Drarra

Frankincense, leather accord, sandalwood, Himalayan cedar, nutmeg, and violet leaf. In the bottle: I smell sharp leather. There's a warmth of resin just beneath it, probably the frankincense. I think I just got a touch of the nutmeg, but it was so fleeting, I'm not certain. Wet on my skin: Immediate: LEATHER! It's so leather. Yet even as I sniff, it's blooming. The sandalwood and cedar are coming out to play, and the frankincense is wafting between them with just a touch of the nutmeg. The nutmeg is so fleeting… yet I keep sniffing, hoping I will smell it again! Dry: The leather has softened. The woods and frankincense have merged together, yet the leather still has enough presense to keep this from being a traditional incensy blend. This is different from everything I wear, yet lovely.

Reading the description, I had a feeling that this was the Inquisition scent that would be the least popular. But, let's face it, this was a perfume that I needed to own. I adore chypres, lavender, lime... and the rest of the notes aren't horrible. Bois de rose was the only possible offender here. And maybe vanilla. In the bottle:This smells darker than I expected, somehow, and I think it must be the balsam, vanilla (not nearly as sweet as I was fearing!!) and opopponax grounding the entire scent. At first whiff, I get the bright lavender and chypre layered over that delicious darkness. There is a lot going on here. Wet, I mostly smell the bright notes - the chypre, lavender and lime really shine here. I see at this moment why other people described this as a "Victorian gentlement" scent. After drydown:A chypre which is deepened by the oppopnax and the vanilla absolute (and maybe the balsam adding some woodiness). It's interesting to me that the floral notes really dry into the chypre, leaving something rich and sexy. The lavender still stands out here, and interesting juxtaposition to the vanilla. My thoughts: This is a welcome addition to my collection! I've been exploring chypre perfumes of late, and this is a welcome addition. It is different from the other chypre scents I have tried, and I really like that. If you love lavender, this is definitely a great scent to try, especially as it boasts a lot of beautiful, sorrowful complexity.

This is the first lace that has really caught my eye. All the rest have had notes that were too floral or too sickly sweet, and I knew they would go horrible places on my skin. Then I saw this one, and I needed to try it. In the bottle: I smell cognac on oak with frankincense and myrrh wafting from somewhere nearby. There is a touch of the clove, just a touch mind you, as too much goes weird places with my nose. There a light, lacy sweetness weaving through all of this. Wet on skin: There's a lot more spicy clove when this is fresh on my skin. The wood and resins remain just behind, but the myrrh has taken more of the spotlight than the frankincense. This is dry and spicy. But there's a touch of an alcoholic note there, which must be the cognac. After a couple minutes, I smell that hauntingly lacy note again. Drydown: This does not last a very long time on me, 4-5 hours tops, and the throw is very light. The spicy clove is the first thing that dries off, which allows my nose to detect the frankincense. It smells like I'm sitting at a huge wooden table (in a paneled room, covered with a lace cloth), some unlit incense sitting across the room, swirling a huge snifter of cognac (as it dries, somehow the clove becomes a note in the cognac). As another person commented, this blend smells fragile, somehow. I would never have pegged clove as a scent of grief, yet it works so perfectly here. As it dries, this scent becomes the grief that while it still cuts, you have spent too much energy crying to be able to weep any more. The tears are palpable below the surface.

This scent is more coffee and foody than I was hoping it would be. With the leather and tobacco notes, I hoped it would be instant love for me. In the imp, I smelled almost exclusively coffee. Wet on my skin, it still smelled like coffee. As it dried, I could get a touch of the other notes in it. I could smell a bit of the leather in there (but it was a softer leather), and some spiciness that could have been the carnation and tobacco peeking through... but ultimately, it dried down to a coffee scent with a touch of spiciness. On a side note, this scent has opened my eyes to carnation. It is possible I have found a floral note that I can wear and even like! While I like it (and I'll continue to use my decant), it's not going to be a bottle purchase for me.

I ordered a decant of this because of the woods and the green cognac. I've loved cognac in other scents, and I was excited to see it in this one. I loved how this smelled in the imp. It was autumn, chilly winds and crisp leaves. It's how I wanted Samhain to smell! When I initially put this on, I was overwhelmed by the smell of Pledge. I suspect this was primarily coming from the note of fir? I was regretting putting it on my skin for about 15 minutes. At that time, my skin and the perfume suddenly decided to start working together. I'm left with an earthy-woodsy scent which is utterly gorgeous. I can still pick out the fir, but it's become so much softer. As far as purchasing a bottle... at this time, I'm still undecided. I was ready to write this imp off in the first minutes, but now I really like how it smells. More tests are necessary to make a final decision.

I'd like to add a couple of GC suggestions: The Black Rider Godfather Death

This is a fabulous room spray. Woodsy leather and tobacco waft up when I spray this on my sheets. It's such a comforting scent to me! It lingers on my linen for a couple days after I spray it, and I get unexpected whiffs of tobacco at times when I turn over in bed.

