Breath Of God

Step into this olfactory Tibetan prayer tent, inside of which you are transported across centuries by the redolence of burning incense and oil lamps. Just before you feel as though you might float away, you are grounded by the scent of the earthen floor rising to meet the animalic essences of the hides and furs comprising the tent. As your eyes adjust to the lighting inside, the wind blows something ozonic down from the peaks of the mighty snow-capped Tibetan mountain ranges, sweeping across verdant grasslands to deliver a fresh and sweet vegetal bouquet which dances in the air with smoke from the incense and oil lamps. Or just go to Lush and try it ... To be specific, I only use the solid version of this. I was instantly captivated by this fragrance. I love how the melon plays with the neroli and vetiver, which are two of my favorite notes. The smoke, at least in the solid version, and on my skin, is background to me, though my wife has stated she identifies the smoke note quite easily. The smoke quality is likely created by the way the incense and cedar dance around each other, rather than a smoky isolate, and I feel like that dance is what I'm picking up on, which is much more heady than some synthetic smoke bomb, many of which I have smelled, and this is not that. I should note that I also love A City on Fire by Imaginary Authors, which, despite its "burnt match" description, I again feel the smoke accord is simply a narrative holding the rest of the fragrance's story together, and actually takes a back seat as that fragrance dries down into something more sweet but with lots of dynamic accords, just like BOG, which is why I like both fragrances. Both are well built, but if your skin pH does weird things with smoke notes, or you just have no olfactory sensibility for these notes, then perhaps it isn't for you. Otherwise, step into the tent ... BOG made me love fragrances that I call "ambrosias," by which I mean they have a lot going on. I frequently experiment with trying to create my own "ambrosia" by layering different fragrances. I know that's done, but I feel like people don't do it all that commonly because they are afraid of the potential results. I thought it was funny when I read "The Perfect Scent" by Chandler Burr and found out that Sarah Jessica Parker also did this by layering an oil she bought from an Islamic goods hawker on the streets of NY, a cheap drugstore musk, and I think Guerlain Vetiver, though now I forget exactly what the third layer was. Anyway, I felt confirmed in this practice as I read about her sheepishly explaining this habit to the creative team at Coty. BOG is at once grounding and transporting. Seasonally it is a shape shifter, as I find it can be fresh in the summer and warm in the winter. As for formality, it is probably on the more casual side, though anything goes if you can pull it off, or create your own "ambrosia" ;)

@NathaliePee: tobacco as a note doesn’t smell smokey at all. Tobacco is now a warm herbal smell; the smell of dry tobacco/tobacco leaves NOT smoke. It can smell like opening a pouch of tobacco, or smelling a cigar (before it’s lit, the cigar itself) it can even smell like rubbing fresh tobacco leaves between your fingers, but it will never smell like smoke, because that simply isn’t what tobacco smells like. Smoke smell is mainly incense and sometimes leather notes can be perceived as smoke. Incense is listed here and that’s what makes this fragrance Smokey. On to my review: I hadn’t worn this in a while so I forgot how absolutely amazing this is. I’m trying to go easy on my bottle because I only have a 30ml one and it’s now way more expensive than when I bought it, but DANG! This genuinely is the breath of god! It’s just THAT good! Let me start by saying that this fragrance is NOT a safe blind buy at all. It doesn’t smell good on everyone. My skin really brings forward the sweet notes, making it a delicious blend of sweet and smokey, but depending on ones skin either can be overpowering and especially with just the dark smokey smells it can smell very harsh. This is a very well blended fragrance. I don’t really pick up individual notes except for the incense. There’s something almost menthol like in the sweet notes, making it feel like your lungs open up more when you inhale. Sometimes from a distance I pick up the juniper with a hint of lemon (which is also a bit that can make this smell horrible if it’s pronounced strongly on your skin, because it’s kinda sharp). This fragrance Is definitely unisex and also unique amongst both male and female perfumes. I’ve never smelled anything that even remotely resembles it. It is gorgeous and special. To me as a woman the is the ULTIMATE boss lady fragrance. It DEMANDS attention. She’s so confident and powerful in her suit with pointy shoulder pads. There’s no bull$h!tting this lady. She’s mesmerising and magnetising. There’s sweetness and softness despite her power. She’s gentle when she needs to, but oh so powerful. She’s not everyone’s cup of tea, she’s no girl next door, she is.. the kind of woman that can and will rule the world. Wait a few minutes after spraying to smell this, the first whiff isn’t very pleasant, but the sweetness comes forward after about a minute.

