sailthetethys

I liked Zorya P, but I didn’t love her. She was just a little too sweet and the florals were just a little too high pitched. I LOVE this. This is perfection. This is deeper, richer, and moodier than Zoya P, while still being soft and sweet. I think the oud is doing some secret magic behind the scenes to give this scent complexity and depth, but I can’t pick it out on its own. In fact, I really can’t pick out any particular scent except the lavender (and for me, it’s THE lavender - that soft, dreamy, almost marshmallowy lavender that I absolutely love) unless I really make an effort, because this is so well-blended and cohesive - it’s one of those blends that feels more like a luxury perfume. It’s lavender heavy in the early stages. As it dries down, I get spiciness from the tobacco flower and a shimmery warmth that’s vaguely-marine-but-not from the ambergris - more like a heavy coastal fog that’s drifted inland than the actual sea. It evokes a winter-like color palette - blue, grey, purple - without being astringent or icy - in fact, it feels warm and cozy. There’s a creaminess that together with the tobacco flower spice makes it feel gourmand at times, but I wouldn’t call this a gourmand scent any more than I’d call it a floral, a resin, an herbal, or a not-quite-marine. And yes, I definitely get a sweet creaminess that’s almost vanilla in the later stages. I feel like this could be a snuggly sleep scent, an every day scent, OR a special occasion scent. It ticks all the boxes. Tbh, this reminds me of a winter version of Abalone Vulva even though they don’t share any notes. But they both have that sophisticated, high-end perfume cohesiveness, and both feel very iridescent/pearlescent in the way that the notes swirl together and overlap to create something complex and lovely. But where AV is a swirl of turquoise and white water on a pink sandy beach, WoS is a swirl of snow against a stormy violet-grey sky. Very evocative and elegant, and it’s quickly become one of my all-time favorites.

The bottle smells like sweet green grass, a big comfort scent of mine, so I wasn’t ready for the punch of perfumed dirt on application (hard packed indeed, right into both my nostrils). That brought on a second of panic, but the dirt note is VERY short-lived (too short lived for me to appreciate it tbh - I probably would’ve liked it if I hadn’t been lulled into sweet grass complacency right before it hit me). Dry, it’s delicious. There’s greenery and sunlight and I second the hint of wildflowers. Not quite a forest, but a wooded meadow. There’s a little something else in the background that gives it a bit more depth and complexity than the notes would suggest (perhaps what’s left of the dirt?) so it feels like a proper perfume to me despite its simplicity - something I can’t say about other green grass blends I’ve tried. Overall, it’s fresh and green and light and I love it. It’s the summer grass scent I’ve been waiting for.

I’ve been trying to trick myself into organizing (and culling) my massive tiny bottle collection with a game where I sort them all into different groups solely by nose. The results have been…mostly comical and embarrassing tbh. The Eternal Virgin got sorted into the Fruity Pastry category along with the suffs. Why? Because in the bottle it smells EXACTLY LIKE Apple Newtons. Don’t remember Apple Newtons? They were like Fig Newtons, only WAY better, and I’ve been bitter about their absence for most of my life. Anyway, I see neither Apple nor Newton listed in the notes. BUT apparently the reviewer above me had pretty much the exact same “this is a fruity dessert” blind sniff experience so I feel somewhat validated. I’m guessing the honey is reading apple, and carnation + milk are reading cake, and cardamom is assisting both in the deception. On the skin, the carnation reads pretty true and the honey is more of a pure sweetness, so the end result isn’t very Apple Newton-y (sad), but an otherwise very lovely carnation that is equal parts spicy, smoky, and sweet. The cardamom spice and the slight smokiness from the carnation are actually giving it kind of a Yule-y vibe that brings to mind a sweeter, lighter version of Hearth. I don’t get any sharpness that the other reviews mention, so I assume that aging has mellowed this beauty out. And I agree that the honey is very delicate and well behaved, it’s a light, fresh honey ala Venus Obsequens (which could be why I keep associating it with apple).

In the bottle this smells very soft and creamy and marshmallowy. Having been thus deceived, I slathered and promptly got backhanded across the face by lotus. Thus far, this has a tendency to stab the old temples a bit if I take a deep whiff of it (which I have done repeatedly since slathering, because I don’t learn). But it wants to settle down into sweet creamy poofiness. If I stop masochistically huffing it for a minute and let it get comfy, I imagine it’ll fade into something quite pretty. 30 min later edit: I was right.

