Fire of Love

[Shollin]

A catalytic, potent love oil used to spark (or rekindle) the flame of desire between lovers.

First sniff: Um… ew. This is either civet, or some funky musk, or… some other animal scent that is Not Good to my nose.

Wearing: Yup, still got the civety animal funk going on. This needs to go to someone else. Hopefully it'll work on whoever gets it... Fire of Love seems to be very love-it-or-hate-it, and I wish it had turned into sexy peppery ginger on me.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

Lagniappe from the Lab.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

The boy's not here to test this on right now, but I'm playing review catchup, so I'm going to have to review it for scent alone.

 

First sniff:

 

Mmm, this smells good, like cedar and incense. It's that vaguely rotting cedar note, not the crisp dry cedar note of Lear or Kathmandu. I can't place the resin note I'm smelling apart from saying it's some sort of resin and that it's not amber or dragon's blood. I can't shake the feeling that there's musk of some sort in here, maybe civet, too, though I can't really smell it, it's more of a feeling than anything.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Cedar, definitely cedar. I love, love, love cedar, though, so that's a good thing. I still smell a bit of incense, too, and maybe a tiny hint of musk...there's something warm and animalistic under the other notes that seems to be one of the darker musks or civet, although I could be wrong. It's also got a vaguely cat pee like smell to it in the far background that I always associate with civet.

 

Dry down:

 

The musk note is more prominent now, which isn't surprising since my skin amplifies musks (especially civet). The cedar note is still there, too, but it's taken a backseat to the musky side of this blend. This is very sexual smelling to me, but not in an overpowering way.

 

The bottom line:

 

I don't know if this works (I can easily imagine it working), but it smells pretty nice as long as I ignore the civet (if that is civet) in the background. This would probably smell pretty damn good on a guy.

[mouses]

Fire of Love

 

In the bottle: strong, heady. Very musky and patchouli-ish, which unfortunately doesn't work well on me. I was afraid this scent would be too intense.

 

Wet: sharp and pretty powerful. The patchouli note is slightly resiny. I noticed a bit of a smoky undertone, possibly sandalwood, as well.

 

15 minutes dry: the sandalwood's really started to take over. It's smoky, sticky, resiny. Patchouli's gotten much mellower.

 

40 minutes and beyond dry: very deep and sultry. It reminds me of Tombstone, actually. The patchouli is much, much mellower, almost completely gone; the sandalwood's pretty much all I can pick up on at this point.

 

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised by how smoky and almost-sweet this scent turned out. It's a teeny bit too masculine on me, but I think it will work nicely on my boyfriend (who's a fan of Tombstone, as well).

 

[Finny]

This was one of my first voodoo blends, it was a gift from a fellow forum member when I bought imps from them.

 

I got a sharp burnt smell from the vial, on though it was a woodsy, dark, musky patchouli scent. I liked it, but it goes through a stage where it smells almost burnt, to get there, which I didn't like. So I gifted it to a swapper who had it on their wishlist.

Edited March 21, 2005 by Finny

[LupaWulf]

Once I get by the sharp civet-ish type scent it's pretty good.

 

Sharper ceaderish scents come out, but settle down with a light sweetness. This one sort of makes me FEEL sexy/dangerious. I feel like I'm walking down the street, looking good with the heavy guitars playing in the background from some VanHalen song about a dangerously sexy woman. Rawr.

 

Guys like it on me too. I've seen the results first hand on both the general male population (wore it at work since I was seeing the boyfriend after), man... This stuff makes men DROOL.

[anmorata]

Fire of Love

 

Hmm.. Black Patchouli? Herbs? Leather? All of them blended together to create one fabulous scent. I love it!

[Gin]

This is very acrid on me. It smells like fire. There's something really dark in this blend, but not like sexy dark, more like menacing, creepy dark.

[feline.by.design]

If you're not keen on patchouli, you will likely want to pass on Fire of Love, however the patchouli's reign of Fire (get it?) doesn't last too long before it's replaced by something softer, which I take to be sandalwood.

