Faiza, the Black Mamba (2006)

[khiseer]

A sensual blend of twisting, exotic, serpentine oils: black amber, caraway, oakmoss, green sandalwood, bergamot, jasmine sambac, gardenia, orange pulp, vanilla, blackberry, black musk, white honey, ti leaf, and ginger.

The first ever bottle i bought and i had no idea what to expect...

Wow did i pick right! since then i have picked up another bottle for myself and will be stock piling before the carnival moves on..

There are so many notes in this gorgeous scent i can't separate them. This stays very close to the bottle smell on my skin, only sweeting up and getting a bit warmer. Very green and very predatory. My boy loves this scent and can't keep his face out of my neck when i wear it. The throw is decent and i am always getting comments on this one, it makes me so happy when smell it on myself at different times throughout the night when i work. It is very different to anything i have sniffed before and it is quite strong so i would definatley say that it isn't for everyone. Try it if you like really unusual things

[naeelah]

This one is so complex that it's hard to pick out single notes. I usually consider that a good thing, but it's making reviewing this one difficult! I think that of all the CD scents I've tried, this has been the most traditionally perfumey. It's rich, a little bit regal or aloof, but also sinewy and a little sexy. It smells a bit like a walk through a rain forest. A rain forest that's wearing a lot of cologne. This one's definitely a morpher.

 

As I said, it's very well blended. I can pick out a cool, almost dry musky quality along with floral and fauna and maybe some wet woods. It's not a blend that screams floral, but the floral notes are definitely there. The bergamot is noticeable early on, but fades into the blend as it dries. Once dry, it goes a little bit incensey and spicy. The ginger here is dried ginger, not fresh lemony ginger. After about 20 minutes, it's a bit sharp and green, with a touch of smoke or spice that keeps it from being bright.

 

It has great throw. Noticeable but not overwhelming. Staying power is much better than average. A little goes a long way. (In other words, be careful not to put too much on, because you won't be able to get rid of it later.)

 

Like I said, a little more traditionally perfumey, but in a great way. I'm inclined to associate this is a slightly dangerous woman, but I think it's actually quite gender neutral. Definitely would be nice on a guy.

Edited June 21, 2007 by naeelah

[bookofblues]

I'm immediately hit by how damp this scent is. It's floral, to be sure, but I also pick up dark soil, moss, damp wood. A very "walking through the forest" scent. There is just a subtle hint of amber here that works beautifully to spice it up without becoming spicy and some assorted complex florals that I can't pick out note for note.

There's so much going on with this scent. Very green. I usually don't like florals except for lotus and violet, but this one is a definite 5mL Wishlist addition.

[Bain]

In the bottle, it's dark, slithering (god, that's such a great word for it!) and I have a hard time picking out any specific note, or even exactly what I like about Faiza, but I love it!

 

Wet - it's very earthy (to me, at least) and I'm guessing that's the oakmoss, which usually turns me off from a scent, but that dark.. floral?.. creeping scent comes back, and I forget all about anything else.

 

Drydown is so deliciously complicated - spicy! no, just dark! floral?? oh gods, I want to bath in it.

 

(YAY to the Lab. This is the first time I've wanted to hoard bottles upon bottles of Faiza, and her companions lol!)

[heysunshine]

My first review ever!

In the imp it's strong bergamot; "twisting" is a fitting description. Wet this is all musk and orange peel. As it dries my left wrist is green and woody, and my right wrist is herbal with ginger. I don't sense any jasmines but there is a general feel of vanilla on my left.

 

I wanted this for the blackberry but I just don't smell it (yet). A little while later and my left is warming up the honey; right is a little honey mixed with something hard to place -- almost minty? -- strong ginger. The initial drydown was turning me off the scent but I love the honey its become -- warm on my left and cool on my right. It went from too masculine for me to a perfect scent. It has a similarity to the drydown The Brides of Dracula has on my skin, white and honey -- is the jasmine finally peeking in? I wonder how it will fare on my neck or in my hair.

Edited June 25, 2007 by heysunshine

[icing]

I ordered Faiza back when it first hit the site, fell in love, and could never figure out what to say in order to review it. Bear with me.

