The Coil

[impolight]

Ozone, eucalyptus and mint with purple orchid, passionflower, white ginger, and purple lotus.

:::THE COIL:::

Preface: Having been osessed with the life and the genius of Nikola Tesla since approximately the eigth-grade, and having read and reread satirical, steampunk alternative histories by the Maestro Robert Rankin, this review comes with an ENORMOUS portion of hyperkinetic bias... 5 ml. of The Coil were purchased, unsniffed, for the moniker alone...
Even with a twinge of apprehension that was based on The Lab's notes and a number of reviews from the Forum (Toothpaste? Really? Ick!).
The opened bottle: Oh, reeeaally? THIS was what the fuss was over? Of course there is mint in plentitude, yet this stuff is a fistfull of crushed foliage and dewdrops. There is nary a synthetic veneer in sight...
The combination of Ozone with this was a stroke of genius of Tesla proportions! This fires off bolts of a lightning/chlorophyll hybrid that echoes and incandesces off the walls in a corneal-aching shade of deified Mint-Chip! This is glacially green... Minted glass. A springy version of a Jacob's Ladder...
And now for the coup de grace... The Passion Flower.
* le sigh*
Adding this kalaedoscopically psychadelic, fractal-flower... This psychotically bliss-kissed note was superb. How utterly, flawlessly PERFECT for the fragrance that is The Coil, conceptually!
Passiflora is heady, sweet, exotic and mind-altering. Ethnobotany recognises the species' potent, transcendental properties... This is not only conspicuous from a half glance at the seemingly extraterrestrial blooms, but from the entirely one of a kind fragrance it unleashes... Even the bees fly from it a wee bit funny...
On the skin, all of the elements that The Coil is comprised of, merge seamlessly and pulse like a beacon. It is really hard to describe just how SciFi beautiful this fragrance really is! Language fail! Sure, a poetic snippet here and there may coax the gentle reader towards a generalised association, but this is UNREAL...
Here, the Lab's Ozone note is unlike itsself in any other blend.
Here, the Ozone is not what could be associated with metallics, nor is it really aquatic.
The Ozone in The Coil is beyond even vapour... It is radiance.
The Power of Suggestion aside, The Coil really and truly does seem to be a personification of lightning... And this lightning has an awareness. The Coil is very much a terrifying intelllect, independent of matter or convolution to house or contain it.
The Coil is cosmically radiant, a germ of life... An origin.
While The Coil could work as a unisex sort of formula, it might come across as distressing on Her... Frizzed out hair, limbs akimbo and hyperventilation...
This seems as though it would much better accompany the frizzed out hair of the Einsteinian ilk... A good natured, if a bit peculiar chap. Shoes on the wrong feet and what have you...
This is not to say that The Coil is fantastically gorgeous! Ordering this on instinct was a fantastic serendipity!
Good fortune!
Thrill!
5/5!
Bless Bpal!

[melrose]

Not like any other BPAL, and I've tried my share - not even close. I was leery of the ozone and aquatic notes, but, first on, this was mint, fresh air, and an undertone of flowers - then, wham! I was surrounded by - energy, freshness, electricity, and it was whirling around me. I could NOT sit still - don't wear this if you have to be seated!I can't even begin to describe the drydown except to say it evoked more of a feeling and an energy than a scent. Beth, you are made of awesome!

[Schmoozy]

 

Stunning.

Ozone tinged florals with cooling mint and eucalyptus. It's airy & soft and somehow it becomes aquatic. The florals especially passionflower and white ginger are the stars in this blend. They bloom like it has been raining heavily and all of a sudden it stops and they open up into the sun. I bought a bottle of this as soon as it was released and it has only gotten better with age. The mint and eucalyptus have mellowed slightly adding a coolness to the flowers.

[Dharklady]

In bottle: Mint and ozone.

Wet: Mint with an astringent bite of eucalyptus

Dry: A light minty breath of air with just the touch of eucalyptus.

Notes: This fades down to a faint sweet minty skin scent. I get no florals or ginger bite, but it is a smooth refreshing scent that I can see working nicely on a hot summer day.

 

[tailoredshirt]

For a scent that has a couple of death notes for me, this is surprisingly okay!

 

It starts off with a lot of mint and ozone, slightly cologne-ish. Ozone never fails to smell like soap to me, and it does here too, but somehow it works. I also get a bit of the eucalyptus, but it's just rounding out the mint. I smell like mint-eucalyptus soap, and I'm kind of okay with that! Maybe it's just because I have a headache, and mint-eucalyptus is good for clearing the head, but I am kind of liking this. I'm getting that Vicks Vaporub feeling at the back of my throat, and normally that would bother me, but not today.

