Athens

[doomsday_disco]

A reformulation and modernization of a true Classical Greek perfume, myrrhine: voluptuous myrrh, golden honey, red wine, and sweet flowers.

 

In the imp: Mostly wine and honey.

 

Wet: This is honey-laden red wine on me. After a few minutes, I start to get some of the myrrh, but it is in the background.

 

Dry: This remains a honeyed red wine on me. The myrrh note is a bit stronger than it was before, but it is still confined to its background role. I'm also getting the sweet flowers now, but they are also no match for the honeyed red wine.

 

Verdict: I tend to amp the Lab's red wine note, and here, it's mostly sweet honeyed red wine on me. Not bad, but the other notes just aren't doing enough to keep the red wine in check on me.

Edited March 16, 2018 by dementia_divine

[puellacaerulea]

In the frimp: Mostly heady, sticky-sweet honey, plus red wine. Not picking up any other notes yet.

Once it's on: The myrrh amps up right away and takes the scent out of cloying territory. The honey is still a dominant note, but the myrrh and wine balance it out nicely, adding a spicy/resinous depth. Good wear length, without significant morphing after the myrrh initially amps up. I like this a lot more than I thought I would on first sniff. Not totally sure I'd wear this often enough to warrant a bottle, but we'll see how fast I go through the frimp.

[Foodie]

I can't believe it's taken me this long to try Athens. I've been collecting for years but to my credit Athens has been out of stock for a lot of the time.

 

I adore wine scents. I tried my first one when I received a frottle (a frottle!!! That was soooo awesome, thank you lab!) in my Halloweenie 2012 order. It was called Tears of Lilith and it was incredibly lovely. Also, one of my very favorite BPALs is Lilith and Sekhmet. Athens has that same dark, red, deep, fruity and gorgeous wine note. It's the first thing I smell. The second is the myrrh. This is incense-wine heaven, sweeted by the honey. Reading the reviews before mine, I was surprised to see how many people described the honey as being the most prominent note. For me the wine and myrrh come first for sure.

 

Athens is beautiful and bewitching and a full bottle is in my very near future.

[Darkersolstice]

Have I not reviewed Athens yet? It's my default date night perfume when I'm out with the datemate (as opposed to the partner, with whom I'd be more likely to go for something like Incantation). It's sweet, wine-forward on me, to where the receptionist at work read it as 'fruit juice' at first. Great confidence builder, definitely a feminine sort of powerful, as compared to 'I am dragon, hear me roar'.

[mimicofmodes]

I was very excited to try Athens as the ancient Mediterranean world used to be a great interest of mine (it got me into archaeology, which then got me into museums), but unfortunately this was just overpoweringly honey-scented on me. When I was feeling it, it was like hot toast with butter and honey, but when I wasn't, it just seemed sickly-sweet. The staying power and throw were, frankly, amazing - I wish I could get that with certain others!

Edited September 2, 2018 by chocolatepot

[Eis Hexe]

The bottle smells strongly of honey and boozy fruit.

When I first apply to my skin I still get the strong honey notes foremost.  There is still a bit of fruit but it’s struggling to be noticed above the honey.  It’s like the smell of a strong melomel fresh out of the bottle. Rich and heavy.

After it dries down everyone stops jostling for space and settles down prettily.  The honey mellows into the wine, and that blends nicely with the sub-tropical flowers.  The myrrh provides the base note that gives the rest cohesion and stability.

This is different. I like it quite a bit.  First impressions are deceiving, and more complex scents like this require a bit of time to both age in the bottle and settle on the skin.  Skin pH also plays a huge part in how this scent turns out.  It smells better on me if I use a gentle bath soap that doesn’t muck up my skin’s natural chemistry.

[donkehpoo]

Wet: A very rich, thick, golden honey and some wine. The honey is much stronger than the wine.

 

Dry: Still going strong with the honey, a tiny bit of wine, and the addition of some faintly sweet floral notes. (No idea what kind, specially.)

 

I like the lab's wine notes usually, and I really enjoyed the wet stage, but the dry down isn't for me.

[monocainsheresy]

Cherry-honey, myrrh, and flowers. Sweet and mysterious.

