War

[Lunaratu]

Red ginger, black spices, patchouli, honeysuckle, and three blood-soaked red musks

Smells like something rotten on me in the imp and initially on my skin. Something almost fruity is coming out on drydown however that is puzzling me—I guess that’s the honeysuckle? It definitely starts to smell like fire-roasted fruit, maybe pineapple, and honey after a bit on my skin with some muskiness underlying. Pleasant, which is a huge change from the wet stage. There is also some grittiness and definitive redness to this perfume that makes it appropriate for a female War. It’s feminine but subtly fiery. Sweet at first but with warning signs there beneath the surface if you just look. However the final drydown is back to some kind of sticky, gritty musk. Don’t know if I like that.
Rating: 3/5

EDIT: added description Edited October 7, 2007 by Lunaratu

[mazikeen]

It's very peppery in the bottle-- it makes me recoil and want to sneeze. But fear not, on my wrists it is feminine and strong. The pepper is bold but clean, and not food-like. There are some hidden depths to it. Something... tangy... is lurking below. That underlying scent makes me think of a certain kind of incense I always see at places like the Renaissance Fair. I'm guessing its the red musk because it sure smells red.

 

This had more staying power than any BPAL oil I've worn thus far-- a small dab on each wrist lasted all through a work day and several hand-washings (granted, I was trying not to wash it off, but still). I was still sniffing my wrists on the drive home.

 

I was wary about buying a bottle --I didn't think it'd work on me, and no imps available!-- but I'm so glad I did! This one is a big winner! I ordered a whole bunch of scents to try, but I'm so enamored with this, it's all I want to wear. Move over Masabakes*, I just may have a new signature scent.

 

 

* For now, anyway. I still love you.

 

Added later--

This scent is very bold and very peppery. I love it, but I understand that it may not agree with everyone. I really have to be in the right mood for this-- it's so strong that I have to feel strong enough to pull it off. Nonetheless, I love it. It brings out the warrior in me. (For you fellow WoW addicts, it totally makes me want to /flex.)

 

I should add that the bottle for War is absolutely, beautifully badass.

Edited January 25, 2008 by mazikeen

[rien]

I've been lusting after War for months and got a bottle from my Enabler, who couldn't sing its praises enough. V v excited and SO wanted to be one of the luckies War fancied, but I seem to be among those for whom she doesn't work. Even my sister, who usually jumps for joy when oils don't work on me - because ALL the 'not right' ones on me seem to work on her (Velvet, Mad Sweeney, even Enraged Groundhog Musk lol) - couldn't vibe with this oil. For both of us - in the bottle, wet, dry-down and dry - ALL we could smell was Tony Chachere's (non-Cajuns, google it ). le sigh. Forget not being able to wash it off quickly enough, as another poster mentioned - I couldn't wash it off, period, so at least can't say I didn't stick with it 'til the bitter end (about an hour later).

 

Keeping it anyway for the zexxxy label ... maybe I'll give her another shot some other time, or for my next crawfish boil.

[Gale]

I was too terrified to even think about trying this one, since red musk hates me to death. But when I got this as a frimp from a swap (thanks Marlena!) I gave it a go.

 

Wet: Sweet, strong, and smelling like something crimson.

 

On and dry: It stays the same on me, very sweet, deep, and dead sexy. This is a classic BPAL scent, instantly identifiable as a product of Beth's genius. A tiny bit was all I used, and it lasted for hours. Do I need a bottle of this? Do I ever!!

 

This is the first red musk scent that not only doesn't hate me, it loves me! A masterpiece.

[akiko]

I got this as a used decant via the forum.

 

In the bottle: Fruity-sweet. If it works on my skin, I have to get a bottle.

 

Wet: Still fruity, picking up tang

 

Dry: I think I smell the musk more, and it still smells sweet (probably the honeysuckle).

 

Verdict: Buying a bottle.

