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RANGER Untamed wilderness: buckskin accord with Terebinth pine, Russian birch, black ironwood, elder bark, hay, armoise, juniper, patchouli, galangal root, Spanish moss, and cabreuva. Origin: 5mL from the Lab. Preconceived notions: I really like the prototype version of Ranger, but it tends to go peppery on my skin unless I apply it on the back of my hands and even then it's started to be iffy. So I'm very excited about the released version. It sounds a lot like v5, so I'm hoping it'll be similar but without whatever it is that gives me the pepper note of doom that made me take the proto out of my favorites box. First sniff: Very, very woodsy. I get strong pine (like the pine in Wolf Moon 2011 or even Hexennacht or Nocnitsa). An intense, deep green pine note, not the high-pitched juniper-like one that I sometimes get in some of the Lab's pine scents. Think deep woods, not Christmas tree. I can tell there's more in here than just pine, but the impression I get is of standing in an unspoiled evergreen forest in the middle of summer. Wet on skin: Intense pine with a backing of rich wood (I couldn't tell you what kind, but there are non-evergreen trees here, scattered among the pines). I don't get any buckskin yet, which is a little disappointing because I really love soft leather notes, but I still love this. I'm a lover of all things woodsy, although pine can be an iffy note at times. Ranger is one of the pine scents that really work. Dry down: Mostly the same before. This one's not as much of a morpher as the prototype. Whatever kind of wood gives the prototype the pepperiness seems to be missing from this version, too, which makes me very happy. I finally get some of the buckskin once Ranger has time to settle completely. It's very subtle and adds just a touch of soft leather to the picture. There's also a faint sweetness to the scent that I can't identify. There was a similar note in the prototype that I took to be benzoin or maybe tonka, but it's not listed in the notes of the released version, so I'm not sure what it is. I suppose it could be the cabreuva, which apparently has "a delicate, sweet, woody-floral scent." I don't get any florals, though, just a soft sweetness. This is such an evocative scent and it really nails the concept. If I close my eyes, I can imagine myself in the deep forest, a faint breeze stirring the pine needles at my feet. The air is full of the smells of wood, earth and moss. There's not another human being for miles around and everything is quiet and peaceful. The only noises are the sounds of birds calling. The bottom line: I love this. If you're a lover of intensely woodsy scents, then you need Ranger. But if pine and heavy woods aren't your thing, you may want to look elsewhere.
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Dwarves have the highest standards in beard care, and we aim to please even the grimmest and grouchiest of the lot. Patchouli root, golden amber coins, jewel-bright red musk, mineral oudh, and sweet ale.
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DWARVEN ALE Brewed with fermented mushrooms, honey, and apple rootstock. Dwarven Ale smells more like ginger beer to me. As it dries, the spicy ginger top note recedes and in the drydown honey and mushrooms peek out from underneath. It's a rooty, darkly ginger effervescent blend. Gingery, mushrooms, beer.
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Dungeoneering is exhausting, and sometimes the watered-down ale at the local tavern just slows you down. Before you head out on your next adventure, slather yourself in this fiery brew: freshly brewed coffee with ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, and cream.
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As silent as the deepest cavern, as serene as a twilit shadow, as graceful as a spider, and as resilient as a web: wild plum, indigo lavender, and a tranquil tendril of sandalwood incense.
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GOOD Shimmering celestial musk with vanilla, white honey, acacia, and sugar cane. Origin: 5mL from the Lab. Preconceived notions: This isn't my usual kind of scent. Not by a long shot. But something about it sounded so pretty that I had to order a bottle anyway. The only thing here that actually worries me is the acacia, because I'm not a floral fan. The other notes should be okay, although they're not the sort of thing I normally gravitate towards. First sniff: I can't really pick out the notes in the bottle. I just get a general impression of a pale, sweet, delicate scent. Very feminine and pretty. Wet on skin: Soft, gentle honey with a touch of vanilla and musk. I can definitely see this being what "good" would smell like. Dry down: Soft white honey. It's not the heavier honey note that is in so many of the Lab's scent. This is a very light, delicate, ethereal honey. The bottom line: Good is fairly one-dimensional on me once it dries (which isn't really a drawback since the RPG scents were meant to be layered), but it's pretty all the same. I like this. It's not the sort of thing I'd wear every day but it will get worn. I can see this being one of the more popular RPG scents.
