Gaueko

[CrazyPretzel]

... Blackened sandalwood and misty lavender, with curling wisps of smoky tobacco, nag champa, and labdanum.

Hm! The lavender and the sandalwood were really the selling points of this blend for me. Unfortunately (for me anyway) it's dominated by the fruity nag champa and labdanum. I don't get a lot of smokiness from this one either. There's a tantalising whiff of lavender while it's still damp, but when it dries down this is complete lollipop-sticky fruitiness on me. Edited March 23, 2008 by Shollin

[voodoocatwoman]

I just love Gaueko! The lavender and sandalwood combination is incredibly lovely. I don't pick up any burnt anything (which is just as well). I definitely see a bottle of this in my future.

[Lyrical]

In the vial: ew! Very masculine - lots of notes that don't appeal to me! I can smell lavender, tobacco and sandalwood.

 

Wet on skin: it's dry, acrid, and very masculine.

 

Dry on skin: I might not mind this on a man! It improves a lot on drydown and it's now dark, woody and smoky. Not for me, though.

[fairnymph]

Sniffed in imp: Sweet incense.

[grashopper8]

Wow, what an interesting scent!

 

Wet, the lavender is potent and dominant.

 

Immediately upon skin contact, it morphs into something completely different!!

 

It's a resinous scent with a lovely contrasting creamy woodiness from the sandalwood, and a swirl of sweet tobacco. An expertly blended work of art, and I'm very impressed that it's this nice on me. Not too sweet, not too woodsy, not cloying, not sharp. Just pleasant. I would love to wear this on a snowy winter night, nestled cozily indoors, near a stone hearth with a crackling fire blazing....sipping on a fine scotch. Mmmmmmmmm.....can't wait for winter!

 

4.5 out of 5

[Greensleeves]

In the bottle: Lavender, tobacco and indefinite 'perfumey' smell

 

Wet, on me: Lavender, tobacco, woodsy notes

 

Dry, on me: Lavender, almost cloyingly heavy incense, tobacco, spice

 

Dry, half an hour later: Smoky, floral incense, amber and peaches (wtf?)

 

Too strong and cloying in the drydown for my tastes.

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Cologney lavender and tobacco

 

On Application

Almost straight lavender

 

Dry Down

Takes a while for the any other note to break through the lavender. Ultimately this is a little too simple for me.

 

Rating (0-5)

2

[marared]

Another frimp. This is kind of smoky and dirty on my skin - burnt lavender incense is what it makes me think of right off the bat. This would be something I'd put in an oil burner to scent the room, rather than as a perfume for myself.

[Saya]

In the Bottle

Smells like lavendar and sandelwood, the sandelwood being the dominant scent. It's a very strong and almost bitter-sweet.

 

On My Skin

The intensity of the scent dies down a little bit and the lavendar comes out a bit more to balance the woodsy smell. I can faintly smell the tobacco, but not the other notes listed in the lab description.

 

After a Bit

The notes have blended together into a really smooth fragrance. It's got nice throw, but not overwhelming. I like what this turned into.

 

Rating 1-5 (5 being the best)

3.5 - I'll keep the imp, I'm not sure I'll get a bottle though. I like the scent and it's a good change from my mostly vanilla/foody BPAL's. If I had unlimited funds I'd pick a bottle up, but as is I'll just enjoy the imp for as long as it lasts.

[GeorgeJr]

In a attempt to recover from my latest rose amping saga , I am turning to someone more to my liking for aid . And Gaueko is most assuredly more to my liking . This is just fantastic . The more I sniff , the more notes become apparent to me . Mainly I seem to be getting the lavender & the labdanum . Although the sandalwood nag champa are both noticeably as well . This , this is the kind of blend that has made me love the lab so much . Back strong rose , the wonderful Gaueko has taken me under his wing . Man , that is one sensual scent ...

[Iceblink]

Smoky lavender and sandalwood. This is awfully relaxing, but a little bit on the masculine side.

[djsiberia]

wet/in imp: lavender, tobacco and labdanum.

dry: lavender and tobacco. very crisp and lavender smelling.

 

i don't smell any of the other notes since lavender is over powering everything. i do get faint whiffs of tobacco, but again...lavender.

[crebbsgirl]

This was all lavender in the bottle, but once I put it on my skin... WOW! The lavender quickly settles into the background and the nag champa, sandalwood and tobacco come out. The nag champa especially tempers the lavender, making it far less astringent than usual. Over all this is a very smooth blend. Beautiful and not too heavy. I would almost swear there was a hint of leather in there. Definitely a big bottle purchase. This works well in the summer, but I can see it holding it's own in the colder months as well.

[cemeterypolka]

in the imp: lavender and frankinsence.

 

on my skin: Reminds me very much of Cathedral, but with lavender. A little too strong for me, but if you like Cathedral, you'll probably dig this. This smells dusty and churchy and a little floral. Very cool, but not something I would wear, mostly because lavender is not my favorite.

 

dry: This got way perfumey, in a very Chanel way. I'm not sure it's me.

 

My rating: 3/5. It smells like a gorgeous Chanel perfume. I don't wear things like that, though, so I shan't be buying a bottle of this.

