Wilde

[Caltha]

Wilde

A sophisticated traditional gentleman's cologne, with just the slightest taint of patchouli's passion, tonka bean's decadence, the philanthropy of bergamot, moss' cynicism, the sharp wit of lavender, and the hopeless romantic longing of jasmine and thyme.

 

I got Wilde as a freebie in a swap and was excited to try it. It's a very cool and fresh and minty gentleman's cologne, slightly herbal but in a mild way, as in herbal schampoo. It's sort of a "generic men's cologne" but with a certain BPAL-ness to it. Too clean and generic and faint for me though and it turns a little funky on my skin, a little plastic and sickly-sweet, like the pickle note I get from Absinthe or a much fainter version of the pee note in Black Annis. I'd like to keep it becaue of the lovely photo of Oscar Wilde dressed as Salome, but alas, it has none of the decadence of him there...

[emzebel]

A very handsome devil, is Wilde. This is a fresh scent which I did not expect to like because of the jasmine. It reminds me a bit, in a very good way, of a cologne that I used to sniff when I worked at TJMaxx in high school and college - lots of lime, lavender...but unfortunately the jasmine gets me in the end.

[Elrianra]

In the bottle: Something dry and citrus-y, a little cloying and very strong. It reminds me a little of some sort of cleaning agent. I think it's the thyme and bergamot mixing - possibly the patchouli? I'm not sure...

 

On me wet: Sweet but strong, the bergamot and lavender are on the top of this blend, it's both herbal and floral at once. The patchouli does a nice job of dirtying this up a little - not grungy at all, the scent is proper with a tinge of inpropriety about it.

 

On me drying: The bergamot is everywhere, I can smell the lavender and jasmine a bit as well, I have no idea what moss smells like so I'm not sure if it's there.

 

On me dry: Still very citrusy and cologne-like in that "dries my mouth out" manner. Nothing of the sticky sweaty tease that Dee held. This is a cold scent almost, stern and unyeilding.[/lj-cut]

 

Finale:

I gave this one a full 22 minutes, by 4:30 it had to come off... the soapy scent was overpowering as it heated up and the bergamot had faded to the background. I never picked up thyme or tonka at all. There was just patchouli and bergamot on the forefront of this one. Entirely too male for me.

Edited May 22, 2006 by Elri

[eviltemptressdq]

Ah, yes... I tested this without reading that it was geared towards men... it is DEFINITELy a man's cologne, and a gorgeous one at that!

 

It was a bit sweet... and I swear I kept thinking of leather? Not sure where that is coming from for me...

 

unfortunately my boyfriend thought it was too sweet, so he won't wear it. boohoo

[Happy Heathen]

In the bottle:

I open this and get a whiff of... shaving gel. Blinking in surprise, I sniff again, and nope, there's nothing herbal or flowery about this, it's just mens' shaving gel. Specifically, Edge. The bright turqoise kind. This is hilarious to me. I had no idea what to expect with this one - I wanted it purely out of unabashed Oscar Wilde love - and I was devoutly hoping the patchouli wouldn't be sufficient to give me the headache it usually does. But it doesn't. The whole thing just blends into the intense, very invigorating, extremely fresh scent of a young man who has just stepped out of the shower and has paused only long enough to slap on some aftershave. It does have me concerned about what, exactly, it's going to do on my skin, since I'm an extremely feminine person and generally favor much sweeter, more langorous scents for perfumes.

 

On myself:

Within instants, all concern has evaporated; this scent is perfect. It warms rapidly and now the tonka bean is distinct - like vanilla, but not the harsh alcoholic tang of vanilla extract. Something softer and rounder and somehow like I imagine cinnamon would smell if it wasn't spicy. Though I can sense the thyme and patchouli, I can't pick them out; they add dimension to the scent without any distinct presence. The moss adds an incredibly vague, comfortably out-doors-y tone to it. If I think about it, I can distinguish the jasmine and the lavender, adding sweetness and preventing it from becoming at all foody. This is not an edible scent, but I nevertheless feel like walking about with my wrist glued under my nose. It's exquisite through every fading note.

 

The verdict? I'm in love. Utterly. But even through the golden haze of total adoration, I have to ask just how often I would actually wear this scent - as flawless as it is, it's emphatically NOT "me" in the sense of being something I'd wear everyday. And it isn't suited to nights on the town the way Bordello is. It might work quite well for job interviews and business situations, but it's too gorgeous to waste on such mundane matters! Argh. Dilemmas, dilemmas. Whatever the case, I entirely adore it and I'm getting a 5 mL bottle first chance I get.

