The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed With the Sun

[edenssixthday]

 

The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed With the Sun, William Blake.

Daemonorops, vanilla, Indian sandalwood, Mexican copal, hyssop, muguet, sweet pea, amber, hazelwood, galbanum, hiba wood, and orchid.

 

The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed With the Sun - Wow, this is gorgeous! It’s a very sweet, woody-floral. I’m surprised there's no cocoa in this scent, because that is my very first impression of this scent. I suppose I must be smelling the vanilla and woods blending together to create a dry, warm, cocoa-like scent. Simply amazing! As the blend warms up on my skin, the bittersweet florals become the top note, and the sweet woods become a backdrop for the powerfully aromatic orchid and hyssop and I'm reminded of what might be the olfactory effects of trying to blend Hawaii and Mexico in a single vial. Sadly, this is also the point when I begin to smell the sweet pea, which does what sweet pea always does to me, and takes on a soapy edge, which gets stronger and stronger the longer this blend is on my skin. Without that sweet pea note, I think this would be an absolutely gorgeous fragrance, and very unique.

[Heavenlyrabbit]

This is a dynamic blend that seems to have a certain expansiveness. There's the depth of the resin/ vanilla surrounded by the florals. The woody notes support this whole blend.

 

Haven't settle on a dragon's blood blend yet. This might be it cause this gets better the longer I smell it on myself.

 

The Sweet Pea stays in check, thank goodness... it usually ruins the party.

[filigree_shadow]

In the imp: Kind of spicy, reminds me of gingerbread for some reason.

 

Wet: Floral soap. Sweet pea strikes again. Darn, I was really hoping this one would work for me. The rest of the notes sound so yummy, I was sure this would work despite the sweet pea. Well, let's see how it does when it's dry.

 

Dry: Thankfully that soapy scent is fading, and it's being replaced with something a little spicy. I'm not sure what it is, though. This ends up as an interesting wood-spice combination, it's sweeter than most wood-spice perfumes I've tried. To be honest, I don't think I've ever smelled anything quite like this before, but I'm noticing that's a trend with the Salon scents. I think that almost all of them smell singularly different from any other perfume. It's a deep, dry, floaty scent. If I could get the sweet pea to go away entirely I'd probably want a bottle of it. Alas.

Edited January 6, 2007 by filigree_shadow

[Blood onmy hands]

The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed With the Sun (woo - longest name ever?) would be fantastic on someone with better skin chemistry than I. The florals or something in this go a tad bit soapy and some of the notes (hello amber) go powdery on my skin. But I really do love the vanilla and sandalwood combo in this one, and I'm loving the overall spicy woods fragrance.

 

It's sort of a woodsy oriental to me with spicy woods and a sweet vanilla at the heart of it. If something in this weren't giving the Dragon-Woman-Clothed-Sun an undercurrent of dish soap, I might love it. I'm actually fond of the lab's sweet pea, so I'm not sure if that's what is mucking this one up for me.

 

If you like woodsy scents (or even if you don't like woods, this is mixed with a lovely vanilla and some sweet florals) and your skin does well with the amber and floral notes, this is a really great blend. As it is, my skin is picking up a little too much powder and soap and ruining this one for me

[shelldoo]

in the bottle, this is a gorgeous menagerie of scents i adore. vanilla, sweet pea, orchid, sweet, very sweet.

 

on it becomes almost exclusively floral. a sweet pea, and orchid scent. very fragile and femenine feeling to me. surprisingly enough i love it

[mmmitchell]

This scent does a wonderful job (IMHO) of evoking the aspect of the Blake painting....I'm a huge fan of William Blake, both his visual and written art, and have loved this particular painting for a long time, so I was eagerly anticipating this blend.

 

I had to Google "daemonorops" to discover that's it's dragon's blood resin, which helped me understand what it was that I was smelling.

