Iago

[Guest]

Malevolent, dark and shadowy: sinuous black musk, wet leather and vetiver.

So, so good. When I saw the component list, I knew I'd need to give it a whirl and a little bit of forum-shopping around the Net told me that it's been pretty popular since it came into being.

The leather is, of course, the dominant element but the vetiver comes out a few minutes of application. It's what I think most people would consider a traditional male scent but I think it'd work nicely on women as well, assuming their man isn't overly threatened by it. Then again, Loviatar might handle that role even more nicely, so I decided I'd sample that one as well this month in my most recent order.

But yes, it's lovely, strong but not overpowering, and certainly long-lasting. One application of a few drops lasts a good six to eight hours and, to top it off, I've applied it to material (read: stuffed Cthulhu) and the scent -still- hasn't worn off, despite a month having passed. Highly recommended. Edited September 15, 2007 by Shollin

[viciousviolet]

The men’s answer to the sadomasochistic sexiness of Loviatar. It’s embarrassing to admit what a turn-on this scent is. Next romantic evening with the husband, he’s wearing this one for sure!

[trystrid]

Conjures up old memories of waiting outside clubs in the rain. It's not the pure scent of leather but rather a blend of moistened, dewy skin-smell and a broken in leather jacket- the way I imagined how all the cute boys I was too shy to talk to would smell. Clean, crisp (but not sharp) with an undertone of a fleshed out, natural muskiness. Very, very sexy too.

[TheDarkMother]

*Sighs* Another scent that I really wanted to smell in the way that the description said, but didn't come out for me on my skin again. I'll have to try it on my husband to see if it smells good on him. I'll have to post again if it does.

 

In the bottle....mmmm leather. Lovely, lovely leather. And there's also a musky rain scent there as well, I guess like a hot, steamy night here in Florida while wearing my leather jacket. To me, it just screams of romance and steamy nights with the lights low and the sounds of thunder in the distance.

 

On me, warm, fruity babypowder. Its a honeyed babypowder scent, not spicy like Bruja, with just a hint of pear in the background. How did THAT happen?? Leather does not equal PEARS!

 

But its still a yummy smell that my husband really likes on me, so I guess I can be happy with what I got!

 

 

*UpDate* Ohmigod! Its dead on for the hubby and...ooOoOoooh! Le Purrrrr!

Edited July 28, 2004 by TheDarkMother

[cuervosueno]

I got an imp of this as an extra in my very first BPAL order. At first, out of the bottle, I didn't like it at all. I thought it was too sharp and stronglygreen (the vetiver), and too masculine (though I usually prefer those scents...).

But I decided to give it a shot, even with what I first felt was an overpowering smell of leather.

In the end? I LOVE it! Bought a big bottle. It gets softer/sweeter as it fades, and perhaps its the musk that gives it, on me, a slightly sweet powder touch at the end.

and it lasts and lasts!

I wear it when I want to feel more of a bad-ass. Definately I'd wear it with my leather pants, but wearing Iago gives me the same feeling that the leather pants do: sexy, edgy, slightly dangerous.

I bet it would be gorgeous on a man too! It's dead-on sexy for anyone.

And now, on the recommendations here, I've just received Lovitar to give that a go as well!

[Northernminx]

This one sounded lovely and smelled wonderful in the bottle, menacing and earthy and leather. I can see how this fits Iago very well.

 

The leather, hard black shiney leather, was present at first and then mellowed into an undertone of menacing and bitter herbal. It faded out soon after that into a babypowder scent. Off to swaps for this one

[DukTape]

I am not smelling the leather in this on my husband. He tried yesterday, and this morning it's still there, and the fragrance seems pretty consistent to me. It was sharper at first, but that is the only difference. The vetiver and musk together are balanced just right. It's warm and inviting. Matches him very well! Guess what's going in his Christmas stocking?

[malanna]

I read the description briefly and just saw "black" and "leather," so I expected this to be very heavy on the leather. Perhaps I was expecting leather, so the first thing I thought when I wore this was, "Oh! Leather!" However, the leather fades away to the background and the vetiver comes out. All I could think of was that it smelled like vetiver. Not smack-your-face vetiver, so I think it's being rounded out by the black musk. It made me think of a chic lumberjack.

[TygherRayn]

Iago:

In the bottle, this is kind of a dark-sweetness. I like it, but it's also very odd. Realizing it's a gender: male scent, I don't expect it to do wonderful things on, but I do want to try it to see if I can figure out what is in it that intrigues me so.

 

Wet, I want to say there's something minty, but it doesn't smell like mint, if that makes any sense. It's .. warm. This scent, if it had a color, would be orange. But not like the fruit. There's a .. leafy-greenness to it also .. it's very nice, strong but not overpowering.

