Cerberus

[Fefferbella]

... A deep, rumbling scent, warm, soft and as cozy as a dog by a hearthfire, but with a fierce and feral soul: deep chocolate, deeper musks, with a dash of fig, bittersweet walnut, and the wild essences of juniper berry, cubeb and rum.

Musky, sexy oranges and pine needles.

With a slight boozy undertone. This is very sexy... The cocoa note isn't nearly as strong as I expected, leaving a bitter-sweet memory of hotchocolote amongst the other notes. Edited January 26, 2006 by Shollin

[t_for_tau]

Got a 5ml of this on spec, cos of the description....

 

In the bottle: omfg alcoholic cherry coughsyrup! *wipes eyes*. Girlfriend is going to HATE THIS so much.

 

On me initally: mellowing cherry cough syrup. Hmm. We shall see.

 

After a bit: YUM. Walnut and chocolate and musk.

 

Ok, so this is a keeper after all. Great relief. I couldn't have stood that cherry for much longer...

 

Sadly it doesn't last long on me, though.

[PeshaRocha]

This is a wonderfully warm, comforting scent. Sweet but not too sweet, and slightly musky. This actually smells to me like a clean dog! If you've ever had a beloved dog who loved to curl up on the sofa with you, this is what it smells like. We are dogless at the moment, and that makes this scent doubly good.

[filigree_shadow]

Cerberus is the King of Morph.

 

The first time I tried it, when I put it on I thought "whew, where's that spice coming from?" I didn't think I was going to like it. After about ten minutes it changed into a deep, rich, almost earthy scent. Slightly bitter but not overly so. Intriguing. Dry, it mellowed out into a soft chocolate figgy scent with just a little hint of spice to it.

 

I I liked it, so I decided to wear it again. This time, immediately after I put it on I thought "Lemons?! What the --?" I even checked the imp to make sure I hadn't picked up the wrong one. Okay... same imp, totally different scent than the first time. As it started drying I could tell it's not actually lemon, it must be the juniper berry. Then my beloved fig started to come out, and I got a tiny bit of chocolate. Half an hour later it turned into a barely bitter but sweet warm fig scent

 

Somehow Cerberus manages to smell sweet and deep at the same time. It smells nothing at all like my dog, but it evokes the same types of feelings -- it's cozy and friendly and comforting. And I think that's what Beth was going for, so yay! It worked!

[Miss Lynx]

I'd been wanting this one for a long time, but sadly, once I finally got my hands on it (and a full 5 mL at that!), it wasn't really what I expected.

 

I don't see any citrus listed in the description, but that's what this smells most strongly of to me. There's a really strong, sweet, lemon-drop type scent that overwhelms everything else. It's a bit like the lemon verbena note that's in Shadow and The Great Sword of War, but alas, it doesn't fade out as fast as either of those. I can only just barely make out any chocolate, musk or any of the other notes. Mainly this scent just smells like lemon candy.

 

Eventually, on my wrists at least, it does fade down to a sort of chocolate-musk that's more what I'd expected of this scent, but it takes quite a while, and the scent itself has nearly faded away by that point. In the crooks my arms it lasts longer, but stays lemony all the way down.

 

*sigh* I really wanted to love this one, but I get nothing deep, warm or doggy fronm it. Oh well. Maybe it will work on Kettu.

 

Grade: B-

[Meg]

In the bottle: A tart green fig smell, along with bitter walnut.

 

Wet: Juniper comes out, alongside the walnut. It becomes less foody and more green.

 

Drydown: As it dries down, I get mostly bitter walnut and a little bit of chocolate in the background There's a really herby quality to it, and an acidic smell from the juniper. This is how I discover that juniper hates me, and the feeling is entirely mutual. There's also an undefinable spicy scent from the cubeb. Finally when all the rest has gone, I'm left with vanilla-ish dark musk.

 

Overall: Not a winner for me. I thought it would be foody, but it's really not that kind of vibe. I get a lot of bitterness from the walnut, and not much sweetness. It's a bit of a headachy sort of smell, and I'd describe it as really dark and pretty masculine. I bring out the spice quite a bit as well as the juniper, and generally it makes me think of a marinade I'd use on meats or the smell of a curry spice-mix rather than a perfume. Really not for me.

[lilerthkwake]

A friend of mine tried this scent first, and I remember her being kinda W. T. F. about it. But based on the description, I HAD to try it.

 

All I can say at first pass (smelling it in the bottle and when I first applied it to my skin) is HELLOOOOO LICORICE. And medicine cabinet. Oh my GAWD. Let's see how it dries down...

 

...

 

Slowly drying down. A little less eye-stinging anise, a little more berry and rum. And fig. The fig is LOUD.

 

...

 

Okay, the more it dries, the more I get some chocolate out of it. And the more laidback it becomes. The rum is intoxicating. It's still a pretty BOLD scent, but it's bold like a really strong, really sweet cocktail. Like the way I make my rum-and-cokes. I usually knock folks flat with my coke-to-rum ratio (it's because the rum is sweet... I can't gauge it's presence because it hides in the sweet of the coke... but I've been told folks can SMELL the licker in my drinks).

