Aureus

[shelldoo]

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

ahhh i love me some resins.

this is definitely a woody incense smell, it is just like sitting in a warm empty church, watching the dust motes drift thru the sunbeams

[tinyvulture]

Resinous, the smell of churches and incense. Very similar to Cathedral, which I love. This one’s got less of a bite though. It’s warm, maybe from amber. It has an underlying sweetness, almost like butterscotch.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Patchouli maybe? Something very earthy and dirty.

 

On Skin: This doesn’t smell light or warm to me at all. It seems very earthy and brown. I think it may be patchouli that stands out the most and I don’t like it. Woody and incensey… kind of smokey. Oh well, it’s going to the swaps.

[leahcat]

Aureus

 

in the bottle: eep! incense notes. erk.

wet: heavy heavy incense. Where's the light? golden? dark musky room odor to me

drying/5 minutes: softening but still *cough*incense*cough* and my nose doesn't like that sort so heavy. oh well

dry/ minutes: just not for me

 

[JazzieCazzie]

Very very very woody ... cedar to the max, I'm guessing ... for some reason I was expecting some sandalwood but never got a hint of it ... no smoke or sandalwood or incense, like others have gotten, just pure cedar ...

 

It reminds me a lot of Kathmandu and Fire of Love. I like it a lot but with a big bottle of Kathmandu already in my box I think it would be overkill to buy a big bottle of this ...

[sarada]

Why didn't I try this before? Resins are among my absolute favorite scents and when I started ordering bottles, Cathedral was among the first because I was hoping for lots of resins and incense (and I love it!). I didn't think that golden light, for some reason, would mean resin...thank goodness I got to try this one, I am ordering a bottle immediately

 

But this is golden light...it is golden light pouring through church windows, as many others have suggested. My immediate thought was amber, but it would be a very dark and dusty amber. It's slightly sweet -- I should edit this after I sniff the single note Frankincense I'm expecting, to see if this is heavy on the frankincense.

 

Among all of the resinous scents I have tried I would say that Magus is the lightest, followed by Cathedral...and then Aureus is about medium strength, with a dab of sweetness, while the heaviest are Anne Bonny (patchouli is more evident in that blend) and Penitence (heavy on frankincense I'm guessing). Strangely though this does stay strong even longer than the blends that go on "heavy."

 

I can't actually tell which resins are in this -- I suspect there may be some that I don't recognize necessarily by smell. I can see where cedar and sandal and patchouli could all be playing a part, but dark, rich amber and frankincense come to mind first. It becomes more and more beautiful as it dries on my skin. This absolutely blew me away when I first sniffed it, and I can't thank the lab enough for sneaking this into my last order, as I wouldn't have thought to try it myself!

[Gin]

Oh gosh. If I had too pick a scent that reminds me of Lush’s Icon soap, this would be it. Aureus is maybe a touch warmer, though. It’s incensy and sort of dusty (in a good way) like old books. I love this.

[cranberry]

This is beautiful! Tried it for the first time this morning - so far I've been wearing it for about 3 hrs and it's going strong. As the day goes on I may come back and add a bit more to this.

 

In the bottle, I smelled pure cedar and patchouli. Not much else. A very dry woody scent.

 

On the skin:

Stayed pretty true to the initial sniff - very woody, dry, mainly cedar and patchouli. I do catch a whiff of salt - while I don't in Annie Bonnie - interesting. As it wears on and blends, I catch a bit of smoke - it does remind me of Diptyque's Essence of John Galliano Room Spray! Which I love and have 2 bottles of at home!

 

Overall impression - LOVE it.

 

I'm going to have to get a big big bottle of this - I can see using it for me and as a room scent. Good staying power, not sure about sillage/throw, but overall very warm, dry, and brings to mind a dark golden color.

[wickedgoddess]

Origins - gift imp from the lab

 

Wet - not at all what I was expecting. Cedar, frankincense, and possibly sandalwood and/or musk. This reminds me of Cathedral.

 

Dry - I love cedar, but just like Cathedral and Kathmandu, the cedar has amped itself up on my skin to the exclusion of all else. I get very strong cedar with a tiny bit of frankincense. I am assuming there is amber in here, but if there is, I never smell it. This smells exactly like Cathedral on me, but I assume it is because in both cases the cedar overpowered the other notes. In both cases I get cedar, with a bit of frankincense, and not much else.

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 3.

[oakmoss]

A warm dry scent, with a whiff of sweet cedar like the inside of a very old cigar box, and incense amber underneath. There's also a feeling of earthiness, rather like a pinch of Graveyard Dirt is in the mix. I wanted to choose something sunny and golden for summer solstice today, but this is a deeper gold, meditative and quietly powerful.

[Loligo]

This is an awful, awful smell on me. Bitter, medicinal, heavy at first, then "mellowing" to a dusty, moldy smell, like dead things that have been shut up in a hot, dry room. I had to wash it off. Who do I blame for this -- the patchouli, maybe?

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Golden warmth.

 

Just On: Musky goldenness.

 

An hour or two later: Mmm amber.

 

Around 6 hours: A lovely light amber scent.

 

12 hours: Still hints of amber.

 

Overall: This dries down to a fabulous amber scent.

 

After reading other reviews: Hmm, the little bit of musky must have been the patchouli. Other than that, I didn't smell it at all. I didn't get any wood either really, this was pretty much all amber.

[Yagathai]

Cedar, musk, amber, resin. Like the bastard child of Lear and Imp.

