Geek

[tweakano]

A snarling, feral scent, ever-so-slightly slightly deranged: hot leather, opoponax, cedar, pine needle, mosses, dry grass, patchouli and cinnamon bark.

I was going to say that Geek is Today's Scent for the Urban Man but then I hear my husband say, "What? Like waking up in a forest still drunk from last night? So drunk you sweat liquor?"

I thought he was being a bit too cynical - then I looked up the history of Geeks. Some men who were hired for the Carnival who were so alcoholic they would, "do anything for a drink." They had so much alcohol in their system it slowly seeped out of their pores - giving them an almost tangy, leathery ordor. Geek does not smell exactly like this, but it's close the inspiration. One of my favorites nonetheless...

[sophia_helix]

Hard to describe this one -- dark, feral, and spicy, yes, lots of wood and leather and resin. At least, for the first hour or so...

 

Then my skin's love affair with pine kicks in. I have no problem with that -- I love pine -- but it makes everything from Dublin to Nocnitsa to Wolf Moon smell the same. This isn't as sweet a pine as Dublin, or as earthy as Nocnitsa, or aquatic like Wolf Moon, but it's definitely the same pine. It's also pretty manly for me.

 

Tried it on my husband, though, and yum! Still got that great spice/leather/resin thing going on. Sadly, he doesn't like it as much as I do, but I think I'll keep my third of an imp around for those special occasions.

 

Why have most of the CN scents I've tried worked better on him than me?

Edited October 14, 2005 by sophia_helix

[lookingglass]

I waited and waited and then finally received Geek. Oh, I was ready to "snarl"! Sadly, it was not what I had expected, either on me or DH. It just smelled kind of dusty, faintly woody...like a sawmill: slightly dirty with dry and fresh wood.

[wolfie13]

First sniff - I was totally loving it! I smelled lots of pine and cedar, some patchouli and some cinnamon spicing it up. This had the potential to unseat all other blends of this genre (even my beloved Umbra)

 

Upon wearing - This turns immediately to heavy, un-relenting, long-lasting leather with a musky tinge to it. And did I mention it lasts FOREVER? (This is what my chemistry tends to do with leather. Among other notes. Sigh.)

 

I really thought this would be my favorite of the CN's and so far is my least favorite.

[Tramp]

My god I want to slobber this on a guy and then lick it off. Hands down one of the sexiest scents I have smelled in a long, long time. Yowza. Masculine, feral, woodsy.

 

I think I need some alone time now.

 

Rating (out of 5)

5

[Cesare]

In the bottle: menthol, ozone and men's cologne.

 

Wet: So subtle it's almost not there. A vague ozone-coolness with a hint of cinnamon.

 

Drydown: I had to apply more because I just couldn't smell much of anything. It's still just slightly cool and minty with a waft of spice. What I can smell of it is interesting, but it's really hard to get a good whiff of it.

 

Dry: Now I can smell pine and a little cedar. Wood, mint and cinnamon. It's still almost imperceptible, though. It just nearly vanishes on contact with my skin.

 

I tried this on my guy. It was stronger on him than it was on me; it blended to a nice woody mint-spice cologne, cool and hot at the same time.

[AlaskaSnows]

In the Bottle: Men's cologne. I smell spice, cedar, cinnamon, well balanced. It's sweet smelling.

 

Dry: Pretty much the same as in the bottle. I get no pine, just warm sweet spices and patchouli well, well mixed as a base note. This is very male. It is a gorgeous scent.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Sweet and spicy, wuth something that almost smells of almonds, but not quite.

Wet on me - Almost a hollow smell, surrounded by hot firey cinnamon and something that makes it almost smell fizzy. The leather is just sitting in the background.

Dry on me - Warm and comforting and very manly, the cinnamon bark and the leather prove to be a very strong combination on me.

[stardreamer]

Interesting -- I don't get "snarling" or "feral" at all out of this. It goes on so well-blended that no particular note stands out, just a sweet/spicy sort of scent. Later on, the cedar puts in a bit more of an appearance, and is the last thing to fade. Final impression: I like it, but not as much as I liked Snake Charmer. I think I'll have to wear it a few more times before I really make up my mind about it.

[Iona]

In the bottle this smells very...intimidating. I smelled a very strong sweet note, one that I can't identify but my skin has amped up before. Upon first application I get a brief whoosh of pine, this lasted about a second and a half before it calmed down into a very warm, incensey scent, with a hint of Christmas potpourri in it, not so much the strong cinnamon note that is in most holiday potpourris but more...the sweet one, slightly artificial, which is probably a combination of the cinnamon bark, pine and maybe the leather, this is my first experience with the lab's leather note.

 

This smells like the drawer of Christmas candles in my house. I adore it.

 

Ten minutes later, the cinnamon/pine/holiday scent has calmed down a bit what I believe is the leather note has come to the front and is making my nose itch. It does stay very close to my skin. I think this is going to stay quietly warm.

