The Isles of Demons

[gchris]

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.

In Vial: Darkly sweet, kind of strong

Wet: Gets strong, a little piercing from the greenery, but something else smells very nice and mellow. The lovliness that I smell I am almost positive its floral. In the background I am getting the tiniest bit of smoke.

Drydown: This is now mild and sweet. Not really what I was expecting from its namesake. This is very pleasant and feminine floral.

[savage_rose]

I had to try this twice, because I could not believe what I was smelling. I don't smell volcanoes, or lush jungle...just a sort of thin, sweet perfumed soap smell. Not bad, but not great either. Sigh.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Dark green herbal smell (and I don’t know if it’s the power of suggestion, but also with a hint of sulphur)

 

Wet on me – Green bitter herbs with a soapy edge

 

Dry on me – Green and warm and slightly sweet

 

Overall – It dries down better than I would have expected, but it’s really not for me

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: A deep golden oil. Flowers, leaves, spice and smoke. Slightly sweet, yes even a little musky. Planty, for lack of a better word, in sort of the same general way that Scorpio 07 is. It does have a lush, tropical feel.

 

Wet: Sweeter, hotter. A somewhat sharp green note is growing, unfurling. The smoky-spicy note is gritty (much like in Brimstone) - suitably evoking the 'ash' sentiment. There is a soapy floral here, and a hefty dose of heady ylang-ylang. I suspect sandalwood is providing the heat.

 

Dry: Dries slowly. I do think that soapy floral is jasmine, but it's bit overwhelmed by the ylang-ylang. The green note is gentler and fainter...if I had to take a wild stab, I'd say something like tea tea oil. That smoky darkness, I'd guess vetiver, stays low too. The musk has amped, and is lovely a back musk always is on me, but with the sweet ylang-ylang in concert, I'm a bit overwhelmed.

 

Later: There's plumeria or frangipani in here - I always get these two confused - which adds to the tropical feel and at this point, makes the blend mostly flowers and musk and sandalwood. Greenery? Smoky vetiver? Gone.

 

Summary: Sweet, tropical flowers with soapy jasmine and heady ylang ylang, dark sexy musk, and hot, dry sandalwood. Despite the dryness of the sandalwood, this feels more humid. Extremely evocative, but not my type of scent. Powerful throw and longevity.

[carrickfergus]

Subtle and smokey -- subtle is the key. It's an undertone of fire and ash, warm and melodic, not at all ash-tray smelling.

[stillalive]

I got this as a frimp from another user, or else I probably never would have sniffed it. In the bottle it was a bit floral-y and green, with a little darkness... I guess it reminded me of Faiza a little. It faded to nothingness in under 5 minutes, but is that really surprising to anyone who knows my scent-eating body? Interesting scent, to say the least.

[Brianne]

This is much less smoky/dark green than I was expecting and is more sweet musk and resins. It has a golden overtone to it with the slightest hint of a smoky quality. It's very pleasant and smooth and I think is a good "all purpose" scent (work, play, nights out, male or female, etc).

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Green vegetation and musk

 

On Application

Strong musk!

 

Dry Down

The florals manage to make an appearance behind the musk in the first few minutes of the drydown, ylang ylang most prominently. Thankfully, everything tones down fairly quickly. Occasionally, I get wafts of the volcanic gases. Lush.

 

Rating (0-5)

4

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Musk and slightly bitter resins.

 

Immediately on skin: This is ashy and musky with a subtle incense or resinous sweetness to it. There’s this very far off light pine note as well, or maybe some very light herbs.

 

After a little while: This changes to an ashy, dark, smoky blend with a very fruity light floral note on me. There’s an interesting dry feel to this… not powdery in a bad way, but dry as in incense ashes.

 

Overall Impressions: This is one of those blends I probably wouldn’t wear, but are a treat to experience. This has such an amazing ashy note to it… it’s dry and dark, like incense ashes. But there’s more to this, a complexity that makes it wearable and almost, dare I say it, pretty.

