Laudanum

[Alchemy21599]

The essence of the most debauched hunger encapsulated into a perfume. Desire beyond love, anguish beyond sanity. Nutmeg, sassafras, black poppy and myrrh.

I received this as a frimp from the Lab

In the vial: I had a really strong scent association the first time I gave this scent just a wee sniff. I don't know if it was a good or bad memory, but it was visceral.

Wet: I can't stop sniffing my wrist! This is an odd combination of incense from High Mass and an apple orchard that I frequented as a child.

Dry: Fantastic. I love this even though I would classify it as more of a "masculine" scent. I don't know if I love it because of the way it smells or because of the memories that it evokes, but I must have a big bottle.

[Babylon]

This is a weird one, and makes me giggle when I sniff it. I received two frimps of it, so I'd better review!

 

In a nutshell, Laudanum is root beer and myrrh. I never would have imagined these together, but hey, it's not that bad! Just think spicy, smoky root beer. It's actually somewhat mouthwatering.

 

I really like this one, it's unique. However, I don't think I could wear it every day. Not that much of a Laudanum junkie.

[Miseraya]

In the imp: Sharp, medicinal, but not modern medicinal. This is what I would picture laudanum smelling like. Something created at the cusp of herbal and medicinal. Drugged.

 

On the wrist, wet: Anise? Sarsparilla? Hmm... odd, I am definitely getting licorice and sarsparilla, but there doesn't appear to be any in here. Maybe that's the sassafras and black poppy?

 

On the wrist, dry: More of the same... No clove on me at least. Not yet anyway.

 

Final Analysis: Not my thing, though thankfully it didn't turn to flaming clove on me like it did on Anubis. I think myrrh must remind me of clove, that's the only similar ingredient in this and Sloth... Off to the swaps.

[ashtoreth]

Wet, this was definitely a highly medicinal smell - very herby, and about precisely what I want a Victorian era doctor to smell like - or at least his bottles.

 

Drying, it became darker and sweeter, the nutmeg and myrrh dominating on me. It reminds me of something, and I'm wracking my brain trying to determine why I'm feeling high nostalgia.

 

Several hours later: I'm sitting at work in the front office, entering bills into Quickbooks. The owner of the company comes in, takes a sniff, and says, "is somebody wearing Old Spice?"

 

Oh, right. That's what that scent is. It smells like my father after he shaves, and while the scent isn't unpleasant, I'm not sure that it's what I was looking for.

 

--Ashtoreth

[czuba]

Procured: Ordered Imp

 

In Imp: anise and herby (sassafras?) & a hint of the myrrh

 

On Skin, Wet: best described as odd -- the poppy and the myrrh are ringing clear

 

On Skin, Dry: Sporific - the poppy and myrrh are still strong with the nutmeg popping out. This stuff has got cling, 5>hrs later its still strong and clear on my skin.

[abberlaine]

Night of the Living Laudanum. Indicolite says it smells like burnt metal -- like someone soddering soldering, SOLDERING! (oh, sod it) in an opium den. I say it smells like smoked salmon left out on the canape tray. ... and band-aids, lots of band-aids. "Medicinal" is a charitable review. I say: YUCK!

Edited August 8, 2006 by Abberlaine Arrol

[indicolite]

Indicolite says it smells like burnt metal -- like someone soddering in an opium den.

I actually said SOLDERING in an opium den. And alas, this imp was the victim of the Great Broken Imp Caps Disaster of Summer 2006 and spilled. On the coffee table in Ottawa's most frequented mall. I am keeping my face out of there for the next little while at least and hoping they won't send out sniffer dogs (which would be cruelty to animals, actually).

 

I can kind of see where the scent was going - medicinal and evil. However, I have the perversity of turning it VERY medicinal and VERY evil. Too evil. And I have stated many times what poppy does to my mind. The Laudanum stain on my black velvet hat did smell nicely of nutmeg, but the unadulterated scent...

 

I mummified the imp in medical tape ("Be prepared!") and now it is sitting in a little package for me. And i threw out the bubble wrap, stained with the smell of solder in an opium den.

 

Laudanum - you may not go to another owner - but let's not meet each other. One of the few times an ordered imp was actually a mistake.

[midnight_aeval]

WOW this is pure sassafras on me!! I was hoping for nutmeg because I love it so, but I just get a sharp root beer smell. Not like Tombstone tho, (which also didn't work for me) which was creamier.

 

Darn!!

