The Lion

[tailoredshirt]

The dry, glorious warmth of the Savannah. A golden, spiced amber, proud, regal and ferocious.

This was a lab frimp, probably a couple of months old at this point.

I was expecting more of a pure amber scent, like Jacob's Ladder, so I was surprised when I applied and got a noseful of musk. It smelled very perfume-y at first, with only a bit of sweet amber. I also started getting a grassy scent and a bit of cinnamon later. This reminds me of Coyote, which I like, but Coyote is sweeter and more...buttery. But like Coyote, that grass + musk combination smells <i>very faintly</i> of cat pee and/or reminds me of animals humping in the sun when I sniff too close. :/

Anyway, this is a nice scent, but I can't see myself wearing it very often. Maybe with some aging the amber will come out more and tame the musk.

[FathomBelow]

The Lion is all spice on me, and no amber. This is what I wish Plunder had smelled like, in terms of the cinnamon - in Plunder it was more like Hot Tamales candy, here it's old powdered cooking cinnamon, along with nutmeg, with a hint of the heady alcohol-like scent of real vanilla extract and the hint of sweetness in the smell of powdered sugar. Very much reminiscent of Morocco, less sweet and sadly with less depth. In fact, it's very faint indeed on my skin. Beautiful, but I think it could stand some layering to make it more satisfying.

[Gold Dust Kitten]

Amber, cinnamon, clove, and something grassy but not fresh green grass. The spices are very soft. This is like Bengal's little baby sister. I'm getting a warm feeling where I applied the oil so I'm thinking it's a reaction to the cinnamon. That sucks because this smells so yummy.

[CreamyJade]

In the bottle: Gently spiced (think cinnamon, ginger, clove) honeyed glowing amber.

Wet on skin: Gentle spices still, sweet amber.

Dry on skin: Amber, not powdered (yay!), a little spice and a sweetness close to vanilla.

Final thoughts: This glorious blend started out for me as a frimp, which was eventually upgraded as a bottle a year ago. I love the Lion! It's a comforting, warm and glowing scent that I tend to use both on cold winter days and during bright sunny summer days. It makes me think about Hod (the ressurected), for a reason...

Try, if you like: Bengal, Schwarzer Mond

[lahdeedah]

Been thinking about this one for a while and finally picked it up.

 

Wet: A warm cinnamon spice, but there's a promise of deep amber to come.

 

Dry: Here comes the amber! I'm generally a slatherer, but when it comes to amber, a tiny dab is more than enough. Amber amps like WHOA on my skin. This amber is a lovely, spicy warmth. Very leonine.

 

Later: Amber still going strong, but there's a bit of a powdery edge at play now, giving it a more sugary, vanillic scent. A lot of BPAL amber goes quite powdery on me, and I was worried this might mean The Lion might poof into full on baby powder after a bit, but it keeps that warm, spicy heart with the powder just hovering around the edges. Yay!

 

Summary: I'm so glad for this blend! It's really perfect--simple, pure, warm and glowing. A definite keeper, and will probably get used both on its own and as a layering note.

[ravenscanary]

Source: Lab Imp

 

A musky, sweet, dry amber. An edge of cinnamon and dried grasses, kind of a baked feeling - not oven baked dessert, despite the sweetness, but sun-baked grass.

[Verios]

My only experience with this scent is from an aged imp (I got it from a very kind forumite, and they'd written on the imp label that it's from...06, I believe?), but this is going to be a bottle purchase for me, definitely. Amber is one of those notes that, when it cooperates, is lovely--spicy and warm and leaving me sniffing discreetly (hopefully!) at my own wrists. This is a blend where it behaves itself, and doesn't give me that 'perfumey' sort've feel that it tends to in blends where it like me as much.

 

I definitely get the leonine feel of this blend...it's amber, with a nice cinnamony/spiced note (not overpowering like cinnamon candy or anything), and a soft fuzziness to it. Not at all sharp, but very cuddly and warm feeling. Just what I needed today, as it's cold and icy outside.

[ajansuz]

This was a generous lab frimp.

 

In the imp, this is all warm spices, cinnamon, clove, a little sweet vanilla. The color of the oil is very pretty.

 

Wet: The cinnamon burns my skin. Fortunately, that doesn't last too long, but this is one I'd have to be careful wearing on a regular basis, as cinnamon can give me some pretty nasty contact dermatitis in hot weather, and I live in a very hot climate. The spices go pretty much straight up generic stove top simmer potpourri, which is a little disappointing.

 

Dry down: Amber starts trying to assert itself, not surprising as I usually amp amber to the high heavens in a good way. I keep catching alternating whiffs of golden amber followed by generic potpourri and something that smells a little like wet earth. Odd.

 

After two hours, it's more spiced amber than potpourri, but that scent is one that I dislike enough that I'm not entirely sure I'd want to go through it to get to the good phase. I'm going to try this one again when it gets hotter to see what it does to my skin and if a little aging tames down the spice blend. Once it reaches the spiced amber, it truly is lovely.

[frecklestars]

In the bottle: a deep rich red-brown oil that smells warm and spicy, with maybe a little vanilla. a strong cinnamon-clove vibe, which I adore. it smells proud, if that makes any sense. cake-like scent. dense. almost like grasses? but spicy ones. definitely dry and definitely glorious.

 

On my skin: so not my usual thing, but I can't stop sniffing! spicy and friendly and inviting, like a warm cottage in winter. and it is warm. a little sweet, like vanilla, but with a heavy enough dose of cinnamon that it's not overwhelmingly sweet or cake-like. amber is a good way of describing it. a little sensual maybe, almost gingery. fades to sweet old wild dry grasses.

 

Last thoughts: this one's almost impossible to describe, but it's really interesting. strong and warm and spicy. worth a sniff regardless of your usual preferences.

[BelladonnasGarden]

I LOVE The Lion. It's a perfect blend of Amber, very spicy and then as it dries it has a ever so slight bubble gum feel in the background! not foody at all, just sweet and spicy warm amber goodness!!

[Ella LaRose]

wow, his one just gets better the longer it is on your skin, and lasts forever on my skin!!! I put it on the other night at 8 and it was still strong on my wrist the next day at 3!!

dry, warm amber, sweet spice. just lovely!

[Diva Urd]

In the vial: A load of amber! I think I may also detect cinnamon, which is a bit scary, since cinnamon sometimes amps like crazy on me.

 

On: Still a LOT of amber. Upon initial application, the spices behave, but I'm getting an amber single note as a result. Don't get me wrong, it's not shabby, but it's a bit boring.

 

Later: Ah. There's the cinnamon - it's ambery cinnamon. Sadly, this isn't really my thing, I'm afraid, but if someone is looking for ambery cinnamon, this is the scent for them.

[invisible iris]

in imp: spiced

 

on skin: spiced syrupy amber

 

dry: No musk, no vanilla/tonka, and--this made me wonder if I was sniffing the same oil as everyone else--I don’t get cinnamon at all. Maybe a bit of cardamom. What I do get, in addition to the amber, is a very prominent saffron note. At first it threw me off and I didn’t care for the blend, because I expected something spicy, like dry or bitter spicy cloves or cinnamon bark. But on me The Lion is rather sweetly spicy, in the way that saffron has this golden almost honey-like sweetness to it, reminiscent of sweet, curing hay. With expectations adjusted, I fell in love with it. A golden, sweetish, hay-like saffron in a fuzzy halo of warm amber. I smell like a sun-soaked feral feline, and it is divine.

 

It's not the most sophisticated, mouth-watering, or sexiest scent that I've liked, but The Lion is the kind of comfortable & reliably beautiful blend that I will wear everywhere--at home, at work, in bed, on a train, in the rain, etc.

[Gateau]

Received a partial imp as a gift with purchase.

 

Wet and in the drydown it's a warm and spicy amber, with lots of dry cinnamon, maybe cinnamon bark. More a feeling of warmth than a definable scent. Not sweet.

 

Dry this gets a little playdoh-y on me. I don't pick up any of the animal scents or savannah grass in other reviews.

 

Nice, but not something I'll reach for.

[borealis]

On me, The Lion is what the most of the above reviews say... warm, spicy amber. Wet and during dry-down, the spiciness is forefront on me. I didn't get specifically cinnamon or cloves or ginger out of it, but more an impression of warm spice backed by the sweetness of the amber. Once that had faded down a bit, the amber came to the fore. It's a very nice, mellow amber, and as far as I could tell it doesn't have a lot of throw (but that could be because I used only a couple dabs). After a few hours, I could also detect the warm grassy notes. The last note to fade was a faint, faint musk. Considering my past experiences with musk, I was surprised to realize I didn't mind it... probably because it was indeed very faint.

 

I had a co-worker a few years ago that adored amber; she walked around in a cloud of it that almost seemed to have a physical presence. It had massive throw. You could smell her from several feet away, and she left scent-trails everywhere she went. I think she fell prey to the thing where your nose gets used to the scent that you put on, so you think it's faded and you put on more, but to everyone else it's now double- or triple-strength -- you know what I mean? Having learned from her mistake, I've always been careful not to add more scent during the day when I'm around other people, even if I think it's faded to obscurity. Hers was a single note, not a blend, which may have been a contributing factor. It's just a theory, but I'm thinking single notes are more prone to disappearing to your own nose.

 

Anyway, I had liked amber but her overkill of it made me go off it for some years. The sheer strength of hers made it harsh and unpleasant. Fortunately my experience with The Lion has made me enjoy amber again. I don't think it will become a signature scent for me, but I'll definitely use it again when I want that warm spiciness.

[Viridian]

This is a beautiful, rich, spicy amber that would be amazing on someone else. It starts off really strong and perfumey on me, though. Wet, I get a lot of cinnamon from it, and the perfumey aspect is strongest.

 

As it dries and sits, it gets sweeter and more of what I think of as a "golden" amber scent, but is still a stronger perfume smell than I like - maybe that's the musk note people are describing above? Or maybe it's just the kind of amber. There's something that I really like about it, but it feels like just too much scent on me - maybe I'll try it in winter if I don't swap my imp away by then. This one has a lot of throw when I wear it.

[Klolly]

I've been trying to find a scent that is "me", you know, like a signature scent. As a teen it was sunflowers, but I got sick of that and now I'm looking for a bpal that I will want to wear all the time. I singled out The Lion because I enjoy warm, golden scents, and my husband used to call me a lioness when we dated because of my thick blonde hair. Also, I grew up on a farm so the scent of hay evokes really happy memories, so here goes;

 

In the imp: Smells musty. Like smoking a clove cigarette in the rain.

 

On wet: Hmm. Like faint cinnamon gum. Ooh, there's the grassy note. It is sweetening up and blending into a very lion-like scent.

 

Dry: Well this is an extremely well done perfume as far as creating the impression of a lion goes. I am mostly smelling the cinnamon and dry grasses. The throw seems very weak to me. It definitely reminds me of going to the zoo and seeing lions. At our zoo there is a lot of dry grass type landscaping too. The amber must be what's giving the scent the softness it has. This is a lions mane I want to bury my face in and fall asleep, feeling cozy and protected. As I write it's becoming a bit stronger and already it is really growing on me. It is very gentle, like a skin scent. I'll definitely have to update later tonight after I've worn it awhile.

 

Several hours later: I am so happy! I love this scent so much! It's just what I was hoping for. I could totally see myself wearing this all the time. This scent feels ancient to me. Not in a dusty, old nasty way, but in a polished gold tomb artifact sort of way. I could see a beautiful archeologist smelling like this. The things I associate with this scent are what I was hoping to get from snake oil and morocco but didn't. This is what I think that Ruth from the bible would smell like. Beautiful, strong, yet simple and gentle. Steadfast and determined, gleaning the grain in the heat all day while Boaz admires from afar. I definitely want a bottle. So happy!!

