[Redacted] Dragon

[stellamaris]

[REDACTED] DRAGON
Wipe-off marker on white board, 2012
This is [REDACTED]. He is a really, really, REALLY mean dragon. The meanest and greediest. He took the treasure with the gold.
Now he's cracking into fire.
Raw red ginger, pink pepper, red carnation, sweet clove, vetiver, heartwood cinnamon, and jasmine sambac.

[Redacted] Dragon

I cannot figure out what it is in the top note of this that makes me go Blergh! Stinky! if anyone can enlighten me? I almost think it's the ginger.
But dried down this is amazingly fresh, and lovely. It doesn't smell Whoa Hippies in a Wizard's Store like some DBs (which I happen to love btw) but it smells fresh and airy, the carnation is very strong for me in this.
I am glad I got this unsniffed, it's surprisingly Spring-like. I find that what I have tried so far in this series is very wearable, something you want to smell all day.

[MtMoonKitty]

My jury is out on this. In the bottle it is all pepper. Very earthy! Wet on my skin I still get the pepper and it morphs in to a dry ginger after a while. I'm not able to pick out the other components but when my friend put it on it was sweet and lovely. I am envious! I keep trying it hoping for a similar result but to no avail. I suspect this one will change a lot with age so I will put it away for a while and see what happens.

[JazzieCazzie]

Of the six April Fools scents I purchased in a decant circle, this was the one I was most excited about and held such high hopes for. It's the one I tried last, after I had sadly placed the first five into the swap pile.

 

IN THE IMP: Whatever the indefinable note that Stellamaris mentioned that made her go Blergh (which I spell Blerg, just check my license plate) Stinky, I'd like to know what it is too. Because ... just ... blerg. Or blergh. So not what I expected. Pungent. Acerbic. Unpleasant. In most cases it would have been enough for me to cap up the imp and pop it in the swap pile but this was (Redacted) Dragon, it had tons of notes that called my name. I must soldier on.

 

Dabbed on my wrist and into the crook of my arm and prayed that the beloved notes would all amp and change my mind.

 

WET: Yeah, this is fiery like a dragon. But there is SOMETHING in it that smells like Chinese food gone bad when it sits down at the table with my body chemistry. I don't think it's ginger (unless red ginger is a very rare component for BPAL) because some of my best friends, I mean favorite BPAL blends, are ginger-based (Shuuuuuuuuuuuuub). I guess it could be pink pepper. Is that super different from black pepper? I like black pepper though in reasonable doses. I do not get any carnation, no cinnamon, hell, not even any jasmine.

 

DRYDOWN: Okay, I'm hesitant to even write this because I know it will come out wrong but it's more a statement on what my stupid body is doing than the scent itself. As this oxidizes, it does improve but there's still something "off" about it ... it takes me a few minutes to put my finger on what it reminds me of. Then I realize ... it's the zoo. You know, the open-air areas where the big animals like the elephants and stuff roam. And poop. I smell like fresh manure. And when fresh manure is an improvement on what I smelled like a few minutes ago, I know that there is something in here that is NOT my body chemistry's friend. ... About an hour later, all of the stinkies have worn off and it's not horrible. There's something like a deep fruit and resin there. But it's very subtle and faint (hey, the good news is this doesn't have a lot of throw on me).

 

OVERALL: What can I say? I'm so pissed at my body for not making friends with a blend with great notes and a great story.

 

On a scale of 1-5, big surprise, a 1.

[Spork]

unfortunately, this is all vetiver on me

[Monday]

I get Stinky the Dragon too especially in the imp. I think the vetiver isn't very aged and is rampaging across the other notes with it's buddy raw ginger. Saturnalia also comes to mind.

It does even out a bit on my skin. Dries down to a dusty green spicy scent.

[Teaotter]

Preconceptions: Ginger and vetiver are both my friends -- my worries are the clove and jasmine, which frequently stomp all over everything and frighten the other notes into running away.

 

In the imp: Ginger! And not much else, actually.

 

Wet: Ginger and pepper, with something sweeter behind it. A hint of carnation.

 

Dry: This is a lovely, almost-foody ginger, held back a bit by the floral notes. I get a whiff of vetiver here and there, but more as a fleeting warmth than as actual smokiness. I don't really get the clove *or* the jasmine, which makes me happy.

