Saw-Scaled Viper

[Stephanie]

Snake Oil with cinnamon, cassia, and red ginger.

I have to remember to stock up on this one!

This is earthy, sweet, spicy cinnamon Snake Oil!! No playdoh in this, for me.

It seems pretty potent and dry-smelling straight from the bottle, but give it a chance because it's wonderful warmed up on the skin! Also, over the past year, it has mellowed into rich, spicy goodness!

Spice-lovers, don't miss this! My absolute fave version of Snake Oil.

[MeiLin]

In the imp: Gah! Not at all what I expected. At first I couldn't pick out the individual notes; it was a big swamp o' spicy dirt. OK that makes no sense, but that's what it was. When I re-sniffed it after looking at the notes, I can smell the cassia and ginger, especially the ginger, right off the top.

 

Wet: No Snake Oil at all--strictly cassia and ginger, then cinnamon. Too much! Do not like!

 

Dry: Here comes the vanilla of the Snake Oil, finally. In the early stages of drydown, I had Sir sniff. "Oh, god, that's great! Cinnamon vanilla! Wow! I really like that!"

 

sigh. I was hoping we wouldn't like this one. Into the purchase box, and then there were seven. I'm gonna hafta knock over a bank or sumpin.

[galahad]

In The Bottle

I get all notes in the bottle. Ginger is the most prominent.

 

On Application

Cassia and ginger most strongly. Not overly fond of the cassia at this stage.

 

Dry Down

A really spicey blend. The cassia takes a while to let the other notes show through. Becomes much more pleasant once the cinnamon and snake oil peek out. His did make my skin slightly red and itchy and I don;t have sensitive skin. This will be great aged 6 months or so,

 

Rating (0-5)

4.5

[QueenFae]

This is very, very strong red cinnamon scent. The red ginger and cinnamon are so strong in this, in fact, that I can barely detect the actual Snake Oil base. I can detect hints of the cassia in the undertones, but it definitely takes a back seat to the other two notes.

 

This is super strong, and I bet it would last all day on my skin. I'm not a huge red hot cinnamon fan, for for those of you who are cinnamon lovers, this is your dream scent.

[Schmoozy]

First Sniff: Earthy, gingered Snake Oil

 

On Skin: Dry, spicy cinnamon, touched by ginger. Unlike the first sniff, I can't detect snake oil, except for it's spice which is overpowered by cassia. It's Earthy, but at the same time there is a certain sweetness to it from the dry cinnamon.

 

Drydown: Doesn't really morph much, and it does get a lot better than the initial application which was a little overwhelmin . Most of the notes blend well together, and become muted. There is snake oil, but it lingers behind. There is something in this that reminds me of Big red gum, or red hots.

 

Final thoughts: Warming, comforting, and extremely spicy. Perfect for upcoming seasons, and aged I predict will be a hot & spicy little number.

Edited August 23, 2008 by Schmoozy

[zankoku_zen]

This has GIANT throw on me. It's mainly cinnamon (overwhelmingly so) and cassia OF DOOM! DOOOOM I tell you. It's spicy, and big and in your face, red hots and something else.

 

Yeah. No.

[Suu4LC]

Ok, I generally do not have good luck with snake oil blends. I know I'm a bad bpaler, but I'm not really a fan of snake oil. I always feel like snake oil is missing something. That is why I find the snake pit so appealing. I'm hoping one of these blends is going to fill in that missing link. I LOVE cinnamon and ginger, so maybe this is the one!

 

In the imp this is strong snake oil, cinnamon (yum) and woods (meh). I'm hoping the woodiness doesn't amp too much and that some of the ginger comes out on my skin.

 

Whoa, very cinnamony on my skin! Kind of like, erm, Inferno I think it was...that kind of spicy cinnamon. Hm, something about the way the wood and the cinnamon mix almost makes this a cola-ish fizzy scent. Interesting.

 

Ok, as it dries I definitely lose that cola-ish scent. Now it is very clearly a combo of snake oil, woods and cinnamon. But they don't really mesh well on me. The scent feels very disjointed and piece-y. The cinnamon is too sweet, the wood is too woodsy, and the snake oil doesn't tie them together.

 

An interesting blend, but nope, this isn't gonna be the one for me.

[Duck Mountain]

The bottle: Whoa, this thing is super full. Did someone have a whoops? Ah, well.

 

In the bottle: Dust, or fresh-turned soil.

 

Wet: CINNAMON RARGH

 

Drydown: Slightly milder, but MORE CINNAMON (and cassia).

 

Dry: Cinnamon with a vague backdrop of not-cinnamon.

