Saint-Germain

[karengypsy]

... He is a Hermetic Magician's hero for the ages, and his scent is an elegant, timeless, truly refined cologne, bold yet classic: gilded amber, hypnotic lavender, brash carnation and deep mosses.

In the vial: Light, spicy, sugary florals

On me: Wow, this is all carnation at first, lots of floral and spiciness. After it starts drying, I can then smell the lavender and mosses, and the warmth of the amber. This is a fabulous blend!

Verdict: This is awesome - it's resiny, floral, spicy, and slightly green, even - all in one scent! I definitely would like to get a bottle!

Rating: 5/5

[abberlaine]

I procured an imp of St. Germain for my brother's birthday, and how I wish he'd wear it more. (He's prejuidced against it because it's not brand-name. Alas.) The reviews are true:

 

It's clean and comforting like a freshly-washed boy in an attractive sweater. Our Renaissance man is smart, relaxed, knows what he likes (letting himself be drawn to his interests of the moment, perhaps), and has his shit together. He likes to take care of himself.

 

There's a sandalwood-smoothness to the scent that makes me think of wheat-coloured, raw leather shoes. The scent has a freshly-washed feel to it, again -- something to do with the mosses, I think. It smells like he's been soaked with with one of those conifer, moss, and aloe soaps -- then dried in the amber warmth. Every once in a while, the carnation (which isn't spicy, by the way) or the lavender will press out a bit, giving the scent a bit of an edge, but nothing bad.

 

Most commercial colognes I've sniffed have this strong, musky, fresh-splash scent to them that tends to overpower the blend. St-Germain has that, but it's much, much fainter.

 

Glorious.

[Nekomata]

This reminds me of Villain. Definately a clean cologne scent. I can smell the amber, moss and a alot of lavender. The caranation's spicyness is there too, giving the scent an interesting twinge. Can't wait to try this on my boyfriend!

[sofiaviolet]

In the imp: Carnation and a touch of lavender.

 

On me, wet: The carnation has eaten the lavender. It's not my style but I still like it.

 

On me, dry: Something is sweetening the carnation, but I can't identify it. Why do I like this? It makes no sense but I do.

 

Verdict: A keeper.

[Eros]

Green and herbal in the imp and when applied to skin. The lavender is the strongest but not overpowering. Masculine but soft and light enough to be worn by a woman. After about an hour the amber and carnation make their appearance and this settles into a beautiful, rich and slightly sweet spice.

 

On the man it sticks to the more lavender, masculine side with the moss & amber floating beautifully in the background. He's claimed this one for himself

[fairy]

Late last night (when I'm usually online) our internet went out...horror! So with time to spare I attacked my "still need to smell" baggy and went on a sniffing/testing frenzy, taking notes, the whole nice yards, lol. This gal was first.

 

This had a very cool, minty, fresh, crisp smell to it. That's what I wrote down and I decided I wanted to try it again, and that's exactly what I'm getting now. It's quite lovely and cleansing.

[brownbear]

At first it had a woody birch kind of scent to it. It is masculine and fresh, yet mossy. It is a bit sharp at first, but mellows down. It is cool green. I'll have to try this on the boy.

[Briar]

When I first tried this on myself, the very first thought I had upon putting my nose to my wrist was "I must get this on my man!" Since I post my BPAL reviews on my LJ, he read my comments about needing to smell it on him and tried it. It's absolutely what many here have said about a "refined, sophisticated, masculine" scent. A woman could get away with it, certainly, but I prefer it on him to me. He almost never wears scents, so getting this one on him was a major accomplishment, and it's definitely sexy. De Sade is sex in a bottle, but Saint-Germain is seduction in a bottle. ^.^

 

In the Bottle: This smells like cologne to me. It's very sharp and crisp, with a musky undertone. Something about it clings to the back of my tongue when I smell it...

Wet on My Skin: Definitely a "masculine" crisp scent. Very sharp - I can only come up with green and musk.

After a While: Still quite a "traditional masculine cologne" sort of scent, but in a very good way. It reminds me, though I'm completely unsure exactly how, of what I liked about Calvin Klein's Obsession for Men. I really want to smell this one on Morti, if I could ever get him to wear something that smells nice for the purposes of enticing me to ravish him. >.> (I like it when my man smells yummy, dammit!) This scent is one of the rare "image" scents for me - it evokes fairly strong and clear mental images, instead of faint and hazy impressions. However, getting into details would be too strange for me...