 

An hour later, this is almost gone, if I press my nose against my wrist I can still smell it a little. It has returned to the candle drawer smell.

 

This is beautiful and not overly masculine, I tend to gravitate towards very...feminine, girly scents, but this is very neutral and fantastic.

Edited October 28, 2005 by Iona

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle: Spicy and a bit sweet.

 

Just On: Nice and spicy.

 

An hour or two later: Okay, I think I'm getting some kind of woodsiness now. I like this.

 

Around 6 hours: Okay, spicy woods come to mind. I like that.

 

12 hours: It's gone away.

 

Overall: I'm not in love with this one, but I am in like with it.

 

After reading other reviews: Wow, I didn't get nearly as strong a reaction of woods as some folks did.

[SeaMonkey]

This is definately an odd scent. I had to keep sniffing myself to decide if I liked it or not. I decided that I did and kept sniffing myself and giggling. I definately looked like a geek!

 

Its all dry grass, patchouli, and cinnimon on me.

 

I couldn't figure out what the odd note was that was showing up on me, then I realized it was the cinnimon

[Diana]

I am dumb. I have had this bottle on my shelf for months now, and this is the first time I've even tried it. To my credit, this just seemed too wintery to wear until now (and now it's snowing! ), and today seemed like the day.

 

In the bottle, it's very piney. Slightly woodsy.

 

Wet, more pine. A little more wood. Slightly sweet, maybe the "dry grass" element.

 

After a few hours, the sweetness disappears and the aroma develops into the Skadi-type of pine mixed with the mossy-woodsy-patchouli of Samhain.

 

Now after hours and hours and hours, I can still smell this (score!) and it's less piney, and more smokey. The cedar & cinnamon bark are a touch more noticable.

 

This is amazing. Now I'm going to have to hunt down extra bottles!

[ocicat]

This smells almost *exactly* like Tintagel on me!

[Fefferbella]

Oh my... this is SO sexy. I want my boyfriend to bathe in this scent.

 

It's so warm, rich, woodsy and spicey.

 

Sniffing this scent is making me day-dream about all the naughty things I want to do to my boyfriend

 

Must snag a big bottle.

[herbhealer]

This is a warm, spicy and sweet scent, not what comes to mind when one thinks of geek (a geek? some geek?) but a nice composition. It started off reminding me of the spiciness of carnation, as it dried more of the warm base came out, I may smell a touch of the cedar in here, and once, I think I caught a whiff of pine. The warmth makes me think of amber, though I don't think that's in here, but my overall impression is a spicy woodsy floral and not necessarily anything masculine.

[Miss Lynx]

With the leather and cedar, I was worried this was going to be too masculine even for someone like me who likes some scents that are normally thought of as masculine. In the three and a half months between putting in the order and receiving it (the original package got lost in the mail, but the Lab very kindly replaced it), I had learned a little more about what scents do and don't work on me, and I was no longer so sure that Geek was actually a good pick.

 

But when I did try it -- last of all of my CN order -- I was pleasantly surprised. Very. It wasn't masculine at all on me, just a sweet foresty scent that was reminiscent of Black Forest or Nocnitsa, or even to some degree my beloved Hexennacht! I'm not sure what there is in here that makes it so sweet on me -- maybe the opoponax? I googled that ingredient and found that it's also known as "sweet myrrh", which would make sense. Something in there has an almost honey-like sweetness, anyway.

 

Of the three, it's probably closest to Hexennacht, just in that it's a complex and multilayered scent like that one is, but it doesn't have the faint notes of fruit and flowers that that does; it's more strongly woodsy and just a little spicy. Defininitely a scent for when I want to feel like Nature Girl; it's a forest in a bottle. I don't really get "snarling and feral" from it, though, or at least not too much. There's a wildness to it, but it's just a touch. If anything, Hexennact is a little wilder than this is.

 

So, definitely a keeper! In fact, I think it may have displaced Black Forest and Nocnitsa to some extent -- I had two imps of each of those, but have since consigned one of each to the swap pile, and I might even eventually part with the originals. That family of scents are all too similar to each other, and with a big bottle of Geek (and one of Hex, for that matter) I don't know that I need the others. I am way full up on foresty scents, so I might as well keep only the best of the lot, and that would be Hex and Geek.

 

Grade: B+/A-

 

ETA (Jan 14/06): On repeated wearings, my enthusiasm for this one has dimmed and I’m thinking of swapping it. There’s a note in it that keeps creeping up on me that smells very much like a men’s cologne -- and while usually I don’t care about the alleged gender of scents and like a lot of oils that are considered gender-neutral or even traditionally masculine, every now and then there are some that just say “men’s scent!” to me and that’s what this is starting to say. Strangely, it’s different on different parts of me -- on my wrists it’s sweet and almost pretty, but on my neck or cleavage it gets that boy-scent that I don’t like so much. So I’m thinking this one may go off to the swaps, and my other forest scents be restored to their former standing.

