Highwayman

[FallDaze]

Stand and deliver! Vetiver with gardenia, blood red rose, night-blooming jasmine, a dash of cinnamon and a faint hint of leather.

VETIVER! That's all I got as soon as I opened the imp. This would be the first time for me smelling vetiver, and I have to say, it was a bit strong, and I'm not sure I'm totally loving it.

As I put it on, it's still all vetiver. Not a single hint of the jasmine, rose or gardenia. I do agree that it seems to be a very masculine scent.

After a while, still no pretty flowers Just vetiver, and I've decided that this strong, it's not really my cup o'tea. This was one of those that I was interested in trying, but a bit hesitant about ordering. I have to say I'm very glad that I got this a frimp in my first order instead of ordering it myself. I hope that doesn't make me bad

[neddykapoozle]

i got this as a frimp in my first ever order ( thank you falldaze )

before i even opened the imp i could smell it. reminds me of something familiar, i just can't remember what.

 

In the imp: the vetiver almost knocked me over. i realize this is the same kind of smell i associate with summer camp for some reason, walking around at night in the woods and feeling a dark sort of smokiness. but MY this vetiver is strong. i could get any of the other notes out. hopefully this will be quieter on the skin......

 

wet on skin: VETIVER. it has intensified and even though i put on a teeny little drop on the back of my hand, i could smell it wafting up as i typed. i get no flowers, no cinnamon. just vetiver. it's making me feel a bit sick to my stomach

 

dry-down: it has mellowed out a touch, so i can stand to have it on my skin. but it is still very strong and powerful. a touch of the leather is coming out. this really does give the image of a shadowy character one would meet on a lone road late at night. not inducing as much nausea now........

 

dry on skin. smoothing out slowly but surely. 2 hours later, i go down to sniff, and poof! it's gone. i can smell just a whisper of florals in its wake, but my skin totally sucked it all up.

 

i was curious to try this, but i didn't really think the strength of the scent and description would work on a teenage girl. ands the vetiver is WAY too much for me. i prefer the barest touch. pity i never got the lovely after-wafts during the dry stage. will try the imp again when stomach is not as sensative, but no bottle for me.

 

probably would smell AMAZING on a man...... i just need to find one of those........

[alicia_stardust]

HIGHWAYMAN

 

In the most endearing way possible, I find this to be... vegetatively feral. It's the vetiver. It is the first and last thing I smell and it seems to have an almost gunpowder-like kick to it. It has a very dark green and black smell to it. I can't smell much else besides the vetiver and a touch of leather. I know this would work great on a guy but it's too strong for me!

Edited November 22, 2007 by alicia_stardust

[nappunkitty]

I like the way you put that, alicia--gunpowder kick describes it wonderfully. I'd wanted to try this because I like all the notes in it besides the vetiver, which I had not tried at all yet. I wasn't really prepared for the vetiver.

 

Most florals don't stick very well on my skin (and leather does) so I wasn't too surprised that this skipped the rose and gardenia, although I was a little surprised I couldn't get any jasmine out of this on me. Instead, Highwayman went straight from vetiver (which was WAY too much on me) to a nice saddle leather smell. This was pleasant, but I prefer other notes with my leather , so I'll hold on to this long enough to try it on the hubby, and if he's not a fan, I'll pass it on to a more appreciative home.

[couscous]

I'm an insane fan of vetiver, so there's the rub here. If you hate vetiver and always have, this scent won't change your mind. Don't even buy it or try it.

 

However, if you LOVE Beth's vetiver the way I do- or even tolerate it- this scent is flippin' fantastic. It goes on (from a combination of vetiver and leater, I suspect) smelling like pure motor oil-totally dirty in the way you'd imagine Anchorman's "sex panther" to be.

 

As it dries, however, it becomes almost unbearably sexy and, yes, feral. In fact, I can't think of a time when I've smelled so aggressively sexed. This scent is hyper-masculine on its own, but the effect on female chemistry produces hyper-femininity instead.

 

I could live in this scent. Wonderful job, Beth!!

[ceiswyn]

In the imp: I'm getting rather attuned to the smell of vetiver How I love vetiver... Anyway. I'm mostly smelling vetiver, but there's a hint of leather behind it somewhere. And something just a little flower-sweet, though I can't place what.

