Orpheus

[Heavenlyrabbit]

 

Orpheus, Franz von Stuck.

Pale musk, green mandarin, neroli, benzoin, citrus peel, blue lavender, narcissus, stephanotis, crushed green stems, willow branch and cedar.

 

Intoxicating fresh herbal/floral centered around a heart of chypre. The evergreen/woody notes play the supporting role here, allowing floral/herbals to shine forth.

 

Opens with the citrus, blooms and expands with the florals and levels off into a slightly herbal/floral with the citrus lasting a bit longer then usual on me.

 

A scent that draws you in. It is somewhat refreshing and relaxing. Balmy! That's the word. A scent to soothe the savage beast.

 

Upon reapplication, the florals and herbals are even brighter.

 

This is a classical perfume, in the sense its probably related to ancient formulas. This would be cousins related to other BPAL favorites of mine, Psyche, Sophia and Ides of March

 

Note: I came to insert the comparison of Ides of March into my review after wearing Orpheusagain today and find that LiberAmoris had already referenced that blend in her review... so perhaps that gives an idea of what this is like.

 

Well into drydown, there's a slight herbal soapy-ness. Not unpleasant or overbearing. More of a clean freshness... like Unicorn.

 

Question: why is there a lawn ornament in the artwork? What does the flamingo (or Ibis) symbolize?

Edited to add image - clover

Edited September 15, 2007 by Shollin

[LiberAmoris]

Orpheus is herbal, green, and very relaxing. No one note stands out to me; it's more like a chord of things working together, almost inseparable. The 'crushed green stems' capture most fully the way this smells and feels to me, but it's more composed than that---the musk blurs and softens the edges of the florals and makes the overall effect softer, like flowers and herbs and greenery wrapped in muslin or something. Some combination of the notes comes across as a bit like aloe to my nose, and that adds to the verdant quality.

 

Orpheus's song could soothe wild beasts and tame their hearts, which is why I think he's featured with animals of all kinds listening raptly in the painting. That flamingo does kind of look like the traditional flamingo lawn ornament, though. Maybe he can also soothe lawn ornaments!

 

I'm really glad I bought a bottle of this. Not to draw a parallel between myself and lawn ornaments, but I do find it very soothing. I think this would be a great oil to wear at work, when I'm feeling stressed, or when I'm getting ready to go to sleep.

 

This has the same 'feel' to me as Ides of March, which is one of my absolute faves. I'm happy to find something with the same vibe in the general catalog.

[tartsquid]

I agree with LiberAmoris that "crushed green stems" very much captures the feeling of this blend. It mostly smells like greenery - leaves, stems and herbs - with a touch of florals. I'm not generally a fan of florals but this is definitely not an overpowering flowery scent.

 

I'm a big fan of Ides of March and this scent evokes the same feeling to me. It's like Ides without the spicey cologne note. It's very fresh and reminds me of spring time.

[gwyllgi]

Needing to narrow down the choice of my first experiments with the Salon, I closed my eyes and pointed at two. Orpheus was one of the ones I ended up with and I'm definitely glad chance led me to it.

 

It's a very, very green scent initially; it reminds me of Machu Picchu (as I've never tried Ides of March to get that association) with more oomph when it first hits my skin. As it dries, though, it sharpens and develops a bit of a bitter edge, with hints of softness flitting just behind it. The sharp-bitter doesn't detract at all, like a sudden burst of staccato in the midst of a legato passage, drawing even more attention to its inherent smoothness. From there, it evolves into something softer, a misty sort of romanticism. I'm particularly thrilled that cedar's animosity toward me didn't manifest in this blend; cedar usually takes over any blend on my skin, but it's not even discernible as an individual note, instead just combining into the beautiful whole.

 

It's a lovely, complex scent that can fit any mood, I think; it's calming and exhilarating all at once. It doesn't last terribly long on my skin... but that may just be because I can't keep myself from burying my nose in my wrist and inhaling every five minutes. Given everything, though, it's certainly a lovely introduction to - and has given my high hopes for the rest of - the Salon.