 

Revised grade: B-

Edited January 15, 2006 by Miss Lynx

[Shollin]

First sniff: The edges and afterscent are purely evergreen. I can’t figure out what the middle is, but it’s a weird mix of earthy and fresh, and it’s a little unsettling.

 

Wearing: The aura is dry wood… the skin-scent is pure leather and smoky weirdness. “Feral” is the perfect word. Very evocative, but definitely not me. It’s very, very familiar, but I can’t even begin to place it.

[AngellicMystique]

On my husband, the grassy woodsy nature of the oil comes out. I get hints of the leather and opponax, but in general, he smells fresh.

 

On me, I smell like I've been running through and rolling in the woods. Almost all I get are plant-based smells. After a long time, I get a faint hint of leather.

[Voleuse]

In the bottle and on first application, this is a heady masculine scent, a gorgeous combination of leather and evergreen--two of my favorite BPAL notes! As it dries, the patchouli and the cinnamon appear as well, adding spice to the overall blends. This is damn sexy.

 

After a while, the cedar becomes the predominant note, making this a dry and spicy blend, warm and woodsy. It actually skirts the edge of too woodsy--I get a definite hint of wood chips and dust--but somehow, it still works. Definitely a keeper!

[grrrlennyl]

at first: leather, pine, cedar, and patchouli.

on: more pine now with cedar and cinnamon.

1 hour later: almost all leather.

2 hours later: lots of leather and other earthy notes.

3 hours later: mostly leather.

overall: this is ok, but i have other leather scents that i like more.

[carolinachiquita]

I was quietly suprised by this one! I usually don't like anything with pine in [but I had to buy it just because of the name!] but this one is really good. I think its the mix of the pine and leather that I can smell and they go together really well. There is something herbally about this blend too but in a good way as I usually don't like herbally smelling blends!

[blu°]

I've been in love with Geek for some months now, but somehow never posted a review. I do keep track and write reviews in an excel sheet though, so I can copy & paste:

 

"Masculine, along the lines of Kweku Anansi (which is a favourite of mine), green and grassy and somehow dark. Am gonna try, but this might be too masculine.

 

Sniffing the rim, Geek is warm and sweet...

As soon as it hits my skin, I'm reminded something from Lush. Opoponax? Sex Bomb? A shop?

 

Sniffing close where I dabbed it on: Huu! Sharp! Leather, opoponax, pine needles, yes... interesting. It is masculine, but not unwearable for me. Somehow christmassy, But also spicy and mysterious. A little bit ethereal. Nice. Reminds me strongly of something from Lush. Middle Earth? World Piece?

 

So, Geek is green, but deliciously spicy and warm, too. Not the adstringent-biting green. I'm very enthusiastic about this during the first couple of minutes wearing. Nice fragrance.

 

At some time I get something almost citrussy; might be the cedar?

 

Next day:

Geek is gorgeous. It's definitely becoming a favourite. At some point I get that Brimstone note (eucalyptus-vanilla) with it, too. The Opoponax in Geek is slightly feminine to me, altogether I'd call the scent neutral, though. Not too masculine at all. Christmas time, a cozy warm home, the traditional all saints fair of my hometown.

 

I found this initial impression confirmed wearing it more often over time. It's a highly delicious blend, a bit similar to Greed, too, in that it's so earthy and green but also really warm. You can really smell the patchouli in this. Great scent."

 

Please bear in mind that this is a review I wrote for myself primarily, so it's probably not very elaborate. Thought, I post it nevertheless.

 

One more word: Geek is one of those scents that'll stick forever in your clothes. I have this sweater that i only wear at home and it had been smelling of Geek for ages after I once used it while wearing that sweater. This is a really good thing, as Geek for me is a scent that goes perfectly with comfortable homey clothing. Blissful.

[this machine]

I didn't want to fall in love with a Limited Edition. I really didn't. Ewpsie. It sounded so good i got an imp of it from someone, and now it's all over.

 

It's spicey, a little sweet (opponax?). The leather, the cedar...i'm swooning. It dries down warm and heavy but only medium-heavy. Not too much. It's sexy. Very very sexy. I don't think of it as masculine, but then i don't mind wearing masculine scents. This is one i'm tempted to slather myself in head to toe. And since i just scored a 5 ml, i believe i will be doing so.

[elphaba]

My first thought on putting Geek on my skin was, "This is a guy scent." It's the leather. Leather is always like this for me. Overwhelming at the beginning. Throw is great, but that's a lot of leather and whatever's backing it up is decidedly not feminine.

 

I kind of tuned out and ignored this scent for a couple of hours until the drydown and, while the leather stuck around, it definitely pulled back enough to reveal a dry, cinnamony scent. I like the drydown, but probably not enough to keep this scent...no matter how much I like the name.

 

By the way, Geek lasts FOREVER. Going on twelve hours, I can still smell it. Impressive.