Iago

[SeaMonkey]

Malevolent, dark and shadowy: sinuous black musk, wet leather and vetiver.

Oh this is evil and dirty. Leather and musk. This is going on the next man I see and naughty things will happen

[sideviewhotel]

Ick. I'm not sure I like this much. In the imp it's so sharp and reminds me of something else.. Not a perfume, but some sort of.. medicinal thing. I have no idea, really but.. icky.

 

On me, all I smell is (what I think is) the vetiver. Meh. I'm not sure it would smell any better on the boy, so.. Swaps it is!

[AlaskaSnows]

Wet: Leathery, tobaccoey, sweet. Like a vanilla flavored tobacco in a leather pouch, warm and manly and comforting and yummy.

 

Dry: Close to the same, but a tad less sweet and more leathery. Iago is a man's man. Iago is Marlboro Man. Iago is really very sexy and compelling.

[BlueStar]

Holy schmoly! I never reviewed this?

 

Well Iago was the first scent I tried and it was back before I was on the forum. I swore I would never wear anything but Bvlgari Black but look at me now. Now I won't wear anything BUT BPAL.

 

Iago is dark! Sadistic, dark, sinister and domineering.

 

Like judas_kiss said a few pages back. This turns to powder on me. It sucks too because I so, SO, so desperately wanted it to be awesome!

 

Wet: I get the leather, dark sinuous black musk too. It smells so fucking male and sadistic and leathery and hot and manly and just powerful! I feel like I am Iago!

 

Drydown: Where is TEH SEXXOR gone? It smells like powder. Darn vetiver is too strong in this blend. My skin grabs it, slaps it around and pile drives it into the ground. The vetiver retalliates by murdering the leather, musk and everything good and leaving only a powder note behind.

 

Nearly caught up on reviews, nearly.

 

This was another scent that went to Ben. Ben is the devil as I have said in past reviews. Everything I can't wear he can. It smells TEH SEXXORCISTO on him because he is Satan. I hope you read this someday Baal because I am on to you!

Edited December 12, 2005 by BlueStar

[jewelbug]

Imp: Dark, musky. Um. I swear there is a hint of salami to this….

 

Him:

Wet: Dark green vetiver at the beginning and the unmistakable bpal leather at the end.

Drying: This is very smoky. Because of the smoky dark note, my hubby says it smells like smoked meats. I don't think he's too fond of this.

Dry: Luckly the smoked meat note goes away. It goes to full on leather. This is the first of beth's leather blends that I've tried where the leather is DEFINITE. It knows its there, and its making damn sure you know its there, too. Its stays at this LEATHER stage on him for about 3 hrs, and then starts to mellow a bit and take on a slight sweet powdery smell. This later stage is actually really nice and lasts for at least 6 hrs total.

Overall, him: he doesn’t like it on him. Too smokey, too leathery, and not him. While I like the scent in its late stage, I agree that this really doesn't reflect his personality.

Me:

Wet: Green vetiver and smokey leather. This has the smoked meat wet phase on my skin, too. But maybe hubby unfairly biased me.

Drying: No more vetiver. This hits damp leather right on the head. But to me its still a very smokey leather. This is a dark and cruel scent. I don't really get the musk, just leather and smoke. I don't think I've had blends with dark musk before, though, so i may not recognize it.

Dry: After about an hour, this takes on a powdery sweetness. Its still a definite dark and smoky leather, but it gets more..feminine…like a bad assed babe. This had the most amazing staying power--I could STILL smell it after 12 hours and STILL (faintly) after a shower. Wow.

Overall, her: It’s a wonderful smell, and an awesome blend. I really liked that it went sweet and less masculine on me really quickly compared to how it went on hubby. That said, its still a bit dark and masculine for me. Its just so intriguing. Beth never ceases to amaze. I'm glad I tried this.

[elphaba]

Iago is MANLY. I got this one as a frimp from the lab and tested it on myself because it didn't appeal to my husband at all. Too bad, because Iago smells totally sexy and guyish.