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PALADIN Immaculate white musk, sweet frankincense, bourbon vanilla, white leather, and shining armor. First review ... wow. Okay, let's see here. in the bottle: I get mostly a pine-like scent. Something akin to basalm, but not as "in your face" about it as basalm tends to be to me. It's a softer pine scent in the same family. It also has a twinge of sweetness under it. I wonder if all I'm smelling is the sweet frankincense in the bottle. wet on skin: Okay, I know this is weird, but it smells exactly like OFF bug spray on my skin. And a bit weirder ... I like it. I've always liked the smell of OFF. drydown: The sweet frankincense is still going strong, but the leather and armor start coming through a little bit. I can almost taste a metallic tang in my mouth. It's not unplesant, but it's not something I really smell with my nose it seems. The white musk slowly comes out and punches up the frankincense. dry: This is sweet incense and leather, with hints of musk and the metallic tang of the armor still sits on my tongue. Overall: I really like this scent. The frankincense is a bit much for me, and I'm hoping the more this sits the mellower that frankincense will become. I can see this aging beautifully.
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A nurturing blend of motherwort, angelica root, and warm russet fur splashed with chamomile tea.
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ROGUE Soft, well-worn black leather, hemp, and rosin. Origin: 5mL from the Lab. Preconceived notions: Something about Rogue really grabbed my attention and I ordered two bottles right off the bat. I just have a feeling that this one's going to be one of the standouts of the RPG collection (for me). Leather is hit or miss, but well-worn leather notes tend to be hits. Hemp and rosin should be fine, although pine can also be hit or miss. First sniff: This smells almost exactly like I'd pictured. Soft, worn-in leather and gentle pine pitch (rosin is made from pine sap). It's in the same sort of family as Ranger, only with much stronger leather (of a different sort) and much less wood/pine. Wet on skin: The leather gets stronger while the rosin stays the same. It's a slightly woodsy leather scent. The hemp starts to come out a little at this point, giving it a subtle, hay-like sweetness. Dry down: The rosin intensifies as Rogue dries and I end up with a scent that's equal parts pine pitch, hemp and worn-in leather. It's a simple scent (again, like with Good, that may be because they were designed to be layered), but I like that about it. I don't always want a complicated scent. Sometimes simple is better and I think this is one of those cases. This is a winner. The leather's not chemically in the slightest and the rosin adds a nice, resinous pine scent without being overpowering or smelling like a Christmas tree. The hemp is bordering on being just a little too strong (it starts to overpower the other notes at points during the drydown), but I like it. The bottom line: If you're a leather fan and like woodsy scents, this will probably be a winner for you. I have a feeling that skin chemistry is going to play a part in how strong the rosin ends up being, but for me, it's a well-balanced scent that I can smell all the notes in. ETA: After having set for a couple of days, the hemp is much stronger and the rosin weaker in the bottle and when the oil is wet on my skin, but it's about the same once its dried completely.
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A soothing, centering blend of white and red sandalwood, champaca attar, frankincense, and brimstone.
