Thouros

[thekittenkat]

THOUROS
Furious
Rose otto, lychee, and cistus absolute.

First. let me say that this is lovely, from first sniff to dry-down. Cistus, according to the wiki, is also known as rockrose, although it shares that common name with several other flowers. Its leaves produce labdanum, btw. The rose otto is very prominent in the bottle and on my wrist, even hours later. For some reason, I think that this may be the damask rose, which I have smelt before. The lychee fruit adds a touch of sweetness, and is probably, in my case, keeping the rose in check. (I sometimes amp rose.) The rose is soft, maybe like a dusty pink rose. It's not light like a white rose or a tea rose, but it's not the dark rose of The Peacock Queen, but somewhere in-between. (Also added value: no green stems in cold water that I get with Red Rose.) Thouros reminds me a little of The Rose, from the Marchen, but it's lusher and deeper than that rose. This doesn't seem to be a rose newly blooming in a garden, but at its fullness, just before it is cut. And then someone dipped it in sugar syrup so they could feed it to their pony. (Note: there's no aquatic notes here.)

[London]

In the bottle: Flower petals dipped in simple syrup. Very sweet rose.

 

Wet: The smell reminds me of the taste of sugared rose petals, or french rose candies, the little pink ones.

 

As it dried the rose settled down a little and the sugar softened. It's a sweet almost airy rose. Not powdery or overwhelming. The throw was a little less than moderate on me.

 

I'm glad I bought this one un sniffed.

 

[fairnymph]

Sweet, fruity rose with a hint of piney resin. Delicious! The rose is definitely strongest but it's not an overwhelming note at all, rather a lovely true rose note, expensive and classy smelling. The lychee is lightly tropical-exotic, but mostly it provide a lot of almost syrupy sweetness, and the cistus is like a faint balsam note - very pleasant.

 

More lychee! Sweeter, more tropical, more fruity. This is almost candied - it's a very sweet scent - and I totally get the sugar syrup or candied rose vine others mention. There's more cistus now, which is a little sharp-bitter and greener on my skin. It's almost too sharp for me, but at this level it's cutting some of the sweetness nicely. I would say the rose is no longer the strongest, but on part with the lychee, and the cistus is just below. Well-balanced.

 

Okay, rose amping a little - but it's still not a HELLO I AM ROSE sort of rose - and keep in mind, I love rose, but I amp florals generally and I have enough rose blends that I don't need another one that's 90% rose. Which this is definitely note. The rose is only just barely leading the way, and it doesn't have overpowering throw as rose often can. I don't know how or why, but this scent has developed a sort of creaminess on my skin. It also reminds me vaguely of a really nice face cream I once used - in a good way. The cistus has lost most of its bitterness and is more resiny now, yay! And lychee continues to hold - I wish it were more juicy, but hell I'm happy it's such a strong note here.

 

This scent has strong throw and it doesn't fade, either. After initial drying and some amping of the rose and softening of the cistus, I'm left with a rich (in all senses of the word) but not overbearing rose heavily sweetened by lychee & sugar syrup, with a light hint of dark green, slightly piney resin to deepen and ground the blend. It's very lovely, very luxurious yet sort of 'fun' in a girly way - definitely one I'll be stocking up on.

[CiaoBonefish]

This is one scent I was most anticipating from the Lupercalia update this year. Lychee? I LOVE LYCHEE. When I opened this bottle, I immediately gasped, "Oh my god, Lychee?" I actually said that out loud. It smelled like the most heavenly blend of lychee and rose, but in the bottle the lychee is far more prominent. No hint of cistus yet.

 

I hastened to put this on my skin and it just bloomed. The lychee and rose melt perfectly into each other into a sweet sticky, almost jam like consistency. (How am I getting that from just smelling it? I don't know!) This is by no means a light scent, and I keep getting whiffs of it as I move about. In the wet stages the rose and lychee fight it out, and rose does become more prominent, but that is okay... for now anyway.

