Judith Victorious

[Silverstrike]

Chestnut blossom, lily of the valley, King mandarin, French magnolia, and golden musk.

I'm quite on the fence on this one. Sometimes it seems divine in a warm, chestnut-y way and other times it seems orangey and overkill. I'm not sure I'd get a bottle but I'll keep the imp for now.

[Neely]

In the bottle: chestnut buttercream. I think the musk is registering with the chestnut blossom as chestnut buttercream icing.

 

Wet: chestnut buttercream.

 

Dry down: chestnut buttercream. Before I got an imp of Misc U, I imagined it would smell like this (not even close of course ). So far I like this a lot.

 

30 minutes: spicey with a lovely light floral. I don't know where I am getting spicey from. Maybe magnolia like carnation is a spicey floral? The magnolias I remember from my grandpa's land didn't have a spicey tone, or maybe they did. Been a long time since I smelt a magnolia.

 

Conclusion: not sure about this one for me. I am keeping the imp, for sure. I need to try it again a few times. This turns into a very sophisticated, high class perfume. Which, anyone will tell you, I am not a high class girl. So I am not sure if I can get away with wearing it.

 

Rating 1-5: inconclusive, needs more testing.

[Nimthiriel]

Initial impression:

It smells incredibly nutty, but also spicy – yet fresh of flowers. Wow, this confuses my nose!

 

First on:

Wet, it's a rather hard to describe nutty/fruity hybrid, but it doesn't smell very nice at first. *worried look*

 

Dry:

After about 10 mins, it has morphed into something unpleasant – rancid nuts and rotten fruit. I'll need to wash this off.

 

Finally:

This made me sad – it sounded so promising. But, I'm glad I got a chance to try it – thanks, kind forumite! Swapping.

[storme]

In the imp: hmm, this is fairly foody - the chestnuts are pretty prominent, and the mandarin is sweet.

 

On me, wet: sticky-sweet foodiness - chestnuts and caramel, with floral and musk behind. Very golden-brown-smelling.

 

On me, dry: these are very sweet chestnuts, candied - the mandarin and lily add a freshness, though. Odd.

 

Verdict: This reminds me of Jolasveinar - that snowy-fresh-with-cakes combination. Not my style, but interesting.

[mazikeen]

It's unfortunate that this wasn't available to buy in imps. I love the painting, so I splurged and took a chance on the bottle. I wasn't too into it, but I really wanted to like it. Then I heard my husband's impression: syrup.

 

 

Edited to add:

The bottle has been aging for almost 3 years now (has it been that long?! Wow.)

 

I don't notice anything orangey, at all. Nutty, but less maple-syrupy than before, thank god. It's a thick heavy scent (not one to slather). I think it could be a good wintertime/Christmas scent. It's still not something I'm going to wear much, if at all, unfortunately.

 

If it smells good in an oil burner, it may have a use. Otherwise it's going to collect dust unless I ever get off my butt and start selling/swapping.

Edited July 13, 2010 by mazikeen

[hkhm]

imp: hazelnut musk.

 

wet: sweet, nutty musk with just a hint of fresh oranges.

 

dry: nutty, orangey musk. this does fade pretty quickly but it's quite nice while it lasts.

[savage_rose]

In the imp, it smells a bit foody to me...on it starts to smell like...pastry and cologne? Warm pie crust and a light unisex perfume scent. It's kinda nice, but it's not me.

[akiko]

Intriguing.

 

imp: initially, a strongly foody nutty smell, then a floral note.

 

wet: still nutty, but as it dries the mandarin comes out, as do the flowers. I'm thinking it's the mandarin that gave Spider the generic cologne smell on me, because there's a brief phase of this that includes the generic cologne smell.

 

dry: fairly balanced floral and nutty. I hate florals, but this doesn't seem to be the kind I don't get along with despite having magnolia *and* lily! (As much as I love magnolia trees, magnolia perfume tends to give me a splitting headache.)

[PersephonesChild]

I'd been dying to try this one-- something about the notes in it have been calling to me, and I was not at all disappointed.

