Athens

[Spastik_Kitty]

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

In the imp: Honey and red wine

First on: This is very damp smelling, the myrrh adds a dark earthy feeling to this sticky boozey swoon

After a bit: The wine seems to be the dominant one for me, with the sultry sweet honey and earthy myrrh lurking with a shadow of flowers.

A bit more: Still ripe red wine, sweetened with honey that has been infused with delecate flowers (I'm thinking there is a rose in there, tea rose maybe?)

I'm undecided on this

[tempestteapot]

This one starts out as sweet honey, but becomes slightly rancid when the wine rises up. It was like mmmmmm...er...ewwwww.

[supremegoddessofall]

On me: Lots of honey and myrrh. This is very pretty and very "grown up." Not girly at all, despite the honey. Not really getting many florals. The myrrh and honey combination almost gives a chocolate feel.

[forspecial_plate]

Overall the Wanderlust series is very hit-and-miss with me, with more misses I'm afraid. Athens is not for me. I already knew I'm not crazy about the lab's wine notes, and here it just goes all wrong from the beginning. I can smell the honey and kind of a sickly, sour/sweet wine note that I don't like at all. The other notes aren't enough to redeem what's going wrong here. I do like myrrh and I'm finding I like more flowers than I thought I did, but neither are enough to survive the onslaught of the icky notes on my skin. The throw is more honey but up close it's not pretty.

[ChloeKEvil]

I loved this one in the imp- it smelled like honey and myrrh and I really liked how strong it was and how mature it smelled.

 

On me, it went rotten. I smelled like fermented honey. I was terribly disappointed.

 

Then I took a shower and it didn't go away. I washed and scrubbed my wrist and it didn't leave- very strange. It did smell better afterwards, though, more of the myrrh and less of the honey. Then I accidentally put some All Souls on it and the blend smelled really, really good.

[oh_the_horror]

In bottle: I smell everything listed and it's nice.

 

Wet and drying down: Lots of myrrh at first. This one is really different and interesting. It makes me think of marble collumns on a warm sunny day. It smells ancient and dignified but still human. Gee, could I be influenced by the description? I love it when a blend really is evocative of the description.

 

The wine eventually comes out, as does the honey. I think the florals are in there too, but they're very cool and clean smelling, just how I like em. I'm a little afraid that I smell like a scented candle though. I don't know if I can describe it, but that's what I think of when I smell my wrist.

 

Dry: Sweet musky honey, dry powdery myrrh, and a little cool wine. I keep thinking that this is an intellectual scent. Contemplative and uplifting. This is what I'd wear if I was strolling through the park on a beautiful day or night, just thinking.

 

So it seems like wine works on me. Aged myrrh is really nice and honey is pretty good too. Good to know.

 

It's worth mentioning that the imp I have has an older label. I'm pretty sure this would go to instant nasty powder on me if it was too fresh, due to the myrrh. Let it age a bit, I say.

[gingersnapp]

This is straight up honey and wine, in the bottle and on the skin. As it dries, the myrrh adds a touch of dusty / smoky to the blend. This is really gorgeous.

[starcr]

I had hoped this would be somewhat like Delphi. In the imp, I am not disappointed. It's a similar smell. The combination of honey and wine lurks behind it, but isn't as strong as in Delphi. The rest of the scent... is almost chocolatey. I suppose that might be how the floral components mix with the honey and wine? Quite sweet.

 

On me, at first it smelled almost exactly like Delphi. Which is a good thing, since I like that scent so much, but a little disconcerting. After a few minutes, the wine began to fade and the honey came out really strong, though. And then by... maybe half an hour or so later, the honey had mellowed too, and the scent had smoothed out a bit. Still similar to Delphi, but different in the balance and undertones. I like it.

[zankoku_zen]

I really get honey (tons of it), snatches of red wine and florals.

 

The florals come out much more in the drydown.

 

Verdict: This is a sweet scent, very foody and makes me think of olfactory cakes. If I were a deity, I would find this scent very pleasing. The honey note is almost too much for me in this case... but it's quite lovely.

[filigree_shadow]

Wow, that's lotsa red wine. It smells nice with the honey and myrrh, though -- more perfumey and pretty than wine usually is. There's something about this scent that reminds me of the taste of the insides of the grapes my mom used to grow in our backyard. They were purple grapes, and they had white squishy middles that had a very distinctive taste. I used to peel off the grape skins just to get to the yummy middle part. That's what this scent reminds me of. It's more smoky because of the myrrh, but that's the underlying scent.

[ouch!]

ATHENS

 

I have kind of changed my opinion of this one over the 2 weeks I've been wearing the imp. I didn't like it at first but it's grown on me.

 

First off it's all wine and honey (which was the reason for the dislike at first) Someone at work said "I'm not too fond of your imp today, you smell like you're hungover". Hmmm, if that's not enough to put me off I don't know what is. But because of my pure and utter love for Bpal I persisted because I know how these oils can morph and change over time.

 

The drydown stage is the nicest, the wine dissapears and it's like a spicy honey, with alot of floral. To me it's along the same lines as Sed Non Satiata. Not the same, but that same kind of feel! It doesn't really evoke the feeling of athens to me...but hey. It's nice.

 

A little bit sultry...little bit sexy. Hopefully it will turn you ladies into greek godesses (Or gods if you're a guy like me )

[doctorblue]

This did not smell fruity, or of wine, or honey, or anything else listed. On me, this one smelled of a fireplace. Not a strong, wood crackling, fire roaring kind of smell. Just a presence of a fireplace. Very strange how chemistry works. I think this one is going in my swap box. Although, after reading all these reviews, I might try it one more time before abandoning it.

[The_Witching_Hour]

This one never changed from smelling in the bottle to application and drydown.

 

Lots of red wine....LOTS. There were hints of honey and some myrrh. It almost has a sharp feel to it-----like a dry, red wine.

[SultryWolf]

In the imp: The honey is strong! over a dusty myrrh.

On: Honey and myrrh entwined, with perhaps a bit of the florals in the distance. The strong, almost cloying sweetness of the honey dissipates quickly to a warmer sweetness.

From the description, I did not expect to love this one, but I do!

[The_Merf]

In the imp: This is the wine note from Lilith, and it dominates. I think I pick up on a bit of the flower.

 

Wet: I actually removed this scent from my GC wishlist after I realized that honey and I didn't get along so well. However, at the start, this is all wine and myrrh, and a touch of floral. As it moves from the initial stage, the honey does come out more and more.

 

Drydown and wear: The story of the drydown is the emergence of the honey. The honey stays on the edge of stale, and I'm afraid that after this sits for 2+ hours (it's been there for about 90 mins.) it will give me the usual rankness of honey. Still, this imp is going to get a second shot from me; I do like the initial stages.

[CiCi]

Once applied I smell strong, smoky wine. After an hour or so, the honey starts to come out along with the myrrh. I can't get past the heavy merlot wine smell. I really don't like this scent on me all-body chemistry I suppose.

[emzebel]

Sharp herbal incense, with a honey undertone. I wish the honey was stronger in this, but I seem to be amping other things.

[Athenae]

I was hoping for myrrh, but got sticky plasticky fruit instead. It smelled like those fruit sodas you could buy by the flat when I was little, all artificial grape and cherry.

 

Off to swap it goes!

 

A.

[moon_lemming]

Oh honey, honey. (Isn't that a weird word?) Mmmm. Athens is all honey at first, but as it dries it picks up some myrrh which eventually threatens to overwhelm it. My skin amps myrrh, so I'm not too surprised. There's a little bit of a powdery aftertaste, which could be due to some sort of floral. It's a beautiful "ancient" scent, very sophisticated and warm, but the myrrh is a little too strong on my skin for my taste.

[le fey]

Expectations:

I really like all the elements listed - if the sweet flowers don't totally take over, I think I'm going to like this one a lot.

