Aureus

[Deliciousness]

True, perfect golden light, refined into an incomparably glorious scent.

 

In the imp: Wood, wood and more wood.
Wet on skin: Wood shavings
Drydown: Resinous, slightly sweet timber (if dabbed on) or WOOD if I put on more than my skin can handle.

My skin amps wood notes and this blend is no exception. I find that the wood note calms down the longer this sits on my skin and a lovely golden sweetness peeks through - which I find very nice. But to get to this wonderful semisweet resinous state, it takes an hour or so of wear, and by the time I fully enjoy my sweet resinous, golden blend, it starts to fade. Well, I could easily just slather more on. Wrong. I did tried and in doing so, this blend became all about the wood. Period. I never got to the delightful stage of softly sugared golden woods. It was just too much for my skin to handle. I really want to love this blend, but it's the dichotomy is just too pervasive. I love it and hate it all at once. Ah well. I'll keep my imp and dab here and there trying to catch just the right amount that magically gives me the wonderful sweet resinous scent that is so fleeting.

[Zii]

Wet: Not sure on this one. It's a honeyed incense, that has a lingering herby sourness to it.

 

Drying: Okay, here's the incense. This is lovely now. It's warmed up and whatever that off note was is gone.

 

Dry: Golden incense. it's quite nice! I would not call this airy or light, but it has a powerful golden, sunny feel to it. There is some cedar in here, because it has a brightly polished wood feel to it that I really like. Other than that, I couldn't pick out many individual notes.

[mymymai]

ITI: It smells like myrrh and balsam and something that reads as "round" for some reason.

 

Wet: It certainly does strike me as golden and warm. Now that it is on my skin, I'm certain there is amber in here as well as the balsam along with some kind of resinous incense not (I keep thinking of myrrh).

 

Dry: After 15 hours, only the amber remains distinct on my skin, but it is still a warm and round scent. It's very nice.

[Rouge]

Wet on the skin it's almost woody, like sunbeams through a window warming a room full of old furtniture. It seems quite dry and gender-neutral.

 

I can't identify ay particular notes in this blend at first, but I think I smell sandalwood after a few minutes of wear. As time goes on, it gets ever more woody. It's elegant, but perhaps not as welcoming or warm as I was expecting form the description.

[TorchedEarth]

I'm learning more & more inscense & Amber are really just not for me. This isn't a bad scent, but it's really cloying on me even after just applying a dab from the imp stick.

I liked it better after I washed it off & it was much fainter. Now it's really nice, actually.

[Veronica]

In the bottle, this is incense-y, warm, but there is definitely a vetiver or vetiver-like component to this scent that was an immediate turn off for me. I expected something light and etherial, but this is a heavy, amber-y, incense-y type of scent. Dry is awful--vetiver? patchouli? Smoky and ughhgghghgh washing this off. So not what I expected.

[greeneyedgirl]

Vial: amber, is that cedar? Wet: Sweet wood. Reminds me of being out at my dad's house, he has a guest cabin and this is exactly what it smelled like. I can smell the warmth and wish I could be there right now. This is so comforting due to the memory it brings out. Liquid summertime.

[LizziesLuck]

frimp from the Lab.

 

 

I'm always intrigued by scents where the notes aren't listed. I didn't read any other reviews before testing, and I wanted to see what I picked out myself without influence.

 

Wet, this smells like black patchouli on me. Not what I was expecting of a scent described as "golden light". I had thought maybe amber or some vanilla???

 

Once dry - pencil shavings. So cedar, I guess. Pretty much a single note. Huh. Interesting. Not for me though! But glad to have tried it.

[shibagast]

Headache inducing. No thank you. ): It smells like I just huffed some incense and then tried to fall asleep on a pew. Is it the resin and the wood that's disagreeing with me?

[whoahorsey]

It's all cedar on me, alas. I don't get any of the amber or incense that other reviewers mention. Smells like a cedar hope chest.

[lady_pandora]

Wet: WOOD! Soooo much cedar.

 

10 min: Cedar and I think amber? Also some black patchouli.

 

20 min: Cedary patchouli.

 

30 min: Slight cedar at the first sniff, and then all black patchouli.

 

1 hour: all black patchouli, and so from there on out.

 

There's nothing objectively wrong with this--it's actually quite pleasant--but it's not me.

[SimplySyra]

Put me on the list as another person who was expecting amber and resins. This is not nearly as sweet as I was anticipating. It's definitely ceder and perhaps some woody patchouli.

 

Lovers of ceder and woody scents in general will find this a pretty straightforward wood scent.

 

Personally, it goes all to hamster bedding on me.

[roseus]

Amber, cedar, and patchouli all the way through. Golden, truly. Not a bad scent, but not sure if it's a keeper for me.

[Casablanca]

Pre-sniffy thought: Maybe this will be an amber?

Wet on my skin: Oof. A surprisingly sharp, golden woody smell assaults my nose almost into a sneeze. And then follows a reek of earthy black patchouli. Whuh?

Um, so now this is single-note stink-patch. It doesn't smell golden...

About an hour later, some cedar frees itself from patchouli prison. This certainly smells less heinous, but there's still a shadow of patch, and it's too much. Also not golden.

Nope.

