Tanin'iver

[deleahrium]

Lilith’s monstrous dragon steed: dragon’s blood resin, patchouli, pomegranate, myrrh, mimosa, cassia, blood musk and smoke.

Yeah this is definitely all cassia. I can sort of pick out some fruit and some musk in the bottle, but on my skin it's all cassia and powder. Kind of like a very sweet inferno to me.

[blackfelicula]

In the bottle: I smell Tanin’iver’s cassia right away, as if it is layered over birch. I realize there is no birch in there, but the mix gives that impression.

 

Wet: The dragon’s blood mixes with the fruit to create a deep sweetness. For now cassia is still the strongest voice in the blend. The scent is spicy and warm.

 

Drying down: More of the resins are rising to the surface. Tanin’iver seethes with fiery power. The dragon’s blood is threatening soapiness now. That effectively softens the blend for me, taming it. On the upside, my husband likes spicy stuff, and he liked this.

 

Dry: The softness is persisting, but smoke and musk are coming out and providing balance. It is a feminine scent and a powerful one.

 

Later: Wow. I thought the cassia had faded, but it is going strong according to my husband’s nose. Ah, the joys of nose-overload. What I smell is lovely.

[juniperus]

bottle: oddly sweet and fruity and floral and smoky all at the same time

wet: the dragon's blood resin is a little ore discernible out of the madness of the first sniff, and an almost nuttiness that must be the patchouli with the smoke, plus that odd and floaty floral above it all

dry: still sweet and smoky, but also a fruity floral...kinda bar-b-que

later: less smoky as time wear one...getting cloyingly sweet. ew, this doesn't like me.

[Thursdae]

The trace of cassia in Tanin'iver reacts on my skin. It feels like a slight scorching sensation, which is perfect for a dragon! But I wouldn't be able to wear it, unfortunately.

 

The fragrance is spicy and sweet, but not in a cinnamon-bun, foodie kind of way. It's pleasant and I might put my imp into an unscented hand-lotion base. I think the creamy lotion would eliminate the skin reaction and would enable me to enjoy Tanin'iver's scent.

[Miss Lynx]

I really thought I had finally found an Ars Draconis scent that would work on me -- there are so many awesome notes in the description, that are normally lovely on me. And yet... The first thing that struck my nose when I applied it was a fiercely strong, synthetic, maraschino-cherry/almond extract kind of scent. Not good. I don't know what's producing that, either -- none of the listed notes would seem to account for it.

 

As it settles in, that note thankfully fades a bit, but it still smells a bit... off. There's something cloyingly sweet and perfumey about it, which keeps the other notes from being as good as they could be. Maybe it's just the dragon's blood itself -- that note is really dodgy on me, and can sometimes be good but other times very, very bad. Still, I'd thought from the description that if ever dragon's blood was in good company, this was it, but... not so sure.

 

It does eventually improve, with the cloying synthetic scent becoming less prominent, and the other notes beginning to rear their head a bit more. I can now begin to see why some people have compared it to Red Phoenix and Blood Moon, but on me the similarity is not that strong... There's a faint echo of those here, but this one is not nearly as deep or complex, which is a pity. All in all, probably the best of the Ars Draconis series on me, but that's saying very little. This series hates me.

 

Grade: B-

[maijasu]

I smell the dragon's blood and the cassia most prominently in this. It's both sweet and fiery and reminds me of cinnamon red hots. It actually bears more than a passing resemblance to Blood Moon, at least on my skin. I love the fact that the patchouli an smoke stay nicely in the background.

 

This is a great scent, and I'd probably buy a bottle immediately if I didn't already have Blood Moon and a few other great spicy scents. As it is, I'll keep my imp and definitely consider a bottle purchase in the future.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: mostly patchouli with a bit of dragon's blood and other sweet notes.

on: mostly dragon's blood, but with a lot of other notes around in. i can actually pick out every note in the list. there's the earthiness of patchouli, the sweetness of pomegranate, the incense-y smell of myrrh, the brightness of mimosa, and the spicyness of cassia. the musk and smoke are also there, but they're softer.

half an hour later: mostly cassia with a hint of smoke. not good.

1.5 hours later: all spice.

2.5 hours later: still spicy.

3.5 hours later: all cassia.

5 hours later: still all spice.

overall: clearly, my skin likes to amp cassia. boo.

[storme]

In the imp: dragon's blood and cassia and dark blood musk and a tinge of fruits.

 

On me, wet: fruits and spiky cassia and lots of musk and smoke. Man, this is almost peppery, with the acrid smoke.

 

On me, dry: lots and lots of cassia and pepper, to an eyewatering degree, over a little musky smoke and some fruits. But mostly cassia and pepper.

