Perfume Pen Pals: BLOOD Concept O, A and AB



Katie,

I've been enduring some difficult days of perfume sampling, my worst stretch in a long time. Yesterday was my introduction to the BLOOD Concept line and so yesterday was terrible. First I tried O, which is primarily raspberry and leather and that cheeky metallic note (because it's blood, get it?). It's like someone superimposed the Teletubbies onto a James Dean movie.

Teletubbies Without a Cause

And I know, I know, the perfumers and various perfume critics will insist it's surprising and how often are we surprised by a perfume? But I don't like loud raspberry notes over my leather. Doesn't that count for anything anymore? Or is every surprise a welcome surprise? What if I walked into your living room and intentionally smashed your favorite vase? Would you say, "Bravo! That was totally surprising!"

BLOOD Concept O is similar to the brash chocolate/rose of 100% Love, another perfume that has earned praise because it's initially so unexpected. (Then the headache comes.) It does have remarkable tenacity: it holds together well after five, six hours, to the point that it was beginning to grow on me (not literally, thank goodness). But maybe my resistance was breaking down in the way it would if I had to watch the Teletubbies frolic around for six hours. It is sort of cute when they chest-bump.


Still, it's raspberry, KP! Raspberry and leather, and that's just wrong. Can some things still qualify as "wrong"?

I tried BLOOD Concept A last night, which is tomato vines and that same metallic accord, and I smelled like I'd impaled myself in a tomato garden. Strangely, as surprises go, I prefer that to anything with raspberries or Teletubbies. Or smashed vases. Now I'm worried if I ever break anything of yours, you'll think I did it just to make a point. My apologies in advance. I assure you it'll be an accident and I'll buy you a new vase.

Dan



Dan,

You'll turn that frown upside down when you get to BLOOD Concept B, which is the one that's a petrol patchouli. It smells like something you'd be happily inclined to sniff more than once.

Katie



Katie,

I don't know how any perfumer can attempt that prominent iron/metallic note without expecting everyone to think of Secretions Magnifiques. It's the reference blood perfume. It's the Fracas of horror.

I have a dentist appointment at 2, but I'm going to run first so I have an excuse to shower because I'm wearing BLOOD Concepts A again (trying to get a better read on it than "bloody tomato garden") and I can't subject anyone to this.

Though now I'm actually looking forward to pushing on and trying the next two. The first two weren't too terrible, they just weren't much fun. If Almodovar's The Skin I Live In had an accompanying perfume line, BLOOD Concept would be it.

Dan


Dan, If you're whining now, wait till you get to BLOOD Concept AB, which is nigh intolerable. It smells almost as bad as Secretions Magnifiques, without being as viscerally disgusting as Secretions Magnifiques. AB is just plain ol' ugly. Katie
Katie, Okay, I'm going to almost disagree with you. I'm going to nigh disagree. I don't find AB intolerable, or even nigh intolerable, I think it's a continuation of those cold Comme des Garçons (53 and 71), either a progression or a regression depending on how you feel about the weirder CdG elements. AB has a sickly saccharin chemical-sweetness, coupled with those cold metallic/stone accords, and it smells like you used Fresca to clean your kitchen.
I'm not at all happy with it, but I'm not wanting to cut off my arms either. Maybe I've just grown numb to what I imagine is the desired effect of these weird perfumes, because I find AB just sort of okay. Which, to the perfumer, is probably the least desired reaction. Dan
BLOOD Concept is available at LuckyScent.com
Thug Teletubbies via Daily Mail
Looking for a fragrance recommendation? Visit Fume Finder: the Katie Puckrik Smells fragrance app.

22 comments:

  1. "Maybe I've just grown numb to what I imagine is the desired effect of these weird perfumes, because I find AB just sort of okay. Which, to the perfumer, is probably the least desired reaction."

    Yet likely the most deserved.

