Caliban

[Monster]

The scent of the salty seas, bittersweet wine, palm and tropical ferns.

In the imp: A warm tropical scent. Like a hot breeze.

Wet: Wow...well I'll be darned, it's an aquatic scent I think I might like! This is a fresh burst of rain-soaked tropical plants. The "salty sea" note is pretty incredible. This really does an amazing job creating the image of lush palm trees outside a little bungalow next to the ocean. I'm sipping wine and soaking up the sun. I can hear the waves crashing in the background and the birds calling out overhead.

Dry: The dry stage of this smells like salt encrusted skin warmed by the sun. This is clean (but not soapy), very very mildy floral smelling and just lovely.

Overall: A really nice "fresh" scent I can see myself wearing a lot these summer months. Beautiful! Edited July 12, 2009 by Monster

[hkhm]

imp: wet, sharp greens. not the usual sort of aquatic scent.

 

wet: this has an almost bitter aquatic scent once it hits my skin, but the greenery part keeps it from being unpleasant. it is very sharp though. the greenery almost has a faint grassy feel.

 

dry: this is very nice once dry, the aquatic is faint, the greenery is lush and there is almost a faint whiff of tobacco. i think i'd like to test this on my husband.

[Victory]

First on, and until the oil is dry, Caliban smells to me of murky water. I'd put the oil on without reading the notes, and when I go back to read the notes I think, "what? No murk, no swamp, no nothing? What?" Maybe the other notes muddied the water up, but I didn't smell any wine at all, and the scent didn't smell so much of living ferns (especially tropical) and palms so much as stagnant water with decaying vegetation. As the oil dried, the murkiness lessened, and the scent became cleaner and brighter and sweeter. There was an almost floral sweetness to it that I couldn't place. When totally dry, the scent is a clean aquatic, although it's faint. Even with my nose smushed to my arm it's faint. It's like Caliban was laboring on the island doing Prospero's bidding, slopping through swamps and mud, then winning his freedom and washing it all off, and finally relaxing on his island alone, with a faint sea breeze cooling him.

[heathercaley]

Once applied, it's green, without being "grassy". It's got that salty sweet quality to it. For some reason, I get a floral note floating around, making it sharp. It almost wants to go out of control, however it's being held in check by the salty air. No wine really.. just sea air, and sweet green tree's and ferns. It's not really me, but it's evocative of an island paradise, so I'll keep this baby around when I want to imagine a vacation.

[Venneh]

In the imp, I definitely get the salty seas and bitter wine aspect of this. On me, it's green and salt; very manny, not for me. Swaps.

[Balame]

In the Imp: Whoa, GREEN. Like "let me slap you in the nose with a palm tree" green. It reminds me of tropical shampoo somewhat. Which is not necessarily bad or good for the time being.

 

Wet: This is sooo light. I mean, quite nice, but not at all like I expected it to be from the description. I can imagine fresh cut grass and bright ferns, the cool breeze on a sunny day... we are talking about Caliban, the sort of dingy fish monster traitorous slave creature, right? Because. Yeah. This is NOT him.

 

Dry: I feel like I can smell a hint of a pale floral - maybe gardenia? Refreshing. But seriously people, what the heck? Smelling this I think of little girls in white dresses dancing through the sands of a perfect beach, not a schizophrenic Shakespeare beast. And don't get me wrong, I really like Caliban, he rocks. I think I'm still just stunned at how different this is than what I thought it would be.

 

Verdict: Uhm. Think of lovely, vibrant plants with dewy leaves and cheery buds sprouting on a picturesque summer's day. It's very lovely, but for a darkish, unorthodox non-girly girl me, it's sort of like, "RAAH, WHY?? THE LIGHT!!"

 

Rating: 3/5

Edited December 6, 2009 by Balame

[angelicruin]

Wet on the skin, tropical aquatic plant. The more it dries, the saltier it smells. Very green scent.

[Sunscorched]

I opened the imp and oooh! Pretty smell!

 

Another aquatic smell that's settled nicely on my skin. It reminds me of Lightening in the sense that it brings to mind water and sea and all things mariney. It's more tepid than Lightening and less warm, yet clearer and more green. The image that springs to mind is one of those fresh water pools surrounded by soft grass in the middle of Med.

 

Like Lightening, I'll be keeping an imp on hand, but won't be buying a bottle.

[Amoraexcena]

Imp: fresh shiso. I get a bit of lemon zest, and the salty aquatic note.

Wet on Skin: it mellows a little. It reminds me a little of a saltier version of Davidoff Cool Water.

Drydown: I think I’m getting a bit of jasmine coming out as well as a light musk. Beautiful layers of notes, a nice gender-neutral fresh aquatic.

[impolight]

What a deep, deep scent!

