Count Dracula

[Mary Mayhem]

He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of Turkeyland. If it be so, then was he no common man, for in that time, and for centuries after, he was spoken of as the cleverest and the most cunning, as well as the bravest of the sons of the 'land beyond the forest.' That mighty brain and that iron resolution went with him to his grave, and are even now arrayed against us. The Draculas were, says Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and again were scions who were held by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due. In the records are such words as 'stregoica' witch, 'ordog' and 'pokol' Satan and hell, and in one manuscript this very Dracula is spoken of as 'wampyr,' which we all understand too well. There have been from the loins of this very one great men and good women, and their graves make sacred the earth where alone this foulness can dwell. For it is not the least of its terrors that this evil thing is rooted deep in all good, in soil barren of holy memories it cannot rest.

The essence of nobility, brutality and true Will made flesh and propelled through the eons by an ever-burning hatred: black patchouli, neroli, tonka, cinnamon, bitter clove, leather, black musk, coffin wood and fiery ginger.

This is the one and only scent I've purchased from the Order of the Dragon line, I had to try something that had patchouli in it with black musk and leather!

Overall impression:
On a man I can imagine this a fab scent to wear to a dark, gothy type club. It has a "come hither, little girl" flare with a bit of "If you think you can handle it" type of appeal. It's dark and smug and makes no apologies for it's arrogance and yet still has a touch of softness that perhaps gives you a false sense of security. It makes me want to submit to his smirking, sly self or have me running to the safety of someone not so dangerous.

(the more I smell it, the more I like it. Allow ample dry down before heading out and test it's throw! -keep a little on your person to re-amp it as the evening wears down if you want to keep it's sharp side, otherwise it may be too soft for your intentions.)

In the bottle: I smell spice. Namely the bitter clove, some of the coffin wood and the ginger.

Wet on the skin: Clove and ginger and maybe a bit of that black patchouli. I believe I amp clove.

As it dries down the clove fades back a bit, for which I'm thankful. I'm all into clove, but I want my leather and black musk! I can smell a bit of the coffin wood and what I'm assuming is the neroli. (It's a bit light and the tiniest bit floral).

I don't slather so this is very close to the skin on dry down but it has plenty of throw when first applied.

It dries down to a soft scent with sharp undertones, the dark patchouli wafts up and bites. The clove never really goes away but it doesn't knock me out like it did first applied.

It's a very dark and sexy scent, but I'm forever picking scents that are more apt to be masculine than feminine so I'll have to try this on my husband to see how it works for him.

I think I'm going to put this up for about a month or so and see how it ages. There is just something in there (Black musk, I'm thinking) that makes me tingle and I'm hoping it'll amp itself up as it ages!

Keeper? I believe so, we'll see after aging. (:
Buy again? Not sure, we'll see how it is on the monster man of the house.

[UltraViolet]

In the bottle

Subtle but vaguely spicy

On

more spicy. I smell wood, black patchouli, neroli, cinnamon, bitter clove, leather, and fiery ginger. I don't smell the black musk nor the tonka (this is a good thing imo, as I hate tonka)

30 minutes

This turns more fruity with the neroli.

Throw:

A bit

Scent category:

Fruity/Woody/Animalistc/Incensey

Summary

I expected this to be more fiery I guess but it's nice. A pleasant suprise at how light and wearable it is.

Purchase again?

Actually, yes. I'm surprised.

1-5 rating (5 being best)

3.5

[portalkat]

Last night I went to sleep with Count Dracula. He smells of leather and the musty smell of wood from the coffin. I can smell the spices and they give sweetness to the leather. The black musk wafts through to make things dark, but the neroli is at the forefront to sweeten things up. I was hoping for something a bit darker, but I think that with a little time, the patchouli will age into something incredible.

 

This is a fairly subtle blend, however it has quite a throw from the neroli.

[Inanna9]

In the bottle this was dark but surprisingly insubstantial, like a sinister yet elusive phantom (yeah, I've been writing too much cheesy vampire fiction lately, I know). But it's the perfect embodiment of the Count, or at least how I see him.

 

I fully expected the combo of black musk, cinnamon and leather to club me over the head and have its way with me (and I was perfectly all right with that), but what I got is even better: this is dark and feral, but august and seductive. Let me say that again: s e d u c t i v e.

 

Picture an eminent gentlemen, wordly and intelligent, who underneath it all just seethes sex and yet you keep thinking maybe it's just your imagination. Did he just hold your hand perhaps a second longer than what might be proper? Is he really looking at you like that? Forget about it--this is a man you cannot resist; you're in way over your head. Oh, squee--this is soooo Dracula!

 

Ahem.

 

Okay, how it smells (on me) : a dignified black musk, a hint of leather, a tiny, fruity tang of neroli to soften it up, and a perfect, perfect subtle blend of spice--I get mostly clove and ginger, plus a dash of patchouli. This baby's gonna age like a mo-fo. My god, I may need another bottle or three.

 

Thank you, Beth, for this one. You nailed it

[Brianne]

In the bottle:

The bitter clove and black musk make a sort of cologne like smell - masculine and warm

 

On me:

The clove really pops out at me, it's wonderfully spicey and yet isn't too obvious. I don't feel like if I walked by someone right now they'd go, "What smells like clove?". Then all of a sudden, it all starts working together. Cinnamon, tonka, clove, musk - all of it makes a wonderful and deliciously sexy warmth. I do believe that the ginger is spicing this up some too, but it's not easy to pick out because of the cinnamon.

 

Ah!! I'm finally catching a whiff of leather too! This scent has a lot of notes that are really all coming out to play, rather than only a couple notes being dominant.

This stays pretty well the same after wearing it a while - spicey and woodsy, very nice!!

 

 

 

Final note:

This is downright sexy and has a smoldering, exotic quality to it. I can see this on a man for sure, but I think it would work well on a woman too (I certainly plan on wearing it!). I would call this scent the lovechild of Dracula and Three Witches

[savage_rose]

In the bottle: Forboding. Something sharp (clove?) tempered by darkness.

 

Wet: I almost smell dragon's blood...just a very haughty, old, cold scent. It smells very Draculean to me.

 

Dry: Well-behaved Patchouli balancing the ginger, cinnamon, and clove nicely. This scent is so complex I can't pick out all the notes...but it's really wonderful. It's dark, but there's a sweetness to it as well...a very subtly sexy scent, too. Very surprising.

[lookingglass]

Oh, this one has GOT me on the first sniff.............

 

Heavy clove...dark, like clove cigarette smoke wafting from the sexiest goth man in leather . The tonka,musk and patchouli go creeeeeeamy....oooooh....SEXY!

 

I was afraid that the neroli would be too orange but it isn't! With the sandalwood and ginger, it just gives the blend a much needed bite.

 

INSTANT top 10. DH must wear this!

 

Oh, thank you, Beth for this blend. Dracul just didn't do it for us. This does. Brilliant!

Edited October 2, 2006 by lookingglass

[Rheliwen]

I ordered this for the boy because I LOVE Dracul on him but I think he secretly thinks it's too sweet for him (he really amps anything fruity or sweet). I was starting to worry that they wouldn't be very similar...but they are! I think I found a more husky Dracul that he'll love even more!

 

Initially on I really smell the ginger and bitter clove. It's very dusty and dry, almost like dry tobacco is in here somewhere (I definitely smell something reminiscent of Hellfire, which the boy also loves so double yay!). Behind it all is the glorious black musk all hot and fiery. The patchouli is only present if you really smell for it...I think the musk is more dominant.

 

Wow is this sexy! I want to bite my arm. Must.wait.for.boyfriend.to.get.home.from.work...

Edited October 3, 2006 by Rheliwen

[wolfie13]

I ordered this with reservations. Because I REALLY wanted a scent called Count Dracula. And because I love most of the notes. But one of my evil nemeses resides in this blend. Leather.

 

I love the lab's various leather notes - so rich and realistic! But they almost always become COMPLETELY one note on me.

