The Lion

[jwhxtna]

The dry, glorious warmth of the Savannah. A golden, spiced amber, proud, regal and ferocious.

IN THE IMP: All golden amber with spices. Very thick, heady, warm, and rich.

WET: Hmmm, this is turning kind of powdery on me.

DRY: Meh, ambery powder. I'm so sad.

[tacey]

This Lion comes in extra-sweet, goes to a lovely glowing amber and maybe a hint of dry grasses, and vanishes into the sun. Pretty, but very short wear-length for me.

[mochi227]

Having heard many good things about The Lion, I ordered this in my last imp pack. I've also got a lot of Leo in my chart, so I thought it would be a fit.

 

The amber is predominant and smells to me like a solid amber perfume I used to buy in a little cloisoinne box. It was a single-note, very spicy amber, much like the one found in The Lion. In this blend, I also detect cinnamon and a dry green scent that I would guess is hay.

 

As a scent portrait, The Lion is exactly like the Lab's description: spicy amber--the color of a magestic lion who basks all day in the sun-- with the scent of dry plain grass redolent throughout his fur. However, I had higher expectations for The Lion. He doesn't wear very long, which is a shame. Average throw, but minimal wear for what starts out as a such a pungent scent. Like real lions, The Lion bounds about with exuberance and graceful power until it's time for a cat nap, after which he drifts off to a deep slumber, not to be heard from again until he re-awakens (or is re-applied).

 

2.5 out of 5. Really wanted to love it more, but I will use up my imp

 

edited for grammar

Edited October 30, 2008 by RanaSavia

[jencallisto]

In the imp: Warm and golden. A bit of cinnamon, a bit of sweet.

Fresh on the skin: The same, plus soap. But a nice soap. Golden and a little spicy and maybe a little grassy. Nice.

40 minutes later: Hrm. I think I might be mildly allergic to this. Maybe it's the grasses. But it's making my nose tickle and my eyes feel strange, and I think I can feel a headache coming on.

3.5 hours later: Cinnamon gold, still a little soapy, but it's a soap that I'd like to smell like. I like this.

9 hours later: Unsurprisingly, laundry, fading fast. But a reasonably nice, sweet, warm laundry.

 

Verdict: I'm not usually a huge fan of smelling like soap, but I actually quite liked this. I believe I'll be trying it again, and I expect I'll keep enjoying it.

 

One phrase: golden cinnamon soap.

[woe]

I'm doing a random-imp-a-day where I pick a random imp and try it on. I have so many of them that I rarely get to smell them on the skin, and I do want to give all my imps a try. So today... I closed my eyes and picked The Lion.

 

In the bottle: the Lion is a mixture of different spices. I can definitely tell that the amber is somewhere in there, but it's pretty covered up by a sweet/spice scent.

 

Wet on the skin: Wow. The Lion actually smells warm. I don't know any other way to describe it but that.

 

Three hours later: I too get hints of dry grasses, but it's way behind a sweet, soft scent of amber. The spice notes in it have died down, and I can tell that this scent probably will only last another three hours or so.

 

Over-All: This scent smells good, but is nothing like I expected. It's not the type of scent that keeps your nose glued to your wrist, but it is very pleasant and on the dry down becomes exceptionally subtle.

 

5 mL: Nah. I'd probably only buy the occasional imp of this instead of a 5mL of it.

[Nimthiriel]

Initial impression:

Mm, amber, but with a spicy twist!

 

First on:

This completely disappears on my skin. o_O

 

Dry:

After about 15 mins, this is a skin-close amber with a dry, warm quality to it. It matures into a warm, sensual and almost creamy amber.

 

Finally:

This was lovely to try, but not special enough for me to keep...

[Kakokoritsi]

This is very nice. I love the smell of this. It's strong, spicy, and like eating red hots. It's very Lion-esque. It's aggressive, but somewhat timid. It's shy but with a lot of power. As it stays on the skin, it barely mellows; still remaining as Ambery as before. It's very lovely. One of my favorites from the samples I got. [=

[CynicalPink]

Imp: Spicy and golden. I love a good amber note

 

Wet: Mmmm. Still spicy without making me smell like a demonic ginger cookie

 

Drydown: It's a very nice sunny scent. The amber is still the top note here, but there's a nice, clean dry grass smell underneath when I sniff close to the skin. It's pretty cool

 

Overall: It's nice and all but I can't say I'm in love with it. Not really much my style. Someone who likes a warmer amber scent would get a lot of mileage out of this.

[kjirstiben]

In the bottle, this is sweet, distinctive amber.

 

On my skin, it's amber but without the sweetness.

