Cytherea

[angelicruin]

White sandalwood, patchouli, white amber, orris, bourbon vanilla, champaca flower, and kush.

Immediately after application, I get patchouli and sandalwood. Bourbon Vanilla emerges soon after along with light floral notes. It's the same Bourbon Vanilla note I get in Sachs that I love so much.

Very well balanced, light, but fades a little fast.

[NoinHime]

Mmm... not my favorite.

 

It's not a bad scent but the patchouli in this one is a little much. I get a little bit of sandalwood and vanilla once it has dried but the patchouli, amber and other notes just are giving me this sharp, spicy, and almost masculine scent that I'm just not enjoying.

[tinyvulture]

I can really smell that dry orris note first thing. I’m usually not a fan of it, but it’s nicely tempered here by the soft, creamy bourbon vanilla. I am not really picking up on the patchouli. To me, it’s a dry floral scent with tons of vanilla, and then a little bit of sandalwood. Reminds me somewhat of Antique Lace. Kind of old-fashioned and ladylike, very pretty and sweet.

[kawaiiferreto]

Wet this is DRY and sharp. I can smell sandalwood in there for sure.

 

This is a dry woody floral on me. It's pretty, and almost powdery from the dry wood note, but overall is uninteresting. A plus though, is the champaca in this doesn't go gross on me. A first!

 

Changing my verdict a bit: The long-dry down on this is slightly sweet slightly floral sandalwood and I love it. I wish I liked the beginning more, as this is quite lovely.

 

[greenranger]

So, is that what Champaca flower smells like? This is coming across like a floral on me, but, nothing familar. It's soft, and elegant. It's also close to the skin.

 

The vanilla is warming up(my skin loves vanilla) and it is becoming a slightly floral vanilla, with a bit of sandalwood and resin in the background. It is the sort of scent that, while it doesn't bowl me over right off the bat, is likely to grow on me over time.

[fairnymph]

Light and faint in the imp - cologney. White amber, classic white florals, clean sandalwood. Extremely pleasant, but hard to tell when it's so, so faint.

 

Dry, woody, resiny. Heavy. A little powdery and a little sweet. Surprisingly unisex. I can pick out all the notes, but the woods and resins are dominating, not the florals. The vanilla, white amber and champaca make this possibly worthwhile.

 

ORRIS ORRIS DOOM. Oh how I hate you. I turn my back for 5 minutes and you are beating me with talcum powder, you evil whore. Um, I'm really not sure what else is going on, and I may have to run to the sink. Orris simply overwhelms me. It also goes a little sickly sweet.

 

Really intensely strong throw and lasting power, as usual with terrible orris blends. Ughhh. It's like a rotting old lady smoked some incense, spilled cheap fake vanilla perfume and talcum powder on herself, and then decided to smother me.

 

[Bamels]

Frimp. In the bottle I can smell the orris and amber which are notes that I amp that turn sour on me. On and wet I can smell the patchouli and the amber which is quite a sharp, spicy smell. I think I can smell the bourbon and vanilla coming through as it's drying and it's becoming more masculine. There seems to be a damp smell appearing as the scent develops I'm not sure what that is though, I can't say that I'm particularly keen on it. Nothing much else is happening with this, I can't pick out any notes, but it's reminisent of a damp towel after a shower.

[tailoredshirt]

This one was hard to describe, but I'm going to try!

 

In the bottle: I get the bourbon and vanilla, and it's sweet but not too sweet. Also some woods and incense. Maybe some musk?

 

Wet: Still the bourbon vanilla, with woods and incense. Initially, the bourbon and vanilla scared me a bit when I saw it on the list of notes because I'm not really into super sweet foodie scents, but this is nice.

 

After a couple of minutes: The bourbon and vanilla have evaporated a bit, and now it's more woods and incense. After a few more minutes, I can smell something kind of light and almost fruity-floral? It's very subtle, but I think it keeps it from being overwhelmingly incense-y. It's really pretty.

 

An hour and a half later, it has settled into a vanilla incense, with a hint of woods. It's also very faint now. I have to put my nose close to my wrist to smell it.

 

Overall: I like it, and I think people that like vanilla and incense would really like this. I'll just have to keep the imp close by when I use it so I can refresh throughout the day. I'm not going to order a bottle, but I'm definitely going to keep the imp.

[sarielswish]

 

In the vial, it smells like dishwashing liquid! Color, for some reason, day glow orange.

 

Wet on my skin, I'm getting a lot of amber, orris, and bourbon vanilla. Not bad, so far.

 

10-15 minute drydown - *gag* Flowers... too many flowers.... I would have thought the patchouli and sandalwood would have toned down the flowers but noooooo. The kush, vanilla orchid, champaca flower, and orris(iris) just overpower. Erk.

[countessmouse]

In the bottle, it was all soft floral. On my skin and for about half an hour, the orris and patchouli produced a smoky wood scent that was a little off putting, and had me worried that this would be the Mata Hari fiasco all over again. I stuck with it, however, and the bourbon vanilla and flowers finally pushed the smoky wood out of the way. It's quite lovely, but the throw is a little weak.