 

Like Shub-Niggurath, this blend has two fragrances in one bottle, and they interpret the painting beautifully. On first sniff, I said "Whoa! There's a serious beastie in there!" The "dragon" in the bottle smells feral and wild and dark.....the result of the beautiful woods in this blend. But also residing in the bottle is the Woman clothed with the sun, and she is all soft florals, sweetened by the dragon's blood resin. The whole blend, then, is set aglow by the amber.

 

As it dries down, the dynamic tension between these two opposites melds, somewhat, leaving a lovely floral with dry woody undertone to it. Even if florals aren't your thing, try this.....I'm not a "floral-y" kind of gal, and I like this quite a lot.

 

As an interpretation of the painting, this works beautifully for me. I enjoy the tension between the opposites, and I find it hugely appropriate. Even down to the "woodsy" smell, which reminds me that many of Blake's best, and most interesting works, were done on wood....as Michelangelo is to Carrera marble, Blake is to wood.

 

As a scent, on me, I'm still not sure. Something about the wood scent, the "beastie" in this bottle smells a bit, well, weird on me. My initial reaction is a cross between peanut butter, and dark slightly damp fur (sounds more horrible than it actually is, but it is a thick, dark scent to me....). This goes away a bit as I wear it, to meld with and anchor the florals, but I still keep getting whiffs of it. Similar to Shub on me, where the "beastie" smell sort of settles down to anchor the warm ginger. This doesn't quite meld together as nicely. I'm thinking I might age my imp a bit, and check it out in a couple of months.

 

Regardless, I will treasure my imp. Whether or not this "works" for me, it's still a lovely interpretation of a favorite piece of art. Many kudos to Beth for this olafactory treat! Thanks!

[supremegoddessofall]

On me: This is really, really strange. I don't know what some of these notes smell like on their own, but my overall impression is "Sweet Pea Almond Cereal." There's definitely *something* nutty in here, and other than the sweet pea I don't get any of the florals. Little bit of sandalwood. A very strange scent. If the sweet pea were more dominant, I think I might like this, but as it is the "cereal" quality is a turn off.

[euterpe414]

This is quite a unique scent. I am not sure I have smelled anything similar to it before. There are definitely multiple "ideas" occuring at the same time in this one. On one hand there is super-floralness- sweet pea and orchid have a great presence on my skin, and actually don't go soapy! But then I also smell a deeply grounded woodiness, which must be the DBR, copal, wood, etc. They really don't mix with one another; the floral sort of sits on top of the wood.

 

This one definitely is an accurate representation of the painting to me, although I am not sure that I would wear it often. It seems a bit of a novelty to me, and not at all my personality. Still, it was a neat experience to smell something like this and try to decipher it!! I think though, that a real sweet pea lover would enjoy this one a lot.

[maribouquet]

I also noticed a sweet, nutty almond scent right off the bat - mysterious! As this dries the dragon's blood emerges in a very airy, violet-colored sort of way. I was surprised by how nicely it combined with the scrumptious notes, and would you believe it actually behaved on me?

 

Sweet pea, however, doesn't play nice on me and took over, leaving me with an overly sweet, bathroom-cleaner sort of scent.

 

Still, a very unique combination of notes. Wish it had worked for me!

[abejita]

Hm. I'm not sure I "get" this blend. I'm looking for some complexity that I know should be here, but I'm getting almost entirely dragon's blood and vanilla. In fact, this smells a lot like a less sweet, woodier Dragon's Milk.

 

Oh, wait, there's the floral. Muguet. Now this is shifting towards Dragon's Eye a little.

 

It just keeps shifting between those blends to me, with a woody base. I'll have to try it again, it just isn't quite doing it for me right now.

[themerrybaker]

I am wondering about my nasal calibration right now, because I get the Great Big Jasmine Stomping on the Woman Clothed With my Stuff. And there's not even any jasmine in here!! No vanilla or demondrops for me, just extreme pseudo jasmine floral. My experience with GRD may be an abherration, but I agree that this is definitely floral.

