Pallas Athene

[Invidiana]

PALLAS ATHENE
Pallas Athene, Gustav Klimt.
Antiqued amber, cumin, saffron, frankincense, Atlas cedar, myrrh, mandarin, Ceylon cinnamon bark, and osmanthus.

I didn't think this had a chance of working on me because of the cumin and cedar.

Boy was I wrong.

Sometimes I can amp cumin, true, but here I get only a tinge of it wet and then none at all. Cedar can alo be problematic but instead of the cedar death I expected a la Sacrifice, I get a surprisingly soft woody background. The real stars of this scent are the resins and mandarin, especially the amber. It's a rich, full-bodied "expensive"-smelling amber that is just sweet enough and thoroughly sophisticated. The frankincense and myrrh add even more golden resinous body to it and the mandarin adds to the Oriental luxury of the scent. I get a hint of spice from the cinnamon and maybe the faintest trace of floral from the osmanthus, but these are just details that round out the whole picture. It's a complex scent that reflects the ornate nature of Klimt's painting. The bottle I am testing from is not mine, but I'm definitely picking up one of my own with the next Lunacy. This is just way too lovely to pass up.

[absinthetics]

Pallas Athene is the patronne of my alma mater so I had to try this scent no matter what. I was excited to see that amber was involved with her scent. This is a very rich smelling scent, very golden but in a glowing way. The cedar is very tame and I'd have to say the myrrh is the second most vibrant note. I haven't let her rest since she got here, so this may not be completely accurate. The cinnamon and mandarin are late players and are very subtle and not over powering.

[littlegoat]

I tried this today at Know's Perfume in Seattle and pretty much immediately asked Christen to order me a bottle. This coming from someone who wears Snake Oil (and occasionally Midway) almost exclusively.

 

This scent came off quite sweet on me, though my skin amps sweet in everything. Not knowing the notes when I tried it I read it as vanilla, but I think now it was probably the amber. After a few minutes I started getting a bit of the cinnamon, which was really lovely.

 

I've since showered, but I can still smell a faint whiff of this on my wrist and it's beautiful. I can't wait for my bottle to arrive!

 

And it's Klimt

[edenssixthday]

Pallas Athene - I put a little of this on before going to dinner last night, and immediately wondered if I'd made a mistake. It came off as a really heavy, men's-type cologne. I was not impressed. However, as I was sitting at the restaurant, waiting for my order to arrive, I caught a whiff of something that smelled really good, so held my wrist up to my nose, and yep, it was me! Pallas Athene had settled down into something slightly powdery (the amber and saffron, most likely), woody (cedar), warmly sweet (myrrh and cinnamon bark), and simply gorgeous. It's a really stunning, elegant scent, and I am so very glad I didn't wash it off immediately after applying! This is the perfect example of why I always want to test everything, because sometimes first sniffs can be deceiving!

[eleventhousand]

i am going to let this one age a bit and revisit. the long drydown is quite lovely, but it is dissonant for a good few hours on me at first application. i think time will mellow it and allow the notes to sing.

[fetish911]

This smells nice in the imp! On cold sniff of the 4 Rainn decants, this I like best so far.

 

wet- Amber! & Sweet! Frank & Myrrh definitely. I swear this smells clove-y to my nose too. Not knock your sox off stong while wet, but I like it.

 

dry down- Still spice sweet, but not at all foodie. I detect the tiniest little bit of cinnamon in there but its so faint. I am still getting clove. I don't smell much amber now either.

 

Later- (i'll update this one, well, later!)

 

 

so far 3.5/5

Edited August 10, 2011 by Fetish911

[Little Bird]

I was hoping for more frankincense and cedar (especially the cedar <3), but I don't really get either of those notes from Pallas Athene. This is mostly a warm, powdery amber, sweet myrrh, and light, bright spiciness on me. Something about it is sharp and musky-like on me at first, but it dries down to a powdery, resinous, golden, spicy smell. I don't like it enough to get a full bottle, but I might keep my decant.

