The Great Sword of War

[madelf]

Mandarin, tonka, saffron, black tea, cocoa, tobacco leaf, sanguine red musk and five classical herbs of conflict.

I was a little nervous after smelling this in the bottle - it wasn't bad, but something just struck me as off, and a little pungent.

On, however, it is a lovely spicy orange tobacco scent. I don't really get any chocolate type note at all, and the musk is a really light background presence, but making itself known.

There is something very dry in the blend that I can't really place - almost like ground up incense or very crumbly dried herbs. I which I could tell exactly what they are. It conjures a very interesting blend of images - a warm wasteland - maybe a desert with the sun beating down on it.

The Great Sword of War is lovely. It has some similarity to other oils, like Cerberus or 13, but the spicy dryness makes it really stand out on it's own merits. It is definately worth a bottle. Edited January 18, 2006 by Shollin

[Savannah]

In imp: Chocolate. Chocolate with a little spice and a little bit of that lovely dried black tea smell. I fully expect the chocolate to fade once on; that's what happens to me with most chocolate scents, except Bliss, and I assume that's because it was nothing but chocolate.

 

On: Ooh. Rush of spicy mandarin goodness. Very fresh and juicy and-- oh my, there's the red musk. Hello, red musk. There's this sort of swirl of scents at this point as the different notes come out-- I smell that fierce saffron note from Bastet, and ooh, here comes a nice tonka smoothing things out, and there's definitely a lovely tobacco note hovering about.

 

Dry: The chocolate came back!! This is very exciting! I lost the tea, I believe, but I got the chocolate back. Wow, now this smells marvelously reminiscent of Green and Black's Mayan Gold chocolate-- rich, sweet, dark and citrusy. Much more sweet and comforting than I'd expected! I was expecting a kick-ass, take-names scent, but this is more of a "whee, screw you, I'm gorgeous and happy and I don't care what you think" scent. There's a definite juicy sweetness to it that I didn't expect. I LOVE it!

[Voleuse]

I'm a huge fan of Freak Show and 13, so when I noticed the forum reviews comparing them to this, I was thrilled.

 

On first application, I smell cocoa and tobacco, with a hint of mandarin in the background. The chocolate note is a little powdery, but as the oil dries, the mandarin blooms sharply, balancing out the powder perfectly. After a while, the overall blend mellows, and I think I start to smell the musk, though it's subdued. The chocolate and orange are dominant throughout, and the tea only makes a vague appearance. A long while later, however, the scent completely morphs into weak, lemony tea. Huh.

Edited January 16, 2006 by Voleuse

[UploadedLobster]

In the bottle: Orange, tobacco, black tea, and ginger. Faint chocolate rounding out the scent. It's complicated and delicious, like a very expensive dessert. Nicely spicy, tangy, warm and sweet.

 

On me: Orange and ginger jump out and go WOOO YAAAAY I AM ON SKIN PAAARTY. Tea comes up underneath that, sweet and dark and a little bitter. The chocolate or musk is probably the background glue holding all of the stuff together, because even with so many sharp smells it's still very SMOOTH. Extremely sexy.

 

Dry, about 2 hours later: HOT DIGGITY DAMN! IT'S SHUB-NIGGURATH! That does it, Great Sword of War is my new favorite scent of all time. I'm signing up for a couple big bottles of this stuff.

 

Srsly. It's the perfect scent. Ginger and orange all the way through, with tea and something creamy gradually fading and leaving the ginger to stand out among some background citrus and musk notes. My socks are rocked right across the room by Great Sword of War.

 

 

 

Lobster Rating

Better than: 4-star pad thai!

Edited January 27, 2006 by Uploaded Lobster

[Sheila]

Oh, YUM! This is really nice!

In the imp, the oil is dark and thick, like Snake Oil. It smells like chocolate and orange in the vial.

On, the musk and herbs come out right away, along with the chocolate. And here comes the orange! This is a strong, bitter orange.

Dry, I get an orange spice. It's really soft, which is surprising (but that may be because I didn't apply very much). Incensy and musky orange. Luckily my skin "burns off" the chocolate pretty quickly, since I don't really like smelling like chocolate (just eating it). I like this very much--onto the big bottle list it goes.

