Iron Phoenix

[greenranger]

IRON PHOENIX
Blood and fire: a magnetic metal that burns brightly and easily. Iron illustrates the metabolic process and the need to control primal, brutal urges without quelling the fire of passion.

Dragon's blood and dark, dense metal, black pepper, clove, red ginger, basil, and myrrh.

This smells like iron...

or possibly steel.

On my skin I can also smell the myrrh, but the myrrh loves me. It's a colder scent than I would have expected from the list of notes. I'm not getting warm spicy resin. I'm smelling metal. It's smooth, solid, dark, metal.

The images I am associating with this are steel swords. I have been to booths at the Ren Faire, or at SCA events where people are selling very nice swords and knives...or nice solid armor that someone actually pounded into shape. This isn't so much the scent of the heat and shaping, but, of the finished solid form. This is that gorgeous damascus blade as you handle it and test the wieght of it.

To be clear, I ordered this partly because I thought all those resins and spices would love my skin and I would love them back...and they do and I do. However...as a scent this is a really wonderful interpretation of a gorgeous piece of patterned, layered steel.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: This is fascinating and complex. I’m loving the red ginger, dragon’s blood, and myrrh combination here. The metal is a little odd in what is a surprisingly foody scent. Wet: Ah, there’s the pepper. The core scent combination remains dominant. The basil is understated but more assertive here. This may be the best use of ginger in a blend I’ve smelled. Dry: I really like the use of metal here. The spices and dragon’s blood persist, but soften, though the ginger stays prominent. It’s a little two like a perfume my Mother wore in the ‘70’s, but only a little. It nice enough, but not as stunning as it was at first.

[Invidiana]

This is a warm, spicy cocktail of dragon's blood. It starts off a little odd but dries down to this wonderful mix of dragon's blood with evident clove and ginger, and a sweet resinous background. The pepper must be adding that jolt of extra warmth, perfect for winter. Sexy and mysterious. A pleasant surprise!

Edited December 19, 2009 by Invidiana

[musichappens]

Hmmm ... I don't think I've ever smelt something like this before and I'm not sure what to make of it. I do detect the dragon's blood and something else making it a 'dark' scent (perhaps the dark, dense metal?). This is actually the only one of the phoenixes that even remotely remind me of its namesake. This is definitely a no-go for me because it's giving me a headache and making my nose extremely itchy.

[reynardine]

In bottle: I swear, it smells like metal.

 

Wet: spicy, resin blend. My nose wrinkled a bit.

 

Drydown: Oooh, it’s morphing, it’s morphing. Sweeter elements are coming out now.

 

Later: Dragon’s blood with a LOT of spicyness to it. Too spicy for my tastes, though. I prefer sweeter scents.

 

Also, something in it is making my eyes water?

[mparker]

Wonderful! This starts out thick, the notes hard to distinguish. It somehow smells metallic without having the sharp "department store perfume" ozone smell most of the metallics have to my nose, which, to my delight, all three of these Phoenixes I've tried have all managed. It's a dark, subdued metallic here, more the color of metal than the shine.

 

The first note I can pick out wet, and it stays vibrant all through the life of the scent, and that's the clove. It's almost christmas-candy clove, slightly sugar-dusted, and light in character (not in potency), but the other notes keep it from feeling candylike once they appear. It doesn't hit me as strong or as spicy as BPAL clove usually does. As the scent settles in I get the ginger, and again it's not as spicy or as strong as I usually get from BPAL, this is more like fresh ginger juice than spicy powdered ginger. It's a lot less "funky" lab-fresh than the red ginger in Saw Scaled Viper, so it doesn't need aging time to calm down. As it dries down, more of the scents come in, now the basil is recognizable. Basil is an odd scent and to me can, in addition to its herbally green quality, have just a tinge of an almost licorice-herb like note, a deep, dark, earthy very round scent, and it really helps give this blend weight. I think that most of the metallic sense I get from this is from the dark basil and the dragon's blood. After a while I think I catch flashes of pepper, though to me it smells almost like pink pepper rather than black, possibly because it's elusive and I find pink pepper usually does the peek-a-boo think he black pepper is doing here. I would swear that this one has a hint of skin musk in it. As it fades I catch what smells to me like clean but delightfully flushed skin.

 

This has a lot of foody notes, but to me this isn't foody at all. It's unique and mysterious, but strong and steady. It's resiny and gritty and smooth all at once. Of the three Phoenixes I've tried this anniversary (Copper, Iron and Lead) I think this is the most wearable for my skintype; Copper is stunningly beautiful but fleeting, Lead is gorgeous but maybe too distinctive and heavy for daily wear. Iron is juuuuust right.

 

 

[Leopard403]

I can't even skin-test this one. In my sniffie, all I get is old blood and rust and it hits my nose in a wave of hot scent that made my gorge rise. Not for me, this one.

