Geek

[Yagathai]

A snarling, feral scent, ever-so-slightly slightly deranged: hot leather, opoponax, cedar, pine needle, mosses, dry grass, patchouli and cinnamon bark.

In the bottle: I smell something vaguely sweet, like paste -- maybe moss. There's a hint of soapiness and an undercurrent of spice -- maybe cinnamon. No sign of leather or tobacco or any of the other notes in BPAL's description.


On my skin: As soon as it hits my skin, the sweetness becomes a bit more tangy and fruity. As it starts to dry, I start getting the patchouli and what I assume to be leather. There's an undercurrent of that dreaded baby powder/soap smell, but it doesn't do much more than threaten. I'm getting a faint, menacing cinnamon note, but no cedar or tobacco. Pine does make a showing, but it's by no means a major note. At first, the sweetness and spiciness combine into something resembling a traditional men's cologne or soap. Irish Spring, anyone?

Over the next ten minutes, the sweet scent starts to fade and cedar and musk(? - maybe leather?) begin to assert themselves. I can now recognize the sweet as an overly-enthusiastic grassy, mossy scent. People have said that this is feral and primal, but I disagree. It smells like a picnic in a clearing in the woods -- bright, airy, green with a hint of nearby forest.

Final verdict: First of all, oh boy, this one is strong. It's got a massive throw. If I use it again, it'll have to be sparingly and with restraint. Geek is complex, but not in a way that particularly interests me. It's a lot greener and grassier than what I would normally wear. It's also just a touch too sweet and not spicy enough for my liking. I could see wearing this to a co-worker's wedding or a relative's graduation or something, where I'd want to smell pleasant, but in a generic and unthreatening way. The real tragedy is that Geek hints of greatness -- the deep-down pine and leather notes are very intriguing and suggestive of darker, more forbidding mysteries -- but it stops just short.

[sideviewhotel]

Short and, hopefully, to the point. On me, this smells very much like De Sade, which is a bummer, because.. I love De Sade, but I don't need two different scents that smell the same. Though, now that I'm giving my wrist another sniff, Geek is a bit sweeter than De Sade.

 

While both have what I can only describe as a very light and airy note to them, Geek is definitely sweeter. Perhaps this is not as much of a miss as I originally thought it was going to be.

 

It also has fabulous throw, as Yagathai mentioned, because even as I was smelling the CN scents on my OTHER wrist, I was getting waves of this over them.

 

Ohhhh.. Yes. This is turning out to be wonderful. Yay for it not being totally like De Sade. :D

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: Very dark. Mostly cedar and pine.

 

Wearing: Ooh. This is so lovely. The cedar and pine are still there, but the cinnamon, leather, moss, and to a lesser extent the patchouli come out to play too. The result is a sinfully dark,spicy, ever so slightly sweet concoction. After an hour or so, the patchouli really come into its own, which is too bad, but this really is gorgeous.

 

Final Impressions: Sleeper hit indeed.

[Malista]

I wasn’t terribly sure about Geek. I reckoned that any scent that would portray someone who bites heads off chickens and eats bugs for a living wasn’t likely to be any more “me” than an ultra-girly floral blend, but I have to try everything I’m not allergic to, and the notes, with the exception of cedar, which my skin usually amps to ridiculous levels, and pine, to which I am slightly allergic, seemed like they would be OK, or even really good. Besides, I ordered the Odditorium, so it was right here in front of me.

 

Just applied: Surprisingly nice! Woodsy without being either pencil shavings or Pine Sol – fresh, even, with something faintly sweet in the background (probably the opoponax, which tends to be sweet on me). The mosses must be controlling the woods. The cinnamon is gently spicy and probably adds to the sweetness. I get no leather.

 

Drying: Just keeps getting sweeter, in a non-sickly kind of way. The other notes, even the cedar, weave in and out, never fighting each other. Here a whiff of cedar, there a hint of pine needles, a little grass, creamy patchouli, lovely cinnamon. I still don’t get leather, but there is a suggestion of soft musk. No sharp edges to this scent, and while it has a more aggressive throw than many BPAL oils on me, nothing overwhelming about it. I consider this to be a totally unisex blend, very comfortable on me, but I’d love to smell it on Himself, as well.

