Aries 2007

[asciident]

Cardinal fire: the essence of identity.
Black pepper, honeysuckle, opoponax, dragon's blood, and wild ginger.

Wet: Honeysuckle domination with a whiff of black pepper.

First on: Wow, who knew black pepper smells so nice as a fragrance? Oh, hello dragon's blood! My skin amps it up.

Dry: Dragon's blood usually goes resinous cherry on me, but in this blend it's definitely more cherryRESIN than resinCHERRY, and I'm getting very a very strong pepper blast with some (red?) ginger spiciness. Underneath it all, if sniffed and considered, there is a nice, sweet, gentle honeysuckle layer. I think perhaps the opopnax is lending itself to the dragon's blood to give it that more resiny feel. All in all, this is incredibly fiery and very spicy -- pepper is definitely leading dragon's blood by the collar -- but I keep coming back to that sweet honeysuckle underlayer. This is beautiful! Edited November 25, 2007 by Shollin

[Jheya]

In the imp: Spicy and warm but with an edge to it I don't really like.

 

On skin: Happily, the note I don't like in the imp mellows and then fades when on skin. This is definitely a good thing as it really offput me, and I can't help but make a face and recap the vial when sniffing it. The dragon's blood comes through as it dries.

 

My nose is not the most well trained so I'm finding it difficult to pick out the individual notes. It's a warm, assertive blend, and a lot more wearable than I would have guessed from sniffing the imp. It's not really me though, so first I'm going to see if Boo might like it (she's an Aries, I'm not), but if she doesn't then I think this one'll go to my swaps pile.

[Honor]

I got this despite there not being any notes I'm in love with...because it's my sign and I can be very quintessential Aries, and was maybe hoping it would work out anyway.

 

Bottle: Honeysuckle and Dragons Blood mingling into something my nose really isn't digging. Can't describe it any better then that...it's a peculiar smell that I can't place.

 

On Skin: Pepper comes out a bit and the honey suckle dries down. The DB comes out more and there's a plastic-y sweetness to present, which I have to wonder if it's the oppopanax.

 

Dry/Overall: Once fully dry, all other notes except that plastic sweetness, with a touch of the ginger.

 

Not really my cup of tea, which makes me sad. Off to swap this.

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is ginger and lots of black pepper...

 

once applied the honeysuckle steps forward and mingles beautifully

with the strong pepper and ginger...this is spicy and quite lovely

[jewelbug]

I'm trying out a friend's aries to see if its worth hunting down. I love spicy, typically, but didn't have the money when this went up....

 

Wet: Wintergreen, spice, and cat food? Huh? Oh, I know what it is…pepper often goes to a weird savory petfood/salami on me. This isn’t promising…

 

Drying: Red lollipops and spice. I figure the red lollipop smell is actually dragon’s blood resembling cherry. The effect smells like spicy jailbait (well, jailbait before it turned to pepperoni pizza on my weird skin chem., anyway) with a twinge of wintergreen.

 

Dry: This alternates between spicy jailbait and pepto bismal, with occasional whiffs of salami.

 

Overall: This is quite apparently not a good mix with my skin chemistry! I guess its a good thing that I didn't buy it for myself.

Edited June 12, 2007 by jewelbug

[Neely]

I love pepper, ginger, and spices. And honeysuckle, like rose, can be a floral I can wear depending on what other notes are with it. Dragon's Blood is hit or miss with me, more miss than hit. It tends to get a strange floral quality on my skin, but I figured with all the other notes it would be fine. Opoponax I have no idea what it is or how it will work. So, I ordered a bottle...

 

In the bottle: pepper and Dragon's Blood. Hmmm.

 

Wet: Dragon's Blood becomes stronger with its floral quality, and pepper steps back. The other notes have yet to come inside from playing.

 

Dry down: DB, pepper, and ginger finally shows up to dance with pepper.

 

30 minutes: DB, and pepper. Ginger has fled the room again. DB is like that loud, obnoxious person that takes all the attention for themselves and won't let anyone get a word in edgewise. Only pepper is tenacious enough to stick around.

 

Conclusion: like Bakenanko, this one needs to find a new home. It is beautiful, but DB is just too much in this one for my stupid skin chemistry. I actually wonder if DB, opoponax, and honeysuckle weren't together and conspired to make this way to floral for me. *sigh* I thought a firey scent like Aries would be good on me. Even aging didn't help. Ahhh well.

 

Rating 1-5: on my skin this is a 2.

[EttyOop]

Ok, this was in my first set of imps, and I got it because a) it's my sign and I was intrigued by the pepper and ginger.