[QueenFae]

I think I was expecting this one to smell more like an amber scent, sort of like the lion. Incensey smells usually have darker connotations for me, as this one does. It's extremely strong and incensey, heavy on the patchouli and very resiny. I think it's a bit much for me to wear, but would probably be an awesome room scent. It's very head shop like, and I think the only one I've really liked like this so far is Depraved. Oh well, off to the swaps.

[Xiabelle]

When I first opened this, all I thought was 'Ack! Wood! Too much wood!' In the imp it's very very strong, sharp cedar and patchouli, which is not really what I want to smell like.

 

I tried it anyway, despite my reservations.

 

Fresh on, it bloomed with cedar. Wow, that's sharp and loud. A few minutes in, I got a real musky scent -- patchouli, maybe, which my skin tends to amp (I'm looking at you, Rakshasa) unless it's in small quantities. It settled down again, though and eventually I started getting something sweet with the wood.

 

This dried down to an absolutely gorgeous warm cedar, backlit by amber. I could smell sweet amber warmth floating behind it, and it was like opening a very old cedar chest that had been sitting out in the sunlight, so the smell was heated.

 

Lovely, but not quite what I would generally wear as I'm not into wood in that big of amounts. I tried it on the boy, but it was mostly straight cedar on him, and he thought it was too sharp. A coworker expressed interest when I told him about it, so I'll probably let him sample it and have it if he likes it. Otherwise, it's off to swaps.

 

ETA: Late in the wearing, I evidently developed a sensitivity to this, since every time I smelled it, it felt like someone was stabbing the top of my lungs. I knew my cedar allergy would come out sooner or later.

Edited August 11, 2005 by Xiabelle

[Em-]

I swapped for this imp, figuring I would try something different, that I had not really considered previously.

 

Aureus is a very heavy resiny, incensey blend. To me it seems very dark, actually. Turns out that I am not really into heavy incensey resiny blends. But we all have to learn somehow, right? If incense and non-amber resins are your thing, then this blend would be lovely, I'm sure.

[sarahj]

Aureus

 

in vial: sharp and woodsy cedar

 

wet: dusty cedar with a little sweetness (vanilla?)

 

dry: very sharp cedar with a tiny bit of vanilla sweetness

 

verdict: too sharp for me...off to swaps

[Lori]

Sniffing the imp…Oh! I smell deep, dark, damp earth…not golden light! I can smell woods (Cedar? Sandalwood?) and earthy Patchouli, and there is definitely the sweet smell of amber there…but not the light golden amber, the dark one. Hmmm…

 

Wet on wrist…yes, this smells like earth and wood, both nice and wet. Like mud in a field and campfire logs after a rain. I am really enjoying it, it is a comforting smell. Oh! Now I know why!! This reminds me the Winnipeg Folk Festival, which I was a regular attendee of for over 20 years! Each July, 20,000 people dressed like hippies and wearing patchouli would descend upon Bird’s Hill Park, for 3 days and 4 nights of glorious music, freestyle dancing, pot smoking and peace, love and brotherhood.

 

And every year, without fail, the skies would open up and a ginormous thundershower would wet us to the bone and we didn’t care. We just took off our Jesus sandals and danced barefoot in the mud!

 

Aureus reminds me of that and I am happy for it

[herdivineshadow]

This is a very incensey scent on me, a lot like Penitence but warmer and rounder. It is indeed a golden smelling scent, but I think that it's a bit too resiny for me.

[sarahmarie]

I totally get how this smells like light. Really - it makes me think of lying in the grass and looking at the sun. I understand where people are coming from with the dark, musty associations, because it's very strong and very patchouli... Maybe I'm suggestible, but I do smell the light in this. And for that reason, I like it even though it is much stronger and much more patchouli than I can usually handle.

 

I'm not sure whether I can wear this one...it might bother my headaches. But I love the idea of it, and I appreciate the scent immensely.

[sparkydevil]

I had high hopes. I was expecting a golden amber scent, but instead I got this...

 

In the Imp: Very woodsy. Like an old wooden house that has been heated by the summer sun. I got no amber notes whatsoever.

 

On Me: SAWDUUUUUST! Like my grandfather's old wood shop. Hot, humid, and woodsy. Now I love my grandfather, but I don't want to smell like his wood shop.

 

Drydown: I didn't get that far, it was a baby wipe moment.

 

I tried this again and the same result. Even on my entire family. So to the swap pile it goes.

[brownbear]

This one didn't really change much as it dried down.

I get lots and lots of dry wood notes from this. I'm thinking maybe both cedar and sandalwood. Plus some patchouli I think. It's a nice scent if you like those notes, but for me I only like those notes in the background. oh well Off to swaps.

[gangstaknitta]

In bottle: This is a very light scent, with just a touch of woody-earthiness to it to balance out the slight sweetness.

 

Wet: It immediately smells soapy. Woodsy too--like cedar, but not overwhelmingly so. A bitter note emerges on my skin.

 

Dry: Moldy wood. I don't know how else to describe it. And now that's all I can smell in the bottle.

[AlaskaSnows]

In the Bottle: Amber and wood, a very dry arid wood.

 

Dry: Sandalwood? Just wood pretty much, very dry wood. A very incensy wood, but on me it takes on that nasty bitterness myrrh does. It goes very flat and cold on me. So this is a no-go though I see this being lovely on the right man.

[malabar]

Aureus is a very interesting blend, I'll give it that. It's a brother to Voodoo and Virgo, and is maybe Perversion's nephew. (Hmm, a BPAL scent family tree. A thought for another day) This review is pretty much going to end up a comparison chart.

 

Funny, I immediately thought of "Umbra's younger, lighter sibling". I don't detect any similarity to Voodoo at all, but maybe that's just me.