It would take a whole day now for anyone to read all that’s been commented here. Should I even add anything? I agree that it’s definitely unsexy, yet marvelous. You won’t feel like using it every week - sooner or later you’ll give it a break. I love its chameleon nature. I think the base that it eventually dries down to shouldn’t be so controversial at all. It’s an intelligently blended, complex soapy light base, leaving only the memory of the weird-fruity opening and the incense stages. B.O.G is one of the best and most interesting experiences I’ve ever had in my life. Yes, I said experiences, not just perfumes. Despite all my admiration, it should be added that the poor longevity is a let-down. You’ll get 20-30 minutes of the fruity-smoky astonishment, than you’re left with no more than a high-end scented skin, detectable only at close sniffing... which also applies to the majority of Lush perfumes, the subtle difference being that B.O.G. is quite adequatley priced. I prefer using it AT HOME. Remarkable bits from reviews: - charismatic - not sexy - alluring but not necessarily sexy - forces of push and pull, attract, and repel - for mature people - NSFW - a distinctive, bizarre composition - I'm not quite sure if its dissonance is really well crafted chaos or just a beautifully fascinating trainwreck. - attracts many questions from others - addictive - I really love it, but I know we’ll have a troublesome relationship. - not perfumey - alien-esque, out-of-this-world - surreal - not for philistines further note-associations by reviewers include: absinthe, alfalfa, almond, bacon crisps, black mint, bubble gum, burning wood, butter, camphor, cantaloupe (honey dew melon), cardamom, charcoal, chewing gum, chypre, cider, cucumber, dried fruit, eucaliptus, fig, grapes, grilled marshmallow, gummy, bears, honey, honeysuckle, incense, leather, medicines (cough medicines), menthol, menthol cigarettes, mountain air, naphtalene, oudh, peppermint, plum, raw cannabis, smoked pine tar, tobacco, toffee apples, tuberose, wormwood

Rating: 🥰😳 Do I like it: Yes Who it is: a monk Smells I get: so many, mostly woods and smoke Meyer's Briggs type: INFJ, INTJ This was my entry point into the world of perfumery. It starts like a church incense smoke bomb, which makes you question your choices. however, this phase is - though pungent - rather short. The heart, and the drydown however... they are sweet, exotic, but also like coming home to a warm, up sunny house to meditate. And they last... well, forever. Turns out that this was the exact intent of the maker - it is a mix of two perfumes inspired by buddhist temples in east asia, and it was supposed to be a journey to the center of the temple. And yeah, well, it feels exactly like that. Most people don't like it up close, especially the opening, but the drydown made many a lady compliment me with their mouth watering (mind you - i'm a very average looking woman). I prefer the solid over the liquid, as this majestic transformation is much more pronounced, and the drydown notes are much more beautiful and longer lasting (up to the second day). I used to have the solid first, and God, it was a love. Later on, i bought the liquid, and this perfume has aged now - as have i - and my bottle is more than 6 years old. It never went rancid (or sour), but has lost a bit of smoke and settled more into an old papyrus vibe with sweet undertones, sortof an old book smell, if you will. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget this perfume, as it was my signature (of sorts) for most of my late teens and early twenties, when i wanted to rebel and be myself, rather than the candy bomb that seems to be associated with perfumes from younger women nowadays. I wanted to be a temple, a layered creature, and so i was. Anyway, get the solid. It's an amazing art of perfume at this price.

Apparently, God likes a big, rich dinner where He also gets completely inebriated. His belch into your face tells you that he is a fan of heavily oaked Scotch whisky, smoked meats, rosewater sweets, and peppered vegetables squeezed with lemon juice. You first notice the whisky, and the lemon juice flecked vegetables. The whisky seems to be of the Islay variety with its extreme peaty-ness and burnt oak barrel notes pushing boozy alcoholic heat into your face. Black pepper and lemon juice on top of bitter green vegetables join in. The next belch brings up his dessert of Turkish Delight that is less sugar and more rosewater, dense and chewy, and a bit banana-sugar-starchy from ylang-ylang. Belch number three is a blast of wood smoked red meat, woody incense-y, and very fatty and unctuous. Belch number four sort of comes back to the floral dessert. And back and forth the aromas go while you wonder how many more burps God has left in Him. At some points BoG is quite pushy and a bit rude, making it a bit hard to handle, but at other times - most of the time, honestly - it's gloriously weird, very complex and dynamic, and simply divine. If you expect God's breath to be a chorus of angel's singing, a backdrop light of the sun casting golden and heavenly rays behind the choral angels, white plushy linen clouds flanking roads of gold coated with flower petals, etc., stay far away from this. God is a drunk, a lout - an old Frenchman that smokes a cigarette in between big mouthfuls of barbequed meat and slugs of liquor in his dusty, old, Provencal villa. Billy Joel said he'd "rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints," but Breath of God makes no such distinctions. Hallelujah and praise be.