Medicine Show

[macabre_fae]

A veritable miracle, I tell you! A scent that soothes the spirit and stimulates both the libido and the mind: tobacco, balsam, ginger, elemi and rosewood, with a touch of opium to fuddle your senses.

Gingerale!is all I have to say...

[supremegoddessofall]

In bottle: Ginger and tobacco.

 

On me: I get Lemon, herbals, and some opium. Not really me.

[GoldenRubee]

In the bottle I get a strong sense of tobacco and ginger. Not a bad scent but a little masculine for my tastes. Once applied, it tones down a lot and all the flavors get to mingle and seem to fit together better. I can smell a touch of the rose and a little spicy scent now mixing with the woody, gingery intial blend I first got from Medicine Show. The tobacco has faded into the background and now just adds a sweetness to this oil. Overall, a scent that can be worn by men or women.

[furygrrl]

In the imp: Wow - it really does smell like gingerale!

 

On wet: Ginger, woodiness, a touch of sweetness, and something else - something almost powdery underneath all the other notes.

 

Drydown: Boo...it's gone to pure soapy powder! Soap flakes with mixed with dusty plastic, at that - reminiscent of the icky drydown I get from orchid scents.

 

Overall: I've had this decant for almost two years now, hanging on in the hopes that it would age into something that liked me ('cause I rather liked it!), but, sadly, this has not happened. It's STILL not for me.

Edited July 31, 2007 by furygrrl

[Babylon]

Dry tobacco leaves and gingerale!

[Shollin]

First sniff: This is… weird. It’s a little mediciney and a little incensey. Like medicine and magic combined. This guy is definitely a witch doctor, not an M.D.

 

Wearing: Sort of a sterile hospital clean, with a dark edge. It’s very blue, but it’s an institutional blue. The color of your basic Grey’s Anatomy scrubs.

[theseagrows]

i am on the fence about this one. it smells pretty nice, but i can't really pick out any of the notes. it's warm and has an almost rubbery scent to it, which isn't actually all that bad. perhaps it's the elemi? rosewood can be hit or miss but i think it works here. a very strange scent but i kind of like it...i'm just not sure if i would really wear it much.

[Gwydion]

In the bottle: Smells vaguely alcoholic and herbal. I am suspecting that this is elemi, balsam, and opium interacting. Wet: Rosewood is initially strongest, with the tobacco and opium adding a hint of decadence. I'm not smelling the ginger, but it may have deteriorated. It's well named, really. It smells like the inside of a wooden wagon, who's owner smokes and makes herbal concoctions. It's masculine, cozy, dry, and just a little shady. Dry: I am surprised there is no sandalwood in there. as it where's one begins to detect the fain trace of a woman's presence, as if she stopped in for opium and kisses, but didn't stay long, her smell engulfed in his. The man in the scent smells mature, still in his prime, but getting up there. it is not a young man's scent. It is a man set in his ways, who fills his space and makes it his own. I rather think i like it, though it hasn't the flash of a Valmont, a Dee, or a Crowley.

[zankoku_zen]

I definitely got lemon, opium and florals from this. The rosewood is particularly prominent, esp. on the drydown. The tobacco, oddly enough, is just a curl of smoke.

 

Interesting, but not for me.

[rayvn1]

This one is indeed interesting...Medicinal, smells kind of light brown, slightly sweet in the background. Root-ish and calming. I like it but am also not sure how often I'd wear it. Nice to try, though.

[crebbsgirl]

This was a very smooth blend on me. Tobacco blends tend to do that on my skin. Tobacco and woods with a little spice thanks to the ginger. It didn't go into cologne territory - which can sometimes happen when the scent goes smooth. Warm, sweet and smooth.

[donnatron]

Bottle: Ginger and rosewood. Ginger is always a little iffy on me but rosewood is a winner. I get a faint hint of the opium--sort of a smoky sweet resin in the vanilla/benzoin/tonka family to my nose.

 

Wet: Colour me surprised. This goes on pretty medicinal. The opium really amps up and reminds me a lot of the drydown of Sleepy Moon. The ginger actually pretty much disappears which is very odd, especially for a scent starting to dry down.

 

Dry: Damn! Medicine Show is a great woodsy, slightly masculine powerful sort of blend. The rosewood is sweet and warm, the opium sort of calms down and gives it a resinous base, the tobacco is warm and sultry and then the ginger gives it a little bit of extra kick that makes it a truly interesting blend. It's really not in my usual style of scents but I am OBSESSED with the awesomeness that is Medicine Show.

 

Throw: Good.

 

Overall: There's this Moxy Fruvous song called (natch) "The Incredible Medicine Show." Whenever I put on Medicine Show I find myself humming "Don't say no to the Incredible Medicine Show..." over and over again. And Moxy Fruvous happen to be correct--this is an amazing blend. It's intriguing, unusual, sensual and a wonderful signature scent. I loves it. And really hope for a Carnival Noir resurrection because I know I'm going to power through this bottle pretty fast and it will be a sad, sad day when I can't reach for Medicine Show anymore.