 

All the notes come together, almost seamlessly blended. Almost – as in, I can’t always tell which is which, but each and every one seems to surface, for at least a moment… not in an amping or note-gone-awry, way, but in the way flecks of light can be caught in a wave, enough for a slight bit of shimmer and light to catch, before those molecules fold back into and amongst the others.

 

Amongst all of this, there is a humid/wet feeling, not sweat, not something foul or stinky, or even something similar to that of a light clean sweat, but the sense of damp skin, coming from the thick, rich, warmth of the white honey - even when I can't quite smell that one (sometimes it's heady and rich enough to feel in the back of my throat, but it's not as sweet or sharp as golden honey)... I still sense an overall, humid, wet, hot, and slightly sweet scent enveloping the other notes, and it makes me I feel like I should pour the whole bottle over myself and meld with it.

 

When Faiza’s working properly with my chemistry, the whole blend, ever-ever changing, manages to convey something dark, lush, tropical, and slithering…. Usually the dry-down (though ‘dry’ really isn’t a word I feel I should use for Faiza) is a liquid skin scent of honey and ginger over the jasmine and gardenia, and touches of the various green notes, but that still conveys what it is, very poorly.

Maybe… imagine, the spicy, sweet, rich, and heady aspects of LUSH’s Flying Fox, tone it down in strength and sharpness, add a bit of complexity, and wear it like it is your skin, and that could start to touch upon how this blend smells to me.

Still not the right words. Sigh.

 

Despite the constant shifting of notes, and that thick white honey, Faiza is subtle. Maybe even light.

It isn’t faint, and I don’t feel like it fits every occasion, but it’s a close-to-skin scent, that’s sweet, slightly floral, and slightly green, and doesn’t have a lot of throw. That’s a description that would normally chase me fast and far from a blend, but it doesn’t here.

There’s definite bite, strength, and depth to this blend, and a wet skin sense that lends it a seductive feel.

 

Faiza is a close-to-skin, liquid scent that lures you in, then grips you tightly.

 

Faiza is gorgeous, so long as my chemistry lets it perform to its fullest potential (or at least half or even a fourth of the way, it is still amazing).

…sometimes it will turn into a stick of slightly tart blackberry bubblegum, or scratchy green notes and honey, and after better experiences, that’s more than a bit underwhelming.

Chemistry, what shall I do about you?

[The_Merf]

In the decant: Given the number of notes in this blend, it's really hard for me to pick out any one thing, but it does seem like this is a predominantly amber base with both an herbal layer (primarily oakmoss) and a floral layer (I can really pick up on the jasmine!).

 

Wet: This is amber and citrus wet--but my skin just loves orange and lemon, especially when I first put a scent on, so this doesn't surprise me.

 

Drydown and wear: The scent muddles a bit on me as it dries down, which is something I was afraid would happen. It's mostly floral on my skin for the dd, with jasmine and gardenia and a hint of vanilla most noticeable.

[jasmine]

First applied... I don’t know what to think. It’s a broad, complicated green scent, but not planty or aquatic, just... green. As is my normal wont, I turn promptly to the walkthrough (or, in this case, the scent notes).

 

And the truth is, I still can’t make heads or tails of it. This is an incredibly complex scent. As it settles slightly on my wrist, there’s one aspect that comes out above the others, a darker green leafiness, but I can’t identify it with any confidence; I would tentatively call it blackberry leaf, but it’s blackberry listed, not blackberry.

 

Goodness. The Lab is not making this one easy!

 

But I do like this. Despite the description, I wouldn’t call it sensual. Instead, it’s confident and calm, without being innately calming... a quiet, slightly calculating scent.

 

After a while, the scent deepens and the green fades, though there’s still a trace of sweetness. Further on, the sweetness blossoms and the honey is detectable over wood and amber. Interesting. This is definitely a highly metamorphic oil.

 

The final stage it settles into is woody and musky and faintly honeyed. It clings close to my skin and doesn’t have much throw, but it’s intriguing.

 

Actually, that’s the best word for Fazia: intriguing. I will come back and wear this scent again and be further intrigued in the future.