 

This was a freebie from the Lab, which I'm glad they included. It's an interesting fragrance that changes quite a bit from the civet(?)-patchouli beginnings. In the end, it's not too bad, although it may be something to smear on the man rather than on me. It's a very dark scent, "creepy dark" like Gin said. It's a bit intimidating, but it calms down after a while, at least on my skin.

 

-doreen

[rainbow]

This smells alot like I suspect something called "Fire of Love" should smell. There's an initial spiciness, but that quickly dissipates, leaving a heavy, carnal, body-lust type scent behind. There's definitely some sort of heavy musk here that features very prominently. Heavy musk and I don't get on well, so this won't be the scent for me. As it's not to my taste I never got the chance to try it on the menfolk, so I can't comment on how well it works.

[olympia301]

I have to agree with Rainbow, there weren't any surprises in this imp from the Lab! Pretty civet and musk. I am afraid that the ritual oils are made for speed not looks. In other words, they may not smell pretty but they do the job. Unfortunately, my husband has lost his sense of smell years ago (of all things to lose around me...hell, he would have been better off losing his mind---ironic isn't it) so Fire of Love is utterly lost on him. Does it perk up my libido? Well, no, it doesn't have any effect on me, beside making me want to smell like something else. There is an element of "the way drunks smell the morning after the night before" which is a sexual turn off.

 

Sorry, this one is heading for the swap pile.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): I have no clue how to describe this one. Maybe I'm not smelling right or something. It smells a bit like cologne, but I can't think of a brand or anything to compare it to. 2nd Try: Pretty much the same thing. It just doesn't smell too wonderful at all. Darn it.

 

Just On: Ack used bandaids. And possibly cat pee?! Or maybe just peed on bandaids. Wow, I'm not enjoying that a bit. 2nd Try: Definately not good for me. Not so much cat pee as dirty old used bandaids this time.

 

An hour or two later: WHEW total cat pee and a hint of bandaids. Way not liking this one at all. 2nd Try: Here comes the cat pee. It's not cat pee per se (I have 9 cats), but it's pee.

 

Around 6 hours: Whew, powder with cat pee in it. Why do the ones I *want* to like always have some issue, but the ones I'm not sure about love me? Maybe if I stop wanting to like these, they will start liking me. I wonder if ovulating is making a difference. 2nd Try: Apparently it isn't ovulating that did me in. This one just doesn't like me.

 

12 hours: It did go away now. I'll give it a shot in a week or so and see how it works then. 2nd Try: Lucky for me, it did fade by now.

 

Overall: We'll see on the second try. 2nd Try: With the same results, this one is off to the swaps. I can't even enjoy it as a room freshener or anything, because even out of the imp it just isn't working.

 

After reading other reviews: This certainly does seem to be a love it or hate it one, and I guess I'd have to fall on the side of hate it. This is going off as a gift in a swap.

[Little Bird]

This definitely did not spark desire for me and my lover. If anything, it had the opposite result. Never before has the boy ordered me to take a bath -alone-, lol.

 

This blend went very musky (in a bad way) on my skin. Amazingly strong and dirty smelling. I thought that it smelled a bit like wood smoke after a while, but that might have just been my crazy brain associating the scent with the 'fire' in the oil name.

 

In the drydown (several hours later... I retried this without the boy, so he wouldn't have to smell me)... this reminds me of a peppery version of Snake Oil. Snake Oil turns very powdery and gross on my skin. So, Fire of Love = peppery baby powder after a few hours.

 

...I'm definitely going to not try this ever again...

[Essay 28]

In the bottle: lemon Pinesol.

 

On skin initially: stale urine, like the smell of a state park bathroom in 100 degree heat that hasn't been cleaned in weeks.

 

After an hour: I actually managed to keep this on for an hour, somehow. I did start picking up a floral under the stale urine scent, but I agree with the reviewer who compared it to a whiff of baby diaper. It definately reminds me of an overfilled diaper pail. Off to the swap pile and if I'm lucky, my fourth wrist washing will get this *off* my skin.

