Venus Murcia

[Bluestblood]

VENUS MURCIA

Venus of the Myrtle

Crushed grass, honey myrtle, and dew-touched green musk.

I love, love, LOVE this. To me, it is a combination of The Laughter of Loki and Pale Without Name or Number. The green musk takes the lead in this one, for sure. There is a grassy, herbal quality which adds a complexity that goes above and beyond the listed notes.

[Atrous]

Wet: the notes blossom in the order they are listed. First, it's all grass then the myrtle comes out and the scent goes a bit sharp and camphorous for a while. As the sharpness starts dying down Musk comes out.

 

Dry: The green musk has an oily quality to it that I believe gives this scent a certain smoothness. The grass has a lovely freshness mingling with an herbal sweetness. The notes seem really balanced and play so nicely together. Quite complex for a scent with three notes.

A scent that is restive, happy, grassy, herbal, slightly sweet with a medium throw. Lovely!

[zankoku_zen]

Green grass and the same green musk that was prevalent in Laughter of Loki. Very green, very fresh, very grassy. If you wanted LoL, I'd definitely take this out for a spin.

 

If I could love a BPAL for the color of the oil, I would adore Venus Murcia to bits. It's teal. TEAL, people. It's the sort of perfume that you want to display in a crystal atomizer so you can admire how pretty the color is. (Nevermind that doing so would probably KILL the scent, LOOK AT HOW PRETTY THE BLUE IS, EEEE!)

 

This to me, is very Spring-like. Which is great considering how miserably snowy and cold the East Coast has been this year. And because we don't have enough grass scents.

 

Verdict: like laying on summer grass. But better. It's like you're laying of MAGICAL TEAL GRASS.

[ElinaMakropulos]

Very grassy, soapy and cologne-like at first sniff. On my skin it reads as expensive men's soap. I can't tell yet if I like it or if it's just too soapy.

[ellebelle]

Very astringent on application. The grass note is definitely the strongest note here, and it has a sort of masculine scent to it.

[poofie]

Super cologney on me, especially on drydown. I'm not surprised I don't love this, since none of the notes are winners to me, but it sounded too fresh and green and fun to pass up.

[theredkilt]

Smells like fresh crushed grass/ lawn-mown grass. Way too realistic!

[Lycanthrope]

What is this?

 

It starts off very green and grassy, with a bit of a sharper leafiness (maybe the myrtle). Definitely more the plant honey myrtle as opposed to actual honey.

 

Very weirdly, two hours in, and this is going very musky on me. Like, a relative of red musk but less rich, yet, all at the same time, not as work friendly as I thought. So, it started off fresh, leafy, and turns rich, lacquered faint woods, like... what I would imagine aspen tree wood would smell like, bright, golden, yellow-ish green, a morpher.

 

It -is- very similar to Laughter of Loki, same green musk note, just stronger than I expected and differently sensual.

[alyelle]

In the imp: sweet florals and grass

 

Wet: This is... odd. Yes, there's grass and myrtle, but there's something else besides that and the musk that my skin chemistry does not like. It gives off an almost chemical smell, similar to an old alcohol-based perfume I once used (Sohum's Amber Noir). And whatever this note is, I amp it to buggery. Two hours later, after a shower, I could still smell this and there were lingering traces the next morning after I woke up. Sale/swap pile, no question.

 

Since I washed it off after a short while, I'm not able to speak for the final dry down - but given that it was hanging around the next day, I feel pretty confident in saying it lasts FOREVER. The throw, both while I wore it and after I washed it off, is pretty strong.

 

Stars: ★★

[Leopard403]

I love looking at this in my decanted imp, because you can tell what you are about to smell by the color of the oil. Like zankoku_zen posted above, this baby is TEAL. I squee!

 

So, okay, it looks a bit like Listerine in the vial. And on immediate application to my skin, there's a scary moment of tangy Irish Spring-yness. But then it settles into something gloriously fresh and a little bit musky, with a drop of sweetness behind it. And it lasts FOREVER. I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I love this!

[CiaoBonefish]

Wet and in Decant: This starts off very bright, grassy, and springy! This scent is almost effervescent! It reminds me a lot of Mag Mell at this point actually because it has a similar tone to it. I almost feel like this has a bit of gingery bite to it. I'm not really getting any honey here and the scent has a touch of sweetness, but hardly any really.

As it Dries: As this dries the grass and the musk become more prominent. It isn't as bright as before, but is instead more herbal feeling. I think that this is even less sweet than before, but it feels a little more mellow.

Fully Dry: The grass and musky notes have mellowed down and are no longer sharp at all. The scent also has a delicate sweetness to it. It isn't as rich as honey, but it is almost airy and like wisps of honeycomb. I'm also not getting much ginger any more, and it is smooth and really quite pretty.

Overall: I know I said initially that this reminded me of Mag Mell, and that wet stage really did, but as this dries down it turns into something else. The dry down isn't smooth and warm like Mag Mell, instead it is sweet and green and musky while still feeling bright and fresh. It's a very pretty scent! I'm not sure if this one will be a bottle purchase, but the more it wears on me the more I like it!

[somacat]

This smells like a tart, sparkly grass and clover. I love the tanginess of the fresh grass and how I feel like I should check for ants. This is also one of the coolest looking BPAL oils I've seen.

[Cactus]

This starts out with a strong medicinal green scent. Like breaking a stem, but on a Srs Bzness medicinal plant. Fortunately, that overwhelming stage is over in less than 10 minutes.

 

After that it changes and becomes a fresh grass scent with hints of honey and green musk. Very nice and fresh.

 

One hour later it has become pure green musk on me. Almost a green musk single note!

Basically, if you like green musk, this is a great scent for that, but it is also very simple (and if you are into complicated scents it is probably not for you).

Edited March 29, 2015 by Cactus

[TorchedEarth]

This is wonderful on my skin. I love grass scents, & apparently I love green musk.

It threatens to go soapy on me but never does.

I need MOAR.

[astraelly]

Fresh and grassy in the vial, but it doesn't smell realistic. There's something that's almost like a chlorine bite in there, like a green-scented cleaning product used near a pool. That effect goes away after about five minutes, but there's still something unpleasantly soap or aftershave-like about this. It's almost minty in an artificial way?

[porcelina]

i love this fresh green grass note. i dunno about the honey myrtle and i wonder if that is what's making things head into sort of a soapy direction on my skin. the green musk smooths things out nicely and i really adore the initial grassy scent but it ends up smelling just too sharp and soapy for me right now.

[Roogna]

if you like Laughter of Loki or Bub, try this one.

It's not as green spicy and more grassy than Loki and not as sunny as Bub.

 

it does get a slight astringent smell to it a couple hours in, which fades back down again with the musk becoming the strongest note. I prefer both Loki and Bub to Venus Murica, but I will definitely try it again

[milo]

Green indeed! Grass right away, along with the musk. This is fresh and clean. Great for spring and summer. The oil also has a green tinge to it. Not bad, but I don't need any more.

[marilyn eyre]

Too grassy when it's wet, like the lawn was just mowed. But when it's nice and dry, this beautiful green musk comes out and it smells like rolling in the first fresh spring grass. It's lovely, but I can't wear it that often.

[Evilynn]

It's so pretty! Not the label (although that's pretty too), but the oil itself, which is teal coloured. I've let my bottle age since March, because it was a weird sharp banana-smelling mess on my skin when fresh.

 

In the bottle: Herbal, green banana. Damned.

 

Wet: Banana and grass. I guess it's the green musk (or something in the green musk) that my nose registeres as unripe banana, weird.

 

Dry: Sharp grass, and a bit more rounded out musk. It's better in the dry stage than when wet, but sadly, I think I need to let this one go.

[VetchVesper]

This is just lovely.

In the bottle VM smells crisp and tart to me, almost like a granny smith apple. On my skin the grass note makes itself known immediately, then the myrtle starts to creep in with a powdery sweetness that does remind me a bit of honey, though it lacks the richness honey has on my skin. Lastly, the musk appears. It's soft and light and a bit incensey to my nose. It makes me want to try out more green musk scents.

I really love this. It doesn't come across soapy or sharp to me at any point. It's a light, musky skin scent with a hint of crushed grass. It makes me think of making love in a field of clover. I hope the lab will make something similar, since I wasn't able to get a full bottle.

 

Edit: I'd like to add, this lasts a crazy long time on me. More than 12 hours, though it stayed light and close to the skin the whole time.

Edited January 23, 2016 by VetchVesper

[freyasfae]

Unsurprisingly, this is a very green scent, the oil is even green. At first, I can smell more of the notes, but as it dries down, it is mainly about the grass. It actually reminds me of Gap's Grass from the 90s, do they still make that? Anyway, this is a perfect scent for folks who love green grass scents.

[Honor]

I received a partial imp of this from a forumite as a freebie during a swap, and I'm super grateful she included it, as this is not a scent I would've chosen on my own.

In the vial: Sharp, freshly cut, wet (dew touched?) green grass. It's 99.9% ALL GRASS but there's a hint of something underneath it, just enough to capture my interest.

On skin, initially: the grass doesn't fade, it stays in foreground, but a slightly musky honey is starting to emerge (like a shy bumblebee?), but it brings the threat of baby powder. There is a slight powder note that usually happens to me with *any* of the lab's Honey notes. At this point I'm cautious....

Dry down: The powdery note is gone! Bright green grass is still prominent, but there's a light musk and honey note that rests just underneath the "green". Over time, thorough the day, the honey and musk gain momentum "creeping" up and interweaving with the grass note more. Mid-day, there's a light, floral note that peeks out. By the end of the day the green is faint (surprising, considering how prominent it starts out), and it's a soft light musk, honey and floral scent.

 

Overall, very beautiful and as others have said, more complex than the note description makes it seem!

Very happy to have some of this!

[Lucchesa]

Venus Murcia is green, green, green! Even the color in the bottom of my tester imp is greenish-blue, just gorgeous. And she's a morpher. At first she's all grass, freshly mown grass, and smells like that week in spring when everyone has mowed their grass for the first time since fall because it has gotten just too long to ignore. Then in the next phase the herbal honey comes out to roll around in the grass, and the final drydown is all musk, what must be green musk, lovely and lasting. What a gorgeous springtime scent!

[doomsday_disco]

I concur that this is a super green scent (and the oil is a beautiful shade of green, too)! It goes on strong on the grass but then quickly becomes mostly about the green musk on me (and yes, it is indeed the same one from The Laughter of Loki, but in this, it's accompanied by patch instead of grass) with some added sweetness from the honey myrtle.

 

I'm sending this decant to a friend so that they can try it. I like it, but the green musk ends up being so strong on me that I know it's not something I would gravitate towards. That said, if you're a fan of green musk scents like 51 or Pollution, or you are pining for a green musk scent that's not as hard to find as The Laughter of Loki, this should be up your alley!