Happy Hanukkah! Thank you Smell Bent for not forgetting the Heebs! For Holiday 2010, Smell Bent has launched 5 limited edition scents. Dr. Dreidel is one of them. Dr. Dreidel is a spicy “green” scent. It’s heavy on angelica and clove-like pimento. It summons up the ancient spirit of...Drakkar Noir.
I’m going to be blunt. I really don’t care for Dr. Dreidel. It’s a spicy, clove-like scent with “wet” cedar woods. It’s very masculine and a bit old-school. It’s hot and cold. I’m one of those people that just spritzes unknown scents on my skin. No blotters. I’m a fragrance risk taker. I spritzed on Dr. Dreidel and wished that I didn’t. It isn’t that I dislike it, it’s that I don’t want it on my skin. It reminds me of a simplified version of Drakkar Noir, a fragrance I’d never wear on my skin. Dr. Dreidel opens up with a much more alcohol than any other Smell Bent scent I’ve ever tried. This gives it that cologne vibe. Paired with nose-numbing spice and woods, this makes me think of Drakkar Noir. I don’t mind Drakkar Noir. It’s a scent that defined 1980’s men’s fragrances; it’s a classic. But, I wouldn’t wear it. I tried talking my husband into sampling Dr. Dreidel for me. He’s not as a nice as me. He said he wasn’t going to wear something that smells like “rotting chrysanthemums and damp clove cigarette butts“. You know, his description of Dr. Dreidel isn’t so far off. Smell Bent Dr. Dreidel smells like damp cedar and smoked clove cigarettes. Or at least what I remember of clove cigarettes…RIP.
My description may seem bad, but I can see how people, men mostly, could like Dr. Dreidel. When I smelled it, I thought of my grandfather. He’d dig this stuff. In mind this is the most “grandpa” fragrance ever. If you like Drakkar Noir, then seriously you may like Dr. Dreidel. I keep mentioning the big DN, Dr. Dreidel isn’t exactly like it. It just really reminds me of what little I remember of Drakkar Noir. It’s herbaceous and spicy (clove, allspice, mace, “hot” spices) with lots of cedar. This description sounds almost wearable. But put all of those notes in a damp ashtray…OK I’ll stop now. For a Smell Bent fragrance, I didn’t think Dr. Dreidel in the EDT form lasted very long, but that’s cool. I didn’t want to wear it very long.
Notes listed include freshly carved hiba wood, angelica root, and pimento leaf.
Give Smell Bent Dr. Dreidel a try if you like hot/cold fragrances or scents like Guy LaRoche Drakkar Noir EDT, Frederic Malle Angiliques Sous La Pluie EDP, Aramis Classic EDT, Classic Royall Spyce “Lotion”, and/or i Profumi di Firenze Spezie di Medici EDP.
The EDT (what I’ve reviewed) retails for $45. The perfume oil retails for $20. Dr. Dreidel can be purchased at Smell Bent.
So, I’m starving myself today so I don’t feel so bad later eating fried starches. I hate the years when Hanukkah is so close to Thanksgiving! I feel so fat and guilty for weeks. Hmm…is that from the food or a guilt-trippy mother? Don’t you just love the holidays!
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Happy Chanukah! Sorry you smell like a 1980s teenage boy today.
I hope that you and your family are enjoying Hanukkah. I can’t do anything until the weekend.
I’m going to go take my Trans Am and try to pick up a hottie in Giorgio for the prom 🙂
This fragrance might work for me. Clove and hot spices work on my skin, hence my love for Serge Noire!
Hanukkah has getting tons of dedicated frags these days. Smell Bent has a few, DSH has Hanuakkah Cannelle…I wonder if there will be high holiday or festival fragrance next?
Stick with your Serge Noire 😉 This one is very masculine. My skin does do not do clove well which is a shame because I love the smell of clove!
DSH has been doing holiday scents. I think she had a Hanukkah scent for the past few years. I was so happy when she did a LE Nowruz scent, hands down the only holiday that I care about. The fragrance was pretty but not what I think of when I think of a springtime celebration. It was very rich, gourmand with that special DSH touch of spice.
Do we want to smell like holidays? Do we want to smell like festivals? I really don’t know.
Yucko! You know, the notes list promises something that the perfume itself doesn’t seem to deliver. Too bad.
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I wasn’t expecting much with the notes listed. I’m a bit finicky when it comes to angelica and clove. Hiba wood is hit or miss. It’s a smoky wood. It either be amazing or smell like a damp ashtray. I do think a few men would want to wear this.
[…] allspice in there, and I like that. It’s really pleasant, and works well as a skin scent. EauMG’s review mentions Drakkar Noir, but I don’t get that at all: DN was the big trumpety Aromatic […]
I hate to say this, but I haven’t found a Smell Bent scent that I would wear regularly. I’m a sprayer like you, and I had to scrub off a few of them, because I really couldn’t bear them on my skin. Thanks for the warning about Dr. Dreidl. Have you tried Bollywood or Bust? It’s the nicest one yet, but probably still not FB-worthy. I do still have many Smell Bents to try befre I send them off to someone else.
That’s fine to say! We all have an opinion. For every scent we can’t wear, there is a person out there that loves it! That’s what makes all of this fun. But, maybe we should learn our lesson about blind spritzing 😉
I like Tok’yo Mama and I typically dislike citrus, but it is very well done. I also loved the LE One, but I have a thing for cardamom.
Dr. Dreidel was terrible on me. It is very masculine so maybe a man may have more luck with it but it wore so “green” and green in a swampy, damp way. Many reviewers picked up on the spices. Not me. It was a sour swampy mess. The spices would of really helped it all out.
I have not tried Bollywood or Bust. The notes sound amazing! I love rose and sandalwood. Sounds beautiful.
[…] winter, Smell Bent makes a “dreidel” fragrance. I remember Dr. Dreidel from 2010. It was a spicy green perfume that reminded me of Drakkar Noir. This one is really […]