War

[empi girl]

Red ginger, black spices, patchouli, honeysuckle, and three blood-soaked red musks.

This is a lot softer than I expected. This is ginger, with a hint of musk in the background. I like ginger and red musk, so this one is right up my alley. The patchouli doesn't really stand out, and the musks remain indistinct. Usually I amp musk, so I'm surprised I don't in this, since there are 3 of them! I like it, but will have to try it again to make a final decision on this one.

[Little Bird]

I really thought that this would be a dream scent on me. I envisioned a warm, sexy, soft red musk with sultry, sweet spices, dappled with earthy patchouli and sunny honeysuckle. Unfortunately, on me this is sharp, bitter, and dry. I can't pick out anything even slightly resembling red musk. It's like a bitter ginger paired with earthy patchouli, with hints of a mismatched, perfumey honeysuckle in the drydown. I love patchouli, but I own so many better patchouli single notes & blends. This isn't warm and sensual to me so much as it is hot, dry, acrid, and earthy. A major disappointment

[supremegoddessofall]

In bottle: Very foody, but in the savory family rather than the sweet. Does have a blood-like quality to it.

 

On me: Very passionate and very musky. Mostly spice and musk.

[sihaya09]

Spicy! And very dry. From War, I got the driest ginger I have ever smelled combined with a a super-dose of black pepper. I wouldn't call it gourmand necessarily, but it was very savory. The red musk note lasted the longest, becoming more prominent after the spices wore off. It also sweetened a bit on the drydown-- the honeysuckle, most likely, which was not at all evident in the wet stage. Overall-- it's a pleasant spicy scent, and unisex, but very dry indeed.

[funkmoppet]

Wow. This is awesome!

 

Hot hot hot ginger blast when wet. It's loud and earthy and peppery. The strength of it backs off slowly as it dries down and the red musk pushes up. Yummy, sexy red musk.

 

The ginger stays around, but the musk and patchouli are very much present when dry. It's very sexy in a very take-no-prisoners way. War has come into the room with a bang, and finally settled back with an air of power and an aura of strong sexuality. Definitely a scent for kicking ass.

 

I love it. Three for three so far in the Good Omens line for me! I'm adoring this set of blends!

[valentina]

I tend to be a ginger fan, and prefer a sharper ginger (as in Siren) to a ginger that is cut with milk (Sudha Segara.) War is in that sharp ginger category, but it's weirdly foody initially, because it has this pungent-yet-sweet quality, the sweetness courtesy of our friend the honeysuckle. To that extent, it reminds me of a peppered and gingered-up Chimera. After a while the musk and patchouli show up as grounding elements, the sharp edges round off just a bit, the throw isn't so strong that it jumps across the room at people, but War remains a rather angular, edgy ass-knockin' bitch of a scent. Love it.

[neafaroo]

On me: it's really really rich and smells very nice on for a long time. The more I smell it the more I want to say that it's something war would wear. It's a sexy scent with a little bit of Kick... I match scents to outfits and this scent screams short skirt, corset and knee high boots... It comes off as a very sexy scent when I wear it and love to wear it out.

 

In the bottle: It reminds me of a christmas scent that Bath and body works has put out as a scented oil for heating lamps... it's very strong but that works very well for me so I was very happy...

 

OF the 4 scents I bought I love them all and they all work very well on me.

Edited August 10, 2007 by neafaroo

[batsy]

In the vial: Oh War, she who I could smell through the packaging, why do you smell like cat pee in the vial?! Not to mention amoxicilin, to which I am allergic? *curses loudly*

 

On the skin: Okay, there we go. You have redeemed yourself, my red-haired sister. Still a little off; I'm not sure if it's the bane of my exsistence aka honeysuckle or the patchouli. Or the fact that Shadwell is quite close to the test spot. Anyway, the redness of this scent boldly makes itself present. I'm so glad the initial scare was just that. I love War and wanted it to work on me so badly! Even with the honeysuckle, I can wear this. A definite keeper!

Edited August 11, 2007 by bat

[Nimthiriel]

Initial impression:

Mm, this smells like the green Thai spice we use for our favourite spicy dish at home! Dark, lush and strong.

 

First on:

Wet, it retains its dry spicy nature, and it's making me hungry because of my Thai food reference! On another note, this spreads like crazy – the drop on my hand has formed a giant wet patch on my skin, heh. Random!

