Ruddy Daggerwing

[milo]

Cacao, tobacco absolute, Chilean coffee bean, osage-orange, and ebony.

 

I don't like giving bad reviews, but this is all kinds of awful on me. It smells like old vending machine coffee, spilt on a table, with an ashtray nearby with cigarette buts. There is a lovely woody background, but it is being drowned out by the COFFEE. I have never met a coffee blend I like, so I shouldn't be surprised..

[ljaylh]

Err.. can I eat this? The blast of chocolate-orange when I open my decant is swoonworthy.. and when I first dab it on, it's all dark rich chocolate and orange - the same kind of dark chocolate that I get from The Candy Butcher and also the Dark Chocolate imp (yes, that one). The orange is dark and rich too - not sweet, ,more like a blood orange.

 

But wait - there's more! This isn't just a choc-orange scent.. oh no, not at all. Ten minutes in, and the beautiful hues of the coffee come through - completely changing the vibe of the chocolate and making it somehow less-chocolatey but still just as rich and dark. The tobacco is just lingering around the edges, giving a nice golden glow, but at this point it's still very much about the choc-coffee-orange. I remember 'ebony musk' in Raven Moon, and I think Pirate Moon had 'ebony' in it, but I can't say I'm really sure what it smells like.. dark wood, maybe?

 

At about the 20-minute mark, things change a lot. The chocolate has faded almost completely away, the coffee has gone very dry and dusky, and the tobacco has a much stronger presence. Orange? Where did it go?!? It's still there, but so light now. The whole fragrance has changed into something very subtle and dusky.. almost powdery, but not quite.

 

Overall.. I'm just not sure about this one. At first dab, I loved it. At full dry-down, I'm not so sure - there's something about the tobacco + coffee combination that isn't quite working for me, and that lovely chocolate+orange that I got at the start has all but faded away. I think this would make a beautiful body creme or shower gel, but for me personally not so much as a perfume. I dunno.. it started off so good. SO GOOD. I kinda want to love it.

[mymymai]

ITI: Rich coca, black coffee, and ripe orange. Oh wow, this makes my mouth water.

 

Wet: There is now a cleaner aspect to the orange, but the coca and coffee remain dominant. I can barely make out the headiness from the tobacco.

 

Dry: As it dries, the tobacco comes out as dominant, but couched in coca. There are still tones of orange and coffee. It is a rather invigorating scent to me.

[zeldaZ4]

This is really complex & rich. Definitely a winter scent on me. Reminds me of Christmas, and eagerly dumping out my Christmas stocking, looking for goodies. First to roll out would be the Hershey kisses and nuts, then finally the huge fragrant orange that had filled out the toe. My grandfather would be sitting in his upholstered wing chair, the scent of his pipe tobacco mingling with the smells of the fruity, chocolatey pile on the floor.

 

LOVE this! It lasted all day, chocolate, orange, & tobacco, lingering on my clothes the next morning, the haunting smell of Christmas Past.

Edited September 2, 2012 by zeldaZ4

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: lots of the coffee!

 

Wet: The other notes come bouncing back, thank goodness!

 

The dry-down: I don't really care for the combination of chocolate and orange, like in those Christmas treats, but this isn't bad. Might be a nice scent at Christmas time, actually. Much more lovely than expected because of the ebony and orange notes.

[filigree_shadow]

I bought a bottle of this unsniffed, thinking that for sure it would work on me. I love all those notes -- not a deal-breaker among them. And Pinched is one of my favorite BPAL perfumes, so I was giddy with anticipation for another coffee blend.

 

This one, though... well, it didn't work. It's not bad, but I can't really smell the coffee as much as the tobacco, and the orange gives it an odd twang. It smells better in the bottle than it smells on me, so I think my skin chemistry is the culprit. I'll be happy to re-home this one, though -- someone should adore it!

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Cocoa with a hint of orange

 

Wet on me - Cocoa, woods and a slightly soapy orange

 

Dry on me - A soft sweet milky coffee with candy-like highlights

 

Overall - I like the dry down a lot, bit it's not at all what I expected

[brilliantcat]

It... smells like an orange being roasted on a barbeque It honestly kind of turns my stomach in the wet stage. I believe in giving most all oils a chance so I'll give it a little time before I run to wash it off... Yeah, so the longer it's on the worse it smells. Tobacco I've learned is a note that can quickly go bad on me. It amps like crazy and can go sickly sweet, so much so that it turns my stomach. Blergh, not for me at all.

[bellumed]

Reminds me a little of a chocolate orange, only not nearly as sweet. It is definitely cacao we’re dealing with here, not chocolate, because it’s quite bitter. The coffee is also a strong note. Dry ebony comes out more on my skin… followed by stale tobacco, unfortunately. That nice chocolate-orange smell lives on in the background, but it is overpowered.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Chocolate, orange, coffee....and damp basement. ICK. Something in this goes slightly mildewy or moldy on my skin - not nice. It lurks under the chocolate and orange with coffee scent, and makes me want to vomit a bit.

 

 

Dry: Stomach turning mildew. No idea why. This has either gone off, or is just not for me. I don`t usually have an issue with any of these notes, but am unfamiliar with ebony, maybe that`s the culprit. Too bad, this should have been awesome on me.

[Soupy Twist]

In the bottle: cocoa and wood. Cocoa on application, and then a slight coffee bean note develops, but it shortly turns to wood. A beautiful, realistic, polished wood, which becomes almost perfumy as it continues. It's like standing in a gorgeous new library.

I can't bear wood perfumes, so this is turning my stomach, but it's another in a long line of extraordinary technical accomplishments from Beth, so if you like woods, you will adore this.