Aureus

[stardreamer]

True, perfect golden light, refined into an incomparably glorious scent.

In the imp and fresh on, this is very woody. On drydown, I can smell cedar, but not as strongly as in yesterday's Aelopile; and I think there's amber underneath. Long-term, the amber definitely comes out more, and I think there's just a bit of vanilla as well; the overall progression is woody to sharp to sweetish. Staying power is good; after 9 hours, it's still quite present on my wrists, and I didn't use much. "Golden" isn't a bad description, but it's darker than I would have expected -- late-summer, late-afternoon sunlight shading down into dusk.

After looking at the other descriptions, I see I'm right in the mainstream with amber and cedar! If there was patchouli or incense, I didn't pick it up at all.

This is definitely in the same scent family with Aelopile and Golden Priapus, and possibly Fascinum and Dee as well. If I didn't really like the amber/wood combination, it would be superfluous in my collection; but I do, so this is worth keeping and using up.

[ephemera]

This starts off as a light incense with something glowing beneath it. I sat there and huffed at my arm in a state of bliss, pray for no change. Woe! After about 5 minutes the glowing, warm scent left and I was left with stale smoke - slightly cigarette-like.

[tragedy]

This is what I was hoping the twisted oak tree would be and wasnt, this is a lovely musty wood, reminds me of an abandoned falling down house in the summer time. At first I was leary of this thinking it would end up that stank-musty that alot of the other woods have ended up being, but this isnt. Its clean musty.. and comforting.

This would be great layered with alot of things!

[mgrazulis]

Nondescript in the imp. Wet on skin: hello cedarwood, dry and dusty. As it dries, a bit of sweet smoky khus. Golden woods and grass. Very masculine and aromatic...

[HelloValentine]

scotchgrrl had it right when she said "pencil shavings." below is my (slightly edited) write-up of the scent, actually done the day i wore it.

 

i made the unfortunate mistake of dabbing a bit on my wrists in math class this afternoon. i almost immediately wanted to scrub down to bone so as to remove the vile and nastiness from my skin.

 

i have a bit of a head cold, so i haven't worn anything scented in a few days, exception being cocoa butter. i didn't notice the scent when i opened the imp. i put a drop on one wrist and then rubbed it into the other. the first thing i noticed was that it smells very strongly of pencil. like, i could open a pencil sharpener and roll about in the shavings for a bit. i really hope this is merely the fact that i am ill, because otherwise i'm going to be a little upset.

 

the eau de no. 2 faded rather quickly and i was left with PATCHOULI. if you know me at all, know that i hate patchouli with every ounce of my being. i find it vile and repugnant and not something i would have voluntarily subjected myself to. i like it in other things as a faint note, but this was not faint by any stretch of the word. i went from smelling like pencil to reeking of unwashed hippie. neither of these is appealing to me. and being that i'm already ill, i am suppressing the urge to sick up. this one goes into the give-away-and-never-again bin.

 

i have never had to wash a scent off with such vigor as i've done with this.

[Balame]

First review all, hopefully it's not entirely inane. : P

 

In the Imp: This really does smell like an old church - in a good way. Very woodsy, sort of a heady incense smell. It’s potent. Almost reminds me of tobacco, but still soothing.

 

Wet: That wood scent amplified a lot! Definitely smell cedar, reminds me of walking out in the deep forest and feeling refreshed in the atmosphere, amidst all the nature. I still get the church feel though, there’s a slightly sweeter smell that gives a hint of the incense again.

 

Dry: Very nice. I’m mostly out of the woods now and I smell amber. The sharpness balanced with such a softer smell is great. It’s calmed down a lot and has a "smoother" effect now, which makes it even better than before.

 

Verdict: This turned out to work really well with my skin chemistry, and I love how at peace it makes me feel. Still, for daily wear it might be a bit too relaxing! I need something that makes me get up and go, so this will probably be reserved for lazy days and/or when I want to take some “me” time. I do like it a lot, however, so I think I’ll be getting a bottle in the future.

 

Rating: 4/5

[bubblefish]

This is a bit heavier than I had anticipated. It's got a touch of golden light, for sure, but there's also a very woody, incense-y quality to it. It brings to mind an image of light full of dust floating about.

[angelicruin]

Inside the imp, patchouli mostly.

 

On the skin, starts off all patchouli. Cedar note emerges first then the amber. Incense is light on my skin.

 

This is mostly a woody patchouli blend on my skin.

[sirensea]

This is INCREDIBLY woody. Like a mixture of woods, spices and a man's cologne. Actually, it reminds me quite a bit of Rumpelstilzchen, which is a very good thing. I'd slather this on a man and huff him silly.

[revinn]

In the Imp: Whaaaat? Gasoline? Gasoline and grasses. Odd.. I have a feeling that this is going to be masculine.

