Chimera

[Little Bird]

The fiery, volatile scent of cinnamon, thickened by myrrh, honeysuckle, and copal.

I always feel awkward when reviewing a scent like Chimera. So many other people love it, I feel like I should love it too. Alas, I do not.

This is almost unbearably strong cinnamon on me. I love cinnamon in blends, as long as I can smell other notes along with the cinnamon. It itself, it is way too strong and sharp for me. I agree that it smells like Big Red chewing gum (of which I hate the smell and taste).

After about a half hour, the cinnamon is still strong... but now I'm getting a honey-ish note from this as well. I expected it to be floral, but it isn't at all. It's sticky sweet honey. A note that I also hate. I love foodie scents, but honey and I just don't get along. It's too sharply sweet and simple.

Chimera makes me feel overwhelmed and kind of sick. I feel like this should be a holiday candle instead of a perfume that I would actually wear. My skin chemistry just amps up the cinnamon way too much.

[lookingglass]

Straight out of the bottle it is already-sucked-on-red-hots. Hmmm...

 

On the drydown, something is reminding me of Snake Oil, (is there copal in Snake Oil, too?), and I am afraid it is going to get playdough-y...is that the almond? I'm learning to live through the sweet/salty playdough phase. It passes for me...

 

Dry,the cinnimon is still prominent, but becomes darker as it blends with the resins and honey. She is Dana O'Shee's and Snake Oil's sassy daughter! Love it.

 

Edited to add: I have been wearing this often lately. I tried it in the summer and swapped it off, but pined away for her this winter. For me, it is the perfect end of winter scent. Initally, it is warm and sweet...comforting and spicy...a little sexy, but still a "wear anywhere" scent. Totally dry, though, I smell the honeysuckle! Ooohh! It is like the hearthfire has been allowed to dye down because Spring has come into bloom. I must have more!

Edited February 25, 2006 by lookingglass

[Bean Rua]

Molten red hots top a pile of sweet, vanilla ice cream.

 

The myrrh really comes out on me after a few minutes, and it feels very much like Sin, Snake Oil and O. However, it *is* unique, and I will be buying a bottle soon.

 

It's like a yummier Gluttany.

[DarkMouse]

Alas, Chimera and I did not get along. While I love both sweet and cinnamon scents I found this entirely too much on the sweet side. It smelled like cinnamon icing and just got sweeter on my skin until it is cavity inducing.. like one of those big Cinnabons you get at the mall. This one is going to the swap pile.

[Nachtwulf]

Bottle: Wow, this is sweet. In fact, I can't smell cinnamon, honeysuckle, myrrh, /or/ copal. It's a warm, sweet, almost buttery smell to me (although not the 'butter' note I've learned to dread). If I inhale really hard, I do get some of the cinnamon and honeysuckle, but it's really one tightly tangled web of fragrance that I can't pick apart.

 

Wet: It retains that buttery quality... a sort of caramel-corn kind of thing at first, until the cinnamon starts to curl out from under everything else. It's very different... warm and spicy and sweet and ever so subtly floral (I do love honeysuckle)... it reminds me of something. Hell if I know what, but it's an autumny sort of scent. The myrrh is hiding. I think this may be a good thing.

 

Dry: Oh, wow. It's hot and dry and spicy and smoky. I think of spice candles that have been burnt. It brings to mind Halloween, of the warm, dusky aftermath, after the trick-or-treaters have gone home and the strobe lights have been turned off, the candles in the pumpkins blown out. It is resinous, I'm finally getting the copal, which I think is responsible for the sweet-burnt smell.

 

Final Opinion: Just... wow, again. I love this. The throw is great, it smells great on my skin. To me, it reminds me of autumn, of Halloween night, but it's not the least bit foody. It's spice and smoke and darkness, and it's absolutely wonderful. This definitely goes into the 'bottle' pile.

 

 

Edit: I wore it today while working on a carpentry project... (long story). Oddly enough, while getting hot and dusty and sweaty is not normally a good thing, Chimera actually became more active the more I worked, until I was in this kind of warm spice cloud. Which is, one supposes, better than a cloud of 'hot stinky person'. It also complements the smell of sawdust, though I guess that's not really a telling feature for most people...

