Aeronwen

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

Fig, dark myrrh, amber, redwood, nutmeg, tarragon, black musk, and sweet orange.

i never, ever would have ordered this had i not gotten a sniffie of it as an extra in a swap.
but wow. and oh my wow. fig to keep it grounded, black musk to add depth and sweet orange for a dash of oomph. clean and dirty all at the same time, an amazingly fantastic "no brainer" sort of everyday scent that's both unusual and yet not offensive to other cubicle dwellers and office workers.

[NoinHime]

In the bottle: Getting a lot of everything. Mostly fig with a spicy/resin-y background

 

On my skin this is quite mellow. Most the fig but the other notes keep it from getting too sweet. As opposed to another fig scent, Eden, I like this one *much* better because it's not so foody.

[Seismogenic]

I'm not gonna lie. The main reason I'm interested in this scent is the redwood note. Redwoods smell so good! And this is one of only three BPAL oils with redwood in it (and I can't wear one of the others because it also has a note to which I'm allergic). The other notes also sound really good, but mostly, redwood.

 

In the imp: Mostly fig and orange right now, with an indistinctly dusty background. I'm already expecting a drastic change once this hits my skin.

 

Wet on skin: The orange has already disappeared, and the nutmeg has announced itself. Right now, I'd say this is kind of spicy-resiny, though there is a softer drier note that I'm hoping is going to turn out to be distinctly redwood when it dries.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, this has already morphed again quite significantly. It's lighter than when wet, and now has much more tarragon than nutmeg. Amber is the predominant resin, and I really don't smell the musk. The soft dry note is, gloriously, turning out to be redwoody! I think the other notes are holding it back from having that slightly sweet hint that you smell when walking through a redwood forest, but it's still recognizable. At one hour in, the notes are no longer particularly distinct from each other. My guess is that the main components at this point are amber, redwood, tarragon, and fig, but everything is quite well blended.

 

Five hours later: I think this is finally mostly done with all its morphing. It's still quite well blended, though I think the thing that's keeping it lighter and fresher is the fig, which had disappeared for a while. The amber has given way to the myrrh, and the redwood remains a gently dusty thing that I might not recognize as redwood if I didn't know that's what it was.

 

End of the day: Faint, but still there. Only now do I get any of the musk, and there's still a little bit of myrrh left as well.

 

Overall: This is one of the morphingest BPALs I've ever tried, and I'm honestly not quite sure what to make of it. It was, at all points, interesting and pleasant, but it was so hard to pin down that I don't know if I can make an overarching statement about what, exactly, it smells like. The whiffs of redwood were awesomely on-the-ball, but all too fleeting, though I guess no more fleeting than any other single note in the mix. I suppose I will need to search elsewhere for my smelling-like-redwoods needs. All this said, I don't think there's a way I could go wrong wearing this, as all of the stages are likeable and unintrusive. I'm glad to have a decant, but I don't need a bottle.

 

[angelicruin]

This starts out as mostly fig on my skin. It turns a bit smoky on my skin and I pick up a bit of the sweet orange.

 

It's soft but not faint on my skin. Dusty and slightly sweet. I plan to purchase a bottle of this stuff soon.

[emily2531]

Aeronwen is very woody, resinous, smokey and spicy. There's some sweetness from the fig and orange, but overall it's very dark and mysterious. It's just not me.

[Violaine]

I am truly confused over this scent. It's on the complex side for me, but I am so intrigued by it.

 

In the bottle I definitely smell the fig most strongly. Wet on my skin, it's delicious fig and something... dry. Might that be the black musk? It's harsh (not necessarily in a bad way) and dry, almost powdery. As this dries on me it goes through SO many phases. Every time I smell it I get something different, but never the orange. There are definitely times that it threatens to turn into the amber of death on me, that powdery "old lady" smell to my nose, but it never quite makes it.

 

I'm on the fence. It's missing a softness for me, and I wish the fig would come back. But then there are times I give it a sniff and I nearly groan, it's so good.

 

This is definitely going to be one that I try a few times before I make a decision on its fate.

[MamaMoth]

This one is hard to describe. Up front is definitely the fig, but its herbal fruityness is pretty well meshed with the other components, especially the musk. Beyond that, I can't really pick out any individual notes. It's sweetish, but not super sweet. Herbal, lightly musky, and feminine. It had potential, so I decided to move it forward to the all-day-at-work testing stage.

 

Unfortunately, I started to regret that decision about two hours into the day. On me, this started to get more and more perfumey, and more... well, I don't know how else to say it but average. It turned into something very very "perfumey" and completely unremarkable that I might smell on any one of my little-old-lady customers.

 

I'm sorry, Aeronwen my dear. Off you go to someone who will love you.

[devilot]

Aeronwen

In the Bottle: Super crisp, clean, FIG!

 

Wet: Pretty much just the fig. Do I amp fig? Or are there significant batch differences? 'Cause I'm tellin' ya', I'm only gettin' fig.

