Absinthe

[supremegoddessofall]

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.

Based on the notes, I predict I will hate it. I smell licorice predominantly, with lemon being the other main scent. There's an undertone that smells like Pinesol. Definitely not a scent for me, although I suspect that this could be a good Christmas room scent.

Score: 1 out of 5

[cranberry]

I’ve always been curious about absinthe ever since reading about it, but Pernod is the closest I’ve come. I’m familiar with wormwood as it grows here in the woods, and it’s used as a medicinal, but I’ve never smelled it in anything. So, on to the review.

 

In the imp, this smells herbal, bitter and a touch lemony.

 

On the skin, it’s still herbal and bitter, with a fresh lemony tang. It’s fresh, lemony, clean. As it wears, the bitterness wanes and it’s slightly sweet and lemony. After about 15-20 minutes, I smell anise with only a touch of lemon. The licorice smell is really strong now – it reminds me of going to Indian restaurants and the digestives at the end of the meal.

 

Overall, this was an interesting scent to test and I’ve enjoyed it as it goes through all the stages. I think I enjoyed the earlier stages more than the latter. There are similarities to White Light – the anise overpowers it at the end and the lemon at the beginning. So yeah, maybe the hyssop.

[aimeceleste]

I don't typically like green scents, and as I expected, this was not to my liking. What I thought was strange was the anise-lemon scent that it ended up being - I somehow thought it would be more grassy and herbal.

[portalkat]

It's pretty much as I imagined, fresh, green, grassy and herbal. The mints were strongest in the wet stage and have faded behind the anise. It's very subtle. I don't know that I would wear this as a perfume, but it might be nice mixed in with some unscented lotion. Well, I take that back, I can see wearing this right after my shower because it's sort of a fresh scent. Totally not me, but I like it.

[steffanina]

Absinthe-

 

In Bottle: A little boozy, and just a hint of anise after a few seconds.

 

Wet: A quick burst of lemon-mint, and then lemon verbena takes over.

 

Dry: There's a faint hint of booziness in this, but it fades fast. If I loved the scent more I'd forgive it the fast fade (like I do on Dana O'Shee and Prague), but it doesn't really send me. Pity the anise didn't stay around; I love anise and find absinthe-analog beverages interesting and wanted to love Absinthe!

 

Overall: Pleasant but not exciting enough, fades quickly.

[Emma2403]

In the bottle: well, it smells like… absinthe. Anis is very present and it's clearly alcoholic!

 

On my skin: Lemon amps up (I usually amp lemon and I like it) but it's still very boozey. I'm afraid it makes me smell like I had spent the night drinking

 

After a couple of hours: liquorice (I suppose it's the anise, but it makes me think of liquorice). It fades pretty quickly.

 

Verdict: it's amazing really, it certainly smells like absinthe and it's a deep green fragrance. I wouldn't wear it but I would consider it as a room-scent.

[Elemcee]

I've never tried absinthe, so I can't say how true to the real thing this is.

 

Absinthe is definitely anise. And green. I can imagine the fairy, though she's more gossamer fine rather than Mouline-Rouge-spangly. This is a fairly subdued scent. Nothing for work or anywhere formal. But maybe for college or a night out with friends.

[MoonlightGdess]

In vial: Citrus and black licorice, and I can very faintly smell some herbs.

 

Wet: Heh, my boyfriend popped this imp open a little quickly and got a dab on his finger... instant black licorice. Me? Instant lemon candy, like lemon heads, with just a small jab of (I'm guessing) wormwood.

 

Dry: Hmmm... still lemony, but the lemon and the licorice are holding hands, kind of weaved together. Is this licorice scent the wormwood? I don't know what WW smells like... but this is probably it. I get an image of a wave (in the way that it pushes itself up on shore) of yellow on the left, and a wave of pure, onxy black from the right melding in the middle, but still not really mixing. Just flowing from one to the other seamlessly. First scent I've got a real image of.

 

Alas, while the imagery is pretty, the licorice scent isn't. And now it's turned a bit soapy. *sigh* Next!

[juniperus]

Bottle: astringent booze, sinus-grabbing.

Wet: getting me right behind the eyes...sweet and sharp and OMG.

Dry: sweet amping, the hyssop? still painful..I can pick out the mints, not so with the cardamom. The anise is more clearly anise, that was the sharp.

Later: the headache period has subsided, but it left a sugary sweetness that's just floating there without grounding - disorienting, like the Toulouse-Lautrec absinthe drinkers expressions.

[dawna]

In the vial: Anise and light mint.

 

On the skin: Anise and mint, light lemon scent.

 

On drydown: Still very much anise with a herby lemon background, the mint is gone for me now. I am not a huge fan of anise so this isn't one I will keep. Its not horrible or anything though, its just very, "anise".

[Faeried]

Lemony goodness, touch of liquorice.

 

Loved it.

[kinopela]

all i smell is the lemon. with an undercurrent of...danger? haha. for real.

 

i nicknamed this scent e.v.i.l. - every vial is lemons. it's a spongebob joke!

 

i like this scent on me, didn't like it in the bottle. i agree with previous reviewers; it can smell a bit like pinesol. hopefully i'll be able to pick out the individual notes the more i wear it. i might end up buying a bottle of this.

[mtlaise]

I love foody smells, and anise is one of my favourite smells, so I was excited to try this. This scent stayed the same on me from the time I applied it right up to when it disappared entirely: mild anise (the rest of the scents just blend into a very faint background note to give me a "what's that other note" feel). I love this! Unfortunately, my skin drinks this stuff, and after 30 minutes, it has completely disappeared.

[owensm]

nauseating

[Iceblink]

This is like smelling the whole bag of spiced jelly beans at once--lemon, mint, licorice. The anise is amping like crazy. I don't think I'd wear this much but it's definitely different! And I'm craving jelly beans now.

[mmmitchell]

Initial Impression: In the vial it's almost more schapps than absinthe to me....I get boozy peppermint....weird.....

 

Wearing: OK, a whole different world of scent on me. This is a lot better than I thought it would be. I like anise-y things, the subtle, herbal licorice note, but despise and truly loathe the smell of black licorice (as in black licorice whips, and the dreaded black gumdrops). This, I'm relieved to say, is firmly in the herbal-anise category....if not, I'd be scrubbing.

 

The peppermint is very prominent at the beginning, but goes away pretty fast, leaving the lemony freshness, which is very nice on me, to hang out with all the herbal notes. This is like an anisey lemony tisane....very light, very nice.

 

I think I might like this even better on a guy.......my guy isn't one for scents, so I may end up gifting my imp to my brother in law, and see how it does on him.

[myoubi]

I love and adore La Fee Verte -- it is by far the loveliest BPAL blend I've tried, which is saying something -- and so I was hoping Absinthe would at least bear some resemblance to it, so I could maybe layer it with Dorian or something to produce a sweeter, creamy approximation...

 

Blech! Sharp! Like sticking freezing needles into my nose. Needles freshly-sterilised with alcohol. I didn't even wait to see if it morphed -- washed it off after ten minutes. So very very not me.

 

This is my second crack at it, incidentally. Not yummy at all.

[em_h]

Sharp, bright, clean -- lots of anise and a bit of mint.

 

I don't get lemon at all, but there is faint undertone of soapiness which may be what the lemon is doing on me.

 

If it weren't for that slight soapiness I'd like it more, but it's still a pleasant sort of wake-up scent. Which I suppose is quite far from the effect of actual absinthe, but so it goes. My husband likes this one on me, which is also a plus.

[Luhtarian]

A lot of mint and lemon... very sharp! Something creamy in the background?

[elka_knits]

In the bottle:yuck

Wet:soap

Drying down:Lemon Dishsoap

Dry:Lemon

quickly morphs into licorice

 

30 mins later: Star Anise which is one of my favorite smells. I actually have a bag of star anise I sniff on a regular basis. Not sure I want to smell like star anise but it certainly is a nice smell. Maybe in the summer to spice up something a wee bit too creamy. Yes I will buy a bottle of this!

[madeleine]

I sort of like this, though it's not the sort of perfume I would feel comfortable wearing. The mint and anise come through very clearly for me, more so than any of the other notes. It feels, though, when I wear it, more or less like my skin is burning. It isn't actually burning but I think that's the mint. It's so intensely cool, at least to me, that it feels like having an ice cube on my wrist or something.

 

More accurately, it makes it easy for me to imagine the ice cube on my wrist. There's no actual pain but it's easy for me to imagine it when I wear Absinthe.

[Druby]

In the bottle the lemon is the first thing I smell. On me smells a like licorice which I'm not fond of, I can also smell lemon, those two are both dominating so far. After a while it kind of smells like soap on me, a strong licorice soap. Not sure whether it's nice on me or not.

[Seelix]

This is the perfect pick-me-up scent. The lemon and anise dance around each other perfectly. This is definitely a scent I'll be reaching for before particularly long days at work.

 

The lemon in this is more of a true lemon scent than other lemons. It's a very warm and almost sour lemon that is nicely cut by the anise and something a little sweeter.

[maijasu]

I smell the mint and the anise most prominently, along with a general booziness and creaminess. Unexpectedly, I kind of like it. I'll keep my imp around just for fun.

[SmileCat]

In the imp, mostly mint and a little lemon.

 

Wet on my skin, mint, lemon, and ...anise?

The MINT! and ANISE! vie for attention with lemon bouncing around on top.

 

Dry, mostly anise. I smell like a demented licorise whip. Or a horehound drop.