Eustephanos

[veronicafranco]

Richly crowned.

Antiqued amber, frankincense, pomegranate, myrrh, rose absolute, and bois de rose.

am i really first in line to review this one? i don't even know how to do the magic boxy lab description thingy.... somebody fix it
[does not normally get stage fright]

in the bottle, which has the beautiful photo too!, this is lovely bright rose and pomegranate.
the moment i put it on, i get the sharp edge of the frankincense.
how to explain? rose + frankincense on me = more rose than rose (in a good way). rose + red fruit (like in les bijoux) also = more rose than rose. so rose + frankincense + pomegranate + rosewood = definitely not for those who don't like rose!
as it continues to dry, the amber is sort of spreading out around the edges, warming the scent.
i don't get any myrrh thus far.

this is extremely womanly and classy. timeless. grandma would have worn it... well, both my grandmas were serious hotties back in the day! would be perfect on a bride or with an elegant evening gown... but i'm pretty sure i will be wearing it quite a bit more than just for special occasions.

[Dianora]

How strange you are, Eustephanos. At first sniff, you don't appear to be as advertised on the tin, at all. In fact, in the bottle you are strangely reticent. Are you there at all? So I put some of you on some bare skin and waited to see if you would put in an appearance. Oof, you certainly did, and you smell a bit like burnt hair when wet, not at all charming you cheeky minx. It carries on that way for awhile, with me sniffing and disliking you more and more, until you suddenly reveal yourself in all your rosy glory.

 

When I say rose, I mean ROSE, you smell not unlike my beloved Blood Rose, though perhaps deeper and darker, leaning more toward her sophisticated cousin, Black Rose. The pomegranate lends you a tang of tart sweetness, the amber gives you an alluring warmth, and the frankincense gives you a delicate spice.

 

Oh, despite the vileness of your first impression, you are a gorgeous, sultry lady under it all, Eustephanos. I think I shall keep you.

 

 

Just a note: I love rose, and rose loves me. If roses turn bad on your skin, you might want to look elsewhere as this is a first and foremost Rose scent. The other notes do not mask or hide it at all.

Edited January 26, 2009 by Dianora

[ralenth]

NB: Rose and I are not friends. We're just not, no matter how hard I try to love her in any guise, she gives me the cold, green, thorny shoulder.

 

Bottle: Eustephanos smells warm and lovely in the bottle. Frankincense and myrrh set my resin loving heart aflutter.

 

Wet: Warm resiny floral. Could this be the one?

 

Drydown: Rose rears her vicious thorny head. The scent begins to go green on my skin.

 

Dry: Yep. Sharp prickly green. Done in again.

 

Overall: Eustephanos is gorgeous in the bottle. Anyone who can actually wear rose oils (sadly, not me), should give her a call. I'm sure you two will have a lovely evening together.

Edited February 1, 2009 by ralenth

[eanewsom]

Resin, resin, resin! Mostly myrrh, with some frankincense spicing it up and some amber for more warmth. Despite my own tendency to amp rose, it stays very calm and soft in the background- so faint that I don't think I'd be able to identify it as rose rather than just "floral" if I didn't already know. This is very elegant. I think it's really lovely, but I'd feel like a little kid playing dress up if I were to wear it out.

[greenranger]

The amber, myrrh and frankincense are apparently enough to keep the roses in check. I can smell them, but, they aren't screaming. I think I can even smell the pomegranate, which is very rare for me. This is a subtle, simple, well blended scent. There isn't a whole lot vying for attention here.

 

I'm not in love with it, but, I like it. It's still a bit too floral for me to want to wear often, but, those who tend to amp rose might give it a try.

[FallDaze]

Imp-> The frankincense and myrrh are very prominent. I'm not getting an pomegranate or even rose absolute right now.

 

Wet-> Soapy amber-rose incense. Starts out sharp but is beginning to soften slightly as it dries.

 

After a while-> A musky incensy rose. Still no hint of pomegranate, just dusty roses.

