The Illustrated Woman

[Yanagoya]

Skin musk, smoky vanilla, pine pitch, patchouli, Indian resins, golden honey, and tobacco.

 

Patchouli always overwhelms everything else for me. I get no vanilla or tobacco, just - hippy pine. Also - veeeeeery light throw. Weird, considering the notes. Somewhere deep deep deep under I get a hint of Snake Oil spices. Might be my imagination...

[Lethran]

In bottle: Pine Pitch and patchouli are strongest, but the tobacco support and Indian resins are strong in this one. The musk is ubiquitous, but well blended. The honey and vanilla are soft and smooth out the edges of what might otherwise be a little much. This is unashamedly sexual and very insensey. Wet: The Resins move into dominance, with the patchouli and musk in strong support, with tobacco pulling up third, also in support. The pitch gives it some extra bite on top of the sexy, the vanilla and honey lend it a touch of sweetness, but this is all about the resins and not foodie at all. Dry: Resins and vanilla dominant, with musk, patchouli, and honey, in descending order of strength. Lasts ages while remaining complex.

[Missy_killer]

In the imp: Smokey pine and vanilla! Not really what I expected.. I was prepared for an ashtray of doom with vanilla stuck underneath.

 

On: This is not at all what I had expected. The pine is the most dominant note on me, followed by the skin musk and a teeny, tiny dab of vanilla. The mix of this makes my brain think that this is artificial watermelon at some angles. So strange but I like it. The pine continues on being the most dominant note but the Illustrated Woman is very fresh and sweet, not at all what I had imagined this being. I do like pine, thankfully!

 

After a few hours this changes, and it becomes sooo good! I now smell the most perfect man ever. It's a nice and warm scent, with a little spice, and I imagine snuggling my face in his chest, deeply huffing this comforting scent. God damn, this is gorgeous!

I'm still surprised the tobacco was nowhere to be seen here, it is almost always very prominent on me, just like honey which also never made an appearance.

 

I'm testing this on my one hand and Black Lace on the other, and while Black Lace smells like a fancy sophisticated woman, Illustrated Woman smells like the perfect manly companion.

[LiberAmoris]

Somehow, in 2008, I did the right thing and ordered a bottle of The Illustrated Woman...I just didn't review it. Many years later, this is even more syrupy and viscous than when I first got it, and more concentrated. Every single note here gets to sing: the smoky vanilla, patchouli, pine pitch, resins and tobacco work together to make the scent feel outdoorsy and incensey. The honey and skin musk smooth everything right out.

 

The effect is almost hypnotically calming: this is 'slow the f*ck down' in a bottle. It's also absolute catnip to anyone who smells it. Coworkers, strangers in the elevator, friends...everyone loves the smell of The Illustrated Woman and wants to lean in.

 

Hours later into the drydown, it's a resiny, foresty, slightly smoky skin musk. Great stuff, and I'm so glad I hung on to my bottle!

[DJ Sin]

Maybe its me and my skin chemistry or the aging of my decant but I musk and honey on the drydown of this blend.

 

When it was in the wet stage I couldn't identify any of the notes. Needless to say, I am in love with Illustrated Woman because I can't keep from inhaling my arm. Soooo good! I hope the Carnival comes back soon. I have a few bottles to procure now!

[Vaporeon]

I now how two bottles of this and an realizing that I don't think I have two bottles of this at all. The first smells a lot like smut and the second is alll pine. Now im totally crushed because I defintely prefer the new one and now I need more of that. Weird the bottles look identical.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Beautiful. Resinous, sweet, musky. Hints of pine, but not overwhelmingly so. It`s soft, much lighter than I expected.

 

 

Dry: Not entirely sure how I feel about this. I do like it. It`s a lot more subtle than I expected, maybe a little too subtle Very nice though. The vanilla in it is gorgeous. I just want it to be a bit stronger. I think I will likely test it again if it`s re-released with the next act of the Carnival, and see how I feel about it fresh. Currently I am torn about whether or not I would wear it.

 

 

 

ETA: 2017 version -

 

Wet: Ugh, pine (aka cat pee). It's not as bad as other pine scents though...it's a whisper of cat pee rather than a shout, and I think it's fading. Wow, the rest of the notes are gorgeous and sophisticated - smoky and musky. There's a hint of the clean edge that skin musk always has on me. It's very light. The pine has totally disappeared (yay!) and it's actually now a very subtle and sophisticated skin scent. It's so much lighter and cleaner than I remembered! I think I could wear this to work. It's so pretty, but very light and totally inoffensive. Yes, I think this gets a full work day test, and then there may be a bottle in my future. The search for work appropriate but not boring scents is endless for me....

