Lysander

[sarada]

The course of true love never did run smooth.

Lilac musk, tonka, wood violet, and urbane lime rind, with a Venus-kissed tangle of myrtle, blackberry leaf, and benzoin.

Sniffing this, I could not remember any of the notes except tonka, which is strong and sweet in this blend with its peculiar smoky vanilla tones. It has a slightly roasted quality to it -- but tonka is foremost. That, and a powdery note that I had thought might be apple blossom but now I see: it is lilac musk. Yes, that's definitely the sweet, powdery scent of lilac, but it is strengthened a bit by musk, that amplifies and disperses it a little higher and stronger. It does remind me of the lilac note in His Station and Four Aces, though overall this blend is more dominated by the roasted smoky vanilla-like scent of tonka.

Some dark green notes emerge later, which must be the myrtle and blackberry leaf -- and I'm guessing benzoin adds a little to the smoky feel while adding some of the staying power and sweetness of a lovely resin.

There is an underlying fruity sweetness as well that never quite makes it foody, but does create an appetizing blend of sweet, tart and smoky scents. If I had wound up with a full bottle of this instead of just an imp I'd have been perfectly happy to keep it. Fans of the Dogs Playing Poker series might enjoy this because it combines some of the elements from those, in a less tobacco-filled setting. I'm really digging the idea of smoke and lilac playing together, but the tart fruits and sweet tonka really ground this in almost edible tones.

[shelldoo]

in the vial:sweet, faint, clean hint of vanilla

 

wet:man how yummy this is! tonka and benzoin are the most obvious and something faintly floral.

 

this ends up a soft, sweet vanillay (tonka) blend, there is a hint of musk, a hiont of floral, but tonka is the most prominent. it is simply gorgeous!

Edited June 12, 2007 by shelldoo

[edenssixthday]

Lysander – This is a strange scent on me. It’s sweet to the point of being almost foody, and it’s very woody. It actually reminds me a lot of Ventriloquist Dummy, even though it doesn’t have the same notes. The longer this is on my skin, the more the blackberry leaf comes out, but the overall scent is screwed up by the benzoin, which tends to smell weird on my skin. The throw is light but the staying power is quite strong. This is one for the swap pile.

Edited June 14, 2007 by edenssixthday

[Keslynn]

I find this scent to be really hard to describe (though I'm obviously giving it a shot ).

 

In the imp, Lysander is an old time cologne-y kind of smell.

 

On my skin, he turns into a woody scent, but it's not a deep woody scent. I'm definitely in the woods, but this is the bracken rather than the trees. Small thin branches without the deepness of a true tree scent. I'm picturing tangled sun-dried vines across a forest floor. Upon further whiffing, I think I can catch the barest hint of the lime rind and a little of the benzoin. I was hoping that I would get more tonka from this blend, but no such luck.

 

I was on the fence about this one. It's lovely but I wasn't sure how often I'd wear it. Then I had my boyfriend sniff. He got the look of love and said "smells like that perfume that gives me a hard on."

 

Verdict: Definite bottle purchase.

[Extispex]

 

Wow... just... wow.

 

In the bottle its a complex melange of tonka, citrus and the sweet-spicy edge of benzoin. I would happily sit and sniff this from the bottle all day. In fact, I kinda been doing that since my order arrived. I can't seem to put the bottle down.

 

On, wet, yummy. I agree with other reviews that the tonka dominates. And at the wet-stage kind of combines with the lime rind to create a kind of smoky coconut smell. It is utterly delicious.

 

Upon drying, it sweetens a bit, and the citrus fades. Tonka still dominates but its beautifully enhanced by the other notes. The musk adds a subtle sensuality and everything about this blend is so rich and sweet. Sniffing it from my wrist makes me grin like an idiot.

 

I am SO HAPPY I went ahead and got a bottle of this.

[nikkoblue]

Whoooooaaaaa! This is one strange scent on me!

 

In the bottle, it's light and pretty with something appealingly sinister underneath......dark woods with bright sunlight.

 

I put in on and !!!! it turns into Bad Luck Woman Blues on me. I'm all WTF? CARAMEL? my skin must be interpreting the tonka or benzoin as caramel. Into the swap pile it goes.

 

15 minutes lates BLWB is gone, and I'm got a rich, slightly dark, woody, almost salty, nicely mossy scent. This may be a keeper after all. The violet isn't doing anything terrible to the scent, which I like.

 

I'll have to try this one a couple more times.

