Mother Shub's Stygian Nougat

[Lethran]

A torpid black nougat with belladonna honey, somnolent lavender, and thyme.

In bottle: I’m guessing it’s the sort of nougat with embedded almonds as the strong nougat scent has a distinctive almond flavour to it. The honey is strong and gives the impression of sweet gooiness. The lavender is a perfect accent to the nougat. The thyme is understated and clever, giving a special unexpected twist without being particularly strong compared to the other element. Wet: The honey is overwhelming the nougat a little, but luckily does not drown it. The lavander continues to be delicious with the nougat. The thyme is now most a hint than a reality. Dry: Mostly honey.

[NaiadOreiad]

Bottle: LAVENDER with a backdrop of something dark and toothy

 

Wet: lavender and thyme. There is something weird running in an undercurrent... it has a lot of depth with a warmth that seems like it is trying to surface until thyme kicks me in the teeth.

 

Dry: Lavender and thyme. The warm toothy nougat is surfacing more and is finally on an even level with the lavendar and thyme, making this blend herbal and interesting.

 

A keeper for it's sheer uniqueness

[Mechanical Death]

The thyme is funny. I think sage would have been better. :/ it has a strange edge that smells like pasta sauce.

[becca_s]

This starts out very almondy on me, it dominates all the other notes for a while. It dries down to be a honey and lavender scent with a hint of thyme. The almond almost completely fades away. The thyme does add an interesting herbal element but it stays in the background. Overall I like this, the lavender and honey make a really nice combination. I could end up buy a bottle of this one.

Edited December 21, 2012 by becca_s

[miss_rynn]

I'm surprised this hasn't had more reviews - it is definitely my favourite of the 2012 Yules. It has a herbal/resin scent that isn't overpowering or sneeze/headache inducing over a rich and sweet almond. To me this comes across as almost nougat incense. It's not too sweet, not soo herbal, not too dark, and certainly not too bright either. This doesn't scream Christmas to me - instead it's a scent I will wear all year round. Delicious.

[Gateau]

This is the one I was most eager to try, but it's nothing like I'd imagined. Quite a morpher.

 

Wet: supremely sweet cherry-almond with strong sense of honey

 

Drydown: the almond is backing off and now I can smell the herbs more distinctly

 

Dry: predominantly dry thyme with some dry lavender in there too. The sweetness of the nutty candy is virtually gone, though if I try I can sort of sniff out something slightly sweetly foodie in the background.

 

Worth another test, but what I'd assumed was going to be a bottle purchase probably isn't.

[lohengrin]

In the decant: Almond and lavender. It's an odd combination, and I hope that it doesn't turn into a lavender single-note on me. :/

 

On skin, wet: Lavender. Sigh. There's the occasional hint of almond or thyme (though never both at the same time, for some reason), but this is very herbal and not at all sweet.

 

On skin, dry: Lavender and thyme, almost equally. No more almond, no trace of honey.

 

After an hour: Apparently, in the rock-paper-scissors of things-I-amp, thyme beats lavender. This is almost all thyme, with a little lavender in the background, and zero hint of anything sweet. It's interesting, but not at all what I was hoping for.

[Blood onmy hands]

I was hoping that this would be a roasted, nutty, vanilla-y, foodie type nougat scent with a bit of creamy lavender. Unfortunately, I get a blast of cloying, cheap cherry almond and then this dries down to mostly herbs. It's really heavy on the thyme, as others have already noted, with a bit of a sharp lavender to it. I don't really find it foodie or sweet at all

[lady_pandora]

Mother Shub's Stygian Nougat is really unusual. This is the kind of perfume you're only going to get from a quirky business like BPAL. This is not like anything else I've ever tried, and in the end I think I like it. But it's definitely weird!

Initially, I get this huge herbal blast. I know lavender and I know nougat and I know honey and this ain't them, so I'm guessing it's the thyme. It's really overpowering in this first phase--sort of astringent and bitter and medicinal. It teeters on a fine line between smelling like a food ingredient and smelling like really nice men's grooming products without ever fully committing to smelling like either. There's a hint of sweetness at the fringes, and I'm not sure if it's the honey or nougat or if it's something intrinsic to the thyme.

