Chaos Theory V: Recursive Self Similarity v4

[lookingglass]

V4

 

A dream come true: Snake Oil with wistful violets and powdery orris! I would expect such a thing to be heavy like La Befana, but it is much lighter and flowery with less sweetness. I have been mixing my various violety BPALs with SO (Raven, Saraglio, Violet Ray), but this is so much more soft and lovely. It feels more like Antique Lace, but with a dark musk. Oh, god... Love, love, love!

Edited June 18, 2009 by lookingglass

[jewelbug]

CCCLIX:

 

Bottle: snake oily, of course, but also something herbal here. The herbal note reminds me of LUSH's henna hair dye a bit. In addition to that, there is a nutty/fruity mix, kinda like what I remember Freak Show smelling like...

 

Wet: Immediately on, this goes kinda powdery (snake oil did this on me, too), but the powder calms down quickly. There is also quite a hefty dose of vanilla a la Dragon's Milk, maybe even some dragon's blood in here. That henna-ish herbal note is understated on my skin.

 

Drying, I feel a bit of spice to this, maybe some anise? I would describe it as an anise-y, walnutty, musky Dragon's Milk. There seems to be a hint of smokiness, too.

 

Late Dry (like 7.5 hrs): A semi-powdery, but still rich, amber with hints of vanilla and a honeyed chocolate vibe.

 

Overall: A fun adventure. I feel like there is a note in this that is on the tip of my brain, but I just can't think of it. I think I'll have to wear this more often to tease it out completely. It'll come to me (I hope!)! Like it!

 

 

[myth]

CXLVII

This smells pretty much exactly like Antikythera Mechanism, which I tried really hard to love because the notes sounded perfect for me, but finally got rid of. There's that odd astringent and almost soapy note that AM had, that wavers to tobacco, and back to almost-soap, and I'm never quite sure what to make of it.

 

So, Antikythera Mechanism and Snake Oil

[Ajila]

CLXXV - 175

 

In the bottle - My first thought was candied berries with an almost menthol undertone

 

Wet on me - There's still something berryish, but it's overpowered by the rubbery 'fresh' scent of snake oil, this may need to be aged a little to calm that down

 

Dry on me - It dries down into a classic snake oil vanilla

 

Overall - I think I'll try this again after it's had chance to age, but at the moment it dries down into pure snake oil

[Little Bird]

I got this bottle in a swap. The numbers are rubbed off & smudged, but I think it says CCXXXII or maybe just CCXXX with some smudging :/

 

In the bottle, this smells a lot like Eat Me mixed with Snake Oil. I get a strong vanilla cake note, a bit of sweet, dark fruitiness and the incensey Snake Oil.

 

On my skin at first, this smells like musky, incensey Snake Oil + foodie vanilla. As this dries down, this smells like musky baked goods (kinda reminds me of peanut butter cookies) with lashings of vanilla, and an overall dark feel from the Snake Oil.

Edited March 31, 2010 by Little Bird

[Muppetk]

CDLVI

 

Oh happy! My first impression of this is Snake Oil plus cactus and a subtle hint of baking spice and some general... lightly sweet furriness. Furriness is a quality I tend to associate with basenotes, especially musk & oakmoss. Yes, it's a very silly description.

 

Then I read the other review for this bottle and I can see how apple & clove make more *sense* than cactus plus "spice", but it just felt greener and juicier than apple to me. Maybe my chemistry is odd? Anyhow, it's not a *foody* scent and it is deep and just slightly sweet which means, ME LIKEY ME KEEPY ME HAVE BOTTLE FILLED TO BRIM SO THERE, so this review does no one any good except for being a learning experience in how my Nose is Weird. The other review also says tobacco & dark musk and I think THOSE are entirely possible, but subtly. Hmm... as it dries further, I can see the apple resemblance a bit more...

 

So the note total is feeling desert-exotic: SO + cactus + apple + tobacco + spice + musk. Nice. Am inclined to agree with the other reviewer on it not lasting long, but I'll happily reapply this. Then again, it *seems* to not last long, as I don't smell as much close by my arm, but as I sit & type, it's wafting up to me. ME HAPPY!!