 

Dry: three or four hours after applying this settles down to a woodsy, sweet scent with a breath of cedar (sweet, not dry) floating over the top, about three inches above my skin.

 

I get the same sort of feel from Geek that I do from Lush’s Tramp shower gel (although they do not smell the same at all). Geek is, on me, a fresh, outdoorsy sort of scent – a blue jeans, fringed leather jacket and boots sort of scent. I can see wearing this to run errands, meet someone for lunch, go to the museum or botanical gardens or Muir Woods, picnic in the park, work in the garden, or browse in the bookstore or library. I doubt I will wear it to work, but only because it would remind me all day of the things I would rather be doing.

 

I don’t think I need more than this one bottle, but I’m considering whether it would make a good Yule present for a friend of mine who has the same sort of casual style as this blend. I also think it would make an outstanding shower gel or massage bar for women or men. So, maybe I do need an extra bottle.

[LiberAmoris]

Pine, patchouli, cinnamon, cedar, leather...how could Geek go wrong? This is a great blend: earthy, foresty, urbane, and adventurous.

 

On me, the cedar comes out a little too prominently and kind of crushes the other notes, but on Mr. LiberAmoris it is gorgeous, and oh so effective.

[tesao]

for me, geek is a shy, retiring type. feral, perhaps....in that he smells of forests and woods, pine needles and mossy grasses. but introspective. more likely to hide than to attack. to blend into his surrounds. very definitely THERE, but subtly so. you have to seek to find.

 

in the bottle, i get mostly grasses and moss.

 

wet on my wrist, the cedar pops up, and the pine.

 

dry on my wrist, i finally find the leather. again, this is subtle. not new car leather. more like the leather bracelet that your lover has worn around his wrist so long that you come to associate it as part of HIS scent, and not separately.

 

there is an occasional almost breath of something spicy. but so occasional and so fleeting i caught myself wondering if it had ever really been there at all.

 

i LOVE this. i'd love to sleep in sheets spritzed with this.

[requieminblack]

First sniff from the bottle- Pine and cedar.

 

After 20 minutes- After a few minutes the leather comes out and the pine fades completely. Then the moss, grass and patchouli come out to play.

 

Summery- This is a very masculine blend, no doubt. It has the typical leather scent dry down. I never detected any of the cinnamon bark in this, so I would think it would be safe for those who are sensitive to cinnamon. This scent for the most part was leather and green mosses and pine.

[gingersnapp]

Whoa, this is the first of the CN blends that I'm not really that fond of. At least as a perfume. It's overwhelmingly pine on my skin, but I can detect a little bit of the leather, cedar and mosses.

 

Definitely a masculine blend, but I don't think my husband enjoys my kamikaze dabbing of BPAL on him as of late so I think I'll probably end up swapping this one.

[allidavie]

This one is all warm leather and wood on me. After a while I can smell a bit of patchoulie and some other spices, but my nose isn't sophisticated enough to really pick up on what I'm smelling. This smells great, but it's way too masculine for me.

[Blood onmy hands]

Geek has been quite a disappointment for me. When I first put some on my boy, he said, "Ugh. This smells like potpourri." And I have to agree. I was hoping for a 'true pine forest' scent, and Geek doesn't deliver. I guess the dry grass and hint of cinnamon bark's spiciness is giving this a dried potpourri feel. Over time on my boy this also smells very musky and sickeningly sweet.

 

On me, the leather in this is unbearably strong, hard, sharp, and smoky. I also get that dry, potpourri sweetness. At least this fades really fast on me. It's gone within 3 hours. On the boy, it lasted over 8 hours until we took a shower.

 

My bottles of this will be going up for swaps. It doesn't really work on me or the boy.

Edited May 3, 2007 by Blood onmy hands

[yeahbutnobut]

Geek

 

In the imp: dark, slightly sweet, pine and wood scented, with a spicy tingle.