[byrdie]

TMI ~ I could drop an egg at any moment.

 

Note ~ This came as a frimp in my Pink Moon order.

 

Vial ~ A smoky incense, possibly backed with some sort of booze.

 

Wet ~ Woo. The alcohol may have been a resin. It's cutting sharply through the incense and is turning into plastic on me.

 

Drying ~ The smoke component is fading a bit. I think there's cedar in here. I'm not finding this oil in the least bit attractive on me.

 

Drydown ~ Cedar incense. Gosh, hold me back, y'all. I'm a sex machine. Woo, I say, woo-hoo. *cough* Am I failing to understand an obvious connection here? Is smelling wood supposed to inspire others to emulate it?

 

Dry ~ I think the booze came back, and there's probably a musk in here, too. Maybe this is supposed to promise drunken nookie by a fire? Hrm. It seems that this was just a flare-up. All the scents are mellowing back down tot he point where cedar incense is the dominant note again. This could be yet another oil that affects me as the wearer differently than it does those around me.

 

Fade ~ Weird. This is taking a turn towards being sweet and smoky, like a low-grade Snake Oil. I've had it on for an hour and a half by now.

 

Final thoughts ~ I don't think I'm cut out for the Voodoo Blends as a category. My skin tends to highlight the incense note, which distracts me from whatever invigorating properties the oils are supposed to have. If it wasn't for Water of Notre Dame, I'd think the entire line existed just to taunt me. As one of my older sisters once pointed out, I can be too literal at times. If the scent of an oil doesn't leave me feeling sexy, powerful or lighthearted, I'm not going to care what the name on the label is or what the description says. It's like wearing sexy clothing: if I don't feel comfortable in it, I don't care how sexy the cloth is -- I'm not going to be convincing enough in it to carry it well. That's pretty much the way I feel about the Voodoo Blends : they don't affect me well enough to allow me to affect the outside world as planned.

[VelvetSky]

Oooooh I'm liking this Fire of Love thing....

 

This is a good, strong blend. It's barely faded from the moment it hit my skin 45 minutes ago.

 

This perfume smells like a cross pollination of Sin, Snake Oil, and Tombstone. Resiny, creamy, vanillic, cinnamon-warm....and what's that other note I think I'm picking up? Is it coconut?

 

I can't stop smelling the small dab of oil on my hand. This stuff is sexy as hell.

 

I was thinking of ordering a bottle of Snake Oil, but I may just order Fire of Love instead. Or maybe both. I'm digging this a lot.

 

A giftie from the Lab, and I feel so happy to have the chance to try it!

 

Edited to add: I don't smell one single drop of civet in this. Nor pee, cat or otherwise. Nor diapers. Poor Beth...I sometimes hope you don't read reviews!

Edited June 5, 2005 by VelvetSky

[dreadeddragon]

I haven't used this one yet for it's purpose, so I'm reviewing it just as a scent.

 

In the bottle: Smoke, ash, bergamot, sandalwood? It's like Djinn only not as potent and with orange.

 

First on: It's got a slight soapy scent now, which means it probably is bergamot, since it does that to me. It really does remind me of Djinn, which I loooove, but this is great because it's not too overpowering.

 

Drydown: Ooh.....there's an anamalistic scent coming out. If it's civet, it's not much and isn't horrible on me yet, and civet hates me. If it's just musk, it's rather strong. I don't know what ambergris smells like yet, so it could be that. Other than this new addition, it's stayed the same.

[quikslvr]

Pure civet. Damnit. I even waited for it to settle down a little, but that first stage is just unbearable to me. I wouldn't be able to sit through it long enough to reap the rewards.

[arabella]

First impression: Creamy, tiny, white flowers peeking their heads up through the ashes of a burned out, abandoned, wooden chapel, still damp from the water of the firefighters' hoses.

