Athens

[milica]

A reformulation and modernization of a true Classical Greek perfume, myrrhine: voluptuous myrrh, golden honey, red wine, and sweet flowers.

Straight from the imp, all honey and wine. Same on the skin, but sweeter and myrrh comes out to play.

I don't do well with wine scents but this one is exception, I love it!!! It's more honey then wine on me so that's a plus. And the ultimate test was taking it with me to Athens last fall, it was just perfect!!! Edited March 15, 2009 by milica

[Saya]

At first I get a lot of wine, honey and flowers, in that order. This blend is very rich and thick, it's almost too heavy for me. After a little while, the wine note dies down and I'm left with a floral honey scent. It fades pretty quickly and keeps close to the skin.

 

I like the scent and will use my imp, but won't need a bottle.

 

Overall score (1-5) - solid 3

[crebbsgirl]

I LOVE myrrh, and Athens does NOT disappoint. There is something about the combination of myrrh and honey in this that has me huffing my arm non-stop. The sweetness of the honey and the darkness of the myrrh is just sensuous and evocative! The red wine goes a little fruity on my skin, but the myrrh prevents it from going "juicy". I'm not getting much in the way of any distinct florals here, but there is a suggestion of them. I really really like this. It's complex in its simplicity.

[svelterose]

It smells like a fresh baby's butt on my skin. =/ Maybe I got a super old bottle where the myrrh got super powdery - I don't know. I just know that I smell like a baby's booty.

[tragedy]

This baby is quite a morpher!

Wet this comes on all strong honey. Sweet thick rich honey with quite the throw, almost too powerful.

Then the myrrh comes into the honey and spices it up a bit.

Then it dissapears - awwwuh!

But seconds later its back but now honey and red wine. The red wine isn't quite as strong as I like my wines, and I think stronger would have really added to this drydown scent... but its still very nice

[Gaidig]

In the bottle: Very sweet but also a tiny bit sour in a good way, like a Flemish sour, which happens to be one of my favorite styles of beer. There is something deep, but the honey jumps out at me, followed by the flowers, making this a bright scent.

 

On me: Out comes that sour that I like - the wine? -- and especially a spiciness -- myrrh?

 

1 hour+ later: Still spicy with a light sweetness and light floral. The floral notes remind me of Sea of Glass, but here they are accompanied by a spicy red wine. To me, this scent is a summer evening drinking red wine in the temple gardens.

[Siberia]

In the imp and wet, this has a deep, dark scent like wine-soaked raisins. As it dries, there is something that reminds me of olive oil, or maybe Lush's olive leaf soap. I suppose it could be psychosomatic since the name Athens puts me in mind of olive oil, though. This is a scent that gives me a color impression- dry, it is a golden-green haze. I love this.

[topazphoenix]

In the imp this smells like wine. Dry, it's flowers and myrrh with a bit of honey.

Edited January 17, 2010 by Shollin

[Dark Alice]

In the imp: sweet red wine fresh from the vine and honey.

 

Wet on the skin: Red wine..mixed with the sweetness of myrrh and honey.

 

Final Drydown: Gorgeous red wine and myrrh. I think the myrrh is what is keeping the honey in check. I actually love this!

[Xylis]

in the imp:

 

this is some strong wine, i can almost taste it slipping down my throat. amidst the warm tingly burning, the myrrh is making its first appearance, tart and striking. i must say that i'm actually intimidated by this blend. still, nothing ventured, nothing gained, let's hope my skin chemistry does something nice to it.

 

 

wet:

 

the smell of sweet wine is very distinct and i'm actually getting whiffs of honey, mixed with the myrrh. this is going to sound strange, but this scent is actually drinkable. i can feel its warmth flowing down my throat and warming me from inside out. if i don't sniff carefully though, it's kinda bordering on a sweet medicated oil which while not unpleasant, isn't exactly what i'd want to smell like.

 

 

drydown:

 

this is a very mature scent. i can imagine it on a sophisticated lady, elegant and worldly-wise, with a hint of exotic beauty. this is starting to be more sweet myrrh than medicated ointment, thank goodness, but i feel like a little girl playing dress up in her mother's clothes. i do very much like the honey in this though.

