Vixen

[tinyvulture]

Lascivious, flirtatious, and vampy as hell. A true heartbreaker’s perfume. The innocence of orange blossom tainted by the beguiling scents of ginger and patchouli.

i like orange blossom because you get the sweetness of orange without the acidic citric tang. instead you get a lovely warm powderiness. it tempers the astringent ginger nicely. the ginger is the most dominant note here, spicy and exotic. the patchouli is quite gentle and adds a nice earthiness. Vixen IS similar to Snake Oil, as others have noted. in fact, if you’re a fan of the “ginger + Snake Oil” goodness of Saw-Scaled Viper, i would strongly recommend this as a GC equivalent. there’s also a boozy note that reminds me quite a lot of Smut. very nice.

[Apple]

I like orange blossom. I like ginger. I even like patchouli, in small doses. What I do not like is red musk, and that is what comes roaring out of Vixen, accompanied by a cloying candied sweetness. Blerg. Sneaking red musk into a blend should be a crime, I say.

 

As it dries, the candy note fades and I get a hint of vanilla. This is an improvement, but I still reek to high heaven of funky grape-y incense and feel like I've spent the entire day suffocating inside an Egyptian imports store.

 

For fans of red musk, I imagine this would be lovely. If you like Snake Oil, Scherezade, Sin, etc., Vixen will be right up your alley. Unfortunately it was a gutter ball for me.

[greenranger]

Wet, the initial impression is, Snake Oil. The the oil in the imp is dark.

 

None of the vanilla of snake oil, though. Also, no ginger, and no orange blossom yet.

[sparkybish]

This smells like Snake Oil to me. Everything smells like something else today. So weird.

[obsidienne]

In the imp: Smoky? A strong, musty woodsy smell with a bite (patchouli + ginger) and underlying sweetness (orange blossom).

 

Wet: very ginger and patchouli, the orange blossom quite subtle; overall, the impression is for me really yummy, creamy incense; even though I can very much distinguish each note, they blend together very well. It reminds me of those funky alternative/goth stores where they've been stocking Nag Champa for so many years that it ALWAYS smells like that in there and it's very exotic and yummy.

 

Drydown: still very ginger and patchouli, but the bite has tamed itself and the orange blossom is shining through a little more. It's kind of woodsy and a bit creamy. A hint of bubbliness, too...

 

Dry: My skin managed to eat most of this (which surprised me, considering how strong it is in the imp), and now I have to put my nose close to the crook of my elbow to get a sniff. The notes are fairly balanced now and nothing is too strong, but I wish the scent would keep its throw! The orange blossom really develops in this stage. I am reminded of a sassy microbrewery ginger ale (I'm not talking disgusting, mass-produced soda, here!) with a gentle orange cream. So somehow, this scent has become a bit foody. It's warm, too. Cozy.

 

Throw: The initial throw was a lot stronger in the beginning; my skin tamed this in about 10 minutes. Goes from strong throw to mild on me.

 

Overall impression: this makes me smell like exotic incense. In a warm, sexy way. Might need a scent locket to keep from having to reapply constantly. I really like Vixen, but my boyfriend hates it and thinks it smells like old lady. Boo on that.

Edited October 4, 2008 by obsidienne

[heathercaley]

In the imp and freshly wet on the skin, I get orange blossom

 

But then something fantastic happens... as it dries down, the orange blossom *which is :not: my friend* settled down into something less headache inducing!! Then Whammo!!! Ginger and Patchouli with nary a scent of orange blossom to be found... and what do I smell you ask? Snake oil!!!! I swear it!!!

 

Love it!!!

[milica]

It's a tie between O and Vixen for my favourite bpal. And the name says it all, vampy as hell!!!

I get almost no orange flower, maybe a bit in first few minutes, it's all spicy ginger and pachouli on me.

It is almost the same as Crowley on me, but without that bit of leather.

I feel sooo powerfull when I wear it, because it plays sooo well with my skin, like no other perfume or perfume oil, I love it and men love it.

[gargouille]

I'd forgotten what notes there were in this one before I put it on and spent all day trying in vain to decipher it. Now that I've checked, I think I CAN pick up all three, but they're seriously well blended, especially when ON me.

Vixen is quite a bit sweeter than I'd usually wear, but really lovely, too, and lasted a looooong time on me. Definitely gonna use up my imp and then see if I crave it enough to warrant a bottle. I've a feeling this may be addictive, though...

[Andrea912]

Imp: I smell all three notes distinctly: orange, patchouli, and ginger.

 

Wet: orange is getting lost with ginger and patchouli...doesn't smell too promising...

 

Dry: ugly combo on my skin; like the siren, the ginger is overpowering; however, I think I can save this with a creamy layer of another oil...

