Doc Constantine (2006)

[sofiaviolet]

Sheer musk, cedar smoke, fir needle, black amber and leather.

Mmm, fir and leather. This is really masculine, but I can still see girly little me wearing it. I really like leather. Like, a lot. I don't even know why. But I do and I love Doc Constantine.

[supremegoddessofall]

I get everything except the fir. I think cedar smoke and the amber are what I'm getting the most of. This is rich and heady and I like it very much.

[wikkidraven]

i got this one for my boy, and i hate to say i'm disappointed because i thought for sure it would work. sniffing from the bottle, it was so sharp he almost thought it was mint, but the fir and leather definitely came through when he tried it on. unfortunately, i just wasn't feeling it when i came in to nuzzle him, i'm just not keen on my men smelling like a forest.

 

ah well, i gave it a shot. i'm thinking i'll have more luck when i get him to try Dorian.

[euterpe414]

Mmm. Wet, this is yummy, sexy mens cologne. Not the cheesy gross aftershave smelling kind, the sophisticated gentlemanly kind. I like this smell, but I am not a nice sophisticated man . I wish my bf wore fragrances, 'cause I'd make him wear this all the time! I decided to wait it out, though, and see what happens on the drydown.

 

I'm glad I did! This mellows out to be a nice musky woodsy blend. The masculine edge takes a bit of a backseat, and this turns into a more gender neutral fragrance. The leather does not overpower this scent like it tends to in other blends for me, which is great! Everything is very well balanced, and it si actually difficult for me to detect individual notes.

 

I am glad I finally got around to getting this one, I will definitely enjoy it in the coming months!

[Tess]

There is one note here that could mess this all up: fir. I sure hope it doesn't amp, as this sounds like a wonderful scent for me!

 

In the vial - Darkly medicinal. The amber is sweetening it up, at least, and the musk is giving it some body.

 

Wet - Strong, strong fir and cedar, but the musk is pulling it in and keeping it there.

 

Drying - Dear gods, the throw on this is fantastic! The musk and amber are the base, over which the cedar and fir and just a touch of leather are dancing. I am very much getting a smokey feeling from this and it's just SEXY. Pick up women in darkened bars SEXY.

 

Dry (1 hour) - Something about conifers makes my skin go wild. The fir and cedar are much stronger than they had been, with the amber barely keeping them in check. The leather is only apparent when you are very close to my skin.

 

Overall - Well, the fir in this is a thousand times better on me than the pine in Geek. The dry stages most reminded me of a lighter version of Yggdrasil. I do like the leather clinging tight to me, but I wish the amber and musk were slightly stronger. I'll continue to try this and see if it grows on me in the dry stages.

[sophia_helix]

I sniffed this and went "Here, you try it" at my husband, because it's so clearly a men's scent. It was straight-up leather on him, and then turned into pretty generic, soapy cologne. Too bad, the notes list was good, but I don't think amber or cedar works on him.

[mountainwitch]

Wonderful smoke, leather, and woods. These are a few of my favorite things . . . And this blend smells great. It is not feminine, but it doesn't scream manliness (weirdly enough, my skin usually needs lavender and citrus for that).

 

Wearing it, I don't feel "pretty," or even "seductive" . . . If this fragrance is sexy, it's sexy because it's so damn confident. I feel like a gunslinger striding into a dark western town. I need boots, and a duster, and tavern doors swinging shut behind me while dust swirls in the wind. My boots stalk across the wooden floorboards, spurs clinking, as I meet the beady eyes of a nervous bartender. The poker players glance over at me suspiciously as I order whiskey in a dirty glass . . .

 

Um, yeah. I think this is a keeper.

[Aevalin]

As soon as I read the description of this one, I knew I was going to have to procure some for the hubby. I love smoky musky leather smells - fortunately so does he ! The love affair began when I received a sniff of Doc in a swap. I sniffed it and was really impressed at how Beth could get the smell of smoky leather in a bottle. But I had to get it to pass the husband test - B. smelled it and gave his approval, even though he doubted me because of the leather bit. It's now become one of his favourites to wear - and quite likely my favourite scent on him. It's masculine without smacking of cologne, it just smells like a man. A manly man.

 

If only we could get more men wearing this and less men wearing that stupid Axe or Tag body spray the world would be a better place...or at the very least the men would smell better

[Naamah_Darling]

Musk backed with resin and clean greenery, dirtied with the promise of leather and amber.

