My Sweetest Lesbia

[CiCi]

My sweetest Lesbia, let us live and love,
And though the sager sort our deeds reprove,
Let us not weigh them. Heaven’s great lamps do dive
Into their west, and straight again revive.
But, soon as once set our little light,
Then must we sleep one ever-during night.

If all would lead their lives in love like me,
Then bloody swords and armor should not be;
No drum or trumpet peaceful sleeps should move,
Unless alarm came from the camp of Love:
But fools do live and waste their little light,
And seek with pain their ever-during night.

When timely death my life and fortune ends,
Let not my hearse be vext with mourning friends,
But let all lovers rich in triumph come
And with sweet pastimes grace my happy tomb:
And, Lesbia, close up thou my little light,
And crown with love my ever-during night.

- Caius Valerius Catullus

Osmanthus, hay absolute, ambergris accord, catnip, and Egyptian musk.

This is a beautifully soft subtle fragrance that is light and refreshing. It is not heavy or overpowering in the least. Osmanthus is a white flower originally from China and is a traditional symbol of Love and Romance, True Love and Faithfulness. This is a pure fragrance with light musk and a soft woody note ( from the ambergris accord) that floats and swirls and grounds the sweetness of the Osmanthus. On the drydown I do get a little whiff of grassy tones, but it is way in the background on me. It is like that gorgeous smell in a meadow after a soft rain. My Sweet Lesbia is beguiling and one of those scents that people will stop you and ask what you are wearing.

[Lethran]

In bottle: Lovely and unusual. Osmanthus dominant. It’s an unusual floral as a result. The other elements are strongly present, well balanced, and an excellent support to the flower. I think this would be unusual and sexy. Wet: Still Osmanthus dominant, but the hay absolute comes into its own as it warms. The ambergris and musk amp up the sexy. The catnip is very soft, but present. Still lovely, but less unusual on my skin. Dry: Still interesting on the dry down. The ambergris and musk are strongest, but the hay, catnip, and what’s left of the flowers are still present, just in different proportions.

[Incendiare]

Wow, this is a pleasant surprise. In the vial, it's a soft and sweet osmanthus candy. Wet, the subtle saltiness of the ambergris peeks out. Unfortunately, after only a few minutes, it's losing that soft floral candy that I'm admiring so much and turning into a sharper floral. It's starting to lose its uniqueness, at least on me. The drier hay has finally shown up, which I was hoping wouldn't show up on my skin. Damn, it started out really great, but slowly drifted away into blahness.

[strahlend]

In a word.... unique.

 

Green, fresh, cool, almost like cucumber, but not that either. I enjoy many "green" scents and I can't think of another one like this. Although I usually find Egyptian musk to be too sharp it's working perfectly here as a compliment.

 

Captivatingly unusual. This is a lovely and refreshing scent will be perfect for spring and summer.

[surlygurl]

This is a very fresh herbal scent. It smells yellow-green, and I get something lemony on top of the herbs. There's no lemon in here, but it's what I get. Since I don't know what osmanthus smells like on it's own, all I can pinpoint are the hay & musk. It's pretty without being girly and it'll be a good spring scent.

[AmyO'Shields]

Does anyone remember BOPO peel off nail polish? I used to LOVE the smell of that stuff...

 

As soon as I applied this oil from the decant vial, I was instantly transported to being about 5 years old and painting my nails and almost instantly peeling it off. I knew I would love this oil because I am a huge fan of the smell of Hay, and after smelling it on my skin I really do love it. It is unique, and the drydown is a gorgeous hay, osmanthus, Egyptian Musk fest...9/10

[synthetique]

Huh...contrary to some of the other reviews, this smells distinctly yellow and pale orange to me rather than green.

