Wings of Azrael

[populuxa]

Azrael is the Angel of Death, marked as the last being to die in the Apocalypse. Though a harbinger of doom, his duties are an act of mercy: he curtails human life before world-weariness and despair destroys our spirits. Warm myrrh swirled with a bittersweet blend of violet, Lily of the Valley, juniper, cypess and cajeput.

Surprising! Violet usually goes rotten on me, but it's actually pretty subdued here. The juniper and cyprus really make this blend sing. The myrrh keeps it from being too bitey, but it is still a pretty sharp, gutsy blend. A little headache-y still, due to the violet but I can see someone else totally loving this one.

[Eunice]

This smells just like those violet pastilles. Everything in this blends so well with the violets for me. I simply love this!

[BlueStarGirl]

I get a very myrrh-y scent in the bottle and on my skin. Fortunately the myrrh mellows with the florals to sort of a musty sweet scent that lasted for quite awhile. It's very nostalgic for me and I think I'll keep the imp around for that but it's definitely not my every day fragrance.

[jarvenpa]

Wings of Azrael was a gift, and I am so clueless I didn't even know which category of oils it belonged in ("hmmm, Azrael...an angel, but which one??") (it is rather like the query of my vet "do you think this rescued doggie is a shepherd?" to which the answer was "my dear, you now have a pitbull")

 

So, with no preconceptions and a blithe heart I smeared some on my wrists. First sniff: dill pickles.

 

Well, that's interesting. Must be herbs in the blend, I thought.

 

And then a nice low toned (as in music, a rumbling low tone) medium brown scent, shot with glitters of gold.

 

This is also nice, and slightly familiar, though I am, as usual, lost as I search my memory for where I smelled this before.

 

And then a deepening of spiced flowers, bringing to mind pale hyacinths and rainy, deserted gardens.

 

And a lingering, fading sweetness.

 

And intriguing fragrance. When I searched to discover where these wings belong, and what the scent notes really were, it was (as with my dear pitbull) all "aha! that explains a lot!"

And although I am very fond of violets (one of my favorite flowers) once again I fail to recognize them in a perfume. The myrrh is surely my brown/gold glittering scent; the lilies of the valley perhaps the poignant sweetness. And maybe my nose smells juniper as dill???

 

Yes, it could be a gently comforting scent indeed.

[steffanina]

Wings of Azrael-

 

In Bottle: Er...strong scents. Er...yes. That's all I can say about it. I can't pick anything out; it's just strong and masculine and eye-opening.

 

Wet: This is hard to sift out. Okay, let's try. There's bright citrus, and something darkly floral. A little soapy? I think the violet might be coming out, and I like that.

 

Dry: Starting to smell nice and woody, but not woodsy, or pine-like, no. Just...mellow and wood-like, and no longer soapy. The dry-down as this progresses is soft and powdery but has a masculine smell to me for quite some time. I don't dislike it but it might not be one I come back to often.

 

Overall: Okay. Likeable but not a frequent flier.

[Alchemy21599]

I've been wanting to try this blend and I was thrilled to receive it as a frimp from The Lab

 

In the vial: strong herbal, slightly medicinal smell.

 

Wet: a very complex blend; dark, herbal and masculine

 

Dry: Too masculine for me to wear as perfume, but this blend would be fabulous on the right person.

[buzz23666]

wet - pale violet and juniper

 

dry - very pale violet that is slightly wet. The juniper and cypress take the lead here and don't leave much room for the flower!

 

Bah - I wanted to like this one.

[azhure]

In the vial: Hmm. Nondescript floral. I'm not all that good at picking out floral notes.

 

Wet: I get the bitter scents coming out first. Not too sure about this one.

 

Drydown: Once dry, this scent is lovely. The violet and lily remain, but tempered by the other notes to become a very muted, almost dusty scent

[nightbird]

this went on smelling very floral, but after a little while it became something deep and somewhat musky. it's warm and pretty. it's also a little green... it reminds me of the forest (probably the juniper and cypress).

[juniperus]

Bottle: cypress and lily, primarily, with hints of the juniper wafting in and out

Wet: same, with more juniper in operation

Dry: the cypress is heavier, I worry that it's beginning its bid for dominance. I can barely detect the lily, the juniper and violet are stomped flat.

Later: uber-cypress. it's amped beyond all recognition. aw, nuts.

[supremegoddessofall]

I have no idea what myrrh smells like, and I have no idea what cajeput is.

 

On me, it smells fairly musky. I get a hint of the evergreeny stuff (juniper, cypress), and I can smell the violet, but not so much the Lily of the Valley. It smells dark and pretty. This is a good sex scent. I like it.

 

Score: 4 out of 5

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

i get the violets and the menthol/eucalyptus of the cajeput, and i think i can smell/feel the juniper and cypress in there somewhere.

 

but this turns into something entirely too medicinal for me... like a salve my great great great gramma might have used for something

(ugh, have you ever actually smelled mustard plaster? if you haven't, don't)

 

this isn't bad by any means, it just isn't me.

[maijasu]

Mmmm, sexy! I smell fresh, sweet flowers and something deep, resinous, and slightly spicy. They blend perfectly into something very wearable, even for a non-floral-lover like me. I may even need a bottle!

 

[Luhtarian]

I've got a lot of smokey wood. I can't even smell the violet. It's a pretty nice, complex resin blend, but I can't imagine wearing it too often.

