Fighter

[Coldfire]

Leather, musk, blood, and steel.

 

Imp: mmmm leather and steel
Wet on Me: by all the gods I am swooning. lovely leather and sharp but dark steel with the faintest whisper of musk
Drying Down: yummy yummy yummy leather-y steel and the faint ghosts of blood and musk. Still swooning!
Dry: Sweet cheetos this is love!!!!!

[Pixie-elf]

Leather and clean skin is how this starts off. Like, almost soapy skin. I'm pretty sure Fighter just took a shower! You gotta be clean if you wanna slay monsters!

The soapy smell fades away and it's a nice, leathery scent. I love it. I kind of want to smear it on the fiance and just have at him.

Oddly I'm detecting some cologne in here. It's not unpleasant. I kind of like it. It's like I have Leather with a little bit of Villain?

Now I'm getting notes of leather and a hint of cherries.

[Lucchesa]

Fighter on me is a combination of brand-new leather and the scent memory of my father cleaning and oiling his shotgun after duck or pheasant hunting. So I might be getting a little avian blood and feathers. It doesn't morph a lot on me. I love the Lab's well-worn leather smell, but this is not it; this Fighter is wearing brand-new leather and steel armor. I think part of what I'm reading as leather workshop is actually red musk. Interesting and extremely evocative, but also strong and I'm not sure how often I would like to smell like this. I'm keeping the imp because I am shooting for a full set of the RPGs, but I don't see myself needing a bottle.

[milo]

Mainly leather and steel. I really don't like either of these notes, but this one may smell good on a guy.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: This is strong on the musk and leather, but I do get some of the steel and blood behind those notes.

 

Wet: As soon as this is applied, I get the musky, black leather and cologne-y steel. This is familiar to me, but I'm not sure if it's the leather that makes me think of another BPAL scent I'm not able to pinpoint, or if it is the musk note. Probably both.

 

Dry: This is still really strong on the black leather, backed by the musk. The steel isn't as prominent after a few hours of wear, and I'm getting something odd in the background that I think could be representing the blood note (which I don't think is dragon's blood in this case).

 

Verdict: This one is far too strong on the leather for me. I'm not even sure I would try layering it with other RPG scents, but I'll see if my boyfriend enjoys it before putting it up for swaps.

[DryFrogPills]

This was one of the generous frimps in my most recent order, and it's an interesting one! I tend to be more one to play the other types, but hey, you never know...

 

In the imp: Leather and steel! Specifically, it reminds me of the scent of my dad's motorcycle, the leather seat, the metal cooling off after being in the hot sun and the heat of the engine.

 

Worn: My first impression is that this smells CLEAN, of all things. If it's a motorcycle, then it's a well-maintained, loved one, whose owner washes and buffs it every weekend! At first, the metal smells wet, somehow, as if the rider was caught in the rain. They're in a leather jacket, and it's a bit damp, a bit sweaty, but still pleasant, despite that slight 'dirty' contrast.

 

Long term: This is a very layered scent on me, in the sense that you get different things based on how close you are to the skin. Out a ways, you get that clean, wet, warm metal. The closer in you lean to the application point, the more the leather and skin aromas rise up and mix into it, giving it a more wild swagger than the almost antiseptic cleanliness of the metal. It's a really fascinating blend.

 

I'm not sure I'll be wearing this as perfume, but it strikes me as someone that'd be good for aromatherapy, of sorts, as a confidence booster or to grant some swagger. I'm curious to try this on my partner next I see them...

[clockworkcrypt]

I normally break down my reviews, but this one is NOT a morpher on me. It's leather. I don't know enough about leather to really say the type, but it seems more like a newer chemically made leather than a well worn and sunned one. There's a faint whisper of black musk, but it seems to be really hiding. This is almost a leather single note, but something in this especially from a distance reminds me of an auto shop, maybe something metallic and almost a little oily hiding in with the leather? Maybe it's a touch of that new car smell (which I have been reported to hate)

Overall it's too strong for me on it's own, but maybe a dot of something sweet layered with this would change my mind. Actually that seems like good advice. It's the RPG set, they're meant to be layered, and i feel like layering this could only make it better. To the experimentation table it'll go!

[Ghost of a Rose]

Lab frimp, aged about 5 years.

 

I'm not going to do a play-by-play description of this one because it is utterly consistent, in the imp and from start to finish.  I do get very realistic steel and leather.  But when I think about it from another perspective, this sharp, bright, ozonic/metallic scent screams, "100% drugstore aftershave!" to me, as such scents always do. (Even though that last sentence was a pretty accurate description of a sword, LOL.) I'd probably quite like it if I'd never smelled men's cologne.  But having raised three sons (not to mention a husband) I can't get the aftershave out of my head.  That's not what I want to smell like.

