Asp Viper (2006)

[mistressfizz]

Snake Oil with red mandarin, myrrh, and almond.

Sniff: Sweet almond oil, something earthy and resinous beneath

Wet: A spicy, high pitched almond, sweet and creamy. It reminds me of a fruit cake. It has a tart and buttery base, with a sugary, nutty, alcoholic glaze. But somehow it doesn't smell extremely foodie. I don't want to gobble this up. It's more atmospheric - I think the snake oil and incense prevent it from turning into pure cake.

Dry: Myrrh totally takes over. It has eaten the fruit cake and pooped out a dusty soft incense with hints of spice and sweetness. It's very pleasant in this phase, I'm just sad the other components don't last.



> edit to add scent description. Edited August 19, 2011 by mistressfizz

[WidgetAlley]

This will be a quickie review since I've already sent this one on to a new home. I was REALLY ready to love Asp Viper, since in the bottle it smelled like Snake Oil and Shub-Niggurath had an amazing delicious baby. However, on my skin, the two trouble notes of mandarin and myrrh took over: the myrrh turned into an odd slightly salty nutty smell and the mandarin became weirdly slick and plasticky. So I ended up with awesome Snake Oil ginger cookies, but unfortunately it also smelled like they were burned to the pan. Hopefully its new owner can enjoy cookies without the weirdness!

[Twiggy]

Ungh! I'm in heaven - I recently acquired this in a swap with a very lovely forumite.

Many many moons ago when I first found the Lab, I was frimped Snake Oil along with my Bastet bottle (the one that broke my bottle virginity).

This - to my nose - is a perfect marriage between the two. The amber comes on strong in the beginning, soon to be followed by the SO spicy vanilla loveliness. The SO keeps the amber in check, achieving a perfect balance. Not too sweet, but a lovely amber-infused Snake Oil.

Oddly, the mandarin is only apparent when applied to the crook of my elbow. And it is quite nice, sort of a sneaky little undertone to the whole experience.

My fiancee cannot keep his nose away from my neck, by the way. His eyes literally roll back in his head. At one point he forgot what he was saying and grabbed my wrist like some kind of crazed vampire.

Which is pretty much how I feel about it.

I must find more - because I just want to bathe in this stuff.

Gimme.

 

ETA: aaand, I spoke too soon re: the mandarin! Today, unlike yesterday, it is poking it's wee head out a bit more on my wrists now, and I love it! It gives the scent a very subtle but lovely soft citrus cast. This scent seems to continually evolve. Gorgeous.

Edited May 31, 2012 by Twiggy

[vanillabean]

In the imp: Almondy goodness, but grounded. Not too sweet. Just pretty much perfect.

Wet on skin: Sweetens up almost instantly. This isn't a bad thing. I can still smell the spiciness of the Snake Oil, but it is playing SO nicely with the sweet almond, and the mandarin is giving it all a juicy feel.

Drydown: No.... no no no no no! Plastic. Powder. Dust. Why can't this have stayed like it was wet?

 

I don't hate it, but I don't love it. Wet I was thinking to myself "Oh my gosh, WHY do I only have an imp... WHY didn't I discover this while it was still around?!"

But wearing, I am happy with an imp. It will go in my "Wearable" case, but it is not a *grabbyhands* scent

[mymymai]

ITB: Indonesian oil, sweet, almond-coated myrrh with faint marzipan undertones. I'm not getting any mandarin, though.

 

Wet: Strong almond/marzipan with vanilla and a hint of sugar. Under all of this, I get the mandarin paired with the Indonesian oil, lending a slightly citrusy (but not citrus sweet) tone to the heady oil.

 

Dry: I echo the impression that this is a much softer Snake Oil due to the addition of the almond and myrrh. It's sweet and slightly foody without being too juvenile.

[GoddesShel]

I must say here, that every Snake Pit blend I've tried has worked amazingly well on me, which made me take a chance on this, even though almond usually goes straight up fake cherry on me.

 

This almond, though - this smells more like the actual nut, and the myrrh lends it almost a dusty aspect. No mandarin yet...

 

Yep, it's a softer, gentler Snake Oil with a slightly dusty vibe. Very nice, and not as "in your face" as Snake Oil can be. Will be adding a bottle to my Snake Pit shelf when CD comes back.

[theseagrows]

i am not a big snake oil fan, it just doesn't work for me, but i sure do love a lot of the snake pits! starting off i get a musky scent with slight baby powder, which is how snake oil smells on me, but more baby powder, with a slight nuttiness from the almond. this isn't a sweet-cherry almond, but rather a dryer, nuttier one. the myrrh comes out a little later and the almond gets much nuttier. i sense no mandarin in this. this is like nuts and baby powder on me with a strange sharpness that burns the nostrils. it just doesn't work for me unfortunately.

Edited October 18, 2014 by theseagrows

[vanilla323]

This snake was mostly Snake Oil with a hint of myrrh and almond on top. But for some reason it wasn't very sweet or foodie on me like I thought it might be. Maybe the red mandarin was there, and was what made this kinda sharp and lackluster on me. Not sure. I feel like the Snake Oil scents were all kinda light and didn't last long, and that the aging made them not love my skin so much. I tested this back in 2012 I believe. But this too wasn't much of anything just Snake Oil with a hint of myrrh and nut. Passsssssed this snake on...

[elile]

Yikes. Soapville. I was hoping for amaretto, marzipan or sweet and cakey goodness as other lucky reviewers have described. But nope - it's strong, harsh, a bit sour (must be the mandarin) and soapy on my skin. I detect a tiny bit of almond but no Snake Oil. Dark green in color and totally unexpected. I will let the oil sit for a while (bottle arrived yesterday) and try again. No high hopes though. My skin seems to amp myrrh to next week.

Edited May 19, 2016 by elile

[donkehpoo]

How... have I never reviewed this?!

 

Wet: Almond, a little citrus, and a little Snake Oil. Delicious, basically.

 

Dry: This is... perfection. My absolute favorite form of Snake Oil, that I enjoy more than just plain S.O.

My best description would be snake oil with almond cookies, and just a touch of the mandarin. It's so, so amazing, and the first bottle I ever finished.

Edited June 16, 2018 by donkehpoo