[Iceblink]

Just kind of perfumey and soapy on me. I tried this because I love black musk but I'm not getting any of it here. There is a smoky/ashy background but it's mostly just generic perfume.

[het4377]

In The Imp: Oooh, the volcanic note reminds me of the trip to Hawaii and the hike on Kilauea. Way to nail the note beth! It's also pretty musky and earthy, with just a hint of florals.

 

Wet: Hibiscus is the strongest note I'm getting, followed by dark earthy greenery and musk.

 

Drydown: More tropical flowers with just a hint of sweetness over the greenery and the dark musk note that is staying very close to the skin. The hibiscus is turning slightly soapy (damn skin chemistry), but it's not too bad.

 

As Time Elapes: Yay, the hibiscus isn't turning any more soapy! It's still in the forefront over what has now become dry sun warmed earth (mmm, scent memory back to Kilauea). Just the barest hint of the dark musk is left, and it continues to fade down to nothing.

 

Summary: Overall this is a darker earthy floral with a little bit of morphing, but not too bad, as you end up with a blend that is pretty darn close to the website description. On a personal side note, the hibiscus note lasted 12 HOURS on me. It wasn't even the sort of "yeah, I can smell it if I get up close to my wrist" lasting, but a "Wow, why do I smell hibiscus, wait, that's me!" sort of experience.

 

Also, as has been said before, this is a dead on scent for Lost. It smells just like Hawaiian rain forests and volcanoes.

[blu°]

This was a frimp from the lab, and I'm glad they sent it to me, because otherwise I would never have had the idea that I might like it given that I'm not great on tropical flowers or black musk.

 

That said, The Isles of Demons is lovely. It's a much rounder, sweeter, lush-er scent than I could have imagined. The black musk behaves and works great as a darker, grounding back-drop to the sweetness of the florals.

The florals aren't sharp or soapy on me at all. This is a totally laid back and mellow scent, even sexy.

 

I only get a hint of greenery, and it's humid and dark... Hint of the volcanic gas, I think... It all works as an anchor to the florals keeping them from going too heady and sharp, lending a touch of mysterious to the overall scent.

 

I'll have to test this again during the day, but right now I can pretty well picture a bottle purchase in the near future.

Edited November 19, 2008 by blu°

[blacklacestatic]

In the imp: Strong floral, although I can't make out any distinct notes.

 

Wet on skin: Much more lush and green. A very sweet jungle type scent. Like you've walked into a greenhouse with a lot of brightly colored, exotic flowers. Very pretty, and kind of dark at the same time. Like the flowers could be full of poison if you breathed in too deep, but they are so beautiful that you just can't help yourself. Femme fatale flowers

 

Drydown: The only bad thing about this scent is it is gone way too soon. Within about two hours it was gone. Maybe I will try it on again with extra moisturized skin.

 

Overall: Subtle, yet beautiful. This would be a good scent for work or a family gathering, or even a hot weather scent, as I don't think it has the potential to be very offensive to anyone.

[rayvn1]

Light and sweet Flowery in a tropical sort of way. Not bad, but not earth shattering. Fades to almost nothing very quickly on me.

[Seismogenic]

This one made it onto my wish list for one specific word: "volcanic." I figured that today would be an appropriate day to test it, since we had a field trip to the La Brea Tar Pits - musk of dangerous beasts, plus geological gases? Perfect.

 

In the imp: Dark, musky, and with the tang of fresh vegetation. Nothing volcanic yet.

 

Wet on skin: Now something a little smoky is coming out, if not coming to the fore. The musk and the green tang are still back there.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, it's mostly musk and slightly acrid smoke, though the green isn't completely gone. Within an hour, the musk is the most prominent note, with dark greenery and some smoke still staying in the background.

 

Five hours later: This is pretty much all musk now - dark, slightly sweet, and relatively faint.

 

End of the day: There's a tiny whiff of musk left on my wrists.

