The Agony of Longing

[Em-]

Attar of rose, violet, white pear, Queen Elizabeth root, and freesia.

THis is a light floral with a lot of pear - I get mostly rose, which is one of my fave florals, something a little woody, and the pear, which make for a really interesting combination. I like it more than I would have expected and think I'll probably keep the decant around for awhile.

[wikkidraven]

roses and violets, sweetened by pear. i like this a LOT more than i thought i would. it's gentle, but also seems to have some throw.

 

a surprising hit.

[Naamah_Darling]

This is a wistful, sorrowful scent, tinged with the sweetness of longing. Rose and violet blend in the topnotes, sweetened by the freesia. Freesia is a very light floral, somewhere between "green" and "sweet" in tone, it's quite distinctive, and very delicate. Pear rounds this out with an earthy fruit note.

 

The dominant note once it is applied is mingled rose and violet – a little of both, and yet somehow neither. The freesia is not as potent, but it's clearly apparent under the upper florals. The pear is still down in the bottom, helping to tame some of the out-of-control flowers.

 

Queen Elizabeth root is just another name for orris, which is the source of most violet perfumes (no, violet perfume does not come from actual violets, which are too fragile for traditional extraction methods). It gradually wins the fight with the rose, and the freesia dies down, too, leaving this, ultimately, a violet scent with just a hint of pear.

 

It's feminine, somewhat traditional, and a little too goody-goody for me to want to wear it. Floral fans will find a lot to love here.

[oakmoss]

All the notes in this blend are ones I love, so it's not surprising that I love them together. In the bottle, it reminded me of when I wear Hope and Faith together -- perfect rose, perfect violet. But on my skin, and especially after half an hour or so, the pear adds a sweet fruitiness to the florals, not really edible-foody-pear, but rather, just breathing in the perfume of a freshly cut pear. I love most of Beth's rose blends, but this one has zoomed to the top of the list, no question. I've pretty much gotten over my desire to hunt down rare LE blends, because I know there are always more treasures to come.... but this one.... agony of longing inDEED. I will want MORE.

[filigree_shadow]

If I'm going to wear a strong floral floral, of the traditional floral ilk, I prefer for the flower to be violets. So this scent starts off heavily on the plus side right away, since I can smell the violet in it. The rose is behaving itself magnificently in this (attar of rose usually does, on me) and instead of being overwhelming or soapy or sharp, it smells luxurious and velvety. The white pear gives it some sparkle, and the freesia makes the whole scent smell kind of blue.

 

I think this is an extraordinarily appropriate scent for the emotion of longing. It smells a little sad but it hasn't lost that glimmer of hope. When you long for something, you haven't really stopped hoping that you might one day have it, true? If you'd given up on it ever happening, you would just be sad and miserable. But longing... that requires hope.

 

This smells like that, pretty much perfectly. Wistful, a bit romantic, and a wish for something more.

 

To be perfectly honest I adore this scent, and if that makes me a dopey romantic, so be it.

[alicia_stardust]

Out of the Agony scents, this one was my favorite of the bunch. It starts out very soft, with a beautiful cool blue-green cloud of freesia. I love freesia so much! It's interesting to me that, while I do detect the violet, rose, and pear, my attention keeps seeking out the freesia. This is haunting and cool, with just the right balance of fruit and floral.

[jolarocknrolla]

VERY freesia/pear. Absolutely feminine and lovely without hitting you over the head with either fruits or florals. very delicate, almost has a Hawaiian feel to it. it might smell a bit soapy to some, it has sort of that mixture of scents going for it, but i think this is one of the winners from the Agony set

[Limelight]

This is one of those scents that I could bathe in. It's my favorite of all the Inquistion scents I've experienced. This perfume is a gentle beauty, and if it had a face, it'd be Deborah Kerr. Pear, freesia and could that be the Queen Elizabeth root? I don't know what that smells like, but I understand it is widely reputed to attract men. So, for me at least, that's not a bad thing It's absolutely lovely, and you can bet your bloomers I'll try to get more.

[Tulliver]

This... is really weird. Not BAD weird, just very very odd. These are all notes which I've long been able to identify, and it contains three of my all-time favourite flowers (I had two of them in my wedding bouquet), but in this blend I can't separate them at all.