Fresh in the imp: Wow. This is a dark, slightly leathery scent. Oddly, I can't identify any of the notes in it. I was expecting something slightly sweet, but this is not sweet. I'm impressed. Wet: On my skin, this is less leather and more resin. The resins have sweetened, and I can tell they are the sweeter resins. The tobacco is giving this the slightly dusky, smoky feel. Dry: Wow. I really should have tried this on before now. This is getting warm, spicy and delicious. As it dries, the soft leather is coming out, combining with the delicious tobacco. This is wonderful. The oppoponax is really blending with the tobacco beautifully in this blend. This is a dark, mysterious leathery blend. It combines three things I love: resins, leather and tobacco. I've found a new love.

Captain Cully is very leathery. I haven't smelled De Sade, so I can't tell you how it compares, unfortunately. As far as leather, did you try the Red Rider? I found that to be more leathery than The Black Rider, which has more of a resinous feel to it.

I got my RPG imps yesterday. I put on Paladin, and I was instantly in love with the shining leathery-ness. The I said, "What the heck!" and layered a bit of Lawful over it. The oak and chamomile blended so beautifully with the leather. Wow. It was delicious. I want to be a Lawful Paladin all the time if I get to smell like this!

Have you tried out Sin? It's amber, sandalwood, black patchouli and cinnamon. It doesn't seem foody to me, at all. If don't mind tracking down an LE, another rec for cinnamon is Blood Moon. Although it's more musky (to my nose) than woody or floral.

Thanks for answering this. I wasn't aware that there were different versions of FoL.

I come in search of enabling assistance. My sister has fallen in love with Serpents with Glittering Eyes and Forky Tongues. I'm sure we all know happened to that scent today. Unfortunately, she hasn't had spare cash, so she didn't get a bottle. So, I'd love to hear if anyone has recommendations (GC would be awesome!) for similar scents. She really likes the fresh scents with some berry to them. Thanks for any suggestions!

I really love Manilus, so I'm on a similar search. I'm in the process of trying out leather scents. I think this one is pretty unique from what I've smelled so far, but if he likes the leather aspect of it, I'd suggest Captain Cully from The Last Unicorn Line, although it does not have the resinous sweetness. For true GC, The Red Rider is another very realistic leather scent. It smells like an expensive leather coat to me.

Oblivion can be a green-colored oil (my imp is). I've also heard of people having batches that aren't green.

I got this imp with my first lab order, tried it and set it aside. I liked it, but it didn't have staying power on my skin. Today, deciding what to wear, I grabbed it, thinking it needed another chance. I'm so glad I did - it is full of winning notes just waiting to shine (figuratively - this is a somber scent) on my picky skin! In the imp: Woods and spices swirl about in a green murkiness. I love woods, and I find it a little odd that I can't identify which woods are here. Must develop nose further. Wet on my skin: The saffron strikes me first, oddly enough. This is not a note I would have expected to love in my perfume, but skin chemistry is an odd thing. Lots of woods, but these are not polished, dry woods. They are somehow dingy. They aren't wet, but they're not dry, either. And "wood spice". Seriously, where do I find more of this "wood spice"? I'm loving it! Dry on my skin: This isn't a morpher on me, and the saffron settles down fairly quickly. I get consistent dry, spicy wood with a tinge of patchouli. I've had this on for around 7 hours, so I can't complain about staying power at this point! It has rather limited throw, but it's still pumping out Oblivion-y goodness. Final thoughts: This just became a love! It's going to be a bottle purchase. I've always been vaguely disappointed that this blend didn't work, so I'm SO HAPPY I went back to try it again. This is a dark, bleak scent, and I love how it conveys Oblivion. A winner brought to you by Sin and Salvation!

In the bottle: This smells COLD. I smell woody firs immediately, and there's a hint of something minty? Wet: Holy winter rose, Batman! The rose is right there, up close and personal. This would not generally be a good thing, but it's grounded by the fir and woods. It's so cold and beautiful. Dry: As I wait, the rose is fading, and I'm getting more of the woods and skin musk. For some reason I cannot determine, there is a hint of mint to my nose. This is a cool, calm scent that smells very clean (but not like detergent). I really like this. It's very understated, like a perfume you want to wear when you don't want it obvious that you're wearing perfume. This is an unexpected winner for me.

I love the Arthurian legend, so this blend really appealed to me. Plus there's some incense here? COOL! I was very pleased to receive a frimp. In the bottle: The violets are very prominent. I'm having trouble smelling anything else around them. Wet on my skin: Flowers. Violet. And is that jasmine? I thought there was supposed to be incense here somewhere? Did the violets eat it? Dry: Well, we didn't really get to dry. Because violets and my skin don't get along. And I didn't want that anywhere near my skin for a moment longer. Lesson: Violet is a nemesis to my perfume. They do not belong on my skin, they should remain looking beautiful outside.