 

As it goes on, I notice that there is vetiver in the throw -- the throw it a cloud of lovely greenish-smoky/reddish-ginger with just enough floral sweetness to drag it out of foody territory.

[zankoku_zen]

I got patchouli and a hit of hot lime. Huge throw, lots of hot spice.

 

It's gritty, sandy, and hot. Desert-like. Very masculine.

[Little Bird]

I didn't even see the vetiver when I read over this note list, so I was surprised when I tried this on and it's a very dark, dank and earthy/ashen scent. Definitely lots of vetiver. I was hoping for more carnation and clove, but it's strong vetiver and a sour jasmine note on my skin with an undertone of pink pepper (which always smells weirdly of pink bubblegum and cheap craftstore potpourri aisle to me). The notes in this just don't seem to play well on my skin; it smells very strange and disjointed.

[Quillifer]

In the bottle, this is really pretty unpleasant to me. Vetiver - but I love that; not sure what is putting me off. I get a bit the same from War.

 

Wet, it smells of unseasoned [green] wood - not a green smell but wood before it dries out. Cooking spices but I don't think I'd have gone for ginger - more like galangal. I like this stage more, but I wouldn't buy or keep it for this.

 

As it begins to dry, magic happens. It retains the freshness and peculiar spice but also becomes much sweeter, lighter - not feinter but higher register. I want to say clove and carnation but in truth if I hadn't seen them listed, I'm not sure I'd be able to put names to them.

 

At no point do I get the nasty jasmine note I was fearing.

 

This is ideal: good enough that I'm delighted to have a bottle, but very strongly individual so that I think one will be enough.

Edited May 21, 2013 by Quillifer

[urbantravels]

I really really wanted to like this, in fact it was the one I was most excited about from this Pickman collection, but.... it really doesn't work for me at all. The pink pepper note sits on top of everything else and creates a kind of very dry, dusty pepperiness, which doesn't ever seem to come to life on my skin.

 

It seems like a very authentic pink pepper note - pink pepper (Schinus molle, absolutely no relation to black pepper) is a common street tree/landscape tree in Los Angeles. But pink pepper isn't a very wearable note - the berries aren't specially aromatic, just faintly peppery.

 

I get a little bit of the ginger, but none of the other notes until a long, long drydown period has passed, when the scent becomes more pleasant, and I seem to get a bit of carnation and clove, but by that time it's incredibly faint.

 

Bummer. I think what I'm looking for might better be found in some of the more aromatic, spicy GCs that I haven't tried yet.

Edited May 22, 2013 by urbantravels

[strahlend]

This is the decant I was most looking forward to. I love all of the listed notes and almost got a bottle unsniffed because I felt so confident it would work.

 

The initial pungent ginger doesn't throw me off because it's similar-ish to how other strong gingers start out, so I'm ok there. Unfortunately though the sharp ginger edges are only made sharper by the pepper and clove and given a sort of sour or spoiled aspect with the jasmine (I do often enjoy jasmine) and then charred by the vetiver. It is certainly thematic, but it is not pleasant for me to wear.

 

The scent remains charred, sharp, sour and pungent during the dry down and by the time it's fully dry I'm sick of smelling it. I love the idea of this combination of notes, the execution was just a bit too on the nose. Wear this to inflict your inner dragon on those around you.

[milo]

Red ginger is probably my least favourit note, but I did have to try all of these Pickman's. There is lots of ginger at first, along with a touch of vetiver. The vetiver fades pretty fast, and we're left with a sweet red ginger. This is bit better than I thought it would be, the sweetness saves the blend from being too harsh, which is the big problem I have with this note. Final result, sweet smoky red ginger. I do smell like a dragon, but don't really want to. Lucky it fades fast.

[girasol]

I cannot figure out what it is in the top note of this that makes me go Blergh! Stinky! if anyone can enlighten me? I almost think it's the ginger.

I would lay money on vetiver. If you have imps of them in your collection, try Bluebeard or Djinn for confirmation that's what you're smelling - those are both very vetiver heavy on me too.

 

So, I had this on for about .72 of a second before I had to scrub it off. Disappointing, but at least I now have confirmation that I cannot wear vetiver blends. Ever never. Not even if it's a minor note.

Edited May 29, 2013 by girasol

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: a very sharp, woody scent. Not horrible, but I was hoping for some of the other notes.

