Dissipation

[jj_j]

<span style='color:black'><span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'><span style='font-family:Georgia'>From the Sin and Salvation collection:

 

Strands of bacchanal ivy wind through sweet wormwood, pungent poppy, and a sliver of murky sassafras.

 

I expected something much more ... stridently green .. than Dissipation turned out to be. I'm so glad to be disappointed, as this is another fantastic newcomer by Beth.

 

Wistful and soft, the ivy in this is beautifully set off by the hint of wine and the fuzzy, dry poppy. I don't smell any sassafrass in this, but Beth did say it was a sliver. The wormwood really is "sweet", and it lends a poignant, refined wooden tone to the whole of the scent.

 

This isn't the least bit harsh, and it's more the scent of a memory so strong you can smell it - or can you? - when you close your eyes and feel the early summer breeze on your face. </span></span></span>

[Shollin]

First sniff: Hmmmmm. Very dry powdery fruit… almost like SweetTarts. And checking the description, there’s no fruit in Dissipation at all, so we resniff… and decide it’s more like root beer. Hmmm. Will be interesting to see what it does on my skin.

 

Wearing: Fizzy lemonade. I don’t have a clue what in this smells like lemon, but it’s lemony. And fizzy. And bright and cheery and I like it a lot. It’s not quite as definitively lemony after it dries down a bit, but it’s still bright yellow and very bubbly. Liking it muchly. (I may already have mentioned that.) And it’s odd, because it’s not the sort of scent you try on once and fall madly in love with, or the sort that makes you keep sniffing your wrists and going into an eye-rolling inappropriate moan like some of them do to me (*cough*Rapture*cough*)… it makes me giggle and I can’t help but like it.

[TygherRayn]

In the bottle: One part root beer .. the good stuff, not the commercial kind .. and one part poppies. Kind of a sweetened root beer, touched with floral. It makes me think of penny candy stores, and soda fountains.

 

Wet: I still smell root beer. It's like the rootbeer I get at Longhorn Steakhouse .. more pungent and sharp .. though in this it's softened. Sweet, but not candy-sticky sweet. And something in the background is almost woody. That might be the ivy, as I've no clue what ivy really smells like.

 

Wearing: Put a root-beer barrel candy in your mouth with a lemon candy slice, and you'll have this scent. Sort of, anyway. I'm really curious now how a lemon-slice might work in rootbeer. Anyway, I like this one. It's 'fruity', but warm. Bubbly, without being overpowering.

 

ADDED Aug. 11:

 

Oooh .. I have to follow the Todd-fox? My-oh-my, those're some shoes to follow.

 

Sadly, I can't be nearly as poetic about this one. It didn't do near as well on me as I wanted it to be, and into the swap pile it will go.

 

In thebottle: It's cool, and green, and attention grabbing indeed. It's something of a harsh scent, but not in a bad way, more like it wants attention, and is determined to get it at all costs.

 

Wet: The moment it hit my skin I got a tickle in my throat and I was coughing. I've not yet had a scent do that to me, and I'm sad, because it's making me have to wash this one off.

[Donnababe]

First Sniff

 

Cucumbers!

 

Drydown

 

The cucumber/melon note is still the main note here. There is a sharp green smell which is possibly the ivy. I'm not familiar with any of the components here though.

 

After a While

 

It's a clean smell now. Not much greenery.

 

Final Verdict

 

Quiet and comforting. Maybe more imps in future.

[twistygirl]

I'm really liking this one a lot. It's an unusual blend of green (but not the normal grassy or herbal sort of green one thinks of a green scent smelling like), sweetness, and woodsiness. The green is very, very fresh, and I also think it's got a cucumbery/melony smell. Cantaloupe. It smells like cucumber and cantaloupe. That green note isn't overpowering, and it seems to waft in and out of the fragrance, especially once it dries down... now you smell it, now you don't, oh! There it is again! I'm assuming it's the ivy, or maybe the ivy/poppy blend. It softens up very nicely on the dry-down. It's really different from anything I've ever smelled before. Clean and soft, and even though it's got some warmth to it from the sweetness/woodsiness, it's a great hot-weather scent.

[Neko]

Oh how I wanted to love this one... I really truly did. The description sounded lovely, and I was extremely excited when an imp of this arrived in a swap.

 

I actually enjoyed the scent in the bottle. It was soft, mildly sweet, very light and comforting. I actually sniffed the bottle several different times, and each time I commented on how I hoped this would be a favorite.

 

 

Yet somehow the blend wound up turning into something horrid on my skin. When mixed with my skin chemistry, Dissipation becomes extremely heavy, stereotypically perfume-ish, and overwhelmingly cloying. I feel as though I were walking through the perfume counter jungle of some major department store, a sensation that is rendering me light headed and a bit queasy. Upon first applying the perfume, I had a sneezing fit... something that commonly happens when I am assaulted by a strong alcohol based perfume.

 

I don't smell any green notes at all, despite having a fairly good nose (which is unfortunate, as I was really looking forward to the ivy), and I would never in my life describe this as a fresh scent... the artificial perfumed sweetness of this fragrance once it hits my skin is headache inducing. When I sniff my wrists to see if I can identify any seperate notes, my nose crinkles in involuntary disgust. I am happy this isn't a particularly hot day, because the scent of this one is already too much to handle.

 

I think it may be the wormwood my skin is disagreeing with. While I've never worn a scent with wormwood in it before, I do know that wormwood is supposed to be a rather sweet note, and my skin tends to sweeten things on its own. I could easily imagine wormwood dominating once it hit my skin, and morphing into something incredibly unpleasant. It might also be the poppy (simply because I usually associate traditional perfume scents with florals), but I wouldn't want to jump to that conclusion right away.

 

*sniffle* I know I should try this one again later (different day, different time, different hormones), but I just don't know if I can bring myself to put this on again. I think I will have to swap it.

[magpiedee]

Dissipation is indeed a strong memory for me, almost a flashback to 1995 and the lazy summer I spent with a wonderful family in Toulouse. It's the smell of Maman's cozy hugs and tutting, "oh, la-la", of the many glittering bangles she wore on her pudgy wrists and her big, wild oh-so-chic glasses. It's the smell of sitting in the big rocking chair, reading Kissinger and eating sweet yellow plums while the family guinea pig scooted around the room on his little roller skate feet saying "oui oui oui". It's the smell of milk boiling for breakfast and the electric knife cutting the stale baguette. It's the smell of driving in the tiny car across miles and miles of farmland because they knew i'd like Ingres. I had flashbacks all night and smiled in my waking, and I can smell it with perfect clarity 10 hours later.

 

Oh, the notes? What does it actually smell like? I have no idea. I can't pick out a single note, or compare it to anything i've smelled before. I don't smell fruit at all, possibly a bit of Smarties sweetness, but it's not foody in any way. I don't get root beer or lemon. I smell something i've known in a store-bought perfume, probably the one that Maman wore every day. It's extraordinarily well-blended and the perfect catalyst for a step back in time.

 

It just smells very... French. Confident and settled in itself, not needing elaborate trappings, technology, American-style opulence or a full calendar. It's a smell that wakes up when it wants to, enjoys its breakfast and leisurely decides that today is a day for adventure, whether a trip to a museum, the sea, a church, the river or simply the balcony. It's a scent that would go just as well in the hammock as to a party.

 

To sum it up: cluck, cluck, "oh la-la".

[erehwesle]

First review, ladies and gentelmen.....

 

Ah, dissapation, what to say? I have discovered unfortunately, that I have trouble describing notes, so bear with me here. Must be from that time in the war when I took shelter in a poppy field from an artillery barrage, and relized it wasn't a poppy field at all but something far far worse. Since then I have a difficult time trusting my nose, but I know what I like.

 

Smelling this from the bottle, I was afraid it would be too sweet, a very light note, almost lavendery.

 

On me, though it changed completely. Subtle, refined, but slightly indulgent. A solicitor crossing back across the temple bar to go slumming for the night in Whitechapel, my embroidered frock coat and powdered wig standing out among the simple working class folk by my very presence.

 

Then tonight I had to help a friend move. After a bit of carrying heavy things in the heat, it suddenly became, while still a haunting light scent, more piercing and musky. I realized I was no solicitor in a wig and frock coat, But that smilin' Jack was on the loose, hide your money and ware your women, the Hellfire club roams tonight... Decadent sophistication, but for some reason the sassafras or the wormwood, just smell, dangerous on me. I smell like a man with a sword in his cane, sophisticated and charming, but not to be triffled with.

 

Any other guys use this one? I find I tend to bring scents a little darker on me, I'm deadly curious to try out my Iago and Alecto, you will be kept posted.

 

Erehwesle

Edited August 11, 2004 by erehwesle

[VelvetSky]

This is an extremely cold scent, and I mean that in a good way.

 

It starts out lemony and crisp and herbal-y. I'm also getting the cucumber thing...a little odd, but I can't stop sniffing my arm. Very light and fresh.

 

As it warms up, things get a bit sweeter. Other notes push up to the surface, but I'll be damned if I can name them. And here's the thing: this remains a basically very simple, fresh, green, uncomplicated scent from the beginning to the end.

 

If you're looking for a blend that smells really natural and simple, Dissipation is great.

[Northernminx]

Dissipate this one did...

 

It's light and fresh and green in the bottle, very very subtle. Sadly it stayed a little too subtle on application (for shame as I did want to love this one) The scent has since faded into a vague soapy scent. The ivy held on the longest, and then just...slipped away. Into swaps.

[xoe]

Very very light. I guess with a name like dissipation, that shouldn't come as a surprise.

[Ina Garten Davita]

This was a lovely gift from Vicious Mistress. (Thanks!)

 

First Impression: Sharp and sweet at the same time.

 

Second Impression: As Dissipation blooms it softens and turns into a lovely sasparilla tinged floral. I'm having a hard time describing the scent, but when it's dry on my skin it smells like a sweet and sophisticated perfume with the feeling (though not the smell) of Dior's Poison.

 

Final Analysis: I would never had tried this myself and really pleased that I got to. This is an intersting blend that works well with my skin. This will be a good cool weather fragrance.

[reina]

I got this imp from the wonderful Cinder (thank you!).

this blend sounded intriguing straight from the decription.

on first sniff, I must say I didn't expect much from this straight from the imp.

However, as I wore it, it became quite a lovely sweetness of the type that Bvlgari Pour Femme has on some women (but not on me), kind of powdery, dry and light at the same time. Hard to describe. But whereas that Bylgari scent has this effect with Jasmine, Dissipation does it with a woody green sweet note, maybe a floral that I can't place and need the single note to identify.

 

very good everyday scent, definitely a keeper.

possibly even larger bottle material.

[allamanda]

Dissipation

 

When first applied there is a lovely, light, green, herby smell that I can’t identify. I’m not sure that I’ve ever smelt wormwood, maybe it’s that?

 

Once this is dry I’m getting a slight smokiness, perhaps the combination of the sassafras and poppy? Either way it blends beautiful with the green herbiness. I keep feeling I can smell mint and my memory is linking this to Hemlock, as though they share a note I especially like.

 

I reckon I’m a green, herby, smoky fan.

 

I love this one.

[malanna]

To me, this was a strong scent. I was a bit too generous with my swipe, so this ended up giving me a headache. It's a pleasant scent, if I apply less. This was a brown scent to me. Not so much that it was woodsy, but because it made me think of root beer. It's root beer if it was sweeter, had less of a fizzy quality and was made into a commercial perfume. It really is quite nice, but I didn't like it enough to keep it.

[glampyre]

Dissipation

 

Ooooh. Wormwood!

 

Dissipation definitely has a bright light green scent, mingled with pale pink. Very fresh and pretty.

[grrrlennyl]

dissipation

 

at first: a bonus imp from the lab, this is sweet, biting, and something that seems even a little bit fruity. very interesting.

on: wow. this is great! very fruity. green, too, but in a tart sort of way.

half an hour later: weird. i think i smell black licorice, but wood, too. interesting. there's something a bit weird, too, which i think is the sassafras. definitely weird, but i like it.

1 hour later: more woodsy now. i like this.

2 hours later: this is still pretty much as strong as when i put it on.

4 hours later: it's more of a powdery, but slightly sharp, woodsy floral.

overall: i wouldn't have picked this for myself, but i'm glad i have it. i really like how it develops, but not enough to justify a bottle.

[Lady_Ell]

OK, so I tried this on as an experiment. I wanted to see how gross it would smell on me because it contains the dreaded sassafras , which makes me smell like bandages, and poppy, which has made me smell like a chemistry experiment in the past.

