Whip

[Torrilin]

Agony and ecstasy: black leather and damp red rose.

The short version is, the rose hit my skin and went soft. The leather hit my skin and said "SQUEEE!" and proceeded to try to show off every nifty trick it had. I suspect I am amping the leather in this, because the rose was almost unsniffable on me.

In the bottle: sharp rose, maybe one of those big Lincoln type roses

On, wet: strong strong strong. I spilled a bit opening the imp, and decided to wash the excess off because it was overpowering (I have since taken to using a tissue to open imps, and this helps muchly). Sweet rose and a sharp smell like orange blossom. At this stage, the throw is ROSE, and I like.

On, just dried (5.45 pm): it smells the way soap tastes. I even tried sniffing through my mouth. Tastes like soap. There are hints of rose around the edges. This may be a side effect of the washing off the excess, not sure. Usually my soap doesn't do this to me tho.

Also, I have a bit of a headache around the edges :-/.

15 min later: hrm, headache is trying to be gone. more rose around the edges.

This goes through a phase where it smells like a blend of oregano, lemon and cinnamon on me, then slowly fades away. By 11.45 pm it was a faint herbal scent. Whatever element makes this headachy seems to be gone within an hour.

Ok, and about that slow fade thing? Right before bed, it was a soft sweet ambery sort of scent. This morning when I woke up it was a soft rose skin scent.

Verdict: test again to see if the soap taste happens again, and to see if further exposure makes it more headachey. I really like the way roses smell and this is just so odd compared to what they normally do on me. I expect them to go sugary sweet and not blend with my own scent at all. This one tries very hard to blend, but has some rather weird stages. I like smelling like an herb garden tho, so this is by no means *bad*.

EDIT (Jan 30, 2006): Second try...

This is still on the ragged edge of headachey. Haven't gotten soap, just sharpish rose with a fair bit of throw. There's a definite green tinge to this, which makes sense. De Sade was a soft, clean green scent on me . Whip seems to take that clean and blend it with rose.

I like what this blend is trying to do, but the base rose note doesn't like me and wants to make me hurt. Since I know there are other BPAL rose notes that do like me, I'm probably better off layering one that likes me with De Sade.

(this is very weird tho. first try was instant headache, pain around the eyesockets that gradually receded. this try it's nowhere near that kind of pain. usually a headachey perfume gets worse as I try it, not better...)

EDIT (Feb 2, 2006): ok, I've finally figured out what's going on with Whip. I'm reacting to the Lab's leather note. De Sade, Casanova and Whip all have a headachey quality on me, and the only common element is the leather. So I'm not going to order more leather blends. I seem to be able to wear Whip without having my head try to kill me, but the other two . I'll hunt around for another rose blend, since in the past notes that hate me tend to get more violent with time. This is really a pity, since when the leather note isn't trying to kill me it's a gorgeous second skin kind of green scent .

EDIT (May 21, 2006): Whip continues to be safe for me, and is a somewhat bipolar scent. It hasn't tried to kill me since the first wearings. Some days it's almost all leather, other days almost all rose. I have no idea why the leather note has me reacting so oddly, but I'm not gonna complain about being able to wear Whip .

Kalli Edited May 22, 2006 by Torrilin

[TrinitySydney]

Hrm......how can I put this?

 

When I think of 'rose', I think of soft, gently sexy, maybe a little shy. But this rose takes all preconceived notions and unceremoniously dumps them in the trash. This rose walks in like she owns the place and kicks ass.

 

At first, a strong rose soap---abrasive and unpleasant. But after a mere minute, the rose smells like rose jam....sugary and rich, and the leather comes out. And how! Black leather, still warm and musky from recent wear.

 

Whip makes me picture a woman with creamy skin, full lips and an impish gleam in her eye, dressed in white cashmere and cream lace, but carrying a cat 'o nine tails.

 

This is a good one for the right mood. I've got a bottle and I'll keep it for ....a-hem....very special occasions.