 

On the wrist: The bitterness I have come to expect of vetiver, cut through with sweetness (jasmine? It's sharp-sweet), with a rounded hint of leather in the afterscent. I'm doing this analysis with my nose two feet from my wrists, which may give you some idea of the throw.

 

One hour later: This smells of leather, with a hint of vetiver. I disbelieve in the flowers and the cinnamon. I do like leather, though As time goes on it gradually becomes more leathery; six hours after applying I'm still catching odd whiffs of leather, though turning increasingly myrrhy with age. Which is odd, as there's no myrrh in here. Still, not complaining

[Tulliver]

I ordered an imp of this with my first ever Lab order back in August. I liked all the notes in it so I was looking forward to getting it.

 

I hated it.

 

I don't know why I hated it - and I certainly loved most of the other imps I'd ordered to accompany it - but I hated it.

 

However, I tried it again today. And I don't hate it. I don't hate it at all. In fact...

 

It's VERY vetivert and it never loses that even for a second. The florals are SO faint that I often wonder if they're actually there at all, THEN I just get the merest hint of them minus the rose. This is gardenia and jasmine. There's NO rose in here at all that I can detect - even though I know there is. And the leather - which was what put me off last time, I think - is a really well-worn leather. Plenty of scent from that. Perhaps it just needed those few months to settle a little - but I'm so glad I tried it again. This is utterly lovely. Very masculine - although that never stopped me before. I'm converted.

[Iceblink]

Wet: X-treme vetiver.

Dry: X-treme leather.

There are other notes in here?? Really? It's sexy but straight leather doesn't work on me.

[steelxrose]

I bought Highwayman in hopes the cinnamon would come out. All I can say is that this one reminded me of a shoe store. Very... leathery. Manly. Urban cowboy? (Okay, maybe not.)

 

I trust some of the strangeness was the vetiver. Overall, this one was not for me.

[grashopper8]

Anchorman's "sex panther"

 

Hahahahhaa that's hilarious

 

On me, this smells like bug spray, leather, and body odor. No thank you! More power to those of you with the chemistry to make this smell good : -)

 

1 out of 5

[megank4]

Wow. This is the first imp that I wanted to not even try on. For most I give it two tries. Rarely I change my mind after the first try, but it is my policy to try each at least once, in case I pass on one and then wonder "I wonder if it was the ONE?" Anyway, I put this on and it made me cough. Very strong. Very vetiver. Um, is skunk a smell? I give it a 1. Sorry.

[ImperatrixMundi]

Rose, jasmine and leather. Smells a bit strange on me but I am not keen on rose.

 

Smells a lot nicer on my boyfriend. He is indifferent about it but will wear it to please me. He is cute that way I think it is a rather romantic concept and scent and one of the few floral perfumes that can be worn by a man without coming across as "unmanly" to the uneducated nose.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Very VERY smoky vetiver and leather. Almost jerky-ish and savory.

 

Immediately on skin: This scent is all super smoky vetiver and leather. Like it was in the imp, it has an almost savory smoky quality to me, like jerky or other smoked meat. I can’t smell any other notes at all.

 

After a little while: This has settled down to a VERY smoky (but no longer jerky-esque) vetiver and leather blend with a hint of florals. It took over an hour before I got anything floral out of this. I want to say it’s gardenia with a hint of jasmine, but it’s still very overpowered by the vetiver and leather. There’s just a hint of spices as well… very dry and dusty.

 

Overall Impressions: This blend scared me at first; it really smelled almost like beef jerky. The vetiver and leather combo died down slightly and left something a bit more unisex and wearable, though definitely not for me.

[Nightroad103]

In the imp: Vetiver. Lots of it. It's almost too much.

 

Wet on me: Still vetiver, but it softens to something more pleasant. It reminds me of the chardonnay we sometimes drink, even though I'm not fond of chardonnay.

 

Drydown: The leather is coming out. I'm not really picking up the florals.

 

Dry on me: I can smell the cinnamon now, along with the florals. I still get the leather, and the vetiver has calmed to blend nicely with the rest. Smelling my wrist from hand's length (i.e. resting my chin on my fist and smelling it that way), it smells more like gardenia, vetiver, and leather.

 

ETA: 12 hours later, I can still smell it -- it's faded to a nice, soft scent; somewhat floral but not in the manner of one that I can't wear. I think I just might have to buy a 5ml of this when the imp runs out.

