Set v3

[twilighteyes]

Unreleased prototype, no scent description given.

 

This version is very different from the previous version that I was lucky enough to get an imp of.

 

In Egyptian mythology, Set was the god of the desert and necessary chaos.

 

I am getting vetiver, red musk, myrrh, tobacco, black orchid, maybe some fruit gums??

 

After the intial vetiver blast retreats from my skin, I am left with a dark fruity floral.

[edenssixthday]

Set v3 - This scent is absolutely amazing on my skin. It's loaded with heavy, sweet, juicy red musk followed closely by florals. I can't pin down the floral note. At times it smells like lilac or wisteria...but it's not. I think there may be a bit of sandalwood and myrrh in the scent, and other dark, resinous notes...perhaps a drop or two of vetiver and maybe a hint of incense? So hard to tell what the various notes are, but it's predominantly a heavy, red musk and floral scent on me. It lasts for a very long time and the throw is quite strong -- this is one to definitely wear in moderation. I love it and will cherish my bottle!

[alicia_stardust]

This is a deep, heady blend. It is dry and red and warm and reminds me of Malkuth as well as some of the lower Chakras blends (5, 6, and 7). I get a smooth red musk and florals, and possibly some patchouli and resins. It really is lovely and it's going to age so well.

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the bottle, it's blood and red musk. Initially sniffing the bottle reminds me of The Blood Garden.

 

On the skin, red musk, a very mild vetiver, patchouli, and floral. Stays pretty true on my skin from wet to dry down.

[crebbsgirl]

I'm getting red musk and saffron here, very reminiscent of Scherezade. Definitely an exotic feel to this blend along those same lines. This is pretty heady when first applied, there seems to be an initial "blast" of red musk. As it dries, it smooths out wonderfully. This is really beautiful, and I think it's going to age like whoa!

[zankoku_zen]

Set reminds me to Ifrit - it's this sandy, gritty, HOT blend. Sandstone, sand, and glaring light. It's definitely got some vetiver, red musk, my guess some saffron and I am almost willing to peg the light floral touch is wisteria (although its possibly lilac). As it dries, it becomes a much more heavy red musk/dark floral sort of blend.

 

I can see fans of the Ifrit and heavily sultry floral blends loving this.

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Warm, a little furry, and dark. I get vetiver, definitely, and something like perhaps musk and resin.

 

Wet: Oh, this is in arm-chewing territory. (It reminds me a bit of Fenris Wolf.) That usually means patchouli and musk for me, but there's definitely some vetiver in here too. Somehow this makes me think of reptiles, very ancient turtles to be precise. I have no idea why, but that's what it is: an old, slow-moving, and highly observant turtle.

 

Half an hour: A little sweeter now. The vetiver is behaving politely, there's still the impression of patchouli-musk, but there's a more insistent note trying to pierce all that chewiness. I like it very much, although it's just a touch disquieting for reasons I can't seem to pin down.

 

One hour: That's strange: suddenly this smells very much like the Conjure Bag line. It's got the well-behaved vetiver note, something musky, that odd chewy (patchouli?) note, and now a sweet floral is poking its head up. The floral is honey-like, a little like a very faint version of Chuparosa, and it's added something almost hypnotic to the blend. I just want to keep huffing it!

 

Two and a half hours: I can't tell whether that sweet note is a honeyed floral or a very sweet spice; it's got elements of both. Still very Conjure Bag in some ways, though. If I had more of this than just a quarter-imp, I'd wear it because it's delicious. Since I don't have much, though, I'll hoard it.

 

Five hours: Oh yum, similar to before but a bit lighter, which makes the floral a bit more obvious. This one's really captivating, stable, and long-lasting on me.

 

[hackess]

For personal reasons, I REAAAAALLY wanted to like Set. I should have guessed from the Egyptian background that it would be all desert and musks, and that my skin would despise it.

 

In the bottle, it's sand and heat over throbbing wet musk. Wet, I get sharp notes of vetiver and exotic spices. The very hot musks still dominate this scent, but what's this? A tempting sweet honeyed note? My oasis in the desert? Oh god, this becomes pretty intoxicating. I can't stop sniffing my arm.

 

And then the heady tropical florals at the desert oasis take over and I cannot get it off my skin fast enough.

