Cthulhu

[waternight]

A creeping, wet, slithering scent, dripping with seaweed, oceanic plants and dark, unfathomable waters.

In the imp: This smells like soap, but in the very best way possible.
Wet: Gentle, deliciously soapy aquatic. It's so intoxicating - fresh and clean and sharp. Oh! It smells like men's body-wash, which happens to be a scent that I absolutely love.
Dry: Sadly, this becomes vaguely "men's-colognish".

[Iceblink]

Clean, manly soap. Would smell great in the shower, if you were...um...sharing that shower.

[Lethran]

In bottle: Overwhelming Oceany scent. Jolly Roger on steroids. Wet: Ocean. Did I mention the Ocean? It does nice things on my skin though. Dry: More complicated. Various vegetation comes out. Curiously sexy in an unconventional way.

[savage_rose]

This smells like Bed of Nails to me, like an aquatic men's aftershave. And for some reason, I just have this image of a cartoon Cthulu getting ready for a date, putting on aftershave that smells like this and listening to Isaac Hayes...dancing in front of the mirror, to "We got it together, baby". It's fresh, it's sexy, it's men's aftershave! I like it, although I probably won't be getting a bottle until I run out of Bed of Nails.

[gchris]

In Vial: sweeter than I expected, a bit perfumey.

 

Wet: This smells like someone "fresh out of the shower" , leaning towards masculine a tiny bit. I like water scents but this is a bit too strong for me, more than most aquatics.

 

Dry: This has softened thankfully and smells more like the bpal aquatics I am use to. This is not salty like many of them, and sweeter.

[sadtomato]

in the bottle and on my skin wet this just smelled like a masculine, after-shave type cologne.

not over-poweringly so, and a lovely masculine sent at that.

i wasn't getting anything aquatic at all, nor anything ozone.

just a regular ole' cologne type scent.

once this dried down, though, it become a softer and very lovely aquatic on me.

there are still very masculine notes to it, but i am definitely getting some brine-iness and a the feeling of stepping into warm, soothing sea waves lapping at my feet and ankles.

this smells like the sea surrounded by an aromatic forest of fir trees and mellow, never over-powering florals.

very yummy, comforting and lovely.

i can't stop smelling myself and may need to get a bottle of this gorgeousness which i wasn't expecting to love, but do.

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Cold! Sweet and very slightly floral.

 

On Application

Ozone and saltwater but sweetish. Doesn't have the bitterness of some of the pirate scents....yet

 

Dry Down

Aaahh....reallly perfumey fresh floral. Very disappointed but I can't win them all. I will give it another go but don't think this will work for me.

 

Rating (0-5)

1

[GeorgeJr]

This was a frimp with the first order I ever got from the lab . Thanks lab !

This is not as dark as I would have expected it to be , going by the name . It's aquatic all right , with a bit of citrus behind it I think . Visually it makes me think of seeing someone swimming beneath the waves , with the sun filtering down through the waters turning them shades of yellow & light green . I definitely agree with earlier posts that it is a bit cologne like . Which for my taste is a good thing

[brsis]

Initial thoughts: There was no way I was passing up on this. It's aquatic, which I love, especially as the summer is rolling in. And it's Cthulhu. CTHULHU. If this works on me, it may end up being my go-to summer scent

 

In the imp: This is a sharp, pungent aquatic - in the imp, it smells a little like those nearly-toxic antibacterial hand soaps you get if you work in a catering kitchen. Oddly enough, I quite like that smell.

 

On the wrist, wet: Definately a pungent, fresh aquatic liquid soap - the soapiness is less on the skin, and I'm hoping it will receded even further and just leave me the aquatic. It's currently broadcasting 'clean and wet' which is ideal for summer, if a little on the potent side.

 

Twenty minutes later: This is a very difficult scent to describe - it does have that soapy clean quality that aquatics tend to, but also a deep, dark wetness that I associate with wet rubbery seaweed and the things that grow at the bottom of the pond. It had a dark mystery to it. This isn't quite as 'fresh' as I'd expected or hoped for, and I doubt it's a scent I'll wear often, but I can definately find occasions for it.

 

Verdict: Keeping the imp - will think about a bottle.

 

Tl;Dr: The Elder's favourite soap; fathomless watery depths and wet seaweed.

[Astarial]

I wore this to work yesterday, and oh MAN do I love it! In the bottle it was floral, with a tang that I think was the ozone. On my skin, it smelled so watery, with a light hint of those florals. The ozone came out a little later, and for the whole day, whenever I smelled myself I felt like I'd just been swimming in a secret underground lake that nobody else knew about. It made me feel so... clean and refreshed. I think I'm going to need a bottle of this one.

[Greensleeves]

In the bottle: Pale yellow oil. Fruity green sweetness.

Wet: Soapy, aquatic floral, some sort of lily perhaps, 'ocean breeze' type air freshener or bubble bath. I feel a faint sense of nausea when I smell it.

After a few minutes on skin: Soapy ocean breeze with faint spice. Wafts of commercialness, even though I'm reasonably sure I don't smell musk or amber in this. There must be some other note that smells bad and commercial on me in here. I know, it smells a bit like Chanel no5. Strange. I had gotten this hoping that I would smell the Irish Spring thing that some people were getting off this, but there seems to be no hope of that.

 

After first hour: Spicy, oceany, something that smells like agave, pleasant and almost mellow enough that I might enjoy it on someone else, or at least tolerate it.