[parrot_suspect]

This scent perfectly captures the image of the art. Orpheus is a dark and brooding scent, but not pitch black...more like a greyish-green. It's more masculine than feminine. It's somewhat powdery, a bit herbal and green, but low-key -- it's not a high-pitched, fresh, crisp green. I don't find it at all similar to Ides of March (just sniffed them both side by side). Ides is more sharp, fresh and astringent. Orpheus is soft and relaxed. It reminds me a bit of the men's cologne Grey Flannel.

[Tesseljoan]

Orpheus is clean, green and a bit bitter. A little floral as well, but it isn't allowed to dominate (luckily for me). It's not overly fresh, like a breath of forest green, but this just has a 'fresh and clean' vibe for me, as if I just had a cold shower and put no lotion or perfume on. Nice.

[Blood onmy hands]

Orpheus really does smell like crushed green stems on me, but with a sort of musky/perfumey edge. It's a very clean scent, but also a very green and bitter one. It makes me think of the taste of unripe fruit and fresh herbs. In the drydown, a sweet and slightly powdery lavender starts to come through. It becomes almost sickly sweet after an hour. I never recognize any of the citrus notes or cedar.

 

After about a half hour, this becomes nauseatingly sharp on me. So much sharp musk that it makes my eyes sting. I won't be able to wear this one at all.

Edited July 23, 2006 by Blood onmy hands

[flyingpizza]

From the official site description and all of the reviews here, Orpheus was one of the Salons I was most looking forward to trying. I love green/woody/foresty smells, and this sounded right up my alley. Thanks to urbanruralferal, I was able to test this one out today.

 

In the vial and on first application, I smelled cedar, willow, and bezoin overwhelmingly. This made me hopeful that it would be a nice earthy sent. Unfortunately, on drydown it was rapidly eclipsed by the narcissus and stephanotis, and became unbearably flowery. It smelled like the perfume counters in department stores--a chaotic, artificial muddling of suffocatingly heavy florals.

 

After wearing it for a while it calmed down and became quite pleasant. But it just smelled so...generic. Like any old soap or shampoo or body wash that smells just nice, but nothing more exciting than that.

 

Oh well, disappointing, but I was happy to try it!

[filigree_shadow]

In the bottle: Very green.

On my wrist: Green floral. Soapy.

 

Not sure what the culprit is in this blend, but something is making this oil smell like soap on me. Like Irish Spring. I think only about 5 or so BPAL oils have made me think of soap, but I don't know if they have any common notes. But yeah, definitely soap here. As it dries it gets a lot more floral (unfortunately not the kind of floral that I like), and then I can really smell the lavender (also not a favorite), but the soap part never goes away.

 

Ah well. I guess The Salon was bound to have one scent that didn't work for me.

[themerrybaker]

A layered citrus musk with light florals. Had I not got for Satan&Death,etc. I would have purchased Orpheous unsniffed and been really happy to have it. If the light blends such as EBM, Unicorn, Ides, Dirty, are you thing (as they are mine) this will be up your alley as opposed to down your underworld. As with all the Salon blends Orpheus is a little more complex than the GCs.

[jj_j]

Gorgeous greenery in the vial; seems a little sharp, so I'll hope this doesn't get brittle and bitter on me.

 

No worries about sharpness once I put this on; it's really a perfect green scent. My very first "favorite" perfume was Estee Lauder's Private Collection, which is about as green as you can get. Orpheus takes all the nasty aldehydes out, softens them up with the white musk, and is pure green stems for the first few minutes - I'm in love with this stage.

 

After about five minutes, the stephanotis and narcissus start to come through. Orpheus goes from being my green dream to a gentle and very dreamy soft, sweet floral over fading green stems. The stephanotis starts to take over, and this makes a lovely combination.

 

In the end, I've decided against a bottle of Orpheus. If the green had stuck around for me, I would have to have multiple bottles and would slather like a fiend. As lovely as this is in the end, I think I'd always be disappointed by the morphing from my "fantasy green" to light floral.