Edited January 20, 2006 by Sheila

[Mountaingrrl00]

I had a bit of a burning reaction to this on my wrists, so I washed it off, mixed the imp with vodka and sprayed in my hair and on my sweater.

 

This is wonderfully rich - in both the sense of heaviness and smelling expensive. The saffron, black tea and red musk are the strong, grounding notes. Something about it reminds me of a worn leather jacket. The chocolate and orange don't smell foodlike or sweet; they just seem to add dimension to the overall smell. This makes me feel like a million bucks. I'd love to smell this on a man, too.

[yeahbutnobut]

The Great Sword of War

 

In the imp: chocolate orange, spices and herbs. I agree with the comment that it smells very much like Green and Black's Mayan Gold chocolate.

Wet on skin: this is really good. The combination of cocoa, saffron, mandarin and herbs may be unusual, but it works!

Dry on skin: oh yeah, this is good stuff! This is a fiery, seething scent, warm and rich, complex and unique. Saffron adds it's dry warmth to the scent, there's a sweetish dusting of cocoa, with the tang of mandarin and the tea and herbs underneath adding a dark herbal twist to the overall fragrance. I can just about make out the tonka and musk under it all. I wonder what these 'five herbs of conflict' are? Whatever they are, they smell good! This is 13's dark twin! This is a scent that evokes darkness and fire, it makes me think of vivid sunsets against darkening skies.

After a while: ooh, I really like what's happened after about 30 mins. The scent's developed a wonderful smooth creaminess, which might be due to the musk, with the warm saffron and herbs resting on top. This scent isn't as edgy as before, it's now become smooth and delicious. the cocoa note still lingers, mingling nicely with the musk to create a delightful scent. this now feels more laid back, and I can't help but wonder what a hot chocolate drink with saffron, herbs and mandarin tastes like now, because that's what this smells like now!

After an hour or two…whoa, red musk! The musk note has now come out in force, which is a good thing because I love red musk, and it smells fantastic at this point. With the saffron, it does bear a slight similarity to Scherezade, but with added cocoa and tonka sweetness.

Verdict: this is what happened when 13 joined the Dark Side…this is chocolate orange (not of the Terry's Chocolate Orange kind, but of the Green and Black's Mayan Gold kind) with a twist of spicy saffron warmth, the tanginess of tea, and a sprinkling of herbs, with red musk lurking underneath. A scent of darkness and fire, this is an exciting and unusual fragrance which is lovely on me-but would also be lovely on a guy. It's warmth and slight chocolatey aspect make it approachable, but there's that herbal tea bite that adds something unique and different to it all. I may have to give in to a big bottle of this, this is a great scent which would be fantastic for the colder months.

[WidgetAlley]

Caveat lector: I'm dealing with the remains of a rather spectacular headcold. And I'm OTR at the moment. Gods only know how this is going to affect my sense of smell/skin chemistry, but the congestion is almost gone and I can sniff things again and I don't want to wait any longer!

 

First off, I have to say how much I love the bottle art. A mushroom cloud? And a map behind that, I think, and some really cool Gothic-style script for the label.

 

In the bottle: Whoa. I unscrewed the top and was instantly punched in the nose by a searingly dry, spicy orange. This isn't gentle and fruity like Baghdad, nor creamy and glorious like The Haunted Palace. Nor is it the richly smoky mandarin of Torture King. This is.... the only word I can come up with is "scorched". This smells like bleak, acrid wasteland to me. It almost stings my nasal passages (they're extra-tender from blowing my nose so much.) It's not a bad smell, just a powerful one. Kind of medicinal. I can detect mandarin, heavy tobacco, unidentified herbs, maybe a tiny touch of tea (but the dehydrated leaf rather than the brew itself) and something that could be saffron. No red musk, tonka, cocoa or any of the softer, more mellow notes. I like it, but I can't imagine wearing it. Here's hoping it calms down on my skin.

