Athens

[urraca]

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

This goes on smelling like thick, dark, rich buckwheat honey. As it dries down it continues to smell like honey and all the beautiful flowers the honey was made from. The myrrh grounds the scent but isn't enough to give me a headache. I don't get any red wine, which is probably a good thing. It doesn't last that long, surprisingly for such a thick and heady scent, but it is lovely. It smells ancient --- I can imagine bees on an Athenian hillside 3000 years ago. This was a frimp that turned out very well!

[themerrybaker]

Red wine is not my friend. It seems to be lending a squashed bug gut taint to the wonderful BPAL honey that I love so much. The juxtaposition of the two senses remind me of the expression: " You can catch more flies with honey..." Not a happy situation.

[Eunice]

Wow this is boozy! There is an herbal scent to this that I am thinking is rosemary or oregano. I don't get the myrrh until later. I really want to like this but something in Athens is telling me to stay away. No more Athens for me.

[juniperus]

Bottle: honey and wine, wine and honey. some whine with that wine, honey?

Wet: oh, that honey. hints of dark underneath that must be the myrrh even if I can't quite get that note out of it.

Dry: yep, amping the honey like there's no tomorrow. ah tomorrow. I love ya, tomorrow.

Later: I'm sure this is exquisite on someone who does not abuse the notes like my skin does.

[euterpe414]

Yet another imp that I had put off trying....I don't know why I did that, since this is such a warm, amazing scent. In the vial, it smelled mainly to my nose of wine and light florals. however, as soon as it hits my skin, the honey and myrrh come straight to the forefront. All of the notes seem to blend well together for quite some time.

 

This scent lasts forever on me, meaning, at least hours. As it becomes "faded" it smells a lot like anubis- a honeyed myrrh scent, which I love.

 

Eventually, I plan to own a big bottle of this.

[Neely]

In the bottle: Athenian bubblegum???

 

Wet: sweet honey and myrrh. Well, this is going well so far. I like it.

 

Dry down: honey and something dusty? Uh oh, the myrrh turned into dust. It is fading as it dries.

 

30 minutes: even after reapplying it turned into stale, dusty, honey. WHAHHHH!

 

Conclusion: I love honey, and I am looking for a honey scent. I had hopes for this. I am so disappointed. Stupid skin chemistry. If this had been honey and myrrh, not myrrh dust, I would have been very happy. The search for honey continues. If you have any scents I should try for honey just PM me.

 

Rating 1-5, on my skin this is a 2.5.

[karengypsy]

In the vial: Sweet wine and myrrh.

 

On me: I'm so disappointed. This was much better on me the first time, I thought, but now that I'm trying it again, the red wine smells kind of sour. It covers up mostly everything in this blend - the other scent I detect is myrrh. If only the wine note was lighter!

 

Verdict: Definitely not for me.

 

Rating: 1/5

[edenssixthday]

Athens - In the vial, this smells warm and exotic. As soon as it touches my skin, it gets unbearably sweet, and it’s instantly obvious that this is a honey/wine combo gone awry. It’s simply ghastly on my skin. I check the scent description, and sure enough, not only does it have honey and wine, but myrrh, which I think is the final touch in making this scent completely unwearable on my skin. Now, I have no problem with sweet scents, but this is a cacophony of dark sweetness that seems chaotic and jumbled up. It doesn’t seem to blend well at all. It does have phenomenal staying power, however.

[nightbird]

This one gets overly sweet on me; I think it was the honey. Not for me.

 

rating: 0/5

[yeahbutnobut]

Athens

 

In the imp: honeyed wine! yup, it's a sharp scent, very boozy, and it really does smell like wine with Greek honey.

Wet on skin: this is a very dry red wine here, tempered by honey's sweetness.

Dry on skin: dry red wine, tart and boozy (though not sour like vinegar), with a crystalline honey note (it smells like genuine Greek honey) and a hint of something smouldering away at the back, like incense. Maybe that's the myrrh? It's not the deep, resinous, sticky myrrh that I love, this is an almost burnt, bittersweet, dry and smouldering myrrh scent. But it's not a bad scent for now-it certainly has an 'ancient' feel to it and the wine note is very true.

After a while: the wine does tone down a bit now, becoming a sweeter, fruitier scent, it's a lot smoother now. It reminds me very slightly of a sharper, less spicy Tum, there's a very similar honey note here, it's sweet and soft. This scent does have impressive throw, though. It seems to stay very stable on my skin, it doesn't morph much but I'm glad that the burnt note does seem to fade away. It's a lot more balanced as a scent now as well.

After a few hours, it becomes a little bit more honey dominated.

Verdict: I'm glad this other Greek Wanderlust scent didn't go the way Delphi did on me-this is a lot better. The wine is very dry, sharp and tart but quite genuine in scent, and the honey note is very pleasant, a sweeter honey than usual. And it smells like my favourite Greek honey as well. I'm not so sure about the myrrh-usually I love it, but here it smells a little bit burnt, not as resinous as I like. It does improve very nicely upon drydown, when the sharpness becomes more muted and it's a very nicely balanced honey and wine scent. It's a very nice scent but I don't love it as much as I hoped I would-I do prefer Tum to this, which smells sweeter and less burnt. I think I might keep the imp though because I really like the drydown.

