Love and Pain

[filigree_shadow]

Lavender, Balkan tobacco, black musk, dark vanilla, and golden copaifera.

I have trouble with lavender being much too loud on me, and it's doing that here too. It's very unfortunate because underneath the lavender it smells wonderful. But I can't get to that wonderfulness due to the lavender cloud hovering over the rest of the scent.

I might hand this one over to my husband and see how he likes it. He can wear lavender much better than I can. Edited September 19, 2007 by filigree_shadow

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: Lavender and sweet tabacco

 

On Skin: This very sophisticated lavender perfume, and the scent of something else that I can't recognize

 

On Drydown: Oh no. The dreaded black musk makes an appearance. Now I smell sweaty and full of smoke.

 

Verdict: Grr... black musk. If not, this would have been a great lavender blend.

[fiddlefox]

When first applying I smell a slight sweetness but that kinda disappears it seems. Before reading the notes i thought pepper, but it's the lavender. Really peppery salty lavender. It is a pretty one though and I can see how they would name this one love and pain lol.

 

Update: I like this but it does have that Mens scent edge to it, although a woman could get away with wearing it.

Edited September 30, 2007 by ivy_fiddlefox

[cranberry]

Wow, I think I am in love. I adore a good lavender scent and this may be it. I thought that Agony of Loss was an amazing lavender scent but this may trump it and be the lavender of all lavenders for me.

 

In the imp, the predominant note is lavender. Once applied, oh fuck. This sexes up mightily from that herbal scent in the imp. Lavender, slightly waxy, a touch of darkness and resins, a dark sweetness.

 

This is fabulous. The longer it wears, the darker and richer it gets. I can smell a bit of the black musk, but I think it’s the tobacco that’s really making this scent shine and oh so sexy.

 

I would love to smell this on my DH; I think it would smell amazing. As it is, I just keep smelling my wrist and loving it.

[Schnax]

This is pretty much straight-up lavender. When I put my nose right up to my wrist I think I can make out the musk and tobacco, but otherwise it's all lavender all the time. It's a dark lavender, if that makes any sense, which may be explained by the other notes, but it's not nearly as complex as I'd hoped.

[batsy]

This is one of my favorite paintings, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

 

In the vial: Lavender, with something golden. Very manly.

 

On the skin: My skin ate it. What little I can pick up is lavender and musk. It's not bad, certainly a mens' blend.

[mmcfa2]

beautiful! Put it on and don't sniff for three minutes. THEN sniff! It's clean and warm at the same time. The lavender that screams out of the bottle just curled up on the sofa with the cat for a nap and came back with a bit of musky fur and kitty sweetness. I find it comforting and just simply beautiful.

[dryadfemme33]

Initially, I get straight lavender. Soon, however, I start to get whiffs of sweetness underneath, which is probably the vanilla. The lavender is eventually taken over by the vanilla and tobacco, and possibly musk. I really like this.

 

(I also adore the bottle art - I would have been tempted to get this just for the picture alone.)

[hkhm]

imp: tobacco and musk.

 

wet: the musk is primary here while the tobacco and vanilla are the background notes. i can't smell even a hint of lavender.

 

dry: the lavender has finally come out and is the topnote. the musk is present as well but i don't relly care for the mix of these two scents.

[blu°]

Wow, this will need a couple of more test wearings...

 

First off: Lavender has turned out to be one of my favourite notes of all time. It has been a love affair, that evolved very slowly but seems to be built on a firm basement, and will probably last forever now that I know it's love.

 

Black musk, however, has always been a problem note on my skin. Most of the time it just smells really unpleasant. Kind of stale and a bit like cheap spicy drugstore men's cologne.

 

That said, I had better experiences with black musk in Salon blends, so this might go either way, I guess.

 

Sniffing from the bottle this is lavender with something murky underneath.

 

On my skin it's still predominantly a lavender, and a gorgeous lavender.

 

Then there's the tobacco, which to me always feels a bit sparkly, don't know why. It's the same lovely texture I like so much in Parliament of Monsters.

 

The black musk really behaves in Love and Pain. There's that underlying grounding murkiness, but it never overpowers.