 

This is very incense-like, actually, a deep, throaty, masculine scent that's equal parts masculine swagger and elegance. It has a smoky, rich darkness to it, a woody heaviness, that's only barely lightened by the crisp scent of crushed fir needles. The leather is a masculine, meaty throb way down in there, all bound up with the smoke.

 

This is incredibly manly, unmistakeably; manly enough to the point that even if a woman were to wear it, it would smell like she was wearing her husband's cologne.

 

The drydown is that smoky, murky wood note that I find so frustrating; it seems to steal the distinction from a lot of my favorite scents after only a few minutes. As it ages . . . pencil shavings. Yeah.

 

F***.

 

The pencil-shaving smell lingers for far too long, sitting nastily on top of the other notes. It winds up a gorgeous and rather arcane blend of smoke, spiced musk, and the darkest, tarriest amber resin.

 

It's the cedar that does this one in for me, which is too bad, since the final phase is so very cool.

[moon_lemming]

This blend is hot. Totally not me, but hot and super-masculine. The woods do exactly what I thought they'd do and amp unbearably, but the musk tames them after a few minutes. The leather peeks through just the tiniest smidge.

 

Not at all something I can pull off, but damn if I don't want to smell it on a man. (And by "man," I mean MAN, not boy; on a "boy" this would smell poser-iffic.)

 

Don't get me wrong, I think the right woman could pull this off as well, I'm just not her.

[stardreamer]

This goes on very sharp, with the cedar much to the fore. As it dries down, the smoky note and the fir come out strongly... and there it stops. No musk, no amber, no leather. It's reminiscent of Dee, and distinctly inferior to Quincy Morris. And it sounded so promising, but this is like being in a softwood forest, and not in a good way. I'll give this one another chance or two, but unless I get a better balance, it's a swap.

 

ETA, June 2007: The next couple of times I tried it, it went all "grandmothery" on me. Definitely a swap.

Edited June 19, 2007 by stardreamer

[Dymphna]

In the imp: Dark, heavy leather with a citrus-y men's cologne note.

 

Wet: The same, a balancing act between the two. There's something that smells like tobacco, too--the cedar smoke? I'm starting to smell the fir needle, and I definitely smell the black amber, which is giving it a slightly more feminine feeling, albeit a heavy, powdery one.

 

Dry: No, this ends up smelling like a grandpa cologne on me. The citrus-y scent from the beginning is gone, but so is almost everything else. All that's left are the leather and heavy, powdery black amber. Then, about an hour on, it's all woodsy. A cross between delicious real woods (live trees) and the dreaded pencil shavings. Bummer.

 

I tried this on my husband and it smelled so much better on him, all leather and musk with a bit of amber. I'll have to try it on him again at some point and, if he likes it, we'll order a bottle for him. I'm gradually building a little collection for him.

[Voleuse]

Oooh. On first sniff, this is evergreen and musk, light but very masculine to my nose. As it dries, the blend turns to smoke and evergreen, clean, with a bit of leather. Unfortunately for me, the smoke eventually turns acrid, overwhelming the rest of the notes. Not a match with my chemistry, alas.

[Scylla]

I should have learned my lesson about black amber by now. Blends that have it just never work on me. Black amber amps like crazy with my chemistry and gets very sharp and powdery. But, of course, I couldn't resist the bottle because it had Brian's likeness on it.

 

I pretty much knew it wouldn't work on me, but I thought that it would be a good blend for my husband. NOPE. He put on some Doc Constantine before we went to my cousin's birthday party and while we were in the car our daughter said "Why does it smell like old ladies in here?"

 

And you know what....she was right!

[cranberry]

In the bottle this smells of amber, leather and musk. Amazing. Once applied it smells even better. There a hint of evergreen overlain with the amber, leather and musk. There’s smoke but this is mainly amber and leather. This scent is very masculine but works just as well on a woman. This is such a sexy scent. Mind blowing sex kind of a scent. It stays soft, close to the skin. This is a scent for lovers and maybe even flirtations. You need to be close to catch it. It really would smell amazing on a man. If a man smelled like this I’d have to be very careful. I love this scent.

