The Possets Perfume Forum

His most famous conquest, Anne was the woman who Henry would turn against the Catholic Church to possess and yet he turned on her and had her beheaded three years later. Brought up in the court of France, Anne was bewitching and doubly so compared to the now exhausted and prissy Catherine of Aragon whose attempts at providing Henry an heir had produced only one healthy girl and a string of miscarriages, stillbirths, and babes who had expired soon after birth. Anne was young, a virgin, beautiful, sophisticated, saucy, and willing. After leading the king on a merry chase, the king entreated the Church to allow him to annul the marriage to Catherine and take Anne to wife so he could produce an heir. The Church baulked and Henry declared that he would indeed marry Anne with or without the Church's blessing. In truth, there was need for expedience as Anne was pregnant! Catherine was quickly "put away" and Henry married Anne, having her crowned almost immediately after. As queen, Anne suffered miserably. She had vicious morning sickness and produced so much saliva that she could scarcely abide in company for long. Grossly unpopular among the people and suspected at court, she was blamed for the rift with the Church and smirked at when she gave birth to Elizabeth, her only living child with Henry. Having the unfortunate tendency to high pitched manic laughter when stressed, Anne was frequently hysterical and more so as she learned that Henry was being unfaithful to HER! After the miscarriage of a son, Henry accused her of adultery and she was beheaded at the Tower of London. Sharp like the arrow point of Cupid, harmonious and unforgettable: red musk and rockrose, benzoin from the orient gives great sweetness.

wet: red musk and something strongly green, similar to that sweetbriar Fabienne used in several other scents.

drying: This scent softens as the benzoin warms on my skin with a touch of vanilla-ish sweetness, but that green element is still very strong and almost bitter.

full drydown: Finally, that green note relaxes into something very herbal, sort of like camommile or elderberry herbal tea. The red musk is underneath, made fuzzy with the benzoin. This really is lovely when it settles - becoming well blended but with a sharp green edge. It's a mature feminine scent, quite a power scent. It's got good throw, and the throw almost smells like it has red roses in it. This is a voluptuous scent, heady, sexy, and feminine but not sweet or innocent in any way. It smells like trouble and temptation. I'm not sure I'd trust a woman wearing this scent!

Feminine, powerful, sexy, heady, dark, warm, floral, complex. Good throw and longevity. Takes a while to settle into a coherent final scent.

on me this is musky at first, but when dry, almost all benzoin. which is, of course, a pretty fabulous thing to smell like. my impression is that if this is anne boleyn, it's henry's dream of chasing her around the palace in that gown covered with millions of pearls. ("the tudors") otherwise, the scent doesn't seem over-the-top enough for her. which is not to say i don't like it. i like it a lot!

I wore this again today and the bitter note is less pronounced. Lots of benzoin and a classy red musk. Really liked this more after a little aging. My husband said it was "too dressy" for my paint-splattered jeans and tee (I was repainting the bathroom).

Aw, shoot. Now I want this one.

In the past red musk has done weird things on my skin (a flat dominate musty fruity note that takes over the whole thing-ew). However, this red musk actually plays nicely with the other notes for once.

Wet: I get the red musk right off the bat along with a very sharp, almost bitter greeness that isn't really green. It almost reminds me of heather, but more rosy.
Drying: the benzoin starts to warm things up giving a sweetness to it. I hate to compare to other perfumes but in this stage it almost reminds me of bpal's snake oil (albeit less dirty hippie smelling-on me at least...).
Dry: red musk takes on a dominate role, however it doesn't turn into a single note on me and actually works well with the benzoin, giving it a musky vanillaish scent with a tiny hint of a floral in the background.

In the end I really do like this. It is on the heavier end of scents, so I wouldn't necessarily wear this in the summer months. Fantastic work though, a great blend!

Okay, I avoided this one because of the red musk, which in BPAL's scents, turns into peanut butter, or peanut sauce on me. And not knowing how "rose" rock rose might be, I had two reasons to stay away. That was until Fabienne sent me a sample with my order. OH MY!

First of all, no peanut butter, or peanut sauce. Having just purchased a rock rose for my shady front yard, I know now, that it is floral and rose like but not rose that will turn into old lady. This is light, lovely, and amazing. The benzoin really grounds it, and I think sweetens it slightly. And as it fades it takes on an almost vanilla scent to it. This is really wonderful. One I thought would never work on me, and really really does.

I agree with the posters who mention a distinct greenness when this scent opens. That really surprised me because none of the notes has reacted to my skin that way. I love benzoin and costus, but they must be hiding under the greenness because I can't pick them out.

A wonderful sharp intro of galbanum (or similar) before revealing it's sexy centre. I absolutely adore sharp greens so I am all for this wet phase. The red musk is quick to the front and as the green recedes, I get the heavenly dark vanilla edge of benzoin. The green note doesn't actually vanish, thankfully - it merely shares the stage and makes this blend special. Out of the couples blends that made permanent (the ones I thought I'd like), this one is the big winner on me. Perfection, and absolutely bottle worthy once I've sorted the Sicilians out.

I was looking through my tins of samples for something a little floral to put in my burner at bedtime last night. I poured the poppet into the burner and let it drip onto the top of my hand for immediate pleasure. I does start out spicy green, like carnation stems, then it warms up. The musk and rockrose shine through and the vanilla like benzoin sweetens the scent without becoming SWEET. Now I am pissed that I used the poppet in the burner instead of wearing it. I will probably end up purchasing a bottle by Autumn.