 

Wet on skin: ok, this is actually rather lovely on me. I think I'm mostly getting the carnation and pink pepper, with something else in the background. Possibly the vetiver or ginger. No sign of the jasmine or cinnamon yet, unless jasmine sambac and heartwood cinnamon are different from the regular versions. Very spring flower with a light bite.

 

Dried down: similar to before, but the woody smell is amping up again. I think it's the vetiver. Again, not bad, but I think I liked it better when it was wet. There is still a hint of the floral in there, but not enough to balance the vetiver, and I'm losing the pepper and ginger fast (and those were the two notes I was most excited about in this blend).

 

Throw: it's got a little bit of a throw on me, but not a whole lot, and not overpowering.

 

Verdict: *** 1/* I do like this scent, and if the pepper, ginger, and carnation had lingered longer, I would have said I loved it. I really, really wanted to love it. That said, I'm still almost tempted to get a full bottle to see if it would hold on to those notes more as it ages, but I'm not sure yet.

[bellumed]

Oh, man. This is easily my least favorite of my Tremulous Song decants. Even as I was briefly opening them all to sniff initially, my reaction to Redacted Dragon was, “oh, nope, that was a mistake!” It’s just… grossly sweet and disgustingly musty, the blast of vetiver not doing any favors. Of all things, I’m reminded a little of High-Strung Daisies—that would be the pink pepper adding its bubblegum sweetness, only it’s totally not working for me here. But I test all my perfumes no matter what, so here goes.

 

It’s actually less horrible when dry on my skin than in the imp, but holy balls. It’s like super-gross Red Hots. And burnt plastic. And PEPPER, tickly pepper. Ew. I think no.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Lots of vetiver, but softened by the clove and pepper.

 

Wet: Much as when sniffed.

 

The dry-down: This is one vetiver-strong dragon! Can't imagine that no one would not smell him from a distance flying in for a landing. If you like the Lab's other strong vetiver blends, you should like this one.

[Xue_Bai]

So, the first time I opened the imp and put it on wet, I couldn't get over the Blegh! Stinky! and didn't have time to let it dry down. It was all rotten ginger and dying flowers in old water to me. Scrubbed!

 

BUT I decided to give it another go. This time I applied much lighter, lighter than anything else I've tried. In imp and wet, same as the first go around.

 

And then it dries. Carnations are front and center with a touch of jasmine. Behind that is the ginger and spices, adding a bite, though it's sweet. Throughout is a smoky woodsy scent. Decent throw, but seems to fade fast (maybe because I applied so lightly).

 

It's a dragon, but it's not a mean one on me...rather, it likes to roll around in flowers. I do like it, but since it is very much heavily carnations on me, I'm good with just the decant!

[heathercaley]

Oh man, vetiver and I hate each other with a passion, but when I opened up this - I smell my arch nemesisis, but I am also reminded of entering a gem shop in the middle of the desert ran by a hippie with dream catchers everywhere.

 

 

Strannnnnnnnnnnge scent association from this one.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Thick vetiver with a wave of hot ginger

 

Wet on me - Gritty grey vetiver

 

Dry on me - It disappeared quite quickly on me

 

Overall - I wanted this to be anything but the vetiver which is a bit of a death note for me, but obviously it wasn't to be

[Lucchesa]

Redacted Dragon was terrible on me.  Almost all the notes are generally good, except for jasmine, but Redacted Dragon wasn't bad in a jasmine sort of way.  It was bad in a mean dragon cracking into fire sort of way.  This is not a friendly vetiver.  This is more of a Malediction or Rumpelstilzchen sort of vetiver, with a very harsh ginger.  I wasn't able to appreciate any of the carnation or baking spices.  I came really really close to scrubbing it off, but I let it stay and a couple of hours later it had become something wearable, but I won't be repeating the experience.  

[monocainsheresy]

Thank god, I don't get any vetiver off of this! This is actually very bright and shiny on me - slick & soapy ginger, followed by the florals and the spices in the distance. A grandma's-kitchen-at-the-turn-of-autumn type scent. Sweet, woody, breezy. This one really shows off how much skin chemistry can change a scent.

[fairybites]

Smoky, dark, and woodsy. At times it smelt sort of burnt or like hickory wood. The ginger was very prominent on me as well as the vetiver.

 

It was okay, a little too different from the stuff I normally wear. I think vetiver is a note that's mostly going to be a miss with me!