Wolfsbane

[elphaba]

Notorious for its properties for protection against werewolves and curing lycanthropy, this nefarious plant also has a fine history of use as a virulent poison. Clasically, Medea employed it in her many works of vengeance. This concoction of ours has none of the lethal qualities, but still personifies all of the herb's dark history beautifully.

When I first put this on, I thought it was going to be a straightforward, pure herbal. It started out that way and I assumed it would finish the same. Was I ever wrong.

After the initial crushed green herbalness died away, pressing my nose to my wrist revealed a very woody base. Every time I moved my wrist away, though, I smelled roses--so much so, that I wondered if maybe my imp of Harlot had leaked on my fingers while I reached for Wolfsbane this morning. I'm fairly sure it didn't. Wolfsbane's throw is just sweet and rosey.

During breakfast, I discovered the "poisonous" aspect of this one. Each time I moved the spoon to my mouth, I got a whiff of Wolfsbane that put me off my food.

By the final drydown, I still caught a bit of the bitter, poisonous smell, but the herbs and wood had come into balance and the roses were gone. I don't think this is a keeper for me, but it sure was a rollercoaster. Edited January 23, 2006 by Shollin

[Fefferbella]

Cedar shavings and green bitter herbs.

 

Very odd, yet familiar scent. I like this as a "pick-me-up" scent.

Very sharp, woodsy and medicinal

[darkitysnark]

Wolfsbane

 

Another in my newly gimped stash from my Autumn Switch Witch, kmasden!

 

In the bottle:

Herbal, sharp, green, uh... soap? This is very assertive. Aggressive, even.

 

Wet:

The soap, thankfully, fades almost immediately. The greens have swirls of rose, but it stays mostly sharp and herbal.

 

Drydown:

There's a hint of the sandalwood, but once again, this remains mostly sharp and green.

 

Later:

 

Alas! I got caught up with work and didn't really see much of Wolfsbane after that. By the end of the day it was all but gone. There was the faintest rosy green shadow on my wrists.

 

I'll have to give this one another try. The beginning is very much a "take charge" kind of scent, but it calmed way the heck down at the end.

[Blueelm]

Vertiver. Vertiver. Vertiver. Woods like Cedar and Cypress... and Patchouli perhaps... but more than anything Vertiver.

 

This almost smells like vertiver essential oil. I rather like the scent, but am not sure if this pure and direct of an approach would work for me.

[ajcj213499]

Wow, I can't believe how different this can be on different skin!

 

I had put off trying this because I was expecting something really woody (from other reviews), but I finally tried it tonight and can't believe how different this is from what I was expecting.

 

This has a wonderful green herby rose scent. It's really nice, and totally unexpected. This will be nice for spring.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 5/5

Summarised in a word or two: Herbs!

 

In the imp: Very green and herbal, and distinctly... soapy.

 

On skin, wet: Still very herbal, but also woodsy. Almost pine, but not quite. Something else I can't really identify. It has the cool/cooling quality that mint/menthol does, but I'm not getting menthol/mint/etc.

 

On skin, dry: Not much change from wet, oddly. It's a a borderline "masculine" scent, but I'm definitely liking it. It's almost musky in some ways.

 

Conclusion: I remember having tried this way back in my newbie days, and how I loathed it. Nearly a year's gone by, and my likes and dislikes have changed, as evidenced by how much I really, really like Wolfsbane. I'm definitely contemplating a 5ml of this.

Edited February 7, 2006 by Aredhel

[blu°]

Huh? Straight on this seems like pure sandalwood to my nose. Then a eucalyptusy-mentholy edge turns up and the two intermingle.

I'm strongly reminded of my stay in Italy some years ago when I was using essential oils reading cards all the time, I think it's eucalyptus that I was using a lot then.

 

I can see how people got rice pudding from this, as it is indeed very creamy and a little peppery, warmthening a whole lot the longer it's on my skin.

 

I can't smell neither roses nor vetiver though.

 

Wolfsbane to me is primarily woods, probably cedar, maybe sandalwood, maybe pine and eucalyptus (is this a wood, too?). Warmthening, that creaminess in the background becomes a little similar to the feeling of marzibain, but only a little, and only in texture.

 

Wolfsbane is quite a sweet scent on me. Like sweet eucalyptus and wood.

 

Though there doesn't seem to happen a lot more than that, I quite like it. Maybe I'm biased because of how it reminds me of Italy, but it smells generally mediterranean to me. Rather dry grasses and woods growing on dusty sunbaked earth than something you'd find in a more northern, deep green, wet and mossy forest. As people have already compared it to Cosmic Dreamcatcher, I want to add that CD gives me that feeling of mediterranean woods, herbs and earth, too.