 

Verdict: my skin isn't reacting to this, but it feels like it should. Not one I'll be keeping.

[supremegoddessofall]

In bottle: Rich fruit.

 

On me: Very sweet! Obviously dragon's blood is prominent. Very spicy, but it's a sweet spice - I think from the pomegranate? Not really getting much smoke.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Soft and delicate, I would have said cherry blossom, but I guess it's probably the mimosa.

 

Wet on me - Powdery, almost chalky florals with the smoke beneath.

 

Dry on me - After a brief spell of cherry bubblegum this fades to the slightest whiff of spice

 

Overall - I'm not certain what to make of this blend, I was expecting dark and brooding and I got faint and girly. I need to wear it more to sort it out in my head.

[lady_pandora]

Wet: Red Hots.

 

Drydown: Still very heavy on the cinnamon, with a tiny hint of red fruits underneath. This may be the pomegranate. It may also be the dragon's blood, which sometimes goes fruity.

 

An hour later: Still mostly cinnamon, though the dragon's blood is now rearing its head with a juicy, almost fruity smell.

 

Two hours: Patchouli has arrived to smack down everything else. Where's my cinnamon! It's not a bad patchouli, really, but it's a little musty on my skin and I've lost the rest of the notes.

Edited December 28, 2006 by lady_pandora

[Voleuse]

Wow! This is a heady pomegranate on first application, but the cassia and patchouli quickly swirl over it. This is much heavier, darker than the other scents I've tried in this collection. It's sweet, earthy, smoky.

 

As this dries, the dragon's blood resin pops out beautifully, and the myrrh lends a bit of incense to the blend. Gorgeous.

[Iceblink]

This starts out as spicy dragon's blood and quickly turns into smoky spices. In fact, it smells almost identical to Three Witches to my nose! Anyone who's missing Three Witches ought to try this out. Me, I'm not big on smoke--I'll stick to Dragon's Blood, Milk, and Musk for my dragon's blood needs.

[ancilla_morte]

wet: Wow, this smells just like Blood Moon! Very dry, powdery, like Cinnamon

 

dry: sweeter, milder, like apple and cinnamon tea. I love it!

[maribouquet]

imp/wet: cinnamon bubble gum

on: the patchouli starts to warm up, dusky and sensual

 

Unfortunately, so does the burning like fire. Tanin'iver turns my skin red and stings...argh, noooo!

 

I was really digging this, which was a very pleasant surprise given that I am not a fan of most patchouli blends.

 

Maybe I'll try diluting it with some jojoba and see if that takes the fire out of it enough to wear. If not, I'm afraid to say it's off to swaps...

[Extispex]

In the bottle, I get a strong dragon's blood scent contending with the aroma of something I can only describe as 'burning plastic'. I was almost afraid to put this on my skin.

 

Wet on the skin, its almost all dragon's blood, with just a hint of cassia. This would be fine if it stayed that way, but upon dry-down the plasticky smell returns, lighter but definitely there, rendering the overall aroma perplexing and vaguely unpleasant.

 

After about an hour, Tannin'iver really begins to speak to me; it goes all subtle and beautiful, the patchouli asserts itself to balance the dragon's blood. I get a hint of floral and spice but none of the notes dominate. Its lovely, but also very light on me, and threatens to dissipate quickly. I'd like this very much if it were stronger on me, and if I didn't have to go through the plasticky phase to get here.

[cuervosueno]

I thought I'd reviewed this, but guess I hadn't.

 

In the imp: fruit. Probably the dreaded pomegranate.

 

On, though, it is a mixture of fruit, dragon's blood, and smoke. The cinnamon/cassia is also making itself known. Interesting! The pomegranate disappears and I get something similiar to three witches, with a bit of smoke added.

 

Interesting, but not my thing.

[emzebel]

Oh, Tanin'iver, how I wanted to love the - with DB, patchouli and pomegranate, some of my favorite notes, I thought you were a steed who would not steer me wrong.

 

However, the cassia and the mimosa and the smoke gang up on my chemistry and amp into something a wee bit too sharp for me to truly love. Sigh...

[QueenFae]

OMG! HOLY RED HOTS BATMAN! Whoa this is possibly the spiciest cinnamon blend I've ever sniffed. (I know there is technically no cinnamon in this, but it's pure red hots on my skin) This is a screaming, red, overpoweringly spicy scent. Great for those who want to get noticed!

 

Definitely not my thing.

