Elaphospyris

[OctoberGwen]

Luminous white musk with lemon verbena, Calabrian lemon, guiac wood, vetiver, Arkansas black apple, white sage, and white thyme.

I'll preface this by saying that I adore lemon verbena. Adore it.

When first applied, Elaphospyris is all about the verbena. I inhale next to my arm and close my eyes and I'm squatting on the brick path in my mother's herb garden, and the sun is warm on my head and I've just rubbed the leaves on the lemon verbena and sniffed my fingers. I've always had a special fondness for all the lemon-scented herbs: verbena, balm, thyme, geraniums. I'm transported right back to childhood.

After a minute, I'm definitely getting lovely white musk, sort of anchoring the lemon, and perhaps a bit of the guic and vetiver - just a touch, grounding everything so it's not too sharply white. This is certainly a yellow and white scent, though, and very much about the lemon verbena right now.

Which is just what I wanted, essentially.

[BoneBone24]

If Dorian is the proper Victorian gentleman who gives you a naughty dessert course during afternoon tea, then Elaphospyris is his working-class cousin stripping down for a quickie in the alley. He’s dark, rugged, and leaves you wanting more.

 

Wet: Sweet lemon candies. Somewhat licorice-y.

 

Drydown: Lemony absinthe poured over a sugary-sweet musk. It quickly becomes deeper and more complex on my skin. Smoky vetiver and fresh herbs join the lemon as it sits above a mix of dark wood and creeping musk. Smoky, grassy, tart, and intriguing.

 

Dry: Dirtier and more outdoorsy now. Vetiver, verbena, and white musk are at the forefront, followed by lemon, a slice of apple, and a handful of woody herbs. Clean; yet dirty, Bright; yet dark, Outdoorsy; yet sophisticated. This is a hard one to categorize, but it’s definitely one that I’ll wear again.

 

 

 

 

7.5 out of 10 bones

Edited July 24, 2013 by BoneBone24

[tziporra]

In imp: Vetiver

 

Wet: Apparently I am a lemon pledge person I smell exactly like lemon pledge. Soooooo saaadddd.

 

Dry (30 minutes later): now there isn't the strong lemon pledge smell and it is just a lovely lemony apple scent with dark Vetiver lurking underneath. Strongly reminds me of Ulalume but with apple instead of Lily.

 

I am not going to be able to survive the lemon pledge stage to even try this again, but the dry down is lovely.

 

Tzi

[Zaani]

Disclaimer: Some apple scents turn to nasty chemicals on me.

 

I got lemon and white musk, then about a half hour later, sawdust, and after a few hours it kind of reminds me of citronella candles and fly spray. I thiiiink maybe it's the apple that's responsible for making this not work on me.

[zankoku_zen]

Lemon, white musk, and something that smells like bitter wood. It dries down to a citrusy, thyme and sage blend.

[milo]

White musk usually doesn't play nice, but I thought I'd give this a try. This ends up being a candied lemon verbena, slightly herbal and dusty. Not for me, as I like my citrus blends clear, fresh and sharp, not dusty herbal.

[Caper]

I get lemon verbena and a hint of smooth sweetness with very similar wet and dry stages. I don't get thyme, vetiver, or woods.

 

I love this blend for a refreshing, get-thee-to-work motivational scent and I might try layering with the vetiver single note since I like vetiver a lot.

[Aveya]

Disclaimer: I hate vetiver. Hate it. Haaaaaate it. So I'm always overly skeptical when I try scents with vetiver. But I LOVE lemon verbena. LOVE it. So I gave this scent a shot.

 

In the imp this was SOLID vetiver. All over musty musky dirty old basement (that's what vetiver smells like to me ). I contemplate putting this straight to the swaps but then tell myself if I don't try it I'll always wonder. When I first apply it to my skin, lemon explodes. What kind of lemon? Lemon sticky bat lemon. Lemon pledge lemon? Lemon heads lemon. I wonder how much lemon a person can take. Fortunately, this only lasted for MAYBE 5 minutes max.

 

For the next half hour, this scent turns into something warmly beautiful. It smells like my step-grandmothers Kitchen while she's making lemonade. Herbs hanging from the raw wood rafters, fresh produce all over the place. Freshly squeezing lemons with the dirt just brushed off the peel. And is that fried apples for dessert? The longer it sits on my skin, the more the lemonade is drunk and the pie eaten. The house warms up and the wood seeps in.

 

After that? I get random notes of pencil shavings and lemon pledge. It's like there's this moment when the blend perfectly combines to make a heavenly sniff- but then something unsettles and the notes come apart. Perhaps the herbs and vetiver fade from my skin first, leaving lemon and wood to battle it out? Perhaps my skin just doesn't like it? It's struggling with itself, poor thing.

 

Overall- glad I tried it. But will be swapping.

Edited September 25, 2013 by Aveya

[quickdrawkiddo]

I had almost exactly the same experience with this one as Milo -- the white musk made me trepidatious but the other notes sounded weird and awesome, and I love vetiver so I figured that would redeem this one for me. Nope nope nope. This is lemon verbena and white musk on me. I can definitely see the comparisons to Dorian, which also sadly doesn't work on me -- this is the outdoorsy, herby version of Dorian. Wet, I can't even pick out the white musk -- it's just lurking in the background making me think "Hmm, I like this, BUT." The drydown is slightly less lemony and more woodsy, but also more white musk-y. I do like how invigorating this one is but the white musk just kills it for me.