Dracul

[judas_kiss]

"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. (Gender neutral)"

 

My hubby has fallen in love again with a BPAL and this one is his new fave. I leaned into him when he came home last night and took a big whiff (love smelling my man when he comes home from work) and I know why.

 

This scent is very masculine and sexy in a very dark, timeless way. It's a rather ferocious scent that shouldn't be worn by those not willing to embrace the dark, masculine side of their personality. The fir and the musk dominate this scent on my husband, but they are tempered by the clove, mint and sweetness of the orange blossoms. I got just the slightest hint of tobacco, but the cumin was totally lost on me (not such a bad thing b/c I don't necessarily love the scent of cumin.)

 

Overall, I really love this scent. Just right for curling up in front of the fire during winter. Hubby adores it.

Edited February 10, 2005 by judas_kiss

[tempete]

I put Dracul on before refreshing my memory about the notes in it, and halfway through the drydown, I thought that I detected the evil orange blossom note, which is one of the banes of my olfactory existence. Yes indeed, my nose had picked out the uniquely rancid odor that is unfortunately the result of my body chemistry wreaking havoc with orange blossom (which is undoubtedly lovely on everyone else except for me).

 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Wet, Dracul is a somewhat masculine blend of tobacco smoke accented by light woody notes. Then, the orange blossom note breaks free and its foulness is all I can smell for a good hour or so. Finally, the initial stage of tobacco and wood return to rescue me, accompanied by the spice notes. Unfortunately however, I can still sense the orange blossom note lurking beneath, ready to pounce on my nose as soon as I turn my back.

 

All this melodrama to say that I must recognize orange blossom as something to avoid avoid avoid and that Dracul will be swapped away, hopefully to someone whose body chemistry plays nicer with orange blossom than mine.

[laochodia]

why oh why?! this smelled so gorgeous in the bottle....and when i put it on, it turned into an almost exact replica of my fathers 'citrus musk' aftershave. i almost scrubbed my wrists raw trying to get it off. dracul is not for me....into the swap pile it goes....

[moongypsy]

DRACUL is to die for!!!

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle: Fir and mint, with the neroli rounding it out. Wow, this is dark. I've never imagined mint being dark, but it is here.

 

Wearing: The tobacco takes over almost immediately. The evergreen notes are still there, taking second place now. There's something very bitter here, which I'm thinking is a mixture of the mint and balsam. And, luckily, no cumin, as I don't really like the idea of smelling like spaghetti sauce.

 

Later: Clove and musk! Wow, what a great combination! It's now quite spicy, and still very dark. Ooh, I like this very much. It's incredibly sexy. This is one where I wish my guy wore cologne (or...whatever you would call this--"perfume" sounds too girly), as I think this would be great on him. I will definitely enjoy it for myself.

[antimony]

I usually like masculine scents on myself, except I can't do woodsy. It smells like masculine sex in a bottle though. I'm going to sneak up on my boyfriend with it, I bet it will be amazing on him.

 

This is a scent for pouncing. If I was single, and pet a guy at a party that smelled like this, I'd be asking for his number in *minutes*.

[shelldoo]

i was not expecting to like this

 

it is an enticing blend of orange, balsom, and tobacco, intriguing, slumberous almost i like it will definitely use the imp, possibly douse dh w/ it

[requieminblack]

First sniff from the bottle- Fir trees and something musky

 

After 10 minutes- Deep green fir, earthy tobacco, dark musk and something making my skin tingle....mint! This is really a nice earthy forest scent.

 

After 30 minutes- The orange comes out a little but this is still a musky dark forest.

 

Summery- Definitely not me, but a really nice blend.

[Will]

OK this has a lot of reviews already, so I'll save the detailed descriptions of the individual notes. Basically starts out spicy and herbal with orange, as described, then goes to a warm musk and tobacco finish that is extremely dark and intense.

I've worn it a couple of times now and this seems to be one that I have a mixed reaction to. It feels to me like an old man, still strong and vital but one who has outlived all his contemporaries and is adrift. Thinking about it, this scent reminds me of my friend's eastern european grandfather. We'd go visit him sometimes and he'd make veal and noodles, and we'd drink wine (forbidden as we were 16 and 17 at the time, but pop was european and there was wine with meals, period.) He was the kind of person who still thought being a gentleman was a good thing, he wore the most elegant suits and hats, and he was always polite to everybody. Not the kind of person you meet much any more.

Dracul has that traditional spicy cologne in the background, tobacco and musk, kind of vibe. On a younger man, I think it'd be fantastic. Unfortunately to me there is also a sadness and loneliness to it that makes me think I won't wear it much. Take it for what it's worth. . .although that part certainly fits with the Gary Oldman era Dracul vision, too.

[anmorata]

Dracul:

 

My experience with Dracul was very similar to NorthernMinx's. Dracul is a *very* complex scent! It started out heavily spicy when wet, moved to a heavy evergreen, then the mint started showing up during the drydown, then I smelled something like being lost in a huge evergreen forest. I never got the tobacco smells out of it, sadly.

 

A great scent, a bit masculine for me (I don't normally go for any sort of evergreen). I doubt I could wear this regularly, but I'm enjoying smelling it.

Edited March 16, 2005 by anmorata

[LiberAmoris]

Dracul is the first BPAL blend I've tried in which I can smell ALL of the notes listed, bar none. I detect the musk, tobacco, fir, balsam, cumin, clove, mint and orange blossom, every single one! On me the overall effect is of a smoky, woodsy orange pekoe with an initial overlay of mint. Or like one of those holiday oranges studded with cloves…hanging in the forest.

 

This is a lovely, dark and haunting blend. Like a forest in a Grimm fairy tale, beautiful but dangerous.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Fir and balsam are most obvious.

 

On Skin: Again, the fir and balsam are strongest notes. I also smell the black musk. The mint may be in there as well. I don’t seem to notice the tobacco or orange blossom. I think the cumin and clove give it a spicy edge. After while, I am smelling the smokiness of the tobacco. A dark scent, more masculine then I like, and a bit too smoky for me.

[Aurelius]

Dracul makes me drool. It's simply one of the best things I've smelled. I worried at first that it was too masculine for me. But if I have no SO to slather it on at the moment, then I'm wearing it, dammit. It's just that good. It's vaguely like Snake Oil, with a rich spicyness, but Dracul also has an orange-y kick. One of my favorites.

[wickedgoddess]

In the bottle, warm and sensuous, but with a bitter astringent top note that is off-putting.

 

Wet - Fir…the top note is fir, and I don't particularly like it. It's a very strong fir, it almost slaps you in the face.

 

Dry - as it dries, the fir fades, leaving tobacco and musk as the predominant notes. But it's not cheap cigarette tobacco, it's rich, fragrant pipe tobacco. I can just barely smell the orange blossom and mint, hiding in the background This is a warm, cozy, masculine smell.

 

Within an hour or maybe less, the fir is completely gone, and the scent becomes even lovelier. Now the clove comes out to play, but very subtly. This is a comfortable, snuggling up in front of the fireplace wearing your sweetie's sweater smell, but with a touch of sexuality too. I would love to smell this on a man, but I like it enough that I am keeping the imp for me, and I might consider a big bottle down the road. Lovely, dark and complex.

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being the best) this rates a 4.

[quimerula]

Wet it's orange blossom and Peru balsam with some cumin. It's bittersweet and for a moment I think I can smell chocolate (?).

Complex and interesting, but not dark or strong at all in my skin!

 

Dry the musk comes along with colver, tobacco and cumin going stronger; maybe some mint?. The spices are stronger and it goes more masculine, but it isn't a strong scent as I have thought. I find it somehow soft and quite unisex.

[Orodemniades]

This is what I expected Silk Road to be like, smokey, spicey, very

 

Imp : Mm, very orange blossom-y, with a background of mint and cloves

 

Wet : This smells like an orange- mint chocolate! Must be the tobacco in the background.

 

Drydown: Still orange-y, but, sniff oh, there's the musk! And clove! And fir!

 

Overall: damn my skin! This seems to fade within 30 minutes or so...maybe I'm just sniffing too much, because o, I Am In Love!

 

Forget the 5ml, this is going straight to the 10ml list!

 

It's sexy, spicy, reminiscent of conspiracies and dark rooms and Fox Mulder on a bad day, if you know what I mean.

 

Oro

[Mofo]

In the bottle, smoky sweet warm orange. I sniff deeply and I can detect fir but not if I hadn't have known it was there. And yes as someone suggested chocolate orange?

 

Wet & dry it stays close the bottle. I love this blend, sometimes I smell the orange more, sometimes tobacco it's hard to pick one dominant scent.

 

I love this.

[nineveh]

This doesn't put me in mind of Vlad the Impaler--it doesn't feel menacing or murderous--but that's fine with me. Dracul is a very rich, mature (and sexy!) scent. On me, there isn't much of a difference in the vial, wet, or dry. The fir gives it a brisk, refreshing feeling (maybe that's the mint too, but I can't really smell it). The orange blossom and tobacco counter the fir with warmth and smoky sweetness. The clove and cumin add a spicy depth.

 

This is a rather masculine scent, so I wouldn't wear it every day, but I bought a 5 mL because I don't want to be without this when my imp runs out.

[byrdie]

Vial ~ A wood desk freshly gone over with a citrus furniture polish.

 

Wet ~ It reminds me a lot of the drydown of Intrigue. If there's tobacco in this, it's a fruity blend. *sniff* Oh, lordy. This scent is brining to mind the first time I laid eyes on the glory that is the Graduate Reading Room of the University of Washington's Suzzalo Library: a near cathedral of stained glass, leather chairs and leather-bound books; barely occupied on a Spring morning.

 

Drying ~ It's blending together well. If I walked into an old money den and it smelled like this, I would be surprised ... or appalled. Despite the name, it's not striking me as particularly masculine. It could be unisex, but I'm picturing more the library of a rich and powerful woman. It could be the muted citrus note or the fact that it's starting to turn powdery at the edges.

