Dragon's Reverie

[coulrophobe]

Opium-laced dreams of flame, plunder, power and fury: dragon’s blood resin, poppy, amber and ylang ylang.

First review... eeek, the pressure!

In the imp: a very light, refreshing floral (as a caveat, the Lab's dragon's blood is similar to lilac, to my nose).

On: Now I can smell a bit more of the amber, which grounds the scent nicely. To me, this is a very wearable and sophisticated floral. It's reminding me a bit of Bearded Lady - not that it smells like it per se, but has that same amber-floral feel. The poppy adds a bit of smoky sweetness, but it's not overpowering at all. There's a soft, dreamy quality as it dries down - I think the "reverie" part is captured quite well in this blend.

Verdict: I think this is my favorite of the Ars Draconis category.

[filigree_shadow]

Holy crap this is good stuff. I wish I had bought a whole bottle of it because this imp isn't going to last long.

 

When I first put it on my skin I thought "eugh, too floral." And then I thought "hey wait a minute, it's starting to smell a bit like cologne." And then I just sat there for the next 5 minutes with my nose right next to my wrist, glancing around furtively in case Hubby suddenly came around the corner and I had to explain what I was doing.

 

I think this is one of only two BPAL oils for which I liked the imp sniff, didn't like it wet, and loved it dry. It ends up smelling floaty and languid -- and mesmerizing. It's soft and pretty and not too sweet. It smells like the sweetness is coming from the ylang ylang rather than the dragon's blood -- I can barely tell there's any dragon's blood in this.

 

So... yeah, gonna need a bottle of this one.

[provocateur]

in bottle: a soft dragon's blood.

 

on skin, wet: resinous poppy. (the resinous is a sign of the dragon's blood on me).

 

on skin, dry: amber and poppy.

 

conclusion: well the dragon's blood did surprise me by not being so overwhelming and musky on me as it usually is. I think the ylang-ylang might've taken care of that. I love amber and poppy, but this one didn't really cut a rug for me.

 

rating: 3/5

[redlisse]

Woo, this is soooooo pretty.

 

I'm having a hard time describing this scent - it reminds me of a good unisex cologne, but also of incense smoke (the nice kind); it smells like being lost in a smoky daydream, and it smells like the kind of mystery you never solve. It is, in short, drop-dead stunning...in a swirly foggy drug-addled sort of way.

 

And that is all.

[edenssixthday]

Dragon’s Reverie - Oooooh, this is pretty! The dragon’s blood in this blend smells very strongly of lilac – similar to Dragon’s Eye. Yet the opium gives it a charge of sweetness and the amber resins deepen the scent to create a dragon’s blood blend that is truly spectacular. This is a decadent blend, very exotic and sensual. It has really strong throw when wet, but as it dries it sticks closer to my skin. Like most dragon’s blood blends, it lasts for hours upon hours on my skin. This is a keeper.

[The_Merf]

In the imp: This smells indolent (in a good way), very languid and appropriate, given the name. The dragon's blood in this, as others have pointed out, is very light and floral.

 

Wet: Hello? Anyone at home?

 

Drydown and wear: As is wont to happen with some lighter dragon's blood scents, this particular oil fades on me very quickly. What I can smell is the lilac that is usually an indicator of a dragon's blood scent that has rested on my skin overnight, not for 15 minutes. Such a shame--I loved the description of this and the Claw and picked the Reverie to go first...

[theshapeshifter]

Pretty! I was hoping for a little more poppy and a little less amber, but thankfully the amber is playing nice and not turning to baby powder on me as it sometimes does. Very heady and feminine - even the boy liked it, and he usually doesn't have any time for non-foody scents on me.

[SultryWolf]

Reading descriptions and reviews, I had ranked Dragon’s Reverie as W(anted).

Imp: a light, sweet floral; the color is golden, suggesting very little Dragon's Blood - in her reverie, this dragon sees herself as something lighter and gentler!

On: Sweet florals over just a hint of Dragon’s Blood; the resins deepen over time until it’s mostly amber with a hint of florals.

Edited July 19, 2006 by SultryWolf

[yeahbutnobut]

Dragon's Reverie

 

In the imp: a little bit of opium, a lot of ylang-ylang, maybe some amber.

Wet on skin: deep, heady smoky flowers with the barest hint of dragon's blood.

Dry on skin: wow, this is gorgeous! Rich, sweet and heady, I smell strong floral notes of ylang and poppy covered with sweet, sticky amber the dragon's blood is detectable but not too invasive-it adds it's distinctive, almost lilac like note to the scent. This is a heady flower-amber scent that is deep and soporific, almost perfume like but with resinous touches.

