Dorian

[alicia_stardust]

Inspired by and created for my beloved Tedwin: my eternal, beautiful, wicked Dorian Gray. Refined, elegant, and lovely, with a noble bearing and seemingly gentle air. This blend is an artful deception: a sweet gilded blossom lying over a twisted and corrupted core. A Victorian fougere with three pale musks and dark, sugared vanilla tea.

I tried Dorian almost two years ago, but even though I liked it in the bottle I could not wear it. My skin chemistry made the scent go far too candy sweet tea. HOWEVER...

I recently read The Picture of Dorian Grey and after reading it I was tempted to retest the perfume. Though it still smells a little off with my skin chemistry, it is PERFECT on my husband. It is the most gentlemanly, sweet vanilla tea scent. And yet behind that facade is a dark and salacious undercurrent. The two contrast in a way that just sends shivers of excitement up my spine. It's an incredibly sexy scent on my consort. Of all the BPAL he wears, Dorian is in the top three.

[policyoftruth]

In the imp- Something sweet, and lavender

Wet- I can smell the tea now. With sugar and milk, mmm.

Dry- I put Dorian all over myself this morning, and from what I remember, sniffing my wrist was like putting my nose to a cooling cup of good tea, with a mix of lavender and something else I can't put my finger on. Or rather, nose

 

I've worn it since almost 9 this morning (7:30 PM now) and I can still smell it faintly. My sister was next to me in class today and said she could smell it really well, but not in an overpowering way. That's a good sign, since the last time I made her sniff it, she said it smelled like "old man"

 

Wearing Dorian makes me feel pretty It's one of my favorites so far, and a big bottle is on my Christmas list now.

Edited October 10, 2007 by policyoftruth

[fireflower]

In the imp: Right off the bat, this smells very promising. I can smell the tea. It's very dark, and definitely sexy.

 

First applied: Just... guh. I love it. Straight away, I love it. I put it on my knee when I first applied because I was trying all of my order of imps at once, and for the longest time while I was on the computer, I had my nose to my knee and was hugging it. Out of all the scents I had on my body, I paid most attention to this one. I just love this smell. I can pick out the tea, but it's not like smelling any kind of tea straight out of the cup. It's like tea with sex underneath it, LOL. This has been my favorite of the 9 imps I got.

 

Drydown: I applied this stuff about three hours ago and I can still smell it. It's morphed a little bit. Somehow it went from being pretty gender-neutral to leaning more towards the masculine side, though I can't exactly put it in words why. Still, I would have no problem wearing this quite often. But if a guy happened to be wearing this, I would have to muster up a lot of strength not to pounce on him. Screw Axe.. guys should wear this.

 

This is a 9.5 out of 10. My mom and my brother's girlfriend told me they liked it, too, and it's hard to get them to like the same stuff that I like. Getting a big bottle.. no doubt about that.

Edited October 16, 2007 by Queen Mab

[circeramone]

The description of Dorian begins The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

True, but you know what happens when you yield to temptation? You end up dead and in whatever personal Hell you have chosen for yourself.

 

I am one of those freaks that Dorian hates, and he is taking it way too personally.

 

Dorian on me is not the lovely not-too-overpowering-sexy scent that everyone else seems to get. Dorian on me morphs into this awful funk of musky-sweet-baby powder, and it's really quite stomach churning. This isn't sexy seductive Dorian Gray, the champion of hedonism...on me, it's the nasty ancient rotting Crypt-Keeper Dorian Gray in the portrait.

 

Bummer.

[YoakeNoKami]

Bottle: Bought unsniffed based on the lovely reviews... and it's tea with sugar and the faintest hint of lemon and cream in the bottle. Totally delicious!

 

On/wet: The sugar fades a bit, and so I've got lovely, creamy, herb/lemon tea. It reminds me a bit of earl gray, with a bit of lemon, only with a more sneakingly herbal scent.

 

Drydown: *drools* Okay, this is one of the ones I might someday have to stockpile. It's got some of the sugar back, and it's got this creamy herb, lemon, quietly dark kind of hint to it. On the surface, it's a straightforward kind of tea scent, but as you begin to really get into the depth of the scent, it really is a very dark, seductively smooth scent. I'm not entirely certain that the drydown on me with this is my absolute favorite... but... how should I say? I haven't really been wearing it, but my favorite bathrobe and my pillow smell of it, always! It makes me feel... heehee... dangerous, somehow.