 

Something suddenly smells of citrus, and I'm wondering if I am now experiencing the black musk-citrus skin chemistry changes that I've seen other forumites describe.

 

I don't know what copaifera smells like, and I didn't notice the vanilla neither. However, I didn't have them in mind when testing this. I only remembered lavender, tobacco and black musk from the note listing.

 

I'm not quite sure this'll be a bottle. The Salon's are so expensive. But I need more different lavender blends, and this one has potential of turning into an everyday favourite.

Edited February 4, 2008 by blu°

[porcelina]

hooo boy that is some strong lavender. this is LAVENDER. this lavender just picked me up by the collar, punched me in the face and screamed, "I'M LAVENDER!!!!!!!!" it is that powerful and i dislike lavender that much, haha. i can't find the tobacco, musk or vanilla anywhere!

[icing]

I tore open a bag of rinsed salad after putting a drop on the back of my hand.

Then I smelled something.

I started gagging, serching though the bag, I was convinced there was a dead, rotting mouse in there.

No.

It was Love and Pain on my hand.

 

What’s worse (and horrifically stupid)?

I re-tested.

Just to be sure.

Pain, in-freaking-deed.

[Pottersville]

ZOMG!!!!! Got this in a swap and only just got around to testing it .... LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! The lavender is powerful but is softened and grounded by the tobacco and vanilla, which are in turn sharpened by the lavender. It's a love match, I tell you!!

[Honeygirl]

Bottle: Lavender

 

Wet: Lavender and floral, possibly rose?

 

Drydown: Lavender and vanilla, I'm not sure. I am sure of how much I love this! Very relaxing scent!

3.5 outta 5

[Laughing-magpie]

When I first put this on I was hit by "Sen-Sen"! Herbal, sharp, licorice-y and now that I see Lavender is a listed note, I can smell that too.

 

As the hours wore on it becomes softer and warmer, but remains herbal. It is too much like a men's cologne on me to become a favorite of my own, but it's a mature, interesting manly scent.

Edited May 1, 2008 by Laughing-magpie

[evanescence]

sharp sharp sharp! at first... but then it softens prettily and is more wearable than I thought it might be when sniffing from the bottle. Well worth adding to any lavender collection!

[ealasaid86]

A half imp was included in a swap as a frimp. I love lavender, but unfortunately my skin amps up the tobacco so its all I can smell. My sister loves it and on her the tobacco is softened and you can actually smell the lavender.

[greenranger]

Lavender, sweetened with the black musk. Very strong. There might possibly be tobacco behind it. The vanilla hasn't managed to show through yet.

 

The imp is a keeper. I discovered that it isn't something that I merely like...so much as occasionally I need to wear this.

 

It doesn't hurt that it layers well with Lilith Victoria(which brings out more vanilla).

 

When I reach for a salon scent, this one is it about 80% of the time...eventually, when the imp runs out, I may weaken and get a bottle...eventually.

 

~edit~I keep looking for a lavender scent, and I keep coming back to this one as the only lavender scent that I have tried where the lavender doesn't immediately fade away on me. Of course, now that I have had the imp for a few months, and my nose has also gotten better at discerning notes, I can smell the black musk and tobacco much more clearly as well. The vanilla is a background note in this for me, still, but, all of those notes tend to last better on me than lavender, so having any lavender stay past the first hour is a breakthrough. I still don't know golden copaifera well enough to recognise it.

Edited April 18, 2009 by Aerinha

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Very sharp lavender.

 

Immediately on skin: Sharp lavender and very dry musk. This is an extremely biting scent when I first put it on.

 

After a few minutes: This has become a very sexy scent! The black musk and dark vanilla have come out to mingle with the lavender, and now it’s a smoky and slightly woody sweet lavender scent. It seems almost unisex, but it’s very intriguing.

 

Later on: This is the first unisex-ish scent I like. The lavender is there and it’s definitely the main note, but the tobacco, black musk, and dark vanilla deepen it and turn it into a nice sexy dark scent. It’s smoky, wicked, and very gorgeous.

