Horn of Amalthea

[noumenon]

Attendees to the Harvest Moon Lunacy Will Call who brought food donations for the Burbank Temporary Aid Center in California or the Water Street Rescue Mission in Lancaster, Pa. received an imp of the Horn of Amalthea:

Cream, honey, fig, quince, cos lettuce, pomegranate, pear, wild cucumber, carrot, marrow squash, saffron crocus, and bergamot.

When I first put it on, I got a lot of the notes at once - fig and pomegranat and some of the vegetable notes as well. The net effect was a blast of powdery sweetness that reminds me for all the world of the omoxycillin I had to drink as a kid when I had an ear infection! Which I loved, by the way.

Now that it's been on my skin for 45 minutes, one of the vegetables (the carrot or lettuce I'm guessing), smells a lot like sage. Cream and Honey, in my experience, tend to be finishing notes that perform solos many hours later, so maybe I'm just posting too soon to notice them.

Pear is a lovely midnote that gives the perfume a gentle and comforting familiarity, even with all those unusual notes playing supporting roles.

When I hold my arm a foot from my face and waft it back and forth, all the notes together are fantastic. I can't even think of what to compare it to - something a bit like Hanging Gardens, but not as red. Much lighter, sweeter and warm. I really love the total effect. Also, the throw is very good and this imp will go a long way.

[zankoku_zen]

Ah, I can see this being a *highly* coveted item. So in the imp, this is creamy fig. On my skin, it's a juicy fig with cream and hints of florals. As it dries, the pear comes out more, and the fig and pear have crazy sexy love. I get just a very, tiny, slight, hint of citrusy - which could be either the quince, bergamot or anything. I do get a slight honey drizzle on my crazy creamy fruit love.

 

I have to say that I'm very surprised. Cream is a horrible note of DOOM on me, and honey is far far more aggressive than it needs to be. Here it is kept in check.

 

I find this to be a very pleasing scent, fruity-foodie, with an edge of floral that balances the sweetness out. But it's not floral in your face. And it's not foodie-sweet in your face either. I feel like it represents the bounty of the harvest, and the call of autumn reaping.

 

I'm kinda glad I'm gifting this to a friend who couldn't make will-call, that way I cannot be enamored of this scent (nor can my husband, who I think would probably love this on me even more than I could).

 

ETA: Roughly about... 6 hours later, this is basically honey on me. It smells like O, but better. Make of that what you will.

Edited September 16, 2008 by zankoku_zen

[jewelbug]

First off: Yay!!!! Gift Imp! Thank you, thank you! I wish I could turn peanut butter into imps all the time!

 

Onto the review:

 

Imp: Lots of light fruits, and…almost a cucumber-melon vibe going on.

 

Wet: Not cucumbery melon any more. A seamless combo of light fruity-tastic-ness. Slightly citrusy, slightly cucumbery, slightly figgy…etc. The scent is sorta creamy, yes, but cream is not the primary note. There’s maybe a tiny drop of floral, too.

 

Dry: As it dries the cream gets a bit more prominent, but the fruits still steal the show. Its like like Milk Moon 07 if the milky note and fruits switched places. Which is to say…on my skin Milk Moon was mostly milk supported by some tropical-like (almost pineapple-y) fruits. The Horn is a very similar fruit combo with just a wee bit of creamy/milky support. The old swap-a-roo, as they say… Very late into the drydown (6+ hrs), this is a sweet creamy fig. Delish.

 

Overall: Milk Moon 07 inverted. If Milk Moon was too milky, try this! Gentle, sweet, lovely. I also think Noumenon was onto something in comparing this to Hanging Gardens.

Edited September 17, 2008 by jewelbug

[quigza]

The label is lovely!

 

In the imp: Sweets! Creamy sweets, fig, honey, juicy juicy something, and yet another something that balances the sweet to be more "real food"

 

Wet: The cream & honey come out more, as well as whatever that balancing note is. The fig gets a little spicey.

 

Drydown:

The honey calms down a bit & the juiciness is gone. It kind of reminds me of organic carrot cake made with honey & oat flour instead of refined sugar & flour. Not bad at all. The cucumber becomes noticable (but not strong), giving it an interesting crisp note.

 

 

2 hours later: still a whiff of oats & honey, cream & saffron are there faintly as well.

