Sybaris

[tesao]

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

 

this has been a really interesting scent on me.

 

wet, in the imp: violets, violets and more violets.

 

wet, on my wrist: still violets. very sweet. hints of clove and something else, which reminds me of vanilla. probably the tonka bean, but i'm not sure.

 

dry down: STILL violets. i am let down. i don't like this violet smell on me, although i have to say that it really DOES smell like violets. i think that i would have loved this when i was a young girl. i don't like it now. typing on the keyboard kept giving me strong whiffs of violets, even though i am wearing another, STRONG floral (twilight) on the other wrist. thought of washing it off, it was so in my face.

 

several hours later: well. veeeeeeeeeeeeery interesting. now it is all creamy and spicy and no violet at all is perceptible. if it were like this from the beginning, i would probably buy a bigger size. but i honestly don't think that i could get past the hours and hours of violet.

 

the changing nature of it is truly spectacular. but it is still going into the swap pile.

 

i wanted to like it, i really did. meh.

[quimerula]

Wet it's clove and spices with incense and a drop of violet.

 

Dry the violet and the tonka bean come out. Oh but it's lovely!

 

Such a warm, smooth and sexy scent!

 

P.S. Matches Skinny Dip (Lush) very well.

[Fyre_in_Winter]

Sybarsis is another one that went wacky with my chemistry. As strong as it was in the vial, on my skin it became very faint, slightly powdery violets overlying a hint of latex. Absolutely no clove showed up at all. Just this faint aftersmell of latex... not my idea of perfume. Such a shame, since I'm looking for a good clove scent.

[bexone]

In the vial, this smells like violets, violets, and violets (with some violets on the side for good measure), so I've been putting off trying it. Man, was I dumb.

 

Almost as soon as the oil hits my skin, the violets take a step back and let the other oils come out to play. I spent the first couple of hours sniffing my wrists again and again and again and again and again... trying to figure out, first, what it smelled like, and second, why I was suddenly, desperately, missing London.

 

This smells exactly like the chocolate covered violet cremes from the food hall at Harrod's I ate by the amount-I-don't-want-to-think-about while I was there.

 

After a while, that faded, just a little, and the clove and incense showed up. Like someone a few doors down smoking a clove cigarette -- a scent I *love*, and associate very strongly with a period of my life when I was incredibly happy.

 

Now, 8+ hours on, I still have a faint vanilla/chocolatey smell on my wrists, just tinged with clove -- it doesn't so much smell spicy as warm.

 

Such a keeper! :00001651:

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 2/5

Summarised in a word or two: Violet!

 

In the imp/bottle: Hello, violet! I've not come across *any* of the Lab's scents this strongly violet yet!

 

On skin, wet: Ah, there's the tonka bean! The violet is still the dominant note, but tonka bean is a strong second. No sign of any spices or clove, though.

 

On skin, dry: This fades into nothingness in twenty minutes. The tonka bean dies away even more quickly, leaving nothing but the violet.

 

Conclusion: I'm not a big violet fan, so I was hoping for the tonka bean and clove, mostly. Either way, my skin just *devours* this scent (it seems to devour anything with violet, actually).

Edited December 24, 2005 by Aredhel

[blaqpearl]

Very strong violet in the bottle. After application, I still get the strong violet but something lingering behind it. The clove maybe. I really dont like clove much, but I wanted to try this and get out of my element for a second. Again...I think because the clove knows I dont like it, it jumps out and slaps me. Hopefully someone else will like this.

[Diana]

In the bottle, I get a strong scent of violet. The slightly tangy & very sweet note that make it one of my favourite flower smells. There is an underlying note, but it is hard to pick out.

 

After this has been on for a few hours, violet is still the predominant note. I can't really make out the clove, unfortunately. There is a slight powdery incensy note, which I can't identify as either tonka or "mediterranean incense" specifically. I will say that this scent reminds me of being in Italy a lot for some reason. Maybe it is the mediterranean incense notes, but this just smells like the air that wafts in on a breeze through my grandmother's house in Italy.

 

This is just so pretty. I like it whole bunches.

[urraca]

This one on me is all about the violet and I am very happy because I was looking for a very violety scent. In the vial it is violet, and wet on the skin it is, well, violet, though at the beginning there is almost a faint whiff of something sharp like turpentine, though it is not strong enough to be disturbing. As it dries down, more violet followed by violet. Strangely enough, at the very end, several hours later the violet cuts out and that is when the tonka bean turns up. I suspect the tonka bean was lying there all the time, working hard to prevent the violet from turning powdery. t is not powdery at all, just warm and wet smelling. I have an urge to slather this one, so I think I may be looking at a big bottle.