 

It's funny--I've noticed that the LOUD SCARY scents become quite mellow on me. I'm glad I decided to take this imp off of someone else's hands. I really like it a lot.

 

*sniffs wrist again* OH HELLZ YEAH. I smell like the sort of fruitcake you WANT to get at Christmas time.

[batsy]

In the vial: boozey-woozey chocolate oranges

 

On the skin: Musky, like a warm wet dog. Very comforting. As the chocolate dies down, the fig/walnut/juniper berries explode and remind you of running through a dense forest during a rainstorm. It's really a three-level blend, changing as it dries. I wish I had more!

[tarotgirl99]

Extremely complex and interesting on application--I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. But within about ten minutes, it morphed into a golden fig, getting more and more figgy (as opposed to jiggy) as time went on. There's a golden quality to this as well, and occasionally a fang of chocolate or musk mini-bites my wrist. Then it fades to fig again and all is golden loveliness.

 

It took me about two months to try this from the time I received it. Now I'm wondering what took me so long.

[absinthetics]

I adore Cerberus. Ehem, with that said, i'll explain why.

 

Cerberus is sort of mysterious. As you can see here, there's a dichotomy. Some people say it smells like lemon drops, some like chocolate covered cherries. That mystery was the reason i /had/ to try it. That, and I like the myth of Cerberus, and I wanted to see what a hell-warmed doggie smelled like. ^^

 

I suppose she put in the lemon for the ascidic nature of.. mmm, sulfurous deps? Burned by fire? I don't really know, but it was an interesting spin.

 

I wanted it to smell more chocolaty than it did, but I'm taken in by the mystery. It would only smell like lemon to someone who wasn't paying attention... but as it wafts, and warms, you get this warm, deep scent from it, sometimes there's no lemon at all. But it's like a spectre, once you think you smell it, when you try harder, it goes back to lemons. It's very, very strange.

 

But, the lemon itself is charming, and not too sharp. And when you do get to enjoy that strange smell.. well, this is definitely a wrist-sniffer.

[edenssixthday]

Cerberus is a gorgeous, autumnal woods scent. It's warm, spicy, and full of flavor. Only lasts about 2 hours on my skin, but those two hours are wonderful. It’s hard to describe this scent – it’s similar to Samhain (without the patchouli), similar in spiciness to Gingerbread Poppet, and similar in warmth and sweetness to Harvest Moon. Yet it’s different than all of them, too. It’s very woody, and once I knew what the notes were, it was easy to pick out the chocolate, walnut, fig, juniper berry, etc., but before I knew what notes were in it, it just smelled like Fall to me. Here’s the weirdest part about the scent – it is a GORGEOUS scent, but I’d rather eat a salad with dressing on it that tastes like this smells as opposed to using this as a perfume. Does that make sense? It has the perfect gourmet-salad dressing scent and every time I reapplied this scent today, it made me want to eat salad. Yeah, strange, I know. It’s the first time I’ve associated BPAL with a salad dressing. But seriously – chocolate, walnut, fig, rum… it sounds like it would be delicious over a dressing of dark leaves, sautéed onion, and roasted red pepper, doesn’t it?

[ladytaga]

I must say I have neglected this scent for a while..I was digging through my box to sell off some of the le's I have hung on to just to because I want to have them. ANYWAYS....YUM..

It is very chocalatie but it has a buttery boozy (but not in a bad way most boozy smells make me sick due to living w/ someone w/ a drinking problem) smell to it as well. I have had my nose to the crook of my arm since I have applied it.

It does start off as a cherry cough syrup and the cherry does sneak back.

like others have said it morphs ALOT

[gypsybaby1]

I confess that I really wanted this strictly on name alone. I've had a love affair with Cerberus since I was a little girl. What a badass puppy he is!!

 

And in a scent, I really, *really* wanted to love it just as much as the myth.

 

Unfortunately in the imp, smells like... Cherry cough syrup? Guh...

 

Wet, I'm getting the juniper... After googling cubeb, I found out it's a pepper berry... And I'm definitely smelling something off. Definitely not what the image of Cerberus invokes.

 

Completely dry, woof woof, hot and peppery with a side of juniper thrown in for good luck! Where's the chocolate? Where's fig, walnut and most of all, Where's the rum??? It's not a bad scent, more fitting of a man.

 

I'm meeting my cousin this weekend. I'll see if he likes and more importantly, if his wife likes... if not, it may wind up with my brother once he comes home.

Edited July 20, 2006 by Gypsybaby

[smallvoice]

Words cannot express how much I love this scent. It is spicy and almost resinous; full of deep cocoa and and earthy fig (I'm assuming). It warms beautifully on my skin, and I'm not getting a lemon drop scent at all. I'm also not getting any Gingerbread Poppet vibes, which is a Very Good Thing. There's something really primal about this scent. It's gorgeous, and it mellows out to a lovely skin scent. Much love!

