El Dorado

[hlemonds]

EL DORADO
Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old
This knight so bold
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be
This land of Eldorado?"

"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied
"If you seek for Eldorado!"

Copal resin incense blowing through halls of dazzling gold.

Oh my gosh, this is crazy! I've never been a first reviewer!.....Ahem.

Wet, this is definitely Copal, i recognize it from Xiuhtecuhtli. I really love copal in other blends like Xiuhtecuhtli and Giant Vulva, so i'm excited to see how this translates on my skin.

I only applied a drop or two of this from the cap, and WHOA it's strong. At first i'm getting all Copal, just waiting to see the halls of dazzling gold. After about fifteen minutes i'm faced with something that mostly resembles....er....men's deoderant or some overpowering Men's body spray. Evidently the "halls of dazzling gold" equal Axe body spray on me, WTF??

I am still going to hold out some hope that this will improve after a few weeks of rest, or that it will be wonderful on my hubby. I'll revisit this post with news of further tests.

[Dark Alice]

Golden...gilded golden resins with hints of copal. (wet) Drydown: This goes through a phase where the copal and resin mix into a strange form golden tequila. But then it dries down to a wonderful golden resin. With a hint of copal that finally doesn't smell like catpee on me! THIS IS BOTTLEWORTHY!!!!

[surlygurl]

Fresh on my skin, this is very manly. Cologne all the way. Instead of giving me visions of a land of gold, I get visions of John Wayne movies I think this needs to be washed off.

 

I will keep the imp hidden away & come back to it this time next year, in hopes of a more pleasing scent.

Edited October 19, 2009 by surlygurl

[Lycanthrope]

At first, El Dorado was all like 'I'm sparkly like Festival of Anuket!', but then that odd bright lotusness trended towards as noted above, the slightly sickly smell of copal, and then I get an odd earthy dirtness.

 

Over time, the drydown does get richer, but on me, the smoky incense is tending towards headshop - as copal is my skin's version of patchouli - I smell it all the time.

 

I may try this in a burner, but on my skin, not so much.

 

It certainly smells like incense and a bit of bright shiny gold, though!

[melange]

I got cologne while wet, too, and it was pretty flat, but then I let it be for a while and it settled into something much more interesting. This El Dorado, on my skin, is in the middle of a desert. There's a sort of mineral quality that reminds me of Black Opal (it's been a while since I smelled the latter, but I see in my notes that Festival of Anuket reminded me of Black Opal too, so that makes sense). I don't yet get the incense quite as much. Since this is so fresh from the Lab (it arrived yesterday), I'm going to have to let it settle and see what happens. My fingers are crossed!

[saralaughs]

This is very nice.

 

It goes on strongly metallic/herbally. When Beth said Halls of Gold, she meant it. This starts out as a kind of cold, metal scent and not warm at all like I first imagined when I read the description.

 

It does warm up a bit from the resin and gets downright pleasant after awhile. The metallic zing is ever present but it totally is toned down a bit and melds well with the copal. It is really manly on me. While I do like to pull off manly scents this is one I just don't think I'll be able to do it with. I think maybe I'll try it on the fiance...

[cuervosueno]

Yep, I get the cologny note too in the imp and when I first put it on. Not like copal at all...

 

It starts drying both literally and scent-wise, and it begins to be a bit desert like, which is nice.

 

When it dries down, it reminds me just slightly of Pais de Canela which I have on the other arm--the cologne note has turned to a faint balsam pine background with the dry gold scent in the forefront. It does remind me of Xiuhtecuhtli, but is not so overwhelming as that scent is.

 

I wish had more of a true copal resin scent.

 

I'll see what I think after I've worn it awhile, but I don't think I'll need a bottle.

[Aldercy]

This is one of those frustrating scents that if I directly take a big huff of it, it's bad (like old, slightly fermented men's cologne), but if I sit still and just let tiny whispers of scent find their way to me, it's really good (sweet, strange resin and... can it be?-- some enticing mystery note that I also get from Leipreachan. Is there some rarely used gold accord that appears in both, perhaps?).

 

Like many resins, I think this one could do with a bit of aging to richen up properly and maybe help take away that initial sting of ratty cologne.

[Blood onmy hands]

Edit: Purchased another bottle of this recently and it's no longer even remotely the same fragrance. The new bottle smells metallic, but in a weird, sharp way, like the metallic smell of cheap hairspray. My husband said it smells, "Really soapy and bad." It's chemical-y and oily smelling. Hairspray, soap, vegetable oil... I don't think it smells resinous or incense-like at all anymore, and it doesn't smell earthy. It just smells like it's gone bad. I hate all of these bpal reformulations nothing smells the same as it did even a couple years ago.

My old, now irrelevant review:
I wish that I had just gotten a full bottle of this instead of messing around with an imp, lol. El Dorado is amazing.

I think that this has the same gold smell in it that I liked so much in Leipreachan. It's like a cool, metallic, hard, golden smell. The gold smell is paired with a very hot, dry something that makes me think of incense on a dry desert breeze. As this dries down, I'm fairly certain that I'm smelling patchouli or something quite like patchouli. It smells like a sweet, golden-brown, earthy patchouli.

