Sybaris

[Little Bird]

The pinnacle of wealth, luxury, self-indulgent pleasure, voluptuousness and sensuality. Bright violet with sweet clove, Mediterranean incense notes and tonka bean.

Violets tend to either be sickly sweet and cold on my skin or they go soapy. They are sickly sweet in Sybaris. Smelling this leaves a bad sweet taste in my mouth. The clove starts to make its presence known after a while, adding a light spiciness under the sweetness of the violet.

After 15 minutes, Sybaris smells like soap and bubblegum on me .

It is mostly faded after an hour. When I smell my wrist closely, this smells very watery. Like a swimming pool filled with chlorine. Sweet, cool, and wet. I wonder if this is just the violets doing odd things with my skin chemistry? I never smelled tonka or incense.

Very odd.

[Firewaver]

"Violet, you're turning violet, Violet!"

I think of the scene in Willy Wonka when Violet chews the full meal gum.

 

Most of what I smell is pure violet, alas. The clove kind of sticks it's foot in the door, but adds a strange soap smell to the already soapy violet. Violet never quite works on me, though I wish it would because I love the word "violet". It seems like it should smell so much better.

 

Oh dear, now I'm getting a sour smell.. a bit like old ladies sweating in a gym. An odd smell that I don't really want to picture.

 

I wanted to love this one.

[AlaskaSnows]

In the Bottle: Pure violet.

 

Drydown: Lots of violet, could smell a smidge of the clove in background.

 

Dry: violet overlaid heavily by tonka, clove waaaay in the background. Almost no throw, a very subdued scent.

 

I do like it, just wish I could smell it more.

[aessedai]

I got this when I realized it was violets i liked in Le Serpent... and I was not let down. This oil has the same gentle, sweet violet that I love so much.

It's my second favorite violet oil.

[BlackWingedRoses]

Ah Sybaris, why do you do this to me? I thought you loved me, but you broke my heart. As one of my most anticipated imps, I was hoping this was going to work for me.

 

In the bottle this had a medicinal shampoo scent.

 

On my skin the first impression was a metallic odor like aluminum foil or as my mom remembers Desitin Baby diaper rash ointment.

 

Drying down I could faintly smell the violets with a tinge of insense but I was reminded by the smells of a dentist's office. Metal fillings.

 

Good thing it works on my mother. It's a keeper for her. And the violets come out beautifully with her skin. I'm not sure what reacted so badly with me, but I'll have to find out so I can avoid it in the future. Usually I really like violets scents. Oh well.

[silver_springs]

Medicine cabinet! This smells exactly like the one cabinet in my house that we keep all the medicine in. Blah.

 

Sybaris (a frimp from my Bearded Lady order) is the first bpal scent that I've strongly disliked. Something in it doesn't agree with me at all. The overwhelming smell of medicine gave me a headache and I had to wash it off after about 25 minutes.

 

The Raven, another violet scent didn't do this at all and I quite liked that one. So I can only think it's something else in the mix that doesn't agree with my chemistry.

[Phaedra]

This was a freebie from the Lab and one that had been on my wishlist. This goes on as a very soft, dusty floral. After a couple of minutes a sweet fruit note develops and also a warm note that might be the tonka. After several hours this is powdery and warm with faint vanilla and violets maybe. This is really nice, regal and sophisticated. I'll keep wearing this imp and see if I want to get a bottle at some point.

[Sheila]

Oh. Yum.

 

This is like Lush's Skinny Dip but less intensely clove.

 

At first, violets and spices--that's the clove. As it wears, it becomes deeper, sexier, spicier--but always that soft floral note in the background.

 

Onto my big-bottle list it goes!

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

A generous frimp from the Lab. I am slightly hampered in reviewing it because the name unfortunately reminds me of "syphilis."

 

Hm, it's a very soft oil--violets always have that powdery, candied quality to me; I've never met a violet I just loved. The spices add a nice touch, but I'm not getting tonka or clove. Verdict: harmless but not very special on me.

[Orodemniades]

Erm, smells like grape soda, with a bit of smoke?