[zankoku_zen]

This one is cologney tobacco, and on wet, there was something that was almost limey about this scent, it might have been the sharp lavender.

 

Mmm. Manly.

[taramarie]

On me, Gaueko is mostly lavender which, as usual, smells too medicinal. Someone else can have this.

[kjirstiben]

What a delicious surprise! This came to me as a frimp and I put it on, curious what the blend of smoky-sounding ingredients would turn out like.

 

At first, this was a blast of weird, harsh, soapy lavender... but I've noticed that most of those "first blast" scents don't stick around for long, so I stuck with it, and after a couple minutes, a certain sweetness started to emerge.

 

After a while, it toned down into a woodsy lavender, but the real fun started after an hour or two. The throw on this was a "New Age bookstore" scent, all incense, but up close it was smoky, sweet, and woodsy. The tobacco and sandalwood are what I primarily smell here, and, after what it started out like, I'm amazed that this one is so mellow, sweet, and pleasant.

 

Gaueko is a very, very nice scent... a "sleeper hit," I think. Fun to find a new combination of notes that I like so well!

[annerqm]

Imp: Blah! Very sharp, medicinal lavender. Lavender is not a good note for me under any circumstances, and this lavender seems particularly harsh.

 

Wet: Pretty much the same, perhaps just a touch of bitterness/smokiness underneath. I'm really, really hoping this changes on me like it seems to on most of the other reviewers!

 

Drying: It's still very much lavender. I might smell a touch of tobacco, but it's more like raw tobacco and not smoky/burning tobacco. Overall, this is very sharp and medicinal -- herbal, but bitter herbs, not sweet or savory herbs. At this point I would classify this as very masculine, and I generally don't tend to classify scents into genders. Maybe I'm just classifying this as "masculine" b/c I don't like it! Actually, I think I'll classify this as a "Republican" scent!

 

...but wait...is this starting to smooth out and mellow down? No, not really. But I'm going to give it a full hour...even if it means I have to keep my hands/wrists away from my face!

 

Later on...dry: If I try really hard, I can maybe detect some sandalwood, but none of my beloved nag champa and really, nothing else -- this is all lavender on me. Yes, it did settle down a bit as it dried, but I was really hoping for the other notes to shine though.

[innocent]

I think its the sandalwood, but this goes cloying sweet on my skin with a medicinal undertone of lavender. Not good. I think sandalwood (which I like in other products) will have to go on my Do Not Want list of perfume notes.

[blacklacestatic]

Lavender and I do not get along so well. She smells ok enough I guess, but whenever I wear a blend in which I predominantly smell lavender, I do not feel like myself. Gaueko is one of those blends.

 

I purposely only tried a small dab on my wrist because i just had a feeling about this one. It starts out gaggingly sharp. I wanted to wash it off, and after seeing the look on my face, my boyfriend urged me to. I waited it out though, and it did calm down, but it's still just lavender blah. My boyfriend smells the incense coming through, and I suppose i do a little bit in the background, but it's not enough to make me like it. Overall I don't have the urge to try this one again. The kind of girl who wears this is just not the kind of girl I am. I need something a little bolder, and this is just kind of simple, plain. It's fine enough once it dries down, and if you like lavender, then you'll probably like this.

 

I was hoping for more incense, but I had a feeling the lavender would overshadow.

 

2.5 out of 5. Decent scent, but not for me.

[auburnette]

Gaueko

 

In imp, wet: hello, lavender!

 

On skin, wet: Lavender jumps up and screams "I'M PURPLE!" (in a very relaxing way!)

 

On skin, dry: The lavender stays prominent for a while, with the sandalwood coming through from underneath. Then, suddenly, it starts to morph. The sandalwood takes centre stage, and smoky incense starts to curl in. Mmm. It's good. I haven't got a clue when I will wear this, but I'm definitely keeping it. Perhaps as a sleep scent, or for absolutely slathering when I'm on my own at home, or for hiking. Who knows? But I like

[femmefatale]

mmmm....lavender incense. I have no idea how else to descrbe it. I like it. It's very comforting.

[milica]

very relaxing and calming combination of sandalwood and lavander, I love them both!

nice spring/summer scent and for days when you feel restles and nervous without a reason.

[levelek]

In the vial: nag champa and sandalwood, with the faintest lavender hint.

 

Wet: sandalwood and nag champa with a very perfumey slant - I'm not sure where that is coming from. I thought there might be some patchouli in the blend!

 

Dry: Sweet (but not sugary) sandalwood, powdery nag champa. The perfumey slant is now smelling like amber to me. Lavender swirling around the edges and blending seamlessly with the whispers of smoke from the tobacco, to cool the whole blend a touch. Overall, too incensey for me to wear, but a great room scent.

[mhickle]

I would have sworn this had a touch of jasmine in it when I first sniffed it in the imp, and when it first hit my skin. But as it dries, I definitely get what's going on here - the sandalwood, the nag champa, a little lavendar to calm things down.

 

This is one of those complex scents that doesn't seem so complex at first. You could smell it and say "oh, incense." But take a more thoughtful draw of scent, and everything starts curling around you, and you get a sense of what really goes into a blend like this.