 

There just MIGHT be the occasional waft of pear, but it's still fairly indistinct.

 

I do like this, very much. This isn't the right time of the year for wearing it - not all blends have a seasonal smell to me, but this one definitely does. This one's for wearing in the spring and perhaps into the early summer. I just get a fairly faint (but not short-lived by any means), sweet blend which SEEMS to be mainly pear, but only by a nose (if you'll pardon the pun).

 

It's lovely. Maybe too delicate and sweetly feminine for me, but it is very lovely indeed.

[zankoku_zen]

Oh man, at the beginning I swear I smelled mangos and florals. And I look at the scent description, and there are none to be found. I get the 'mango' right off the imp --- but as it dries it becomes more floral. In fact, it seems to be a struggling match between violets and roses. The roses seem to have the violets on a chokehold. I'm surprised that freesia hasn't made an appearance ring-side, but perhaps it is too intimidated by the power of the roses.

 

Unfortunately, it becomes a free for all and the resulting scent it something akin to the smell of nail polish remover on me.

 

I'm going to declare annul this match, and call it a loss. Surprisingly, there are no riots.

[nellieburger]

In the imp: I just cracked open of Dole fruit cup - sweet, sugary PEARS galore!!!

 

Wet: Pears are still there, with a bit of freesia lingering behind 'em.

 

Dry: Pears are still there (yay!), followed closely by a pleasant blend of freesia and rose florals - rose being the most prominent after-taste.

 

I adore this fragrance!!! It's a perfect blend of fruits and florals, neither being too powerful or dominant over the other. It's soft, gentle, and very feminine. It's lovely!!! This will definitely be a favorite of mine!!!

Edited August 22, 2008 by nellieburger

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Rose attar and pear. Exceptionally high quality impression from the rose, and the pear smells very sweet. Please, violet, don't ruin this scent for me!

 

Wet: Sweet rose immediately. There is also pear and at least one other sweet scent, but so far so good.

 

45 minutes: Mostly rose attar with a pearlike top note. This is very pleasant indeed.

 

Two hours: Still very pleasant rose and pear. Hurrah, the violet didn't kill it for me!

 

Four hours: This quickly got very faint. Too bad, because it was lovely while it lasted.

 

[Lyrical]

In vial: very bright, light florals - the rose, pear and freesia stronger than the violet. (Queen Elizabeth root is apparently another name for orris root.)

 

Wet on skin: rose, pear and violet. There is a powdery softness to it and a definite hint of vanilla. Surprisingly lovely so far!

 

Dry on skin: powdery rose, pear, violet and vanilla. It's very pleasant, but I prefer Symmakhia (vanilla, heliotrope, red sandalwood, pear, black lily, white wine grape, and white rose), which has more depth to it.

[stellans]

This is very much a rose scent; in fact, I get very little else from it, but it's a very soft and pleasant rose -- not a sharp, hungry sort of rose. Which surprises me a little, since the concept for this scent is based on hunger: a longing, a desire, an intense and agonizing hunger.

OK, as the oil warms on my skin, I start to discern the other notes: violet peeps out first, followed by freesia and a teensy bit of pear. I'm not sure what the QE root would smell like, but perhaps that's the touch of woody earth I smell at the bottom. But even warmed, the main scent in this blend is rose...and I love it.

Again, a very masterful blend from the lab makes it's place permanent in my collection.

[countessmouse]

A lot of pear and rose in the imp and wet on my skin, and I was briefly afraid they wouldn't play well together but they seemed to resolve their "issues" once the freesia appeared and the sickeningly sweet violet finally went away. There is a slightly woody undertone which, like Stellans, I'm assuming might be the Queen Elizabeth root. Unfortunately, while quite pretty, this scent has hardly any staying power. I can barely smell it two hours after application, which makes me sad.

[freyasfae]

Oh, that's potent rose mingled with violet right away, which I do not like...at all. It gets even more violety as it dries - like the freesia and violet and rose all mingle together to maximize the qualities of violet that never work on me. But, hey, if you like violet, go for this!