Drarra

Reading the description, I had a feeling that this was the Inquisition scent that would be the least popular. But, let's face it, this was a perfume that I needed to own. I adore chypres, lavender, lime... and the rest of the notes aren't horrible. Bois de rose was the only possible offender here. And maybe vanilla. In the bottle:This smells darker than I expected, somehow, and I think it must be the balsam, vanilla (not nearly as sweet as I was fearing!!) and opopponax grounding the entire scent. At first whiff, I get the bright lavender and chypre layered over that delicious darkness. There is a lot going on here. Wet, I mostly smell the bright notes - the chypre, lavender and lime really shine here. I see at this moment why other people described this as a "Victorian gentlement" scent. After drydown:A chypre which is deepened by the oppopnax and the vanilla absolute (and maybe the balsam adding some woodiness). It's interesting to me that the floral notes really dry into the chypre, leaving something rich and sexy. The lavender still stands out here, and interesting juxtaposition to the vanilla. My thoughts: This is a welcome addition to my collection! I've been exploring chypre perfumes of late, and this is a welcome addition. It is different from the other chypre scents I have tried, and I really like that. If you love lavender, this is definitely a great scent to try, especially as it boasts a lot of beautiful, sorrowful complexity.

This is the first lace that has really caught my eye. All the rest have had notes that were too floral or too sickly sweet, and I knew they would go horrible places on my skin. Then I saw this one, and I needed to try it. In the bottle: I smell cognac on oak with frankincense and myrrh wafting from somewhere nearby. There is a touch of the clove, just a touch mind you, as too much goes weird places with my nose. There a light, lacy sweetness weaving through all of this. Wet on skin: There's a lot more spicy clove when this is fresh on my skin. The wood and resins remain just behind, but the myrrh has taken more of the spotlight than the frankincense. This is dry and spicy. But there's a touch of an alcoholic note there, which must be the cognac. After a couple minutes, I smell that hauntingly lacy note again. Drydown: This does not last a very long time on me, 4-5 hours tops, and the throw is very light. The spicy clove is the first thing that dries off, which allows my nose to detect the frankincense. It smells like I'm sitting at a huge wooden table (in a paneled room, covered with a lace cloth), some unlit incense sitting across the room, swirling a huge snifter of cognac (as it dries, somehow the clove becomes a note in the cognac). As another person commented, this blend smells fragile, somehow. I would never have pegged clove as a scent of grief, yet it works so perfectly here. As it dries, this scent becomes the grief that while it still cuts, you have spent too much energy crying to be able to weep any more. The tears are palpable below the surface.

This scent is more coffee and foody than I was hoping it would be. With the leather and tobacco notes, I hoped it would be instant love for me. In the imp, I smelled almost exclusively coffee. Wet on my skin, it still smelled like coffee. As it dried, I could get a touch of the other notes in it. I could smell a bit of the leather in there (but it was a softer leather), and some spiciness that could have been the carnation and tobacco peeking through... but ultimately, it dried down to a coffee scent with a touch of spiciness. On a side note, this scent has opened my eyes to carnation. It is possible I have found a floral note that I can wear and even like! While I like it (and I'll continue to use my decant), it's not going to be a bottle purchase for me.

I ordered a decant of this because of the woods and the green cognac. I've loved cognac in other scents, and I was excited to see it in this one. I loved how this smelled in the imp. It was autumn, chilly winds and crisp leaves. It's how I wanted Samhain to smell! When I initially put this on, I was overwhelmed by the smell of Pledge. I suspect this was primarily coming from the note of fir? I was regretting putting it on my skin for about 15 minutes. At that time, my skin and the perfume suddenly decided to start working together. I'm left with an earthy-woodsy scent which is utterly gorgeous. I can still pick out the fir, but it's become so much softer. As far as purchasing a bottle... at this time, I'm still undecided. I was ready to write this imp off in the first minutes, but now I really like how it smells. More tests are necessary to make a final decision.

