absinthetics

I can't get enough of this scent. I generally do not like jasmine, but I am an avid foodie and I do like some of the softer jasmine blends. This jasmine note is soft and pretty and the vanilla makes it this creamy sugar that is just the right type for me to handle the jasmine here. I am really glad that I went out on a limb to try this. I'll probably be picking up a few more bottles, I was truly surprised by how great it was.

I do get the impression that this is primarily saffron. It doesn't last all that long on the skin but the saffron note is delightfully complex. I've been looking for a saffron heavy scent for a while and this definitely...well, just wow. I can't wait to age it.

With so few notes I was curious to explore what complexity Beth had mixed in here. And it is surprisingly complex. I love both of these notes, and honestly they both shine. The Chrysanthemum note is like the Tea atmo from a few Halloween's ago I believe.

This scent is gorgeous. The sweet, creamy, spicy assuages my foodie desires...but I love lilac. And the touch of lilac in this is subtle and just utterly beautiful.

Golden amber, juniper berry, white sage, leather, cardamom, and black pepper. I'm still waiting for this scent to dry down and hoping the golden amber is a bit more prominent however for the most part this is a heavy juniper berry blend. The leather and black pepper make it an equally dark scent. I can't really discern white sage at this point but I think it blends in with the juniper berry in a fascinating way.

White sandalwood, opium tar, tobacco leaf, and white amber. This is a gorgeous scent. I would say that all of the notes are equally represented both wet and on the dry down. The sandalwood and opium tar are more prominent but in general I find tobacco leaf and white amber to be more subtle scents. The throw is excellent and the scent sticks around for quite some time. This is definitely a sandalwood heavy scent.

Blinding white in the noonday sun: white mint, eucalyptus, glittering elemi, white tea, silver fir, and camphor. Bright! White! Not as shocking as I thought it would be, in fact there's more tea than mint and eucalyptus. I don't get any fir from it, which I like. I don't know what camphor smells like, though.

Swirled grey and purple in the gloaming: snowdrifts shadowed with opium tar, wild plum, Siamese benzoin, champaca resinoid, muguet, and carnation. The snow in this is dry and dusty. There is no mint note, nor pine. It is a darkish scent, definitely purple. The champaca note is a bit bitter and I don't smell any of the carnation until the dry down. It's a little green and odd as it pops out with the wild plum and opium tar.

I wanted to review the 2015 version because my mother is Latvian and she told me all about the background of this, and how to say all the words =D I will say the main citrus note for me is the blood orange. It's lovely!

For the 2015 version, it is definitely pink, even a little juicy. The grapefruit is relatively subtle. It's sweet and creamy for a floral. It's rather..yummy!

In the long, sleepless watches of the night, A gentle face — the face of one long dead — Looks at me from the wall, where round its head The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light. Here in this room she died; and soul more white Never through martyrdom of fire was led To its repose; nor can in books be read The legend of a life more benedight. There is a mountain in the distant West That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines Displays a cross of snow upon its side. Such is the cross I wear upon my breast These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes And seasons, changeless since the day she died. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Cypress, Spanish moss, and clove bud with labdanum, Italian bergamot, and white tobacco flower. This is a woodsey, slightly citrusy snow note. It's rather jarring and there is definitely something earthy in the background

This is definitely a skin scent, as said above, and the creaminess of it is rather surprising. I guess it's the fig and lotus milk. The vanilla is foody if only because of the cream note. This is a great scent!

II est amer et doux, pendant les nuits d’hiver, D’écouter, près du feu qui palpite et qui fume, Les souvenirs lointains lentement s’élever Au bruit des carillons qui chantent dans la brume. Bienheureuse la cloche au gosier vigoureux Qui, malgré sa vieillesse, alerte et bien portante, Jette fidèlement son cri religieux, Ainsi qu’un vieux soldat qui veille sous la tente! Moi, mon âme est fêlée, et lorsqu’en ses ennuis Elle veut de ses chants peupler l’air froid des nuits, II arrive souvent que sa voix affaiblie Semble le râle épais d’un blessé qu’on oublie Au bord d’un lac de sang, sous un grand tas de morts Et qui meurt, sans bouger, dans d’immenses efforts. – – – Bitter and sweet it is on these long winter nights To sit before the fire and watch the smoking log Beat like a heart; and hear our lost, our mute delights Call with the carillons that ring out in the fog. What certitude, what health, sounds from that brazen throat, In spite of age and rust, alert! O happy bell, Sending into the dark your clear religious note, Like an old soldier crying through the night, “All’s well!” I am not thus; my soul is cracked across by care; Its voice, that once could clang upon this icy air, Has lost the power, it seems, — comes faintly forth, instead, As from the rattling throat of a hurt man who lies Beside a lake of blood, under a heap of dead, And cannot stir, and in prodigious struggling dies. — Charles Baudelaire, translation by Edna St. Vincent Millay A new interpretation, inspired by Millay’s translation- A soul, cracked across by care: blood and ruin, smoke and sorrow, incense and ice. This scent is dark, with dark incense. The Ice is that of black ice, and the smoke is definitely in the background, but not too burnt smelling. I don't smell any "blood" and the "ruin" is just this overall sharpness. Very intriguing scent.

Wow! The alcohol note in this is strong! There are other foodie notes in here that I am trying to discern as it dries down. Maybe some cake....

Wow. This is absolutely true to life. You can even smell the salt of the ham and the juices are a little less juicy because, well, it's a day old, right?