[herbhealer]

Orpheus is very fresh and green, it reminds me of a mens colgne and springtime. For me, I would have preferred a stronger bitter note and perhaps more citrus.

[Brienze]

Wow, I get a very different scent than most everyone who's reviewed so far. I was going to say "it's just like Berenice, but with less musk", only to look up the descriptions and realize that Orpheus has no stargazer lily, but it does have musk as the first note!

 

On my skin, it is just like a less musky Berenice. It's a light, clean, mostly floral (of some sort or another... I'm not good with florals, and it's none of the obvious flowers that I know). I get no lavender, which is good since lavender goes completely vorpal on me and I was taking a big chance with this. It does smell somewhat of "department store perfume", only without the chemicals and alcohol... nice, in other words. I agree that people who like Dirty will like this.

 

Throw is medium for an hour or two, then settles close to the skin.

 

Morphing not at all, which imho makes it even better than Berenice (on me it took awhile for the musk to calm down), plus it's GC!

 

Lasted 4 hrs already; seems like it will be around for a few more, but not strongly.

 

Rating: 4 of 5. I very much like this, but I'm still puzzled that it seems so different from the description and from other reviews. Where's the green?

[euterpe414]

This starts off very sharply on my skin- I am getting a lot of lavendar and neroli. As it dries, it slightly mellows, which is nice as well. There is a bit more of the musk in the mix as time goes on. I don't really detect all the notes listed, perhaps my skin is amping the lavendar (I don't mind this, though). This is very masculine on me, but I will wear it anyway .

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 5/5

Summarised in a word or two: Green Berenice!

 

Pre-review thoughts: I really have no idea, as the notes in this are almost all weird notes for me, that can go either way.

 

In the imp: Green, bitter, and musky. A bit like Berenice, actually.

 

On skin, wet: Bitter, herbal and musky. Indeed like Berenice, but darker. So far, it reminds me a bit of high-end aftershave.

 

On skin, dry: Like Brienze, I'm thinking "Wow, this is like Berenice, but... am I crazy for thinking this amid these other, un-Berenice-like reviews?" Apparently not. I'm very fond of this, as I am of Berenice. My problem with Berenice is that it has no throw, and doesn't last long on me at all. Orpheus, however, is a bit stronger, and lingers for hours. Unlike Brienze, though, I definitely get a "green" vibe from Orpheus. The lavender stays surprisingly subdued, the musk is lovely, and the green stems and cedar add an interesting something to it. Of course, I'm a big fan of the benzoin and citrus peel as well. The green mandarin is very faint, but definitely there... I think.

 

Conclusion/Notes: Orpheus is yet another winner. The Salons have been a series of hits for me, and a bottle of Orpheus must find a home with me soon, by Forumite or Lab order.

[yeahbutnobut]

Orpheus

 

In the imp: crushed green stems! Yes, this really does smell like green stems, with a hint of lavender and DAFFODIL! This is springtime encapsulated.

Wet on skin: green stems, with flowers, like walking into a florist's. And there's lavender.

Dry on skin: gorgeous. This scent is stunningly green, wet, and lightly floral. I am reminded slightly of Beltane 05 before it became all floral. I smell the stems, the lavender, citrus notes sharpening the whole scent up, hints of neroli here and there, and a narcissus note that smells so much like a freshly bloomed daffodil. This really is springtime, dewy grasses and daffodils with hints of other florals drifting in the moist breeze, willow branches swaying, lavender just beginning to bloom, all being warmed by sunlight. This scent is incredibly complex as well, so multi-dimensional.

After a while: the scent is less tangy-green now, with no more lavender, but the scent is now considerably sweeter and more floral. The greenness is still there but I can now smell narcissus and stephanotis more, and there's even a fruity (non-citrus) aspect to the scent now. I think the benzoin also sweetens and adds a hint of depth to it all. At times, this scent even resembles Peony Moon, despite not having any peony in it…eventually I get a crisp fruit scent which I can't identify but it's almost like apple without the sweetness, or even a starfruit, surrounded by wet, green sunlit grass and narcissus, with a smooth, neutral musk base.