Very nice

[Seismogenic]

In the imp: Gently warm and sweet. I couldn't begin to pick out notes in there, but this is definitely ripe produce of some sort in the sun.

 

Wet on skin: Still sweet and planty, in a good way. When I reread the description of this, I can start to identify some specific things. Pear is definitely there, as are honey and squash. It's more of a cooler scent on the skin than in the bottle (which makes sense for harvest time); I'd bet that coolness comes from the cucumber and lettuce, even if I can't properly identify them yet.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry is stronger and more complex than wet, though it is still predominantly fruit, with the green vegetables and squash almost coming out as spice in comparison. The pomegranate shows up here, and I'm getting quite a bit of bergamot, which is great by me. About an hour in, the vegetables come out further in comparison to the fruits. Less pear and honey, more carrot.

 

Five hours later: The vegetables have taken over by this point. The squash and carrot are most prominent, with some of the fig and the ripe green of the lettuce. There's still some bergamot and pomegranate in there, but not overwhelmingly so. It's still warm and sweet and quite strong.

 

End of the day: All veggies, no more fruit. While the throw has weakened, this is still quite strong on my wrists; it seems to suggest it would stick around for even longer, were I not about to take a shower.

 

Overall: One of my friends told me I smelled good today! I have to agree with her. This is a wonderful warm, sweet, and ripe scent, entirely suited to represent the full bounty of the harvest pouring out of a little horn. I really like this (though I think I would've been even happier if the bergamot had stuck around longer), and I fully expect that it's going to become something highly sought-after on the forum.

[fireflower]

In the imp and first on, this is light, fruity, creamy and just a touch bit of floral. It's like Hanging Gardens, fresh Chaste Moon, and Mouse's Long and Sad Tale all mixed together. Very pleasant, gentle and comforting. Some of the notes in this blend tend to go plastic-y on me in other blends, but there's no plastic here so far. I don't get any of the vegetable notes, which I'm happy about. This is really lovely.

 

Now that it's been drying several minutes, this really is quite a seamless mix of many great notes. I can smell them all sans the veggies but none pop out distinctly, if that makes any sense. This is so warm and comforting and pretty. I'm going to use my imp sparingly, I know that much.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Colourless oil. Delicately sweet, lightly aquatic, softly floral, and a tiny bit creamy. It's fruity, yes, but gently so. The cucumber note jumps out to me, as do the squash, quince, and honey and fig.

 

Wet: Fresher, brighter, a bit tarter. Juicier. Carrot and pomegranate and pear. Soft bergamot. The other notes are still detectable, new ones have just joined the mix. The cream note is very light, but soft and sweet.

 

Dry: Even tarter and juicier, with the pear, pomegranate, quince, cucumber and bergamot in command. Much fruitier, though still vegetably, and honeyed cream remains a light base. Only delicately floral - the crocus is stunning.

 

Later: It's odd because while it's definitely vegetal - the lettuce is now distinct, and well the carrot and squash - it works. I don't smell like a grocery. It's utterly unique, although the overall 'feel' reminds me of Blue Moon 04 crossed with Schlafende Baigneuse.

 

Summary: A tart, juicy, creamy, sweet bouquet of fall vegetables and fruits over soft honey and cream, touched lightly with gentle crocus. The quince and cucumber stand out, but it's a truly harmonious and stunning blend. Feminine. Good throw and lasting power.

 

I oh so desperately want more of this, as I knew I would.

[TooMuchTemptation]

I got this as a very generous gimp. I wasn't sure what to expect from this scent. I actually hadn't even looked at the description, since I figured I'd never smell it.

 

Off the bat, just sniffing the imp, this rather reminds me of Chaste Moon. That creamy sweet with soft florals thing, but a tinge spicier.

 

Wet on my skin, it's still creamy-florals and again like Chaste Moon, there's some slightly astringent fruit, this is different because the cucumber, lettuce and squash definitely make things vegetable-toned, and there is definitely a spiciness to the mix.

 

As it dries, I smell some very juicy fruits, underlaid with a cream note that's ever so slightly dried out by the way honey turns powdery on my skin. But there's no honey funk to this, and the fruits keep things sharp and bright. I can definitely smell the cucumber and lettuce. They're juicy too, but cooler and green rather than sweet and astringent, giving this a very interesting twist. And on top of everything else, there's a lingering floral feel to this. My review may make this sound like a hopeless muddle, but that's the thing, it isn't. This is very complex, but harmonious at the same time. It's quite light and lovely.