 

In the bottle, I found this a bit different than others did. All I smelled was ginger and pepper (though the pepper actually smelled more white peppery than black pepper, to my nose). I loved it and was anxious to try it out.

 

Wet on my skin, it was pretty strongly what i can only assume is dragon's blood. This continued to strengthen as it dried and settled into my skin. With every other scent from that batch, I followed the suggestion and left each on for at least an hour to give it a chance. With Aries, after about 20 minutes I couldn't take it anymore. I was horrified at the reek that was coming off my wrist!

 

I'm going to guess that maybe my body doesn't react too well with Dragon's Blood. Such a shame, because I was really excited from the whiff in the bottle. Now I don't even want to look at it!

Edited July 15, 2007 by EttyOop

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Ginger, hard and fiery but with just a hint of sweetness

 

Wet on me – Bright red ginger

 

Dry on me – It goes woody (I would say sandalwood, which is odd), but sweetened by the honeysuckle

 

Overall – I like this a lot and as someone who is very Libran I can’t help but think that wearing a blend evocative of such a difference sign to my own will be good for me

[phantasmmysteria]

Oh, man... this is been my first OMGGETITOFF BPAL.

 

On my skin, this scent turns to napalm. Seriously... I get an acrid burning soapy smell that I could not wash off quickly enough. After scrubbing, I was left with something grossly sweet.

 

It was... it was just bad.

[alicia_stardust]

This is fiery, peppery, red. It has a very dry quality to it, with a touch of resin to it. After a while I get a very strong kick of pepper before it fades off into the last little remnants of a fire scent.

[metaldog32]

So…I am going to attempt to review Aries. I like Aries people..like their qualities…but the notes that are associated with them don’t love me. Usually they have cinnamon, dragons blood, pepper..all of these I like but for some reason on me the sum of all of that makes me queasy. I keep trying though..and that is why I purchased a bottle of Aries. My moon is in Aries..and so I feel drawn a bit to those fiery Rams…I hope I do better with this blend. So far..I have struck out with Mars, struck out with Wrath, struck out with Blood Moon.

 

Okay..here I go:

 

Initial sniff from bottle: Pepper..dry and I think maybe dragon’s blood or ginger??? This isn’t boding well at all. It’s the same vibe I got from Mars..except this time the pepper is a bit more forward. Crap. Lessons will be repeated until they are learned…

 

I am going to push on..despite of what my head is saying..you never know.

 

Applied wet on skin: Argh..it’s pepper or maybe dragon’s blood and it’s dry, dry, dry..almost like a hot metallic on me. I love metallic..but I prefer mine on the cooler side…this is very much like Mars..but I do get a wisp of something sweet/floral on the end..

 

Five minutes later-Hmph…this seems to have actually turned on me..and kind of in a good way. I still register the pepper..but it’s softened now and I get a bit more of the honeysuckle. It’s like they are in tandem..and although this may seem like an odd combination..it doesn’t make me queasy. I actually kind of like it.

 

Ten minutes later:For the most part it’s honeysuckle with flashes of the pepper. I don’t really get any opponax or ginger..but that dragon’s blood..it is there. Thankfully it’s behaving a bit..because when it gets really loud on me I amp to the point of it being overly aggressive and not nice. At. All. I think that dragon’s blood..when it isn’t lilac-like is when it doesn’t work on me. Here dragon’s blood starts awfully iffy on me but ends up working with the honeysuckle..it’s restrained somewhat and for me that is a good thing. I may have finally found an Aries-style scent that I can wear. I find this scent a bit intriguing..but I am not blown over by it…yet.

 

Twenty minutes later:Softened pepper with honeysuckle and wisps of that dragon’s blood poking in and out. I never really did get the ginger..and the opponax..unless lending it’s vanilla-like sweetness..is very much a subdued note on me in this blend. The dragon’s blood now has settled into being more of a floral note..and this note I can handle a bit better.

 

Hour later: It’s softened considerably but still has presence..and it’s the combination of the pepper and dragon’s blood..which has yet again revealed it’s “other face”..the one that can be tricky on me..the one that is a bit dry and slightly metallic hot-like..but it’s behaving a bit..with the honeysuckle and opponax peeking through with a degree of soft sweetness. Truly a very interesting fragrance.

 

Drydown: Settled down to a skin scent..with touches of faded spicyness. Could be the pepper, could be the dragon’s blood…can’t be sure either way.