[Coldfire]

This smells ancient and wise in the decant. Very heady and dark and resin-y and incense-y to me. So far I don't get any of the vetiver notes others have detected. Which is good. Vetiver and my skin get along better than I do with my family. which is not good. I do get some florals at the end stages of dry down..but they blend with the earthy musky dark incense of the beginning. I feel Like I'm in an old temp and stumbled upon a scent from the ages.

[Dark Alice]

This ended up morphing from a gorgeous dark resinous blend to North Carolina Red Clay (this smell exactly like the earth there ) with a bit of incense remaining.

[sookster]

this is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay dif than the original Set....the original is wonderfully sandy

and dry and my fav among all the labs offerings....

 

straight sniff from this is a lot like red musk...smut...loaded with vetivert...does not morph at all...

smut overloaded with vetivert...not that this is bad...just very sweet and no dryness...loads of sillage...

i am privileged to own the prototype of the original Set the lab auctioned off

[parrot_suspect]

Upon application, this smells almost boozy and brings to mind Smut or Sed non Satiata. That worried me, because my skin amps booze notes and I cannot wear Smut or SNS. However, as soon as the oil dries -- within about 15 minutes -- this settles down to a gorgeous soft red musk with just a touch of fruit and florals (and I do mean just a touch). It's one of the best red musk blends I've ever smelled. I'm not getting any earth, dirt, vetiver, or anything unpleasant at all in the drydown; just a red musk with a little bit of floral to sweeten it up. I think I may like Set v3 even better than Scherezade, which is one of my top five favorites.

 

If you like Spellbound, Dragon's Musk or Scherezade, I think you'll love Set v3.

[yeahbutnobut]

Set

 

In the imp: dragon’s blood? This is worrying. I smell dragon’s blood, not red musk.

Wet on skin: dragon’s blood, and lots of it. this does not bode well. it smells a little lilac-y.

Dry on skin: I smell other things now, which are promising. I smell incense, a crumbly dry incense ash with hints of redness and spice scent, reminiscent of Great Cry in Egypt. I smell sand here, and arid desert air, a la Ozymandias. There really is a sand note here, dry and gritty and hot. This lacks the slight sweetness and amber I get from Ozy and Great Cry though. I don’t smell vetiver here, at least, not now. but the predominant note here is undoubtably DRAGON’S BLOOD. I agree that Set should smell red, but I was hoping it wasn’t this particular red note. And already the DB is voraciously gobbling up the other notes and turning to red lilac chemical soap on my skin.

After a while: and now it turns sour? Even DB doesn’t do that to me. Maybe there is another floral note in here which is not faring well with my skin? it still smells predominantly of dragon’s blood. I think there’s red musk, but it’s less of the sweet fruity kind and more like a dry ‘blood musk’ to me. This feels a little chaotic on my skin, and uncomfortable. It reminds me of Wrath and Mars. The incense notes are fading, but I still smell the sand, it smells abrasive now…it brings to mind a sandstorm at sunset. Fiery red sky and hot blowing sand gusting in my face, almost suffocating, and drying too, the god of chaos manifesting, exercising his power. I love the image this evokes-very fitting for this god-but could do without the DB, which smells soapy at times. Though thankfully this dries down to that hot sand with incense ash scent, it still smells a little sour for my likings.

Verdict: I was really eager to try the Set scent ever since I heard about it, but this prototype isn’t doing it for me. Why? Two words: dragon’s blood. I’m surprised that no one seems to have mentioned this…to me the lilac or wisteria mentioned in other reviews is none other than dragon’s blood, that red, strange, tricky resin which my skin, sadly, amps to crazy levels. So I never get anything remotely like red musk scents I love like Scherezade, Spellbound etc, though at times this does remind me of a couple of the Egypt blends, but overall it smells very similar to the Contract of Theophilus of Adana at the beginning, that dry dragon’s bloody incense scent. having said that, there really is a proper desert feel to this scent, hot and harsh, arid and scorched, a little bit tempestuous like a sandstorm…with overtones of spice and incense ash. It’s appropriate for Set, but it doesn’t seem to work on my skin.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? maybe a decant…but it’s too dragon’s bloody for me. I hope the released version of Set is more of the red musk affair the other reviews mention!