 

I don't get any blood note at all.  But then I never do. The Lab's blood note is not as authentic as many of their other notes.  Which no doubt is a good thing.  If it smelled like real blood, it would probably make me and many other people nauseous. The musk appears only as a slight sweetness.  I'm pretty certain it isn't red musk, since my chemistry corrupts even small amounts of that into something extremely nasty; and that didn't happen.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predominant notes:. Leather, steel

 

Character:  Men's aftershave, cool

 

3 out of 6 stars for me, but it would probably be very nice on a man.  And refreshing in hot weather.

Edited December 25, 2018 by Ghost of a Rose

[elka_knits]

Decided to put this one on today to test. I DID NOT LOOK AT NOTES BEFORE PUTTING IT ON !!!!!

 

 I normally cannot wear leather since it gives me headaches &&& overwhelms any other notes.  Perhaps because I only put on a wee bit I didn't actually get leather from this.  I have been wearing it for a few hours now.

 

At first slightly antiseptic aka bandaidyaka soapy {the antibacterial kind} but also skin and metal and ummmmoteroil.  Maybe oakmossy.  I had a hard time pinning it down.  Clean but metalic and again the oil bit.  I don't wear moteroil but it is what I imagine when the lab says stuff like that.

 

It is soft and gentle.  My nose is obviously broken because other than the metal and steel what I am smelling and what they are telling me is in here are different.

 

Nice but not my cup of tea really. But I bet it will be super sexy on the husband.

[torischroeder9]

In the imp: Steel with an undercurrent of leather. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, the steel note is initially strongest, but the musk note makes a play for attention as well. 

 

[I ended up getting distracted during the drydown and development and so don't have record of it. That said, it really didn't change much on me.]

 

An hour in, and the metallic note is by far the most prominent. The musk, I think, is giving it good throw. The leather is detectable only as a trace grounding note. 

[Brigdh]

In bottle: Warm, salty leather, a sort of fresh skin scent more than old dry leather.

Wet: Steel. Wow, it’s really remarkable how much like metal this smells like; I don’t know how that’s possible, but it totally smells like steel. Overall, it’s elegant - a dueler rather than a berserker.

Dry: Leather and a light musk. It’s a very soft, warm scent, which to me is much preferable to most of the leather scents I’ve tried. There’s actually something gentle about it. Maybe not much of a fighter, but I like it!

[supreme_c0rt]

Today was a good day, because I found Fighter. Maybe Fighter found me.  

 

I had a completely unrequited love affair with Rivet Goth earlier this year, one that ended in sadness because Rivet Goth was just too extra. The leather was wrong. Too strong, too sharp, too artificial. The other notes tried but couldn't hold their own in the fight against it. The leather screamed bloody murder on my skin and gave me headaches and wouldn't wash off. I sent it away with haste.

 

But the bit that dried on my jacket, over the course of time, slowly unveiled a hidden wealth of beautiful industrial stank that taunted me. Underneath the screaming was a growling, gritty, rusty-bridge-goblin welder, and I loved it. The swapper ended up sending me an imp of it back, because they are all that's good and right in the world (you know who you are). But I still had a thorn in my butt over the puzzle it threw in my lap. For about a month I tried to find other motor oil/leather scents elsewhere to recreate it, but couldn't quite get it right. It became my white whale. Figured I'd never find it, and would just Frankenstein a suitable facsimile. 

 

But here I am sitting here with Fighter, and I'll be damned. It's Rivet Goth, but with everything just ... turned down a bit. The leather, while sharp and black, is worn-in with sweat, like a good saddle on a good horse.The rust in Rivet Goth is the metal note here, and it reads true. The "gritty" musk is also here -- a sweat-like musk, animalistic and raw and drop dead sexy. Riding all of it is the sharp acidic black Rivet leather, but more restrained. Screaming into a pillow. This same leather also shows up in Iago, and it blasts there too. The only notes missing are the tobacco and engine oil, but even without them this still reads like the months-old Rivet patch on the jacket. And it's GC, as icing on the rusty cake. 

 

After it's long dried, what's left is sweaty black leather. It teases headaches again but I don't care. It's manageable, a bridled horse that still bucks but at least I can finally get on the damn thing. I can't wait to play around with this!

 

Moral: never give up, kids!

Edited May 7, 2019 by supreme_c0rt

[cyborgutena]

This is That Leather that I've encountered a couple of times now (which I think might be the black leather note?). Some scents have softer kinds of leather, but this is a very polished and hard one. I don't know if this is something to do with my chemistry but this type of leather takes on a life of its own when it touches me! It separates out, overpowers everything, and is SO hard to get off.