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MAGE All mystique and thrumming power: gurjum balsam, Sumatran dragon's blood resin, olibanum, galangal, oleo gum resin, and frankincense. Origin: 5mL from the Lab. Preconceived notions: I'll admit right off the bat that I don't know what everything in here is supposed to smell like. But I know enough to know that most of these are resins or incensey notes, with a bit of greenness thrown in here and there. First sniff: Definitely an incense/resin blend, but this isn't church incense. It's not headshop incense, either. Instead, I'd say it smells like a pagan or occult store. It has that sort of darkness and mysteriousness to it. Wet on skin: Slightly sweet, resinous incense. Mage is a little bit smoky, but mainly, it smells like a mix of unusual, mysterious-smelling resins. It does put me in mind of what a mage might smell like. Dry down: A tiny bit of balsam is peeking out now, adding some pine to the resins. It's still mostly an incense blend, but the balsam gives it an appropriate touch of woodsiness. This mage doesn't spend all his time cooped up working on perfecting his magic. He goes out gathering herbs and practicing in the forest. The bottom line: I like this one a lot. I could take or leave the balsam, but the piney note it adds is subtle enough not to distract me from the beautiful resins.
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LAWFUL Rigid oak, blue chamomile, rhubarb, and fig leaf. Lawful smells sparkly. The first thing I smell is the Blue Chamomile which, despite being a flower, is so earthy and comforting. Next the Rhubarb and Fig Leaf come out and smell delicious together - the Chamomile is starting to lessen. After about 20 minutes, this turns into such a wonderful blend - I can still smell the Chamomile and the Fig leaf with a sparkle of Rhubarb, and the oak lays nicely underneath. I love Oak, but it tends to be quite powerful, and in this blend it is very smooth and understated. What a great blend - I'd say this is my favorite of the RPGs so far. 5/5
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CLERIC Rose amber, frankincense, myrrh, champaca flower, Peru balsam, cistus, palisander, cananga, hyssop, and narcissus absolute. I did not have particularly high expectations of this one, but I love resins and rose, so I snagged an imp along with the other RPG classes. It goes on smelling like a complex, resiny perfume, like Shalimar. A few minutes in, the rose amber suddenly unfolds- I don't know any way to describe it other than that it's like a deific apparition- and it turns into a gorgeous combination of incense and rose. An hour after it went on, the hyssop and narcissus are coming in and making the blend sweeter and rounder. This one's a keeper.
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NEUTRAL A flawless skin musk. Origin: 5mL from the Lab. Preconceived notions: I'm really excited about this one, oddly enough. I have a skin musk scent from another company that's one of the (very few) non-BPAL scents that I wear even semi-regularly, so I'm looking forward to a BPAL scent along the same lines. First sniff: I can barely smell this. There's just the faintest hint of slightly powdery skin musk here, but mainly I get a noseful of nothing. Wet on skin: Still very faint, but I can smell it now. It's not as smooth as I'd expected. Instead it's on the powdery side and even a tiny bit sharp. More like freshly washed skin than (my idea of) skin musk. Dry down: That's better. Neutral stays extremely faint, but the almost sharp powderiness calms down, but it takes a few hours for it to reach that point on me. In the end, I'm left with a soft, gentle skin musk scent. It's very similar to the other brand's version that I love so much, but not as strong. The bottom line: This one is definitely best suited to layering. If it went straight from the bottle scent to the drydown, I'd probably wear this semi-regularly on its own because I love the simplicity and subtleness of it, but I think it's going to be used almost solely for layering with other scents and only when I've got time to let it work the kinks out, since the drydown takes a while to finish.
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ELF Pale golden musk, honeycomb, amber, parma violet, hawthorne bark, aspen leaf, forest lily, life everlasting, white moss, and a hint of wild berry. I think I'm going to die of happiness that I'm the first to review this. Elf was the first RPG bottle I *had* to get because I used to write LOTR/Silmarillion fanfics and my character was a Noldorin elf. Plus I have a peculiar fetish for pointy ears. Wet this is woody and a bit piney with berries that remind me of Skadi/Talvikuu/The Snow Maiden and a certain dewiness to it, like walking into an enchanted forest at dusk after the rain. It' really on the drydown that the true character of the scent starts emerging and it hits me: this smells like Lothlorien. Not that I know what Tolkien imagined the foret of Lothlorien to smell like but it's at least dead close to what I always imagined it to smell like. Slowly the wood/green aspect drifts to the background and the lovely soft musk and honeycomb emerge on a bed of soft forest florals. I definitely get some gentle violet petals here, though by no means is the scent dominated by violet. I'm not really familiar with what life-everlasting smells like on its own but it' an appropriate floral to have in here because elves are traditionally percieved as immortal. Gradually the amber emerges and adds warmth and depth, and finally the moss which give it a hint of woodsy earthines. The woodsy and berry elements entwine with the honeycomb, musk and florals to create an enchanting ethereal scent highly evocative of the these elusive creatures and the mythical forests they call their home. Final verdict?
