The Other Mother's Right Hand

[Xue_Bai]

A scrabbling, skittering, clacking scent: white as bone, black as a beetle, and red as blood - orris root, vetiver, and daemonorops.

So, I accidentally fell in love with Bloodlust, but hadn't really experimented with either vetiver nor Dragon's Blood/daemonorops much outside of it. When I saw this scent appear, I HAD to at least try it.

In the Decant-So, this isn't vetiver heavy....or at least compared to the other things I have with it. With Bloodlust and [Redacted] Dragon, I can't pick out anything in the imp but BLEGH vetiver! But this...this is much calmer, with the Dragon's Blood and orris at the front and only a whiff of vetiver, which is a much more pleasant initial experience.

Wet-Much the same as the decant, but the vetiver initial stinky is even less present.

Drydown-The dragon's blood comes further forward, and the vetiver settles into a nice smokiness. It has a dry menacing feel to it, which when combined with the floral aspect of DB and the orris root really does fit the Other Mother. As it dries further, the florals settle down, and a wood aspect comes forward. It also gets this weird sweetness to it...well, more like the afterimage of sweet. It's feminine, with hints of once being lovely, but it's now dry and cold and sharp. And it changes a bit again, adding something muck like to the mix...yup, that's musk. The musk really grounds the whole thing, keeping the scent from being too...skittery? It's stays fairly close to my skin once dried, and I really like the scent through all of its phases, but it goes through them fast. It lasts close to the skin for quite a long time though, going sightly powdery and incense-y but manages to keep the menace.

Not necessarily what I thought it would be based off of the description, but still very Other Motherly. I quite like it! However, I'm going to have to wear it a few more times before deciding to buy a bottle or not.

[JazzieCazzie]

From a decant from the lovely TTP circle:

 

IN THE IMP: Slightly bitter (vetiver), medicinal and resinous (the DB, for me) and yet somehow a little creamy as well (orris?).

 

Dabbed on one wrist and in crook of arm.

 

WET: For perhaps the first time I was really able to recognize the vetiver and "get" it. It wasn't super strong on me and, on application, "bitter" is not the right word, really ... "pungent" might be a better description. It's not unpleasant, it's just odd. And it is definitely the overwhelming note when wet.

 

DRYDOWN: Much, much nicer for me as the dragon's blood comes out and that is a favorite note for me. On my wrist, I get the spicy medicinal quality I associate with DB with just a little bit of the vetiver's pungency.

 

OVERALL: This is very, very nice. I will end up putting it on my swap list when I update it simply because it's something that I suspect others will want to try and I have a LOT of great DB blends in my BPAL collection that I like more, but if someone said "you have to keep this and wear it" I wouldn't have a problem with that either.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 3.8 or so.

[zankoku_zen]

Bitter, brimstone and musky flowers. On wet, this smells more like the vetiver and then it dries to a dirty, bitter old lady white floral.

 

Only that kindly old lady that is knitting, you notice that her teeth are razor sharp and her knitting bones are made from human femurs.

 

Yeah, that's not your grandma sitting right there. Unless you're a denizen from hell, at which point, IT IS YOUR GRANDMA. (And my advice to you is, RUN BITCHES, RUN.)

[milo]

Mostly vetiver on me, and something cologney. My sniffie really is just a sniffie, it must have leaked, so this review may not be accurate. Whatever the case, not a big fan of wearing vetiver as perfume.

[lookingglass]

Oooooh-hooo-hooo-hooooo! This is good and SPOOKY smelling! I really do love orris: I often describe it as "scalpy"...smells like a head to me...kind of like a baby head, kind of like your lover's unwashed hair...HUMAN...creamy...somewhat disturbing, and very pale. It's center stage in this blend. I don't usually do vetiver, but it's used with a light hand here-just enough to drop the bass and more than a touch of startling darkness. The daemonorops, or dragon's blood, makes the blend slightly sweet (a scent kind of like a natural cherry incense), but undeniably sinister. I was wondering how this scent would capture the Other Mother's Hand without a metal note, but it WORKs. Dark scent lovers will dig this.

[zankoku_zen]

Review for the prototype: I find this darker than the released version. It's more of a vetiver and musk version. I get a hint of powderiness on the drydown. There's a spice in here that smells familiar, and it may be cardamom.

[Little Bird]

Right Hand starts off as a soft, powdery, lightly sweet orris, black smoke from the vetiver, and a floral dragon's blood.
The vetiver takes over in the drydown and it's a blackened, smoky vetiver with just a hint of the dragon's blood.
A simple, smoky fragrance.

[torikitty]

Ooh, I have a prototype lab bottle from a swapper. I'm glad that zankoku_zen noted both of her reviews because the imp that I smelled of this wasn't as smoky, either. I agree with the second review, but I seem to remember the imp smelling sweeter on me.

[LizziesLuck]

I have so many imps I need to test, I am going to try to get through 2 a night for a week! (That won't even put a dent in it, but it's a start.

 

Wet: Sweet orris and smoky vetiver, in equal measures. I don't really get the DB, but it is sweet and resinous. Not that floral, high pitched DB, at any rate. Mostly vetiver right now. Pleasant, but not something I want to wear. Going to post this now and update after dry because I have a feeling my power is going to go out (wind storm).

 

 

ETA, Dry: This dries somewhat strange. Still smoky, but also sort of..waxy? Plasticy? I don't know how to describe it. Strange. Not for me! Glad I got to try it though.

Edited May 5, 2018 by LizziesLuck

[AraliaShine]

Wet, there's some roughening from the vetiver and a hint of red resin from the dragon's blood, but that scurries off rather quickly

and I'm left with mainly orris. It's smooth, dusty, dry and feels slightly cool. Later on, I get hints of smoky earthiness from the vetiver

and an occasional incense vibe from the daemondrops, but (thankfully) no cherry. My skin must really be loving this orris,

because this is morphing into a slightly more sinister version of the Douglas Iris SN on me. (not that I'm complaining!)

It's warm out today so I'm going to go do some chores and see if a little heat brings out the other notes more.