Before It Dies: This has a musky, almost leathery scent on its tail end. It's very sexy, but I think too "heavy" for me. I can pull off a lot of masculine scents, but not this one. Mind you, I love the way this smells though, and even if I can't get Morti to wear it, I'll keep it.

In Addendum: Now, that I've gotten Morti to wear it, though I haven't been able to evaluate it quite the same way I do on myself, I have to say that the amber in this one "lurks" in a very unusual way. The carnation and the lavender do this lovely dance on an amber floor when he wears this. The moss pops out near the end of the scent on him (and me too).

[Eunice]

This is totally a gentlemen's cologne. I can make out the carnation and lavender in this but I am also smelling a hint of lime.Saint-Germain is something a moneyed man would wear. Elegant with an undernote of sex. I think I may be afraid to walk past any man wearing this, I don't think I'd be able to just walk past. This just gets better and better the more I smell this.

[tracey]

This scent really reminds me of Obsession for Men... REALLY. It's awesome but for some reason makes my tongue feel a little numbe. I swear I didn't lick myself <.<

 

I do smell the moss underneath it all. My brother liked it as well but he smells the lavender and amber whilst I can't pick those out of the scent, I just smell it as a whole. He also doesn't smell the resemblance to Obsession - interesting.

 

Overall a keeper ..

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

oh, this is so yummy!

 

this is everything i loved about Obsession for Men and Halston Z-14, all mixed together with none of the alcohol or chemical-ick.

 

the boy's still asleep, i think i'll go drizzle him with this and see what happens

[strangemusic]

A sort of lemony furniture polish in the imp, woods, perhaps a bit of fresh air and smoke... perhaps a little water as well?

 

When I applied this, I had a quick flash-back to Neptune, reviewed elsewhere-- that waft remiscent of lemon peel, or verbena. This really opened up on my skin, becoming more spacious with elements I found to be musky, akin to fougere (that lavender, I guess), and plenty of those woods-- sun-warmed, elegant, close grained, polished with oils... no carnation at all though. Oh well. Saint-Germain, however, is too masculine for me to wear, even at my butch-faggiest, but I can see this being delicious on anyone with the right chemistry.

 

CP from my LJ, dated 2 Sep 2006 and slightly edited

[tinyvulture]

soapy lavender. this is a very weak scent on me. i really had to slather it on, and what I got was soapy lavender. clean and calm, a good bedtime scent perhaps, but i’m really surprised at how subdued it is. the other reviewers seem to get a lot more out of it, so maybe it’s just having an odd interaction with my skin. oh well, off to swaps.

[forspecial_plate]

St Germain seems very dry to me, if I'm using the word correctly. In fact it makes me thirsty. As far as notes, I think I'm getting mostly the mosses and amber. It has a savory herbal feel to me which maybe is the lavender, or just the whole thing together. It smells sun baked...that's the term that kept coming to mind. Am I the only one who is reminded strongly of Scarecrow? That one also made me want a glass of ice water, in the same way. Oh yeah and I almost forgot....when I first put it on, I smelled black musk in there for some reason...but that didn't last. Bottom line, just not something I feel like coming back to.

[steffanina]

Saint-Germain-

 

In Bottle: Sharp, cutting, intense. Citrusy.

 

Wet: Lime-ginger, I like. Ooh, not too strong; seems to be fading quickly.

 

Dry: My god, I can't believe how fast my skin ate this one up. But at least it's subtle and I can wear it and not feel overwhelmed!

 

Overall: I like but conditional. Will try again.

[Tess]

For a man's scent, this has a lot of floral notes. Hmm, we'll see what it does on my skin.

 

In the vial - When they call this a clean scent, they mean it. This reminds me of cleaning solution... I keep sniffing and that spicey floral of carnation comes out. Have I ever mentioned that carnation is one of the few florals I can wear?

 

Wet - Mossy carnation and not nearly as much like Pine Sol as before.

 

Drying - This isn't overpowering, but has a subtle throw to it. The scent hasn't morphed at all, but it HAS seemed to draw out my natural skin scent, which I find interesting.

 

Dry (15 minutes) - I LOVE THIS. The amber is smooth, slightly sweet and mixing with my skin in the sexxiest way. The lavender is understated and the carnation is spicey with just a touch of moss to keep it grounded.

