Dionysia

[sunshinedaisybliss]

Wild plum, pomegranate, raspberry, Siamese benzoin, plum blossom, patchouli, frankincense, and mahogany.

This is like a naked romp in a mahogany barrel of luscious red berries while incense burns over in a dark corner of the room. Sweet.. velvety.. rich.. sumptuous and decadent. Yummy!

[cinderfallen]

I tried Dionysia fresh and it was a lot of fruit, BPAL style. Aged about 6 months now, the frankincense and mahogany have a real presence, acting like a dark and musky cloud that lifts the brighter fruit notes forward. Has the feel of Mme. Moriarty's patchouli/fruit without the creamy vanilla.

[Champagne]

I tried Dionisia fresh too, and it wasn`t love in spite of my deep love for plum notes. After 6 months the fruits are so much deepened by the frankincence and the mahogany that it became a sexy blend! It seems to have a weak staying power on me, and I smell just a little of evil patchouli presence.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – A plum and raspberry gin cocktail

 

Wet on me – Initially a sweet berryish hit, but then going softer and more feminine, but still with that slightly boozy background

 

Dry on me – A soft, warm, slightly musky vanilla with just a hint of fruits to round it out

 

Overall – My favourite Grind House Lady so far

 

[zee]

As soon as I read about this little lady, I had to have her. And just as I suspected, Dionysia made sweet plummy love to my skin. I was infatuated from the moment I got my first whiff.

 

So often these days I have a one-night stand with a scent only to never call them after. But I can tell we're going to be together for a long time, me and her.

[Indigo78]

On me this is fruit warm spices, like a syrupy mulled cider made from many different fruits. Something almost hoppy in the background makes me think of brewer's yeast for the first thirty minutes, and it really thickens the blend as a whole (looking at the notes, I guess this must be the mahogany). That note fades later on, and morphs into an almost edible fruity-floral. The frankincense isnt bold, nor is the patch, to my nose. They're so subtle you have to look - er - sniff for them.

 

In the end I get a scent-feel similar to the The Blood Garden, but lighter, prettier and sweeter. If you liked The Blood Garden, try this.

[tehriaz]

mmffghmmnnnm.

 

anyone who's heard anything from me before knows I am extremely picky about scents, and that even the scents I like in the bottle have about a 95% failure rate on me (80% bitter and 15% stale sweet, they all dry down exactly the same in either category.)

 

but this doesn't do either. I first tried it several months ago and didn't like it - it reminded me of smelling cheap scented candles and bloody splinters (seriously! it was a sharp woody red scent - bloody splinters. don't tell me you don't know what I mean.) but aging has done fantastic things to my half decant. I tried it today on a whim and now I need more.

 

this is PERFECT. mellow, rich fruits with a dirty woody undertone. I can distinctly smell the patchouli, and this is the kind I LOVE. not stinky headshop patchouli, but a true earthy smooth, almost golden kind. it has elements that faintly remind me of mme moriarty (naturally) but the two couldn't be more different on me. mme is horrendously stink-bitter, like all the worst smells in the world combined (seriously!) but this is smoooooth brown with a little bit of reddish rasp. I have this amazing fuzzy blanket that is a deep rich purply red with some kind of darker burgundy design on it, and this scent conjures the image/texture of the blanket. mnnfhhgh *eats arm*

 

if she stays like this in a couple weeks, and isn't just nice right now as a result of pms skin chemistry, this'll be a new top 10. it's not terribly crowded up at the top for me - out of 500+ bpal scents I've found under 10 that I can actually wear. it's so sad. so that's huge praise for this one

 

I also can't stand most of the CD art (wah wah blasphemy etc) but I like dionysia's art

[magikalbrownies]

i requested this decant and i was NOT DISAPPOINTED..

 

its the perfect blend of fruits and mahogany.

 

applied: POMEGRANITE and PLUM... the mahogany is pretty faint. as it ages, loads of mahogany in this wonderful whiff of all three...it just becomes more and more plum like as i wear it, (1 hr into it)

 

overall: this is going on the wishlist. i love this scent. i wish it smelled out of the bottle the way it does after a few hours on my skin but, its well worth the wait.

 

[Andrea912]

The plums, pomegranate, and benzoin is divine...

 

something is becoming gross; kind of sour...

[donnatron]

Bottle: SO MUCH PLUM! And pomegranate. And raspberry. Basically this is a really strong fruit blend with the slightest hint of patchouli and frankincense in the background.

 

Wet: Still really loud and a little scary. It's pleasant, just not distinctive. Reminds me of the Blood Garden, Fruit of Paradise, Kuang Shi, etc... The resins haven't really come out in any way and this is just not working on some level. The fruits need something to anchor them.