 

I wouldn't call this a masculine scent at all, neither a feminine. It's perfectly gender neutral and unusual as a perfume. It doesn't really smell like perfume. Rather like something therapeutic, or a room scent. On me, it's developing this weird sweetness and I'm still undecided whether I'm ok with that or not.

[Diva Urd]

I also definitely get vetiver and a bit of black patchouli in this one, and maybe some other woods (sandalwood is a definite possibility, even though it didn't really come out overtly enough for me to catch it). Some greenish-white floral seems to top it off, although I can't for the life of me identify it.

 

Pretty nice overall. Don't know yet whether I want more (will probably have to test my imp some more), but it did leave a good first impression.

[brownbear]

Yes I definitely get wood from this. (hee hee)

It's like a freshly broken tree limb. Fresh pine sap or something. But it isn't only pine. It is also some other woods, but I can't exactly place them. It's nice enough, but not my style.

[Brianne]

In the vial:

spicy woods

 

On me:

This goes all kinds of funky on me. Of course, it's a spicy woodsy scent and per usual it's doing what wood does on me - turning to pencil shavings. So, it's spicy pencil shavings. Behind the pencil shavings was a smell that was a little ashy and a little like tobacco. So all of it came together to make a smell on me that reminded me of cigarette butts ;_;

 

Final note:

Don't blame Wolfsbane, wood scents hate me.

[t_for_tau]

This is the first Rappaccini's Garden scent that I have fallen in love with.

 

Woody, spicy, piney, with that very very faint hint of rose to lift it... It's like a cross between Loup Garou, Black Forest and Burial on me, which are three of my favourites - but not as excessively piney as Black Forest or excessively rosey as Burial.

[storme]

In the imp: earth and pine and wood.

 

On me, wet: lots of wood and earth, a little citrus, a little pine, a lot of green herbs. This is how Black Forest *should* have smelled on me.

 

On me, dry: this goes through a strong sandalwood-and-pine stage before some patchouli-ish scent creeps in and makes this in a spicy, woody herbal scent. This is lovely - not at all what I usually like, but it's really making me think of a benign but dark forest.

 

Verdict: I think this may be a success. It's that elusive forest-floor scent I wanted a while back and gave up on finding, because all the piney scents repelled me. Here, it doesn't. Astonishing.

[Meg]

In the bottle: An extremely green, rooty scent, slightly bitter. I wonder if it isn't chamomile.

 

Wet: Same as in the bottle, with a slightly bitter-watery element, like tears. It smells murky and dark green.

 

Drydown: Chamomile, I'm pretty sure of it, or another slightly bitter herb, with a hint of aquatics. It's very pleasant. I think that there's also vetiver in here to deepen the scent. And very slowly, a sweet floral comes out of all that green mass, it's rose. A discreet, pink rose bud, peeking out of dark thorny thickets. As the vetiver moves back, it becomes stronger.

 

Overall: It's a lovely, melancholic green scent. It reminds me of Hurricane, Venus and Water of Notre Dame, I think they share certain elements. It's a less powdery and floral Venus, a greener Hurricane, a rosier Water of Notre Dame. It's fresh and dark at the same time. And it smells a bit bitter, which seems fitting for a poisonous magical plant.

[n0thing]

The initial smell of this i really, really liked - smells like dark green tangley woods.

After drying though, for some reason all i get is depressing roses, it smells *exactly* like the Emily Strange 'black rose' perfume i used to wear 'til my mum said it smelt like loo cleaner

 

Damn!

[laurahcory]

On me, Wolfsbane smells both woody and sweet. In the bottle, it's sharp green and woody, but once I put it on, a sweeter note emerges, and I'm not sure what it is, maybe vanilla? Definitely a keeper.

[HennaFairy]

bottle:

this will sound weird but - it smells like paper. Wet paper? Musty

 

wet:

smells like cleaning the basement out after it flooded. Really. Guess it's just wood, but strange memory associations.

 

dry:

wood. Wet wood I guess. Not sandalwood (boohoo), not anything else….

 

overall:

dare I say… boring? On me at least it's nothing like others have described. Not meant for me then!

 

rating: 5/10

[Elrianra]

Dark, medicinal... very cloying in the bottle. Wet, it's sticky and green and rather oppressive. Dry, this is powdery musks and leather with a lot of dried herbs. What the bloody hell, is my first reaction to this. It's just sharp and cloying and particularly unpleasant. I don't know what it's doing on my skin, but ew.