[tinyvulture]

i was expecting a strong and bold scent, but on me this is actually soft and almost powdery. i’m picking up the red musk (one of my favorite notes) and ginger. the ginger is quite gentle -- not astringent, as it can sometimes be. i’d guess there was saffron and some assorted baking spices in this. it’s a warm, feminine blend. i only wish it were a little stronger.

[metaldog32]

This was the one scent I had to have when it first came out. I loved War’s description; how she made every guy uncomfortable…dangerous beauty that she is.

 

Couple my stupid romanticism with the fact that this has ginger, spices, patchouli..which I happily have reconciled with. I wasn’t too worried about the honeysuckle..I happen to like that flower and I figured it would add a nice depth to it.

 

Musk??? I like musk…but I should have paid a BIT more attention…”blood soaked”. If this has anything to do with dragons blood I am screwed.

 

 

Intitial sniff from bottle: Whew…there is some seriously strong in here..and I think it’s the like the driest ginger and pepper imaginable..coupled with a floral fruity sweetness…honeysuckle maybe??? Argh..whatever that is..it makes my stomach uneasy. NNNNNNOOOOO!!!! I want to love you…don’t behave like this…

 

Push on…don’t let this get you down metaldog..

 

Applied wet on skin: Dry blast of pepper/ginger and fruity…honesuckle??? Something in here really makes me think of dragon’s blood…and this isn’t a good thing..because it’s similar to how Wrath and Blood Moon worked on me. I don’t really get the patchouli…and this actually smells hot and a tad bit metallic. I like metallic..I just like my metallic cold; whereas this runs hot.

 

Couple of minutes on skin:Boy does this have some serious waft. Still honeysuckle and the pepper..which thankfully has toned down a bit and worked a bit better with the floral..I have to assume that the red vibe I am getting is from the blood soaked musk..which I am convinced has to have dragon’s blood. That has to be why my initial reaction was a bit queasy-like. So far this isnt’ bad…it’s tolerable but I wanted it to be so much more.

 

I kind of put this in the same category scent wise on me like The Bloody Sword and Aries 2007 YBNB definitely got it right with the scent comparisons! Hmmm..pepper tends to get me all queasy too…argh.

 

Holy cow does this have some serious throw and waft. Am re-thinking my feelings about this. Although in the beginning it really made me recoil a bit..I am beginning to suspect that it is pepper that punched me in the face..with ginger not too far behind. I love pepper as a spice when cooking but I am beginning to realize that pepper in a fragrance..unless used sparingly really doesn’t bode well on me. I think Xanthe was the only one so far that I could deal with without getting that queasy feeling.

 

So..note to self: Be wary…very WARY of fragrances that contain the following: dragon’s blood, cinnamon, pepper.

 

Crap..it sucks to be me sometimes..I want to love them..but I cannot.

 

Ten minutes later:Fruity honeysuckle with the pepper/spice/musk is still roaring on. I don’t know if I have become accustomed to it or what..but it’s tolerable. I can’t ignore the fragrance it’s basically taking me by the shoulders and shaking me violently..HAHAHAHAHA.. Still..the patchouli is MIA or just being drowned out by the other notes.

 

Twenty minutes later: War is still kicking everyone’s ass…fruity/spicy chick that she is. I am in shock that I am able to tolerate this as long as I have…despite the rough beginning..it is kind of growing on me. I just don’t know if I would reach for it on a regular or any basis.

 

That sounds awful; what I am trying to say is that it is so very evocative..and because I felt so darned uncomfortable with it in the beginning stages…I just don’t know if I can wait it out till I get to this point..which although different…it just doesn’t bowl me over.

 

Sigh..I think Glasya is the sexy, take no prisoners fragrance that works best on me..which is pretty ironic because supposedly that has dragons blood and I don’t get queasy from that at all..HAHAHAHAHA…

 

I digress..back to my review:

 

Thirty minutes later:It’s still fruity/floral..with the soft spicy waft on the tail end…no signs of stopping.

 

Drydown: Same as above..just really softened.

 

Lasting power..8+hours with throw average to strong

 

Bottom Line: War is definitely a strong fragrance; the opening blast had me worried but it settles into a strong spicy fruity fragrance that has tons of presence; it grew on me. Still…I’m at a loss as to when exactly I would want to wear this blend; my Glasya kind of fills the need for a fiery sexy scent. I’m not exactly ready to give up on this redhead..so perhaps a couple more tries to warrant a final verdict. For now she sticks around.

[prettybird]

I was initially skeptical about this fragrance, because it's just so strong- not offensively so, but this is not a fragrance that pulls any punches.

 

It's got the same problem in the vial that I get with Caliban and Bastet- I just can't stand it wet. Luckily, whatever acrid scent that is dissipates quickly. Above all, War is a warm scent. It's ginger like crazy for the first hour or so, but that mellows out nicely. I didn't like it initially, but it's really growing on me now.

 

On an odd note, I ended up wearing it a lot in the summer, because it was one of the only fragrances I had that would stick around for any length of time. So, if you're in the desert, it's a safe bet!

[RogueBelle]

Madly, madly in love. Admittedly I checked this one out initially just because I heart the character War so very much... and then darn if they didn't use my favourite quote from the book in the description! And then I saw that it mixed spices with honeysuckle and I decided I just had to have it.

 

This scent stays lovely and sharp all day. I think it might be the pepper keeping that extra little kick in hours after application. I've never worn much ginger, but if it's this good in most blends, I'll have to try more of it. Wearing it makes me feel all tough and dangerous and like I can take on the world -- which is a feeling I quite enjoy. It definitely gets notice -- I wear it to work, and I've gotten lots of (positive!) comments.

[scarletgenesis]

In Bottle: Musk, and....is that chocolate? I concur with an earlier post that mentions chocolate.

 

Wet/once applied:still very chocolatey, but I'm also getting the honeysuckle and patchouli in addition to the musk.

 

Drydown: NOW the ginger is coming out. Sexy.

 

I applied this right before going to dinner (Italian), and during dinner as I sniffed my wrist, it made me vaguely nauseated. I thought there was something off about this scent (like rancid cooking or olive oil) and was about to be really disappointed.

 

I am now home, and no longer get the "off" smell. It must have been a weird reaction to the scent mingling with the restaurant smells, thank goodness. I AM now getting more ginger and honeysuckle, with something peppery.

 

This is, at once, a powerful and sexy scent on me. It's a woman who knows what she wants and goes after it. She's the type that some would call "a pushy broad". If I continue to enjoy this, I may wear it next week when I start fencing again, just to show 'em who's boss!

 

 

Edited to Add: so later in the evening, that sort of icky scent came back. I want to love War, but I'm not sure that she loves me. (pout). I will try her once more on some fabric in a locket in the hopes that it's just my wacky chemistry. If she persists in being difficult, I will have to swap her away.

Edited January 6, 2008 by scarletgenesis

[TereFaerie]

War is much too strong on me, too much red musk- which I usually love, by the way- and a scent of something like almonds and honey musk. I get no honeysuckle floral scent, though. It is just too much musk for me. The ginger is strong and spicy with a bite, but too strong for me, too. This is just war on my skin, not "War".

[zankoku_zen]

This scent went horribly awry on my skin. Horribly. On me, the first hour or so just smelled kinda foul --- smoke and burning and peppery. I kept it on hoping it would turn.

 

After about an hour, it does. Just a little. Not quite so much burning and pepper. I get no hint of the ginger, but rather a musky smoky kinda smell.

 

I have to say that this fits what I thought of War. Violent, smoky, martial. It should be appealing but it's not. And in its wake, nothing but destruction.

[DogNPonyShow]

In the bottle: A spicy musk.

 

On: Kind of like a sweet cake that has been left to burn. It's not that bad, but at the same time makes me a little sick. The scent does lighten up after awhile.

 

Verdict: After about half an hour of wearing this, my wrists broke out in hives. It's not a loss, though, because this scent just wasn't for me.

[steelxrose]

War is one of my favorites, I guess because of the musk. I wore today for the first time in a while, and just recalled how spicy it is. It stays spicy for hours on my skin. After about the six hour mark, it goes soft and sweet for a while, then back to the original spiciness. I'd never noticed the sweet before, which is odd.