 

First on, for lack of a better description, it smelled dark green. Not piney, but dark and herbal. I suspect this was the vetiver. As it dried down, it kept getting darker and darker as the leather and musk came out. It's an amazingly blended scent. I couldn't even really make out the lines between the notes. They just all swirled together.

 

I did learn that, contrary to what I'd thought previously, it seems black musk doesn't go stinky on me. Still, this is a blend for a man, decidedly not for a woman. I'm going to pass the imp on to a male friend who I think will appreciate it.

[enderfem]

I was worried this would be a bit too masculine for me (forget about my partner, I'm far more masculine than he is). I think someone I trust once said it was the only gender neutral or masculine scent she couldn't wear, so it was with much trepidation that I tried it yesterday.

 

Bottle: Leather and smoke. Yummy.

 

Wet: Wow, it smells like I'm in a leather-goods shop. Delicious.

 

Drydown: The smoky musk part comes out more, and tames the leather a bit, making it a warm, sensual scent.

 

 

Definitely a keeper. I loved wearing this.

 

ADDED 3/24/08:

 

Imp: Smells exactly like my leather jacket.

 

Wet: A bit like smokey leather. Hmm.

 

Drydown: More musky, less leathery. Oh well, it smells good on the boyfriend.

[Naamah_Darling]

This review initiated me into the world of BPAL's leather blends, and as you can see, the results were quite . . . interesting.

 

Even in the bottle this is sexy as Hell. So well-blended that while I can detect the influence of each ingredient, I cannot separate them. The sweet, black musk and the smoky leather keep the vetiver from being too grassy. Wow. It doesn't strike me as being too masculine, though, until I put it on.

 

Then, holy God, it explodes. Grass and leather, with the musk sliding in like a tongue. Yes, I'm picturing licking boots.* This may be the sexiest thing I have smelled, ever. It's not that I like the smell all that much; actually, the grassy note kind of puts me off from wanting to smell like this myself. It's just that this smell goes straight into my hindbrain and wraps a fist around my nerves and says "KNEEL." I'm actually moaning involuntarily every time I sniff it.

 

Once the vetiver settles down, this is a very base-note heavy scent, but there is nothing subtle about it at all. It has all the finesse and quietude of a truncheon to the crotch. I've never had a smell affect me physically like this. If this is what all leather scents are going to do to me, I think I may be in for a lot of trouble.

 

An hour later, dry, it is still making my squishy bits twitch. The grass is still there, but it's mostly leather now, and the musk is much stronger – from licking to . . . well . . . swallowing. It's less urgent, more dangerous. This is the patience of a schemer, a plotter, or a skilled Dom; exquisite force, exquisitely applied.

 

As it dries the leather and musk chase each other – the leather eventually wins, and has its way. Fully twelve hours later, and I can still smell it, strongly. I haven't had the heart to rinse it off and try something else. This is too sexy and delicious, and too dangerous, to turn my back on.

 

This is a fascinating scent and one that would captivate me on someone else. The right someone. Frankly, I'm not sure I am forceful and domineering enough to wear it (and that's really saying something, since I'm plenty of both). This is a very demanding, headstrong smell that would require a great deal of strength, wickedness, and poise to carry off.

 

Iago is not the be-all end-all of leather scents (for my money, that would be De Sade), but the addition of the vetiver makes this an utterly merciless blend with a lot more cruelty than De Sade.

 

* Jason Isaacs' boots. Or Michael Sheen's.

[bifemmefatale]

In the bottle this smells incensey, resinous. On, the musk/leather/vetiver combination reminds me, so far, of a really sexy-smelling soldering rosin, oddly enough, with a fairly strong note of baby powder. Hmm. I hope this mellows better. I usually love vetiver scents.

 

Half an hour later: Nope, not getting any better. I smell like a baby's ass in a leather diaper. Damn.

[Miss Lynx]

Another in a series of cast-offs by a very picky male friend of ours. This one didn't appeal to me at all based on the description, but when I sniffed the imp it actually smelled pretty interesting and not as skanky as I'd thought it would be. So I swiped a little on for a try.