 

Dries down to: If I can get through the first couple of hours until the "burnt" smell tones down, it's actually quite nice, but who wants to wait that long. I can't actually detect any floral notes but the image of them won't go away.

 

Lasted: Several hours.

 

Rating: 2 out of 5

[Honeywhip]

I got this in a swap from a friend who said it smelled like eggs and black pepper on her, so a little wary...I get mostly the ginger and pepper. So I mixed it with Snake Oil and holy moly, 5 minutes later I was attacked. Literally attacked.

So that works...

[pkwench]

My skin hates fire of love. To be fair I'm menstrual and sweaty at the moment, but this turned to shit the moment it hit my skin, literally. In the imp it smelled so good-dark and woody and just yummy. But seconds after hitting my skin, it smells like I'd wiped the back of my wrist down someone's dirty butt crevice. And I still smell it. It hasn't changed. It's like being at work during a noxious poo. Dear skin, what have you done to me?

[wickedgoddess]

Preconceived Notions - I received this as a frimp from the lab, but the imp had shattered and made the whole box smell of Fire of Love. It smelled so delicious it drove me crazy, so I had to swap for another imp, just to try some out. So I already know it smells wonderful on a box, but I have no idea how it's going to smell on me.

 

Wet - Patchouli! There's also some musk or maybe civet in here.

 

Dry - still musky, with some cedar and sandalwood. Mmm, now I smell something spicy! Black pepper and perhap ginger come out and layer over the wood and musk. Wow! This is really sexy and I adore it. Of course I also adore Flame of Desire and Red Devil, and I really don't need three oils that all basically serve the same purpose.

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 4.

[zankoku_zen]

In the Bottle: Something musky. I can't really place the scent.

 

On Skin: There's something almost peppery about this. It's musky. It's very... masculine. I have some very ambigous feelings about this... I'm getting a herbal tinge to it at the end.

 

On Drydown: Yep, definitely masculine. There's this incensey/cedar like smell to it. I'm not sure if it is cedar though.

Verdict: Smells. Like. Man. But I don't find this scent attractive. I wouldn't want my boy smelling like this.

[gravity_always_wins]

An extra imp in my package, I had no idea what to expect. Wet, Dry, and Drydown all had the same blaring message for me: "Incense, Musk, and Woods-- Oh My!" These general notes often don't play well with my chemistry and are best kept far away tucked in the wee background of a sweet scent instead of being center stage. I'm grateful for the extra, and happy that it helps me narrow down my vast list of oils to sample...swaps away!

[magdalene]

in the bottle: creamy and cool.

 

wet on skin: I think this has something in it that is also in Voodoo. It's a sharp, cool scent. Almost pine, but without the medicinal tang. There's also a little incense quality to it, similar to what's in Cathedral.

 

dry: mmm. I like this. A lot.

[imaginepageant]

In the vial: This is another supposedly sexy scent that I do not find sexy at all. It's strong, sharp, biting, musky, and acidic. There's also a very feral, body heat scent to it, which is intriguing, but not necessarily nice. This is overtly masculine.

 

Wet: The sharp acidity wears off as my skin heats this up, and that helps slightly, but doesn't save this scent. I tried to ignore it before, but it's too strong to now: this reminds me of my grandfather. It's old-fashioned masculinity, a genteel elderly man sitting in his worn chesterfield and reading the Sunday newspaper.

 

Dry: No major changes occur on the drydown, except that this is striking a memory of my grandparents' house in general, more than simply my grandfather.

 

An hour later: Oh god, this almost makes me gag. A very clear stench of sweat has wormed its way in. Remember that genteel elderly man? It's now the end of his day and his once-crisp plaid shirt is now limp and slightly damp with perspiration, his steely-gray hair lank against his forehead.

 

Overall: I cannot imagine how anyone could consider this sexual or sensual, unless they're geriatrophiles, or whatever the opposite of a pedophile is. Add Fire of Love to the list of most disgusting BPAL blends I've had the dishonor to experience!