Fighter

[Dark Alice]

FIGHTER
Leather, musk, blood, and steel.

Wet: All ye leather fiends...rejoice! This is beautiful brown leather...fresh...on me its kind of like the leather from Brom Bones without the cologne note. There is the barest hint of metal in this...but it really is a clean leather with metal.

Drydown: Leather with the clean metal and now the musk kicks in. Thankfully it doesn't really overtake the leather...it kind of compliments it..and there is the faintest tang of blood. This is gorgeous. And an immediate bottle purchase.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

5mL from the Lab.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

This is one of the iffier blends I ordered from the RPG collection. Leather and musk should both be good (at least right now since leather is hitting rather than missing most of the time these days), but blood and steel could go very wrong.

 

First sniff:

 

This reminds me a little bit of Rogue, oddly enough. I think it must be the leather that's fairly similar because that's the only note they share. I don't smell any blood or anything metallic here. It's just musky leather.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Okay, my skin chemistry just flipped out, evidently, because this smells exactly like nori (the dried seaweed they wrap sushi in).

 

I don't particularly want to smell like sushi. This is not good.

 

Dry down:

 

Phew, the inexplicable seaweed of doom has disappeared and I'm really enjoying Fighter now. It's dried into a nice musky brown leather scent. It doesn't remind me of Rogue in the slightest now. Instead it's more like Dead Man's Hand (what I remember it smelling like, anyway; keep in mind that it's been years since I've smelled it, so I'm relying on my memory here) or the leather in Paladin v3, but not as sharp and pungent. I haven't tried Brom Bones, so I can't comment on that. The blood and steel never do put in an appearance which is just fine by me.

 

The bottom line:

 

Thankfully, the weird nori scent of the wet stage doesn't last long or I'd probably never wear Fighter. But luckily it disappears quickly and I really like the drydown. I think I may actually like this a little more than I like Paladin v3, which is awesome news since I'm having such a hard time tracking down a backup bottle.

Edited May 6, 2011 by Penance

[meredevachon]

In the imp: Chemically, which I expect when there's leather.

 

Wet: Supple brown leather, broken in and well-used.

 

Dry down: Still mostly leather, and what a yummy musky leather it is, with just an edge of metallic. The metallic isn't coppery, so not blood, just the steel.

 

Dry: This becomes fairly faint pretty quickly, more like after the leather armor is taken off but leaving a trace of the scent behind.

 

Overall: I would have expected something stronger from Fighter, but what there is of this, I really like. Sticks very close to the skin, but would need more frequent reapplication than I'm used to. Not bad, and I definitely want to see how it does layered.

[ajansuz]

In the imp: A metallic tang sharp enough to leave a taste sensation in the mouth just from a sniff, leather, and heady musk.

 

Wet: Metal, leather, and something that really does have that sort of meaty, metallic blood tang. As odd as that may sound, I found I really liked it. It was strangely appealing.

 

Dry down: Unlike all of the other RPG's I've tried with leather, the leather in Fighter didn't duke it out and win. Metal and musk were the two notes that came out the strongest on me, with a hint of blood and only a touch of leather at the base. It's very true to its description and one of the best interpretations of a class I tried in this batch.

 

My husband said it was a very visceral smell. I asked him if that was good or bad. He said it somehow made him uneasy, but it left him wanting to smell more. I think I love that reaction.

 

Throw was low, but man does it have staying power. Hours later, I still smell the same as I did once it dried all the way.

[Xanon]

In the imp this is very metallic, and the leather was a bit on the chemical side.

 

On wet this smelled a lot better. The steal dropped out a bit, but the metallic blood tang was still there. The leather softened a bit, much more like the leather in VILF to my nose.

 

Dry Fighter is awesome. It does not change much from the wet, just more worn in - if that makes sense. Not a lot of throw, but damn does this fighter have stamina.

 

If I were to make a decision based on the smell in the imp alone, I would have never tested this. However, I was surprised in the best of ways.

