Blackmail Kerosene 2016

Incense in an Orthodox church and beeswax candles, lit and honeyed. Or maybe a recently extinguished campfire, while eating a cherry compote danish in your tent. This is a fragrance that is so heavy with memory for me and it's instantly soothing. It's how I smell in my head, plummy charcoal. A signature scent, perhaps.

Well ... I was gone from the first sniff. This mix of resin (including agar), incense smoke, burnt wood and fruit - smoked and smoky plums, blueberries and sweet raspberries - great. Awesome perfume and an idea.
I am not a fan of sweet perfumes, after 3-4 hours they turn slightly sweet, but not overpowering (thank goodness). A very original combination of ingredients. Perfumes that I like very much - especially in fall, winter and early (cooler) spring.
One of the best Kerosene perfumes in my opinion and very durable (up to 10 hours).
Apart from them, I recommend:
- Broken Theories (tobacco, sandalwood, orange, spices, incense, agar) - who remembers the smell of smoke in disco clubs and the smell of floating scented cigarillos? For me, this is the smell - ehhh- it's great
- Follow (coffee, ristretto, maple syrup, vanilla) - the strongest coffee beans I have felt
- Copper Skies (tobacco, ambergris, honey and cedar)

and the interesting:
- wood heaven (interesting woodcutter)
- r'oud .... (strong woody agar-like Bois Noir by Piguet)
- sacred memory (nice ... whiskey, wood, tobacco, musk and ... berries)
- walk the sea (freshness, water, sea, breeze).

Blackmail is nostalgia in a bottle. It's the times when you went camping in the snow drinking hot chocolate around a late night fire. The smells of the smoke clings to your clothes but so does the lingering of sweetness in the air. There is a chill that mixes in with it all and gives a sense of adventure, goodwill, and warm friendships.

Some of the greatest memories I have arise for me out of this scent. It's beautiful and unique in all the best ways. Smoke, spices, warmth, latte/hot chocolate, and snowy adventures. What more could you ask for in winter? This is all I want to smell.

It took me a couple of tries but I'm to the point where I really enjoy this scent. The first time I tried this, all I got was smoke and it was intense and a little nauseating. But, now, I was able to distinguish and appreciate some of the other notes in this.

At first spray, it's a strong, smoky and resinous oud with a slight fruitiness behind it. I mainly pick up on the raspberry, syrupy and sweet, but sadly couldn't detect the plum. This is largely how it remained for the rest of the wear. I got some peeks at the vanilla every now and again but the amber and musk were hiding from me. I didn't get any woodsiness from the sandalwood, only the oud.

The strongest profile in this scent was the smokiness. As I said, I picked up on the raspberry, but it was mainly in the background and it faded about halfway through the wear. The rest was dominated by the smoke. This lasted for about ten hours on my skin.

Overall, I really like this. It's perfect for cold and gray days—inviting, cozy, warm and sweet. It made me think of passing a jar of jam around the campfire on the last night of summer.

This scent was created for the Blackmail Boutique of Austin, Texas which closed, after more than two decades, just before Covid. I was worried that with the closure of a staple business, Kerosene would discontinue the scent, and I'm so glad to have been proven wrong.

I picked up a sample at the Scent Bar in NYC this past September and only got around to testing it last night. It's powerful, subtle, sexy, mysterious, and took me right back to Blackmail Boutique. I need to add a full bottle to my collection.