 

Overall: This was less geological than I'd hoped, though I still liked it, particularly in the earliest stages of drydown, where all of the major notes were identifiable. The smoke there was definitely pretty volcanic, and I wish it'd lasted longer, but that's mostly my geekery talking. The musk and vague greenness does suggest nasty beasties in a dark jungle, which fits the inspiration well. I'm not sure how often I'd wear this, since there are other musks and volcanoes I like more, but I'm still going to hold onto the imp for now.

[Andrea912]

imp: yup: sharp, green, kind of eucalyptus; herbage for sure

 

Wet: a bit more floral, but definitely still green...

 

Dry: too floral and green, but all in all, an OK scent...

[Juushika]

In the vial: Wet dark greenery with a perfumey floral edge, a thick, damp, decaying scent.

 

On me: I'm reminded of the green waters of Oblivion—but where Oblivion is smooth and still, Isle of Demons has more life and movement. The greenery, grown less dark and rotting, adds a touch of something living. The florals are heady and, with the gas, have an airy quality—tropic steam floating over green waters. The musk is a faint nose-prickling sharpness. Scent-color is forest-green touched with magenta. Throw is low.

 

Verdict: I could never wear this—I find the green water unsettling and the tropic floral isn't to my taste, and so I will pass along my imp. Still, this is an interesting scent—it's a wild wet tropic scent with dark unisex greenery, but it also has a surprising airy quality.

[donnatron]

Imp: Vetiver-y. I think it's approximating the volcanic gas scent. A touch of sweet floral.

 

Wet: ROCKS! OH SO MANY ROCKS! Hot, steamy, rocky rocks! And a bit of dark musk. Mostly rocks. Maybe vegetation?

 

Dry: I'm pretty sure some of that rotting vegetation is violet. This smells like humid violet perfume in a hot spring. It sounds kind of unpleasant but it's actually really beautiful. A steamy skin scent with light, lush florals rising out of it. Very lush, very humid, very naughty. There's a touch of greenery and a touch of sappy, sticky sweetness.

 

Throw: Average.

 

Overall: I've been lusting after the Isle of Demons for a while and then for the last little bit it's been arriving in every order/swap parcel. I guess it's a good thing I like it. A varied, interesting floral with some amazing base notes. Being in the midst of dreary, cold February I'm more than happy to have a scent that reminds me of the sultry, languid heat of summer.

[djsiberia]

smokey, dark, green and sweet.

 

[Monster]

In the imp: Sharp, astringent-like...a green version of Loup Garou

 

Wet: Sharp herbals with a background of hot, sweet flowers...definitely violet. I'm not detecting any vetiver whatsoever.

 

Dry: This dries down to a heavy floral musk on my skin.

 

Overall: This one gives me a headache

 

[surlygurl]

In the imp, I had no idea what I was smelling. So I applied a bit to my arms:

 

"Huh? Wazzat? Sassafras? Pine pitch? A touch of mint? Possibly eucalyptus? This is very strange.

It's pretty but has almost zero throw. *waits 10 minutes* That's ok - I'll apply more! HMMM? Musk!!! Oh how I love black musk! Fruity & dark. *waits 20 minutes* Flowers? Sweet flowers. In my musk. Where's all the sharp pine-pitchy sassafras? And why is it smelling so....normal? Almost baby powder tropical flowers."

 

Fresh= Fabulous

Drydown = cozy

Dry = Where did my pretty go?

[aquazoo]

A little spicy, a little floral. Almost fruity overtone. It's hard to identify, but worth keeping.

[revinn]

BLACK MUSK NOOOO!

 

My nemesis! Sour, powder, bad bad bad!!!!

 

I can't get past the wet stage, I needed to wash it off. Black musk just goes too foul on my skin.

[angelicruin]

Wet on the skin, it's a bittersweet floral scent. Very green.

 

Dries down to a light floral musk on my skin. Actually, kind of pleasant, but not really me.

[SophieCedar]

Has the lab's signature tropical lily smell and deep equatorial woods and smell. I can see why this might get overlooked as the description is a little cryptic and doesn't really elude to how lovely it really is. This is sensual and intoxicating! Sugar Sweet, floral and lush green without being sharp.

Edited March 13, 2010 by SophieCedar