Desire

[Gothabillywench]

The overwhelming agony of passion crystallized into a singularly dark and magnetic blend: bittersweet neroli, black patchouli and black musk, gilded by apple, bergamot, blood red rose, teak, and vanilla.

 

Out of bottle: smells sweet, wasn't sure I'd like it at all.

 

Initial smell on skin: Lemon sherbert & call me crazy, but I smell a gum tree there! Not a sickly sweet lemony, more like lemon myrtle. A spicy lemon.

 

I'm gettting images of lemony plae yellow fluff.

 

Overall, nice, not one I'd normally wear but it's quite pleasant & inoffensive.

 

EDIT: Added Lab's description --Shollin

[Shollin]

First sniff: I really like Desire. It’s a bit of lemon meringue and a bit of ginger snap, all somehow without being overly foody.

 

Wearing: There’s a sharp dry sweetness to the lemon – the first touch on my skin is less nice than the scent in the bottle, much more rough-edged. It’s strangely heady – sniffing it on my wrist quite literally makes me dizzy, though I can’t imagine why. After it dries down for half an hour or so it’s back to the lovely lemony bakery scent from before, well grounded in something darker and earthier. The drydown is very pleasant and something I’ll definitely wear again.

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: This is very complex - I'm not getting the strong lemon smell that others have described, but I do smell the apple and patchouli. Very intruiging.

 

Wearing: This is very nice. It is slightly foody (I guess that's due to the vanilla and apple), but the musk and patchouli really ground this scent and make it not at all foody. I know that doesn't make sense, but there you go. The drydown is spicy sweet.

 

Final Impressions: I didn't expect to like this one based on the description, but it really surprised me. I look forward to wearing it again.

[TygherRayn]

In the bottle: Sweet .. like .. almost cotton-candy sweet. It wants to be bright and shiney, but it's held back by something .. the musk, probably. I get just a hint of rose and vanilla, which are making an interesting combination inded.

 

Wet: As I feared .. my skin grabs right ahold of the rose in this and empowers is. I'm going to give it a while to see if that odd diaper scent goes away .. no, not a dirty diaper .. but the powdery scent some diapers seem to have.

 

Wearing: Meh. Still a stron rose scent .. which despite me wanting it to be nice on me, doesn't like my skin. And it still gives me that aura of clean baby diapers in a pile somewhere in the room.

[Ina Garten Davita]

I wasn't planning on reviewing this now as I didn't have a chance to wear it properly. But I was randomly sniffing some of the new imps and when I opened this one quite a bit got on my fingers so I had the chance to contemplate it further.

 

First Impression: Sweet. I love it already.

 

Second Impression: Blood red candy apples rolled in vanilla sugar crystals. Smells like Delirium only deeper, sweeter.

 

Final Analysis: I think Desire is a child born of a union between Delirium and Snake Oil. The musk and patchouli add mystery and sexuality to such sweetness. Another addictive scent. I can't get enough.

[any_old_actress]

FIRST SNIFF: something sweet and a hint of vanilla

 

WEARING IT: neroli, vanilla, the faintest breath of apple. a very complicated, beautiful scent. as it dries, the vanilla becomes more apparent to me which i really like. i sense a little bit of musk in the background too. makes me think of red, sleek gowns and velvet chokers. almost has a queen mab feel to it!

 

VERDICT: very pretty and more than likely worth getting a bigger bottle

Edited June 29, 2004 by any_old_actress

[Vaniclion]

MMmmm. I have high hopes for this one. Desire is very nearly my favorite Endless from Gaiman's Sandman series. Next to Death. Everyone loves Death, tho. Which is ironic.

 

Anyway

 

Fresh out of the imp, I get sweet vanilla-y baby powder. Patchouli tends to go baby powdery on me, and this one wastes no time with public transport to get there. As it begins to dry, however, the musk and bergamot begins to seep out which is a delightful turn of events. It's warm and sensual and makes me think of sex despite the fact I'd never associate sex with any of these individual notes.

 

Like other scents I've tried today, this one would make incredible incense... but its not really a scent for me. Wilde, Villain and others perform the 'Pure Sex' task for my tastes This is deffinitely a 'sex you up' scent for you gals out there, tho.

 

 

Now. I thought I had reviewed this again. Turns out, I reviewed Despair. How ironic, no? Well, they are twins. Anyway... moving on!

Edited September 6, 2004 by Vaniclion

[twistygirl]

On my skin, there is nothing at all lemony about this. Wet, the vanilla predominates, with a bit of a resiny, dry warmth - I have no idea what teak smells like, so maybe it's the teak. As it dries down, it takes on an added touch of something lightly gingery, which I am guessing might be the apple tempered by bergamot and neroli. The final dry-down is a spicy-rosey-powdery scent which smells incredibly sexy on my skin.