 

 

 

verdict:

 

truly not the scent for me, but still, it's a beautifully exotic scent that's evocative of grecian wonder. it's a pity that i'm just kinda underaged, scentfully speaking.

 

 

[claudia6913]

In the imp it's a bitter wine smell. It reminds me of the wine used at my old church for communion. It's not a scent with good associations for me at any rate. But, I'll give this a try.

 

Wet on my skin it's staying true to the bitter wine, but there's a sweetness under it. I visualize someone taking a cup of wine and pouring a bit of honey into it to give it some sweetness that was lacking. The flowers are there, but they are at the bottom of the metaphorical cup. I'm not getting much myrrh. If it's there, it's hiding beneath everything else.

 

The longer this sits, the less bitter it becomes, but it still has a strong wine scent to it. Not sure if that's something I would want to go out smelling like! >.<

 

Hmm, smells like the myrrh just kicked it's way to the top and beat the wine into almost non-existence.

 

I'm starting to enjoy this the longer I have it on. It's complex and deep, almost heavy but with a deceptive softness that catches you off guard on occasion.

 

After an hour or so, it's nothing but a soft floral. Nice, but barely there. Not bottle worthy simply because of the initial wine phase.

[symphonyinsilence]

I have to admit, this scent grew on me. I did not like it the first time I ordered an imp. I did not want to smell of wine and honey, I'm not a foodie scent girl. I always say that. *lol* So the next time I ordered a bunch of imps, I got Athens free and thought, what the hell. Why do they send me stuff I've already tried before? I was at home and had just got out of the shower so I decided to use it up (it didn't occur to me to give it away, hadn't stumbled upon this forum yet). This time I used just a drop on each arm (I used to have the lousy habit of pouring perfume oils on me and finishing up imps within days, how silly am I?) and went to dry my hair. A few minutes later, I could smell the honey and wine mixture and I must've been in a weird mood, but it turned me on! *lol* I couldn't believe that I'd fallen in love with something I'd rejected before for others. How could I have not seen it before?!?! Sounds like a guy, eh? Well, the story with my boyfriend is similar, but anyway. I love myrrh. This blend is divine, reminds me of monasteries and Loreena McKennitt songs on the Mask & The Mirror album. Makes me want to go to Greece for a holiday. This scent turned me into a honey convert. I'm definitely getting myself a bottle! Love BPAL for sending me the free imp, haha.

Edited September 18, 2009 by symphonyinsilence

[Lamia]

 

A charming lovely soft and gentle scent. Honey and flowers and wide open spaces. Really beautiful, too bad it's such a quick fade.

[strahlend]

First sniff - Holy crap that's pungent! All I'm getting is the red wine.... and LOTS of it!!! wow... it smells like I stuck my head inside of a wine cask. Sour grapes. I'm curious if the other notes ever come out. I keep sniffing it and it just keeps smelling like overpowering wine. Other reviews say chemistry is a big factor with this one... so I'm curious to see what it does.

 

On the skin – The exact second it's not in the bottle that pungent red wine smell goes away. What's left is very lovely mildly sweet woodsy smell – I'm not getting any floral here, the honey lends a sweetness but it's not cloying.... it simply smells like a lovely fragrent forest on a mild day.

 

[Diva Urd]

Vial: Wine and honey. A bit shoe-polishy in the imp.

On: honey-sweetened wine. At the moment a bit too sweet for my taste, but let's see what drydown brings.

Once it's dry, it's more of a dry smell rather than super-sweet. It smells a bit like dandelion to me. I'm not sure whether I'm going to get along with this yet, although it is somewhat interesting.

Later: Honey and... beer? Weird. I don't think my skin likes this. Swap.

[voodoocatwoman]

Most definitely honey and most definitely wine. When it dries, it takes on a weird kind of plastic/olive juice combo scent.

 

Bleccch.

[Venneh]

In the imp, this is red wine and honey, with a hint of myrrh lurking underneath and sweetness from the flowers. On my skin, this is predominantly myrrh. Gah. I'll wait to see how the drydown goes. It stays predominantly myrrh, and is just not good on me. Ugh. Swaps/sales.