[oakmoss]

When I got this imp, I didn't even try it on -- the sniff from the imp was so strongly cherry-fruity-sweet that I wasn't attracted to it at all, and I tucked it into a little imp box I have in my purse and forgot about it. A few days ago I got a new scent diffuser for the car and happened to remember the imps in my purse, so I tried a few drops of Tanin'iver, and yummmmm! This makes an excellent airborne scent, a sort of fruity incense, but without the heavy cough-syrup effect I was getting from the imp. Today I got brave and tried some on my skin, and to my delight, upon drydown the incense came to the fore, rich and with just a hint of the fruitiness. It doesn't last long, alas, so the period of time after cherry-sweet and before disappearing (on me, anyway) is rather brief. As a room/car scent, though, I think you could safely use it abundantly and get the full benefit of its smoky goodness.

[dreadeddragon]

In the bottle: Dragon's blood with a smoky sexy power to it. I wasn't expecting that from the ingredients, but I lurve it!

 

First on: This reminds me of the Tea Tree tooth sticks from Whole Foods. I have no idea why it smells like that. It's a bit smoky still as well.

 

Drydown: Stayed the same. It has a bit of cinnamon to it as well, but I still smell the Tea Tree. It's not bad at all, and I'll use the imp but won't get a bottle.

 

Overall: Odd. When BPAL was still at Black Broom I was continuously bugging Brian to do a smoky dragon's blood blend. Not sure if this was what I was expecting, but it's not horrible on me.

[thisperiscope]

In the imp: This is very, very sweet - I pick up the pomegranate and mimosa right away. And something like cherries? The myrrh and patchouli come out then, with maybe a little smoke.

 

On, wet: Hello, cassia! The spiciness was there in the imp; on my skin it's amped to crazy levels. I smell like burning cassia - sweet, complex, heady, POWERFUL smoke.

On, dry: Still sweet smoke. Incense more than anything else. The patchouli and musk are more prominent here. I scrubbed it off at this point, because it's damn heady and I needed to sleep.

 

Into the swap-pile this goes, for someone who will truly love it.

[stellans]

Imp: Rich, fruity earthy goodness, with a slight spicy note which must be the cassia. I hope there's not much cassia because it and cinnamon burn my skin. But I love the sweetness of this in the bottle!

 

Wet: No burn at first -- not even in the bend of my elbow, which is where the burn will start if it's going to happen with a blend. Yay! The smoky, incense-y smell is a little more evident on my skin than it was in the bottle, which is fine because I love incense smells. This would make a great room smell too, and I have a new diffuser I'm going to try it in, but not today since I'm wearing it.

 

Dry: Lovely dry down! There was never any burning, and I really didn't even smell cassia. The pomegranate was the reason I was attracted to this scent, and it is lovely! The dragon's blood helps with the sweetness, keeping it from being too fruity, and the myrrh and patchouli give the blend a nice earthiness. The very slight floral note (the mimosa, I guess) is nice but isn't really so much in evidence.

 

Verdict: This blend from Ars Draconis is really vying with Ladon to be my favorite from this group. They both contain Dragon's Blood, but are so different to my nose it's like night and day. Ladon for day, and Tanin'iver for night!

Edited August 11, 2010 by stellans

[Naamah_Darling]

Dragons are just so cool.

 

This is sweet and resinous, a heady mix of pomegranate, cassia, sweet mimosa, and a thick red musk, all dashed with the slightly berrylike sweetness of dragon's blood. And yes, smoke. There's just a hint of burning.

 

On, this is spicy and wild, a very bold cinnamony and sweet scent that is arresting and unexpected. This smells like something exotic, some elaborate carved-wood dragon that comes to life with the turn of a magic key. It's powerful, gender neutral, majestic. And as it wears, it loses a lot of its sweetness, keeping only a bloody, smoky edge. There's a hint of the metallic hanging about this. The patchouli makes it earthy, but the patchouli element isn't overwhelming.

 

I really love this blend. A lot. It's got both range and depth, is interesting enough to attract without being repellently powerful, and it changes quite a bit, keeping things interesting.

[Beazlebabe]

Aggressive. Forceful. Hostile. Tanin'iver hasn't any emotion but a resolute, single-minded purpose: it is conductive of evil; malignity travels through it and is exerted upon those who haven't scrambled away. This is a mean dragon. And you better get out of his way.

 

During the opening stages, cassia oppresses every note (except for the smoke, which permeates this blend during every stage) using all of its spicy clout. Within 20 minutes of wear, the dragon's blood resin foments a rebellion against King Cassia. The pomegranate and mimosa - after having a dramatic altercation over which should take beta position - joyously aid the patchouli and blood musk in overthrowing the tyrant. I don't know what happened, but about an hour later the blend settled down. It's much tamer now and I can no longer identify single notes. Two hours later and all traces of the battle have vanished: it's now a smooth (thanks to the myrrh) whelp looking at you with large and eager eyes, totally unaware of what terrible actions he's destined to commit.