After a while: whoa, this has become even more balanced, rounded, richer and warmer. I can smell the dragon's blood a bit more, it's metallic redness mingled with lilac tones, but this scent takes d-b and enhances and sweetens it with that gorgeous amber scent and a huge dose of ylang. It does also have the feel of a sophisticated perfume to it. It's very beautiful, I think, warm and sultry like a summer's night, and I get a little bit of smoke at the end-the remains of the poppy/opium?

There are parts when this scent reminds me of Blood Amber (which is understandable) and also, to a smaller degree, the Cracked Bell.

Verdict: this is an enchanting scent-very heady and rich, it draws you in, a cloud of heavy fragrance that feels soporific, dreamy, with a hint of smoke from the poppy, and a lot of ylang and amber. I do get dragon's blood but this is enhanced dragon's blood, dragon's blood from a dream, more beautiful than reality. It is feminine and mature, a grown up and sophisticated scent, sultry and exotic. This scent is one for the night-be it for an evening out, or for sleeping with-I wonder if it will induce nice dreams? I don't know if I want a bottle yet but I'm keeping the imp around because this is one of my favourite Ars Draconis scents, along with Milk and Claw.

Emoticon rating:

If you like this, try: Blood Amber, Blood Kiss, Cracked Bell

Edited September 28, 2006 by yeahbutnobut

[Voleuse]

Huh. I want to say this is a floral scent--the ylang ylang is very evident--but something in this blend keeps me from pinning it down. The background is very cool and sweet. In the foreground, however, is something sharper, and a little bit sour. Metallic, even. There's smoke in it, as well. As it dries, the sweetness gets a little sickly, but not overbearingly so. Neat!

[indicolite]

I was afraid of the poppy but so far the dragon's blood, amber and ylang ylang have allied to hold the poppy down. Yay yay.

 

This is actually a very interesting party scent. It is too - nighttime - to be a daytime scent, but it will work very nicely for an evening out.

 

The poppy is still being held down. I may have found ONE poppy/opium scent that does not drive me mad. Long live dragons.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Dragon’s blood and floral

 

On Skin: This is a very soft Dragon’s Blood vlend. The resin is obviously there, both in scent and color. The ylang ylang is very light, the amber actually covers it in even more sweet resin. The poppy to me is hiding because it never surfaces on my skin… at least not the poppy I'm expecting, poppy is usually a little spicy on me and I don't get that in this scent. I also get a lilac or slightly lavender feel from this scent… it actually is pretty heavy on the floral. But overall I don’t get much from this scent. It just seems like a softer Dragon’s Blood blend but doesn’t really grab me. Still, it’s quite pretty and worth trying for sure. Very soft throw and short to average wearlength.

Edited August 14, 2006 by slave1

[sofiaviolet]

This will be a slather scent, because the amber note makes the whole blend fade away. Dragon's blood and opium work quite well together. This is floral.

[Blood onmy hands]

I normally order all of the new BPAL fragrances as soon as they are released; but I've put off trying Dragon's Reverie for quite a while now. I actually laughed when I first read the description... my top five most hated notes from BPAL are poppy, ylang ylang, jasmine, dragon's blood, and amber. Dragon's Reverie is 4 for 5 on that

 

Sniffing this in the imp vial... this has a perfumey, metallic sharpness to it that reminds me of cheap hairspray, and it is already giving me a headache.

 

Wet on my skin... this isn't at all as sharp or overpowering as I thought that it would be. It's actually a very light, sweet floral on me. Very yellow and almost candy-ish.

 

In the drydown (after fifteen minutes or so), this has taken on a musky floral fragrance with a heavy powder note in the background. BPAL's amber usually goes powdery on me, so I'm not surprised. This is a warm, biting, heavily perfumey floral, and it has quite a bit of throw on me now.

 

This is very much not me, and it makes my head pound, but it's nowhere near as bad as I was expecting it to be. The notes meld together rather nicely, if you can wear this sort of perfumey floral scent.

[blackfelicula]

In the bottle: I smell dragon’s blood, sweet flowers, and a faint whiff of resin (likely amber.)

 

Wet: Oooo. It is floral, yes, but it has the feel of a spiced resin even though it has a sweet floral scent.

 

Drying down: This blend is warm, not to the touch, but in impression. It feels slightly drugged. The name is apropos. It reminds me of vivid, lifelike, complex, full-color dreams like the kind that capture my imagination.

 

Dry: The ylang ylang is a little sharp up close, but further from my wrist Dragon’s Reverie is sweet and swooning. These dreams are rich and seething with power in repose. In several of the Ars Draconis blends, the dragon’s blood goes soapy on me. So far this one is not.

 

Later: Up close I now catch a whiff resembling a vanilla musk, but the main scent is still holding on from farther away. I like it.

