Wolfsbane

[slugbait]

Notorious for its properties for protection against werewolves and curing lycanthropy, this nefarious plant also has a fine history of use as a virulent poison. Clasically, Medea employed it in her many works of vengeance. This concoction of ours has none of the lethal qualities, but still personifies all of the herb's dark history beautifully.

Herbal in imp. Pine needle and some other herbs... Slightly camphoric and mellow. Drying down starts to smell a bit smoky, I think I detect vetivert. Dry this almost completely fades except for a smidgen of smoke. Smells of a distant camp fire smoldering in a pine forest. Nice, but definitely would like this more on a boy. This will go to my fiancé for some testing...

[starfire]

i'm a huge fan of greeny/herbals and a half-hearted fan of woody scents, and wolfsbane straddles the two beautifully. my wrists smell like a musty autumn forest, all pine, juniper, and wood. it's simultaneously comforting and exotic. later, it dries down into a more powdery - yet just as gorgeous - green wood. i don't smell rice pudding or rose, though, but i do detect a vaguely powdery floral note lingering in the background. the wildflowers must be quietly announcing their presence.

 

i haven't found many bpal oils that smell good on me, but this is one of them. a big bottle of wolfsbane is in my future.

Edited August 17, 2005 by starfire

[Miss Lynx]

Hmmm... Sharp and pungent in the vial, and when wet, but within a few minutes it settles in and a really nice depth and complexity begin to emerge. It definitely falls into the same "poisonous herbal" scent family as Belladonna, but is a little more androgynous, with less of a floral element. There's a slight hint of flowers there, but also a strong woodsy/piney element to it, and above all an intense sharp greenness like freshly crushed herbs. And yes, a touch of that bitter poisonous edge that Belladonna has, but just enough to give it character. Overall, it's kind of a gender-neutral version of Belladonna.

 

I think I am really looking forward to Rappaccini's Garden. The poison-plant scents aren't really my top favourite category, but I do quite like them, and there are are some days when they're exactly what I need.

 

Grade: B

[~AmusedMuse~]

This is earthy, woody and citrusy ....The earthy wood is prominent with a citrus note rounding it our. I think this is a wonderful masculine scent and I would love this on a man. Additionally, I haven't seen a werewolf all day. My scale of 1-5...3

[Phaedra]

This was a frimp from the Lab in one of my recent orders. This is pure PENCIL SHAVINGS CEDAR- bleck!! It’s like Tombstone without the vanilla. I washed this one off right away. Cedar is not a good note on me.

[coulrophobe]

In the imp: Very green and herbal smelling.

 

On: Green and fresh, still very herbal - wait a minute... rose? Yes. Wolfsbane has morphed entirely into a strong rose blend. A little sharp and the tiniest bit sour... this is like roses spritzed with pickle juice.

 

Needless to say, not for me, but definitely... interesting.

[Monster]

This is very woody/herbal/leafy. It reminds me of the dried rose leaf scent that's in Zombi (leafy, yet not entirly rosey)

It's sharp and crisp and has a bit of a bite to it.

On my skin this actually smells similar to Lushs Cosmic Dreamcatcher (at least it does on my skin). It has a dusy, sort of citrus smell. It's really soft and comforting on the dry down. I still smell a bit of rose, but like I said, it's not overpowering, more of a rose leaf type of smell.

 

This is beautiful, I would wear this after taking a hot bath and climbing into my PJs.

[Nachtwulf]

In the bottle:Well, it doesn't smell like wolfsbane, for sure, but that's not really a bad thing. It's basically a floral, but not the 'night flowers' variety. This is sweeter, rounder, and I'm going to take a wild prediction that it's likely to go powdery on me. There is a hint of pine.

 

Wet: Well, it's not powder. It's wet flowers and deciduous trees, ferns and streamlets. Mostly, it's wet flowers, and I can't for the LIFE of me figure out which ones. The fact that it does, however, continue to smell like actual damp flowers and not like soap, baby powder, or cleaner, is somewhat bewildering.

