Devil's Claw

[waternight]

A yellow-bright and smoky brown-black scent, horned, pronged and strange.

In the imp: HOLY VETIVER BATMAN
Wet: Vetiver. In ungodly amounts.
Dry: Aaaand... vetiver. Just vetiver.

This blend frightens me.

[aestien]

Bottle: This is one weird plant

Wet: It smells like a humid greenhouse and very very green

Dry: sharply green, slightly spicy, exotic and strange

 

Wow is this odd. I think the oddest scent I have yet to smell from BPAL. It’s essence of plant, and not a very nice plant, a plant that will give you scratches and is probably poisonous.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

BPAL's Brimstone and....and...murky, swampy green-ness.

i got some oil on my thumb while opening the imp and was pretty much overwhelmed with.... burning swamp?

so, yeah. this one's Just A Hunka-Hunka Burnin' Swamp.

[grashopper8]

Devil's Claw - If you've ever has the misfortune of smelling the scent of an ashtray full of cigarette butts that have been soaking in rainwater for several days -- that is what this smells like. On me, it's smoky, soggy, rank, and vile. I like scents that have a touch of gritty vetiver in them, but this one... well, suffice it to say, I must wash it off NOW!

 

Hahahaha that's hilarious : -)

 

I thought I liked vetiver until now, but this smells like vetiver with the afore-mentioned wet ashtray smell. It's like being on a damp porch on a cold, cloudy morning, smoking a cigarette with some guy you don't really like and who decided to douse himself in some nasty cologne, with the smell of those wet, stale butts in the air. (They're Parilament Lights.) Oh, and, that guy lit a lock of his hair on fire by accident the night before, and you can smell a hint of burnt hair.

 

There's probably guys out there who would like this scent, but I hope I never have to smell any of them. I really just don't like this blend, sorry!

 

1 out of 5

[Lyrical]

This was a frimp - I'd never have ordered it, but I was prepared to be pleasantly surprised.

 

In vial: smoky, horned, pronged and strange!

 

Wet on skin: ugh - patchouli?!

 

Dry on skin: it smells like a hairy, dirty animal. Horned, pronged and strange indeed!

 

Oh well, better luck next time!

[soonyi]

i got this one as a frimp and i, too, would have never ordered this...anything black and strong is not good for me. the vetiver, something i actually like in smaller doses, is out and overbearing. it's suffocating me---no like!!

[sadtomato]

A dark scent, indeed.

I smell lots of vetiver, myrrh, and dark musks.

Also maybe something pepery in there.

Overall, a dirty, musky scent i'm rather fond of.

[suki]

in the imp: dark, smoky vetiver

 

wet on skin: the vetiver starts blending with that myrrh people have been talking about- it's a good combo, because the sweet of the resin tempers the vetiver nicely, takes it's claws off a bit.

 

dry down: as it has dried it's sort of shifted to become, what smells to my nose, a mix of leather and citrus fruit. on my kid, it became *all* leather, interestingly enough

 

in all: i like dark fragrances, but this one is a little too heavy on the smoked cow hide end of things. but if that sounds great to you, get some!

[fairnymph]

Sniffed in imp: Sweet, dry, and woody; a little smoky. Cedar, frankincense, something citrus, vetiver.

 

Very jumbled and jarring, and not at all my sort of thing.

[galleywest]

From the files of Dick Streetsmart, Private Investigator.

The kid was scared, that was for sure. He had reason to be--if what he told me was true. He'd come into my office, a little roughed up, eyes darting to the door like it would bust open any minute and some goon would drag him out into the street. I can't say I blamed him. I leaned across the desk, making him start.

 

"So lemme get this straight, kid," I began, pausing to stub out my cigarette and pick up my pen. "It was..." I consulted the notes I had taken earlier. "...bright yellow, brown-black...horned?"

 

"Pronged," the kid nodded.

 

"Strange," I mused. "And you say it hit you over the head?"

 

"Yeah, yeah--I don't remember anything after that. I felt like he was still holding on to me even after I woke up, even after I showered--"

 

"Okay, too much information, kid." I didn't really want that picture in my head.

 

The kid shrank back in his seat. "I just mean...I feel like it's everywhere! I can't shake it! What does it want from me?!"

 

I got up and turned my back on the kid. How could I break it to him? I looked out the window at the city, that harsh, cold beautiful city and knew: I had to give it to him straight. I turned back to face him.

 

"Kid, I've seen this before. I gotta tell you, it's not pretty. You've been attacked by vetiver."

 

"Huh?" The kid was puzzled, scared.

 

"Vetiver. It's hard to shake, I know. But there's something else. I think he's working with cedar too, possibly some other characters. It's a group of notes that work together--they call themselves Devil's Claw. I'm not sure what other notes are involved. Is there anything else you can tell me about the attack? Anything else you can remember?"

 

The kid shook his head, then paused, looking thoughtful. "It all happened so fast. I...I just wanted to get it off me as quickly as I could but..."

