The Ifrit

[StrangeLove]

THE IFRIT
The taxi driver comes out of the shower, wet, with a towel wrapped around his midsection. He is not wearing his sunglasses, and in the dim room his eyes burn with scarlet flames.

Salim blinks back tears. "I wish you could see what I see," he says.

"I do not grant wishes," whispers the ifrit, dropping his towel and pushing Salim gently, but irresistibly, down onto the bed.

Desert sand, red musk, blackened ginger, dragon's blood resin, black pepper, cinnamon, and tobacco.

I cannot honestly place notes in this one. All I can say is-- its light and airy, perfectly suited to its name(Ifrits are sort of India's vampires or Middle Eastern fire spirits-- supposed to be boney and wispy). Reminds me a lot of Dreamland. A light floral with just enough grounding notes. One of my overall favourites at willcall, out of the whole sniffable lab!

Ifrit is a perfect summer or spring scent. I can detect perhaps white rose and something sweet on drydown. MAYBE lightest incense. Nothing spicy or resiny or strong, though. As I said before, definitely airy. Great throw, though.

Crossing my fingers for this one!

IMPORTANT UPDATE: SInce both this and Pepper have been released, I've noticed that my reviews of Ifrit and Pepper are in REVERSE!` Edited May 23, 2008 by StrangeLove
Moved from Unreleased. Please note that this first review is of a Will Call prototype. --Shollin

[Sushi-n-Sake]

In bottle: Heavy musk and dark spices. Very exotic-smelling.

Wet: Musk, sand, pepper, and tobacco. The musk smells darker, not like red musk.

Dry: It sweetens up a bit (becoming more characteristic of red musk), and I get more sand notes. The spices are still swirling around the scent.

Later: Soft powdery musk.

 

Verdict: I smelled this at Will-Call and had to order it right away. It's just the kind of spicy, exotic fragrance I love.

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is dragon's blood and black pepper....

 

once applied the red musk and cinnamon play beautifully with the resins and peppery notes...

 

ironically, this reminds me of an YSL perfume i used to have ages ago called champagne...

 

this is positively amazing ... the dragon's blood resin is the best ever!! a big bottle is what i need!!

[Lycanthrope]

Oh no.

 

I loved this wet and from my imp decant, it smelled dry, fiery, sweetly musky, with a tiny kick of spice (just enough it seemed to make me salivate). What is the drydown on me? Baby powder. I guess the scent's a little bit deceptive, akin to the character, but well... it's very sweetly powdery musk and not much else, which makes me sad. I was looking forwards to the aroma, because, well, Ifrit = gay cab driver = ftw.

 

Well, I'll keep trying this. I want it to work, I really do.

Edited May 10, 2008 by Lycanthrope

[lefthandmade]

There is no doubt that without the dragon's blood this one would be very dry.

It's sharp and loud and there is something here I can't put my finger on. It is a little blood-thirsty. I suspect the ginger is making me nauseous but I hope hope hope i'm wrong.

 

On and it has settled a little bit. It's sweet and musky and pepper-y but there is something in there i'm not familiar with.

 

I don't get red musk. I get musk but not the red one that I love so much. And i'm not getting cinnamon either, that I love equally much. And I get this twisted little note up there to the left. It doesn't make me nauseous now and I can let it sit and dry for a while.

 

Dry, and it has mellowed out a great deal. I can smell the dragon's blood, still with a weird little twist. No musk. No cinnamon. Man what a strange scent. Maybe it's only strange on me. I can't say if it's a huge hit or a huge miss at this point. It still has me on my toes, intrigued, curious and slightly disgusted. But wanting more.

[ifinena]

I was soooo looking forward to trying this!

First sniff in the imp it is something sharp and a bit fruity (?) although there is no fruit listed. Could this be the ginger?

Wet on my skin it's still sharp, intense, musky, slightly sweet and a tiny bit spicy.

As it dries I get more sweet musk. I love this stage!

Later on it has mellowed down quite a bit and now it's a soft, powdery, almost airy blend. I love it!

 

I put this on last night before going to bed and I was sure I was reminded of some other blend. Kept thinking of all the wrong ones (Anactoria, V.Q.) but this morning it hit me! Red Moon 2007! I no longer have my RM07 bottle to compare and confirm, but I really really think that Ifrit is very similar to RM07, which I liked a lot, but somehow never got to wear. The Ifrit is more mellow and much more wearable. I love it and will probably get a bottle. My only qualm is that it's not too summer-y (well at least not for our scorching hot summers) so I may save this for early Fall.