[alicia_stardust]

This has a mysterious, sinister scent to it. There's darkness there. The musks are strongest for me, and the rest of the notes form a sinuous sort of green/black scent. I love this one.

[CrazyPretzel]

In the decant: A fabulous lush, green, leafy scent with a generous helping of fruit.

 

Wet on me: Green leafiness predominates along with something a little woodsy and bitter. I can smell a bit of blackberry but it's definitely not a fruity scent. I'm thinking of wet bamboo and dark threatening jungle.

 

After a few minutes: Still with that slightly bitter note that gets on my nerves. I can smell more gingery spice now. It's like a more exotic and non-earthy version of Strangler Fig on me: very wet and green, but dark. On the whole it's good but there definitely is a note of something - or maybe a combination of a couple of somethings - which I do not like. Smells like dirty laundry.

 

Drydown: Less green now and more slinky, spicy Oriental woods. Sadly my skin is grabbing onto something in here and turning it into bitter mildew, so despite its good points the blend as a whole is not working on me.

 

Probably not one I need a bottle of.

 

ETA: Oh dear, just when I thought my wallet was safe, this one is doing something cool as it dries... The funky mouldy note (black musk?) has calmed down and now I get this awesome bamboo-like note that I think might be green sandalwood. Certainly it's kind of like sandalwood but really green. The scent has backed off and is now more sophisticated than animalistic. To keep or to swap? Argh!

Edited September 17, 2007 by Baitu

[AEris]

The ginger, citrus, and bergamot in this blend are really intense, and make Faiza kind of medicinal on me. It's giving me a headache....it's definitely a dark, dangerous blend, but it's simply not working on me. It's fruity, it's spicy, it's citrusy, it's musky, it's floral....Geez, what's not in there? I'm simply overwhelmed. I feel like I should like it, but I just can't handle it.

[Ravenclaw79]

It's hard to describe this one, except to say that it's green, emerald green -- it smells like deep, dark, wet, green, like the inside of a cave in the jungle or, yes, a snake den. I'm not smelling any of the sweet and foody things in it, just dense, wet and green.

[purplemoonshoes]

Soft and leafy. I can't smell much on my skin though, even after sniffing coffee. Fits the name perfectly.

[SarahScent44]

In the imp, this is a sweet fruitiness, with just a trace of sandalwood.

 

On my skin, it's so different than I expected - not dark at all. Definitely sensuous and sensual - the sandalwood and musks get a little stronger, and the jasmines becomes more present, with the fruit and vanilla floating over top.

 

When it's dry, it's a very thick scent - very rich, heavy with musk and amber. VERY sexy.

[MaeKitty]

In the bottle: Purfume-y and smokey. Hrm.

On me: Much greener and more herby than the other two snakes I've sniffed. I definitely get the orange, ginger and oakmoss, but I can barely smell any amber or sandalwood. The gardenia comes out and kind of takes over with the jasmin, making it a little bit harsh and floral. I'm hoping it dried warmer.

[ouch!]

The wet stage of this blend is absolutely gorgeous!! But like most peple have said...there's ALOT going on. I tend to amp vanilla so, it's giving this (still in the wet stage) a nice soft edge. I'm not sure that it smells dark as such. To me it's really really pleasant and bright..the orange is there ever so slightly and the white honey is probably the thing I can pick out most..it's adding to the sweetness!. I'm trying to describe the overall smell and it's extremely difficult! It's not a floral...it's more like a fruity scent with a blanket of hazy sweetness over it. It's soft...but sharp at the same time....I really really like it!

 

Ok so when it's dry it is defiantely different, it has lost all of it's magic for me. It's all about the wet stage with this one!!!

It smells kind of stale to me....kind of sharp floral...probably the Jasmine. Vanilla is there hanging on for dear life but not doing very well!

It's just a bit meh...ad for this reason. I don't think I'd buy a bottle!

[CreamyJade]

In the bottle: Green, floral, wet. I can't pick up any exact notes, but I like it.

Wet on skin: I can smell the bergamot, ginger, and citrus.