[Incendiare]

Something about this reminds me of Villainess, which I know isn't that helpful. Can't really peg down exactly which soap, but it has a very Villainess vibe to it. Surprisingly, I don't get any patchouli from this, which my nose always picks up on. Wet, I can smell the amber, and the vanilla smells perfumey, not warm or foody, probably because to my nose, the vanilla is woven into the floral notes. Glad I was able to snatch up a decant because although this is very nice, I don't think I'd be reaching for it too often.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Light and airy (and for me, a little sneezy). I don’t actually smell citrus in this, but it feels like the sort of scent that would be citrusy. If that makes any sense at all.

 

Wearing: It’s very very pale, almost ghostly, which matches the art beautifully. Pale wood, pale flowers, pale musk. Faded completely by noon.

[Balame]

What a bummer. I love literally every scent in this except for champaca flower, and what do you know? All I get is sugary sweet champaca flower. I wish I could get more of the dryness and complexity other people are talking about, but no such luck. It's just juicy and sort of like a generic floral shampoo.

[skyelyric]

Clearly, my skin chemistry is having a party with this. I get a sweet, syrupy, candylike violet impression, mostly likely from the orris, and the overall *feel* is the same rich syrupy vibe I get from O, though the smell is completely different. It's rich, complex, a little fruity, a little spicy, sweet in that syrupy, oozy sort of way...

 

And then I realize I smell EXACTLY like Dr. Pepper.

 

Cytherea doesn't have fantastic longevity on me, and it fades to a faint incency powder.

 

In a weird way, I love this, and I'm glad I swapped for a bottle unsniffed, but it's definitely not what I was expecting from the notes.

[ShannonElisabethJones]

I picked this one up on the forum, and I think it's from 2008.

 

My first impression is that it's kind of harsh-smelling. Like cold and dry woody flowering plants. I don't know...I can't really place it.

 

Just a few moments after application, it starts getting that weird sour scent that resins turn into on me.

 

It's not horrible, but it is a bit unpleasant on me.

[galahad]

In the Vial:

Faint sandalwood and orris

On the Skin:

Takes a little while to warm on the skin and bloom. Faintly incensey (light and sharp rather than dark), pale patchouli and a whisper of vanilla. The champaca adds a meaty floral note but is very restrained, just staining the whole blend and then the sandalwood starts to emerge which is a little rough and thin but just held in check by the other notes.

On the Drydown:

This is low throw and ends up as a faint sweet cardboard on my skin courtesy of the sandalwood. Sadly not for me

[roseus]

Started out with sweet patchouli and champaca, but turned into a powdery orris single note on me. Worth a shot!

[Katlastrophe]

A very warm, but dry and powdery scent of fragile woods, yellow grass and dried flowers and herbs.
I get some white pepper in it as well?
It is very "sepia" in a melancholy and beautiful way, like an old photograph.
I'm surprised that I enjoy it so much, because this is not close to my usual taste at all.

I compared it with Ask the Nearest Hippie in search of the "kush"-note, but Cytherea is so dry that it made Ask the Nearest Hippie smell like Nutella :I

I'm going to buy a bottle of this one.

[LizziesLuck]

2017 Version -

 

 

Wet: Dry, yet still sweet, warm glowing sandalwood. So pretty! There's almost a hint of spice to it as well, and something that smells akin to a really dry tobacco at first, but is actually the patchouli. Unfortunately, the patchouli amps up more and more. It's that really dry, earthy patchouli note that I am not particularly fond of. If I am correct, this scent will eventually fade out to just that note, which will get dryer and dustier until my arm eventually just smells like dirt. Hopefully I am wrong.

 

Dry: Slightly spicy dirt. You know, I would probably love this if it was meant to be a dirt scent. But it's not, I wanted it to be a sandalwood scent, so I am bummed. Not for my skin chem!

[Lucchesa]

Even wet, Cytherea is faint on me. I get pale sandalwood and pale patchouli and pale florals (champaca usually amps weirdly on me, but here I barely make it out). Dusty orris. Pale and dry is the overall feeling of this one -- I love how another reviewer likened it to an old sepia photograph, and I would agree, but it's kind of a half-tone of a scent for me. Pleasant, but not the blockbuster most of the grindhouse is on me.

[SimonsSays]

On 4/23/2014 at 5:45 PM, skyelyric said:

Clearly, my skin chemistry is having a party with this. I get a sweet, syrupy, candylike violet impression, mostly likely from the orris, and the overall *feel* is the same rich syrupy vibe I get from O, though the smell is completely different. It's rich, complex, a little fruity, a little spicy, sweet in that syrupy, oozy sort of way...

 

And then I realize I smell EXACTLY like Dr. Pepper.

 

Cytherea doesn't have fantastic longevity on me, and it fades to a faint incency powder.

 

In a weird way, I love this, and I'm glad I swapped for a bottle unsniffed, but it's definitely not what I was expecting from the notes.

 

 

I find it hilarious that the one other Skye I've found in this thread also thinks that this smells just like Dr. Pepper