 

My initial try, I got a lot of chestnut blossom, a light, nutty floral with a hint of tantalizing musk. There's a fullness to this scent, but not a thickness, if you understand-- it's feminine and a complete blend, but I don't feel like I'm in a cloud of perfume. I adore the lily of the valley-- it's a note in some of my favorite blends, and I really finally recognized it as such when I smelled it here. The magnolia doesn't smell "old" as I had worried it might, but lush and spring-like.

 

I reapplied a little thicker later, and as I did, I noticed that there's a sharp citrus edge in the imp-- I rather like that, a subtle bit of violence in the blend, as in the painting. The blend is alluring, but vibrant and unexpected. I'm very pleased.

 

ETA: Also, it lasts and lasts! It's been close to 11 hours since I applied it this morning, and I can still smell it.

Edited January 10, 2009 by PersephonesChild

[soonyi]

the chestnut is like a mix of sugar cane and the deeper, darker spices of a Christmas pomander. these spices are quickly inducing a headache, so i scrubbed it off--still i am glad i tried this one.

[kelpsoda]

This one is a morpher.

 

in bottle: mandarin, with a floral (lily? magnolia?) and chesnut.

 

wet: When I first put it on, it had a strong, almost-chemical smell. Is that the musk that's doing that? or lily? ugh! But that faded quickly, and it went to super powerful floral.

 

dry: After it calms down, it's an elegant magnolia scent. At turns I can smell something spicy and nutty (chesnut blossom?) and maybe a hint of the mandarin. While I do catch a whiff of something I like every so often, on the whole it's too strong for me.

 

bottom line: very elegant, and ladylike. strong on the magnolia + musk. No noticeable orange, for me.

 

 

_{edited because I found much better words to describe this with}

Edited June 12, 2008 by kelp

[jizatt]

I'm strangely intrigued by this one =) I thought it was odd that it smelled foody at first, until I read over the reviews again here. Obviously, I'm not alone in that impression. It stays warm, the foodiness fades a bit but keeps it's warm and slightly creamy nature. I smell the floral underneath, which comes across white and clean to my nose. I'm guessing I smell the magnolia and lily, but they aren't strong enough to tell me what floral they are specifically. I can't pick either out. I like this one though =) Complicated.

 

ADDED 11/27/09:

 

Sounds like I'm one of the few whp loves this. I do get a foody chestnut, but it doesn't overwhelm the fragrance. I get the very warm musk and a cool floral, not heavy magnolia so it must be the lily of the valley. I dont get any mandarin at all.

 

This to me is very sophisticated without being generic perfume at all. And maybe its just the name, but wearing this oil gives me a bit of rawr inside =) I wore it to Thanksgiving at the in-laws, with BOTH families yesterday! It was like my secret strength.

Edited January 3, 2010 by Shollin

[greenranger]

Wet on me, chestnuts, with a little of the mandarin, and some florals behind. Spicy, sweet, and slightly musky.

 

Very interesting. If it stays like it is now, I think I like it very much.

[taramarie]

On me, Judith Victorious is chestnut, a lot of mandarin, and maybe some musk. This is interesting, and I'll definitely keep it around.

[caitilarkin]

In the bottle: Wow, this is...salty. There's musk and sweetness in the background, but I got such a strong salt note every time I opened this that I let it sit for a couple of months before testing it on my skin.

 

Wet on skin: I bought this before I realized that every nut note hates me. Even blossoms of any nut tree hate me. It's a conspiracy. Anyway, chestnut blossom hates me just as much as the rest of 'em, and it's amping fiercely.

 

Dry on skin: This is much better, but it's so different from what I was expecting. The blend eventually resolves into a very strong chestnut with buttercream, as previous reviewers have mentioned. There's no citrus, no discernible musk...it's Chestnut Victorious.

 

I'll have to think about this one for awhile.

[Evilynn]

In the imp: Chestnuts

 

On me: First 15 minutes this is chestnuts. Then it's chestnuts, and stays chestnut for an hour. There is a little bit of citrus under the chestnuts, but mostly, it is chestnuts. It's foody, but not sweet. After an hour or so the musk starts peeking out under the mountains of chestnuts.

 

The drydown is actually very nice, and I think I might hold onto my imp, even if it's not a scent I would wear everyday. I suspect it might be a bigger hit with people who don't amp nuts.