 

EDIT: updated to say that a little later, it seems like there's a slight wine note. The combination is reminding me of Beth's Aztec and/or Mexican blends, only fortified by snake oil. This is an awesome thing. (It's also making me thing that layering regular SO with CentoinT~~(something) could be pretty nifty.)

 

But this is the first Chaos I've tried from CTV and I'm so damn happy with it. I have one more to try. If I like it anywhere near as much, I may have to hunt down all I can get.

Edited August 13, 2009 by Muppetk

[Muppetk]

CDXXV

 

Huh. Not sure what to make of this.

 

Wet: SO + something cologne-y, like an ingredient I might know from an aftershave. It's not rosewood - which always goes OMG I'M A GUY on me in a similar way but deeper, plus something powdery - I think like the more femme amber from brisingamen.

 

Drying: holding pretty steady. Femme Amber slightly stronger, but the odd MEN's shaving-cream note still going strong. Sigh. I have a feeling this is something that's not going to settle down now, but may age out in a year or so. Several of the snake pits had a note that did something similar - was louder than the rest, but settled into the blend as a whole after a while to make it really nice. I think it was banded sea snake that did something similar with oakmoss where the oakmoss was obnoxiously loud at first, but after a year or two became something FABULOUS.

 

Dry: (Men's) Shaving cream note tames a little, but not enough. Though what's underneath it makes me think I need to hold onto this, and that it'll be wonderful in a year or so.

 

[obsidienne]

It only took me months, but I finally decided to sit down and write out my impressions of the four (4!) SO CT5s I ordered (too much!). None of them screamed SNAKE OIL, they just had varying amounts of Snake Oil background.

 

All of the silver writing rubbed off within 5 minutes of me getting these, so I marked them 1-4 with those stickers you put on the top of the lid:

 

1) Light Snake Oil with well balanced additions of things that make me think of: pale musk, a mellow & subtle floral, light almost peach-esque fruitiness, slightly (very slightly) salty element (maybe it's ambergris?), and vanilla. Overall it seems rounded, golden, and sweet. It gets nicer and nicer as it dries down.

 

 

2) Light Snake Oil with a slightly resinous aspect to it -- perhaps frankincense or myrrh or some other soft, slightly sweet resin? I have never smelled those scents on their own, just in other blends, so this is truly a guess! Overall, a little bit furry and warm. Soft & lovely, close to the skin. Maybe that smell could be partly heliotrope. I get a slightly Snake Oil-spiced vanilla ice cream vibe after a few hours. The bottle was totally overfull, too.

 

 

3) Another light Snake Oil with something vaguely reminiscent of one of the notes in Morocco (which I love) -- whatever it is, it is something that can cause an allergic reaction, because this does cause my skin to burn, if only a very little bit... really, I have no idea what it is. Huh. (I don't think it's cinnamon -- a common irritant -- because I would probably be able to smell that!)

 

The whole blend is quite pretty, but it's also faint and soft to me, especially compared to my other CT5s (I'm testing all four at once), although two of my coworkers and my boyfriend seem to have no problem smelling it. My nose is often blind to certain scents. I don't think I can keep this one. Overfull bottle!

 

 

4)The first time I smelled this I thought, "Drinking root beer down the road from a small pine forest." But on second try, I have to scrap the root beer concept and rethink. This is more of a purple and green version of a light Snake Oil! Faint hints of perhaps pine boughs or juniper or perhaps multiple deep green elements, with something purple, like plum or something else that is dark and fruity. Maybe a touch of dark musk.... something in the green elements or an added touch of spice gives this the finish. My favourite (if the weirdest) of the Chaos Theories! Also another awesomely overfull-stuffed-with-perfume bottle.

 

 

*edited because I can't stick to just one interpretation of any of these blends!

Edited August 15, 2009 by obsidienne

[milo]

A lovely frimp from a forumite. DXXXIV (?) Hmm, this is a Snake Oil, fruity combination of the pear variety, I think. This really reminds me of Coral Snake, but with pear instead of apple. It also has a different spice, not as strong as cinnamon that I can't identify, not ginger, aargh! Anyways, it is very nice, quite scary at first, (sickly sweet fruit), but dries down to a beautiful spicy vanilla pear.

