Khrysopelex

[thekittenkat]

KHRYSOPÊLÊX
Helmed in Gold
Caraway, amber, saffron, bergamot, and neroli.

Here's another that I was dubious of trying. Only the neroli is a good note on me under usual circumstances. Amber is a love, but sometimes turns to powder, and bergamot can become sharpish. Now that I've gone over the failings of my skin chemistry, no surprise here, this really didn't work on me. As expected the neroli sweetened the blend up, but the caraway was very very present, with its usual anise-like scent. (One that I don't like nor does it like me.) As this dried down, the amber became powdery. A ote seemingly missing was the bergamot, so that was surprising. I will say that this has a golden quality to it, because of the saffron, but I would not compare it to, say, Gold Phoenix. If the amber and the neroli had been more dominant, this could have been very nice. Anything like a little anise on me goes a long way.

[kelpsoda]

NOTE: keep in mind that my nose is stuffed up

 

This is pure saffron! with some caraway. Very dry and dusty. I think there's a hint of neroli, but it's WAY overpowered. I'm not a fan of dust, so this is off to the swaps.

[greenranger]

In the imp and wet, allllllll caraway.

 

Dry, warm and spicy, but not sweet spicy at all. I get no flowers, just dry, warm, spices.

 

Once it has had some time on my arm, the caraway steps back and the whole scent blends a bit better. It's interesting, and I'm wanting to see what happens to it with some aging, as amber never really shows up on me until the oil has had a few months to develop. It isn't like anything else that I have sniffed, but, I don't know if that is enough.

 

 

[blktauna]

imp: spices

 

wet: very light bergamot with... what... oh caraway.

 

dry: tobacco-y light caraway. Oh huff there's that taste of saffron.

 

Interesting. Dry and spicy but sort of unremarkable. A bit on the masculine side. No throw and did not last at all on me. I had to huff.

[fairestrocza]

In the Bottle: An exotic baked good (caraway and neroli dominant)... the neroli is similar to the scent I associate with cranberry-orange muffins, but so much more appealing - maybe a muffin made by a high-end bakery that focuses on health (I'd expect to find tasty seeds in this muffin) without sacrificing taste.

 

Wet on Skin: very unusual, very exotic…

 

While Drying: I'd almost classify this as a foody blend, but more savory than sweet

 

After a Little While: golden spiciness; the bergamot is tempering the sweetness of the neroli

 

Later: everything pulls together to form a beautiful, golden scent

 

Final Thoughts: Neroli is one of my favorite notes, but it can occasionally go to syrupy on me. Here, it is beautifully complemented by the other notes. Throw is decent in the beginning, but it becomes more of a skin scent after a few hours. (This initial test was a very light application - I'll have to try it with a more liberal hand next time). While the caraway is definitely present, I do not get a licorice vibe from it.

Khrysopelex earns a 4/5 on my skin.

[melange]

Wet: Holy caraway, Batman! Let's give this one a little time to settle and hope that I don't regret doing two swipes from the decant.

 

An hour or two later, I get almost nothing on the back of my left hand where I originally put the oil, but quite a bit on the back of my right hand. The other notes are filling in the scent beneath the dominant caraway. It's quite interesting, definitely warm and dry. However, perhaps because of the sharpness and perhaps because it still seems savory, it isn't a smell that attracts me beyond the thought of lunch.

Edited February 26, 2010 by melange

[Mishinka]

In the imp: Now that is a very interesting scent. At first I get something very similar to Bastet, sweet amber with a kind of dry, warm background from the saffron, though there's just a very distinct note of rye bread.

 

Wet: ...it's rye bread. Slightly sweet, dusty rye bread, but rye bread.

 

Dry: It doesn't change much and it dies off quickly. I'm disappointed.

Edited February 26, 2010 by Mish

[Little Bird]

In the bottle, and on my skin at first, this smells very woodsy, and I was surprised that there aren't any cedar or sandalwood listed as notes. I guess it might be the amber giving me that woods impression. The caraway adds a minty/menthol smell to the whole thing, so that is smells like woods in winter on my skin.

 

As this dries down, it smells like everything is going wrong on my skin. Something turns unpleasantly sour and dirty, something else turns unpleasantly warm and powdery, and another note turns sharp, acrid, and smoky. Underneath the sour, powdery warmth and sharp smoke, this is sort of spicy and sickly-sweet-floral. It makes me want to gag :/.

[penemuel]

Seriously, startlingly rye bread caraway. I'm hoping as it dries down that the other notes will come out, but right now it's single-note caraway. It's definitely different, but not for me.

 

ETA: It definitely improves and sweetens up after dry-down, the amber coming out and making it richer, but the caraway/rye bread stage is kind of hard to weather. Think I will stick with my imp (and hope for an empty because ALL of the Mars scents have such lovely labels!).

 

ETA Again: A few hours later, this is REALLY nice. I'm getting a deep resinous scent with a little edge of spice. Now I'm leaning towards a bottle again... but I should try for a partial.

Edited March 1, 2010 by penemuel

[wl552]

Another horrible miss for me. It burns my nose with its powerful rotten wood smell and somewhere in the background is a sort of spearmint kind of thing going on.

 

After a little while, it's quieted down, but it's still pretty much straight up dried out wood. Just so not my thing. Not a keeper.

[theseagrows]

this is very mars-y. when it first hits my skin i get a kind of weird sour scent, but once it settles a bit more, i am getting pure red, hot spiciness. i thought pretty much every note in here worked well on me and i was 90% sure i'd like this, but i am not really liking it much with my skin chemistry. it has that hotness that cinnamon has, but is dryer and less...sweet? it reminds me of the desert-a parched, dry, spicy scent.