 

Initial: My Sweetest Lesbia is a fruity floral scent that smells like sweet peach candy soaked in sour lemon juice over a backdrop of flowers, musk, and a small touch of something almondy. It's fairly reminiscent of Tamora, although this is much less cloying and sweet and instead smells "fresher". I don't smell anything particularly green in this, which is disappointing given I was most excited about the hay and catnip notes.

 

Drydown: The sourness of the lemon starts to fade, pulling it back from straight up lemon juice to lemonade (think Fresh Sugar). The ambergris becomes a little more prominent.

 

Overall, I'm a little disappointed in this scent. It smells like an odd fruity floral perfume, and while I love me some fruity florals, this one didn't do it for me.

Edited March 8, 2012 by synthetique

[Zorra]

I am glad I am not the only one who smells lemon. For a moment I thought my decant had gotten the wrong label, but I didn't think my experienced decanter would make such a mistake. My Sweetest Lesbia is not at all what I expected! When it was drying it went to lemonade and then it went to lemon balm or lemon grass (some herbal lemon scent). I don't smell hay and I am beginning to doubt whether I know what osmanthus smells like. I wonder what it will do when it ages, but right now this is scent is a world away from what the description made me think it would be.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: The hay note tempered by the ambergris and perhaps the catnip.

 

Wet: The osmanthus may be coming into play.

 

The dry-down: And now the catnip has moved into the foreground. Still not sure to think of this. Might have liked it better as a room spray. I wanted to try this because of a possible comparison to Hay Moon and the 13 from June '07 (just the catnip note). It is interesting, but don't think that I would wear it that often, so the decant should be more than enough.

[milo]

Odd, the notes in the description are not what I expected this blend to smell like. I'm getting a fresh citrus and a touch of honey. I really thought there was pom here, as I'm getting a dusty note that I typically get with pom. I really like the beginning freshness of this blend, but the dustiness is pretty much ruining it for me.

[Blood onmy hands]

Bpal's hay notes tend to smell like lemon pledge wood polish, and I definitely get that here. But that lemony quality is made sharper and more unwearable for me with the perfumey floral and musk notes added in. As it dries down, there's a sharp, green, herbal quality from the catnip.

Lemony, perfumey, sharp, and slightly herbal.

[zankoku_zen]

Sweet, almost peach-like florals and musk, with a hint of cold ambergris. It really does remind me to Tamora, but less heavy.

 

Too sweet for me.

[ami226]

A musky slightly herbal hay scent. Huh. This one is very interesting. It reminds me of something... It's a slight cool scent as well. Perfect for spring and summer. Might need to hunt down a partial bottle.

[orata]

This scent is beautiful! I passed by it at first and then later it grew on me, and I decided I needed to pick up more.

 

In Perfumes: The A-Z Guide, Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez write "Great perfumery accords are like dominoes: when juxtaposed, the materials must have a number in common. In the case of lavender and coumarin [in a fougere], it is a herbaceous, green, inedible, soapy character. In the other directions, lavender has a fresh, thyme-like character and coumarin a sweet, powdery, vanilla biscuit one."

 

The heart of My Sweetest Lesbia is the osmanthus note, which is a prominent, sweet apricot-floral: to quote the same book, "an unforgettable soapy apricot-suede smell." The number it has in common with the hay absolute and catnip is a mouthwateringly green freshness, slightly citrus-tinged; in the other direction, the ambergris and Egyptian musk combines with the soapy-floral quality of the osmanthus note to make it smell absolutely fresh and clean, with a slight salty note, like just-showered skin. The sweet, fruity apricot part of the osmanthus note floats above it all in the middle of the scent like the middle of a major chord, and keeps it from smelling too herbal.

 

Cool, clean, fresh, lovely.

[filigree_shadow]

I do not remember now why I wanted to try this one, since I'm not a big fan of hay notes, ambergris is iffy, and what the hell does catnip smell like. I don't know what I expected, but here's what I got: A soft lemony yellow floral that's more than a little "perfumey." I don't dislike it, but I'm super picky about florals and this isn't the type that I prefer.