Description
Devante Valéreo was raised in a dusty Spanish village on the Balearic Sea. He fondly recalled going to the bullfights with his father, an ex-picador, and credited those early experiences with inspiring his most popular novella, Bull’s Blood. The book’s lurid tale of seduction garnered obscenity charges against the author. Though the charges were rejected by the court, a ban on the sale of his works persisted for a number of years.
A fixture in Barcelona, smoking cigarillos and writing in the cafés and bars into the night, Valéreo disappeared as a fugitive in 1967 after a highly publicized bar scuffle with American sailors, one of whom later died from his injuries. “A man who has killed,” he wrote in Bull’s Blood, “is a man who knows passion.”
NOTES: Patchouli, Rose, Costus Root, Tobacco, Black Musk & Bull’s Blood
Bull’s Blood was launched in 2012. The nose behind this fragrance is Josh Meyer.
Towelie – :
This is a like, not love. It is primarily tart rose and patch, not particularly original there. The only odd note initially disconcerting is a urinous, fecal note. If this was an oud,I wouldn’t be surprised, but it’s not and the fecal note is more pronounced and “clear” than it is in an oud where many other, even floral or fruity notes are present. I’d call this a dirty, sexy rose, a scent that was sprayed on long and strong for a night clubbing that wound up having hot fun in the sheets with some illicit kink. I don’t get tobacco of any kind which is a shame because that would tilt me toward greater fondness and there is some vaguely chemical smell, indistinct, nebulous. Try it before buying–I can see why some might really like it, and just don’t think about the name. If they had named it “Hot August” or something, it’d get higher point values.
Snikers174 – :
Tried to like it…I just don’t. Not sure what I am smelling but others don’t seem to like it on me either.
urpok_s_urala – :
I need to give some serious love to Bull’s Blood! I am pretty sure the negative connotations are just the power of suggestion.
To my nose, it is a straightforward patchouli/rose with woody/musky base. I am not sure what costus smells like, so I’m just assuming it lends to the woodiness. I also detect a hint of tobacco, which I enjoy.
I detect absolutely nothing bloody or meat-like or fecal or urinous. This perfume smells, to me, exactly the way one would expect a perfume should, with this given note pyramid.
The only unlisted notes I detect are woods. The patchouli is almost certainly an aromachemical, but it is done well. It could be natural, but I’m under the impression that IA mostly only uses synthetics. The patchouli itself could be the source of the woody notes, and indeed all the other notes take a back seat to patchouli in this perfume. It smells similar to the patchouli used in L’artisan Parfumeur’s Voleur de Roses, although the perfumes aren’t similar to each other.
Bull’s Blood is for fans of patchouli, for lovers of a basic patchouli/rose accord. I might caution you against this one if you’re susceptible to smelling poop after other reviewers claim to do so, though. Because of the polarizing nature of patchouli, this isn’t a safe blind buy but samples are cheap.
Also, a little goes a long way. Some IA perfumes are super strong, and this is one of them. I strongly recommend this underrated, yet notorious, perfume if you enjoy the listed notes.
isy675Negeltzex – :
It opens with a dried urine smell, mixed with something akin to cast iron. I assume that this is what’s supposed to give off the blood vibe. It gradually calms down into the note of “photorealistic petting zoo goat” as the patchouli and the musk melds with the earthy rose and the tobacco.
Unpleasant but transfixing and oddly comforting. I’ve never considered a full bottle of something repugnant before.
marinka19 – :
Horrible urine/blood opening. Urine and blood and roses. I am getting a strong, unpleasant barnyard scent from this as well. Truly awful.
Unwearable. Especially in public.
Navivanop – :
You’ve walked into a barn filled with wet hay, and something bad must have happened because the farmhands are pouring sour roses everywhere to cover it up! Creepy! Oh no! They’ve lit it all on fire and they’re throwing patchouli on it to make it worse! Get me out of here! Bull’s Blood by Imaginary Authors.
