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.
zodiacazur –
Honestly, I’m baffled. It goes like:
Me: Oh, I don’t care for vanilla or honey in perfumes
BPAL: Hold my vial
I mean, really, I didn’t expect to be head-over-heels in love with this perfume AT ALL given the notes, but here I am. It’s deliciously sweet but never cloying. It’s lasted quite long on my skin. I got it as a frimp and I definitely intend to buy a full bottle, it’s already a favourite. A wonderful surprise!
jessikanon –
On my skin, this is very jasmine-forward. As others have described, it’s a sweet, round jasmine, not bitter or sharp at all. After a few hours, the honey and olive blossom come out. The morning after, I can still smell it on me (and I only applied a tiny bit on my elbow, using the imp wand!). At this stage, it’s like a soft, sweet, incensey floral (guess it’s the sandalwood and smoke), I can still smell the jasmine, but that could just be me? Didn’t get much vanilla or cinnamon, to be honest (which is good, because my skin doesn’t get along with vanilla).
laurel.kalypso –
I received this as a frimp in a past order and at first I was really not into it. To me it smelled like that smell sunless tanner gets when it’s processing on your skin. Recently though I tried it again and I’ve actually come around to it. It’s very warm and heady. Like sitting out in the sun on the hottest summer day. Still not a go-to scent, but it’s nice and it might grow on me further.
monroestcharles –
Oh my. I don’t wear BPAL on my skin, so I can’t speak to wet, dry, etc. I mix them with my argon oil for my hair & on it all goes. The throw on this is perfect. Just enough to have people nearby sort of murmur about what smells so good, but not very far, people with in about 5 feet or less. It lasts about 2-3 days (depending on if I wrap my hair to sleep, otherwise, my pillow smells amazing too for awhile). But the smell is just amazing. I probably look like an idiot because I’m constantly smelling my hair.
On me it has a very soft scent. The sandalwood & the smoke are forefront, with a wonderful sneaky hit of honey & cinnamon swirling around. When you’re close up (like me), the subtle olive blossom is there & so lush even for it’s quiet note. The jasmine & champaca seems to be a who’s smelling my hair game. My mum can smell the jasmine, but not the sandalwood. I never notice the jasmine. My botany brained sister in law can smell the champaca (I have no idea what it smelled like till she brought me one & I know now I DO NOT catch that in the perfume) but says she can’t pick up any notes of honey or any kind of smokey scent. She thinks it smells like a powdery champaca blossom with jasmine & cinnamon & she will not stop smelling my hair if she’s around.
I personally think it is one of the sexy scents I’ve had from BPAL (more than a few people who’ve smelled my hair agree). Will be getting a bottle of it (I had 8 imps from past orders I never bothered with till recently but I’ve used my last one & I am now very desperate…. my other bottles are gonna be so sad & lonely).
Jae –
Heady and musky.
elise_danielle –
This one, on it’s own, I find a very heady and almost overwhelming floral at first. Although I suppose that’s sort of the point considering the concept behind it. I layer this over another, more vanilla-heavy BPAL fragrance and it’s beautiful: edible and cake-like, topped with something akin to cherries cooked in brandy. My go-to when I want something delicious smelling that sticks close to the skin.
mjanefh –
This is very heady on me. It only takes a little and it lasts a long time. The first thing I get when on the skin is the jasmine, honey and cinnamon. There’s also a faint underlying muskiness which tends to slowly fade. Towards the end of the day I get a mellow vanilla and lingering jasmine. It’s not a go-to fragrance but it’s definitely feminine and lovely!
agitatedbadger –
Of the 18 imps I’ve tried, this one is by far my favourite. It’s such a lovely warm scent. I’m not terribly knowledgeable about different scents, but there’s this amazing almost peppery quality that comes forward as it dries. Jasmines tend to go sharp on me, but there’s none of that sharpness here. This scent is just so moreish, I find it embarrassingly hard to stop pressing my wrist to my nose and breathing in when I’m in public. I’m definitely buying a bigger bottle and I pray that this scent is never retired.
Danielle –
On me Defututa is quite the morpher. Initially, in its wet phase, Defututa is a dirty floral. I assume this is the jasmine, but I’m not great with distinguishing different scents, so bear with me. Then, after about an hour, the vanilla and cinnamon come into play. Its still floral, but now it is fuller bodied, creamy and spicy. After several hours, the floral, vanilla and cinnamon disappear and I’m left with honey. Unfortunately, bpal’s honey note goes buttery/foody/powdery on me. Its happened with other bpal fragrances as well. I’m not a fan of this final dry down stage, but it takes a while to get to this final phase and I like the initial and middle stages.
puck_nc –
On my skin the jasmine dominates, with the other notes supporting it in a very well-blended combination. The result is a warm, sweet, and sultry jasmine. If you like the idea of jasmine but it keeps going sharp on you, give this a try.
Sara –
I took my first big sniff and sighed contentedly. Tons of honey! This is a gorgeous exotic floral bouquet of champaca and jasmine, liberally laced with honey. The vanilla adds even more sweetness and there’s just a sprinkle of cinnamon to add complexity without the fire that cinnamon sometimes brings. And the olive blossom, often bitter on my skin, seems to have gone missing completely, so I’m very happy. I love the combination of the two strongest notes, honey and champaca. Champaca sometimes turns “banana” on me but it’s showcased beautifully here, and smells heavenly. Light, summery, and sexy.