Dragon's Claw

[coulrophobe]

Smooth, polished and lethally sharp: dragon’s blood resin and three sandalwoods.

In the imp: Yep... that's sandalwood, sweetened with a bit of dragon's blood!

On: A very warm dry scent. Woody, but the dry, white, sun-baked variety. For a few brief moments, this smells almost burnt on my skin - luckily that passes. On me this dries down to a very pleasant, smokey-sweet incense blend. It strikes me as a good evening blend - a bit sexy and exotic, but not too overt or in-your-face about it. Edited September 15, 2007 by Shollin

[filigree_shadow]

I love dragon's blood, but it's not very strong in this blend.

 

It had a bit of an "air freshener" quality to it for about 5 minutes as it was drying, and then that went away and it reminded me of incense. Then that went away and it ended up smelling mainly woody, very dry and faintly sweet. Not at all like pine or cedar or anything like that, just lovely sandalwood. The dragon's blood becomes a bit more pronounced after it's totally dry, but not overwhelming at all.

 

Very well done.

Edited July 3, 2006 by filigree_shadow

[Kittyflop]

On wet: Fully the traditionally sweet Dragon's blood.

 

Drydown: Didn’t take the sandalwoods long to peek through! Earthy and sweet and a bit spicy. It’s got a tang to my nose.

 

A few hours later: Sultry, smoky, sexy sandalwood with enough playful lilac sweetness to keep it from getting heavy. A little goes a long way. Definitely a keeper!

[edenssixthday]

Dragon's Claw is extremely woody. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one, but once I put it on, it was most definitely full of dragon’s blood and dry, arid sandalwood. It’s an extremely simple blend that doesn’t morph or change at all, yet I imagine sandalwood lovers could really enjoy this – even those who don’t usually like dragon’s blood. It’s too woody for my personal taste, but something I imagine a lot of other people could carry off really well.

[Court Analyst/Strategist]

Immediately after Applying: The blend starts out a bit too sharp, a jumble of distinct, sharpened wood points and sweet Dragon's blood not quite clicking together yet. Very quickly however, the sandalwoods and the Dragon's blood do reach a truce, and this becomes lovely and smooth. There's notably several sandalwoods in here. This brings to mind a haze of Dragon's Blood spilled over a bundle of freshly-made sandalwood incense sticks, permeating them to creat a mingled, nearly heady scent. Definately a favorite from the Ars Draconis line.

 

Rating (throw): 5.5/10. Starts out strong for the amount applied but fades to a lower broadcast within minutes and stays that way, just lingering over the skin.

 

Rating (overall): 7/10. The Dragon's Blood is definately enhanced and complimented by the sandalwood, they coexist simply and delightfully in this blend. The only con I can readily see is that the broadcasting strength of the scent is very light, and hangs close to the skin's surface after drydown. Dragon's Claw is similiar to what I hoped from Dragon's Bone (which went horribly plastic on me; my skin couldn't handle the orris note). I'm glad I grabbed a 5ml of this unsniffed.

 

Court

[miss apple]

In the bottle this has an essence much like the other Ars Draconis blends. Once on a sweet woodiness comes out. I get the same warm and dry impression and for some reason this blend really makes me think of fall when it's still warm during the day but the leaves have just started to turn. On me this is quiet and reserved but with an earthy, sexy edge just beneath the surface. Dragon's Claw will definitely be in rotation during the autumn months.

[Little Bird]

The only time that dragon's blood has worked really well on me was in the Dragon's Milk blend, where it's sweet and sort of creamy. Normally, dragon's blood has a sickly sweetness to it that reminds me of rotten wildflowers and rotten fruit. I'm definitely picking up on that sickly sweetness when I first apply this, mixed with some sharp woods notes.

 

In the drydown, the dragon's blood is barely noticeable and this is almost a pure sandalwood scent on me. A very dry and slightly powdery sandalwood.

 

Dragon's Claw isn't awful on me, but it's a dry woods scent, which isn't something that I really like to wear either.

[PurringPulsar]

Dragon's Claw

 

In the imp: wood! This smells a lot more woody than Dragon's Bone-from the paler colour of the oil, I think there's a lot more sandalwood here than dragon's blood.

Wet on skin: polished sandalwood. This is very wooden indeed…but very nice.