 

As for the other notes, I'm getting a hint of ginger somewhere in the background, but I wouldn't have noticed it if I wasn't looking for it. I don't get any lotus, which usually smells like bubblegum on me.

 

I know I won't like this everyday, but I can see myself being in the mood for this every once in a while.

[voorishsign]

I simply love the colour of this one - aquatic electric, shimmering & translucent turqoise. Absolutely gorgeous. I've searched for a great electric, creepy metallic scent to match my mind's eye/nose vision of AM, the vicious computer in I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, and this is it! Cold, sharp metal via the ozone, white ginger and mint, and sparks of strange neon colours through the eucalyptus and florals. This smells cold, aloof and cruel but also hideously refined and powerful, embodying AM perfectly

[Argentwolf]

At first, the mint, eucalyptus and ginger meld together to make a scent that kind of smells like spearmint tea. If such a tea exists. Which I would at least try drinking, once, if it did. But this is definitely not destined to be a foody scent. Very interesting, when compared with Cathode; the former is kind of a sweet, white mint with a rich, almost woody groundedness to it, almost like a half-eaten thin mint left on a wooden table in the laboratory; whereas this is more like the project that our mint-munching scientist would be working on -- electric and probably dangerous, shooting off cold sparks of ozone.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Minty-cold, thin and nose-tingling.

 

On skin: The Coil is all mentholic when applied, but begins to open up with drydown. Eucalyptus and mint dominate here: this is light, dry, thin and sharp, though not particularly cold or "electric" (not surprising, given my skin chemistry). Unfortunately the scent fades very fast, and while it's a tad more complex on my skin than in the imp, the non-mentholic notes never really show their faces.

 

Verdict: Eh. The Coil is the latest failure in a string of minty failures. I'm quite disappointed at the lack of ozone and flowers here, but given how mint tends to dominate most blends it's in (at least to my nose and skin), I shouldn't be surprised. Thus ends my foray into minty blends.

Edited August 26, 2010 by Vega

[Gold Dust Kitten]

I love the color of the oil. Fresh, light green. Wet, it smells like mouthwash. I did a mini patch test on a finger and now it smells like an "ocean" scented plug-in air freshener, and mouthwash. Aquatics aren't my friends.

[Truelove]

Fresh on it's minty and light then bam it turned all floral and sticky sweet. Had to wash it off - florals just don't seem to do well on me.

[steffanina]

The Coil-

 

In Bottle: A little sharp, a little minty. Something in it reminds me of Velvet Nudie.

 

Wet: Lemony flowers. Not lemon itself, but...lemony florals. Still a little minty.

 

Dry: Mintiness dominates the drydown, but not an agressive mintiness. There's still that lemony floral scent. That's about all it does for me; it's not a remarkable scent for me, but it's not unpleasing.

 

Overall: Not for me on first try, but interesting.

[lahdeedah]

Grabbed this one as soon as I found out about the DC, as I'd been meaning to give it a go. I love the idea of mint, but haven't had the best luck finding a blend where it really works for me.

 

Wet: Bracing! At first it’s bright and aquatic, reminding me perhaps of Cool Water? Something like that.

 

Dry: I amp florals, so soon the orchid and passionflower are high-stepping it to the fore. It becomes an interesting, perfume-y floral. But it doesn't seem to have much staying power and is gone in a few hours.

 

Conclusion: I like it, I'm glad I have a bottle to play with. I, too, have a Tesla fascination, and this blend definitely taps into that. There is an electric energy about it, particularly in the wet phase.

[SophieCedar]

Wet: ozone and mint maxing out my nostrils. It's a great feeling. Transports me to cold wind-swept gardens with frost and snow laid over flowers.

Drydown: eucalyptus comes out a little more.. it smells like b.o. for a second but passed. That scared the hell out of me! Uhm.. super morpher. Passionflower, orchid, lotus are dominant with a faint breath of mint and ozone. Smells like a strange air freshener.

[zmulls]

I mourn the passing of this scent. I wear so many dark scents and this just popped off my skin, electric and full of bright colors. It was a favorite but I wasn't yet in bottlecollecting mode and missed my chance.

 

I hope the Lab reformulates this and reintroduces it. I'd want this around.

[IambicDearie]

A sparky little scent! This one really surprised me. With the color I expected it to be too sharp for my tastes, but the mint turns it into something really lovely.