Dracul

[BohemianWeasel]

Named in honor of Vlad III, Tepes, of the Order of the Dragon. Black musk, tobacco, fir, balsam of peru, cumin, bitter clove, crushed mint, and orange blossom.

I so, so wanted this to be spectacular. I'm the biggest Dracula fan I know, plus I love woody, resiny smells, so I had great hopes of deep forests and terrifying spices, but...

After ten minutes: this smells like lovely spices, fir and bitter marmalade - spread on a cigar.

After an hour or two: the sharper green and orange notes have burnt off into a sort of brown, strangely tweedy scent. It smells like a nice old man wearing pleasant cologne who possibly owns a slightly incontinent cat - I'm guessing the latter is the black musk.

After several hours, and this does linger, all I can really smell is the tobacco. Sweet, pleasant, not very exciting. Not so much Vlad the Impaler as Vlad the Whippet-breeder.

edit: added scent description. Edited October 7, 2007 by BohemianWeasel

[Gwydion]

They are not kidding about the fir or the mint. OMG! The Christmas smell is very strong going on. Luckily, this fades enough over time to let the leather, musk, and spices to show through. It's actually rather pleasant once it starts to age properly on the skin. If it weren't for the mint, I'd probably love this. As it is? Meh.

[dorothy humbird]

Like hipslike__cinderella, I am now wondering if I have a thing for black musk. While Dracul smelled good on my ex's skin, I felt equally compelled to keep wearing it myself. It's a little more notably masculine than my other typical guy-scent indulgence (Mad Hatter), but they both have the darkness of musk lightened with flowers and citrus -- in Dracul's case both are found in the orange blossom. Also like Mad Hatter there is a spike of mint (thought not as dry and intense as the pennyroyal in MH).

 

Altogether Dracul is a warm, husky, slightly sweet yet balanced and full scent for a guy... or the right lady. It didn't actually make me want to jump his bones, but then again he is my ex... perhaps on the right dude?

[Fright]

I was very hesitant to try this, because in the bottle it smells very masculine. But, on my person, it doesn't smell too masculine. I definately get a pine smell and the cloves out of this one. I don't think I'll buy a big bottle of it, but I will probably keep an imp or two of it around.

[Josh]

Wet on wrist: Smells like a standard men's cologne (heavy musk) with a slight menthol/coolness to it - must be the mint. There is a faint sweetness on the fringe which adds some depth. Smells like something a Hollywood movie star would wear, not Dracul. Definitely masculine. One previous reviewer mentioned Old Spice, although I'd say this is a much more refined and complex version of that.

 

Dry on wrist: It turned to baby powder.

 

Dry on wrist (2 hours after application): Smells exactly like my first bottle of cologne that my stepfather gave me when I was a kid. The baby powder smell is sweet, and sweet does not work too well on me.

 

Final verdict: Musk, spice and baby powder, masculine yet sweet. It's every father's scent - a more complex Old Spice. I'd suggest any other men reading here try this out as I'm in the minority in not liking this one too much, but I think I understand why so many others enjoy it.

Edited October 27, 2007 by Josh

[rhiannonsanchez]

Dracul is very manly, in a beautiful way. On me it was very musky, and became kind of a fine mens' cologne. Im too girly to wear it again but my hubby will wear it and I will love smelling that sexy smell on him!

[RaasAlHayya]

I got an imp of this for my husband.

 

The morning he tried it, I had left for work before he put it on...he emailed me later saying "Ew ew ew, I smell of baby powder!" He hates baby powder. So much that he emailed me several more times to say that he couldn't wait to get home and wash it off. Poor hubby.

 

I decided to give it a try myself, just a dab on the wrist. Wow, it has a lot of throw! unfortunately, on me it smells like baby powder with a few spices. Hubby does not want.

 

Poor Dracul...to the swap with him!

[naeelah]

Wow, this is surprisingly awesome. I mainly got an imp of this to see how it compares to Count Dracula, and it's a very different beast.

 

Wet, there's a lot going on, but the mint is too busy screaming HI I'M REALLY MINTY!!! for me to really get a sense of it. As it dries and the mint stops being so shrill, the evergreen gets a lot stronger, and the musk becomes noticeable.

