Death is Venus to Her

[LiberAmoris]

Cabreuva and blood red rose with myrrh, cypress, black jasmine, clove, and 7-year aged patchouli.

Oh my goodness, the MYRRH. If you love myrrh, you should definitely give Death is Venus to Her a try, because it's very pretty here and definitely the star on my skin. Wet, this is red rose and myrrh in what smells like equal proportion, with the clove adding a lot of character and the black jasmine closely behind but beautifully in check. If patchouli wasn't a listed note, I'm not sure I would pick it up, although there is something smooth filling in all the gaps so that might be the aged patchouli. I had to look up Cabreuva, which is apparently a tropical tree with an EO that's similar to balsam of Peru.

Dry, this is myrrh rounded off with rose and clove. The jasmine is there, just at the edges, adding sweetness. It's giving me flashbacks of a friend of mine from college, who always seemed so sophisticated because she wore very expensive attar or rose and smoked clove cigarettes. As you might imagine, she smelled amazing and the best thing in the world was to borrow one of her sweaters. The myrrh here is really stellar. It's part churchy, part sexy—sacred and profane! I think this will also age magnificently, and I intend to hang on to my bottle long enough to find out.

[blu°]

I received a bunch of Anniversary decants yesterday and after a quick sniff test on New Year's Eve without notes at hand, this - unexpectedly - was the one that most piqued my interest. I got a high-pitched resins-woodsy-workshop vibe from it. I never knew myrrh was the main reason for the workshop vibe, but apparently it is, because this really is very heavy on the myrrh. If you tend to find myrrh too oily and gritty, don't let its mention scare you away, because in this blend it is surprisingly smooth and woodsy.

 

Right after the myrrh is the rose. It is stately and elegant, and has a menthol-like character while retaining its depth. It is very beautiful, grown up and elegant. Maybe the cypress gives that menthol-like depth. It's not menthol-heavy as geranium, don't worry, just a light touch in that direction.

 

Because of seeing the notes list I can sense traces of clove weaving the rose and resin together, and after a while I realize that the sweetness of jasmine is also present and playing its part.

 

The whole scent reminds me heavily of something else, and I'm wondering if it's an old rose-resin BPAL love or maybe even something from Lush from back in the day when I still shopped there.

 

I really like this blend on me, but am a bit hesitant because I had seem to have fallen out of love with so many former rose-resin favourites. Maybe I have just grown out of a certain type of them, and this might fill the vacuum Gothic Horror and Lucy, Kissed have left when they stopped working on my skin.

 

After a while the clove gets stronger as does the jasmine. I wouldn't have recognized patchouli at all.

 

ETA: After a couple of hours this has dried down to a really lovely, snuggly warm scent. Almost like some type of really elegant pipe tobacco, except none of the tobacco, no chewiness, just snuggly warmth, and still elegant and refined with a delicious rose-jasmine sweetness. I really, really like this phase.

Edited January 5, 2015 by blu°

[zankoku_zen]

Red roses, cloves, patchouli and woods. I get a dark rose, spiked with cloves and dark woods. Average throw, decent wear length.

 

Cloves, roses, woods.

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: This is an interesting one. Clove and myrrh take center stage, with a sharp, herbal woodiness in the background. (I have no idea whar cabreuva is, so I don't know where or if to find it.) I can find the jasmine and even a bit of rose if I try, but they're definintely backups to the clove and myrrh.

 

Wet on skin: Cloves,cloves, nothing but cloves.

 

Dried down: The other notes are coming out again now,not so much above the clove, but softening it.

 

Throw: A little bit, all clove. Although an inch or two away from my elbow, I get a bit of rose and jasmine mingling nicely with the clove.

 

Verdict: **** I may pick up a bottle of this sometime, but not yet, I think. This is very pretty, just not the type of scent I would see my self reaching for on a regular basis.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: A sweet scent, but with something like camphour piercing through. Odd. Not sure what to think.

 

Wet: Still mostly what I've ID'ed as the cabreuva, the sort of balsam of Peru note.

 

The dry-down: Well, learn something everyday. I seem to amp cabreuva. As I have no desire to smell like a sweetish mothball, this gets washed off asap. I had such high hopes for this, as I like all the other notes. Not a morpher.

Edited January 9, 2015 by thekittenkat

[forspecial_plate]

This was my second-favorite of the Anniversary oils that I tried today (after Living). A close second. This smells very 'natural' to me, like it was made of essential oils. That's the impression I got. It was not as floral as I expected and I really couldn't even pick out the rose. I definitely smelled clove - actually forgot it was in there, but when I smelled it I said 'smells like clove'. And myrrh. It's almost powdery but not quite. I'm not sure I would really wear this but I liked trying it. I can't smell any patchouli at all but I hardly ever can pick out that note (probably because I like patchouli so I don't notice it).

 

Sweet, resinous, spicy, 'natural', whatever that means. : )

[milo]

Heady at first, which I'm guessing the jasmine is the culprit. It's the lab's 'nice' one, the night blooming variety though. It strengthens as it dries, and I'm getting rose, jasmine and resins. If you like florals and resins, you'll like this. I have to be in the right mood, so an upgrade is not necessary. This does remind me of the scent of a TAL oil, it's got the same vibe.

Edited March 14, 2015 by milo

[achildoftime]

I get a lot of jasmine from this one. For me, it's jasmine and clove mostly, with a support of rose. It's pretty and kind of interesting because of the clove, until the myrrh happens that is. Yes, myrrh likes to go soapy on me and as soon as this dries, it's pretty much all I get. It's a jasmine rose-y soap, but it's still very clearly the guest soap that fancy people put out for their fancy guests. It's kind of a bummer, but not everything can work I guess.