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  2. Hey you two, glad you're reviewing these "concept" perfumes. I got a sample of A, and thought it was . . . interesting, but since the only perfumes for me are the ones that smell sexy, I can't imagine pursuing a bottle of it. Dan might be right about BLOOD Concept being the perfect fit for "The Skin I Live In". I'm a big, big fan of Almodovar: even when I can see the holes in his films, or understand why anyone else wouldn't like them, I remain eternally enchanted by them, and him. Ay, Pedro!

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  3. Denise, Having experienced the perfumes and Almodovar almost simultaneously, I can say without hesitation that the film was far more satisfying. I haven't stopped thinking about it and I can't remember any of the BLOOD Concepts the moment I've scrubbed them off my skin.

    And, yes, Nathan, definitely most deserved. Some of these perfumes remind me of petulant children, doing crazy stuff just for the attention. And I now have hundreds of "children," so I feel like I've seen it all.

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  4. Oh funny - I wrote about these last night, not having clocked your post! I found O just about tolerable, very much on a "least worst" basis. The raspberry (notwithstanding its on-message colour), must have masked the smell of blood for me. As with those Icelandic Maack scents I also tested in the same week (two of which have quite gratuitous metallic notes), it was for me yet another case of quirky concept taking precedence over wearability.

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  5. Vanessa, when "least worst" is the "most best" we can hope for, that's a cue for a Lurch from Addams Family groan and head shake.

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  6. My Blood type is B. And I'm a Scorpio. Everything about Blood Concept B seemed right up my alley till I read this review. I'm glad you saved me the $4 sample fee!

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  7. "To protect and to serve," that's my motto, Steffee. Well actually, it's the LAPD motto, but it applies here, too.

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  8. Thank you, Katie and Dan!

    I wasn't trilled by Blood Concept before, but now I just want to run away from the entire line:) My type is A, btw and I don't want to smell like I was impaled in a tomato garden!!!

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  9. I think the concept and packaging of these is really great, which is why I somewhat impulsively bought a fb of AB last week.

    It's not a masterpiece but I'm happy I got it: it lasts for a remarkably long time and gets great reactions from people who smell it on me.

    A co-worker even said wanted to buy himself a bottle (but I offered to decant him half of my bottle ... there is no way I'll ever go through 2 oz. of this.)

    I have a suspicion that its metallic effervescence will work great layered under something fruity ... just haven't figured out what that is yet.

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  10. It seems that the metallic note in this fragrance is kind of a turn off for people.

    Any fragrance suggestions for something with a good metallic note? Just out of curiosity.

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  11. I nominate Frederic Malle Dans tes Bras as a successfully metallic perfume.

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  12. J. Shamama - I love the "somewhat" qualifier next to your "impulsively." I wonder what would qualify as full-on impulsiveness, if not a purchase of metallic perfume inspired by a blood type? As commenter Scott once put it, "I love us!"

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  13. AB sounds like something Jerry Blank (Strangers with Candy) would wear...

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  14. Hahahahahaaaaa, Jerry Blank! Oh my god DP, that's a perfect scent for her. You're too funny!

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  15. I'm staying F A R away from this line

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  16. But you're called Bloody Frida....

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  17. hahahaa; yeah, you'd think I'd dig this blood accord crap, wouldn't you? (I named myself after Frida K's bloody paintings, not the smell of it) Plus I'm AB and what you all said up there is that it's the worst of the lot and is similar to SM - nothing worse and here I am, gagging at my desk just thinking about it.

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  18. oh and another thing - I think that regular blood tastes more metallic than it smells. IMHO.

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  19. Hello I have AB Blood and I accidentally came across the fragrance today and I love it!!! It reminds me of incense from an old rustic church in a faraway place!! divine.

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  20. I love the AB fragrance too!! I have AB positive blood and it smells like home. I also eat by my blood group and I feel fantastic!! :)

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  21. Perchance, have you any of this left? I am dying to get some O.

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    Replies
    1. "dying to get some O" sounds like vampire talk! Blood Concepts is available online, including O.

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