 

Bottom Line: Aries..a bit tough to handle..but in the end..worked better on me then Mars..and I am grateful. It’s not a fragrance I would find myself reaching for..yet the experience was so interesting that I would categorize it as an atypical floral and I think I could wear this when I felt like putting something on that gave me the brass balls one needs every once in a while to kick some a$$. I put it in the same category as Nemesis not as a fragrance but of the mood it invokes. My 5ml stays put.

[khiseer]

I really wanted to like my own star sigh blend but alas it's not to be...

 

With the promise of dragon's blood and ginger, what could go wrong!? i was silly for thinking that because BAM pepper smacked me right in the face.. It is very much the dominant note for me in this one. I get a tiny bit of honeysuckle which is quite nice but the pepper is still too overpowering to wear. That sais the pepper does die down quite quickly and it does leave behind quite a nice scent. I just can't handle pepper

 

i have to say i love that aries has dragon's blood in it though

[DifferentDances]

Bottle: Dragon's blood and ginger.

Wet: The black pepper steps in and makes a dramatic entrance.

Drydown: Pepper wrestles honeysuckle into submission. Pepper wrestles dragon's blood into submission. Pepper wins all other bouts except for ginger, which remains the lone challenger.

Dry: Aaaaaaand Pepper has won the celebrity deathmatch against Ginger!

 

My rating: 1/5. X( Odd, I didn't think the pepper would overpower everything else --I can barely smell it in Xanthe, though I suppose there's a difference between white and black pepper notes. *sigh*

[lunareclipse]

I'm having a lot of trouble quantifying Aries - or even deciding if I love it or hate it. Both in the bottle and on the skin, I get a weird almost-chemical almost-soapy sweetness, with the faintest hints of ginger and pepper behind it - could that be the dragon's blood-honeysuckle accord? I had really hoped that the hot, fiery spices and resins would dominate the blend, rather than this strange sweetness.

 

That said, I'm oddly attracted to the scent, much as I'm repelled by it. It fits somehow, in certain moods - not a scent that I wear to smell pretty for others, but one I wear to feel strong in myself. I have the same reaction to the (completely different) notes in Kali, which to me has a strong overtone of sweet-to-the-point-of-almost-rot plums, but makes me feel invincible whenever I wear it.

[LadyCrow]

In the imp: Sharply, brightly resinous and spicy. Almost smells more like a TAL than a perfume qua perfume.

 

Wet: Man, they weren't kidding about the pepper part. The throw is only moderate, but the pepper is really sharp, as is the ginger.

 

Drydown: O HAI DRAGONZ BLUD! There is a brief stage where the DB, opoponax, and honeysuckle combine to remind me of one of the sweeter Ars Draconis blends, but then this gives way to a much more thoroughly blended, appropriately firey combo of sweet and spicy. Although I agree with one of the previous reviewers that this would be a scent I'd wear for me, not for the benefit of others, I can still see it coming off quite sexy. You know, honeysuckle and spice and everything RAWR.

 

Verdict: Dammit. I only just got around to testing this now? And I only have a little dab in a sniffie? Off to rectify this situation, stat.

[hkhm]

bottle: pepper and ginger. this reminds me of three gorgons a great deal.

 

wet: this smells like sweet, peppery flowers. so dusty sweet and spicy.

 

dry: sweet ginger with a bare hint of dusty pepper. absolutely beautiful!

[Lethran]

In bottle: Sweet and spicey. The black pepper and ginger give it a sharp foody scent, softened by the honeysuckle. The dragon’s blood gently pervades the blend. It smells a little like ginger snaps if ginger snaps were incense. Wet: Wow! Surprisingly feisty. It’s sweet and exciting. I think the pepper really adds something, a sharpness and wildness that is unexpected. Normally, I find pepper gets lost in other elements, but not here. I’m trying to decide if it’s too floral for me or not; it’s right on the edge. Dry: The more delicate elements weaken, leaving a lot of honeysuckle, with a hint of the other resins. Disappointing..

[isisonearth]

When I open the bottle and inhale it is a blast of sharp pepper that tapers off to sweet honeysuckle at the end of the breath.

 

When I first apply the wonderful black pepper is so sharp it overwhelms the other notes. As much as I love it pepper doesn't last on my skin so it quickly moves on.

 

In the dry down with the pepper nothing but a memory this is a wonderful resinous base with the ginger providing a less aggressive version of the sharpness. The honeysuckle seems impossibly fresh against this fiery back drop. It is a reminder that Spring has begun.

 

Overall...I love this. Maybe because it is so fleeting pepper is one of my favorite notes as are ginger and dragon's blood. Here they combine into something so unusual...pure magic.