 

Wearing, of the four this is the one I like the most. It reminds me of a man's cologne, but not the perfumey ones. This is definitely one I would like to smell on a man .. and luckily, Jason tried it on too! It's gotten sweeter .. like maybe lime is in it or something. I really like this, and can even see myself wearing it. *purrs*

 

Frootloops! Jason's right .. this smells like Froot Loops! And now I'm hungry! And I want MORE!

[Azrhiaz]

*PAROXYSM OF LUST*

 

Okay, this is just...*loses train of thought*...I mean, GAH. Look, ma, I'm much with the coherent!

 

This is first "masculine" scent of the Lab's that's really struck me as just that. Heck, I ordered a 10 ml of Mad Hatter for *me* to wear. This, however, is most assuredly masculine. Too much for me to wear personally-- what I need is a giant bottle of this *and* a man to slather it on. By the bucketload.

 

This is Sean Bean in a black leather jacket, shoving you up against a grungy, white-tiled wall with a single bare bulb swinging overhead, casting shadows as he rips your shirt. NNNGGGHH.

 

It occurs to me I need to get laid.

 

*runs off to dunk head in icewater*

 

Did I mention it smells really good?

[amaltheagray]

This is Sean Bean in a black leather jacket, shoving you up against a grungy, white-tiled wall with a single bare bulb swinging overhead, casting shadows as he rips your shirt.  NNNGGGHH.

 

good LORD, woman. i'd like to personally thank you for giving me something to think about whenever i wear/sniff this scent. o_0

 

yes, this is masculine. um, yes. but i think i could pull off wearing it. the leather comes out after the vetiver has rolled around in the back of my throat like the nutty weird beast that it is. i also get some citrus, like a very light lemon. lovely!

[FireInCairo]

I recieved a charming imp of Iago with my last order. This is definately a charming man's fragrance. Very musky...deep...shadowy. Obviously with a name like Iago- something very sinister lies beneath..just as Iago himself was in Othello. This is a mystery man's scent..very enchanting indeed...

[any_old_actress]

FIRST SNIFF: vetiver and leather

 

WEARING IT: right off the bat this is such a masculine fragrance. i find it very strong, very commanding. the vetiver and leather are still what this scent is all about. it's a bit too much for me i think.

 

VERDICT: not my type of scent!

[amunnefret]

I bought a full 10ml (intentionally for my husband) waaaaay back in Jan/Feb 2004.

He didn't take to Iago and though I liked the fragrance on him pushed it into that "pleasant enough" category, then forgot about it.

 

Cue months later, I'm wearing a lot of "male" fragrances lately and on the way to work splash on a few drops. A few hours later I'm madly deeply INSANELY in love with this fragrance - its now my favourite of all the samples tested so far.

 

Its like discovering you're crazily obsessively in lust with someone whose always just been a safe dependable "friend". Suddenly there's chemistry and yearnings all over the place....

 

Hm.... I wonder if I'm turning into a charming man ?

[diabolique]

god, i can't believe i like this! it has evil components that generally don't work for me, but i love the way it smells. black musk? horrid. leather? heinous. vetiver? eh, i don't care for it. but this blend? oh god! GOD. this is what i expected de sade to be. this is the ultimate comfort scent to me, i put it on when i'm sad.

 

i want to smell this on my boy.

Edited January 1, 2005 by diabolique

[LiberAmoris]

Dear God. Iago is one super-sexy blend. To quote a dear friend: I think my panties just dropped.

 

Iago's truly masculine. So masculine that I don't know if I'd want to wear it on a regular basis. Rather, I want to go find my BF and give him a good coating of it. Except I'd be afraid to let him outside with it on, as he'd likely get some offers from strangers!

 

If dominance had a scent, this is it: musky sexuality, a hint of clarifying mint, the earthy grounding of vetiver, and the snap of leather that comes off the crack of a whip.

 

Another one I never would have ordered on my own, but of course, BPAL knows best. Thanks for the imp, it will be put to good use.

[Scylla]

In the vial: Vetiver and musk. Very manly and sexy.

 

Wet, on my skin: I know it's a men's scent, but I felt compelled to try it myself. At first I get quite a bit of musky, wet leather. Someone else mentioned it bringing back memories of waiting in the rain with the leather-clad masses to get into a club, and I have that scent memory, too! This is a VERY mysterious, masculine scent. Something I'd LOVE for my husband to wear, but I can tell without him even smelling it that it's not his thing.

 

On drydown: Wow, this lasts a long time! I put this on last night at about 6 pm and it's now 7:00 am and I can still smell the musk and vetiver wafting.

