Wanda

[goth_huntress]

Along with Loviatar, she has become something of a Patron Goddess of all Dominatrixes, Wanda is the breathtakingly beautiful sable-wrapped marble queen of Sacher-Masoch's fantasies. Her scent is a deep red merlot with a faint hint of leather, sexual musk and body heat over crushed roses, violets and myrtle.

I love Whip, so when I heard that Wanda was like Whip's big sister I had high hopes. I didn't like Wanda at all.

[Suu4LC]

This smells like merlot from the imp. While I love drinking me some merlot, I'm not sure I want to smell like it...

 

Bleh. The leather really comes out strong on my skin. Leather really isn't my thing. I lose almost all of the other notes except the leather! Grr!

 

Yep. Leather leather leather. A little bit of fruit (the wine) and a little bit of floral, but mostly leather. No go for me.

[savage_rose]

I LOVE Wanda. It was one of the first scents I tried, and although our relationship started out rocky (it was a frimp in one of my first swap/purchase arrangements, and it was crushed under my office chair...I thought, what IS that wonderful sm--D'oh!), it's one of the favorites I come back to.

 

It's one of the few violet scents that works for me. It smells a little grapey, a little perfumey...earthy, sassy, and floral without being too sweet or too girly. I like it as a perfume for me, but it makes a great room scent.

[CrazyPretzel]

Fresh on, this scent has a gorgeous deep grape note, which I suppose is the merlot. That fades slightly on the skin and leather pops out after a couple of minutes. The rose, violet, and myrtle aren't terribly strong; this is mostly a combination of leather and deep fruity grape with the flowers just softening things a little.

[zankoku_zen]

This one had a strong merlot smell from the beginning. As it dried, it became sweeter and puts me in mind of more of a grape. There is leather in the background (which makes me think of merlot splashed on leather pants).

 

This one is a merlot/rose/leather thing going on. I'm not sure it's me, but boy, on the right woman, men would bow down and worship her.

[djsiberia]

in the imp: it smells like tobacco and wine.

dry: wine and purple..some roses are popping out. i can barely smell the violets.

20 minutes later: very floral and violet.

 

i'm not sure if this is a bottle or not. i like violets...just not sure this is me

[donnatron]

Imp: Oh dear... it smells like the mystery jungle juice liquor we used to consume at high school bush parties--when you would pour a bit of everything in your parents liquor cabinet into a bottle and hope they wouldn't notice.

 

Wet: Wow. This is a 180 turn around. Wet, this turns into a murky leather with soft, grapey wine notes and the slightest breath of flowers.

 

Dry: Take me, Wanda. Take me. The leather is the dominant note, with just the barest hint of wine and rose with a soft hint of violet. While it is a really sexy, seductive scent, it's a lot more daytime-friendly than I thought it would be. Definite cold-as-steel executive with perfect hair and posh stiletto pumps.

 

Throw: Intense on the dry down, and then moderate once dry.

 

Overall: I try to not be too vulgar in my reviews on the forums, but there is only one way to describe this perfume: Fuckin' A, man. Fuckin' A.

Edited April 21, 2008 by paperrose

[VioletChaos]

in the imp: like some sort of delicious liquid candy.

 

wet on skin: undefinable fruit jolly ranchers. more yum!

 

dry down: gardenia has come out, which makes sense, because that gets kinda candy-like on me, as in Unheavenly City.

 

in all: this is all sweetness. i get no leather, no sweaty skin or anything like that. in fact, i'd go so far as to say this can be a possible kid's scent!

 

 

 

 

[fairnymph]

Sniffed in imp: Dimetapp, sticky-sweet grapes, plasticky leather, with fainter hints of musk and violets.

[soonyi]

wet, i smell the cheapest dark red merlot and it is revolting me. this note is over a dark, dry, cracked leather, which is yummy. the body heat note is a good description for what i am smelling....it's kinda like Coyote without the gamey aspect. i get no flowers at all.

 

dry, the leather and musk really come out. the wine is gone (yay!). the more this dries th emore the leather comes out and it's a dirty boy, that one--dry and dark, almost the smell of cigarette smoke in the background. fuckin sexy. um, yeah. so i like it. alot.

[blktauna]

In the imp: it's sort of fruity and a touch floral sort of kind of.

 

wet: hairspray fruity and bandaids

 

dry: bandaids

 

 

I'm thinking the leather note isn't working here too well.

[LadyLuckDoubt]

In the Imp

A confusing mix of leather and wine and something a tad dusty.

 

On me

Oh, terrible tormentor, why do you do this to me?

 

And that's not meant in a good way. From the moment I apply Wanda (and I applied it as a bedtime scent) all I got was this hideous stench of rotting meat on my wrists. I kept hoping it would morph and do something else, but it didn't-- it dulled in intensity, and in the morning, my pillow smelt leathery and kind of all right, but on me? Wanda's fragrance doesn't agree with me at all.

Edited May 28, 2008 by LadyLuckDoubt

[greenranger]

In the imp, it was wine.

 

On me, wet, wine....for a few seconds. Then the rose amped up. Fortunately there are enough other notes that the rose didn't take over completely.