[Diva Urd]

In the vial: Steely leather. Man, I am so impressed how these scents really encapsulate those RPG archetypes in a bottle!

 

On: The leather is a bit overwhelmed by the steel note at first. I get very little musk and only a hint of blood. It has this weirdly-fresh twang to it.

 

Later: The steel note, which has a strangely vegetably-fresh quality to it after a while, is the strongest. There's a small hint of leather and nothing else. And on the husband's skin... well, he ate it, like he does a lot of blends. I don't think Fighter is for us.

[reverendsquid]

In the imp: Ohjesushchristwhatthehellisthisgetitawayfromme horrible sharp chemicals.

 

Fresh on: I dabbed a tiny bit of this on and it immediately bloomed into proper leather. Hurray! So I slathered it on as I usually do. This is mainly well worn leather and steel. I feel like I'm wearing leather armour with steel plates in it. Again, this is amazingly evocative. I occasionally get tiny hints of what may be musk and blood, but very little. I'm totally impressed by it. My husband, however, as soon as he came close to me, said 'oh GOD, what IS that? It smells like swimming pools gone wrong!' It's the only scent I've ever worn that's actually made him cough and back away.

 

As it dries: This doesn't morph at all. I was hoping the leather might tone down a bit, but no. It's also stayed very strong, and although at first I was kind of loving it, I may have to go and wash it off soon. It's great, but pretty overwhelming after a while. Also, my husband has taken to avoiding me...

 

Conclusion: This is very very cleverly done, but I can't see me ever wearing this except as a curiosity or for fancy dress. I will, however, keep the imp and see how it ages...and a little does go an exceedingly long way with this one, at least on me!

[Blood onmy hands]

I prefer Rogue over Fighter for a leather blend. Rogue smells like sweet, smooth, well worn leather on me, where Fighter is pretty heavy on the musky, metallic, sharp cologne with hints of dark leather. I usually do well with metallic scents, but the musk here is making this too sharp and perfumey/chemical-like for my tastes.

[AnyseLawsBray]

In vial: Leather, supple and well-cared for.

Wet: This is very natural, warm leather to my nose. Warmed by body heat under lithe chain mail armor.

Dry: Still mostly leather, a faint gleam of metallic armor remains. A bit of musk, close to the skin. Never got any blood, thank goodness.

 

Verdict: This is gooooood leather. It never went wonky like Orc did on me, so extra points granted. It's the scent of a defender of honor, a knight in shining armor *cue girlish sigh*. My prince won't touch bpal, alas. I shall furtively wear & dream.

[Iceblink]

Another great leather! I've had a LOT of trouble with leather going crazy on me in the past but whatever went into these RPGs is working so much better. Once this is dry, I pick up the steel note more--leather and metal! I'd expect there to be a sweet blood quality here, but I'm not getting it...and this isn't particularly musky, either. If you like metallic notes and leather notes this'll be perfect, though. Might try it again.

[patina]

In Imp: Shoe-store leather with something metallic/sweet. Dragon's blood? Weird.

On: A lot of the RPGs have turned out weirdly sweet on me and this is no exception. Can that be lemon verbena I smell on the leather? Something lemony that isn't lemons, anyway. It's like a very fancy, sophisticated shoe store with in-house perfume.

If the sweet stuff is meant to be steel, it's polished, gleaming. (and I still say it smells of lemons.) I like this, but it's so weird.

 

Edit: This has become my go-to scent for wanting to smell like an Amazon. The steel and hint of blood stops the leather from being overwhelming. Now that this has aged I no longer smell lemons. And...it's just good.

Edited July 9, 2017 by patina

[astarinel]

This is very masculine to my nose, and pretty much what it says.

 

A rugged, darker leather note, not quite the "worn" leather you find in some blends, but not as sharp as black leather notes can be either. It's almost weirdly fresh with its metallic edge, and the musk here is dark and edged with resins.