Edited September 25, 2005 by Nachtwulf

[aessedai]

This one is ultimately foody and dripping with sweetness.

The honeysuckle and cinnamon are the most amped notes on me!

[herongale]

preconceived notion: Honestly, I never would have ordered this, but it was sent to me as a generous freebie imp by lj_vitawash24 with my Kyoto/Hymn request. I used to like cinnamon scents a lot (and I still love cinnamon buns, cinnamon sticks in cider, and cinnamon toast), but after a really bad visceral reaction to the alcoholic beverage Aftershock (a cinnamon-flavoured liqueur that one of my good friends loves), the concept of anything strongly cinnamon make me nauseated. And I mean, literally nauseated. I approach this one with much wariness.

 

in the bottle: standard clear yellowish oil. And, HOLY F**K, this smells like Frankenmuth. Specifically, Bronner's (known throughout Michigan and along I-75 as the World's Largest Christmas Store). Interestingly, this is a very combative scent... the cinnamon is in there, for sure, but the other notes blend together into a spicy floral that is entirely separate from the cinnamon note and actively fighting with it. This is not exactly a harmonious chimera we are talking about here.

 

wet: Sweet, unforgettable Wrigley's Big Red gum. My Aftershock fears appear to be unfounded... I am not getting sick here... but even though the scent seems to be "working" on my skin (meaning, it is staying true to the bottle scent and probably staying true to what it is supposed to smell like), I just cannot like it. Cinnamon needs some butter or apple for me to like it, I think.

 

Another association: cinnmon-scented candles from the Yankee Candle Shop.

 

drydown: This just gets sweeter and sweeter. The Bronner's association is returning, and that's a pleasant thing. But... and I hate to say this... the cinnamon is becoming cloying now. My stomach is feeling ever so slightly unsettled. I am remembering getting drunk on Aftershock and throwing up, multiple times, in Dante's toilet.

 

This is not a pleasant memory.

 

Verdict: Never, ever again. Could be nice on someone not tormented by my cinnamon demons, however.

 

post-conceived notion: I will never try another cinnamon blend unless the words "apple cider" are mentioned prominently in the description. I just don't think I can handle this note.

Edited September 28, 2005 by herongale

[Lori]

Sniffing imp: Hmmm...this smells orangey! None of the ingredients has that scent...strange how the combination of them seems to make this smell like it?!

 

Wet on wrist: Ummmmmm...now there is that lovely Vanilla from Antique Lace that I so know and love. Oh, if this stays like this, everyone who is after Antique Lace can rejoice! Instead of buying it like crack on Ebay, they can just spend $12.50 on Chimera from the Lab!

 

Drying: Uh oh...the Vanilla went away and now it is pure cinnamon. *sigh* Cinnamon is great in the cinnamon twists that I buy from Barb's Buns, but not on my skin.

 

Dryer: Ok, the cinnamon settled down on me and now I have a nice spicy vanilla scent. It is similar to Snake Oil, but I think I like it better! That being said, I am not a Snake Oil fan, but I am going to let this dry more and decide if it is for me or the swap pile.

 

Dry on hand: Well, how do you do, Chimera! You are now a soft, sweet Vanilla, with just a hint of Spice. Just as if Miss Antique Lace was tired of being polite and adhering to societal rules and got a little snappy! Kind of like me this past week!!

 

Hey, Chimera...we all need to be like you once in awhile. I am keeping my Antique Lace for when I am being a "good girl" but I think I like you for my sassier days!

[angharad]

I'm absolutely in love with this scent. It's all honey sweetness and cinnamon spice with neither overpowering the other, just perfectly balancing into something that can put me in a good mood at work and actually keep me that way! I will definitely need a big bottle of this.

[Orodemniades]

Wet: smells like an oatmeal raisin cookie!!! Hmm, yummy... There's the faintest whiff of cinnamon at the bottom of this, um, and that's about all my nose can decipher apart from, well, oatmeal.

 

Drydown hour: Still smells like an oatmeal cookie on me...it's very nice, foody, but not overtly so. Sorta. A very comforting scent, something that reminds me of childhood.