Wet on skin: oooh, nice! This is a sweet, woody-resin-spice scent.

Dry on skin: this is really nice! I can smell the grass (omg it really smells grassy!), the patchouli and leather (which is really nice in here!), the cedar and pine, the moss, there's a little spiciness to the scent that's no doubt from the cinnamon. I'm not familiar with opoponax but that might be what's causing the resinous sweetness in the background. I really like this scent-it's quite masculine, but in a sexy way, it has a similar feel to King of Clubs even though it smells different.

After a while: there's a sweetness which reminds me of pine resin and possibly the opoponax and cinnamon, but on top of it all is a scent of greenness, from grass, moss, cedar and pine needles. It's a very genuine grass scent. The cinnamon isn't very noticeable, but it does lend a certain warmth and spicy dryness to the scent. The leather in here works wonderfully with the rest of the notes.

After an hour, the grass and pine note smells quite burnt-it really is dry grass now. It's dry and quite harsh now, but doesn't lose that leather-patchouli scent with sweet pine and resins.

Verdict: another pleasant surprise from CN. I was a bit worried about the leather in this scent, but it actually works very nicely in this blend. There's a dark and sweet resinous background, a fantastic green grass, moss, cedar and pine note, with a spicy cinnamon twist and a sexy leather scent-and what a great combination this is. This is quite masculine without being totally manly. After a while it develops a slightly burnt, harsh note, but this isn't too bad and seems to fit the theme and the overall scent. I don't need a bottle of it, but I'm definitely keeping the imp, and I think it will be really sexy on a guy!!!

[fragrantgrasse]

I love Geek. My husband is a geek! Or, geek-like. I ordered this scent primarily for myself but after it arrived and I slathered it on - I decided I would rather smell it on him than on me.

 

On him it is sublime! Leather - needle oil & cedar - patchouli - cinnamon, opopanax - all my favorites! yum

 

It smells great on him too. Warm, earthy yet sheer, like a second skin. He likes it too, and of course......it takes one to know one!

 

[quimerula]

Wet it's fresh and green, with herbs, cedar and pine.

Dry the resins come out, along with some leather, and the pine goes smoother.

It's quite masculine, but if you love the piny scents don't let this put you down.

[oatmealneko]

In the vial, I smelled cedar & pine, & something else that was oddly sweet. It remains more cedary than pine, but the odd sweet smell hangs around for awhile. Dry - the cedar gives way to leather, the sweet scent is there in a tiny amount, & the greens poke through now. Geek is very leathery.

[QueenFae]

This is a really complex blend. It smells differently every time I sniff my wrist. I would say that the leather is probably the most dominant note on me, with the cinnamon bark close behind. It's a spicy, sassy, sharp blend. My fiance snatched up my bottle of this before I could even try it, he loves it. Good thing, because it's probably not for me.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: This is the fragrance I am most worried about, because it has many notes that don't agree with me. Patchouli. Pine needle. Leather. CEDAR. In the bottle it is quite pleasant. Leather warmed by human skin, wooden floorboards and walls heated in the sun (it's a very warm scent), very wild and uncontrollable.

 

On me: Not bad at all, althought it is not my sort of scent so I know I won't keep it. Dry grass and moss gives this hints of green, while the wood and leather keep it warm and raw - the heat hightened by the cinnamon. In fact this is gorgeous! But I have to be honest, I wouldn't wear it because I am a fruits and flowers kind of girl. But the feral aspect of this blend, so carefree and wild, make it a tempting bottle indeed.

[Prolixity]

This is my first scent, impulse-bought from the description, and oh, am I ever glad I did.

 

In the bottle: Sharp! Cedar and cinnamon, sweet, musky, earthy.

 

Wet on skin: Cinnamon, almost overpoweringly so. Cedar, pine and patchouli, but drowned out by the intensity of the cinnamon.

 

Dry on skin: The cinnamon settled down nicely to just a hint, and the pine, cedar and earthy grassy notes came up. If I pay attention, I can detect the leather and something musky, but they're very subtle. If it were just the cedar/cinnamon, it would make me think winter, but there's something about the blend that makes me think sun and hot grass and dry earth. Very summer, not feminine or masculine particularly.

