Santo Domingo

[empi girl]

An exotic, sultry blend of tobacco leaf, bay rum and heady Caribbean blossoms.

In imp, and wet: pale hothouse flowers, a green scent, not sweet. I don't like it at this point.

15 minutes in: flowers morph and develop a peppery scent/feel (NOT carnation like). Still not liking it.

25 minutes - 4 hours later: pepper quickly changes into clove, and the scent remains a very sweet clove. Oh, this is better....

Staying power: lasted through 3 hours of gardening and humidity. I washed up, and can actually still smell traces.

Final analysis: Although I don't like the opening 25 mintues, it dried down into a really lovely scent (imho, sort of the sweetness of clove cigarettes). I haven't decided if I'll need more than the imp, however.

[Blood onmy hands]

Santo Domingo didn't really work out well on me... while wet it had a lovely pepper & tobacco smell on my skin. I love spicy scents. But when it dried, I didn't get any rum or tobacco at all, just tons of perfumey "blossoms".

 

Sadly, Santo Domingo is just a boring perfumey floral on my skin... the kind of scent that gives me a headache. This will be going into my swap pile.

[cuervosueno]

Wet and in bottle: very floral. white, tropical floral.

Drydown: after 1/2 hour I start to get the spice--nice tobacco note and a touch of bayrum. I like it at this stage, but I like Port-au-Prince more.

It fades fairly quickly, as Port-au-Prince did.

I like the imp, but not so much as some others, so since I know someone else who wants it, off it goes to a better home.

[Eris]

Neat-o. I really like the way this one morphs. It starts off with what, to me at least, seems kind of like an all-purpose floral blend. Not bad, not stunning. It works. Then...the floral dims, and this wonderful spiciness comes out. It's almost cinnamony, and then it gets just a touch of creaminess with it which must be the rum. Very nice. I bet this would be exquisite on a man.

[kmasden]

I haven't done a review in a while and since i'm into my 4th or so glass of a boozy homemade sangria, i'm not expecting much from myself, but had to comment on Santo Domingo.

 

At first I didn't love it, even swapped my first away. But let me tell you something folks, this is a scent that grabs you and takes hold.

 

I haven't heard any comparisons (or I've missed them) to Alice yet, but to me this is a grown up, slightly greener Alice. The creaminess is there, the no bullshit tobacco/rum/peppery note is there, yet it let's you be whoever you are. It's white, it's not really floral - not heady floral anyway, it's like if you took a bowl of cream and put some type of tropical flower in it and sprinkled it with some sweet sugar or rum, pepper and the tobacco of a cigarette and let it all sink in together. That sounds totally weird doesn't it?

 

As I tend to say - try it, you might like it. Yup, and if you don't. Wait a few weeks and try it again. Try it three days in a row. Bet you'll be hooked!

Edited July 1, 2005 by kmasden

[olympia301]

This one has been recommended to me several times. So, I have an imp and was just about to say "this is a nice average scent, bla bla bla..." when I read what kmasden had to say above, then I had to stop and think:

 

Remember the time that you said Eclipse was a nice average scent? Now look at you, sticking your nose in to bottle every night! Shame on you! You should ALWAYS give a scent a chance to seduce you before you banish it to the swap box.

 

So, I am going to give this a much more serious assessment than I otherwise would.

 

At first trial I do second the motion that there is some Alice-like quality to Santo Domingo, and there is some form of greenery in there somewhere (decidious I think). Also, I can smell a "carbohydrate" scent to this, too, like rice cooking...it gives a warm and anticipatory backwall to the cinnamon/carnation hopping around in the foreground. There is a bit of animal to the carbs as well, if that makes sense, but I am staying with it. I will try to remember to come back to this preliminary report on Santo Domingo. I really need to give this a fair try.

 

Phase 2

Well, I am totally in love with Santo Domingo! I put it on my hands today and I am in heaven. What Karin said above is absolutely true! This is a glorious scent and it lasts like mad, too. Mmmmm. It's time to turn my imps into bottles. This one is highly recommended.

 

Phase 3

I have come to the conclusion that this is a warm weather scent. It is unbeatable in the heat, but put it away in the winter. For some indescribable reason, it has to blossom in warm air to be truly effective. I will never be without a bottle of Santo Domingo but it is stored in the "summertime scents" box until spring.

Edited December 4, 2005 by olympia301

[blood*rose*flowers]

In the bottle: Tobacco leaf and a scent little a very light white rum.

 

First on wet: Very florally this reminds me of being in Hawaii again with the florals just lightly coming up in the heat of the day.

 

Drying down: This goes very being very similar to Pele to a whole new scent. The rum comes back first, followed in time by a touch more of the tobacco leaf.

 

Overall: This scent is very interesting because it starts so fem. but in the ends starts to become a neutral scent. It really has a neat balance to it.

[Nisaba]

In the bottle - lily, a touch of rum. Wet, rum, with a floral twist. Dry down is turning rosey, where did that come from? Powdery roses too. Damn my skin, I swear it plucks roses out of nowhere sometimes.

 

After quite a long time, it turns back to rum, and eventually the tobacco peeks out, and it's the scent I was hoping for in the first place. I need to decide if I can put up with the rosey stage before I pick up a bottle of this.

Edited July 9, 2005 by Nisaba

[Shollin]

First sniff: Very, very subtle. Santo Domingo is very faintly green, and very faintly lemony, but in the vial it’s only a suggestion of a scent.

 

Wearing: It’s stronger on my wrists… unfortunately, it’s also less pleasant. Too sweet-floral.

[OdetteOdile]

Santo Domingo

Jelly and jam. Not berry jelly - marmalade & lemon jelly, mixed with ...sweet cigar smoke...and powder. Lots of powder.

The powder kind of throws the whole thing off-balance for me. (I think my skin amplifies powder notes - if it's too strong, the powder overwhelms everything else.)

 

Eventually a green note began to surface, & then mostly disappeared. There were some sort of rich florals fighting their way towards the top (unsuccessfully.)

I'm sorry this didn't work better on my skin, but I have to admit that reading the reviews about how similar this is to Formula 54 has made me feel less bad about not getting 54.

Can't love them all.

 

Edited to say that two hours later, the hand with Santo Domingo on it smelled really strongly and distractingly of cigarette smoke. And I mean exactly like cigarette smoke.

The powder is all gone, though.

 

...OK, to be absolutely honest, this actually smells like a sexy guy who smokes but is also really clean and well-groomed. It's not stale cigarette smoke, it's cigarettes with sexy, sweet, male skin smell - and a fresh, expensive suit.

An Armani-wearing smoker.

 

...actually, this one is a bit of a turn-on, now that I think about it.

Edited July 14, 2005 by OdetteOdile

[nineveh]

Where is it? This is very faint on me, and I even reapplied after not being able to smell anything the first time.

 

I can barely detect floral and green notes.

 

I can also very faintly smell the clove, which is sour on me.

 

I want to say more about this, but I can't smell it! I guess my skin just eats this one.

[Ajila]

Wet on me this is lush and fruity. I admit I have no idea where Santo Domingo is, but this brings to mind girls dancing in long grass skirts and flowers in their hair. I'm aware of the rum in the background as well. When it dries it disappears almost completely, but there are traces of what smell to me like cut grass and leather. This is really short lived on me, but I don't love it enough to mind.

[pensive]

in the imp: lushy blooms and tobaccoish

impression: much cooler than I expected from the description

On me: Exotic and heady and deep floral. Not obnoxious at all. Not bad!

Verdict: Nah, don't need a bottle.

[shelldoo]

in the vial:light breezy blossoms

 

wet:yes light, tropical, breezy sweet but not foody type sweetness

 

this stayes very true even through drydown, it is light, breezy, blossoms, very tropical, sunny, florals, the sweetness i believe is the tobacco leaf. i barely get any bay rum just a hint occassionally to make me go ooohh there it is then it is gone, like a ghost in the night floating away on a summer breeze

[tempete]

Santo Domingo is one of those scents which is more than the sum of its parts. I can't really pick out any of the notes in the description because they all blend into a lush, creamy floral that's slightly sweet and just a bit smoky. I like it more and more each time I wear it, and I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up getting a bottle of it.

 

(I am surprised, though, that more people don't love this.)

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): A touch sweet, fresh, a little breezy.

 

Just On: Quite fresh, a little breezy, just the barest hint of sweet.

 

An hour or two later: It's really similar to the way it started out when it was just on.

 

Around 6 hours: Almost a sweet woody scent, maybe smoke.

 

12 hours: A bit of wood with even less sweet to it, a faint whiff of some flower.

 

Overall: I like this one a LOT. Onto the big bottle list.