At about the 1-hour point, though, it changes. The herbal scent stops being astringent and becomes smoky instead. I can smell lavender now too, and the honey is just sort of rounding everything out without having a presence of its own. I can see where the "stygian" and "somnolent" come in--this is really relaxing, like an aromatherapy oil for sleep. In fact, I might use it for exactly that. It doesn't end up being the least bit foody on me.

 

Update after some aging, as of October 2014: This has calmed down into something I like better than I did at first. That initial herbal blast only lasts a minute or so, and then moves over so that a soft nougatty note can take over. Then over the next hour or so, the nougat fades out and lavender becomes the dominant note. I'd already planned to use it for sleep, and in the last week or two, I've finally been doing that. It works really well. The nougat is comforting and warm as I first get into bed, and then the lavender does its magic. When i wake up in the morning, I can't smell any of it remaining at all. It helps me get to sleep and stay asleep. All this time later, I kind of wish I'd gotten more than a decant of Stygian Nougat, and I may look for GCs that have similar notes.

Edited October 31, 2014 by lady_pandora

[Monday]

Interesting. Starts out a lovely almond and lavender then the thyme comes round making the blend smell like wet clay. Stop that, thyme!

That's better. When it is drying down the thyme calms down and it has turned into a nutty lavender/almond combo. It reminds me a bit of Lilith Victoria.

When it's fully dry the almond has gone all vanilla-powdery the lavender is still present and the thyme is spiking through the blend. Quite nice, I'll do an all day test.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Not-so-sweet nougat with a bit of lavender and thyme.

 

Wet: Mostly powdered lavender and some thyme. Hey! Who ate all the nougat?

 

The dry-down: Not good. The sweet note returned, but it's that slightly plasticy note that almond can sometimes turn into on my skin. Mixed with the lavender and thyme, this is not a taste treat.

 

ETA: I was surprised by this hours later. I was wondering what smelled so good, so I sniffed my wrists and the crook of my elbows and discovered this lovely scent. It's like lavender, softened and sweeten by the nougat, and the thyme just adds a fresh herbal quality. If I can get past that first wonky hour, this would be good for a sleep scent, or perhaps a spring/summer scent.

Edited January 9, 2013 by thekittenkat

[zankoku_zen]

Lavender, almond and thyme. This is a creamy, lavender. Very soft, very comforting with just a touch of sweetness.

[zeldaZ4]

ITI: A sweet blend of honey, lavender and thyme, plus something buttery/salty which must be the nougat.

 

On Skin: Wet, the same as in the imp. Very interesting balance between the thyme and lavender. I can smell each distinctly, but neither is dominant. Dry, the nougat continues to remind me of creamy, sea-salted caramels. Within half an hour, the thyme had asserted itself, but the creamy, salty elements remain in the background.

After a few hours of wearing, there is a soft, spicy sweetness left. The lavender is most prominent, although I can still smell the thyme and a hint of salt. Reminds me of the faint remnants of cologne around the neck of a man when you hug him at the end of the day.

 

I agree with thekittenkat that this would be a good scent for sleeping. My favorite phase is not long after drydown, before the nougat has faded.

[AnyseLawsBray]

In bottle: Almond, sharp and dry. A touch of herbal thyme.

 

Wet: On skin it is much creamier - the almond thankfully fades rapidly. It leaves just a hint of warm nuttiness under the sweet lavender. I like this stage very much! Herbal vanilla caramel is what I think of.

 

Dry: It smells 'homemade'. Not necessarily foody, nor like handmade soap... just creamy and all-around delicious.

 

Verdict: I enjoy this blend which I can rarely say about anything featuring almond, but unfortunately my skin reacted unfavorably to something in it - leaving temporary welts. If I but had a scent locket this would be a keeper!

[brilliantcat]

Imp: Strongly almond with a hint of lavender.

 

Wet: I'm getting the lavender-almond which smells really lovely in turns with blasts of thyme, which is quite interesting. It's odd but I like it!