 

If I didn't know better, I'd think this was a SN that someone had accidentally dribbled a bit of something else into. Perhaps aging will calm it a bit, so I'll keep the bottle. It's not bad, but I was hoping all the notes would come through, rather than one being amped to high heaven while the rest sat in the time-out corner.

[auburnette]

Saw-Scaled Viper

 

In the bottle: foody gingerbread.

 

On skin, wet: Cinnamon, gingerbread. A very sharp edge which I think must be the cassia.

 

On skin, dry: The cinnamon and the ginger both still very strong and giving off lots of throw. I'm not very keen on ginger and this just makes me think of gingerbread men (which I like, but not to wear as perfume) so I think I will be swapping or selling this one. It's a good scent, but not one that I would wear.

[angelicruin]

When I first sniffed this from the bottle, I was certain this was going up on the For Sale/For Swap thread. It smells really sour and nauseating from the bottle to me. I dabbed a bit on my wrist just to sample before making my final decision....I'm glad I did. On my wrist, it's mainly cinnamon and something else...maybe cassia? Not sure what cassia smells like. It has a tremendous throw, but it's dried down to a pleasant (if not, strong) cinnamon scent.

 

For now, I'm keeping it to see how it ages.

[goblinshark]

Oh my GOD, I am in love with this scent. Like, I do not buy multiple bottles of anything but I definitely need another bottle of this. It's a gorgeous earthy cinnamon-ginger scent with a hint of vanilla. Very strong, lots of throw (and that is saying something, 'cause my skin eats up EVERYTHING - this is the very first BPAL I have been able to lightly dab on and yet still detect without gluing my face to my wrist). There's something really Christmassy about it. Capital L love.

[Astarial]

I was scared of this one! Strong spicy scents make me sneeze and I think people would look at me funny if I couldn't stop sneezing whenever my wrist got close. So, I waited a month and a half or so before trying this one, to hopefully give the cassia time to chill out. And I didn't test this one all-out yet; just put a dab on my arm. A small dab.

 

In the bottle, strongly spicy. Actually smelled kind of bad, to me.

 

On my skin: Hello, sushi rice! Not even kidding, that's what it immediately turned into, and didn't change. Maybe that's because of the small quantity I put on, so I'll have to retest this on a whole wrist, but... Not that it's an unpleasant smell at all, it just made me crave some sushi for breakfast.

[femmefatale]

I love this scent! I admit, I'm a big fan of spicy scents and snake oil blends, so it's no surprise I like this one. I can't believe it took me so long to try.

 

It starts off with the ginger in the forefront, but that is quickly held in check by the cinnamon and snake oil. It's cinnamon without being CINNAMON and the snake oil is there adding just enough vanilla, but this is definitely not a foody blend. It briefly fades a bit and then all of a sudden springs to life and is this beautiful warm, comforting, yet sexy blend.

 

Need. More. Bottles.

[milica]

smell of cinnamon bark, ginger and SO, I'm a big fan of all three, so this is the perfect scent for me! pure bliss!!!

and it lasts for ages on my skin, yet another plus!!! I'm thinking of another bottle, just in case.

Edited November 2, 2012 by milica

[mparker]

I bought this bottle unsniffed, and opening it for the first time...Whoa! I smell cassia!

 

Once on the skin, this is strong Cassia for a while, then the cinnamon and ginger come out It took me a while to figure out, but I kept thinking "…sushi??” when I’d sniff, and finally realized that the red ginger note is EXACTLY the way pickled ginger smells, and I put tons on my sushi. Once I figured this out I wasn’t nearly so disturbed by it. I find that I might prefer a little less of the cassia, as it smells a little too bitter and harsh to me, but once it settles down the cinnamon smells all the sweeter for it. This has a good throw, too. Not too close, and not overpowering, either. At the end of its life it settles down into a cinnamony Snake Oil which is wonderful and sexy as all get-out. It lasted on my wrist well into the next morning, as well.

 

And, again, as I like to sit and wait a while after my initial review before posting, I find that this one is aging remarkably in only a few weeks. That seems to happen with a lot of the Carnival Diaboliques I've been trying. With this one, that strong cassia opening doesn't whack me over the head so much, I can smell more of the cinnamon sweetness straight off, and it's not so bitter or harsh as it was before. The ginger also smells more gingery, and has lost some of that "pickled" edge that was so disconcerting to me at first.

 

This one really wraps you up in an aura of scent, and it has one of the strongest throws of the BPALs I own, which is great for me, since my skin likes to eat scent until it's barely detectable. There's also something a little fun, a little sassy, and a little wicked about this one, that just makes it a joy to wear.

[acidrica]

I put this on after a shower....it didn't give me welts, somehow.