 

After reading other reviews: I don't get the rum out of this, but that's okay. I love it anyway.

[Eros]

In the imp and first applied I get a slightly spicy, lemony floral scent. As it dries, it smells quite a bit like Lemon Pledge. Not unpleasant, but not exactly something I want to smell like, either After about 20 minutes I picked up a bit more of the spiciness, like cinnamon spice almost, but it disappeared as quickly as it showed up.

Has decent throw but fades quickly on me.

Nice, but not something I'd get a bottle of.

[dcmo]

I got this because the notes are so similar to Elegba which I'm really loving right now. It's a totally different feel to it though. When I first put this on, I get tropical florals, almost soapy, a tinge powdery. As it dries down though, first the tobacco peaks it's way through, and then a few minutes later, the bay rum makes an appearance. This is really really gorgeous. I do get a feel of spice in here as well, but I don't know what..almost cinnamon, almost clove. I'm not sure. This is soo good.

[The_Merf]

In the imp: I get the tobacco, but the most overpowering notes are floral. I don't dislike it, but I don't love it either.

 

Wet: Much the same as in the imp, although the tobacco note is starting to strengthen.

 

Dry-down and wear: This is wonderful! It smells like "essence of cigar" (and I love me some cigars), but the floral notes prevent the smoke from ever feeling stale. I don't smell the rum much at all, but despite that, I'm a big fan of this scent. The tobacco almost makes this a "power scent"--I could see myself wearing this while I'm working the room at a conference.

[tart]

I can't really smell much from Santo Domingo. From what I can detect, it reminds me of Morocco, but not nearly as dry. I hope this gets stronger later. I had high hopes for it.

[Rackham's Vanity]

I'm afraid this just doesn't work on me. It's full of bright, sweet, unusual florals, but then the tobacco takes over and stays there.

 

Don't get me wrong: BPAL tobacco isn't nasty ciggy butt tobacco. Far from it; on me it becomes an almost leather-like scent. It's not unpleasant, but my skin really amps it up in this oil.

 

Off to the swaps.

[Janie]

On initial application I get a hint of almost mint-like green-ness. It settles down to a heady floral with deeper undertones. Not a lot of tobacco, but enough comes through to safe this from overwhelming floralcy for me. Not much rum either.

 

Very sniffable.

 

edited to add - the longer I wore this the more utterly lovely it became. It is deep and entrancing and absolutely bewitching.

Edited August 14, 2005 by Janie

[quikslvr]

Not the same tobacco scent I'm used to--not the sweet one from Perversion, or at least that one's not emerging yet. I've got the rum and a dark resiny, which is probably the tobacco, lined with a little bit of floral. Perfume-y for awhile. Definitely exotic. Perhaps even a hint of incense (which is probably this version of tobacco). Feels tropical after a bit--salt spray and overgrown beach huts and all.

 

Ah! This is spiced rum, rather than the buttery rum. That's why that combo turns into incense/clove. Much like the tobacco isn't quite Perversion tobacco, which has a hint of cherry to me--this is a more sophisticated, older man's pipe tobacco.

 

Dry, there's a floral top to it--lily of the valley or some such. But it's creamy, smooth, and heady. Gets progressively more masculine, and picks up the Perversion tobacco scent a little.

 

At first whiff, I thought this one was off to swaps. By now, though, it has firmly captured me. But yes, it is heady/perfume-y. Not getting near the allergic folks with this one.

[L-z_Empress]

I just realized that I never reviewed this despite that it's one of my favourite BPALs.

 

There's this spot at home (Jamaica) that whenever hubby and I drive through, I make sure to roll down the window and sniff the air. Santo Domingo is the smell of that air. Ironic, that it's named Santo Domingo. I think it should be changed to "Discovery Bay". When I smell Santo Domingo, I see home in my mind. I see the trees loaded with pink blossoms that are big enough to hold in two hands. I see the Caribbean Sea and smell the slight saltiness of it on the air. I smell the slight smell of burning that is always here. The smell of cane burning and bushes being burned to clear land. I smell Jamaica.

[Julilla Regina]

This smelled absolutely lovely in the imp. I sniffed deeply and couldn't wait. Within 30 seconds of touching my skin, Santo Domingo let loose with the dreaded "Amber Curse"..which means baby powder to the exclusion of all else. I'm not saying SD has amber in it, because it isn't listed, but something in it reacted on me exactly like that evil bitch known as Amber. Drat!