L'Heure Verte

[cherrycherry]

Spilled absinthe, scorched sugar cubes, opium smoke, lilac blossoms, and rose water.

Wet in the bottle, I get powdery roses and sugar. It's watery and a distant scent, one that requires me to concentrate. On my skin the roses bloom and then I get a lick of absinthe and incense. It's so subtle. Very much a winner and glad I got a 5ml.

[stellamaris]

Never fails, I take a shower, douse myself with some BPAL, and I hear my daughter calling to me at the very minute I put the bottle back in the cabinet "Mommy! You got a package!" Sigh.

So I tried this one, but I have to retry later, as it was lovely, but quite faint. Still lovely though, and the sugar note is not too YOU ARE FOOD NOW.

 

Note from more than a year and a half later, this one is really so good, there are some days when I just have to have it, although I have not gone through the whole bottle yet, it's still a great "burnt sugar" scent. Not too sweet, not too girly.

Edited February 27, 2013 by stellamaris

[grrrlennyl]

On: Sweet, smooth, and powdery, with rose and smoke. Very, very nice.
Half an hour in: Mostly a sweet mint with a hint of flowers. I don't like it as much now; it's a bit sickly sweet on my skin.
5 hours in: Powdery and sweet, with a sharp edge.
Overall: This didn't smell great on me once it dried.

[lohengrin]

In the imp: It's a pretty faint scent, lightly perfumey but hard to detect any notes in particular.

 

On skin, wet: Lilac and a bit of smokiness from the opium.

 

On skin, dry: Soapy lilac, smoke, and something a bit sour.

 

After an hour: Soapy lilac and smoke. Darn lilac; I love you in flower form, but clearly you are not a friend of my skin.

[rhubarb3point14]

Gaaaaaaahhh, I wanted to like this, especially because of the lilac, rosewater, and opium notes. But every absinthe- or wormwood-related scent I try does exactly the same thing on me: It makes me smell like dust and soap. If anything, this was worse than any of the others.

[EricthoDesalamander]

I'm a bit of an absinthe drinker myself, and I have always enjoyed the scent of it, so I decided to buy a bottle.

 

I'm wanting to buy a backup so badly, because I know that I'll be out of this all too quickly.

 

I love the opening, how it starts out so green and bright. The rose and lilac quickly swoop in tempering the green, but there's a slight trace of opium in the background adding septh to all the floral and green. Only towards the very end to I catch the sugar, but it isn't overly sweet and is tempered by the last bits of opium smoke.

 

Gorgeous, beautiful, and very intriguing. And very intoxicating.

[vthesiren]

Gosh, this is strong on me. I'm not sure what absinthe smells like, but I definitely got the rosewater, lilac, and scorched sugar cubes (mmmm). After about an hour I'm just getting the smokiness. I am really, really liking this, and if it continues to dry down nicely, this'll be on my bottle list.

 

eta: I had to go out of state for some work last week, and in a small baggie, I packed my imps/decants of Hymn, Dragon's Hide, and this. I just nabbed a bottle of this on Etsy. Can't waaaaait.

Edited June 15, 2013 by vthesiren

[tharsei-thanate]

At first I'm mostly getting soft florals with a touch of sweetness and wisps of smoke from the opium. Nice, but not thrilling. Then it gets green, and the greenness adds a vague bitterness to the blend overall. Eventually, I can catch some sugar. Right now, it's gotten powdery.

 

This isn't necessarily a bad blend, but it's rather boring on me. Not worth keeping the tester.

[Anita]

All rose, all the time. I guess I can't even do rose water. Boo.

[Naomi Kelsey]

On me, this is a sophisticated older aunt of a fragrance---an Auntie Mame, if you will. The rosewater and lilac notes combine with the sugar and absinthe notes to create a very sweet yet dry, slightly powdery "old lady candy" (in the best possible way) scent. I love it! It's not for everyone, but it's like a story told by an older relative you never knew had a wild side. Light, sweet, floral, old fashioned, with a slight sting to it.

5 out of 5 (but for sure not a crowdpleaser)

[LizziesLuck]

Ack, this is so soapy! I think I may need to accept that opium and I are just not going to be friends, it's pretty consistently terrible on me. That's all I get out of this - soapy opium, soapy rose. Soap! Darn skin.

 

 

 

2017 version (hoping for a better result!)

 

 

Wet: Strong anise, sugar, and surprisingly the lilac comes through! Interesting! This is so much different than the very aged tester I tried of the original. Yes, there is a lot of lilac and sweetness with the booze and anise, and it's quite intriguing! There's something a little bit green about it, and a little bit sharp. There's also something a bit "chewy" about it, which I typically associate with tobacco (but this smells nothing like tobacco, just struggling to describe it). I have never smelled anything remotely similar to this before.

 

Dry: Dries down to absinthe and sugared lilac, which is a really interesting combination! I am not really sure whether I would wear it, but I am really glad I tried the new version, as it is SO DIFFERENT from the old version on my skin - either than or age ay make this turn soapy on me.