 

Hours later and I can smell the cloves and violet, but it's incredibly faint. Having said that, I really, really, really like this...might go for a bottle. Or at least another imp. In fact, could this be the BPAL viol;et scent that I adore???

 

Oro

Edited November 11, 2005 by Orodemniades

[korshka]

I received Sybaris first and fell in love at first sniff. It is full of warm spices and clove. It is very rich and comes off a little smoky. In addition to the beautiful mix of spices is a soft vale of tonka (vanilla-ish). It softens and helps to bend the spices together to keep them from becoming a chaotic and sharp mix.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: this was a freebie from the lab, and i can't believe i haven't picked it up sooner, since i like all of the notes. the violet is wonderful, and the incense and tonka are both equally strong. very pretty.

on: lots of violet, with dark clove underneath. a nice balance of cool and warm. the incense and tonka are in the background.

1 hour later: lots of violet and tonka. the clove and incense aren't really there, but this is just fine with me.

1.5 hours later: the violet is a hint soapy, but the sweetness of the tonka is taking care of that.

4.5 hours later: i still get violet wafting up, but that's pretty much all.

6 hours later: a very soft and powdery violet.

overall: i love violet, so i love sybaris.

[Voleuse]

On first sniff, this is a perfect balance of violet and clove. In mere seconds, however, this morphs into wet mop on me. Ew! And disappointing--it smells really nice in the vial. To the swap pile with this!

[aedes]

Smells like a hot tub! Heh, I can't quite pick out why. I think it's the violet or the clove, but it smells like bath salts and steamy, bubbling, perhaps slightly chlorinated water. At first I thought "no way" but I'm sort of enjoying the spa smell. Now to figure out how to make bath salts with it...

Edited January 1, 2006 by aedes

[moon_lemming]

For once, this is not something that smelled good in the imp then battled with my skin. I dislike this one straight off. It's tolerable in the imp, not good, but not deadly -- but god, my skin amps all the wrong notes in this one. There's a sharp almost piney scent that just makes my teeth ache and the inside of my nose feel like I'm breathing frigid air. Ow.

 

After looking at all of the reviews, I'm not sure what went wrong -- I'm a fan of violets, but maybe it's the violet/clove combo that's putting me off? I don't know, but it makes me a little sad, because whatever the other reviewers are smelling sounds exactly like what I hoped Sybaris would be. This wasn't straight from the Lab, so maybe it was stored incorrectly or something. I might try another imp some time just to make sure.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Spicy violet

 

On Skin: An interesting mix of scents… The violet seems to dominate and is very powdery, while the clove and spices dance around it. The tonka bean provides an all over sweet note that keeps everything in harmony. This scent is very light, almost a ghost of a scent. Usually aged scents turn stronger… hmmm… I do like it, but it doesn’t feel sensual to me. Actually, I’m not sure what I get from this scent since it seems hard for me to describe. A spicy floral that fades quickly and doesn’t quite leave an impression with me… sorry… I’ve never had a BPAL scent leave me this befuddled.

[judas_kiss]

This was gifted to me by a very generous forumite... you know who you are and I you!!

 

Imp: Violets and spice. I get a heavy clove note in the bottle.

 

On me (wet): Very strong on the violets (which is good for me because I LOVE violets) with an underscore of spice and woods. Near the end of the wet phase, the clove really comes out to play.

 

On me (dry): Oh jeebus. I need to stop being enabled or I will have to have another child and sell him or her to support my BPAL habit. Seriously, this turns into the perfect Violet scent I have been looking for for a while. The violet recedes just a tinge and the tonka and spice come forward to play some more. I love this. It has a similar feel to Morocco, but with Violets. I would say this is a purple, regal, velvet scent. Gorgeous, simply gorgeous.

 

Overall: If you like violets, GET THIS NOW! I absolutely loved it. This is not your grandma's violet, ladies. This is violet dressed up in some six-inch whore shoes to dance the night away with some rich Italian man named Sergio!

[Wench457]

Sybaris ITB: Sweet, like honey.

 

On: heavily fruity and floral, with a bit of spice.

