Sybaris

[isisonearth]

The pinnacle of wealth, luxury, self-indulgent pleasure, voluptuousness and sensuality. Bright violet with sweet clove, Mediterranean incense notes and tonka bean.

Imp: Almost pure violet...like Choppard's mints.

Wet: The violet becomes creamier and richer with a nice counterpoint of spice. Almost a little on the dry side after a minute.

Dry: Very pretty violet incense. It has that great violet characteristic of popping up over and over through the simple baseline of spicy incense.

I really like it. Too bad I already promised it away.

[superpopkid]

Disclaimer: testing from an elderly imp. Time may not have been kind.

 

I was excited for violets, cloves, incense and tonka. I like all these things. The only note I could pick out from the listed ones was the violet, which was a murky counterpoint to...something weirdly musky. Hard to describe, but I got a color association of dirty gray. Sadly, this smelled off and just did not work on me.

[personaldna]

There's a reason I stick to wood and resinous scents. Flowers do bad things on my skin. So in spite of noting the violet in this fragrance, I hoped for some beautiful transformation via clove, tonka, and incense. No such luck. I smell like some kind of sickly sweet hotel soap--powdery and weird.

[moose42]

It smells like a spicy, super mellow floral in the imp.

 

On...

 

It smells like gum.

 

...

[tailoredshirt]

Wet: Hmmm. Sweet, soapy violets with clove. I like the violet-clove combo, but not the soapiness of the violet.

 

Dry: As it dries, the soapiness dies down a bit, but I'm sort of underwhelmed by this one. It's not very distinctive or interesting on me. It doesn't smell bad; it just doesn't make me want to wear it again.

[Torrilin]

Wet: Floral powder. Powder powder powder. I like powder!

 

Later: Snake Oil, only not overwhelming, and much less complex than the "Snake Oil" impression in Strangler Fig. So tonka bean on me is vanilla that does not eat the world. Clove/carnation built the base for "spice" that smells good to me, which is not surprising since unlike a lot of other baking spices there's a strong green/minty component to both clove and carnation. The powder goes away almost entirely, which is depressing.

 

*****

 

Analysis time! Tonka bean works much better on me than vanilla, but I don't like it as well as I like amber. Clove works nicely as a base note, but by itself it doesn't have enough blendy to really make Sybaris sink into my skin and smell like "me".

 

On the plus side, I know I really like violets now. I should probably try Saturnalia for the violets + vetiver.

[proserpine]

I am amping juicy violet and spicy cloves like crazy. I like both scents, but am not sure how they work together. As I start to enjoy it, the incense comes in and ruins the party. Now it's all musty and smells like decay. If the incense never showed up, I would like this.

[strahlend]

In the imp: loads of violets and a hint of clove

Dab on my skin: initially loud and sweet violets but after just a few minutes it turns into almost all clove with violets in the background. A few minutes after that the clove calms down and the clove and violets feel equally present resulting in a warm and spiced violet scent that kind of feels like incense.

This blend almost makes me wish I liked violets, it's very pretty but not for me.

 

[venusinfurs]

I didn't like this at first whiff. I'm not really sure if I like it on me, either.

 

in the vial: lots of violet, slightly spicy, very rich-lady smelling.

 

wet on skin: i liked it in this phase the most. violet with spice.

 

dry on skin: ALL CLOVE. i think my body chemistry amps the clove or something, because that's all I can smell now. bye bye pretty, feminine violet. hello powdery smelling, sickly sweet clove gum. I guess I now know the clove note is really strong on me. This isn't gross smelling, but I will likely pass it on to someone else.

[Incendiare]

In the vial, I am hit with a punch of clove, but once applied to my skin, the violet comes out. I can detect a bit of incense in the background, but no tonka whatsoever. The clove is still overpowering the violet, and it's reminding me a bit of Lush's Skinny Dip.

 

On the dry-down, I'm still getting more clove than anything else. It now reminds me of a cross between Lush's Skinny Dip and Chai shower gels.

[AmyO'Shields]

Fresh, I love this. It's all Violet and Tonka...which is YUM. Aged, however, it's a different story and the clove takes over and ruins it for me as clove will usually do (March Hare being the only exception so far). I will have to go imp by imp for this one and use each one up fairly quickly! Fresh: 5/5 Aged: 1/5

[mxtine]

Imp: Stinky violet!

Wet: Ugh, violet, clove and florals.

Dry: I can't. Had to wash it off.

 

No can do violet.

[frecklestars]

In the bottle: violet candies and vanilla. very sweet, very girly. maybe a teensy bit of cloves, but it's fleeting at best. it's also a little watery (Mediterranean-like?), which does a nice job of not letting the violets overpower everything else.

 

On my skin: smoky vanilla trailing cloves & violets behind it. sounds like a disgusting combination, but the violets aren't as overpoweringly floral as usual. spicy florals. unfortunately for me, fades to a pretty pure and slightly watery violet that doesn't agree with my skin or my nose (sneezes!).

