A Tremor Upon the Lips

[Ashmedai]

The stirring of another’s heartbeat within your chest, the vacuum of a stranger’s breath within your lungs: Laotian oudh, carrot seed, white orris, and bitter raw frankincense chilled by elemi and eucalyptus blossom.

Mix carrot seed and oudh into any blend and I'm going to jump on it, but let's see how it works with the more chilly notes here. First thing to hit my nose on application is what I love best - a beautiful woody, softly balsam-like oudh and carrot seed, combining to smell like those root cellars dug underground before the days of refrigerators (my great-grandmother had, and my grandmother still has, such a root cellar, so this evokes some childhood memories for me). I can barely, barely smell the frankincense and eucalyptus blossom as it dries, and neither are sharp or as cold as I expected. On the contrary, they're a perfect and subtle showcase for that gorgeous oudh and the rooty-sweet carrot seed. Thankfully, I get no orris at all, since that's ruined more than one blend for me. The frankincense and eucalyptus blossom come out a little more on final dry-down, but still don't manage to take over the oudh and carrot seed, just enhance it. This is all I hoped it would be, and I might need a back-up bottle.

[miamaslegi]

This reminded me a little of Ivanushka when I first put it on but now that it's dry . . . I think my nose is broken because I'm getting violet! Lots and lots of violet! What? Reading the notes and then getting a big whiff of violet is confusing, but I like it!

 

ETA Oh, derp, orris! Well, I must amp orris because that's all I could smell once this got on my skin. I wish I could have smelled any of the other notes, but still, I like it!

Edited December 24, 2014 by miamaslegi

[skyelyric]

In the imp, I get some of the chilled root cellar vibe that Ashmedai mentioned, soft, chilly, slightly damp, and woody, with just a little undertone of violet from the orris. It's quite lovely.

 

First applied to my skin, however, I get some heavy duty chilled violets as the orris amps up to front and center. It's a very pretty, complex violet, but it's not at all subtle...hopefully the drydown softens into more of that woodiness that the imp had.

 

Well, the scent did soften, but the orris stayed very much the dominant note, and if I put my nose to my arm and sniff there's a faint plasticky undertone. Sadly, this is not a winner for me.

[zankoku_zen]

Carrot seed, oudh and frankincense. It smells carroty and resinous. It's very strongly smells of carrots to me actually.

Carrots, sour frankincense and oudh.

 

PASS.

[quickdrawkiddo]

I loved this in the wet stage -- it was so weird and cold-yet-incensey and totally different than anything else I had. But the longer I wore it, the more I kept sniffing my arm and saying "hmm, I don't know if I like this anymore." I couldn't put my finger on why until I realized it smelled like all violets, all the time. I've always found violet-heavy scents way too sweet for me so this gets a hard pass, unfortunately.

 

All that aside, I wanted to thank everyone who's posted already for identifying the violet-y note as orris for me I didn't realize that's what orris smelled like and now I know to be wary of it in the future! Thanks guys

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: Sharp mint softened by.... something. Is this the eucalyptus blossom?

 

Wet on skin: On my skin, I'm picking up the oudh and eucalyptus.

 

Dried down: This is softening down to something floral and oudh now.

 

Throw: I'm getting almost nothing.

 

Verdict: *** Not bad, but I'm not really picking up anything that makes me really want it.

[EphemeralFey]

In the Imp: Minty coolness and faint eucalyptus with a light airy green smell. This reminded me more of living green plants then an herbal green scent, very pleasant.

 

On me: Faint eucalyptus and now a stronger herb green smell. Good throw, but it is faint. Can't really pick out any other individual notes.

 

After a while: Goes to a sweetish green herb scent. The eucalyptus has toned down a lot.

 

Thoughts: A very nice scent that would be great to use during the hot AZ summers, but I don't think I will need a bottle of this.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: There's a soft delicate powderiness from the carrot seed and orris.

 

Wet: The elemi and eucalyptus are very dominate now, in a chilly fashion.

 

The dry-down: Much the same as when wet. This is very much a skin scent. The orris did not turn on me, but the frank strangely never asserted itself at all. Perhaps this is indeed the scent of a ghostly breath?

[milo]

Fresh and plantlike. A bit of a cologne vibe thrown in along with the reedy plant scent. After a bit, powdery orris. This is 'ok'. I don't like or dislike it, therefore no more is needed.