Anathema

[jj_j]

A scent as heavy as thunder from the Vatican, with notes that inspire every sin and excess. Black opium, with vetivert and honeysuckle.

Silks and velvets, lush blooms crushed under writhing bodies, the richest and best that exists - full-blown honeysuckle made even headier by black poppy. I can practically feel drooping, fantastically smooth petals brush past my nose.

Vetivert lends a minimal, earthy, grounding note and takes a while to come out; this isn't the heavy root scent described in the single-note reviews, so don't be afraid to try Anathema.

It's the biggest, boldest, most gloriously in-your-face floral by Beth I've ever tried, decadent and with an aura that's twice life-sized.

[ebonykawai]

I LOVE black opium and this did not disappoint in the least. The vertiver definitely stands more in the background, letting the opium jump right out, and the honeysuckle rounds it out with a bit of fresh sweetness (but not too much). I bought 5mL of this one right away.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Stodgy wooden incense with something airy and sweet dancing around it, poking it repeatedly and insisting, “Lighten up!”

 

Wearing: Gold and silver honeysuckle twined playfully around dark wooden crossbeams of a rustic chapel. Anathema has a smoky undertone, but not incense smoke – it’s as if the church had been damaged by fire and rebuilt around the part that survived, so one wall still bears the sooty burn marks. It went all soapy when it dried, annoyingly. Sweet soap, but still soap.

[Ina Garten Davita]

First Impression: Dark, menacing. The word glossy comes to mind.

 

Second Impression: Rich, dark floral with an angry incense edge. Wet and drying down this smells amazing.

 

Final Analysis: I can't really describe the notes, but I *know* there is lemon hiding in here because the long drydown gave me the Lemon Pledge whiff. I like it enough to bear the long drydown. I will use the imp.

[Vaniclion]

Eh. I’m not sure why this one was big on my list, or else it was just something to try, but I’m not fond. As a scent it’s very complex and well crafted, it definitely has its own sense of self. That self and I just don’t get along.

 

The scent is familiar, but I can’t place it at all. I agree with the use of the word ‘Glossy’, although I’d never have thought of it on my own to describe it. On drydown, it goes incesnsy powdery, and isn’t very much what I like. There’s a wateriness to the notes, also, an odd drift of scent that makes me think of water. Perhaps this is the font. I always hate not liking one of Beth’s scents, but this one is a swapper for me. I’m glad others like it, tho.

[TheDarkMother]

In the Bottle: Sweet honeysuckle. If I could smell something behind it, I probably blocked it out!

 

On Me: Wow...baby powder and honeysuckle. Nope...just baby powder. There is the fainest of smells afterwards, but it is mostly just baby powder. I like this a lot, though it was nothing like I was thinking that it would be. I was hoping that this was going to be a dark scent on me. It could just be that time of the month, though. Maybe I should review this again later.

[rugiada]

This is the strangest perfume I've ever sniffed!

 

I can't recognize the single notes, I can only sniff... smoke! Smoke and fog. Like a convention in a dark and wet forest, by night.

It smells like wet coat, or umbrella.

Very singular.

Definitely not a everyday-perfume.

[Northernminx]

Incense and an overpowering floral. This one frightened me and stayed so strong I ended up having to wash it off. Whoa... something sinister and dark and smokey but nearly overwhelmingly so. Off to swaps!

[Ishtar]

In the vial, Anathema smelled quite sharp with a hint of sweetness, almost a little boozy.

 

Dark, menacing and smoky, this is definitely not a happy scent. After complete drydown, the smokiness became less prominent and the sweet floral note of honeysuckle gradually started coming through. After a while, it turned a little soapy/powdery on me, which I think is the combination of poppy and honeysuckle.

 

Not really me, but interesting and complex all the same.

 

ETA: 8 years after my first review... I had the opportunity to try this again at Bedlam Bedlam last weekend, and WOW! I don't know what happened, but this time around I found Anathema so seductive and dark that I debated buying a bottle on the spot. My, how things change

Edited October 11, 2012 by Ishtar

[Splendid Molerat]

Anathema has the same heavy, steamy honeysuckle that I like in the New Orleans fragrance.