Edited June 5, 2005 by urraca

[quikslvr]

sweet, sharp violets. clean smell, bright. high topnote. might be me on really springy/hyper days, but that's about it.

[joseybird]

Sharp, high-pitched, oddly *ozone-y* violets and nothin' *but* violets on my skin at first. After a few minutes, I think I can detect the base of tonka beneath the violets. The sweet clove peeks out after a while, when the violets have calmed down and ceased to be all scary and zombie-like I can't really smell the incense, though

 

I really like the drydown, which has a warm and "misty" quality to it that, for some reason, screams "VACATION!!!" to me. However, the violets are too shrill throughout most of the wear for my tastes

[vyvyan]

Something with this just did *not* work on me. I'm not sure if it was the violets or the tonka - I put it on my wrist, just a little bit, to test, after a hard day, and BOOM there was this *strong,* rounded, almost overly-sweet scent that for some inexplicable reason made me want to be sick to my stomach.

 

I don't know what it was; all I know is I had to go scrub it off and then douse myself in Karma 'cause it *lingered* and I couldn't take it.

 

I have a feeling this could be lovely on someone who obviously doesn't have whatever weird issue *that* was. Sigh. I almost hope it was the violets, 'cause I have some lovely-sounding tonka-based oils heading to me now, and I'd like to give them the adoration they deserve.

[Ajila]

There was only one problem with this blend and that was the overall smell of bleach . It was only in the throw, if I sniffed my skin I got a gorgeous scent of spicy creamy vanilla. The bleach smell did fade over time but it was still hanging around. Now nearly 10 hours after applying it the bleach has finally gone and my skin smells nice, but I don't want to wait ten hours for it. And this was a blend I so wanted to love .

[telesilla]

Mostly I got this one because the notes sounded interesting. Well and because Sybaris is an ancient city in which the people lived so well that they gave their name to the word sybaritic.

 

In the bottle, wet on my wrist and a tiny bit on my keyboard: quite sweet and more than a little floral, specifically violets.

 

Drying down: still sweet, and I'm smelling something kind vanilla-like under the violets that might be the tonka bean. This is a very heady blend, possibly too heady for me.

 

Dry: OK this is weird; it smells like coconut to me. Which is a real pity as I don't like things that smell like coconut. I'm sure it's chemistry and perception; Nancy says she can't smell coconut.

 

Overall: It's a little too much for me, too sweet, in fact it's almost cloying.

[nineveh]

I liked the violets in Faustus, so I thought that I would try Sybaris.

 

At first, this is nothing but violets, and they're very sharp and "perfumy."

 

As it dries, the clove shows up, but it's weird and stale. Clove does that on me sometimes.

 

I never get any tonka or incense, unfortunately.

 

I think that the violets are giving me a headache. This just isn't working on me. Too bad; it smells very nice in the imp.

[olympia301]

 

Another of Beth's hauntingly meltingly beautiful violet scents. How can she come up with such fetching variations on an old and undeservedly neglected theme? This one contains clove and other goodies which soften the impact of violets which really can assault your nose unless tempered by something more amiable. Sybaris dries down to a beautiful carnation-like scent which does linger.

 

I found that Sybaris is very similar to The Raven. I did get to compare it with The Raven and really preferred the latter, but as a violet scent is concerned, it was like comparing excellent with excellent. The Raven is greener and Sybaris is spice and candy-like undertones. If you get a chance, compare the two next to each other and you will see. Then you will have to make up your own mind or buy both.

[Brianne]

In the bottle:

Cinnamony floral??

 

On me:

Oooh clove. I love you clove. It's not so in your face though, it's pretty mellow, and is mixing well with the other "spices" to give a nice, earthy spice scent. Nothing really specific, just an all around pleasant spiced aroma. Okay I don't know if I could identify violet, but I'm guessing that's what this floral is. It's really peeking through those spices, and it's pretty nice. I would say the spices/clove and violet are about neck and neck. They mesh really well together.

 

Final note:

I'm not sure why I'm finding this one hard to describe outside of what I've already said, but it is really pleasant. It's not something I think I need to go buy a bottle of right away, but it is something that I will own a bottle of eventually. Just a comfy spicey scent, not overwhelmingly sweet or spicey, just right

[Hallows_Eve]

In the bottle- Violet Candy. Sugar Violets, a bit of the clove.