[Teggy]

The more I wear this scent, the more I like it. On me, it's mostly leahter/cedar. It's not really what I would choose for a "sexy" scent for myself, but on the right guy it would be fabulous.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Slinky sexy man. (And no, I’m not talking specifically about Brian. ) There’s a weird disconnect going on with my nose and this scent. The leather is really subtle – my usual experience with leather scents is that they come screaming LEATHER out of the bottle – but even though it doesn’t overwhelm the rest of the blend, it’s still the only note I can make out.

 

Wearing: It’s decidedly masculine, and as always the leather amps on my skin. There are some manly blends I can get away with, but sadly, Doc isn’t one of them.

[edenssixthday]

Doc Constantine - The only note in this blend that ever works on me is leather, and that’s hit-and-miss. Still, I was hoping perhaps this would be one of the magical blends that makes no sense as to why it’s so amazing on me. Rather, it comes across as a fairly generic men’s cologne scent on me. The musk give it a strange, almost-tangy, feral quality and the smoke and fir blend into the background behind the musk. The amber is deep and woody, and the leather deepens, darkens, and thickens the entire scent. It’s highly masculine and not something I’d ever wear again. I think it would take a special kind of guy to pull this off, too. It’s just too … I don’t know. It’s too something. It reminds me of a “Seattle grunge” type guy meets Wyoming cowboy. It’s a strange one.

[kuanyin]

I can only wish that Doc smelled on me like the descriptions here. I love woody scents, but on me all I get is pencil shavings! Oh well, wins some loses some. I would have adored the addl. notes, though....

[forspecial_plate]

I had very high expectations of Doc Constantine...maybe I was setting myself up to be disappointed. *[see edit!]

 

Basically...it smells good, but doesn't captivate me like I was expecting it to. I do like woods and smoke, and the other notes sounded wonderful to me. Up close, I can smell cedar strongly, with the other notes lurking behind. The throw is better....musky, woody, a little leather.....smells good. Somehow, though, I was expecting more. I'm still on the fence, so I will let this age and try it again. I think I wanted something more like Geek. It's okay, though....there are already so many CD scents that I love....I'm glad I can let this one go and prioritize the others that I do want so much.

 

*Edit: This is another blend that has grown on me a whole lot since I first reviewed it. As usual, once I got past my expectations, I was able to appreciate this scent for what it is. Also I think setting it aside for a few days helped...the strong cedar has backed off a lot, and I'm picking up more of the other notes. Smokey, woodsy, sexy.....this reminds me a little bit of Dee. It's good stuff.

Edited March 5, 2007 by Forspecial Plate

[merivelle]

I was hesitant about getting this scent for fear that it would be too masculine. However, I am loving it now! It really grows on you. The cedar is the strongest and it almost has a peppery after taste. I can't smell the leather at all. This one is worth checking out.

[Em-]

This is a musky cedar on me...I wore it the first time last fall on a day when we went walking through the woods and I remember thinking that Doc smelled much like the pine needles that carpeted the path we were wandering. It was a wonderful connection in my mind...

 

Doc is almost too masculine for me...it teeters on the fence. On my husband, he fits like a glove.

[Analise]

In the bottle: definitely a masculine scent. I'm a little afraid to try it on my skin but...here goes!

 

Wet, on skin: still very masculine, but I like the tree smell.

 

On the drydown: getting the leather now, but it's not like OMG I'M LEATHER! which I like. It's really a nice scent but I don't think I'd wear it.

[flco]

I'm sitting here, wearing it, wondering why I haven't reviewed it already--it's everything I wished Jolly Roger was on me, too bad it's an LE. On my skin, it starts out really sharp, and it stays that way for 15 minutes. But then it dries down to a musky spicy leather scent. It's masculine, but I love it anyway. Just, now I know to wait a little while before heading out with it on.

Edited April 17, 2007 by FlyingCoffin

[Jilara]

I do well with masculine scents, and this one is no exception. Which is good, because I had a few misgivings that this might not be a scent that would work on me. But I figured I could always give it to one of the guys I know.

 

In the bottle - mostly smokey, a hint of wood

Wet: woodsmoke! with something tart and undefinable in the background.

Drydown: woodsmoke and wood, and still that odd tartness, almost like grapefruit, in the background.

Dry: wow, this is one I just want to keep sniffing! Woodsmoke and leather, with woodiness lurking in the background. It makes me think of camping with the Mountain Men. Definitely a keeper!