 

It dries down to a sunny, dry amber scent--a pure amber, making for a nice, clean, skin scent.

 

I like amber quite a lot, but I've got other amber scents and this one doesn't stand out particularly to me. I will hang on to it, though, to see what it does with aging.

 

Recaplet: A pure, dry, unsweetened amber. Slightly blah.

My rating: 2 of 5 (Meh.)

Color Impression: Lion's fur gold.

[Magpie]

In imp - dry, warm, golden and citrus-y, but with a hint of pleasant spice tickling in the afterscent.

 

On - very, very faint. Barely-there, but warm and sweet and dry. Kind of foody. I seem to get on tenuously pretty well with golden amber. It becomes kind of spicily sweet. This reminds me a bit of how Mr Jacquel ends up on me, but less herbal. In fact, I think I compared this to it in my review of Mr Jacquel and decided that the Lion is rather more citrusy. This is definitely not a strong scent: I can barely smell it, and it's quite a bare scent, like down to basics, but is lovely. This is kind of a skin-like scent, but sweet and incensey. I could wear this and nothing else. Not that it's particularly sexy, just that it doesn't smell self-consciously 'perfumey' and smells as I could imagine someone's skin smelling (probably a guy - OMG, I want that guy!) It does drift up around me as I sit, however, so though I can't smell it terribly well close-up it hasn't faded beyond recognition.

 

Soooo warm though, like sun-warmed sand as you sink your toes into it. Lovely for the current cold, dark weather in my bit of Blighty. Completely a keeper. Weirdly, despite the fact that it isn't very 'me', it often comes to the forefront of my mind when deciding what perfume to wear. If I use up the imp, I might even splash on a bottle at some point, though it'll be about halfway up my 'need bottles of' list.

[milo]

Wet, I really didn't like this. Too intense and "perfumey" and the incense and spice were just a little too much. Once dry though, this is THE most glorious spiced amber, very warm and inviting. "Golden", is quite a good one word description of this. This is quite similar to Jacob's Ladder, but with more spice. However, this seems to fade quite quickly on me, whereas JL lasts all day. I'll probably spring for a bottle eventually when my beloved JL is done.

[Persephone76]

The warmest glowiest most golden amber ever, and one of the best ambers I've ever smelled. Perfection.

 

This one shot straight to my top ten list. If you like amber you need this NOW.

[tajana]

Definitely reminds me of a lion! Wet on the skin I can't help but think of the Savannah. (And I forgot about the "savannah" part of the official description until I got back to this thread.) I swear it smells like dry grass, golden and warmed by the sun and by cinnamon. There's a hefty dose of amber, of course, but it comes out more strongly over the grasses after its dried. The spices get really subdued after a while, so it's basically just light amber and dry grass. I prefer my ambers darker than this. Fairly close to the skin, pretty good lasting power. Smells "mature", like this would just seem more 'right' on an older woman than on me.

[UploadedLobster]

Oh wow.

 

This is PERFECT amber. I really don't know what else to say about it, this is a smell that should glow in the sun. Rich and thick and summer-sweet and spicy. Resinous but with absolutely no sharpness. @#$%@# gorgeous.

 

I've never wished so hard that the Lab still sold 10mls. Why haven't I been buying and wearing and raving about this for years?

 

Lobster Rating

better than: anything I can think of right now, holy @#$*

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

Oh noes...I totally thought I'd reviewed this one already but it must have slipped my mind...conveniently, because I probably just didn't wanna come in here and cop to what this amber blend does to me...it turns into dill. I love amber, too, but actually...this one smells like dill pickles to me in the bottle, too. I have no idea why. Amber dill pickles, but still. Pickles.

[Argentwolf]

Predominantly a glorious, warm amber. The grassy scents are dry ones, and smell a little like patchouli and cinnamon, or some other very dry, powdery spice. I agree with other reviewers about this lasting a short time; it's really nice for the hour or so that it's there, but then the Lion is padding off to parts unknown.

[Seismogenic]

I've had good experiences in general with oils including amber, so it seemed about time to give The Lion a try. Bonus points for big cats and the savannah, in general.

 

In the imp: Soft warm spicy amber.

 

Wet on skin: Warm and slightly dusty amber, with some spices. I think cinnamon might be one of them, and possibly also clove, but I may be completely off base.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry has the same balance as wet, though is a little bit fainter. At one hour, the scent is still quite present, though the spices are less of a factor. It's more of a sweet dry amber all by itself now.

 

Five hours later: The spices are either entirely gone or have blended in so well with the amber that I can't differentiate between them. The amber itself is a little dusty, but not at all powdery in a bad way.

 

End of the day: The amber's still there, soft, sweet, and a little dusty. It's fainter than at five hours, but still has a definite presence.

