The Little Wooden Doll

[Veronica]

Gently carved wood warm with a maternal love that reaches beyond death: rose-infused amber and soft golden sandalwood.

 

Warm amber and rose, touched by sandalwood. Soft, golden and princess-y.

[Aviatrix]

Today I rediscovered an old imp of this in my stash and decided to retest it.

I remember I didn't like it when fresh, but to my pleasant surprise it is now exactly what I had always hoped it would be!

The rose is strong and freshly-picked and the amber and wood lend a glowing quality to it that settles warmly on the skin.

 

If you are put off by this at first try tucking away for a while and see if you like it bettet aged. My imp has certainly grown wonderful with age. I am now contemplating a full bottle to store away for a year's time...

[torikitty]

This one really surprised me! I can't stand rose-scents much, they give me a headache. But I think the amber and sandalwood blend out the rose nicely, making it really delicate, sweet, and slightly powdery. I would definitely recommend if you're usually gourmand, and think you can't handle rose usually. This might surprise you.

[roseus]

I blind bought a bottle because I live fast and loose, and this one sounded just lovely.

 

In the bottle: Beautiful soft wood shavings and light varnish. I had been concerned previously when people said varnish that it would be an abrasive and heavy chemical smell, but it's very pretty actually.

 

On wet: Wood shavings, varnish, and a little rose mingling in the background.

 

Dry: Sandalwood and rose-y amber. A soft, dry scent. Definitely leans towards the woody category more than floral.

 

Overall: Very happy with the gamble.

[LizziesLuck]

Sometimes sandalwood goes sour on me, sometimes it's gorgeous....here's hoping!

 

 

Wet: Quite sour initially, but then hugely sweet rose amber amps way up. It's almost candy sweet now. Pretty. Hoping it settles a bit more.

 

 

Dry: Sweet rose amber and warm dry sandalwood. I like it - not sure I love it. I think it needs further testing.

[Casablanca]

Ah, this is pretty. Wooden Doll has little impact, with each note like a gentle glow, but it smells as described: a woody and rosy amber with golden sandalwood. The wood gives me an impression of oak.

This is a soft skin scent on me. I would love it as a bath or body oil.

[TheresaRedSkull]

I got this in the amber imp pack recently. I didn't expect anything special from it based on the description, but it's rocketed up to one of my favorites. It starts off as...warm lumber? This sounds totally unappealing but is, in fact, a lovely moderation of Lab's usual piney/woody/lumber note, which usually comes out on me as CEDAR CEDAR CEDAR. Then as it mellows, as the other folks have noted, into a rose scent--charming, warm, woody. Far more complex and engaging than other rose scents seem to be.

 

This one's a winner! Thanks, BPAL!

[milo]

I do like woody blends, I find them relaxing. This was a frimp from the Lab, thanks! Definitely rose here, and sandalwood. Sandalwood can be iffy on me, but here it is working. I really like this, and will probably use it from time to time. It is very classy, something I'm not as a rule, but I can work it on occasion:)

 

eta: I'll have to find my decant of Eve OLLA, but from what I remember, this is very much like her.

Edited May 29, 2017 by milo

[achildoftime]

I'm getting a lot of wood varnish from this while wet. It's very chemically and almost sour. It's very much a woodworker's scent. It smells just like finishing up a project with the varnished piece, the fresh-trimmed scrap wood waiting to be cleaned up, and some sawdust that escaped being vacuumed. None of the listed notes register in my nose because I kind of can't pick up anything but this random almost-finished carpentry project. I'm passing on this one.

[dementia_divine]

A few years ago, I opened this imp and got some on me, and it smelled like wood varnish. I have been avoiding testing this once since then... but here goes.

 

In the imp: I get both notes. The golden sandalwood jumped out to me first, though.

Wet: At first, it's this soft amber, but then the golden sandalwood note emerges, along with the rose part of the amber note, and the combination is quite sharp and somewhat sour (but not nearly as sharp as it was when the imp was fresh).

Dry: After the scent has been dry for a while, it becomes softer, and the amber gets to shine. I'm still getting a lot of the golden sandalwood, but the rose has calmed down significantly, so it's not sour anymore.

Verdict: Although the dry phase was pleasant, the wet stage of the scent wasn't very nice on me. I have to say that a few years of aging really helped this scent, though!

[Ghost of a Rose]

Lab frimp aged about 6 years. I love the concept of this, and think the notes embody it well. And I love rose and amber; and like sandalwood very much. I'm excited to try it!

 

In the imp: Clear brown oil with a salmon-colored tint. I smell only generic wood, which oddly has an extremely salty and vinegary character that makes me think of dill pickles.

 

On me, wet: The same.

 

At 5 minutes: The wood, salt, and vinegar have all fled, leaving behind an odd fragrance that is neither pleasant nor unpleasant, and which smells vaguely like dill. I don't think it is supposed to smell like this. The imp was stored in a cool, dark place, but nevertheless it appears to be past its "use by" date. What a shame. I'm sure I would have loved this.

 

At 10 minutes: I've gotten an occasional faint and fleeting whiff of rose, but it is overpowered by the main vaguely dill scent.

 

At 20 minutes: Rose is definitely present now. But the weird note - which is now more sour than dill - is still stronger.

 

 

At 30 minutes: This is definitely a rose scent now. But the off note is sticking around, still with a hint of dill.

 

At 1 hour: The same, but getting fainter.

 

At 1 1/2 hours: The rose has faded away and the fragrance is mostly amber. With just a trace of the off note, I'm getting a glimpse of what this scent should be, and it is heartbreakingly beautiful.

 

At 2 1/2 hours: The off note is completely gone now, leaving a very soft and pretty rose-and-amber powder.

 

Later ETA: After reading the reviews, I notice that another reviewer mentioned dill pickles. So maybe my imp isn't deteriorated, maybe it just smells like that to some people. I know it's not my skin chemistry, because it smelled like that in the imp, before the oil touched my skin. But I've never gotten that from any of these notes before. Maybe there is something else in this that isn't listed? Curiouser and curiouser. I want to try another imp of it to see what happens, and I do have another one.

Edited September 27, 2018 by Ghost of a Rose