 

Wet: The same! Tall grasses scorched with gasoline! So, so weird.

 

Dry: A little milder, but still grassy and masculine. I'll prolly pass this on to my brother.

 

Out of 10: 2

[Altaira]

This was a frimp from the Lab. I had no idea what to expect given the lack of listed notes, but I agree with the consensus here: cedar with a warm sweetness in the background.

 

I like this, but I'm not sure about it on me. It smells like a cedar hope chest that maybe contained some dried flowers from a special occasion, so old they have lost their scent. I understand the "pencil shavings" that people report with cedar, but I have different associations so it doesn't bother me. It might be better as a room sent than as a personal scent.

 

I don't have any allergy issues with it, but the guy in the cubicle next to me has been sneezing a bit today, so I don't think I'll be wearing this to work again.

[revinn]

Meh. Drug store cologne. I don't HATE it, but it's nothing special. MEH.

 

Out of 10: MEH.

[Caerphilly]

Not what I was expecting at all. Smoky, woody, Murky, more woody... I don't really get golden from this, but soggy wood covered in mushrooms. There's a golden sweetness in the imp, but it's very faint. On my skin it's all woody. I was really excited about this because I love amber, and was really expecting this to be primarily amber. Alas, I'm thinking the labels on the imp were mixed up, but reading the other reviews, people are getting the same thing. Odd...

[MinxyMinou]

On me this was pretty much pure cedarwood. The imp will likely go off to swaps but I am going to give it a chance on my boy first.

 

Edit: Have now tried it on the boy. He says it makes him smell like pencil shavings...although I have to say I quite like it on him.

Edited January 3, 2010 by MinxyMinou

[wrestlingentropy]

Mmm...this is yummy. Rich and golden. As many folks have said, this smells like wooden pews in a church filled with dusty sunlight (or something like that). It's...if possible...even better than that. There's a depth here that hits a musky backbite that I'm always looking for in a really good, really "me" scent, followed by an elusive sweetness that peeks out every once in a while. I think I'm going to end up liking this one way more than I ever thought I would.

[kunoichi]

In the vial, this is a bright and light scent, reminding me somewhat of Ahathoor - a golden sunlit scent, warm and lovely. On my skin, a spiciness appears from amongst the golden scent, and it becomes a little sweeter and a little woodsy as it warms. After a few hours, the woodsy scent calms and it becomes a warm, spicy golden scent, almost incense-like, on me. It certainly smells golden, just like its name sake - aureus is Latin for gold!

[Seismogenic]

I'd been eyeing this one for a while, though I hadn't jumped forth to test it sooner because no notes were listed. But more recently, I saw (or heard, I can't quite recall) a review comparing Aureus to the scent of walking among ponderosa pines on a sunlit afternoon, and that kind of sealed the deal that I needed to get an imp and try it.

 

In the imp: Warm amber, light spices, some sort of light wood.

 

Wet on skin: Amber and light wood, slightly dry but not completely parched. I'm now not sure if I'm getting spices or some other resin that's a little sharper than amber.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, the light wood may be more prominent than the amber now, though both are still quite evident. I'm also getting a hint of something smoky now, though it's a sweet gentle smoke. Still uncertain on the presence of spices or other resins. At one hour in, things are quite similar to the freshly dry stage - gently smoky light wood, amber, and perhaps a bit of dust.

 

Five hours later: Still not much has changed, other than everything fading a bit. Light wood, amber, dust, maaaaybe a little less of the smoky note than before.

 

End of the day: Amber, with just a hint of wood.

 

Overall: Gorgeous. I like wood, amber, smoke, and dust/dirt notes all on their own, so the combination of them has to be a win. I also may still have been swayed by that description of trees, though, because Aureus gives me a mental image of hiking leisurely along the back of the San Gabriel Mountains with bright light filtering through the trees and onto the dust stirred up by walking. The smoke must be from campfires; it's not the malevolent smoke of the kind of fires that the San Gabriels tend to get. I could sum up how this smells to me with a picture, even:

(Yes, that picture also happens to contain the San Andreas Fault. Shutuuuuup.)

So yes. Gorgeous! I can see myself using this imp and upgrading it at some point.

Edited March 24, 2010 by Seismogenic

[ami226]

This smells like a garden. Very fresh dirt. I wonder if this imp was labeled wrong...

[mari4212]

Aureus wet on me starts out with a sandalwood/cedar tang, almost harsh. I was a bit worried that it was going to be the second oil that I was going to try and then wash off, but I got distracted then by the kids asking me to take them on a walk, and I decided to leave it on until I got back.