 

Last thoughts: quite a pleasant and certainly unusual blend.

[sparkleyturtle]

It starts out very light and sweet - floral with a touch of spice. As it dries down, it is a nice smell, but it reminds me of expensive soap. Lovely, but a swap pile add.

[OctoberGwen]

This smells like Eu de Old Lady on me.

[Lycanthrope]

Amazing I haven't reviewed this one yet. I love all things violet.

 

This has a very strong 'sweet' note (tonka + vanilla) which adds a sugary punch to the soft, cool petally violet. The clove is definitely giving this more of a base, so instead of smelling like Choward's Violet Mints (compliment, by the way!) it smells more like Choward's Mints that have cut class to hang out doing unspeakable things.

 

Overall it dries down on me to a powdery, petal violet that smells crystalline sweet, a little chalky, with rough edges.

 

Sybaris is and has been one of my top BPALs.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: This screams DEODORANT to me. No question about it, this is pure deodorant. My husband asked me why I smelled like baby powder.

 

Drydown: Okay, that's better. It's becoming softer and sweeter. A complex violet.

 

Dry: A soft, incense-y violet. The clove and tonka seem to be absorbed by the violet completely. Occasionally I catch a whiff of soap/deodorant/powder.

 

 

Bottom Line: The drydown was intriguing, but Sybaris is not for me. Probably nice if you like powdery violets though.

 

3 out of 10 bones

Edited July 11, 2013 by BoneBone24

[becca_s]

I was very plesantly suprised by Sybaris, I like it so much more than I expected. I wasn't really sure if violets agreed with me but in Sybaris, they do!

 

It starts out as warm, spicy, violets ... it stays pretty much this way but as it begins to fade, the violets take a back seat to some of the spices. The clove and tonka make this is a very warm, luxurious scent. Overall, I like it alot it has quickly made its way to the top of my bottle list

[Dani87]

Imp: warm, sexy tonka, and clove.

Wet: tonka, clove, and incense.

Drydown: the violet is comming out, and taking over.

Dry: violet, and spice.

Overall: this started out warm, and sexy, but quickly turned to violet. Violet seems to go powdery on me. off to swaps.

[sunlitgarden]

*roots around in imp box* Hmm, Sybaris, I haven't tried this one yet... *looks up notes* Crap, violet...

 

On me this smells... probably much closer to what violet is *supposed* to smell like than what it usually does on me. I keep trying even though it's done horrible things on me in the past (burnt plastic, paint thinner, or nothing at all - even blocking out the rest of the blend.) This smells... kind of powdery and sweet, which is consistent with how other people have described violet. I still don't really like it, though. It kinda smells like a... marshmallow? Kinda like those orange Circus Peanuts, although not quite... and I can't really shake the "old lady perfume" association.

[cosmoblue]

In the Vial, violet, and something smells sharp and green and I get the tonka.

 

Wet, mostly violet with supporting tonka and a touch of spiciness.

 

Drying, the spice is catching up with the violet, but the tonka is still too strong for me. Smells a little bit like a toy store.

 

Dry it is a sweet nutty violet with a bit of spice. Apparently I don't love tonka.

 

Later, warmed by the lovely SoCal sun Sybaris became all incensey yumminess with violets.

[fairestrocza]

It always surprises me how much I like orris, but dislike straight up violet. Sybaris was all violet, with a slightly cloying, almost plastic scent behind it. Definitely not for me.

[Saffrin]

Imp: Smells mainly powdery - guessing that's the violet. Underneath, it is incensey. Reminds me of the old enchantment shop that used to be near here.

 

Wet: Violet. Not sure I like violet. Less powdery, but still pretty damn powdery. Bit of creaminess to it, but not much.

 

Dry: Violety powder. I was hoping for some actually noticeable incensiness, but nope. Just powder. It's not super annoying or anything, but it's pretty bland.

 

Not a fan of this at any stage.

 

 

Edit: The spot I applied it is now sore. Not itchy, but painful. Ow.

Edited September 29, 2012 by Saffrin

[laslibres]

I don't know why my nose wants to interpret everything as root beer today...but that's what this first reminded me of, from the imp. Root beer and bubblegum. O_o So weird.

 

On me, whatever is making me think of bubblegum amps, and it just smells like violet candy. The incense and clove come out briefly, but sadly it doesn't balance out well and just ends up as too-sweet floral.

 

For some reason, also, it strikes me as an "evil teacher perfume." I think I have this scent association because it reminds me of a smell I used to smell in the halls of my Catholic secondary school...some teacher I didn't like must have worn a violet scent. Bleh.

 

And these notes totally should have been win on me, because I love Faustus and I like incense, clove, and tonka. Damn skin chemistry! It randomly makes sweet notes go all weird, and it's hard to predict which ones!

[milo]

Incensey, kind of heady at first. After a bit, same, only I'm getting the clove in the background. This ends up being a spicy incense blend on me with a touch of violet. Not bad, I may keep the imp, but its not something I'll purchase a big bottle of.