Boadicea

[shipwreckgirl]

Amber, fig, vanilla flower, oak, patchouli, vetiver, dragon’s blood resin, leather, and neroli.

Wow, this blend has a ton of big scary notes in it! But none of them are really doing their big scary thing. I don't smell the oak or leather at all. The amber, patchouli, vetiver, and dragon's blood are there, but quiet. Somehow, all of these bad boys combine to make a soft, smokey, sweet, very pretty blend. Not what I was expecting at all, but I adore this. Edited December 1, 2009 by Shollin

[jamethiel]

I got a decant by the good graces of KittenMorag on lj.

 

In the bottle:

 

Mint and something sweet

Wet:CARAMEL. There's an overwhelming sweetness. That would be the fig?

After a minute: Seriously, hasn't anyone else gotten mint from this? This is just bizarre. In a good way!

After five minutes: Oh, vanilla! With leather notes in the background. And something sweet and perfumey--I don't know whether that's the amber or the fig. Doesn't quite smell like fig, so I think it might be amber.

 

The patchouli fades in and out, giving it a bit of an edge.

After fifteen minutes. The fig and amber is coming out, making it smell more traditionally perfumey. I swear I smell mint though. Maybe it's the oak or neroli? I don't know what they do on my skin.

 

The drydown: fig and amber all the way. With leather underlying. YUM!

 

Hmm. I like it. It's quite different from my usual blends: the fig and amber make it much more overtly lush and sexual on me. But for when I'm feeling hedonistic, I think it would be great.

 

Grah: Unfortunately, it doesn't last on me. Put on the skin, gone an hour later *cries* I LOVE IT SO. I think maybe I'm going to have to wear it in my clocket

Edited December 9, 2009 by jamethiel

[theseagrows]

i was pretty sure i'd love this one, as long as the dragon's blood wasn't too strong, and alas, it is not! it's a warm, sensuous vanilla-oriental-floral on my skin. it is one of those scents with many notes that is so well-blended, that i really have trouble picking all the notes out. it's mostly amber, fig and vanilla on me. the resins are very subtle, and i can't detect the leather at all. i think the oak peeks out a tiny bit, which comes off as a slightly foody tinge, almost like nutmeg. i think this may be going on my bottle wishlist!

 

[bluerose]

It smells like a concentrated version of the bath oil with the additional notes of oak and leather peaking out. The oak and leather doesn't overpower the scent of amber, vanilla, and figs; but it makes the scent darker than the bath oil version.

[capncait]

oh glorious fig! how is it that i tend to LOVE scents with fig in them?

 

A GENEROUS forumite sent me both the perfume oil and the bath oil to try... and i love both, but for very different reasons!

 

while the bath oil is overtly fig and sultry vanilla, the perfume oil balances the fig and vanilla flower with leather and slight hint of oak.

 

its six hours later and the fig/vanilla/amber is still going strong on my arm. just gorgeous.

[Argentwolf]

This ends up being a pretty, but very light and innocuous scent on me. I think I can detect the oak as, someone else mentioned, a faint sort of nuttiness...but I find it very hard to pick out anything definite for sure. It's a bit like being in a grove of sunlit, flowering trees in the middle of the forest somewhere. It's a very fleeting moment, and soon fades away.

[CreamyJade]

In the bottle: Oak, vetiver (very light), vanilla. The blend is sweet in the bottle.

Wet on skin: Soft leather, vetiver, woods, vanilla.

Dry on skin: Slightly smoky and powdery amber, with dragon's blood, vanilla flower and fig.

Final thoughts: I like this one! It seemed like an agressive blend just by looking at the notes, but the result on my skin is a very pleasant, warm, slightly resinous amber. I thought I liked Zenobia more, but I now lean towards Boadicea.

Try if you like: The Nutcracker, Dragon's Milk, Haloes

[inurbanus]

Out of all the warrior queens featured in the Trading Post collection, Boadicea is my favorite, so I was really hoping that I would like her perfume. When I first put it on, the leather and dragon's blood were really prominent - whoa, this Boadicea was a BAMF! However, the heavy notes soon lifted and left behind a powdery vanilla blend with hints of fig and oak. Very pretty, although I kind of wish that it had more leather to give it a real "warrior" touch. I agree with the above comparison between this and Haloes, although I also want to mention that this reminds me a little of Miller Vs. California, one of my favorites, with the fig and vanilla. I like Boadicea and can see myself wearing it, but I'm a little disappointed. I wish there was, uh, more badassery in this, like the actual Boadicea.

 

3.5/5

[filigree_shadow]

Mmm, this smells great. Soft, resiny, sweet, and deep. I can smell the patchouli in it, but it's not overwhelming, it definitely smells sweeter and smoother than usual. I guess my little decant here is at least 5 years old at this point, so it's fairly well aged, and as you know those resins, wood, and leather notes get better with age. That certainly seems to be the case here, as this is outstanding. Sweet, pleasant, deep, soft leather.

[Carolan Ivey]

I tend to amp vanilla, which isn't my favorite. I had hopes that with all the other notes listed, the vanilla wouldn't barge to the front, but it did. On me it dries down to a powdery vanilla, so with regret this decant will go in the sell/give-away pile.

[bambi]

I was lucky enough to try this because a friend of mine has a very precious couple of imps of it. The notes are not at all in my preferred scents (patchouli? dragon's blood? leather? vetiver?😱), but something about this just WORKED. The vanilla was the stand-out note for me., and there was a slight floral note to it. Perhaps the vanilla flower mixing with the fig? The amber came in a little later, and this became amazing. Very sexy, yet extremely wearable. Sweet, but mature.