Verdict: if there's a scent that screams spring to me, it's this. Along with the blossom scents and other scents featuring spring flowers, this is the greener side of spring. It also has a fantastic daffodil scent to it. I'm sure the narcissus is doing this-it's going wonderfully daffodil like on me. This scent is moist and dewy, very much a wet scent, but brightened by the floral notes and balanced by musk at the end. This is perfect for smelling of spring but without smelling blatantly of fragrant blossoms. A complex, well blended scent that is begging to be 'explored' and experienced as well as just worn as a fresh, bright fragrance, I will keep the imp I have of this, not sure about a bottle, but it's a keeper.

Emoticon rating:

If you like this, try: Beltane, Peony Moon

Edited September 28, 2006 by yeahbutnobut

[grrrlennyl]

at first: lots of lavender and bright, fresh notes.

on: neroli and lavender, with a bunch of other bright, strong notes.

2 hours later: the floral notes have come forward now, but this is still nice and bright.

overall: this ended up far too floral on me.

[BrightRedScream]

Decant from SevenSins

 

In the imp: A musky green smell...The musk in this is making this not smell typically floral, herbally...I get a lot of the citrus peel and blue lavender...

I don't like lavender

 

Wet on the skin: Mandarin..citrus peel and TONS of greeness. This doesn't smell lovely on me..it smells like room deodorizer!

 

Dry down: The more it dried down..the stronger it got.

This has TONS of throw! It's just too bad that this smells awful on me, and gets worse by the minute.

 

So far me and The Salon scents are not agreeing...

It's one out of four that have worked so far

[sapnak]

Orpheus on me smells like dry herbs, musk, and a hint of greeness. I also pick up a warm note. But no floral on me at all. I have to slather Orpheus on to smell it, but once I do, it is a very soothing, subtle scent. Like a walk through crunchy dry leaves on a fall morning. It works well on both myself and my spouse. Definitely on the masculine side, but not overwhelmingly so. I'm really glad I ordered this scent. Edited August 15, 2006 by Tilos

[savage_rose]

I love this scent! Evil Queen perfume...dark, aggressive, brooding, a little warped. A little Miss Havisham, but more masculine .

 

Crushed greenery, but bitter greenery...dandelion leaves, greens. With a hint of something like avocado. Green over floral...but it ends up smelling like a dark, fragrant brew. It smells sooo good on, just like it does in the bottle...and not only does a little go a long way, but it's lasting. Mmmm!

[Meg]

In the bottle: oooh beautiful and green, like grass with neroli!

 

Wet: Very green, with lavender coming out now with the neroli, they blend really well. Something comes out to sweeten the blend, could be narcissus.

 

Drydown: I can't stop sniffing myself! I get the green stems mostly, with hints of citrus and florals floating around. The lavender has mostly died down and narcissus comes up to dominate the blend - but it doesn't do the violetnly perfumy act I usually get from narcissus. It's tempered by something, possibly the citrus or musk.

 

Overall: Unfortunately, narcissus ends up dominating the blend completely after a while, and I can't abide narcissus. It's a real shame, because before that, the grassy neroli smell is to die for. But afterwards the narcissus makes the blend heavy and blots out any other note. I wish it would stay as it smells in the beginning! *cries*

[edenssixthday]

Orpheus - This scent is very bitter, green, and pungent. I think the "crushed green stems" is the dominant note to my nose. It makes me wrinkle my nose and curl my lip. I'm not going to be giving this another try. I had to wash this one off.

[azhure]

In the vial: Very astringent and sharp.

 

Wet: The astringent quality remains, with an almost metallic, earthy undertone.

 

Dry: The sharp phase lasts an hour or two, after which the throw is dramatically reduced. I can smell the florals now, but only close to the skin. They're very cool, and smell white.

[hologhost]

In the bottle: white musk, something green - grass? Something metallic.

 

On me: fades immediately.

[ND¢]

A well-blended, very green floral that reminds me a bit of the smell of Vitabath and a bit of aquatics. It's a very nice floral, not overwhelming the herbal smell.