Ides of March 2010

[Wish]

IDES OF MARCH 2010
The Ides marked an auspicious time in the Roman calendar. Depending on the month in question, the Ides fell on the thirteenth or fifteenth, and usually marked the Full Moon. As we all know, it was not an auspicious day for Julius Caesar, nor was it fortuitous for H.P. Lovecraft, who also met his maker on this infamous day. Tu quoque, Brute, fili mi! A mixture of springtime greenery and classical Roman cologne: dark musk, spikenard, bergamot, lemon rind and vervain with costus, benzoin, gray amber, cardamom, and white narcissus.

yay! my first bpal scent and review!

In Bottle: ooh, earthy, but light. grassy!

Immediately on: Hello, lemon!

After warming a bit: earth tones are fighting back and it's balancing out well. Still smells like clean earth.

after a few hours: still there, but mellowed a bit. really strong for the first hour or so, but now it's manageable. Still there and noticeable, but not distracting. The bergamot, amber and musk have shown up and softened the edges on the initial "OH GOD LEMON" scent. Something is a bit powdery about it (probably the floral of the narcissus finally coming through) , but it's not too feminine even then- still strong and androgynous.


I really like this scent. It's earthier than my usual choice, but it manages to be earthy and not too heavy at the same time. I can see both men and women happily wearing this.

No stabbing in this bottle! Just good scent.

[edenssixthday]

Idea of March 2010 - I haven't smelled the 2009 version, but this is very different from the 2005 version, which was highly floral (in a gender neutral way!) on me. This opens with the scent of dark musk and herbs and smells slightly masculine in a cologney sort of way, but within minutes, that masculine cologne scent dissipates, and what's left is a gorgeous herbal scent that's slightly dark and yet perfect for springtime. The only note that really stands out on its own is the cardamom, which is one of those scents that just loooooves my skin (and I love it in return ). It's surrounded by a really well-blended dark herbal and faintly floral loveliness. This is really pretty. It's a winner!

[Invidiana]

Wet, this is so overpoweringly lemony/herbal that I was ready to just wipe it off and the hell with it, but knowing that my skin typically does away with those things on the drydown of an oil, which has led to some miracles in the past, I decided to give it a chance. A couple minutes later it was completely unrecognizable from the Lemon Pine-Sol horribleness that it had started out as--now it was a soft and slightly spicy resinous blend with no glaringly citrus or herbal edge to speak of; maybe a hint of bergamot in the background, but I like bergamot and it blended smoothly with the spicy and resinous notes. I do think I'm going to have to let this age a couple months before I can wear it, just so the initial sharpness fades, but the drydown I get gives it a lot of promise for the future.

Edited March 18, 2010 by Invidiana

[IridiumFlash]

This one is certainly a morpher on me! It started off as a very bright, almost sharp, lemon with almost no other noticeable notes. For the first hour or so, I thought that this was a perfume to wear while sipping a lemon-cardamom Italian soda and wearing a Lilly Pulitzer dress (preferably in Palm Beach). But after two hours it turned into a slight dusty (musk?) floral. The lemon is gone - completely different effect.

 

Wearable, but not (yet) true love.

 

 

ETA: not a really strong throw - it stayed fairly close to my skin, but noticeable. And it lasted fairly well.

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2010 by IridiumFlash

[angelicruin]

This is very strong lemon and herbal on my skin. As it dries, I pick up the cardamom spice, but it stays very lemony on the dry down.

 

I love it much more than the 2009 version, but I am a lemon lover too.

[impolight]

:::IDES OF MARCH:::

 

Well, this one came in the post 3 days after the calendar day, but any sentiment of disappointment was short-lived from the very first whiff of this oil.

If this was, in fact, based on a recipe for an ancient roman cologne, then those lucky, lucky ba@#!rds smelled fricking great!

This is likely the cleverest combination of Citrus, Evergreen, Herbal and Amber conceivable by mortal standards... And this is well-equipped to make the wearer feel like a pompous @$$ when wearing it... Chin, skyward, whatnot.

Once The Ides of March hits the skin, it's all over... Holy Moly this is a great scent! Here's the Amber that's been getting me all riled up here of late and, could it be? It is! The lovely Jonquil has arranged a cuddle!

Far out!

The Ides of March smells like something one could expect from one of those haute barbering jobbies where the entire gamut of scalp massage, hot towels, and straight-razor shaves are administered... Scrumptuous!

For a split second, the Cardamom and Ginger combine and form this hyper-caffeinated Tarzan thingy that swings from your uvula and boings around your tear-ducts... But not at all in an unpleasant way. It gives something you can sink your teeth into for this fragrance.

A knock out punch!

The Ides of March is a brilliant fragrance that anyone could appreciate.

This is predominantly in His line of fragrance, but the smile that this would put on Her face is worth a million bucks, easy.

5/5!

[cfrancesca]

This is pure for me!

 

This starts off a smooth, creamy bergamot/lemony musk. I'm getting whiffs of vanilla? It must be the benzoin. I'm confused because at times the throw is warm and sweet vanilla, other times it's a cooler and refreshing creamy bergamot/lemon musk scent! Later the amber amps a little more more for me.

 

It's complex and delicious, it makes me think of a creamy lemonade at times. Perfect for the warmer months.

 

Love, love and I don't even like bergamot!

Edited April 1, 2010 by cfrancesca

[Little Bird]

Ides of March 2010 isn't as sharp or soapy on me as the 09 version was. I find this to be masculine like the older versions, but a bit sweeter and smoother overall. The dark musk adds a cold men's cologne background and the lemon is really strong and sharp at first. In the drydown, the lemon & bergamot soften a bit and something in the blend starts to sweeten up (benzoin?).

 

Musky, cold men's cologne, citrussy-clean lemon & bergamot, and a bit of powdery sweetness from the benzoin and amber. The blend goes more powdery on my skin than it does on my husband's, and I think I prefer this scent on a man anyhow. I'll keep my decant, but I'll be giving it to the husband to wear.

[crebbsgirl]

Lemon at first... and then? Funk. I'm not entirely sure what the culprit is here, as all of the notes listed usually work for me. There must be something in the combination that is going a little off on my skin!

[zankoku_zen]

I get a ton of lemon from this on wet, but it smells more like lemon verbena. As it dries, I get a hint of cardamom and amber.

 

Meh.

[PurringPulsar]

Ides of March 2010

 

In the imp: this smells very different to past Ides. It smells like LEMON!

Wet on skin: lemonade with lemongrass and spiked with verbena.

Dry on skin: with verbena, lemon and bergamot, it’s no surprise that this is a citrus overload. This smells like lemon sherbet mixed with lemonade and limoncello with lemongrass and verbena. Underneath it I smell some hints of herbs and flowers and some cardamom too (in fact, the mix of lemon and cardamom reminds me of a honey-less Crib Girls), maybe some sweet amber and musk, but lemon is the strongest note. And I really like it. Normally I don’t like verbena but this smells more like lemon sherbets to me and I love that.

After a while: bergamot and verbena remain but this isn’t as brightly lemony as before. Now I can smell the amber, narcissus (surprisingly good in here, not at all perfumey) and dark musk. Maybe a hint of smoky, mossy spikenard too, but overall this is a bright, green, zingy and springy scent. This isn’t at all dark like Mort de Cesar.

Verdict: my favourite of the Ides. It lacks the weird savoury salad smell I got from previous versions, and smells like a bright lemon with a hint of floral amber. This is verbena I can tolerate, because it’s supported by proper citruses and doesn’t do the lemon soap thing, not to mention I expect this to smell lemony from the notes and so I’m happy that it does. It’s such a sunny, cheery, lively lemon. I really like this one even though I was expecting more of a darker undertone because of the spikenard and musk. This is more like sipping limoncello on a warm evening in Rome rather than the dark, moody Mort de Cesar-ish scent of foreboding I expected from the dark musk and (usually) incensy earthy spikenard. I have to see what happens to the usually problematic verbena, but I have a feeling I should have bought more of this scent!

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? I will keep my decant but I may track down more because heavy lemon scents are hard to come by!

If you like this, try: Phobos, Phantom, Crib Girls, Tin Phoenix, Gold Phoenix, previous Ides

[Drarra]

In the bottle, I smelled lots of citrus and the cardamon. I love cardamon, so I dabbed a tiny bit on my hand.

 

Wet, I smelled like fresh lemons with a touch of benzoin.

 

All of a sudden it dried, and it became baby powder. This is the first time I've gotten anything to go powdery on me. I keep sniffing just to make sure it's real.