 

Dry: I've reviewed, um, a million fragrances today and kind of slapped this one on for no real apparent reason. But the drydown is AMAZING. The fruits remain and the patchouli and frankincense give this an amazing, resinous drydown. It's not overt and it's definitely not a headshop or anything of the sort. It's just a languid, sensual sort of fruit scent with an excellent background of base notes. The benzoin isn't really apparent unless I am inches away from my wrist but it is definitely adding a lovely sweetness to the whole thing.

 

Throw: For miles.

 

Overall: I like Dionysia. I think she's very, very pretty. But she's also very strong and doesn't have the greatest drydown I've ever experienced. Probably I'll hang onto the bottle and kick myself when I run out and the Carnaval has inevitably left town.

[Gin]

Dionysia

 

The strong patchouli in the bottle freaked me out a little bit, but on my skin, the plum and raspberry appear. Dionysia is so gorgeous. Fruit and patchouli, a little smoke, a little mahogany, a little booze (? maybe it's the fruits giving the impression of wine?).

[CynicalPink]

Imp: Plum, pomegranate and patchouli

 

Wet: Sweetened patchouli with a touch of rapberry.

 

Drydown: Sweet, tart, and really sexy! All the fruit smells great with the deeper notes like patchouli and mahogany. Benzion keeps this from getting too deep and dirty

 

Overall: Gorgeous! My favorite Grindhouse lady so far. Smells completely different than anything else I own even though it shares quite a few notes with Mme. Moriarity. It's not so patchouli heavy that it would be hard to wear out among the commercial perfume wearing public. I really think a bottle of this will be making its way in to my next order

[crebbsgirl]

Pomegranate and I are not friends scent wise. I really love the seeds, but clearly the scent does not like my skin. This was entirely too fruity for me. It started off on my skin along the same vein as The Red Queen, but the fruit quickly took over. The mahogany made a very brief appearance in the wet stages and quickly disappeared.

[Cheri]

So, I just got this yesterday from the lovely Noumenon, and had to try it right away. My sister-in-law was still here, but outside with the guys, after a day of shopping for house things that we didn't really need. I went outside and the first thing she said was "is that the new soap you just got that smells so good?" I wispered, so my husband wouldn't know that I just got yet another BPAL, "No, it's a new oil" She said "that smells REALLY good!".

 

To my nose, it smells a lot like Midwinter's Eve, so I guess mostly plum, but darn it's a good one! It's a bit sweeter and gentler than ME, and very pretty. Glad I got some before the CDs go away.

[rayvn1]

I can't explain why plum is suddenly so freaking good on me, but this is awesome! Rich plum scents and fantastic swirls of patchouli and resins. Keeper and one of my new favorite Grindhouse ladies!

[caseys]

Dionysa

 

Snap Judgements: Mahogany sounds absolutely yummy, although woods can be hit-or-miss for me. Plum and pomegranate almost always work. Overall, I’m expecting good things from Dionysa.

 

In the Bottle: Patchouli and mahogany with a tiny plum blossom whisper in the background.

 

Wet: This scent feels slick and smooth - like running your hand over a piece of lacquered wood. The dark fruit notes become slightly more prominent about 15 minutes after application, and there is a nice spicy quality that is probably contributed by the frankincense. I’m fascinated by the way the mahogany and patchouli are entwined in this blend. I can distinctly smell each one as an individual note, but at the same time they appear to merge into each other seamlessly. Crazy.

 

Dry: I still get the wood and patchouli at drydown, and the fruit comes forward a little more. I am disappointed that the spiciness doesn’t seem to last, and the throw really backs off a lot within the first hour. Sadly, at about 3 hours Dionysa completely morphs into grape Bubble Yum. Maybe raspberry doesn’t agree with me?

 

Final Thoughts: I had high hopes for Dionysa, and she actually smells pretty sexy on my skin for several hours, but I'm afraid I have to amend my previous analogy. This scent is like running your hand over a beautiful lacquered wood table, and then finding a big wad of grape gum stuck to the underside. I’m sure it is absolutely stunning on the right body chemistry, and it would probably work well in a scent locket. I’m not really a scent locket kind of girl, so I doubt I’ll be needing a bottle of this.

 

[Michi]

(I was lucky enough to receive a decant from someone, so just for reference I'm basing my review off the decant & not a full bottle.)

 

As soon as I sniff Dionysia, I get a lot of patchouli. Not the fancy aged stuff, the fresh essential oil you'd get from an herbal shop. There's a hint of fruity too, maybe plum, but it's hard to make out just on first sniff alone.

 

Once it's on the skin, though, the scent really blooms. The patchouli loses that hard hippie edge and mellows, blending with the fruits. After drying the scent doesn't seem quite as fruity, becoming more of a fruity/floral mix that's really pretty. It reminds me a lot of Bath & Body Works' Plumeria scent. It doesn't smell exactly like it, of course, but Dionysia's like a grown-up, exotic sister to the BBW scent.

