Intrigue

[Aredhel]

A sultry, exotic scent that inspires devious plotting and clandestine affairs. It is a scent painted in artifice, veiled in deceit, and slithering with whispered secrets. Black palm, with cocoa, fig and shadowy wooded notes.

Rating (on skin): 3/5
Summarised in a word or two: Dry.

In the imp: Wood and dark cocoa.

On skin, wet: Wood... covered in cocoa? Strange, but good.

On skin, dry: My skin almost always turns cocoa into dust and chalk, and Intrigue, unfortunately, is no exception. Dusty cocoa-covered wood.

Conclusion: I'm not big on cocoa, nor what my skin does to it. I love the woodsy aspect, but the scent is too dry. That, and I just don't like smelling like cocoa or chocolate. Edited December 17, 2005 by Aredhel

[madelf]

This is sweet and just a little incense-y. The fig is probably the most prominent note on me, and while I love fig, this just felt a little bland. It only lasted a couple of hours, and while it was a pretty enough scent, it just wasn't destinctive enough for me.

[jewelbug]

In the bottle: A very smoky, slightly sweet smell with hint of chocolate. But mostly smoke.

 

On skin, Wet: Hint of chocolate, mostly a sharp wood smell. This sounds bad, but it reminds me of the cedar wood chips I used to use for gerbil bedding--before the gerbils had their way with them, of course.

 

On the dry down: Almost immediately, I smell an almost bright fruity, sweet smell, which I can only assume is the fig. It fades just as quickly as it came, never to return.

 

Dry: Still woodsy, but not cedar-y like before. A more exotic kind of woodsy. I wish I knew what black palm smells like, but I don't, so I'm not sure if it's that or not. There is also a hint of dusty cocoa wafting around the background. Its very darkly sweet. Yum.

 

Overall: A very warm, dark scent, befitting the name, as I just keep sniffing to try to figure it out. Woodsy, but exotically so, with just a hint of deep smoky cocoa. I never really got the figginess, since it was gone so quickly on my skin. For me, it invokes a sultry rendezvous in the corner of a smokey Bond-esque club somewhere in the tropics.

 

The downside: it faded in about 2 hours (I'm still getting the occasional waft, though), so I either would need to apply more (was I stingy?), or reapply during the day.

 

I really like this scent on me, and will definitely keep it in mind for a larger bottle. But I'm also thinking I'll try this on hubby, and see what the smoky/woodsy scents do to him (and me!). With my luck he'll come out smelling like chocolate covered fig!

 

Update: I did try this on hubby. It was nice. More chocolatey, but still with the tropically woodsy smell, and no fig that i could discern. It faded on him very quickly, though, so it looks like I get to claim this scent for my very own! I put more on me so he and i could compare the same scent on both of us, and decided I liked it even more than the first time! I MUST HAVE A BIG BOTTLE.

Edited January 1, 2006 by jewelbug

[Eros]

In the imp/first applied I get yummy cedar with coconut and fig peeking through. As it dries, the cedar softens and all that's left is fig w/a bit of coconut. Enough coconut that it *reminds* me tanning lotion but doesn't actually smell like it.

This is Carnal, but even richer, more rounded and voluptuous. After a few hours it's mostly lovely fig w/a hint of coconut & cedar sneaking through now and again.

Lasts for hours and has nice throw.

 

Haven't decided whether this will go on my big bottle *must have* list, but I do like it. A LOT

[Xiabelle]

I think I like this one...

 

In the bottle: I'm not quite sure. Got this in a swap and we had an incident with another imp in shipping, so the label got utterly soaked in Jailbait. Unfortunately, Jailbait's sharp bubblegum does NOT go with Intrigue! I can't smell the imp without being assaulted by the smell of Jailbait, so I think there was some fig and a bit of cocoa, but I'm not sure.

 

Fresh on: Figgy goodness... and Jailbait on my fingers interfering. I have to wash my hands. I'm definitely going to wash the imp off and relabel it.

 

Dry down: First it's gorgeous figs, dusted by cocoa. A bit of wood comes out to play, but this is very dark and rich and soft, but a little dusty too. Quite pretty, I think I like it. On my wrists, a few hours later, it's softened a lot to be soft woody figs and cocoa. Maybe it's the palm I'm smelling for the wood. It's all blended quite nicely, with nothing really predominant. If I sniff at my cleavage where I have a bit, it's warmer and a little figgier, but still quite nice.

 

No cedar notes, thank goodness.

 

I think this is a keeper. Not sure if it's a big bottle or not, but I'll need to try it again to finalize my opinion.