 

And here is the review:

 

In the bottle: My god it's fantastic but not in the way that i thought it would smell. I get mostly ginger, neroli, sandalwood and some black musk perhaps.

 

Wearing: It changes substantially and quickly, from a sharper and brighter spicy-floral-citrus-woody cologne-ish scent to something much darker and warmer. The cinnamon and clove jump right out to the forefront. And yes, the LEATHER.

 

Now it's mostly - and remains - clove and leather. I'm sure the other elements are there filling in the gaps, and I do get a whiff every once in a while, but who's to argue with clove and leather? As lookinglass stated above - "Heavy clove...dark, like clove cigarette smoke wafting from the sexiest goth man in leather ". Exactly.

 

(Which puts me in mind of a time some years ago..... in New Orleans it was... and leaving a goth club, with a sexy goth man - who was wearing leather. And smoking clove cigarettes. And bore a striking resemblance to Spike. Enough said.)

Edited October 5, 2006 by wolfie13

[theseagrows]

i was apprehensive of this one, because of the patchouli, but i love spicy and leathery scents. luckily the patchouli isn't strong at all! i get mostly clove, leather and tonka (i think), with slight woods in the background. reminds me of the bow and crown of conquest, but without the vanilla, so it's less sweet and more masculine. but not TOO masculine. i quite like it actually-it's warm, dark and sexxxay. i think i'll get a big bottle of this one.

[Kimocean]

Ooh, why did I wait so long to try this? It is fantastic! I put it on this afternoon after my shower and it's another WOW scent for me.

 

Overall I too get a ton of clove and leather with a hint of ginger and a little smokey sweetness and it is GORGEOUS! I thought about clove cigarettes all day though and was tempted to go buy a pack!

 

This scent definitely would work well on a man but I LOVE it on me so I'll be wearing it frequently.

 

~Kim

 

ETA: I forgot to mention the patchouli. It's subtle and really smooth. A gorgeous patchouli with no dirtiness.

Edited October 6, 2006 by Kimocean

[sarada]

I've been wearing this to bed at night...surrounded by the dark spicy warmth, and the almost soporific smoky leather. Darkest clove and blackest leather, spiked with sharp ginger for a moment. I don't smell patchouli as a distinct element but I know it's in there, a layer of black soil grounding these deep spices. I don't like cinnamon and I don't smell it, but the overall feeling is of deep, burnt spices buried in black earth and smothered in body-warmed leather.

 

It is quite a bit different from Dracul, which had strong notes of mint along with clove and a bit of orange, along with the smoky/earthy notes. Dracul is in my top ten GC scents and Count Dracula is just at the edge of my top ten LEs now but I like so bloody many it's getting harder and harder to choose!

 

If anyone is ever looking for the scent of a burning clove cigarette in a bondage club, you know where to send them. But I really don't associate it with that so much as just the scent of darkness...and a strange, comforting warmth when there is danger all around. This is something that I want to smell like...I would just want to get closer to someone who smelled like this, and bury my nose in their hair and skin to find the source of that incredible aroma.

 

This is my favorite of the four OotD scents I have tried so far, and since I ordered the ones that sounded the most likely successes for me it will probably be my favorite of the whole batch!

 

p.s. it reminds me of the 4FatCats wax tart scent "Dad's Jacket" btw!

[Medici]

Guinea Pig: Tested on the boyfriend, for whom a bottle was bought

 

Wet: Sweet clove and cinnamon spice. (Girlfriend salivates a little on boyfriend's neck.)

 

Drydown: The patchouli and coffin wood really take center stage in this blend, making for a very masculine show of dark manly manness. The spices stick around, sweetening the blend for the most part.

 

It is utterly droolworthy. To the point where I don't want my S.O. wearing this out in public for fear that he might attract the noses of other wandering females. (Might have to make a little "Property of" sign if he does.)

 

It's gorgeous and complex, and very masculine.

 

The boyfriend is blushing. He gives Count Dracula a thumbs up as well.