 

 

[megank4]

Yes!

That is it!

I couldn't figure out what it smelled like when first applied until I read the other reviews. It would drive me crazy otherwise, not being able to point it down.

Rye bread!

with maybe some caraway seeds and still warm from the oven.

Interesting.

[musichappens]

The only note in this blend that seemed to worry me initially was the caraway. This is mainly because I cannot stand the smell of it or the taste of it ... yuck! I was a brave little soldier, though, and decided to try the sniffie that I received in hopes that it would only be a background note. Within seconds of application it was clear that those hopes would not be fulfilled. On my skin caraway was all I smelt and boy was it strong. I should have stayed clear of this blend, but unfortunately my curiosity got the best of me.

[ami226]

Huh.... Reading the notes, I am pretty sure I get along with all except for the caraway. Not really sure what it smells like normally, but I am pretty sure that it dominates the first stage of this scent. It is a bitter wood. Almost like.... rye bread!! Yep. That is definitely it. It doesn't change at all from application to dry down on my skin.

[crebbsgirl]

K, I'm not gonna lie here. When I first applied this, I made Stink-face of Doom (if you have absolutely any questions as to what this looks like, observe a cat when they've smelled something "interesting" on the carpet or whatever. They sit with their mouth open and the most absurd look on their faces. This is the look I made.) The caraway was absolutely overwhelming when it was fresh on my skin. As it settled though, the bergamot and neroli came out and rounded this out nicely. The amber adds a little bit of softness and the saffron stays relatively quiet. It's a bit of a spicy/resiny citrus blend. It's quite nice. Yup, I like this one.

[gwynethr]

The caraway is the note I wanted from this, but it goes away within about a minute and it's mostly saffron and... something else. Not that that's bad, but caraway is one of my favorite tastes and I was so excited to have a smellie with that note! Dangit. Someone said this is dry and dusty, and I think that sums it up very well, once that caraway note is gone. Kind of... golden?

[ellebelle]

Neroli must be the type of orange blossom oil that is really bad on me as this smells like urine and hay. NOT what I want to smell like. I don't know what it is about neroli in particular, but all orange blossom, that just goes utterly rancid on my skin.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: This is caraway dominant. I mean very, very caraway. Realistically so. The other elements are detectable, but comparatively weak. Wet: Caraway, caraway… ah,, there’s the incense. I can’t tell if I like this one. It’s really confusing to my nose. Bread and incense… I’m just not sure if I can wear it. Dry: Okay, this is not working. I just don’t like smelling like pumpernickel.

[fairnymph]

Bright golden oil. Sharp, harsh, biting, did I mention SHARP? Very acerbic. And very spicy. Lots of saffron, some oddly savoury caraway, loads and loads of neroli (which like the saffron has a chemical/plastic tinge)...with nary any amber or bergamot.

 

Okay, better - it required effort to convince myself to apply this -the bergamot comes out in a major way, unusual for me with the lab's note, and I swear I get another sort of citrus note, mandarin, is that you? The neroli is also softer and more citrusy. The amber is the perfumey type and already has an edge of powder. Saffron still sharp and medicinal and caraway still rye-bread-evocative, but this is less spicy and harsh on my skin, thank god.

 

It has become super spicy and sharp again and it has VERY STRONG THROW. I can't concentrate on typing...let alone test multiple perfumes with this stuff on. The saffron and caraway have amped like crazy and the saffron has that slightly mentholic-wintegreen aspect that it usually does, while the neroli is a sharp chemical nose-stab. I can still detect the bergamot and mandarin, but they're totally overwhelmed. I am washing this off NOW, ugh. The worst of the Lupers so far.

 

:ack:

[anomie]

Imp: The caraway is leaping out at me and reminding me of nothing so much as rye bread. Nom!

 

Wet: Huh. Caraway and saffron? Grounded by the amber.

 

Dry: This kind of reminds me of a toned-down Sunbird - that same sense of dusty spice, but without the warmth. I'm not getting any of the bergamot or neroli.

Edited March 22, 2010 by Nomie

[angelicruin]

SAFFRON. Very strong saffron and caraway on my skin.

[milo]

Wet, this is all about the caraway. As it dries, I get a slightly citrus ambery herbal blend. It's actually quite strange to me, and the mish mash of scents isn't working. The effect after a bit is akin to something gone wrong in the kitchen. If you added caraway instead of cinnamon, or did a substitution that wasn't appropriate for the recipe. This would be unisex to me, but thankfully fades pretty fast.

[Schmoozy]

Caraway and saffrons mingles with amber. It's bright & spicy and the bergamot and neroli add a very decidely citrus kick. Unfortunately while I love all the notes in this blend the caraway and saffron are just too much. Maybe if they hovered in the background, instead of being the starring players there would be hope for this. I'll let it age to see if they calm down.

Edited March 24, 2010 by Schmoozy

[mimosa]

I just get caraway, sweet and fresh wet, then dry and dusty as it dries on my skin. Not for me

[superpopkid]

I was excited to experience a perfume with caraway and saffron - two ingredients I like very much in my cooking - and bergamot, which is just a note I love. I was even ok with smelling like pumpernickel bread, as some reviewers described. I like bread. What I wasn't expecting was to smell like bread wrapped in an ancient, mildewed cloth. Two layers to this: caraway and wet rot. This was disastrously gross on my skin. I kept sniffing for a while, to see if it would morph. The blend picked up some sweetness after about half an hour, but the musty smell never went away. If it had, I think this could have been really good. As it is though...Neeeeeeeeeeext!