[Fishwomon]

No review but Andrabell's (the first one in this thread) is needed, to be sure. She captures Dorian perfectly. But, in the interest of science...

 

Actually, the first time I smelled Dorian, I didn't particularly care for it. It smelled like baby powder on me. Meh.

 

Then I let the imp sit around for a year and tried it again. I don't know if this is an aging issue (the oils, not me) or a matter of my tastes changing, but when I tried Dorian again a couple of months ago, I fell in deep, fast love. I don't really smell any tea, and I definitely don't get lemon. I get vanilla and musk, but while that could be powdery or girlish, it's not. It's transcendent. It smells like skin and sex. Not sophisticated and slightly dangerous sex, but passionate, fresh, enthusiastic, flushed-skin-and-bright-eyes sex.

 

A must have.

[pinkpepper]

I've had this a while - about a year, I think. The first few times I tried it, it smelled precisely (and very strongly) like wet dog. Evil Wet Dog. And it would. not. come. off. No matter how much soap I slathered over it, no matter how hard I scrubbed. But it smelled amazing in the bottle! Errrgh. So, I tried one more time today in the vain hopes it would be better (yes, and no), so here's that.

 

In the bottle: Oh, gorgeous. Florals and tea with milk. Mmmmmm.

 

Wet on skin: Just like in the bottle! Yay!

 

Dry on skin: Some smoky, twisted version of what it was when wet. But that makes sense doesn't it? This is Dorian, after all. Still a little wet dog-y, but admittedly, it has matured. A lot. In a good way. There are more florals now, and I can actually pick out the milky tea. But it still can't overtake that evil dog.

 

Conclusion: Awww. It's really time I give up. Off to swaps. This will be beautiful on someone else. Oh, but it really, really does break my heart . . . I feel like maybe I got a bad batch? Then again, it smelled fine in the bottle so that's probably just me making up excuses. Sigh.

Edited October 17, 2007 by pinkpepper

[twilight]

Very very easily becoming one of my favorites.

It's pure, youthful scent caught me off guard. I smell the unique hint of tea with a tad of sugar. I don't quite catch the hint of lemon that a lot of you do. I definitely get vanilla after a while, but a very subtle and subdued version. I love it.

 

I picture myself in a quiet Victorian sitting room with big French windows and mauve-ish curtains. I'm sitting at a small white table with Dorian on white and pink cushions, sipping sweet tea, and asking him for another sugarcube. The light is bright as sun streams in, and the room is filled with only the sound of metal on porcelain. As his hand moves, I smell his youth and beauty combined delightfully with the scent of vanilla. I'm entranced. He has not yet been exposed to his own painted visage.

 

Powerful scent.

 

9.5/10

[topazphoenix]

This is exactly what the descriptions says, musk, tea, and vanilla. It's a very pretty combination, but quite faint and nondescript. I'm going to age my imp and see if the throw improves.

Edited August 6, 2009 by alicia_stardust

[SarahScent44]

Dorian was one of the first BPAL scents I'd ever heard of, so of course I needed to try it as soon as possible.

 

In the imp, it's sweet, light vanilla and tea - it smells innocent, not corrupting!!

 

It's so gorgeous on my skin - still sugary and light, with just a touch of musk on top of the tea scent - delicious!

 

When it's dry - mmmm, a lot more musk and vanilla. Now I see what everyone's on about with Dorian. It's sexy as hell.... and truly tempting!

[grashopper8]

Dorian smells exactly like Victoria's Secret Vanilla Lace. It's totally spot-on the same scent with my chemistry. I like it because VS Vanilla Lace is my best friend's signature scent, but since Dorian reminds me so strongly of it, I'm not really taken with it.

 

I can see why it's popular, but I'm not overly excited personally. : -/ meh

[Lavada]

This is in its own class of sexy.

 

It's tart in the imp; sweet under the light musks. There's also a somewhat astringent feel to it, which I suspect is the tea.

 

On the skin, the tartness (I'm torn between whether its lavender or lemon... but both have a similar feel to them for me anyway) and the musks amplify. Then it's the tea and vanilla. Just yum. And by when you read yum, you're going to have to purr it, despite the impossibility due to the phonetics of the word.

 

It'll eventually settle into a warm musky vanilla tea that seems like a second skin. But, whoa, it throws! Nothing stifling, but noticeable. A comfortable haze of Dorian to snuggle into all day long. Oh yes, it has staying power too.

