The Magi: Gaspar of India

[galahad]

Laotian oudh, labdanum, bourbon vanilla, red benzoin, and myrrh.

In the Bottle:
Beautiful oudh and a slight red musk vibe (red musk not a listed component)

On the Skin:
The oudh is immediately tamed by the other components, especially the bourbon vanilla. It's a gently spicy oudh forward resin blend. The labdunum lends a softness as it dries down a bit more.

On the Drydown:
In the end, a very nice spiced oudh/resin blend. I like a lot

[JazzieCazzie]

IN THE BOTTLE: Light incense with a touch of sweetness I can't put my finger on without looking at notes, so assume is the bourbon vanilla or possibly the myrrh.

 

WET: Really, really nice when wet! Sweet incense with a touch of someplace far away that I've never been but it smells of travel and intrigue. I may be out of shape or maybe it's that I was coming off of a cold but I could not place a single individual note so it blends well.

 

DRYDOWN: As feared, the oudh (which doesn't always play well with me) and/or the myrrh (which can be grand in a bath oil but sometimes goes sweaty socks on me as a perfume) are more prominent than the benzoin and/or labdanum, two of my very favorite notes.

 

OVERALL: This is a really, really nice and unusual and complex yet well-formed blend but in final drydown it's just not "me" enough to be a keeper.

[Dark Alice]

Red bandaids and incense. Such a damn shame b/c all of these notes should have worked on me.

[zankoku_zen]

Vanilla, incense, and oudh. I get a red musk/incensey bit, sweetened by vanilla and dashed by oudh. Medium throw and wear length.

[theseagrows]

i was very excited about this one! all loved notes, hoping for a gorgeous combination. at the beginning, i get a very woody note with some myrrh.it doesn't really read as oudh to me, but i suppose that's what it is? it's meditative and smells like incense. something in this is mildly fizzy, not sure what it is, but there it is. it's pretty linear on me, and i don't seem to get any labdanum, vanilla or benzion. i will have to try it again after it settles a bit.

[RedPersimmon]

Quick in-the-decant review: Bitter, woody, spicy oudh. Pretty strong while wet.

 

Edit: Smells like Sprite (the carbonated drink) while wet. I also get the red musk vibe. I'm definitely liking it better the second time around. I layered it with a non-BPAL, Briar Rose by Ineke (Black raspberry, bitter almond, exotic spices, black violet, patchouli and cacao absolute) and LOVED it.

Edited January 13, 2018 by RedPersimmon

[Lucchesa]

I really wanted to love this, but my skin is amping the oudh to the point where I cannot smell anything else. No incense, no bourbon vanilla, no myrrh. I gave it a second test last night after letting it rest a couple weeks, and the result is unchanged. Good throw and wear length, as is always true when I'm amping something I don't want to, but I just don't think I can wear this one. Damn you, skin chemistry!

[zazkea]

This scent from a decant didnt do anything with my skin, initially. It remains very much in the background.

 

In bottle: clean, straight. Not sure what I smell though...

 

On skin: Soapy oudh. Myrrh coming late. I still dont know what the scent "should be"...

I dont get any benzoin or labdanum, but maybe I dont know those scents well enough yet,...

There is just...nothing to smell, somehow.

 

After an hour: I have to look up the description of what I am supposed to be smelling.

Its just...nothing. This doesnt create a scent on me... maybe a "rounded" soap, whatever that menas...

 

Conclusions:

This fades into nothing on my skin, which is neither good nor bad, I suppose...

 

After one month aging: this starts smelling like red musk (not listed) and oudh and, slightly, myrrh now. Maybe I should let this rest longer...