Edited August 23, 2009 by milo

[Muppetk]

CIX: Snake Oil base, on top of which I got honey or skin musk while wet, with something delicately leafy and green in the drydown stages to finish at a pleasant plummy fruitiness that hasn't gone bad on my skin. Hooray for fruit that doesn't go overripe! It reminds me of one of the Odes - Makhanitis.

 

CIX:

 

Definitely not honey. My skin amps honey like nobody's business. Funny, on me, I barely get any snake oil from this one, but a lovely, light plum w/foliage scent with an underlying something sweet, I think a skin musk. (The note reminds me of something I've smelled in La Petite Mort, and in there it's described as "warm damp skin".) I wonder if the oil separated slightly before being decanted in the circle since I've got almost no snake scent at all (it only barely starts to emerge 20 minutes in) & the oil color itself is slightly lighter than my other SO chaoses. I may actually layer this one with some regular snake oil, because it is quite lovely. It's also far lighter and more delicate a scent than I would ever have presumed to expect from Snake Oil.

 

And oh yeah, definitely a keeper.

 

CLIII Ginger Snake! Definitely got the spicy playfulness of ginger, with what I think is a creamy copal dry down, mixed of course with the spicy smoothness of Snake Oil. What a keeper!

 

CLIII:

 

This one is Very Snakey. Like 90-95% snake oil. I think aedes was right on with the notes. I think it has some ginger, but I can only say for sure because of the faint burning the back of my nose feel to it, though no lemonyness though so perhaps it's black pepper? And there's something sweet/smooth incense in there, definitely not frankincese... copal is a believable description! But it's hard for me to tell over all the snake.This one is definitely yummy, but not terribly different from SO itself. Though I could be confused, my "regular wearing" SO is about 4 years old, so I think my sense of SO is warped. I'll try it other times of the month to see if it brings out the other notes more.

Edited August 23, 2009 by Muppetk

[topazphoenix]

I have never tried a Chaos Theory before but thank you!! to the lovely forumite who frottled me this.

 

The bottle is very very full. I have never seen a 5 ml this full.

 

In the bottle and wet on my skin it's whoa bananas and pink bubblegum! The kind of bubblegum that is individually wrapped and when you take it out it still has a dusting of powdered sugar..ok now it's drying and toning down the sweetness...now it smells kind of spicey and earthy but still sugary, like figs perhaps..and cinnamon..there might be a tiny tiny bit of Snake Oil underlying it all but I can't be certain..now it's kind of dried to rich vanilla-y cinnamon gingersnaps with a bit of lingering bubblegum. This oil is totally confusing and appropriately chaotic! I did not like it in the bottle but once it dries it's actually pretty delicious.

[Venneh]

LXXV

 

I got frimped this in an order by an amazingly generous LJer. I'm eager to see how this turns out, as this is my first experience with the Chaos Theory series. In the decant, it looks like SO, and I think I'm getting... lemon? Marigold? It's a really sharp sort of smell, plays off the medicinalness that I get with SO in the imp. On my skin, I'm getting a sharper, greener scent, like the stem of a flower fresh after you pick it, almost borderline cologne. It keeps morphing between that greenish scent and cologne on me; not a lot of SO here. I think I'm going to put this up for swap, as there's probably someone who'll want this more.

Edited November 8, 2009 by Venneh

[Gwydion]

XCIX

 

In Bottle: A lot of musk and imcense. Strangely sweet and beautifully complex. The vanilla lifts and enhances the incense. Wet: The snake oil really comes out. I was expecting this to be too much musk, given my skin chemistry, but it isn’t. somehow, it is softened and modified by the snake oil an incense. I think there may be a hint of mint, but not enough to cause skin reaction. I can’t stop sniffing this; the various elements keep shifting in relation to each other. This is beautifully blended. The dark sexy bottom glides seemlessly upward to the heights of the incense blends. Dry: The musk comes back out, but stays just within the strength I can wear. It still retains a lovely tree oil/vanilla/incense combo, though it’s really all about the musk and snake oil at this point.