 

Drydown: Hm, I think I might be getting the redwood. Something smells piney. And something else smells very very dusty-- myrrh? Amber? I'm not a fan.

 

Verdict: I love the figgy beginnings, but am not wowed by how it ends up. This bottle has found a new home.

[sarielswish]

In the vial, I really get nothing beyond good, polished wood and herbs. Not a bad scent, but I don't know how it will react to my body chemistry. Color, honey gold.

 

Wet on my skin, that tarragon is really strong. The redwood and amber are a nice combo, though. The fig lends it a nice earthy sweetness, though. Surprisingly enough, I can't smell any of the myrrh, musk, or orange at all.

 

10-15 minute drydown - I am just not digging this one. I think the tarragon is killing it for me. Oh well. That's why we have imps, no?

[SophieCedar]

I had to test this multiple times to make sure I got the same impression each day. Starts off smelling a bit like nice shampoo but I thought I was going nuts..nope.

 

In imp and first wet: strong fig and tarragon with something that smells a bit like pomegranate... maybe the orange mixed with the herbs and redwood? Not getting any nutmeg at the moment. Smells like a drugstore shampoo I can't place.. maybe herbal essences? Not bad, just unexpected having looked over the ingredients.

 

Drydown: the fig moved to the background and the orange/redwood pulled forward. I can smell the nutmeg if I take a looonnnggg whiff close to my wrist, but it has no significant throw. I like the dried down version much better, as the citrus and herbs have mellowed out however it's a fader, so deserves lots o layers.

[la belle dame sans merci]

I don't like sweet, fruity scents, so I would not normally pick a fragrance that starts out with fig, especially since I grew up with my sole exposure to fig being my grandmother's super-sweet fig preserves, but I really wanted to try the redwood note and all the other notes work on me.

 

I am astounded. This is beyond my expectations. Aeronwen is just lovely. Lovely!

 

There is a sweetness, but it is tempered so well by the other notes. Dark and spicy and subtly sweet. Overall, complex and gorgeous. On me, Aeronwen doesn't morph dramatically but she lasts for hours. She stays close; not a lot of throw. But that's OK. I don't mind keeping her all to myself. She is so worth it.

 

An intimate, gorgeous, complex scent.

 

[RhinestoneHousewife]

This also smelled like drug store shampoo to me in the bottle. It started out green, then went more resiny and finally ended up smelling like regular old perfume to me.

 

Off to swaps!

[Gin]

Aeronwen is quite a surprise. I'm pretty sure someone frimped me a lil' tester of this because the notes don't paint a picture of a scent that would work for me. And yet, they totally do. It starts out really green--not *sharp* green, fresh green--and dries down to a dark, sweet muskiness.

[subtlesiren]

I was really excited to try Aeronwen, but almost as soon as I bought her, I realized she wouldn't work as she really doesn't have any of my win notes, save amber which has the tendency to be swallowed by obnoxious notes. I am still convinced that fig will work on me if only I find the right scent. Myrrh is iffy, and the others I'm just not familiar with. Except you, black musk. How could I forget you and your powdery death?! Aeronwen starts out in the bottle smelling like cheap herbal-scented shampoo. It's very green and soapy . Once on my skin and dry, the black musk turns an already disappointing scent into a powdery mess. Alas, Aeronwen, we were not meant to be. Just as well the Grindhouse has variety of ladies.

Edited April 27, 2011 by subtlesiren

[imaginepageant]

In the Vial: Sharp, smoky myrrh pops out right away, followed by a very resinous amber, the warm and woodsy redwood, and the fruit and spice notes. Not sure I'm getting the black musk - I can't pick it out specifically, but it's probably there in the background.

 

Wet: Wow, everything kind of mellows out and melts into a general soft, sweet scent. It's a little woodsy, and the orange is giving it a bright edge (though it's not an in-your-face orange). After a minute or so, I start to get the amber again, and it's staying mainly resinous, but it is going slightly powdery.

 

Dry: The sweetness is pretty much gone, but otherwise it's the same: a slightly woodsy, slightly resinous orange.

 

An Hour Later: Bad me: I forgot to come back to finish the review after the hour. All I can say now is that it was still very orange.

 

Overall: I wasn't happy with the end result; I'm starting to think citrus notes just aren't for me. I'm glad I didn't spring for a bottle of this unsniffed based on the notes, and my decant will be rehomed.

[yakiguri]

Yup, myrrh is a death note for me. >_> All I get from Aeronwen is something sharp, dirty, and sour. I'm betting the sour note is from the orange, which is typically a death note as well. Scrubbing and tossing into the swap pile.

[Wwindy]

This is absolutely lovely -- somehow it manages to be rich and luscious without being overly sweet, foody, or heavy at all. Mostly I get a warm, almost chewy (but like I said, not sweet!) fig and amber combination, with a touch of bright sharp citrus and light woody undertones plus hints of spice and musk. Normally I amp myrrh like crazy, but this "dark myrrh" note must be different, since I'm really not noticing it all that much.

