Thirteen (13): May 2011

[damonkitty]

This 13 is all about getting lucky! A base of rich cacao absolute and honey with thirteen lust-inspiring oils: patchouli, vanilla absolute, rose otto, red sandalwood, devil’s bit, caraway, cardamom, cubeb, carrot seed, ginseng, yohimbe, saffron, and grains of paradise.

I wondered if my bottle even had cacao in it . On my skin I immediately got sandalwood with a lemony background. I think the cocoa phase wore off within the first few minutes of wearing this. I am more into the 13 blends that have been foodie and sweet and this one is really not my thing. I get a more herbal, resin blend with a touch of lemon. The sandalwood was a little too strong for me to handle. I had to wash this blend off after about an hour because it started to bother my senses a little with the sharpness of the sandalwood. It almost smelled like I was wearing a #2 Pencil Single Note . I am long out of school so I do not need any reminders of those days.

[zankoku_zen]

I get a good bit of patchouli and sandalwood to this blend. In fact, on wet it almost has a heavy slap of what I thought was lemon verbena. As it dries, the patchouli and sandalwood seem to standout the most against with a hint of cacao.

 

Too stinky for me.

[Cheri]

I love this 13! I don't get any lemon from it, but I get a ton of spice and a wee bit of chocolate. Also a tiny bit of rose is popping up every now and then. Thanks to Molls I have a bottle of a scent I didn't think would work.

[zagadka]

This is like Gula, only a little more complex. I love Gula bath oil, so I am in heaven with this scent!!

 

First whiff in the bottle its lightly chocolate sandalwood with a hint of smokiness- VERY nice. Its not very sweet, its almost kind of dry and dare I say ever-so-slightly powedery?!

 

Wet, holy lemony goodness! Where did you come from? The chocolate mingles with the lemon a bit and reminds me of those chocolate orange things you get around Xmas that you're supposed to smash into pieces. Only this smells much richer- those things always tasted like ass.

 

Dry down, everything smooths out and becomes very well rounded. The lemon has faded and its mostly a light incense blend with a touch of sweetness.

 

I love this scent, and it actually arrive the day before my BF whisked me off to Tennessee to surprise me with a proposal, so now whenever I smell this I am reminded of the Smoky Mountains. How appropriate!!

 

My only complaint is that it does not last long. The initial throw is decent, but after the mid notes start to fade, it lingers very closely to the skin.

[Suusje]

When it's wet it smells like cocoa, cardamom a hint of patchouli and something lemony. Rose has a tendency to go lemony on me and I'm pretty sure it's the guilty one here as well. When it dries everything just settles down and it turns into a very soft patchouli and vanilla scent. I totally didn't see that coming, but it's really pretty. I wonder what aging will bring to this scent.

[stellans]

The notes of this blend sound awesome, and many are ones that I love which almost always work well with my skin chemistry. Alas, this blend as a whole does not. There is a strange nutty and icky-sweetish scent in the bottle, which only intensifies on my skin. It took almost everything I had to keep this oil on my skin to the drying stage so I could be sure it wasn't for me, but I did...and it isn't. I'm not sure what component is the 'bad guy' to even watch out for, and I'm not totally giving up on this 13 yet. No stars as of this posting, and I hope to revisit it at a future time with better success.

[lilwhiterabbit]

I can't decide what I think of this. I'm a big fan of chocolate. Like incense. Love honey. Love lemon and rose. Saffron adores me. This should work on me, but I'm not sure it does. There's something odd and powdery about it, and I can't seem to put my finger on what's causing it. I'm having the same problem with this version of 13 I had with the 2010 version of Gelt; it smells like old chocolate someone dropped behind the couch that's sat there for half a year someone found while vacuuming. I'm wondering if it's the particular cocoa note used in the blend, because it only seems to occur with certain chocolate blends and not with others. The last version of 13 was rich cacao goodness on me. This one smells more like ovaltine. It's sort of like playing chocolate roulette.

[Little Bird]

I really enjoy the Thirteen series, and this is yet another favorite for me <3.

