The Lion

[ouch!]

THE LION

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

 

After having worn this imp over a 2 week period, I can safely say I LOVE it! When I smelled it first I thought, it smelled like a spicy herbal tea. But as it dries the warmth comes out of the scent (The Amber).

 

It's definatley got something that reminds me of cinnamon, but it's much nicer, because I actually don't like wearing cinnamon.

 

When it's dry it almost goes kind of plasticly sweet on me, which I love. It's that same sort of sweetness that Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo Has. But an Amber sweetness, not a bubblegum sweetness.

 

It's absolutely gorgeous and I will be on the lookout for a bottle in the swaps topics for sure!

 

LOVELY!!!

 

[jade_starlight]

It's kind of difficult typing with my wrist plastered to my nose, but I'm trying. I absolutely love this. It's very warm and golden, with sort of a soft spiciness. It's a very comforting scent, and brings to mind the image of sitting in a window seat wrapped up in your significant other's arms and watching the sunset.

 

And how the labbies knew that I would love this and decided to frimp it to me, I will never know. But I am very thankful that they did.

[elfmaiden]

Warm and spicy and amazingly bright on my skin. It's a very golden scent and although I've been familiar with amber before, this is a nice intro. The smell is incredibly wearable!

 

Jenn

[elbow]

The Lion had joined them while this was going on: he looked very tired and sleepy, and his eyes were half shut. `What's this!' he said, blinking lazily at Alice, and speaking in a deep hollow tone that sounded like the tolling of a great bell.

 

The Lion is very mild on me, pleasant and a little odd. I can smell the amber with a bit of faint spiciness, and after a while the sandalwood comes out, as does the "medicinal" effect others have mentioned. After some head-scratching, I finally figured out what it reminds me of: A&D Ointment. It brings back memories of Mom taking care of my baby sisters in the early '80s, which is not a bad thing... but as I said, a little odd.

[The Perfumed Ferret]

I just spilled an imp of this on me, so now is the time to review it.

 

In the imp: Big Golden AMBER!!!, lots of warm spices.

 

 

On: Celestial Seasonings Bengal Tea, lots of warm and sunny amber, clove, cardamom, saffron, yellow spices. This is what I picture a lazy Sahara sunset to be.

 

Pretty, but not for me.

[lapillus]

In bottle: thick golden sunlight

Sweet, sweet amber and some spiciness (but not any cooking spices I’m spotting, something else, higher in the nose), maybe something a bit grassy.

 

Wet: much like the bottle but the notes spread out a bit. Smells a bit like sweet cat (as much as my allergenic nose could tell what that smells like. Maybe a touch of honey too.

 

Dry: spices up nicely and blends into one smooth golden glow. Not as strong as I was expecting

 

Later: fades more than I would expect but stays true while it does so.

 

Summary: Luckily, unlike real lions which I’m even more allergic to than house cats (yes, I do know this from experience) I’m not at all allergic to this, however it doesn’t have have the kind of staying power I like. Will probably end up trading.

[filigree_shadow]

This smells like a lovely, rich amber, softly spiced and wam.

 

I remember wearing it this past summer one day when it was hot outside, and it smelled a lot spicier then. I thought it smelled like cinnamon then, but I'm not getting any cinnamon from this today. Just thick amber, but it's soft. Not powdery at all.

 

It's very pretty, and when I wore it this summer I remember thinking it was great for the summertime. I didn't think a warm scent would be good in the summer, but it was perfect.

[lightgatherer]

This scent is a faint one - for about 20 mins after I put it on, I couldn't detect any scent at all. Once the scent started to come out, I definitely liked it - golden, warm, and slightly spiced. I thought it was a perfect match for the day I wore it - a gloriously sunny Indian summer day with a nip of fall that called out the spice craving. Unfortunately, this scent is so subdued I could only smell it when I smashed my nose into my wrist. I think I'll slather it the next time I wear it to see if that helps.

[The_Witching_Hour]

In the bottle: This smells like spice to me - the cinnamon and clove were more prominent, with a little musk and resin backing it up, and a faint sharp green note, probably from the vetiver.

 

Wet: The 'cinnamon' of the amber is just a component instead of saying "Here I am!!!"........I like it, but I have to give it a chance to dry and let it waft on me a little longer before forning my final opinion.

 

Drydown: He finally settled down and reminded me so much of the Savannah, or dry heat of the desert area of Arizona I've come to love and crave so much daily. I vacation there once a year and thankfully, The Lion will give me the opportunity to reminesce of my favorite place the remaining 50 weeks out of the year.

[twistygirl]

Oh, my darling beloved Amber. If you were a man, I'd marry you. Scratch that - if you were a woman, I'd move to Canada and marry you, too. And this is - AMBER. Perfect, glorious, golden, rich, brocaded amber. I can't for the life of me figure out what spices are in the mix, but whatever they are, they blend gloriously. It's a surprisingly soft scent, and might need some reapplying to get me through an entire evening. The amount of throw is rather subtle, too, but not so subtle as to be weak. No, this is a proud Lion, one who knows its power and does not have to beat you over the head with it. Definitely one of my favorite BPALs, and that's saying something.

