The Apothecary

[lysistrata]

Tea leaf with three mosses, green grass, a medley of herbal notes, and a drop of ginger and fig.

In the vial: Grass.

On me, wet: Slightly lemony, slightly herby. Just like Enbalming Fluid.

On me, dry: A subtle tea and floral, reminiscent of Glasgow, only a touch less sweet and with a touch more tea/lemon. It's also got that slightly watery-herby feel to it that I love so much in Glasgow.

Verdict: There's nothing wrong with this scent at all. It's subtle and delicate, and I like it, but it just doesn't do much for me on the whole, especially not when Glasgow does it one better with yummy blackberries, and Budding Moon does it with sweet apples.

[Phaedra]

Wet this is crisp and clean, lightly sweet with cucumber and moss. First on it's sweet and light with a hint of green citrus, very fresh. It quickly has almost no scent left- sort of how you smell right after taking a shower. After about a half hour it develops a powdery note. This would probably be good for both men and women. It's not really my style though.

[PurringPulsar]

The Apothecary

 

In the imp: sharp green tea and grass, with some tangy herbs.

Wet on skin: fresh green tea and grass! I like this.

Dry: not bad! This scent is green to the extreme! It’s moist and fresh, with sharp notes-tea and herbs-rounded off by the mosses and a dewy touch of grass and the warmth of ginger. This scent is zingy and springy, full of life and freshness. I love the wonderful moistness of this scent, it’s like dew (how does Beth do that?) and there’s a touch of fruity sweetness from the fig.

After a while: I wonder if there’s some sage here? I’m getting that soft, deep green, herbal scent from here…the ginger has warmed up nicely and I can really get the fig now, that fruity-earthy-tangy green scent. And I love the grass!

Over time, it seems that the mosses, grass and fig are becoming the centre of attention in this scent. And that’s a good thing.

At the end…I swear I’m getting vetiver. Where’s that coming from? I swear my skin loves to detect supposedly non-existent vetiver in scents. But that’s no bad thing, since this is a light vetiver which blends nicely with the fresh moss. At this point, the scent becomes a little bit more masculine.

Verdict: I wasn’t sure whether I’d like this-I was worried it would be too sharp or masculine, but it’s actually a really lovely scent. A pleasant take on the theme of a green scent, it’s a fresh, tangy, moist mix of tea, ginger, grass and fig with a soft backdrop of moss. It smells dewy and refreshing, a very good scent for summer. At the end, I do get an unexpected vetiver note, but that could just be my weird skin. But this is a very nice scent and I will keep the imp for now.

Emoticon rating:

[Meg]

In the bottle: Ozone of the grassy green kind.

 

Wet: Green grass, with hints of lemon.

 

Drydown: It's mostly grassy and lemony ozone, with something sweet dropped into the mix. The grass slightly fades and lets the sweetness in, and then I smell fig. I think I also get a little bit of tea, very discreetly. It's quite a subtle blend, behind the insistent ozone.

 

Overall: A summery, soft and green blend. It's one of the rare grasses that I don't find headachy, and the fig is pleasant. It doesn't evoke much to me, particularly not an apothecary - it's too outdoorsy. I don't think much about it myself, it's not unpleasant, but it's not particularly interesting for me either.

[moon_lemming]

The Apothecary is a morpher on me. In the imp, it's green and mossy with herbs galore -- like what I'd think a medicine garden smells like.

 

Wet on me, it smells fresh and clean; I can pick out the ginger, and the overall impression is almost lemony without BEING lemony, if that makes sense.

 

As it dries, though, it takes on a sourness that sticks in the back of my nose, and I almost put it in the swap pile.

 

Surprisingly and luckily, that part disappears after a couple of minutes, leaving clean grass and something bright and green-tea-like, a very good spring scent.

Edited June 2, 2006 by karen

[HennaFairy]

bottle:

light, tea scent

 

wet:

tea and herbs, a very light and fresh scent

 

dry:

oh yum. Tea and herbs, hint of dark fruit/fig, slightly warm from the ginger….

 

overall:

another favorite!

 

rating: 9/10

[portalkat]

This is so unlike what I had been expecting. I was thinking that it would be darker, more medicinal, slightly bitter, but instead it opened up on my skin as green clover and morning grasses, light fresh florals and green tea. I can smell hints of the ginger, but it isn't particularly spicey on me. I'm also starting to smell the fig and it is a fresh fig, slightly green and still on the tree.

 

This is such a pretty scent that I am contemplating a bottle.

[aestien]

Bottle: it smells very green and I can smell the tea and the citrus of the ginger

Wet: predominantly tea and the citrus aspect of ginger, a little sweet grass, and a blend of medicinal herbal smells (I'm picking up on an herbal astringency, like tea tree, and just a little of the licorice sweetness of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which could also be the fig). Sweet moss rounds out the scent in the background. It's very yellow green and outdoorsy, and in this stage, reminds me slightly of mosquito repellent and camping.

Dry: still a lot of tea, but the spiciness aspect of ginger is coming out and the astringency is mellowing, I do smell a little mint now, and a lot of sweetness, including the fig

Throw: far and sharp, but I went a little crazy with the application

 

This does remind me of the description. I can very much see the apothecary working in a broken stone building, perhaps an old church, covered in moss and set back into the trees. Inside there are drying herbs hanging from the rafters and sunlight spills through open places in the roof to light on large glass jars filled with remedies. A steaming cup of tea waits on the wooden work table, amidst the mortars and pestles, vials and bottles. It makes me think of the apothecary in Tanith Lee's "Sung in Shadow".

 

It's a beautiful evocative scent, unfortunately it's not my style, and the sharpness and astringency is making my nose unhappy. Will probably end up swapping.

[m13]

Wet: wonderful green, herb, citrus freshness

 

About ten seconds after application: wonderful green, herb, citrus freshness is totally gone, replaced by a very soft fig note.

 

Five minutes or so after application: soft fig note has also vanished.

 

I liked the all-too-brief wet stage of Apothecary, so I'll hang onto the imp and re-test when its less humid, and will try it as a room scent as well. Meanwhile, my search for a clean, fresh but not too perky summer scent continues.

[Ciircee]

This is lovely and complex on my skin, a constant shifting of woods and tea and moss. For the most part it's a lot like a fresh cup of black tea and an open window to the herb garden, but there's this woody, mossy scent that makes it *more*. It's not nearly as heavy a scent as I thought it'd be and got a clean edge to it that keeps it from being broody.

[edenssixthday]

The Apothecary - My first reaction was "green tea and herbs!" It's an incredibly light, "barely there" scent. Upon dry-down, the tea scent faded and the herbal notes were the only ones I could detect, along with the tiniest bit of ginger. The scent lasted only 30 minutes at most on my skin. This is a blend that I simply can't pull off because it's so incredibly light and has very little presence, and it fades to quickly. It's nice and I'd love to walk into a boutique that smells like this, but it's not going to be a fragrance I wear again.

[Melantha]

Two words: Lemon Pledge.

 

[Miseraya]

In the imp: I adore this smell, it reminds me of grass. Very clean, crisp, with maybe a hint of citrus...

 

On the wrist, wet: Oh this is lovely! Just like in the imp.

 

On the wrist, dry: Powder.

 

This one was a Shakespearian tragedy for me, I fell oh so in love and it broke my heart. Alas, poor Apothecary, it's off to the swaps.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

i think the Apothecary lives between Dorian and Golden Priapus... the Premature Burial usedta hang out with them, too, but... y'know. he moved.

 

and i think they get along. maybe have a poker night once a week?

 

i don't even begin to know how to describe this, other than to compare it to things it reminds me of.

and to say I LOVE THIS BLEND.

 

i don't get any tea (fresh leaves, dried leaves, cuppa) or any specific herbals -- and i can't tell if there's ginger or fig. the only thing that really comes to mind is sweet grass, but not the dried kind from a smudge wand.... but like... the smell of grass. but sugared.

[forspecial_plate]

The Apothecary is so fresh and green on me! Very herb-y and sort of sweet. Very subtle too, it broadcasts a bit more as it dries. Also as it dries it reminds me very much of a lighter, sweeter Kingsport. I'm considering a 5ml of this when my imp of Kingsport runs out, it's that close on me. But where Kingsport dries down to a briney beach scent, Apothecary doesn't change much on dry-down. Just gets sweeter and more powdery. Almost something I could wear to work, it's so light and upbeat.

[Neely]

In the bottle: clean, limey, herbal. Yummy!

 

Wet: clean fresh herbal, with a hint of lime.

 

Dry down: clean herbal, slightly sweet.

 

30 minutes: clean herbal still, but now it has a slight medicinal edge. Not unpleasant, very nice in fact. I love this.

 

Conclusion: I love this. It reminds me of the acutal apothecary in Old Town Williamsburg VA that I loved to visit when I was a kid.

 

Rating 1-5, on my skin, this is a 4.5.

[AliBabble]

an interesting scent - starts out sharp and lemony, makes me sneeze a bit. becomes more herbally, the longer i wear it. still, a bit sharp. has a very antique, old-fashioned feel to it, which i like. it is invigorating and bracing. kind of a "pick-me-up" feeling. i don't get much fig, moss or tea, but i do smell ginger and a fresh grassiness. it goes a bit soapy ultimately, and i'm not sure this one is "me".

[Taniwha]

Although this starts out as a crisp, fresh tea scent, unlike many of the others, which I tend to smell as mostly tea forever, it morphs eventually. It turns into warm, gingery, figgy goodness. Yum.

[PilotKitten]

This doesn't list any wood notes but I'm definitely picking something up along those lines. This is such a strangely complex blend. It's herbal but dry... like they're not fresh herbs... more like a stale herb that's sat unused on a shelf for a few years. Very strange. It's not for me, but I'm having a hard time describing it. < shrug >

[ND¢]

In the bottle: Crisp and herbal. Not as Vita-bathy as Tempest seemed in the bottle, but that's what came to mind.

 

On me: Quite a bit like herbal baby powder, but not in a bad way. Doesn't have what I thought of as floral in Tempest. Green, but not grassy. The herbal notes outshine any moss or grass I might be smelling. A bit figgy and sharp after dry-down. Doesn't last long or have much throw (and my imp arrived so full from the lab I spilled some getting it open, so I had plenty on hand, so to speak.

 

 

(Edited for typo.)

Edited August 26, 2006 by ND¢

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Green grass with just a hint of ginger.

 

Wet on me - Green grass with something smokey and just a hint of lemon.

 

Dry on me - Powdery herbs, slightly sweetened.

 

Overall - Nice, but not something I'll wear.

[Melantha]

I very much liked the smell in the imp: fresh, light, a hint of sweetness. Unfortunately, within five minutes, it had faded away completely from my hand.

[Luhtarian]

Hmmm... I like this, but I'm not in love with it. At first it's a very sharp, dark green scent that's mostly grass but there's something else (the moss?) making it vaguely unsettling. As it dries, the tea and ginger come out to play and it's very cleansing, warm and nice.

[dierne]

In the imp - Iced tea. light citrus over sharp tea leaves.

 

Wet on skin - More tea. Less citrus. Warm without being sweet.

 

Dry on skin - Definitely the sharpness of tea with a slight undertone of warm citrus and a grounding of ... something.

 

Later - dries to down and loses the sharpness a warm green earthy smell. Like lying in the herb garden on a warm day just after you've watered. Yes - I like this one.

[porcelain72]

In the imp: flowers, a little sweeter than I expected, with a lemony edge.

 

Initial application: the flowers get a little "greener," I guess would be the best word to describe it, with the citrus preventing it from becoming too herbal, or worse, turning to rotting vegetables.

 

Drydown: this does indeed have a dried flowers feeling to it, a mix of many different scents, like the scent one would find in an herbalist's shop. The citrus keeps it clean rather than stale and dusty. I can visualize dozens of amber and cobalt glasses lined up on shelves. Very nice.

 

Smiley rating: