Dragon's Tears

[Bluestocking]

Bittersweet yet powerful: salty aquatic notes and bursting with dragon's blood.

In the imp: Aquatic floral, with some definite salt and a hint of dragon's blood. It's not as powerfully dark-blue-green-aquatic as The Sea Foams Blood, or as flowery, but the salt isn't dominant either. Instead, the combination just smells very clean and a bit bracing, like a sea breeze.
On, wet: Dragon's blood at first, all red cherries and lilacs, but the aquatic note warms up quickly and balances out the sweeter resin—just enough salt to give it some tang, but not enough for me to sniff and think "Hmm, salty." It's still very clean and surprisingly light, considering that this is a Dragon's Blood aquatic. I don't get any bitterness here.
On, dry: Mostly the aquatic now, a bit of salt and mineral tanginess, with a faint aura of the lilac-y Dragon's Blood. It's still light and clean, very fresh but not soapy.
Later: It's extremely faint, but otherwise unchanged: salt spray, minerals, fresh air and lilacs.
Overall: I wondered how this one would compare to The Sea Foams Blood, given that they're very similar combinations (Dragon's Blood plus aquatic notes). They're similar, with the salt and minerals of the aquatics balancing the sweet Dragon's Blood, but they're definitely not identical—Dragon's Tears is lighter for me, not as heavy or dark or potent. In fact, Dragon's Tears is a very subtle and quiet fragrance on me, the kind where you sort of have to have your nose buried in my cleavage to notice it. (Not that this is necessarily a bad thing… ) As I said, it's a very clean, cool scent, a good choice for hot, humid weather, and I'd recommend it if you just found The Seam Foams Blood to be too much—too much floral, too much darkness, too much throw, whatever. This is the same thing, but softer. Edited March 5, 2009 by Bluestocking

[femmefatale]

I don't really like dragon's blood, but I love this. It reminds me of a non-coconut sunscreen I used mixed with salt air, so it definitely reminds me of summer. Now I want to go to the beach!

[angelicruin]

It's an aquatic dragon's blood wet on the skin...as it dries, I do detect a bit of floral mixing with the dragon's blood.

 

 

[Tess]

In the bottle - The usual florals that make up the lab's dragon's blood added to a very strong salt wiff. If I weren't a dedicated scent reviewer, I would completely pass this up.

 

Wet - Lilac and lily, as per usual, with no brine in sight.

 

Drying - There really is no salt here for me. This is like Dragon's Blood, only a bit softer on the nose. As if the salt isn't there but the oil is holding back the full flower punch of the lab's dragon's blood bouquet. Can't say I'm angry about that. The lilac and lily, while strong, aren't intense to the point of headache. At least not yet.

 

Dry (2 hours) - Wow, the salt has made this smell more like dragon's blood than any other BPAL I think I've tried! It still has quite a bit of lilac to it, but I can actually smell dragon's blood! The salt picked up a nice tang to it, but I don't like the combination of the scents.

 

Overall - Nope, not for me. I need to find a good "salt" scent someday, though.

[milo]

This is salty DBR to me. Not a fan of aquatics or DBR, so this one is off to swaps.

[amybee]

in the bottle - aquatic, tangy, and sweet. i don't know what dragon's blood smells like.

 

after 30 minute drydown - lily. sharp lily. going a bit soapy. the saltwater comes through beautifully.

 

after a few hours - this one has crazy staying power. it's mostly lily now, a bit of the saltwater remains. it is delicious. i want to lick my wrists. love the salty with sharp floral.

[sarajane]

Oooh, very pretty. A non-manly aquatic with a beautiful dragon's blood floral foreground.

[cupcakegernade]

IN IMP: It does smell of a salty aquatic and dragons blood. Bittersweet is defenantly the right word to discribe it.

 

WET: It gets real salty, but not like table salt, like sea salt. And at the same time it stays sweet. Some how it smells wierd to me, but I am not sure why.

 

DRYDOWN: Now it has become a bit more sweet and wetery, but I still don't like how the dragon's blood is smelling on my skin.

 

OVERALL: I don't think dragon's blood is a sent that my skin likes, it just smells to wierd on me, plus it gives me a slight headache. Sigh, and I was hoping to like this one.

Edited August 19, 2009 by scopoliacarniolica

[skylarkza]

In the imp: Something strangely fruity and tangy and ever so slightly musky- I think this is dragon's blood?

 

Wet: Something a little like salt water is backing the fruitiness now. Just adding something to the background.

 

Dry: Salty and fruity, but gentle and subtle about it. Hmmm... its making me think of eating peaches at the beach.

 

A while later: Soft and almost fruity-floral clings gently to my skin. Something is reminding me of what it smells like after you have had a shower when you have gotten home from the beach. Light, delicate, beautiful.

[ralenth]

Bottle: Cobalt, aged ~3 years.

 

Wet: Salty floral. It reminds me of the belling florals in Danube.

 

Drydown: As it dries, DT becomes a little more aquatic. It's incredibly salty (seriously, I am salivating here).

 

Dry: The floral has come to the forefront. I don't get much dragon's blood, sadly.

 

Overall: Interesting, but I prefer Danube as an aquatic floral.

[devilot]

Dragon's Tears

In the Vial: Eek. Slightest hint of dragon's blood, but something that comes across as moldy to my nose. Shudder.

 

Wet: Thank goodness, the 'moldy' note has shifted into something somewhat aquatic, almost green in nature. A green floral. Very soapy.

 

Drydown: Strongly soapy floral.

 

Verdict: My nose burns. This really isn't for me.

[theseagrows]

i got this as a frimp, and i am only trying it to say i did, because dragon's blood and aquatics do not get along with my skin chemistry. this smells strongly of lilac to me too-i feel like i get a lilac type scent from dragon's blood a lot, for some reason? unless there is some added to this...with aquatics in the background. totally not me, but i'm glad i got to try it.

