Saint-Germain

[Medici]

... He is a Hermetic Magician's hero for the ages, and his scent is an elegant, timeless, truly refined cologne, bold yet classic: gilded amber, hypnotic lavender, brash carnation and deep mosses.

In the imp: Oh wow. I'm going to have to slather this on the boy. Very masculine - spiced, slick, musky and a little tingly to the nose.

Wet: Almost aquatic, slightly floral and a little musky resin to boot. This is definitely a "guy's" blend, though - it screams masculine manly man.

Drydown: Much the same, *very* nice blend. It manages to be fresh and strong and elegant all at the same time. Throw's average, and I will be passing this on to the man of the house to see what he thinks.

[lady_pandora]

This is a very elegant, gentlemanly cologne. Oddly, I get mostly lavender from it, plus a little bit of what I assume is the moss, and between the two of them, they smell slightly minty on me. The reason this is odd is because my skin seems to have forgotten it's supposed to amp amber.

 

Definitely a masculine blend, but it's one I can wear without feeling like I've doused myself in aftershave or slathered on Speed Stick. Yay for a sophisticated masculine blend without vetiver!!!

 

Emotional impression: I feel like it's good for clearing your head. It feels like a blend that would be good to wear when you need to do something intellectual. If I were still in college, I might wear it to take exams. Lots of BPAL blends (and oh, how I love 'em) center you in your body and envelop you in intoxicating sensuality. Saint-Germain is the opposite; it centers you in your head.

[Voleuse]

Lavender, clean and herbal-sweet. Very green, despite the lavender. Very masculine, but light. Amber, definitely, though less warm than I expected. Over time, the sharpish herbal note intensifies, though I can't identify it particularly. Overall, it's clean, sweet, and astringent. Not for me, but rather pleasant.

[Deiicide]

This is definately a very masculine scent, a nice amount of lavender just to give the other notes a clean musky feeling. A bit too strong for me.

[Em-]

Mmmm, this is nice, on both me and my husband (we both ended up trying it simultaneously after an imp accident of sorts). On me it is primarily amber, with warm bookish notes. I think it was Belladonnastrap's first review that described this as a curling up in a leather chair kind of blend, which is so true. I like this on me...I like this even more on him.

[dorothy humbird]

Tested this one on the boy -- he proclaimed it "too girly." My guess is the floral notes are at fault for that declamation...

 

I noticed something I thought was pretty citrusy-sharp, but I don't know what it was. Carnation???

 

The search for madness-inspiring boy-scent continues.

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: Lavender and something else

 

On Skin: I get warm amber and some sharp herbal note. For some strange reason I think leather arm chairs and velvet.

 

On Drydown: Again, the leathery connotation in my head gets stronger. So far, a very masculine but refined sort of smell. It's spicy, slick and sexy.

 

Verdict: I think the boy will like this. I'm going to try it out on him. This is more 'masculine' in my mind than Wilde with the leathery sort of smell. It doesn't have the playfulness that I associate with Voodoo. This is a deep, thinking man's smell.

[captainecchi]

I sampled this one twice, and had two very different experiences.

 

The first time, my first impression was the citrus note that others have mentioned, noted in the imp and wet on my skin. It was sort of a lemony cookie smell, more than an acid fresh lemon note, though--it might have been the carnation, I suppose, though it didn't smell like any carnation I've ever sniffed.

 

On drydown the moss predominated, turning it into a "generic men's cologne" smell. That did not last long, though--this one did not have a lot of throw, and it seemed to be gone within a few hours.

 

I dabbed a little bit more on my wrist to try it again, and no citrus this time--it was sharply pungent wet, but hard to identify any individual notes. Again on drydown the moss came out. This one lasted a little longer, but still within a few hours faded down to what seemed like a hint of vanilla.

 

Overall, this one didn't leave a strong impression on me. It was faint and indistinct, and didn't seem to embody the concept well. Another one for the swaps.

[Naamah_Darling]

Lavender and mosses give this a rugged yet poised character in the bottle. On my skin, it's the same, only with an undertone of carnation. Very masculine and rich, and very nice. I may have to reevaluate my opinion of lavender, because in cologne-type blends it does very well on me.

 

This has depth. As it dries, a woody note pokes out. It's not listed but I would not at all be surprised to learn that cedar or sandalwood went into this. The amber isn't foremost here. It's a sort of muzzy softness in the background, just peeking out. It dries down very stable, hasn't changed much from the initial scent, just mellowed a bit as the moss fades more into the background.

 

I like this, and as it's a rather traditional-smelling men's fragrance, I will recommend it for guys who are wanting to get into this, but who don't want to try anything too extraordinarily weird.

[Bagfish]

This is a gorgeous spicy lavender cologne and I can REALLY smell the spicy carnation. I think this is the first fougere to have worked on my skin and I think it is the lovely carnation tempering the normally cool fougere with some spice and warmth. Oh yes, I think this is a winner!