Right away there is an aquamarine color to the olfactory spectrum, as though infering the ocean's waters surrounding a tropical isle.The image, in fact, is so distinct, it's pretty difficult to focus on what the botanical contributions may or may not be, and without the description from the site handy, will be a leap of blind faith indeed.

Orchids would be reasonable to suppose, right along with palm fronds and... Cypress? The marine note would seem to implicate the Lab's ozone added to this formula... They all blend together nicely!

Now that it has been applied to a pulse point, this almost adopts tobacco and leather facets... Really quite nice!This could be the signature fragrance for the owner of a tropical retreat. Refreshing and masculine...

This could emerge as a fave easily!

My, how the Lab works wonders with the essences they gather... The Bard would be honored to have such skilled interpretation & representation.

[DeltaCat]

Very green on with a slight aquatic. This is great. Most aquatics go super heavy on with me but this one is nice. No salty air though, which is a slight bummer.

[Deiicide]

The wood and Salty notes immediately leap out when wet, almost to my nose there is a soft depth of a dirt note but as it starts to dry the salty and the palm notes are tempered by a sweet wine note in the background, not quite as bittersweet as it mentions in the description. After it dries, it seems to loose it's throw very well and sink deep within the skin. The scent completely disappeared in only 30 minutes. I like the idea, and the blend very much but it sinks too fast onto my skin and disappears. There are other GC blends that last much longer on me.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Warm, wet, green, murky.

 

Wearing: It’s tropical, but without the usual fruits and flowers – just a huge tangle of green and monsoon rains. I like it more than I expected to.

[voorishsign]

Was frimped this . . . right after I placed a Lab order including an imp of it Such is life sometimes. Well, it's still good, because I know somebody who wants to try it, alternately, if I really love it, I would definitely want two imps

 

In the imp - tropical is right! Tropical and green. The greenery of palm and fern with the depth of wine and a hint of salt.

 

On wet - very, very nice! This continues with the tropical greenery and a whiff of distant wine. I hope there will be more water as this dries.

 

Drydown - oh, crumbs. No water, just more greenery. It swiftly takes on a sort of swampy aspect too, very murky, where I expected clean aquatic like a spray of seawater. Green and aquatic but no saltwater and no wine. It's nice, but nothing to write home about.

[aquazoo]

Nice green herb scent! The salt works with it. Really nice masculine green.

 

[undream]

i went into this one blind, and oh my god. i love this oil as much for the imagery that it evokes for me as for the incredible scent of it. i swiped some on before heading to bed (i usually read for an hour or two before finally falling asleep!), and oh my heart; i could not keep my nose out of the crook of my arm.

 

caliban immediately made me think of lying down upon the forest floor during a gentle midnight rainstorm. it is sharp, wet, leafy and . . . not dirty, but there is a definite feeling of wet soil in there. i briefly thought i was smelling cedar; it had the same masculine cologne type scent that cedar sometimes gives me, but it was brief and even still somehow more complex & lovely than what i usually get from the more masculine scents.

 

it changed somewhat over time, becoming a little dusty, a little more dirt-y (in the cleanest, most lovely way imaginable) and there was something in there that was almost sweet or floral (the wine? i'm thinking), but it never entirely lost that dark, beautiful aquatic feel, and just UNHH. love. LOVE.

 

i think i might need a big bottle of this, for sure.

Edited July 8, 2010 by undream

[Argentwolf]

The aquatic component here has a tepid feel to it; it is a lot like coming up to a small inland pond after a very, very hot day, and feeling refreshed as you slip into it, even though the water is warm from the stored up heat of the day. The grasses and fronds are finally breathing a sigh of relief as the sun sets, and somewhere, underneath your favorite tree, you've left a flask of palm wine to sit and enjoy after your soak.

 

Much like Ile de Tortue and Jezirat al Tannyn, this tropical island scent has a very evocative quality to it. Each of these scents tells a different story, but they're each wonderful to contemplate.

 

My only complaint is that it doesn't last very long. Much like a stolen moment of relaxation after a long day, this bit of reverie is brief.

[voodoobaby]

Upon first applying, I got the aquatics plus some pretty smelling plants and a bright, fruity wine. Wow...this is really nice. It's a pretty, clean aquatic. I sniffed some more and found that one of the plant smells was a tropical floral of some type. I don't know what, but I think it might have been in Pele. I'm usually not a floral fan, but mixed with the greens and aquatics, it really is lovely. As it sits on the skin it does smell a little murkier, but for the most part, it's not bitter, unpleasant or masculine smelling hardly at all. I think either sex could wear this, but it might be more at home on a woman.

[captainecchi]

This oil is a light gold in the imp. Sniffing it, all I can say is "aquatic." Very generic in that regard.

 

As I start to put it on, and continuing into the drydown, it gains a strong floral note. This is a lot more feminine than what I would expect from a blend called Caliban, honestly! I would have guessed a white floral, like lily, but that must be the palm or fern note. I agree with whoever compared this to dryer sheets. Very nice dryer sheets! But dryer sheets nonetheless. I get absolutely no wine out of this - very disappointing, since I'm thinking that's the reason I selected this imp. (Or maybe it was a frimp. Don't remember!)