 

Later, the creaminess is what's lingering on my skin, along with some sharp sweetness. This is really amazing. That said, as much as I'm enjoying the scent, I'm not sure it's quite me. I tend to like creamy, heady scents, and this tends to veer towards the delicate. Also, towards the end, I catch a hint of the honey doing the funky musky thing it does on my skin sometimes. I'm super happy to have gotten a chance to try this though. It's really a work of art. Something so complex, yet dainty and not overbearing.

[greenranger]

I love this one for the first couple hours. It starts off very fruity and fabulous, and the fruits mellow and change over the course of the two hours.

 

Then, after two hours, it is mostly the squash and maybe the lettuce, and time to reapply to get the fruityness of the start.

 

Unfortunately, to really use this I'd need the part I love to last longer than two hours. There really isn't enough of it to reapply constantly.

[Kimocean]

This starts off as very wet fruits/vegetables doused in cream on me. The pear and fig are dominant but I can also definitely smell carrot juice and a hint of the bergamot. I think the wet scent comes from the lettuce or the cucumber and it gets stronger as the initial pear/fig onslaught fades away. The pomegranate comes out to play a little later and finally the honey and cream are dominant on the late dry-down. I did get some staying power from that scent but most of the fruity goodness was gone at that point. Cream is not one of my preferred notes, but I still found this pleasant and evocative. It is nowhere near as milky as Milk Moon 07 which I was thankful for!

[Dark Alice]

Wet in the imp: Creamy figgy goodness with lettuce!!!

 

Drydown on skin: Fig with cream. My skin likes this for some reason. My nose is also broken. My skin is betraying me as my nose is.

 

Final drydown: There it is.....lettuce....creamy lettuce I now remember why I have never worn this or liked it when I first received it.

[pinkgyrl]

I get a creamy, sweet, softer version of a Fruit Moon-type scent with a light citrus note - the fig came out to play for a few minutes and then faded away - I can actually picture the Horn of Amalthea - and this is precisely what I expected this scent to smell like This is one of those scents that is so well-blended that it is very difficult to identify all of the notes - but the combination is magical. It's gorgeous but zero wearlength on me - it disappeared in about thirty minutes unfortunately. Very pretty though and thanks to a generous forumite - I got to try this!

Edited November 20, 2008 by GirlinDenial

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Oh, this smells lovely! Sweet, crisp, pungent, fruity, fruity, fruity!

 

Wet: Fruit and honey tempered with a clean herb, perhaps the bergamot. I especially get the pear, a bright floralish note like a really excellent comice pear. But I have a feeling this is going to darken soon.

 

Thirty minutes: Much less sweet and juicy now, with more subtle notes. Still get the pear and at least one other fruit, and something bitterly aromatic that might be either saffron or the bergamot. There's also something that reads quite floral; that must be the honey, I guess. I like this, but I'm not sure it's going to work out on me.

 

One hour: Honey and some subdued fruit notes with herbs. This smells very pleasant, and there's just a hint of something very complex and slightly bitter that I can't place, something that smells almost magical, hidden. It makes me imagine a golden spark at the center of something.

 

Two hours: Very organic, very alive, yet subtle, and still with that complex bitter mote in the center.

 

Three hours: Not a lot of change. I like it.

 

Five hours: Gentler now, less fruity, more of a basic cream and honey blend, but still that one note lingers. Is it saffron?

 

I wore this to Thanksgiving dinner and it was the best choice evarrr.

[twilighteyes]

On me, this blend really did seem to smell like lettuce and vegetables. I'm going to give it a chance to age to see if it improves and brings out the honey and fig.

[Lamia]

This is hot creamy sweet potato soup. This is honey-glazed parsnips. This is the Thanksgiving table before the turkey comes out, warm and comforting and satisfying.

 

Delicious.

[eoifemacbeth]

In the imp: This really smells delicious and sweet... I'm definitely getting the pear very very strongly, above everything else.

 

On my skin, wet: Definitely pear, but I'm not running away yet. The fig starts coming out a bit, and I feel like the cream might be softening everything. I remember not liking this stage very much while testing it, so I'm really just waiting for the drydown with bated breath!