 

In the bottle:

Strong, dark carmelized honey

 

Wet:

Wow, what a sudden difference from simple to complex - red wine at the top, smoke, something floral and then the honey again. Heady and good.

 

Dry (15 min):

Oh my, this is so good. Dark rich honey, and the myrrh is coming out to play. The wine and flowers are blending together into something intoxicating. If this has any staying power, I am going to be totally smitten. I can't stop burying my nose in my wrist.

 

Later (45 min):

The florals are gone now - this is back to dark, smoky honey and wine. Lush and decadent - I am in love.

 

Wind Down (2 hours):

This stayed a strong, pure caramel honey for hours and hours. The wine and most of the myrrh and all of the flowers faded much sooner, but what was left was luscious.

 

Verdict:

Love it, love it, love it.

[labeth]

Huh.

 

I got this one as a freebie, and really didn't think that it would be something I'd much like, so it sat on the counter for a while before I put it on today. And, uh, damn. I'm surprised.

 

I can't really put my finger on what it smells like in the bottle. It's a pleasant scent, but not one I can identify, and not something I would imagine myself smelling like. But as soon as I put it on, the sweet honey scent totally takes over. I can identify a little of the wine underneath, but my fiancee can't. It's stayed pretty much the same since, except that the wine smell faded a little and the floral smell has come through. Surprisingly, I still like it, as I'm not a fan of florals.

 

I don't see myself getting a whole bottle of this, but I'm definitely going to keep the imp for when I want to give myself, er, bees.

[bookofblues]

This is another of my unexpected favorites.

In the imp, Athens smells like sweet mead. Almost all honey , but with a slight winey note.

As it dries on me, the wine dissipates almost completely and leaves a main note of honey warmed up with myrrh and light herbal undertones.

Even as it dissipates, the sweetness of honey remains longer than any other note. I'd ordinarily not like a scent this sweet, but Athens is not the least bit cloying or overpowering. Really, it's a perfect summer scent for me.

[Nia]

In the imp: very sweet, the honey is very obvious, the wine is detectable, and there is a bitter undertone.

 

Wet: almost like the imp, only less bitter. This smells a lot like the boxes of solid, sniffable perfume in the local Archeology museum. "Sniff this box for a try of Greek / Roman perfume".

 

As time passes the bitterness comes back, leaves, and plays around. Eventually it settles into something like honyed wine, with not a hint of floral. It's not bad, but I have quite a few sweet-honeyish scents (O, Queen) and wine ones (Kali, Wanda), and this one doesn't appeal to me as much as those.

[captainecchi]

Origin: I believe this one came to me from a "20 imps for $20" sale.

 

I have to say, I didn't know what to expect from this one. Myrrh, honey, wine, florals? I'd had somewhat unpleasant experiences with wine scents turning to grape Skittles on me, and I've never been a fan of florals.

 

On application: The wine stands at the forefront of this smell, with a kind of fruitiness. I'm hesitant, because fruit smells don't usually last on me, but I'll give it a try. There's a sweetness there too that I can't quite place.

 

On drydown: The myrrh and the floral notes come out to play gently with each other. That sweetness? Oh, that's the honey! As it warms up on my skin it takes on a real life of its own; warm, and yes, voluptuous.

 

By the end of the day: Honey honey and honey remains. But it's such a wonderful scent I don't mind. Now I want to try more stuff with honey in it!

 

This one has staying power and medium throw, too. It's a keeper.

[fountaingrl]

In the bottle you can smell sweet resin and wine.

Wet on skin: Myrrh! I love myrrh so I am good with this, but at first I am a little disappointed because I think 'hey this is good, but it isn't as good as Minotaur if this is all of it, and it is so similar, maybe I won't keep it?'

On drydown it gets more nuanced and I start to love it. I can smell the wine come out, it is like sweet deep red wine and resins and some honey. I love love love this. I can close my eyes and it feels like how an ancient temple should smell, like incense and offeratory wine and honey. Mmmmm. This is one of my top ten for sure and it is going to go into hard rotation for summer.