[melisssa]

Upon first applying Laudanum, I was filled with a most unexpected feeling of foreboding and my imagination ran wild. Was I smelling muscle liniment, of the sort that an aging, overworked undertaker would apply? Or was it the scent of a surgical theatre—one where organs are removed without the donor’s permission? I thrilled with the notion that this blend was aping medical evil.

 

After about five minutes of halting wrist sniffs that truly gave me shivers, I finally realized where this scent was taking me: To the dentists’ office. And if you’ve ever had a cold-hearted dentist thrust a needle through your gum and squirt anaesthetic onto your tongue, then you might be able to get your head around the trip this incredible oil took me on.

 

Mercifully, Laudanum didn’t stop there. Within a half hour, it became more familiar, faintly resembling spicy rootbeer—albeit unsweetened and sprinkled with pepper. Next, it approached a rootbeer float, though still low on the sweetness scale, and the spice identified itself as nutmeg. After about an hour, it began to fade away altogether, leaving refrigerated carnations in its wake.

 

Would I recommend trying Laudanum? Yes! It’s one of the most evocative blends I have encountered. Would I wear it when setting a man-trap? Maybe: Imagine the dude that would be drawn to this!

[Trish]

In the imp: Sweet, a bit sharp. Not bad, but a second sniff reveals something lingering underneath that makes me wrinkle my nose up.

 

Wet: ARGH! Burning plastic!

 

15 minutes: Still burning plastic. I have to wash this off now.

 

 

Ok, something in this hates me. It's definitely not nutmeg, and I doubt it's poppy or myrrh since I have Medea on my other wrist which also contains them and I really like it. So I suspect it's the sassafras.

 

Off to the swap pile with you Laudanum!

Edited August 22, 2006 by Trishek

[buzz23666]

i only have one word for this one - NASTY. It smelled nasty and it gave me the feeling of nasty and the bloody stuff will not let go of my skin.

 

Wet - this was all sassafrass and the nutmeg.

 

Dry it was all sassafrass with some crusty licorice and what I guess was the poppy trying to break through.

 

This gave me a headache and made my mood horrid. I have not had this strong of a reaction to a scent in a long time.

[blackfelicula]

In the bottle: This is almost foody: I smell the nutmeg and sassafras primarily. It almost reminds me of a “pumpkin pie” spiced candle.

 

Wet: It thrums, amping the spiced candle feel.

 

Drying down: Now it is deepening and darkening. Experiencing it drying down is like watching the tail end of a sunset: rich red-oranges fade into purples and blues. It’s still on the foody side, but it’s rich, languorous, and drugged.

 

Dry: It is as if the sassafras is what gives this scent its definition, its outline. The rest rounds it out. I hope it doesn’t go soapy on me. It looses a lot of its strength as it dries, at least as far as my nose can tell.

 

Later: It’s fainter, but it’s still sweet and pleasantly druggy. It hasn’t gone soapy. I like it overall.

[margravine]

This is a really interesting scent. Wet it smelled like some sort of medicinal sasparilla concoction, but in a very nice way. It dries down to something dryer and more nutmeggy. I really love that it's spicy without being sweet. Wearing it feels like being in an old apothecary's shop.

[forspecial_plate]

First impression:

 

 

...smells exactly like sassafrass bark. But I can tell there's a little bit more in the background. As it warms up the sassafrass backs off considerably, letting the other elements come forward. The root-beer feel from the sassafrass never disappears entirely, giving a foody feel to this. This is a good thing. Can't really pick out the nutmeg, but I think I'm getting the poppy and myrrh. It ends up smelling herbal, sweet, and smokey. Kind of an unusual combination but it works! I like it enough to hold onto the imp and use it again.

 

edited to fix bizarre double post

Edited September 16, 2006 by Forspecial Plate

[vacpl]

Oh I wanted to love this. It's mostly gorgeous, and stays the same for me in bottle, wet or dry. It's a bookshop-type scent to me. It reminds me of a privately owned one that carries everything from new bestsellers to old first-editions. Lovely scent.

 

But I just can't stand something in it! I had similar issues with Dance of Death, so I'm guessing it's the myrrh. It's not usually a problem for me, but in Laudanum it's just too dusty.

 

Off to the swap pile with this one.

[steffanina]

Laudanum-

 

In Bottle: The nutmeg is strong and sharp. Almost peppery. There's a bit of sweetness too.

 

Wet: !!! Are we sure there's no benzoin in this?? There's a huge medicinal smell here.