 

Not bad. Kind of reminiscent of Loviatar -- I'm tempted to say a male version of that, but I don't see Loviatar as all that feminine, or this as exclusively male. They're both in a fairly androgynous sector of the gender spectrum, to me, but Loviatar is slightly the more feminine of the two. It sweetens up a bit more on my skin than I would have expected, and I could see women wearing this, but definitely not your girly-girl types. It's a pretty butch sort of scent, but not in an "I am a men's scent!" sort of way. I could see this as more suitable to a leather dyke than to a guy.

 

It's very heavy, earthy, musky and probably best worn in moderation. Ultimately I don't think it's really me, but it's an interesting scent and I could think of some people -- of both genders -- it would really suit.

 

Grade: B/B-

[Eros]

In the imp this is warm, dark green. On skin the musk emerges, swirling around like a sinister dark cloud that beckons you irresistibly, then finally...leather. Smoky, wet leather that slaps, then sticks to, the skin.

Masculine, yes, but something that can easily be worn by a woman. On a man, however(especially mine, YUM)... Take me NOW

[Rhowan]

In the imp and wet on my skin - wet leather! Yum! Dark and sweet leather.

 

As this dries down, the black musk darkens it even more and the vetiver kicks in giving this a woody undertone.

 

Completely dried down Iago reminds me of dark, smoky woods with a hint of leather. This is very sinuous as the scent description puts it. very DARK and Sinuous! Lovely for both a man or a woman.

Edited March 8, 2006 by Rhowan

[Celestyna]

I think I'm a boy. This smells reeeally good on me. A liiiitle soapy, but definitely old leather and musk. Tried this on my male counterpart and the soapiness has gone away. He smells like a naughty professor. This may be the perfect man smell.

It's just funny because when the lab sends Frimps, I put them on before reading the description so I was sort of taken aback.

[GemmaCat]

Leather and BBQ sauce. O_o Then leather and that musk which always smells gross on me. Damn skin chemistry!

[Eunice]

In the bottle: Vetiver in the bottle. Very faint. This doesn't have much of a scent so far.

 

Wet: Soft leather and musk. This is really very light on my skin. Nice but very very light.

 

Dry: Leather and a bit of green now. This isn't getting any stronger.

 

Overall: I really enjoy the combination, very sexy. But not very strong. I have to concentrate to smell much of anything. Fades very quickly on me. *sigh*

Edited May 5, 2006 by Eunice_Branca

[Meg]

In the bottle: Rather sweet vetiver. This seems to be pretty heavy on the black musk.

 

Wet: Spicy, wet vetiver, still pretty sweet. The leather comes out, it smells warm and moist.

 

Drydown: It becomes rather dry, with leather at the forefront, basically it's spicy leather which is very very yummy. The vetiver has mixed with it so well that it's impossible for me to pick it up anymore. There is a very salty, slightly dirty undertone to the leather which is practically swampy, actually, vaguely unpleasant, probably from the vetiver. And at the same time, I get sweetness from the musk, which is disturbing. It ends up smelling more or less like a bog by the sea, complete with the vague dustbin scent that comes with it. Then it settles into baby powder and nappies, before going all vanilla black musk on extreme drydown. Eek.

 

Overall: Unfortunately the blend goes from delicious to disgusting on me. I thought it was my skin doing weird stuff with black musk and/or vetiver, but I tried putting some of this on my pillow and the result was sickly and absolutely revolting. It literally ends up smelling like little old man's "Old Spice" or similar: ubersweet spice. Yick yick yick! So while I get different results, on skin or on cloth, it's gross either way. Such a shame, this could've been sex in a bottle.

[sissa125]

Iago is very interesting. Fresh and young. I love the vetiver but the leather is too overpowering and animalistic. Too masculine for my taste.

 

I think I'd like something slightly less musky than this.

[sarada]

I had a craving for strong amber today and since I don't have Haunted anymore I remembered that Iago was very similar to my nose. But for some reason I thought this was an amber blend...

