BPAL - Miskatonic University and Cthulu (8/05)

Today I tried two scents, both from the "Picnic in Arkham" collection... which is to say that they're based on H.P. Lovecraft's work. For anyone unfamiliar, he's an author from the 1920s and 1930s who wrote some extremely influential horror literature... and conceived both Cthulu and the Necronomicon. And if you haven't heard of either of those, then I really don't know what to tell you.

My own interest in Lovecraft began only a couple months ago during Beth and my honeymoon (happened to purchase and start reading one of his collections over Kindle) and I have since read about a fourth of his work, mostly in chronological order. Horror is really quite an awful genre, even early horror, but I enjoy reading his short stories... they're good for the imagination, and despite the subject matter (and ignoring his thinly veiled 1920s opinions on ethnicity) they're usually fun reads. He just keeps building this parallel universe through small personal narrations of incredible events, and I find myself driven to keep reading to explore more of the world. When Beth first mentioned BPAL, one of the only reasons I think I took notice was because she talked about a Cthulu scent, and that one of her LiveJournal friends was afraid to try wearing Shub-Niggurath because it smelled like something sweet and rotting. So I looked at the site to see what else they had, because that is awesome even if impractical.

So, the first I tried today was Miskatonic University! Beth and I were both very impressed with this one as we smelled all the scents which came with the new shipment. Miskatonic University's official BPAL description is:

A venerable New England university, whose vast library holds many rare, diabolical and obscure arcane works, including one of the few surviving legitimate copies of the Necronomicon. Home to innumerable scholars of the esoteric and the occult, and the notorious Dr. Herbert West.
The scent of Irish coffee, dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls.

But when Beth and I smelled it in the vial, there was only one scent: the Irish coffee. And it was strong. And oh what a wonderful scent it was. I instantly wanted a room spray of the stuff. Last night Beth announced her intention to wear it this morning, and I decided I might as well do the same. Because really, what could be better than smelling like rich, sweet coffee with heavy cream and a hint of Irish whiskey? And if there will indeed be polished wood and old books... well then that's going to be a delicious library, won't it?

Hahahahahahahaha... oh my. This particular experience had an almost Lovecraftian twist in itself.
Upon applying the oil to our arms, there was almost no detectable change. The wet substance just sat there wafting amazing aromas of Irish coffee. I fancied that I may have perhaps picked up a slight bit of wood fragrance in it, but the coffee was so strong it really overpowered everything. We were running too late to have made it at home, so I dropped Beth off at work and went to find her some breakfast. By the time I reached Dunkin Donuts five minutes later, there was a hint of a dusty background. I was glad it was working. I was back out of Dunkin again about ten minutes later, but something unspeakable was happening to my anointed wrist. The coffee scent was becoming fainter... to what reason no man living can explain, but in place of the lovely aroma of coffee the wretched dust was building! By the time I reached Beth again, she asked how the scent was doing. I held out my arm and told her to smell for herself... but to my horror, I could find no trace of the arm I had known well in life. To this hour I fear that I may be forever lost to the faculties of reasonable men, but this one thing I cannot deny: on the driver's seat of the car, there was found an inexplicable pile of dust.

...yeah, none of that happened. And c'mon, you know I had to make some sort of nod to Lovecraft, right? But the scent really did turn to dust. Almost completely. It was convincing enough that if I sniffed too sharply I would start coughing. I haven't exactly played with a massive array of BPAL oils, but that was by far the fastest and most dramatic scent change I have experienced. In 20 minutes my arm went from sweet Irish coffee to dust. As it aged (and it seems to have a fairly long life), a little bit of the polished wood smell came out and the dust did become more book-like and less harsh on the throat. But wow. What a strange scent. No idea how the Great BPAL Artisan managed that one, but it's quite impressive, even if simultaneously kind of horrifying.

Having experienced the strange wonders of Miskatonic University, I decided to take a shower and apply a new one before I left for work. And what better to try than Cthulu? We got a few more, but I have been very curious about Cthulu. Cthulu is, of course, a great dead monster with a squid-like head who, though I do not actually recall him being an Elder God himself, is at least a prophet of the Old Ones. I think. I need to re-read that story. But yeah, he's basically depicted as a sea monster, even if he is probably just an alien of sorts. (Edit - I did my research and Cthulu is not, in fact, an Elder God... I was right: he is part of a group of beings called the Great Old Ones who are currently imprisoned and dormant, probably by the Elder Gods themselves.)
So the scent based on him goes as follows:

A creeping, wet, slithering scent, dripping with seaweed, oceanic plants and dark, unfathomable waters.

...but really? Right out of the bottle, it just smelled like deodorant. Some people have said "Irish Spring," and while that's pretty close, they obviously haven't worn men's aquatic-scented deodorant before. I think I had one called "Pacific Breeze" that smelled just like this. The fragrance itself is aquatic, soapy, and clean... Cthulu never smelled so good!
This may be unfairly biased since I already have an image in mind for the scent, and given the success rate of BPAL it may stand more as a testament to deodorant creators than anything else, but this didn't really make me think "Cthulu." Aquatic without question, but waaaaaaaaay too clean and fresh for an evil quasi-dead tentacled abomination.

I was concerned that the squeaky-clean aroma may have been all there was because it really wasn't starting to change after twenty minutes, as most seem to (popularly known as the "drying" stage). But after about forty-five minutes, I did notice something else... at the time, I identified it as a "dusty" smell, which would have made sense if I had only been using the arm that I had used for Miskatonic University... but I had used both arms just in case, and the smell was definitely on both. Dusty and aquatic? Is that even possible? But "dusty" wasn't exactly right. I checked online at other reviews and I believe I found the scent: ozone. See, to me ozone is a layer in the atmosphere which protects us from harmful solar rays which gets a hole in it when we pollute the air. To BPAL users, ozone is a scent. But I seem to recall other people describing the scent of "ozone" too... somewhere, I believe it was associated with burning, frying, and other smells kind of like that. And really, it would make a lot of sense if it was. So while still coming across as squeaky-clean and fresh, Cthulu was becoming tainted with ozone, which I was a bit more comfortable with. I mean, it is Cthulu!

Also, there was a "rubbery" feeling to it. I can't describe why or how it got there... it didn't smell like rubber at all... but it did the nose thing. You know when you rub a balloon and it makes that sound? Squeaking, stretching, rubbing... there's something about it, and you feel it all over the back and top of your nose just from hearing the sound. That's the feeling I got from the smell. Slick and rubbery... and with the aquatic and ozone scents, you naturally get a tentacle. Kind of impressive.

As it aged, it stopped smelling soapy and clean. The ozone took over, not enough to be repulsive, but enough to definitely give the whole "dark, unfathomable waters" feeling. It even started to smell a little more plant-like eventually, but not strongly. In the end, though, everything faded except the aquatic scent.

So Cthulu wasn't quite everything I expected. But then again, my own expectations aside, it was still pretty awesome, and it got the right sensation across after the ozone started to develop. Very good!
More Lovecraft scents in the future, for certain.