The Octopus on the Lake

[Poenari]

The grasping tentacles of vice: black musk, tobacco absolute, opium poppy accord, smoked khus, and oily black opoponax.

I adore this! This octopus is hiding in the depths of the lake, in a swirl of smoky ink. There is nothing aquatic here, despite the name. It's a dark, inky but slightly sweet musk on my skin. It's so very well-blended but perhaps the touch of sweetness comes from the tobacco. I don't really know. Those dark smoky opium notes all agree with my chemistry. The perfume has lots of staying power. I wore it on the 6 hour drive home from Chicago and couldn't stop sniffing my wrist all day. This bottle is my most valuable memento from C2E2 for reasons. Thank you Beth for your time and attention at the Con and our lovely conversations and hugs!

 

edited to add: I've been wearing this almost daily since I bought it. Now that it's had a bit of time to rest, the smoked khus is more apparent on my skin, and the overall scent is less sweet than it was the first few times I wore it. I do tend to amp smoky notes, especially vetiver, and khus is another term for it. I love smoky scents and this one is a real beauty.

Edited April 18, 2018 by Poenari

[zankoku_zen]

Giant hit of khus on wet, and then it dries down to a smoky tobacco/black musk blend with a touch of opium. When I first smelled it, I didn't really like it because it was so aggressively dark and smoky, but as it dries, the blend definitely develops. For me it's a slightly masculine blend, and I tend to like my tobacco a little sweeter, and black musk is not my favorite type of musk either. However, it smells like a very expensive manly type of tobacco cologne. Good throw and wear length.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Vetiver. WHAT?? Maybe the "smoked" aspect of the smoked khus is vetiver? Because I swear that's all I smell. Very disappointing. I wanted tobacco, musk, opoponax. All favourites. I get none on my skin. They're there, in the bottle. But on me? Vetiver. *sigh*. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate vetiver, it has it's place. I adore it in Lamia, Death Adder, Wulric. But here, on me, it just smells...dirty. Sad!

 

Dry: I have found something in common among almost all my scents - they have at least a touch of sweetness. Whether it's from musk, a resin...there is some sweet in there. There is no sweet in this on me. In the bottle I get the musk and opoponax. On me - smoky gritty vetiver. No sweet tobacco. SAD. Hopefully someone else will love you, little perfume!