[niffler]

Received this as a frimp from the lab. Not one I would have chosen myself, but I was definitely curious to test it. In the imp I mostly get red fruits from the wine combining with the honey and just a dance of flowers on the top, no myrrh to be found. On my skin the fruitiness calms down immediately. It becomes mostly a myrrh scent lightened with honey and flowers in the drydown. Interestingly, does remind me of being in Greece in the summer (minus the blistering heat), but I can't exactly put my finger on why. A very nice blend, we'll see how much I end up wearing it.  

[Laughing Seagull]

Though I was worried about the honey in this, I chose to try it because the idea of recreating an ancient Greek perfume rules.  I normally like wine and florals, so I hoped that they would balance out the honey.

 

Well, there was a reason I was worried about the honey.  This is the sharpest, most absolutely horrible overwhelming honey imaginable on me.  I don't detect anything else.  I physically recoil whenever I catch a whiff of it.  Get it off!  Get it off!!!

[fairybites]

Athens started off with super sweet honey and fruity wine. I can't pick out what florals are in here, but they are faint and not overpowering the wine. I want to say they are white florals. Three hours later, it has faded considerably and I'm left with a slightly wine but heavy honey scent on my skin. 

 

Really like this, but I wish the staying power was a bit stronger. Probably wont be seeking a bottle.

[bkwy.aesthetics]

I am a sucker for historically-inspired scents, so of course this caught my eye. And I'm very happy to have this as a part of my collection. Very warm and inviting, I had someone tell me that I smell like the holidays ❤️ and my significant other said that he thought the scent would cover up body odor well, which I suppose is a plus 😅

 

In Bottle: Sweet, sticky honey and a very fruity red wine are the main players here, harmonizing very well. The slightest of resinous notes come out from the myrrh, but mostly it helps blend the honey and wine

 

On Skin: The myrrh and honey amplify and this becomes a very warm, spicy, and resinous scent. The wine and flowers are detectable in the background and add some interest to the scent. 

 

Dry Down: A pretty linear scent that fades gracefully. Once the perfume hits the skin, that's pretty much what you're gonna be sitting with.

 

Wear Time & Throw: About 5 hours before this became a skin scent; moderate throw

[VetchVesper]

This smells sort of somewhere between mead and spiced, red wine, which is quite pleasant. Unfortunately, there's an undertone that's not working on me. It's sort of weirdly woody, like pencil shavings. Perhaps the myrrh is causing trouble in this particular combo?  Ah well -- not for me. 

[amokslime]

A sweet, red honey wine with a bitter myrhh undercurrent. It's decadent and unique. It's light enough to wear in summer.

[crow-toes]

I'm absolutely another sucker for historic-inspired scents, and this one is right in line with some historic clothing research I'm also elbow-deep into. What an intriguing way to make an outfit even more immersive.

 

This gives me heady spiced and honeyed red wine. Fresh, sweet, and indulgent, with enough incense and tartness to keep it balanced. Nothing that I would personally call either masculine or feminine in its notes. Very different in character than most modern scents I've been trying, particularly with a very different sort of alcohol note - so incredibly immersive to such a different era. Fascinating. It's not an everyday scent for me, but I love the mood it'll set when the occasion calls for it.

[The Magician's Apprentice]

Surprisingly, I enjoy Athens immensely. I bought the imp with my boyfriend in mind, as he prefers sweeter and more traditionally feminine scents than I do, and so I wasn't expecting to be so keen on it.

 

I was, indeed,  quite stunned by my immediate enthrallment by the first sniff of the imp: it was overpoweringly sweet, more so than I had imagined. And yet, even within the imp, there was a certain tartness to this sweetness, a shadow of red wine, that had to be chased, and which I found absolutely tantalising. It is what makes this scent sweet, but not girlish. That slight bitterness, in fact,  divided me and my boyfriend on this scent - I loved the red wine, he not so much.

 

Upon application, Athens is almost an entirely different story for me: frankincense steals the show, with honey and wine now as the accompaniments. It is still sweet and quite mysterious, but it remind me more of a temple, with burning incense and libations, than honey. Quite another surprise this transformation, but not an unwelcome one; the scent wet is more suited for momentary olfactory enjoyment than wearing, in my opining, thus its drastic change makes it a better candidate for perfume purposes.