Aureus

[ctate]

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

In the imp: Hm, tough to pin down. Vaguely spicy, clove/allspice sort of hints, with a firm initial impression of unsweet orange/citrus, neroli or grapefruit or some such. Then hints of something a bit camphorous, and maybe a thread of mint? All on top of a familiar store perfume counter foundation, patchouli and maybe musk. Very earthy, with mossy touches.

On me, wet: Whatever that camphorous note is leaps to the front, and aha, amber, lots of it. Quickly morphing to reveal cedar as the camphorous note, and starting the develop the patchouli.

On me, dry: POW. Patchouli and amber, and more patchouli, strengthening over time and with a hellacious throw and tenacity. The cedar has backed off, although it's still floating around in the background. It's got a lot more guts than I expected from the description. A well-structured scent, although I suspect it's only for people who like patchouli. (A lot.) This was a frimp; I'll be passing it along.

[steffanina]

Aureus-

 

In Bottle: Woody, resinous.

 

Wet: Very much the same. It seems a very pure woody scent, if you know what I mean.

 

Dry: I would love this more were it not for the cedar. Cedar makes me think of hamster chips. But if I ever say to myself, "I need to smell like the inside of a wooden box today," I will wear this. And that might happen.

 

Overall: Very conditional, but has potential.

[theseagrows]

this is incensy and leathery on me, though i doubt leather is in it. i can do some bpal incense scents, and others, like cathedral, i just can't. well i can't do aureus either, and seeing comparisons to cathedral explains it all. cedar and frankincense often don't work, so i'm thinking this has one of those two in it.

[girl_android]

I have a small pile of imps to work my way through (although a few have already won my heart, which has diminished greatly the desire to test something else!)...

 

In the imp, I smell ... incensey patchouli with something leaning towards woody (cedar? It does smell a little like pencils), and something that makes me think golden warm. There's also something just slightly medicinal (not band-aid-ish, maybe some herbal poultice kind of thing?).

 

Wet on skin, the herbal poultice threatens to take over.

 

Once it's dry, there's something like smoke that makes the back of my throat dry when I'm taking a sniffle, the patchouli is mostly gone, the herbal poultice backs away.

 

Not sure if this is my thing - I tend to go for sweeter things, just my sweet tooth kicking in there. And also, quite possibly my lack of caffeine this morning seeing as we ran out of milk yesterday and I forgot to buy any!

[Babylon]

Aw man, this smells identical to Anne Bonny on me, so the red sandalwood or something must amp on my skin! It smells like the salty wood of a pirate ship. I love regular sandalwood, and I love Anne Bonny, but already have a bottle of that, so I don't really need Aureus.

[monsteralice]

In the imp: incense-y without being spicy

 

Wet: a nice warm smell, less of the incense note

 

Dry: A sense of warmth, rather than light. It's like the loose resins I use for incense, not stick incense. Very restful and calm.

 

Duration/Throw: The scent stayed the same and clung close to my wrists thoughout the day; I had to get within a few inches to smell it. It lasted forever though - I had to wash it off after 24 hours, so I could try another imp.

 

I don't think this one is it for me. I like resins, but it's a little too calm for my taste - I think I need something else with them. I'll try it again in a week or too, but at this point I think I'll swap it out.

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp this is a dead ringer for cathedral and midnight mass...

tons of cedarwood combined with incense...very nice

once applied the cedarwood amps up but oddly enough this blend is relatively

short lived with my chemistry...

[supremegoddessofall]

I'm not sure where I'm supposed to be getting the light from - this is pure incense and moss on me. Very woodsy feeling - also maybe some cedar? Interesting.

[waternight]

This is my first review, and my nose isn't nearly as educated as many here, but I'll give it my best shot.

 

In the imp: deep, warm, resiny, amber, woody. Woody with a slightly stingy bite.

 

Wet: woody! cut wood and wood sap. My dad is from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and Aureus smells exactly like my grandparents' garage and sauna (which was in the garage. They stored loads of firewood in there, but the sauna smell is really the primary image I'm getting. This smells like their sauna, but when it's cold, when it hasn't been used in a while - the wood that lights the sauna and just the barest hint of the metal barrel that's attached to the stove and heats the water. So very, very woody. Slightly pencil shavings, but SO delicious.

 

Dry: Basically the same woody smell, but softened and sweetened. The bite is still there, but now it's just gently nibbling.

 

edit to add that after a few hours, Aureus mellows into this incredibly warm, sweet amber. This is such a comforting scent, yet strengthening at the same time. SO lovely. I smell amazing!

 

 

Overall: This would be a big bottle for the happy memories it invokes alone, but it smells glorious on me as well. I can't stop sniffing myself! My BPAL virginity was taken in such a sweet, wonderful (if slightly incestous) way. Definitely a 5ml.

Edited December 26, 2006 by waternight

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: woodsy and patchouli

 

On Skin: Patchouli has been confirmed. It's the only thing I can smell now.

 

On Drydown: I get a bit of a woodsy smell to it, like pencil shavings. Other than that, it's a massive patchouli smell. Dirty hippie headshop smell.

 

Verdict: This is not a golden scent on me. When I think of golden scents, I think of Et Lux Fuit... this, makes me think more of a smoldering flame, the embers left from a big fire. Patchouli smashes its way through to the finish line, beating all other components into submission. Skin chemistry wins again. Nuts. Off to swap.

[dronzeka]

This isn't golden on me, either - a sort of siena color, maybe... like many others here, I'm getting pure wood, I think mostly cedar. On me that goes sharp and musty at once; it smells like the attic over at my next door neighbor's, growing up, where my sister and I explored lots of old junk. It makes me nostalgic, but it's not anything I want to smell like. After about three hours the cedar's finally softening a little bit, and it's getting nicer, but it's not worth the three hours of smelling like an attic. So I will have to find someone else who will appreciate it more!

