Absinthe

[babykitty]

Fall under the spell of our Green Fairy! An intoxicating blend containing wormwood essence, light mints, cardamom, anise, hyssop, and the barest hint of lemon.

I wanted to love this, I did, I did. But the anise was just too much. I had secretly hoped the oil would be green too, but alas...

[ismene]

It's not quite like the absinthe I've had, but it's close. I'm getting more of a sassafrass smell than anise or wormwood, but they all smell a bit similar to me. Very little lemon or mint, just occasional hints of them. It's a pleasant light green scent whose initial sharpness fades pretty quickly. I like it, but I'm not sure if I'd use a whole bottle.

[Tytania]

I loved this scent in the bottle. I can smell the fresh mint, as well as lemon and something herbal.

 

Alas, my skin turned it into all mint. I swear all the other notes disappeared until there was nothing left of the amazing scent in the bottle.

 

Stupid body chemistry.

 

My sister has dibs on the imp, but I might order another and try it as a room fragrance. It really is a gorgeous, crisp scent.

[magikfanfic]

In the bottle: That is strong. Hello, anise. How have you been? I forgot that we were avoiding each other. Oh well. I hope this meeting isn't too awkward, maybe we'll even get along this time if you learn to behave. Anise and cardamom and the two notes that jump out at me with maybe the lightest suggestion of mint. This should be interesting.

 

Wet: Anise and cardamom quickly replaced by lemon. Lemon...pledge, which isn't a scent that turns me off but is nothing that I really want to smell like. Maybe it'll calm down.

 

Dry down: Nope. Lemon. A very strong lemon scent maybe a little more like Lemonheads than lemon pledge, though, which is a little better even though it's nothing that I really want to smell like for very long. I should say that I have no idea what either wormwood essence or hyssop smell like not that it seems to matter much as this scent is almost straight lemon on my skin with, yes, a hint of mint in the background. There goes the mint and somehow the lemon has just amped itself back up into lemon pledge territory. And there goes the lemon to be replaced by the anise. Well, it's something of a lemon/anise smell. It's better than just anise but at the same time it's a little disconcerting to me. It's smells like lemon cleaner flavored licorice.

 

Dry: Lemon cleaner flavored licorice. I was hoping that nice lemon/mint smell might stick around.

[ginevra]

Like others have written here, all Absinthe did on me was turn to licorice. Phooey.

[brownbear]

In the vial it smelled kind of like those licorice spice drops. A little candyish, but kind of faint. On my skin it disappeared in a couple minutes. I can't even say how it smelled on my skin. I think I'll have to swap it.

[emz83]

This was green and fresh and herbal and minty, but unfortunately it gave me a headache (tried repeatedly).

[magdalene]

Very green and herbal in the bottle, with a quick whiff of anise (that black licorice smell) I don't get any lemon-ness, like other people have mentioned, but the anise intensifies once I apply it to my skin.

 

Clean and light, but unfortunately doesn't stick around for very long. It's been pretty hot out where I live lately, so it could be attributed to the humidity and the heat leeching all good smellies off my skin.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Fresh and astringent, but dark, too.

 

Wearing: Chilly. Chilly and green. I’m amazed that the anise hasn’t come out screaming yet… I like the wet scent quite a bit more than I expected to. (See, this is why I want to try everything!) I’m getting the faintest hint of mint, too. As it dries the licorice does show up a little more, but it isn’t overpowering everything like Kabuki did – the chilly greenness is still the primary note, and the only thing I can smell in the scent-aura.

[quikslvr]

Mint anise at first. Very clean, with the mint stinging the back of the nose. Fascinating, but not for me to wear.

[elphaba]

I'm surprised that I got no lemon from this, as my chemistry usually amps up lemon in anything. Instead, it smelled like anise and mint and stayed through pretty much through the entire length of the fragrance (fairly short, maybe three hours). The very last lingering vestige is a subtle smell of real licorice and herbs (think those Panda bars that are brown when you bite into them.)

 

Luckily for me, I like anise and mint a lot, so this one is a keeper.

Edited June 13, 2005 by elphaba

[vyvyan]

At first, I thought I was going to have to run and wash this off, as I hate hate *hate* licorice, and this went on entirely anise. But within a couple of minutes, it had calmed down, and the full blend was coming out - very light, a little crisp, and with the anise sort of hovering over top of everything.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'll probably have to try it a couple more times to find out; not a 5ml scent, though. I can't love anise enough for that.

[blaqpearl]

Mint and me are not friends. But I wanted to try this and see if maybe something else would pop out. My skin amplifies mint to the point I feel that I have toothpaste on my face or something. Glad I got a chance to sniff this but I will pass it on to the next person.

[malanna]

I haven't tried Absinthe, so I can't attest to the accuracy of the scent. This is definitely a green sort of scent. It's very herbal, and you can smell the mint, but there's a sort of woody, bark sort of undertone to it (I'm assuming that's the anise), which makes the mint less cool and fresh. If this is a faery, it's a green-tinged wood faery. I didn't get any lemon from this either. Overall, it's not my type of scent.

[Aurelius]

in the vial: citrus and...anise. Uh oh.

wet: yummy wet citrus and anise. I don't like anise.

drying/dry: the anise likes to jump out and play with the citrus notes. I get a bit of mint, but not much.

 

Overall: this scent is crisp and playful. It's not for me as I don't like the smell of anise, but I really liked the sort of boisterousness of the scent on my skin.