 

Drydown ~ The powder is starting to develop into an incense, which is at tug of war with the perfume-ish state that the oil wants to venture towards. Despite the frolicking, the scent now gives the impression of really being settled into the roo-- er, skin. Faint, aged and established. Not threatening or even imposing so much as dignified and confident. Whether you belong is irrelevant: it does belong.

 

Dry ~ While I wasn't expecting Dracul to smell, say, of offal and other ick; I'm downright surprised by now pretty it is. Thinking back to portraits I've seen of Vlad Tepes, I could imagine him smelling like this in his less bloody moments. A well dressed, clean person, after a smoke of lovely pipe tobacco. I don't smoke, but this is tempting me towards doing some thrift store hunting for a smoking jacket.

 

Fade ~ It's fading towards a sweet, plastic-type scent -- that sorta dorky, round scent that can make a respectable resin turn into the perfume equivalent of Goofy. Great, now I've got a mental image of Bela Lugosi in full Count regalia saying, "Duh'ho! Hello, boys and girls!" After a few hours, it's evened out into a slightly creamy sweet scent that's both light and rich at the same time. How delightfully odd.

 

Final thoughts ~ I'm not sure if this is a big bottle oil for me. If so, I'd use it as a room scent at least half the time. The dry phase makes me wonder if I've found a non-alcohol replacement for Demeter's Pipe Tobacco. This will definitely require a few experiments with skin chemistry and amounts used.

Edited May 11, 2005 by byrdie

[dreadeddragon]

In the bottle: Dirt covered in alcohol. I remember liking this one at BB, but maybe I'm just not in a dirt mood recently.

 

First on: Still dirt, which is probably form the tobacco. I'm not a fan of smelling like cigarettes, which is ironic because I'm a smoker. But there's other notes in here too that I like, it's dark from the musk, and there's a flower or something starting to show up.

 

Drydown: Orange dirt. Boo! The tobacco went away, thankfully. It's a very nice scent, and I have to say for an orange scent, I actually like it. I'll keep the imp, at least for a while. I just wanted to love the scent named for Vlad Tepes like my cat. Heh.

 

 

Nope, off to swaps. I just can't deal with Neroli or Bergamot.

[ashtonrose]

This scent was just not me.

 

Bottle: When I opened it, it just smelled of orange blossoms, tobacco and cumin.

 

Wet: Tobacco, cumin and the black musk

 

Dry: The mint started to come out and so does the orange blossoms, but the tobacco is very strong on me.

 

Off to the swap pile!

[isyche]

Damn, this is sexy. It starts out as fir and mint, a chilly old-forest scent, then warms up and gets smoky-spicy-musky later on. Masculine, foresty, dark green and brown with a touch of fire. I agree with Macha that this is so what Strider smells like.

 

It's too manly for me to wear it, but I wish I had a man to test it on.

Edited May 22, 2005 by isyche

[tart]

Well damn...Dracul is another one of BPAL's incredibly sexy masculine scents. I was hoping to be able to wear this for myself, but I don't care for pine/fir scents on my skin. If I had a guy to put this on...

 

Definitely keeping this one, even if I'm not wearing it...

[Ajila]

When I put this one I was immediately taken back to childhood christmas' that bit in the afternoon where I'm over excited I've eaten too much and I've tripped up and landed in the christmas tree (now that only happens when I've drunk too much, but when I was little it was a regular occurance). I figured out it was because it smelt of christmas tree bark covered in chocolate orange, it's quite a nice smell, but I'm not certain I want smell of it. After about 30 minutes of this I suddenly got a whiff of what I thought was eucalyptus, which threw me completely, another 30 minutes on that had gone as well and I was left with a gentle but slightly spikey herby scent. I like this overall, but I can't put my finger on why.

[Sara]

Hmm...my initial sniff made me think this wasn't going to work out. I can't actually identify any of the specific notes (I really suck at that anyway), but it seems a bit sharp-ish.

 

Everything kind of explodes after swiping, so I gave it a few minutes before trying to figure it all out. The notes soften a bit into a sort of man's cologne or aftershave. It's actually quite yummy. I could totally picture this on a dark, brooding, and powerful sort of man....and that man is in dire need of ravaging!

 

On the drydown this mellowed out completely into one blended note. Which is pure aftershave to my nose...it's not unpleasant, but at the fringes there is a soft "under-scent" which isn't agreeing with my "tall, dark, powerful, and mysterious" guy image. *le sigh*

 

On the hour later drydown this is making me wickedly nauseous. None of the previous yumminess exists anymore, it's pure old lady stink. I'm dead serious when I say my stomach is rebelling like mad..blech.

 

Overall this would be utterly fantastic on a guy (normally I can carry masculine scents well, but this one is out of my league) if only that middle stage held up longer (it lasted around 30min. on me) before falling into the soft mash and later into something my stomach can't handle.

Edited May 28, 2005 by Sara