Banded Sea Snake (2006)

[theal8r]

Snake Oil with oakmoss, sea moss, and olive leaf.

in imp: Weird! green vanilla? There's a lovely creamy undertone to it.

Wet: This is pretty nice, so far. I'm picking up a strange... root beer...? note that I'm not so sure about. I wonder how this might layer with Stimulating Sassafrass... I'm a little worried about throw -- I seemed to be casting a lot of scent around in my car.

dry down: mmmmm this is like what would happen if Green Phoenix had a luscious, creamy vanilla baby. I want to slather myself in this and roll around in it. YUM YUM!

[Pookstrell]

Blimey, I thought I'd gone mad when I sniffed this as it reminded me of Dorian so strongly. I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only one.

I adore Dorian, but have worn it to death and this is a lovely alternative. Theal8r is right, 'green vanilla' is a great description. I wouldn't have been able to pick the ingredients in this if they weren't listed, although I'm beginning to think that olive leaf may well be my friend. iIndeed, it has a similar 'quality' to Lush's Olive Branch for me. I also reckon that there's ambergris in this, although I'm probably taking out of my bum!

In short, this is a really delightful surprise, and I will be getting a bottle of this before the Faiza's companions leave town... possibly two bottles, as it follows an Olive Branch shower so, so beautifully

[milo]

This is another nice, fresh snake, great for hot weather. It is slightly masculine, but I still enjoy it. I really don't get the Dorian similarity at this stage, maybe later on. Hope so, because I love Dorian. This is fresh, green, and another snakey win.

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Sharp green, with that olive note.

 

Wet: Vanilla, of course, with astringent, tanniny green notes.

 

Twenty minutes: Strong vanilla, but not cloying due to the tannic greens. It doesn't smell foody, which is a bonus.

 

One hour: Too oakmossy for me now, although it's not as sharp and unpleasant as some versions. The vanilla is pretty much overwhelmed by the green and tannin.

 

Two hours: Sour tannic. Fail.

[jizatt]

I agree with the green and creamy and slightly vanilla. It keeps the undertone of SO in there too. This is a very low lying, comfort scent that I can see myself wearing a lot. The additions take the edge of the Snake Oil and make it extremely wearable on my skin =)

[zankoku_zen]

At the beginning, this was very green and oakmossy. I didn't like it. Now that its been about an hour, the vanilla in the Snake Oil is more prominant, and it's a very green mossy vanilla scent.

 

Not my cup of tea, but the drydown after the hour is very very pretty.

[rayvn1]

This changes quite a bit from imp to skin. In the imp it was almost bitter. On the skin there's a green lightness, almost a minty freshness as others have described. I think I like it! Not really getting the vanilla of Snake Oil yet. I'll see how it is after a few hours. To be fair, the only imp I have of Snake Oil is an aged decant so I can't compare it to fresh S.O.

 

It's kind of disappearing into my skin so this may not be a keeper. I love the note descriptions though, so I'm holding onto it for further testing

[kawaiiferreto]

All of the grossness of Dorian, with none of the awesome of Snake Oil. As with Dorian, this goes quite nasty on me, and I'm not sure what's doing it, but I'm going to go wash this off. I get no vanilla or spicy delicious, just oddly cloying nastiness. If the Snake Oil shows up in 3 hours as it sometimes does with the Snake Pit blends, it would be saved a bit, but not enough for me to ever wear it (I'll just wear actual Snake Oil in that case!)

[Schmoozy]

hahhaa. This starts off almost exactly like Lilith Victoria. Yup, I can see, and agree to the comparisions of Dorian, and I love them both. Banded Sea Snake is another lush, bright, snake pit blend. It is green, and woodsy and together with snake oil make for a beautiful oil. Moss and olive leaf, come across a bit masculine, but with my skin chemistry that means it smells clean and fresh.

Snake oil is very prominent in Banded Sea Snake and this is going to be a great oil for the summer.

[acidrica]

This is very, very hard to describe. It smells like something soft that I want to cuddle up with. I wish I could rub this into my pillow. There's snake oil, but it's soft. It's a very green scent, but soft and....oh man, I don't even know. It's just amazing!

[hespera4523]

Yes, Virginia, I have found my favorite. The Banded Sea Snake took a bit of a circumspect route to my door (silly serpent decided it needed to go back to its first mommy and say goodbye first -- slight shipping snafu) but it was amazing and worth the wait. The blend is green and sweet and creamy, like nothing I have ever smelled. Is perfection in a bottle. Love it more every day, and intend to start a mini-cellar complete with a little bottle rack for hoarding -- my own personal Snake Cellar in the bathroom linen closet. Well, maybe not, but a cute idea nonetheless. I can't even think of anything pithy and observant to say here beyond The Snake Is Good. Love The Snake.

 

 

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

 

Decant: astringent-y,

Wet on Me: sweet now

Drying Down: am getting what I think is Snake Oil since

I’ve not tried it. Not getting any of the oakmoss or sea moss or olive leaf.

Dry: Okay now I get the barest ghost of the oakmoss

over the Snake Oil. This makes me want to try Snake Oil now.

 

[milica]

This kind of scent is why I don't like ordinary perfumes that much. They can never produce an alchocol based commercial perfume as perfect as this.

 

I don't have the right words for how much I love this scent, and it just gets better and better. It's SO, but fresh and spicy SO at the same time, with mellow vanila. One second I get SO, the next something fresh and mossy, a bit dirty, and then everything in beautifly mixed in one scent with perfect balance. Lasts for hours and hours and it makes me very happy!!!

 

I'm seriosly thinking about hoarding this one, and it would be my first "must hoard" scent, it is that good!!! <3 <3 <3

[Yoginispirit]

I had avoided this one for a very long time because looking over the notes, I was sure it was going to smell like aftershave like most aquatics do on me. However I decided to swap for it (as I'm trying to test all the snakes before the the carnival leaves) and I have to say this is beautiful! I LOVE how evocative it is!!!

 

In the decant this smells scary- I imagine deep, murky, dark water with bitter seaweeds wrapping around my ankles and trying to pull me under. The olive and oakmoss together smell like decaying brine.

 

On my skin it lightened up as if swimming to the surface, and became sweet and smooth with a snake oil bite and some light cool mintiness.

 

Then on drydown, I get even more beautiful silky vanilla and some slight salt damp on my skin as the sea snake stretches out on a stone to dry in the sun.

 

This is really pretty but my only problem is that it smells VERY similar to Green Tree Viper. The Viper is a little sharper whereas this is quiet, mysterious and a little darker. Quite slinky. I'll have to wear them both again and see which I like more.

[asciident]

Wet: It's VERY mossy.

 

First on: Very mossy and green. Not really getting the Snake Oil here at all.

 

Dry: Unchanged. I'm not impressed.

[Dark Alice]

Olive leaf with the barest hint of snake oil. I am not a fan....but I want to keep my imp just to see how this ages.

Edited March 3, 2009 by Dark Alice

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Strange! Sweet cola-ish snake oil and slightly soapy and salty aquatic notes. Distant oakmoss.

 

Wet: Intense snake oil, full of red musk now. Also - much saltier. Not soapy on my skin. I'm not getting any sort of moss, earthy or herbal notes.

 

Dry: Salty snake oil.

 

[CreamyJade]

In the decant: Almost like a citrus Snake Oil.

Wet on skin: Snake Oil, with moss and something green.

Dry on skin: MOSS, earthiness & a background of vanilla & Snake Oil.

Final thoughts: A kind swapper graced me with a testable almost empty decant and I was glad to try it as I love to try the Snakes :3 I liked the earlier stages of the scent, but when the moss overrode the Snake Oil, it was a bit too much for me. I'm glad I tried it though!

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

Mmmmm...at first this is all incensy and austere...plus green olive leafy elements and moss. Sounds a bit weird, but I actually really like it and find it quite unique and refreshing! I love love love how after a few minutes all the snake oil spices start emerging from underneath the other notes adding another layer of really interesting complexity. I'm rapidly falling for the Banded Sea Snake. Green and cool with simmering snake oil spices underneath!

 

 

[Eucatastrophe]

This one's a puzzler for me. I'll sniff it and not like it. I'll sniff it again a moment later and Mmm.

I think I like it. It seems to be fading fast on me though. It's only been a short while and it's riding so close to the skin that I almost have to touch my nose to it to smell anything, and what I do smell continues to puzzle me. Hmmm.....

[angelicruin]

This is much sweeter than I had imagined it would be. Green Snake Oil is indeed a good description. It's vanilla swirled into oakmoss & olive leaf.

 

Worth getting a bottle for myself before the Carnaval comes down.

[gingiemay]

In the bottle I get that more sweet than normal Snake Oil note that I get from a lot of the Snake Oil blends. For two hours, I get two distinct layers, an aquatic layer and a Snake Oil layer. After that time period, this morphs into a gorgeous aquatic, salty Snake Oil. The two notes are surprisingly complimentary. I will try it again after it has settled from shipping but so far I see potential for great success!

[heathercaley]

I'm usually not one for aquatics, greens, or florals, but since this has a base of SO I decided to give it a shot. I am sooo happy to have found my bottle because I am in teh love! It's not green at all, its got a subtle salty breeze quality floating around the sweetness of SO. It's the perfect combination of spices, sweetness, and earthy salty air. It isn't too potent, but at the same time it doesn't fade to quickly. It's soft, and just beautiful! I will need more of this one!!

[loladae]

I totally get the Dorian reference! To me this is a smoother, lighter, more aquatic-y Dorian. It doesn't have the strong throw of Dorian, and I already have a 10ml bottle of Dorian so I don't need this but it is nice! After a while, however, something sort of goes 'off.'

[saralaughs]

This is definitely smooth. I get oakmoss straight off when applied. Then a bit of an herbal (the olive leaf maybe?) comes out and deepens it even more. After a bit it smooths out and the Snake Oil is there to play. A gorgeous manly scent.