Orc

[Lunasariel]

Field grey courgette musk, roughly cured leather, and vetiver.

 

In the imp: Primarily vetiver - a sharp, rough, slightly earthy scent. Not my usual thing, but here goes nothing!

 

Wet: A bit more of the leather, but the Lab's description is very accurate - this is a much sharper, more roughly cured leather than I'm used to, but leather nonetheless. The musk is also there, rounding things out and sweetening them up a little. The vetiver is still definitely present, but it's now less of a vetiver SN.

 

Dry: A surprisingly wearable, sweet, musky leather. Nothing ground-breaking, but I'm actually looking forward to layering this one, and I've never played an Orc in my life. (I gravitate more towards Elves and Half-Elves, which is ironic, since Half-Elf drastically failed to work on me.)

[lady_pandora]

I put this on and, no lie, sorry Lab, it was horrible. Like why the hell did I put this on my skin horrible. It smelled like vetiver and vegetables and sharp sweet indistinct perfume all at once, and just smelled wrong, like this combination was just not a smell that should happen. The best comparison I can make is that it smelled like something went bad in the fridge, and then someone dumped perfume on it to boot. The nope was strong.

 

The good news was, it had little to no throw, so I told myself I could get through ten minutes of it if I didn't sniff my arm in the interim. So I waited ten minutes and then sniffed again. Whew. Apparently the vegetal thing burns off quick. It had turned to light leathery musk and vetiver, which left me meh but at least smelled like a wearable perfume.

 

Eventually, it dries down to a vetiver/leather combo that's actually quite nice if you like that sort of thing. It's a little heavier on the vetiver than I tend to like, but it might work for layering--and if you're a big vetiver fan, you should definitely try it. I haven't decided whether to keep this imp or not. The first stage, though it only lasts a few minutes, is just incomprehensibly awful on my body chemistry, and I'm not sure I'll want to brave it again.

Edited January 15, 2015 by lady_pandora

[Minh Scent]

I love testing things before reading the notes. It was clearly vetvier at first sniff with "something" green. Then leather. I really like it! And had a good hoot to find the green note was zuchinni! A keeper!

[lucycat]

This was a frimp from the Lab.

 

In the imp: Leather and, yes, zucchini.

 

Wet: Primarily leather.

 

Dry: This is a very rugged blend. The leather predominates, and it does have a rough-cured quality, different from the much smoother leather in Paladin. The vetiver is dry and almost tingly at times, but balanced by the leather.

 

I was intrigued by the “field grey courgette musk” listed in the notes, and reading the reviews confirmed that it is indeed courgette as in zucchini. There’s something in Orc, as it dries, that makes me think “plant.” It’s a long time since I’ve smelled zucchini growing on the vine, but that has to be it.

 

This would be great on an outdoorsy man.

[Nicnivin]

I would have never imagined that an orc could smell this good.

When my husband told me that he was ordering an imp that smelled like zucchini, I think I arced my eyebrow into my hairline and told him he was quite mad. Fortunately, my preconceptions were unjustified: this is a gorgeous scent.

 

On my husband, the vetiver and zucchini create a very crisp, "green" scent evocative of an early spring garden. The leather is just a subtle whisper in the background, and I'm delighted that it hasn't been sullied by the cloying sweetness so common to BPAL scents.

[nathanielhebert]

I'm the husband in question, and after obsessively sniffing my wrists when this is worn, I opted to upgrade to a full bottle.

Right off the bat, the star of the show is the zucchini -- cutting board fresh, which adds a very clean green scent to the proceedings. Resting underneath is a rugged leather note, and a very tame, dry vetiver. Sometimes, depending on my chemistry, the notes will change position, with leather and vetiver in the forefront, and the sweet smelling zucchini lingering in the back.

As the scent dries, the zucchini note is the first to go, with leather and vetiver lingering on. The leather in question is a rough sort, calling to mind rugged tanned hides. For those usually afraid of vetiver, I'd say give this one a chance, as it's not of the smoked-mesquite, BBQ variety. As it dries down further, the scent reminds me of Scarecrow, as the vetiver is very grassy, dry and hay-like.

Overall, it's an interesting blend that works well together despite what you might initially think! I'll be wearing this out in the garden and in the forest as soon as spring starts thawing winter back.

[aquazoo]

Really dirty at first. Then I get dirt and leather. But mostly really dry and dusty.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Why does this smell like vegetables?? Like - raw squash?

 

After reading some other reviews, I see people have likened this to zucchini. That's pretty accurate. Dirty zucchini. I like zucchini, but I do not want to smell like it. This is just terrible on me, and I'm having to wash it off.

 

ETA: Having re-read the notes, I realize that of course courgette is zucchini, so it's supposed to smell like veggies. Lol! Still, not for me!

Edited November 21, 2015 by LizziesLuck

[Casablanca]

Bottle: Overwhelming rotting vegetables. This reminds me of the vegetable smell of Witch's Garden, without the freshness, carrots and sharp medicinal absinthe thing that one has. I'm a little nervous.

Wet: Musky, earthy rotting zucchinis. Nauseating.

Dry: Dirty leather, grassy juice, and zucchinis off-gassing in a compost heap.

It's true to a version of the theme. I don't personally see green skin and an angry, toothy face and think of rotting veggies. I think, "That's so vicious and cute." :-) But that's me. I'm glad I at least tried it. I'd have loved to go see Warcraft wearing this when it comes out, but I can't deal... Too bad.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Casablanca

[freyasfae]

Blech. I got this as a frimp, and yep, that's vetiver. I have yet to find a tolerable vetiver.

[Lisa Ing]

You went to the farmer's market with your own leather-strapped canvas tote to pick up fair-trade peanuts, kale and zucchini.

[Miss Landau]

Got a bunch of RPG frimps in my latest order, and Orc was one of them. To me fresh out of the imp this smells strongly grassy, almost astringently so. A few hours later I'm getting something vaguely, um, floral? Doesn't smell much like musk or leather, or at least not leather like I recognise it from other oils like Tezcatlipoca.

[Lydialove]

Normally green scents are iffy on me, but I increasingly love leather and have pretty much always adored vetiver's entire spectrum from standing in a meadow to standing in a bonfire. This vetiver reads to me like loitering in a dry meadow with a whiff of a neighbor's fire. The leather is doing it's thing, the musk sweetens and the vegetal note behaves itself nicely.

It reminds me of something, another BPAL. I think it might be Troll. In fact I think this is Troll's more gentle cousin.

[Anita]

Like a lot of people on here- a lot of zucchini at first, but then the leather shows up halfway through the drying time. Not much in the way of vetiver, which is ok by my as we don't always get along. I have almost no throw and have to keep my nose close to the skin to sniff it out.

 

near the end of the drydown the vetiver has peeked out, with the zucchini still faintly there but leather being the note that stands out the most.

 

I only have an imp, and I think I will keep it, but not sure how often I would wear it. I will try layering it with the other rpg and see how it goes.

Edited to say: I'm going to let the man try this one on for size, see what he has to say ...

Edited May 25, 2017 by Anita

[Meirion]

Veggies, baby powder, and that's it. I don't get any leather or vetiver whatsoever.

[Lucchesa]

Ugh, I'm really regretting putting this one on my skin. Orc on me is like fresh, sweet cucumber and zucchini salad over a base of charred noodles. The leather is coming out a bit as it dries down, but I have a hard time imagining it will salvage this into anything wearable for me. Frankly, my hopes were not high, though from a curiosity standpoint I'm quite glad to have gotten to try this one (frimp from a kind forumite!).

 

ETA OK, within an hour Orc had mellowed to a very pleasant kind of smoky green leather. The harsh, acrid quality of the vetiver was gone as was any identifiable zucchini smell. In this phase, which lasts a good long time, it reminds me of something like Lindworm. So if you can muscle through the opening, the dry phase is quite lovely.

Edited July 17, 2018 by Lucchesa

[torischroeder9]

In the imp: Have you ever peeled cucumbers and then left the peels in the garbage in the hot sun? This smells like that. 

 

On my skin:

 

Still more hot, rotting cucumber peel. 

 

As it dries down, that note becomes strong -- but no longer unconscionably strong -- vetiver. I also detect the roughly cured leather.

 

At about the half hour mark, the musk starts to be a factor, and for me, it is, by this time, a very welcome note indeed. It smells... kind of like fog. 

 

So now, it's grass and fog and also some rough-grain leather. So it's still weird. But much more manageable than hot garbage cucumber. 

 

Finally, at the hour mark (it may change beyond this, but I'm seeing a definite trend), it's musk in the foreground over leather and vetiver. It's fairly dry, but it's loads nicer than in the imp. I'm curious to see how it pairs with some of the lighter, more effervescent RPG layering blends. 

[monocainsheresy]

Musky vegetable mush over soft leather over barely-there but depth-giving vetiver. Not what I expected - better than I expected - but quite nice.

[roseus]

Fresh green and vegetal in the imp, with a slightly smoky undertone of leather and maybe a bit of sharp grassiness from the vetiver. But overall much fresher and brighter than I anticipated. On my skin it is much more leather forward, and underneath the rugged smokiness I get that bright green note, though it is pushing more cucumber than zucchini if I had to pin it. As it dries the leather-vetiver situation loses some of it's sharpness and it blends more with the courgette musk. It's all sort of a muddled dark green and leather.

[Honey]

This is so unique!

The first waft I get reminds me of cucumbers that are mixed with a more bitter and fresh green element - bitter mint almost?

It's very green, watery, earthy and vegetal - thankfully no stinky patchouli.

The leather and vetiver turn into a soft, fresh and almost sweet amalgamate.

It's not as resinous or "burned rubber"-like as some other leather notes I have smelled before.

 

I have to agree with a previous comment that the watery note does remind me of rain as well - petrichor per excellence.

I think this would make a great petrichor layering note for other perfumes that lack this element.

I will definitely keep this imp in my stash!

Edited April 7, 2022 by Honey

[Tungerine]

Courgette! It literally smells like a fresh vegetable at first. It reminds me of Troll, but simpler and gentler, much less spicy and woody. It's fresh but not light, green-grey but not sharp or bitter. The vetiver is grassy and not very strong at all, and the leather blends smoothly with the musk. The courgette eventually fades to soft green musk. It brings to mind grey autumn mornings in an overgrown field full of blackthorn and spindle shrubs. It adds a sort of cool, foggy greenness when layered with other things.