Mangol – :
I’ve only sampled on paper but the “blood” note reminds me of the musky, metallic scent of raw steak when you are unwrapping and preparing to cook. It’s not offensive to me mostly because it doesn’t ever reach Secretions Magnifique-level coldness and repulsiveness and it is balanced in the composition with other notes. The overall character wasn’t for me but I wish more perfumers would release creative perfumes like this one. Imagine how fun it would be to visit a niche perfume store if there was an enormous array of unusual ideas to sample rather than 30 similar ambers, 30 similar incenses, 30 similar riffs on Shalimar…etc.
maxim1986 – :
I smell the bull; actually a corral with wet hay and manure. This is what I get when I spray it on, and that corral smell stays on for about half hour. After the manure subdues, this green accord stays pervasive till the end, 6 hours later and still going. I thought the manure smell was weird at first, but I dont’t mind since I grew up going to the countryside where the cows (literally) live at large. So that smell brings me good memories..
Джекасан – :
The opening is sour green rose. I can tell the costus is in there, it reminds me of my mom’s back porch when they’re blooming. It is a distinctly challenging opening; strong, sour, and strange. There’s almost a fetid sweetness. It doesn’t immediately smell “good” at all. But there’s something really compelling about it.
I had to resist the urge to scrub it and test another day because I could tell that it was probably too much for my workplace.The coworker who hates perfume called me “stinky” and said I smelled like patchouli and mothballs. But another coworker said she was going to follow me around all day because it’s like her favorite scent; she specifically mentioned sandalwood and patchouli and said it had an incense vibe. The comments were made within 10 minutes of eachother at the tail end of the opening; about 40 minutes after application.
The drydown lingers for hours in a lovely, dusty patchouli/tobacco. I kept sniffing at my wrist and dusty is definitely the strongest feeling about it for me. Really good smelling “dusty.”
It’s strong; one spray to one wrist was noticeable to others for several hours. Overall, I think it’s a solid like but not something I’d choose very often; the opening pushes it into novelty for me.
Glyxar – :
I came back to test my sample of Bull’s Blood after a long while (thought that would be a good idea, since I received another sample of it with my order). I have come to appreciate it more. BB starts with this fresh, clean rose and a massive dose of dirty patchouli and costus root. As far as I have heard, costus should smell animalic (some say like a wet dog). Well I definitely get the animalic smell, to me it’s like raw, heated and unrefined leather, truly smells like a live bull. This is for the cold nights when you don’t have a care in the world and just want to be adventurous. I still could not buy a bottle of this, even if I did, I think it would last a lifetime, definitely not a dumb reach for a night out. For me, it has become a ‘like’ again, for the art, the realism, the uniqueness. Worth checking out, maybe you will be one of the people who love it and appreciate it enough to get a bottle.
pytch – :
Boozy! So full of a great whiskey, cork sealed. That’s what I get for a top note. Then I get the tobacco, but the booze really stands out to me at first, although it’s not listed as a note. Also, cedar wood chips. This smells like I have my arms around and am about to kiss a swarthy, handsome man drinking whiskey after he’s just opening a fresh pack of cigarettes in a wood-paneled bar in the 1960s. I wish. To be worn while reading Hemingway, most definitely.
ady767JeomiWogkig – :
I was able to sample BB several times. Like many other reviewers, I never could quite get used to wearing it. It was just always rather off putting, even the good parts about it. I think what bothered me most was the costus. It was the first time I’d ever smelled the note and reading descriptions of what other people have thought about it led me to conclude that the note itself just wasn’t that pleasant to smell – at least not here.
Every other note in this just stood in opposition to the costus and even the patchouli didn’t ring very strong with me. At first sample, I thought it might take some getting used to but that I’d warm up to it, but no dice.
svexa77 – :
Worse scent ever >< usually I don’t mind a bit of dirty patchouli but this one has a weird sourness….If you like the smell, just go by a homeless with urinary incontinence…If you wanna wear it, just stop showering for a week after you peed in your pants >< OMG what have you done Josh Meyer….
