Anathema

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

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

Jasmine and Vetiver.

not for me.

[gypsybaby1]

I don't know why I wanted to try Anthema. Maybe it was the hopeful sighting of black opium...

 

but vetiver dominates the whole shebang. and it wasn't good, definitely left a funny scent in the nose that wouldn't go away.

 

off it goes!

[Tesseljoan]

In the imp: Ehm.. a bit sour?

 

On the skin: Honeysuckle and opium. It does have an incense feel to it. Florals and my skin must have an unpleasant history, because they hardly ever play nice together. This is one of the exceptions: it doesn't go sharp, although it doe sget a bit perfumey on me. It's not my thing, but if you're into headier florals, do give this one a go.

[maijasu]

Hmm...this is not the sort of scent I usually like, but there's something intriguing about it. It's slightly sharp and masculine, but the floral aspect tempers the sharpness. It's a very familiar scent to me, although I can't quite place it. It's a scent that works well, but it's just not my style.

[elspeth]

This scent is just what I was looking for when I was searching for honeysuckle. There is a dark wood note in it that keeps the flower from being very overpowering and the flower keeps the wood from being too heavy. This is a floral that I would probably wear in fall because it would be a bit heavy for spring. Even the non floral people should try this one.

[supremegoddessofall]

Light spice and honey. It's actually pretty soft, although the vetivert sharpens it a bit. Honeysuckle amps on me just like honey, so that's the predominant note for me, with the vetiver sitting right under it. It actually has a masculine, almost leather-like feel to it.

[klavierbarrette]

imp: honey!

skin: patchouli! D: well it's the opium, but i suddenly went 'patchouli!' when i smelled it. big change lol after awhile the opium and whatever else tones down a little and the honeysuckle comes out a little. yay. i would have never ordered this, glad beth gave it to me as a frimp.

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is a dusty, dry floral...once applied this starts off

immediately as a fresh picked dandelion...after a few minutes a touch of honeysuckle; the opium and vetivert dance far away in the background...

a very interesting blend indeed

[euterpe414]

So strange...why am I smelling something extremely similar to Asphodel??? On my skin this is a very light, sweet floral. I can really detect the honeysuckle, it is quite domineering.

 

When it's dry, the vetivert comes out a bit to ground the blend, but it is in no way a scent heavy on the vetivert. I can only compare it to when you sniff fresh flowers and get a little whiff of the dirt as well.

 

Ok, when it is settled it reminds me of Asphodel with a drop of Darkness mixed in. Very interesting mix of light and heavy. This is not something I would wear often, though, as I prefer opium blends (like Darkness ) that are a bit more on the heavy side of things. Glad I finally got to try this, though, since I had been wanting to for some months...

Edited November 20, 2006 by euterpe414

[Kitrona]

I got this as a frimp from a friend, and wow! I normally hate honeysuckle, but this scent makes it something I like.

 

Also, the perfect scent for Anathema Device (points to anyone who knows who she is or what she's from).

 

This I will wear when I have to lay my shit on the line and absolutely be heard.

[zankoku_zen]

For me, this is a very heavy and heady sort of sent. It's honeysuckle floating on top of something that smells very masculine, fragrant and a bit like incense, which is either the black opium or the vetivert, neither of which I have a clear idea of what it smells like.

 

I can see this being absolutely smashing on the right guy, the kind of guy that with a sly wink leads you to a life of decadence.

[laslibres]

I couldn't figure out what this smelled like when I first gave it a sniff, until I looked at the lab description and realized I had never smelled any BPAL containing opium, honeysuckle, OR vetiver before. ^^; So that explains that.

 

I could definitely pick out the honeysuckle, which is a scent I love in real life, and I figure that, going by other reviews I've read, the earthy thing I'm smelling in this is vetiver. I have a feeling that's going to be a winning note for me, and it pairs well with the honeysuckle - the earthy + sweet is a nice combination. And oddly, during the early stages, something in this smelled like fruit on me? Only wet at the very beginning, though...then it settled into earthy-flowery goodness.

 

I think I like this one okay...it doesn't knock my socks off, but it's kinda sexy, and it's definitely not a swap pile candidate.

[forspecial_plate]

Very strong and heady floral scent...I did not recognize the opium and didn't smell *any* vetiver. When I tried it, I didn't read the notes that are listed. It just smelled like a strong, sweet floral scent, so sweet it was almost like a dessert. Smells pretty but not something I would wear.

 

Edit, just because Anathema is really nicer than I make it sound here. Very clean and sweet, non-powdery floral scent (I say non-powdery because I think that opium/poppy sometimes smells powdery on me). I would like to compare this to straight honeysuckle because then I could smell what the other notes are up to here.

 

Edit again, and I'll try to make this the last one! In fact, I could just as well completely revise this review, but I won't.....I will say however that I tried this again and it left a completely different impression on me this time. Reminds me a lot of Chrysanthemum Moon, with some bits taken away, so I guess it's the opium, but it made me think of chrysanthemum too. But this scent is more pared down, and there's almost a metallic quality. Maybe that's coming from the vetiver, because I can't detect it otherwise.

 

Long story short......I like this enough to keep an imp handy. : )

Edited June 10, 2008 by Forspecial Plate

[theseagrows]

this smells like musty baby powder on me

 

i am coming to find i like vetiver in some scents, but my skin does generally not get along with opium at all and very rarely with honeysuckle, which i think are the dominant notes on me here. so yeah, this doesn't work very well for me.

[baranoouji]

[frimp from filigree_shadow]

 

There is a very strong first blast of honeysuckle. Eventually it wears off a bit, and lets something leathery (the vetiver?) through.

 

In the long run, the smell is big big big big flowers and leather. It smells very interesting, in the same way that I can't resist reading something inappropriate.