 

This is probably an aged decant, so bear with me....cassia and cinnamon. This was mostly cassia, but I could barely pick out cinnamon. Ew. Then I put it on. This. Is. Sex. I was afraid I'd smell like red hots, but I don't! This is the wild cassia and stick cinnamon I love so dearly, not the concentrated crap they pump into candy. I had to go put more on (I barely dab when I test). This is.....oh man....words cannot describe. I obviously just need to buckle and buy the entire pit.

[crebbsgirl]

This started off nice. The Snake Oil taken up a notch with ginger and cassia. A really nice spicy kick to it. It was seductive and attention getting. And then some weird plasticky note came out. I have no idea what happened here but I usually have no trouble with SO. It went horribly fake smelling and gross on my skin. Boo. I was looking forward to this snake most because of my love of spice. Apparently it wasn't meant to be.

[sihaya09]

My skin really amps vanilla, so the vanilla in the Snake oil + the cinnamon and cassis make this smell very much like Monster Bait: Underbed or even the little impie of Pumpkin King I have. Only with a little bit more of a bite-- the red ginger. As it mellows, it doesn't smell much like Snake Oil at all, though it does have a sort of resinous roundness to it. Firey, warm, and very slightly gourmand. Nice.

 

It's really pretty, and I got an immediate 'you smell awesome' from my boyfriend.

 

AHA! I just realized that the drydown smells JUST LIKE old school Hamadryad before it got all Ben Gay!

Edited January 6, 2009 by sihaya09

[Apple]

I don't like Snake Oil. I don't like cinnamon. Vanilla is touch and go. I have sensitive skin. Saw-Scaled Viper should have been an utter disaster on me.

 

But... it wasn't.

 

The first couple of times I tried it, I could smell the Snake Oil strongly and it really put me off. But then something changed, either in the oil or in my perception of it. Now when I put it on, the cinnamon and cassia blast out accompanied by a cake/cookie-like note (but not the usual BPAL "butter" note) that when combined smell like real, honest-to-goodness gingersnaps. If you made gingersnaps with more spices than flour, that is.

 

I like the gingersnap phase, but it's not my favorite part of this scent's evolution. My favorite part is after an hour or two, when it smells like the most glorious, natural vanilla. Not plastic, not powder, not the weird wintergreen scent I sometimes get from vanilla. Just a rich, true vanilla with a hint of gentle spice in the background. It's luxurious and edible smelling while remaining sensual. Gorgeous. Wearing this makes me feel happy and comfy, and I wore it a lot over the holidays.

 

The only bad thing about it is that I have to limit where I apply it to my wrists and my hair. On the crooks of my elbows and my neck it burned like crazy and left red welts.

[FallDaze]

I'm expecting this one to be super spicy! Snake Oil doesn't work on me, but maybe some of the Snake Pits will

 

imp-> Cinnamon! Reminds me of some spicy baking going on. The ginger is also pretty prominent. Oh yeah, and have I mentioned that it's spicy?

 

wet -> It's odd...the spicy quality dies down quite a bit. It's still quite spicy, don't get me wrong, it's just that the initial IN YOUR FACE cinnamon has mellowed out to more of a "Hey, how's it going? My name is Cinnamon" cinnamon.

 

after a while -> Pure spice. Too much spice for my personal tastes. Also it makes the inside of my nose tingle in a not too pleasant manner when I sniff too close. However it seems very fitting for it's namesake! Or...dare I say it... name-snake! Wow I'm horrible.

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

Hey Saw Scaled Viper, where you been all my life? I am totally crushing hard on SSV right now...I like this blend more than twelve year old girls liked Scott Baio circa 1983. I like Saw Scaled Viper more than Madonna likes Pilates. It's just nuts how swoonworthy I find this blend. The lab is getting reaaaallly good at what they do now. Too good, according to my checking account balance. I had only just found my all time fav BPAL in the Carnaval Diabolique series, when lo and behold, that smoldering slithery Saw Scaled Viper secretly slipped in and staged a sneak attack!!

 

In the bottle it smells like whole cinnamon sticks...slightly bitter, and it's hot like whoa! I literally see sparks in my mind when I smell it, and in my book that is a veerrrry good thing indeed! It's the cassia, though, and that lends a richness and depth that could never lower itself to cinnamon's usual cheap red hot candy olfactory tricks, and adds an almost chocolatey aroma. When I smelled Gennivre, I thought it smelled like this minty Ginko tea that I drink after I've squeezed my fresh lemon and agave syrup into it, and I remarked that I wished BPAL would make a blend that recreated my favorite YOGI tea - Kava Stress Relief. Well, the very same afternoon this snakey shows up on my doorstep reeking of chocolatey spiced goodness. Granted, SSV is far spicier than my Kava tea (like I took said chocolatey kava tea and spiced it up with some cayenne pepper - yum!) but it has the same rich chocolate-esque note in it that is seriously super scrumptious (ok enough with the s alliteration, I swear!) My boyfriend seconds the yogi tea kava stress relief + cayenne pepper comparison. In the bottle the snake oil is present, but in the most organic and inoffensive way possible (I'm one of those for whom new snake oil's vanilla note can read plastic), and I detect a very promising hint of uber luscious and highly coveted red sandalwood.