Edited June 15, 2007 by nikkoblue

[bombus]

I am getting the tonka most strongly, which reminds me of smoky vanilla. I like tonka but was hoping that the violet and blackberry leaf would make more of an appearance. I think I will keep the imp but I don’t need a full bottle.

[Heavenlyrabbit]

This is a more virile version of Mr. Nancy.

 

I love it.

 

Tonka and Lime with a bit of cologne.

[LadyCrow]

In the imp: Heavy on the tonka.

 

Wet: I'm getting the lime and lilac, too, but my first impression wet is that this is almost weirdly foody.

 

Drydown: Only minimal to moderate throw on me, but now all the notes are finally beginning to combine charmingly instead of just sort of jumble around. The tonka has receded a bit, and now I get the sharper benzoin; it does go a bit cologne-y here, but I finally get a bit of blackberry leaf close to my skin and violet further away in the throw. Okay, now I'm starting to understand how somebody could find this guy handsome. Or is that just the spell?

 

Verdict: Nice and light, very seasonally appropriate in that way. The lilac is more subtle, at least for me, than it is in His Station and Four Aces -- but then, like Robin Goodfellow, it's well-blended enough that one has difficulty picking out a single top note (after that initial few minutes of Monster-Bait-ish buttery tonka). The play aside, the scent picture that comes back to me isn't necessarily gendered.

[jasmine]

Spicy. Interesting! Freshly applied, this manifests on my skin into a spicy, warm wood with just a breath of coolness underneath. It strikes me as distinctly masculine from the very beginning (drat). It isn’t a sensual smell at all -- just a warm smell. It makes me smile, though... there’s something innately comforting about it. (The tonka, maybe?)

 

I really can’t identify any individual notes in this. It’s just a warm, masculine smell, and, despite reviewing the notes, I can’t pick a single one out. Like many of the Lab’s creations, it takes disparate elements and coaxes them into chimaerical coherence.

 

Later on, the benzoin and lime come out, and the woodiness fades out. Oddly, it’s still warm-smelling -- that must be the tonka. Despite all the leafy ingredients, it doesn’t smell leafy. Odd.

 

Lysander is nice, but I really can’t see myself wearing it. I’d recommend it for men who want to project an aura of friendliness without any associated allure... and that’s about it. (Of course, I have a few scents that I wear for exactly that reason -- 13 in particular -- but I don’t feel I’m the right gender for this one.)

[taramarie]

In the imp and wet on my skin, Lysander is very green and earthy. Dry, he turns into more of a vanilla scent. Lysander's very light, even barely there. I may have to let him age a little before I try him again.

[euterpe414]

This is very very much lime on my skin sweetened by the tonka and benzoin. There are hints of the flowers and greenery which give this blend a cologne-y edge to it. Lysander seems similar in feel to Whitechapel, although it doesn't turn musty on my skin. So, if you want a blend like Whitechapel but it didn't work on you, I highly recommend this. This is more of a men's scent to me (i.e. cologne like), and not one that I would choose to wear, but I very much enjoy it nonetheless.

[Rheliwen]

Lysander is not all at how I imagined. It's almost caramel-y and reminds me of Red Lantern with a more mild musk.

 

I figure I get the tonka the most followed by the benzoin and lime. The blackberry leaf and lime are giving this a bitter edge. I can't detect the wood violet but then again I don't know what it smells like, lol.

 

Strangely foody and slightly bitter.

 

ADDITION: I thought that I didn't give this one enough credit so I put another thick layer on, went out into the heat of the day and immediately decided it smelled like sweet lighter fluid...weird...

Edited June 26, 2007 by Rheliwen

[Emma2403]

I hope tonka won't ruin the whole thing as it often does for me :/

 

In the bottle: okay, the characteristic burnt plastic small also known as tonka is terribly prominent. I recognize lime and lilac behind (both lovely little things struggling not to be totally killed by nasty tonka!).

 

On my skin: it burns and smells like burnt tyres. Nothing else. It makes me think of Red Lantern (and that's NOT a good thing).

 

After a while: well, I have to scrub it off, it was really burning and tonka makes me nauseous.

 

Verdict: it probably would be lovely without tonka.

[supremegoddessofall]

Very foody but not fruity, which is what I was expecting given the notes. The lime, lilac, and tonka make this somewhat of a masculine scent. It's a subtle men's cologne, with just a bit of tang to make it interesting.