 

This is really a complex scent - I put it on before I read what the ingredients were, and I would have never guessed that this contains apple or bergamot. Bergamot often smells horrid on my skin, but this smells like heaven. I find this to be incredibly feminine, sophisticated, and sexy. It definitely lives up to its name. I want more of this. I *need* more of this.

[Tesseljoan]

At first, this is neroli-apple fruity with a dark background. after a while the rose kicks in, which usually means a sharp loud scent on my skin. I don't care for this stage at all, and I was almost ready to throw it on the swap pile. But... after an hour the deep, incensey smell, akin to the drydown of Vixen and Voodoo comes forward. In Desire the incens has a bit of a fruity note as well.

[tart]

While this scent definitely evokes its namesake, Desire smelled very inappropriate on me. I felt like a little girl playing dress-up with mommy's lipstick. Desire is a very mature scent, not for the innocently sexual.

[pekeana]

In the bottle: Rose, neroli, patchouli. No musk, no teak, no vanilla... It doesn't smell sweet or lemony to me, either. It smells very dark, murky and sensual.

 

On my arm: ROSE. Blinding rose. [My head starts to hurt at this point from the rose.]

 

After 30 minutes: The rose is dying down a little bit, and I can smell the patchouli and teak coming through.

 

After 45 minutes: I spoke too soon. The rose is getting stronger, if that's at all possible and is completely dominating the scent. I can smell the patchouli and teak in the background, screaming, "Smell us!" at the top of their proverbial lungs, but it's so much rose I can barely stand it.

 

After 60 minutes: Well, here comes the vanilla screaming for its turn and I smell rather freakish at the moment -- kind of like my grandma used to a long time ago before she discovered that rose kills her sinuses deader than dead.

 

After 75 minutes: There is nothing but rose now and my head hurts so badly that I'm going to go wash it off now. I can't stand it another moment.

 

My skin likes rose so much that it just kills everything else in a rose blend. Ugh. I had Desire on one arm and Ravenous on the other -- Ravenous is pleasant and sweet now, and my right arm still reeks of rose even though I tried to wash it off. *sigh* I will try it again, though, to make sure this isn't just an odd day out.

[Lorencita]

For some reason I really liked this scent. I really liked that it was strong, yet soft. It took on a really soft sweet powdery feel to it. I smelled alot of roses at first, but then it dried down to a soft rosey, vanilla smell. Very nice, I will order again!

[Effluvia]

in the vial: OH MY GOD! lol I have no idea...it smells kind of like cinnamon apple cider only darker and *intoxicating*! Wooooowww...this is my first exposure to Beth's apple blends and I am HOOKED! This smells like Autumn to me...I absolutely adore this...

 

wet, on my skin: Ooooooh...well, it's much lighter on my skin, which is probably a good thing...it's still Autumnal apples and spices, though, with heavenly rose underneath and some kind of dark, musky floral underneath everything, pulling it all together. I smell lemon...I smell vanilla...everything is blended so gorgeously.

 

As it dries, it darkens. I can *FEEL* this oil's pain now! IT ANGSTS! IT AAANNGSTTS!! (angstful handstapleforehead smiley here)

 

Wow. Bottled angst. Go Lab! This is outstanding...I will enjoy this imp immensely and may very well invest in a bigger bottle someday.

[malanna]

In the bottle, this was cherry coke. Yum! On, it dried down to something...that's really hard to describe. I suppose this could be contrived as angst, because it's such a swirl of scents, it's hard to pinpoint what it really feels like, and when you're feeling angst, you feel like no one can really understand you. Makes me think of a black and red swirl. Smells a bit like Love Me--chewed bubble gum that's been chewed at for a very long time. I can't even really tell there's rose. I'm mostly just getting neroli...

[lavinia]

i have worn this one twice and i must agree with the above review that it is "bottled angst"-pure and unadulterated

it reminds me of the smell of sheets after frenzied sex...really!

it creates a feeling of delicious edginess that is a wee uncomfortable but makes you want more.

this one can get you into trouble if you let it. i did the other night

[lixolux]

desire =delicious! the patchouli grounds the rose so that its stays just this side (the good side!) of teeth-rockingly sweet to me. (i dont do rose scents so well!) Upon wearing it becomes a very pure rose smell to me - the kind of scent you hope to walk through in the middle of the night by the victorian down the street with the elaborate rose garden - when its hot and muggy and and quite a bit smoggy outside. Lovely!

[miss apple]

In the vial Desire is a hard scent to pin down and I can't pick out any individual notes but the overall effect is a pleasant floral. After drydown I can detect black patchouli coming through as the most prominent note with a faint flowery background, still very nice but rather muted, not what I was expecting for something called Desire. A few hours later the rose peeks out with a hint of vanilla adding a bit of sweetness to the black patchouli. It's a soft pretty scent that seems more innocent than erotic.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: I can't make out anything distinct. Makes me think of generic "perfume" smell.