 

Once dry, however, the lychee and rose are pretty much equal, the rose adding a soft sweetness to the lychee and the lychee adding a burst of fresh juiciness to the rose. Very beautiful. Still no cistus, but I believe it is helping to hold everything together because this is one blend where the rose isn't going super powdery on me like it does sometimes (Hope I'm talking to you!)

 

Overall, I love this! I wish the lychee had been more prominent than the rose otto, but it is still wonderful. Really unique. Glad I have a bottle!

 

[greenranger]

Very sweet rose, to start, and the rose heats up like it is going to amp....and stops at warm sugary rose.

 

I don't know lychee well at all, so the sweetness is probably that. I'm pleased that the rose is being controlled by the other notes. However, since all I can really smell is warm sweet rose, it's nearly a single note floral on me.

[starfish327]

i sometimes rank my masculine scents by how they compare to torture king.

 

if torture king is the patriarch of the family, then doc constantine is the snarky younger brother that people like just as much in his own right but won't really ever fully live up to.

 

thouros may be the baby brother of the family that may not quite make it in the family business...

 

it's a very light floral, fruit scent. it's very faint on my skin and i was actually disappointed- even if i amped rose i would have preferred it so that it could have stood up to my skin.

 

i'm not getting anything angry about this blend, but i just wish it were stronger. it's still not very femme to me even with the rose though, it may be closer to unisex than anything.

[edenssixthday]

Thouros –The fresh rose and cistus blend really well with the sweet lychee in a way that surprises me, since I don’t usually like the smell of lychee-flavored or lychee-scented products. I really love this particular combination of fruity-florals. It’s very much a light and bright spring/summer scent. It doesn’t have much throw or staying power on me, but this is one I’ll definitely be able to use in my oil burner and make my house smell absolutely wonderful, particularly once the weather warms up enough to open the windows and have a fresh breeze come through the house. I think this would compliment that kind of warm, breezy, springtime day so well. Maybe I’ll try it in a scent locket, too, since that would keep the scent going for a while. It’s just so pretty and a real shame that it doesn’t thrive more on my skin.

 

 

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Sweet fruit and old rose perfume.

 

Immediately on skin: I swear when I was little one of my dolls came with some sort of rose “perfume,” maybe even a solid one. This smells a lot like it, only less sweet. All I can smell is rose and something thick in the background.

 

After a little while: This hasn’t really changed on my skin at all. It’s still this strong, perfumey old rose scent with some cloying note in the background that I think is the lychee.

 

Overall Impressions: I had to give this blend a chance as I loooove lychees, but the rose comes out a little too fake on me. It’s a bit overly perfume-y with something thick and not very nice in the background. It’s disappointing as I can almost smell how it should smell, but it goes wrong on me.

 

[Blood onmy hands]

My skin amps up rose notes, so all I can really pick out in this blend is the rose. It starts off slightly bitter and perfumey rose and then dries down to a very sweet rose. I suppose that the lychee might be adding some sweetness, but I wouldn't identify this perfume as smelling like lychee, really.

 

Thouros is a soft, light, sweet red rose on my skin. I have enough rose blends (and blends where I amp up the rose to single note status) that this isn't really wowing me.

[pandorasmuse]

In the decant: I smell all three elements. When I was in high school, my now-husband bought me a rose candle when he visited Fragonard in France. This smells very much like that candle.

 

Wet: Rose dominates.

 

Drydown: As it begins to dry, the notes all balance out, and that wonderful Fragonard candle fragrance returns. Very pleasant, and it evokes many happy memories for me.

 

Later: More Fragonard! Lovely rose with a bit of syrupy lychee and a bit of a bite from the citrus. This is nicely balanced and absolutely fantastic. Bottle!

[musichappens]

A strong, but elegant rose with just a tad of fruity tartness. However, the intensity of this blend seems to calm down as it dries and the rose otto and lychee begin to dance more as one. This is a beautiful soft floral/fruity scent that I'm going to need a bottle of.

[cfrancesca]

Really nice sweet citrus and rose, almost candy sweet on my skin. This reminds me of the rose in Blood Rose, very grown-up but with the sweet tartness from the lychee it really works. It's not too complex, but you like rose scents I recommend you try this one, I think it will be great in the warmer months.