[Silverstrike]

First impression of Whip: florals? I was expecting something more like leather. Looked it up, and it's supposed to be black leather and red rose. The rose is *really* strong.

 

After drydown, the rose gets prettier. A little of the black leather comes out, but mainly I get rose.

 

Within an hour however, the rose fades to the rose scent I get from most rose things, which is not nearly as pretty. Ah well.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Floral

 

On Skin: This is pretty darn straightforward: leather and rose. It’s a little… ok a lot tart. The rose screams in this which is not for me. While it is pretty, I can’t get past the rose. It still has that old lady note to me. The leather helps “naughty it up”, but still not a scent I like to much. Too bad, because I love almost every one of Beth’s leather blends. After dry down the rose is super powdery and the leather note has turned a little musty. It smells like someone a little sweaty at a club in their leather jacket and they’re wearing a rose oil to cover it up.

[LushNatty]

In the imp: kind of a light rose vinegar smell. Not bad—very aquatic.

Applied: I thought at the very first moment that I smelled something a little leathery/smoky, but this so quickly turned to STRONG cloying rose on me that I can’t detect anything else. This is not unusual for me with rose—which I usually can’t wear—but I was hoping to pick up more of the earthy scents with it, and hoped maybe that would ground the floral a bit. Unfortunately, that’s not happening here.

I will add the caveat that I got this imp in a swap, so it may not be fresh. Whatever else it is, it’s really overpowering rose and I will have to wash this off—it’s giving me a headache.

Hey—at least if I want a scent with a whip, I have my beloved Loviatar.

On a scale of 1 to 5: 1.

[sookster]

very, very rosy & soapy with just the smallest hint of deep leather....

interesting but unfortunately not really what i was expecting

or looking for...*sigh*

[Mary Mayhem]

mmm, roses. I love roses. I adore roses. And this one doesn't turn to powder, which gives it a million a+'s. I don't much smell the leather yet, the rose is amped on me so it's beating the leather up. If this were a bit greener, it would be much like Rose Red.

Edited February 4, 2006 by Mary Mayhem

[zenvodunista]

All rose, with the tiniest hint of doeskin leather. Very pretty. If I didn't have Peacock Queen, I'd get this.

 

n.

[Voleuse]

The rose appears first on this, fresh and sweet. As it dries, the leather begins to make an appearance, adding warmth and a bit of earthiness to the blend. For the most part, however, the leather is simply a grounding note to me--it keeps the roses from becoming too overwhelming.

 

To my nose, this is essentially a rose blend, and it's a lovely one. Not what I expected, but lovely just the same.

[Shollin]

First sniff: In the vial, it’s all rose. A big pile of soft roses, with maybe the tiniest hint of something darker underneath.

 

Wearing: Hasn’t changed much from the vial-scent. I’m surprised the leather isn’t coming out more. The final drydown is a glorious wet rose, velvet-soft and quite reminiscent of Rose Red… which I adore. A keeper.

[Rock Goddess]

In the imp: A large bouquet of wet roses.

 

On me: Just as I feared. At first it's a very strong, fresh rose scent. At least for about 5 seconds, then it immediately goes soapy. All the rose scents I've tried have done this, and I'm just going to have to give up on them. My skin started itching, and my eyes were watering. I had to wash this one off. I think I'm just flat out allergic to Rose notes.

[WidgetAlley]

I can't smell leather. Roses almost never work on me (either soapy or overwhelmingly sharp.) So why was I drop-dead excited when this came up in a swap with the faboo 13bodies? Well... it could be all the "iron hand in a velvet glove" reviews. Or all the mentions that this is Wanda's punk little sister. Or the way I think roses and leather encapsulate me perfectly: rough-and-tumble, a bit tough, durable and versatile... but secretly a little femme and just a touch romantic. My brain tells me this will be a trainwreck... but I can't resist. Come on, Whip. Don't let me down, baby.