 

Dry:

After about 10 mins, there's a slightly soapy background quality to it (ugh), but now I can smell the honeysuckle. If the soap goes away, this could be a winner.

 

20-30 mins after application, the soapyness has faded a bit more, and the honeysuckle really dominates. I wonder where all the spice went?

 

Finally:

The spice does return a little after a few hours. Hmm. I'll keep this and see if it ages well, I think. I'm not ready to give up on it yet!

[Trish]

This is a whole lot softer than I expected. In the imp it's all fiery red ginger, reminding me of Saw-Scaled Viper. Once on the ginger gradually subdues and something that smells like pepper pops it's head up briefly. After an hour or so it ends up as a very dry and subdued ginger with just a hint of musk in the background. Usually red musk throws like crazy on me, but this has very little throw on me. It's very nice, just not what I was expecting. I never quite imagined War as being soft and subtle!

[Delirium1009]

In the imp, this smells like ginger and spices. As soon as I put it on, the scent becomes more complex and the ginger note gets very obvious. After just a few minutes though, it morphs into this spicy, sweet, and almost juicy fruit scent… like spicy fruit candies. Unfortunately this morphs again as I wear it and the ginger becomes very strong with just a tiny bit of spice in the background. I wish it stayed in that spicy sweet fruity stage.

[jade_starlight]

Yep, this is definitely War. It's red and sharp and very peppery, with just a hint of sweetness underneath. The pepper fades a bit as it dries, which is a good thing since too much pepper makes me sneeze. I'm not sure that this one is for me, but it is nice.

[storme]

In the imp: holy crap, I actually recoiled from this at first sniff - that's astoundingly dry and acrid and peppery.

 

On me, wet: it's not a good sign for me when an overwhelming earthy patchouli note is a relief. But it's lightening the dry pepperiness, so.

 

On me, dry: hunh, I guess that must be ginger there with the patchouli, but it's a weird, mouldy ginger. This smells really funky and nasty on me now.

 

Verdict: augh, aie, away, away.

[Miss Lynx]

I was really looking forward to this one - it's the only one of the Good Omens scents that really sounded like it was almost guaranteed to work on me.

 

At first sniff, it was actually a bit sweeter than I expected - not sure if it's the honeysuckle, or the combination of three different musks or what, but it's a little more on the "perfumey" side than I'd thought it would be. Definitely a spicy edge as well, but on the whole it's not quite what I was expecting. It's quite reminiscent of Shub-Niggurath, which is a good thing, but sort of -- well, girlier, for lack of a better word. There's a sweetness that's part floral and part almost candy-ish.

 

But here's also some note in it that is striking me as slightly "off" in a way I can't quite define -- something dark and bitter lurking underneath. And as it settles into my skin, the different notes seem to by vying for dominance so that it's always changing: "Sweet!" "No, dark!" "CANDY!" "Bitter POISON!" "Spicy flowers!" "No, decaying POISONOUS flowers! Of DOOM!" Kind of like that.

 

The conflict keeps up for quite a while (appropriately enough given its inspiration!), preventing me from fully enjoying the scent. Eventually it settles down to a nice spicy musk not unlike Shub, but that takes several hours.

 

While I do like the end result, I think I prefer a less warlike means of getting there. Which means that much as I looked forward to this one, I shall be swapping it, and sticking to Shub for my ginger fix.

 

Grade: C+/B-

[LadyMedb]

I really thought I was going to love this (I was thinking of Vixen, which I love in small quantities), and it started out really beautiful - kind of strong and bloody and sweet. However, it just kind of goes syrupy after a while - I guess the honeysuckle and the sweeter side of the ginger combine and make it just a little too much to take. I love the spiciness of it, and the darkness, but it's just a little cloying on my skin.

 

It's a shame, because this was almost it.

[Ajila]

In the bottle –Dry dirty spices. Actually this is one of the few scents when smelling it in the bottle made me pull away. Wearing it should be interesting

 

Wet on me – The combination of a really animalistic red musk and dirty patchouli make this unpleasantly overpowering on me

 

Dry on me – Warm sweet spices with a rich deep musky undertone

 

Overall – I’m flummoxed the dry down is lovely and it’s the first blend to win me two unsolicited comments in one wear. On the other hand for the first half an hour I don’t want my nose anywhere near the parts of my body with the blend on, which is something of an issue.

