Absinthe v5

[fairnymph]

Sniffed: Extremely pale, nearly colourless yellow oil. Creamy vanilla licorice with a hint of woody-herbal and boozy wormwood on the finish.

 

Wet: Sharper, more wormwoody, more herbal, and oddly floral-soapy - um, jasmine? Still that vanilla-licorice base that's foody and rich, but that sour jasmine note is not working for me. Also, a hint of spice - this is not licorice, it's anise, but I get something sharper, maybe a peppercorn of some sort. There's also a powdery note now, which makes me suspect another floral and/or amber.

 

Dry: Wow, this goes almost instantly sort of dusty on me - definitiely a very powdery sort of amber. I get a strong sense of warmth. Then again, the amber is also quite creamy - I get a bit of a L'Estate feel. The jasmine and wormwood remain light, while the vanilla and anise are holding well. I'm still not sure what that slightly soapy note is - maybe a rose of some sort? Yeah, I think so. That peppery note has faded, so I think it's white pepper, or else just an aspect of the anise, or maybe there's some star anise in here, too?

 

Summary: I do think that soapy nose is definitely a type of rose - it reminds me of dried roses, old bouquets. The jasmine is faint, not at all dominating - it reminds me a lot of the jasmine note in Peach Moon - it's there, and I can't *not* smell it so it sort of nags away in the background, but it's almost the last note to hit my nose. This is really about the warm, powdery amber, vanilla, and wormwood/anise - the wormwood has amped up a bit, gone a little drily woody in a slightly masculine way. Great throw & longevity.

[zankoku_zen]

Ah, this was an herby licorice, slightly sugary on the drydown (I swear, there's vanilla in this). And on the drydown, the amber appears. This blend goes powdery on me. Eventually dries to a vanilla amber powder on me.

 

Where did the licorice go?

[crebbsgirl]

After an initial blast of licorice and vanilla, the licorice seems to have burnt off and I'm left with a sugary sweet vanilla with a dash of herbs. It's VERY light on me, but refreshing and comforting all at the same time. There is amber that comes out much further into the drydown for me, but it's very faint on my skin and almost impossible to detect if I wasn't looking for it.

[angelicruin]

I'm going to agree with the vanilla & licorice prior reviews. Very reminiscent of Humbug on my skin right after initial application. As it begins to dry, I still have the licorice scent on my skin, but the vanilla turns more smoky, but not heavy smoky. I like this version of Absinthe almost as much as v7.

[myth]

Vanilla, and some astringency? I can't decide whether I think the astringency is anise or not. But there's also a softness that reads as vanilla, I think. Kind of creamy. This is not my type of scent really, but it's not bad.

 

Hm.. As it dries something begins to read a little as latex. Later still woody anise resolves out of the mix.

 

At final dry-down v5 & v7 smell very similar, sort of chemical-latex vanilla.

[bheansidhe]

I like this better than the released Absinthe or Absinthe v7. I get lots of true licorice, which is sweeter and more reminiscent of a black vanilla bean than licorice-flavored candy would lead one to believe. There's a touch of woodsy bitterness from wormwood, and a mild anise-and-hyssop tinge, and a gentle true lemon in the background. Not a ton of throw, but it wears well, and stays sweet without devolving into candy.

[Little Bird]

First on, this smells like black licorice and powdery vanilla with a bitter, herbal feel that's reminding me of the chamomile that I hated in Sachs. As it dries down, this goes through a phase of smelling sharply of woodsmoke on my skin, and then settles into sweet powder and a hint of something that smells like amber or wood on my skin. I wish that the black licorice smell stuck around longer on me, but there's something about this scent that I find oddy appealing, even with the powder, sharper smoke and herbal tones. A lot of the prototypes don't morph or change much on my skin, but I keep catching hints of sweetness and something almost incensey from this that I enjoy.

[Cali]

Agree with the herbal liquorice notes. It's far more soft and sugary than actual absinthe i've had though, and no anise (though the sugar could "reference" that, i guess, but this is more of a brown sugar than an anise sugar if that makes any sense to anyone but me). Actually very enjoyable!

[Estamets]

This is a supremely gorgeous cool vanilla spiced with a touch of anise - just enough to make it interesting, not enough to give me hangover flashbacks.