Edited December 19, 2008 by Andrea912

[MisterShrapnel]

The Lab's frimps are totally stretching my range of preferences day by day, I swear.

This is very strong and dark in color.

Currently I don't like orange blossom (um. at all. ), but I keep sticking my nose next to my wrist because of the patchouli and the nice background spice from the ginger! This does indeed remind me a little of Snake Oil. Maybe it's like a conditioning thing, but I almost thought I smelled red musk.

Initially I decided that I disliked this with a passion ('twas one of my first free samples that I received), but upon a second meeting we're much more polite to each other, especially when this is dry. I'm starting to appreciate orange blossom. I might develop a love for Vixen down the road, actually...

If you wouldn't mind a little addition of floral to your Snake Oil (maybe so as to make it more feminine, or something?), then you'd probably love this.

 

ETA: I. Am on an orange blossom quest these days. Yes I am. Glad I still have my imp of this, because it's @#$% delicious. Yes yes yes. Slightly spicy and very sensuous, with that gorgeous rich patchouli~ My bottle of Snake Oil is too fresh for me to pull off right now, so I'm starting to wear this quite often in the meantime-very vampy indeed. Love it.

Edited March 20, 2009 by MisterShrapnel

[rayvn1]

Snake Oil! Why hello there, SN's naughty sister. Less vanilla, but the same spicy sexiness. Yay

[WidgetAlley]

Imp: Sexy! Mostly I get a bitter, biting ginger, some earthy (but not dirty) patchouli, and a tiny hint of citrussy sweetness that is the orange blossom. This is extremely nice. I can definitely see the Snake Oil comparisons, although this one lacks the deep vanilla.

 

Wet: Heavy, almost greenish-herbal ginger, sweet orange blossom and a round, grounding patchouli. I smell like some kind of really deliciously spicy orange-ginger cake! There's definitely something about this patchouli that gives me the impression of baking, which is really weird but oh well, who cares, because I smell awesome!

 

Dry: Mmm... this is the grown up version of Shub with a twist of Snake Oil. Less cookies and lemon and more spice and earth. Stunning, dramatic, and almost foody without being sweet. Verrrrry nice.

[Ceri]

In the vial: Orange blossom, nutty and woodsy.

 

Wet: Woodsy incense. I'm new to BPAL thus I'm not sure where these notes are from. Might be the ginger and patchouli.

 

Drydown: Sweet, woodsy incense.

 

Overall: Not a bottle, but I'm keeping the imp.

[lucyintheSkywithDemons]

I bought an beautifully aged ( cobalt ) bottle of this

and

I did not care for it much... oh - was I wrong !

 

I found my bottle in my GC box today and I have read about the

Snake Oil-comparisons before,

so I thought I´d give this a try.

 

It smells SPOT ON! like Snake Charmer on me.

I have an imp of SC res. and on me it has this dark, sexy, earthy vibe with just

a hint of sweetness and "hey look at me!" in the background.

 

I think I will wear this often I think,

as I am in a Snake Oil phase atm....

 

Love it!

[femmefatale]

Snake Oil! Why hello there, SN's naughty sister. Less vanilla, but the same spicy sexiness. Yay

 

 

I completely agree. Wow. This is gorgeous and sexy and just shot up into my top 10 I think.

 

Need. Bottle. Now. Lots and lots of bottles.

[Suu4LC]

Darn-in the imp this is the ginger I can't do...half of the bpal gingers are gorgeous on me, the other half are hard to describe but just don't go well with my skin...this is the second ]: Reminds me a bit of the ginger in War...not getting much orange blossom. Hopefully that will come out more on my skin!

 

Which it does on my skin! Much much better...the ginger calms down and the orange blossom comes out, and the patchouli gives this a nice grounded earthiness. Wow, I did not like this in the imp, but it smells SO much different on my skin. Ah the morphing power of bpal!

 

Wow...this is so odd on full drydown. It ends up basically being a sweet powder scent-O_o Nothing like how it was in the imp at *all* Yep, full drydown it is sweet orange blossom powder with... snake oil undertones. Hah! A true morpher! Very distinct stages. Not something I would purchase but an incredibly interesting blend to test!

 

 

[fireflower]

Patchouli and orange blossom. I don't get the ginger at all. It reminds me a little of Snake Oil, probably because of the patchouli, but with a floral note. I don't like Snake Oil, but I kind of like this. Usually patchouli smells like pencil shavings on me, but here it smells rather nice. I'm surprised by this one. I think I'll keep the imp but need to try it out a little longer to see if a bottle of this is in my future.

[catatonic1242]

In the imp: I'm sorry, but my first thought was, "yuck." This smells dirty.

 

On, wet: Dying, too-sweet flowers and cheap incense.