Edited November 15, 2009 by Gwydion

[donnatron]

Chaos Theory V: CXVIX

 

Imp: Like if Snake Oil and TKO had a baby but lavender was a recessive gene. It's very orchid-y is what I'm saying.

 

Wet: Super orchid-y. Lots and lots of Snake Oil and orchid and then? Lemon drops. Dusty lemon drops and Snake Oil.

 

Dry: Okay, so, throw-wise, this is gorgeous. A soft, velvety, almost mashmallow-y orchid and Snake Oil blend. The close-to-the-skin sniff test reveals an acrid, sour lemon smell that is seriously gross. So long as my nose is three or four inches from my skin I'm sitting pretty.

 

Throw: Vast and glorious. It's the up close scent that I have to worry about.

 

Overall: It is always such a relief to not like chaos theory scents, especially when they're in imp form.

[donnatron]

Hey there, me! I guess not a lot of Chaos Theory testing has been going on in the last month or so.

 

Chaos Theory V: CCCVI

 

Imp: Strong and green. Definitely fir here and maybe a bit of pine pitch. I think there's cypress but if there is, it's minimal.

 

Wet: Fir. So much fir! Luckily I love fir so I'm excited about this. I can smell a faint hint of the Snake Oil in the background but it is good and buried there. I'd pin these notes down as fir, juniper and pine. Not pine pitch, which I generally find a bit sweeter, more of a pine needle/barker scent.

 

Dry: The Snake Oil sweetens up the blend considerably but still isn't really noticeable as Snake Oil. This is primarily a fir scent with a bit of a bolstering from the underlying sweetness of the Snake Oil. There is also a hint more patchouli to this than I normally smell in Snake Oil. It's a soft, woodsy sort of scent with the addition of the more lascivious Snake Oil.

 

Throw: Moderate.

 

Overall: I really like this but I also have a feeling I can replicate it more to my Snake-Oil-to-fir ratio preferences with something like Hexennacht or Thanatopsis. It's a lovely scent and I love it and will enjoy the imp. Thankfully it's not the bestest ever scent I've ever smelled because I'd probably not be psyched at all if my holy grail scent was an entirely unreplicable Chaos Theory imp.

[metaldog32]

This is going to be my 200th review..wow..

 

Chaos Theory V-Recursive Self Similarityv4-“Snake Oil”Series

 

CCXCIV-294

 

I have never tried the legendary Snake Oil but I have tried some Vipers so I think I have a general idea of what to look for.

 

Again..I bought this back when CT was live..so it’s aged at least a year.

 

Initial sniff from bottle: Snake Oil..and I whiff deeply I think I smell some sort of fruit..maybe some red musk???

 

Applied wet on skin: Snake Oil and something fruity..I keep thinking it’s a red fruit or maybe something akin to melon..but I can’t be sure. I also think I’m getting some red musk but again..I can’t be sure.

 

Couple of minutes on skin:-Not so much the fruity accord but SO with I think red musk. I also think I’m getting some sort of floral..perhaps chrysanthemum? I like it.

 

Half an hour later- It’s still now just muted SO with traces of the mum and red musk. This blend kind of mimicked to a degree Bien Loin D’Ici and Mum Moon..so I’m thinking that perhaps this does have either red musk or opium or the mums in here..beating under the SO.

 

Spicy floral with red musk/fruit under a layer of SO..that’s where I’m going with this…

 

I’m wracking my brain…because I can’t seem to think what exactly this reminds me of..when BAM …I think I got it.

 

In the beginning I think my CT is like Warrior Queen Semiramis but with SO.

 

WOW.

 

Reason? I actually have a bottle of this WQ and I remember dabbing some on last year; the pomegranate and juicy melon counterbalanced the assertive musk I remember..and that is what slammed into my head while I walked around my apt trying to figure out what this CT reminded me of..

 

Dry--It’s all just the vanilla/resin/spicy sweetness of SO muted into my skin now..

 

Lasting power clocks in about 4+hours with throw moderate.