 

On my skin, dry: ...still waiting for the drydown I remember. Dammit, where is it?

 

Two hours later: THERE IT IS! It smells lovely, a touch floral but mostly fruity with cream and fig notes. I'm not sure if that's worth the two hours of not-so-awesome... we'll have to see how it ages.

[Blood onmy hands]

I was excited to try this, mostly because I love bpal's fig note, but I don't really smell any fig when this is on my skin . Mostly this is just a strange smell on me. It's like a perfumey, sharp, bright green note (the lettuce?) mixed with honeyed cream and a bit of crisp pear. The fruity aspect doesn't last long on me, though. Something about green vegetables and honeyed cream just doesn't sit right with me, lol.

[Suu4LC]

I've been holding onto this imp forever-I get so nervous testing these rares! Very interesting in the imp-hard to pin down, there are just so many diverse notes! Sweeter than I thought-definitely get the cream and honey (love!), with bits of fresh light greens and fruits! Very pretty!!

 

The veggies are way more apparent on my skin-an odd mix of sweetness and vegetation-not dirty or earthy veggies, very fresh, light, salad-y veggies.

 

On full drydown, while it goes a whee bit too powdery, I enjoyed this blend a lot. It's not a holy grail blend (thankfully), but I believe this would have been quite popular if released as a purchasable LE. I don't know how else to describe it without repeating myself-extremely well blended and unique!

[edenssixthday]

Horn of Amalthea - This opens up with a blast of all the various notes at once. It's a cacophony of scent. After it sits on my skin for a minute, the overpowering swirl of scents calms down a bit and it begins to make a little sense. Quince is absolutely the most dominant note, followed by carrot and pomegranate and lettuce. The other notes swirl around in the background of the quince/carrot/pom/lettuce, and complement them quite nicely. I don't smell any cream or honey, and the fig is very subtle. This is a really unique and interesting scent, but I'm not sure I'd choose to wear this as a personal fragrance. It's just a bit too confusing with all those various, contrasting notes that work almost well together, but not quite. Edited June 13, 2009 by edenssixthday

[Phaedra]

Wet this is sweet and fruity, honey and pomegranate. This feels happy, bright and red. When first on this is sour milk and fruit, kind of icky like the newer Milk Moon. The sourness fades very quickly and it starts to smell like grain. There's some spice in the background too- cinnamon maybe. The spices fade after a couple of hours and this is mainly a slightly sour milk and fruit blend. On the dry down this is a mix of softly sweet fruit and an almost cooked or burnt milk note. I'm glad I was able to get this and help with the food drive. It's just a little too sour for my body chemistry so I'm passing this along to a friend.

[angelicruin]

I'm getting that milky-like death note coupled with fig on my skin. Not a good scent on my skin.

[myth]

Pale, soft, watery and green.

 

I tend to amp green or aquatic notes, so that is mostly what I'm getting. Not really plum or fruit on me. I do get a sour milky undertone as well, so it's watery lettuce over sour milk. Not a scent for me.

 

But thanks to the Lab for the gift and XOMom for the will call I received it at. I have passed it on to a far more loving home, where it can be appreciated as it should.

[milica]

This was a generous frimp from a seller, I was happy that I got the chance to try out something this rare. But it went to swap pile a long time ago...

 

It was ubelievable mix of everything and anything, I couldn't pinpoint any of the notes, but it had a bit of aquatic feel to it and that part of it stank on me real bad. No fig, no cream, no honey, nothing that I knew would work on me.

[MonkeysInk]

I used to volunteer at my produce co-op, where we'd wait in the morning air for the truck to arrive with the crates of vegetables. We'd open the back of the truck and this blast of cool veggie-scented air would spill forth.

 

That's what this smells like - lettuce and squash and fig all rolled together. As it dried, I got some of the cream, but it's mostly vegetables.

 

This is not a scent that I would reach for, although I'm thrilled to have gotten it as a gift from a sweet Forumite so I could try it.

[Coldfire]

Imp: i get the creamy sweet and ....carrot.
Wet on Me: honey and squash with the carrot
Drying Down: fain traces of the cream and squash and carrot. not getting any of the sweet fruits.
Dry: this is so odd. it's carrot and squash. it's a veggie scent.