[Dark Alice]

Well....again in record time my skin has eaten the citrus in this scent. Wet: Delicious fresh tangerines with hints of rose. And then my skin eats the citrus leaving rose. It's kind of a flat rose smell. Meh. Well...off to swaps with this one.

[Invidiana]

This was another one I was expecting to be an epic fail but actually turned out so right...it generally smells like rose petals drenched in brown sugar syrup. I think what works the magic on the seemingly scary (to me at least) lychee and rose combo is the cistus, whose deep resinous quality tempers the sweetness of the lychee and gives it that brown-sugary quality. Thankfully the rose isn't sharp at all, just a soft velvety rose interwoven with the sticky sweetness. Definitely bottleworthy.

[reynardine]

Picked up on the rose in this immediately. Upon application, this becomes a very sophisticated scent on me, quite complex. Floral/fruit with resin undertones. It’s interesting, but rather flat—probably due to the resin, which usually don’t work well on me. Might have the Man try it on and see how it fairs on him.

[Iceblink]

Tart, fruity rose--this is a simple blend but lovely, fresh, and light. The lychee is surprisingly strong for a note that doesn't always last very long on me. If it can manage to stick around for a few hours, this may be a bottle purchase!

[ellebelle]

I typically hate rose, but there is something about the way that the lychee and rose blend together that makes the rose in this better than it typically is on my skin. It's a dark citrus rose, somewhat sugary and rich. My skin doesn't eat the citrus, so it continues to add some sparkle to the rose. I'm not sure I would get a bottle of this because rose isn't one of my favorite notes, but this is very beautiful and if you are a rose lover you should track this down!

 

ETA: It dries down to that rose-y scent that always give me a headache.

Edited March 13, 2010 by Ellebelle

[angelicruin]

This is like a sugary-candy rose scent on my skin. Very feminine and light.

[Ishianti]

In the bottle, the smell is a war between the rose and the lychee, there's an almost juicy 'taste' on my tongue from smelling it that is like biting into real fresh lovely lychee. I'm not sure what the cistus is supposed to smell like, but it's drowned out.

 

Upon application, there is a balance between the fruit and the rose, less cloyingly sweet.

 

Dry down, the roses are a little more amplified on me, but my chemistry does that, but the lychee is still right there.

 

The throw is pretty strong, lasts for a few hours, I think I'm getting a little resiny smell that might be the cistus at last.

[violetgrimm4]

My first impression? This isn't as strong as I wanted

 

The rose has stayed ture on me it tends to go rather sour on me I think the fruit keeps it from doing that.

 

It is what it says rose and lychee. I think it would go rather well with bodyshop passion fruit body butter like a yummy tropical fruit salad with rose petals!

[ami226]

Oh, this does not smell good on me. A strange spiced rose that turns really plasticky quickly. Icky...

[Schmoozy]

 

Rose and lychee. It's sweet, kinda perfumey and very rose. I adore rose, but this is too much. I liek more greenery with rose, than perfume.

[puddingirl]

The colour of this looks promising. The darker the liquid the better my skin chemistry, although not always! In the bottle I first smelled rose, then lychee, then cistus, fab! When on and wet the lychee comes out strongest closely followed by the rose otto. It's a beautiful deep mix so far,although quite sticky-sugary. It smells pretty much the same when drying just slightly spicier but I'm not sure where that's coming from. Once dry the lychee and rose have come into a lovely balance. I really like this scent and is the perfect deep/sweet rosy scent that I've been after

[zankoku_zen]

Lychee syrup (which has run cloying and sweet) and MEGA ROSE! HAI! I EAT YOUR NOSE NAO.

 

Really sweet rose and lychee blend.

 

Pass.

[Voleuse]

This is much rosier than I expected! It's rather like rose and resin, and something almost citrus but not--maybe that's the lychee. Even over time, the intensity of this doesn't fade: sweet, sweet rose and resin. This seems like it should be old-fashioned, but it's so demandingly present at the same time. Impressive.