Othello

[arabella]

Arabian musk with two roses and a bevy of Middle Eastern and Indian spices.

First Impression: Rosy musk.

Dries down to: A disciplined rose - absolutely stunning. And, it has great throw.

Additional Comments: I'm totally in awe of this one - finally, a magnificent rose I can wear. I'd be interested to know what spices are in this - I can't identify any of them but they contribute beautifully to this masterpiece. I'm so happy I've finally found a rose that loves me and I can stop searching.

Lasted: Overnight and then some (and scents usually don't last long on me at all).

Rating: 5/5 Edited February 25, 2006 by Shollin

[poisonapple]

This is one of those glourious frimps I got gifted with on my first purchace. And thank you Labbies!!

 

In the vial- very perfumey. But not in a bad way. It smelled like one of those high end perfumes you buy in specity stores. I think this is a bit on the femme side of masculine scents.

 

Wet- wow this has a bit of a twang to it. I can't pick out notes yet, but the rose is there with something spicey mixed in. A bit heady, but for this oil that works.

 

Dry- Wifty rose and something sweety. I have seen this described here as purple but I get more of a cream feel from it. The color not the scent. With just a hint of blush.

 

I will be buying a 5 ml of this with my next order. This is just lovely. But I am having a hard time convencing the DH to try it. I think it would smell great on him too.

[donsixgun]

On me, this was nothing but rose. Spicy rose.

[pale]

In bottle: Roses, with... something underneath. Very nice.

 

On me: slowly this morphs into something like roses with a layer of Dior's Poision underneath, but much sweeter, fresher, and lighter. Definitely something i can wear as a girlie perfume! One of the best two bpal roses for me so far, the other being Blood Rose.

[Voleuse]

On first application, this is a strong and sweet rose. As it dries, however, it becomes a little more complex. The rose is still predominant, but there's spice overlaying it, and faint musk. It ends up being warmer than most rose scents, like sunlight filtered throughs silk. Gorgeous, though it's also fainter on me than other rose scents.

[storme]

In the imp: mmm, rose and gentle spices. the musk is sharp, but isn't very strong.

 

On me, wet: musky rose, citrus and cardamom. The citrus - hmm, is that lemongrass? - is making this smell a bit like an air-freshener rather than something I would want to wear. Clean-yet-musky.

 

On me, dry: the citrus calms down a fair amount - this is now a rose scent with gentle musk and cardamom and faint citrus in the background. I can't imagine Othello would wear this scent, since it seems a bit too girly for him, but perhaps I am underestimating his metrosexuality. This fades fast on me, too.

 

Verdict: Nothing wrong with this, but it's going on the swap pile. It's a warm, sweet rose, but I already have rose scents I like more.

[sarahj]

Othello

 

received in a swap

 

in vial: spices with a faint hint of rose

 

wet: the rose becomes more prominent

 

dry: soft, spicy rose

 

verdict: this is nice, but there are other rose scents that I prefer, so I won't be buying a big bottle

[themerrybaker]

If this is Enraged Cuckold-Man, bring it on. Othello is a balanced rose scent that keeps the manly musk under control. No old-lady rose soap here. I’ve gone from testing to slathering and really enjoy this one.

[PixieSkull]

Imp: Very clean. Baby wipes, cotton, a slightly sweet floral.

Wet: I don't know what in this blend turns into a cotton bloom scent. I can clearly smell the roses at first with something resiny behind, I'm assuming that's the arabian musk. It's quite nice at this point.

Dry: There are rose greens, It takes quite a while for the spices to build up and mature. The scent is somewhat dry and spicy but clean at the same time.

 

Category: Rose/Cotton/Clean

Rating: 3.5/5; Don't know how this works, but it does

Overall: This scent is very odd. I got it as a frimp from the lab so I had to try it. I had no idea what any of the notes were when I made my notes. I thought Othello was going to a light floral scent but I was completely wrong about the notes. The spices are slight until the end but maintain the clean feeling from this blend. Quite odd.

[Jettcat]

In the bottle: oh that's lovely, this is supposed to be a masculine scent? I'd classify it as a gender neutral scent. I'm getting a soft musk with a floral behind it.

 

Wet: The rose takes the lead initially, but the musk stands up and demands center stage. I'm not getting anything spicy tho.

 

Dry: The floral is getting sweeter, not sure about this one. I'll probably try it again before I make the swap decision.

 

1 hour later: Sadly my skin amped up the sweet floral and it's a bit much. I'll give one more try before giving up completely

[lysistrata]

This smells exactly like a Glade floral air freshener I used all the time in college. It was mainly rose and spice, very strong and heavy.

 

Unfortunately, when I sniff Othello this Glade spray scent is all I can smell. Evocative, certainly. But I can't wear it.

[desu]

In the imp: Spicy musk. Roses usually go to soap on me, so it'll be interesting to see what these two roses do.

 

On my skin: This one morphed quite a bit after application, but it eventually and predictably turned into soap in the end. :/

[Ryvre]

In the Imp: Sweet, soft roses with a bit of spiciness.

 

Wet: Rose and something else. Grass, maybe? I'm not sure where that's coming from.

 

Dry: Soft, spicy rose.

 

Overall: Very pretty, but not me.

Edited May 26, 2006 by Ryvre

[juniperus]

Bottle: roses and spice, subdued.

Wet: the musk is deepening beneath, broadening and warming. mmmmmusk.

Dry: spicy and musky with a hint of floral undertone - it's not feminine, it's dusky yummyness.

Later: mellow and warm, none of the notes stands alone - they are a fabulous compliment...I can't stop sniffing my wrist!