[brit_brat100]

Imp: I get the ginger and something sweet right off, maybe the honeysuckle.

 

Wet: Another one that's hard to pin down. This smells exotic to me.

 

Dry: I loathe patchouli and just hoped it wouldn't bother me, but I smell something VERY hippie and I really don't like it. Rats!

[aquazoo]

This is a beautiful scent! It's a bit exotic, and nice spices are coming up. After a bit the slightest dust is coming up. A definite keeper!

[Ohmaude]

I love ginger, but I have had difficulty finding a ginger BPAL that I truly love. It is a note that is many scents, but I desire something that screams "ginger, bitch!" Siren is great, but it ends up being just jasmine after an hour or so. Shub just went all baked good on me, and I am not foody enough to pull it off. Sudha Segara just straight wimps out. Saw-Scaled viper just has too much going on, and it is usually the cassia/snake oil that wins out.

 

So, I was hesitant but full of hope for War. (Never thought I would write that sentence, big old pacifist hippie that I am!)

 

In the imp its all very red ginger and pepper, sort of an ornery scent that makes the eyes water. Once on my wrist it is GINGER. Yum! I get a bit of the musk, the patchouli is there, but very subtle, it is spicy, but not food-spicy. In fact, this isn't foody at all. This is what I hoped Shub would smell like. After a few minutes on the skin, the honeysuckle totally, totally blooms. (picture harp music at this point) This is the same honeysuckle note as in Chimera and I am in love.

 

Just like the honeysuckle and cinammon play off each other wonderfully in Chimera, the ginger and honeysuckle in War are fantastic partners, blending sweet and spicy without being overwhelming. If this is supposed to be a battle between ginger and honeysuckle then it is at best a dance-off, ala "Beat It."

 

What remains after an hour is a lovely, spicy red ginger and sweet honeysuckle scent with just enough musk underneath to not feel like a chump. AND no hint of foodiness. Joy!

 

So if you love ginger, but you are a bpal mutant like me and shub is just too much cookie for you, perhaps War is your ticket to ginger awesomeness.

[PurringPulsar]

War

 

In the imp: savoury, potentially rubbery red ginger and pepper, with sweet musk. Like a sweeter Aries.

Wet on skin: savoury ginger (no rubber yet) but underneath that is a beautifully creamy musk note.

Dry on skin: whoa, this ginger is hot stuff! There's a hint of hot rubber to it, but this is appropriate, it brings to mind War's motorbike speeding down the motorway at the end of the world…I even smell a hint of asphalt. But this doesn't distract from a gorgeous creamy soft musk at the back. This is the same wonderful red musk from Red Moon 07, and also some of the floral red musk scents-it's almost like Blood Lotus with honeysuckle instead of lotus, and a lot of spices added. I also smell the blood musk from Blood Moon and Cracked Bell in here, very sensual and warm but with a bite of metal. I smell black pepper as well as ginger, maybe even some black cumin? These aren't cosy spices, they are edgy, fiery and gritty. But the floral musk contrasts this beautifully.

After a while: the spices tone down and the rubber disappears completely. Seems that now all I smell is Carmine Zuigiber's feminine beauty rather than the way that she brings conflict wherever she appears. That wonderful creamy red musk, floral and voluptuous, is the dominant note. I don't smell popcorn here at all, like I have seen mentioned in other places, but I smell the same grainy undertone that Red Moon (and Blood Moon) had. There's a hint of spice, but it's mainly musk now.

There's still a hint of dryness, but the scent becomes creamier, more floral and lush. It's like the musk is mixing with the honeysuckle in the most amazing way, there's something magnolia like to it. this then becomes almost lotus-like and this really does smell like Blood Lotus. I think I smell dragon's blood too, but this isn't the 'evil DB' that amps on me. I also smell the variety of patchouli that smells like autumnal soil on my skin.

Verdict: this is so much better than I expected. This is what I wanted Aries to be like-in fact, this should be my Aries scent from now on. The red ginger worried me but in here it's not too bad-it's gingery and dry, but not too rubbery. The spices are nice and dark, as is the patchouli. It's the musks that are the stars of this scent. I love red musk, so a triple whammy of red musk is three times more awesome. I can actually differentiate between two of the musks in here, there's a 'floral-creamy' red musk and a 'bloody' red musk. Those remind me of Red Moon 07 and Blood Moon respectively, two of my favourite moons, so this makes me happy. The floral-creamy musk does the most amazing thing on drydown-it lifts the honeysuckle (which doesn't smell soapy in here at all) and makes this flowery note smell rich and strong, with a silky, sensuous sweetness underneath. It reminds me of other floral-red musk combinations, like Blood Lotus and Unheavenly City. This scent is fitting to the character-beautiful yet dangerous, indeed. A floral musk which is feminine yet powerful and confident. I will need to buy more of this some day!

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? definitely the imp. Maybe a bottle, but not now.

If you like this, try: Red Moon 07, Saw Scaled Viper, Chrysanthemum Moon, Aries 07, Blood Moon, Blood Lotus, Cracked Bell

[Inanna9]

Hmm...I get grape-flavored civet from this one. I'm too lazy to dig out my Bacchanalia and do a direct comparison, but that's definitely the blend that sprang to mind upon first sniff. The civet-vibe morphs to a tamer musk as this dries, but the sweet grape sticks around for me. I may get a bottle of this, because I kind of like it.

 

ETA: okay, curiosity got me off my butt and now I'm wearing Bacchanalia. They are nearly identical when they're wet-right-out-of-the-bottle. But there's definitely civet in Bacchanalia...not so sure anymore about War. Bacchanalia's going feral while War is turning almost candy-sweet and floral. Blood Lotus is a nice comparison. I love this, but I'm not sure I'll need a bottle since I have one of Blood Lotus. War would be a cool signature scent, though. Imagine explaining that one to your co-workers

Edited September 13, 2007 by Inanna9

[ralenth]

Decant RIS.

 

In the imp: Warm, peppery.

 

Wet: Ginger. Patchouli creeps up on it and clobbers it over the head.

 

Drydown: Full on patchouli with a bit of muskiness to it. In the distance, I sense the hollow cries of honeysuckle, which gives War an odd echo. Hrm... Is Honeysuckle Strife, then?

 

Dry: War fades quickly. I was hoping for more of the pepper I sensed in the imp. It mellows out a bit, sadly.

 

Overall: Not quite what I expected, but I'll try her again before I send her off to swaps.

Edited September 18, 2007 by ralenth

[alhbooks]

I was nervous about War, because pepper and patchouli are so reminiscent of my old college dorm...and at first, it just smelled like food stuffs to me, which I don't care about. But once I put it on, I was swept away. It's very strong, and the redhead on the label is exactly the right image. A little goes a long way (in fact, the next day I can still taste it at the back of my sinuses, but I still love it).

 

Heated and just sweet enough, with a powerful grip. Glad this is a bottle I can reorder.

[tartchef]

Hm. I was expecting War to smack me on the ass & steal my husband... instead, she knocked politely, asked to borrow a tea towel, and returned it freshly laundered, with a nosegay of honeysuckle...

 

Wet, there's a whiff of cocoa, a la Tezcatlipoca, along with a bit of my favorite red musk & a light sweet nectar-y scent. Once on, the ginger pokes its head out & joins the dance. The honeysuckle & ginger together smell, to my nose, oddly like apple peels dipped in honey. I get an occasional hint at spiciness, but overall, War is a very quiet, restrained scent. It's nice enough, but Chrysanthemum Moon & Shub better fill my red musk & ginger needs.

[moon_lemming]

I haven't even put this one on yet. I'm going to predict: ass. None of these things like to play nice on me, except ginger. That is why I asked for the empty bottle from the decant group I joined, because I knew I'd love the art (and I do!) but that the blend won't work. Okay, here goes nothin'.

 

Oh, man, it smells terribly good in the imp; the ginger really pops.

 

Yeah, this is truly awful on my skin. The ginger actually makes it worse, because it adds a bite -- one that I normally look forward to -- to the dog-food aroma. Sort of like the fizz from ginger ale that I'm drinking hitting my nose as I refill my ferrets' food dish.

 

At least I'm getting to know my chemistry somewhat?

 

As it dries, the musks settle down a LOT, and it's almost a good scent. This sort of shocks me! It's kind of like a bizarre candle scent. There's a sort of sweet fruitiness in it.

 

Um... I actually kind of like this? This is bizarro world, right? If I didn't have so many perfumes already, I would probably save the imp, because I think this would be awesome when my hormones kick up -- I like musky and incense-y scents that I normally am just meh about when that happens.