BPAL: Miscellenia

[gwydion]

The Frimps:

ALCHEMICAL LABORATORY (BPTP, Atmosphere Spray): (Company says: Frankincense, benzoin, opoponax, rose geranium, daemonorops, and cinnabar accord.)

Review: mostly Rose geranium. I am unfamiliar with two components, so the rest is grain of salt time. The incense blend is lovely and unusual and a good support to the florals. I’m assuming the deamondrops are the delicate support that makes the rose geranium interesting, and I’m guessing the cinnabar accord is what’s giving such richness to the benzoin dominant incense blend. I’m not good with anything rose, but the design of thins is clever and unusual and quite pleasing.

CORDELIA (Illyria): (Company says: The essence of faith, love and devotion: lilac, lemon, green tea, wisteria, osmanthus, white cedar, and Chinese musk.)

In bottle: No skin test for lemon. This is a strange mix of earthy and ethereal. Lilac is dominant with wisteria support, but the cedar with osmanthus support is almost as strong and the factions play well together. The florals give a juicy liveliness to the paleness of the blend, which might otherwise render it dry. The green tea is a pervasive base with its touch of lemon. The musk is beautifully blended with the pale elements.

GREED (Sin and salvation, Seven Deadly Sins): (Company says: Base and earthy, yet glittering with golden notes: patchouli, heliotrope, copal and oakmoss.)

In bottle: Strongly patchouli dominant. Heliotrope is a counterpoint. Copal softly supports heliotrope. Oakmoss gives very soft support to patchouli. This is not to my taste, though I can see it working on someone else. I know from experience that this is way too much patchouli on me and my skin chemistry turns heliotrope unpleasantly shrill, so I’m not skin testing.

THE SLUGGARD (Mad Tea Party): (Company says: Pious frankincense, angelic gardenia, unsoiled pear, and staunch ho wood conflict with prickly, overgrown thistle, idle labdanum, and lethargic lavender.)

In bottle: This is sharp and intensely fruity. The lavender and pear are strongest, with the labdanum in strong support and gardenia crowding close. It is definitely prickly, and is a love it or hate it sort of scent. Ho wood is the pervasive canvas on which the bright, intense scents are splashed, frankincense and thistle are understated, but well blended. No skin test as it’s too intense in the bottle.

YEMAYA (Excolo): (Company says: Her ofrenda is a bounty of melons and grapes, strewn with the petals of the flowers of motherhood, draped with sea mosses.)

In bottle: Melon dominant, with sea scent as a strong second. The grape and flowers support the melon while the moss is part of the ocean scent. It is rich and fruity with a feel like fruit picnic on the beach. Wet: Even fruitier on the skin, with the ocean moss fading into a backgroubd. Dry: Mostly melon on the dry down.

Ordered:
HAUTE MACABRE 2013 (Online exclusive): (Company says: Oak leaf, bourbon vanilla, almond husk, and black leather accord darkened by a 13-year aged black patchouli.)

In bottle: Exactly as I hoped. The vanilla and almond float above a heady mix of oak and leather with the aged patchouli dancing between them tying the factions together. The result is scrumptious. The contrast between the heavy, masculine elements and the Ariel sweetness of the vanilla and almonds is mesmerizing. Patchouli this old is wonderful in a way that fresh is not, blending better and containing in itself an earthiness and an incense feel. Wet: Lighter on the skin. The vanilla and almond move into dominance with the leather a strong second. Patchouli is a weaker third and the oak mostly blends with the leather and patchouli, though it is still discernible as a separate scent. As it warms, the leather reasserts itself to become dominant, with the oak separating out and passing the patchouli in strength. I think it is delicious at this phase and even better than in the bottle, though a touch less subtle. It is worth waiting past the first blush. The result is a sweetened leather. Dry: Mostly lether with a touch of oak and patchouli.

HUNGRY GHOST MOON 2013 (LE, Lunacy): (Company says: Offerings of hell money, ginger candy, sugar cane, smoky vanilla and rice wine mingle with a ghost's perfume of white sandalwood, ho wood, ti, white grapefruit, crystalline musk and aloe. This scent is tapered by the presence of seven herbs, woods and resins used in the purification of the spirit and the purging of earthly concerns from the soul.)

In bottle: This is way more foodie than previous versions. A mix of ginger, sugar cane, vanilla, and rice wine hit the nose first. The grapefruit forms a sharp counterpoint to the sweet rice cake feel of the strongest cabal. The woods provide a gentle, but grounding background, with the musk twining through everything like a cat through a sea of legs, brushing each note in an understated way, yet weaving it all together. The delicate herbs and particularly resins are good support to the wood notes. It works, and the notes themselves are similar to other years, but previous versions were more atmospheric than foodie. This is foodie first. There is nothing wrong with that, but it was a surprise. Wet: The sweet rice cake faction is still strongest, but the grapefruit counterpoint is much stronger, and with the wood notes in support edges up to a strong second. The resins come out more. It is still beautiful and well blended, but less subtle. As it warms, it becomes grapefruit dominent eventually. On my skin, it is less exciting than in the bottle, and I think I perfer older formulations, but it is still a keeper. Dry: ginger, vanilla, rice, and some of the woods linger longest.

INDIA INK 2013 (LE, San Diego Comic-Con, Single Note): (Company says: To celebrate the CBLDF's event and celebrate our love of comics, we created an India Ink single note: a lot inky, a little papery, a little resinous, and strangely wearable.)

In bottle: This is the ultimate book and ink scent. It smells strongly of fresh printed book. Ink is by far the strongest. I’d put resins as second as it dances in and out of conjunction with elements of the ink accord. The paper is soft, but pervasive, the canvass on which the ink and reason can show off their stuff. It’s like putting your nose in a fresh off the press book and huffing. Wet: Different elements of the ink and resin combination come out. It still smells most like ink; the paper is still a soft pervasive background; and the resins still dance in and out. It is now more pine and possibly patchouli that it was in the bottle. There’s a real industrial steampunky feel. The ink accord is rather close to the grease note in some of the other lab blends. The warmer it gets, the more mixed wood shavings the thing gets as the paper accord components start mixing with the ink accord components as they break down. This is very attractive to my nose and strongly masculine. This is not a delicate scent the way many other bookish scents are. It’s got an abundance of character and likely isn’t to everyone’s taste. Dry: Spicy incense and wood, mostly.

MIDWAY PLAISANCE 2013 (BPTP, C2E2 Exclusive): (Company says: Popcorn and nuts coated in molasses, iced cocoa, freckle bread, canelés, hot green tea, cinnamon-spiced apple cider, honeyed oat muffins, and crème pâtissière.)

Review: Cider dominant, but oh is there popcorn. Third strongest is a parliament of sweet baked goods, with shifting notes. The green tea is pervasive and plays well with everything, harder to notice but the perfect canvas for this carnival of delights. Omnomnom! This smells delicious! It’s the essence of autumn carnivals.


Winners: Haute Macabre, Midway Plaisance
Runners UP: India Ink, Hungry Ghost Moon