Edited November 28, 2009 by Venneh

[luzblah]

Was a frimp with an ebay purchase.

 

Imp: Some sort Alcoholic honey mead!

 

Wet: Alcohol Wine Smell fades and takes the honey with it.

 

Drydown: Slightly floral but fades fast leaving a sort of dried leaf smell. Not horrible "blegh" smell but not all that nice.

 

Within 15 minutes it turns to baby powder smell with a sort of mossy undertone. Not nice on me. Swap pile methinks!

[Aldercy]

Where is all the myrrh? Athens is almost all piercing, sweet alcohol and heavy, goopy, dark honey to me. Very strong and rich. I just don't think I can pull of something this seriously alcoholic.

[lensflaaare]

Wet: At first it smelled medicinal. The honey, myrrh, and red wine all came out, but to my nose, the combination of all three smells a little strange...

 

Dry-down: Weird. Something smells mildly chocolatey. I think it's the combination of the honey and red wine, and maybe the myrrh. I actually like it quite a bit. Oh wait, I think it's the myrrh, because it's a bit medicine-like. Hm. This definitely smells ancient. It makes me think of a robust Greek woman carrying a water jug to the marketplace or something. As this dries, the honey comes to the forefront, with myrrh and red wine in supporting roles. The wine gives it an edge, and the myrrh spices the blend up. This is wonderful!

 

Dry: There's a cloud of honey floating around me, and it's absolutely amazing. Closer to my wrist, the myrrh is still evident, though the red wine has pretty much blended into the background. It leaves something vaguely fruity and fresh though, which is nice. I smell like I just bathed in honeyed water in Ancient Greece or something. I love this blend.

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

Imp: Myrrh and Wine

Wet on me: Myrrh Wine and Honey.

Drying Down; mostly the honey is amping over everything now. Displacing the wine and not letting the flowers get a chance to play

Dry: just honey. Which is okay if you like honey. But I'm not too a fan of sweet or foodie sweet notes.

[thebirdofhermes]

In bottle: Pale straw yellow oil. Honey, myrrh, something alcoholic hiding underneath.

 

On skin, wet: Honey with an incensy undertone. Definitely a myrrh based incense, with wisps of soft floral drifting through. Not sure what kind of flowers, but I want to say they are white flowers, possibly lilies of some sort. As it dries, the honey softens into a lovely sweetness, and a slight booziness from the wine peeks through.

 

On skin, dry: Oh. Oh my. Sweet, definitely a honey sort of sweet, over top of a smooth floral incense… or is it the other way around? It's all blended together, crisp and smooth, and sometimes the honey is noticed first but other times, it's the myrrh and flowers. Sitting here typing, I'm getting soft wasps of honey-myrrh. Very golden sort of scent; not gold in sunlight, though. More like gold by the glow of candles in a sacred temple. You step inside for a closer look, and you're just enveloped by holy incense and the scents drifting up from honeyed cakes and sweets offered as gifts to the gods. For a moment, you just pause and take in everything: the air, heady with offerings; the warmth of the candlelight; the flickering gleam of the gold and precious metals used in the devotions.

 

This is going on my bottle list.

[Caerphilly]

In the imp: Sweet, homemade, gingerbread rum cake. huh...

 

Wet: It's the myrrh. Myrrh smells like spicy cake to me. Don't really like the smell of cake on me. I'm not a fan of alcoholic scents either. They just strangely morph on my skin.

 

Dry: Floral honey! The myrrh fades! The alcohol fades! NO, not true, smells a bit like white wine, making the scent not as sweet. I want to smell like this!

 

Overall: YUM! baby powder honey delicious! I will use the imp! I don't like it wet, but it doesn't take too long to turn into honey. Reminds me a bit of brisingamen, without the resiny, woody smell.

[angelicruin]

On the skin, this is a lovely honey and red wine scent. Bold and just sweet enough for my tastes.

[wendyb1063]

Initially, after first applying to my arm, it smelled like honey and ... citrus! With maybe something warm and rich and plant based... olive oil? This was before I read what the notes were supposed to be (it was a kind frimp from the lab). I honestly get no wine from this. After a little while it is warm and dusty and calming. I didn't think I would like this initially, but it is growing on me.