 

I'm glad I waited. About five minutes into the walk, it stopped smelling harsh, and amber peaked it's lovely head out. Amber loves me, and I smell good wearing it. Now Aureus smells like The Lion and Haunted, that same warm, velvety soft golden amber. This is, I think, somewhat sweeter than the Lion was on me, less dry. And it's a bit lighter than Haunted is, but all three of them are very close in character on me. Definitely a keeper!

[odalisque]

I bought this for Mr O and man, oh man do I love it. It doesn't have the sugared sort of feel that Anne Bonny has, but it's similar enough that they might be cousins if not brothers. I think of Anne Bonny, Cathedral and Aureus as sort of a grand triad of warm, rich woody blends; if you like one you'll probably like them all; and my synesthesia says Aureus is the medium-brown to Anne Bonny's rich deep brown and Cathedral's glowing golden color.

 

The main thing that comes to mind when I try to describe it is smooth, velvety. There's definitely patchouli in it, cedar, and sandalwood, and maybe something a little more golden in color like benzoin. It is not for patchouli-haters, but if you only *think* you're a patchouli-hater it may change your mind. I wouldn't call this an incense blend, personally, even though it has notes associated with incense, there's no smoldering or smoky feel to it, rather it's cuddly and warm and sexy in a low-key way.

[Venneh]

In the imp, Aureus is all wood on me. Light application. On my skin? Wood and nail polish! ...Yeah. This is probably going to get wiped off soon.

[SophieCedar]

Wet: this smells exactly like amber resin chunks! Awesome. Finally a blend that smells purely of TRUE amber.

Drydown: I smelled a golden floral note for a second, but that disappeared shortly. I smell a slight touch of cedar, not as strong as everyone else. This is pretty much straight up true amber. I love it but it doesn't have any lasting power!

[Edeniade]

In the bottle when I first smelled it, I was instantly reminded of Queen of Sheba but a lot less sharp to me (Queen of Sheba has a terrible pointy almond scent that I despised). It smelled like pure amber and, since I had not tried an amber scent before this one, was willing to be adventurous.

 

Wet on my wrist it started out warm with amber and I could certainly smell the cedar. I got a strong image of an old wooden church helped by wafts of incense. I was reminded of a church I had visited in Germany quite a few years ago so I thought it would be a bit comforting, if not a little too ecclesiastical for daily wear.

 

But then, oh then, what was that I smelled? Patchouli? NOOOOO not patchouli, my scent enemy! After 5 minutes it and the cedar completely took over and I smelled like a horrible old church being smoked out. I couldn't take it and had to scrub it off. This has definitely been put aside.

[Ashenrook]

In the Bottle

Resins and something "dusty". ...Cathedral? Is that you?

 

On Skin: Wet

I am starting to suspect that this IS Cathedral... But, the more I let it sit, I can begin to tell the subtleties between Aureus and it. While both evoke a sunny, peaceful, and hallowed imagery in my mind... Aureus seems more golden, and brighter, in comparison to Cathedral. I think there's a greater emphasis on amber in this blend.

 

On Skin: Dry

Much of the same! The smell of sun-baked wood, of dust, of sun... But despite how incredibly close it is to Cathedral, it evokes a different sort of imagery on me. To me, Aureus feels like I curled up for a nap on a weather-worn porch, warmed by the sun on a perfect summer's day.

 

Afternotes

Still going strong and just as lovely. Mmmm.

 

 

Verdict

On an American scholastic grading scale, I'd give this a B+.

 

I would give it an A...but given that Aureus is so close to Cathedral, I feel compelled to choose between the two. And I feel that I much prefer the smell of a lovely dusty and musty sun-warmed cathedral over a sun-warmed porch.

[oliphaunt]

Yum... Ugh, I just want to snuffle myself when I put this on! I think I have a new favorite... At first it goes on pretty much pure cedar, but that lasts only a few minutes. Admittedly it did start out rather sharp, which had me worried, but it quickly mellows into something truly incredible. I can get the pure, golden light reference, although not in the way I expected. I was originally thinking bright sunshine, sort of early-morning, but this is more like that last few amber rays of the evening, or perhaps firelight. If I had to give a visual impression from this, it's a bit like being tucked away in an old wingback chair in a home library, maybe something an old professor would have. Perhaps one of his grandchildren snuck in one evening and is sitting in the chair, which is partly carved of some golden, polished old wood and padded with velvet. The grandchild rifles quietly, cautiously, through an old book with fantastical illustrations and unrecognizable words. Dark amber firelight plays over the images and faint, incensey notes waft up from the pages, hinting at exotic origins. As the scent evolves, it gets sexier, perhaps more like his parents sneaking into the same chair for a romantic tryst after the little one has been put to sleep

 

I actually feel like I get a bit of sandalwood from this, though I don't think anyone else has mentioned it. Either way, it's warm, smooth, a bit exotic, and altogether lovely.