 

Dry: sour and stale on me, rather unpleasant actually. Another beautiful-in-the-bottle scent ruined by my wacky chemistry.

[arabella]

First Impression: A smoky floral.

 

Dries down to: The violet becomes much more obvious but still stays smoky. In addition, a spicy note emerges.

 

Additional Comments: The clove is an interesting pairing with the violet but I'm not sure how I feel about it. It works in LUSHs Skinny Dip but this isn't similar to me at all - the smokiness is the most prominent note and I'm not getting the tonka bean whatsoever. This one just didn't do it for me; so, I'll use up the imp and be done with it.

 

Lasted: Several hours.

 

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

[storme]

In the bottle: violets, incense. Uh-oh, those don't go well on me.

 

On me: hunh. A nice, warm, spicy scent, instead of the sticky swampy morass I feared. Crazy. My SO likes this a lot, and while I'm not quite as keen on it, it's nice enough. Fades pretty quickly, mind you.

[loves_requiem]

heavy on the violet...tones down to a pretty spicy light girly fragrance...but unfortunately not for moi.

[poppycocteau]

Sybaris starts off smelling of pink washroom soap and a bit of baby powder. After a while on my skin it becomes spicy and sweet, and the scent seems to become quite a bit stronger! I don't think violets are ever going to work for me, they remind me too much of *cough*pink washroom soap*cough* but if a violetty Florence sounds like your kind of thing, then you might just love Sybaris.

[Medici]

In the imp: Num num num violet and tonka!

 

Wet: Violent violet, bit of greenery underneath and... dry earth? Wierd.

 

Drydown: Violent violet again. It's pretty much set the pace for this blend and I can't get away from it. I might have to revist later to see if any of the other notes would like to pay me a visit.

 

Verdict: Undecided.

 

ADDED Oct. 4:

 

Wet: Violet and… vanilla? It’s a little creamy.

 

Drydown: It’s the tonka. It’s going all play doh on my wrist. Woe of the woes. It might be anything “Mediterranean” actually – since Athens does the exact same thing. This also gives me the same impression, dry, washed-out shores and a hint of sun-dried spice.

[Cielamara]

Sybaris was yet another gift from my friend in Massachusetts. I love people who are generous with their unwanted imps.

 

In the imp: I agree with what was said earlier in the thread--there is a generic spicy BPAL scent. I also refer to it as the "box scent", the aroma of any container that I use to hold my growing stash in for any length of time. Sybaris has got that thing going on. Still, I don't hold it against it.

 

Wet: Mmm, this is a little bit lighter than a lot of spicy scents. It is oddly clean-smelling for a blend heavy in spice. I suspect that is the influence of the violet. I'm smelling it rather strongly on me, but not unpleasantly.

 

Settling: Cinnamon. I smell cinnamon. Funny how that works, as there's no cinnamon in there. Aha! There is sweet clove! Holy Gods, there's a clove that works on me. How lovely. The previous blends I've tried that involved clove meant that the clove just SAT there on my skin like a big magenta toad. This one does not. This was what I expected out of Malice and didn't get. This is tasty.

 

Drydown: It was a relief to know that there is a clove out there that I can wear. However...I've already got so many spicy blends. I will probably be putting this one up for grabs, simply because I've already gotten the niche filled.

[Leda]

Wow, I love this! Sweet violets mixed with clove are the most obvious of the notes. And although I've never smelled the lab's carnation SN, to my nose the spice and sweet floral combo make this is a dead ringer to the scent of a fresh carnation.

 

While wearing, I kept getting flashes of something I recognize from Black Opal (the tonka, maybe?). And other times, something that reminds me of (old) Morocco.

 

Overall, this is clean, sweet, and spicy, but not cloying. Quite possibly entering my top 10. Definately a big bottle.

 

ETA: I recieved 2 imps of Sybaris in a swap, and they were different from each other. I can only assume that the one imp was mislableled, because it was so completely different from the first I tried, and the other reviews. Kinda smelled like lotus or something. While one was an instant love, the other was an instant wash-off! Weird.

Edited April 16, 2006 by Leda