Earthy, dry, sweet patchouli-something with hard metallic gold and a dry, warm, slightly sharp incense smell. I also get a hint of that men's cologne smell that others have mentioned, but the cologne feel just makes the scent more wearable for me. My husband really enjoyed wearing this one and it smelled sexy on him, but it's a scent that I'd also wear myself (though I usually have no problem wearing masculine scents anyhow).

I really like this scent, and it's one that I think would just get better and better with age.

Edited October 6, 2015 by Little Bird

[Lethran]

 

In bottle: Pretty much as advertised. It’s copal with something scintillating in the top note. It is very heady and womanly in an incense sort of way. Wet: Wet paint and copal. The effect is rather unfortunate when blended with my core scent. It does improve as it warms, turning into an insencey men’s cologne. The “gold” is fascinating, but mostly overwhelmed by the copal. Dry: It really is pleasant on the try down, a sort of elevated smelling men’s cologne, but it gave me a pretty bad headache in the wet stage, so I’m thinking it’s simply to strong for me.

 

[filigree_shadow]

Gorgeous. I love copal, and I think this scent is fantastic. It doesn't smell like copal incense -- there's no smoke to it -- it smells like the sticky, rich resin. Sort of like a golden, sweet patchouli-ish scent. I noticed that in a couple of reviews other people mentioned a cologne-like scent, but I'm not picking up anything like that on my skin. I've worn El Dorado four times since I got it, ignoring all the other scents I got at the same time, and when my imp runs out I'll probably get a bottle. Whenever I wear it my husband keeps telling me I smell awesome.

 

Also, it lasts for-freaking-ever. One day I put some on at around 5 p.m., and I could still smell it on my wrist the next day, after I'd showered.

[zankoku_zen]

El Dorado is masculine copal and cinnamon. Woof.

 

Smells like a guy.

[MCS4096]

VERY dude-ish upon first application I do get the metallic vibe, and as usual this is fairly masculine. It is certainly a golden scent. It's like a drop of golden resin oozing out of a tree... there's a dusty dryness that actually made me sneeze a bit. Interesting but not really my style I guess

[ljaylh]

 

What a strange one this is! At first I thought for sure it had patchouli in it - it goes on very strong when it first hits your skin. That went away, and I had baby shampoo on my arm for a while. Seriously.. what's that about?!? Then it went very cologne-y, and into some sort of soap/aftershave limbo for a while. Finally - 1 hour later - I have this faintly dirt-like smell left, still quite strong but completely different to how it started out. I'm pretty disappointed in this one, to be honest - I was hoping for a nice warm golden resinous glow kinda thing, but that never happened.

 

I don't want to smell like this, and I wouldn't like a man to smell like it either - it just smells.. cheap (I hate having to say that, but it's my honest opinion). Yay for those of you whose skin played nice, but I'm beginning to think copal is not my friend.

 

I'm so glad I got to try an imp of this, because I was actually going to buy a bottle unsniffed. But not now, this just ain't my thing.

[sihaya09]

Copal and patchouli, golden and lovely. I agree that it's a bit masculine... I'll probably put it in the "shared BPAL" pile in the bathroom. But it smells lovely on me, too!

[milo]

I really didn't expect this one to be so masculine, but it is. Wet, it is quite sharp and incensey, but dries down to a warm vanilla-like ambery incense, but definitey with a 'guy' vibe. Nice, but I'll probably pass this one, as I don't wear masculine scents.

[Iceblink]

Metallic resin--I always want to like these "metal" scents but they just smell so *masculine*. I love the mental image I get from this--warm, polished gold. This is STRONG and has quite the throw. If metallics are your thing it's just about perfect, but they really don't work on me.

[donnatron]

Imp: Copal! I love copal! And a touch of an almost snow-y note.

 

Wet: This doesn't morph a lot on the drydown. Once it hits my skin the gold note goes a little wonky but seems to stabilize pretty quickly.

 

Dry: A nice, soft pretty sort of copal scent. Very light metallic quality but mainly copal. Very simple. Not necessarily something I associate with El Dorado (but I associate Candide with El Dorado so that probably smells like blood and sheep and jungle) but very pretty as it is.

 

Throw: Moderate.

 

Overall: It's pretty but I have other copal scents I'll wear and treasure more. Worth a try if you like simple, clean resin scents.

[septima_pica]

Right off the bat, I like this better than most metallics. It's got some kind of bitter herb -- black patchouli or vetiver -- in addition to the "metal" note and the gorgeous copal resin just like in Xiuhtecuhtli. Sharp and incensey but also sweet. Also, hella strong. And oddly, the sweetness seems to be coming and going -- when it's there, the scent is quite nice and complex, and when it's not, it smells like cologne. Not sure what to make of that; perhaps it'll stabilize with age.

 

Into the box with you, gallant knight! You can come out once you're ready to make sense. For now you're just confusing me.

[Monster]

In the vial: Oooh la la! A bright, golden (almost citrus) smelling resin!

 

Wet: This sort of reminds me of the perfume Angel, it's very similar!