[Em-]

In the vial, this was all...something sharp and astringent that I cannot quite put my finger on. It was not terribly pleasant, to tell you the truth, so I put off trying this scent, even though it was among those that I was excited enough to try that it was part of my first order.

 

On, it immediately transformed into...Absinthe! It really does smell exactly like absinthe. It never ceases to amaze me how Beth can nail these things right on the head like that.

 

Unfortunately, while the scent is dead on, at the end of the day, I don't think that this is a scent tat I really want to smell like all day long. It is a very fresh scent, and it has a very herbal, masculine core, which I like, but when it comes down to it, I think that Absinthe (the beverage) both smells and tastes kind of like herbal mouthwash. I'm not getting any of the anise, or the lemon, which is too bad, because if it was minty, anisy lemon, I would be all over it.

 

But, my loss will be someone elses gain, unless the man falls in love with this one on himself...

[pensive]

In the imp: hm. sharp.

On me: straight licorice. Which would be OK if I liked that. No mint.

Verdict: Swapping.

[Dark Seraphim]

Smelt Reminded me of Ouzo, which is a Greek liquor that smells like licorice. Veyr strong too. I also got a speramint-like scent.

 

Worn When wet, the Ouzo scent is as strong as in the bottle, but it's mixed with more speramint, lemon, powder and slight herbal. When dry, the lemon goes away, but everything else remains. However, it doesn't seem to last when I wear it and doesn't seem to work at all.

 

Burnt Truly excellent. Smells the same as in bottle. Starts out subtle and becomes stronger in time. Loved the scent in the burner.

 

Overall, it may not be for me to wear, but I would be glad to burn this. I knew I would love this scent and I did very much. Would certainly get a larger bottle! 8/10.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: i can smell the mints, cardamon, and lemon, and the anise comes out later. very interesting.

on: very interesting. i can definitely pick up the anise and mints.

1 hour later: very light. i can smell a bit of the lemon and mint.

2 hours later: still very light, but holding on.

overall: this is ok, but i have enough minty oils to satisfy that urge.

[pickman's model]

I got this as my first swap and I love it!

 

In the bottle, it smells like absinthe is supposed to, from what I've read.

 

On me, it turns into something entirely different. Lots of lemon, black jellybeans, something floral and a nice clean soapishness. They vie for power among themselves in a rather pleasant way. Overall very strange, yet very clean.

 

EDIT: While very very drunk on absinthe, do not smell the scent for comparison purposes. Trust me. The match was dead-on.

Edited August 1, 2005 by pickman's model

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Possibly minty, a little sweet.

 

Just On: Sweet mint scent. It's gorgeous.

 

An hour or two later: Fading fast, a bit sweet, a bit minty.

 

Around 6 hours: The hints of mint and sweet, faded an awful lot.

 

12 hours: It's alllllll gone.

 

Overall: This is a beautiful scent. I'd love to buy more of this one, so it hits the big bottle list, for that day I can buy all I want.

 

After reading other reviews: Well I'll be damned. Licorice (anise)? Lemon? Not any of those on my skin, except maybe as a component of the sweetness.

[HoneyHoneyNY]

I got this from an ebay lot.

 

In the imp, there's an undefined sweetness.

 

When it touches my skin I get a waft of licorice, and then something kind of minty. It reminds me of Egyptian Licorice Yogi tea, or a black jelly bean.

 

As it dries, it's still sweet, and licorice-y but now it's softening. I sniff my arm again and it smells...like fennel toothpaste. There's something faintly pasty, almost creamy about the scent, though it may just be the strong sweetness of the licorice talking.

 

It's not an unpleasant smell, since I like black jellybeans and I like the taste of absinthe, but I'm still reminded of Tom's of Maine fennel toothpaste, so I think I'm swapping it.

[aidenraine]

Well! This smells like a mojito to me- and perhaps I've been drinking too many of them this summer. It's got a strong sense of mint to it, with a definitely perceptible anise kick to it. I can picture using this as a room scent, actually!

 

The longer I wear it I can detect what some people found soapy about it, but the fresh herby smell overrides that for me.

 

After a while it's just pure anise for me... still a good home scent.

[Lycanthrope]

In the Bottle or Imp:

Smells like... anise and bananas? That strange uberfruit scent that one gets when mixing a shake and you've just thrown in the banana. Very odd.

Wet, on Skin:

Quite pungent, very powerful citrus, and definitely a strong hit of anise. There's a slight alcoholic note here too, and a touch of mint.

Drying/Drydown:

Um. This smells like ouzo. Alcohol and anise.

Over Time/Longterm:

Faint minty anise ouzo.

Final Verdict?

I envision ouzo more than absinthe, because this scent doesn't scream 'green' to me, but I see more glasses of clear, potent and very alcoholic anise.

[tesao]

provenance: lagniappe from the lab rats! thank you, as ever, for your generosity!

 

in the imp: overwhelmingly anise. dark licorice candy.

 

on my wrist, wet: hot, alcoholic, anise. with a hint of something sweet.

 

on my wrist, dry: soft green herbal notes have shown up beneath anise. they cool the scent down, much the way that i imagine one would when preparing absinthe to be drunk: you can feel the chill, hear the sound of ice water trickling slowly, hypnotically, over a lump of sugar.

 

what a surprise! (please note irony here!) this smells ex.act.ly like absinthe.

 

that leaves it up to you to decide if this is the scent for you -- or not.