The Tower

[viciousviolet]

From Tarot Oils

 

I had been getting the Tower in many of my readings lately, and since I’m the kind of woman that likes to confront issues head on and resolve them I purchased the Tower so that I could better understand this period in my life. If destruction and upheaval has a scent, this is it. Fiery, crumbling, sharp, spicy, hot, dark. These are all the words that run through my head as I sniff it. Even the color of the oil is a molten black-red. It is immediately a shock to the senses, jarring.

[clover]

On first application: Oh my, what is that funky smell?? It's the same funky smell that I get the first couple of minutes of wearing Brimstone...which I guess kind of makes sense.

 

After a few minutes: Thank goodness, the funkiness went away in the first couple of minutes. Now the overhwelming scent to me is dragon's blood resin. And some sort of spicy floral, too. It almost reminds me of Love Me except redder and smoother.

 

A few minutes after that: This is much sweeter than I thought it was going to be...I think there may be some sort of wood, like rosewood, and maybe even some anise??

 

Once I get past the first minute or two I really like it. Maybe even enough to buy a larger bottle. (Especially since those Tarot labels are so freakin' cool.)

[hypothermya]

Initial Impression

 

Djinn with dragon's blood. Only more acrid. Smoky, red, volatile. If Beth wanted to make a "Dragon's Breath" blend, this would be it. Very bitter and unpleasant.

 

Wearing It

 

This stays really smoky, burnt, and unpleasant for the first couple of minutes. I left some on my hand while making lunch, ignoring it because I had assumed that it had developed all it would. After all, The Tower depicts a flaming structure, people leaping out -- and personally, I thought that this smelled just perfect for that. But lo and behold, I just sniffed at my hand and I smell...flowers? No really! Flowers. There's this light cherry/fire smell in the background...almost as if there were bits of burnt metal and wood and ash underneath a field of wildflowers. And there really are bits of wood notes in here. Amazing.

 

Once it's gone through that first sudden change, it becomes a very light perfume. I can't quite pinpoint what florals are in here (not being a very big wearer of floral perfumes), but they make up the majority of the scent right now.

 

Well, I can't quite get over how amazed I am at how quickly and completely this perfume shape-shifted on me. I love the way that dragon's blood and ashey perfumes smell, but I don't think that this is going to be something I wear that often (since I don't really wear florals). However, I'm not sure whether to swap it or keep it around for meditation...

 

ETA: I wonder if I got a different formulation than visciousviolet? The oil in my imp is a very deep red, but not at all black. It reminds me of cherry red and is a bit deeper than the red color in Blood Amber...

Edited September 25, 2004 by hypothermya

[scourgeotheseas]

The Tower

 

In the bottle: Sharp, yet sweet. It reminds me of Kabuki mixed with a grassy floral.

 

On me: Sesame oil? Plus soap? This is quickly turning into a very soapy floral. I smell no Dragon’s Blood.

 

Final analysis: Very expensive soap.

[brownbat]

Wow, I have no idea what's in this scent. It's herby and sweet. Somewhat watery. It's doing that sticky sweet kind of thing that dragon's blood does on me. Ultimately, too sweet for me!

[Penance]

First sniff:

 

Damn, that's familiar! It seems to be some sort of wood, but I'm not sure that's right. I just know I recognize this but can't place it. Wood and dragon's blood.

 

Wet on skin:

 

I know I know this from somewhere. So many of the Tarot oils are extremely familiar to me, but I have such a hard time placing them and I don't know why. Whatever this is, I don't think it likes me because I'm getting a bit nauseous the way I did with Chesed. It's dry and woody, almost like redwood, but that's not quite right. There's also something sweetish here and that's what's bothering me...I'm wondering if it's the same thing that I didn't like in Chesed.

 

Dry down:

 

On me, The Tower ends up smelling like sweet rotting wood. It's not the wood part that bothers me (I love the Redwood single note, which basically smells like rotting wood), it's that sweet note, whatever it is. I'm not having very good luck with the Tarot Blends apart from Death.

 

The bottom line:

 

Another scent I was prepared to love but just couldn't. At least I still have Death.

[shelldoo]

clover is right, brimstone...and unfortunately that is all i get, wet, dry, ect brimstone no flowers nothin but brimstone

[Witch's Dagger]

The Tower

 

This was a part of the Tarot swap - since I need to review all of them in a very short time, this will be a brief review.

 

Preconceived notions: The strong zings of mint and cinnamon followed by an uplifting lavender and eucalyptus. (That’s how I’d make it, if I could)

 

In the vial:

Is that vetivert or dragon’s blood?