 

Great throw all workday though!

[maribouquet]

Oh, man do those musks smell bad on me! Wooooooo!

[GingerGunlock]

On me, the red ginger was apparent first, foremost, and forever after. There was a half-subdued sweetness that lingered for awhile, which was like and not like straight up honeysuckles, so I think that's the red musk talking too. I loves me some ginger, but I almost think I prefer it without the struggling sweetness. I'll hold onto my decant and use it, but I'm unlikely to buy a bottle.

 

ETA: I tried War again last night, and after its little bit of aging, the red ginger is still nice and strong, but works with the honeysuckle now to be rather gingersnap-y, and the patchouli is absolutely lovely. Now, I definitely want a bottle.

Edited September 14, 2008 by GingerGunlock

[Lavada]

War is Lurrrrrrrve.

 

Sniffing the bottle (beautiful label art, by the way! and omg does it look like blood in the bottle or WHAT?) and the immediate wet stages on my skin/hair, this smells like the sexy and evil lovechild of Bloodlust and Gingerbread Poppet. Said lovechild is a slinky and sultry lass, and she's definitely Daddy Bloodlust's Little Girl Grown Up. Dark and fiery. There's something sweet as well, but it disappears quickly.

 

Best part? This stage lasts for aaaaaaages! To quote Ralph Wiggum: "My hair smells like burrrning!" No specific object or substance burning, no smoke... just... burning, if the word could be associated with a smell. I love it. As it continues to dry, it gets darker and dirtier and yet it is saved by the ever present spices from becoming the flat and dusty mess Bloodlust was on my skin.

 

The throw is above average, and so is the wearlength. It fits Carmine's character to a T, and if it were a quote (random, anonymous) it would be "Today is a good day (for someone else) to die."

 

Did I mention my for it yet?

[willowtreeling]

In the imp, i really find this displeasing. This surprised me, as I love ginger and most patchoulis (even if I don't like them on me) and honeysuckle is pretty. It honestly smelled exactly like an extremely potent bag of Doritos to me.

 

As it is wet on my skin, the Doritos scent remains, and there's the ginger...that part smells night, but there is still this lingering....weird scent. Kind of rotten? I am not sure, but it is really unappealing to my nose.

 

As it dries down, there is only the faintest hint of that first unpleasant component....it actually smells quite nice now--like cinnamonny Dragon's Blood....It isn't for me, but it is definitely peppery and gingery and spicy.

[samarablackcat]

What a strange combination...in the bottle you could not find a more displeasing scent, except for Iambe (which smells like a$$). Horrid, stinky, smelly...like drying blood on a battlefield (in my imagination).

 

As it dries, this becomes a most pleasant scent. Gingery, peppery and a little musky. No honeysuckle for me; oh, here it comes, about 10 minutes later...just enough to balance out the sharp edges!

 

Dichotomy in a bottle! Brava!

[eyeska]

In the bottle, I have finally begun describing this to friends as simply smelling "bad". It's really hard to pin it down more than that, especially because I'm too new to know a lot of scents well. In the bottle, War is AWFUL.

 

However, I took a breath and put her on my skin. She takes about five minutes to calm down on my skin, and when she does she's a lovely, wet patchouli-ginger with soft musk. It seems to have a similar hint of trepidation that I find in Undertow. A friend of mine has described it as my "sexy hippie" smell, and while that description doesn't quite fit War herself, I can definitely be happy with it. I have to be in the mood for it, but I really do like this oil.

