Cthulhu

[Rosaleen Dhu]

If I say that my somewhat extravagant imagination yielded simultaneous pictures of an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature, I shall not be unfaithful to the spirit of the thing. A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings... It represented a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind. This thing, which seemed instinct with a fearsome and unnatural malignancy, was of a somewhat bloated corpulence...

A creeping, wet, slithering scent, dripping with seaweed, oceanic plants and dark, unfathomable waters.

Wow! An expected trip to LA and and unexpected stop at Black Broom got this to me. And thanks to the lovely staff!
This was one I had no intention of ordering, but the scent in the bottle intrigued me. Very aquatic - almost sharp. As it dries the sharpness sticks around, verging on the edge of too much but not quite. I love this - can I say that about tentacle head? It's strong, with a good amount of throw, and I love catching whiffs as I move about the room. It's what I love about Lady of Shalott without the flowers to fem it up.

It makes me feel dark, and mysterious, and rather languid. Plotting. And slithery, but not in a sensual way. This is one I'm going to wear a lot. I am so very pleased I purchased this one. Beth has, once again, done a wonderous job.

ADDED June 10:

So, after reading the other reviews, I decided to slather this on the boy. YUM.
His response?
"I smell all silky."
"Funny that, with a face full of tentacles..."

*heh* But yeah, good on boy. May have to decant half the bottle for him, now.

[blood*rose*flowers]

This has such an interesting scent in the bottle that I can't completely place, it smells manly but florally. I get the watery tones too.

 

On light clean and watery the notes on this one are really hard to individually place but actually really enjoyable. It does smell like a lake in a countryside on a sunny day with the flowers in bloom. But at the same time doesn't smell girly at all.

 

I like this it smells natural and light this one was a big surprise for me. I actually bought this for a friend and am so glad I got to check it out.

[shelldoo]

this is masculine to me, ozonish, oceanic. salty, yet clean and i think there is a touch of mintiness. but not very much just a breath, as it dries it goes a bit soapy on me but ozone and aquatics usually do not go well w/ my chemistry. so don't let my reactions decide for you.

[norman74]

Mmmm...Masculine in a way that I love...Clean, but murky, if that makes any sense at all. Hard to explain...not aquatic in the expected or traditional sense, but it is wet. Loving it.

[Imbrium]

Ooh, Cthulhu. I've been anticipating this one most eagerly, since I saw it up on the "to be released" list.

 

In the bottle: Cthulhu is very masculine; it's aquatic, but in a manly sort of way.

 

On: Salt water, and lots of ozone. For me, this is the classic masculine aquatic; it smells like the ocean and the boyfriend after he's shaved. Very sexy. This does get a bit soapy as it dries, but then, I like that; I'm a great lover of clean and masculine scents, and this is the loveliest one I've smelled so far.

 

Dry: The slightly soapy, manly smell disappears, and it's more a cool, less-ozoney aquatic with a bit of a bite to it, a dark background note. Maybe that's the seaweed?

 

Overall: It's manly, it's sexy. and it sticks around. I am most definately putting this on the SO, and I'm so glad I finally have a bottle of the almighty Cthulhu.

Edited May 21, 2005 by Imbrium

[Splendid Molerat]

Cthulhu has a creepy. slithering beauty to it.

 

Like wading into warm and murky water, through thick flowers and plants giving off scent, with streams of moss swaying from the trees, and the leathery, gelatinous fronds of seaweed caressing your limbs.

 

You hope that's seaweed.

[Northernminx]

Unfortunately this one didn't like me so much. The random aquatic note that goes powdery on me dominated this and it was less aquatic and more flowery - very not cthulu. It's gorgeous in the bottle, wet and mysterious and cool, but not so much on me. Silly skin chemistry.

[gingersnapp]

This was definitely a deep, dark, murky aquatic blend. Unfortunately, it didn't turn into what I loved about Undertow, but instead was very much like an aftershave that an old ex-boyfriend used to wear. It was very masculine on me, a little too much so for my own comfort. So it's off to the swap pile.

[pensive]

Behold, the graciousness of Nity and a swap gone terribly right.

 

Bottle: Ohmyword that's aquatic. In every good way possible.

On me, wet: Sharp and tangy.

Drydown: Sharp and tangy rapidly mellows out. Not in a lazy way, but in a sneaky, wrap its fingers around you way and present itself in water and dark greens. It is everpresent. Not quite floral. Sort of reminds me of Undertow without the mint layer. And I really like Undertow... and I really do like the way this dries down.

Lasting power: Medium. It might be the humidity rapidly sucking everything off my skin and pulling the residual moisture into the air today. (It's nasty, trust me.)

Verdict: I don't know what's in it. I don't know if I want to know what's in it. Aquatic fans will probably like this one. This is clean and gorgeous. I could put this in a lotion easily or wear it solo.

 

Pass the bottles this way, for those of you who risked to buy. It's high on my LE list and I do enjoy it.

 

I really hope Kingsport is as lovely!