[SultryWolf]

Bottle: There's that something-I-don't-like-that-reminds-me-of-envelope-stickum (one of these days, I'll figure out what note or note combination that is!). Also, something sweet over a touch of neroli and spice.

On: Much the same, at first. The leather and cinnamon develop, and the envelope-stickum mellows into a manly cologne. Count Dracula would, indeed, have loved this! It's not for me, but its complexity intrigues me; I agree with those who suggest it should age well - in any case, it'll be going into the Gentleman's section of the BPAL drawer.

[cuervosueno]

This is drop-dead gorgeous! (I seem to be full of puns in my reviews tonight)

 

I was planning on buying a bottle unsniffed, but ended up getting some sniffies, and with glee immediately tried the Count.

 

It is like no other BPAL blend in my mind.

 

It starts out gloriously, with bitter clove and something sweet that I can't put my finger on. After looking at the notes, I suspect it is the tonka. In the early stages, there is also something that smells a bit like smoke, though I don't know what it is. After a wearing it a bit, the leather comes out, but for once it plays nice on my skin (actually, all the Order of the Dragon's with leather have been ok on me--no overwhelming "you must only smell leather" attack as there is with some other leather blends on me). It is so well blended that I can't pick out notes after the intial blast of clove. Instead I get a dark, spicey drop-dead sexy scent that is masculine, but not so masculine I can't wear it.

 

Yes, yes: Lookinglass hit it dead on--this IS clove cigarette smoke wafting from the sexiest goth man in leather. Exactly! He's dark, he's edgy, he's gorgeous. This is his scent.

 

And when I wear it, I can imagine meeting a gorgeous man to try it on (actually, I imagine it my ex boyfriend, who while not goth, was dark, lean, edgy. This would be perfect for him).

 

Ok, so as I suspected, Count Dracula is a must purchase.

 

Edited October 15, 2006 by cuervosueno

[roesmoker]

In the bottle, this smelled a lot like French Creole to me - must be the clove. But for some reason it dries down to Yankee Candle Company holiday soap on me! Why?? I can't figure out what the note or combination of notes it is that doesn't like me. I know leather and I don't get along. I've never tried black musk but it's possible that's the culprit. Where's the cinnamon and ginger?

[sookster]

straight sniff from the bottle i smell hot ginger & a drop of musk...

once applied, the musk amps up bigtime...gets superstrong with my chemistry...

this is very masculine indeed...

after 20-30 minutes this calms down slightly...i get a note of wood...but this

remains mostly ginger/clove/musk on my skin...another bottle that should do

quite well once it has aged properly

[steffanina]

Count Dracula-

 

In Bottle: Oh, musky masculine sweet...there's something reminiscent of Torture King on this one, which thrills me, as that's in my Top Three All-Time BPAL scents.

 

Wet: Leather and lime. I'll need to see the dry-down, but I hope this one works for me.

 

Dry: Some black pepper is coming out. There seems to be one note in this, and I think it's the black pepper scent, that just isn't working for me. Darn. Maybe it's the leather note? The leather in De Sade is too noxious for me, but the leather in Whip and Dead Man's Hand I adore, and this one's reminding me more of De Sade. Oh, well! Back to Dracul for me.

 

Overall: Something doesn't work for me.

[kwsix]

I got this as a decant from the lovely shadith.

 

In the imp: Spicy and masculine. I hope it doesn't turn into Eau de Geezer on my skin.

 

Wet on my skin: On first application, this is all citrus. Who knew Count Dracula was so fruity? I like it, but right now it's brighter and more girly than I expected. And very fruity, like fresh squeezed lemons and oranges.

 

Drydown: Now this is more like it. I'm getting clove, patchouli, ginger, and leather, with a sweet creamy undertone of something - is there tonka in this? I haven't read the description since the update so I can't remember. It's very spicy, warm, and woodsy but there's nothing Old Spice about it. This is so appropriate for Count Dracula, because I'm strongly tempted to bite my own arm.

 

I love Count Dracula, and I'm planning to get at least one bottle with my next order. Yes, I would be tempted to devour any man who wore this, but I think it would be sexy and not too masculine for a girl to wear too. This is the smell of power, sex, and mystery in a bottle.

