The Isles of Demons

[Lit Chick]

Twin islands near Newfoundland, now lost, that were believed to be gateways to Hell. The scent is of wet, dark greenery, carnivorous flowers, volcanic gas, and the hot black musk of the demons and wild beasts that populated the islands.

This was a frimp, and I tried it without knowing the notes at all.
It's not my usual thing, but it's pretty nice. Oddly, on me it is a sunny clean scent with depth. There's a fruitiness which is probably the tropical greens, and something goes a touch soapy when I really huff away at my wrist. I'm intrigued by it. It could be a nice break from my truly clean scents, because there is that little bit something off - but off in a nice way.

[Esatres]

So I got out of my organic chemistry laboratory, ate some dinner, and picked up my BPAL package. Lab had frimped me with Isle of Demons.

 

Upon initial sniff, it was a nice, inoffensive soapy smell. Kinda generic.

Upon drying on the skin, I swear, it smelled like soap and benzoic acid. I know the "benzoic acid smell" since I had just done a lab with the stuff. it's kinda acrid (ash, maybe?), but still....soapy.

 

Soapy benzoic acid.

Not something I want to smell like.

To swaps it goes.

[Extispex]

I was pretty intrigued by the idea of a volcanic gas note, I'm just hoping its not sulphuric or anything. In the bottle, I smell nothing of the sort - just lush tropical flowers. The kind of scent that portends soapiness on my skin.

 

Wet on my skin, it gets pretty sharp actually. A kind of smoky spiciness wafts through the floral canopy. Wow, this is really nice, but there's a hint of something that almost makes me want to sneeze, something slightly dry - but not powdery.

 

I don't get a huge amount of musk from this - just enough to add a warmth to the scent. Nor do I get a lot of greenery. A very heady and lush scent.

 

The dry-down is very pretty, and thankfully never goes soapy, but its still mostly floral on me, and the sharpness that made it so interesting during the wet-stage is gone. If it had stayed the same as it smelled wet, it would have been bottle material for sure, but alas, in the long run it becomes a lovely, somewhat unusual floral, but not unusual enough to justify a 5ml purchase.

 

Then again... damn this just keeps morphing on me. One moment, nice floral, the next, a piercing bite of smoke. When I sniff this, there's a sense of something sharp and pointy barrelling into my sinuses first, chased by flowers.

 

Yes yes.....

 

No... no....

 

I don't know.

 

More testing is in order for this one I guess.

[bulletslc]

Not quite sure how I feel about this one yet.

 

This sticks extremely close to my skin....almost NO throw.

 

I get kind of a sweet, green scent with an ozone overlay.

 

Ick! Its turning into toilet bowl cleaner!

 

Nope, not for me!!

[The_Merf]

In the imp: An interesting combination of musk, a note that reminds me of "volcanic" and the wet greens. The wetness is particularly strong.

 

Wet: At first the wet greens with floral is strong, but then the musk and the "volcanic" note become stronger. This has actually turned out better than I thought it would; I was worried about the wet green notes.

 

Drydown and wear: This actually has a bit of a resinous quality on my skin and there is just the slightest hint of floral...I really enjoy this and will hold the imp.

[funkmoppet]

Okay, my skin is officially whack today.

 

Or the "volcanic gas" note in this is some kind of resin that my temperamental outer layer is miraculously prepared to accommodate.

 

Wonderful start wet. Green, woody and sharp. That masculine edge that I love.

 

Drying down, it was threatening to go to doom-powder. It began to get that dusty, floral warning smell, and I almost washed it off...except then it went away. Whuh?

 

The musk pushes through, and some of the flowers. It's light and gentle and very languid. I may well return to edit this if it finally does succumb to the resin, but so far so good.

 

If it holds, I'll hang onto this imp. The musk is good.

 

ETA: Ooookay, now it's going into a completely new "toilet cleaner" territory. Bleh. Away with ye, imp!

Edited July 7, 2007 by funkmoppet

[rainbow]

I agree with everyone else that I'm definitely getting the scent of some kind of jungle hothouse here, but mine seems to be a bit different than anyone else's. I don't get any kind of vegetation notes- no green, no tropical flowers. Instead, I'm getting a sort of hot, steamy environment- rocks, and I can smell the volcanic gasses too. It's not unpleasant, but definitely an unusual scent, and one that definitely evokes an environment. I probably won't be getting a big bottle of this, but the imp is fun to play with.