 

In the bottle: Roses! A very toned-down version of the same wet, greenly fresh rose I get from Rose Red, only with the vast majority of the biting pomegranite-ish note tamed, and the rose note itself much lusher and more heady. I love it so far. It smells like a perfect red blossom open just to its fullest, most crystalline extent. No leather yet, but that's no surprise, considering I have yet to be able to smell leather. A promising beginning. *prays* I'm almost afraid to put this on my skin, for fear it will turn into Irish spring soap and weird spicey pseudo-leather funk.

 

Wet: A slightly alcoholic rose, like roses tinged with vodka and greenery, and then..... nothing. It just faded right into my wrist! What? No soap? No mauling of a beautiful scent, crazy skin? Just poof-- gone? Is my nose dead? No. That can't be right. If this is going to be a disappointment, it's damn well going to be a better disappointment than this. *runs off to get the coffee and clear her schnoz*

 

Aha! That's better. Maybe I shut down the old olfactory organ for some mysterious reason... I can smell the rose, now. It's clean, and fresh, without being overly soapy, and OH MY GOD IS THAT THE LEATHER? Did I smell leather? Put the phones on hold, I have to sniff my arm! ... Wait, no, false alarm. It's the greenery putting in a second appearance. *mournful*

 

Dry: It's gone again. There's a tiny dab of clean, pretty rose left on my arm, and that is all. .... At least I can say this one let me down gently, right? Right?

 

*weeps*

[undream]

All rose in the imp. Beautiful, soft, feminine rose. I love rose, so I am encouraged already.

 

On skin, the leather slowly prowls to the fore. Whip is equal parts rose & leather on me, a gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous scent; I am slightly drunk with it. Yum.

[faifai]

Rose scents and I don't get along. If it's rose + something warm/spicy, though, I can handle that. Harlot jumped to the top of scents that amaze me, just because I can actually wear something I thought I'd hate.

 

And Whip does this, too. The rose is stronger than the leather on me, but both are present. The leather serves to warm up the rose on my skin. Whip is my nice sweater and dress pants scent. On me, it somehow manages to smell sophisticated but not mature, which is rare for such a floral scent. Clean and classy.

[Naamah_Darling]

I can't smell anything but roses in the bottle, wet red ones. On, it warms up to a rose like the rosewood in Old Scratch, which is spicy, or Rose Red in that it's very saturated and juicy. But where is the leather? Hellooo? Leather?

 

I have this problem -- my skin latches on to rose notes and pushes them aggressively, and this is no exception. My, this rose is strong and boozy, and the longer it's on, the boozier it gets! This is a smell that'll climb right up your arm, and it has a glorious throw, more like a halo. Very beautiful, but even after an hour there is still no leather. I can tell the leather is hiding in there, and as the scent wears there is a nebulous darkness that rises, like roses left in ink slowly soaking up the black, but it never comes right out and shows itself. It's just sort of subtly there.

 

I'm devastated by the failure of the leather to appear. I have other rose perfumes I love whose notes do show, so that means this won't make my top ten list. I'll try mixing it with De Sade, certainly, to get the effect I wish it'd had.

 

This is still a very sexual rose smell, and one with enough bite that I could even see a man wearing it. I just really wish I could smell the leather!

[tinyvulture]

Leather and red roses, just like the description says. A truly unisex scent. Smells devastatingly sexy on my man, and on me. I can’t stop sniffing it. Must get a bottle.

[Diva Urd]

For some reason, the leather in this turned very soapy on me (which is weird, since Loviatar never did). Might be the rose's fault. It stays that way from start to finish - soapy, slightly leathery rose.

 

Overall, it's not bad; might experiment on my husband and maybe use it as a room scent and see whether I can trick the leather to come out of hiding. If it weren't so soapy, it would be a definite for a bigger bottle, but as it is... will have to see (depending on the outcomes of my experiments).

[jarvenpa]

Okay, this is a voyeuristic review, because Whip never touched my skin.

