Sibyl

[yeahbutnobut]

Bourbon vanilla, Egyptian musk, olibanum, summer honey, white tea, Spanish mandarin, tea rose, cognac, and a faint trace of prussic acid.

Sibyl

In the imp: honeyed vanilla musk with citrus. It reminds me of Et Lux Fuit.
Wet on skin: honeyed mandarin, vanilla musk, and cognac (and anise?)
Dry on skin: this is nice! It smells of cognac, mandarin (love how strong the mandarin is here), clean pretty honey, sharp tea, and a crisp vanilla musk, and a tiny hint of rose. It reminds me of elements of Lady Lilith, La Fee Verte and, yes, Dorian, but the scent this reminds me of most is Et Lux Fuit. It’s the mix of honey, citrus and vanilla musk. The Egyptian musk used here is not the warm, velvety type from Gothabilly or Gypsy Moth, but the fresh, dewy, ‘clean skin’ scent from Mr Ibis. As a fan of Mr Ibis, that does please me. But the note that intrudes is cognac. This could be perfect, but it’s not really working out. I think it’s the cognac, it’s got that boozy, bitter undertone that I am not keen on. I’m also undecided on ‘summer honey’, it turns a little sharper and soapier than the usual honey notes-something similar happened in Victorian Garden.
After a while: I must say, I’m amazed as to how long the mandarin here lasts, usually it fades away really fast. But something about this scent smells too sharp, acidic for me. It’s not a nice sharpness, but an unpleasant artificial sharpness like the sour powder used in certain sweets (like flying saucers). I think the tea is too astringent. There’s some vanilla and musk, but not enough. And there’s a soapy tone to it that reminds me of the herbs and absinthe with honey from La Fee Verte. I think this is the cognac doing bad things on me.
Verdict: I really wanted to love Sibyl, I really did…but she let me down. I was expecting glorious vanilla and musk accented by rose, honey and citrus. But overall this is a dead ringer for Et Lux Fuit. It smells mainly like effervescent honey, lemon sherbet, sour sweets, and a really acidic white tea (not the darker tea of Dorian) sharpened even more by mandarin. The honey turns oddly soapy, and I think the cognac turns against me too. I get a vague sherbet-lemon sweetness but none of the velvety vanilla musk I expected. This is too sour for me as a whole. I’m let down, but at least I was able to swap it off.
Emoticon rating:
Is it a keeper? No, sadly. I managed a very successful swap for a scent I did love though.

[suki]

In the Bottle: Mostly honey, a bit of cognac, and a hint of tea (the tea is VERY reminicent of Dorian's tea, which, all things considered, makes perfect sense.) *fingers crossed*

 

Wet On Skin: I'm getting the amber note from Et Lux Fuit someone else mentioned. I'm hoping it goes away quietly in the dry-down, because that could be a deal breaker for me.

 

Dry Down: Well, it's somewhere between Et Lux Fuit and O now that it's dried completely. It doesn't have the Baby Powder of Death that Et Lux has, but there is something slightly grating for me with this scent. Also, I'd had hopes of the Bourbon Vanilla, the Cognac, the Tea Rose, and I get *none* of those things on my skin, at all.

 

In all: Low to moderate throw, Sybil is a skin musk scent for those that adore the "sunshine" BPAL notes like amber and honey.

 

But, considering how many people are simply dying for a little bit of this, I have to say I'm likely to swap my bottle so it gets the love it deserves and can't get from me.

[theseagrows]

honey often doesn't work on me, but i love pretty much every other note in this, so i decided to give this a go! this scent is actually sweeter than i thought it might be, so maybe my skin amps honey? i am getting a mostly honey-rose-tea scent from this, it's nice! sibyl is kind of reminiscent of the tea party scents to me, and this reminds me a bit of maiden, though there is no carnation, i think the rose-honey smells similar. the more i sniff this, the more it is growing on me!

 

at first, i thought might be too sweet, but now i think this is perfect for certain moods and is very pretty. also, with the drydown is getting prettier and rosier yay!

 

[Amoraexcena]

I tried this without remembering any of the notes listed - I vaguely remembered I wanted a The Girl that actually works on my skin.

 

I put it on, and I couldn't for the life of me name any note. It's VERY well blended. My first thought was: Joyful Moon and Midnight on the Midway's sensual coupling produced this. Now that I look at the note list and reviews, I'm a little surprised. I don't usually get along with honey at all and I thought tea rose was my least favourite type of rose. I guess not.

 

This blend is absolutely gorgeous, and I'm sad that not many people got to try it because it's so exclusive...and because I wouldn't mind #grabbyhands me some more. It's complex in the best way possible - it's definitely not too citrus-y, not foody from the vanilla, the tea rose doesn't overwhelm, there's only a hint of cognac, honey doesn't amp to high hell on me, the olibanum and musk grounds it...

 

Props Beth, you're incredible.

 

PS: it's not much like The Girl, which is more... white, cold, birch-y, not nearly as sweet. The only common factor, in my opinion, is how well blended they are.

Edited September 16, 2012 by Amoraexcena

[whisperstilled]

Bottle: Musk hits me first, with a vaguely sour note, plus the vanilla. More subtle than I was expecting. Honey as well, definitely. A fruity complexity that has to be the mandarin. Not really getting much rose at all.

 

Wet on Skin: Honey and skin musk, plus that sourish note that I'm guessing to be the 'prussic acid.'

 

Drying: This is dropping off fast. Not a lot of amp, at least not on me.

 

Dry: Musk and honey, but still a bit sour. I wish this had leaned more toward tea and musk, and less toward honey, which rarely works on me, particularly not for musky scents. I think I'll be passing this one along!