 

This seems to have almost no throw, even moments after putting it on. I expect this on to fade quickly into nothingness.

 

Verdict: 2 out of 5.

Edited January 15, 2011 by CaptainEcchi

[LightLikeKnives]

It's sweet and woodsy without being musky. I don't get the 'damp earth' smell that others have got, except as a part of the overall woodsiness. The sweetness is barely there at first, and nowhere as near as flowery as some other colognes (I'm thinking of Le Male in particular), but after the drydown it shows up more with a little tang of soapiness. It has a mature, muscular, expansive kind of feel, with a dash of refinement, yet it's not an olfactory assault. It lasts 12+ hours on me, and gets mad props for uniqueness. It doesn't smell like anything else out there. I'd class it as a woodsy marine.

 

Update:

I've tried other marines since writing this and Caliban has this weird heavy not-exactly-fresh note to it that I've found doesn't go well over time. I think part of my initial review was due to some lingering effects of the Antikytheria Mechanism; Caliban is just a little too marine for me, I'm afraid.

Edited April 19, 2011 by LightLikeKnives

[JasminDreams2010]

I really like this scent, but it's not for women, IMO. This scent is "all man" on me, I usually only wear very feminine scents. This one was not me at all- it smelled like a boy fresh out of the shower. Would be perfect for a boyfriend or a girl who is a little more "butch" to wear for a clean smell. I didn't like smelling myself and feeling like a dude- but I have a guy friend that played Caliban very impressively two summers ago, I may give it to him because it does somehow seem to fit the character and he did such a nice job

[lavenderfrost]

In The Imp: Very sharp and green - almost overwhelming. I'm guessing I'm smelling the ferns.

 

Immediate Application: Stays sharp and green for a minute or two, then the O HEY FERN HOW YA DOIN recedes, making way for the lovely salty aquatic. I'm sure the wine is there somewhere, but I mostly smell the sea air and greenery. It's definitely masculine, and...oh, wow. I'll be in my bunk. O_O;;

 

30-45 Minutes Later: Good staying power, though it definitely gets more subtle.

 

Mental Image:

 

It's not quite Jack or Will - you'd have to replace the wine with rum for them. It's more of a seabound-gentleman blend, so definitely pre-piratical!Norrington. Fresh, yet slightly sweaty - just enough for an 'Mmmm...skiiiin...' smell, rather than reeking b/o. Burying your face in his neck and sniffing as you get his jacket off, and...

 

Err, yeah. Bunk. BRB.

 

Verdict: Keeping for hypothetical future bf. It's my favorite of the mens' scents that I've tried thus far. It's every attractive gentleman by the sea ever. Ironic, considering the Shakespeare character it's named for.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Ugh! Salty and bitter!

 

On skin: This is triggering my gag reflex. I've never smelled a scent that's so salty and bitter; it must be the combination of that bitter (rancid?) wine and the dark, tropical greenery. In fact, this scent experience is very much akin to eating semi-raw, bitter, green vegetables. Now, I love my veggies, but that is not a good experience in my books.

 

Verdict: In a word, NO. Caliban is thoroughly unpleasant. I endured him just once for this review, and now the imp is going straight to the Swaps box and will not be missed.

[karykeion]

Another frimp! This is perhaps my favorite out of all the ones I've tested so far. For one, I really enjoyed The Tempest, and for another, I love the ocean, but so few "ocean" scents actually smell like it. When I put it on the first time, I was overjoyed to find that I actually smelled like beach!

 

In the imp: Oh wow. Plants, ocean air, and WOW, SUP THERE WINE. Iiiiiiinteresting.

 

On me, wet: BEACH! The "sea air" part is absolutely gorgeous and dead-on, the plants are nice and lush and exactly how seaside plants smell, and the wine just hangs around enough to bring the sweetness.

 

On me, dry: The marine notes don't stay as perfectly evocative of sea air as they are to begin with, but they do what they did in Lightning, where I can actually taste the salt in my mouth after the drydown, which is just as great. I think the sweetness of the wine mixes with the plants to give it a sort of sweet, subtle woody/green background.

 

 

I have finally found a legit beach scent and I think I might need a bottle of it.

[symbiosis]

Caliban:

 

In the imp: there is something deep about this smell. It's not super fruity, or floral, but I feel like it is something I might naturally smell standing on a tropical island.

 

On skin: Ahhhh, GREEN! There you are! I smell like I just rolled around on a bed of palm fronds, laced with sweet ferns. The wine stays in the background for me, adding that small touch of spice and fruit that keep this smell from turning to grass. The saltiness blends everything together nicely, this is definitely a nice summertime scent. I can almost imagine myself at the beach...