The concept of an Indian blend appealed to me. Plus is has sandalwood and cedarwood. In the imp: I smell a lot of jasmine and rose, but the next dominant scent is lemongrass. Oh, tasty lemongrass... I'm suddenly very hungry. Wet on my skin: Jasmine. Dry on my skin: The jasmine has a contender for most dominant scent in Namaste: and that is rose. This is not good. My skin amps floral notes. Nothing will save this from going sharp on my skin, not even the beloved woods. Overall: This is not bringing any peace to my spirit. It's hard to be serene about scrubbing your wrists. This blend rather makes me wish I could wear floral blends better. My lesson is learned: jasmine, you are my skin's nemesis.

After overlooking this scent for ages, I read the list of notes. And tracked down a partial bottle immediately. In the bottle: I smell the resinous nature of the labdanum (much-loved from Gaueko), floating over a delicate rose and wood. Wet on my skin: This started out very bitter - maybe the rose objecting to my rose-hating skin? Sometimes my skin is such a hater, and I can certainly see why the rose would object. After bitterness, it morphs... ...into OMG wood. Dry: I don't know if it's the teak or the cedar or the rose combining with the wood... but this is super dry wood chips. I swear there are pencil shavings on my wrist. There's a touch of the labdanum left, but it can't compete with the great and mighty shaved pencil. Overall: This was too much like pencil shavings to wear as perfume. I'm not entirely sure where it went wrong, because this should have been win for my skin. After some experimentation, I used it to make a salt scrub. It was great used for this! Please, tell me this isn't what teak smells like. Because want to teak!

In the imp: This is hot and spicy, and it reminds me of something else (but I don't know what that something this). I love the spicy muskiness. This has a hint of something drier - could there be some sandalwood going on? Wet on my skin: Oh, the spices are mixed in with this musk. I can smell the saffron now. This is heavenly. Dry: This is consistent musky spiciness. Amazing on my skin. I need to hunt down more saffron now. And buy a bottle. Or a vat.

In the imp: Wow, that's champagne! I LOVE champagne! Drinking it, smelling it, drinking some more of it... Oh, that's right, this is a perfume review. I'm amazed that perfume has captured the effervescent nature of champagne. Oh, and I also smell a touch of mint and grapefruit. Wet on skin: I love this champagne! It's so wine-y and bubbly and... wait, is that a flower? It's not mint, and not grapefruit. Oh yes... hello, lotus. Dry: I think the lotus went sour on my skin. There was certainly a bad reaction of some sort going on here. (And this might explain what Bastet was such a miserable failure for me.) I would adore this scent without the lotus, I suspect. Overall: I'm SO interested in champagne scents after this! More bubbly! (Less lotus!) I'm very impressed with the realism of the champagne scent.

I picked up an imp of this because it has so many notes of win for me: cedar, lavender, white musk, leather. It's an imp I've been looking forward to trying for months. In the bottle: I smell cedar and vanilla. There's something else going on here, but I can't tell exactly what it is. I need this on my skin to see what will happen. Wet on my skin: Meh. This is pretty vanilla. Dry on my skin: No, this is VERY vanilla. I wonder if vanilla is another note amped my sweet-loving skin. I can't even tell what else there is to smell here (carnation, is that you?), I just smell like a gross candle - not even a yummy vanilla bean. Overall: I'm disappointed. I was hoping for a cedary blend with herbs (yummy sage and lavender!) over some musky, slightly vanilla-tinged leather. As it is, I don't want to smell like this. I will find other imps to obsess over!

In the imp: This is an expensive leather jacket. And the mosses beneath the leather are really adding depth to it. Wet on my skin: Umm... leather. Really leather. Not really liking that there isn't anything beyond the leather. Dry: I smell lots of leather. Not much else going on here, not a lot of depth. This isn't really my cup of tea. But it does remind me of Zevran. He would dig this. Overall: It's a very realistic leather scent, but I was hoping for more depth from it. After reading some of the other reviews, I'm going to hold onto this imp and let it age a bit. I'm now curious to see how that will affect it.

2011 Version - These notes look so perfect for me. Incense? That's completely my thing! Cypress? This is in my favorite Halloweenie! Ooh, excited! In the bottle: This is... floral? There's a touch of resins, but I'm getting primarily a floral smell. Wet: My wrist smells like flowers that have been sprayed with soapy water. But mostly like soap. Wait a second... could that blood accord be a dragon's blood resin? That would completely explain what is happening here. Dry: My skin is amping the floral notes. And the soap. I'm convinced the soap is coming from the blood accord. Curses, dragon's blood resin! Why must you smell so wonderful in incense and so horrible on my poor, unsuspecting skin? Overall: I was hoping for a lovely, wonderful resinous blend. Alas, Valentine was not destined to give this to me. I SO GLAD I did not order a full bottle of this unsniffed.