Dragon's Blood

[savage_rose]

Powerful, commanding, blazing with strength.

This blend is colored a lovely empurpled red. The dragon's blood in this isn't nearly as strong as I was hoping considering the name. Sigh. And it turns to a syrupy sweetness on my skin, with just a hint of the dragon's blood bite. Well, at least I still have The Bloody Sword for my dragon's blood needs, but...I'm always hoping to find the perfect GC equivalent.

[Enferdame]

I'm a big huge fan of a dragon's blood that I got a Ren Faire a million years ago. In my quest to find it again, I've tried many others and hated them. They weren't what I remember, spicy and sweet and more than a little dangerous.

I have a bunch to try now, courtesy of BPAL.

In the bottle, this is the scent I remember, if a wee bit lighter, and definitely more floral. It's nice though.

On, it's warm and spicy, and well, like dragon's blood, but not quite right.

I've been wearing it for a while now, and it's definitely turned into lilac. No problem with me, I love lilacs and it's still got a bit of spice. Still, It's not perfect, but I am super excited to try the rest of the Ars Draconis blends. I can wear this, but I have a feeling I'll find what I'm looking for elsewhere.

Onward...

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Dragon’s blood single note. Sweet resin. Wet: I can’t wear this stuff by itself anymore, alas. It’s a real shame because I love the scent of dragon’s blood. Sweet, almost flowery. Heavy and sexy but in an entirely different way than Musk. Dry: Sweet resiny perfume with lots of staying power.

[agirlisaverb]

Hmm. I wanted to love this and really thought that I would, because I adore several of the other Ars Draconis scents, but this one just didn't work out on my skin. In the imp I was getting all of the fruity, spicy, floral goodness that other reviewers have mentioned, but five minutes after I dabbed this on I was already getting wafts of soapiness. Twenty minutes later any hints of cherries or flowers or spice were gone and it was pure soap. I know my skin can do some wonky things to oils; this one just isn't right for me.

[Heeroluva]

In the bottle all I get is musk. Wet there's something sweet there that I just can't place. Dry it's a mix of candied cherries and tobacco oddly enough. But it's very faint and like the rest of the line it seems to disappear very quickly. Which makes me sad, because I truly love the line. They just don't like me.

[OhioSky]

I can't give this scent any better description than Beth did. It's powerful, and strong. And absolutely divine.

 

Dragon's Blood smells mostly like cinnamon and cherries on me, but those alone can't explain my love for this scent. It's deep and complex and have hints of other notes in it, though I can't tell what. It is awesomely powereful and long lasting. I love.

Edited August 14, 2008 by OhioSky

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Plain dragon’s blood… resinous, complex, and slightly sweet and floral.

 

Immediately on skin: This smells like straight up dragon’s blood, which I guess it’s supposed to do. It’s a lightly resinous scent, and complex. The blend is slightly floral (I’ve seen others mention lilac, and it definitely could be) and sweet with almost a waxy fruity note about it.

 

After a little while: This settles into a slightly resinous and floral plastic scent on my skin. It really seems dragon’s blood only behaves on me some of the time.

 

Overall Impressions: Dragon’s blood is a difficult scent on me, but I generally find it to be quite complex and a little floral. This blend smells just like that, and I really think this is a great unisex scent. It’s pretty, but not overly so and could definitely suit being worn by a guy.

[innocent]

Sweet... resins and florals. This -could- have been nice on me, but one of the florals in it is the one that smells of "old lady" on me. Seems like it might be good in the oil burner, so I might try it there.

[skepticism]

Smells very spicy on my skin, with a very sleek sweetness to it. It's hard to determine whether or not the sweetness is floral or fruity, or maybe a mixture of the two? I dabbed a tiny drop on my wrist and it spread into the air like wildfire. Cinnamon isn't really my thing unless it's very subtle, so I will have to pass on this.

[Coldfire]

Imp: aahhh my favorite dragon’s blood..strong but not overpowering

Wet on Me: LURVE! The witch in me is singing.

Drying Down: the sharpness comes forward….but still does not overwhelm me.

Dry: The best parts of Dragon’s Blood on me. Such a keeper!

[megank4]

Hmm, I like this but I think alone it is too plain for me. I think I prefer it in it's other embodiments (like Dragon's Claw, wonderfulness).

[gargouille]

I completely agree with the first review of this: A mixture of cherry and rose is what I'm getting from Dragon's Blood, too.

 

I don't find it at all dark; it's quite light and happy to me, but very, very red, too. It actually makes me smile as I wear it.

 

I wanted to know what this was like on its own before trying it in blends and I'm pleased to find it's really lovely. I wouldn't wear this every day, but can certainly see myself using it on days when I feel lighthearted, or even crave a little lightheartedness. Definitely need to try some blends with this, too. Yay!

[jencallisto]

Fresh on the skin: Lilac? Kind of a spicy lilac. Oddly warm and dark, I guess that's the wood coming out.

10 minutes later: Aggressively floral in a soapy kind of way. I didn't expect it to be this floral! A spicy, woodsy floral, though, not too sweet. Reminds me distinctly of the huge line of lilac bush we had in front of the house I grew up in.

45 minutes later: Damn. This has kind of insane throw. It's like I'm in a halo of woodsy lilac soap. It's started to soften down some, though, which is good. This is not unpleasant, though it's a bit overly-floral for me. But I'm not much for most florals, with the exception of the occasional light rose, lavender (if that's a flower rather than an herb), or fruit blossom scent. I do like the smell of lilacs -- it's very nostalgic -- but I think I prefer it actually attached to real flowers.

1 hour later: New discovery: apples taste _really_ strange when all you can smell is lilac. I knew there was a reason I usually only test on my right (non-dominant hand) wrist. Whoops.

2 hours later: This has softened down a lot into a warm hooded lilac and resin.

3 hours later: Lingering, with an underlying sweetness, too.

7 hours later: Got distracted by my translations. This has faded down to almost nothing, just a faint laundryish smell left.

9 hours later: I can't smell it on me anymore, really, but there's still something of it in the air around where I applied it, just a woodsy lilac wisp of scent every once in a while.

 

Verdict: I didn't really enjoy this much. It does have a very distinctive, interesting, nostalgic scent that I do like in particular contexts, but stuck to me for hours on end with no greenery in sight isn't exactly one of them. Still, this was definitely not boring, anyway, and it didn't threaten headache like some scents do. I might keep one vial to have the occasional experience of LILAC, but I think I'm going to send the other off to swaps.

[oravannahka]

First foray into the world of Ars Draconis. I figured it would be best to start with the basics. My nose is a little stuffy so I'll probably re-review this one later. I just needed something to wear.

 

In imp: a complex, cinnamon flower.

 

Wet: A little "old lady" and quite traditional but otherwise lovely. Cinnamon is attempting to rally and save the situation but is not quite doing it.

 

Dry: Sweet but... kind of soapy. Not feeling this one.

 

Notes: Not sure if it's because of my nose or my chemistry or what but this is a powder room, old lady scent on me. I suspect I would prefer this if it were mixed with something else. I shall try my luck with the other dragons!

[acidrica]

This is strong. Very, very strong. I smelled it in the imp and could tell right then that it was really good quality. I think my mom hit the mark when she said it was 'like nothing I've ever smelled before'. Personally, I get a bit of cinnamon and cherry. It's very...red. Very, very red. A dark red. Very nice. Sadly, it fades on my skin, but that could just be me and my runny nose.

 

Edit: It WAS my nose. The dragon's blood is still strong and delicious ten hours later. I may be getting a bottle.

Edited December 25, 2008 by Acid

[donnatron]

Imp: It's... well, it's dragon's blood. Sort of lilac/cherry/just a general "red" smell. If you're familiar with dragon's blood then you know what it smells like. It's also a really high quality dragon's blood--very true to the burning scent.

 

Wet: Dragon's blood goes pretty rich and floral on my skin. It smells like lilacs and honeysuckle with a hint of something... ungodly. It's very beautiful until the "aftersniff." There's something lingering that reminds me of port a potties.

 

Dry: The port a potty scent burns off and I'm left with a clean, rich, primarily lilac scent. It still smells very red and slightly resinous. Very sweet and pretty. Much more delicate and well-tempered than you'd expect something called "dragon's blood" to be.

 

Throw: Strong.

 

Overall: It's a single note scent as far as I know. If you like dragon's blood, you'll like it. f you don't, you won't. If you've never tried dragon's blood this is a very good way to try it out.

[penemuel]

I really wish I got the spicy/resiny/warm scent that a lot of others do, but to me, Dragon's Blood turns into straight-up Dove soap on me. I am very sad.

[zankoku_zen]

This one was a powerful soapy lily smell. Very floral with a hint of spice.

 

Now it's just like Dove soap.

 

Clean, pretty. But not for me.

[masquedbunny]

Hormones may be throwing off my skin chemistry, but I'm in agreement with the people who say they get soapiness from Dragon's Blood. Bold, semi-spicy soap, but still soap.

 

It has a very powerful throw, too.

 

It's definitely a pleasant and clean smell, but I don't know if that's what I want from a scent called Dragon's Blood. Still, I'd like to try the other Ars Draconis blends to see if I can get them to play better with my skin.

 

I'm going to give this another try in a week or so.

[thekittenkat]

In the imp: A lovely dark rose scent, with a hint of musk and cherries lurking underneath.

 

Wet: All that and more, and strangely enough, ramping up the sweetness (cherries, but not just-picked and raw, but more like the maraschino cherries in those sweet drinks), and a tiny bit of some spice.

 

The dry-down: Same as for Wet, but now there's also some resin or amber (not sure which). I was hoping for a bit more of those two, plus more musk. And not so much sweetness.

 

Later: This oil is interesting and complex, but the sweet note is the stand-out one. I like it okay, but think that it would make a better layering oil with something that has musk or spice or amber or resin as the major note, so to speak.

 

 

 

Note: This was a frimp from the Lab. Not sure that I would have ever tried it, otherwise, besides reading these very helpful reviews.

 

In the vial, the oil looks a red-orange-pink colour, translucent in clarity. The oil itself is somewhat viscous, and clings to my finger tips where I touched the toothpick after applying it to my wrist. Rubbed my fingertips over my arm, so as not to loose any precious oil.

[hkhm]

imp: like a cross between lilac and lotus.

 

wet: lilac.

 

dry: very flowery lilac. this smells more like a room freshener scent than a perfume. nice, but a bit too flowery for me.

[fairnymph]

Sniffed in imp: Dark hot pink oil. Fruity lilac and lily of the valley. Heady and soapy. The fruit strikes me as cherry, the fake kind in cough syrup - it's vaguely mentholic.

[rayvn1]

Sweet sticky lilac flowers. Why do I do this to myself? I KNOW my skin doesn't work with dragon's blood and I can never get it to come off once I've put it on, but my need for completion is always too strong

[anna1850]

How do I describe dragon's blood? I was expecting something dark and maybe a little spicy, but the actual oil is quite sweet and inoffensive.

 

It's not bad but straight up it's maybe a little too sweet and simple for me, but I wouldn't rule out trying blends with a Dragon's Blood note.

 

2.5/5 Not bad, but not great either.

[Balame]

In the Imp: This actually makes me think of a very potent rose, but with an incense/earth scent backing it up that makes it musky.

 

Wet: Gosh dang it, I hate that this is so sweet. Reminds me of a lily on steroids, or baby powder mixed with funky flowers. I wouldn’t call this spicy, more floral and just “loud” in general. It’s a very full scent, and there is some sort of a smoky resin in the background that I’m not minding too much, but right now it’s being eaten alive by the flower-wielding baby. Hopefully that will come out more in time.

 

Dry: Lilac. A little bit cheap liquid soap, but no smokiness. Surprisingly enough its one high point, in that it had a strong throw, has dissipated as well. I’m fairly disappointed since even though it wasn’t what I expected, I normally can stand lily-ish scents. But this is too much overall and definitely doesn’t remind me of dragons.

 

Verdict: I won’t be wearing it again. I think someone with the right skin chemistry might tone down the flowers and possibly get more of the resinous and spicy notes, but unless that happens, I’d be hard pressed to tolerate it for very long.

 

Rating: 1/5