[themerrybaker]

Wolfsbane is too woodsy/bitter/dark to wear as a scent, but will do fine ye olde oil burner.

[Spastik_Kitty]

In the bottle: Like wet earth and a dirty hamster cage

 

First on: Like wet earth and a dirty hamster's cage

 

After a bit: Like sweet earth and a dirty hamster's cage

 

A bit more: Like sun baked grass and freshly cut slabs of pine.

 

I'm not sure if this is so much for me alone, the husband likes it though, and this might be great paired with some amber.

[Naamah_Darling]

What? I gotta try it, just 'cause of the werewolf angle.

 

In the bottle, it's grass and cedar; a woody, dry scent that might also harbor a touch of eucalyptus. Woodsy blends tend to give me massive sinus headaches, but so far, this doesn't seem overwhelming. There's an underlying woody incense note to this that might be sandalwood, or might only be cedar with some sweet herb growing under it.

 

On, it's . . . oh, my. A dusty forest path or a closed attic room in a northern mansion. Shafts of sunlight, treetops waving high up in an unheard wind. A covered mirror, a chest of secrets. This reminds me of my trip to the Pacific Northwest, those towering giants, trees like castle towers, and the dusty red coating of crumbled needles like powdered incense over the deeper-buried bed of grey and black volcanic ash. It also, perversely, reminds me a bit of the chaparral, the desert highlands of Utah, with the sage and creosote bushes growing all twisted by the wind and packed down by the sun, and the dry, dusty smell of wood and rock. It's a cooler scent than that; it's the smell of dewfall, when there's just barely enough moisture to carry smell, and all the desert creatures come out.

 

It's the smell of all the wild places I've loved.

 

Anti-lycanthropic though it might supposedly be, this is very calming to the inner wolf spirit.

 

It dries down to a dusty, dry, woody finish, more cedarwood than fresh greenery. Still herbal, with a touch of alkaline bitterness under there. Not poisonous, though it is just a touch dark, this is fresh, herbal, woodsy, and . . . releasing. I like this very much. Recommended for fans of woodsy and herbal scents.

[opaleyes]

Mmm soft woods. This is oddly comforting. There's something herby and floral, but I have no idea what it is.

 

Much later- Mm! Roses! I've been looking for a rose like this. I bought a copper rose at a ren fest and they scented it with the most gorgeous single note rose. I'd been looking for one like it for a while, and this is it! YAY!

Edited July 6, 2006 by opaleyes

[juniperus]

Bottle: a very dark green herbal.

Wet: sharp, like green leaves and stems newly crushed.

Dry: vaguely fir-like. the sharpness has passed into a general damp green scent...hmm.

Later: it's not bad on me, but it's nothing special, either. Ah well...

[lookingglass]

Very herbally in the imp. I know it is not for me. I will pass it on to DH who will give scents like this a chance.

 

He likes it. Reminds him of juniper. Clean, alive, dark green, fresh herbal. Drying out it gets creamy and woody. It is much like how Gauko does on him...but not as complex or sexy. They have a similar sharp topnote and HOT wood in the base.

[Seanan]

At one point, a looooong time ago, I managed to wind up on my butt in the middle of a large patch of aconite (wolfsbane). It was a sharp, almost acrid, semi-sweet scent that somehow managed to be pleasant, largely by being so darn -interesting-.

 

That's Wolfsbane. Aconite perfume, to a T!

 

Wet, this smells like freshly-crushed aconite flowers on me, herbal, but with a sharp, half-bitter floral undertone. As it dries, the bitterness smooths out and fades away, replaced by a lingering sharpness that is nothing like most non-medicinal herbs.

 

Hours later, the harsher aspects have faded, but the sharpness remains. Waiting.

 

Yum!

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

ever been inside a house that's about halfway finished being built? the roof, and outer walls are finished, the frameworks done, the subfloor is down, but none of the interior walls are up yet, so you can see all the corners, no matter where you stand?

the smell of different woods and a few chemicals?

 

this is that. woody and resiny and fresh, but a little wierd and kinda wrong, in a way that's hard to describe. reminds me a bit of cedar, without the gag, and also a bit of juniper, without the mintyness.

 

the oil itself doesn't seem that thick, but once i put it on my skin... it just sits there. almost an hour later, there's still a little shiny spot on the top of my hand where i put the oil to test it.

 

i like it, but i think that's partly because it smells Chypre-y.