Plunder

[Lunasariel]

The scent of a pirate's bumboat, overflowing with stolen wares: tea leaf, cassia, cinnamon bark, clove, allspice, sandalwood, tobacco, peppercorn, and nutmeg.

In the imp: I was anticipating a SPICEBOMB! going off in a wooden cupboard, but instead, I get straight-up baked goods. Spice cookies, yeah, but cookies nonetheless. Or cake, maybe? Point is, flour, eggs, and milk were definitely involved in this at some point. It's warm, delicious, and exactly what I need on a frosty December day. If there's any sandalwood or tea down there, it's fairly well-buried.

Wet: Ah, there's the sandalwood. I still get cake/bread/cookies wafts from afar, but up close, it's much more pure spices, with cinnamon and/or cassia being especially prominent. The tea note takes a while to appear, but it eventually becomes a fairly major player. Ah, now I get the masala chai comparisons! On me, the spices and tea are a little more distinct from each other, if that makes sense, and they come to rest over an increasingly faint woody background.

Dry: The sandalwood comes to dominate. The spices, now aromatic rather than "spicy", and more omnidirectional than cooking/baking spices, provide an accent rather than being main players themselves. Now it's a soft, cuddly, woodsy scent - low throw, quite comforting. I still do miss the yummy baked goods stage, but this ain't half bad.

[achildoftime]

It's almost like gingerbread. There are a lot of spices at play, but they do smell baked and cakey. I'd attribute that to the nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove mostly. It dries to a more subtle scent, though. I get some of the tea leaf, but there's also something artificial and it kind of reminds me of modeling clay. I really wanted to enjoy this scent, but it just doesn't work for me.

[Juliamon]

This is quite spice-rack on me at first, heavy on the cinnamon/cassia and clove. Wet it's incredibly sharp and dry, and reminds me very strongly of my nana who loved to bake, her hugs smelled like this. Once it has an hour or so to dry and settle the sandalwood comes out, along with maybe (just maybe) a hint of tea, but the tea generally doesn't make itself known. It's just on the edge of chai, if only the tea would come out! But I'm not too disappointed since tea is unpredictable on me.

 

Medium throw at first, dies down after an hour but I think it's better that way, if it kept up the intensity any longer I'd start worrying I smelled like a spice rack fell on me rather than something I'm deliberately choosing to smell like. Very nice for occasional use.

[lady_pandora]

Woody cinnamon, a bit of peppercorn, and fresh rain! This is really nice. Fades to faintness pretty quickly on me, but might still end up as a hot-weather staple. The rainy note gives it a coolness that a lot of other spice blends don't have.

[fizzbangdangcharade]

Apparently my body really amps anything floral, because all I got out of this was generic flowers with an undercurrent of spiced rum (maybe a touch of dark sandalwood there.) Although the flowers were a little powdery (perfumed, if you will) and the spiced rum was a little too alcohol and not enough spice for my taste.

The throw was low, and while it lasted all day, it was barely there at the end. I’d hoped for something more, having read the reviews of others with better luck, but sadly this one didn’t work for me. (I passed the imp along to someone who it smelled more like a proper pirate's bounty on.)

[Ghost of a Rose]

Frimp from the lab, aged about 4 years

 

On me, it's cinnamon and wood, and stays that way. No tea, alas - a realistic black tea scent is my holy grail. But I was distracted while wearing this, and didn't try too hard to find the tea. Maybe I'll try it again in a couple of days, when I can pay more attention.

 

The cinnamon sweetens on drydown, which I like.

 

It's not really my thing (I love florals), but it is quite nice. I will enjoy it occasionally as a change from the usual. Thank you labbies!

 

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars