Viens sur mon coeur, âme cruelle et sourde,
Tigre adoré, monstre aux airs indolents;
Je veux longtemps plonger mes doigts tremblants
Dans l’épaisseur de ta crinière lourde;
Dans tes jupons remplis de ton parfum
Ensevelir ma tête endolorie,
Et respirer, comme une fleur flétrie,
Le doux relent de mon amour défunt.
Je veux dormir! dormir plutôt que vivre!
Dans un sommeil aussi doux que la mort,
J’étalerai mes baisers sans remords
Sur ton beau corps poli comme le cuivre.
Pour engloutir mes sanglots apaisés
Rien ne me vaut l’abîme de ta couche;
L’oubli puissant habite sur ta bouche,
Et le Léthé coule dans tes baisers.
À mon destin, désormais mon délice,
J’obéirai comme un prédestiné;
Martyr docile, innocent condamné,
Dont la ferveur attise le supplice,
Je sucerai, pour noyer ma rancoeur,
Le népenthès et la bonne ciguë
Aux bouts charmants de cette gorge aiguë
Qui n’a jamais emprisonné de coeur.
– – –
Come, lie upon my breast, cruel, insensitive soul,
Adored tigress, monster with the indolent air;
I want to plunge trembling fingers for a long time
In the thickness of your heavy mane,
To bury my head, full of pain
In your skirts redolent of your perfume,
To inhale, as from a withered flower,
The moldy sweetness of my defunct love.
I wish to sleep! to sleep rather than live!
In a slumber doubtful as death,
I shall remorselessly cover with my kisses
Your lovely body polished like copper.
To bury my subdued sobbing
Nothing equals the abyss of your bed,
Potent oblivion dwells upon your lips
And Lethe flows in your kisses.
My fate, hereafter my delight,
I’ll obey like one predestined;
Docile martyr, innocent man condemned,
Whose fervor aggravates the punishment.
I shall suck, to drown my rancor,
Nepenthe and the good hemlock
From the charming tips of those pointed breasts
That have never guarded a heart.
Red musk and sweat-damp golden skin musk with labdanum, golden amber, nutmeg, tobacco absolute, black orchid, and hemlock accord.
Monica Green –
Smelled like cherry syrup out of the vial , on the skin it first smelled like cherry incense, a couple of minutes it was smelling like soft but warm and spicy patchouli and steamed rice with the tiniest bit of cherry in the background. Love it but tbh I wish the syrupy cherry facet lasted longer! I’m still very happy with this scent. Super unique.
eristille –
To me, it has a strong candy-cherry scent with its artificiality smoothed out by the musk at the end, giving it this sort of red-light sensuality, appropriate for its name. On my skin, the musk sort of “gave up” and the cherry picked up steam, smelling very sweet and feminine–teetering towards girly– on me, which is not what I’m looking for.
I offered it to my mom and the musk stuck around on her, overall creating a deeper, cherry fruit-and-incense smell which was lovely.
twopeople007 –
The anise is front and centre when this first goes on my skin, until it dries and the cherry starts to come through, bringing a hint of sweetness with it. The musk makes for a subtle yet solid base. All up a good scent! Makes me think of fancy hardwood floors, all polished.
JuniperGaze –
At first sniff it is cherry starburst sweet with which the musk transforms into a tuberose redolence that is stunning and moreish.
After settling, it is cherry incense .. not smoky as such, but delightfully headshop-esque with a touch of that anise darkness to the composition anchored and fro becoming too loud, too animalic.
I really like this one and is probably one of my top five BPAL’s.. I’ll definitely be buying a FB.
It is fine for daytime but would make a great date night/night out scent, too!
Yekupa –
Among my favorite scents from BPAL, I had to buy the full size after my imp ran out. I was attracted by its blood red color when I got it as a frimp years ago and didn’t really start using it until recently and my partner adores it.
It’s complex, soft and sensual and makes me feel beautiful.
Elizabeth –
I did not care for this at first, but the cherry and anise really grew on me, in fact I like this better than Hideous Heart! It is sophisticated, sexy, and spicy-sweet.
Gloame –
Smells like cherry coke in the imp. Dries down to an incense-y licorice with a touch of cherry. If you like anise or licorice, give this one a shot.
mopsylemon –
Wet (on tester strip): musk, cherry, anise
Dry (on tester strip): musk, vanilla? …and rice?!
Wet (on skin): cherry, musk, anise
Dry (on skin): musk, rice, vanilla, cherry
What a strange, intoxicating scent! I am definitely smelling something almost…treacle-y, or like steamed rice with sugar on top. The cherry mellows out pretty quickly on my skin and the vanilla and musk become very prominent in the mix.
This is really nice and I wish I could enjoy the evolution of it because it smells like something very special, but it is giving me a terrible headache. So sad, but I’m very sensitive to certain smells, like vanilla.
On the plus side, it lingered even after a scrubbing so probably has great longevity!
jessecake –
Kabuki is a deep cherry scent with something kinda sickly-sweet in the background.
On dry down the cherry scent seems to fade and the musk/star anise step forward.
It isn’t a bad scent, just not right for me. I could see this smelling amazing on someone else.
Sara –
Cherries and anise, an unusual combination. Spicy, yet cool. Strong and long-lasting – the anise’s licorice scent lingers for hours.