 

It starts of very polished leather with what I think is mostly steel and a little blood beneath. And it just... stays very much the same as it dries down! I think it must be the musk backing it up, but the metal smells the tiniest bit sweet. Unfortunately, this new polished leather scent is way too much for me. It just stays VERY hard on me and doesn't seem to fade. It smells kind of... separate (?) from the other scents. Sadly, combined with musky metal, it begins to bother me. I left it a few hours before removing it with oil but boy did it cling. Alas, I think Fighter just isn't my class!

[niffler]

In the imp: Leather in a tannin forward way that fills my sinuses, blood and steel give a metallic edge. Very inorganic and not a scent I think I’d wear without the aim of being unsettling.  May be worth testing this frimp, purely for science.

On my skin (for science!): Lots of bitter new leather tannins, a sharp scent but not unpleasant. I start to get more blood as it dries, but the musk and metal are stronger and the leather is still definitely most of the scent. I think this might not be for me, at least not all the time. If only the leather were more worn or my skin didn't hang onto it so much... 

[murqmaid]

i love this one, and are contemplating a bottle. i know i'll probably reach for this often, and i'd like to have a larger reserve to include sniffies in swaps. everyone needs to try this! leather lovers especially.

wet: BLACK LEATHER, the kind that reminds me of the black rider. very musky, powerful, and typically masculine. fighter is something i'd wear out into the field for work (sometimes i supervise macho contractors, and have to remind myself to keep my wits about me, being their woman boss). i'm definitely getting that steel, because the first image summoned in my mind was a turkish warrior on horseback, sword held high and glimmering in the sun. the musk is smooth, sweaty, and animalistic, but clean. this would be sexy as hell on any gender, if worn with confidence.

dry: the black leather isn't as blatant anymore, but it's still in the crowd, glaring at you, reminding you not to cross it.. or else. this isn't a morpher, but that's fine by me. strong throw at first, but not for long. son, it becomes vaguely cologney. this reminds me of walking into the the men's macy's when leather jackets are in season. i death matched it between iago, and definitely prefer fighter. i feel iago is new leather/chemical/astringent; and fighter is more natural and wearable.
 
verdict: one bottle please

Edited November 5, 2020 by murqmaid

[fairybites]

I'm get all the notes except blood, which is the one note I was most looking forward to since I have yet to try Blood. It's pretty cologne like, but I think the musk is making it also smell like abut like laundry on me. Leather is definitely the strongest note and you don't need to use a whole lot with this. 

 

It's an alright scent, can't say I'd gravitate towards it much, but glad to try it. Not sure how new this imp was, so maybe the blood notes fades once it's been aged a while.

[Laughing Seagull]

This one's kinda sexy.

 

It reminds me very much of Demeter's "Riding Crop" fragrance, which I used to wear fairly often.  It's sexy AND nostalgic!  There's something else here that I thought was vetiver, but maybe that's just something that the metallic note does.

 

All that said, I don't know how often I'll actually wear this one because my tastes have changed.  I may try Wanda for something possibly similar but "girlier."

[roseus]

In the imp I get musky black leather and a cool edge of steel. The steel seems to help with the sharpness of the leather, making it very sniffable. As soon as it touches my skin I'm pretty sure I get DBR, which often increases in pitch and sweetness, or dulls down everything else. We'll see. The DBR sat like a thick syrup over everything for a bit, just letting some leather peek out. But everything eventually balanced out. It's a sort of sweet leather with that cool steely edge back. Softer than I expected but really cool. 

[donnaehm]

In the bottle

Hippie/head shop/patchouli! But also a touch of green wood that adds a bit of brightness.

 

On my skin

Hippie/head shop/patchouli!

 

Dry down

Hippie/head shop/patchouli! And I am - as the kids today say - here for it.

 

I went back to the actual description and was delighted to see "leather" - sniffing the imp now it seems so obvious - because yes, that also tracks with the hippie vibe. I also liked the commentator up thread who made reference to 'salt'; I'd go with that, as well (and perhaps that's the "green" aspect I got from this, just that little something extra to dress up a familiar smell like leather).

 

Duration

A solid half-day. Very, very faint by evening.

 

Verdict ✔️

Fighter will be a bottle purchase for sure. I found myself grinning while wearing this one. It's just plain fun to wear.

[skyturtles]

From the imp of unknown age and forgotten origin, I just get leather and steel. Leather makes me nauseous. No exception here. I will not be testing this imp unfortunately.