Ravenous

[miss apple]

An utterly feral, thoroughly rousing perfume. Red patchouli sweetened by orange blossom.

Ravenous - in the bottle: spicy oranges. Once on I can smell a Snake Oil quality and oranges but oranges that aren't citrusyl. Citrus is usually a bad thing for me but in this blend the orangeiness works. It reminds me a little of the orange blossom perfume that my grandmother bought for me when I was little. My mom hated the smell of that stuff but I loved it because perfume was such a grown up kind of thing to my six year old mind and if my older sister had it then I wanted it too. Anyway the patchouli is strong and in this blend that's a good thing because it keeps the oil from being too cloying. The scent stays strong and lasts for hours.

Side note: I spilled an imp of this in my car and it makes a great air freshener!

[Teggy]

I can sum up Ravenous in three words since it doesn't evolve on me:

 

Orange Spice Tea

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

Teggy's right on the money there...

Orange Spice Tea it is.

 

impsniff: freshly peeled oranges, but none of the white bitters or oils/zest from the peel

 

skinsniff, wet: same freshly peeled oranges from the imp, but with a nice strong cup of tea

 

skinsniff, dry and several hours later: some spices have shown up -- chai or pumpkin pie type spices, rich and comforting.... but still... orange spiced tea.

 

i have a lipgloss in Celestial Seasonings... what is it, Mandarin Spice? this is very much like that.

i think i like it, though... it isn't all that exotic or strange, but kindof friendly.

[Anne M.]

I have never smelt red patchouli before, so my first thought when I put some of this one on was jasmine and of course orange! Love the smell

1 hour later: cinnamon and nutmeg and orange. Very spicy and warm.

2 hours later: still spicy, but a lot less orange.

[Miseraya]

In the imp: Slightly sweet, with a hint of something that makes me think "chamomile". Which, of course, makes no sense.

 

On the wrist, wet: Orange blossom, that's what was making me think chamomile. Sweet and delicate to my nose.

 

On the wrist, dry: Getting what must be the red patchouli now.

 

Final Analysis: A nice blend but I don't know if I'd ever wear it. It was less than 50% full, so it's off to the frimp pile.

[Celenth]

In the imp: orange that's well-balanced with spice.

 

Wet: there's a blast of patchouli, I guess, when I put it on -- spicy, warm, and immediately gone. Suddenly my wrist smells exactly like an orange peel, but with a bit of an edge.

 

Dry: orange blossom is primary, it's all orange-orange-orange with a subtle spice to it that grows as it dries. The patchouli is really interesting underneath the orange, it's kind of sexy and noticeable.

 

It has good throw, but it fades pretty darn fast.

 

It's nice, and while I don't think I'll buy a big bottle, I'll use the imp. It's very summer-y (which is nice) but it just makes me feel a little bit like a slutty orange popsicle.

[Taniwha]

I've come to love red patchouli and I adore orange blossom, so how did Ravenous turn so horrid on me? It makes me really sad - I should be liking this, and my husband thought it smelled lovely and spicy, but to me I smell like I broke a bottle of my grandmother's 25 year old perfume over me. I can't really explain any better than that, because I can't make this smell like anything tangible I can identify except stong ickiness. Of course, it also has a wicked stong throw, more so than most anything I can remember.

 

I feel like I've failed this blend, because it really should be wonderful.

[steffanina]

Ravenous-

 

In Bottle: Ooh, I like. It is a little citrusy.

 

Wet: More citrus, very sweet! Definitely orangey.

 

Dry: I don't think this has Dragon's Blood in it but that's what it reminds me of--orange and Dragon's Blood, because it's powdery. It's not as bitter orangey as Tweedledee, but the same impression of orange is there. And I think I detect white musk as well. This is a very pretty scent.

 

Overall: I like.

[maijasu]

Ravenous smells like orange candy on me. But yummy orange candy, not weird orange candy like Kunstkammer. It doesn't really smell that spicy to me, and the red patchouli is smooth and sexy. I really prefer it to the black patchouli in Vixen, which is another orangey scent. I might try layering Ravenous with something gingery, to get a similar feel to Vixen, but lighter and sweeter, although Ravenous works quite well on its own.

 

Straight to the wishlist!

