French Creole

[roesmoker]

Draws influential, powerful people into your life. Helps make your wishes and desires into a reality.

 

OMG I love this.. love love love!!!

 

The BF didn't like it because at first it did smell like cinnamon/clove (he HATES cinnamon with a burning fiery passion - heh), and I definitely got the vaguely metallic aspect and something almost boozy about it too, but I couldn't stop smelling my hand during the wet phase. I put it on a few hours before I went to bed, and in the middle of the night I woke up with the most delicious sweet powder/cake/floral YUM wafting up into my nose, I could hardly stand it!

 

I want to eat whatever this smells like - agree it's a lot like Must de Cartier, which is the only commercial fragrance I've ever liked.

Can't wait to see the voodoo effects! And even if it has none on me, I will definitely wear this as a 'normal' perfume. This definitely goes on my short list of "big bottle wants"! Why, oh why was it discontinued?

 

French Creole and want to have a million of your babies.

 

ETA the BF calls this "French Hoor" - hee

 

Added 11/4: Now that I've smelled the Sweet Clove single note, I think the wet note in FC is almost pure Sweet Clove, plus maybe some booze. Still love it to death. Don't think I've noticed any voodoo effects, but when it smells this good, who cares?

Edited November 4, 2005 by roesmoker

[Shollin]

First sniff: Resinous. Incensey.

 

Wearing: Hrm. Hrmhrm. There’s something green and funky in here, and I have to wonder if it’s vetiver. It’s going a bit powdery too.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): I think it smells a little watery, and a bit sweet and spicy.

 

Just On: Watery and smoooth and spicy and maybe a bit sweet.

 

An hour or two later: Just a hint of sweet, a bit watery, and spicy.

 

Around 6 hours: Watery spices.

 

12 hours: It's pretty well faded.

 

Overall: I like this well enough. I'm guessing this has some kind of aquatic flowers in it.

 

After reading other reviews: WOw, I certainly didn't get all the connamon and cloves that others did. I don't mind though. I liked it.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 5/5

Summarised in a word or two: Spicy.

 

In the imp/bottle: This is... very strange. I'm not sure I've ever smelled something quite like this. It's floral, but spicy. And herbal?

 

On skin, wet: Clove! And perhaps cinnamon? I'm certain of cloves, but I'm getting cinnamon as well. There's something else here -- something floral, but sweet.

 

On skin, dry: Cinnamon, cloves and that gorgeous floral.

 

Conclusion: I really, really like this, and I wish I'd either been able to order buckets before it was discontinued, or was able to pay the insane amounts bottles are going for on Ebay lately.

Edited December 17, 2005 by Aredhel

[allidavie]

I finally broke out my much-hoarded imp today, hoping it could send Katrina the hell away from New Orleans, or at the very least to help spare the city the worst-case-scenario, which indeed appears to have occurred. I give Beth full credit!

 

I couldn't think of how to describe this at all, besides very comforting and yummy, but after reading the other reviews I've been able to pull out baby powder (only when wet), cloves, warm woods, and cake batter notes. My imp was tarted and is probably fairly aged, which would explain why the lime note is gone.

 

This is gorgeous and sure seems to work. I hope one day it might reappear.

[loveandprozak]

Wet: This is a HOT scent. The vaguely peppery-but-not-pepper note that is present in most of the Voodoo oils mixed with a dark, dry, spicy clove.

 

5 minutes: This is lovely. My skin has amplified the sweetness of the clove. In this stage this is very remniscent of Three Witches to me. French Creole has a bit of a darker twist thanks to the Voodoo base, however.

 

30 minutes: Not very much change. Spicy, sweet, and slightly dark.

 

1 hour - Full Dry Down - Wow, this is interesting. Suddenly a floral appeared -- maybe that's what was lending a sweetness to the clove? I'm guessing rose or *possibly* lotus. It's a sweet pink note that dispels the darker voodoo notes. The spice still is there, but now it's more candy-like a la Old Sybaris thanks to the floral sweetness.

[Medici]

Eh bien, mes cheres - I think we should take a promenade in the Quarter, this evening, non?

 

The first time I tried this a couple months back, my initial impression was that it was flat-out dirty. I got the impression of rained-out streets in the French Quarter, trash, and late, humid nights where you’ve been dancing and sweating too much to be proper for a “lady”. At the time, I dismissed it.

 

But now I'm back after trying French Love and finding a similar essence with Creole.

 

Initial impressions: Green, slightly aquatic, and spices.

 

Still dirty - but more sultry than sleaze. It's a twilight fragrance for a humid night, as gaslights flare on in the dusk. I still get the impression of balminess with the fragrance, but this time around, it's much more pleasant. There's a hint of spice to it as well, but overall it all blends together seamlessly creating more of an ambient fragrance that really is multi-tonal.

 

If it ever comes back in another incarnation, I'd definitely partake of a bottle.

Edited June 8, 2006 by Medici

[clover]

Frech Creole

 

This is one of those times when I think that I might just be crazy. Because ALL I get from French Creole is lime, lime, lime. Strong limes. No cinnamon, or clove, or anything like that. Just limes.

 

After a while it starts to mellow out, and I get a light herbal floral, with something mellowingly sweet. Like vanilla. But it's still got the fizziness of lime.

 

So, yeah a limey, fizzy, herbal blend with a vanilla kick. I like it, and I can't wait to actually try it out. In the magical way, that is.