 

Vetivert makes this an earthy, gritty floral, and the black opium note is smoky and compelling.

 

This is less "laissez les bons temps roulez" mischief, and more trouble of the shadowy and deliberate variety.

[tart]

Oh wow, I think I might be allergic to honeysuckle! When first applied, Anathema is like an Allegra-popper's nightmare! The honeysuckle is thick and bright, very real. The scent quickly darkens, almost into nothing. I mainly smell a very dark powder, most likely the opium. I don't really detect any vetiver. This dark stage would be interesting on a man.

[anmorata]

Anathema: Definitely more floral than I expected.

 

Wet: just plain perfume. That's all I get out of the bottle is that -wow, perfume- smell. Nothing beyond that.

 

Drying: Starting to smell the honeysuckle. Yeah. Definitely floral.

 

All in all, it was overpoweringly floral for me, and reminded me of the honeysuckle bush that I used to have. Admittedly, I can't pinpoint the Black Opium or the Vetivert as I'm not familliar with either of their scents. Perhaps with time.

 

I don't think that Anathema will be one that I'd wear often, as I'm not too keen on florals. Hopefully, I'll have better luck next time.

[byrdie]

Bottle ~ Taco Bell Hot Sauce. No, I don't get the association, either; but that's the first thing that came to mind. The only other connection I'm making is overripe fruit, but not of any particular type.

 

Wet ~ Wow. I could imagine the Queen of Air and Darkness wearing, or emitting, this scent. It's airy, yet spicy and musky. Odd.

 

Drying ~ Oh, dear. That detergent/air freshener scent that comes from port-a-potties and honey buckets. oh, fweh.

 

Drydown ~ The scent has evolved to being like a car that has one of those pine-tree shaped air freshener cards in it. It doesn't smell like pine, per se, but a quickly-done approximation of it.

 

Dry ~ Now I'm getting baby powder trying to cover something far sharper.

 

Fade ~ It's becoming a combination of something that's tickling my nose hairs while making its way towards Old Lady Perfume Land.

 

Final thoughts ~ This isn't the first time I've tried Anathema. While it's never been quite this foul on me before, it's also never quite managed to be one of my favorites. It and my body chemistry just don't work all that well.

[phaedrine]

In the bottle and drying down, I got a good dose of the opium, sweetened by the honeysuckle. No vetivert at all.

 

As it dries, though, it morphs into....some sort of bathroom cleaner. Not the standard cherry almond bathroom cleaner that I hate so, but bathroom cleaner none the less.

 

It lasts, though. It took me four scrubbings to get it off my skin! That I lay at the feet of the vetivert.

[Witch's Dagger]

Anathema

 

This was a freebie from the lab. Thanks!

 

Preconceived notions: Some said this was dark, and all said it was “ethereal”. I’ve been looking for a *dark* ethereal scent.

 

In the vial: Wow - that’s very intriguing. The core is clearly the vetivert, and it is a very metallic, cold vetivert. This one is definitely not confused with dragon’s blood. The opium and honeysuckle make it very sweet and yes, ethereal. This is one of the scents I think smell like my idealized idea of chloroform (I’ve never smelled the real stuff). This smells like some evil thing that would put you right to sleep. Wonderful.

 

On me: It’s a very cloyingly sweet medical kind of scent. Mysterious and sinister.

 

In a while: The vetivert is gaining some spice - I’m not sure what it’s from, but it’s very spicy now, under that sweet softness hanging in the air overhead.

 

Overall: This is a smoky, deep, sinister, and yes dark, ethereal oil. I’ll be keeping it, but it’s not much one for every day. Special occasions and all that.

[shelldoo]

wet i got a hint of something dark winking at me but dry it is pure honeysuckle strong hot honeysuckle

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle: A sweet, dark floral blend. It is sharp, I think from the opium because I get the slight hairspray undertone that I got in Darkness. And also a leathery smell, for some reason. It smells quite masculine.

 

Wearing: Mmm, honeysuckle. I can smell a little touch of vetiver, just being earthy and heavy. You know, I never would have thought that honeysuckle and vetiver could be good together, but this is, and it is gorgeous to boot. Gorgeous in a kind of sluggish, evil way. The best way to describe Anathema is deceptive. Sure, it's sweet, but at the same time it's completely corrupted. And for some reason this strikes me as very sexy.