 

Overall - This is fabulous. Simply fantastic. It's not what I'd call "manly," but is completely sexy in a gender-neutral sort of way. The way the notes blend if particularily nice and smooth. This is a bottle scent for me no questions asked, for when I'm feeling thoughtful and sexy in a smart way.

[raspberry*tart]

Saint Germain: this smells very masculine, but unlike Jabberwocky, this is sexy

def. something that would smell yummy on a male.. On me, its ok.. I will give it a few mins, but maybe a lil too masculine.. Its now smelling like an aftershave on a woolen jumper.. A very sexy guy, dressy and clean-cut

10mins later: yep, its gorgeous, but not for me - but on a male, woo.. yummy..

20mins later: I wish i had this guy here right now!

Edited October 13, 2006 by raspberry*tart

[supremegoddessofall]

This is really interesting. I don't know how to describe it. It smells like wet money, but that's not a bad thing, just...odd. Not really getting the florals at all - mostly the moss and the amber.

[PilotKitten]

A very obvious men's cologne scent. It's a spicy lavender... very nice. It reminds me of the half dozen colognes my grandpa used to have sitting out on the dresser. I simply *must* try this one on my husband. < swoons > Probably won't be as great as Villain, but it's darn good as it is and I may end up buying some just for myself.

[miss_mimic]

I loved this scent!

 

In the bottle: Sharp smell, crisp, almost citrus-y scent

 

On skin, wet: Looking at the notes, I’d guess the carnation is what I’m smelling (new nose, just learning!), and the mosses, giving a ‘green’ smell.

 

On skin, dry: still getting the mosses, and the carnation is still showing brightly. Very nice. I’m liking this, even though it is a masculine scent. It’s a fresh smell. My dad reacted by smelling my wrists more instead of grimacing and fleeing as he normally would!

 

Drydown: The amber is glowing through now… it is still a light fresh smell with almost creamy amber and lavender undertones… Very hypnotic. After a few hours it faded down to a very soft amber/lavender combination. At the same time it still has that 'freshly-showered' kinda feel. Not a huge throw. Very nice though!

 

Conclusion: I can imagine a very refined gentleman smelling like this. The kind of man who always knows the right thing to say. I suppose, it is the Comte de Saint-Germain! It is a very ‘together’, sophisticated scent. Nice scent, I’ll definitely wear this one again!

 

My teenaged brother chose to try this scent for himself and I think he wants to steal it now! I'll fight him for it!

[kryshki]

I like it but it loses its scent fast.

 

It is like Polo (green) but without (thankfully) the pine/wormwood notes which is an improvement.

 

But the carnation/lavender combo needs something to fix it because it evaporates (alas) too fast.

 

Thumbs up, esp. for guys that are more conservative about what they wear and are looking for something more classical.

[fiddledragon]

"Refined" is really an excellent word for this. It's slightly but not unpleasantly sharp, filled with well-blended citrus and florals, and deepened by the moss and amber. To my nose, it doesn't say "masculine", but then I've never really known guys who wore traditional men's cologne, so I'm not as familiar with it. It's not overtly feminine either, but to me is a gender-neutral "classy and conservative" scent. I could see someone wearing this to a job interview or a state dinner or something like that.

[biernaise]

MMMMMmmmm Carnation, lavender.

 

I like manly scents on myself- even though I am a girly girl.

This one can do no wrong with me. There is nothing cloying or dirty about Saint Germain. I can see someone like Ryan Phillipe or Ed Norton smelling like this fragrance.

[mermaidrage]

Saint-Germain makes me wish I had a man of my own who wore this. Until then, I'll happily wear it myself.

 

It doesn't change much at all on me from wet to drydown. The amber is extremely sensual -- it almost reads as a warm musk to my nose and it's fabulous. The lavender stays in the background, just enough to to calm or, as the description says, hypnotize. I'm not sure what the moss smells like but if it's what's darkening the carnation, it's fabulous.

[themerrybaker]

I received an aged imp of St. Germain in a swap. When I first applied it, I thought it smelled a lot like eggnog and suspected that there was nutmeg in yonder imp.

 

While going through the drying stage, it began to smell more of men's cologne.

 

Finally, it became a light herbal-wood scent.

 

This would be awesome on a guy, and I am surprised how much I like it on me.