Venus Callipyge

[zankoku_zen]

VENUS CALLIPYGE

Venus With the Pretty Bottom

Iris root, carnation, and grandiflorum jasmine with violet leaf, muguet, and peach blossom.

Iris, carnation and jasmine. This smells like powdery iris, spicy carnation, and a whiff of jasmine and violet leaf. This smells like a grand dame of grandmother perfumes. And I mean this in the best way possible. This is Lady Violet Crawley of Downtown Abbey. Unapologetically floral, grand, and you can just feel it rooted in tradition. A force unto herself.

The other analogy I have to offer is that this is the floral perfume of a crone. Think of Grandma Hempstock in Neil Gaiman's Ocean at the End of the Lane. Old, female, powerful.

If my grandmother was still alive, I'd get her a bottle of this. It would be the type of scent she appreciates wearing for herself.

[izile]

In the decant: woo, murky/swampy in a not-overly-green way. Lots of violet leaf, muguet - surprised the jasmine isn't stronger

 

wet: there's the jasmine and a hint of peach blossom, and the aforementioned "murkyness" I'm ascribing especially to the violet leaf

 

dry down (4 hours later): sweet, light, kind of powdery, probably from the jasmine which can go baby powder on me, but it's not just baby powder, I think the sweet-flower smell is a combo of carnation and peach blossom - nothing murky about it now. Maybe the orris root is giving it that really soft/light feeling... I'm not as familiar with these notes, so I'm trying to ascribe aspects as best I can figure. I can see how this might go a little granny's parlor, depending skin reaction. Think mine is keeping it JUST out of the "grandma's house/purse" funk range.

[tziporra]

Huh, my experience with this is pretty radically different than the others listed here. I get a blast of peach blossom right out of the bottle and then it's all peach blossom all the time until I fall asleep. It's really much floral. Much, much floral. The kind of floral that is all flowers with not much else going on except MOAR FLOWERS. I'm a floral lover, but I have to have them grounded with a resin or a spice or a wood or something. This has none of that. Just florals. If you like straight flowers or fruity florals this might be your thing. I'm thinking Juliet here.

[Leopard403]

Venus Callipyge broke my heart. All of the notes work on me historically, but something about this combination reads as "high white floral" on my skin. There's just nothing in there to ground it so in the end, the effect is mostly a headache. It is really overwhelming for about 20 minutes...and then it burns away to nothing.

[theseagrows]

i am iffy on jasmine and peach and have a love/hate with muguet, but all the others are floral favorites, so i figured, WTH. starting off this is muguet and peach on me with some jasmine. it's sweet and kind of juicy, and actually the notes are working quite nicely here, though this scent is a bit too sweet for me. i was hoping for more iris an carnation but i am really just not getting it much in this scent. the combination of peach and muguet alllmost reads tuberose-y to me, but it's a bit more sweet and peachy. interesting! (i love tuberose.) after being on the skin about 10 minutes i get the slight spiciness of carnation in the background and a hint of iris root, but really they are just supporting notes that don't dominate too much. i think anyone who likes peachy florals would love this.

[hepkitten]

If you're a more commercial perfumista as well, brace yourself: on me, this smells more than a bit like Iris Gris, one of the all-time great classic fragrances.

 

Granted, there's an unpleasantly sharp top note that has to burn off first; it almost made it a scrubber, but it (thankfully) vanished completely before too long. Also, this is less animalic than the vintage Iris Gris I've been lucky enough to smell (and the fabulous Dawn Spencer Hurwitz recreation of the scent, Scent of Hope, which is dynamite but much pricier).

 

But otherwise, the drydown of this is a rich, rounded thing that is succulently grand and gorgeous. It doesn't make sense to me based on the notes, and maybe something has to do with my skin or some other factor, but my imp was the best modern riff on Fath's masterpiece that you could EVER find in this price range.

[grnwoodtree]

Let me start by saying, I am NOT a BPAL floral person.

 

This may be the exception.

What the first reviewer said, about 'grand', 'powerful'...and all the rest - yes. It's strong and full of flowers and I get images of a gilded French drawing room with huge bouquets of flowers, women in lux silk dresses that waft notes of this oil around them as they converse and drink tea.

 

A very worthy floral...complex, deep, huge. I'm surprised! Better as a scent wafting in the air than actually huffing my skin though. This would be a WONDERFUL atmo.

[milo]

Orris at first, which is fine with me. I find it to be a 'gentle' and comforting floral. After a bit, more more florals, bit it still continues to have a calm, gentle vibe. I like this, but not enou gh for an upgrade.