[HappyLoveJoy]

The Great Red Dragon is great from start to finish on me. It's foody at first like some kind of buttery pound cake that is soaked in a syrup of sugar, floral perfume and mild ginger-spiced rum. I can't smell dragon's blood by itself in it but I think it lends the warm/woody/spicy quality. The drydown is soft powdery floral that reminds me a tad of Lush's Silky Underwear powder. The funny thing is that I'm struggling with whether it's foody or not. I want to say it isn't but there's something dessert-y here like the way Tiramisu has that creamy-sweet yet dark and robust quality. It's a gorgeous complex floral that fuddles the senses in a good way. I'd better get another bottle before it's gone!

[indicolite]

The Great Red Dragon nearly broke my heart. For a while it was dark and smoky, like vetiver but not vetiver, and now the woods are coming out. But there is something about it that I dislike; I am not sure whether it is hyssop that ruins blends for me, or something else.

 

It may be that aging will improve this imp, but alas, the Great Red Dragon is a disappointment.

[Emma2403]

Now I have no idea, for example, what daemonorops or hiba wood are, or even less what they smell like…

 

In the bottle: hazelnut, lots of hazelnut… it’s so strong, it reminds me of cocoa a little. Then there’s some soapy flower in the background (I believe it is sweetpea).

 

On my skin: still this weird mix of hazelnut and soapy floral. I don’t get any vanilla, unfortunately.

 

After a couple of hours: it gets 100% soapy. Nice soap but still.

 

Verdict: it’s unusual but still not right for me.

[yeahbutnobut]

The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed With the Sun

 

In the imp: a bitter floral scent full of red dragon's blood and some odd wet green notes.

Wet on skin: I now smell more woods coming out, but it's mainly dragon's blood and greenish flower notes like muguet and sweet pea. I have no idea why this smells so green and wet.

Dry on skin: this is such an unusual fragrance, I can't make head or tail of it. It's a strange greenish floral scent, it smells like dewy leaves and grasses for some reason I can't understand, but with the sharp clarity of dragon's blood running through it, and surprisingly strong notes of lily of the valley, sweet pea and orchid. It brings to mind a hothouse, wet and steamy leaves and vines, with flowers growing. It actually smells like a more complex and interesting version of Dragon's Eye. I also get the soft warmth of sandalwood, and maybe a hint of copal too…even a hint of something nutty which must be the hazel. I don't get any vanilla or amber yet, just a deep green scent with soft wet flowers and piercing red dragon's blood contrasting with a dry, nutty, woodsy base and a faint glow of copal.

After a while: dragon's blood is taking over! That's all I can smell now, green wet woods, waxy floral notes, and lots of dragon's blood. Where's the sandalwood? Or the vanilla, or amber, or hazel, or the copal…where have they fled? I was hoping for more of the 'woman cloaked in the sun' and less of the 'great red dragon' which seems to be the dominant theme now. Dragon's blood and greenish flowers. It also reminds me of something I've smelt at a new age shop. However, the flowers (I blame the muguet, probably) are turning to soap now.

And then, it's soapy flowers. Soapy sweet peas and lilies of the valley on the almost soapy sharp scent of dragon's blood. It's now almost indentical to Dragon's Eye but much soapier. The vanilla, amber and all the other sweet rich notes never do show up even at drydown, where the scent becomes all soapy dragon's blood and lily/sweet pea, and that's it.

Verdict: I was hoping, from the notes, that this would be a darker, more complex version of Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, but it was nothing like that. In fact, I was a little bit taken aback by the scent's greenness and the strength of the daemonorops (dragon's blood) which seems to take over the scent. I didn't mind the lush wet green scent I got from this scent but I was very disappointed by the way this quickly turned to a sharp soapy floral. The hints of sandalwood, copal and hazel that pop up are too fleeting, and the vanilla and amber never show up, which is such a shame. For all it's complexity and myriad notes, it could have gone either way, and it decided to turn very bad on me, with the waxy florals amping up and the scent becoming an unpleasant soapy screeching floral until the end. I'm quite sad that this was such a letdown, it seemed so promising…but my skin chemistry wouldn't let that be. (I suppose I could call this the Dragon's Long and Sad Scent, because of the way it disagreed with me.)