[pandorasmuse]

In the imp: Cherry cough drop-colored oil. I'm getting a lot of salt. It also smells a bit like fruit salad to me. I've never smelled dragon's blood before, so perhaps this is what my nose makes of that note.

 

Wet: It smells a bit like salty cough syrup.

 

Drydown: This reminds me of something from when I was a kid. I'm not sure what, though. It's hiding just around the corner of my memories.

 

Later: I don't like this one. It smells vaguely medicinal, and I don't like the lingering salty effect in the back of my nose.

[DeltaCat]

Berries. Raspberries. Like raspberry shower gel you buy at the grocery. Smells like raspberries, but not really. Does that make sense? On drydown there is more of a floral tone. Not too sure on this one.

[Venneh]

First of the Ars Draconis scents that I've ever tested, eager to see how this turns out. In the imp, I'm getting a salty sort of scent with resin. On my skin, it's pretty much a salty aquatic with dragon's blood; we'll see how this turns out. Ended up doing a second test of this, as I wasn't quite sure what to think of it, which ended up being a saltier scent, not so much of the aquatic, and nothing really remarkable, to be honest. Passing this one on.

Edited February 25, 2010 by Venneh

[grnwoodtree]

I get sweetness at first, almost fruity, like melon or something else...then it slowly morphs to a wet, salty sweet floral, and its not killing me by any means like florals normally do, it just is turning into a single note of floral now and I wish I was catching some of the blood in there.

[loubric]

OH WOW I was not expecting it to be red/pink when I put it on me!

Sweet, soft, warm and ho so lovely. Soapy and clean. I this so much. Little bit of sea abd salt mixed in too.

 

Overall a gorgeous scent.

[AnnieB]

In the bottle... Just as almost everyone else has said... lots of dragon's blood/jasmine-y heavy floral with a strange cherry cough-drop undernote...and salt

 

Wet on me sharply floral and a bulging roundness.. almost like a balloon filled with salt water ready to burst... add in some tropical floral jasmine, maybe stephanotis or something similar... sharp salty tang, almost like coppery blood smell.

 

Dries down into a synthetic ersatz jasmine on me unfortunately... I get a fair bit of sillage from this, and it's not an unpleasant scent, I like it quite a bit.. I have gotten 2 imps of it recently, so I'll keep and use them but don't think I'll be buying a big bottle.

 

Little funny aside... Husbandguy and I use a particular house brand of sex oil from the local adult toy shop. This smells a LOT like it.. enough so that Husbandguy *erm* 'reacted' quite notably when he walked in the door and smelled it! Pavlov, anyone?

[moon_lemming]

For some reason I'm not really drawn to the Lab's dragon's blood blends. I do love Dragon's Milk -- it's one of the first BPALs I hunted down a used bottle of -- but I've never really felt compelled to try the rest of them.

 

Dragon's Tears doesn't really persuade me to seek out the others, to be honest -- it has the standard dragon's blood scent, but almost all I can smell is jasmine. It might be something similar to jasmine, and not really jasmine, but that's what it smells like to me.

 

Whatever flower it is, it fades a little as it dries. Actually, almost all of the scent fades once it's dry. I can find the dragon's blood next to my skin but it's not very strong. I never smell anything "salty" or aquatic (which is a blessing in disguise, I guess: I can't really do aquatics).

[reconditarmonia]

Starts out very salty, and dries down, rather weakly, to what I imagine is dragon's blood*. Not for me; I'll probably trade or give away my imp to someone who can appreciate it.

 

*I've never smelled it before, couldn't describe it well (though having been told it's like lilac, I can sorta imagine that), and probably couldn't identify it. It won't put me off a blend, but I won't leap for it.

Edited June 15, 2010 by reconditarmonia

[sarielswish]

Wet on my skin, this reminds me somewhat of Calico Jack with dragon's blood added, I think. Not sure how this will react to my body chemistry, but it could be promising. Very tangy, though.

 

10-15 minute drydown - Weird. This smells almost like burnt hair.

 

20 minute drydown - Ok, no more burnt hair smell. Thank god. LOL. Now it's slightly salty dragon's blood, like good skin musk. Nice.

 

1 hour drydown - This almost smells like there's myrrh in it, but I don't see where there would be any by the notes. I'm not complaining, though. It's very nice.

[meaganola]

I'm headed through a dragon's blood phase, so I dug this one out of my stash. If straight-up DB is a 10 on the strength scale, the DB in this one is turned down to about a 2, and then we have melons set at about 4. Salt? Nope. Very much not my sort of thing at the moment, although I can see myself wanting something like this for a family gathering (although those are few and very far between). Back to the stash, because it's good enough to keep this on hand (plus it's mixed with perfumers' alcohol in a sprayer, so it's not exactly the sort of thing that I would pass on to someone in the BPAL world anyway), but future imps that come my way will go into the swaps bag.

[SophieCedar]

Wet: wrist away from nose, I smell dragon's blood. Upclose, salty aquatic tinged with lilac and dragon's blood.

Drydown: smells mostly of salty lilac on me! Not that it's a bad thing..just that the aquatic note distorted the dragon's blood so it smells more lilac-y.

[Lady_Fire]

To me, this smells exactly like cheap, bathroom air freshner to me. I could never walk around smelling like this. I do smell salty notes, but I just cant get past the air freshner smell. I might use it on an oil warmer in my bathroom....

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Dragon's blood resin at its most floral and a touch of salt water.

 

Wet on me - As in bottle, but somehow cleaner

 

Dry on me - The clean, dry scent of salt water comes to the fore; basically I smell like the sea

 

Overall - I love the smell of the sea, just not on me