 

Dry:The pine note settles more to the fore when it's dry, but the 'damp flowers' are still there. I /wish/ I knew what kind of flowers they were. Carnations, maybe? I still can't get over how much it /does/ remind one of a damp flowerbed. I think...there might well be rose in it. Rose and pine? How odd.

 

Final Opinion: Jury's still out on this one. I'm not, by nature, big on florals, but this isn't 'omgstinkyflower' or anything. I don't hate it, by any means, but I'm not entirely sure if I like it enough to keep it. Hm.

[QueenFae]

A very herbally, dark green scent with heavy woodsy undertones. Normally I'm all for the green scents, as I love Belladonna and I like Hemlock, but this one is just a hint too dark for me. There is a mossy, earthen, old wood type note in the undertone that is rearing his ugly head on my skin. This would probably be really nice on a guy, but not really for me.

[donsixgun]

Herbal and woodsy. I like this. It isnt too strong of an herbal smell (not like hemlock), and there is a smokiness to it that I like. I don’t need a 5ml, but Id like to keep an imp around.

[LiberAmoris]

Wolfsbane is sandalwood with vetiver and pine on me. The drydown is sandalwood and cedar with lots of vetiver.

 

I really like the concept, but the vetiver is making it difficult for me to appreciate it. There's just something about it that always makes me feel sick. I don't do this very often, but I think I'm going to go wash this one off.

 

For people who like vetiver, I think this would be very nice.

[trowely]

I guess I'll be the violently dissenting voice on this blend.

 

I got it as a freebie from an eBay auction, and in the imp, I thought I'd like it. My two favorite scents so far are both woodsy, and it smelled like pine when I opened it.

 

The smell on my skin was purely nauseating. I had to run to the bathroom to wash it off. Wet, it still smelled somewhat of pine, but mostly of leather or musk. It was so foul that I'm still traumatized a while later. I think I'm making a face.

 

I let a little bit dry on my finger, and I can say that while it toned down quite a bit, returning to a more piney scent, it still smells too animal for me to ever wear it again.

[sideviewhotel]

Oh my. This smells. SO GOOD. It's... It's woody and dark and heavy and... I smell dirt.. or something. Patchouli? I'm not sure, but it's a semi-familiar note. It brings up images of a foggy forest in the middle of the night with the full moon sitting low in the skin, heavy and large.

 

This is definitely love at first sniff. WOW.

 

Edit: GAH! I wore this to work last night and it was purely fresh-pulled carrots. It was.. Icktastic. I couldn't wait to get home and wash it off. I dunno if it mixed wrong with something or it just went bad from me being surrounded by coffee and such all night, but ICK. I'm going to give it one more go on a day I'm not working, just to see if that was a one off. I hope so.

Edited October 7, 2005 by sideviewhotel

[Fishwomon]

I love the description of Wolfsbane and, having read the reviews, I was hoping for a green, woody scent. I received an imp in a swap.

 

In the vial, I smell a sharp herbiness and floral. But once Wolfsbane hits my skin, all I get is ROSES. Very pretty, very soft, very pink, very feminine, not remotely threatening, evil, or poisonous roses. Drat! I don't do roses.

[theseagrows]

wolfsbane smells like an herbal, green, woody, peppery rose to me. it does remind me of being in the woods. it's a weird scent, but strangely enough i like it. not something i would wear everyday, but once in awhile.

[Merlu]

Got this as a frimp.

 

The first thing I thought when I smelled Wolfsbane is that it smelled like death. It smells exactly like what I remember my great-aunt's smelled like before she died, when I was a kid. A heavy rose scent that had been lingering around for so long that the furniture and the wallpaper smelled like it, and the scent itself seemed to have withered away.

 

On me it's all dead roses, and it turns into baby powder after 4-5 hours.

Unfortunately I hate roses with a passion. Along with baby powder.

Edited November 1, 2005 by Merlu

[alishathekitten]

I also got this as a frimp. I don't think I would have ever bought it for myself. It has very strong herbal and wood notes to it. On my skin, it does have little bit of a powder scent to it, though. The whole herbal/wood/powder scent isn't my thing, so I wouldn't purchase this one.