I ordered an imp because my daughter (she will be 21 on Monday; how time flies) expressed a desire to try it.

 

Truly, I love roses myself, and would have considered it for myself, but I gave her the first chance at testing this one out.

 

We both sniffed in vial: I smelled, yes, roses and leather. Lovely drenched roses, and a strong, pleasant leather note. She wrinkled up her pretty nose and shrugged, and swiped some on her wrists.

 

Whereupon the entire bookshop bloomed in rose and ...sort of soft spice, leather wafting, a touch of lemon, more roses.

 

The throw on this, on her skin, was amazing. And it lasted for hours. I may never find out what it would do on my skin, because I surrendered it to her; for her it was exactly the right fragrance--deliciously floral, a bit naughty, and long, long lasting. She walked off with the imp, and my tender blessings.

[Bett1e]

I received my BPAL order in about 2 weeks; I was pleasantly surprised at the delivery. The fragrance, however, was very disappointing. Just like other rose fragrances, this smelled like cheap rose oil and then eventually like soap. I didn't smell any vampiness or sexiness at all. This is like my 100th try of BPAL oils and none of them have smelled right. Unfortunately, this is just a product line not suited for my chemistry.

[themerrybaker]

Rose is waiting in a café for Leather to show up. It is raining, and drops still linger on her dewy skin. Where is Leather? She picks up her shoe phone, dials, and finds out Leather will be there “shortly”.

 

 

 

I like this scent a lot, but it is mostly rose with only a little leather. Which is fine with me…

[BrightRedScream]

I got this as a frimp from the Lab...

I was a little hesitant about it to be honest - because I'm not a fan of the smell of leather , and I don't like roses in perfume, bubble bath etc.

But hey, sometimes on the skin - it can be a whole other story right?

 

In the Bottle: Rose. All I smell is rose. Dewy, wet, rose.

Not that strong - but still ROSE.

This may not turn out well at all....must be fair.

Must try it on the skin.

 

Wet on the Skin: Lots, and lots of rose....No leather at all, just...rose. Ugh.

I don't like this at all. It's..pretty, but just SO not me..I honestly can't say I'd enjoy wearing this if it stays like this.

 

Dry down: Well no leather - at all..none. Which is probably a good thing, but my gods - the rose has amplified like a MILLION times - and it's all I can smell.

It's pretty - but just NOT me.

 

This one is definitely going into the swap pile.

[tereshkova2001]

My perfect rose scent. The leather isn't detectable as such, but it definitely stabilizes the blend and adds a complication, or subtlety. The rose is red and soft. These aren't buds or blossoms, but flowers that have been open for several days, heavy and lush.

I've been looking for something I can use to scent my artificial feather roses, and I think this is it. Especially the red rose I keep in the brim of my leather Cavalier hat. The rose and leather of Whip has exactly the same synergy of that outfit.

[dragonryder]

This is a cool scent. Wasn't too sure about it from the description, but the leather scent is toned by the roses. Definite future bottle.

[RavenVelith]

In the bottle: Floral hits me right away. The rose most definately. I don't smell any form of leather in the slightest.

 

Wet on the skin: Still dominant in the rose factor. I actually like this rose smell. I usually don't like rose at all.

 

Dry: The rose has faded a little and the leather is now coming out. But it's tolerable. It's not overpowering but just enough. The rose is still dominant.

 

30 minutes: The rose has died down more and the leather is now the dominant scent. I actually like it though. I usually don't like the smell of leather.

 

Hour: Rose is pretty much gone and the leather remains. I don't know. Kinda hurts my head.

 

Overall: After the rose faded, I ended up not really liking this one after all. Made me feel kind of sick. Oh well.

[harmonyfb]

This smelled of rose, rose, rose, rose, rose. Cloying old lady rose. Bleah. I discerned no leather note at all, whether wet or dry. I was so hoping to like this one. ::sigh::