 

As it turns out, it smells a lot like Haunted to me anyway, maybe the musk is the same. In fact, maybe it was the musk that dominated in the other blend as well and I mistook it for amber. It's strong, but thin and golden to my nose.

 

I love vetiver but I don't smell it in this really. Vetiver is a dark earthy sweetness and it comes out marvellously on my skin, but I don't get anything like that until well into the drydown. I also don't get the leather, which actually tends to work well on me. A surprising scent, not really how I imagined it at all. I'd say this is a slightly stronger Haunted to my nose.

 

I thought I liked dark musk but it does this thing that civet does (though they smell NOTHING alike!!) where it it is a little thin and high-pitched and just seems to get all over everything and overpowers the other scents. If I could find a batch of this where there was more vetiver and leather, we'd be in business.

[blu°]

I wore this for the second time today. Liked it the first time but didn't find time to review then.

 

What I get from my Iago imp (which is a decant from a swap, so the oil may have had some time to age already), is a very warm, sensual leather and dark soft musk with a little bit of vetiver. It's the perfect leather scent for me right now.

While many of the other leather scents were smelling like new leather or a shop that sells leather things (read: slightly chemical) to me, Iago is just a worn leather jacket. I find it to be really comforting, as well as strengthening. I feel self-confident and quite powerful when I wear it.

 

I'm especially delighted that the musk in this doesn't turn into my grand-uncle's bathroom again, nor is the vetiver heavy enough to resemble motor-oil.

 

The musk and vetiver just add that feeling of warmth, ruggedness, and softness due to years of wearing to the leather.

 

I don't think Iago is especially masculine. It's rather perfectly gender-neutral. I see a similarity to Haunted, as well. Both are warm, dark skin scents with a glow. Iago is a bit darker.

 

As I just discovered that I really like this kind of scent lately, I'll be placing an order for a bottle as soon as the lab will have settled in one place again.

[dragonryder]

I was hoping the black musk would offset the vetiver some, but alas, vetiver seems to like me a whole lot more than I do it.

[karengypsy]

In the vial: Leather, vetiver.

 

On me: Mmm. It smells exactly the same as in the vial, but with the addition of musk. This is a very masculine, delicious scent.

 

Verdict: It's definitely a keeper, but I'm going to have to try to see if I can get my husband to wear it, as I don't forsee myself putting it on too often.

 

Rating: 3/5

[mountainwitch]

Ordered this before I realized I should usually leave the leather-vetiver combination alone. (Oh, who am I kidding--I ordered this because of the name!) On me, predictably, too sharp, strong, and masculine. But on a guy friend--the same one who smells great in Black Tower and Highwayman--this is some potent and fantastic stuff.

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is black musk and a beautiful, thick, rich vetiver

applied this turns very sharp but in the most wonderful way on me; then just a smidge of soft, worn and faded leather...wow...this is on my list for a big bottle purchase and will be a fine one indeed for the darkest of winter months...love it

[edenssixthday]

Iago - Now this is a "dirty hippie" scent if I've ever smelled one. The scent description says it consists of "black musk, leather, and vetiver" but if I didn't know better, I would swear this is the scent of leather and dark patchouli. I don't smell the musk in it at all, and I'm very surprised that I don't smell the vetiver since it usually turns extremely foul on my skin. The leather isn't the sinister leather of De Sade or the sexy leather of Spanked or the cowboy leather of Dead Man's Hand or the fetish-leather of Whip. It's a unique leather scent -- fairly subtle and non-intimidating. It's almost the scent of driving gloves leather. The scent is too masculine for me, but I could see a certain type of woman wearing this well, and I think a lot of men would smell incredibly manly in this scent. I'm surprised at how close it sticks to my skin, as leather scents usually have greater throw on me. The staying power is moderate for a BPAL blend on me -- about 3 hours. This definitely isn't for me, but I imagine it would smell really fabulous on the right person.

[Miseraya]

This smell was great, it is exactly what the description says it is. A very masculine, sexy and assertive scent. Unfortunately it doesn't suit me and because of the vetiver it went all powdery on Eric.

 

Alas, swapped.