Dry on skin: sandalwood with just the barest hint of dragon's blood. This blend is all about the sandalwood in all it's complexity. I get the dark sandalwood (I think it's red sandalwood) from Anne Bonny here, it is deep and just a tad spicy, with a hint of the greener, less rich white sandalwood. There's a hint of resin (d-b, no doubt) here which, like the frankincense in Anne Bonny, gives a feel of polished wood. It does smell a bit like a lumberjack's workshop though-so damn woody!

After a while: mmm, it doesn't take long before this scent becomes really pleasant and less lumberjack-y. This scent is now a rich, warm, almost single note sandalwood. It's deep, it's smooth, and it's more than just wood here-it's got a nice complexity. There's something about it that smells almost resinous-and I don't mean dragon's blood…it smells more like frankincense. Whatever it is, it's lovely.

After two hours, the wood sweetens a bit, and there's a lovely warm powdery aspect to it now. it's quite a comforting scent, it smells velvety soft.

Verdict: this is much better than Bone, in my opinion. The sandalwood in here is wonderful, rich and deep and fantastic. This is the same wonderful sandalwood I got in Anne Bonny and Baghdad and possibly Velvet, only this time it's pretty much all wood with very little dragon's blood. This is a delightful and very wearable wood scent, very much a single note sandalwood scent which has a lot of layering potential. Not a bottle scent but a definite keeper for the imp.

Emoticon rating:

[theshapeshifter]

From other people's reviews, I had feared that Dragon's Claw would be too dry for me, but it was a pleasant surprise! On me, the dragon's blood and the sandalwood perfectly balanced, into a sweet-warm-woody blend that works wonderfully well on my skin. Definitely a hit!

[quikslvr]

First breath is sweet, light dragon's blood. So sweet as to be on the end of Dragon's Milk.

 

The dragon's blood fades and leaves a smooth, polished white sandalwood that I could almost mistake for a musk. The balance there is incredible between the dragon blood's sweetness and the dryness of the woods.

 

The dragon's blood comes back more strongly now and then. Complete drydown is a lovely, soft, sweet and dry skin scent. This is definitely striking me as a bottle scent.

[juniperus]

Bottle: all I can discern is the dragon's blood

Wet: hints of sandalwood from underneath the resin

Dry: developing slowly, slightly more sandalwoody goodness, but still very much about the dragon's blood.

Later: there's the sandalwood! - and I do, as suspected, lovelovelove this one. Warm and rich, woody and just slightly sweet in a resiny kind of way.

[mountainwitch]

As other reviewers have remarked, the dragon's blood gives this a lovely sweetness that balances the sandalwood. I love a good warm wood scent anyway, and Dragon's Claw definitely fits the bill, but I was surprised by that touch of sweetness. This was one of those scents that inspired the boyfriend to ask "What are you wearing?" (In the good way, not the "Good Lord, woman! What were you thinking?!" kind of way. ) I'd love to have a bottle of this one on hand.

[provocateur]

In bottle: Sandalwood!

 

On skin, wet: Sandalwood. It seems to be just the same one for now.

On skin, dry: A very soft and luscious sandalwood, with the slightest touch of resin.

 

Conclusion: Oh, so pretty

 

Rating: 4/5

[indicolite]

Now I know the smell of dragon's blood, and it amps on me when wet, which is all good. But now that Dragon's Claw has dried, yep, it's sandalwood (it matches its description so well that I had a perverse desire to first claim that on me it was mint and rose and jasmine...). The other reviews have named it warm, sweet and resiny and it is. It also does have the sharpness that the creator intended.

 

I like this imp very much.

Edited August 8, 2006 by indicolite

[marzstar]

loving this one. got an imp and actually poured it all into a lil' 4oz cobalt bottle filled with unscented bwoc organic lotion (highly recommended fyi) and oh YUMMMMMM

 

i love DB more and more everytime i use it and i love sandalwood so this is just amazing. the two EO's are very complimentary to one another. a new all time fav that i don't think i will ever out grow.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Woody resin

 

On Skin: I smell the sandalwoods right away, they are actually stronger than the Dragon’s Blood. The sandalwoods also seem darker… so I’m thinking if there is white sandalwood in this scent, it’s very light and the others shadow it. It’s a nice blend especially with the sweetness of the resin. The woodyness of it makes it quite earthy and balances the sweetness. If Dragon’s Blood is normally too sweet on you, I think you should try this blend. All in all a very nice scent. It doesn’t do much for me though, I am kind of neither here nor there with Dragon’s Blood for the most part. It also fades super quick. Light throw and short to average wearlength.