 

On, dry: This is just not my smell. The flowers have turned into powder on my skin, and the incense smells "off."

[JenniNikki]

This was the first thing I sampled from my first imp set. I actually picked this one to try first because my hopes were higher for the rest, and I didn't want to be let down on my first BPAL. The first time I put it on, I got... Honestly, it just smelled very flat, brown, and slightly sweet. Very uninteresting, and kind of confusing. It washed off easily and I went on to more fun scents.

 

The second (and third) time, intense patchouli. Dirty, sharp in a way that isn't citrusy, and a tiny bit sweet still. It does not wash off, at all, I've gone over my wrist with soap, with alcohol, and it's still there. Unfortunately. It doesn't smell as dirty the third time as it did the second time, at least.

[dianahuntress]

in the bottle: ummmm well...it was pretty harsh smelling but i read all the reviews so i had to put it on..,.

 

wearing: ooooo total disapointment..it way way out wonky on me. Too bad cuz i really wanted to like it. I got a really bad b.o. smell that was really hard to scrub off. I got no orange smell (that's why i ordered this one ) so i was a wee bit disapointed but no fear i still had gotten a few that were AWSOME!

[Jenn2D2]

With the orange blossom and ginger, I had some pretty high hopes for this - it is the second imp I've tried out. Unfortunately, on my skin, patchouli is all I can smell (100x amplified, really).

 

In the bottle: dark, sweet orange blossom with a patchouli finish.

 

Wet: holy patchouli! Where did those lovely blossoms go?!

 

Dry-down: the patchouli has achieved sentience and may be forming a civilization. I hear they may get the vote soon.

 

In all seriousness, something about this amplified the patchouli notes on my skin to an unbearable level, and I had to scrub it off. I had some pretty good success using a castille soap, followed by a bit of olive oil. I am officially jealous of those who can carry this scent off - I love the "in bottle" smell!

[chimera87]

Like with Snake Oil, I wasn't sure if I'd love this when I sniffed it in the imp, or when I first applied it.

 

Five minutes later....

 

This is a much darker, grittier and vamped up Snake Oil. Definitely in your face. For nights when you don't feel like being JUST a naughty girl

 

It's like Snake Oil with none of that vanilla sweetness but with heavy patchouli (But still not dirty hippy patchouli for those of you scared..) and ginger and something else, I do detect some of the orange blossom but I swear I get a little whiff of leather?? Just a tiny bit? Might be just my imagination after all the images in my mind of being SUCH a BAD girl. This is Snake Oil with a whip

 

After several hours (This also wears long into the night...but you might want to apply it not long before bed, so it would wear well into the next afternoon!) a sweetness comes out. Not as vanilla and sweet as regular snake oil, but a really nice and more subtle sweetness comes out, and it also becomes more like Snake Oil in that aspect. I'm totally loving this. I haven't tried the snake pit YET... so I wouldn't know if I could compare it to any of those.

 

Definitely try this if you love Snake Oil and even if you don't. If for some reason you didn't like the vanilla in SO, give this a try/

[sprocket21]

I should start this by warning that "sexy" scents are totally not me. I am a candy and fruit girl all the way. I think the only sexy scent I like is Smut.

 

That said, Vixen isn't too bad. It's very dark and musky and reminds me a bit of Snake Oil (which I am not a fan of). I don't get any orange blossom or ginger at all. I can detect that Smut-like sweet booze note that someone else mentioned upthread.

 

So it's not for me, but if the idea of a sweet, dirty, sexy scent appeals to you, you should give it a shot. Especially if you like Snake Oil.

[Veronica]

I've been testing scents out lately, so I put Vixen on one wrist and Xiuhtecuhtli on the other, not realizing that they both shared similar orange notes. Later, I wasn't sure if I'd mixed the two or not!

 

Starts off orange blossom, very sweet, but then morphs into patchouli with a hint of ginger, very little orange blossom as a background. I don't get "sexy" from this at all, just a little bitter and musky.

 

edit: After a long dry down, the bitterness of this has definitely tempered with the orange. It's become a warm, spicy sweet scent. Still, the middle stage is of long-lasting bitterness turns me off from a bottle, as I don't see my self being able look past it often enough to wear regularly.

 

edit2: After leaving this over night, Vixen has turned into a beautifully sweet and creamy scent, almost in the same vein as Machu Pichu on me. I finally know what everyone is talking about! I'll keep the imp, but definitely apply the night before I intend to wear it.

Edited May 10, 2009 by delighted

[Tanya]

This is an excellent orange blossom blend. I wanted to try it after reading that it was similar to Lush Karma. I was not disappointed. As others have indicated, it's quite like Karma, but more "dangerous". First day out I received compliments.