 

Love love love. I've been looking for a scent like this all my life.

[Atalanta Pendragonne]

I'm glad I was swayed by the early reviews into ordering this one! The woodsy/spicy combo works really well on me, and there's a richness to it that's somehow comforting.

 

My cat Hecate seemed to find it intriuging as well, sniffing my wrist intently.

[-Jamie-]

Mmmmm, yummy. There was an imp of Geek included in an eBay auction I won recently. I didn't really think about trying it for a while, but then curiosity won out.

 

In the bottle, very sharp and woodsy. The pine comes through very clearly.

 

On my skin, it mellows out quite a bit after a few minutes. Becomes a bit... sweeter, for lack of a better word. The pine isn't as sharp, and I can smell a bit of the leather and cinnamon bark and something smoky.

 

Hee, Geek reminds me of my father. At one time he wore a cologne that smelled vaguely similar, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was. So I'm having conflicted thoughts about it. On one hand, mmmm very sexy and lovely and RAWR. On the other hand, smells like daddy. And those are two thoughts you don't really want to have at the same time.

[The_Merf]

In the bottle: Extremely complex. I get something different from the bottle each time I sniff it. The first time I sniffed it, the patchouli was the dominant note. The next time I sniffed it, I smelled the leather. When I investigated the bottle a third time, the tree notes were most dominant. None of the other notes really came out.

 

Wet: The cedar and patchouli are strongest at first. I can't wait to let my patchouli-hating friends smell this. I keep on telling them that there's quality patchouli and then there's cheap patchouli...perhaps they will believe me now. None of the other notes are really asserting themselves.

 

Drydown and wear: The patchouli fades away, and the leather comes out in its place. I smell something that vaguely reminds me of myrrh, which is probably the opoponax. The scent retains its complexity, although I wish (as many others have said) that it was stronger. It's not quite as feral and naughty as I had hoped it would be, but there is an eccentricity in the composition of the scent that catches one's attention nonetheless. I'm glad I picked up two bottles.

[laochodia]

Pine and cinnamon. Very strong.

[donsixgun]

I love this! It goes on very herbal and green, which I didnt care for too well, but as it dries, the opoponax, and mosses come out, and its wonderful. Very nice

[Monster]

First sniff, I smell mostly pine and cedar. It's very pleasant and Christmasy feeling. Definilty a masculine blend.

 

On my skin, something sweet comes out (cinnamon maybe?). I can also detect leather a bit more. The pine and cedar are both very prominent.

This smells gorgeous, but is a bit too masculine for me.

 

On my boyfriend... Uh! This is HIS scent! I love this. His first reaction was "Wow, this actually smells awesome.....can I keep this?" The bottle now resides on his dresser.

 

I'm really glad I got a bottle of this, it's really the perfect scent for my boyfriend.

[slugbait]

I bought this bottle for my geek, hee hee.

 

Right out of the bottle this smells like musks with cinnamon and pine. On his skin this is spicy warm leather. As it warms up and it gives off a bit of a cedar smell. The pine and cinnamon float around in the background, and something smells a bit earthy. Surprisingly, this isn’t as heavy as I though it would be. It is so f-ing sexy. This is what every geek should smell like. I should have bought two bottles.

[feline.by.design]

Geek was the sort of pencil-shaving smell I tend to get from cedarwood at first, but immediately it turned into a rich leather scent. It then proceeded to move around a bit with the ceder, creating a sort of spice-dance, heightened by what my notes say "dark incense musk. Oooh."

 

Oooh indeed. The patchouli lends itself well towards Geek, making it a bit darker and less sweet than Torture King. Torture King is still at the moment my Carnaval Noir favourite, but Geek isn't far behind. I love the leather note, and the feeling is mutual. Geek is very masculine and strong, and I really enjoy it.

 

Of course, there are ladies who don't care to smell masculine, and so I suppose that this isn't for you. More Geek for me, then.

 

-doreen

Edited April 11, 2006 by feline.by.design