 

Bottom Line: Since I don’t own an actual bottle of Snake Oil this reiteration of the aforementioned kind of fits my niche. It started off a bit sexy and pulsing with fruit and musk but in the end it was closer to it’s original manifestation. I think it would work well in late summer through winter.

 

[reynardine]

CTV: CLXIV

 

Someone frimped me this, so I figured I’d try it. Normally, Snake Oil and I don’t really get along, but hey, I’m willing to give it a try. This has almost a cake scent to it? Very fresh, light, almost tea? I like it, will certainly finish off this imp!

[milo]

A lovely frimp from a forumite! DCCXXXII

 

This really just smells like aged Snake Oil to me, (which it is, I guess!) It may be a bit "tamer" on the musk, though. In the imp, I get a bit more spice, but I can't identify it. Maybe ginger? At any rate, it doesn't show up on my skin. Like most Snakes, Chaos V's and Snake Oil alone, I love this, and will most certainly use it up.

[voodoocatwoman]

CLI

 

Whoa. If you ever wondered what old Band-Aid smoldering and about to catch fire smells like, my imp is IT.

[voodoocatwoman]

IV

 

Lovely, wonderful, beautiful aged Snake Oil.

[surf-tormented]

CCCLV:

 

It smells a bit grassy and floral with a sort of honey tea note. It's very sweet on me!

 

Oh, here comes the cinnamon. Now it's very sweet spicy honey tea.

 

It is definitely for the food lover.

[voodoocatwoman]

CXVI

 

Holy hell did I get a good one. It smells like spun sugar, like cotton candy freshly made.

[loubric]

Chaos Theory – Snake Oil Blend – CCC XV III

 

In the bottle it smells like a mixture of Snake Oil, honey, melon, honeysuckle and a meadow of wild flowers.

On me? Sweet melon & honeysuckle goodness. Oh my this is fruity goodness. This smells exactly as if I was sitting amongst honeysuckles and melons with the herby essence of the leaves coming through. Hints of vanilla keep popping up too. Gorgeous!

[milo]

CCXXII Purchased off of E-Bay. In the bottle, some kind of evergreen. On, the same thing, but with something dusty, some kind of berry, and maybe a bit of leather. This is very much like walking in a icy pine forest, with winter berries frozen underneath, and a bit of leather from the jacket you are wearing. I don't get any Snake Oil, but maybe everything else is drowning the poor snake out. It is strong, and a little dab'll do for next time, (if there is one), as I just find this blend a bit too much, and without the Snake Oil (on me), this Chaos just doesn't make the cut.

[Honey]

DCCXL

Opening the bottle, I get a very strong Snake Oil scent: spicy vanilla, rather aged than fresh SO (rather deep and strong than light or sharp). The funny thing is, I received this bottle in a swap from another forumite who had gotten a fruity note with the Snake Oil, something like pear. I therefore expected something like The Vine or The Perilous Parlor, but what I smelled was completely different - yet interesting!

 

So hard t describe what I smell! I do think this is a very masculine blend or unisex at least. I want to say that I smell spices: turmeric or even a dash or cumin. Soft, creamy and savory. This blend is mostly spicy/woodsy and vanilla. Blonde wood comes to my mind as possible component. But there is also something soapy about this scent (maybe that's what I also detect as "creamy"). When I compare this to some pumpkin blends that turned out to be rather savory (The Changeling or Pumpkin I 2008) this fits about into the same or at least a similar category. Maybe there COULD be something fruity in it after all - persimmon perhaps? Also some very mild resins, but that's just guessing!

 

I would recommend this blend to anyone who is looking for something unisex/masculine that is based on a soft & sweet Snake Oil with underlying spicy/savory/woodsy notes.

 

Fun to test this, but I guess I'll try to swap this for another CT blend.

 

 

ETA: Now I KNOW what this slightly sweet yet fruity/woodsy note is - acacia! Just think of Good from the RPG series with Snake Oil! It has this sweet/dry/powdery/woodsy/spicy appeal to it! Yay, note identified!

Edited May 27, 2012 by Honey