Anise Swallowtail

[Blood onmy hands]

The Anise Swallowtail is a creature of wide open spaces. She flies through wide open spaces, over hills and through lots abandoned by humankind, dancing among dill, parsley, fennel, and wild carrots.

 

Bourbon vanilla, star anise, cypress, juniper berry, a drop of blood orange, and bronze fennel.

Anise Swallowtail reminds me of Golden Priapus with its smooth, cool evergreen notes and lots of creamy, lightly sweet vanilla. The cypress, juniper and fennel are green, frosty, slightly herbal, and slightly camphorous, without smelling like full-on menthol or mint or anything harsh. This reminds me quite a bit of Tokyo Milk's "Arsenic" fragrance as well, especially as it dries down (that one is notes of 'absinthe, vanilla salt, cut greens and crushed fennel'). Cool, green, and lots of vanilla.

[zankoku_zen]

Orange, vanilla, anise and fennel. This one is an interesting herby orange-vanilla mix. It keeps it from going into an orange creamsicle land, and definitely has both the anise and fennel being present and creating some bitter herbal counterpoints. Medium throw and wear length.

[JazzieCazzie]

In The Imp: Fresh, sharp citrus yet somehow mellow and creamy at the same time. Sweet and slightly metallic. Without having seen the list, I would have been able to identify exactly ZERO notes on sniffing it out of the imp.

 

Wet: Boozy creamsicle! Fresh and minty. Smells the same on my wrist as in the crook of my arm, and very similar to the scent in the imp.

 

Drydown: Still slightly minty (I think that's the star anise I'm reading as mint instead of licorice) but the orange has almost completely dissipated. Very very clean but not quite soapy.

 

Result: This is a gender-neutral scent that I think would work better FOR ME as a bath/body product than as a perfume. It's not something I see myself reaching for in my "box o' imps" so it will instead go into my "boxapalooza" that I'll be putting out there once I finish sniffing ALL of the decants I've bought (through Weenies) but if by chance the Trading Post were to make this in a bath oil I suspect I might buy a bottle!

[annemathematics]

oh man, this is such a little beauty!

 

wet it is a gentle yet complex blend mostly focused on the dry vanilla, given warm depth from the cypress, herbal richness from the fennel and brightened just-the-perfect-amount by the orange. everything is boosted by juniper, making this feel clean but not (to me) pushing it anywhere near the realm of bath product.

 

as it dries down some of the complexity recedes and what remains is the *perfect* dry vanilla-anise goth juice. ugh it's light and simple in a way that suggests youthfulness of spirit, the fluttery gentleness of a butterfly's wings. good for layering but also perfect on its own. I adore anise-y smells when they are strong and in your face, but this isn't that at all. the anise here is very light and lends support to the vanilla, which is dry and not foodie. it reminds me of the vanilla from mummies of mexico city, sans incense and death.

 

*perfect* vanilla-anise goth juice!!!! huzzah and thank you, beth!