Emoticon rating:

[cranberry]

In the imp and initially on the skin, this smelled like honey and a blast of wine. The wine mellows pretty quick and it becomes all honey and incense. After its been on a couple minutes, the honey blast calms down and it becomes a bit spicy. It smells as if there’s a slight herbal element there too. Wow, this is lovely! It’s a dry scent despite the inclusion of a wine note. I’m not getting any florals so far. As it wears, the myrrh becomes the dominant scent. It’s fairly longlasting on my skin. The conclusion of this scent is spicy and incensy. It does bring to mind how I imagine Greece to be. Lovely.

[Voleuse]

The honey in this blend is very strong, but it's not super-sweet. Instead, it's a golden floral, with a pop of sweet wine behind it. Lovely! I'm not the biggest honey fan, but something about this blend is very appealing and comforting to me. To compare, I like Honey Moon a little better, but Athens is almost as good, and GC to boot!

[fairy]

Yummy, sweet honey. With a slight minty overtone to it. Perfect blend. I can't stop sniffing my wrist. This will go in the "need bigger bottle" category for sure. Lovely Athens...

[Emma]

Athens hit my nose at first like something balsamic, almost vinegary. I stuck the stopper back in the imp and thought "ugh!". Then, a few days later, I decided to give it another go but in a much diluted form. I dumped the imp into about 4 oz. of unscented shampoo I had lying around. Eureka! Much better. Now I can smell the honey notes, a light hint of florals if I sniff hard enough and the burgundy wine notes. Think of Athens this way. In the vial, it's like a peacock with its tail closed up ... a rather ugly, plain bird ... until it unfans its gorgeous tail, then wow! To me, Athens is like that.

[sapnak]

When I tried this, I was hoping that the myrrh and flowers, but all I smell on my skin is a much too sweet honey. I might try layering this with a more spicy scent and see if that makes it wearable. 1/5.

Edited August 19, 2006 by Tilos

[fiddlehead]

Strong red wine! Whew. But wait...there's the honey and something that is reminding me a bit of Anubis but with that tart wine note. Not getting any florals. Maybe that other mysterious note is myrrh?

 

This is really fascinating. I love Anubis and this has got a bit of the same vibe to it. Unusual and ancient smelling. What a suprise this was. Thanks to the labbies for letting me try it

 

 

ETA: Oh, my god. I've worn this all morning and keep wondering what that lovely scent is wafting around. Somehow, it seems like a friendlier scent than Anubis. Which makes sense, I suppose.

Edited August 31, 2006 by fiddlehead

[theseagrows]

at first all i can really smell is a very strong wine scent with the honey in the background. then a herbal scent comes through, which i assume is the flowers? i don't get any sweet flowers though. basically smells like old herbal wine on me. not really something i look for in a perfume. wine is hit or miss on me, and it's a miss this time.

Edited September 2, 2006 by theseagrows

[absinthetics]

voluptuous myrrh is right! Voluptuous is the best word for this, it hits you over the head with its round...voluptuousness. The red wine is the next thing that hits you pretty hard, and it almost feels over-ripe. The sweet notes that trickle in later are just too little and too late, in my opinion.

 

Though it smells like much in the imp, this could be a very interesting scent to wear on the right night...in something red.

[maijasu]

Athens is a beautiful honey scent! It opens up with a big blast of very realistic red wine, then out comes the most gorgeous, deep, sweet honey. I don't get any florals at all, which is just fine with me. I'm not exactly sure what myrrh smells like, but if that's what is lending this blend its depth, then I'm all for it. I love Athens, and will eventually add a big bottle to my collection.

[ND¢]

The wine is strong on me, and combines with the honey in an unfortunately unsavory bitter/sour smell of cooking Marsala.

[citharadraconis]

Mmmm. In the imp, this is all sweet honey with a few drops of wine mixed in. On my skin, it's strong, heady wine mingled with a touch of honey and an aftertaste of bitter herbs. It feels ancient, in a good way: this is the scent of a Platonic Symposium or a Roman commissatio, and as a budding classicist I absolutely love this. Hic merus est Thyonianus, indeed. It's not something I would wear with any frequency, but I am definitely keeping this imp around--maybe I'll wear it to the next toga party I attend.

Edited October 11, 2006 by citharadraconis

[PilotKitten]

Myrrh is very amped up on me in this one. And the honey note smells almost rancid... I get the same sourness from Alice too... I guess BPAL's honey just doesn't agree with me or something

[steffanina]

Athens-

 

In Bottle: Something sweet and herbal. Smells just like mead! Delicious.

 

Wet: The boozy note is there.

 

Dry: Wow, this really smells like mead! Honey and booze; edgier than the honey scent of "O" but still lovely.

 

Overall: Nifty!

[swilde]

My favorite dessert wine is made from green grapes harvested in a week in late autumn, and this smells just like it. Very sweet alcohol.

[jasmine]

Athens is a luscious, rich honey scent on the wand, so pure that it seems as if it ought to be sticky.

 

On my skin, it gets more so. There’s a brief pause, while other notes struggle to break through, but then it settles down to become more honey. My honey recognition isn’t so good, but I want to say it’s wildflower honey -- a golden rich warmth just flooding over me.

 

I was completely surprised to discover that Athens doesn’t go wonky on my skin, seeing as it’s such a honey scent and so many others have, but I’m assuredly not complaining about it. If I focus, I can pick up a trace of the wine, maybe a touch of the flowers -- but really, I don’t think I’m sensing the myrrh. It’s just honey, honey, honey, and my skin adores it. The throw is pretty strong on me, and it lingers on for a while.

 

In summary, this is goooood. Enough said.