Mars

[dreadeddragon]

DYNAMIC ENERGY - LUST - ENTHUSIASM - RESOLUTION - COURAGE - PHYSICAL STRENGTH - MENTAL ACUITY - COMRADERIE - ENGINEERING - ANY WORK WITH METALS - VICTORY - CONQUEST - WAR - POWER - DOMINATION - MILITARY MATTERS - DARING DEEDS

In the bottle: cinnamon, pine, & dragon's blood.

First on: Exactly the same as 3 witches. Exactly.

Drydown: This lasts longer on me than Three Witches did, and it definitely has more clove and less pepper. It is a very powerful and angry scent, it embodies more of the emotion I expected Rage to have.

[Muppetk]

In the imp: medicinal/spicey. Bleh. But I know better than to let that put me off trying sometihng by now.

 

Wet on me: cinnamon & dragon's blood! ooooooh... That sweetness has to be dragon's blood. Oh wow, I like this!!!

 

Dry: Some cloves join the party. This is very very nice. Why is it that so far, all my favorites are discontinued? Sheesh. (And I'm sure the fact that I've sniffed as many discontinued as catalogue scents has nothign to do with it. I think Beth puts crack in the ones she's about to take off the market.)

[ladytaga]

I didn't expect to like this at all...since anything with sandalwood or dragons blood turns all funny on me...if these notes are in here I don't know why it works for me.

It is cinnamon, cloves and something else almost like a liquer...or wine that has been left over from a party? It works well on me and I wouldn't have expected it to. Tempted to email the lab and find out what they put in here.

I would love a larger bottle but I think I will wait to search for one and reapply tomorrow to see if it still works on me.

[PurringPulsar]

Mars

 

In the imp: cloves! That's what I mainly smell here, cloves. Also something floral (?) and something that smells like incense, reminiscent of a new age store. I love the red colour of this oil! That means only one thing-dragon's blood.

Wet on skin: omg, this smells like Lush's Chai!!! It's almost identical in colour and smell to Chai, only this one's spicier. I can smell cloves in this, maybe some ginger, and possibly cinnamon (but not sweet cinnamon-this smells more like the cinnamon leaf essential oil I have rather than ground cinnamon spice) and a clear 'red' resinous note that's undoubtedly dragon's blood. I swear there's a floral there too…

Dry on skin: now it smells a bit like Lush's Skinny Dip! Yup, that's right. The smell is spicy, warm, but not overpowering or 'hot'. I'm pretty sure there's a floral, or a herbal note there but that could be the dragon's blood.

After a while: the clove/cinnamon note intensifies…it's not a sweet, pleasant spice note, but a darker, brooding note that puts in my mind the image of a the embers of a fire, warm yet darkened and muted, with a hint of dust. But there's a sweet herbal-floral there that adds an interesting twist, along with the clear note of dragon's blood. And I think there may be sandalwood there too. In fact, I swear there's an earthiness there to all the fire of the spice and dragon's blood, but then again, I do have Mars in Taurus-could this blend really be reacting to my astrological make-up???

After a few hours, I get pure dragon's blood on my skin. It reminds me of the smell of those new age shops I love to shop at...

Verdict: as an Aries, Mars is my ruling planet, and I really like this oil. There's a warm, dark spiciness with a clear note of dragon's blood and a floral I can't identify, but what I like about it most is that it reminds me of Lush's Skinny Dip and Chai, but with a more pronounced clove note. This is a lovely, spicy-herbal blend with dragon's blood, it's a warming blend-fiery but approachable-there's also a grounding scent in this blend. It also has a bit of kick, and has a masculine aura about it-it would smell great on a guy! but I love it too, and I find that it actually calms down the fiery, impulsive Aries side of me!!

Edited June 9, 2005 by yeahbutnobut

[allidavie]

Forgive my short-ish review, I had to write up a bunch of reviews quickly as part of the Celestial swap circle...

 

Dry, fiery incense notes, slightly ashy smelling. Cinnamon, maybe some dragon's blood? Not my normal sort of scent or something I'd wear on an every day basis, but very nice.

[Court Analyst/Strategist]

Mars

 

Color in bottle: This is candied, syrupy red in imp. Like red hard candy.

In Storage: this scent wafts its way through the imp vial to scent everything in my cabinet drawer.

Origin--I got this from an impulse buy on ebay in may. I think I paid 12.00 to 15.00 dollars for this..Bad, I know. Yes, I really wanted Mars..

 

Even unopened, this imp packs a punch. Intense cinnamon, the kind you get with popping a cinnamon jolly rancher in your mouth, when it first touches your tongue. Very sharp clove, it makes me want to keep smelling the imp with this slightly peppery spicy element, the warmth. I also notice a sort of soapiness while smelling the imp that I don't pick up when wearing-? Perhaps the dragon's blood interacting with everything? Or that the soapiness blends more in on applying?...maybe I'm just crazy

 

Applying: immediately, this scent is invading with its insistance when I hold my wrist to my nose. Very faint dragon blood deep in the background. 10 minutes in, the dragons blood is barely, barely detectable unless you're looking for it. The clove and the red hotness of the cinnamon are fighting for dominance...and the red, sinus tingling cinnamon is relaxing to a more refined version, more like the real thing like another reviewer mentioned, cinnamon leaf oil, and the clove is mingling to further balance the cinnamon. Peppery something is in there somewhere, caught up in a tide of all the rest but peeking out and making itself known.

 

Overall impressions: Chai spices?? I've never tried Lush's Chai which a couple other people were reminded of with MARS, but this brings to my mind chai spice blends teabags soaked for ten minutes in boiling water as well as tempermental fiery cinnamon, clove, alittle spike of a pepper element I find quite interesting. The dragons blood stayed hidden for me, but that note could have been the assistance smoothing out the sharpness of the cinnamon. Also, dragons blood doesn't have much staying power on me despite my love of it so this note could have just faded in somewhere.

 

I don't get a fire association here, through, or ashy elements of any kind, but the wonderful depth of spicy, peppery cinnamon warmth. This is a very passionate scent, potent, energetic. Confident. If its spicy scents you're looking for, you've found it.

 

One word descriptive of MARS: Dominant, fierce.Whoops, thats two(laughs maniacally)

 

Throw on this is 8/10 on me, lasts quite a few hours at strength, which is damn good as I have stubborn skin chemistry that fades alot of scents pretty fast. Would not slather:If not for the discontinued status than for the sheer intensity of the ingredients--alittle dab goes a long way(thank god because I currently only own a single imp of Mars)!

 

This is not my usual sort of oil blend as I tend to stray from strong cinnamon elements in bpal oils, but love any 'red' sort of scent so I was willing(but leery of the red hots candy syndrome, with the cinnamon turning too sweet and worse) to try this mainly because, well, its called MARS. Luckily I caught a break here, as the cinnamon element does not turn to candy land or too acrid/overpowering. Everything else in the blend balances the cinnamon just right.

 

Mars rates a definate 8 and a half/10 in my book over all, and a big bottle goes onto my ever growing wishlist.

 

*Edited because I am a perfectionist*

Edited July 5, 2005 by Court Analyst/Strategist

[sookster]

extremely "warm" cinnamon and spicy clove scent....i really, really love it except it does not have any staying power on me

 

i put it on and 15 minutes later, lovely Mars disappears 4-ever...guess i will just have to stick to my malkuth as this particular cinnamon blend lasts incredibly long on me

Edited July 6, 2005 by sookster

[coulrophobe]

In the bottle: Eep... it's medicinal smelling... astringent But I'll be brave and try it on.

 

On: Medicinal... medicinal... medici- er, wait a minute... tea? That was weird. But yes, to my nose there's something that reminds me of strong black tea, with a hint of spice.

 

Or there was, at least. The tea phase lasted about 5 seconds. Now, Mars has dried down to dragon's blood, and nothing but dragon's blood. With my chemistry, that's OK... but it's not wonderful. I'm one of those that turns the red-resiny-goodness into little bouquets of flowers, and that's not what I want to associate with Mars, sadly. I wish the spices had stayed and kept this blend a little fiercer, but it's pleasant blend anyway - just not exceptional on me.

[wickedgoddess]

Preconceived Notions - The forum reviews speak of cinnamon and clove and ginger and sandalwood, and make this sound amazing! I was so happy when I got the opportunity to try some.

 

Wet - Faint cinnamon and a sour smell. I am probably wrong because no one else has mentioned it in their reviews, but to me it smells like the vetiver/dragon's blood combination that turned my stomach in Bloodlust.

 

Dry - It sweetens up as it dries, but it still smells like Bloodlust lite to me. I never get those wonderful notes everyone else talks about. There is faint cinnamon, faint dragon's blood and the bad smell. After an hour or two the bad smell lightens up, and I can smell clove now, but it's very faint. I guess Mars isn't for me.

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 2.

[laochodia]

Cinnamon, sandalwood and clove. A dry red, if that makes sense. Very powerful feeling, like the scent is making itself known. This feels like Sol plus Bloodlust to me. Strong, spicy, dominant. I *really* want to smell this on a guy. Aside from that, you'll have to pry this imp from my cold dead fingers. This scent is helping me snap into focus, lay out plans for the future and right now I sound like a drill sergeant snapping off orders which various people and animals are obeying. This is amazing.

[feline.by.design]

A bottle of Mars about 6/10ths full was sent to me by the lovely LupaWolf. As I've been getting over my recent "mini-pneumonia," we'll see how Mars works for my skin and whether or not my nose is really in shape to do some reviewing.

 

In the bottle, Mars smells like cinnamon and Coca-Cola. There's a sweetness lingering in the bottle. The cinnamon is dark and heady, not the supercinnamon I was getting from Mercury.

 

On my skin, Mars smells... very interesting. There's a smell that's a little metallic, though not a high metallic like Mercury. This is more deep, like iron clashing against iron over upturned earth. The spice is there, although it's not so much as a sharp cinnamon as a more grounded ginger smell. There's also the smell of blood, though it doesn't conjure up images of dragon's blood for me.

 

This is a very stern and determined type of scent, with not much of the brashness I was expecting. It surprises me how earthy this fragrance is, yet at the same time it's not an "earth scent." There's a hint of weariness in it as well. There is a smell of sweetness as well.

 

As it sits longer on my skin, the cinnamon spice fragrance seems to grow stronger, while the earth notes take a step back. This really smells a lot like a sweet sort of blood. It's quite fascinating.

 

Mars is quite a masculine scent, however it isn't overtly so. Anyone wanting a bit of confidence could wear this fragrance easily. I'm really glad to have gotten a chance to try it (and own it), as I find myself really liking this fragrance. Although I'm a Virgo, my numerology number is 9, which relates to Mars, so I really wanted to have this fragrance and test it out. Beth really did a fantastic job with the Celestials, and if they ever make a comeback, I'd love to get another bottle of Mars if I could afford to.

 

-doreen

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Hmmm, I can't identify what's in this.

 

Just On: A touch gritty. Very red.

 

An hour or two later: Quite a vivid red scent. Not so much gritty anymore.

 

Around 6 hours: A dry, hot red scent.

 

12 hours: Scorching red scent, albeit very faded.

 

Overall: While this is certainly a red scent, and very powerful, I can't really pick out what is in it. I suspect that's because it's so well blended that I can't pick out certain notes, especially since my nose is pretty untrained.

 

After reading other reviews: I really didn't get any of the notes mentioned, though they could easily have combined to make this scent. Truly awesome.

[Kate]

From the Celestial Swap.

 

This one was almost identical to Wrath, both in color and in scent. I got very powerful cinnamon right away, but it faded rapidly into a soothing creamy scent which I think is dragon's blood resin, cloves and maybe ginger. It's very substantial, but still light enough not to feel overpowering. Appropiate that it should be similar to Wrath I think.

[Silvertree]

Where Sol is hot, Mars is warm.

 

It's the planet closest to Earth in a lot of ways, I believe- and I feel completely at home here!

 

In the imp, it's warm, dry, and a little medicinal. At first reminiscent of the heated florals I got from The Living Flame.

 

And then, from out of nowhere, in comes the cinnamon!

 

And it brought with it... more cinnamon!

 

And some cloves, and some resin, and a cavalry of cloves.

 

Per its description, I definitely feel energetic and enthusiastic, as well as capable of daring deeds.

 

I just may want to wait until it's cooler and less humid outside, so that I have the energy to move beyond my air-conditioned bubble to carry them out.

[quimerula]

Very red and strong.

 

I get pepper and Dragon's Blood from this one.

 

Dry and hot, really a "Mars" perfume.

[olympia301]

Just like a man. It comes on all hot and full of promise and then disappears when you ask him to last. Hrumph!

 

Mars is gorgeous. A fine surprise from Sookster, he appeared so very full of testosterone he leaked out of his imp and all over. Premature ejaculation, but that's life, chickens.

 

He has plenty of dragon's blood to make him bold and lusty, clove and cinnamon to give him fire and kick. He would be memorable if he would hang on for even an hour, alas he can't do that any more than he can manage to take out the garbage!

 

I will treasure the remnants of the Great Man and be very happy I had the chance to make his acquaintance if for ever so briefly. If I am left with naught but his soggy underthings, well at least the undies of the gods smell good.

 

The image is the most wonderful Mars by the most wonderful Diego Velazquez and it hangs in the Prado and it is very very very good.

[brownbear]

This one changes a bit as it dries. It starts out very warm, red, with some spice and a bit of carnation? or some kind of floral bit. Then it seems more like dragon's blood and some kind of leafy note (or maybe it's a morphed version of carnation that i smell). Then the spice comes out a bit more. Then something like spicy violets? Then spicy spice. This one is really hard to put my finger on and it changes a lot, but I really enjoy it.

It never seemed as spicy as three witches to me.

[UltraViolet]

 

In the bottle

Mmm...amber, cinnamon. Sweet but hot!

 

On

OMFGBBQofDOOM!!!

Oh this is so good. It has cinnamon, clove, white pepper, eucalyptus (or mint).

It reminds me of "Aries" but with more "Inferno" quality about it (except without the added orange of BPAL's "Inferno") and maybe a little Tulzscha or Undertow.

 

30 minutes

Incredible staying power. Dries down to a bright but hot scent. Sweet but not too sweet, hot, minty like the steel on a new sword.

 

Throw:

a bit more than average only.

 

Scent category:

Spicy/Resin/Foody

 

Summary

As an Aries who are ruled by Mars, I couldn't wait to try this. I thought if it was anything like Aries it's gonna be great for me. It has this understone of scent that I don't think I've ever smelt or it's in some kind of combo that I don't recorgnize but it's really good. I think it's an herb or... camphor! I think it's Camphor! LOL. Now in "Salamander" it's not too good but in "Mars" it is good. If you like blends such as "Aries", "Three Witches", "Tulszcha", "Undertow", "Inferno" or "Hellfire" you'll love this.

 

Purchase again?

Yes! A 10ml if I could possibly find one. Oh God, if anyone could possibly have mercy and contact me if they have any to swap or sell.

 

1-5 rating (5 being best)

5

[Little Bird]

Much thanks to SyringaVulgaris for gifting me with an imp of this one I have been wanting to try it for a while now.

 

First on... definitely dragon's blood, pepper, and some sort of minty smell. Gah. This is *so* reminding me of cough syrup. I'm going to give this one a few minutes to calm down and hope that it gets better.

 

15 minutes later. The harsh pepper/mint edge has faded, but this is still awful on me . It is dragon's blood at its worst. Metallic and rotten smelling. Pure headache in a bottle.

 

Oh well. At least I finally got to try this one. Though I was hoping for it to be cinnamon and clove... all I'm getting is dragon's blood.

[Chas]

This is Dragon's Blood on me. Sweet, cloying, headache inducing Dragon's Blood.

 

Bummer.

[SeaMonkey]

Peppery dragon's blood. There's a little cinnamon, but not too much. There's something woody in the background that gives it a nice earthiness

[Fefferbella]

Rich cinnamon and spicey cloves drenched in decadent Dragon's Blood... OMG this is good.

 

Mars was one of the Celestials I was really looking forward to trying (besides Aries) and I'm not disappointed at all!

 

This is spicey, peppery and sweet... strong and sexy... gorgeous!

[Athenae]

Wet in the bottle: Red, red, red, almost like Red Phoenix but with less cinnamon.

 

On me at first: Floral. Whoa holy hell floral. I don't know what kind of floral, but ... if there's even the slightest rose in this ... maybe that's what I'm getting. It's the floral of Dia De Los Muertos, which also amps up FLOWERPLOSION! on my skin for a minute before the foody parts kick in.

 

Dry: Floral headache rush goes away and then I get more clove and coriander spices. And we're back to the red, red, red, but it doesn't burn my skin like Phoenix. I can't decide which one I like better.

 

Must ponder this one a bit.

 

A.

[theshapeshifter]

2006 version. I have been desperately wanting Mars ever since discovering BPAL, primarily because it happens to be the name of a fictional character I spent a year and a half writing about. Therefore, it was a hugely exciting moment to finally remove the cap and take a sniff!

 

In the bottle: Oooh. I'd been expecting spice, but this is much more complicated... warm and heady and red. Something about it evokes The Living Flame to me, although they don't really smell that much alike.

 

Wet on skin: Orange peel! I get a strong, strong rush of orange on application, but not a juicy-candy orange, more like a semi-dried orange rind.

 

Drydown: Oh, Mars is so much more complicated than I'd expected. It's really well-blended, which makes it a challenge to pick out notes. Orange rind, dragon's blood, maybe some jasmine, a bit of spice (clove?)... I'm not sure what else. It's absolutely, absolutely gorgeous - and has GREAT staying power.

 

I'm so happy! It's lived up to my wildest dreams... I think Mars is going straight to my top 10.

[QueenFae]

When I first put this on, I didn't even notice the cinnamon! It was an aquatic smelling floral on me, like jasmine or lotus. Now that I've read some of the other reviews, I can pick out the cinnamon, but it's not at all overpowering. It just gives the floral a lovely sweet base, very innocent and yummy. I really like this one, it's quite unique. I think I'll hold onto my bottle.