[ND¢]

In the bottle: Something dark and rich with a light citrus note.

 

On me: Lemon for a minute, what I think of as 'Lemon Pledge' but is probably something less complicated, after which a darker undertone begins to assert itself while the lemon is still in the foreground. Like cocoa powder, but unsweetened. Then I get a hint of musk and what I think (?) is the fig? At that point it really starts to seem unified as a scent and is giving off a non-contradictory whiff of some light, lemony-fig plant in the forest and the darker components of the forest itself (not a dirt smell, just a darker smell.) The musk doesn't dominate but adds a nice fullness; I would say that cocoa/walnut are more present than musk.

 

There was something I thought was honeyish coming out around half an hour... I suppose it might be rum. It doesn't seem to smell like rum, just richer. Definitely green, and the darker base managing not to overwhelm that is interesting. The light planty notes make it have a vibrancy (energy?) that most of the oils I've tried lately have been lacking. What I would love to do with a few drops of this is put them in an oil and use it, diluted, on myself when I wanted more energy and vitality.

[nightbird]

I will admit that I wanted to try this scent simply because my hunter character in World of Warcraft's main pet is a hyena named Cerberus.

 

it's a very strong citrus scent - it screams ORANGES in the imp and on my skin.

 

after a little while I can smell cocoa coming out faintly in the background. very faintly.

 

I'm not too big on fruity scents, so this poor little guy is headed for the swap pile.

[juniperus]

Bottle: like rum cake, the rum, fig, and walnut are prominent

Wet: I can detect the juniper berry, and a hint of the chocolate, now, as well

Dry: the musk appears, this has much less of a food-y feel now. warm and complex.

Later: the complexity of this reminds me of Shub, not in scent but in personality. this is complicated and warm and strangely familiar...very interesting.

[supremegoddessofall]

All juniper. The foody scents are completely submerged. Too bad.

[Voleuse]

On first application, this smells like medicinal cherry syrup. Luckily, after a moment. the chocolate kicks in. The cherry morphs into a sweet berry, though the overall blend doesn't lose its medicinal note--I think the rum has gone wrong on me. In the end, it's a syrupy concoction that might smell beautiful, but it definitely doesn't on me. Alas!

[Alchemy21599]

I received an imp of this scent in a swap with a lovely Forumite

 

In the imp: spicy citrus and a hint of musk.

 

Wet on skin: very lemon-y Not bad, but not what I was expecting. After a few minutes a sour note, perhaps musk, started to overwhelm everything else.

 

Dry: this blend morphed into a pleasant spicy, light musk. While this scent isn't "me" I am happy that I had an opportunity to try it.

Edited January 6, 2007 by Delphinine

[Naamah_Darling]

This was a limited edition blend, and it is a helluva scent. Thick, dark, and dirty, foody but filthy in the bottle, it smells like rotten dog butt. I know this is going to be good, because fig and chocolate, both of which are forefront here, always reek until they get on the skin.

 

On, it blows up into this huge scent, all chocolate and musk and savage, savage juniper and cubeb. This smells like a particularly foul and pestilential liquor the likes of which might well poison you.

 

That said, I like it. It's very dirty, though the juniper is distinct, and the cubeb lends a tangy, peppery scent that, with the juniper, give this a distinctly camphor-like aroma. It is vaguely medicinal.

 

Potent would be a good word for this blend. It's either going to find something to screw, or go off into the corner and noisily lick itself. Either way, it's not polite, and it's not possible to ignore.

 

Naturally, I adore it.

[QueenFae]

This is a very unique blend. It's very bitter on my skin. The chocolate note is a very dark, unsweetened note, like baker's chocolate. The juniper berry note is right underneath, and is not a particularly sweet berry note, but rather evil smelling. I can also pick out the deepness of the bitter walnut note, with adds a rich, nutty quality.

 

This is quite strong, with a lot of throw. Unfortunately, it's just not reacting with my chemistry very well, and it smells quite strange on me. A lovely idea just the same.

[kitsunenotsuki]

I really love this scent.

 

In Bottle: I smell chocolate and rum and a little fig. It's very sweet and heady.

 

Wet: Lovely....I smell rum and figs. Oh, so nice.

 

Dry: I smell juniper berry, figs, and something else. I think it might be chocolate mixed with the musk.

 

It's so nice. I think I'm going to wear this to a party I'm going to this weekend. It's very lovely.

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: Chocolate covered cherries!

 

On Skin: Cocoa, cherries, musk and something slightly plasticky. And a hint of olive juice?

 

On Drydown: Musky, slight cherry smell, the slightest hint of olive juice, mild pepper and something else.

 

Verdict: Not for me. Sad. Because in the imp it smelled SO lovely.

[greymatter]

In the imp, it smelled nice. Like a slightly alcoholic cocoa drink. On my skin, though, it was a different story. It turned into something sour and sharp and I just didn't care for it at all. Sad.