[myth]

To me this immediately smells like what I think of as "hairspray musk." This smells like other perfumer's red musk... Nocturne Alchemy, for instance, has a red musk note that smells very like this, and I find it quite off-putting. BPAL's red musk [the one in the Snakes, Mme Moriarty, Midnight Kiss and the like] is hands-down WONDERFUL on me, and I can tell you this does not have THAT red musk in it. It may be some other type... but actually I agree with YBNB that this is Dragon's Blood. Before I came and read the reviews I was encapsulating it as hairspray/soapyish/incense, but as soon as I saw mention of DB I thought "thats it." And this may be, I think, the floral element other reviewers are picking up... BPAL's Dragon's Blood on me is sour-floral-resin [here, conversely, Nocturne Alchemy's Dragon's Blood is entirely different and wonderfully incensy with no floral element; so odd how things vary from maker to maker].

 

At any rate, Set v3 is not my friend. Sour hairspray + cloying floral = unpleasant. Beth is right to have shelved this one.

[Lamia]

I have no idea what is in here. I know that it reminds me of another scent, and that I really wanted to like it. In the bottle and on skin, it smelled divine, thick and round.

 

It is quite likely that I am projecting here. Or it was complete coincidence. But when I applied it, I grew disctinctly uncomfortable, and when I went t work on a project which has been giving me a lot of joy recently, I was completely insecure about it and yammering at my long-suffering husband to reassure me that it was fine.

 

I had to wash it off, and felt better.

 

Yay for being able to test this incredible blend, but boo for it being mean to me.

[Sapphy]

Hot burned red. This must have red ginger in it, and musk, and whatever scent Beth puts in it to make it all..sandy. Unfortunately, none of the components of this particularly work for me, but I'm glad to have gotten to smell it

[fairnymph]

Sniffed: Root beer coloured oil. Red musk and a horrible rotten floral - iris? This is putrid. It makes me think of rotting, slimy funereal flowers on top of Snake Oil. I can't bring myself to skin test.

 

 

[voodoocatwoman]

What an interesting blend. It smells like sweet dragon's blood...

 

 

[totheo]

OH HALLO VETIVER, HOW ARE YOU?

 

But after that fades into the background a little (give it five minutes).... red musk. I'm guessing. From the other reviews. It's warm and dark. But I'm getting something a little different mixed in... like Avalon beach.

 

It's SAND.

 

It smells like red musk and SAND. How the... BETH, YOU GENIUS! It starts to lift a little after ten minutes... not so dark and redmuskftw. It becomes more like a desert wind. Harsh and dry and hot but GORGEOUS.

 

I wants me a decant to sniff for always.

[cranberry]

Whoa – red musk! Blasting out! A touch of vetiver too and what I think is dragon’s blood. The oil is a dark brownish-red color, so that all fits. As it dries, maybe a bit of patchouli too, and it seems to get brighter if it had a color.

 

Once dry, I don’t smell vetiver or patchouli at all. Dragon’s blood, a floral scent – maybe a titch of gardenia? I can’t say for sure. Resins, musk….the dragon’s blood is strong here.

 

Now after about an hour, I smell red musk, dragon’s blood, and orchid! Gorgeous!

[milo]

Wet, this is a dry, dusty blend with vetiver and maybe a touch of fruit, either apple or fig. I can't tell which. The fruitiness and vetiver fades off, and we're left with a soft, dusty blend, very reminiscent of Sunbird. This does fade faster than Sunbird, however, and it's not as dry or spicy. I'm a Sunbird fan, so I do like this, although I think Sunbird is a bit better.

[Invidiana]

Now I know I might get shot for this, but Set v3 smells like the "red" version of Snake Charmer. Forgive my synaesthesia and possible Snake Charmer blasphemy, but at least that's what it comes out like on my skin. It develops into a beautifully complex dark, resinous, incensey, musky scent--there must definitely be red musk in this, and red musk is a huge YES note for me. There are plenty of warm spices which blend harmoniously with the other "red"elements. It's a very deep and mysterious scent that somehow manages to evoke the mystery anda allure of ancient Egypt without being too dry at all, more evocative of the decadence and debauchery going on in Cleopatra's palace than the desert. If you're looking for something undeniably drop-dead sexy, you've come to the right place.

Edited February 2, 2010 by Invidiana

[Blood onmy hands]

I think that this has dragon's blood in it. I get a lot of that sickly sweet, warm, rotten flowers smell that bpal's dragon's blood often turns to on my skin. This has an odd, dry, perfumey, sharp sort of feel to it as well. Not so good on me.

[beachbabealways]

Red Musk & Dragon's Blood. Very nice. If you like "The Cracked Bell" you may like this. It also reminds me of another LE but would have to go through my collection to figure out which one it is.