Edited June 10, 2005 by pensive

[hologhost]

I just got this today. All I can say is "Wow."

 

How ironic that my husband, who wanted to know why on earth I would buy a scent inspired by rotting squid, smells so damn hot in this.

 

This the most "perfumy" one I've had. I can smell the ozone and the aquatic, but it's all one sexy, strong, blur.

 

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 2/5

Summarised in a word or two: Ozone.

 

In the imp/bottle: All I get from the imp is ozone.

 

On skin, wet: This is still nothing but ozone on me; a very nice ozone, though.

 

On skin, dry: After about ten minutes, something almost darkly floral, something bitter, springs up beneath the ozone; this brings 'seaweed' to mind.

 

Conclusion: This is absolutely my favourite ozone scent; it doesn't turn into dryer-sheet on me, and that bitter, rotting floral adds something very dark to it. All the same, ozone is exceptionally strong on me. I don't like it quite enough to keep the bottle, but I'll certainly keep an imp or two of it.

Edited December 18, 2005 by Aredhel

[darkling]

Cthulhu immediately reminded me of my partner's favorite cologne: Royal Copenhagen. It was masculine, spicy, and had the tang of ozone.

 

I had him sniff it as well and he agreed that it was almost identical to his "signature scent."

 

If he didn't already have giant bottle of Royal Copenhagen, this would go to him.

 

But it is definitely not for me!

[pkwench]

<Neo>Woah.</Neo>

 

The first sniff was like sucking back a super red-eye quadrouple espessro with a liquid crack chaser - SUPER AWAKE NOW. It reminded me of a man's colonge smell. It softened a touch on my skin to a bright, bright aquatic. It smells so sharp and so clean and in all of the best ways. I wasn't sure that I'd like it at first when I put it on, I feared it would be too aqua-velva-y for me, but it really blends so nicely with my body chemistry. It smells like what I would imagine to be a rock in a very wavey lagoon-seaweed and ocean and sharp, bright, and clean things.

 

Look, a sea urchin!

Edited June 17, 2005 by pkwench

[VorpalBunny]

Aquatics usually don't work well on me AT ALL, but I HAD to order Cthulhu, just on principle. It's a good thing too, because it's one of the aquatics that actually does turn out nice on me. (Something about my chemistry makes them turn sour after a while for some reason). After the drydown, it gets a bit floral on me, with still a very aquatic undertone. The other thing about aquatics are they often smell really masculine, Cthulhu doesn't smell overly masculine on me, but it's a scent that I think would work well on a guy.

 

All in all, Cthulhu isn't a scent I would wear every day, but it's nice for a change and is a great scent. Good for those days when you feel like channeling denizens of the deep. Or something.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): This is slithering and dark and wet.

 

Just On: Definitely aquatic, and dark.

 

An hour or two later: Mmm, creepy.

 

Around 6 hours: This has mellowed down into a murky aquatic scent.

 

12 hours: It's all gone.

 

Overall: It completely fits it's name, and is exactly what I might expect out of this scent. Very lovely, though not my type.

 

After reading other reviews: This wasn't that masculine to me, but then again, I used to wear Old English or whatever my Dad had, so I've always worn whatever I liked regardless of gender. I like it well enough, even though I'm not much for aquatics in most cases.

[Yagathai]

In the bottle: Aquatic, yes, but also... vaguely floral. I can't pick out any specific notes, but it smells sweeter than I would have anticipated from the description. I don't get any seaweed at all.

 

On my skin: Immediately after application, I get the strong and surprising odor of carambola. How strange! The aquatic note is still present, as is the vague floral note. There's also a hint of spice deep down somewhere. The carambola note fades after a few minutes, but the vaguely sweet smell remains. I must say, Cthulhu has some serious throw. To my nose it continues to smell sweet, but not in a traditionally feminine floral sort of way. It's a spicy, slightly musky sweet. A neighbor commented that I smelled "woodsy" and like a "not-offensive men's cologne". I can't say that I myself got a woodsy odor, but I could see how it could be interpreted that way.

 

Final verdict: Interesting. I don't usually wear this sort of cologne -- I go for stronger, sharper, spicier smells -- but at the same time I found Cthulhu rather pleasant. I think I might wear it every now and then for a bit of variety. It's not a first-date smell, but I think it might be effective as a snuggling-on-the-couch-after-dinner scent.

Edited June 20, 2005 by Yagathai

[Falathwen]

This is definitely an ozone aquatic, like Lightening; but there is a deeper green note in this which makes it far more wearable on my skin. I would not say that green note is seaweed, since it is more evergreen than iodine.

It makes a fantastic and surprisingly cooling bath - I wonder if the green part may be some sort of mint?

[Little Bird]

I wasn't sure what to expect from this, as I don't have a lot of experience with aquatics or ozones.

 

Best way I can describe this: smells like a dryer sheet that has been soaked in murky salt water, with a squeeze of something citrus over it.