Dry on skin: Sweeter and spicier than in the bottle, I like the lasting vanilla notes.

Final thoughts: It's very different on my skin than in the bottle, and quite pleasant and sensual.

[arabella]

First Impression: Watery resin.

 

Dries down to. There's no change.

 

Additional Comments: This is the 6th blend I've tried in this Act of the series but nothing is impressing me, so far. Considering how many notes are in this one, it just comes across as insipid. Maybe there's too many in here and they're all cancelling each other out, just before they all do a quick fade.

 

Lasted: 1/2 an hour.

 

Rating: 1 out of 5.

[cassandrakfreaq]

in the imp I immediately smell carraway, which is what I was afraid of. On wet it smells like biting into a fresh orange. As it drys It gets much more delicate on me. Very little throw but on my skin its lovely. It's funny my chemistry must really be changing it because I get no floral or a green smell out of this at all. I can't pick out a note but its sweet without being creamy and there is something hiding from my nose thats almost spicy but I can't figure it out yet.....a definite retest will happen.

[backwards8]

In the imp: Very green and floral but I can't pick out individual notes.

Wet: Hello bergamot! My skin chemistry amps lemony scents like crazy, usually fading out everything else but here I can detect some musky, flower action going on in the background.

Dry: Still lemony but the ginger has kicked in, the florals are softer, and there's a little bit of sweet vanilla peeking through, which my skin is loving.

 

Overall: Not much throw but it's a lovely, fresh scent that I'll definitely be needing a bottle of.

[rachel2205]

This went on quite harsh and almost masculine. Now it’s softened up. The topnote seems to be something almost spicy cola – caraway? – but there’s a sweet softness under it with the vanilla and ginger. I feel like if I sniff it one way the spices are too medicinal and prickly, yet sniff it another way and it's smooth and dark yet alluring. Hm. What do I make of this?!

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Sweet, herbal, floral, resiny. Fresh.

 

Wet: Mostly sweet herbal, a bit resiny. It's really hard to distinguish notes, beyond ginger, caraway and bergamot. Very well blended and complex.

 

Dry: The ginger is the strongest note, and it's really lovely and spicy-fresh. Second comes the honey, which is wonderful. I can smell the vanilla in this, but it's a good vanilla on me (rare). Otherwise it's overall a slightly sweet, slightly fruity, spicy-herbal-floral. It's VERY hard to pin down. It's not a 'dark' scent to me, but certainly not a light one either. It's very grown up.

 

Summary: Ginger, musk, oakmoss, honey and hints of sexy womanly floral in the dry down. It's delightful.

 

This is pretty much the ONLY blend in which TWO nemesis-notes, gardenia and vanilla, actually work. TWO in one, wow. Talk about masterful blending. A Potential bottle buy for me.

[DogNPonyShow]

In the vial: A woodsy musk. Green with a bit of hidden sweetness.

On: Bitter orange powder...that would be the vanilla... On deep inhales I get a great burning wood note, but the powder sticks around. Sadly this is one of the few scents with citrus that agrees with me.

[TereFaerie]

I really wanted this one to work, but of course when I first tried it on straight out of the mailbox, it reeked of jasmine. Setting it aside for a few weeks, I tried it again yesterday, and to my surprise:

 

in the imp: green; jasmine, bergamot, gardenia

wet: jasmine, bergamot, ginger, orange pulp, oakmoss, musk, woodsy and damp smelling

dry-down: jasmine, sandalwood, amber, honey, vanilla, sweeter

 

The amber in this blend manages to stay resiny, not go baby powdery as most do. It is a damp, green, wet scent, perfect for this rainy spring day. It is a close to the skin scent, and fades quickly from my skin, but remains in my hair overnight even, whcihc prompted me to wear it again today. Every turn of my head sends delicious whiffs up to my nose, each one different from the last.

 

I may need a bottle of this.

[Lamia]

In bottle, it's sharp, almost painful to smell. Wet on skin, the jasmine is screaming against sandalwood, both cupped in musk. It settles down very quickly to the oakmoss and ginger. I think this fades by lunchtime, but I could be immune Husband does NOT like this scent on me mwhahahaaaaa