[calivianya]

I wasn't sure if I'd like this blend because cinnamon usually makes a blend unwearable with its fierceness and saffron was the funky note in Celeste, I'm sure... but this is totally gorgeous. The cinnamon does not take over the blend; it is very subtle and mixes with the resins to just make this a somewhat spicy blend. I agree with the previous reviewer who said that this smells golden. It is mostly resins to my nose, and the cinnamon just makes it a little warm and the mandarin makes it a little "wet" smelling. It's not detectable to my nose except as a sort of coolness against the warmth of the cinnamon and resins. Either way, this is a very lovely blend and I might just get a bottle of it before it comes down.

[lilyliza]

I got this because the notes intrigued me, although I was a little concerned that the cumin/saffron/cinnamon combo would leave me smelling like a spice cabinet, and not in a good way. But that's not how it turned out at all- the blend is amazing. I can definitely pick up all the spices along with frankincense and myrrh. The cedar is there, but it's in the background, sort of holding everything together. I can smell a little bit of sweetness in the background as well- it's mostly osmanthus, but I think I'm smelling a little amber too. It's spicy (but not in a foodie sort of way), full-bodied, and a little mysterious. It's not until later that the mandarin comes out, and it subtly brightens the overall scent. A few hours later, the spices aren't as readily prominent, but they're still there in the background, creating a beautiful soft golden sort of scent.

[ami226]

On the skin: I think I like this one even better than Hygeia. A smooth cinnamon with a blend of the other notes. Soooooo nice! This cinnamon is so friendly! It reminds me a lot of the cinnamon in Pinched with Four Aces. In fact, this blend reminds me a little of Pinched, but I find it to smell so much better! I think I may have to snag another bottle before they go away!

[Dark Alice]

There is no cinnamon in this. There is gorgeous amber and citrus and wondrousness in this scent. This will be a two bottle order for sure when I get the funds so that I can slather away and enjoy it.

[porcelina]

in the bottle, pallas athene smells like nothing special, but on my skin, it starts to slowly bloom. the 'antiqued amber' is gorgeous and rich, warmed by all of the wonderful spices. there is no one single overpowering note- just a gentle, golden warmth that stays close to the skin. over time, the saffron comes to be the strongest note (this is common for me, though; i amp saffron).

[HerbGirl]

This is my favorite of the 4...I honestly cannot rave about it enough. The amber is gorgeous, and with just a touch of cinnamon and all of the other notes (fortunately the Cumin doesn't ever show up...yay!) I would say this has found a place in my top 10. This oil truly shines - very true to the painting.

 

And to think the Cumin almost prevented me from getting a bottle of this...

Edited August 17, 2011 by Herb Girl

[tajana]

Yeah, looks like I'm not the only one who was scared by cumin! I would never willingly scent myself with a noticeable cumin note. Amber usually goes powdery and nondescript on me, so I just passed over this one, despite the fact that some of my favorite notes in here. Luckily I got to test this anyway! Cumin's characteristic stinkiness is absent, as far as I can smell.

 

The antiqued amber is warm and sweet and creamy, and creates a very snuggly aura. Mandarin and osmanthus are shiny and cheerful, adding a pleasant sort of brightness and sweetness to the top of the scent without making it noticeably fruity. The frankincense and myrrh are really subtle on me but they deepen the amber and make this smell classier. The Ceylon cinnamon is definitely Ceylon cinnamon and not some rude candy or cassia scent. It is soft and scrumptious and compliments the touch of cedar beautifully. As friendly and warm as the cinnamon is, it's the saffron that steals the show. Its brazenly golden spicy smooth sweetness grows to dominate the dry-down. I love saffron, so this is fine by me. This smells supremely comforting and rich. A burnished gold scent, glowing with warmth. I do wish that the cedar and osmanthus were stronger, but I really enjoy this scent as it is. It's very easy to wear.