Edited May 24, 2006 by Happy Heathen

[GemmaCat]

Predominantly lavender with a slight soapy note, and maybe a dash of citrus. This is a very masculine and crisp scent, which reminds me distinctly of expensive asftershave.

 

I was shocked to discover jasmine is in this one as usually jasmine overwhelms all other notes and gives me a migraine, whereas I can't detect even the faintest whiff of it in this. Sadly, I also can't detect the tonka or patchouli, which I was very much hoping for.

 

Very nice, but not something I'd wear myself.

[brownbear]

very masculine.

It gets better as it dries on me. It is herby and a bit soapy. A little citrus comes out later. The jasmine isn't going weird like it usually does on me. I think the other notes are balancing it out. Don't know how much I'd actually wear it.

[yellowrose]

This imp is circulating as part of the General Catalogue circular swap.

 

One scent I'm looking forward to trying because of the bergamot.

 

In the bottle: whoa citrus! Very masculine clean and all over my keyboard. (Leaky imp.) Sure this isn't Follow Me Boy? Because if he were wearing this, I would! Very much bergamot and lavender with inexplicable clean citrus. Wow!

 

After the experience with the wild Wilde, it would be a minute before I'd follow someone. It's a pretty pungent and lasting scent. Not a bad thing, but too much of a good thing.

[septima_pica]

An expensive men's bergamot-jasmine cologne, identically and precisely. I don't even know what's so cologney about it; possibly the lavender? No tonka, regrettably. Pretty good, though, for all it's a traditional man's scent; it's just the wrong kind of masculine for me to wear. Too light. I'll stick with my Dee.

[edenssixthday]

Wilde - When I first apply Wilde, it smells like an absolutely gorgeous, perfumey floral. Upon dry-down, however, the sharpness of the tonka bean stands out and initially tricks me into thinking it is clove. Many of the notes are completely unnoticeable on my skin, namely those that usually stand out – sandalwood, lavender, and jasmine (YES! Another jasmine that works on me!) This is a beautiful blend, and I think it would work nicely on my husband, as well.

[Eunice]

Wilde is such an elegant and clean scent. The thyme, bergamot and lavender are all there and the moss rounds everything out. This is incredibly nice. It does smell like a traditional men's cologne but it isn't too manly that a woman couldn't wear it. I do belive this will be going on my large bottle list. So happy I received a frimp of this because I wouldn't have gotten an imp for myself.

[WidgetAlley]

Swap with... someone. Thank you!

 

In the Imp: Man smell! But much, much nicer than traditional man smells, and much subtler, too. There's lavender, and bright bergamot, and earthy, velvety thyme, and the smooth tonka, and a tiny touch of floral jasmine, and green moss. It's vaguely spicy, vaguely sweet, very clean, and abso-freaking-lutely gorgeous. It doesn't leap out and punch you in the nose with "I AM COLOGNE!" like Casanova, nor is it quite as unusual as Old Scratch, but it's.... oh. Oh my. If my skin does anything horrible to this, I will get a graft. I'm serious.

 

Wet: OhmiGod. It's the male counterpart to Santa Eularia des Riu! It's breezy, but gentle, and a little sharp, but round underneath it. Clean, too, without being soapy, and herbal without being overpowering.... wait, wait, is that a touch of spicy, dirty patchouli coming out? It is! This just keeps getting better.

 

Dry: Nose jammed into my wrist, it's warm and round and a little spicy, with herbs and a rugged floral over top. From a distance, there's a fantastic aura of clean, green, citrus-tinged sweetness.... It's everything every men's cologne, shower gel, and aftershave wants to be, only it's, y'know, actually good.

 

I don't care about staying power. I don't care about the eternal, "But when would I wear this?" question. I don't care if my mum likes it. 5mL, STAT.

[sofiaviolet]

In the imp: I smell herbal tea.

 

On me, wet: So crisp! I cannot recognise a single note, though.

 

On me, dry: It smells clean, fresh, and gender neutral. It suits me, I think.

 

Verdict: Totally a keeper.

[filigree_shadow]

This is one of my hubby's favorite GC oils -- he tried an imp of it a few months ago and then immediately bought a 10mL. It really is a great cologne, it smells wonderful. I can definitely smell a clean, crisp lavender in it, and it's just very slightly herby. The bergamot is a nice touch. Very gentlemanly, but not necessarily in a prim way.

 

To my nose there is no mistaking this for a woman's perfume because it smells very much like a traditional cologne. But that could be because my hubby wears it all the time.