 

"Yes?" I walked to the front of the desk and sat, leaning toward him. I find this fatherly gesture gets the scared ones talking sometimes.

 

"Well...there was something sweet too...toward the end."

 

This made things interesting. "Sweet, you say? Anything else you can tell me?"

 

The kid shook his head, firmly this time. I believed him. "What can I do?"

 

"Leave it to me," I assured him. The less he knew, the better. It was time to head over to Swaps, and put the Devil's Claw exactly where it belonged.

[theseagrows]

all i'm getting here is vetiver. i think there is possibly a slightly green sweetness way way in the background, but this is overwhelmingly vetiver. yep.

[sofaking6]

Reminds me of girl scout camp. Fire, bug spray and stale cigarettes some girl found in her parents' attic.

 

It's not that it's dirty, it's that it's chemically dirty.

[alicia_stardust]

This smells like vetiver and brimstone. There's a sharpness to it, some smokiness, and a touch of hazy greenery. This is intense and strong and very evocative.

[ouch!]

Hmmm! Lots of Vetiver and some other stuff which I think may be..a wood of some sort. This scent has attitude and takes a while to calm down.

It does go slightly sweeter on me once its dry and there's something more pleasant behind all the smokyness and darkness!

 

It's definately pungent and has made me realise that I'm not that fond of vetiver in this quantity!!!

 

No 5ml for me!

[plunderparlour]

I did not like this until way into dry down. in bottle and wet - i have really nothing positive to say basically what everyone else has said. But dry it slowly becomes dark and sexy. i think a dab of this on my guy might work. its kinda masculine.

this will have to be tested again.

[couscous]

Smoky vetiver, straight up. Cigarettes and motor oil! Yum for me, since I love vetiver so much, but I must confess...once you've found a few vetiver blends in beth's line, you really don't need all of them, since vetiver pretty much transforms every blend it's in to a variation on a single note.

 

I liked Devil's Claw, but it's for fans of the single note only.

[zankoku_zen]

Definitely vetiver - this is dark, deep, dank and just... dirty. I think this might also have some black patchouli on me. Strong. Dark. Sinister.

[Iceblink]

Vetiver for sure but there's something green and sharp in the drydown stage that I don't usually get from vetiver. Kind of poison-smelling. Not for me.

[Lethran]

In bottle: Penetrating, chalky, herbal, this does smell” yellow-bright and smoky brown-black.” It is not entirely happy given it’s peculiar are of rotting garden. Quite penetrating. Wet: Surprisingly demonic in emotional resonance. It is vicious and penetrating as befits the concept, but not anything I’d want to wear. Middle: Oh God, it’s everywhere, rank and insidious, weirdly seductive and unpleasant all at once. Dry: Gah! Imagine a classic Romero zombie. In life, he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt half unbuttoned to show off the chest hair with lots of gold chains. He had slathered himself with aftershave, then got zombiefied. Then he started to mold. Yeah. This is not a good scent on me.

[Aldercy]

Frimp! This is an arthritic, cranky, weird sort of scent. There's something about it that reminds me of rotten wood. Like almost everyone has said, Devil's Claw is dark as all hell. It doesn't remind me much of anything alive, green, or plantlike... it's pitch black and angry. Kind of chemical-smelling, like some sort of heady, congealed, rather toxic furniture polish. But it's not too strong unless I smell my wrist. I don't hate it, but it's definitely not pleasant either.

 

Is this what vetiver smells like? If so, I might be a little cautious with that from now on.

[Saya]

In the Bottle

Yuck! Stinging, bitter, smoky. So far, gross. I really don’t even want to put this on my skin but I’m going to try it out anyways because you never know.

 

On My Skin

Same as in the imp. I should add that the smoke in this scent isn’t a pleasant one, it smells like burning tires or some other ungodly thing.

 

After a Bit

Washed it off. Simply not for me.

 

Rating 1-5

Scent - 1 Throw - 4 Longevity – ?

Overall (not an average) – 1

 

Final thoughts

This imp is going to need to find a better home where somebody can love it much better than I can.

[megank4]

Not gross but not me.

 

Strong, smoky, makes me think of Highwayman.

[Pika]

Very much vetiver, but also a mixture of smoky woods. I actually kind of like this, but it's very strong, and I have a feeling I won't wear it around too much because I'm worried it would bother others. It strikes me as deep, mysterious, and earthy. I agree with plunderparlour, it's got a masculine vibe, too, one I wouldn't mind snuggling up to. I may keep my imp for private wear, though I don't think I could do a bottle justice.

[savage_rose]

Pretty much straight vetiver on me. The best thing I can say about it is it fades quickly! But vetiver fans, rejoice.

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

 

Imp: at first sniff…vetiver and dirt

Wet on me: more dirt and less of the evil vetiver

Drying Down; dirt, woody but that initial vetiver

vibe has gone away. Almost …ALMOST get a trace whiff

of patchouli in this.

Dry: This seems to have dried out with a nice patchouli

vibe to it. None of that stale vetiver any more.