[Medici]

In the imp: Musk and wet leaaves.

 

Wet: Musk and playdoh. Very light, faintly floral.

 

Drydown: Soapy floral. Everything else disappears behind a touch of greenery and something that reminds me of the way lotus behaves on my skin. The throw is barely there, I have to put my nose right up against my wrist to smell it.

 

Verdict: Not enough of a kick for me, I'm afraid.

[Miseraya]

In the imp: Something sour and an aquatic note.

 

On the wrist: Djinn with an aquatic note. Soapy Djinn with an aquatic note. Floral notes, Djinn, soap, and an aquatic note.

 

Drydown: None. Washed it off and swapped it.

[MaidenGenevive]

The Isle of Demons

 

First impression in the vial is: wow, green. Very green, and wet, like fresh cut plants. I apply lightly, fearing the florals, only to soon realize this isn't an overpowering scent, so I apply a bit more. This is fresh. Fresh and bright, with greens and light florals. The florals are fragrant, but not dominating. This is a lovely and invigorating scent.

 

As it wears, it mellows. Some musk arises, although it's not heavy. It's less invigorating and more soothing now. Still lovely.

 

[1 - Hate] .. [2 - Dislike] .. [3 - Like] .. [4 - Really Like] .. [5 - Love]

 

4 / 5 : While this isn't a straight up floral, this is one of the better florals I've tried yet. I think that's because it's more layered and complex, which I like.

[Miss Lynx]

As others have commented, this is quite a "green" scent. Very strongly herbal, though with floral overtones as well. The musk seems to be more of a gentle background presence, giving it a bit more warmth and depth than it would otherwise have.

 

The idea of volcanic gas in a scent kind of worried me, and indeed when freshly applied there's an unmistakable whiff of the dreaded ozone note, which makes anything it appears in smell like cheap drugstore perfume or air freshener to me. But thankfully, the ozone presence is fairly light, and fades quickly.

 

The remainder of the scent is not bad at all -- a fairly nice herbal-floral, not too sweet, but more like a regular perfume than you might think from the description. It could probably work on either gender, depending on skin chemistry, though on me the florals stand out a bit more than they probably would on other people (my skin loves to amp florals).

 

Haven't yet decided if it's a keeper or not -- it's certainly likable enough, once the ozone note fades, but it's not all that exciting or distinctive, and these days I have so much BPAL that my standards for what I'll keep are a little higher than they once were.

 

Grade: B

 

ETA: Wow, I just noticed (from the points total) that this is my 444th review! I do have a life, really I do...

Edited October 2, 2007 by Miss Lynx

[grrrlennyl]

at first: pine and flowers.

on: an odd, hot note and lots of musk.

1 hour later: a very soft, slightly powdery, sweet floral. very lush and pretty.

5.5 hours later: a sweet, powdery floral with a hint of something dark.

overall: very pretty.

[Rheliwen]

Initially, this is like lemon cleanser with a soapy undertone. I did not like this phase much and was set to write it off...but I was wrong!

 

It dries down to sweet, wet florals, musk, and an ashy undertone. It does smell interesting and the lemon bite is all but absorbed into the florals.

 

It's surprisingly creamy and fluffy despite the angry notes.

 

After this has been on for several hours, it has dried down to what I think is champaca.

Edited October 11, 2007 by Rheliwen

[JennyGardener]

As I set foot on the island, a soft floral smell engulfs me. It makes me drowsy with its gentle beauty. But then the demons jump out! Sharp, musky, and sulfuric, they are filling me with dangerous thoughts of lust and an edge of fear. I face them head on, and then they slip away, leaving me breathless and muddled on the sand.

 

I really want to try this one as a night time scent. I think it will take me to interesting places.

[hkhm]

imp: wet greenery. i can't place any specific notes this just smells like lush, wet greenery.

 

wet: yum! fruity florals and wet greenery. i can't get even a whiff of musk here (which is odd as it's usually the first thing i smell). this is really nice!