 

On me:

I’m pretty sure this is mostly dragon’s blood (though I have been known to confuse vetiver and dragon’s blood). In fact, that’s all I can smell. Perhaps it’s even a combination of vetiver and dragon’s blood, since it doesn’t smell like the oil of dragon’s blood that I have (not Beth’s). Still it’s got the spice and the metallic edge, and the thick viscosity that I associate with dragon’s blood. Not what I was expecting, but I like it.

 

In 5 minutes:

Wow! There’s some cinnamon and mint! I guess my skin chemistry doesn’t want those to come out until later. I was wondering if there was cinnamon, since I’m sensing a little burning (physical), which I don’t normally get from dragon’s blood or vetivert. That scent still forms the backbone of the scent. I guess she wanted to build the tower before destroying it .

 

In 15 minutes:

Still mostly dragon’s blood and/or vetivert with a hint of mint and cinnamon, though these have faded into the background somewhat.

 

Overall:

This is nice, but I probably won’t get it as I have the single note of vetivert and an oil of dragon’s blood, and that’s mainly what I smell in this. If I didn’t have one or the other of those, I’d definitely get this.

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: Burnt acrid smoke over a field of those Tarot blend herbs. It is very reminiscent of Djinn.

 

Wearing: My experience with this oil is almost identical to Hypothermya's. This started out very very burnt - almost crispy. Then the dragon's blood makes an appearance and adds a slightly sweet and spicy kick to the ashes. The herbs are there throughout. Hours later, this really does become more of a green floral - a rebirth of sorts.

 

Final Impressions: What a fascinating scent! It isn't my favorite of the Tarot series, but it is a definite keeper!

[mmcfa2]

This one screams anis seed to me , like a smoky black annis, not my cup of tea but ALL of the tarot blends are softer to me than the other bpal oils and thus infinitely more wearable and more personal.

[theshapeshifter]

I'll need to give this a more proper try when I'm ready to do Tarot work, but I gave this a brief try this morning, and wow... acrid, harsh, hot, and disturbing. It certainly embodies The Tower, but I had to wash it off almost straight away. It was simply too jarring.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): It's kind of sharp-ish, and a little bit burn-y, if that makes sense. Like a bit of smoke, but *right* after the fire is out, and something sharp as well.

 

Just On: It smells a lot like it did in the imp, and then it starts to change just a little bit, to a little more molten kinda smell.

 

An hour or two later: This is still pretty acrid to my nose. It's rather unpleasant, but seems to capture the meaning of the card well, so I'm not complaining. Perhaps this would be better used in meditating upon the card.

 

Around 6 hours: I have some kind of bandaid thing going on here, and it smells like burnt bandaids, which is a little worse than the usual bandaids on me. This is certainly not one I'm going to be wearing a whole lot.

 

12 hours: It's mostly gone, just some vestiges of burnt bandaid left over, and nothing else.

 

Overall: Well, this has some note in it that really disagrees with me, so it's going to get swapped away. Preferably for another tarot oil, I'm really into trying them all. It does actually fit the card in my own mind (until it turns yucky with my skin), and is yet another example of Beth's amazing talent.

 

After reading other reviews: I got NO sweetness out of this one at all, but I got the burning thing. I have to say, brimstone sounds like a good way to describe it in the imp. I wonder if it's the vetiver that is giving me the bandaids scent. My skin apparently hates SOMEthing, and that might be it.

[allidavie]

I had such a different experience of this... I know the tower is a card of change, usually signifying something very difficult has happened and such, and I expected it to be strong, smoky, and unpleasant based on the card.

 

But I really really like it! It remind me a lot of wildfire - smells smoky but with something sweet underneath. In my mind it reminds me more of the legend of the phoenix than the tower card - something burning up and rising again. Although the tower is supposed to signify that things can only get better from there, so maybe its appropriate.

 

anyway, enough waxing philosophic. Sweetish smoke and florals, with a bit of a powdery smell. Lovely. Might be a big bottle for me. I have this paranoid delusion that Beth will decide to discontinue the tarot scents and I will feel compelled to buy them all at once, so I'm trying to get one I want an order to avoid having to shell out a huge amount of (hypothetical) money in the future.

[sarada]

I applied this on my left hand when I applied Ace of Wands on my right hand and in the imp they smelled very similar. Dragon's blood, of course. I figured it would be appropriate to test them together. But this one underwent some interesting transformations -- the initial blast of dragon's blood died down over time and woody notes overtook it. Actually, I get the amazing, smoke-and-fire, ashy tang of Brimstone or Djinn, perhaps with a touch of vetiver, in the drydown. It's beautiful! It's like charred ruins in a forest. This would probably be a good bottle scent for me, because The Tower has been a card that I considered "mine" for a good dozen years or so and while I think that I probably don't quite identify with it as much now I still am fond of it. This represents the card very well and stands on its own as a great scent if your tastes run towards smoke and wood.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 0/5

Summarised in a word or two: Rotting trees.