[tartchef]

Lab frimpage:

 

Eh. I'm getting a faint whiff of Emma2403's burning something - faint, but enough to turn me off the whole thing. I'm blaming the blackberry leaf, as the scent is reminding me a lot of the raspberry leaf tea I drank during my pregnancy... There's a trace of lilac musk & something dry & cologne-like lurking in the background, but none of the lime, & none of the lovely roundness of the tonka. Ah well...

Edited July 2, 2007 by tartchef

[Little Bird]

Wow. Lysander is quite possibly my biggest perfume disappointment ever. I *love* the lab's blackberry, and I'm a big fan of tonka, lime, and lilac. I didn't think that there was any way that this couldn't be awesome. It really does have something of a burnt rubber and chemical smell to it though (which isn't like any tonka I've ever tried). At first there were hints of something like a burnt caramel sweetness (scorched creme brulee) to the overall sharp, chemical fragrance.

 

I wore this all day in the hopes of it mellowing out and morphing into something else. At best, this is a cheap, slightly powdery, musky, men's cologne fragrance on me. It's sharp and unpleasantly smoky on my skin. Mostly, Lysander makes me smell like I got into some bad chemicals. It is nothing like what I've come to know from any of the listed notes. So strange, and so disappointing

[PurpleHeather]

In the bottle: Spicy, warm. Something I've not encountered before, maybe the tonka?

 

Wet: Distinctly curried, warm & spicy. Very nice.

 

Later: Fades very fast to a warm baby powder. Not what I was wanting. I think I'll give it a week and re-try, and if it still goes talcy then It'll be a swapper

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is spicy vanilla bean with loads of tonka...

 

once applied i get a few florals cobined with the heavy base notes...

 

this gets very heavy at this point...and stays that way

 

after 15 - 20 minutes something gets almost bitter or celery-like...

 

i so wanted to love this but my chemistry mucks it up

[Em-]

This blend is the absolute perfect complement to Hermia. Rich and creamy with a hint of resin, the lime and the herbs and the blackberry blend to add just a touch of mystery, a dollop of masculinity, a drop of virility...and the floral notes, on someone who can wear lilac and violet, would add just the perfect touch of the feminine. Unfortunately, I am not that person, and I weep.

[arsenic]

In bottle: Smells of myrtle and benzoin. Tickles the nose a bit.

 

Wet: Myrtle, with minimal hints of vanilla and lime. It has no throw at all, otherwise I'd worry about smelling like upscale Vicks. I'm not getting any floral out of it.

 

Dry: The lilac musk comes out once the camphor scent dissipates, but it's still a bit spicy. There's some vanilla and something woody. After some hours it got sweet, as if I was a toasted coconut candy decorated with sprigs of lilac.

 

This scent makes me want to dress up and go play the ponies. (I have no idea why it reminds me of horse racing.) I think the oil might change as it ages, so I'll store it for now.

Edited July 12, 2007 by Essa

[modernsaints]

Oof! HEAVILY tonka. Tonka SN running by and smacking me upside the head. TONKA! It also gives off this lovely, almost shea-butter-type waft, for some reason... very creamy and cool, and yet very heavily foody.

 

If I focus, I can get a tiny sparkle of lime and citrus, but just barely.

 

Sadly, I have more than enough foody, creamy scents, and this one is oddly heavy-handed. I shall have to pass it on!

[GypsyRoseRed]

Hmm. I don't get anything even vaguely foody from Lysander. Mostly, I can pick out the lilac musk, tonka and benzoin but the lime makes a brief appearance just before it dissapears inside of 20 minutes.

[filigree_shadow]

If lilac musk is what I'm smelling here, I like it. (I don't think I've ever smelled lilac musk before.) This isn't something I'd describe as "floral" at all, but there's a very slight floral undertone. My overall impression is that this is mostly a masculine scent.

 

Unfortunately when it's dry the myrtle comes out strongly. That might be great except I don't like myrtle. It smells herby and dusty. This doesn't smell foodie AT ALL on me.

 

Sadly this one isn't going to work for me. I think the myrtle and the blackberry leaf make it a little too dry/dusty for me. If it was mostly tonka and lilac musk on my skin I'd probably love it. However, apparently my skin had other plans.

[Holly]

Wow I am really not sure what happened here...I love most of the notes, but once it's on my skin it turns into acrid, burning maple syrup. I'm guessing it was just my skin's reaction to the tonka, but egads, that is not a pretty smell.

 

I was so excited for this one