 

Wet, on skin: The orange comes to the forefront and the tobacco settles down a good deal, thankfully, although this still puts me in mind of spilled blood on hot sand. I can smell the red musk now, and I think a touch of cocoa as well. It's still heavy and very spicy, and reminds me a lot of The Haunted Palace on steriods. With an AK-47 and a hand-rolled cigarette and leather chaps. As it settles, the tea and cocoa poke their heads out, ready to duck back around the corner at the first sign of enemy fire. Hmmmm, it could just be me, but I really don't get any sense of smoothness from this at all (at the moment, anyway.) This strikes me as extremely.... pointy, if that makes sense.

 

It's mellowing still further as it dries, until it's a heated swirl of tobacco and orange, saffron and cocoa, tea and musk, but still extremely potent. This really fits the "war" concept. If you bottled Gaiman and Pratchett's War from Good Omens, she would be exactly like this.

 

Dry: Heavy. Dusty. Dry. Scorched. Mandarin, tobacco, saffron, musk, herbs, cocoa, tonka, in that order, but without being sweet or holiday-orangey. I have to say, I'm about how this could give off a candy store or a happy, pretty, cheerful vibe. On my skin, even when it's fading, it's brash, harsh, and, yes, war-like. It makes my head spin a little and my temples feel as though there's a loop of tight metal around them.

 

I'm reminded of a quote from Lawrence of Arabia, when Sharif Ali tells Lawrence that his wholesale slaughter of a Turkish column is nothing in comparison to what the sand has drunk before. "I tell you; this is nothing. Is it the blood? The desert has dried up more blood than you could think of."

 

Verdict: This one, although fantastic in form and execution, just doesn't quite gel with me. It's too authoritarian-- I loves me some power blends, but I prefer them to be commanding in a different way than this. GSoW is just a little too drill sergeant on me, although I think it might work beautifully on someone else. (And it's giving me a headache.) I'll give it another go when I'm completely healthy again and the communists aren't invading the summer house, but as it is, I prefer The Haunted Palace for my orangey-goodness fix, and I'll probably pass this bottle on to a better home.

[aidenraine]

The ingredients list made me really eager to try it, so here I am. Looks like I wasn't alone :>

 

This is a gorgeous smell, like vibrant orange mixed with a root beer barrel. I can't stop sniffing my wrist. I am delectable now, and I feel a peace washing over me. What an amazing comfort smell. It's slightly spicy and I want to hoard bottles of it like mad!

 

Thankfully this doesn't change much, but sits on my wrist in it's slightly spicy, mandarin state for a while. I still do get root beer barrel and a touch of spice. Something in here reminds me of Chinese herb-store too, but not in the way that usually makes me gag. No tea rising up yet.

 

This smells likme something I would love to drink- when I mix cocoa with chili powder and vanilla.

 

I am impressed- scents of this type, like 13 and Decadence usually smell fake on me, and somewhat gross. This is yummy.

[Miss Lynx]

Hmm, complex and interesting! My first thought was "Chocolate of the Antichrist!", as the cocoa note is fairly strong, but with dark and sinister undertones. But there area lot of different things happening in this scent, influences which shift in and out of prominence and make it smell quite different from one sniff to the next.

 

I'm guessing that one of the five herbs of conflict is lemon verbena, because there's a note in here that's very similar to the lemon-drop high note in Shadow. And the scent seems to be unfolding differently in different places -- on my wrists, it's settled down to a soft herbal-musk which is quite nice, but fading quickly, while in the crooks of my arms the verbena is still quite pungent, with mandarin and cocoa in the background and dark herbal notes dancing around them. Eventually it all settles down to a fairly pleasing sort of cocoa-herbal-musk.

 

I can see the similarities to 13 and Freak Show -- more the latter than the former, though. It's got a definite darkness to it which 13 in my admittedly limited experience didn't seem to have. But the freaky I-am-food/I-am-not-food complexity is like both of those. And I can see the Shub parallel too -- it's a little bit similar to the more musky of the two Shub batches I've tried. Very interesting, and one that I think I will need to wear more to get better acquainted with. It has all kinds of complexity to it that I don't think come out fully in a single wearing.