[Deiicide]

From the imp it really does smell like golden light, and something kind of like peanut butter? That might be ceder, I recognize that note in Mandrake.

Upon me it's amber, amber and more amber with a smidge of pathchoulli. This is Aureus and not amber single note so I have to pass my imp along.

[hecate_jones]

In the bottle this smells exactly like spirit gum. That's a bit off-putting.

 

On... very resiny, still. Mellowing down to a sort of spicy maybe frankincense smell, and it's getting sweeter. I love frankincense, but this scent isn't for me.

 

ADDED Feb. 27:

 

Very resiny! A little too resin-y.

I'm not sure, I think this must have patchouli in it, there's something

about it I quite fail to like.

I can very much smell the amber, and sandalwood, which I usually like

but it's a bit off-putting.

It's very hrmm... turpentine to me.

Off to a new home for this one!

 

eta: whoops, forgot I'd reviewed this one before. Silly me.

[Lanet]

I guess I was expecting something more like Sundew based on the description of "golden light". What I got instead was smokey patchouli retch. Ugh.

[roxyhead]

All the cedar hamster cage of Lear, but once it dries, the smell you can't get out of my dad's shirts even after you wash them, possibly has to do with the wood of the dresser they're stored in, though it doesn't smell specifically like cedar, mixed with guy sweat. Ick. And I didn't wash it off before it turned to sweat, so I swear it's oozing from my pores. Rather nasty. Unless my dad sweats "golden light", I certainly can't get any of this out of that.

 

Tried it on a friend at the same time, who said it smelled like someone else's perfume that was described as "clean dirt", and he liked it.

[Firiel]

In the vial, it is that glow of light, sunshine through stained glass, come now sing alleluia. As far as actually trying to wear it, it seems it will be a bit masculine but not overwhelmingly so.

 

Once it's on my skin, it changes quite a bit. Warm and comforting, like a familiar liturgy that still stirs your heart. In fact, it smells very much like the Episcopal church near where I went to college: old wood, incense, ages of ceremony (it's a registered historical site) and life happening all around and in it while it stood solidly. Very solemn but welcoming. If I keep this, I'll probably wear it in the depths of winter, mostly around Christmas. It is much too spicy and heavy a scent for any other time. I don't think it will become a truly favorite scent, but it would take something very good to tempt me to trade it.

 

This really is good for either gender. The spiciness would fit well with a guy, but the mental associations are more likely to make me think you're serious, a thinker, and spend a lot of time in old libraries. (So yes, I'd love to go to lunch after church.) At the same time, the brightness is good for a woman and the spiciness is not unfeminine. If you like girly scents, though, this is not for you.

[Carmencita]

In the vial: Dirty and nuts

 

Wet: Dirt, nuts, woods, slight bit of mold... yech.

 

Dry: Now a slight cedar note, and a hint of evergreen

 

It's interesting to smell, but not something I'd want to smell like. Also reminds me of several other BPAL GC oils... which I cannot remember.

[lapillus]

Summary: was lovely and cozy until the patchouli hit. Sigh.

 

 

Off to trade it goes.

[hackess]

Ack! Patchouli! Amber and resin are okay, but patchouli amps like whoa on me and turns this into Cathedral with a slightly green, woody undertone. It's churchy and smoky and just not for me.

[lightgatherer]

Hmm. I think that this is the same patchouli that's in Mme Moriarty. All I get from this is the same woody note I got from there. While I'm grateful that this is the good patchouli that I like, I don't think I need a scent that's basically a single note of it on me.

[Miladygrey]

In the bottle, wet, dry, and probably until the end of time, it smelled like my grandmother's attic. Dusty and old, with a ghost of sweetness hovering wistfully in the background. I'm a librarian, I smell like dust most of the time anyway. So very not for me.

[ladybird]

The description on this one was so cryptic and intriguing that I just had to try

 

It's a pleasant and unusual scent - very herbal and woody, with the faintest hint of citrus. It smells darker than I expected from the description, too, and more masculine, like a man's cologne. After an hour or so of wearing it, I realized why it seemed so masculine to me. It smells almost exactly like my ex-boyfriend's cologne!

 

So if you're looking for another scent that smells like Aureus, check out Helmut Lang cologne And for me, this was a definite trade-away scent. I just can't go around smelling like my ex!

[isabella]

powdery amber incense, pretty but not me.

[Pika]

Pre: I’m not sure what smelling like golden light is supposed to mean, but how could it be a bad thing?

 

In the vial: Golden light = Dark!? A bit biting, very brown, piney… like the ponderosa understory I played in as a kid. Is that the amber being so resinous? A little worried about the patchouli I smell lurking.

 

Wet on skin: A deep, woody smell, not as light as I would have expected. Quite masculine. Mysterious in its depth, but dark with heavy patchouli.

 

A while later... Pleasant, but not outstanding. Somehow smells like an old library, too, which is kind of comforting.

 

Much later... Fades to a nice, soft scent. Lightens up on me...*now* I smell the “goldeness”. I like the dry down in this one, which is what you get to enjoy the longest anyway, I guess.

 

Not too crazy about it, but OK. Maybe a good study scent due to the serenity of it and my associating it with libraries. Not what I’d pick on its own for any kind of casual wear, but I think I could see it layered with something to add some depth and mystery, maybe.

[Electra]

I smell like pencils. If there isn't cedar in this, I'll eat my hat.

 

Unfortunately, cedar is one of the notes that I amp to screaming, deafening levels, so that's the only thing I smell.