Edited August 19, 2006 by slave1

[Trish]

I am a sandalwood freak, but when I ordered this I had never tried dragon's blood. Since then I have and liked it a lot so I have extremely high hopes for this one.

 

In the imp: Dragon's blood with a touch of sandalwood

 

Wet: Same, but the dragon's blood is stronger

 

Dry: Sandalwood! Lovely soft, smooth, dry sandalwood. Plus a touch of resin from the dragon's blood that gives it a little edge and sweetness.

 

This is absolutely lovely. It has almost no throw but seems to meld with my skin. Gorgeous. Unfortunately however it starts to fade very quickly. But oh it is so lovely while it lasts.

 

EDITED TO ADD:

 

I don't know if I just used too little or my nose was off when I first tried this (possible, since I was having an orgy of testing), but upon wearing it since I've realised it lasts a lot longer than I thought it did. It actually lasts a good 4 hours or so before having to touch up, and this has now moved to my probable bottle list. For a sandalwood freak like me this is wonderful.

Edited September 11, 2006 by Trishek

[grrrlennyl]

at first: sweet dragon's blood and some dry sandalwood.

on: lovely and dry. wonderful. sandalwood is so gorgeous.

half an hour later: amazing. sweet, dry, and warm. did i mention that i love sandalwood? 'cause i do.

1.5 hours later: lots and lots of sandalwood. there's a hint of sweetness in the background.

overall: this was nice, but probably not something i'd reach for often.

[arcticwolf]

Dragon's Claw:

In the Bottle: Sharp and bright, but also kind of sweet not sure..maybe cherries?

 

Wet: sandalwood, and air freshner? fabric softner? Not sure...but still nice. Incensy and woody.

 

Dry: sweet and woody, with maybe some floral? Or is that the Dragon's blood...

 

2 hrs later: Hanging close to the skin, very nice blend of sandalwoods, with just a hint of sweetness which I imagine is the Dragon's Blood. It's gone slightly powdery, but in a good way.

 

This one is my favourite, so far. I adore Sandalwood. 6 imps tested, 8 more to go.

[LiberAmoris]

Oy, this smells good. Sandalwood is just so wonderful. And it pairs well with the dragon's blood for a long-lasting incensey waft.

 

Dragon's Claw is going into the Apply Directly to Boyfriend pile.

[forspecial_plate]

Dragon's blood resin and sandalwood are both notes that I don't hate but haven't exactly embraced. However I try everything that comes my way, and the Ars Draconis line seems to be stalking me so I gave it a whirl.

 

At first, as usual, the DB overpowers anything else in the blend. To me it is a sweet resin-y floral, not bad really, but not entirely my thing. Then the sandalwoods start to peek out, and after an hour or so, the DB has faded considerably...which it always does on me. The notes all actually start to blend now, more than I was expecting. For a while they were very 'seperate', so I could detect both distinctly. Anyway now they are blending together and this is an all around sweet, incense-y, sort of smokey and floral blend with a mild throw. Not bad, but just not doing much for me. I don't know why but I never really get excited about dragon's blood resin. Just not my thing I guess.

[dnipbhsw]

Dragon's Claw on me is mostly sandalwood, with just a touch of dragon's blood resin to sweeten it up a bit. It's warm and brown, has a really great throw, and lasts forever. I put it on my wrist about 20 hours ago and I can still smell it now.

 

Although I don't think this is specifically masculine, I do think this would also smell delicious on a man.

[severina]

I'm really smelling the sandalwood in this one, in a lovely way. It reminds me of the way my clothes smell after I've been burning incense. It is beautiful in a strong way. I see this as a very gender neutral scent.

[PilotKitten]

All I get out of this one on me is the sandalwood. One of the notes my skin amps up beyond belief. And this blend has THREE types!! lol. This might as well be a single note on me.

[hologhost]

Sweet and woody - but not pencil-like. This perfectly balanced - with no trailing notes. It stays that was on me too. Simple and yummy.