Edited August 25, 2017 by LizziesLuck

[Casablanca]

2016 (edit: I mean 2017. What year is it again?) version

 

I don't always get along with patchouli, but I love this.

 

On my skin, it's a sultry vanilla-patchouli pine, at once grounding, soothing, and sexy. Overall I think pine is strongest in the opening, but a soft, smoky vanilla-patch deeply colors it. The blend is woody and resinous, just a little sweetened with the vanilla and a light breath of honeyed tobacco. The patchouli is dark but smooth, and never reads as dirty or even textured to me.

 

I'll need a backup at some point to age.

Edited August 2, 2017 by Casablanca

[roseus]

At first I feared my chemistry might be doing something weird to patchouli, but this settled nicely. It a delicious golden resin blend. It's rich and warm and in perfect balance. Not too smoky or piney, which were the aspects that I wasn't too sure about. It's surprisingly smooth and light. A delightful early fall scent.

[writergal969]

God I want to like this...I really, really do...but it's another exercise in failure for The Illustrated Woman for me. I was hoping fresh 2017 wouldn't go wonky on me but argh, she's gotta go.

 

In the bottle it's amazing...but all I get on my skin is sharp hamster-bedding pine or pencil shavings. It crushes everything else that's beautiful about it and I'm just...a stinky pine. SO SAD!

Off to the sales bin...

[Cali]

Ahh, patchouli is the first thing that greets you here, with a lovely undercurrent of tobacco. The pine in this amps on me though along with the indian resins, barely any honey or vanilla detected on drydown. But then! Luck strikes. There's the vanilla. The sharper notes are still overpowering but the vanilla has now come up along with the skin musk and it's quite lovely!
The pine is mostly gone at this point too.
This is exquisite but not something I'd want to smell like in daily wear. I totally get what this is going for though.

[torikitty]

I was worried about this because honey is my death note. Luckily, the vanilla and patchouli are in the front, and blending well with the musk. It's a really nice, snuggly, lightly-sweet skin scent. I'm not getting any pine. And if there's tobacco, it manages to create a nice foundation for these without being detectable.

[dementia_divine]

2017 version.

 

In the decant: I am mostly smelling the pine pitch, followed by the clean skin musk, and then the tobacco. It is lighter than I thought it would be.

 

Wet: The pine pitch, smoky vanilla, and tobacco are the first notes to greet my nose, but the skin musk quickly emerges and takes over, so that it is mostly skin musk and tobacco on me. The pine pitch and vanilla are still there, but not as strong as they were when the oil was first applied. I'm also starting to get the patchouli, but it's a soft patch.

 

Dry: The skin musk is still quite strong, and so is the tobacco. I'm still getting the pine pitch, and the smoky vanilla note is slightly stronger during this stage. But the resins are playing a role now, and the honey has also peeked out, but it's just a touch of it. This scent stays really close to the skin.

 

Verdict: Like, but not love. It's nice, but I wish I had gotten more of the smoky vanilla and pine out of it.

[Joyleaf_]

Wet on the skin this smells exactly like my summers at camp in the NC mountains. Ceder-y, Pine-y and with a hint of preteen girl perfume. As it warms, the light and airy vanilla strengthens and almost overwhelms the blend. Where is the patch or tobacco? I could really use some deeper base notes here, so it doesnt just put me back in middle school, sweating around a campfire. There it is. More patch, but the lightest, softest patch I have ever smelled. This is very feminine on me, and lighter than my usual choices.

[agirlnamedfury]

2017 version:

 

Woodsy and piney. Not what I expected? I honestly can't decide if I like this or not. It will have to go in the to-retest pile.

[Lucchesa]

2017 Illustrated Woman -- I can't believe I haven't reviewed this. I put it on today because I'm going to be hiking later, and I was puzzled that I couldn't smell much at first, because this is one of my favorites. It just comes alive on my skin, though. Two hours later, it's freaking gorgeous. Pine and honey and vanilla, a little musky, with the tobacco and patch very subdued. If you like Elf (which I also adore), this may be excellent on you as well. Illustrated Woman is that little black dress you can wear to work under a blazer and then put on the strappy stillettos and wear out for cocktails with a new flame. It's wholesome yet sexy, and it's a blend I just feel good in.