[Iceblink]

Resins and rose--I was hoping this might be a bit like Phantom but I almost think it's better, so far. The pomegranate isn't too prominent here, just adding a light fruity sweetness to the blend. Mostly I get rose and amber, with the myrrh adding a darkness that makes this more complex than Black Rose or Persephone. The frankincense isn't too strong here, thank goodness. A sophisticated and elegant oil.

[savage_rose]

Rose normally smells lovely on me. But this...maybe it's the rosewood, but I feel like I'm smelling an old lady's sock drawer. Like potpourri that was maybe really pretty when it was fresh, back in the '50s (and which '50s? Exactly). Maybe it's not the rose that's so jarring...it's like the rose is there, but there's also just this sourness, and I'm not sure why. I'm so disappointed...maybe I'll give it a try later and see if I get different results.

[DEMONDAHLIA]

This is my first Black Phoenix scrubber.. I had hopes that this would play nice ..

In the bottle it was resiny and lovely but as soon as it hit my skin it went all wonky ..like plastic, powdery disposable baby diaper .. Im not sure which note caused the rebellion .. but surely Id like to put it over my knee and give it a good wack..

--- goes to sulk now---

[femmefatale]

 

This is mostly resinous rose wih just the barest hint of pomegranate. This reminds me of the shop in Cape May that's in a completely pink house. They sell lots of victorian type items, antique looking tea sets, lots of pink and lace and roses....you get the idea. This is that shop. It's not old lady, just refined and classic. Makes me want to get dressed up and go to tea time at the Williamsburg Inn and act like a lady. Just maybe with slutty underwear beneath my flowered, conservative dress (which by the way, I don't even own.....the dress I mean ).

 

Not really me, but I can see picking up a couple decants for my empty bottle just to have when I'm in the mood.

[halcyon_flight]

This smells almost exactly like Rome + Pomegranate!

[Blood onmy hands]

This starts off nicely resinous and mysterious smelling on me, but my skin chemistry amps rose like mad, so the resins disappear within five to ten minutes. After the death of the resins, Eustephanos dries down to a dry, slightly sour, classic rose perfume smell on me. The amber adds a touch of baby powder and the pomegranate adds a hint of bitter, tart fruitiness. I like my roses to be light, sugared, and fresh smelling. This is a little too dry, perfumey, and tart for my tastes. It's a heavy, stuffy sort of scent on me, and probably not one I'll be keeping.

[pinkhare]

well poo. I really wanted to love this but my skin turns it to a ,too floral mildly burnt smell . Maybe once it ages a bit it'll mellow out some.

[inkaddict]

In the bottle: Resins, a pleasant touch of sweetness.

 

Wet: Warm and almost spicy, the resins are wonderful.

 

After 5 minutes: Sharp rose is beating down all the beautiful resins, but I can detect a hint of...amber and pomegranate? It gives me hope that this will dry down to something wearable if not fabulous.

 

Dry: Pomegranate, amber and something flowery -my skin had once again defeated the evil rose by making it practically disappear. This is soothing with a touch of sweetness and strangely edible.

 

Verdict: Keeper, especially as it's the first scent that has me wondering how it will age. Not instant love, but lovable in its own way.

[Schmoozy]

Resins and rose. Hmmm. Why am I smelling lavender and something herbal? My nose is going crazy.

I am not getting this blend at all. Where's the amber?

Unfortuantely during dry down this is all rose, and while I do love me some rose, I have a couple of oils that work better.

It's too bad the resins and amber won't come out and play more. They might have helped keep the rose in check.

[zankoku_zen]

Resinous roses.... but the roses explode on my skin and it's a little too much for me to handle....

 

Pass.

[angelicruin]

This is mostly amber on my skin...with a bit of spicy rose thrown in. If you like amber scents, this is a good one to try.

[yeahbutnobut]

Eustephanos

 

In the bottle: a sharp tangy rose and pomegranate, a bit like Persephone.

Wet on skin: the rose deepens, the pom gets sharper, I can now smell rosewood and myrrh.