 

Dry: That huge medicinal smell goes away, but what's left doesn't really work for me. Oh, well. It was intriguing in the bottle.

 

Overall: Not for me.

[Mollywogger]

Upon application, the nutmeg hits first, followed in fast succession by the myrrh. For the first half hour or so, I smelled like spicy, sweet smoke. It's settled down now (three hours later) and just smells warm, dark, and spicy.

 

And warm, dark, and spicy pretty much describes everything that I love, so I'm looking forward to wearing this as much as I can.

[UploadedLobster]

I am in sweet sweet love with this oil now.

 

It's not a morpher--what you get is what you get, pretty much, until it's gone. And that takes a while. Like most resinous blends, Laudanum sticks around for hours.

 

I'm going to forego the usual wet-dry-dryer breakdown in favor of a three-word description that describes the whole affair from bottle to hours later:

 

CHINESE APOTHECARY SHOP.

 

That's it right there. This IS the smell of a Chinese apothecary shop, with its innumerable jars of dried medicinal plants and sweet resins, and its incense and dust. It perfectly duplicates the entire olfactory experience of walking into such a shop. And if you like that sort of thing, which I do, Laudanum is heaven in a bottle. It's so evocative, it's almost hallucinatory. Beautiful.

 

Lobster Rating

Better than: reincarnating as a housecat

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is loaded with sassafras and myrrh...

once applied....holy amped up sassafras....

this is bitter and heady...the nutmeg comes out after awhile to play....

interesting indeed...why oh why does this smell remind me of my

dad's tacklebox tho? ... not a bad thing at all...just plays with

my head....i will hold onto this lil' imp and use it for layering ....

[BrightRedScream]

When I sniffed this in the imp I thought I was going to fall over and die.

No, I'm not kidding.

It appears that all the imps I'm selecting tonight are scary..

Basically this in the imp reminds me of a giant spice cabinet where all the smells are smooshing together and becoming a giant overpowering blend of just...strong smellness.

 

Do I dare put it on?

Oh yes self, you dare.

 

Oh gods..no no no no.

This is just way too heady, and intense and well...spicey for me.

It smells like black pepper and sassafras...

I can't even stand smelling it!

 

After about 15 minutes - it turned into a root beer type smell...

Yes, just like root beer, I've spilled root beer on myself - and this is what it smelled like.

I do not want to smell like root beer.

Edited November 19, 2006 by BrightRedScream

[juniperus]

Bottle: the nutmeg and sassafras are at the fore, with a hint of something as yet undiscernible behind.

Wet: sweet and something here is headachy...the spice is like that of freshly ground nutmeg, not that store stuff that has sat around under the florescents getting weaker daily.

Dry: almost...peppery. sweet and spice and the myrrh..teetering on the edge of sweet, for me, and that headachy quality lurking in the shadows. How appropriate, methinks.

Later: even more peppery and, uh, papery, even. This leaves with the impression of aged and fading..something. Paper labels on long-since-faded bottles of powders and miracle cures on old apothecary shelves.

[Ciircee]

I got this as a frimp from the Lab (thank you, Labbies! *blows kiss*) and once I sniffed it I had to look it up and see the description. Because 'aguished desire' is pretty much what it evoked in me. Like I was yearning towards some hopeless end.

 

I LOVED it. It is very strong and it does have a great throw and it lasts ages, too. It's all wood and spice and something floral-y sweet. And yes, rootbeer and anise (but without BEING anise, which hates me) and nutmeg. There's a warmth to it (probably the myrrh) and that sweetly, windblown floral that is poppies. It's a scent that makes me *ache* before it settles in--a perfect scent to write with.

[Voleuse]

This is smoke on first sniff, and something medicinally-sweet. Herbs mimicking plastic, if that makes sense. It smells woozy, a little delirious. Warm. Ashes and flowers, mixed. Compelling, but not intoxicating. I can't stop sniffing this.

[supremegoddessofall]

The sassafras is almost anise-like here, and it's definitely the predominant note. Nutmeg and black poppy are just underneath it. Basically this is like wearing a spicy root beer. Not so sure how well that's going to work as a perfume for me.

[cranberry]

In the imp: mainly sassafras, spice and myrrh

 

On the skin: mmm. Sassafras. Spice. A touch of bitterness. The spice smells hot, like there could a touch of pepper in here with the nutmeg. The sassafras makes me think of gourmet root beer and makes this scent almost edible.

 

As it wears, this scent really become dry and dusty. Later, it become quite dark and sultry. It lasts a while too.