 

Dry, it's an even mix of evergreens and black musk, with a cool haze of mint in the background. There's a little bit of a smoky quality, and the clove is lurking underneath the evergreens. The longer the scent dries, the stronger the clove gets. Overall, the blend is surprisingly soft. The musk never overpowers the blend, it only provides a foundation.

 

I have to say, I think I like this even better than Count Dracula, because the black musk isn't nearly so heavy. Other than the musk being lighter, this scent is quite similar: clove with musky and dry, cool, woodsy notes. While this is very easily suited for men, I'd have to call it solidly unisex. It's a lot less overtly masculine and cologne-like than the Count. I definitely recommend trying this if you wanted Count to work for you, but you found it too masculine.

Edited January 15, 2008 by naeelah

[loladae]

WET ON SKIN: Orange Blossom and Clove.

DRY DOWN: I can't really smell anything else but sweet orange blossom if I try hard maybe a barely-there touch of Opium, but I'm nto so sure.

 

THROW: Not wafting-around strong, but decent.

I'm confused. This is NOTHING like everyone else's reviews. No opium, tobacco, mint and whatever else was supposed to be in there. And I'm completely fine with that (I love orange blossom). But now I'm worried that Red Lantern will just be caramel.

 

Verrry nice <3

[sirsaber]

on wet : I smell orange blossom and a hint of mint.

 

As it dries the various scents come out with a bit of clove and fir. Certainly a scent I'd compare to Carpathia.

 

Good stuff...5 mL for sure

[savage_rose]

Mint, mint, mint, dark spice, mint. Sigh.

 

In the imp, this is much more balanced. And underneath all that mint, I can smell the spicy clove, and the sweet orange blossom. It's very nice, it's just so minty on me it should be a Yule. Vlad's Christmas Story .

[VioletChaos]

in the imp: spicy, orangey candy. candy for an adult pallet.

 

wet on skin: citrus and caramel and lots of clove.

 

dry down: mostly clove and orange, with a hint of sugar cane tossed in.

 

in all: i could see this being popular around the holidays, or with younger goths. i'm not into so much citrus personally, though. :shrug:

[GingerGunlock]

I really really wanted Dracul to be clove-tastic (are we tired of hearing this from me? I think I've picked the one note that my skin won't amp, ever), but the pine really dominated. The pine amped so strongly on me that it created a driving ache way up in my sinuses, and never really let up. Other blends I've tried with pine or evergreen type notes in them have morphed away eventually on me, but Dracul really sunk it's piney fangs into me and didn't let go.

[persianmouse]

Smells like this eye-peeling, vaguely orange air freshener my dad uses in his car. DO.NOT.WANT. He also has the heat going on full blast during the summer. I don't know why. But apparently my dad's car smells like Vlad the Impaler. Interesting. I also used to know someone who drove an Impala, and named his car Vlad. Not everyone got the joke.

[Reaver]

Piney, musky orange then sweet, mintesque lingering shadow of a scent. Fairly simple yet quite delicious. I suppose this would be unisex, technically, but from the sniff of the imp (I got frimped this) I threw it in the pile to go to my boyfriend. Once I had read the notes, I wanted mint out of this but all I get is that clear-nose tingle, but no smell until everything else is history. I don't understand the bitter clove, unless it's hiding behind the orangeness, as this blend is quite sweet on me?

 

This is really bright and light on me. Pleasant. I sort of want to dowse myself in it just to see if I get other notes from it. (Oh, where are you, tobacco? Mint?) I shall be keeping this for the floraly pleasant cool orange that I imagine I might want to smell, maybe?

 

Conclusion - I should be hard and swap it away, but it's so cute. I shall put it in the Wear-this-soon-or-swap-it box.

6/10

[voodoocatwoman]

Beautificous. I love this scent. It goes all spicy musk on me. I look like an idiot walking around with my nose glued to my wrist. Ask me if I care. LOVE.

[heathercaley]

Frimpiness frimpage! My how I love frimps!

 

Though I usually don't jump for joy for "fir" in my scents (I'm not that much of a hippie!) This one is actually quite lovely! It's sweet and minty christmas tree scent fer shore! It reminds me of when I was a kid and I had a christmas tree!! (Nowdays I feel that $40 for a fire hazard ain't worth it! Maybe when I have kids I'll buy tree's for the spirit of it all) The tobacco reminds me of visiting my friends house where she'll have a tree (Every year) and her house is usually smoke filled from all the smokers (Must be the tobacco!) It's actually a bit creamy too. This is actually really nice. I think I like it a lot. A tree scent that I like??!! whoa man....

