Azathoth

[lizabelle]

Azathoth is the blind, idiot god who sits on a black throne at the center of Chaos. His scent is high-pitched and screeching, both impenetrably dark and searingly bright with the clarity of madness: tangerine, saffron, vetiver, black amber and cedarwood.

 

This is dark, dark burnt incense. Not burning--this is the ashes. I get the burnt tone of vetiver I've smelled in lots of BPALs, with some extra smoke in the background that smells like a bonfire/controlled burn on a cold day. It's stark and reminiscent of the opening of Djinn. Eventually the cedar comes in and makes it slightly warmer and softer, and the amber develops even slower. This is not a powdery or sweet amber, and just serves to make the whole thing even darker and gooey. Together they almost smell piney at a distance, and the whole thing continues to smell like aromatic woods being burned. Surprisingly nice!

[achildoftime]

I've been going back and forth about how I feel about this one. It does smell distinctly charred. It feels like bundles of dry grasses were burned and is now haunted by the ghost of citrus. I wish I could describe it better than that. I just can't, because the vague suggestion of some kind of citrus fruit hovers through the scent. It doesn't have the bite or zing I usually associate with citrus, but that's definitely what it is. I know it's listed as tangerine, but it really could be any of the sweeter citrus fruits. Have I said citrus enough?

 

Anyway, the main note that really defines itself on me is the vetiver hands down. It burns the amber and the cedar till the whole thing resembles burnt woods with the aforementioned tangerine ghost. It's not bad to me, just not what I was hoping for. I like burnt, smoky scents but there is a strangeness with this one on me that I can't completely pin down.

 

I asked my husband to sniff because I think it does lean a little masculine. He thought it smelled like a hotel hallway. He says it's not like cleaning fluid or anything so I'm not sure where the connection is being made, but he swears up and down that's all he can think of. Take from that what you will.

[sarandipitee]

mmmm, cola sweet resins and a touch vetiver and some cedarwood (thankfully as cedar is usually pencil shavings on me). The tangerine is so subtle, that the cola note I find some resins to be could almost be orange crush.

 

BOTTLE ME UP SCOTTY. Guh, this is awesome, as long as the damn cedar behaves, which it SO FAR seems to be doing but that cedar is an asshole. Can't trust him.

[Joyleaf_]

This was a frimp from a Post purchase. And man am I happy they sent it. Its dairly masculine on me, and the vetiver sings on my skin. I love love vetiver and it usually does nice things for me, and this is no different than usual. The tangerine, which was a worrisome factor, is completely quiet and soft. Well blended and yummy, I love it. GC scents for the win.

[dementia_divine]

In the imp: Cedar and tangerine are the most prominent notes, followed by the saffron and black amber. I'm surprised that I'm not getting lots of vetiver from the imp, since it is usually so strong!

 

Wet: The black amber note is the first to emerge, followed by the tangerine and smoky vetiver. Then, the cedar and saffron join in. The cedar, amber, and vetiver are now the strongest notes.

 

Dry: This actually stays really close to the skin. The black amber reigns, warmed by a bit of cedar, and backed by the tangerine note, which hasn't burnt off yet, and some saffron. The vetiver note is really light now, surprisingly, and just adds a bit of smokiness.

 

Verdict: This one is okay. I was worried about the vetiver and cedar, but they didn't end up being problematic here. It's not something that I think I need more of, but I'm glad I was able to try it.

[Lucchesa]

Azathoth is black, charred vetiver on me and lots of it. Then the cedar comes out to meet it, and it's a forest fire. (I say that like it's a bad thing, but it's not, necessarily.) Then I can make out the saffron, but it's all very, very dry. I put this on last night about an hour before bedtime, and then thought that it was one of those vetiver scents that needed at least two hours to develop into something gorgeous, so I stayed up another hour, but it never quite got there on me.

 

What this scent needs is something juicy and sweet, something like, oh, tangerine. That would be perfect. But I'm getting no citrus here at all. This was a swap frimp, so I have no idea how old it is. It's possible a lab-fresh imp would have a lot more tangerine on board. I may keep this around for days when "forest fire" matches my mood, but I suspect one imp will last me years.