 

BTW, this was also my pick for wearing to vote in the Canadian election today. First, because given current circumstances it really does feel like riding off to war, and second, because barring a stunning upset at the polls, we are likely to be electing the Antichrist.

 

Grade: B+

[Lycanthrope]

The Great Sword of War was a blend I had very high hopes for. Although it's not the end-all-be-all scent I was hoping it would be, it is still quite nice and I do enjoy it. In the bottle it is citrussy, lemony chocolate, with a mild sandalwood-like base. On my skin, it is supremely citrussy, like chewing on the rind from a clementine or lemon, with a detectable chocolate running underneath. Over time, there's a mild, mild muskiness that blends with the cocoa, perhaps the sweetness from the tonka mixed with the warm red musk aroma...

 

At this point, though, I think the 'herbs of conflict' take over gradually, and I believe that there is some lemongrass in here or something, because I'm definitely pulling a sharp grassy herb out of the mix. Perhaps that, or palmarosa... regardless, it is less foody at this point and more chaotic, roiling, and chocolate!

 

Over time this quiets down quite a bit and becomes a lightly herbal, cocoa musk with a twist of citrus. Quite nice.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: there's a lot of cocoa in this and some sort of minty herb. there's a lot of other notes in the background. very nice.

on: very fresh and herbal. almost minty. i might smell something like anise, too.

1 hour later: darker and salty. very odd.

1.5 hours later: sharp and heavy.

overall: this scent just isn't something i would wear.

[kilobytesprite]

In the imp it goes juicy-chocolate-herby; just in that order.

 

The chocolate, orange and other herbs tend to stick around on me. I'm guessing what held on the most was the tobacco leaf, but I can't be sure.

 

This was -strong- though. I put some on, sniffed, then thought I needed more. This was a mistake.

 

What does Mack think?

 

Mack sniffed and sniffed and then snorted when it was wet on my skin. When I came home from work, he changed his mind. It was sniff, sniff, oh-let-me-lick!

[shelldoo]

in the bottle, at irst i thought shub, but chocolate, the i thought it has the dust note of m.u. but it definitely has teh cocolate goodness of freakshow. very intriguing as i love all those scents. wet it is a moist chocolate w/ a dusty topping.

 

then bam hello citrus. orange possibly tangerine. but it settles a bit and lets the herby goodness come in to play i also get a smoothness i believe is the tonka which is binding it all together.

 

final thoughts: i am not a big citrus fan. but this one works. i am unsure what makes it different but the other notes keep the orange tame enough that i rather enjoy sniffing this one.

[kettu]

in the imp, I smelled cocoa. Yay for cocoa!

 

but then on my skin when I tried it on, the cocoa went spiralling away and it got all weirdly lemony. ew.

 

and now it's faintly lemony with a touch of distant incense. Pooey. *pout*

 

this one goes back into Lynxie's stash with no turning back. I wish I could have smelled this on my skin without the herbs of conflict. it got all confused with the conflict. bad, conflict. bad.

[merivelle]

Chocolate-orange goodness. The scent doesn't mesh well with the name, in my opinion. This reminds me of Christmas, not the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse. It's very long lastings and I'd recommend it for "foody-scent" fans.

[Rock Goddess]

This one was a strong, spicy citrus on me. I didn't pick up on the chocolate note. It toned down a bit on dry down, and I think it would be really nice on a guy. It's a bit too masculine for me though.

[locuraelegantia]

The first time I applied this I thought it was really bitter and noxious, but I had some remenants of Dorian underneath it, so I gave it a try again today before work.

 

Again, I got that bitter scent and I was tempted to wash it off, but I didn't have time. This was a blessing in disguise, because about 30 mins later, the bitterness came off and left a creamy, musky orange scent. Very untraditional in terms of perfume, but really pretty and unique in it's own way.

 

I think that this is probably the kind of scent that the people around you have to get used to as well, to appreciate its complexity.

 

edit: as a second opinion, my mother just told me I smell like furniture polish! uh, okay?