[HamletsKeeper]

I was expecting a velvety magnolia here with a hint of chestnut and tang of citrus. I got chestnuts burnt in a saucepan with treacle and pepper. hmm....Judith is only victorious here if she wanted to kill me with bad cooking. So lets break it down so at least I can find my notes of doom.

 

Treacle burnt onto a saucepan - I'm guessing this is the golden musk. Which frankly surprises me because it's the first musk I've tried which isn't wonderful on me. And I've tried a lot of musks. It smells very burnt sugar and molasses-y.

 

Chestnuts - well it's chestnut blossom so I expected a soft, powdery, petally and vague chestnut here. But no this is the dark roasted nut kind. Hell this is a full-on BBQ with chestnuts.

 

I get no mandarin which doesn't surprise me because it has a life of about 3 seconds on my skin. And the strong pepper must be a combination of the magnolia and the other floral. Judith will not be one I'll take home tonight or any other night. She reminds me of those days I have where nothing goes right and I even manage to mess up boiling an egg.

[Aldercy]

For being chestnut blossom, this is a lot nuttier than I would have expected! Usually that buttery nuttiness is a turn-off, but it's actually very soft and feminine in here, tempered by the musk and lily of the valley-- kept from getting too outright foody. I don't get a whole lot of magnolia or citrus.

 

It's a warm, sophisticated floral musk draped in creamy roasted spice from the chestnut. I like it!

[SophieCedar]

Wet: This one is uh-frikkin-mazing! This is strong! Pure creamy nutty meaty chestnuts and lily of the valley are 1st. The magnolia is present too, and so smooth and silky, it gives the sensation of lightly rubbing the leaves. The mandarin isn't tart or overwhelming, just a nice bright layer of warm orange under the florals. Color impression is hard to pin...warm brown, white, orange, yellow...

 

Drydown: Bubble bursted.. this fades all too quick.. I was ready to place an order for decanting to myself and my mother-in-law, who by judging the wet phase, would love this. But the chestnuts disappear, so does the mandarin and most of the magnolia. A ghost of the wonderfulness remains. Totally bummed.

[CitizenBree]

Yup, nutty. Not as creamy as other people are getting. I do get a bit of the mandarin. I don't get anything sweet from it. I almost get something pine like. it's more of an outdoor, woodsy scent to me. It sounds pretty but i'm not digging it.

[bellumed]

Oh, yum. Judith is just as lovely as I hoped she would be. It starts with a nice focus on the mandarin—not a bright, juicy orange; it has a spicy warmth and it’s tempered by the other notes. It reminds me of Black Death, although it’s more feminine where Black Death leans masculine. There’s also something foody that other people have described as caramel or toffee or treacle. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I definitely smell it. Final stage, all I get is a light but present musk.

 

I'm so glad I snapped up a bottle before the Salon left, because I adore this.

[Alaeidrel]

Atropos describes this as 'chestnut buttercream' and I'm heavily inclined to agree. It's a skin scent, soft and nutty and sweet... yet somehow oddly floral. Sometimes on the drydown it hits and acrid note, but that seems to fade off pretty fast. It's just on the edge of foody.

[Naomi Kelsey]

A lovely fragrance. I love chestnut in a fragrance and this is an unusual take on it. It seems to have a radiance and "golden" aura that is just divine. It has a regal, feminine, queenly, but not dark, deep, sensual, or rich feeling. It's not light or airy either. A very grounded scent. Am rapidly using up the imp!

[Lucchesa]

I put on Judith Victorious this morning without checking the notes, and I would never have come up with most of them. All I sussed out was the mandarin. There is definitely something warm and golden about this scent, which I would have pegged as amber of some kind. I assumed there was caramel in here somewhere. I wouldn't have guessed the warm nuttiness was chestnut flower, but it's gorgeous, and I am on board with chestnut anything. After consulting the notes, I was thinking I didn't have much experience of golden musk, but a quick search of my database shows me it's in my beloved Elf. I'm not getting much lily, if any.

 

So -- a warm, glowing, caramelly scent with a hint of citrus and musk. It's gorgeous. Once upon a time, I was writing a dissertation on Old Testament heroines in Renaissance art, so trying this was a no-brainer, but I really like it. If I ever see a bottle for sale, it's mine.