[dreadeddragon]

In the bottle: Woah that's strong! Almost an alcohol (like parfumers alcohol) whiff. Then cinnamon.

 

First on: Cinnamon and green plant. Like oleander branches.

 

Drydown: Oleander and violet. Well I know it can't be oleander since that's rather poisonous, but it really does smell like when I was a kid. We'd strip the branches and weave them into crowns wrapped in flowers. Or bows & arrows. Then we'd wash the hell out of our hands before we could do anything else. I also get a bit of rose. It changes a lot. *want bottle*

[Little Bird]

French Creole does not work on me at all. Sadly, I put some on before class and had to deal with it for over an hour before I could scrub it off.

 

The cinnamon amps up insanely, so I smell like sharp red hots candies. I like a sweeter cinnamon scent, but this is sharp almost to the point of being bitter.

 

After about an hour I think I smell something light and floral underneath the red hots candies. This was very distracting for me, and started to give me a headache.

[edenssixthday]

French Creole - No other review I've read mentions lilacs, but to me, that is the dominant note: lilacs and lots of them! Lilacs on a bed of herbs, in fact. Far -- waaay far -- behind the lilac is the slightest hint of something spicy that seems to be just the tiniest hint of clove. I do detect the teeniest tiniest hint of the "cinnamon" or "red hots" scent that most other reviewers noted, but I really can hardly believe that's the dominant note for them. On me, it's just so much lilac. I'm loving it. It's a beautiful fragrance and makes me very happy. It reminds me of my life in New Orleans, and that is always a good bunch of memories. I can announce with absolute certainty that French Creole does not taste good. (I got a bit on my lips when sniffing my arm... yuck!). It has a moderate level of both throw and staying power.

[sofiaviolet]

This was a gentle spicy scent. Unfortunately, a few minutes after I put it on, my skin started to burn. Obviously this is not for me.

[wikkidraven]

this is the first bpal that i've tried for magickal uses...no effect yet but i do enjoy the warm spicy clove and cinnamon. this one seems right up my alley.

[cranberry]

I got to try French Creole courtesy of the CTIII circular swap, so a huge thanks to whoever threw it in there!

In the imp and when first applied, there’s a gentle, mildly sweet spice, maybe clove? It’s tempered and I’m having a hard time placing the notes – lime? A cola-like smell? It’s unusual seems to go back and forth, bouncing around. There a bit of tartness which makes me think lime, yet it’s pretty subdued and doesn’t clash or overpower the sweet spice. Overall, this smells yummy and I’m glad to have tried this.

 

I need more of this for next week!

[Em-]

Mmm - cinnamon and clove, with something almost vanilla or tonka underneath, yet, this is not foody, per se, more...sensuous.

 

I love this, and wish I had more than an imp.

[supremegoddessofall]

Sort of a menthol band-aid.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

sniffed from the imp: cola? maybe an eensy bit of lime (but then again, lime is one of the major ingredients in the "cola" flavour) and... Graveyard Dirt or potting soil.

 

i only have the eensiest bit of this, so i'm only using a tiny droplet from the tip of the plastic wand to test - that may affect my perception of some things.

 

on skin: i still get the Graveyard Dirt type note and the cola is becoming the Clove Cola that was given out as a promo with one of the The Crow movies.

within an hour or so, the clove note has mellowed out, and gotten sweeter if that's possible, but there's still a faint occasional hint of cola that will fade away and be replaced by King's Hawaiian Sweet Bread which will fade and come back as Cola with a medicinal lean to it.

 

this is a very odd scent, and frankly i'm glad i don't adore it because it'd be impossible to get more of. it seems very intense and brooding -- and considering i lean towards the pink and fluffy most days... not very me.

[zankoku_zen]

On application I get roses and almost a spicy, resinous incense with a hint of powder. It might be violet powder actually. I find this scent to stay very close to your skin... and after an hour, on me, it just smells like really good talcum powder.

 

BOO.

[Apple]

This is one interesting blend that morphs quite a bit. In the imp, it's sharp and almost metallic. As soon as it hits my skin, it becomes slightly lemony and medicinal, and then - BAM! - jasmine. Because I am a jasmine amper/distorter/hater, I sigh. Jasmine is usually the kiss of death for me, and I figure French Creole is a lost cause. But then something unusual happens, and the jasmine-like note (maybe it's ylang-ylang?) starts to back down... and I can actually smell other notes! Intriguing notes. Spicy notes. Sweet-creamy-cinnamon-vanilla-powder-Play-Doh notes that bring to mind Morocco and Hod (although it takes several hours for those notes to come to the fore). At some point I think I get a whiff of rose (also usually a doom note for me, so maybe it's actually geranium here?), but it is fleeting.

 

I'm guessing the base is a combination of carnation, cassia, vanilla, and red sandalwood, maybe some musk... with some astringent herbs (sage?) and flowers (ylang-ylang? geranium?) that form the top notes. At any rate, it is surprisingly wearable in all but the jasmine/ylang-ylang phase, which is blessedly brief.

 

I've only tested it once, so I cannot attest to its efficacy as a Voodoo oil. I'll be sure to report back if I notice my luck taking a turn for the better!

 

(FYI - There is an unreleased but available TAL version of French Creole that is supposed to have the same effects, and the reviews indicate that the two smell similar.)