 

I acquired this bottle quite a while back and remember thinking the scent was faint and didn't last long -- it's gotten better on that front with some aging, but still needs to be reapplied moderately regularly. Definitely worth it, however! I get lots of compliments on this one.

[orata]

Fig and orange, with a slightly sickly sweet resin base from the myrrh. It smells good, but somehow seems to lack substance or body; something about it feels wimpy to me. Not simple, but spineless. Maybe I'm anosmic to something in here?

[milica]

in the bottle, fresh and fruity, I kind of get just a tiny bit of orange over figs.

 

On the skin, it begins as a freshly cut fig, very fruity and green. One hour later it gets much sweeter, with musky ambery base but still fruity and it stays that way for a few hours.

 

I bought a bottle few years ago, tried it then and it was too fresh and sharp fig for my taste. Now that its mellowed, it is a really pretty scent, that can be a good everyday perfume, but still not for me.

Edited November 2, 2012 by milica

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

These notes sound amazing; I'm really excited about this one! Wet, Aeronwen is all fig (I love fig!). Spice notes quickly begin to develop, along with a lovely hint of amber. This is an unusual, autumnal scent that makes me think of sipping spiced tea by a fire.

Edited August 14, 2017 by Laurel the Woodfairy

[LizziesLuck]

2017 version -

 

 

Wet: Fig, yuuuum. I adore fig. It's hard to find a good fig scent where it's not overshadowed. This is lovely though, warm, earthy fig, hints of spice and woods. The Myrrh is starting to come out though, uh-oh! I turn things to Myrrh single note sometimes.

 

Dry: The fig remains dominant! That's so exciting! It's really beautiful too, rich and full. The Myrrh is there, but it's not stealing the show. The spices are very faint and mellow, and just add depth. This is truly gorgeous. I think I will age it a bit, just to make sure the Myrrh is going to keep behaving, but it's going on my bottle list for sure!

[Lucchesa]

2017 Aeronwen morphs so much in the first ten minutes alone it makes me a little dizzy. In the imp I smelled mostly fig and a tiny bit of orange, like a dried fig dessert filling with a little orange peel in the mix. Did I say I love fig? When it hit my skin, it was all myrrh. Then moments later, all black musk. Then fig again. Ooh, there's the redwood. Myrrh. Musk. Fig. My skin tends to soak up citrus scents, so the orange went offstage. The three main players for me were fig, sweet myrrh and dark musk, and while at first each of them wanted to give soliloquies, they eventually ended up forming an ensemble. I found all the morphing fascinating and kept sniffing my wrist to see where it was at now, and none of the stages was unpleasant or uninteresting, and most of them quite beautiful. Now I want to try it again to see if I can make out any of the nutmeg or tarragon, but I can't figure out where I put my imp! Damn.

[Elspethdixon]

Retesting my decant of Aeronwen now that it's got some age on it. Originally, it was a tangy herbal-citrus, but let's see what a year on the shelf has done with it.

 

In imp - rich, velvety brown scent from the fig and black musk/myth

Wet/freshly applied - Predominantly fig and cedar, but then a sort of bronze-colored herbal tang comes forward. This is really well blended; I can't really pick out individual notes (letting your decants age for a year clearly benefits them). I get a hint of freshness and just a bit of citrus from the orange, but unlike the usual amped-up dishwashing liquid/Citraclean orange often turns into on my skin, it's just a subtle breath. This is a rich, slightly-earthy herb garden scent, but with that velvety undertone from the fig/musk/amber.

Five-ten minutes in - rich, bright, fruity fig, velvety and slightly humid, slightly earthy/woody and slightly herbal and not like any of my other fig or amber/musk perfumes. If A Measurement of the Soul is my cold-weather fig and Amacitia is my nostalgic California desert/spa fig, this is a summer fig.

Fifteen minutes in - the amber/orange has started to go creamy, like the slight creamsicle undertone in Titus Andronicus. (On my hair, it's a rich, sweet cedar incense that's almost Christmas-y, possibly from the fig&orange + myrrh& amber, but on the other hand also like the wooden/uninsulated attic of the old house I grew up in in the summer, thanks to the cedar and warm, humid fruit)

One hour in - cedar and bronze musk with a hint/edge of something tangy. It makes me think of a sheet of iridescent bronze silk with green or orange highlights depending on which way the light hits it.

Late drydown (like, 4 hours in) - faint cedar skin scent, and now that the top/middle notes are gone, I can pick up a powdery skin-musk-like hint of myrrh, as well.

I'm definitely a fan. Aeronwen was nice but not bottle-worthy when I cracked open a brand-new decant back in 2017. Now it's smoothed out into a beautifully blended velvety bronze amber/musk with just a hint of fresh herbs and rich, earthy fruit (from the sweet orange and fig). I think I'm in love. This may be my second/third-favorite out of the Grindhouse Ladies so far, surpassed only by Inez.