[zenvodunista]

The first time I tried this, I hated it. The second time, I like it more. I think the problem for me is the black palm. The wood is a little too deep for me -- almost dusty. It isn't right on me at all, but on my BF? FABULOUS. The dust turns to a sort of manly wood, with ripe fig that seduces you in. this is a manly cooca scent - not foody in the slightest. good stuff, just not for my chemistry!

[Firewaver]

I keep smelling my arm and it continues to smell like freshly cut firewood. I'm definitely not getting any cocoa from this, at least at the get go. The cedar is definitely the strongest note on me. It's not necessarily unpleasant.. but I do feel a bit like a christmas tree.

 

You know what.. I've let this review sit open for about half an hour and I've decided that I really like this one. I feel like a wood nymph! I can smell a bit of fig now, and I really like the depth and earthiness it lends the cedar note. I still don't smell any cocoa, but I do smell something a little spicy like a light cinnamon.

 

As I said before, I really like this. It's very different from any I've tried and I like that. I prefer this woody scent to Hamadryad, which is a bit too sweet to me.

 

Strange as it may seem, I look forward to layering this with O. I think the sweet honey smell would compliment the wood scent nicely.

[brownbear]

Definitely dry woods. I'm getting a little tiny bit of the cocoa. It's not a chocolatey cocoa; it's kind of dry too and not very sweet. I'm thinking that the wood is cedar. This one is very interesting and it's hard to get my nose around. I can't decide if it's one I'll wear or not. hmmm

[subbes]

In imp: Mmm, dark bitter chocolate cocoa, and fig. A slight wood scent in there if I do a long wine-tester's sniff.

 

Wet: Fig.

 

Ten minutes in: FIG.

 

Thirty minutes in: FIG.

 

 

An hour in: Well, if I shove my nose up really close I can catch a hint of some cocoa and wood. But mostly it's still... yup, fig.

 

 

I don't dislike fig. I don't really interact with it much, to tell the truth, and before recently I couldn't have told you what it smelled like. But now someone seems to be sending me a Fig Message, because I keep getting frimps with fig in them -- first a couple of Carnals, and now this Intrigue.

I liked Carnal, thinking it was a fruity blend plus some extra stuff in the background, but now on smelling Intrigue, I realise Carnal's "fruity blend" was just fig yelling loudly, rather than fig muttering to itself in a crowd of other fruits. Fig loves me, and wants to tell me that through a megaphone.

 

 

Overall: Nice fig scent, but I already have Carnal for my (rare) fig needs.

[aessedai]

This one is total nostalgia for me. The cedar really brings me back to elementary school. Pencils, I guess? I love it. I often open the vial just to sniff it. I've had it for a while and I can't recall the last time I've actually worn it. It is great, though.

[gangstaknitta]

In bottle: familiar and pungent--fig is the strongest note.

 

Wet: this blend smells very fruity and dark. It's very sweet but smooth

 

Dry: still very sweet and fruity, almost like strawberries. Maybe a little too sweet for me.

[Chantarelle]

Mmmm, this is one of my favourites. The fig is definitely predominant -- sweet and a little fruity. Underneath there's a rich bitter cocoa and something a little bit woody (or smokey?). As it dries the sweetness fades a bit and the cocoa comes forward, but it's still that awesome mixture. Fabulous.

[erikasilverstein]

Intrigue, to my nose, is a very masculine Eden (they both include fig, perhaps that is the connection?)

 

Also, getting that ubiquitous 'pencil shavings' note that other reviews mention of woody oils. I have not yet had this reaction -- till now.

 

Interesting. But off to swaps.

[niter]

Imp

A woodsy, cedary Eden.

 

Wet

This smells like what I would want Eden to smell like on my husband. Either that, or Eden taking a tumble in the woods.

 

It rapidly switched over to only cedar. And then it was gone!!!

 

I will have to retry this again and if it changes/lasts, I will update my post!

[harmonyfb]

In the bottle: Sharp, unpleasant smell that I can't identify. I was seriously afraid to apply it (given a bad reaction to another scent last week.)

 

Wet: The sharp scent fades in a moment, and I'm left with...well, I can't smell anything, really. It's like my skin just drank it up. Huh.

 

Drydown: Ah, there it is. A woodsy, dry scent with a little sour edge.

 

Dry: A little less woodsy, a little more incense-y, and the sourness is more noticeable now.

 

Conclusion: Eh. Not my thing.

[Fefferbella]

Intrigue was sharp cedar shavings and hot cocoa mix on my skin.