 

ETA: This is becoming my favorite of the Ars Draconis blends. It also was sublime in combination with Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo. I want a bottle!

Edited September 13, 2006 by blackfelicula

[Jerre]

Dragon’s Reverie:

 

Another one of that scents-that-remind-me-of-the-past! The dragon’s blood is more subtle here, with a “cool” floral smell. Combined together they create a decadent spicy perfume-definitely feminine!

 

Summary: A subtle alchemical blend of tender young flowers and sexy spiciness of Dragons blood. Mmmmmm, good....

[gypsybaby1]

wet: light, almost non-existent; amber softens the dragon's blood quite a bit but not enough. Still a very strong floral.

 

off to swaps!

[LiberAmoris]

Dragon's Reverie smells like dragon's blood and lilac on me. I don't smell any poppy or ylang ylang, and I'm ok with that. I can't smell any amber either, but there is something 'rich' about this blend, so maybe it's the amber casting that glow.

 

This isn't something that I'd probably wear often, but I would love to smell this on someone else. Maybe I'll try to give one of my coworkers a good coating on Monday.

[jenleigh]

This is actually the first Ars Draconis scent I've tried - a frimp from the Lab.

 

And ooh. Opium is fast becoming a "will most definitely work" note for me - and it's the same here. And I love the poppy and ylang-ylang.

 

It is a heavy floral, but not *too* heavy - it's very reminiscent of its name, like a deeply sleeping scent. Lovely, and I may want a bottle.

[supremegoddessofall]

Tried this at a meet and sniff. Spicy, but softened by the ylang ylang and sweetened a touch by the amber.

[columbus]

My initial impression is to like this one, mostly because of the colour. It’s a splendid bright orange! Who couldn’t love that?

 

In the bottle, I’m getting a strong resin with just a hint of amber underneath. Once it’s on it gets a bit sweeter, and becomes a nice, fresh floral: cool and refreshing. I generally don’t like floral blends, but this one is just right: the amber sweetens it nicely and balances out the poppy and ylang ylang.

 

Definitely a keeper!

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is amber and dragon's blood...

 

once applied amber and poppy swirl together and this gets

very spicy and sweet...quite strong with good throw this is

a nice blend...not something i would reach for often but i will

cherish my imp and use it now and again...

[storme]

In the imp: soft, sweet florals - the dragon's blood here isn't strong and cherry-ish like it usually is to my nose.

 

On me, wet: soft poppy, very soft florals, and a very light trace of amber.

 

On me, dry: oh, weird - now it's all poppy and ylang ylang, dark and slightly sticky-sweet, with the amber warming it from beneath.

 

Verdict: Nice enough, but I'm not a huge fan of ylang ylang, and I have better poppy blends. Ah well.

[Miss Lynx]

Wow -- given that this contains both dragon's blood, which is often very dodgy on me, and ylang ylang, which is my absolute scent nemesis, it is freakishly non-evil on my skin. I don't mean that I exactly like it, but I don't hate it nearly as much as I expected to.

 

Why I would try something I expected to hate is a good question -- I suppose just because it was an unexpected frimp, of a relaively new scent, and hope springs eternal that perhaps someday I will find a dragon scent that works for me, given that I actually really like the scent of dragon's blood resin itself, when it's the actual resin rather than a perfume oil.

 

This smells like a more floral version of Blood Amber, with maybe a few parallels to Rage as well -- unsuprisingly, I guess, as both of those contain both amber and dragon's blood. And both of those are pretty good on me -- amber seems to be one of the few things that can tame dragon's blood and keep it from becoming overwhelmingly sweet on me.

 

Mind you, with the florals (especially -- *shudder* -- ylang ylang!), this is pretty powerfully sweet anyway, but not in that cloying, awful, perfumey way that dragon's blood can sometimes go on me. It's almost likable. Almost.

 

However, the likable side of it is so much like Rage that I'm probably better off just sticking with that when I want to smell like a very sweet dragon. The sweetness in Rage comes from fruit as well as flowers, which usually behaves better on my skin, so it's probably more me than this one.

 

Still... This one does have a nicely dreamy feel that resonates with the name, and I'm so shocked at finding a scent with ylang ylang in it that doesn't turn into Screaming Floral Death on me that I just might keep it.

 

Grade: B

[CiCi]

My favorite collection is the Ars Dragonis because every one I have tried has smelled great on me. Everywhere I go people are complimenting me on how nice I smell when wearing one of the Dragon blends. It lasts all day too.

 

I love amber-it is one of my favorite notes. You can smell that right away with this one.

The poppy and ylang-ylang combined with the amber are musky and soft and dreamy on me. After half an hour, it gets even better.

 

After trying just three out of this series, I think I must have them all!