[Nia]

The first thing that comes out is a traditional masculine blend with carnations of top. The visual image is of a gentleman with a carnation on his lapel!

 

Wet, on skin, the lavender starts to come out making the blend a bit incongruous. I associate lavender with dreamy softness and there is nothing dreamy or soft about this one. Also, lavender is supposed to be relaxing and this feels very "awake".

 

As it dries, the different ingredients balance well, turning into the initial traditional masculine blend with a slight powdery note.

 

If I was a man (or if I wanted a man to smell of bpal), this would be the everyday, day-time oil and Casanova would be the "special occasions" oil. This is manly, fresh, and so wearable.

[Aiglet]

This one just really isn't doing it for me. In the bottle, it smells sort of "men's cologne," but I know first impressions are misleading, and sometimes the very masculine scents do well on me.

 

It hasn't changed at all from wet to dry-down -- it smells like I've put on my boyfriend's deodorant. It's not a bad smell, really, it's just overly masculine for me.

 

I think on the right guy, this could be a knock-out. On me, at least, it's a very clean, "spicy" scent, with an undertone of something warm. There is something that's got a major overtone of "commercial cologne," though, and I'm not sure what that is.

 

This might be a good choice for a "first BPAL" for a guy who's not sure they want to do the whole "perfume" thing. Into the swaps pile it goes.

[RemAkimichi]

In the Bottle: Ooh. For some reason, in the bottle it reminds me of mountains. Clean, sweet, a little herby.

 

On me (wet): Wow! Manly, but not in a bad way. I like this, I like it very much. I keep getting this whiff of green apples, though. What IS that?? It's not bad, in fact just the opposite, but man, it's so hard to pin because I only smell it when I'm not concentrating on smelling it.

 

On me (dry): A bit powdery. Still a manly scent, but now it's softer, like nightime and sheets and the wiff of herbs in his hair. No more green apples, sadly.

 

Overall: Love it. I'm not ready to commit to a bottle, but while I have the imp I will be using it regularly.

[stellans]

Imp: The imp of this blend smelled differently than does the bottle I'm using today. The imp had much more lavender (which I love) while the bottle is all aftershave (which I don't, at least not on me). I've read other reviews which mention the difference sometimes between an imp (perhaps aged) and a bottle (usually fresh from the lab), but this is the first time I've seen it so clearly in something I'm trying.

 

Wet: I really, really don't like how this smells. It reminds me of the inexpensive aftershaves highschool boys sometimes drench themselves with, hoping to impress the girl-of-the-moment (it doesn't, trust me). It's so far removed from anything I smelled in my precious imp that it's hard for me to believe this is the same stuff. No ambers, no lavender, no carnation, heck -- no mosses!

 

Dry: Not as brash, but still the aftershave. This just breaks my heart, because I loved my imp so much I really looked forward to this bottle. And I don't like this at all.

 

Verdict: Ugh. I don't even want Mr. Stellans to smell like this. I'm going to put this in the back of my oil drawer, and hope for a better trial run further down the road.

Edited June 5, 2010 by stellans

[dzurlady]

In the vial: the mosses dominate, with hints of the lavender and amber. I can't smell the carnation, but I'm not very familiar with it, so I might be missing it.

On me, wet: a lovely mix of lavender, amber and what I believe to be the carnation, cradled by the mosses. Nice, but not OMGWOW.

On me, dry: the amber amps and brings a sweetness that reminds me of a creamy honey to the scent. The lavender comes out a bit more too. This is delicious - not my favourite scent, but really nice nevertheless.

On me, later still: the mosses take over, the amber fades, and this turns into a sharp men's traditional cologne type scent. It's far too masculine for me, so off to the swaps.

Edited May 26, 2007 by dzurlady

[Mimicake]

I love this one! It is masculine without smelling too manly, and is something I could see myself wearing daily. I don't get much lavender from this one, the amber and carnation are a lovely blend together. As it dries it becomes more powdery and soft, a little like an old-fashioned aftershave. I wouldn't mind more of this one.

[simplethings]

Saint-Germain in the bottle: I'm definitely getting men's cologne. Sophisticated, probably something Ralph Lauren. The only thing I was able to truly pick out was the spiciness of the carnation.

 

Wet: It smells a little like a mix of colognes… it reminds me of being in the men's locker room with all the soaps and deodorants and colognes mingling in with the overall humidity/steaminess. Hmm, smells somewhat like a lighter, more subdued version of Joop!

 

Dry: Love it! I love what the mosses do to the scent, it adds a strange dampness to it… which sort of amps the locker room feel.

 

After a few hours: Lasted about 2 and a half hours before turning into a perfumey powder.

 

Overall: I wouldn't mind more staying time, but, overall I LOVE this. Even more than Wilde. It still reminds me of Joop! But a more wearable version (Joop! Tends to be too strong and incense-y). 5 out of 5.

[Tal Shachar]

The glorious spicy-creamy carnation note disappeared within minutes of application, which made me sad--I was left with lavender and oakmoss. Lots of lavender. I didn't dislike the smell, but aftershave comparisons did come to mind just as other reviewers have said. I am sometimes in the mood to feel a little masculine, but on me this is just not the masculine scent I would want if I were a guy (if that makes sense); it's very tame, with the carnation and the amber notes vanished.

 

Lasting power was good. I usually burn through scents in about 4 hours (or, possibly, my nose just stops detecting them) but this lasted much longer, 8 or 12. Every so often I'd get a nice waft of lavender moss. Nice enough but not for me.

[Extispex]

In the imp, its kind of a barely-there herbal smell. On my skin - yep, I concur with all the people who said, 'mens cologne'. I'm getting nothing that smells like the notes listed, except maybe a hint of lavender. As it dries, something tangy and citrussy arises, and I begin to like it. Then it fades to almost nothing.

 

Ah Saint-Germain, you're an elusive one.

[Rouge]

Lavender is a note that almost always works for me so I'm hoping for good things from Saint Germain.

 

In the vial - Strong, masculine and sharp. The lavender is very noticeable but is lent depth by the mosses, which add a cool green feel to the scent.

 

Wet on the skin - Sharp, clear and pleasingly androgynous. Very, very elegant!

 

Dry down - Saint German becomes ever more masculine as it dries - the sharp, clear notes and the lavender vanish quickly to leave a deep green scent with almost a leathery undertone.

 

While I love the top notes of this blend, the later stages just aren't for me. I'l lbe keeping the imp, though, and using it in an oil burner.

[waternight]

In the imp: Fresh, sharp, crisp.

Wet: First on, it's a smooth blend of lavender and carnation, with a hint of amber rounding the scent out. The mosses show up as a fresh "green" note. Very lovely and fresh. Clean and biting.

Dry: Doesn't morph much from the wet stage. This has a strong lavender note, but the carnation keeps it from being too sharp. This is much in the same family as Casanova. I adore Casanova, and this is too similar for me to spring for a bottle, as nice as it is.

[Trish]

In the imp: Very light lavender and amber.

 

Wet: Light men's cologne. And lavender.

 

Drydown: It's softening now, and I'm getting more amber and carnation than anything else. It's very very light though.There's still a tiny bit of sharpness from the lavender if I sniff in deeply.

 

Dry: Soft amber and carnation with a touch of men's cologne. Rather nice until it turned to powder *sigh*

[Elilara]

Oh my!

 

I had been wanting to try this one, then kind of forgot about it until it found it's way to me as a frimp.

 

My first whiff of it from the imp made my nose tingle a bit. I feared I had found another one of those "Axe"-like smells. Cold, chemically, and a little generic. I tried it on anyway, hoping the amber at least would warm it up, and boy did it ever! Over the next several minutes it kept warming up to a nicely sweet, almost vanilla amber. The mosses are adding a gorgeous earthy-wetness to it, and the flowers are there faintly in the background adding a stately air to it.

 

Oh, I can just picture the man wearing it (he's got glasses and slightly ruffled hair, and is wearing a very nice long coat... not TOO fancy, but more functional) - and it's like being curled up next to him, reading a book- we're sitting on a comfy bench in a bay window, and it's raining gently outside.

 

Hi and welcome to my top 5 favorites so far, Saint-Germaine!

[Gwydion]

First impression? Wow, that's aggressive. It's like getting hit on by Oscar Wilde in his deliberately dandified pink suit. It is flowery in a masculine way. Luckily it calms down into something less hit you with a lavender brick. Seriously, the lavender is way stronger than in things like Compte de Valmonte. I think I actually like it though, once the lavender and carnation back off enough to let moss and amber get a share of the fun. I'd probably like it better with a hint of leather and am already thinking I'll try it with a touch of De Sade next time, but once the elements balance, it is oddly alluring. I have always liked the smell of carnation. It and hyacinth are the two flowers who's scents I most enjoy in nature. It is now doing a Victorian men's cologne thing, only much lighter than something like Villian or Perversion. I suspect it's a keeper.

[hkhm]

imp: nice, crisp men's cologne. this smells like a minty moss without the mint. like if there was no minty smell but that same chilling tingle you get from mint. like that. i don't get even a hint of carnation.

 

wet: there's almost (and i mean almost) an almondy citrus note hanging out with the non-minty moss. perhaps it's the carnation appearing but it's rather unlike any carnation i've ever smelled before. i can't decide it this is more for the gents or more for the ladies.

 

dry: okay this is a more masculine scent. it dries to a very creamy men's cologne. it's not for me but i'll be popping it onto my husband's imp pile to see what he thinks.