 

 

ETA, 01/15/09: Wow, I still think, "God, this stinks" when I first put it on. Ah, vetiver. I love it. It smells awful wet, really, and it does smell like Jordan chardonnay. As it's drying, the awfulness diminishes. It's still got that kick from the vetiver, of course, but the leather and florals are balancing that. It probably doesn't help that I put verbena-mint lotion on this morning, but I don't care. I love this scent.

Edited January 15, 2009 by Nightroad103

[alsatia]

Expectations: Nervous about the jasmine making it have the toilet paper holder scent.

 

In vial: Leather and bacon bits. That was so not expected.

 

On skin, wet: A lot of leather with a mist of indistinguishable flowers. It reminds me of department stores.

 

On skin, dry: Smoky leather. Not much floral, and there's a scent that's both familiar and unfamiliar which I'm thinking might be vetiver. I can't smell cinammon at all.

 

After time: The florals returned after 20 minutes. It's sadly a bit soapy. Moderate throw, and it's strong but not overwhelming. After an hour, it's a smoky, soapy leather.

 

Conclusion: Ick. I suppose it could be worse, but this really doesn't work on me. I might be interested in smelling it on a man, if I had a man to smell it on.

[CrazyPretzel]

I have to admit I didn't actually have the courage to try this one on my skin, as the vetiver was SO. DAMN. STRONG. Vetiver and leather were the two most dominant notes in the imp, quite earthy and bitter. If you really love vetiver I suppose you should give this one a whirl...

[donnatron]

Imp: Vetivert FTW.

 

Wet: VETIVERT! SUPER CRAZY STRONG INTENSE VETIVERT! On me, vetivert smells sort of like freshly turned earth so it's not unpleasant--it's just very strong.

 

Dry: The vetivert is still dominant, with a whisper of leather and jasmine in the back. It's really super, super strong. The longest I let it interact with my chemistry, the less pronounced the vetivert gets and more of the leather and florals peak through. I can smell the barest hint of cinnamon.

 

Throw: Intense.

 

Overall: It's an interesting scent and I can see myself wearing it when I want to project a veneer of control and power. I think it would also layer nicely with some of my other blends. It's actually a lot more gender neutral than I was anticipating. Not necessarily a huge hit with me, but a nice surprise.

[fairnymph]

Sniffed in imp: Gritty, pungent, smoky vetiver over plasticky leather. Revolting!

[eyeska]

As much as I wanted this to work on me, I'm sorry to say that it smelt almost exactly like Off spray on me. After ten minutes, the throw dropped, and it became Off with leather, but still mostly bug spray. It's not even entirely a BAD smell, but it's not particularly pleasant, and it's definitely not me.

 

I think I am another person who cannot do vetiver. Boo.

[Tilby]

I had high hopes for this one, the description was so romantic! It is a very alcoholic scent, I got none of the rose or cinnamon. The leather whips me, and then fades as quickly as it came. It reminds me of something my Grandfather wore, something a little Old Spice about it. I wanted to love it, but I don't. I will save it to try again later.

[diamondstars]

This smells like the charred remains of a BBQ..not wearable at all I'm afraid!

[innocent]

I tested this out of a friend's imp order... by spilling it on myself. To make matters worse this one really does not work on me. I thought all the notes sounded good, but on my skin they smelled like a strange cross between cheap liquor and ash.

 

Fortunately my friend didn't much like the scent either - so I don't have to feel -too- guilty about spilling her imp.

[stillalive]

This one was so-so, but my brother really liked it. It smells very leathery with a little bit of a floral scent. My brother said he thought it smelled a bit like Whip, and I can smell the resemblance.

[marared]

Lab frimp!

 

In the imp: there's a lot more than "faint hint" of leather! Whew!

 

Freshly applied: the vetiver immediately starts fighting for dominance. Cannot yet smell the rose, the gardenia, or the cinnamon.

 

A few minutes later, I can pick out the rose and the gardenia. The cinnamon starts out at the very tail end of the aroma, hiding underneath everything else and you'd never know it was there at first, but it slowly pushes it way forward as time goes by.

 

Thankfully, the rose and gardenia don't dominate, because they're normally too heady for my liking, but here they soften the edge of the leather and the vetiver.

[hkhm]

imp: wet, fresh gardenia.

 

wet: whoa! vetiver gardenias! so that's what they'd smell like... very strong throw and wearlength on my skin.

 

dry: leathery gardenia. i could see this scent being a hit on the right person, it's very unique.