Polyphemus

[zankoku_zen]

No description available

Polyphemus smells like it has green musk, hints of leather, kind of green and perfumey. There is a swirl of aquaticness to it, floral tinges. I think that this is pretty, green, slightly aquatic blend. Definitely very in line with the rest of the Phoenix Steamworks line.

Thanks to the forumite who gave me a bit to test.

[Bluestblood]

Wet it smells like pure basil and other herbs.

 

Dry it is still green herbs, a hint of cucumber (like the note in Whispers of Monstrous Things), green musk, hint of engine oil, metal and this air incense resin I used to have. It's pleasant, a bit perfumey, and grounding.

[angelamaria]

In bottle: green, like cut grass, and one of the mosses, I think. Oakmoss? Spanish moss? There is a very pleasant sort of full-bodied green-ness to this; the first hit is sharp cut-grass, but while I'm getting more and more nostrilfuls of this scent, it's almost gone full aquatic.

Wet on skin: there's definitely a moss in there somewhere. The cut-grass note is gone on my skin, leaving behind a pleasantly creamy green note, with a delicate aquatic floral feel. There is some powder also making its entrance, on a faintly resinous background. I'm racking my brains where the powder could be coming from. White musk, are you there?

Dry: this scent stays fairly true throughout its drydown phase. The powder isn't overwhelming, so it's very wearable on me; I know some reviews have mentioned green musk, but I don't know for sure if my skin has the same reaction to the lab's green musk note as with white musk. Stays quite close to skin, low throw, but with that beautiful green-ness brightening it up somewhat, supported by the moss.

Verdict: to be honest, if I was actually smelling/testing this when I actually got it from my fairy, I would probably give this a pass. I have quite a few mossy blends (six! at the moment) and I shouldn't need more, but this is so lovely that I can't give this up without some kind of deathmatch with the rest of my mossy keepers.

[patina]

IN bottle: Hairspray? Machine oil? Leather and dust?

 

Skin contact tames the overpowering hairspray note and it turns into a ferny fougure. I don't get green musk exactly, or I don't recognize it. This smells sepia somehow. I'm not sure how something can smell sepia but there you go. The sepia industrial leather dust mixes with a dark ferny green.

 

Sophisticated enough but maybe a bit too perfumy/cologny