Edited August 20, 2011 by findaghost

[stellans]

I wanted this to work for me so badly, I practically willed it to work. Unfortunately, perfume oil listens just about as well as a Westie with a squirrel in his sights. That is to say, not at all. Pallas Athene smells quite nice in the bottle, and for a brief shining moment on my skin I thought all was well. Then, disaster. Powdery, then rather sour disaster struck. The amber in which you all glory does what it usually does on me and turns to powder, but I am not quite certain where the sourness comes in unless it's the cedar mixing with the amber unpleasantly. Whatever it is, this blend is not for me.

[milo]

At first, this is dry mild spices, a bit disappointing, as I am a HUGE amber fan. I am one of the lucky ones that amber doesn't turn powdery on. Patience pays off, and after 15 minutes or so, there is the most gorgeous, warm amber coming out. The spices are blended so well with the amber and resins that no one note shines over the other. I LOVE this, and need to hunt down a bottle stat.

 

After a second round, I find that something in this blend bothers me a bit, and I think it's the sweetness with the resins. Going to hold off on the bottle for now, but keep the decant to see if it changes any.

Edited August 22, 2011 by milo

[zankoku_zen]

For me, Pallas is all about the mandarin and myrrh. It's a sweet orange resin blend, with hints of cinnamon and amber.

 

Mmm. Oranges!

[angelamaria]

In decant: golden. I get the beautiful mandarin, plus slightly woody/resinous notes (I think the cedar is most "out"). This is sweet in a non-foody, non-syrupy way. Beautiful.

 

Wet on skin: definitely resins and mandarin; the mix is certainly beautiful. A bit of spiciness coming out; I'm getting myrrh, plus saffron, and the frankincense as well. A slightly powdery note is developing--I'm looking at you, amber! A very pretty blend, if the powder doesn't swamp it.

 

Dry: yeah, powdery :/ Past the powder, the mandarin and reins meld together really beautifully, it's hard to separate the notes from each other. Very golden, very beautiful, resinous and sweet.

 

Verdict: siiiigh. If it wasn't for the powder, this would have been a bottle scent. Oh well!

[Chanter]

In the bottle: Mmm, this's a lovely woody cinnamon at first sniff, though I pick up hints of the amber and saffron as well.

 

Wet on skin: Yup, the cinnamon's still there, but it's not overpowering. It plays really very nicely with the woods, the amber, and what I'm guessing is the frankincense. This must be extremely well-blended, because the cedar doesn't leap out at me like it does with Sri Lanka. That's plenty fine with me!

 

On drydown: This doesn't morph much at all on me. It does linger though, so I was getting whiffs of marvelously cinnamony woodiness all day. I like this one!

[Ghost of a Rose]

In the bottle: A dark, incensey smell: amber, frankincense, and myrrh, with the sweetness of orange and a touch of florals.

 

On me, wet: Same as above. A headshoppy, spiritual, unisex kind of fragrance. Everything blends seamlessly together to create a unique scent of its own without any obvious individual notes, just a general impression of incense.

 

On me, just dried: The cedar comes out just enough to be barely detectable.

 

After 15 minutes: The orange, resins, incense, and cedar are all present. The orange isn't at all foody - there's just enough to add some sweetness and balance out the darkness of the incenses. The osmanthus serves the same function. I can tell it's there, but it's not strong enough to make this a floral kind of scent.

 

After 30 minutes: Ooh, this is beautiful. The cinnamon has shown up, and is an awesome combination with the cedar, especially with the incenses which are now more of an undertone. And the florals are somewhat stronger, making the overall impression a little more perfume-ish, but perhaps not enough to keep it from being unisex. I don't smell the saffron and cumin specifically, but there is a subtle peppery note which undoubtedly comes from them.

 

After 45 minutes: Cinnamon is now the primary note (but it is sweet and gentle, not at all hot, sharp, or foody), and the whole fragrance is much sweeter. The peppery spices are becoming stronger.

 

After 1 hour 15 minutes: The orange top note is completely gone, as are the peppery notes. Now it's a soft cinnamon, incense, and amber. It has faded considerably - it doesn't look like this is going to be a long-lasting scent on my skin.

