Gris Charnel from BDK Parfums is a scent that I find confusing and disappointing. Mostly, I think I am disappointed in myself, for not having read the perfumer’s inspiration for the fragrance. Some dribble about two tourists whose glances cross paths, they dance until dawn and then slip away for an intimate encounter. Yawn. I got bored and checked out several times just now while trying to sum that up. Now if they slid through a portal into an Edward Allan Poe story while they were making out in a dark alley, then I could forgive myself for getting thrillingly suckered in by the copy (and to a lesser extent, the darkly poetic name, which I feel somehow tricked me into thinking it was something that it was not.) It must have been the notes I was excited for then, which mention black tea, fig, and cardamom essence. That sounds really lovely. But I’ve tried this several times and I don’t sense any of that loveliness. Instead, it’s a bit like a low-end tea sampler that includes selections with various unspecified “fruit flavors” but in reality, no matter which one you brew up, all they taste like hot Kool-Aid water. And there’s a weird, acrid smoky element that hovers unpleasantly, like charcoal heated air...so imagine smoking hot Kool-Aid water in your hookah. Even if I pretend an olde-timey goth poet was smoking that hookah, it's still a bit of a dud.

Gris Charnel feels like a luxurious wool scarf in a cold wind. It is spicy, figgy but the most prominent note I get is the sandalwood base. Though it remains, spicy, it develops into quite the lactonic wear. I wouldn’t wear this in the early beginnings of fall, where the sun still shines, because if you’re sensitive to fragrance, you might become nauseous. It shines best in the cold, really crisp cold or for rainy days. It has a cocooning effect. I do think that it is unisex even if leaning a tzd feminine. I have to say though that I now much more prefer its extrait counterpart which I find more provoking and interesting