[claudia6913]

In the bottle: STEEL! LEATHER! Fresh, new, never worn and not broken in. I don't know whether to squee in anticipation or cringe.

 

Wet on skin: Sharp, sharp steel. Like you just licked it. I can taste it on my tongue. Usually that happens to me with the blood note too, tasting the copper, wonder if my skin isn't making the two fight.

 

Drydown: The leather is still not broken in. =( I adore the labs well worn leather notes a la CC: Female, but this is not that. It's new and barely been worked. Freshly oiled leather, freshly forged steel ... I expected something a little more worn. Something a little more battle-aged.

 

Dry: There's just the barest hint of musk. Still all steel and leather and way too strong.

 

Overall: I feel like I should've gone with Ranger for my leather fix. =( Maybe aging will do it some good?

 

Edit to add: The freshness of it is making my tongue tingle and I swear I didn't lick my wrist!

Edited June 24, 2011 by claudia6913

[Lethran]

In bottle: mmmmm…. Leather. This is a particularly bright leather with the musk, blood, and steel blending in beautifully to create a scent that perfectly evokes a sexy, sexy warrior. Yum. Wet: vaguely fishy. O.o I think I’m parsing the leather accord and musk incorrectly. The blood gets a touch shrill. I do love the way the steel and the leather go together though. The fishiness softens with wear and it definitely appears to be my brain reading the leather wrong. Dry: The fishiness goes. It is still dominant leather, but the musk pulls it darker now, with a touch of blood.

[whisperstilled]

In Imp: Whoa! Leather in my face, and something that might be the blood, with an oily edge that has to be the steel. My immediate thought? Rivet.Goth. It's got a sweeter edge, though, and in that way it's a bit like Robotic Scarab, but nowhere near as sweet or spicy. This is well worn leather, my favorite kind!

Wet: Yep, definitely Rivet.Goth mark II, but without the harshness or so much of the hardware store intense oil that put me off that particular scent. The musk is there, but more as a backdrop.

Dry: While a harsher, sharper leather than I usually like, on the drydown as it calms a bit this scent is great. I can tell I'll only be needing a dash of it when I do wear it. While it doesn't quite hit the highs of my favorite leather scents, it's a great fallback for when I don't feel like wearing something a little more precious.

Edited August 4, 2017 by Whisperstilled

[Teggy]

I'm pretty disappointed with Fighter. I had a lot of high hopes because I love metal notes, but this one was just straight up leather. Do you miss De Sade? Then try this. Maybe with age it'll morph, but I'm not expecting a miracle. Had this been more balanced, I probably would've loved it.

[Telamir]

It was a bit hard to smell this in the imp, as all the scents that were sent with it mixed with the vial smell.

 

Wet on skin: Was not sure if liked. The musk took over hard at first, with a bit of steel underneath.

 

Dry: Oh gods. If I could imagine an armory with used leather and steel and sweat, this would be it. I couldn't get my nose away from my wrist for the life of me, and I'm praying that it smells as amazing on the boyfriend as it does on me.

 

I'll be getting 5 ml of this for myself for Christmas. Rawr.

[FormerViking]

Now THIS , this is perfection . This is the big badass who's gonna come take your lunch money . This is a spectacular idealization of a fantasy fighter - and as a old member of the SCA I can also tell you it's pretty close to reality too . Except none of the fighters I knew back then smelled this good

[MCS4096]

Ok so.. I got an imp of this from the lab, and LOVED it. Gorgeous peppery brown leather. I notice there is a little bit of sediment on the bottle of the imp. I immediately ordered a bottle, and it arrived sediment free and smelling of nothing but red musk. Maybe the smallest hint of leather.. but NOTHING like my imp. WHY!?!!?!

[fairestrocza]

Very clean with a bit of a kick. Something in here reminds me of a scent I associate with swimming pools and beaches (but not the beach ball plastic, or any sort of sunblock... hmmm I can't quite place it... maybe pool clean feet on brand new flip flops? Or sitting on a pool float? For me it is an oddly comforting smell.)