 

Oro

Edited October 16, 2005 by Orodemniades

[scourgeotheseas]

Chimera

 

Well, poo! I love cinnamon, and looked forward to a changeable, shifting, warm cinnamony scent. Instead I got the immutable scent of...Play-doh.

 

Damn.

[herdivineshadow]

This is certainly very cinnamony on me, but there's also a rich sweetness like a creamy honey kind of sceny, a bit like sweetened warm milk. I'm not a big fan of cinnamon, but this was quite nice.

[Yatri]

Chimera wins the honor of my first review! I am in love! This one is stunning on my skin! Definitely one of my favorites! Thank you to the wonderful Astrobabe for sending me an imp as an extra!

Out of the bottle it smells nice but I can only describe it as a slightly bubblegum overripe citrus fruit smell...I’m not getting any of the notes that I’m familiar with (cinnamon, copal and myrrh) so maybe this is the honeysuckle which I’m not familiar with????

Wet on my skin....VERY STRONG predominantly cinnamon but not sharp...more of a soft honeyed cinnamon....after a few minutes still a honeyed cinnamon but with a beautiful vanilla/gardenia(honeysuckle??) background. This stays beautiful and strong on my skin for hours...and it eventually fades into a foody scent like a sweet creamy chai heavy on the cinnamon.

I don’t get a skin reaction to this but I did accidently get some on my lips and Geez does it burn!!! It is the first blend that I’ve tried that both wears strong and long but stays perfectly balanced and never overwhelming.

I give it a 9/10 only because I haven’t even made it to the halfway point so I should leave a bit of room for untried blends that I could like even better.

[gangstaknitta]

In bottle: a warm, buttery blend. It smells just like spice cake batter, oddly.

 

Wet: sweet, spicy and a little bit juicy, kind of like hummingbird cake with cream cheese frosting. There appears to be a drop of citrus in the background.

 

Dry: cinnamon emerges giving it that "red-hots" tone about. So sad because otherwise I would've bought a huge bottle!

[LyndaM]

This reminds me of my beloved O plus cinnamon. I ordered a bottle unsniffed, and was so glad I did. I knew I'd love it. Sweet, spicy, sexy amber-ish copal, it's all here. Everything I hoped for, and more.

[Meg]

In the bottle: a fiery, sharp scent of cinnamon, mixed with bitter resinous smell a bit like almond, probably the copal. It's a very warm scent.

 

Wet: very much the same thing as in the bottle, with the almondy smell coming out much stronger, and a certain sweetness coming out.

 

Drydown: still fiery and rather bitter cinnamon and almond, very hot. As it dries, it develops a certain sweetness, that smells rather like vanilla. The smell of copal enhances the bitterness, so that it overpowers the sweetness most of the time. I was hoping that the cinammon would mellow out a bit, but it goes extremely strong.

 

Overall: This isn't at all what I was expecting - it's red hot cinnamon, the kind you get in ultra strong bubblegums. I was hoping for a subtler cinnamon smell and stronger honeysuckle. Besides, it seems simplistic for a Chimera to reduce it to only one very fiery note, when it's supposed to be a mythological creature made of parts of serveral other animals. On me, this is practically masculine, and very overpowering, really doesn't work. On the swap pile, hoping to find something with a subtler cinnamon in it instead.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Wow! It smells like a fresh baked, warm snickerdoodle.

Wait, that can't be right. But there it is. The cinnamon is warm, but not red-hot; the myrrh adds a smoky edge, and the honeysuckle sweetens the whole blend considerably. I'm not sure what copal is - perhaps it provides the strange foodiness to the blend?

 

On me: The cinnamon is stronger, and the honeysuckle fades although it still sweetens the blend considerably. It still really smells like a cinnamon cookie to me; it's definitely big-bottle worthy. It doesn't have a lot of throw; but it lingers beautifully close to the skin. It's perfect for sidling up to someone and whispering in their ear.

[Wench457]

Chimera: Cinnamon, but a delicate cinnamon, not harsh at all.

 

On: The same, but with an added warmth. Very nice!

 

Dry: Bitterer, which I think it the copal, or maybe the myrrh, or maybe both. The honeysuckle seems to be buried, as it never made an appearance on me. Chimera is mostly a warm, spicy, resiny scent on me. I only got a very slight tingle on my wrist where I applied it, not the burn that some have reported, thankfully. About three hours later, it sweetened down and reminded me a lot of Bengal.