[Antaria]

Well ... I thought the amber would make this one of my new favorite scents. But no ... even after drydown this is like curry on me. Curry + some other spices - stuff I really love for cooking, but not on my skin.

 

Sorry Lion ... we are not going to be friends, but I promise I will think of you when cooking my next curry!

[presotm]

I wish amber liked me. I absolutely love it wet, but as soon as it starts to dry down, it goes to thumping-headache-inducing powder.

 

Not surprisingly, The Lion is no exception.

[xoe]

sweet, spicy, ambery goodness!

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

The Lion has been on my wishlist for ages, so I finally ordered an imp. I love amber most of the time, although moreso when blended with some notes than others.

 

Oh wow, I love this! Wonderful spices, cinnamon especially. Slightly dry, but in a really nice way, like a spice cabinet. This is Bengal's sleepy big brother, as warm and comforting as a cup of the finest chai.

[SeaLady]

Oh, drat!

 

On me, this smells like warm, sweet amber...and harvest crisp crackers? I'll have to try it again. Smells good (and makes me hungry), but not sure how I feel about it.

[dorothy humbird]

Something about this scent reminds me of a spring flower. Possibly lilies? But, not floral-smelling at all, because it's too warm and soft around the edges.

There is a bit of a spice here, but I don't think "SPICY!" when I sniff my wrist. Just, "mm... sweet and warm..."

 

Definitely will hold on to this.

[jainabee]

While I rather have an aversion to the sweetness of amber, I was willing to give this a try.

 

Oh! That sickly sweetness. But, knowing how the BPAL scents tend to mutate and fade, I was curious to smell what would happen next.

 

The next time I remembered to sniff at my wrist, The Lion had settled down like glowing ambers of warmth. The sweetness had receded to a dreamy shadow.

 

My sweetie liked it, too.

[Browneyes]

This is very faint, slightly spicy, but in a sort of herb/spice cabinet kind of way. Not unpleasant, but not for me.

 

Edit. On the man, this is very sexy. Definately herbal amber and spice! I like it on him!

Edited March 3, 2008 by Browneyes

[nightchild80]

In the Imp (wet): The first scent that strikes is a tarty wave of spice. The warmth of amber comes in smooth right after and leaves this soothing warmth in my chest.

 

On facial cotton (dry): Shoot! The first mental image that hit me was Little India's incense shops. It mellows out, but I cannot shake off that whiff of back-of-the-shop incense. I think it's the amber.

 

On me: Damn damn damn, it was screaming Little India for the first 10 mins. Guess this is where it's 'ferocious'. It does fade off and offer this mental image of a slumbering lion. After 15 mins, the scent lingers into a sweet spicyness, which is interesting and I would've liked that note to have more prominence, but it's very soft. Not for me at all.

[modernsaints]

This starts off bright, cinnamon/clove spice on me, with a slight back of sweetness. Over time, the spice gets spicier, the back gets more... meh. I think I must come to terms with the fact that amber just, well, bores me. But I can see how this would be glorious spicy goodness on... someone else. Sigh!

[porcelina]

dry, spicy amber, just as advertised. me and amber are likethis, so i love it. mmm.

[wikkidraven]

the lion instantly reminded me of morocco, and the let down i had from that scent. i got what is apparently a very aged testable of this, and with these spicy blends my nose seems to be expecting something...more. the lion is exactly as described, a spicy amber that maybe could benefit from a bit of layering to really bring out the blend.

 

as it dries though, it is going very powdery. the throw is fairly impressive too, but i hate smelling like a nappie.

[cvelis]

In the vial

Spicy, almost cinnamony amber

 

On me

A spicy amber. I like it! I'm really digging the Tea Party scents. Very well done and interesting. This scent is not overpowering and a nice change from the florals I've been trying out.

 

Final verdict

I'll keep my frimp for now and see how it goes.

[mrsveteran]

In the imp: Hm. It's very, very faint. I can actually barely smell it at all! The amber smells like a little bit of caramel.

 

Wet on skin: Wow, I really had to slather this on to get much of a sense of it. Still caramel with a bit of cinnamon or clove or perhaps pipe tobacco.

 

Drydown: The amber comes out and merges with the cinnamon/clove so that the spice doesn't stick out so much. Definitely a warm, golden scent as other reviewers have mentioned. The scent of baby powder starts to come out after awhile, as does a lovely sort of green grassy scent with almost the faintest hint of sage.

 

After an hour: It's almost like a really nice pipe tobacco, but with a delicate feminine touch. The amber, spices, and grassy scents are perfectly blended into a coherent whole. It's really lovely.

 

Throw: Very faint. I can barely smell it.

 

Verdict: This is a lovely scent, but it's not really "me." I would have loved it when I was a teenager, though. That's not to say it's a juvenile scent by any means, just that I liked ambers, baby powder, and so forth when I was that age and while I can still appreciate them, I don't care to wear them. Swap pile, but not without some regret.

[spd]

This is definitely my favorite smell from bpal.

 

Although, sometimes, I tend to relate smells to situations, more than the actual smell of the oil. This is a smell my lover introduced me to... gave me as a gift. And often when in deep, wonderful conversations, we would stop, put on the oil, to help add to the mood. Now, just the smell of it, when I apply, reminds me of those special times. That makes the smell even more enticing and beautiful to me.