But if you wait, and you let it waft to you, drifting on the air, there's the lavender and the benzoin, making things far more cozy and approachable. Like being in an old hardwood waterbed, drifting to sleep where odd dreams wait for you.

 

(Or, my Addam's Family/tragic side says, like a restful coffin and a burial at sea with a bundle of mourning flowers.)

 

On the skin its subtleties come out much more, the everything blending into an oceanic sort of atmospheric scent, a little like the incenses I used before the pets made me switch away from flame-based room scents.

[Blood onmy hands]

This is what I wanted 7 Word Story: Gluttony to smell like with the similar notes of salty aquatic, lavender and incense. The aquatic doesn't go soapy on me here and has that salty, tangy cologne scent to it. The lavender comes in cool and creamy, and smells like a nice lavender cologne.
After about a half hour, the red musk takes over and reminds me of fruity, deep red wine and incense. The lavender cologne adds a cool, airy edge to the red musk, though.
The decant is probably enough for me, but I do like this blend.

[zankoku_zen]

Bloody lavender oceans? This one is a weird one. I get salty lavender, red musk, planty musk and a touch of incense. So take lavender, make it bleed musky red, and then drop it into the ocean? It's much more masculine and robust, and dark than I expected. Good throw and wear length.

[Wilddog]

Briny lavender and some very dark musks! I occasionally get the strange, sweet waft of benzoin when dry. Acacia is there when this is wet but becomes less apparent once dry unless I'm really looking for it.

 

This comes off as vaguely piratey and I love it. It's like a dark, stormy night on a ship with herbal goods aboard.

 

 

Almost six months later this is a very spicy red musk blend. Still very dark, although the lavender and benzoin are almost undetectable now. The acacia is much more forward now. Still a great 'piratey' scent overall but it's much more masculine.

Edited August 26, 2017 by Wilddog

[ShannonElisabethJones]

I wore this the day I got it a while back and overapplied it, which kind of put me off for a bit. I guess it's time to try it for real.

 

In the bottle I get wet musk. Kinda makes me want to sneeze but doesn't instantly give me a headache, which is a good sign.

 

Freshly applied (with moderation this time) - like very strong Old Spice or something similar. It's very masculine. I don't think I can pull this one off. I'll wait a little bit for the final verdict.

 

 

Yeah, this is just too strong for me. Maybe my husband would wear it.