 

Not quite cocoa, there is a hint of something sweeter mixed in, but the cedar is overpowering even in the bottle.

 

30 min it's still woodsy, but the cocoa mix note is gone. It's a comforting blend, but oddly unsettleing at the same time.

[Celogrl]

As I am not really sure what Black Palm is supposed to smell like, I have a feeling that the Black Palm is that gorgeous unidentifiable note in Intrigue. The cocoa is lovely, and to my nose, there is a faint smell of smoke or incense. It is truly beautiful, and I highly appreciate the lab sending me this 'frimp'.

[Sycorax]

In the bottle this is a very foody scent, to me. A subtle base of cocoa, with a prominent sharp, sweet note - something that I would guess is fig. I was afraid that it might be overly foody on my skin.

 

... and I was right. For whatever reason, my skin chemistry amped the fig note way, way up. I didn't get much of the nice cedar or cocoa at all.

 

I think that this would probably be a very pleasant scent on someone else... but not on me. I'd like my fig tempered by something a little less sweet, and Intrigue didn't do that for me.

 

Still, I'm happy I got this frimp form a generous forum poster, : ). It's good to try new things!

[ViolentKitten]

At first I thought my Imp was incorrectly labelled, so I wasn't sure if I should review Intrigue or not…all I got was a sugary blackberry pastille, coconut husk then more blackberry pastille. And that was about it. Sweet, husky, and tasty, no doubt, but not what I was expecting at all. No fig. No cocoa. Or any shadowy wooded notes. Maybe it’s the black palm (but is it black palm sugar or wood? Either way, I’ve not smelt it before) or fig, moonlighting as the blackberry pastilles and coconut husk?

 

OK. So I slathered this on to see if I could get anything else, and whoo! I get hints of cocoa and wood! Wood that reminds me of peanutty cedar, and a dryness as well, something akin to a dry chardonnay note, though that could be dry cocoa. Those sugary blackberry pastilles soon come back to the fore with the other notes fading softy, the woody notes being most prominent among them. Overall, I do like this one, but it doesn’t totally grab me.

[coulrophobe]

In the imp: Juicy fig mixed with something almost cedar-y.

 

On: My skin really amps up the fig - which is good, because I *love* fig. Cocoa rarely works with my chemistry, but it's such a minor player in this blend (for me) that the dreaded "stale coco-puff" effect never happens. It's slightly woody, warm, and dark... and unabashedly figgy.

[SeaMonkey]

Sweet figgy wood!

 

I don't get any patchouli. I'm not sure what black palm smells like and if that is what is giving the wood smell. The cocoa doesn't register at all, but cocoa usually disappears on me anyway. The fig is amped a lot, but its ok because I like fig.

 

I'm mainly getting freshly carved wood and fig.

[Phaedra]

Wet this is cedar aka pencil shavings and maybe vanilla. When first on it's faint cedar mixed with grapes maybe? I'm not really sure. The grape/fruit note starts to develop quickly- maybe it's plum. After a couple of minutes I can smell fig- nice. It's also a bit floral now. This is light and soft and starts to fade after only an hour or so. This is nice but Eden is my #1 fig blend so far.

[Lizzie]

In The Bottle

Chocolate and fig, with just a hint of spicyness. Yummy,

 

Wet On Skin

Whoa, smells like a forest!! A big old cedar forest to be specific.

 

Dry

Hmmm, still smells mostly of cedar on me, with just a hint of something sweet, could be the cocoa or fig I guess.

 

I have to agree that the name suites it, as the scent intrigues me. It remids me of walking a cool forest path on a hot summer day. I like it, but I think I'll save it for summer.

[Miss Lynx]

Sigh. I am starting to realize that wood and I are rarely friends. I'm usually OK with the evergreens -- pine and fir and juniper and what not -- and often with sandalwood, but beyond that, woody scents often tend to go kind of nasty on me. It's OK if they're in the background behind other things, but if they come out into the foreground, it's pretty much game over.

 

Intrigue was nice initially, while the cocoa and fig were dominant -- a bit Freak Show-ish, though not as complex. But then after about an hour, those died down and it was all wood, and the particular kind of wood that goes really unpleasantly dry and funky on me.

 

Oh well. I have other, better, chocolatey scents, and figgy scents too.

 

Grade: Initially B, later C. Overall: C+

[Ayln]

This smelled good at first, a little sweet with a hint of bitterness. Unfortunately, it faded to a waxy, scented Crayola crayon on me, and to be a crayon box isn't one of my aspirations in life.