 

ETA: The more I test this, the more I like it. I have also decided, that it can also be worn during the not-heat-wave-days of Summer.

I've tracked down a bottle and will be trying to buy/swap for more, this is going to be hoarded, yeahhh!!

Edited June 6, 2008 by ifinena

[Aspidites]

The Ifrit was the scent that most intrigued me when I read the descriptions in the Gaiman updates, and thanks to a decant circle, I managed to get a sample...

 

In the imp: Sharp and spicy, mostly I smell ginger (I *like* ginger!)

 

On, wet: Ginger, with black pepper and a hint of cinnamon (this is very good, as normally I amp the heck out of cinnamon). A sweet note that is probably the red musk, but that my nose reads as peach. Despite the spices and peach, I don't think of this blend as particularly "foody".

 

On, dry: More of the same... The musk comes out a bit more, and everything's blending very nicely together to create an exotic sensual scent. I don't think I ever picked out the dragon's blood or the tobacco, and I really have no clue about the "desert sand" (I'm jealous of those whose noses can pick up on these notes!)

 

Throw: I hadn't thought it was particularly strong, but I walked out in the main office area wearing this, and a co-worker asked what smelled so good!

 

Verdict: I REALLY like this! I've used up half the imp already (after about 5 days). More complex than my other favorite ginger scent (Shub) - I'm definitely including a bottle of Ifrit in my next order!

[windbourne]

Mmm. This scent, on me, is dust-dry and hot, cinnamon, ginger, pepper, and sand. So much sand, almost a simoom in a bottle. The muskiness comes out quite a bit at first, with the resin and tobacco lending it a warmer air, but it dries out -fast-, within five minutes, until it reaches a point of pure sandy cinnamon, then the pepper and ginger leap in. It's sneezy for a short time, in the way that I find pepper often is, but that fades quickly.

 

I tested this with Priala, my other favorite cinnamon blend, and it's much lighter, almost pale, and far less sweet and smoky. This would be a fantastic scent to wear either on a very hot day which you wanted to really feel in your bones, or on a very cold day when you wanted a reminder that warmth still existed.

 

It's got a pretty good wearlength, settling in without fading excessively for a couple of hours, and a nicely minimal throw, making it totally safe for days when I want to be the only one who knows that I'm wearing perfume.

 

Definite bottle. I love it.

[tereshkova2001]

If Priala is golden, this is red. It is warm and firey and bright. There's a hint of darkness, but mostly the bright spice/flame leaps out. This scent is what I hoped Red Phoenix would be.

[ravenfeathers]

in the bottle dragon's blood

wet on skin dragon's blood

dry on skin musk comes and elbow's dragon's blood out of the way, bringing ginger and tobacco along. there's something almost... amber-y here, something that brings hexennacht 08 to mind in the warmth of its underpinings. this is not a dry, spicy scent like i was expecting, it's moist and warm and dusky and sexy. dragon's blood is starting to bloom upward again now. i like the sweetness that the DB imparts, but it's really taking over this scent, which is a shame.

 

edit and just fifteen minutes later? musky powder with a little bit of a greasy feel. the spicies have all fled.

Edited May 27, 2008 by ravenfeathers

[MaeKitty]

This is absolutely gorgeous. I'm definitely going to need a bottle of this. The red musk is the predominant scent in this one for me, though it's really hard to pick out the individual notes. I can definitely smell the tobacco here and I just love it. What a perfectly red blend. I think it's the ginger and dragon's blood that are brining the sweetness and almost juicey feel to this scent. So well done. I will note that it did burn a bit when I put it on, due to the cinnamon.

[alicia_stardust]

It's not easy to quantify this fragrance in words. There is something about it that is familiar and comforting, yet also bold and regal. The cinnamon is not hard to pick out but it seems to really stay in the background. I really get a sense of the color yellow: hot, desert sand and air over a similarly-colored sky. Streaks of fire orange. A touch of red musk. Warmth. The sweetness of tobacco. Something that almost seems like an undercurrent of blooms.

 

This is a gorgeous unisex blend!!

[azhriaz]

In the vial: Rather sweet. With a hint of orange. Not citrusy at all, but it still reminds me of orange. Maybe that's the ginger. I was expecting my nose to be assaulted by cinnamon and black pepper but I can't detect either of those.

 

On skin: Less sweet. And very light! There is some cinnamon now but just barely. And it vanishes again quickly. The prominent note seems to be the desert sand. It's a very smooth and warm scent. Cleaner, softer and less masculine than I expected. I can't really pick out tobacco as such, there just seems to be a subtle incense in the background.