 

On me wet: As with anything with violet, though I love it, it is all I can smell once it hits my skin. It smells exactly like it does in the bottle (minus the clove) and I keep thinking I will taste candy if I lick my arm.

 

On me dry- baby powdered violets.

 

No problems if you like violets. I do. But its almost like a single note for me, cant really get much of anything else except a sweet note.

[Sara]

My initial sniff when this frimp first arrived was one of "mmm..almost like gingerbread." However, the sniffs of today were a little more involved so I could try and identify the notes better. The yummy dry spice smell is still there, but plasticky barbies is now lurking behind it.

 

On my skin - *BAM* Straight to that nauseating plastic smell reminiscent of barbies....sadly, that's the end of my review, as I need to wash this off now. I've identified the note as "sweet clove" from others that went wrong.

 

Icky-poo note aside, this was a promising scent and I'm sad it didn't work out.

[loveandprozak]

In the bottle: This smells like a sweet, delicate incense to me. There's definitely clove and a whiff of a vanilla-related note. I seem to recall Tonka Bean is a listed note in this, so I believe that this is part of it. There's also something resiny-vanilla-spicy, however, that I can't quite identify.

 

On my skin: Clove-vanilla incense with an emphasis on clove. I'm finding this actually quite a soothing smell.

 

10 minutes: The clove has backed off lightly and I smell a wisp of floral in the background. Mostly, though, I'm getting clove, and that sweet vanilla-like resin smell. This is beginning to smell like a "sheer" version of Snake Oil on me.

 

30 minutes: Yes, definitely a sheer version of Snake Oil. I don't get the overpowring resiny rootbeer smell that I do with Snake Oil. This smells like Snake Oils springtime/daytime companion -- in other words, one that can be worn in daily situations without causing everyone in a 30 foot radius of you to be overpowered with fragrance.

 

Drydown: Becomes more resin vanilla-ic as it dries down, with just a few wisps of clove remaining.

 

I find Sybaris to be quite a lovely scent, and among the higher ranks in Beth's catalog scents. As I read the other reviews now that I've finished mine (I never do so beforehand) I'm a bit surprised everyone reports such a strong violet scent. While I get it somewhat in the bottle, the sweet and spice overwhelm it near immediately once it touches my skin.

[cupide430]

Sybaris

 

Very soapy at first with a bit of a perfumey floral edge. That's definitely the violet I smell. It is almost the only thing I smell. A warm sweet note is starting to slowly come out, as is that weird "beauty parlor" note that I associate with Lush violet. I'd definitely recommend this to folks who like Lush's Bathos. I think I'm getting a teensy bit of the clove here, but that might just be wishful thinking. It is getting sweeter as it dries, I think that is the tonka coming out more and the violet is still there.

[theseagrows]

when i first put this on i loved it! i love violet and tonka so i figured this one i would really like.

 

now that it's dry, it's turning powdery, and it reminds me of "old lady" perfume, which isn't necessarily bad- it actually reminds me a bit of oscar de la renta, which one of my grandmothers used to wear.

 

i like florals with a bite or spiciness to them, and somehow the spices and clove aren't coming through for me at all

[QueenFae]

It's funny, violet and clove are my two least favorite notes, but they are actually not so bad in this blend. The incensey smell seems to balance out the clove nicely, and the violet is just a low undershadow. While it's not bad, clove is just not my thing, ugh.

[AliBabble]

somewhere i read a comparison of this to lush skinny dip, and i'd say that's sorta accurate. i love skinny dip, and i love sybaris. hooray for violet and clove! such a great combo. Love. It.

[evil_laugher]

The past two violet scents I had, I did not like at all. But this one was somehow different and more pleasant. I wouldn't say I felt "luxurious" in it, more like calmed and peaceful. My mom said it was nice, but "not erotic" (!??!?) and my dad said it smells like an "older woman" of around 50 years old. Alright... Anyway, I'm thinking I would wear this to bed, as it's very relaxing.

[maewitch]

There's a wonderful floral sweetness right out of the bottle and wet on the skin. The violet I presume.

 

There is a brief skirmish between this and the spices, which turns the violet too sweet and the spices too sharp. But then a resolution emerges, and this becomes an exotic spicy-creamy scent, very feminine and rich.

 

I'm on a mission to find scents that match up with the character of Inara (fom Firefly/Serenity). This can go in that box. For now, anyway...I'm still looking for the perfect one.

Edited September 4, 2005 by maewitch