[fairy]

Wilde has been in my "to try" baggie since the very beginning but I kept tossing his aside because I could tell he was going to be more of a "guy's perfume". Tonight I decided to give him a try and am glad I did. Wow...sure it's more cologne than perfume but it's wonderful. Id definitely wear this.

 

If you like clean, fresh, crisp scents...Wilde is for you. Gals, don't stay away...give him a try. Trust me!

[Kimocean]

Definitely a great one for a guy! Love the hint of lavendar.

[PixieSkull]

Imp: A manly aftershave type scent. I think it's the thyme that's so astringent and bitter.

Wet: It's really soft when it touches my skin, then it amps up the thyme and the bergamot and patchoulli. No florals and a soft tonka base.

Dry: Not pleasant, very bitter with a slightly sweet touch that makes it smell somewhat like curdled spiced milk.

 

Category: Manly floral

Rating: Nothing I could ever wear

Overall: Nice with the right chemistry, if the thyme and patchoulli were softer.

[kunoichi]

In the vial, this smells spicy and oceanic – a very male scent, reminiscent of the traditional man’s cologne. On my skin this becomes a touch sweeter than one would expect due to the florals in the blend, though it is still very aquatic due to the moss, and somewhat spicy scent – probably from the thyme – though it stays more on the masculine side. After a couple of hours, this is a much softer version of a male’s cologne, still with a slight touch of sweetness under the masculine scent.

[monozuki]

For the first couple of minutes, this is pretty much a bright, lavendery scent on me, and gives me that oft-sought-for illusion of not actually wearing a scent at all but just smelling good. It definitely leans towards masculine, but is still androgynous enough for me to really like it in the early stages. After a while, though, it does seem to fade into this generic cologne smell which, eh, I'm not such a huge fan of.

[Christine Daae]

In the bottle: This definitely smells like gentlemen's cologne. I'm not terribly good with the more masculine scents, so we'll see.

 

Wet: On, at first I still just get the cologney smell, and then I get a bit of the tonka. (I love tonka.)

 

Drydown: As this dries down, the overly-cologney smell warms up with more of the tonka.

 

While wearing: Hmm. This has all-but disappeared on me, after only a few minutes. All that's left is the little bit of tonka, and just the teeniest bit of lavender, all the other scents are gone. Odd!

 

ETA - Now I keep getting wafts of lavender and herbally scents, and the tonka is all gone. This is quite nice, but far too masculine for me.

Edited September 21, 2006 by Christine Daae

[supremegoddessofall]

You know, I was just sitting here thinking this smells like a men's cologne. Then I read the catalog description. So I smell like a guy today. I smell the patchouli and the thyme and maybe the lavender. I don't really get the jasmine and I have no clue what the rest of that stuff is...it's ok, but I'm not a guy and this really smells like guy stuff. I bet I would like it on my girlfriend.

Score: 3 out of 5

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

soapy + lotion-y and traditional GuyScent.

a great scent to ease your man-creature into the lovely world of BPAL and perfume oils.

 

i like this, but it isn't fantastic on me by any means...

just makes me smell like i borrowed the boy's cologne.

which is a nice smelling cologne and all, but isn't *me*

 

i'll schmear some on the boi later just to see what happens...

[cinderfallen]

I really wanted to like this (Wilde of the Prince and the Swallow fairytale = love), but it was just a generic masculine cologne on me....

[zankoku_zen]

I wanted to get this because I wanted to enable the husband. Up until this scent, he has proven extremely resilient to the addiction.

 

In the imp: I smell lavender, a hint of bergamot and some flowers.

 

On Me: I definitely get the floral bouquet out of this with a lingering scent of bergamot. No patchouli (thankfully, since it tends to go nova on me).

 

On Him: HOLY SMOKES BATMAN! This smells like some sort of fancy schmancy label perfume. And he smells divine!

 

Drydown on me: I definitely get more of the feminine, androgynous scent going on. Even he is surprised on how different it smells.

 

Drydown on him: Again, fancy perfumey floral. Very masculine though.

 

Verdict: A winner on both accounts, really. I enjoy it, although it might be a little too Annie Lennox for me. On him, he loves it. He actually said: "I need a bottle of this stuff. How much is it?"

 

Oh yes, enabling finally happened. Wilde is a crafty man, he is, seducing both of the sexes.

[Elemcee]

Wilde is a masculine scent. It's quite lovely and elegant, but still masculine, too. It's quite sexy, too. I can't quite detect any notes.

 

If Ville Valo were to scrub up really well and shave, again, he could wear this. It's a foppish scent, and he's not cynical enough for Villain.

 

It isn't too masculine for a lady, though, if she wants to be a little androgynous.