 

This is truly lovely. I'm pleasantly surprised that sand was the primary note.

 

ETA: Oh, and just in case anyone is wondering, the oil is yellow, not red. So I don't think there is much Dragon's Blood. I didn't notice any.

Edited May 31, 2008 by Azhriaz

[Hayet]

mmmmmMMMMMMmmmmmm.

 

Sexy evil baby powder. NOT at all what I was expecting, but I MUST score a bottle of it. It's faint but just the right combo of spicy (finally a cinnamon I can wear!) and gingery and airy and musky. And it has serious lasting power on my eats-perfume skin.

[blktauna]

Wet and in the imp this reminds me of Farenheit, only better.

 

Dry it's having baby powder (blech) moments but the spiciness seems to be winning.

 

medium to strong throw

 

It fades pretty quickly to a dusty Dragon's Blood still fighting the baby powder.

 

I think its for the scent locket.

[edenssixthday]

The Ifrit – Before I opened this, I thought about the Ifrit and what I think he would smell like. Then I opened my little decant of this scent, and was instantly stunned because it smelled exactly like I imagined – dry, warm, spicy and seriously hot and sexy. The notes all blend together in absolutely perfect harmony, and the ones that dominate by only the slightest bit from time to time are the dragon’s blood and desert sand. It’s a truly gorgeous scent that I am going to wear, but which I find incredibly masculine, as well. It’s a really great fragrance and another one that makes me cry over the fact that my husband can’t wear fragrances.

[euterpe414]

The Ifrit really sticks around on my skin. I tested some yesterday and when I woke up this morning I still could smell it! This is rare for me since my skin eats most oils in a matter of hours. That being said, this is a very musk-centric scent on me. I can hardly detect the dragon's blood, but instead get an almost powdery musk with slight hints of lovely cinnamon and ginger. I find this scent really evocative of the desert- the musk is very golden and warm (as an aside, this red musk does not smell like most other red musks do on me...I wonder if it's a different kind than Beth normally uses?), yet still managing to be dry, due to the spices, I think. I sometimes think I can smell the tobacco but when I try to detect it again it's gone. I wonder if after a bit of aging it will become more noticeable? Either way, it's still a magnificent scent. In short, this is a really sexy musk blend with a strong 'middle eastern' feel, and quite unisex imho. Well done!!

[grashopper8]

I can smell musk, dragon's blood, tobacco, and ginger. I can not detect cinnamon or pepper.

 

This is a glorious, resinous, distinctively BPAL, yum-yum-yo-yeah scent. It has a masculine feel to it, but it's also smooth and warm and welcoming, without the sharpness that I sometimes associate with classically male blends.

 

My overall impression is of a soft incense. It's lovely.

 

Dragon's Blood fans will love the sweetness of the resin to be complemented by musky tobacco and a hint of spicy ginger. A winner!

 

4.3 out of 5

[KaliVerra]

First, a big to StrangeModeGirl for the generous pick me up decant !

 

I FREAKIN' LUUUUUURVE The Ifrit... soooo bright orange/red feeling, juicy and ripe in the vial... I wanted to slather the whole damn imp on in one pop! (Patience, Kali grasshopper... you'll want this baby to last...)

 

About 5 min. in, Ifrit went subtly creamy and mellow... really rounding out to a full-bodied soft Dragon's Blood/resins(?)/creamy accord/and a little musky sumthin' sumthin' that blended everything up so well that I caught myself MOANING after a sniff

 

Surprisingly long weartime, too!

 

5/5

[samarablackcat]

Wet, the Ifrit smells warm and dry and just a little sweet. As it dries, I am taken to the top of a sand dune, the heat rising from the desert, burning my nose. So much heat, it dries the inside of my nose. Dry, it reminds me of shimmery images...not sure if there are really there. Warm, sultry winds surround me...loose clothing flowing in the direction of the wind; in the distance, an oasis, full of spices, calling me to enjoy its fruitfulness.

 

I really love the Gaiman scents. They evoke such vivid imagery. For me, this is a perfect scent to wear when the traditional rainy season arrives. Everything is so wet, damp and moldy...this is perfect to counteract the dreariness.

 

I keep forgetting there is Dragon's Blood in this blend. Normally, Dragon's Blood is too sweet for me. This is the second blend I am able to wear with Dragon's Blood, and for that I am thankful, as Dracaena draco, the tree from where the resin derived, is one of my favorites.