I'd like to add a couple of GC suggestions: The Black Rider Godfather Death

This is a fabulous room spray. Woodsy leather and tobacco waft up when I spray this on my sheets. It's such a comforting scent to me! It lingers on my linen for a couple days after I spray it, and I get unexpected whiffs of tobacco at times when I turn over in bed.

Fresh in the imp: Wow. This is a dark, slightly leathery scent. Oddly, I can't identify any of the notes in it. I was expecting something slightly sweet, but this is not sweet. I'm impressed. Wet: On my skin, this is less leather and more resin. The resins have sweetened, and I can tell they are the sweeter resins. The tobacco is giving this the slightly dusky, smoky feel. Dry: Wow. I really should have tried this on before now. This is getting warm, spicy and delicious. As it dries, the soft leather is coming out, combining with the delicious tobacco. This is wonderful. The oppoponax is really blending with the tobacco beautifully in this blend. This is a dark, mysterious leathery blend. It combines three things I love: resins, leather and tobacco. I've found a new love.

Captain Cully is very leathery. I haven't smelled De Sade, so I can't tell you how it compares, unfortunately. As far as leather, did you try the Red Rider? I found that to be more leathery than The Black Rider, which has more of a resinous feel to it.

I got my RPG imps yesterday. I put on Paladin, and I was instantly in love with the shining leathery-ness. The I said, "What the heck!" and layered a bit of Lawful over it. The oak and chamomile blended so beautifully with the leather. Wow. It was delicious. I want to be a Lawful Paladin all the time if I get to smell like this!

Have you tried out Sin? It's amber, sandalwood, black patchouli and cinnamon. It doesn't seem foody to me, at all. If don't mind tracking down an LE, another rec for cinnamon is Blood Moon. Although it's more musky (to my nose) than woody or floral.

Thanks for answering this. I wasn't aware that there were different versions of FoL.

I come in search of enabling assistance. My sister has fallen in love with Serpents with Glittering Eyes and Forky Tongues. I'm sure we all know happened to that scent today. Unfortunately, she hasn't had spare cash, so she didn't get a bottle. So, I'd love to hear if anyone has recommendations (GC would be awesome!) for similar scents. She really likes the fresh scents with some berry to them. Thanks for any suggestions!

I really love Manilus, so I'm on a similar search. I'm in the process of trying out leather scents. I think this one is pretty unique from what I've smelled so far, but if he likes the leather aspect of it, I'd suggest Captain Cully from The Last Unicorn Line, although it does not have the resinous sweetness. For true GC, The Red Rider is another very realistic leather scent. It smells like an expensive leather coat to me.

Oblivion can be a green-colored oil (my imp is). I've also heard of people having batches that aren't green.

I got this imp with my first lab order, tried it and set it aside. I liked it, but it didn't have staying power on my skin. Today, deciding what to wear, I grabbed it, thinking it needed another chance. I'm so glad I did - it is full of winning notes just waiting to shine (figuratively - this is a somber scent) on my picky skin! In the imp: Woods and spices swirl about in a green murkiness. I love woods, and I find it a little odd that I can't identify which woods are here. Must develop nose further. Wet on my skin: The saffron strikes me first, oddly enough. This is not a note I would have expected to love in my perfume, but skin chemistry is an odd thing. Lots of woods, but these are not polished, dry woods. They are somehow dingy. They aren't wet, but they're not dry, either. And "wood spice". Seriously, where do I find more of this "wood spice"? I'm loving it! Dry on my skin: This isn't a morpher on me, and the saffron settles down fairly quickly. I get consistent dry, spicy wood with a tinge of patchouli. I've had this on for around 7 hours, so I can't complain about staying power at this point! It has rather limited throw, but it's still pumping out Oblivion-y goodness. Final thoughts: This just became a love! It's going to be a bottle purchase. I've always been vaguely disappointed that this blend didn't work, so I'm SO HAPPY I went back to try it again. This is a dark, bleak scent, and I love how it conveys Oblivion. A winner brought to you by Sin and Salvation!