[Britt1975]

Wow...I think I'm going to have to recheck the label! I didn't smell anything resembling oranges! In the imp I smell tabacco and an incense-like spice. But once it goes on, I'm picking up something that smells a lot like vanilla. What I had on didn't have a lot of throw, but lasted forever! I put it on a few hours before bed, and I could still catch a little whiff of it when I woke up this morning.

 

I'll add that I swiped this on the wrist of my husband (his first BPAL ) because the scent was very masculine to me. He liked it, but after a few hours he proclaimed that it had become 'girly.'

[Melantha]

Well, I've discovered that I don't like red patchouli, which really surprises me. Ravenous is overly sweet, and there is a note in there that makes me wrinkle my nose. Oh well.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 2/5

Summarised in a word or two: Evil orange!

 

Pre-review thoughts: I... don't know why I'm testing this. Red patchouli and I are mortal enemies. On the other hand, I love orange blossom.

 

In the imp: Hmm. This is a bit like spiced orange candy. I can detect the patchouli, but it's... nice.

 

On skin, wet: This is surprisingly pleasant. Earthy, spiced orange cream.

 

On skin, dry: This does remind me of Hunger. However, it also reminds me of Snake Oil. I imagine it's the patchouli. It has a similar earthy quality, without reeking of earth itself. The thing is, in SO, that earthiness is balanced by a wonderful, spiced and sugared vanilla. Ravenous lacks those wonderful notes, and is sharper. The orange blossom is faint now, but certainly there. It's... bent, in a strange way I can't explain.

 

Conclusion/Notes: Someone (Shollin, I believe?) said that she thought it smelled like an evil orange. I absolutely agree. It's... odd. Unique and creative, but odd to me.

[girl_android]

This was another frimp, and I'm reviewing to keep me out of mischief!

 

In the imp: Evil oranges does kind of nail it right there, you know ... *grin* It smells of sweet oranges and incense, with something dark and dirty underneath it all ...

 

Wet on skin: It smells much like what it's like in the imp. There's something that's making me think ... medicinal incense, maybe that's just what patchouli does on me (having given other things containing patchouli a go tonight). That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's doing a pretty good job of getting me to like patchouli blends ...

 

Dry: The sweet orange has faded off, and I'm left with incense, but a kind of creamy incense... weird but true. It's not one I'd wear to work, but I'd wear it for a night out, or a night in (:

[mmmitchell]

As a fan of the LUSH scent, Karma, I was certainly primed to like this one, and I do.

 

In the bottle: Yep. That's orange and patchouli. I can smell the soft-blossomy nature of the oranges, very nice. Oddly, this combination almost smells a bit chocolate-y to me, by no means a bad thing.

 

Wet: Stays very true to the smell in the imp, but then the patchouli starts to become warm and musky almost immediately. Very cozy-warm, in a sensual and sexy way. Yum.

 

Dry: This scent stays very true on me. It seems to me to be a less complicated scent than many of the BPAL scents I've tried so far, but is by no means one-dimensional. This is a very nicely balanced blend. Karma is all together a "brighter" scent on me, more complex in a spicy way, and with much more throw and staying power. I still can't decide if I want a big bottle of this......Karma still sort of fills that scent niche for me, but this has an altogether different mood to me...enough that it's not identical. I will most DEFINITELY enjoy my imp, however....thanks Lab faeries!!!

[supremegoddessofall]

Spicy citrus. If it were more spice and less citrus, I might be able to deal with it, but the orange is too overwhelming for me, even though the patchouli is pretty.

[roesmoker]

Origin: a frimp from the Lab. I'd almost given up on ever liking a BPAL patchouli blend nearly as much as I like Karma. But Ravenous has restored my faith! Red patchouli is my friend, it's black patchouli that hates me.

 

Wet: very sweet, like orange candy. Dry-down: still foody, now it smells almost cake-like. Like a cross between cake and incense - kind of like what I thought All Souls would smell like from the description. It's the sweet powdery yum I get from the dry-down in Van Van, French Creole and Black Forest.

 

Verdict: I absolutely LOVE this - a big bottle for sure!! I'll test again to make sure, though, because at certain times of the month my skin makes everything super-sweet.