Edited February 20, 2007 by baranoouji

[icing]

Opium notes vanish on me.

BPAL honeysuckle = scorched plastic; vertivert = burnt rubber and stagnate water (and does it ever love to amp). Oh the fun.

I smell like a toy car wreck that took place in a gutter.

[Miss Lynx]

This and Bess were frimps with the Bakeneko I got through a shared order with a friend. Of the array of frimps that came in that order, those two were the only ones that I at least hadn't tried yet -- finding GC scents that I haven't tried and really want to is getting harder. But I thought these might be worth an experiment, at least.

 

I'm not a big fan of florals, at all, but I thought the vetiver in here might help bring them down to earth a bit. And it does, in a sense -- there's definitely a heaviness to this scent, but the extreme sweetness overlaying it is still almost smothering. It gets across the feeling it's trying for pretty well -- there's definitely a sense of decadence and corruption to it -- but it's a bit overwhelmingly, almost smotheringly heavy and sweet.

 

It does eventually fade down to a somewhat more pleasant level, but on the whole, but it's really not the sort of thing I could ever see myself wearing.

 

Grade: C

[sarada]

There's something I really like in this. And then again there's something I really don't like.

 

Let's look at the notes...

 

Ahhh, mystery solved.

 

That sweet, earthy scent -- almost like some sort of cola or maybe root beer -- that's the one that I like. Of course it's vetiver! Spiked with honeysuckle, which I also love. A perfectly sweetened vetiver, pale and slender white petals of honeysuckle ground into the dirt.

 

But there's something hazy lingering over all of it that makes me slightly queasy, a breath of a dusty, chemical haze, like someone is spraying their hair or ... I don't know, developing film ... and kind of taking me out of my earthy reverie.

 

That would be the black opium. One of those notes that can just kill any blend for me.

 

But you know, I like the good parts of this enough that I think for a change I might hang onto this imp and give it a chance. On my skin long enough, I think that just the vetiver will hang around, and I can never get enough of that.

[jessiesquash]

Honey on me = ew!

Honeysuckle on me = yes!

 

This is very fresh and floral, sweet and sharp at the same time. The vetiver gives a nice base and grounds it. It's very perfumey but clean too. It actually really reminds me of that Johnson & Johnson No-tangle stuff we used when we were kids. Did anyone else get that? Hah, weird!

[Trish]

In the imp: sharp, strong, sweet floral

 

Wet: sharp, strong, sweet floral that's almost soapy

 

Drydown: Urgh it's getting stronger. Very heady, but the soapiness has disappeared.

 

Dry: Just a hint of opium in the background which is the only thing stopping me from washing it off. I can't detect any vetivert and I'm one of the seemingly few who like a bit of vetivert.

 

1 hour: This is better. The opium has fully emerged and it's a much deeper, darker smoky yet floral resin. And it is still fairly floral.

 

 

Swap. I cannot put up with that overpowering heady floral for an hour just to get to a scent that I like but don't love.

Edited April 16, 2007 by Trishek

[luna65]

Thanks to the Lab for the frimp.

 

Imp: The opium has a resin-y characteristic, I find.

 

Skin: VERY strong, whew! Like I'm being beaten with a honeysuckle bush by a angry vetiver monster.

 

Drydown: After a time this settles down to a dark floral which is interesting, but I'm not sure if it's really me.

[steffanina]

Anathema-

 

In Bottle: Something floral and heavy, like a humid day. There's a hint of cherry-almond like Jergens lotion.

 

Wet: So very HEAVY. Hard to explain! Floral, yes. Rich, yes.

 

Dry: I like this in the same way that I like Black Lily--because it is floral but it is creamy and heavy and does not go sour in the way a lot of florals do. I think I like this one!

 

Overall: Not bad!

[Honor]

In imp/wet: Slightly spicey, sharp and slightly sweet. It induced an instant sinus headache

 

On Skin wet: Still sharp with more sweetness, and a muted floral quality. I swear there's still a hint of spice (I'm so weird)

 

On Skin dry: Still sweet and the generic "floral" that was present wet, has become ZOMG!Honeysuckle! and I hate it. There's a hint of muskyness that might save it, but the honeysuckle overpowers, and there's a touch of powdery-ness to it. The "spice" note I was getting is gone.

 

Throw: Low/Moderate. After about hour, I could catch whiffs of it occasionally, but otherwise had to be close to where I applied it to smell.

 

Overall: I can see how others may like this (really!) but it's more head-ache inducing for me.

Edited June 13, 2007 by HonorAlexandria

[surlygurl]

This imp came to me in a swap. One of those "Gee, I haven't tried this before. May as well" decisions.

 

Wet. Nasty! Eeeerrrr -- Ick! (Reading over the notes, that must be the vertiver.)

Drydown: Not so bad. A bit .... harsh, but mellowing. Something sweetish and a bit spicy coming out.

Dry: Gently spiced cotton candy with a hint of earthiness. Really, really pretty.

 

Overall, it's a definite keeper. Something I'll save for when the weather starts to cool in the fall.

[Electric Maenad]

This was a freebie, for which I thank the Lab profusely, but...

 

OMG HONEYSUCKLE! Which promptly morphs to sweaty honeysuckle.

 

I have a suspicion, just from what I've read on Wikipedia about it, that the vetivert is the sweaty portion. That, and just strange skin chemistry on my part.

 

[Edited 12/3/08]

 

Huh. I must have tossed this back into my imp box, and when I tried it again it smelled a lot better. Maybe aging helped. Now it smells like really thick, really rich incense smoke (opium?) with just a trace of flowers. It still doesn't feel like me though - it feels like the scent is wearing me rather than the other way around, if that makes any sense.

Edited March 11, 2008 by Electric Maenad