 

dry: this just stays as a fruity floral. i think i'm gonna get a bottle or two of this one. quite sweet and feminine smelling.

[Gwydion]

This is a pretty pleasant little floral. I'm betting one of those carnivorous plants is violet. The musk and the floral elements blend pretty well, though this isn't striking me as particularly demonic.

[Honeygirl]

Bottle:Green

 

Wet: Green and soapy, some floral

 

Drydown: This is not for me. I don't pick out anything I would describe as volcanic gas, which I was hoping to get.

3.0 outta 5

[alicia_stardust]

THE ISLE OF DEMONS

 

This is lush, earthy. It has a sharp green edge that's makes me think of very thick, dense foliage in a wild forest. There is a stone-like, gaseous ozone sitting over this and a touch of sweet but biting florals. This is dead on! I love the natural wildness and chaos of this scent.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

this is truly nothing like what i was expecting!

 

impsniff: reminds me of LUSH's Jungle conditioner (which i'm not too keen on the smell of)

 

on skin: i can see the "greenery" but it isn't a grassy, herbal-y, forest-y or floral sort of green. almost more chemical than anything (like Simple Green), i'm sure there's musk giving everything a solid base, but i can't smell it...there is a Rappaccini's Garden sort of floral-ish-ness (like A.sphodel, Bell.adonna, Black Hell.ebore, Death Cap, Des.troying Angel or Man.drake - possibly Shadow Witch Orchid)

 

overall, this seems like something i would like, but for some reason i don't.

[suileach]

In the vial: Lush tropical flowers and humidity.

 

On me: ...Lush tropical flowers and tires.

 

For the first 10 minutes l really didn't like this - neither tires nor flowers are high on my list of things I want to smell like, and the throw was incredibly strong.

 

And yet, for some strange reason, I began to enjoy the scent after it calmed down a bit. Despite the fact that it still smelled of tires. I think maybe it has the same olfactory appeal to me that 'new car smell' and permanent markers have.

[CrazyPretzel]

Total heartbreaker.

 

When I uncapped the imp, this was so drop-dead gorgeous I think it actually made me moan. Really pure, lush, hot, jungle scent. I swear there was a great rush of humid air to accompany it.

 

And it kept the scent on my skin...for only a few minutes until it dried. There was a brief flowery phase, and then: WTF? MINT? Suddenly it's a cold and slightly soggy scent. What the hell happened?

 

Guess I''ll have to stick to Bayou for my humid scent.

[tinyvulture]

i smell a ton of jasmine, combined with heady tropical flowers. i’m not picking up anything that strikes me as “volcanic gas”. no greenery or smoke, either. it’s a lush, heavy floral scent -- reminds me of new orleans or bayou, only i like this a lot better. i think it’s the black musk that i love. it adds a layer of lovely warmth and sweetness.

[zankoku_zen]

Jungle time! Seriously, this smells like musky animals, warm and damp green foliage and exotic flowers. For me, what is missing is the smattering of dirt. Other than that, it's hot, musky with a huge floral overdrapping theme that isn't overwhelming.

 

Too musky for me, but it was fun.

[septima_pica]

Octopod: Ooooo. Starts off sweet, dark, and ominous. I like it. It's edging on soapiness, but not quite hitting it. The musk is behaving itself too. This smells oddly old-fashioned somehow, I'm not sure why. A scent of heavy, sweet, wet, smoky tropical flowers. I actually like this a lot, even though I can't smell the volcanic gas and igneous rocks I was hoping for. Hmm. We'll see how I like this after my cold's gone, but for now it's a keeper.

[Suu4LC]

This wasn't as ominous smelling in the imp as the description would lead you to believe! No volcanic gas here! Just a green, musky smell. Almost like a less floral Dragon's Blood. Interesting.

 

Gah. On my skin it is a sour smoky smell. Maybe that's the volcanic gas! Kind of a thick, smoky, green smell. Almost makes my eyes water a bit. Almost like being in an oppressive kind of humidity.

 

It dries into something very meh though. Definitely not reminiscent of the image it is supposed to invoke. Sort of a smoky green floral dragon's blood type blend. Nothing special, and definitely not something I would want to wear.