[talula_fairie]

I ordered this bottle unsniffed, on a whim, and I am so glad I did. I buy this shampoo by Nature's Gate that has patchouli and orange, I'm in love with it, so I knew I'd love this. Well, this doesn't smell at all like the shampoo (the shampoo was a sharp orange and very earthy patchouli) but it still smells great nonetheless.

 

In the bottle: orange tainted with patchouli. I think this is going to smell pretty good on...

 

On my skin: Creamsicle. The orange is softer than I thought it would be -must be because it's orange blossom and not sweet orange oil - and the patchouli is softer as well, must be because it's red vs traditional patchouli. This scent starts off very food-y, but in a good way.

 

After about a half hour or so: The drydown is really amazing. The creamsicle smell backs off and the patchouli takes center stage, but is still laced with orange blossom. I think I almost smell vanilla as well. Oh, it's such a warm, sexy, beautiful, scent. Delicious! It definitely lives up to it's name.

 

This is going straight to my top five

[glass_cat]

I guess I'm just not destined to be able to jump on the bandwagon with a lot of the scents I keep hearing such good things about. I'd been hearing a lot about how absolutely delish Ravenous is, so when the lab frimped it to me I was glad to have an opportunity to try it.

 

While I've yet to find any BPALs that just made me scream in terror because it went really sour on me or something, this is definitely one of the ones that I just wasn't that impressed by. Seriously... it must be the orange thing with this one. Orange always sounds nice in theory to me, but I've yet to really fall in love with any scents that have orange as a dominant note. It also could be that it does smell a little like an orange creamsicle as someone else said. (Bad associations there, as I got dreadfully ill on orange creamsicles as a child and haven't touched them since.)

 

It can't just be my preference though. The boy didn't really care for this one either. He didn't sniff it and make a face or anything, but he did say something to the tune of "I like your others so much better"... so I guess it's official orange + me = blah.

[maribouquet]

First on this is a creamy orange that reminds me of The Sun tarot oil, which I enjoy very much. Sorry to say that 20 minutes on my skin turns Ravenous into a bloated, funkified patchouli.

 

Not for me, but I'm glad I got to try it.

[jade_starlight]

As several others have said: Orange Spice Tea. The orange manages to be obvious without being overpowering, which is nice and not what I've come to expect from anything even remotely related to citrus. However, it's still not really the type of scent that smells good on me, so off to the swaps it goes.

[forspecial_plate]

Mmmm, this is just as good as I was hoping it would be! Starts out with a candy orange scent, with the patchouli starting to emerge. To me it's very much like the patchouli in Snake Oil. Great herbal/orange combination that stays pretty balanced throughout the drying part. The notes stay kind of separate which isn't a bad thing.

 

I'm curious as to how this will age. I think citrus ages faster than other notes but as we know, Snake Oil ages wonderfully, and this reminds me somewhat of Snake Oil so we'll see.

[black_and_bloom]

My first review - I decided to start with a blend with only two components

 

In the imp, I get a whiff of very strong patchouli, but it's the brighter, less earthy variety and it melds beautifully with the orange. I don't get the play-doh or sweet note that other reviewers have mentioned. To me, it's pure, strong and gorgeous.

 

I tended to fade too soon for my liking (or maybe I didn't put enough on - I err on the cautious side with patchouli) but I discovered that streaking it through my hair made it last most of the day. I'll definitely be getting a bottle when my imp runs out!

[oh_the_horror]

This smells so fricken good at first. Rich creamy orange. Maybe even chocolately. But there's something weird about the patchouli that reminds me of cream soda or rootbeer which I don't like. Eventually the orange disappears mostly, except for a kind of sour smell and I'm left with this weird smell that reminds me of an old man who needs a shower and is trying to cover it up with too much expired aftershave.

[ngakmafaery]

...I was also disappointed, because it did start out very promising, with orange and other nice smells, and then eventually it just got powdery, no orange, and completely non-sexy...I couldn"t even see trying it to seduce roleplaying geeks who like orange soda and never get dates...

[ScentedLady]

I got some of Ravenous in a swap and wow! I love it! I am wondering if it must age differently because I am picking up no orange at all. It is an older imp that I was sent. It is a rich, almost oriental, exotic scent. Very spicy, not citrusy at all. It is very exotic and fabulous and lasts all day. I can't stop sniffing my wrists!