[theseagrows]

this smells EXACTLY like gaultier classique to me, without the strong alcohol component. whose notes are- Orange Flower, Bulgarian Rose, Italian Mandarin, Star Aniseed, Orchid, Iris, Ylang-Ylang, Indian Ginger, Soft Vanilla, Woody Amber.

 

this doesn't smell that rosy to me, but does smell like a spicy floral-oriental. i love gaultier classique, and therefore love othello! i dont find this to be that masculine either.

[jarvenpa]

Oh my.

 

Juniperus kindly gifted me with a bit of Othello. Given that I find Desdemona beautiful but too sad to wear (no, I'm not sure why, and yes, it is about the fragrance, not my Shakespearan knowledge) I was curious as to how I'd react to Othello.

 

Very unexpected. I think the only way to explain this one is that it smells in three or more dimensions--you know, like those Magic Eye pictures where if you cross your eyes or something suddenly there is depth and you are looking at--dolphins--where there was just a pattern before.

 

The various parts of this fragrance--something sweet, something spicey, and yes, definitely musk (I must really love musk, go figure) all come up fairly quickly and instead of blending (as most scents seem to) they stay in this odd but lovely whole, but in almost tangible layers. It's as if one scent is clinging close and the others, at the same time, are wafting slightly away from your body, in a few bands of fragrance.

 

Well, that's an experience!

 

And--yes, the fragrance is lovely. (I wouldn't have called it rosey, though--the roses just lurk somewhere and don't come out shouting "HEY! IT"S ME!!!").

 

Doomed, doomed piggy bank. Doomed grocery list. (*can she feed her family lots and lots of..mac and cheese? ponders darkly*)

[luna65]

Thanks to nursekins for the imp.

 

Imp: The spice appears a little more prevalent than the rose, there's a crisp dry sense to the scent, almost as if the roses have been dried and stored in patchouli leaves, or something similar.

 

Skin: The rose emerges in moments, and I get an overall powdery impression, which I'm guessing is the influence of the musk.

 

Drydown: What remains in time is a very smooth and subtle mix, I think my chemistry is amping the musk; which is fine, although I wish the rose would have remained a little stronger. But this is a lovely sophisticated type of scent, along the lines of a classic perfume minus the way in which many of those concoctions will become cloying in their evolution.

[edenssixthday]

Othello - Of all the traditionally masculine scents I’ve tried so far, Othello is by far my favorite. I’m not sure why this isn’t considered gender neutral. It’s so pretty and reminds me a lot of Fae in its muskiness and in the type of sweetness, although it’s not overwhelmingly sweet or cloying. It’s sophisticated, strong, and warm, while simultaneously being bright, sweet, and clear. I love it and I’ll be wearing this scent, although I’m positive my husband would smell abfab in it, too. This scent has a level of throw that is just right when it’s fresh on my skin, but it has below-average staying power, as after an hour, I can barely smell it even when I sniff my skin up close. I just can’t get over what a pretty scent this is – I should have been able to guess in advance since I tend to like most of the Illyria scents. And for the record, this layers beautifully with Gaueko!

[PilotKitten]

Oooh… dreamy! The roses and musks in this are just amazing! Of course, I think BPALs roses are amazing 99% of the time… lol, so take that for what it’s worth. This smells like it could easily be a unisex scent and I’ll probably be putting it in the pile for DH to try as well. At least it has a “manly” name so perhaps that will help with the transition here… at least that’s what I’ll keep telling myself.

[cranberry]

Once I looked at the notes of this imp, I was really excited to try it. In the imp and first applied, I smell mainly roses. After it’s been on a bit, it still remains strongly rose, a rich, deep rose, but becomes slightly powdery. Based on the powder I would think this was a dark or black musk, instead of arabian musk. I'm not getting any of the spices here. Overall impression, I like it but I'm not crazy about it. There's a few other rose scents that I adore so I'm not included to pursue this one further.

[midnight_aeval]

This is a masculine scent?? Maybe that explains why it only smells like rose soap on me. Blech. This wouldn't be something my husband would want to touch either. But, I'm biased in that I have pretty much every rose scent.. ever. They just don't do it for me!

[filigree_shadow]

I don't think this is masculine. I see what other reviewers mean about the fabric softener, though -- there's something crisp about this scent. It actually reminds me of a soap scent. It's not my favorite rose blend, but I like this better than some others.

[indicolite]

I found this VERY gentlemanly - the very picture of a gentleman (I have not yet tried any of the famed Dorian, Severin, Saint-Germain etc which are reputed as very gentlemanly scents.)

 

But on me after a while it goes rose, rose, rose with just a touch of spice.

 

Othello is very nice.

 

But I doubt he will get much wear with me.

[margravine]

This was very much a rose scent on me, but in a much warmer sense than many of the other BPAL roses. Unfortunately it was hateful on me and turned to pot pourri. I blame my chemistry for that because I love the smell of roses for the most part. I may have to try it out on my tester husband for scientific throughness' sake.

[Eros]

I've held off on trying this one due to rose notes usually giving me a raging headache. *But* the rest of the notes are love, and since it was a frimp from a wonderful forumite, I finally got the chance to sample

 

In the imp there's a juicy sweetness with the slightest hint of roses but they don't overwhelm and there's no instant throbbing at the temples.

On skin it becomes perfumy soap. There's also that dryer sheet thing that's been mentioned previously. However, within a few minutes the musk and spices start to appear and it's quite lovely. The roses remain enough in the background in this one, yay. Reminds me quite a bit of Spellbound, which is on my "bottles to buy" list. Spellbound being a touch more incensy, so I'll stick with it.

This isn't what I'd call a strictly masculine blend, more gender neutral, imo.

As I said above, lovely!