Absinthe

[for_the_nonce]

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 could barely bring myself to put this on. In the vial, it smelled nauseating and alcoholic. On, however, it was strong lemon with something sharp (the anise, maybe?). I really like this. It's a very clean scent, but unlike other clean scents I've tried. This one's got bite.

However, it only lasted for 30 minutes. I may wear this again (and by wear, I do mean slather), but I won't invest in a bottle, because it just doesn't last long enough.

[filigree_shadow]

On my skin, this smells mainly like anise with a bit of lemon. It's very sweet and a little bit sour. It's also incredibly strong on me. I put on one little imp wand swipe, and it's all I've been able to smell for the past 30 minutes.

 

Although this one doesn't work on me, I should mention that I like La Fee Verte a lot. I think that just the absinthe scent all on its own is a little too much for me.

[roxyhead]

On me, this just smells rather light green and mint, similar on my skin to in the bottle, but no throw to it at all, and it fades pretty quickly. I had higher hopes from this one, but the friend I was going through my BPAL box with tried it as well, claims it really does smell like Absinthe, and ended up going home with my imp of it.

[bombus]

I so wanted to love this one! But I don’t. I am wearing a favorite green shirt today and decided that it would be the perfect day to try my imp of Absinthe. But as the day goes on I keep getting whiffs of it and wondering why I smell men’s shaving cream and then realize it is me. Nope don’t like this one at all. Oh well, can’t win them all.

[theseagrows]

i get a sugary lemony-mint with a hint of anise. once dry it's mostly anise with a hint of sugar. also i get a slight rubbery scent to it, which kind of puts me off.

[Roses Ablaze]

A nice, cool green but not overly plant-y scent that turns to soap on my skin. Oh well.

[abejita]

I've drunk real absinthe before (I smuggled a bottle back to the States, it's still in my pantry), and all I can really say is, yup, this is absinthe. It's not my style as a perfume, but I really enjoyed adding it to some un-scented Dr. Bronners soap and using it in the bath.

[doctorblue]

On me this started out smelling like licorice. Unfortunately, I don't like the taste of licorice, so the smell wasn't something I was wanting either. As the scent started to dry, I got a smell of lemon pledge, sprayed onto licorice. Neither of these are things I want to smell like, so this will be going into the swap box.

[SultryWolf]

In the imp: An almost-citrusy herbal, a bit soapy.

On: Bright, with an almost-mentholly feel; citrusy without being strongly lemon.

[otterstamp]

In the bottle: Minty, green, medicinal.

Wet: Limey (not lemon!) citrus, touch of mint, still very green, touch of sickly licorice.

Dry: Almost a single-note licorice, not deep but light perhaps due to the lime.

Later: Still a light licorice.

Impression: Sickly, licorice. Smell like Absinthe? Hell, yes.

Buy: No, but it's cool to smell it. It's worth an imp's ear just for the experience.

[devilbunnyart]

I've been collecting for a little while, but this is my first review. (I'm starting with the A's!) I'm nervous!

 

OK, I picked up an imp of Absinthe a little while ago for my very gothy husband. (He loves to drink absinthe every now and then. There's a bottle of it in our kitchen.) This oil seems like the perfect match for him!

 

This perfume smells EXACTLY like absinthe. I mean..if you've had the drink...that's honestly all I need to say. It's absinthe. It's amazing how perfect the scent is. Wonderful for goth clubbing I'd imagine. If you haven't had the drink, it's an alcoholic drink with a strong lemony and anise seed flavor with some sugar. And that's what the oil smells like.

 

The oil is definitely unisex. And it smells great. The only drawback is that it fades VERY VERY fast on both me and my husband. If only it would last a little longer, we'd have bottles ordered in a second. But since it's so short-lived, we're unsure if a bottle would be worth it. Maybe if I used alot...hmmm....We'll see!

[geva42]

Absinthe, the scent of hallucinations and madness. It smells of something lemon and licorice (anise) with just a hint of sole and mystery. The enticing smell lingers not unlike a dream that one can only hope to remember. A light aroma that seems to quickly disappear only to return in minute wafts reminding the wearer that even though they have departed from the dank corner of a seedy unknown café the experience and mystique has survived. Wearing this fragrance allows me to share but a microscopic aspect of the mysterious absinthe culture that resounded in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Even though many of the supposed qualities of the drug have been demystified, the culture itself held far more of the enchantment than the actual drink and is honestly represented by this oil.

 

The authenticity of the scent was confirmed by my partner (and many others in this forum) who declared openly, “yep, that is EXACTLY what it smells like” when I applied the oil. He had previously had the modern European form of the beverage.

 

I thoroughly enjoy wearing this oil and look forward to acquiring an entire bottle. It is unique, beautiful, mysterious and haunting.

 

~Jenn

[goth_huntress]

I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I do. I got it more out of curiosity, than genuine interest. But I really like it a lot. I don't know what real absynthe smells like, but if it's like this -no wonder...

[Meg]

In the bottle: Bitter, citrusy, herby and minty. It smells like a herbal tea my mother used to make when we had indigestion.

 

Wet: Lemon over anise and cardamom.

 

Drydown: I get hyssop, with a hint of lemon, some anise... scratch that. After a while I get pure green anise, very much like raw fennel. It's too strong and not very pleasant for me. And then it fades down to soap.

 

Overall: I really had trouble with this one, first it had a strong association with a tea that I used to drink when I had an upset stomach, which is never a good thing. Then it smells like raw fennel, not the nicest of smells. And then it's just a powdery whisp of a smell. Nope, really not a good trip for me.

[Allumina]

This didn't work for me at all. I love anise, but I got no anise or fennel, just a faint minty herbal, reminiscent of Envy but less soapy. It also faded pretty quickly. Oh well.

 

ADDED Nov. 10:

 

I got no anise from this at all, which was unfortunate as that was what I was hoping for. The first time I tried it I got a minty herbal, reminescent of Envy. The second time I got a strong, sweet, almost candied lemon while wet which faded down to a soft pleasant, feminine herbal. Nice, but not my thing.

[Victoria]

Just adore this! I love anise and to me this smells like the liqueur anisette only more subtle, with under currents of mint, herbs, lemon accenting it quite nicely. Beautiful without being floral.

[bulletslc]

Hmmmmm....I just got my imp from a S&S LJ purchase and it smells nothing like the imp my friends have. Their imp is very anise with a titch of lemon. Mine is MINT, Lemon....and Waaaaaaaaaaay in the background a itty bitty bit of anise.

 

Having had absinthe (both homemade and some weird brand a friend purchased in Japan and smuggled back to the states for me) my friend's imp with the uber anise smell was more correct. Which is not to say that I don't like MY imp! I'm not really a fan of anise as a flavor and ambivilent of it as a scent.

 

Woah!....just resniffed after 10 minutes and yeah....there is the anise! But it blends so well with the mint and lemon I just adore it! Now it DOES smell just like absinthe the liquor....Crazy!--of course this makes me wonder if my friend's imp will smell just like absinthe after dry down or not?.....a question for a future meet and sniff party (and maybe I'll have to scrounge up a homemade absinthe bottle to have at said party....well, you know, just for scent comparision.....

 

 

Hmmmmm, not something I'll wear often, but nice....very different!

Edited April 11, 2007 by Bulletslc

[poisons_sanity]

Straight out of the bottle this smells like green, lemon and a bit of licorice.

 

On the dry down it smells very powerful of licorice with a bit of lemon. I normally hate the smell of licorice, but this balances out nicely with the other notes and I quite like it.

[Garbazhul]

I'm totally dissapointed by this scent.

 

In the imp: Just great. If I close my eyes, I imagine to have a jar of absinthe right in front me. Smells alcoholic. ;-)

 

On my skin: For ten seconds, it was totally awesome, but right then it became just soapy and smelled heavily like lemon. Not the way I imagined it would be.

 

I knew there would be lemon inside, I also knew lemon has nothing to do with absinthe. But I accepted it because I thought it would be great to smell like absinthe. But where's the anise? Where's that nice alcoholic smell? All gone and pushed away by soap and lemon. Way too much lemon.

[forspecial_plate]

Aah, yes....Absinthe....I've wanted to try this since day 1. I have always stubbornly insisted that I love anise as a perfume note. I've been second guessing myself on that one lately....although I do love the smell of the actual herb.

 

Anyway....yeah, this smells like anise, with lemon and some more herbs. I can almost make out the cardamom if I use my imagination. For whatever reason, this scent isn't exciting me all that much. : ( I'm not sure I like Black Annis much either. Maybe I should give up on anise?

 

I still think I would like a heavily sugared, spicy anise scent with a little citrus. Wait, isn't that what Absinthe is?? Well, maybe not heavily sugared. *sigh* I really should like this much more than I do. As usual, I'll give it a couple more tries before I give up completely.

 

edit: I meant to say that I'm getting the faint rubbery-ness that someone else mentioned....also that I don't get much mint from this scent.

Edited April 22, 2007 by Forspecial Plate

[rien]

Firstly - have never had absinthe, have always wanted to try it, so this was the first imp I ordered, ever. That said...

 

In imp: smells kinda like medicine, but strangely exactly how I expected it to smell

 

Wet, on skin: very minty, with lemon.

 

Drydown: I know this, it's almost like candy. OH! Holy crap! It's licorice! From what I've read/heard of the drink, they nailed it!

 

Dry: I wasn't so sure I'd like smelling like a licorice-flavoured green fairy, but it's actually quite nice. Picking up the less obvious notes, as well. Unexpectedly nice, yes.

[dragonrain]

At first this was far too minty for my taste, but after a while the mint faded and it became much more pleasant. I'm not familiar with most of the notes so I don't know what I'm smelling exactly, though I can detect a hint of lemon.

 

Not something I'd wear often, but I'll hang onto the imp for days when I'm lounging about the house.

[thunder]

In the Imp: aaah it burns! i opened the imp, took a deep breath and the smell brought me to tears. it´s a harsh lemon smell that stings my eyes.... after i´ve gotten used to it, i sense a touch of the absinthe-scent i know.

 

After applying to skin the scent turns into bathroomcleaning agent. extremely lemonscent ...

 

when absinthe finally dried down my wrist smelled mildly like lemons

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: green and minty!

 

On Skin: Licorice attack! MEEP!

 

On Drydown: The licorice smell is strong, which I suspect is the cardamom and anise combined together. There's a sugary sweetness to it now that is underneath the licorice.

 

Verdict: I really wanted to like this. I really did. Except I really smell like licorice. I like black licorice. It's a tasty candy. But not I'm not sure I want to smell like it.

[kisha]

I'm kinda on the fence with this one. (I say that like I've tried more than a handful of scents! ) The first time I tried it, I didn't like it, it smelled almost dirty on me. I have vowed, however, that I will try any scent at least 3 times. Today makes attempt #2. I like it a little better today. The first time I got body odor, a little lemon, no anise. Today the B-O was limited to the first few minutes, then a little anise and a lot of lemon showed up. As it sits, the lemon fades and the anise comes forward. I love licorice, so I won't be getting rid of this one unless it goes back to smelling like B-O, but if it does, I'll let my dd try it. She's like Mikey, she'll try anything.

Edited December 30, 2007 by Shollin