The Emperor

[cuervosueno]

A faint green in the imp, and when I put it on, that still carries over.

 

At first I thought the rose I smelled was on my fingers from simply opening the Empress imp, but I don't think it was since I tried this on my other hand. I also get a bit of rose--just the tiniest hint.

 

What this brings to mind is a garden, a huge formal garden with hedges and roses. Its just after dawn, so the garden is wet with dew. and perhas the Emperor looks out over his garden?

 

I wouldn't have expected such a light, greenness from this card, but perhaps it is the Emperor in his most benign phase. and it makes sense in a way for there to be a bit of rose since he is the Empress' consort.

 

eta: after an hour or so this turns very soapy on me. Not a great blend for me.

Edited February 6, 2006 by cuervosueno

[dreadeddragon]

In the bottle: Irish Spring soap. With glycerin bubbles on top.

 

First on: Spices, dragon's blood, citrus soap. It's on the last of a deep inhale that I smell the spice part, and I don't get it long enough yet to identify it, but the soap scent has calmed down a lot.

 

Drydown: Back to the soap.

 

Overall: I jsut don't see this being the emperor. But then maybe if it didn't go all soapy on me it would have been fitting.

[VenusFlyTrap]

For some reason, this reminds me of High John but more watery.

 

The oils is reddish in color, so perhaps contains some dragon's blood

 

Actually quite a lovely and light fragrance.

 

Beautifully paired to its card.

[puck_nc]

Origin: decant bought on El Jay

 

Initial Thoughts: I had had thoughts at one point of me wearing the Empress and my husband wearing the Emperor. But the Empress went all musky on me and the husband isn't really getting into BPAL with me at the moment.

 

In the Bottle: rosy, honeysuckle, with a woodsy tone to make it more masculine.

 

Wet: Hmm...soapy flowers. I guess this is that soap phenomenon that seems to hit many people.

 

Drydown: Um, yeah. Soapy flowers. Darn.

 

Verdict: Off to the sales/swap pile.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

laundromat. fabric softener, detergent, soap. all different brands all mixed together. a clean, happy smell - but certainly not what i was expecting from such a luscious red oil!

[juniperus]

Dragon's blood and an aquatic note. Mellow, not quite masculine, on me.

[edenssixthday]

The Emperor - The oil is such a strong, bright red that I fully anticipated a dragon’s blood scent to the oil, but I detect no dragon’s blood in it whatsoever (although I’m still certain it’s there from the color of the oil!) Rather, on my skin, The Emperor is an incredibly subtle herbal floral that is so faint I can barely smell it. After 15 minutes, I can hardly tell where I’ve applied the oil, and within 30 minutes, it’s gone altogether. I read reviews on this scent that said it’s strong and manly, yadda yadda yadda, but I didn’t get any of that. Apparently, The Emperor and I just don’t have the right chemistry.

[supremegoddessofall]

This smells like slick vinyl or latex to me. It does have a regal feel to it. There's a bit of chemically quality here, but it's different. I can't decide if I like this or not.

[cranberry]

In the imp: woody & green smelling.

 

On the skin: this smells really fresh & green. This is really pretty. There’s a touch of flowers in here – roses and other flowers I can’t identify. There’s got be dragon’s blood in here but I’m not getting the typical dragon’s blood smell. It smells like there could be lily in here. Yes, this is a fresh green garden with blooming flowers.

 

Overall: I was expecting dragon blood’s galore, instead I got fresh greens, soft florals and a lovely green garden.

 

This oil is quite beautiful.

 

ETA 6-13-07: tried this oil again, and it's drying to the most beautiful lily. This is simply gorgeous.

Edited June 14, 2007 by cranberry

[talula_fairie]

I agree with most of the previous reviews, this is a gender neutral scent that is slightly floral/herbal. I'm positive it has dragon's blood in it and also pretty sure there is no rose -I can smell roses from a mile away and my skin amp's them up- if rose IS in here, it's not traditional rose, anyway. I'm going to take a guess that the flower in here is probably heliotrope. This has either a light musk or white sandalwood base (not sure), but something is definitely grounding the scent. I do not smell any cedar, I'm pretty sure there isn't any in the blend. It's a clean, sweet scent bordering on soapy but not *quite* there. Definitely something I will be wearing again.

 

The longer I sniff it the more I like it. I don't think this will be one of my regular perfumes, but I may just have to have a bottle. It's so lovely and fresh. There is something about it that just keeps me sniffing my wrists. Major throw, too (which I like).

Edited December 22, 2006 by talula_fairie

[fiddledragon]

In the imp: Very soapy, very fresh-scrubbed dragon's blood.

 

On me: Dragon's blood and...roses. Maybe some other florals? As it dries it gains a little depth and strength from the dragon's blood, but mainly pleasant light florals. Like some sort of really nice bubble bath.

