07 Dirty Sinner

As far as I know, Greg Wharton, the curator and perfumer at BodyConjure, has never been reviewed on YouTube or Fragrantica, and it’s high time to change that. Greg has ten scents, very neatly named one through ten – but they each have their own individual names. I want to use this space to introduce him, his line, and maybe my favorite scent from the entire line – No. 7 (“Dirty Sinner”). The notes for Dirty Sinner are: Egyptian basil essential, jasmine sambac absolute, Italian lime essential, Italian petitgrain essential, Spanish rosemary essential, and Indonesian vetiver essential. All of the Body Conjure oils are composed at 33% concentration (essentially a pure parfum, for all intents and purposes.) To my noise, all of the notes come at you right off the bat, but it’s not confused or jumbled at all. In fact, when I first smelled this, I told Greg that it smelled like raunchy sex. (Whatever it says about me that I’ve used sexual metaphors in my last few reviews, I don’t know.) This is a big, camphorous, woody jasmine. In the first five minutes, it throws you up against the wall and tells you it’s going to wear YOU. The wood and vetiver make it really masculine, while the jasmine rounds it out with deep, rich effect. I can genuinely say I’ve never smelled a jasmine perfume (or oil) that I’ve liked before, but this is incredibly good. It was the first one I opened out of the box, and I just happened to get lucky. One of the fun things about Dirty Sinner is it smells different inside than it does in the outside air. You know how you can reverse the black and white spaces in a black-and-white image to create that creepy “after effect”? When you step outside, the fresh air mixes with the jasmine to create a completely different smell, which is just as pleasant as the first one. I’ve only had this experience with a classical perfume once or twice before. I’m guessing it’s because of the oil concentration – or maybe it’s just something that jasmine does on my skin. Anyway, I love it. It’s also fascinating to apply to a pulse point and then just sit and spend the next hour bringing it up to and then further away from your nose. Up close to your skin, you get a big bold bergamot, almost like you’re freebasing Earl Grey tea leaves. As I said above, it’s so strong you almost get a camphor note from the bergamot. As you pull your nose out, you get the lime, soft green, basil, and that stunning jasmine sambac. Greg sells his oils in 2 ml, 5 ml, and 15 ml bottles (as well as bath salts, soap, and lotion). None of the oils come with a sprayer, only a dropper. When I noticed this at first, I was disappointed. Now that I’ve smelled and experienced the oiliness of Dirty Sinner on my skin, I know why he does this: a full spray would be far too much, and you would lose a good amount of concentrated oil to the ambient air. A daub on both wrists and behind both ears is how I wore it for two days – as you would wear a traditional parfum – and I was still going strong eight hours later. If you want a jasmine that makes a real statement. I’d tell you what that statement is, but it’s X-rated in nature, and that wouldn’t be gentlemanly of me, now would it? If you’re a jasmine lover, this needs to be on your to-smell list for 2016. This is already on my Christmas wishlist for December.