The Tell-Tale Heart

[CreamyJade]

This is a swollen, pulsating, thudding scent, heavy with dread; a steady, unceasing, throbbing harbinger of retribution and doom: blood musk, cocoa, black pepper, allspice, dragon’s blood resin and vetiver.

In the bottle: This is pretty 13ish, a musky cocoa mix.
Wet on skin: Dark red oil, the cocoa is there, it's not overly sweet, but oh hey, I now smell red musk! Wee! And resinous dragon's blood!
Dry on skin: Red musk, dragon's blood, some sweetness. Yum!
Final thoughts: I've been wanting to try this blend for a while now, and I'm really happy I ended up swapping a bottle. The cocoa isn't overwhelming, nor overly sweet. The red musk makes me think a bit about Smut, which is an excellent thing, because I love love love that blend! The tell-tale heart is a great blend and I'm happy I got hold of a bottle!

[Lamia]

Man, my skin chemistry must be completely off. There is cocoa in this??

 

Roses and a freshly-sharpened #2 pencil. Husband laughed at my description, took a sniff of my wrist, and then admitted that my descriptoon "was quite apt. Yep, roses and woodpulp".

 

Thank you, I'll be here all week. Try the chicken.

[Tess]

In the bottle - This is heavy on the vetiver and the dragon's blood to my nose. The musk and cocoa are there, though, lingering with it. It's a very dark scent over all.

 

Wet - There's something almost minty here tingling the back of my throat.

 

Drying - And odd scent. I'm having trouble picking up individual notes from this now. My impression of it is just dark, dark, dark with a bit of florals. (Yes, it's the dragon's blood making it floral to my nose.) This reminds me of a slightly more complex version of Dragon's Heart.

 

Dry (3 hours) - Dusty dragon's blood (real dragon's blood, I mean, the resin scent) with some musk to it. But faint.

 

Overall - Too dark for my tastes.

[Diva Urd]

I got a testable sniffie of this in a swap - thank you, kind swapper!

 

In the imp, I primarily get cocoa and a LOT of black pepper.

 

On me, the pepper amps like crazy at first. As it dries, first the allspice and then the cocoa and dragon's blood start peeking out. I never get a whole lot of vetiver from this, which is a novelty for me since I can usually detect it if it's an ingredient in a blend.

 

Once it completely dries down, it goes a bit dusty and the musk and pepper are the primary players, although occasionally, sweet and spicy wafts make their way to the forefront again.

 

Overall, this is pretty good, but not superb. If it was a GC, I might consider a bottle purchase, but as it is an LE and thus probably not to be had for cheap anymore, I think I'll have to refrain to protect my wallet.

[Invidiana]

A throbbing, pulsing, musky, spicy crimson scent oozing bloodlust and pure evil. Tell-Tale Heart has only been one of my favorite Poe stories since the sixth grade, so I just had to snap this up. I get the essence of bloody berries in this because dragon's blood develops deep, complex berry tones on me--a trick my skin plays that I appreciate This spices are a wonderful sinister supplement to that, and the musk and vetiver finish it off with an eerie and foreboding cloud of doom. Villains! I've fallen totally in love with the beating of his hideous heart!

Edited October 20, 2009 by Invidiana

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

somehow, it seems the pepper and vetiver have calmed down with age... but are still overwhelming for me. thankfully this decant is going on to a better home!

[voorishsign]

I was gifted this by the absolutely amazing rawgirl75

 

I'm quite curious about it because she talked about it before and it sounded so amazing.

 

In the imp - Mmfh. Cocoa, vetiver, dragon's blood. Delightful

 

On wet - Musk, dragon's blood and vetiver. Cocoa slightly in the distance, but I actually like it faint as it is, as I am not usually much of a foody person. As such, it gives it a nice cocoa undertone without hitting you over the head with it Allspice gives it a pleasant little kick.

 

Drydown - Oh, this is amazing. Not to mention sexy. On the drydown I get almost entirely dragon's blood, musk and vetiver. It stays very close to the skin but it's so freaking beautiful! Am keeping this for special occasions, like when someone, who knows who, but preferably a handsome gentleman, will be sniffing my skin What a treasure! Thank you, rawgirl75

[donnatron]

Bottle: Dark, luscious, almost creamy in scent. The blood musk has mellowed since the last time I cracked this open. Strong cocoa note and some woodsiness that reminds me of cedar but must be the vetiver.

