When Thy Will Stung the World Into Strife

[Lycanthrope]

WHEN THY WILL STUNG THE WORLD INTO STRIFE
Dost thou dream, in a respite of slumber,
In a lull of the fires of thy life,
Of the days without name, without number,
When thy will stung the world into strife;
When, a goddess, the pulse of thy passion
Smote kings as they revelled in Rome;
And they hailed thee re-risen, O Thalassian,
Foam-white, from the foam?

Dragon's blood resin, red ginger, bourbon geranium, thorny rosemary, red sandalwood, pink pepper, and green coffee bean.

Herbal, spicy, dry. I forgot that this has geranium in it - which is an amping note. The geranium and rosemary together make this into a more 'therapeutic' smelling herbal blend. After it is on the skin for a little while, the pepper and ginger lend it a cool but spicy heat, which is a hint sweet. This does not have much 'coffee' note, nor is it a very strong dragon's blood. I think the sandalwood is grounding a few otherwise flighty, airy notes. I would say this is a scent that represents a 'sting' beautifully! I'm going to have to try it a few more times.

[Alaeidrel]

Wow. This really is a 'sting'. I'm impressed at how much in the background the dragon's blood is - I adore the note but find it overwhelming even in my beloved Dragon's Heart. I get much more ginger and geranium than anything else, and it's sharp and really unique. A very distinctly 'pink' smell to me. Intriguing. I need another imp or two, but not a bottle.

[Dark Alice]

As usual...rosemary is my enemy. This stuff is potent! No dragon's blood, no ginger or coffee...just rosemary. Which turns savory on my skin every damn time. *sigh*

[stellamaris]

There is something really aggressive and sharp in the wet note of this, and the initial dry down lets more of the Dragon's Blood (which is one of my favorite notes) come out, but it's a dry DB, not a juicy fruity one. This seems very "boy" to me. The end dry down is nice, but I think not worth the initial blast.

 

I am on the fence over this one, there is something in the top note that I really hate, but it disappears immediately upon dry down, and the dry down is awesome. Although as October Gwen says it's not Attack of the DBR, it's still there and wonderful, but it is blending with everything else with a surprising freshness. This one is really interesting and complex, but not heavy. I may have to take a chance.

Edited March 27, 2013 by stellamaris

[OctoberGwen]

I'm getting a lot of the fabulous geranium (I spent my childhood smelling scented geraniums, because my mother always grew them. I think they all smell wonderful.) I also detect a hint of a very tame ginger - not "in your face" at all - and some rosemary (another favorite herb of mine.) The sandalwood is giving it a bit of roundness, and the pink pepper adds a pop which becomes more pronounced after a couple of minutes on my skin. I was actually worried about the dragon's blood here, because that often amps into nauseatingly sweet territory on me, but it's really just providing a smooth, sweetish base for these sharper notes.

 

What a brilliant scent. It's unique but oh so wearable. Another giant win for Our Lady of Pain...probably my favorite update ever.

 

 

ETA: I do have to add that the dragon's blood did indeed become just a tad too strong for me. I wish the geranium and rosemary had stayed more dominant, though they don't disappear entirely and the pink pepper stays present, too.

 

People who love dragon's blood resin should try this, though be warned that it's not your typical note takeover.

 

ETA 2/19/14

A year later, this blend has really smoothed out into a unique, treasured part of my collection. The sharp and spicy herbal elements are balanced quite well by the usually too-sweet DBR. It suits that portion of the poem beautifully.

Edited February 19, 2014 by OctoberGwen

[ReallyZeb]

Dragon's blood resin, red ginger, bourbon geranium, thorny rosemary, red sandalwood, pink pepper, and green coffee bean.

 

This is intensely herbal on me, all geranium and rosemary and a tiny note of pepper and sandalwood. I really don't get any dragon's blood, and I don't even know what I'm looking for with the green coffee note.

 

I can't stop sniffing my arm but after 2 days of trying I still don't know if I like it!

[mymymai]

ITI: It smells like newly poured kitty litter and super powerful ginger. Hmm, I'm not digging it.

 

Wet: It smells slightly better on my skin: powdered ginger and Irish Spring soap. I can't wait until this one dries. It reminds me of being punished by my parents for saying bad words.

 

Dry: Yep, that's still Irish Spring. To the swap pile we go.

[strahlend]

Sniff – leaning further toward the geranium than I had hoped, it smells sharp (geranium, rosemary, ginger) but sometimes these things mellow out.

 

Skin testing – nope, too much geranium. It's sour and unpleasant. Late in the drydown the ginger and dragon's blood comes up to warm and sweeten the geranium, but there's still too much geranium, it smells kind of sour and sharp.

 

Late, late drydown it's now lovely – the dragon's blood seems almost tinged with opium and soft spicy ginger. Quite nice, but not pleasant for me until this point.

[rawgirl75]

Oh crud. I hated this in the vial, so I didn't bother skin testing it before placing my order yesterday.

 

This completely transforms on skin -- the drydown is incredible and not at all what I was expecting. And I have no other bpals to compare it to, so it means it has to go on my wishlist now.

 

Wow, just wow.

[zankoku_zen]

Geranium, rosemary, ginger and dragon's blood resin.

 

Herbal, spicy, DBR.