[perfumediva]

this smells like warm bread pudding with cinnamon or a bowl of cinnamon rice pudding--i am getting a very sweet caramelly milky smell that is multifaceted and has extra dimension and sweetness due to the sweet honeysuckle--the copal is giving it great depth--that smooth wooden casket feeling---yummmmmmmmmm

[chapatti]

First whiff: NOSEGASM! Outrageous, wonderful, fiery cinnamon that made me moan out loud

 

Drydown: The cinnamon sloooowly mellows out, while a hot sweetness amps up more and more (I'm assuming it's the copal, the honeysuckle is barely detectable).

A couple of hours into it, it's turned into a - well, loud, cloying, peppered sweetness, with a tiny tiny bitterness in the background - but mostly sweet and hottt.

And boy, does it go on and on! I lost count after twelve hours, and it was still going strong.

 

Verdict: Totally out there and in your face, sharp, fiery, Leo-esque.

Gorgeous.

I'm in love, y'all.

 

 

9.5/10

[Voleuse]

Cinnamon, tempered by a sweet note. This definitely isn't as sharp as some other cinnamon scents I've tried. It's almost foody, but a little lighter than that. Over time, the cinnamon fades a little, and the...honeysuckle? I think? The sweet note takes over, balancing everything very nicely. At one point it's almost creamy.

 

This is a scrumptious scent, but it doesn't last very long on me. That is, there's a faint cookie-ish smell that's detectable for hours, but the discernable throw is only around for an hour or so.

[Xiabelle]

I love this and hate it at the same time.

 

In the imp, it's truly gorgeous and yummy spices. I adore cinnamon. I like smelling like cinnamon. And this isn't burny like Bengal, it's soft and warm and cuddly.

 

And the first stages are great. It's lovely lovely lovely with a nice warming spicy kick to it. Smells fabulous wafting from my skin. I want to smell like this all the time. And, if it would stay here, this would vault to be an absolute favorite.

 

However, it dries down too much like cookies. Cookies are a good thing, but this is just way too much. It dries down to the something sicky sweet and a little almondish or something, reminding me of Eclipse. Eclipse also dries down in a way I don't like, and Chimera's final stage just... bugs me.

 

I'll have to think about this one. Maybe with a scent locket....

[slave1]

In Bottle: Sweet and thick myrrh.

 

On Skin: First off, I LOVE myrrh… but I hate cinnamon so I was a bit worried about this scent. I do like it as it initially is drying down since the myrrh is strongest and the cinnamon is just a bit spicy. The honeysuckle provides a nice sweet floral that plays off the other notes perfectly. The copal also provides a beautiful resin base. This scent is so neat, foody in a way, but dark and seductive as well. I’m dying to wear this one out and see what others think.

[sarahmarie]

Whoa holy sweetnes, Batman! I totally wasn't expecting that. I love cinnamon, but it's not very cinnamon-y on me, and all I can smell is a thick, sweet, honey-like scent. It doesn't smell like honeysuckle to me, and I don't know what copal is - but it's definitely too sweet on my skin. Off to swaps with this imp!

[jejunery]

This was a freebie from the lab in a recent order. I have to give them credit yet again – Chimera is not a scent that I’d ever thought about sampling, but it’s really interesting. I can see why people associate Chimera with Big Red gum; it’s a sweet, honeyed cinnamon. But when I dabbed a bit of Chimera on my wrist and took a big whiff, my first thought was “ohmigod -- it’s ice cream!” Yup, as somebody noted way back on the first page of this thread, this smells exactly like one of the best ice creams ever, Ben & Jerry’s Oatmeal Cookie Chunk.

 

While I very much enjoy smelling like my favorite cinnamony-sweet cream-oatmeal cookie-filled ice cream (especially when I can’t make it to the store), my skin amps the honeysuckle to the point of being almost too honey-sweet. The cinnamon, while complementing it wonderfully, doesn’t completely cut through the sweetness. It’s too much for me in the summer, but I drag it out in the winter when I’m in need of some psychological/emotional oatmeal cookie ice cream.