 

Overall: This is a gorgeous warm golden amber, just as advertised. The color association I get here totally matches a lion's fur and the grasses of the savannah (speaking of which, later in the drydown, I thought I got the occasional whiff of the dry grass note I love from Coyote, but it was fleeting enough to only briefly mention). It's not the most complex blend, but it doesn't need to be. It is golden summer on the grasslands, and it is awesome, and I am totally keeping this imp. Possibly upgrading it, too.

[topazphoenix]

This is a warm scent, just as the description says. It's primarily amber with a bit of cinnamon flitting around the edges. It's a thick scent, reminiscent of a thick soft golden pelt of fur, yes, there is something definately feline about this, like a pair of golden amber cat eyes with black flecks in them. I'm going to keep this imp and see if the amber gets any more spectacular with age.

[rayvn1]

I'm a sucker for amber so I had to try this blend! It went pretty powdery the first time I tried it, so I waited a few more months before trying again. I just tried El Dia de Reyes last night and at first this smelled like that oil minus the cocoa. Spicy and warm, with a cinnamon bite to it. going a bit powdery again now that it's been on awhile. Ah well, to the swaps!

[Eucatastrophe]

I love the way this smells, a lovely mixture of sweet with a dash of spice. Unfortunately, it hangs way too close to the skin, I can barely smell it unless I stick my nose to my arm.

 

But I really, really love the way it smells.

[tunedtochords]

I was really looking forward to this, as ambers usually work really well on me. Unfortunately, it's way too masculine. Basically, it smells like clean man. You know, that soapy, musky, not-quite-definable smell. With a hint of, well, amber. It's nice, but, you know, not on me. I need to find a nice boy to hand this off to, because it's definitely the kind of thing I'd like an SO of mine to wear.

[MamaMoth]

This is a fairly straightforward spicy amber. It's a little cinnamon-heavy at first, but that backs off quickly, and settles into a nondescript but very nice general spiciness. It stays clean, and never goes cloying or powdery (as amber can for me sometimes.) At about one hour, it almost gets a orange-pekoe-tea-like quality. Very nice.

 

Unfortunately, it has very little throw, and a very short wear length for me. After two hours, with my nose pressed firmly to my skin, I just get a faint, generic "spice" vibe.

[Stormslegacy]

Imp: Huh, I normally find amber too sweet on it's own, that's not what I'm getting here!

 

Wet: Spicy--not quite what I expected!

 

first Drydown; Arg...there is ONE type of amber that just never agrees with me, and that my skin amps to a sweet sweet sticky stench that clings in a sickly manner...it's the same amber in Hymn to Prosepine and Florence--it's like a cheap vanilla frosting on my skin. There is a LOVELY amber that it's fighting with, strong, spicy and serene. I'm really hoping that the spicy one wins. It's almost astringent at this point though, kinda reminds me of pinesol products.

 

A little while later: Holy cow...the spicy one actually is winning! It smells wonderful now, and the sickly sweet that normally slings on me is dying down to nothing...what I'm getting is a lovely, grounded amber.

 

Final verdict:

I'm surprised...I actually think I might like this one! It's warm, a good scent for winter. I want to try it again in a week to see if it still works O_O I might have a keeper!

 

Edited: Awww, a few hours later the spices lifted leaving that sickly sweet amber smell *frowns* I'm not sure this is a good match for me...

Edited November 7, 2009 by Stormslegacy

[burningbright]

It's a grey, cold, rainy day here, and I just pulled my latest order out of the mailbox. The Lion looks like just the thing to counteract the cold and the gloom.

 

In the bottle: Sweet, gentle amber. No discernible spice.

 

Wet: Faint, slightly ambery.

 

Initial drydown: A nice big dose of warm spice, with just a little amber to hold it together and sweeten it. I like! The sun may not be out, but I'm feeling awake and cheerful about it for the first time all day.

 

Later: Everybody has settled down now, and the sweetness and spice have balanced out. Quite pleasant.

 

I like this, but I'll be sticking with the imp. I definitely wouldn't want to wear it on a warm day--it would just be overwhelming.

[annanwater]

Well, my spidey sense must have been tingling when I put this on the list to wear today. It's dreary and raining heavily outside, and the Lion is the perfect cozy scent to cuddle up with while reading a book and listening to the storm.

 

This is very amber and spice. Cinnamon blast at first, but that settles down after a little while. Great throw for me, but not too heavy or strong. A little more sweet than I like most of my scents, but the spices balance it out nicely. Need a bottle, definitely. I'm a sucker for the spicy scents, and this is a nice twist on what I usually wear.