Dry on skin: ooh, this is nice. It reminds me of the other rose-incense scents (Rose Cross, All Saints, Tabula Smargadina, Parlement of Foules etc) but this one has a tangier, brighter feel to it thanks to the pomegranate. I can just about detect the resins, but for now the dominant notes are rose, pom and rosewood. The rose and the rosewood seem to merge nicely, and I can smell a bit of myrrh at the back, maybe some frankincense too. But no amber, at least for now.

After a while: there is a moment when the amber peeks out from the other notes and then I get something to this scent that reminds me either of Three Brides or Gypsy Queen. And I love that! sadly, this moment is fleeting. Something in here-I’m guessing the rosewood-turns powdery on me and I start to smell something underneath the gorgeous rosy resins that smells like burnt wood? And not in a nice way, though it does also get pleasantly smoky at times. But that fleeting appearance of amber has now faded, and the scent doesn’t have that pleasant sweetness from that note.

Verdict: I was a tiny bit disappointed in this scent. On paper it looked perfect-rose, amber and resins, what could go wrong? And it had some lovely moments. But I think the rosewood was the note that stopped this from being perfect. I really liked the pomegranate, rose, incense and resin blend here, and the first hour or two of wear was delightful, but after some time, something wasn’t right-the scent went powdery and a little burnt-smelling. The powder was a kind of stuffy and old-fashioned dusty smell that I wasn’t expecting, and the burnt smell wasn’t the pleasantly smoky/incense kind but something a little more acrid. So ultimately, this wasn’t good on me-I think rosewood can be problematic, and in here it spoilt this fragrance a little.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? not really.

If you like this, try: Persephone, Rose Cross, Tabula Smargadina, All Saints, Day of the Skulls, Parlement of Foules, Les Bijoux

[Poenari]

I should just know better by now than to try scents with rose. They just never work with my chemistry. This is all soap with a strong sour green smell. Not good on me at all, and had to wash it off.

[nekogrrl]

Wet on skin: Rose! Holy crap rose!

 

Dry on skin: Oh holy mess, the frankincense and myrrh are having a hell-for-leather fight with the rose. This is not a good scent. It's making my eyes water!!

 

Verdict: One of the previous reviewers mentioned she could see her grandmother wearing this. Yeah, this is smelly old lady perfume. Off to swaps it goes!

[Dark Alice]

ROSE...and not just any rose...a funky rose with wood notes and frankincense. I love frankincense...but not this...off to the swaps for you.

 

ETA: Stop hold the phone....the rose has left the building...the frankincense and the wood rose has taken over...I love it...will keep decant....will not swap.

Edited March 13, 2009 by Dark Alice

[gnl]

Imp: Maybe a little pomegranate? Maybe a little flowery? I'm not really sure.

 

Wet: Why, hello rose! Do you really need to be shouting that much? You know, I love things that make me cough like crazy.

 

Dry: OK, the rose has died down a little, thankfully. Occasionally there's a bit of pomegranate, a bit of myrrh. But it's still very much all about the rose.

 

Verdict: I'm not sure why I thought this would work. Maybe I thought the other notes would keep the rose down. If you like rose, this is definitely for you. I, on the other hand, am going to have to pass.

 

1/5

[Phaedra]

Wet this is deep, dark rose and warm amber. When first on this is a softer rose and amber with some sweetness mixed in. The sweetness fades within seconds. After a couple hours there's a soft myrrh mixing with the rose and amber. After several hours, the warmth of frankincense develops too. On the dry down this is a soft rose and amber blend. Amber, rose, myrrh and frankincense are all favorite notes of mine and that's why I love this so much! I'm so glad I have a bottle!

[aquazoo]

Floral comes up first. Rosy with a bit of lavender, however that snuck in there. Hmmn, I don't know what just popped in there, but I think it's sour milk. Then a light soapy edge.

 

 

[magikalbrownies]

HELLO ROSE...the lavendar does give it a little kick but as it wears the amber blends beautifully with it creating a more subdued rose with a tinge.