 

On me: Patchouli, neroli, and musk. Maybe the neroli is what is making people think lemon? – I can't get a foody scent out of this if I try. But I do smell the rose poking up through the other notes; however vanilla has yet to appear. This seriously makes me think of that scent at perfume counters when all the different fragrances have mingled together into one generic scent. Maybe I'm not giving it a fair chance because of this, but the scent doesn't seem to match its name at all.

[chai_girl]

I turned this into a massage/lotion bar before trying it on as an oil. In the bottle it didn't smell like anything that I'd like...kind of a lemony apple scent. I thought it would make a good experimental oil because I wouldn't be to disappointed if it didn't work out.

 

I tried it on as a lotion and I fell in love. The lemony apple turned into this powdery sexual scent that I love. There is just enough sweet to keep the patchouli and musk from being too too. It is very well blended.

 

I have a youngish friend (he's still in college and makes me feel like Mrs. Robinson even though it is purely platonic) and I sent him off to a party slathered in my Desire butter...and he raved about it. He said the girls (and guys) were all commenting on how wonderful he smelled!

[octopusgrrl]

In the bottle: very sweet, like candied apples

 

Wet: sweet, reminding me of strawberry flavouring, with a hint of rose

 

Dry: dries off to a powdery rose-musk

 

Verdict: This is like Spellbound jnr. on me, but not as overpowering. It doesn't set my world on fire, I'm afraid. I don't hate it but I don't love it either.

Edited October 6, 2004 by octopusgrrl

[briteyes]

I gave Desire a quick test a few weeks ago, and found it pleasant but incense-y. Today, I was hoping that the fruit and floral notes would offset the patchouli, but on me, that doesn't happen until well after drydown. I open the bottle, and HELLO! patchouli. Wet on my wrists, it was still strong, and with a note of musk (which my body chemistry seems to hate). Even my own father said it was "too musty" a smell for me. How disappointing!

 

Hours after application, though, I'm finally smelling the rose and a touch of vanilla, but none of the apple or lemon accents that others have mentioned. Also, while it's deepened to a very sexy scent, a morning of relentless patchouli has given me a headache.

 

I'll get some third party opinions tonight, but as it stands, Desire is a great scent... for someone else. It just doesn't seem right on me.

[Donnababe]

Desire

 

At first smells like a candied apple, it's quite tart and thankfully totally different to the sickly sweetness I got from The Hesperides. There is an additional fruitiness too but I can't detect any neroli or lemon.

 

The rose is very subtle on me, most of the time I don't notice it.

 

As time goes on the scent changes considerably, it's now very warm and mellow thanks to the teak and vanilla.

 

This is nice, but it doesn't merit a big bottle yet.

[nhough73]

Its a heavy cloying scent on me, maybe I put on too much, the vanilla and neroli seem to over power it on me and it makes me a little dizzy.

 

ADDED Dec. 5:

 

In the bottle: SWEET very fruity.. not in that fake body spray sense, but very ripe, over ripe and skin bursting with juices. I cant make out any rose, its very nearly cloying, but something about it is extremely compelling.

 

Wet: Still very sweet, the fruit is starting to mellow out some, and soften - not quite so punch you in the face.

 

Dry: I can't seem to stop sniffing myself, my sister thinks that it makes me smell like prune juice but I think she's nuts.

 

I've tried this layered with Scherezade to sweeten up the spices a bit and it was positively edible.

 

Big bottle order already made.

Edited December 6, 2004 by Shollin

[Azrhiaz]

In the vial: vanilla, patchouli-- kiss of dirt-- and apples.

 

Wet: the patchouli comes forward, and so does the vanilla. I caught the whiff of apples in the vial, but they vanished from my skin.

 

15 min: whoa, going very sweet, heavy vanilla. The musk is being very assertive, too. A friend who tried it at the same time found it far more floral, but the musk went ballistic on me.

 

Drydown: Mostly vanilla.

 

Verdict: eh. It's nice, but so far Kali is holding the "go out and be naughty" spot. The best thing I can say about this is that the patchouli didn't overwhelm me, as it sometimes does. But I was disappointed not to smell the rose, and that the apple note vanished on my skin. Up for swap.

[AnnetteL]

Well, I don't smell apple OR lemon!

 

On me, Desire is a kind of a foody-hippy mix - definitely sweet and vanilla-infused, but with an earthy, almost slightly incensey patchouli/musk base. I can't really detect the rose or teak as distinct components, but when I really look for them I can find traces.

 

This is a close relative of Snake Oil in my book, though a little darker and more complex. I probably won't buy a bottle of it because I love Snake Oil a tiny bit more, but I will definitely enjoy my imp.