 

After 3 hours: It did last longer than I expected, but is now very faint. The final notes are incense and amber.

 

Verdict: Very nice - complex, sophisticated, deep and dark, spiritual, mysterious. I'm more of a flower child, so this isn't a 5-star favorite for me. But it's close. And it will be great for spiritual practice, work, or just a change of pace. A warm scent, best for cool weather. It seems fairly unisex to me, but leaning a bit towards the feminine. My 21-year-old son agreed that it was unisex, though. But that was fairly late in the drydown, after the floral notes were gone. And he didn't like it - he said it was too strong (at a time when I felt it had become soft and subtle.)

 

My rating: 4.5 stars

[forspecial_plate]

Pallas Athene is warm and sweet, orange and woods with a little spice. I think the spices and amber add a little sophistication. I wore this to work and it lasted all day. The orange flirts with candy sweet, balanced and grounded by the wood and amber. Overall this is very good. I don't get a lot of powder from the amber, maybe a little but I don't have a problem with amber like a lot of people do. Actually I wouldn't mind if this were more powdery.

 

Seems like it would be like Velvet Tiger or Three Gorgons.....I would say it's sort of close to Three Gorgons....but I haven't compared closely. I will update if I find any big differences that need to be mentioned. But I think if you like them you would like this too.

[nineveh]

Appropriately enough, this is similar to Three Gorgons (Egyptian amber, mandarin, tangerine, black pepper, tobacco, and vetiver) but I like this much better!

 

Egyptian amber has always been a problem for me, a shriekingly sharp powdery note that not even four years of aging could make comfortably wearable. I eventually gave up on my bottle of Three Gorgons, even though I enjoyed all its other aspects.

 

So instead of Egyptian amber's horror, Pallas Athene opens with the amber sweetness that I recall from Lyonesse. The cumin in the note list scared me, but I don't get any here, just a very gentle and pleasant spice that complements the mandarin. I wouldn't have guessed that cedar was present either.

 

Now that it's been dry for a bit, it actually reminds me a lot of Pinched With Four Aces, since both have that soft but prominent cinnamon bark note. Both are cinnamon bark + warm, sweet backing notes to me. Well, I guess amber is tied with cinnamon here for taking center stage.

 

Overall a really great amber/cinnamon blend. Glad I caved for a bottle!

[inurbanus]

I expected this one to be a huge jumble of resins and spices but much to my surprise, this actually smells quite gentle on my skin. It's a soft melange of sweet amber (so lovely!) and cinnamon. There are some woods backing this up but they're not especially noticeable. There's a commercial perfume that smells similar to this and I'm wracking my brain trying to remember what it is. Not Opium but in the same family. I love amber-based scents and this is no exception. It's just perfect for cold Fall days.

[rhubarb3point14]

A beautiful Oriental -- lots of resinous, spicy notes. Very well blended -- it's hard to discern the individual notes, although I got a nice little burst of Ceylon cinnamon while it was drying.

 

Anyone who's afraid of the cumin shouldn't be. You can't pick it out; it just adds an earthy, grounded component to the mix.

 

This isn't exactly my style, when it's all said and done, but it's wonderfully executed.

[Viridian]

I bought this one on kind of a whim because I like the painting and because Athena is associated with my alma mater and also with one a screen name that I used elsewhere on the internet. I was iffy about the notes but none of them screamed BAD (except maybe cumin), so I went for it.

 

Wet, this is all cinnamon. Cinnamon is kind of utility scent for me - I love it in Blockbuster (the BPAL one, not the TAL), which I wear kind of as aromatherapy/intent-focusing perfume, and in cooking, but I'm indifferent to it as just a smell-pretty scent. Thankfully, after a few seconds on skin other notes balance out the cinnamon. It's very golden-smelling, with the orange and amber, and the other notes just lending it complexity.

 

This and Tree of Life are my first Salons and if all Salons are this nicely blended I may have to investigate more of them.