 

After two and a half hours: Ocean scented air freshener, salt and some sort of floral fruitiness, which I'm reasonably sure is agave. The smell is very blue and sandy.

 

After 5 hours: Pretty much the same as above.

 

Final Verdict: This smells like a pretty 'ocean' scented candle. It's not bad, but not to my personal tastes.

[cam]

This is definitely a "wet," oceany scent. It's hard to describe beyond that. Maybe a hint of citrus. It's kind of seaweedy, but not in a beachy way. On me, it remains pretty true to bottle scent. Not bad, but not really my thing.

[skepticism]

A whiff out of the vial made me think I was smelling aftershave. It's a very clean, soapy amber when wet on my skin. I think I dabbed a little too much on before I left for work the other day. The aftershave-ness is a little too much. Still don't know how I feel about this. I think I put a little on the boy and see if I get a chemical sexy reaction.

 

ETA: OMG I just layered this with Nemesis and now I want to have sex with myself.

Edited September 5, 2008 by skepticism

[Cereus]

What I'm smelling in the bottle is murky but sharp, and almost salty; mysterious and I cannot quite put my nose on it.

 

Once on... cyanobacteria doing their dance in the nitrogen cycle; definitely aquatic, but not in the obvious sense. That sharpness is still layered over the whole scent, but that fades as it dries. The algae drifts far enough away that it's no longer at the forefront, but still present.

 

What remains on drydown is salty, more brackish than oceanic, but warm and comforting [i grew up in the swamp, so take that with a grain of salt]. I can understand how people describe this as masculine, reminiscent of a fougere without the lavender, though I would consider it more neutral.

[rayvn1]

Very nice! Exceedingly aquatic as you would expect. A bit of ozone, and saltiness. What sets this apart from say, The Phoenix or others in my beloved aquatic family is the plant quality of a large part of the scent. This gives it a deeper, darker scent evoking the world beneath the waves as opposed to the others I have that bob on the surface or float just above the water.

[steelfaerie]

In the bottle, I got all excited because I perceived a vague similarity to my beloved Dream of the Fisherman's Wife, and I am fruitlessly searching for a GC to replace it in my heart and nose.

 

However, once applied, my skin turned Cthulhu to crap like it does with most things that I really want to love. Within 30 seconds it had transformed into strong, cheap men's cologne on me and I was scrubbing it off with alcohol. Win some, lose some. Sigh.

[teacrumb]

This is an interesting scent. Not particularly dark (kind of hard to do with an aquatic), but very fresh and reminiscent of the ocean. When I put it on however, it goes all pure soap. Slightly powdery soap. When I sniff my wrist up close it's sharp and strong, but it doesn't seem to have much throw on me. A bit too masculine for me, but not so much that it couldn't be unisex for those of you who can wear strong aquatics/clean scents. (So far the only aquatic that's worked on me is R'lyeh. Which is gorgeous.) Also it's Cthulhu. All hail Cthulhu.

[undream]

ok. i do not know if it is my nose that is going wonky or just that i have been trying a lot of aquatics lately and they tend to smell house cleanerish on me, but again with this one! definitely an "i've been cleaning my house" scent! (i've seen some others here comparing it to certain soaps like irish spring and lever 2000, and i can see that as well.)

 

after it is on my skin for a bit, it warms up and a somewhat sweet, powderish note peeks out in the throw, but it stays fairly "toilet cleaner" smelling on me, especially close up to the skin. a very nice toilet cleaner, but nonetheless; not for me! off to swaps with this one . . .

[femmefatale]

Very clean smelling manly soap. Not for me, but I'm looking forward to trying it on hubby. I might even use some of the imp to make him a scrub or soap with.

[dane666]

Very watery and and even a bit salty on me if that makes any sense......oh yes and you get that forboding of lurking tentacular rubber on the dry down. All in all I really like this sent. Well Done!

[mazikeen]

Brisk, and what I think of as being traditionally perfumey. It smells like my husband's shaving cream. It's totally not for me-- I can't imagine ever wearing something like this. I'll pass the imp on to a male friend who's a huge Lovecraft fan.

[diamondstars]

Unfortunately I can't quite determine whether or not a scent is aquatic. Even after this long as an Addict!!

Anyhoo, from the imp this smells fresh and maybe a bit masculine? It's lovely regardless.

On skin it turns to patchouli on me, which sadly makes me want to puke.

To the swap box it is!

[themerrybaker]

'What has risen may sink, and what has sunk may rise. Loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep.'

 

Cthulhu is by no means loathsome, but this oil is way to manly for me. Sort of the embodiment of a tentacled testicle. Makes me want to date my wrist.

 

Good for clean guy-smell fix.

[zankoku_zen]

This one is a manly oceanic/ozoney sort of scent.

 

It also ends up smelling like industrial bathroom cleaner on me.

 

Citrus blast that ends up in soapy aquatic clean. Not for me.

[krystyn]

Oof, in the imp it's a very strong soapy smell - Irish Spring, plus a little room deoderizer harshness.

 

There's some beauty to this scent in its cleanness and aquatic brightness (it smells like the bright diffuse light bouncing off of ocean waves on a cold day, it does), but the soapiness makes my throat hurt a bit when I smell it. A tiny bit got on my thumb, and although it's fading nicely to a very clean and soapy scent, I can't see myself wearing it. The deodorant edge to it would bother me too much.