Of all the RPG scents so far, this one really screams "slather me on a man!" So I did. This one really changes with skin chemistry. My two male volunteers ended up smelling like "before the battle, Fighter" and "after the battle, Fighter."

[zankoku_zen]

LEATHER! For me, this is a softer black leather than DeSade, (black rather than brown because of the 'steel'/metallic component to it), and slight spicyness which I imagine is the 'blood' component.

 

Warmer than DeSade, a little harder edged than Mastermind (whichever the Grendel blend is that is ultra-leather).

 

Not my type of blend at all, but if you enjoy leather...

[captnklaus]

I gave Fighter a quick test after getting it in last night.

 

In the imp I definitely got leather, but it was a fainter leather than I expected. Metal notes just do not exist to my nose most of the time (this has happened with every Steamworks scent I have tried), so that could be what's causing the leather to smell pretty faint at first. I had a good feeling about this one though.

 

For the first couple of minutes on my skin the metal notes dominate, which means I don't smell much of anything. Just a thin, oily sort of smell that I get from most metallic scents. But after a couple minutes the leather starts to come out and then we're getting somewhere. As it dries down Fighter is definitely an "after the battle" scent. It's the scent of battle worn leather and metal armor lingering on the Fighter's skin after they've taken it all off at the end of the day.

 

I was really in love with the imagery this brought up. Pretty comforting, but a scent I would need to be in the mood for to actually wear alone. Definitely going to try layering this and seeing what happens!

 

ETA: Ok, I lied. I love this scent! I layer it with Chaotic usually, but actually don't mind wearing it alone. Adding to the bottle list!

Edited December 16, 2012 by captnklaus

[Balame]

THIS IS SINGLE NOTE LEATHER.

 

And I love it!

 

I was actually scared to try Fighter when it first came out, which is ironic as I most often play fighters/warriors in video games. The blood had me worried, as I absolutely loathe the bitter sweetness from many dragon's blood scents. I figured this would smell dirty and possibly acidic.

 

How wrong I was. Thank you mom for getting me a bottle as a Xmas present, because I wouldn't have known otherwise!

 

When wet I did get a hint of ozone (metal) along with the leather, which strongly reminds me of a former favorite: Macbeth and the Witches. Yet where MatW eventually went sour on me with age, eliminating the beautiful, warmed leather that I loved, Fighter stays true. This most definitely is not a dirty/bloodied fighter, this is a warrior in freshly oiled, gleaming leather and looking sexy as hell. Very supple, hot and delicious.

 

I haven't tried Rogue yet, which is the class I most frequently associate with leather, but I imagine with the rosin it would turn out sweeter than this. I'm really happy with this scent and it's definitely a favorite now.

[Xue_Bai]

Finally placed my first BPAL order, and received Fighter as a lab freebie. As it wasn't something I would have bought myself, I decided it would be the first tried.

 

Bottle: Well, that's strong...like, wow! Sinuses are open! Really metallic to my nose.

 

Wet: Leather, lots of leather. The metallic has retreated. Not getting any of the blood or musk yet. But it's oddly nice...I'm not the biggest fan of the smell of real leather, but this is interesting.

 

Dry: The leather has retreated a bit and now I'm getting a hint of musk and different aspect to the metallic that must be the blood. It has a decent throw, my family catching whiffs from across the room.

 

Later: The dry scent lasted for about 4 hours, before the metallic AND the leather died. What was left was the lightest scent of leather mixed with a light musk very close to the skin. Smells kind of like taking a leather jacket off after wearing it for hours, but again, still more pleasant to my nose.

 

Overall, I really ended up enjoying this, though I think it's a bit too masculine for me most days. As I do have some other rpg scents, maybe layering might make it more feminine for me. Might buy a clearly old bottle from ThinkGeek if they still have them on sale next time I get paid should the layering go well.

[filigree_shadow]

This smells awesome! Kind of a bright, fresh leather. Might smell great on my husband. I'll give it to him.