 

It is a surprisingly lovely clean fragrance. I do think that this would be more at home on a guy... and I'll probably decant most of it for a few male friends of mine who have expressed an interest in smelling like the Great Cthulhu.

 

ETA: After about a half hour, this smells like a salty lime margarita on my boy, lol. He actually thought that I sprayed him with my lime margarita body spray from Skindazzles... and that was the citrus that I smelled when I tried it on myself, a sort of salty lime.

Edited June 30, 2005 by Blood onmy hands

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Salty sea are mingled with the ozone of an apporaching storm. This fragrance is heavily infused with impending doom. A storm is on the horizon; black clouds loom overhead and the sea churns with ever-increasing ferocity.

On me: A storm on the sea. It's just a beautiful, almost peaceful fragrance - odd, I know, but somehow I find this calming. Perhaps the calm before the storm? Vaguely threatening, the prelude of a monster, but definitely a beautiful fragrance which, by the way, blends beautifully with Mi Go Brain Cannister.

[jessamynit]

this is really weird, but for some reason this scent reminds me of, like, a bowling alley, or roller skating rink. somewhere public, with lots of sweaty people. I think it's the salt? combined with a cleanish smell?

that said, I don't dislike it. it's pretty, and clean, and aquatic... and slithery. a little brighter than the depths of creepy waters, but really nice in its way. it may be a little too perfumey (if that makes sense) for me, though.

[sarada]

I had thought I'd definitely order a bottle of Cthulhu, given the name, and my love of Lovecraft and in particular my interest in octopus-like things. But the mention of seaweed had me thinking of oceanic smells that I'm not too fond of...so I passed on it since there were so many others I wanted to try.

 

Well now I got to try an imp and I think an imp is just the right amount. It comes across very much like a masculine cologne...the sort of thing that just didn't work out for me in Ides of March or Azathoth in the long run. At first I think of a man's aftershave but with a decidedly aquatic/oceanic feel. Ahh, but that only lasts a little while before it becomes a much more interesting and actually almost floral blend on me. I get glimpses of the misty/icy smell that I sometimes get in aquatics and like. Overall it becomes sort of the dark, masculine version of Szepasszony but unlike that blend (one of my lesser-known favorites) this is not something I could wear often. Maybe on a dark, rainy day when I just want to slither outside to check the mail and then come back in and listen to "Disintegration" while watching the rain fall. (ETA: the perfect rainy day came along and it turned out that I still just don't think this is for me, though it's a very nice aquatic!)

Edited July 8, 2005 by sarada

[MaryMoon]

I got this as a decant imp in a swap (thank you Penance!)

 

I really didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't what I expected.. so masculine. In a clean, good way. It really reminds me a lot of Cool Water - without giving me the image of some sideburn wearing, polyester jumpsuit donning, chest hair and bad teeth having wierdo hitting on you on the naugahyde sofa (even if that is how I ended up getting married).

 

I immediately spouse-doused, and three hours later it was still a very distinctive (if muted) aquatic, with just a hint of green. I will be hunting down a 5ml of this for my guy

[magikfanfic]

In the bottle: Somewhere I have a candle that I bought for the boy. It smells the way this does: heavy and dark and wet. This is dripping wet, soaking wet, plant wet, ground wet, dark wet. This is wet through and through, soaked to the bones and beyond. This is foliage clumping in the water. This is Man-Thing in the swap. Thick and dark and heavy and inhuman.

 

Wet: This smells like wet trees and branches and leaves. This is a wet that never dries. A wet that goes beyond water to become the source of damp. I'm amazed that Beth has able to capture this scent because it just seems to...I don't know...primoridal to me. Nameless and beyond human knowledge. That said, this isn't a scent I'll ever be able to wear. It's way too dark, wet and masculine for me. But I think the boy will like it.

 

Dry down: Heavy water, dark, dripping wet plants. This scent changes very little. It doesn't even seem to be picking up that fabric softener background note that most aquatics do, but it still won't work on me. I stand by my assertion that this is Man-Thing, though. Not Swamp-Thing because he has human intelligence. This is Man-Thing, unkowingly, instinctive, of the ground, of the wet rather than just linked to it.

 

Dry: Wet, dark and green still. Keeps giving. But not for me. I think the boy will love it, though.

[Spastik_Kitty]

In the bottle: It smells like Lever 2000 soap.

 

First on: It stills smells like Lever 2000, very clean/ozone/wet.

 

After a bit: It's a very masculine scent that's for sure, much better on Adm than on me. It becomes more oceany, but remains smelling like Lever 2000 (or is it Irish Spring that I'm thinking of).

 

I'm not getting anything dark or slithery here, it's bright, clean and fresh. Not at all what I was hoping for (and I'm still rather disappointed in this), but I like the husband to smell like he's just stepped out of the shower anyways, so it's good in that respect.

[ChupaChup]

Cthulhu is another SIA scent that perfectly matches its description. A dark, murky aquatic. Not my thing but dang, Beth is good!