French Creole

[wickedgoddess]

I have a well-aged bottle of the discontinued, non-TAL version of this already.

Wet - Wow, that's sharp. There's an astringency here that's not in my older bottle, but I don't know if it's because that one is aged or this one is stronger. Maybe a combination of the two. am not sure what I am smelling here: it's lemony but not lemon per se. It's floral, and while I thought I got jasmine from my discontinued bottle, I am not getting that at all from this. It's herbal, but nothing I can specify. And it's got that "voodoo" note that I notice in many TAL's and voodoo oils.

Dry - this has calmed down a bit and smells similair to my older bottle of French Creole. Similiar to, but not quite the same. There is spice in here, probably cloves, and moist, humid flowers. The lemony scent and cloves are both stronger in here than in my older bottle, but once again, it could be because of ageing. While I don't LOVE the scent, I like it quite a bit, but mostly I wear it because I want to help make my wishes and desire into a reality. Because really...who wouldn't?

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 4 (scent only).

 

PLEASE NOTE: This review topic is for the Twilight Alchemy Lab version of French Creole. If you're looking for the former Voodoo Blend, now discontinued, that topic is here. --Shollin

[roesmoker]

Provenance: Got this as a frottle (free bottle) in my long-delayed Flying Devil order.

 

Scent Review: Having one bottle of the discontinued Voodoo Blend (which is very strong/sharp and clove-y, even though it can't be that new, I won it on eBay one step removed from the Lab fairly recently (this winter)), and having also had the bottle that Wickedgoddess now has (much softer, I won it from QuantumSpice on eBay), I can say definitively that the old blend and the TAL one are very, very similar. The differences are slight enough that they could easily be attributable to different batches rather than a change in ingredients. Put it this way, the difference between those two bottles I mention above is much greater than the difference between my "strong" bottle and the TAL blend I am reviewing here.

 

I would say this particular TAL bottle is slightly less "clove-y" wet/in the bottle (and more lemony) and less floral (more sweet/powdery) in the dry-down. My "strong" bottle has the same dry-down, whereas the aged bottle had a much more floral dry-down. If anything I think this scent is even more beautiful than either of those. FC is my top scent when I'm in the right time of the month (the rest of the time it's the TAL version of Chypre) and when I wore this I fell in love with it all over again.

 

Magical review: I have never noticed any magical effects from the Voodoo blend. This one similarly did not have any noticeable effect, although I did not do any rituals with it, I did concentrate on the described purpose when applying.

Edited September 20, 2006 by Shollin

[Mountaingrrl00]

In the bottle, and on, this is a lemony fresh floral with a waft of the same spices (cloves? allspice?) that are in Brass Balls. It's an outgoing scent, and I found myself wanting to slather it, but restrained myself, since I just have the one imp from kiio's Unreleased TALs decant circle. Fortunately, it has good staying power - surprising for a citrusy scent.

 

This oil is for use in drawing influential people to one, and that did indeed happen when I wore it.

 

Edited to add: I've had this decant for two years, and have used little dabs ritually from time to time. Always effective!

Edited April 25, 2008 by Mountaingrrl

[slave1]

In Bottle: Cloves

 

On Skin: Egads, this is extreme clove. So much I gagged a little since I really don’t like the smell of cloves on my skin. I also smell something slightly medicinal, maybe herbal? It doesn’t really agree with me. I’m not sure if the Magikal properties or intent of this scent work but I did use it last night and had someone I really look up to and admire email me today providing an opportunity I could only dream of. I’m also not getting the citrus note that some people have reported. I get clove, a slightly dirty medicinal herbal note and something slightly sweet. After two hours, it becomes very sexy and the clove mellows into a soft spicy musky feel. Now this I would wear… I just am sad I have to wait for so long for it to get to that stage. It has a light to medium throw and short to average wearlength.

Edited September 22, 2006 by slave1

[starrykitten]

I've worn French Creole twice. The scent isn't as clove-y as I was afraid of. It's definitely clove, but sweeter than sniffing a spice jar or something. The scent isn't as potent as I'd like, but it stays close to the skin well.

 

I haven't tried it on candles yet, but I've worn it on myself. Both nights I had really good nights and ended up getting free drinks at the bar I went to b/c the bartenders just didn't charge me. I didn't make any really extraordinary connections, but it was definitely a subtle, pleasant effect.

[batsy]

In the vial: bitterness... cloves and spice.

 

On the skin: Now, I love cloves but this is... um... bitter. On my skin it starts to warm up and so-so about it. I have a "clove" scent I adore and while this is similar, there's a sweetness to the other that this doesn't have. This is sour, lemony. Wild. I dunno, I might keep it around just for backup. And to see if there's any magical effects from it.

[Medici]

In the bottle: Reminiscent of the old (discontinued) Voodoo blend. Cloves and dirt and something faintly herbal.

 

Wet: Dirty cloves, faintly astringent, and I get a waft of vetiver. The TAL blend, much like the old Voodoo formula, reminds me of gutter water. While I'm not a fan of the smell, I remember the Voodoo blend working very well for me, so I'll put up with the scent although it's not a favourite.

 

It still, however, reminds me strongly of New Orleans (especially Bourbon Street.) That faint bog-stink of dirty streets on a humid night.

 

As it wears, it takes on a slightly metallic tint.

 

As far as the effects are concerned, I'll have to see how the rest of my day goes before giving a proper assessment.

[xoe]

Oh. I'm so happy to have the TAL French Creole. I was a big fan of the Voodoo one, and my bottle was just about gone when I ordered it. The scent is about the same to me. One strange thing I noticed is that TAL French Creole is a little bit gritty. But that's fine by me. And I totally love the scent. I know things are going to be ok when I wear it. I got a chance to use French Creole last week, and it did exactly what it needed to do. French Creole is the most effective oil that I have ever tried.

[Koukla]

Scent: A bit of clove, a bit floral. Sort of a serious scent.

 

Usage: Wow. I have a small budding company and was to go to my first industry trade show this week. The company is still small enough that finding suppliers even willing to work with the kind of minimum orders I am capable of has been a big issue, and I could well have found the show pretty frustrating.

 

I wore French Creole with intent that day, though no ritual. After checking into my hotel I met one of the organizers for possibly the biggest trade show in the industry in the elevator, who was also attending this one -- he said I should come to his show in Paris, lol. After arriving at the convention center I met with quite a few reps, head formulators, and even company presidents from large suppliers who ordinarily wouldn't want to do such small orders, and most said they'd be happy to work with me. It was an extremely fruitful day, beyond what I even hoped. I'm still giddy.

 

This. works. :love!:

[theseagrows]

all i smell in this is lavender and cloves, maaaybe some other subtler herbs, like rosemary? but on my skin it is mostly clove with a lavender background that seems to fade off a bit so it becomes a mostly clove scent on me.

[zankoku_zen]

Salty lavender and clove. I find this to be a very comforting scent.

 

I wore it over the weekend, more in the vein of "helps make your wishes and desires into a reality.” I can see it working much more potently at a meet-n-greet, whenever you're around more people. In my particular case, I was hoping to positively effect myself and ensure a social visit went smoothly.

 

It actually did. And honestly, it lead to a pretty in-depth conversation which was really cool.