Sybaris

[Deliciousness]

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

 

My initial experience with Sybaris:

Clear blue waves crash lazily on the mediterranean shore of Crete. Lying on the beach relaxing on my lounge chair, shaded by my oversized umbrella from the sweltering rays of sun, my attention is with a wonderfully bad romance novel. I've my tropical drink, which screams "obviously tourist" resting on the side table, complete with colorful paper umbrella. Little beads of condensation ripple down the smooth glass. I take a sip of the sweet liquid, relishing the coolness of the ice on my heated lips. Only now do I realize that a large man is walking toward me. He is about six foot, dark skin, mounds of inky colored, wavy tresses. His shirt is unbuttoned down to mid-chest and strands of gold chains are woven between his dark chest hair. He speaks to me, but I am unable to comprehend what he is saying as his cologne is so distracting. Cloying. Suffocating. Something is sticking to the back of my throat when I try to reach up for air, and I fan myself lightly with my book, trying in vain to bring precious oxygen into my deprived lungs. He smiles and walks back to where he came from. I am left befuddled and curious as to what he wanted and yet relieved that I could now breath, the strangling haze having followed it's master for the moment.

After resisting the urge to toss Sybaris into my frimp pile, I do another test.

This time I find Sybaris intriguing, not at all cloying or strangling, like before. He's a tall glass of violet iced tea, with a hint of warm spices. There is still something a little tropical lurking under the surface, but nothing overpowering, or distracting. Perhaps tropical is more of a feeling than of a specific scent, brought about by the "warm spices" and tonka bean.

I can't believe how much this blend has changed since I last tried it, little less a month or two ago. Sybaris went from being too pungent and suffocating, to being refreshing, yet warm.

Glad I retested this. I think I'll keep my little imp and give him another go sometime.

[Erinofhere]

Bright violet with sweet clove, Mediterranean incense notes and tonka bean.

This was a frimp from the lab.

To me this smells a lot like apothecary. It's nice but generic and doesn't last all that long on my skin with hardly any throw.

I am picking up on the clove and that's awesome because I love clove and hardly ever get a chance to wear it. The violet is very strong at first but settles down and gels well with the incense. Personally I didn't pick up on much tonka.

[Lethran]

In bottle: Strongly violet dominant. Clove is strong support to the violet. The incense blends well with the violet and clove. The tonka is understated and helps smooth things out. No skin test for violet.

[themeaningofV]

Lab-fresh imp.

 

In the imp: Vanilla and clove, with a hint of florals in the background.

 

On my skin: Abandoned musty head shop. :| It's very dry, makes my eyes water, and there's a weird muskiness to it that's just... eurgh.

 

Nope.

[inhumation]

I have tested this twice now with different imps and got the same result - when freshly applied wet, sybaris is bright and sweet and quite pleasant. unfortunately, as soon as it start drying, a mushroom odor creeps out slowly. soon enough, i can smell nothing but mushrooms and it's quite nauseating. violets usually hate me, but the combination of violet and the other notes was just a complete horror on my skin.

[mymymai]

• ITI: This scent is really gorgeous, invoking hints of spring from the nearly candied violet note, but there's also a coquettish tone to it thanks to the tonka bean and the heady, resinous incense.

Wet: Yes, it's very much candied violet notes surrounded by bubblegum powder, sweet frankincense and a hint of sandalwood, followed by honeyed tonka. This smells like it would make an amazing aperitif.

Dry: After 15 hours, it's still clearly discernible and incredibly enjoyable. Now that it's had a good time to settle, it smells like the most divine, fluffy, violet-infused creme brulee tart under thick, decadent whipped cream (that's how the incense and clove are reading to me and it's brilliant). I'm in love and it's worth every rich, fluffy, imaginary calorie.

[Veronica]

In the bottle, this is violet over a sweet, vanilla-y (tonka) spiced base. On drydown, the violet has turned into a green floral with more incense-y spice and a note I can't place...After a few minutes, this is a lovely violet, slightly plummy floral with a soft incense touch with a slightly creamy amber-esque note from the tonka.

[Innocuousmold]

I don't usually like violet, as it can come off very soapy to me, but this is really pretty. The incense, tonka, and especially clove really balance out the clean and candy floral scent of the violet. It's a very good scent for daytime and office I think, as it's not cloying or heavy. Feminine, youthful, and balanced in general, so I am happy with it!

[LizziesLuck]

I adore these notes, except for violet, which never works on me, but here goes anyway!

 

 

Wet: Mmm, the Tonka note in this is lovely, but then the violet stomps all over it. It effectively creates a sugared violet type scent, which is surprisingly not horrid! Closest thing to a violet note I have enjoyed since Faith, which was also surprisingly note horrid, but a bit too sweet for me to manage.

 

 

Dry: I lied, OK? This is terrible. Or at least the throw is. Nose to skin, I get that gorgeous Tonka, and it makes this almost pleasant. The throw is all sour violet on me, and it is not a happy smell. *sigh* one day, violet, one day.

[Lucchesa]

Sybaris in the imp (without checking notes) smelled almost like milk chocolate and clove. On my skin, the clove really took over and paired with the violet in a strange way. I have not tried a lot of violet blends and this is the only one I have where violet is the primary note, so it may not like my skin chemistry. Clove is usually fine if it is in a supporting role; here it hogged the stage, and there was a kind of stale smell to the whole thing. Swaps box.

[roseus]

Wow this is the first time I've really enjoyed violets on my skin that I can recall. They do not go too sweet or powdery on me. Nice mysterious flowers with a good dose of sweet incense and tonka. A swirling, narcotic blend.

[Miss_Unicorn]

At first it is soapy, with a resinous undertone. This can go two ways. Potentially promising.

 

It warms to smelling sweeter and silkier and slightly powdery. Floral with a hint of spice.

 

Unfortunately, it confirms my suspicion violets don't work well for me. I see (or smell) how this can be nice; but not my cup of tea.

[clockworkcrypt]

Oh dear I think I've broken my sniffer.

This imp is aged. For how long? I'm not sure.

But on me I smell the ocean. It's the same smell I smelled the other day while photographing an old house for sale, the salty brine of water and tidepools on the pacific. It's bitter and acrid, sunbaked water, warm driftwood, rotting kelp. And over it all a very faint throw of violet, though that could be the remnants of my roomates floral perfume settling into the carpet. But every sniff is salty and briny. All this time I've been looking for the perfect aquatic, when really it's just hiding here in plain sight. I smell like the fucking ocean, the tides, the crashing surf against the pebbled beach. It's a smell I've been nostalgic for. It's been years since I've seen the ocean, but this snaps me back there. It's perplexing, it's like a tidepool that I've dropped some overly elegant dramatic corsage in late at night after witnessing my boyfriend making out with someone else at prom. It's comforting and powerful. I'm confused and delighted, driven mad by this smell. It's perfect. It's haunting. It's beautiful. It's all wrong.