 

This, my brothers and sisters in arms, is not sex in a bottle. Instead, Dorian is the scent of gentle innuendo. He'll take his time warming up to you, politely flirting with you, because he knows you'll be his, completely and helplessly, in the end.

 

And you'll never see it coming.

[Jocelyn]

In the imp- Sweet, very sweet. With a hint of something herbally lemon.

 

When I first applied it Dorian was super sugary sweet, it's now calming down into something still sweet, but a little more tea like. And now I'm getting a hint of musky guy cologne...I'm not sure if I like it yet.

[TereFaerie]

Very bright and sweet in the imp, but on my skin, the sweet lemonade/creme brulee scent fades within the hour to a vanilla/vetiver/musk that I'm not really that fond of. Lives up to it's name in that regard.

 

It smells great in my hair still, and I love it on DH. Definitely scent locket worthy. A beautiful scent.

[hkhm]

imp: vanilla with the faintest trace of musk and... cologne?

 

wet: very musky with something like a lightly floral men's cologne. a very unusual scent to be sure.

 

dry: this dries to a quite lovely men's cologne that is far less harsh than most and has a playful, sweet quality.

[hlrigaud]

I got Dorian, because everybody love him, right? Certainly on the top 10 of bpal scents. Classic! Sexy! Victorian! Whoo-hoo! Right?

 

NO. Gah. Old man cologne. No tea, no lemon, certainly no sex. Just old, floral, (lavender?) citrus blah.

 

Which is why Beth makes imps, thank goodness. Still, I would've like some sex. I'll try it on the boy. Otherwise, he's outta here! (Dorian, not the boy)

 

ETA: Yeah, it's better on the boy. Much better, but it's still not moving me. I will say it lasted all night. I could smell it this morning when we cuddled. Off to swaps.

 

 

HL

Edited November 13, 2007 by Helpless Lush

[Styx]

Dorian (almost colorless with a yellow tint)

 

Imp: slick, sweet, clean and light.

 

Skin: Now I know what the hype is about.

There is a very faint touch of lavender, but Dorian is mostly vanilla tea. Its sweet, but it doesn't smell like a girl, a definite winner for boyfriends.

I tried Theodosius before Dorian, and both are very similar. Theo was more grown-up and manly. Dorian is sweeter, gentler but deceptively.

I didn't get much throw; Dorian melted right into my skin, and became like a second flesh.

 

Decadance in a bottle. I am in love.

An all-year round, snuggle scent for the pretty boys dressed in lace.

[Torrain]

Right out of the imp: *Oh* that's lovely. I'm getting honeyed vanilla tea, thin and sweet and dark.

 

5 min: ...and that would be the musk coming out. Oh good lord. That's sex on wheels in a teacup. Alright, at five minutes: faint hint of lemon, a somewhat tea-table smell (sugar? Milk? Tea? There's almost a hint of pastry), pale musk forming a solid backdrop.

 

20 min: sweet tea and pale musk. (Weirdly, with that faint sharp lemony/fougere hint, it occasionally smells like playdough for a split second.) Seriously, it's sex in a tearoom, which I realize sounds kind of odd, but is incredibly compelling. If this keeps up, I want a bottle.

 

1 hr: sweet musk.

 

2 hrs: sweet musk; think I've lost the tea. Still very nice, though.

 

It's definitely worth picking up a bottle. But I have my lovely lovely Theodosius. They're both smashing, in subtly different ways--

 

--oh, hell with it. I'll put it on my list to get a bottle. Meantime, the imps can keep each other company. Gorgeous dark polished sexy company.

 

Love and coffee,

Frances

[Apple]

I'm afraid Dorian and I don't get along. Straight out of the imp he's all black tea and sweet vanilla at first and then... eucalyptus? camphor? WINTERGREEN! That's definitely it, and I hate wintergreen. It seems to make an especially poor partner with vanilla, and the two seem to amplify one another. Man, that is some serious throw.

 

I waited it out, thinking maybe the wintergreen scent was transient, but no... hours later, I am still sitting in a cloud of eye-searingly minty vanilla. I'm starting to wonder if I might be allergic to something in this blend...

Edited December 4, 2007 by Apple

[persephanise]

Dorian was a HUGE disappointment for me.

 

I bought this when a number of people recommended it for someone likes Mouse's Long and Sad TAle, which is my ultimate favorite fragrance of all time. Unfortuantely, Dorian was a huge miss.

 

It started off delicious--it smelled of cake and musk. But as it dried it turned into some kind of horrible, plastic doll scent. Like a vanilla scented, off-brand strawberry shortcake character. It never got so bad that I had to wash it off, but after 30 miutes I was definitely not feeling the love.

 

If this scent had just been the tea and vanilla, I bet I would have loved it. But the musk + vanilla turned into a bad situation for me.

[Pyrebi]

The Picture of Dorian Gray was one of my assignments for the past quarter, so I was keen to get my hands on an imp. It doesn't really remind me of the eponymous character--except for the very early chapters. Before Dorian was exposed to the darker side of the world, when he was still a boy who was sweet but a bit bratty...that's what this blend reminds me of.

 

In the bottle: Dorian smells of sweetened tea with a hint of muskiness. Perhaps a bit of lemon or something with a little bite? Yet the mildness of the oil itself is overshadowed by what I know is about to happen.

 

Wet: It's like insane cotton candy. All depth is gone and it's nothing but hot sugar smacking me in the face. And the throw is incredible--I might have dabbed it directly under my nose, I can smell it so strongly.

 

Dry: It's still mostly sweet, but a bit of musk is back. There's no vanilla and no tea; it's just sugar and musk. Oddly, this blend makes me very sleepy. It's sweet and warm and makes me wanna curl up with a haze of it surrounding me. It's not my favorite, and not something I want to smell like around others, but is a lovely sort of put-on-before-going-to-sleep oil.

 

Dorian, on me, is nearly-unadulterated sweetness with a hint of something worldly. It is Dorian in Basil's garden with Lord Henry, eyes wide and mind reeling, moments before his portrait is finished.

 

(I should also note that Dorian smells nearly the same on my 17-year-old sister, and is her favorite scent.)

Edited December 9, 2007 by Pyrebi

[akiko]

I sniffed this at Will Call, and bought a bottle.

 

Bottle: Vanilla tea, plus something dark.

 

Wet: This is extremely complex! I can't discern any particular notes, but I like it a lot.

 

Dry: Vanilla musk. Very nice.

 

Edited to note: When I woke up the following morning, I could still smell Dorian on my wrist. Excellent staying-power -- the longest I've had so far, I think.

Edited December 12, 2007 by Winterwind

[strangemodegirl]

I had high hopes for this one and thankfully I was not let down in the slightest! Musk and vanilla are two of my favorite things, and luckily, my skin loves them too.

The vanilla in this reminds me of the vanilla in Black Lace. Sooo yummy! I am happy to say this did not turn into a super sweet vanilla on me. It's dead sexy. It had some serious staying power too. Something like, 6 hours later I could still smell it.

Must get big bottle soon! I've already used up half my imp in a couple of short days!

[Dorian]

I'm sure you can guess whether the bulk of my review will be praise or not by my username, but wow. This scent knocked me flat.

 

In the Bottle/Wet: A musky, lemony, teacake scent. It smelled good, but I was worried Dorian would not be all I wanted it to be.

 

5 Min: o.O How did it turn into this?? It's like a baker's shop, assuming said shop was evil and filled with eternal youth. It's all tea and teacakes and icing and musk. A faint hint of lemon, just enough to turn the scent sharp. It's well-blended. My god, this is exactly what I hoped for! I'm going to bathe in this stuff.

 

20 min: It's gone! My skin has struck again. I am a black hole for scents, they rarely last more than 10 minutes, and unfortunately this one is the same. This is my new signature scent, I wear it everyday in a scent locket, so I can atleast hope to smell it throughout the day.

 

I recommend this scent if you're a foodie or your sniffer just isn't broken!

[jwhxtna]

Had to try this one to see what all the fuss was about.

 

IN THE IMP: Hmmm... a sweet, kind of dark vanilla, with a touch of lemon to give it some kick. And some tea, I think, and a bit of musk.

 

WET: Oh, yum! Like a sweet vanilla tea with a hint of lemon, though it also reminds me a little bit of lemon cake at the same time.

 

DRY: Still vanilla tea (the lemon is mostly gone) with a hint of musk. It also reminds me a bit of cologne. Very nice, I really like this, and I could totally imagine this working on a guy, too. I never thought I'd like unisex/masculine scents! This is pretty light on me; I have to get really close to smell it.