ncamillaz – :
I won this in a beyond-generous giveaway from Imaginary Authors. I was scared to test it based on the reviews, but I really like it! As the people who have voted on the prominence of each note have indicated, it’s mostly a dirty patchouli and rose scent (reminiscent of L’Artisan Parfumeur Voleur de Roses, another one I love). I don’t know how Josh Meyer did it, but the animalic accord is done in a fascinating way. It’s kind of like a hay note, but a little bit barnyard/petting zoo. The thing is, it doesn’t hang around in a heavy way and torment you. It kind of darts in and out of range, so that sometimes you catch it, and sometimes you don’t, and it’s just the patchouli and rose. It doesn’t wear out its welcome. This fragrance can work easily for men, and I’m a woman and I like it too.
sezon6216 – :
I was surprised from the very first seconds on how this smells. I’ve got immediately kind of a puke smell. Unfortunately I applied it after the gym (from a sample) going to work and couldn’t wash it off my chest and t-shirt, only from my wrist, so I’ve got whiffs during the day. This still smelled like puke, maybe some urine as well, I mean it’s really gross. I couldn’t stand myself and caused me a bit of nausea. No one told me anything at work, but they usually don’t, so I don’t know how bad and how far I stunk. Bad experience, wouldn’t want to repeat it. Easily the worst I’ve tried all these years until now.
0/10
степашка – :
A rare costus perfume. Costus is an amazing material that comes from a tropical plant but smells like deer musk, animalic, spicy and intimate dirty. Costus however never takes you all the way to the animal’s bottom, but stops at the very edge of an amber cliff that descends into a sea of patchouli.
ffortep – :
Oh my, this is as daring as it gets. Right up there with A City On Fire, this one is for the eccentric, I don’t give a $#!t crowd. It smells like a bull’s barn on a very hot day. The patchouli makes it sooo dirty, I actually like it. Very rugged, and even though IA is a unisex fragrance house, this would definitely not fit a woman, it is too masculine. Try it before you buy it, and do it in the ‘safety’ of your own home, because this will turn heads from people, in probably the worst way possible. Very offensive, very different. Still gets a ‘like’ from me.
EDIT: Aaaand I changed my mind, it is too heavy, too dirty and once it dries down, it loses most of the rose, and just stays patchouli dirty. I understand that some people might like the harshness, but this feels too raw, it just went into the ‘dislike’ bar, expanding it even more. Still interesting artistically, but in terms of versatility and overall wearability, I would get a 0, there is no situation you could use this, even if you’re trying to be eccentric, I would rather have A City On Fire as an alternative for such an occasion.
shaggy35 – :
How extraordinary! It smells just like the notes listed. Deep red rose with patch on the opening. I have no idea what costas smells like so I can’t comment. I definitely get the black musk and tobacco which come much more to the fore after 30 mins or so. The musk and tobacco are not strong though. It’s not surprising that I love the red rose and patch.
Now I can’t smell blood so I find the title bemusing. My skin must do something to it. It smells quite feminine on me!
All the dislike is puzzling me. This would make a nice summers afternoon fragrance.
Rusla7n – :
Sorry but this site posted my review as a guest even though I thought I was logged in. I dont know how to remove the guest post but Im reposting my review.
Sometimes, on this site, I wonder if people actually wear the fragrances they review. Id really like to see more reviews where people mention Im wearing this or not wearing that and why that is. So, Im going to do it myself.
Im making my top 5 list of fragrances I wore much less last year and then I will do a top 5 list of fragrances I wore the most.
Number one on my list of fragrances that I wore less in 2016 goes to the entire Imaginary Authors line.
1. Imaginary Authors
The reason for the dropoff in my usage of Imaginary Authors is frankly their huge price increase in late 2015. I used to really love this house and as a completist, I wanted to own every fragrance in the line. I own 15 or so bottles of Imaginary Authors and every fragrance they have except for the 2 new ones Slow Explosions and Every Storm is a Serenade. I think Josh Meyer is a swell guy and I want him to do well.
However, in late 2015, he dropped his bottle sizes by 20% and also raised his prices by a large amount. Imaginary Authors went from $37 an ounce to about $56 an ounce. I believe designer fragrances should live at $30 an ounce and under and Niche $50 and under. IA went from being just a tick over designer pricing to being a premium priced Niche fragrance house.