 

Dry: Sunny smelling (non-smoky) resin.

 

Verdict: I wouldn't say this one is masculine at all, quite the opposite. I LOVE this one and will be enjoying the entire imp!

[fairestrocza]

In the Imp: an odd sort of sweetness, and not as resiny as I would expect

 

Wet on Skin: not quite sure what to make of this

 

While Drying: hmm, getting a bit of a skin reaction to this one.

 

After a Little While: Ugh. Is that the Barnyard note from Lick It Til Its Sticky? Is there musk in here? There is a perfumy aspect too, and something fruity. It no longer burns where I applied it, but I have a bit of a rash. (I asked the lab, and there are no common notes between this and LITIS, the other blend that gave me a significant skin reaction).

 

Later: This starts to calm down a bit, and it develops a bit of sweetness, but the weird barnyard note is still there behind it all, slightly sweet and musky.

Final Thoughts: I was initially very drawn to the scent in the imp, but my skin just doesn't play well with El Dorado. Significant throw. Fortunately died down after a few hours. This one isn't for me.

El Dorado earns a 2.5/5 on my skin.

[kjirstiben]

My first thought was that El Dorado smelled like guys' deodorant--granted, it was a little overpowering while it was still drying down. Over time, the vaguely Old Spice-y character of it (I think that's the copal?) stayed with me throughout the day. I think I'd like this on a guy, but it bothered me to smell it on myself.

 

That said, the copal resin stays remarkably consistent, going from a slightly cologney beginning (the "halls of gold"?) to a warm, spicy sun-baked scent. It smells good, but very, very masculine (and a little goes a long way).

[impolight]

:::EL DORADO:::

 

There was a disturbibg level of excitement when this one arrived, by way of a Frimp, in the post.

Growing up in the 70's, there were innumerable hours of being at Great-Grandma's house, being baby-sat.

One of her forms of providing entertainment was to display endless parades of black & white adventure films.

As a result, there are hours upon endless hours of high-adventure reels and treasure-hunts whizzing around this brain like signals to a satellite dish...

Though this formula was named after a mythic geological location, a city of gold, there is also a soft spot in this soul because of the poem of the same name written by Edgar Allen Poe... So, needless to say, the emotional draw to this fragrance, due to it's moniker alone, is complex and multilayered.

From the Imp: Cosmic regret.

Regret that half a dozen 5 mL. bottles of this weren't purchased the day that this was newly entered into the Wanderlust category!

OMMFG, this smells SOOOOOO good!

How, exactly, some of this stuff gets pulled off at the Lab, will likely remain a mystery for the forever, never ceasing in their capacity to utterly astound and amaze.

Alien technology is suspected.

The Lab's Copal is beyond gorgeous. Having a home that smelled the way that this does would be the epitome of luxury. This would make a home a mansion more than tens of thousands of square feet.

Yes, the Lab's description included Golden Halls, but THIS is ridiculous.

El Dorado rivals Robotic Scarab in having the most olfactorily delicious, shining, golden note... This note positively glimmers!

This is the open-mouthed wonder of a passionate archeologist taking in the first sight since ancient times of torchlight reflected from towering golden walls.

On the Skin: Whoah! The Copal is still quite assertive at this stage, but the Gold amps psychotically!

The skin veritably shrieks from a larynx and diaphragm of precious, precious ore. This well represents the ceremony of the king stripped nude, annointed with fragrant oils, and coated in a brilliant covering of Golden dust.

El Dorado really is an otherworldly fragrance of mythic proportions.

El Dorado smells of sagacious spirits, adventure, frontier enshrouded in mystery, the Royalty of a mighty empire, and the awe-inspiring allure of untold fortunes.

El Dorado could certainly be unisex. The Golden note in this would make a very sophisticated, chic edginess for Her.

The Copal is a stunningly rich on Him; the ultimate, virile provocateur.

El Dorado is worthy of a place very near the top of anyone's list of favorite scents from the Lab.

When presented to the Wife for a sniff, she took a deep, lungful and said, "Mmmmm!"(Eureka! Favor found!)"That smells like brand new rubber bouncy-balls! I Love it!"

 

*sigh*

 

El Dorado is an absolute smash!

Hands down, anyone, from Noob to Veteran should own a 5mL. bottle of El Dorado as one of the Lab's signature scents.

A most deserving representative.5.99 out of 5!!!

[hkhm]

imp: very rich copal.

 

wet: very, thick, warm copal. this could be a copal sn on my skin.

 

dry: this is incredible. it's exactly like when i burn copal resin on charcoal discs. might be needing a bottle of this.

[ShannonElisabethJones]

I really wanted to like this one. As a kid, I loved Poe's El Dorado more than I loved The Raven, so this seemed to have special significance for me.

 

When I first applied it, it reminded me of old-style Catholic church incense. It's like walking into the Cathedral Basilica here in nearby St. Augustine - that very devout Spanish Catholic church-type smell. I liked it at first - a comforting reminder of my upbringing.

 

But as it dried, it morphed into a very sweet resinous scent - one I knew would give me a massive headache. Boo.

 

This one will be added to my swaps bag.