 

The Emperor has a secret weakness for girly bath products. Who knew?

 

Was the last batch particularly girly? The earlier reviews are all manly-sounding.

[filigree_shadow]

Although this oil is red, it smells green. Herbal and a little bit powdery.

[theseagrows]

this smells like ylang ylang and herbs to me with a slight musky/spiciness. i don't smell any dragon's blood, but maybe it is very very faint. it's pretty soapy on me and not really my style.

[Browneyes]

Thank you to the lovely forumite who gifted me with an imp of this

 

This is definately not what I would *expect* from an Emperor - it doesn't seem very masculine at all... I can detect what I think is geranium, dragon's blood (which on me turns quite floral) and a breath of rose in the background. There might also be some wood grounding this, but it's too faint for me to tell.

It does go quite soapy, but not it's not a generic soap smell if you really snif up close. It smells luxurious, and that quality is something very Emperor like after all. It's definately pleasant, but it doesn't wow me.

 

Well, I'm going to keep my imp, because my personality and soul card is the Emperor But I won't be buying a bottle.

 

ETA: in the later drydown this goes away from soap which is good, but now it reminds me of a person that I would rather not have to think about, it smells *just* like her. I'm going to go layer it with something...

Edited March 23, 2007 by Browneyes

[flyingpizza]

To add to the note speculation here, I distinctly smell gardenia. Hmm.

[Limelight]

*Really* cannot believe I haven't reviewed this yet - like Browneyes, the Emperor is both personality and soul card to me. If this has dragon's blood, I'm surprised, cause I like it like this, light and soapy. Why can't it always be this way? The whole shebang is sweet and gets rosier and spicier as it dries, and I second the geranium/ylang ylang impressions. I'll treasure my 10ml

[VioletChaos]

in the imp: very floral, with some herb note i can't yet place. i don't get the Dragon's Blood some have mentioned, but i hope that will change.

 

wet on skin: yup, that's soapy, alright. and it has a hint of whatever the note in Pruno is that made it smell like Pine Sol and gave me a MASSIVE headache. here, however, it seems to be held in check so it's actually pleasant and not vomit-inducing.

 

dry down:soapy heliotrope coupled with a very light version of the musk in Smut.

 

in all: *extremely* odd scent, i find that when i think about it i feel repelled but then i want to sniff where i put the oil on anyway. there's a total contradiction with this oil, and i feel confused about that since the Emperor is all about stability. but despite all the weirdness, i do actually like it. for now, i will be satisfied with my imp and make a decision about a big bottle later...

 

 

 

ETA: after a little more time has passed, this scent has lost all it's poor qualities and has become close kin to Smut. it's strange- it's smells like smut without being all sexy and dirty, like a daytime polite Smut equivalent. noting this change, i'm *definitely* seeking out a bottle!

Edited November 12, 2008 by VioletChaos

[zankoku_zen]

Oh, Emperor, how girly you are! You are basically dragon's blood resin, perhaps a touch of roses, which go to soap and a bit of honeysuckle.

 

In fact, a fair bit of honeysuckle.

 

So you end up smelling like honeysuckle soap.

 

And in no way, manly.

[JazzieCazzie]

Frimped with an imp in a wonderful swap and cannot believe I did not try this back in the day when I sniffed a bunch of awesome tarots. Yet another reason to wish they'd do a reboot of this, even temporarily, so I can go broke.

 

IN THE IMP: Very light and faint but lovely resins. Not sure if it's just one of those scents that doesn't have a lot of throw in the imp, or my allergies are affecting my sense of smell today.

 

Dabbed on wrist and in crook of arm.

 

WET: Maybe it amps more, maybe my nose is clearer, but this is awesome sauce. A delicious and very clean resiny scent. I am in agreement with the references to sandalwood, frankincense and even dragon's blood.

 

DRYDOWN: It is soooooooo clean and yet not "soapy." In fact, this smells, to me, exactly like Neutrogena Rainbath, a scent I've been trying to match in a BPAL forever (it seemed like there SHOULD be a BPAL match for it yet since I was never sure what the notes were, I couldn't find it ... and now here it is!!!)

 

OVERALL: Not just a keeper but one that goes to the top of my wishlist with a bullet. Sadly, Tarots are SO hard to find.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a definite 5.

[marared]

This imp is probably about 15-17 years old, and the oil is deep orange. Right off the bat, I get a clean and soapy floral that is probably frankincense, and I thought for a while that was rose, but now I think is some other heady flower (not jasmine, honeysuckle, or gardenia, but from there I don't know). I can't detect any of the dragon's blood that everyone else smelled. After letting it sit for 10-15 minutes, I start to smell a sweet woody note underneath it all - might be oakmoss. I'm not a fan of the soapy start, but it mellows out pretty nicely.