 

Wet: Feral is the first word that comes to mind. This doesn't particularly smell like blood but evokes the feeling of a chase. It smells like blood pounding in your ears. The musk and dragons blood are mingling to make this smell both feral and ritualistic, like some sort of 1970s hysteric interpreatation of a satanic ritual. The cocoa does not make this cuddly--it has a stark earthiness that makes it contrast nicely with the creamier and warmer musks.

 

Dry: It dries down to a sexy, earthy bloody sort of scent. I know that sounds totally nuts (or you're clearly just a lot kinkier than I am ) but it's the type of scent you'd expect to smell on a destroyer goddess or a goddess of the hunt, there's a smell of skin smeared with still warm viscera and the dirt of the forest floor. It's a respectful scent. This isn't a Gore Shock or something of that nature. This is a fearful scent but that fear was undertaken in the pursuit of something sacred. Or I'm just totally nuts. That is always an option.

 

Throw: Strong.

 

Overall: It's funny the associations that different scents can conjure up for us. I would classify this as very similar to Great Sword of War but I don't have the same visceral reaction to GSoW that I do to this scent. This is a very beautiful, bold and dangerous perfume and it makes me feel exceedingly confident and a little dangerous when I wear this blend. It's a little masculine and while bold it's not harsh. This is all smooth lines, warm skin and it's a very... voluptuous scent. The type of thing I wear when I know that I'm the one who's going to be in charge.

[megank4]

This reminds me slightly of Dragon's Heart, but I dislike the cocoa and blood musk, as always.

[Mechanical Death]

I don't usually do dragons blood blends. It's usually too sweet and over powering for me, however I thought there were enough neutral and non sweet aromatics in the blend to temper the syrupy resin.

 

In the bottle: coco, dust and dirt, mildly spicy fruit. Oh hello dragons blood

 

Wet on the skin it turned into resinous bright red/purple fruits. Dark, sweet with a wine undertone. All dragons blood and red musk upfront. Red musk is one of my favorite notes--wine like and insency. That mixed with the dragons blood keeps the dragons blood in check from being overly sweet, because the red musk has a balsamic quality.

 

As it dries the coco makes an appearance. Rich unsweetened chocolate, slightly dusty melting into the fruity red resinous musk and dragons blood. There's spice--pepper, distinctly sharp and enhances the chocolates earthiness and richness.

 

This is one blend that I can truly place everything in the blend without reaching. The vetiver plays with the pepper and chocolate, creating a rich earthy spicy harmony to the resin insence and sweet dark red fruit. What surprised me the most was that I was that I actually detected a whiff of allspice, and how wonderfully it worked with the rest. Off all the notes allspice scared me the most, but I also expected it to be lost amongst the rest of the very strong notes in the blend.

 

This blend very much is a pulsating quality. It's rich and evocative. It's very sweet and intoxicating, passionate, then is muted and muddled by earth tones drawing it back under. The spices waft in and out, and all of it blends in a push and pull of harmony and cacophony.

 

It has just enough throw once its dry. Enough that I can smell it in pulsation, and others may catch whiffs within a close distance. On first application, just a tiny drop it smelled like I bathed in the stuff--be warned. Wait 20 minutes before going in public a little bit goes a long way.

[JazzieCazzie]

Received an imp of this off my wishlist in a swap.

 

IN THE IMP: Lovely and unusual. Incensey, peppery, medicinal and then the sweetness of the cocoa comes up last.

 

Dabbed on wrist and in crook of arm.

 

WET: Okay. Don't laugh. Pizza. And headshop. And chocolate. Chocolate headshop pizza. I know it must be the pepper that makes me feel like I'm standing at the counter at Mimi's waiting for a slice plain. Oh, and I apparently got an added "medicinal" topping for an extra $1.00. And the thing is, this may sound gross? But it's all kinds of awesome.

 

DRYDOWN: The cocoa and medicinal qualities are much more prevalent the more it dries. My arm smells like a sweet chocolatey headshop. The pepper is pretty much gone. The DB is not really identifiable for me but I think it adds to the sweetness. It's a super nice drydown.

 

OVERALL: I love this. I really do. It keeps me on my toes. Huffable.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 4.7

[bulletslc]

Dragon's blood, cocoa and musk with a sprinkling of pepper. It all blends together so nicely. Dragon's blood heavy scents aren't usually my thing, but this one is so pretty!

Edited December 30, 2017 by Bulletslc