[patina]

The imp smell is uninviting, but applied, it turns sweet. Ginger comes out and predominates. I'm reminded of Bloody Marys (the drink, not the scent.) That is, if you made bloody marys with dragon's blood and basil instead of tomato juice and myrrh in place of woustershire. (Yes, I may be crazy.)

It's warm, but I'd have to try it a while to see if I want a bottle of this.

Edited December 25, 2009 by patina

[riflmom]

All the notes in this (except the dark, dense metal) should mean win for me, but all I get is dark rust. And sour.

I waited an hour before finally giving up and washing it off.

 

Maybe it will age? I'll try again in a month or so...

[kawaiiferreto]

Sometimes ginger likes me (Shub!) Sometimes ginger makes me want to vomit. This is a case of the latter, unfortunately. I don't know if it's how the ginger is playing with the other notes, or if red ginger just tends to go bad on me (War...), but EWWWWWWWWW. Sweetly nauseating ginger. I couldn't really pick out anything else. I did put myself through the torture of letting this dry, and it didn't morph into anything new, a plus if you like the scent I suppose!

[angelicruin]

On my skin, this is sharp, VERY sharp. Definitely picking up the metal, bitter blood, clove, and myrrh. I had tried to let this settle a couple weeks before giving up on it, but I think it might just be too much for my chemistry. It softens a little on dry down, but not enough for my tastes.

[Dark Alice]

This just smells off. It smells like a metal pipe with sticky fresh blood rolled in basil. Do. NOT. WANT! Going to wash off now this disturbs me only on the olfactory level, but it invokes images of violence, pain, and blood as I sniff it.

[astarinel]

I tried this one on my boyfriend, not me, as the imp scanned a little too dark and manly for my taste.

 

It was kind of too dark and thick for his taste, as well -- a very dark metallic spiced with pepper and ginger. It's warm and heavy, almost bitter as it dries.

[edenssixthday]

Iron Phoenix - In the bottle, the red ginger is so strong and biting that it just smelled awful to me and I really thought I was going to hate this blend. It didn't smell much better when I put it on my skin, either. However, once it dried down on my skin, I was absolutely bowled over by what a beautiful fragrance it turned into. I had to double-check that I had put on my skin what I thought I'd put on it. When it dries down on my skin, the myrrh becomes the dominant note, backed up by the pepper and metal. The dragon's blood is barely discernible, but gives this scent a hint of sexy sweetness, and the clove is also barely there, but along with the now-subtle ginger, it spices up the scent. I'm completely blown away by how this one changed on me between the wet phase and the drydown. I was so appalled by the fragrance in the bottle that I was tempted to not even try it on my skin, but I am so glad I did because it's true love.

[veronicafranco]

two-word review: post-apocalyptic clemence!

 

wow. from reviews, i thought this would be an immediate scrubber-offer sort of blend, but it's actually pretty cool. wet, the spices/herbs and myrrh are delicious and i can detect each one. almost immediately, the dragon's blood shows up, but usually it kills everything else in a blend for me - here, everything else is pretty bad@$$ and keeps the dragon's blood in check for once. as it dries, the dark metallic tang becomes more and more prominent. i can safely say that is the weirdest thing i've smelled in a perfume so far - and weirdly true to the real smell of metal.

 

i'm not going to wear it to work or anything, but if i ever need to smell extremely extremely extremely tough yet still beautiful, this would be the blend. (well, actually, there are days i wish that was me at work. hmm.)

[surlygurl]

This was the scent I thought would be the big loser, the OMG-get-it-off-me! scent. Boy was I wrong!

 

On my skin the dragon's blood shows up, but a cowed & humbled dragon's blood in the company of Big Ginger. Myrrh sweetens this right up. Sweet clove cozies up to the ginger, pushing the dragon's blood even further in the background. (I have a hate/hate relationship with DB, so I'm obsessing). On drydown the basil pokes through, lending some dark green into the swirls of red & brown.

 

I love this.

 

eta: on extreme drydown it gets quite sweet from the dragon's blood. I prefer the earlier stages, but I still love it.

Edited January 8, 2010 by surlygurl

[hlinspjalda]

In the bottle: Red ginger, mostly, and a dark metallic note.

 

Wet: Alas, I get the red ginger note a lot. That's usually a death note for me. But the metal, myrrh, and other spices are fighting for control too.

 

Half an hour: Wow, that's hard to describe. Definitely dark metal is the first thing I get, then there's a complex mixture of spices with a dominant note I just plain don't recognize. It is dark like star anise or licorice, maybe. There's also resin. I am amazed the red ginger has not totally destroyed this scent for me, as it has in the other scents I've tried with red ginger in them.

 

One hour: Still a very anise-y or licorice vibe to this, but dark, with metal and black pepper. Still can make out the red ginger, which is barely held in check by the stronger notes.

 

Two hours: Very strong dark anise or licorice note now. There's something cheerful and sweet in there, too, like maybe a red fruit note, although it's utterly surrounded by stronger, darker notes. This one is so very intriguing, and for something I feared would crash and burn on me it's really turning into something special.

 

Three hours: Very heavy dark anise-like note. I'm not getting the dragon's blood at all, which is surprising on my skin. This really smells very little like I imagined it would, but it also works better than I expected it to on my skin. It is definitely combative and aggressive, but it doesn't reach out and punch you in the nose.

 

Four hours: Still that dark note, followed by spices, with a sort of dull metallic background. Now it smells like iron, somehow.

 

This is very different from the Iron Phoenix prototype that I tested.

 

[milo]

This one is very difficult to describe. Wet, I get DBR, which usually doesn't work for me, but it definitely seems to be behaving here. Dry, I keep getting whiffs of a beautiful, spicy, musky, slightly metallic blend, that is actually quite amazing on me. When I bring my wrist to my nose, however, it is a harsh ginger and iron. Really, though it sounds crazy, the scent around me is so beautiful, as long as I don't bring my wrist to my nose. I've never had a bpal oil (or anything else for that matter) do this to me. This is a surprise win for me, and I can't believe this is yet (another) bottle worthy Phoeni. This would be 4, and I still have one to test.

 

OK, I just can't get over the metal red ginger, and though I get wafts of wonderfulness , Red Ginger just is too biting for me. I still may hunt down a decant, as this was just a sniffie, but I don't think a bottle is in my future.

Edited January 12, 2010 by milo

[Little Bird]

Iron Phoenix is my least favorite of this year's Phoenix blends. It smells all mismatched and wrong on me.

 

In the bottle, this smells like menthol and bitter spice. On my skin, it smells like menthol-y juniper (no clue where that smell is coming from), red cough syrup, and a dark, herbal spiciness. I also get a hint of what smells like dry cedar in the drydown. This blend smells like it should be in a medicine cabinet.

 

Iron Phoenix is too dark, medicinal, and bitter for me.

[Roogna]

on me it's much too sweet. Normally Dragon's Blood works well on me, but this one came on super strong and sweet wet

several hourse later it's light a very light perfume with a hint of something darker and metallic

 

 

btw - what color liquid is it? I got mine as a decant and I was expecting it to be more red as it as dragon's blood...but it's not

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

Decant: oil and metal.

Wet on Me: motor oil and metal and ozone

Drying Down: as this dries the motor oil fades and a spicy note shows up. The clove and Ginger blending perhaps? Or the Dragon's blood?

Dry: the ozone fades, the metalscales back a bit and I get a strong and heavy spicy dragons blood drying on metal.

Need to comapre this against the prototype that I have.

[nekogrrl]

This is an amazing perfume.

 

Wet I very much get the sense of a smith standing at his forge quenching an iron sword in water. I can literally almost taste the metallic bite. (No, I'm not licking the perfume. I lick toads instead.)

 

As it dries, it never really loses that metallic edge. The blood fades a little bit, but in general this doesn't morph very much. This is very masculine, and I'd love to test it out on my husband.

[indybear]

Sometimes ginger likes me (Shub!) Sometimes ginger makes me want to vomit. This is a case of the latter, unfortunately. I don't know if it's how the ginger is playing with the other notes, or if red ginger just tends to go bad on me (War...), but EWWWWWWWWW. Sweetly nauseating ginger. I couldn't really pick out anything else. I did put myself through the torture of letting this dry, and it didn't morph into anything new, a plus if you like the scent I suppose!

The same thing happened to me, and I am hugely disappointed. Almost all these notes should work well on me, and dragon's blood is one of my favorite notes. But when I put it on, the ginger amped out of control. I hung on and waited for it to dry and hopefully morph, but it never did. I ended up having to scrub it off.

 

Sadly, I think red ginger may be on my avoid list.

[changeling]

In the bottle: Spicy. An eye-opening, biting ginger tang that hits the back of my throat.

 

Wet: Very metallic. I know the spice is there, but the effect is metal and blood, so strong I keep swallowing, trying to wash out the taste.

 

Dry: Iron Phoenix stayed strong for a long time through multiple washes. It remained primarily a rust-metal-blood scent. I know that doesn't sound appealing, but oddly enough, it is. I doubt I will keep the bottle, though. The associated imagery is--not good for me. Such is life.

[zankoku_zen]

For me, my skin brings out all the elements from Iron Phoenix that I wish sort of stayed away. I get a basically spicy (touch of clove but not enough for my tastes, slight pepper on the aftertaste), sweetly resinous (hello myrrh!) DRAGON'S BLOOD.

 

Where is the ginger? The metal? Basil!??

 

Yeah, this blend did not work out for me.