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BARD A ridiculously charismatic blend of bay rum, honey, and white musk mingling with the scent of harp wood and lute strings and the twang of horn brass. How do I love thee, Bard? Let me count the ways. I love your clouds of vanilla, your light, white florals, your sheer musk. There is definitely vanilla here, but it is not a buttery or foody or overly sweet vanilla but an airy nonfoody vanilla that does have something of a cloud-like quality. I would say it's more a vanilla orchid than anything else. It's difficult to pick out exactly what floral notes are in here; they start out fresh and dew-covered, even a little green, but dry down soft with a slight (pleasant) powderiness. Definitely white florals for the most part. I think I pick up some lily of the valley and a trace of iris, but there must be other types of white flowers in here as well because it's too complex to just be those two. Later on in the drydown I pick up the musk, something that must involve white musk since I can detect that pure, clean-but-not-soapy scent in here. There may or may not be skin musk in here too, difficult to tell since it's so well blended. The musk(s?) give it a slight warmth but on the whole I would say this is neither warm or cool, the same type of neutral feel as Thieves Rosin but an entirely different scent. It's on the feminine side of unisex and also really uplifting. I swear when they're released I'm getting all four of these.
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HALF-ELF White sandalwood, beeswax, white tea leaf, oud, and a hint of sophisticated urban musk. Wet: Bitter...woodsy...and leaves. Drydown: Soft leather, woods...and a hint of leaves. I think it's the musk and beeswax that is giving this a leafy feel. I am going half elf with good and see what happens. With good this was a no go. The beeswax just stomped all of the Half-elf goodness out. BUT...with evil. Seductive naughty sex in the woods on a bed of leaves with a half-elf dressed in soft gorgeous leather.
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The scent of ancient trees, vast shadowed canyons, rocky snow-tipped peaks, and rushing rivers, with notes of pine needle, oak bark, sweet birch, stream-polished stones, lichen, dark mosses, nootka, hazelnut, rivulets of amber, and blackcurrant bud.
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A clear, glassy scent, translucent and blushing, that will bring your world into sharp focus: eucalyptus leaf, white amber, pink bergamot, strawberry, and sheer, crystalline vanilla musk.
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DRUID A woolen robe infused with the scent of a vast, primordial forest: ancient trees, fertile soil, wild herbs, spring grasses, and burgundy pitch incense. Druid smells ancient in the best possible way. I've always been fascinated by Druids in both history and fiction, and this scent evokes all the mental images I've had of them. There are definitely a lot of dark resins and woods here, overgrown with moss and vines like a forest that has gone completely untouched since time immemorial. There is something of an earthy backdrop to it as well, probably with a bit of black patchouli grounding it. I think there is cedar in this but the fact that my skin doesn't turn it into a hamster cage means it's very subtle, and if I'm not mistaken it reminds me of the black cedar in An Altar to Cold Dark Rigid Death. Complex and intriguing, not promouncedly masculine as it may seem with all the wood notes ( I think there's oak in as well and some sort of bark). I'm looking forward to the final iteration of this.
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CHAOTIC A whirling mélange of multicolored musks with wasabi, rooibos, heliotrope, and mastic. Heliotrope is a favorite scent of mine so am very happy that I can pick it out in this blend. Chaotic is very much a warm musk blend sweetend up by the sweet vanilla of heliotrope. There is a hint of something plant/spicy in the background.