 

EDIT: After 4 months of wearing various BPAL oils on regular basis, guess which scent has the most compliments under her belt? Oh yeah. *grin*

Edited June 4, 2008 by Eyeska

[hopeinfreefall]

In the imp, my thought was "hmm, that's a rather strong scent. I like it but I'm not sure how it's going to smell on me." Once I put it on, at first, I was all "hey, that strong scent worked." A couple minutes later, though, I went back and sniffed and went, "Mrr? Flowers?" So I went to look up the contents. It wasn't honeysuckle, because that has a fairly distinct scent, instead it was just flowers. Not bad flowers mind you, but flowers. A couple minutes after that, my response was likely amusing: "Berries? WTF? Where'd the BERRIES come from???" Which was followed by "War is not fruity and flowery, what happened?!" A bit later it still has berry hints and fruity flower hints, but it's not bad. Just not what I expected. I think I'll hang onto the imp and see what happens later.

[butcherbaby]

wow.

i though this one would be perfect.

 

the description is awesome, i love th labs patchouli, and musks and honeysuckle! in the imp it smells delicious & musky with just a little spice. i can't wait to try it!

 

on the skin- PHEW!!! something just not right here...in fact that something smells pretty RANK- kind of like decaying greenery. SPICY decaying greenery.

 

i don't know if it's the ginger, or the black spices, or both, but something is amping up like crazy to cover all th pretty musky smells that were in the imp and it does not smell good. from reading other reviews i can only think that this is how vetiver or civet must smell to someone who doesn't like them- heavy, rank, and kind of rotten.

 

an hour or more later i am getting *tiniest* whiff of the sweeter scent but it is quickly drowned out by the strong weird spices. eeccchhh.

 

i am really disappointed about this one :-(

i tried to cover up the scent with a dab of czernebog, but the spicy yuck is overpowering even THAT scent. i guess i need to go wash.

 

guess my imp and a 1/2 are going to better homes!

[eatingthesea]

my boyfriend remarked that this one smelled much like rice-a-roni. the san francisco treat. and he's disturbingly correct. much like the foody blends of bpal, i'd prefer not to smell like what i eat!

[kakiphony]

In the imp: This strong, strong ginger. Not foody ginger exactly either, but an aggressive medicinal tincture of ginger. It smells like the inside of a Chinese apothecary hole-in-the-wall place I used to sell ad space in the student newspaper to in College. It never smelled good exactly, but it smelled like something in there would clear out your sinuses and make you better.

 

Wet on skin: The aggressive ginger/tincture is the immediate top note, but underneath I can barely pick up some musk and pepper. This is not sweet at all at the moment, and the honeysuckle I feared as not yet made an appearance.

 

Early dry down (after ten minutes): The musk is rounding this out and the honeysuckle has started to sweeten it. Interestingly, the sweetening is taking on fruity tones rather than floral ones. (Someone below mentioned berries and I concur. It's a dark dry berry smell, like a cranberry or a pomegranate -- not a strawberry smell.) As usual, my left and right wrists are reacting differently. On my left wrist the fruit and ginger are predominant (like a pomegranate tea with ginger) while on the right the pepper is playing nicely with the musk. The right wrist is a more "me" scent, but the left is pleasant and summery. The left is also throwing more than the right.

 

Late dry down (after 1/2 hour): All right, this is bizarre. My left wrist smells like gin. Dry, fruity, a bit junipery, gin. My right wrist smells of lightly sweetened pepper and musk.

 

I may need to try this one and revisit this review because... GIN?!

 

Edited the next morning to add: J came home about an hour after I finished this, hugged me and remarked, "You smell really good today." I sniffed again, and suddenly Lady War was the spicy fiend advterised. She was all playful and sweet ginger, rounded out by red musk with just a hint of extra spice. Very, very nice. I'd say bottle worthy nice. The only problem is the rather long amount of time she took to settle down on my skin. And the gin note still throws me for a loop.

Edited April 29, 2008 by kakiphony

[SilverSerenity]

Okay, well, I love Good Omens and War was awesome in that book. So I decided that this MUST be tried.

 

...

 

And I really need a bottle of it now. I think I have found my signature scent.

 

I get this lovely, gingery spicy scent, toned down with just a hint of floral sweetness. It brings to mind a very fickle, temperamental and viciously-tempered redheaded woman who's smiling at you at the moment, but you KNOW she could turn at any moment.

 

It's absolutely perfect for me because I am one of those temperamental redheaded women! Love love love it.