[hlinspjalda]

In the bottle: I can't put my finger on it, but this smells great to me. It is resiny, woody, with a green tang to it. If that's tobacco, it's very juicy and wet, not the dried or smoky type. I like this.

 

Wet: Sweet and tangy; I get a very green leafy note, something sweet (opium?), and something woody.

 

Half an hour: This smells good, balsamy spicy greenish wood. It smells sexy like a man. I'm not sure it's actually a boy scent, but I bet I'd love it on a boy.

 

Hour and a half: Oh, cannot resist huffing this one. It smells warm, sweet, and rooty-woody. It's in the Doc Buzzard, Mole, Badger, Tombstone family, although a little lighter. It may eventually go a little too woody for my taste (rosewood is an iffy note), but it's yummy.

 

Three hours: Yes, it's going a bit thin and woody, but I kind of expected that. The notes in it are still very good on me, though, and I like it.

 

 

[lanablade]

Wet: Gingerale and rosewood. This scent is surprisingly soft on me, and rosey, but not offensively so. It's a little soapy, like the rose soap your grandmother kept in her bathroom for guests that was shaped like flowers and nobody ever ACTUALLY used? I can tell the tobacco and opium are there if I concentrate, but they're staying surprisingly quiet, which is disappointing.

 

Half an hour: There's still a slightly woody/soapy/dusty smell to this, possibly the rosewood. The ginger isn't so much a smell as a slight tickle in my nose, but the whole thing is pretty light. It seems to change scents every time I sniff, sometimes more gingerale, and sometimes more tobacco and opium, and sometimes just dusty rosewood.

 

Verdict: For all that I'm not a huge florals fan, I find myself liking this one. It's complex and slightly moody, which I like, feminine, which is unusual for me, and the gingerale effect adds a bit of fun and sparkle to it that makes me smile. It can tend to soap a bit, and I wish the tobacco and opium would come out more. I might try layering it to see if I can amp the smoke that curls around the very edges of this scent. It's also quite light, but lasts a long time. Overall, I'd say I'm glad I like this as much as I do, but not more, given how rare it is.

[fairnymph]

Amber-coloured oil. Deep, dark, a touch spicy. A little smoky. Definitely getting the tobacco and opium foremost, with balsam and elemi (a little sour) just behind. The ginger and rosewood are not distinct.

 

Sweeter, fresher, lighter. Much more elemi, balsam and ginger. The tobacco is less smoky and more astringent. I have no idea where the sweetness is coming from - it's almost sugary or syrupy! Still some hazy opium, but more distant now. The ginger note is juicy, fresh, and absolutely stunning.

 

Becoming more sour and more bitter; the elemi is amping, and so is the balsam, and these two are not interacting well. It's sour-sharp-piney, like an evil sort of cleaning product, with now a powdery (rosewood appeared, I see) note, over a smoky, sickly-sweet opium base (definitely the source of bitterness also). I can still smell the lovely ginger and tobacco but they can't make up for the other unpleasantness.

 

It really seems that I cannot wear elemi - it's a dealbreaker note, I fear.

[lanablade]

I've had this bottle for ages, but this may be only the second or third time I have worn it.

 

In the bottle: Nothing. Maybe a little lemon and opium sharpness.

 

Wet: Lemon (which wikipedia tells me is the elemi) and something medical with a background of rosewood.

 

Dry: At a distance, this is tobacco and opium and just a hint of rosewood, which makes me a super happy camper. Up close, it's more medicinal (go figure), which is probably the balsam. It smells like exactly what's on the bottle. An old timey apothecary: dark and herbal and medicinal and mysterious.

 

I like this, though it's not really a 'me' fragrance. I'll probably attack my partners with it at some point and see if I like it on one of them better. I will say that for an oil that doesn't seem to smell like much in the bottle, this is pretty potent once it's on.

[JazzieCazzie]

First of all, it may be gauche to reference a prior review, but I have to give a shoutout to Paperrose for referencing the Moxy Fruvous song "The Incredible Medicine Show" because I also thought of that when I found this blend (my dog's name is Moxy Fruvous).

 

IN THE IMP: Very resiny, mysterious and evocative.

 

Dabbed on wrist and in crook of arm.

 

WET: This packs a punch in a very good way. I find the name to be really apt because it somehow evokes old-timey images, especially that of one of those old pharmacies you see in movies, with tobacco and drugs and maybe an ice cream parlor too. It' s just a pharmacy of nummy. Very old wild west.

 

DRYDOWN: It has a super-simple drydown and not a lot of throw or a lot of legs. I'd say there are some food notes in the drydown but more perfume than food.

 

OVERALL: I like this more when it's wet than when it's dry but I like it a lot.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 3.8. 4+ when wet.