Edited September 1, 2017 by LizziesLuck

[Cali]

In the imp, green, juicy, medicinal.
Wet, this is very in your face, green!!! Cold rose water, sharp boozy note, slightly sugary. Indeed slightly liquorice-y/vanilla-y, it seems jarring, almost but it's not in a bad way. Doesn't change much from here besides that it amps and amps. I ...like it, I truly do... But I can't get myself to love this.

[joopjoop]

The first time I tried this, I wasn't impressed. Everything seemed both a bit jarring and a bit faint - hard to get a handle on all around.

 

Tried it again after it had a chance to settle and age just a bit and I like it much better now. This is very much an absinthe scent at its core, but there is something about it - it must be the opium smoke and the touch of burnt sugar - that tip it over into slightly debauched and maybe even a bit sinister. The whole thing suggests late nights, a little too much forced laughter and mad frivolity - a suggestion of trying to drink and flirt late into the early hours in order desperately stave off the unforgiving glare of the morning sun. The florals add to that impression as well - beautiful, but languidly draped over of a core of darkness. It smells nothing at all like it, but it reminds me of Anathema - all corrupted pleasures and decadent excess.

 

The longer I wear it, the more I like it. Do I need a bottle? I'm not sure. I just broke down and put a bottle of Anathema in my last order and I think that might scratch the same itch. Honestly I don't have a lot of opportunities to smell like a party girl from the belle époque so I'm not sure I can justify a full bottle of this fallen angel of the night as well. But I am tempted....

Edited December 9, 2017 by joopjoop

[Elspethdixon]

Wet/in the imp - Light/sweet anise (but more a floral/perfume-y sweet than a licorice candy sweet)

Freshly Applied - sickly-sweet anise liquor and a hint of hazy opium smoke. Heady and slightly overwhelming (and also not very floral)... except no, wait for it... there, at about the two-three minute mark, comes the fusty waft of indolic florals. Hello, wet stage of lilac.

Fifteen-twenty minutes in - Cool anise/absinthe, heady opium smoke, and a hint of fusty white floral that hasn't gone away. The throw is nice - cool anise with a hint of rosewater - but nearer to the skin it's all cloying and too-thick and the fusty hint of white floral lurks around the edges like maybe someone in the absinthe tent has stale, bad breath. On my hair, it's a cool, somnolent scent with a hint of alcohol that makes me think of an upscale nail salon. The Green Fairy likes to get pedicures and have her nails done. And the absinthe tent seriously needs a good airing out.

Drydown - Around the 1 hour mark, it started to fade and turn soapy - I guess they kicked the drunks out and are scrubbing the tent down.

The absinthe+nail salon scent stayed on my hair for the next eight-ten hours, btw, ages after it vanished from my skin. Don't put this one in your hair, folks.

[Lucchesa]

L'Heure Verte 2017 is heady.  I rarely wear florals, though I like lilac -- Eusapia and Cave of Treasures are favorites -- but L'Heure Verte is like sticking your head in a vase full of just-cut lilacs.  It's a little over the top for me.  Lilac, sweet floral opium that flirts with soap, and cool sugary absinthe.  I can't make out the rosewater but I imagine it's adding to the florals.  I will probably keep my imp because I'm very low on Eusapia and there might be a few days in spring when the lilacs are busting out all over when I might want to smell like this, but it won't be something I reach for often.  If you love lilac, though, you need to try this.  

[Threemoons]

Wasn't what I expected. In the bottle: Lilacs and roses, diluted by...something else, not sure what. On, wet: Faint notes of absinthe/anisette and a bit of white sugar syrup come out a bit. The sugar quickly outpaces the anisette but the lilac and rose still stay firmly on top of the situation. Low throw, odd staying power--the anisette doesn't stick around long; followed by the sugar gradually fading, and leaving a rose/lilac blend in its wake. I had really been hoping for a strong absinthe and burnt sugar/opium vibe, but this ain't it alas. It may need a little more time in the bottle--it IS tight in the bottle. I may also layer this with a tobacco note thing to see if it gives me more of the dark vibe I'm looking for.

 

[bkwy.aesthetics]

I'm a big absinthe fan, so the imagery of a fantastical absinthe den really caught my fancy. And while I enjoy the scent, this is much lighter and brighter than I expected. I was really hoping for a dark, dangerous kind of smell. But nonetheless, I am happy to have it! I think I'll make it into a room spray!

 

In Bottle: For me, this is the stage that the scent is the most complex: absinthe, rose water, and opium smoke are the predominant notes from most--least in that order. The sugar cubes add a faint sweetness at the end of the inhale. Lilac is an absentee here though.

 

On Skin: The rose water completely takes over the fragrance and the absinthe disappears. There is still a sweet and smoky edge to this rose water because of the opium smoke and sugar cubes, but this smells like a very traditional rose water kind of fragrance. Almost like an antique glass bottle of rose water that used to be kept in an absinthe den. The memory of it still hangs on, but it is rose water in the end.

 

Dry Down: This gives the essence of softly sugared rose water. Very light and soft

 

Wear Time & Throw: This is a skin scent from beginning to end, but becomes undetectable on my skin after about 5 hours