I used to wear IA a lot. And I treated it as a daily wear scent even though it was slightly pricey compared with most designers. I was going through Cape Heartache at almost a bottle a year. And I wore the others, quite a bit.
When the price raise got pushed through, I swept every bottle of IA off my daily wear shelf and put it right on my special occasion shelf. I wore Bull’s Blood exactly one time in 2016 and it was my only wearing of the entire line for the year. I doubt that I repurchase any bottle of IA that I have and I may never purchase another bottle from them ever again.
It further irks me, that Ive seen dozens and dozens and dozens of fragrance reviewers on Youtube praising Josh Meyer to the high heavens for giving them full bottles to review.
If these ingredients are so costly to make and sell why is he giving them away like candy so people can tell me to buy his product.
Tauer came out with Lonesome Rider and he gave his customers discounts if they preordered it or tried a sample. Not the Youtube reviewers but customers like me who actually pay for their fragrances. Guess what ….. I ordered it. Other fragrance houses sometimes send me samples or discount coupons for being a loyal customer. IA charges me 50% extra and then sends free bottles to Youtube reviewers.
If you are going to set yourself dead aim in the pricing sights of Tom Ford, Tauer, Creed, Olympic Orchids, Note, and seemingly a thousand other Niche fragrance houses you better doggone be sure that you can be the best and stand out. I love Dame Perfumery and I can even buy their best and brightest top end Artisan Line for $10 less and get a bottle thats twice the size of an IA bottle and be VERY happy with it.
I loved this house and then it went from being fairly priced to being one of the most expensive fragrance niche houses in America. You cant easily find this discounted and when I see a house that I dont own but always wanted to try like Parfums De Marly selling for under $40 an ounce its hard to look at IA at almost $60 and want to support them. Especially when I feel like Im paying extra so Youtube guys can advertise it to me on their channels.
Those guys all own 300-500-700 bottles. You know they arent buying them all or wearing them all.
Again, Id like to see more real people from Fragrantica writing reviews based on what they wear and what they dont wear and why. Not just reviews based on initial impressions or OMG I just bought this great new fragrance. But what have you worn in the past … frequently because you love it.
For me, Imaginary Authors priced itself out of consideration. Mind you I can generally afford to buy what I like. However, I have a hard time wearing all of what I have. And its real hard to want to purchase a new guy or repurchase an old friend when there is a wealth of Niche running around that Ive never tried and think I might enjoy.
I avoided Tauer for years because I thought it was too expensive. And now Imaginary Authors is as expensive or maybe even moreso than Tauer.
I love love love love love Jeffrey Dame fragrances. And even that guy has released so many that there are some that I dont own. It seems that I buy more Dame fragrances than I am capable of using and wearing and its even a bit annoying.
Why would I pay $95 for 1.7 ounce bottles when there are $65 dollar 3.4 ounce guys from Dame that I dont own.
Meyer occasionly has specials on his website where he will throw in a 15 ounce supplemental guy and get it back up to 60 ml but its still $95.
Theres too many really great fragrances in his price range now. If you love it fine. I do. But there are others that I love that cost far less and I feel great about wearing and supporting as a house. And they seem more concerned about taking care of their customers than getting fragrance reviewers to push their juice.
I wore Imaginary Authors once last year. Once … and it almost left a distate in my mouth to do it. For the price of these fragrances these days … I could choose from hundreds or thousands or hundreds of thousands of high quality niche. Does he stand out as the best of all niche … I dont know.. But he prices himself like he thinks he does. You decide … for me sadly … the answer is no.
I wore this house once in 2016 and these were the fragrances that saw the greatest drop in my personal usage.
Id applaud anybody that loves this house and wants to support it and buy their products. But the people that honestly seem to love it the most and hype it the most are the ones that get their bottles free. The rest of us that pay for fragrances see an overpriced house thats interesting good and fun but sometimes has products that arent daily wear scents at an affordable price anymore. Its just not a casual purchase for many and for those that it is … they probably have more scents than they could or would ever need to wear.
Meyer might make more money in the short run with these price hikes but I think long term it will hurt him.
And its sad to see.
romka_uk – :
The opening is really interesting. It smells like rubber bands or a cheap pink rubber ball covered in playground dust. I detected a quick flick of blood and then soft, powdery patchouli. My roommate came out and complained about the smell….No rose yet. I’m reserving my judgment. This frag is a living thing!
muhamedyanowa.alina – :
Well, I have smelled a whole bunch of patchy rose perfumes, and this one doesn’t stand out. I don’t see why some people find it so… terrifying, though I am not invalidating their opinions, of course. I’m just saying that to me, this is a fairly standard variation on the theme. I would say that this reminds me of Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady most of all. Please don’t get me committed to a mental asylum.
mailtoome – :
brutal.
reading the ingredients, i’m surprised there’s no animalic component. not even a musk…i was expecting leather, but anyway. legitimately smells like cow skin (on the cow, which is, by the way, alive) or livestock. there is a lurking metallic note which i guess is the ‘blood’ component.
quite realistic and lifelike, but by god i can NOT wear this!
Viktorak45 – :
This has a pretty disturbing metallic musky note which hints at the blood, almost similar to the infamous secretions magnifique, though not as brutal. It’s almost tame compared to that beauty. I still won’t be buying this, because who wants to smell like blood, but, a very interesting olfactory experience for sure. Starts off with the blood, now I’m getting rose and tobacco and still a bit of blood few minutes in after drydown. I guess the blood scent slowly evaporates and only a subtle hint is left.
I have 100+ niche samples for swap within Europe – updated spreadsheet of samples on my profile, get in touch!
geor2k – :
I really love the smell of this one but after 2 or 3 hours after applying it… Why? Does anybody detect or smell some rubbery, plasticy, like a rubber band or a new tire smell on this at the oppening? Y smell a pronnounced smell like this in the oppening and i don’t like it… At all… I wonder if is the metallic, blood note… Anyway, after a couple hours it becomes BEAUTIFUL!! Rose and patchouli monster!! Ideal to go on a “ladies hunt night” If you know what i mean…. 😉
Islam8913 – :
Tried this on my wrist, and after about half an hour I realized that it smelled exactly like my late grandmother, a lifelong smoker who wore a similarly daring patchouli and rose perfume. Not really my style, but a woman could definitely pull this off.
Makefpload – :
Its almost Valentines day so I decided to review some rose fragrances from my collection for Fragrantica readers. Bull’s Blood is an Oklahoma rose. Its dark, hugely fragrant and prone to black spot, mildew, and rust.
This is a dark fragrance and the opening is screechy, hard to bear, and metallic. In the mid the scent comes into focus as it starts to settle down. And the drydown is divine as the rose tiptoes gently to the forefront of the stage as the screech fades and the flute emerges. The drydown is so elegant and welcome after the screech that it really saves this fragrance.
Performance for this fragrance is beastly. You can put this on and smell it for 30 hours. It has massive sillage. I have sprayed this on a shirts; washed them twice, used dryer sheets, and still been able to smell the fragrance after pulling them from the dryer. Its easily one of the longest lasting fragrances in the rose category and one of the top performing fragrances that I own. If you need a 2 day fragrance. This is your guy.
As far as usage goes, I have to say this is my most worn rose scent so far this year. But to be honest about it, I buy fragrances to use rather than to collect, and these days, I am trying to get value out of the purchase. I have the bottle down to the halfway mark and I have semi-retired it and moved it to the retired fragrance shelf. I doubt that I will pull the bottle again this year and in the future, it will be a very occasional visit. If I ever do drain the bottle then I will not view this as a repurchase candidate. Its a one and done fragrance.
Value is disappointing. I used to grade Imaginary Authors at a C and right where it should be. It is my opinion that niche should live at $50 an ounce or under and Imaginary Authors used to sell bottles for $85 for a 2 ounce bottle or $42.50 per ounce plus shipping. It was right where it should be and nearly perfect. A month or so ago, IA shoved through a huge price increase. They raised their prices about 12.5 % while simultaneously lowering the bottle content by 25%. The overall price increase was about 50% and it really disgusts me. Josh Meyer sent out dozens and dozens of his newer fragrance to youtube perfume reviewers and there was a big youtube collaboration where they all got together and talked about how well they liked their free bottles. The whole thing disgusted me. To push through a 50% price increase and then “bribe” reviewers into advertising and bringing brand awareness to a product is a travesty. Andy Tauer is bringing out Lonestar memories and he is doing it right. You can preorder his product at a discount and buy samples for a name your fair price for shipping costs. Id rather try a product out and buy it at a reasonable price then pay 50% extra so someone else can tell me why I should buy it. I rarely pay over $50 an ounce for any perfume and need a really good reason to do so in order to change my mind. There are just too many great perfumes that sell for far less than $50 an ounce and this aint one of them. On a positive note however, performance is literally so amazing that you can use less of it and it will last longer so in relation to some of the other $50 an ounce niche fragrances, this hangs in and waves howdy. By the time others start to quit, this one is finally starting to get good. It still is a $50 an ounce fragrance just by merit of longevity and performance. An ounce of Bull’s Blood goes a long way.
Some people like the bottle. They collected nicely until Meyer changed sizes. They aren’t special. But they fit together like books and don’t take up much space. Im not huge into buying perfume to collect the bottles but if I was then this wouldn’t be a favored line. They are just little square bottles with labels that pretend to fit on a shelf like books.
So overall I am going to rate this as a 70 out of 100 or a C-. I dislike the opening and adore the drydown and appreciate the merits of a fragrance that lasts 24 hours or honestly about as long as you would care to wear a fragrance. I think there are a lot of people that would not like the opening and do not have the patience to wait 8 hours for the drydown to get good. Performance is everything you would hope for in a fragrance and more. And value for the line of this house is now disappointing. When you price yourselves in the real estate code of Amouage and Creed and other high priced Niche brands you better stand out from the crowd. And this one does not. Does anyone think this is a better fragrance than a cheaper per ounce bottle of Lyric Man ? Really ???
I started out by comparing Bull’s Blood to an Oklahoma rose. And there is little doubt that Oklahoma is a classic rose. Its still one of the great darker red roses. But really, only true rose oriented gardners grow the Oklahoma anymore. It is a hard rose to grow and comes with a lot of problems should you try. Its not productive and does not repeat its blooms often and ask for daily appreciation. And it does not have good form and championship looks when its cut. You really have to be a major rose afficionado or a Sooner to grow the Oklahoma. The Oklahoma is a classic and in a way so is Bull’s Blood. It holds merit for those that appreciate the word interesting rather than “wearable”. I rate Bull’s Blood as holding merit to fragrance collectors. And yet it is still overpriced and hard to “wear”.
For those that can find an older 2 ounce bottle and $85 or below its a might consider. For those that are Josh Meyer fans as am I then sure buy you one. For hardcore collectors that want a rose thats different …. sure why not. And if you need a rose based fragrance that you can put on and will last you 2 days then “HELLO”.
But for most … Bull’s Blood is like the Oklahoma rose. Its dark, very fragrant, loud, bold, and in your face but lovely at times when its calm. Its a classic and it will spawn imitators that seek to improve on its merits. Chrysler Imperial is a vastly improved rose over Oklahoma and Mister Lincoln is perfection but Oklahoma got there first. Bull’s Blood is a dark and broody as it screeches at you for hours and then calms down and kisses you softly as if to apologize and let you know its sorry.
MOPKOBKA – :
I adore patchouli, but I really can’t smell much of it in Bull’s Blood. All I get is rosy barnyard. The barnyard dissipates somewhat in the drydown and a faint almost-pleasant pipe tobacco note creeps in, but the whole effect does not make me want more. I do not want to smell like this, and I don’t really want to be up-close with anyone who does.
tsarapki – :
One man’s Bull’s blood is another man’s Bullshit.