 

On the skin this one loses the hardest edge of cassia bitterness (thank goddess! It was the only element that threatened to hold this blend back from greatness!) but it also turns the spice dial up to eleven! The snake oil becomes more prominent, too, but to me it smells like only really fantastically aged snake oil can smell. Then the red sandalwood steps into center stage and I am utterly destroyed by ecstasy. This is sublime! It's glittering, smoldering, hot and more than any of the other snakepits, it's dead sexy as hell.

 

This blend has longer than usual throw, and an extended wear time. The drydown is really slow and gradual and I keep getting visuals of a large fire slowly burning out as shimmering embers send sparks flying through the air. The remnants of the fire are every bit as radiant and glowing as the fire itself as ten hours after applying SSV my wrist smelled of the most delectable high-quality rich red sandalwood money can buy. This is an absolute must for fellow spice lovers. This is my favorite blend of all time now, and I will be requiring a bottle or eleventy-billion before the carnaval departs.

 

1-5 rating: this blend just turned it up to eleven! Long live BPAL!

Edited January 18, 2009 by TheOneTheyCallLuna

[Yoginispirit]

Hmm. I'm kind of undecided about ol' saw scaled. I adopted him a itty bitty decant and placed a single drop on my hand when it then laughed in my face and burst into cinnamin flames right there and tried to burn me alive (not talking about allergic reaction just the strength of the scent). It's VERY strong and to me smells simply like big red gum. Sweet and spicy. It's OK but cinammin just isn't my favorite and I wish some other notes would show up. I might give him another chance before I toss him back in the dessert but so far I might decide to swap.

[Saya]

In the Imp

I can smell the ginger and cinnamon, but not the snake oil. There’s also something that smells a bit dusty in this blend. It sounds strange but I’m not sure what it is or how else to describe it.

 

On My Skin

The cinnamon in this blend is strong in a ‘Big Red’ gum sort of way. I’m getting hints of the snake oil, when I put my nose up to my wrist and sniff I can smell just a bit but it’s lovely. Hopefully this develops and comes out more.

 

After a Bit

For the first little while this isn’t very good at all. I really think the cassia ruins it. Then about an hour in it gets much better. The scent evolves into a smooth, spicy version of snake oil and looses that dust smell.

 

Rating 1-5 (5 being best)

Scent - 2.5 Throw - 3.5 Longevity - 3

Overall (not an average) - 2.8

 

Final Thoughts

This went through a weird stage at first, so I’m going to have to retest it. I really like what it morphs into though.

 

 

[nenia]

starts off smelling like sharp ginger snaps. it calms into more of a red hots smell which is okay, but unfortunately for my skin the ginger just doesn't work too well on me. i don't even smell the snake oil/vanilla. smells like holiday air freshener. warm spicy cookies baking in the oven.

[ouch!]

I'm not sure why I ordered this imp, because I'm really not too fond of either cassia OR cinnamon (On my skin) but hey... Here it is..

 

This smells surprisingly strongly of wood/peanuts on intitial application. Along with alot of cinnamon and cassia. I'm not getting any ginger at all (Unless that's this strange note that's woodsy)

The Snake oil is behind but it's not as poweful as the other notes.

 

The cinnamon/cassia fades after a while...and lets the vanilla of the snake oil through. Because the cinnamon side of things is so spicy it's drowning out any spice that Snake Oil usually has on me so...it's hard to tell if it's there. It's sweetening up quite a bit though. Thank gosh! Also...this oil is staining my wrist more with every application. Damn! I look like I've got Jaundice.

 

Drier still...the snake oil is becoming more intense and the spicyness is really having to fight to beat it. I was hoping for this because in my opinion..Snake Oil is like syrup and nothing gets rid of it!!! But it's much more to my liking now that it's not a fiery cloud of spicyness. 3 people have walked through the office and made a comment today. All good comments which is good.

 

Then all that happens with this blend as it dries further the balance just switches even more between cinnamon/cassia & Snake Oil with the snake oil eventually taking over almost completley. Just a faint whiff of spice left...