Interesting BPAL today... the 2010 version of Rat King! As in The Nutcracker's Rat King. Beth had received it randomly as an extra gift from someone she had bought imps (sample vials) from and said that she had read it was supposed to be "very masculine with lots and lots of musk." I only understood the first part of it, of course, because frankly I'm so manly that I don't even have a clear concept of what "musk" means. So I'll look it up.
Musk, according to the inerrant sovereignty of Wikipedia, is an aromatic substance taken from a vague, nondescript gland called a "musk pod" of the male musk deer. The word "musk" comes from means "testicle" in Sanskrit. O-kay... and apparently we don't actually kill the deer anymore for their "glands," instead opting to make it ourselves. Well, I kind of approve of that last bit, but it does make me wonder, once again, what the heck was wrong with our ancestors? You kill an animal, pull a strange "gland" out of it, and somehow decide that it's a great idea to destroy it and rub it over yourself to attract women? No two ways about it, that's just a bad idea, much in the same strain as other bizarre ancient success stories like cow's milk, fermentation, and makeup. But anyway. That's what musk is, or at least is supposed to be like.
So the smell!
I opened the vial and took a whiff... I couldn't identify the smell, but I believe that must be what "musk" is. I didn't really like or dislike it, but it was strong. Very strong. And there was really only a few millimeters of it left at the bottom, but it was easily as strong as the other BPALs I've smelled. Kind of insane.
Since only the very tip of the plastic stick-thing reached, I put on four coats. I wondered if it would be enough. Then I smelled it.
Good mother.
The first thing I smelled? Completely honestly? Rat urine. Well, rodent urine, really. Beth kept a pair of gerbils for a while, and due to living at college sometimes their cage would go for several weeks without cleaning. This is what that smelled like, only much stronger... I didn't mind the gerbils. It's the first time I've actually been repulsed by a BPAL scent. I was somewhere between being impressed and disgusted, but I was mostly impressed.
The official description, of course, was not "rat urine." It was dust, wood floors, and "feral musk" with a sharp bite. I sniffed my arm again and, sure enough, there was the scent of a dust-covered wooden floor. But the rat urine -- excuse me, "feral musk" -- overpowered everything else. And it did bite! With ammonia. One might think that a king rat would be a little more hygienic and less rat-like, but this one apparently pees himself. Over and over and over and over and over and... you get the picture. And then he holes himself up in an oversized rat hole, and stays there until he dries. Pretty disgusting.
But again, kind of awesome that someone went to the trouble to make something so uncannily reminiscent.
I tried not to think about how I was going to be dragging this scent with me to work.
Luckily, the "bite" and the "feral" parts began fading after about an hour, and it turned to a more pleasant (or at least less revolting) scent, which is probably what musk is supposed to smell like. I could finally see what people meant by it being a "masculine scent," or at least I hope this is what they were talking about. Because I fear for my entire sex if we are associated with the smell of urinating on ourselves.
Throughout the day it has faded more and more, and incidentally become more and more pleasant. I can still smell it against my wrist nine hours later, making this a very long-lasting scent.
Rat King 2010. Interesting. Disgusting. Not for daily use, but still pretty awesome in its own way.
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