[Mayfair]

This is really minty! It starts out very cool and fresh on my skin, but a dark coolness rather than crispness. Then a strong, very dry wood note creeps in, which I'm hardpressed to identify. Could be vetivert, which I usually hate with a vengeance, could be myrrh as well. It's certainly dry and slightly masculine. I don't get the rice pudding at all, but it's somehow a very comforting scent.

 

I don't think I'll be buying more, but it was interesting to try.

[SeaMonkey]

This is very spicy and herbally. It reminds me of freshly cut pine.

[pinkpoodle]

Alright, I'm usually into the earthier scents, but for some reason, this didn't work on my skin. It smelled earthy for sure, but in a "hippie in the woods" way, which I'm not so keen on. I smelled a lot of patchouli and wood (pine?) but not much else. I like it, but it's not exotic enough for my weird tastes. It's great if you're looking for a simple woody scent. If you're looking for woody with an "oomph" like me, then I would suggest something else like Black Forest.

[carolinachiquita]

I wasn't keen on this when I first put it on - It was too green and woodsy for me and quite overpowering. The scent faded quite quickly though and it mellowed down lots which made it bareable but just not me really!

[merebrillante]

In the vial: Evergreen, with something dark underneath it.

 

On the wrist: Gah! Formaldehyde!

 

Later: After a half hour, the formaldehyde scent fades, leaving in its place the deep evergreen scent I'd noticed before. Nearly four hours later, I can pick up the softer undertones others have noticed, but I'm not convinced it's rose. Feels more like a hint of lavender to me. At eleven hours, I can still smell it on my wrist, though it doesn't have a lot of throw.

 

This scent is like discovering Remus Lupin's hideout in the Forbidden Forest, a little burrow deep underneath the boughs of an ancient Scotch pine, and when you curl up under the blanket there, you find it still smells faintly of his aftershave.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: the lab tossed this in as a freebie in my order. it definitely smells like some kind of plant. i don't really like it.

on: interesting. spicy, pine-like, floral, and woodsy.

1 hour later: all woods.

3 hours later: still very woodsy.

overall: this just isn't for me.

[sookster]

deep, dark, smoky, bitter, smoldering ..... most definitely not pretty but

very fascinating to me......

after 30 minutes or so this warms up and i get a sense of something almost

winey or boozy......could this be cognac???

after even more time this warms up and melds with my chemistry to something

that may just warrant a big bottle order.......

[PurringPulsar]

Wolfsbane

 

In the imp: pine! Or is it juniper? Maybe a bit of both? it's an evergreen-herbal scent.

Wet on skin: it's not as sharply pine-y now, I get a hint of something darker and greener underneath-maybe something woody?

Dry on skin: mmm, this isn't too bad. It's along similar lines to Belladonna-one of those 'poisonous green' scents, but I think this one's a bit milder. I think this has vetiver in it, as well as pine and/or juniper, and possibly some cedar, because I get a hint of something woody and dry to this. That wood note may also be sandalwood? There may be the slightest hint of patchouli here but that could be my nose/skin being funny. I also get a very slight sweetness.

After a while: this scent has dried down to a pleasant, sweetened vetiver scent. It's a gentler and lighter vetiver than the one I got from Belladonna. There's also a sweet note in here that may or may not be floral. It's pleasantly smoky as well at this point. Someone mentioned it being like Lush's Cosmic Dreamcatcher and I agree, though it doesn't have the frankincense scent to it. I get no rose whatsoever from this.

Verdict: this is similar to Belladonna, because it has a pine/juniper beginning and a vetiver ending, but it's a lot less intense and dark, a bit sweeter and less 'toxic' in scent. It has a lighter vetiver note that is quite pleasant, it may also have some cedar/sandalwood as well as some evergreen notes, and also a sweetness which could be a soft floral. No roses though. I like it, but I'm not sure if it's me yet…but I do prefer it to Belladonna. It also bears a slight similarity to Cosmic Dreamcatcher. I think it would be nice on a guy…preferably one who looks like Remus Lupin in his Marauder days (though I'm more of a Sirius girl myself…)