 

That said, Dissipation actually smelled really good on me, to my utter surprise. I couldn't figure out the note I was smelling until I read these reviews and people mentioned cucumber. It's like a sweet, green cucumber with some sugar and herbs and lemony soap on top. Which sounds weird, but it's actually pretty good. Very fresh, juicy, clean-smelling. Very late-spring when irises are out, and you're in the garden and surrounded by new green things.

 

After about 10 minutes, the soapy thing went away and I got a dry cucumber-vanilla smell. Which was very surprising, and surprisingly very nice.

[isyche]

Dissipation is fresh, light, and green - interesting, this isn't what I expected.. it does smell like lightly lemony cucumber, even though that isn't listed. Perhaps this is the ivy and wormwood.

 

I really like it, as a fan of clean green scents. I think it would be great for spring/summer.

Edited December 12, 2004 by isyche

[pekeana]

Strangely, I don't get any of the listed notes from Dissipation. What I have here is a scent that's very similar to Blue Moon, and it's just as soft, sweet, light, and very cucumberish to my nose as Blue Moon.

 

I rather like Dissipation, but it has too much in common with Blue Moon for me to discern differences between the two.

[Rheliwen]

In the bottle: Citrus and bark. Not terribly impressive, but it has a hint of something that makes me think this will be much neater on.

 

Wet (first 30 mins): Lemon pledge! The citrus is very strong at first. I'm assuming it's the sassafras, but to be honest I have no idea what that smells like . As the lemony scent mellows I can smell the poppy!

 

Dry: I don't get the lemon citrus anymore (thankfully since I don't like citrus), but a sweet, poppy scent that's a bit green (sweet green). I wanted to say it is floraly, but I can't think of any floral I know of to compare it to, so I've decided it's not floraly! I don't know what wormwood smells like, but this doesn't have any woodsy note that is very prominent.

 

It's a very mellow scent and has the same kind of feel to it that Morrocco does (that nice clean musky scent). I am already mourning this one! If I can get enough imps of this I'll make my own 5ml to keep and cherish forever.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

I got an imp of this from Malanna.

 

First sniff:

 

Dissipation is another complicated scent, at least for me. On the first sniff, I get ivy, something bitter that I'm assuming is the wormwood and a hint of sassafras, which happens to be my one foody smell weakness. So far I like this a lot!

 

Wet on skin:

 

Ivy is the most prominent note here, but I also smell a little bit of poppy and sassafras. Mainly it's a soft green, slightly soapy scent that brings to mind images of creeping ivy and scratching the waxy coating off the leaves with my thumbnails. I expected this to smell a lot more like my beloved sassafras, but Dissipation still isn't a dissapointment.

 

Dry down:

 

Soapy green ivy and a hint of what I'm guessing must be wormwood. I really like this a lot. It's green and slightly herbal and a little bitter. This is somehow a very clean smelling scent for me in the same way that Neo-Tokyo is clean: in a green, unoffensive kind of way.

 

The bottom line:

 

Dissipation isn't quite what I expected, but I really like it anyway. I'm glad I got to try this one.

[darkling]

I can't believe that I never posted a review for Dissipation! While this scent is not in my top 10, it is definitely in my top 40 and I am grateful that I had the chance to hoard some before it was discontinued.

 

In the bottle, Dissipation has a light cucumber scent with a darker edge of wormwood underneath.

 

Wet and dry on my skin, Dissipation takes a darker turn as the wormwood comes to the forefront adding a touch of bitterness to the scent. It has a green warmth to it although I would not describe this as a green-smelling scent.

 

Overall, Dissipation is how I imagine something called wormwood would smell. It is dark and warm and lingers for a long time.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: A brighter green than I expected. Tangles of ivy thick with green leaves and hints of lemon citrus. Bubbly is an excellent word for it.

 

On me: Bright flowers in a meadow. It's green and gentle. I definitely get a cucumber note from this; although I'm not sure how. It's very springy. Pretty, but it isn't something I would wear so I must pass it on.

[wickedgoddess]

Origin - received in a swap

 

Wet - Green! Primarily ivy.

 

Dry - still very green, ivy and wormwood. If the poppy is present I don't notice it, and I don't get any sassafras at all. It reminds me of Whippoorwill, but not as complex. Pleasant enough, but not really for me.

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 2.