 

I like Iago a lot--I'm sending my brother and his girlfriend some imps for Christmas and I think I'll include this one. My brother's girlfriend will thank me, I'm sure!

[magikfanfic]

In the bottle: Wow, that's nasty. Oh, ick. I think it's the musk. I think it's killing me. This blend may be too masculine for me to even swipe onto my poor female wrist.

 

Wet: On, it's much better. Except for that weird sour smell. I can smell leather but either the vetiver or the black musk is making it smell really funky. I so should not be wearing this. My skin knows this and is revolting. Strongly. I don't really like musk. I just wanted to ewvire this. *whine* Now I just want to smell it on the boy. I'm sure it's lovely on him because I cannot pull this off.

 

Dry down: Vetiver, which I'm not a big fan of. This smells so bad on me that I'm washing it off now.

 

This is one of the boy's blends that I ripped off so I could review it. Well, I'm sure it smells wonderful on him, but it should never be put back on me.

[judas_kiss]

This was interesting because I got to smell this on two different men.

 

In the imp, this smelled like leather, leather and more leather. Not biker-boy/bar brawl leather, more like the leather on the whip of a cruel gentleman whose spicey cologne has rubbed off on it leaving his scent behind to mingle...

 

On my husband, this turned into baby powder, unfortunately. Not quite sure what the culprit was, but it was pure baby powder. So, we gave it to my BIL to try.

 

On him, this is leathery and spicey. It warms up quite nicely on him and there is no hint of baby powder here. It's rather what I'd imagine an older, rich powerful man's leather chair would smell like. My BIL says it makes him feel more confident when he wears it. He'll be purchasing a bottle of this. I love enabling!!

[yaluna]

I swabbed my wrists and collarbone with this gimp this morning. In the bottle, I smelled dark chocolate.. or rather, cocoa powder, not sweet milk chocolate.

 

Wet: The cocoa powder turns into a smoother smell, with something sharper coming in from the background

 

Dry: The sharper smell is stronger now, is that the vetiver? Chocolate turns into dusty leather. Not bad.

 

Overall: Too masculine for me, but I would like this on a man if the vetiver tones down a little.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

Lagniappe from the Lab.

 

First sniff:

 

Musk and vetiver...I don't smell any leather yet, which is a bit of a disappointment as I'm just now learning that I adore the smell of leather in a perfume. I've been looking forward to trying Iago, though, so I'm glad that the Lab chose to gift me with this one!

 

Wet on skin:

 

Very musky with a background of vetiver. I don't dislike vetiver at all, but lately I can only tolerate it in small doses, so I'm starting to worry that Iago might be a little too strong on the vetiver for me to be able to wear it...or for my boy to be able to wear it for that matter. I'm beginning to get the leather smell, but this mainly reminds me of Satyr with vetiver added at this stage.

 

Dry down:

 

Strong musk with a bit of leather. I think this one might be too musky for me and my boy. I don't mind musk at all as long as it's not overpowering, but too much invariably makes me think of the smell of unwashed dogs. It doesn't smell like that, but it makes me think of that, which is pretty unfortunate since I really like musk in small amounts.

 

The bottom line:

 

Too musky for me, unfortunately. I'm going to have to look elsewhere for the perfect leather scent for my boy. Off to swaps with it!

[inkstone]

A giftie from the Lab.

 

Whoa, this is menacing, black leather. With just a hint of dampness as if it's just come out of the evening rain. Very masculine and very nice, but ooooh, does it NOT belong on me.

[Splendid Molerat]

On me Iago is smoky leather; on the husband it's green and feral, slightly musky.

 

Overall, for us it's more reminiscent of the leather worn by smiths and carpenters, than of frenetic mink sex.

 

A pleasant scent, but I wouldn't knock me down to get some.

[phaedrine]

Iago: sinuous black musk, wet leather and vetiver.

 

This struck me as very similar to Sloth, but with the myrrh in that replaced by musk.

 

Mostly all I got was musk over vetiver. Very nice and warm and commanding, a hair away from being too masculine for me.

 

After several hours, the leather starts to come out and play, and wrestles with the musk over who gets to hang out with the vetiver. They never do figure it out, and it's a constant switch between musk/vetiver and leather/vetiver.

 

Nice, but I think I like Sloth better...I'll probably use up the imp but not buy a bottle.

[isyche]

Iago was a gift from the lab that I probably wouldn't have ordered, because vetiver is my nemesis.

 

So, in the bottle: all vetiver, ick.

On me: It's very dark and masculine, definitely not me. I like the leather, but I just can't stand the vetiver on myself - it very well might smell good on a man, though. It's a macho-manly-man sort of scent.

 

Verdict: You're too much man for me, Iago - I shall send you off to someone who can handle you.