 

I'll keep my imp and prolly wear it when either a. Camping or b. Christmas hijinxing

Edited June 5, 2008 by Purrsnikety

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Fir, musk and orange

 

On Application

The fir is at the forefront with a little minty kick and orange.

 

Dry Down

This gets quite a lot spicier as it dries down. The fir and the orange is a strange mix, but one that I quite like. What originally started off as warm and spicey gets all cool mint and fir after 10 minutes and then the clove and cumin kick in to heat things up a bit. Very complex and a great morpher for me. I like very much.

 

Rating (0-5)

4

[stillalive]

I like this but it's confusing to me... I smell some sort of spice, like cinnamon, but can't tell why I get that. It's a nice perfume, but one I'll probably slather on my bf instead of myself. I think it would probably even out Nosferatu quite nicely, especially for someone cosplaying Alucard.

[undream]

i originally wanted to try this for the boyfriend as i was curious after reading all of the reviews, and i didn't think i would enjoy it for myself too much (anything piney/cedary usually scares me away) but it really is such a nice scent! and very unisex.

 

i don't know what notes i was getting in the imp, but it was lovely enough to tempt me, not frightening at all. once applied, it's a cool moonlit night in the forest. walking through the kitchen right after i applied it, my mother told me, "you smell great!" so far so surprisingly good!!

 

after a bit it warms up and now i can smell the orange blossom. an interesting mix! both cool and piney (slowly fading) but also spicy and warm, citrusy, just slightly powdery. i'm not sure how it will morph on me over the next hour or two, but for now it's lovely!

[cam]

In the bottle, I get pepper, spices, a hint of tobacco, extra dark chocolate (like 80% cacao - maybe that's the bitter clove?) and mint. On wet, the tobacco smells a bit stronger. Once dry, this is very well integrated and complex. It's difficult to pin down, although all the notes I get out of the bottle are still there, plus a hint of the musk. This one smells great on both me and my husband. We love this one!

[plunderparlour]

fir/pine never does well on me but i think this will be wonderful on my guy. dry on its all fir.

Edited July 27, 2008 by plunderparlour

[Greensleeves]

In the bottle: Rich russet oil. Piney, minty, orangey freshness.

 

Wet: Rich pine and herbal mint, smokey citrus incense, so unbelievably good I just want to roll in it. This is a very dark scent, yet so fresh, the subtlety just carries me away and reminds me of everything I love about Bpal when it's the right combination of notes that work on my skin.

 

After a few minutes on skin: Something like what I thought was the leathery note in Bow and Crown of Conquest, or perhaps sage, but I know none of that is in the blend, still, that's the smell I'm getting. Maybe it's the combination of cumin and clove, or, actually, the musk, which is remarkably well-behaved in this blend. It's not doing the gross, heavy commercial thing musk sometimes does on me, nor is it getting powdery. It is starting to amplify a bit and drown out the freshness somewhat, which makes me rather sad.

 

After first hour: Pine and herbs and citrus starting to faintly assert themselves through the musk again, but they're barely able to make themselves known over the heavy, leathery layers of musk, and are scarcely worth mentioning at all. There is the tiniest, most microscopic tinge of sweetness. I am so sad, where did all the goodness go?

 

After two and a half hours: Musk and spices, and smoke with the barest hint of citrus.

 

After 5 hours: More of the same.

Final Verdict: I wish the complexity of aromas I smelled at the beginning had lasted, because that would have been enough to propel this scent into my top ten. As it is, it doesn't really place either way.

[Iceblink]

Wet: FIR OVERLOAD OMG.

Dry: Oooh, black musk, you sexy beast. The clove and cumin give this a bit of a spice rack quality. That combined with the mint and citrus makes this really...odd...the sexiness of the black musk with all of those foody spices is kind of bizarre. I bet this would smell better on a guy than on me.

[femmefatale]

I really didn't mean to try this, but since I spilled a little on myself....

 

Wow. This reminds me of this shop in Williamsburg during christmas time. It smells of spicy and musky fir with a touch of the sweetness from the orange blossom and the barest hint of mint. It is gorgeous and I can't wait to have hubby try it, though surprisingly it's something I would also wear, though not daily.

Edited August 17, 2008 by Femme_Fatale