 

Later: Now it's incensey. And, oddly, I get a greenness... Oh! It smells like green tea! This isn't a totally friendly green tea, though; it's...fiendish...yet still not quite unfriendly. And also a touch of vanilla? Where am I getting all these notes? Well, doesn't matter, it smells divine.

 

Overall: Did I mention that this is sexy? It's the kind of sexy that glares at you down its nose, both harsh and stuck up, yet still totally irresistible. Though it's floral, it's a no-frills kind of scent, and again plainly masculine. I really wish I could get my boy to wear this, I think it would be great on him.

 

Edited because, after wearing it again, I paid more attention to the notes I smelled and had to majorly add to the review.

Edited March 14, 2005 by voodoobaby

[Carolyn]

Mmmm, sweet, sweet, heady honeysuckle. Nothing dark to me at all. More of a summer's evening type of scent. Luscious and thick, perfect for sweaty nights.

 

I don't get much of anything other than honeysuckle, but that's okay.

 

Must have 5 ml of this for summer.

[helarctos]

For some reason, Anathema is all ashes on me. Until it dries down. Then it's ashes and old lady powder.

 

I'd wear it if I wanted to meditate on the process of cremation...

[surf-tormented]

Stinks of hairspray like that other oil I tried and can't remember its name. If I put in hairspray into the BPAL supercomputer, I am sure it would give me the answer...Darkness, it was Darkness...both smell very gross on me.

 

So I think opium (the common note between them) goes hairspray happy on my wrist. That is all I can smell and it is strong and unpleasant.

Edited April 5, 2005 by Madame Nyx

[ChupaChup]

Anathema was a very strong floral at first and was actually very pretty. But as it dried down, something turned it quite bitter and unpleasant. I think it was the opium, it has a tendency to do that on me. It may have been the vetivert, but I've read on the board that vetiverT is different from vetiver and it certainly didn't smell like vetiver to me. This ends up more of an incensy blend and not floral at all. Swaps.

[rouquinne]

hmmmm....

 

i don't like this fresh out of the imp - everyone seems to be getting something different on first whiff...

 

 

my first impression is that there's something earthy and rotting about it.

 

but after half an hour - I LOVE THIS STUFF!!! it dries into something mysterious and completely sexy on me and lasts all day. if i can get past the first half hour, i'm doing well.

 

btw, i can assure you that it smells NOTHING like chloroform. back when i had my tonsils out - 40 years ago - they still used it for surgery. it's a scent you NEVER forget and it's much more sweet and cloying than this.

[TheMuses]

Anathema is greek for curse. Not sure how that relates to the notes or experience. Maybe I'm just not creative enough tonight.

 

When wet this is a heavy, heady floral. Those first 5 minutes are frightening as this is one powerful blend. Did I say heavy? I mean real heavy. Thankfully after 5 minutes, it calms down to a less heavy floral. About half an hour in it goes into a powdery stage - which I can handle. And for some odd reason I get cherries towards the end. huh?

 

I like the ending much more than the beginning. However, amongst all my loves, this really is not a fave. It may have to do with the fact that it greatly reminds me of a perfume my aunt wears. Its called Bougarini, and is comes from the Greek island of Zakynthos. Yup, definetly perfumy.

[nineveh]

This is a very dark scent. When I first put it on, I get a damp earth scent and something slightly smoky over the thickness of sweet honeysuckle. After a while, the earth smell fades, making it softer and somewhat lighter.

 

I don't think that this will be a big bottle, but it's interesting and I like it.

[drugstore cowgirl]

When I first put this on, I immediately thought of a sweet-smelling headshop. It was the smokey slightly incensey smell I remember (it turns out very vividly). A very very sweet headshop.

 

 

As it drys, it just stays smokey and sweet. But adds powder. Now I smell like someone just powdered a baby in a headshop near the incense section.

 

In what are in the final stages (I hope, at least)., I smell like a sweet old lady. I don't think this one is really going to be quite my thing.