 

Dry: I love the combination of the lavender and thyme which goes well with the almond but the honey goes slightly powdery on me, as it usually does, and that ends that. The whole blend goes off; powdery honey clashes with the thyme which has gone bitter, and the almond is buried under this bitter powdery scent. Blergh. It had such potential

[jolarocknrolla]

it's all sweet rich honey & almond nougat up front, with just a slight hint of something slightly lavender underneath, once it dries, a lot of the sweetness recedes and goes a lot more obviously herbal. Right now I smell a ghost of sweetness behind the lavender and the dry thyme is just a slight thread behind that. It's really almondy and foody when wet but on drydown it's nicely balanced between honey sweetness and herbal. Not cloying or medicine-y. I got only a 1/2 decant of this and i'm not sure if i need it, but it's one of the yule scents I enjoyed as an experience - just maybe not something i would really feel like wearing much.

[megank4]

For my wedding here in prvence, instead of a wedding cake we had a pièce montée (also known as croquembouche) with a bunch of cream puffs assembled to form a castle. The walls were flat pepieces of nougat. I saved a piece of nougat that had our names on it in the freezer for a year. On our first anniversary, i took it out, and it had gone bad, rancid. A sticky sweet slightly off smell ( and taste). We had to throw it away.

This, unfortunately, is what this scent reminds me of - rancid nougat. Sorry.

[milo]

Lots of almond at first, I do like almond, and this reminds me of an almond pastry. I'm not a foody scent lover per se, but I really enjoy this so far. After a bit, it kind of smells like there's leather here, not sure where that's coming from, maybe the lavender is translating it, or the combination of certain notes are doing this. This ends up being dominant lavender, which is a good thing too, I love lavender, and a bit of sweet almond pastry. I really like this, and wasn't expecting too, not being a foody and all. I wouldn't say this is even a foody blend, though it's very comforting. The leather association is gone now too, I think it was the lavender and sweetness that was confusing me into thinking there was leather here. This would be a great room scent. I may have to hunt down more of this...

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Sweet soft almonds and a touch of lavender

 

Wet on me - A bit odd really; a sort of hot pepper from the lavender and thyme and a really sweet. cloying layer of almonds

 

Dry on me - A softly herbal sweetness with touches of almond

 

Overall - I like the dry down, which is oddly like a herbal castile soap I used to buy, but there are points where the argument between herb and almond are too much

[Caper]

I think this was the one that made me realize I love thyme in perfume.

 

The almond is a bit overpowering at first, but I used to work in a candy shop and this strongly reminds me of the divinity that we used to sell. The lavender is a great complement and the thyme is a brilliant touch of herbal-ness to a sweet blend.

 

I love this for winter bedtime! It just hit freezing for the first time and I pulled out my Yule oils. This is my second choice for bed after Pink Snowballs.

[tinyvulture]

At first, I get almond extract and lavender.

 

As it dries, the honey-sweetened nougat comes forward, but there's still sharp lavender note.

 

Finally, when dry, it's nougat with a much softer lavender. I love this unique combination of foody and herbal notes. Not picking up thyme, but that's ok.

[Teaotter]

Wet, I get a large blast of almond that just about bowls me over. When that passes, I have a sweet almond-and-sugar scent with a hint of lavender.

 

After about thirty minutes, it dries down to a fascinating herbs-and-incense scent that I adore. There's a bit of acrid sharpness when I press my nose right against my skin, but the throw is all incense and lavender.

 

All in all, this is less foodie in the wearing than I was expecting from the first half hour, but the incense is lovely for all that it's unexpected. Decent wearing time, too.

[aquazoo]

Cherry/almond? Then I get the honey lavender combo, icky.

[kattalog]

Dry: Powdery sweetness with nougat and dry flowers. Half an hour in the lavendar shows up making it less gourmand and more floral for a while.
The nougat is still there, but underneath the spice and cocoa and keeps being so slightly nutty and sweet. On me skin near on the go but a rather comforting scent. Would love to try a chocolate piece that smelt like this.
It morphs in the end into dry chocolate with nuts.

Mother Shub’s stygian nougat is very skin near from start to finish: its goes from nougat with an alcoholic sharpness as wet to sweet nougat and dried flowers and ends with a dry chocolate piece with nuts.

Dominant notes: Nougat, lavendar… cacao? Gourmand.