[Bassmastadroog]

Chocolate and amber in imp? Smells a little cedar like on my skin as well. Maybe no chocolate, maybe just cedar and amber. It's nice, but I think I have other bpals I like as my 'golden' scents a little better I think!

[lizabelle]

I'm honestly confused by this one, and it's not helping that there are no ingredients/notes listed. In the imp it's rich and golden-smelling, definitely some woods and resins going on. On my skin, it's...a cedar closet. The house I grew up in had one, so I know exactly what they smell like; this scent reminds me of when I'd sneak down to the basement and open the door and just sniff. It's a very dry, sharp cedar, and if there's anything else in here it smothers it completely.

 

I generally do have relatively cool skin but this takes a very long time to warm up on me. When it does it continues to be all cedar, although it takes on a zesty, spicy quality that is everything I love about cedar wood. It sits close to the skin and is not oppressive at all, but when you do get up close to it it has a big presence. Surprisingly I find myself very tempted by a bottle; I think it would layer magnificently, and it's a nostalgic scent for me.

[freyasfae]

Wood! Sandalwood to be specific...and something else to makes it very potent and gives the scent something I really don't like. Probably a resin of some sort which combines two things together that never work for me. This is golden in the sense of a church.

[Lucchesa]

Aureus on me is not the golden amber blend I expected. It must have cedar in it, which tends to take over on me. So I basically get wood shavings. Just not a win with my skin chemistry.

 

Trying again over a year later, with  more knowledge.  I think what I'm getting is dry sandalwood, dry patchouli and maybe that dry frankincense that can mimic cedar, as in Cathedral.  I'm no longer as opposed to these notes as I was last year.  I'll wear Bastet or the Lion when I want that sweet amber vibe; this one is more aloof. less cuddly, but lovely in its own way. 

Edited November 7, 2018 by Lucchesa

[achildoftime]

Warm, bright woods. Sandalwood and amber for sure, but also it feels like a freshly stained table or something. Not in a strange, overwhelming chemical way, but in a slightly sweet oil and wood way. I also get a little vanilla, but not a whole lot. It's just enough to make itself known and not to go all cakey on me. It is really golden smelling and bright, but not over the top like some sandalwood scents can get. It's different from what I usually reach for, but it's nice to have my imp.

[cassiejaynebunk]

incense, wood, sandalwood, and amber. lovely and warm, although after a bit it starts to smell almost citrusy on my damn skin.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: Patchouli like whoa, backed by what I believe is amber.

 

Wet: Red patchouli and incense (I'm thinking cedar, myrrh, and amber).

 

Dry: The red patchouli note continues to reign, with the resins right behind it.

 

Verdict: This one is too strong on the patchouli for me, but fans of patchouli and resins should appreciate this one.

Edited March 26, 2018 by dementia_divine

[DryFrogPills]

While I can place a fair guess at the notes/contents from the reviews above, I'll be honest and say that the only one that I personally picked out sniffing it in the imp was a suggestion of sandalwood. I suspect that that there's amber, patchouli, maybe myrrh or frankincense or cedar? But this one was more experiential than being about specific scents.

 

Imp: Probably some sandalwood, but overall, golden and light. I get the image of sunlight through the rafters of the Catholic church we attended when I was growing up, it was a very sunny, bright, airy church, and if I'd ever been able to climb up near the ceiling, this is what I think it would have smelled like.

 

Worn: Too blended to pick out notes, but there's definitely woods here. Again, it may be associations with that specific church, but to me, it's very much golden wood, an oak or cedar, varnished to a natural color and used to hold up high ceilings, the light slanting through tall windows and illuminating dust motes in the air. I swear I can smell the airiness and the sunshine!

 

This one doesn't really change over time, it smells like that beautiful image. I'm not really any sort of synesthete, but there's just no other way for me to describe this one... it smells exactly like the sunny, airy heights of a wood beamed church!

[Miss_Unicorn]

Unfortunately, my skin turns this into pure bitterness, with a hint of wood.

With time it sweetens up a little, but alas it stays too bitter for me to enjoy.

[rjoskow]

I'm clearly in the minority here, but I finally tried out an imp of this today (I'm embarrassed by how many imps I haven't tested out yet) and I'm completely in love with this scent. Amber usually really amps on my skin, but this is really subtle and warm on me: lots of incense, gentle amber and patchouli, and a slight whiff of smoke. I love this fragrance and will buy a bottle when I place my next order. 

[Supertrooper Omni]

I'm going to echo earlier reviews. It smells like pinon incense, but not smoke -- sticks in the box unburnt. Soft cedar smells, sandalwood, amber. This feels like a more woodsy non-floral version of vassilissa on me though I'm sure that if I smelled them next to each other they would smell nothing alike hahaha.

 

Close to the skin, no harsh individual notes. I'm not picking up any patchouli and definitely not any vetiver. Also no pine or evergreen smells. There might be some of the lab's "skin musk" in this though, but it is not musky or heavy to me rather dry and spicy-sweetish. It smells like my cello bow and rosin powder.

 

Cheerful, cozy, upbeat and subtle spice oriental on me. No florals. Nothing terribly shocking or stinky. Nicely blended, no big morphing.

 

Highly recommended for subtle woods and cozy at home days. Office appropriate, unisex but I could see how some people might think this would be particularly good on men. Very nice indeed!