Edited February 5, 2006 by locuraelegantia

[bodegaselkie]

I had high hopes for The Great Sword of War (it's got one of the best BPAL names *ever*!), but putting it on, the perfume was overly... cologney, as I often say. It was strong and jumbled, though the phrases "warm" and "orangey" came to mind. Over several hours it faded down to something that gave me a sore throat and wouldn't wash off hours later. I think it was mainly the mandarin and tobacco that remained, with the tobacco reminding me of some of Beth's "leather" scents. I wanted to like this one -- but alas, no.

[salamandrina]

Yummy. Initially, this smelled like an orangy-chocolate-y baked good. Some kind of cookie or biscotti, less of a cake.

 

Now, about 3 hours after application, it's warm and orangy. It's masculine, but not overly so.

 

It's making me hungry. Oh yes. The Great Sword of War is a tasty snack, indeed.

[Brianne]

In the bottle:

Ugh something VERY pungent - one of the herbs I imagine

 

On me:

Wow, in the early stages it's very much a tobacco scent on my skin but has this positively *beautiful* mandarin and tea note!! I mean, honestly it's GORGEOUS. I am praying that this scent does not morph into something else.

 

Well it's been long enough now for me to safely say, this is is a gorgeous scent and I love it to pieces. Despite the notes of musk, tobacco, and cocoa - this is a rather refreshing, bouyant scent. That mandarin, tea and tonka work together like freaking magic. It is a slight citrus tang to it, an airy sweetness of tea, and a warmth of tonka. The other notes all seem to work together as a slightly spiced, dry, herbal background which really just supports the mandarin, tonka, and tea in my opinion.

 

Final note:

I love love love love this. I will be BUYING A BOTTLE OF THIS on the lunar update. Definitely. This is one of my favorites now!!!

[AlaskaSnows]

For me this smells very much like a man's cologne (as usual one I KNOW I have smelled but can't think of). It is very sour citrus, herbs and musks, I like this VERY much. No chocolate for me, but there is a warm deep base to this and it is probably in there somewhere. Another "make the man wear it" scent!

[Thaleia]

I'd read a ton of great reviews for the Great Sword, and this seems to be the Come and See scent that's most popular, so I was surprised to find that I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. Maybe it's because I was expecting a variation on 13 (which still insists on smelling like Tootsie Rolls on me), or the Terry's Chocolate Orange that 13 was not, but I didn't expect it to smell like spicy movie-theatre popcorn in the bottle. Once on, it becomes sharp-as-shit mandarin and herbs, with an underlying spicy-popcorn smell in the background. Drying down, the popcorn smell goes away (thank God!) and I get tobacco leaf and ginger. It smells like that Orange-Glo stuff that my mom uses to clean at home, only not. I don't get chocolate at all until the very end, and I have to look for it. And then when it's completely dry, it's the chocolate orange I always wanted.

 

Am going to need to age this and retry in a couple of weeks to see if my body chemistry can get rid of the weird drydown and go straight to the chocolate orange.

 

ETA, 2/21/06: The Great Sword does not like me. It's got that weird spicy/burnt popcorn thing going that does not go away when I wear it by itself, and instead of chocolate, orange, or herbs, I get burnt popcorn the whole day. I hate that I'm going to have to break up my Come and See quartet, but this one I just can't take. 7.5/10 3/10.

Edited February 22, 2006 by rabid hauteur

[gingersnapp]

This is a very sweet, languid scent. I thought there was patchouli in here for sure, and maybe some myrrh, because that it what it is reminiscent of on my skin, but looking at the ingredients, I see neither of those. I'm going to have to go ahead and guess the sweet, languid thing I am smelling is the red musk. It's actually a blood-ish scent, so that makes sense. It has a little bit of a metallic tang to it like blood.

 

I do get something herbal, but I'm not sure. Perhaps that is the "herbs in conflict."

 

Other than that, I'm unable to individually identify the other listed notes. But this is really unique and enjoyable. Very strong and dominant.

[ocicat]

The Great Sword of War cleaved my heart in twain

 

It seriously went all to hell on my skin. I think the 'herbs of conflict' staged an all out battle with my skin chemistry. The result was a putrid mixture of all spice, musk and amber. Grah. And it lasted forever. I really wanted this one to love me, but it didn't.