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? No.This is a confusing scent, and I don't like the soapiness.

If you like this, try: Dragon's Eye, The Emperor, Silk Road, Aeval, Juliet, Wilhelmina Murray

[maijasu]

I'm not quite sure what to make of this scent. It's very perfumey, soft, and feminine, definitely floral, which means I should hate it. But I don't. Something is keeping it from becoming too powdery or soapy or cloying (all favorite words of mine to describe florals). It's actually quite beautiful. I'm not sure I'd use it enough to warrant a bottle purchase, but the imp is staying here with me.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Coconut, I know it's not a listed note, but it's all I can smell.

 

Wet on me - Digestive biscuits with a soft floral on top.

 

Dry on me - Warm and spicy, but slightly sharp (not unlike fresh Snake Oil).

 

Overall - I do like the dry down, but in general this blend doesn't wow me.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: very, very sweet, with a little spice from the copal.

on: a spicy, sweet, foody scent.

2 hours later: sweet, but now the flowers are coming forward. interesting.

4.5 hours later: a soft, sweet, powdery floral.

overall: this is nice, but not something i would wear.

[forspecial_plate]

The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed With the Sun is a great scent....I gave up on dragon's blood resin a few months ago, but the other notes listed made me want to give this one a go. And I'm really glad I did!

 

This smells warm, sweet, woody, just a little spicy, a little floral, and resinous....all at once....it's so well balanced. For a while, the dragon's blood does threaten to take over. But it eventually backs off and the other notes seem to just glow. There is something faintly nutty that may be hazelwood.

 

I'm somewhere around the third hour of wearing it now, and it has faded somewhat, but is still pretty strong. I think I really like it.

[siddal]

In the imp this is very spicy and sweet. I can smell something like cherry! I have no idea what that would be in this lineup. On my skin, it continues to be spicy, fruity and now I can detect the sandal wood and copal, and especially the amber. The drydown is similar, and finally it's a weird cherry again, almost like cough syrup and woods/spices.

Edited February 19, 2007 by siddal

[Athenae]

This went straight to baby powder on me. It was so lovely, warm and spicy, in the imp, but alas, nothing but powder on my skin. Off to the swap pile it goes.

 

A.

[emzebel]

This is a very strange blend on my skin - I get almost nothing that I would expect from the listed notes and instead, smokey nuts, with maybe a hint of floral.

 

It's odd. Odd I tell you.

[fiddledragon]

Another one in the nutty-foody camp, here! Especially in the imp, it's a very muted gingersnap-hazelnut scent. On me, there's a brief flash of something sweet and clear that I really like, then it dries down to that same murky foody scent, plus a little bit of wood and a soapy floral overtop. These notes just aren't playing nice with each other, and not in an "interestingly chaotic contrasts" kind of way. It actually reminds me a lot of The Great Sword of War, but with the soapy floral in place of the lemongrass. I can't pick out the vanilla or dragon's blood, despite those normally being strong notes on me. I'll give this one some time to age.

[ariosa]

This is... interesting. Immediately upon application, it was all toasted hazelnuts. Then as it began to dry and mellow, the sweet pea and muguet came out to play, and muguet is definitely not my friend. It morphs from nutty to floral, and then to woodsy, but in the end once completely dry, it smells like some woodsy-floral soap.

 

It's a lovely scent, but it's just not me. Maybe without the sweet pea and the muguet.

[solcita]

I tried this one against my better judgement, as I have bad luck with daemonorops/dragon's blood scents, but I have to say that I'm actually pleasantly surprised. I'm getting mostly the orchid with a little vanilla and sandalwood, and a wisp of a few other things underneath, melded nicely so that the individual notes can't be picked out. This one I could wear, so onto the wishlist it goes. Just goes to show that you never can tell just by reading the notes.