[Little Bird]

Bpal's dragon's blood usually turns a bit sour and off on my skin (like a vase full of rotting flowers sitting in stagnant, dirty water), and I get that here, mixed with the herbal-spicy geranium and rosemary. So it sort of comes off as rotting flowers with a dash of herb garden. I can't pick out any coffee, pepper or sandalwood. Soapy in the drydown.

Edited April 18, 2013 by Little Bird

[tharsei-thanate]

Got this in a decant circle! Time to give it a whirl.

 

In the imp: Ginger dominant, with floral sweetness from the dragon's blood and a little herbal kick from the rosemary. Nice!

 

Wet: Dragon's blood is the dominant note when it hits my skin. There's certainly a sting in here, not exactly sure what it's from, though.

 

Dry-down: Still mostly dragon's blood, but, like others have said, it's dry. There's also something green and almost flavorless here which I feel is the coffee bean. There's also very light rosemary.

 

Dry: The barest hint of sandalwood appears. I might be catching geranium now, too? But for the most part there's just bland greenness with the dragon's blood at the forefront while other more defined notes peak their heads out for only a split a second before retreating.

 

Overall? Not impressed. I was hoping for much more spice. I'll do some more tests, though, before I definitely put it in my swap pile. I just want some ginger and pepper and sandalwood!

[JazzieCazzie]

Got in the OLOP decant circle based on a bunch of intriguing notes.

 

IN THE IMP: First whiff is decidedly herbal, combo of rosemary and pepper. The aftertaste, so to speak, is something more soft and resiny, probably the sandalwood.

 

Dabbed on wrist and in crook of arm.

 

WET: The peppery herbal component is the predominant note on me at first but the sandalwood rises quickly to soften it and round it out. While Dragon's Blood usually amps on me hard and fast, it is more of a background note for me in this blend. Ditto the ginger.

 

DRYDOWN: I really, really love this as it dries. The ginger and DB come up just enough to be noticeable but they're not super strong. It's a very, very CLEAN scent rather than any other category I could pick out ... not floral, not resiny, not woody, not spicy. Clean and herbal.

 

OVERALL: I like this a lot a lot a lot but would probably not buy a big bottle. It's a very head-clearing scent and a grounding one. I feel like it's as much of a TAL sort of blend as anything. I think it would be a good scent to apply before I go on a distance training walk or something like that.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 4.5

[milo]

Spicy DBR at first, though the red ginger is not too overpowering as it can be. Turns into a pleasant, slighty spicy and powdery blend. Kind of reminds me of a high end perfume, Red Door maybe? Something defnitely Oriental though. I'm kind of enjoying this, though it's not something I would wear normally.

[brilliantcat]

In the decant, a strangely creamy yet dusty floral which I suspect is the geranium. Wet, it's still that odd florally note. Dusty, powdery, rose-reminescent. Geranium is apparently a bad note for me.

[lunaticana]

Yes, indeed a therapeutic smelling herbal blend
But ginger and geranium are super lovely on me!

It is so warm and cozy

I wish I had a whole bottle of this stuff !!! But only a decant, too bad ...

I also reminds me of a certain Lush christmas BBS but I can not remmeber which one ...

[lady_pandora]

I started my test of this when I wasn't online and didn't have access to the notes list, and only remembered it was supposed to have dragon's blood in it. As it turns out, I guessed almost all of the notes wrong, yet looking at the notes list now, I can make clear connections between what I thought I smelled and what each thing actually was. When Thy Will... is a complex blend and a morpher. There's a lot going on here, and especially in the early stages, it changes fast.

 

This first goes on as something that called to mind "expensive perfume counter." I wasn't really satisfied with this impression, so I tried to make out what I was smelling, and finally guessed it was a little of the dragon's blood along with neroli and rose. I now think the sharp citrusy tang is from the ginger, and that the rosy scent is the geranium. They all blend together really well, and like I said, it smells "expensive."

 

The next stage is mostly the dragon's blood and the geranium, with the dragon's blood gradually becoming more prominent than the geranium. I still get occasional whiffs of citrus. It becomes a little powdery in a good way.

 

When the geranium has mostly faded, it becomes more woody, and this note I did correctly guess as red sandalwood! it mixes really well with the dragon's blood to create a scent of incensey wood.

 

At this point my left wrist and right wrist start smelling different! My left wrist stays mostly DB and sandalwood with occasional wafts of geranium. My right has started smelling more burnt, not in a bad way, like woodsmoke. I had thought this might be a vetiver, but I think it might actually be the coffee bean. It's a very perfumey coffee bean, not much like the drink, but adds the roasted and bitter properties of coffee to the scent.

 

(I kind of made up a story in my head where there's this orchard, and a dragon comes along and lands there, and at first it's just kind of milling around smelling the fruits and flowers, but then decides "eff it, I'm burning all this" and lets loose with its flames. The poem is apparently referring to ancient Rome, so maybe there's a "fall of Rome" metaphor to be found here?)

 

ETA because I realized I forgot to finish off with the drydown: left wrist continues to stay DB and sandalwood; right wrist cycles periodically between the burnt scent and a DB/sandalwood combo like the left wrist has. The throw isn't huge but the scent hangs around. One more edit: Much later, after everything else is mostly gone, dragon's blood is the last note standing on both wrists.

 

When Thy Will...is a really unusual blend, not like anything else I have, and I like it.

Edited November 21, 2014 by lady_pandora