 

Overall, I really like Dionysia. It's pretty yet sexy, and is one of those scents that could be worn for many occasions. It's also a really long-lasting scent--I tend to have trouble with some scents disappearing on me, but Dionysia likes to stick around for quite a while.

[NoinHime]

Another surprise like! I was afraid the patchouli and mahogany were going to ruin this one (as those notes don't like me) but they play surprisingly well in this one.

 

In the bottle you can definitely smell the patchouli but on me, once it has dried, the fruit notes really take a presence and the patchouli, mahogany, and frankincense take a back seat but at the same time keep this blend from being too sweet.

[tacey]

I'm having trouble with the wine note in this one. I was really looking forward to her, but there's a medicinal edge that I just can't get over. Might try again in a couple weeks, but unless it changes, I won't be keeping my decant...

 

ETA 2/19/2010: I found this decant in the bottom of my swaps pile, and I thought I'd give her another try. There's still a sense of wine, but it's much plummier now and not medicinal at all. There's something lovely and dark behind the plum and fruit that I'm really digging, too. Not sure about a bottle yet, but this is looking awfully intriguing now!

Edited February 19, 2010 by tacey

[Leopard403]

In the bottle and wet on my skin, this was too perfume-y on me, in an alcohol-y, medicinal, cheap drugstore blend kind of way.

On the drydown, too smokey and the plum was cloying.

Sad.

[Sawasdee]

In the bottle: Nail polish remover, made me a bit scared to try

 

On wet: Hello plum, I'm not able to make out the raspberry or pomegranate, which made me sad as I love those too, but the plum is awesome. There is also patchoulli, which my skin tends to amp and I'm not normally a fan of, but this was a perfect balance of 50/50 smoky patchoulli with the plum. There is a slight woodiness from the mahogany. I'm sitting at a mahogany table, with my mom burning incense at her shrine and there's a bowl full of perfectly ripe plums as the centerpiece.

 

Drydown: Slightly creamier and softer, but still keeping it's beautiful plum patchoulli vibe. This is sexy in a bottle, and I find myself reaching for this more than any other scent this winter.

 

5/5 The throw is amazing, only a small amount is needed, and the scent lasted all day. Love.

Edited November 13, 2009 by Sawasdee

[Venneh]

I got a tester of this as part of a PIF package from Dark Alice. Thanks again!

 

In the decant, I'm getting what smells like the mahogany and the patchouli/frankincense. No sign of fruit anywhere. On my skin, I'm not quite sure what I'm getting. Wood, and spice, with some fruits trying to fight their way forward. Hmm. We'll see how this goes. The fruits come out later in the drydown, and they're really sharp. The combination just doesn't work well on me, sadly. Ah, well; someone else is bound to like it.

Edited December 8, 2009 by Venneh

[MamaMoth]

Rich, sweet fruits backed by gorgeous resins and woods. Not too resiny or woody, not too candy-sweet or fruit-sour. Dionysia toes a perfect line and I adore her.

I can't distinguish the fruits very much. I was afraid of the raspberry a little bit, as raspberry scent can sometimes smell a little fakey to me. But it just blends in perfectly and doesn't jump out at me here.

 

This reminds me very much of Urd, which is a GC favorite of mine. If you liked Urd but wanted something a little more complex, Dionysia is your girl!

Edited December 9, 2009 by MamaMoth

[filigree_shadow]

I wish I had written down my thoughts about Dionysia when I first got the decant 18 months ago. The only thing I remember about it was thinking that it had benzoin, patchouli, and mahogany in it, so I'd give it a while to age. But now I don't remember what it was about the scent that I disliked when it was fresh.

 

I'll tell you what I do know, though: The aged version is FAB.

Raspberry notes sometimes go weird and chalky on me -- it's not.

Frankincense sometimes gets too high-pitched and sweet on me -- it's not.

This is all deep and beautiful with a plum overtone. The throw isn't super strong, but it's basically exactly at the level I like: I can catch whiffs of it from my wrist from time to time, but I don't feel like I'm sitting in a cloud of it. When I put my nose directly to my wrist, I don't like it as well (it's a bit too sweet), but the wafty scent is great. A deep, dark, sweet plum.

[loubric]

Patchouli, frankincense, and mahogany is all I smell and musk. Lots of stinky musk.

No wild plum, pomegranate or raspberry.

 

I really wanted this to work on me but my skin wouldn’t allow it. *sigh*

 

I think I might have put too much on so I wiped some off my skin and the scent has died down a lot and smells much prettier on me. I can smell a little plum.

 

Still not for me, but better than when I first tried it.