Blind bottled this based on the previous reviews, and I’m happy to say they’re on the mark. This IS a very creamy, golden scent. “Seamless” is another word I’m gonna shamelessly steal from above - it’s so well-blended that no note really stands out above the others to me, not even the amber, which I usually amp like a goth-curious 90s teen who finally built up the nerve to visit the local headshop. I can pick out the honey and a non-stabby floral that must be orange blossom, as well as a resinous amberish vanilla-ey something, but tbh I think that’s only because y’all told me they were in here. Nothing in here really speaks hay to me or grass to me, but this scent does feel reminiscent of other sweet, creamy hay and grass blends like Thrice-Plowed Field, so they’re probably in there and my inferior nose just can’t sniff them out. Idk if it’s just the season, but this has big Shunga energy to me - the sweet creaminess makes me think it could be a Vulva in another, brighter timeline, one where Beth didn’t have to make gorgeous activism scents to help carry us through the dark.

In the bottle: Fruit Loops. On the skin: Sophisticated Fruit Loops.

In the bottle: lord god this is straight up grass clippings On the skin: thankfully, this sweetens up pretty quickly! There may be evergreen tinge in the background. The snow note is what I assume is the icy/ozone snow - it’s almost aquatic. The snow note does veer toward dryer sheet territory after a few minutes, but thankfully the grass keeps it sweet and green, with a freshness that feels more spring day than laundry day.

TKO without the KO! Lavender has always been my nighttime scent, but the snow note (this one is the Snow White snow to me) perks it up enough to wear during the day. The sugary snow + lavender makes me think of a wintery Sugar Phoenix. This is lovely and sweet, a perfect combination.

My favorite since the OG sufganiyot! Not too sweet, but still very jammy and decadent. The pastry note is really great in this one too; I feel like it’s been a bit overwhelmed by the fruits in some of the previous years. There’s no mistaking it in this one! I, like the others, can't quite pick out the individual fig note, but it definitely lends a sweetness to the cranberry that makes it somewhat reminiscent of a tart strawberry. If you missed out on Strawberry Sufganiyot, imo this is the scent that comes closest to the original in terms of balance between sweet and tart, and jam and pastry.

I keep rediscovering and re-falling in love with this scent. It goes on very clean, almost powdery/soapy, to the point that I feel a tinge of apprehension (juniprehension?) and regret (ambregret? ...I’ll stop) whenever I first swipe it on my wrist. It mellows immediately into something sweet and inoffensive and I go about my day. The real magic comes once it settles a bit. The copal bumps up the resinous aspect of the amber, the juniper warms into something nearly cedaresque, and the sage does whatever sage does. It’s very smooth and well-blended, and is an excellent compromise between woodsy and office safe. It’s like what the village witch would wear to her court date. Enchanting but approachable.

Hi there, 2014 version. I hated you from the moment I bought you 4 years ago up until literally today. Today, for whatever reason, you really do smell magnificent. This has always been too cologny for me in years past, due in part to the Dead Leaves aspect (a note which, incidentally, I also didnt like until literally today). Now its a gentle, spicy floral with some fall fruits and leaves in the background - and yes, it does morph and become decidedly less green as it progresses into a more golden scent. It feels very autumnal in the same way that Samhain does, but gentler. If Samhain is a rowdy fall festival, this is a quiet walk in an autumn wood. (Incidentally, I hated Samhain as well until all of a sudden I loved it. And yall wonder why I never get rid of anything.)

This isnt the foodie scent that I expected. I get a less-Christmassy version of Hearths fireplace smoke mixed with a creamy sweet note makes me think of Boo. No chocolate that I can discern, although the graham cracker may be contributing to the spiciness that makes me think of Hearth. And if you combine Boo and Hearth, you get Boarth, which sounds kinda like Birth and now Im 100% convinced this is all an elaborate scent-pun, so don't try to tell me otherwise. I will accept my reward for cracking the code in the form of free oils (and also maybe some wand caps). Anyway, I love it more than I would a straight-up smores scent. This is more like marshmallow incense, or maybe a sugared campfire. Either way, Im here for it.

Sweet pipe tobacco, cherry wood, the warm, worn leather of an easy chair and a pleasant, subtle waft of fireplace smoke. Id like to know how the hell Beth managed to bottle the exact smell of the living room of my childhood home at Christmastime. Im genuinely in tears. I cant even begin to describe how this smells in any sort of way thats meaningful to the rest of you, unless you know what opening the big green tub and seeing all your favorite ornaments for the first time in a year and playing with the nativity figures on the stone hearth behind the tree and snow-diffused morning light streaming through the windows onto the toy soldiers on the mantle smell like. Because thats what this smells like. Its so deeply personal and evocative of my own ghosts of Christmas past. Thank you so much, Beth.

Lord, it’s like Venus Verticordia and Snow White had a baby and it’s the sweetest goddamn baby you ever smelled. The honey note is, as others have pointed out, of the wildflower and dandelion variety (my favorite!!) and it really amps up the sweetness of the Snow White snow note. It’s definitely more floral than foodie. Not what I expected but right up my alley.

To me this is the tame, cuddly companion to the ethereal forest being that is Buck Moon. Same crystalline sparkle, same sweet skin musk, but the fur is fuzzier and sweeter, and the forest has been replaced by a warm bed of hay. Im in love.