[iiinterstate]

LOVING this. I picked up a bottle with about an imps' worth in it, and I'm ready for an upgrade please. Makes my skin burn a bit when it goes on (this always happens with cinnamon though, and it wears away pretty quickly) but very worth the trouble.

 

The Ifrit has several notes that I normally shy away from: red musk, cinnamon, and ginger, but together they are behaving. The Dragon's Blood isn't too strong, and the tobacco is lovely as it always is.

 

Sand! This really does make me think of hot sand. Another strange and wonderful note that I adore. This gets almost creamy as it dries down completely. Oh man. Top 10 scents easy. I would wear this often and I'm SO glad its GC.

 

 

Full bottle soon. Might be placing an order today. Its that good.

Edited June 2, 2008 by iiinterstate

[kakiphony]

In the imp: This high, sweet and dry to my nose. I detect something akin to almond extract with cinnamon.

 

Wet on skin: The red musk hits the back of the palate first, and then there is an after-whiff of sweet, dry almonds and a high floral of some sort (I assume it's the dragon's blood, but its a much less grape syrup floral than DB usually evokes on me). It reminds me a bit of Scherherzade, but with more sweetness and less spice.

 

Early dry down (10 minutes): The dragon's blood is amping on me and I'm getting a much sweeter scent than many of the other reviews have reflected. I am not getting sand so much as I am some kind of small, sweet, gingery cakes. These are dry cakes, but they have a floral water infused, extra sweet icing on top.

 

Half hour mark: This is still quite sweet, but no longer reminds me of a cakes. It is definitely a morpher and one of the bpals that seems to interact with my skin in interesting ways. The top note on this is sweet dragon's blood. Usually, dragon's blood on me is grape Nehi, but this more like one of the "dry sodas" that whole foods sells (they have lavender and ginger), flavored with a bit of tart concord grapes. Under the sweet is a base of very dry ginger, heated up just a touch with cinnamon. The cinnamon is not of the red hot candy variety, but is deep and resinous, like cinnamon sticks that have been tucked away in a cupboard for years and years.

 

One hour: This scent had an unusually long dry down/morph phase. Finally, after a full hour, I am getting some of the sand/desert that others have mentioned. It is hot, dry and sweet all at the same time. It's also a fairly mild scent, without a lot of throw. I like it. But a bottle? We'll see how often I gravitate toward the imp...

[naeelah]

Ooh, this is lovely. It's a morpher, but subtly. I don't have detailed notes on it, but in short, it really reminds me of Red Moon '07, minus the citrus notes.

 

It starts out with a blast of "sand", dragon's blood, and red musk. The red musk here is the sweet, almost fruity kind. I don't get much of the prickliness that I can get from other red musk blends. As it dries, the spices emerge. The spices are subtle. I can tell that there's cinnamon and ginger, not as much the black pepper, but they all behave wonderfully. So does the tobacco, which usually amps up to "ashtray" for me. In fact, I never quite pick out the tobacco. It blends well.

 

As I said, it morphs. Sometimes it smells just like Red Moon, sometimes the dragon's blood is strongest, sometimes the spices are strongest, sometimes the sand is strongest... You mileage will most certainly vary, but I think that might give you an idea of the kinds of variations you can get from this scent.

 

In the end, I think the sand, musk, and dragon's blood are the heart of this scent. The other notes provide richness and character, but they never take over. It's wonderfully evocative of the desert. After a number of hours, it's a soft, warm, slightly powdery dragon's blood blend. Again, very similar to Red Moon.

 

It lasts, and it's deceptively strong. I put on the usual amount, and it turns out that usual=slathering, in this case. Use a light hand! It has taken about 6 hours to fade down. It's still noticeable within a close range, it just isn't creating the same cloud that it was several hours ago.

 

Try it if you like: Red Moon, Wrath, Aries, War...

[zankoku_zen]

Oh man, this started out as powdery sandalwood and has dried to a slightly musky (the dragon's blood resin) spicy kind of blend. It's not as aggressive as War, and it has a 'drier' and 'sandier' aspect to it.

 

Interesting, but not my kind of blend. I'm gonna swap it away to someone that will love it more.

[scarletgenesis]

I was incredibly wary of trying the Ifrit, because it contains the dreaded red musk (cue menacing music)....but I love most of the other notes so it at least deserved a try.

 

Thankfully, the red musk pretty much behaves itself. I get mostly a nice incense blend, with the dragon's blood adding a resiny sweetness. The cinnamon also comes out as an individual note.

 

I agree with previous posters that this would work very well as a hot-weather blend. I will not need a bottle of this, because I have other incense blends I like even more, but this is quite nice.