[tartchef]

The original celestial Aries is my knock-down, drag-out, all time Holy grail scent, so the 2007 release has a lot to live up to

 

I don't do well with dragon's blood, so this is a gamble - I fear an Ifrit-style powder explosion... but I am delightfully wrong! 2007's Aries is a lovely blend of sweet honeysuckle (one of the few florals I can wear) & gorgeous black pepper. If I concentrate, I can sense the warmth of the ginger & the resiny goodness of the opoponax, but they are definitely supporting players only. Absolutely no sign of the dragon's blood The bitterness of the pepper contrasts so nicely with the creamy, nectar-y honeysuckle - it's a delicate scent, fitting for the first warm days of spring...

 

Unbelievably pretty - feminine but not in the least bit cloying or overwhelming... SO happy I tried this!

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Mostly dragon's blood and pepper. This smells more like freshly ground pepper than any BPAL I've tried so far.

 

Wet: Still very peppery, but in an herbal way rather than in a heated one. There's honeysuckle too, and ginger. Once it blends this is going to be interesting.

 

Twenty minutes: Honeysuckle first, still with that herbally oriented black pepper note. The resin has developed some, too. I think it will probably develop still more, but it's definitely promising.

 

Hour and a half: This is really nice. It's very honeysuckle, but not piercing, headachy, or even sweet. And I can still make out the pepper note. I keep looking for reasons not to like this one, but I really like it.

 

Three hours: This is really quite nice, very much off the beaten track even for BPAL. It's not very aggressive, but quite its own scent. The way it makes honeysuckle into something not fleshy, not sweet, and not luxurious is a real achievement. For this is nothing if not spare, lean, even essential.

 

Four hours: Starting to fade now, but maintaining its character on the way down.

 

Twelve hours: Still detectable honeysuckle with a bit of resin base.

 

I may have to get a bottle of this.

[thelaurenator]

this smells exactly like Chimera, minus the cinnamon an plus a LOT of black pepper. So, mostly dragon's blood, black pepper, and honeysuckle.

[Tess]

Dragon's Blood with honeysuckle? Headache in a bottle. But I love the ginger and pepper, plus it's my sign, so I'll try it.

 

In the bottle - No dragon's blood, but lots of pepper and honeysuckle. Plus opoponax, actually. It gives it a bit of depth so it's not all blaring.

 

Wet - FLORAL.

 

Drying - Still lots of pepper and honeysuckle. I'm getting anything else, really, and my wrist is actually burning a bit. Hrm, that's not good. Maybe, just maybe, I'm starting to get some more opoponax out there, but it's taking a back seat to the floral. At the least, the dragon's blood is being calm.

 

Dry (2 hours) - Floral, floral, floral. Honeysuckle with lilac and that's it. Ugh.

 

Overall - Just too much floral for me, which confuses me since this doesn't seem like a "flower" type sign, but oh well. Off to the swaps.

 

 

[stellans]

Definitely black pepper in this blend; it’s the first thing which hits my nose. It takes a while to get past the pepper, but the wait is definitely worth it, as honeysuckle is such a treat. Dragon’s blood is also a favorite note of mine, and it serves well in this blend, especially given that Aries is a fire sign. The opoponax is not a scent I was familiar with until finding BPAL, but it has come to earn my respect because of the depth it adds to blends. In my scent locket, the pepper never really goes away to let the other notes come to the forefront, but on my skin it mellows away very nicely.

I wore this blend today to honor my youngest child's birthday. She isn't active on the forum (claims she has too much to do with WoW and LJ as it is, hah!), but Happy Birthday, Ginny!

[Apple]

I was so excited to see a decant of this in an incredibly generous package sent to me by the lovely tartchef!

 

Cracking open the imp, my nose gets a big hit of black pepper, which is great! Upon deeper inhalation, I get a waft of something floral... and familiar... and not in a good way. Then I notice the color of the oil, which is orange-y and looks like it might contain one of my nemesis-notes, dragon's blood resin. I resist the temptation to look up the notes and instead forge ahead, applying a dainty drop to my hand.

 

I sniff, and...

 

... peppered lilacs.

 

Dragon's blood strikes again. Instead of a fierce, fiery scent, I get a fiercely overbearing grandmotherly scent. *sigh* Still, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to sample this one.

[Gin]

Aries 2007

 

In the bottle, it's scary--stabby pepper and dragon's blood. On the skin, mmmmm! Dragon's blood mellowed by honeysuckle, with the faintest whiff of ginger. Beautiful.