 

Drying, the roses stepped back and the leather came up. Then...it began to fade.

[sweetsiryn]

In the imp: Smells like a mix of flowers, fruit and warm skin...

 

Wet on skin: Rum and raisin ice cream!

 

Dry and warming on skin: Still has that rum and raisin aroma (which I really like) but also mellowing to something wonderfully warm, intoxicating, delicious... with a hint of leather and floral sweetness in the background. Beautiful.

[lilirose]

In the imp- Somewhat sharp and berry-fruity.

 

On skin, wet: Fruit and leather.

 

On skin, dry: the leather note remains prominent . The generic “berry-fruit” becomes more clearly a wine note, with soft rose behind.

 

This is one of the more pleasant wine-note BPALs I’ve tried, and I think it would be gorgeous on the right person, but unfortunately, I’m not that person.

[Nightroad103]

In the imp, it's a sharp, almost acrid scent. It's not bad, but doesn't really seem like something I'd wear often.

 

Wet on -- it's like a few of the first posters (and possibly others) have said: It smells oddly like Kitsune-Tsuki. Same with the drydown. I think it's the floral.

 

Dry, the merlot and leather seem to be top notes. The floral is pretty much gone, which is good for me.

 

Overall, on me... it smells kind of like a friend of mine after a day of outdoor work. I am going to try it again before I stick to this, though.

[plunderparlour]

on wet this smelled like double bubble/grape nehi, I almost washed it off it was so sweet. I'm glad i waited for the dry down is absolutely divine. It really smells like the description which is a lttle unusual on my skin. I will be getting a bottle of this.

[milo]

In the imp, I smell honey and wine. Not a good sign. On, it morphs very little, and remains sickly sweet and cloying honeysuckle-like scent. Very un-sexy to me, sadly a miss.

[jehrichardson]

In the Imp: Sweet sweet booziness!

 

On the Skin: Dirty and boozy. Sweetness in there too. Some of the florals starting to rear up. A bit of musky leather mellowing it all out.

 

After a While: The booze is gone, now we are left with floral musky leather.

 

Verdict: This is lovely! Kinda smells a bit dirty, but good dirty. Like well loved leather gloves that are stained with perfume.

[anguissette]

This is kind of what I wanted O to be. With all my "it smells like leather" posts today, funny that the one scent that actually contains a leather note smells like spiced honey. Sometimes I'm really glad I go by my nose rather then the listed notes, because the listed notes kind of make me feel like I might be crazy. As it dries down I can smell the florals making their appearance. Lovely. Don't think I'd go for a bottle but I'd keep imps that came my way.

[voodoocatwoman]

I have applied Wanda liberally to my wrists and I now smell like I dumped a bottle of red wine over my own head. There's a little bit of leather in the background and what I assume is musk. Not terribly wonderful on me.

[lefthandmade]

the wine note is deep and red and gorgeous. it doesn't stay long, after just a few minutes it gives way to leather softened by rose, and it stays that way for a long time. i don't really get the other florals except they soften and deepen the rose a little.

wanda is absolutely gorgeous. i'm getting a bottle.

[quigza]

In the imp: grape koolaid & spice. this makes me slightly hesitant. But, I've heard good things about it, so...

 

Wet: Leather & grape koolaid. I like the leather. I like the koolaid. I don't like them together. C'mon drydown!

 

Dry: The violet comes out a bit & the scent turns very purple. But, the koolaid "bite" isn't going away

 

Aftermath (1 hour later): The bite is finally gone, but the leather has faded as well. It's violets & sweetness & faint leather.

 

I wanted to like this so much. Maybe this will smell better when out dancing?

 

Edit to add:

Farther after the 1 hour drydown the bite finaaly goes away. It's violet & rose? & leather now. Now this I like. Maybe the bite will go away with age?

Edited September 15, 2008 by Lemonlife

[goblinshark]

In the imp: Gahhhh Grape Kool-Aid, EXACTLY!!! Plus vodka.

 

Wet on skin: Red wine and musk. After about ten minutes the leather comes creeping out. I'm...not loving this. It smells like red wine spilled in an expensive car.

 

Can see why others might like it, but it's not for me. I just am not that into the smell of wine. Glad I got to try it, though! It does make me want to explore some of the lab's other leathery scents. I like that new car smell.

[caitilarkin]

In the imp: Rose and leather, with a sour note in the background that I'm tempted to blame on the rose (my evil nemesis) but which might actually be the wine.

 

Wet on skin: Oh, my...this is sexy. The sour ickiness is gone and the leather and rose are flirtin' up a storm. The rose, which usually turns into screaming soap on my skin, is having way too much fun playing with the leather to be obnoxious. And the leather note is commanding and feminine, evoking kidskin gloves rather than a dude's bomber jacket.

 

Dry on skin: Fantastic drydown as the wine note joins in, deepening the rose and mellowing the leather. At the first test, it lasted about six hours on me.

 

This scent makes me feel subversive, like I'm at a board meeting wearing leather underwear under my demure corporate attire. A definite keeper.