Edited August 10, 2011 by Klolly

[fashionfaerie]

If I had to choose one favorite perfume note, it would be amber. And somehow in all this time I had missed The Lion. Fortunately I got a tip last night, and tried it out. Lovely! In the bottle I actually smell more cinnamon than amber, though on my skin the cinnamon accents the amber and not vice-versa. I also get a bit of something hay-like as it progresses. I find it a really soft and easy scent to wear, and while I haven't gotten an outside opinion on this, my sense is that it stays relatively intimate and doesn't have the sillage of many other BPALs. It's a simple enough blend that I look forward to seeing how it plays with others. So far, I've found that it's lovely layered with Spellbound.

[Ghost of a Rose]

In the imp: Oil is a deep golden brown, like dark amber. The scent is rich, pure amber, sweet - maybe with just the teensiest touch of cinnamon and/or clove?

 

On me, wet: Same as above.

 

On me, just dried: The scent loses its sharp spiciness, its strength, and most of its sweetness very quickly as it dries. What remains is a soft, gentle version of the same fragrance.

 

After several hours: The fragrance remains consistent as it slowly fades away. The longevity on me is about average for BPAL perfumes.

 

Unisex, incensey. Smells exactly like a chunk of amber resin I used to have, that came from India in a carved, perforated soapstone box. This is very near to being (and in fact, may be) a Single Note. A beautiful, authentic, amber scent. There may be some cinnamon and/or clove, but it's so subtle that I'm not sure if it's really there or if I'm imagining it. I don't think I'd wear this to work, as it is too headshoppy. But I love it for casual events and especially for spiritual practice.

 

My rating: 4 stars

[angelamaria]

In imp: spicy amber, faintly sweet. Almost foody, in a sweet-spicy kind of way.

 

Wet on skin: spicy, sweet, fruity. The sweetness of this blend is an almost candy sweetness, but the vague spices keep it from going there, and vice versa. Quite pleasing and complex!

 

Dry: hmm, I'm getting a somewhat fair bit of musk, mixing in and enhancing that sweet/spicy feel. There is a "round" note here, the same round note that, after a while, goes oily on me. This blend is neither here nor there; I'm not sure if I do "complex" blends, because my nose is confused with the sweetness/spiciness of this one.

 

Verdict: dry, it is definitely faintly pleasing, but this isn't a blend I would wear. Pass!

[Honey]

Imp: Wow, strong cinnamon and/or cassia and amber. Strong!

 

Wet: Cassia, amber, maybe some musk, frankincense and other spices and resins. Could also be some sweetgrass or hay in there. Nice.

 

Dry: Sweet and soapy. Very heavy on the amber. Lovely!

[maoric]

In the vial: Amber!

 

Freshly applied: Aaaaaaaaaaambeeeeer!

 

Drying: Very nice, slightly spiced amber. A very simple scent, but it's good

 

Later: Spiced amber all the way. I really like it. It's similar-ish to Coyote (one of my favorites). Coyote has incredible throw on me, but nobody is around me at the moment for me to know how the throw is on this one. Definitely like it, and worth a bottle -- unless it turns out going back to the ones I've liked that I just wind up liking Coyote more

[lohengrin]

In the imp: Amber, and something slightly soapy and headachey.

 

On skin, wet: A weird mix of amber, spices, and soap.

 

On skin, dry: SOAP. Huh. The colour suggests dragon's blood resin, which is the main non-floral soap culprit for me, but no one else seems to get dbr from this, so I don't know what's causing it.

 

After an hour: The soap has faded somewhat (but not entirely) and the spices have come back out, but it's still a little headachey. I don't think this phase is quite nice enough to make up for that extremely unpleasant first hour or so.

[Manon]

This is so gorgeous - I didn't think I'd like the cinnamon but it dries to be more subtle and more grassy (hot dry grass) than cinnamon to me. Another scent I could wear and feel like 'me' in it.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: It really does make me think of lions. The amber in this is almost musk or civet accord. It is warm and spicy. It is like the good bits of the smell of lions without being as intense. Wet: It is faintly cinnamon though I can’t place the rest iof the spices. It’s still that warm, musky, civet like amber dominant. I do not like civet accord normally, but I love this amber. The spices are pleasantly sweet. I’m really liking this. Dry: Mmmm…softly spicy amber. This iteration of the amber smells more like itself, but in a good way. This was a surprise in how well it wears. Lovely, warm, sexy, a little dangerous.