 

In the bottle, this is silky, syrupy dark chocolate and hints of dry spiciness (smells like black pepper to me in the bottle, but not like black pepper at all on my skin).

 

On my skin, the cubeb amps up for the first fifteen minutes or so, paired with the creamy, dry sandalwood, a comforting, light spiciness, and hints of delicate chocolate. All of the notes smell very gentle and dainty to me, with nothing going crazy and overpowering anything else. It reminds me a lot of Cerberus at first, with the lemony/herbal Cubeb, sandalwood, and chocolate.

 

As it dries down, this smells a lot like Gypsy Moth, with the dry, spicy cardamom and a vanilla-y sweetness.

 

It's such a pretty, cozy scent, like putting on a soft, well loved sweater I can see myself wearing this one a lot in fall and winter.

[alterosen]

This starts out super spicy (I kept checking the notes for chili pepper) & then goes very woody in the pencil shavings/cedary way that sandalwood sometimes does on me & after a while that is overwhelmed by some baby powderish honey.

 

I didn't wash it off but I really wanted to.

Another 13 where the chocolate's not really showing up (at least not with my skin chemistry).

Edited July 13, 2011 by alterosen

[CiaoBonefish]

Oh this was so nice in the bottle and while wet, but my skin ruined it... Wet and in the bottle I get yummy cocoa (which is a favorite note of mine) along with something a bit lemony and woodsy underneath it all, sandalwood perhaps? I also get something a touch rosy and a bit spicy. Yummm. After a while once this begins to dry down the lemony note just TAKES OVER. How depressing. Now this is pretty much all herbal lemon with a touch of spice and a slight rose tinge. I'll have to give this another go after it has some age to it, but as of right now the lemony herbal note is a bit too much and just drowns out everything else, especially the lovely cocoa.

[milo]

At first, a lovely raw cocoa smell. Dryer a citrus comes out, with a bit of cocoa, I think it's a lemon one. On further drydown, spices and sandalwood comes out, so it ends up being a slightly citrussy sandalwood. I didn't like the citrus cocoa stage, it was a bit mismatched, but I like the sandalwood stage. And yet it morphs again as I'm typing, with more cocoa now. I'll certainly use up the imp, it kind of reminds me of Velvet, but with less cocoa and more sandalwood instead of myrhh. Now there's a cake vibe with the chocolate! A morpher to be sure!

[crebbsgirl]

Well, the rose is a little more prominent than I would like. The chocolate and patchouli are next in line. It's a very sexy blend, but the rose is amping on my skin unfortunately.

[sunlitgarden]

In the bottle, it's mainly a rich dark chocolate with some herby-spicy depth. Reminds me of a gourmet chocolate bar.

 

On my skin, it smells the same as in the bottle at first, but as it starts to dry it smells....grassy? And I'm smelling something lemony (the cubeb?) as well. There's a little bitterness, either from the patchouli or the myriad of herbs, I'm not sure which.

 

Once dry, I can't smell the chocolate anymore, sadly - it was a really delicious chocolate. I'm mainly getting the lemony cubeb and some bitter herbs.

 

Edit: Later, I'm smelling...oregano? It's making me crave spaghetti! O_o

Edited June 13, 2012 by sunlitgarden

[BuxomM]

no chocolate. It's basically lemony cubeb with a bit of sandalwood in the background. I tend to amp cubeb. There's something giving it a bitter edge, but I don't know what.

[mymymai]

ITB: Cacao, vanilla, grains of paradise, and red sandalwood. It's interesting so far. It has a paper-y quality to the scent.

 

Wet: It's strangely woodsy and papery on my skin. The cacao becomes nearly invisible to my nose whereas the sandalwood, caraway, cubeb, grains of paradise, and faint rose otto become more dominant. However, the scent is still rather light and is staying close to my skin. As it starts to dry, it takes on a lemony quality and then it begins to have throw.

 

Dry: It went through a stage during dry down when it became heavily incense-laden. Now, it's cacao, vanilla, ginseng, cardamom, light patchouli, honey, and saffron. IT's rather nice, actually - a solid blend.