If I wasn’t trying to get a grasp on this one I would have scrubbed it off immediately. But reluctantly, I let it persist for several hours before I finally succumbed to its brutal assault on my helpless nose. The name of this fragrance may be very fitting, as this perfume might be what it actually would smell like if you cut open a dead bull and smelled its blood.
I don’t know why stuff like this sometimes gets released, especially from what has been a reasonably appealing and wearable house like Imaginary Authors…I guess maybe there’s a crowd for it. But honestly, I found this very unpleasant from start to finish. The notes look innocuous enough (patchouli, rose, costus) but they translate in a strange, unpalatable way. I guess “COSTUS” should have been the *no pun intended* red flag. Costus is a note that has been known to smell like sweaty animalic fat and, among other things dirty, unwashed SCALP. Not a fresh, shampooed scalp, but the kind of scalp that hasn’t been cleaned in a while and takes on a sort of oily, metallic and heavy sweaty aroma. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of smelling such a scalp, you’d know it’s one of several odors that has the ability to be instantly nauseating. Add a very dark rose and even darker patchouli note on top and an almost-fecal element comes into play making everything just very challenging and revealing of those things we most often try to cover up (with good reason).
I don’t like Bull’s Blood and have no problem admitting this. Occasionally a fragrance comes along that people love and I don’t like at all. With those, I always wonder if it’s something about me–am I missing something? Am I biased? However, with Bull’s Blood, I’m fairly certain it’s not me, and it’s simply the fact that this stuff smells bad. Reading the other reviews it seems I’m not alone. Thumbs down.
vitaliy0810 – :
Not sure whether to dislike this fragrance cause I do appreciate the accuracy of the name. The dry down reminds me of vacationing in the Phillipines where my grandma had a pig farm at the back of her house. Inside, if we were going out somewhere, the women would take showers and the smell coming from the soap combined with the pig farm is what this fragrance reminds me of. I know it says bull is the animal, but I think the dirtiness of bulls, pigs, and other large beasts can be applied to describe this smell. I can’t imagine why I would need 60ml of this juice. I think the decants you get in the sample pack and the complimentary decants you get along with each purchase should be good enough for me if i ever wanted to be reminded of those times.
euge7777 – :
Based on the notes I was expecting to like Bull’s Blood, and on initial spray I really did enjoy it. However, after the first hour or so into the dry down what you get is a dirty patchouli monster that crushes everything else. I like patchouli a lot but in this fragrance it is a bit overbearing even for me. All that patchouli comes at the expense of other notes that made this fragrance so interesting when it first hits your skin. I’ll pass on this one.
Definitely try before you buy.
ug555 – :
To those who are familiar with Histoires de Parfum’s Petroleum, I think this is very similar but with a huge dose of civet added. It may be the patchouli, but to me it smells more animalic than patchouli. I don’t smell any rose here. Massive longevity and very strong sillage; do not wear in a confined space.
yura-zzz – :
So, I wore my 2 ml spritzer of Bull’s blood both days this weekend and really quite liked it.
The patchouli in this really is the domination force for most of the wet stage. It’s a very funky patchouli too. Pair that together with a crisp rosy note and some animal funk and you have the opening of Bull’s blood.
The patchouli in this is the same kind of Body Odour weird patchouli you find in some fragrances. It makes for a slight off putting opening but you have to give this one a little bit of time.
I did also notice for the first few minutes a really strange smell that I can only describe as a slightly burnt latex/rubber. Really didn’t like that part.
A few other things emerge from this when it’s a bit drier. I can smell a slight wisp of something like cinnamon. It’s more like cinnamon bark. It’s really far in the back and not dominant. It just gives is a slight fire under it’s belly!
I can smell something like civet in here (it may be something else but…) The animalic tones of this stay all the way through wet to dry and only really noticeable close up. Bull’s Blood is actually really cool when it wafts in the air. It’s soft…dusky..and quite sexy.
The dry down…NOW…the dry down I absolutely LOVE! This becomes hugely sensual and soft. It smells almost like a musky sandalwood with tiny bits of incense. It’s gorgeous. If only it got to this stage a bit quicker!
I get about 6-7 hours wear length out of this and it’s t