[forspecial_plate]

Hmmm...this has potential with the myrrh and woods. Violets pretty much ruin everything for me, though, and this is no exception. The cajeput supposedly comes from a tree and might have qualities of tea tree, clove, and/or camphor....and I think it's adding to the overall piercing quality of the oil. And as usual the violets turn soapy. Wings of Azrael is not going to work for me.

[sofaking6]

Yum! Thanks to the Lab for this frimp which I'm sure I would never have tried on my own.

 

In the imp this is an airy but strong floral.

 

On wet, it's still floral, lots of lily but also very fresh.

 

I am starting to get close to admitting I really like the lab's juniper.

 

Dry, it's all juniper and violet for me. The florals are subdued by the woodsy mint but all told it's a gorgeous balance. I get whiffs of one, then the other. Definitely a keeper and possibly a big bottle.

 

And also....this is the first BPAL that my cats have shown an active liking for.

[mmmitchell]

Oh my. This is a beautiful scent.

 

This starts out in the vial as "spicy florals". Now, I'm not normally a big floral fan, but I am a big spice fan, so on it goes....

 

......and this quickly becomes warm, glowing loveliness. Softly sweet, a bit spicy, very comforting. This is my favorite (so far.... ) of the Lab's violet blends.

 

I don't get (or am unable to pick out, more likely) the individual notes of juniper, cypress or lily of the valley, and I'm woefully ignorant of what the last note listed in this blend might be. For me, the stars of this blend are the myrrh and the violets, and it's very nice indeed. I'm sure the other notes make this scent the complex bit of yumminess that it is, without having to hog the spotlight.

 

I can see myself getting a Big Bottle of this. Will certainly enjoy my imp in the meantime. The only problem I had with it is it doesn't seem to have much staying power.....I may try crafting my imp into a little perfume spray, and see how that works for me.

[roxyhead]

It's all incensey on me, I guess it's the myrrh, think I might be coming down with a cold so maybe that's why I'm having a hard time picking other stuff out, but I can't smell much in the way of florals, which would have caused me to describe it as more "perfumey" than "incensey". But incensey is good.

[readiness]

This is my first review!

 

Wet: I thought the lily of the valley was too over powering but I'm new at this. So I was a little scared about trying it. But a few minutes later I revisited the imp and it was delicious smelling - very calming for me

 

On: initially very nice I really liked the smell. Unfortunately within 15 minutes it turned kinda baby-poweredy on me

 

final thoughts - I want to try this in a diffuser but it seems my skin doesn't like it. *whines* I really like the scent - just not on me

Edited February 15, 2007 by readiness

[Extispex]

I'm a whore for cypress and juniper notes and I love myrrh, so I wanted to love this. But I'm still undecided.

 

In the bottle, I get strong floral with just a hint of cypress bite. On my skin, something, somewhere, goes soapy. I'm suspecting the Lily as the culprit.

 

Upon dry-down, goes very soft. Myrrh and floral with the cypress fading into the background. Its pretty, with a whiff of mystery and dolor - it suits its name.

 

Hmmm... still deciding (sniff sniff). I like it, I think, but its not destined to be a love affair.

[filigree_shadow]

OK, I admit it. When this oil is wet, I don't like it. Too much juniper and cypress. It smells slightly astrigent/medicinal to me -- that could be from the cajeput. I have no idea if this will make sense to anyone, but it smells like it's an insect buzzing. Bzzt. Bzzt. It's the perfume equivalent of a monotonous annoying whine in your ear.

 

However, when it's dry, it's pretty. That buzzing characteristic goes away entirely, and about half an hour into wear, I really start to like it. It smells like sweet myrrh with just a little bit of a floral background, and the cypress makes it smell dry. It's soft, kind of earthy (not like dirt, but like a natural scent), and sweet.

 

I've discovered that if I don't like an oil's wet stage, I never wear it, no matter how much I like it when it's dry. So I'm putting this one into the swap pile, but I'm hesitating about it because it sure is tempting to keep it.

[destructivedelight]

In the vial: Didn't like the scent--too woodsy and medicinal. I was disappointed to not be able to detect much violet

 

On: The violet and lily begin to come out, gradually overtaking the myrrh. On my skin, the voilet gains strength as it dries. Within 30 minutes, I am left with a subtle violet twinged with a hint of darkness.

 

Love this one. I think it will become one of my staples.

[naeelah]

Another freebie. At first I smell mostly the myrrh, which is sweetened by the violet. As it dries it's softened with the lily, juniper, and cypress (what the heck is cajeput?), adding some levity and crispness to the rich, smoky myrrh. In the end, it's a soft, resinous effect, that fades very quickly on me. Very nice, but not something I'll buy. I'm glad it was put in my order, though, because more and more I'm learning that I like the blends that feature resins and incense.

 

I'm keeping it to see how I like it in the future.

[eternalargus]

I was a bit put off at first by the description, as florals tend to go sickly sweet on me, but my skin was kind enough to amp up the myrrh and herbal notes and it came out beautifully, albeit a bit masculine. It's smells Very nice on my SO, and I might wear it on occasion when I want to feel impressive.

[luna65]

Thanks to the Lab for the frimp.

 

Imp: All the topnotes seem immediately present in the vial, very green and astringent.

 

Skin: The myrrh is a very deep and true heartnote, it comes to the fore very quickly and all the other notes seem to evolve around it.

 

Drydown: This ends up as an interesting blend between the myrrh and the floral elements. I wouldn't have expected the combination to work on me, but it's an intriguing two different kinds of sweetness. I can see myself wearing this when I want to project a specific kind of sophistication.