 

In the imp/bottle: This is very hard to pin down. It's smoky, sharp, almost acrid. It smells as if it has anise, and dragon's blood resin as well.

 

On skin, wet: Definitely anise. Also, some sort of wood? Pine, maybe? Something vaguely woodsy, anyway. And dark green.

 

On skin, dry: I wanted to use this while doing Tarot work, but I couldn't get over the smell. Anise never turns out well on me, and pine (or whatever that is) has the habit of turning into rotting trees. This got washed off within an hour.

 

Conclusion: Definitely not something I want to smell again. For anyone who likes anise or pine, though, this might be great.

Edited December 20, 2005 by Aredhel

[tempete]

The Tower is strongly musty, sharpened a touch by vetivert. As it dries down, a note comes out that is highly reminiscent of Chinese herbal medicines and that brings back unpleasant memories of being forced to drink all sorts of awful concoctions as a child that were supposedly expensive and good for me. The final drydown is intensely herbal.

 

The scent associations with my childhood experiences of the pungent side of Chinese traditional medicine forced me to get rid of this Tarot Oil.

Edited July 11, 2005 by tempete

[nineveh]

In the imp: Vetiver? It smells pretty pungent.

 

On, this becomes a smoke and burning wood scent, very dark and atmospheric. I figured it would be, since the Tower is burning on the card.

 

After a while, the sharp burning aspect of this fades, and now I smell smoky wood. I guess this is after the fire has burned out. This is very gloomy.

 

I wouldn't wear this as a perfume, but I'm glad I got to try it out.

[coulrophobe]

Wet: Vetivert. The oil is red, so I trust there's dragon's blood in there somewhere... but damned if I can smell it. Just gritty, acrid vetivert, which really doesn't do well with my chemistry.

 

Drydown: This softens and warms a bit - but the vetivert is still screamingly obvious. I *think* I smell faint herbs or florals, and there's a touch of resin's warmth - but the overall impression is lightly sweetened motor oil.

 

Bummer. I was hoping for the spicy red smell that others got, but vetivert is just not a note that's kind to me. I smell like I've been rolling around on the floor of someone's garage!

[brownbear]

Well, this is just what I'd imagine the card to smell like.

It's dark, smoky, burning, acrid, and heavy.

I agree with coulrophobe about the grittiness.

 

Disclaimer: I only sniffed this one from the vial. I didn't want to wear it. Not because of the scent, but because it's for the tower. I just didn't want to. *shrug*

 

ETA: Okay. Now I've tried it on. Yes it is still smoky, dark, acrid and heavy. It is burning bitterness. There is something that might be vetiver in here. I can't decide what is so acrid in here. There could be some civet. I already know that it wouldn't get any use from me.

Edited November 29, 2006 by brownbear

[violetblue]

I think this is one of the most interesting Tarot oils that I've tried so far. A deep red, thick mixture, oozing something woody/smokey. I agree, it does have a vetivert type smell that's strong on application, but eases up into something lighter and sweeter. I can then smell anise pretty strongly.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: a burning and burnt scent.

on: very odd. not me at all. i don't tend to get along very well with "fiery" scents, though.

1 hour later: more floral, with that burning scent in the background. a lot nicer than i thought it would be.

3.5 hours later: interesting, but not in a good way.

overall: this is definitely a scent that reflects something being destroyed. i wouldn't wear this as a perfume, but it will be interesting to use as a meditation aid.

[quikslvr]

Acrid, bordering on the offensive, at first. But then it changes, with a hint of some syrupy floral, perhaps--something harmonious. Ah! The dragon's blood peeking out. Thereafter, it reminds me of one of the heavily dragon-blooded voodoo blends. Then it softens into more floral a blood scent. By the very end, an herb-y clean sweetness.

 

I like it! (how appropriate)

[Shollin]

First sniff: Sharp. Severe. Dark and angry. I’m a little afraid to try this on.

 

Wearing: There’s a hint of mint or licorice around the edges, but the center is dark, dark, dark. I’m pretty sure there’s vetiver in this, based on the overall murkiness, and dragon’s blood, based on the colour. It reflects the card very well, and as such, is not something I want to wear.

[Blood onmy hands]

First on this smells like a sharper and more burnt version of Brimstone. It was almost offensively strong and acrid.

 

In the drydown this smells like a mixture between Dragon's Eye and Brimstone. Dragon's blood, water, the smell of cooled ashes, and an almost herby sweetness.

 

It's... definitely not me. Interesting, but I don't want to smell like this.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Incense and...melted butter? Oooh, I don't think this is going to be a prize-winner on my skin.

 

On me: Rather burned dragon's blood with spicy undertones that are not unlike the rubber used in balloons to my nose. Did I mention this blend is also giving me a headache? Not at all for me to touch, I'm afraid.