[crebbsgirl]

This blend is absolute perfection. In the bottle and wet this is a very harsh herbaceous lavender. Immediately it starts to bloom on the skin into a softer, darker scent. The tobacco and black musk are delicious in this, combining into something sinuous and sinister. The vanilla comes out after about an hour and sweetens things up a titch. This is exquisite, and I can easily see myself reaching for this on a regular basis!

[ImperatrixMundi]

Wow. The first thing that surprises me here is that I love the painting. Munch really never appealed to me that much but Love and Pain suddenly does. Maybe it is the scent that does it or a changed perspective since I last looked at the Salon.

 

On to the scent - right after application this really as the pain part going on, nearly all sharp lavender and copaifera. But the lavender quickly gives way to a soft, sweet, brown tobacco with a hint of vanilla. This stage contained a little too much tobacco for me and I thought I would pass this on. But with time the tobacco fades more and more and a subtle vanilla comes through, a smooth and dark vanilla scent that is not foody or artificial in the least. Whiffs of tobacco remain and the black musk, a note I normally dont enjoy so much because of it's powdery sweetness, comes through and mingles with the vanilla.

 

The colour impression suits the painting very well and if I may wax poetic - the transition of notes on the skin is like the transition of the feelings of the man in the painting, seeking comfort in the lap of the woman, from pain fading to bitterness to the comfort he finds in her arms. That may not be the standard interpretation of the picture but simply my interpretation accompanying piece of olfactory art.

 

There, you have read it and may now shake your head or throw up at so much slimy interpretation. But this is really an underrated vanilla scent, especially if you want one that is not foody. If you try this dont wash it off after ten minutes but give it a sniff after an hour and see if the lavender has burned away, it may be rewarding. The staying power of that stage is also great, I tried it yesterday evening and now I can still smell it on my arm in the morning.

[iiinterstate]

At first this is like sticking my nose into a lavender sachet. I like lavender, but not THIS much.

 

5 minutes in: Still waiting for the plethora of winning notes to come to the forefront...

 

30 minutes pass: OH MAN NOW I SEE THE LIGHT. Sooooooo glad I did not wash this off. Now it is tobacco and musk with a teeny bit of vanilla, more vanilla in the throw. This is everything I had hoped for after reading the notes!

 

I must have more.

 

[Wwindy]

Ouch.

 

The tobacco in this is much too strong on my skin -- I love everything else I'm smelling, but the pipe smoke part is just too overwhelming.

[fairnymph]

Sniffed: Golden Oil. Strongly herbal and astringent almost medicinal; loads of lavender with a little tobacco underneath, and the resiny/piney edge of copal in the distance. A little cologney, but no distinct musk. No vanilla.

 

Wet: Still all about the lavender, but now with a mildly soapy edge, more tobacco (almost a little bitter?), and some heavy vanillic sweetness & musk coming through. Copal remains very light. Super masculine and still pretty astringent/mentholic.

 

Dry: Copal has amped, or else it was strong to begin with but merged with the lavender such that I couldn't distinguish it. This remains quite harsh/sharp/medicinal, though it has a sweet underbelly, and the musk has amped a bit more. I find the vanilla to be too heavy and cloying in combo with the sharp top notes.

 

Later: This is the bad sort of vanilla that amps on me, and is syrupy. I agree that it becomes sort of boozy, as others note. Along with the sweet richness of the musk and the strong medicinal notes, it's just too much and makes mea little sick if I sniff closely.

 

Summary: This becomes increasingly sour over time, reminding me of elemi. It's a heavily herbal/medicinal/resin blend lavender, copal, and dark tobacco (that becomes more bitter and smoky with time), that clashes somewhat with the heavy vanilla-musk base. Strong throw & longevity.

 

 

[hepkitten]

While the lavender is a dominant note, the tobacco and vanilla are both so close to it in intensity on me that the three blurred together...so much so that I didn't recognize the lavender at first, and I use lavender EO constantly. There's a real edge to this one, but it's got serious depth as well.

 

It's lovely and unique, but I don't think I need it. If you want a darker lavender scent that still has a tinge of lavender's soporific quality, this may be what you're looking for.