Lydia

[Balame]

Opium tar and sweet patchouli with labdanum, awadh, and inky black myrrh.

My reaction when I first smelled Lydia:

Aaah so good! I got three of the Exquisite Corpse blends (Djed, Silky Bat and this) and Lydia is easily my favorite.

Ruler of hell, vampire queen, gothic villainess. All associations I had when drinking in this potion. It smells elegant, beautiful and dark as the depths of the night. It reminds me of another favorite, The Final Darkness, but this has no florals peeking out from the shadows. It's all about the sinuous and seductively sweet resins.

The labdanum, myrrh and opium call out the most. I think the labdanum is particularly stunning, as it puts me in the mind of amber or ambergris with a sticky, somewhat powdery sweetness. When I first put this on, there's a heady smokiness from the opium that makes me feel like I'm getting high on (really good) narcotics, but it's not overwhelming and comes without the negative side effects!

Surprisingly, the two notes which are usually the loudest didn't wrench my focus away from the resins at all. I don't smell any patchouli or vetiver (awadh), so if they usually scare you but you're looking for a killer incense blend, this is going to be a favorite. Although I like the pair, I'm more than happy with the scent as it stands.

Lydia feels like a room full of smoke, velvet and death. You're hypnotized by its splendor, but in the vague corners of the room, inky black tendrils wait to consume you...

Edited December 21, 2016 by Balame

[zankoku_zen]

Oudh, opium tar, and myrrh. This one is a little smoky, a ton of resins, and hints of incense. Good throw and wear length.

 

Darker than I expected.

[LizziesLuck]

Thanks z_z for decanting this! <3

 

 

Wet: Yep, that's DARK. Like, gritty, grimy, kick-your-ass-and-look-hot-doing-it dark. I like it, but let me tell you, this oil is INTENSE. The patch in it is of the gnarly variety, but not so gnarly that it dominates. The musk is murky and blended really seamlessly with the labdanum and opium. It's actually really hard to pick out any notes at all. Having a hard time deciding how I feel about it. I like it, but enough that I would wear it? What setting would you even wear this in? I feel like you would have to have the right attitude to pull off wearing this. That being said, this should age gloriously. I would expect a lot of the sharp edges to wear down, and that it would blend even more seamlessly together. Hmmm.

 

Dry: Once fully dry, this gets sweeter, and rounder, and a bit spicy, and altogether quite lovely. But I worry it is fading really quickly, and I have a feeling it is going to fade down to all dry patchouli, which I don't care for. I am CONVINCED that in a year, I will adore this, but I could be wrong. Not sure if I should risk a bottle or not. I should likely test again. So much promise, though.

 

ETA: So glad I kept my decant - just retested it, and after only about a month, it's so glorious. Got a bottle. It's only going to get better! <3 The resins have really bloomed, they now sweeten the patchouli and keep it from dominating and being too dry. This is dark and rich and perfect.

Edited February 11, 2017 by LizziesLuck

[LiberAmoris]

Lydia, oh Lydia, say, have you met Lydia?

 

On me this is sweet opium incense...it smells like a loose blend my boyfriend used to buy from a vendor on 14th Street when we first moved to NY. The patchouli is awesome, unabashed. There's a strong vetiver note that comes out on drydown, but even though vetiver isn't usually my friend, it's submerged here in the darkness of the other notes. I also get a phantom black coconut note that I quite enjoy.

 

This smells like a shadow that turned into smoke.

[Madame Mew]

Lydia is EVERYTHING!!! I cannot even begin to explain how much I love this.

UGH, SO good!

 

I had a co-worker say I smelled like an old library.

 

The patchouli is why I went for this, but the opium and labdanum are so captivating and come to the foreground as it dries. I have had this for a month, and it seems to keep getting sweeter?

 

Great wear. This was my absolute favorite of the 5 I purchased from this collaboration (Silky Bat, Belonging to the Darkness, Lorraine Cross, Owl Moon, and Lydia).

 

I should probably buy another bottle...

Edited August 15, 2017 by Madame Mew

[Samuraibrarian]

Interesting. This is a big heap of sweet, smoky resins; I expected the patchouli to be louder, but the amber-like labdanum, oudh, and myrrh are out front. I'm also getting a gardenia-like floral note that's not listed in the description. Under normal circumstances that would be a deal-breaker, but it's well-blended with the resins and gives the whole "picture" an appropriately funereal, goth-y feel.