[forspecial_plate]

The Count has been wafting around me for 4 hours now (with one touch-up), and I think I can safely say he has become another favorite. In the words of the evil doctor in Hellraiser II: "And to think....I hesitated......"

 

Count Dracula starts out spicy, sweet and musky, almost like Devil's Night but more mature and not as sweet. Very subtle and delicious. I'm also reminded of the dark herbal/faint spicyness of Schwarzer Mond (which is what I traded for the Count)....much more subtle than that scent, yet spicier. After a while, maybe an hour or two, I swear I can smell a little bit of juniper in Count Dracula. Maybe that is what his coffin is made of. Usually I don't like Bpal's juniper, but here it's behaving quite nicely. It brings a hushed dignity to the scent that reminds me of Oblivion but again, more subtle. Then, after another hour or two, the sweetness comes back and with it, the ginger comes out.

 

I love every stage of the Count, especially since through all this morphing and shifting, the overall mood of menacing quiet, dark and silky seduction, remains consistent. And the absolute best part is the subtlety....I actually wore this to a staff meeting, something I don't usually feel comfortable doing. Just a couple little dabs were perfect. It will be great for those times that I don't want to broadcast a scent all around me.

[themerrybaker]

You can Count on the Lab to produce a wonderful Halloween scent with Dracula. He is leathery and dry, has plenty of wood, and is subtly spiced. I would have guessed vetiver, but none there per the description. He has apparently sucked the assertiveness out of the patchouli and bent it to his will.

 

Count Dracula is a dark, dry variation of the BPAL classic Halloween blends: Samhain, Blood Moon, DDLM and is a welcome addition to the season.

 

It will also be interesting to see how this one ages, or if, like the Count, it is ageless.

[lysithea]

There is a dark, dryness to this blend. I get the black musk (which I'm not the biggest fan of most times) and a dry leathery crackle sparked with clove. At first it is a bit bitter. It goes through a moment of real clovey spiciness, but then settles into a cologne-meets-wood stage. I also think that it will age well. However, I think it might be a bit too manly for me to pull off. Too bad my hubby is smelly-adverse. I might have to sneak some on him after a shower anyway. I'm sure it would really get my motor purring to smell this blend on him.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

I wanted the Count partly for the name, but mostly because my husband loves the spicy scents and this sounds like a winner for him. And he is going to LOVE this! Wow. It definitely smells masculine--I get the leather and patchouli base right away. But floating over it is this heavenly blend of chai-like spices; I say that because Brian just made a batch of chai recently and I recognize the ginger, clove, cinnamon...is there cardomom here too or am I imagining? Anyway, this is PERFECT for someone like Brian who wants to smell foodier than the average Blue Steel for Dudes cologne, but still smell sexy in a particularly masculine sort of way.

[hologhost]

Sweet and smoky. I get the chai spices Laurel picked up. Also myrrh, perhaps.

[blackfelicula]

I fully intend to edit in a review of this on me later...

 

Tonight, on a whim and not having tried it myself, I decided my husband needed to wear this to dinner and a movie. Ye unnumbered worlds of delight! This was keel-over, slack-jawed and drooling sexy. It is spicy and rich, with an undertone that whispers that This Is A Man. It took a lot of willpower to head out on the town after that. Guh! Also, from him, he felt more confident in himself wearing it. Yay! Gotta love those positive side effects. Granted I like lots of men's scents on myself, but I may just have to buy him a bottle of his own.

 

If you have a bottle of this and haven't yet done so, I recommend finding a convenient guy that you wouldn't mind doing more with and slathering him in this! At the very least, it would make for some interesting conversation...

 

The next day:

 

It is funny how this smells less like a cologne when I wear it. It is still spicy and delicious, but it takes on a softer character on my skin. My skin sweetens it and makes it more like vanilla spice. I love how it goes with the chilly autumn air and dying leaves. This is a gorgeous sensual blend.

Edited October 22, 2006 by blackfelicula