Silence

[zankoku_zen]

French lavender and white gardenia with Himalayan cedar.

Silence is pure crystalline lavender and gardenia, over a base of cedar. On wet, I get mainly lavender and gardenia. As it dries, you get the cedar coming out at the tail end. Peaceful and quiet. Good throw and wear length.

 

[LiberAmoris]

I wish I could buy a whole bottle of Silence. The gardenia fights the cedar a bit in the beginning when wet, but it calms down pretty quickly into gardenia and woods, with lavender filling in the cracks. It's an unexpected combo, but very relaxing. Somehow these notes conjure up a phantom note of white coconut, and I get drifts of that as the day goes on. The gardenia is GORGEOUS. Super calming, a perfect scent to release at this time of year when the holidays make life a bit stressful. I'm glad I have my imp of Silence to take things down a notch at the end of the day!

[HeidiSaysStuff]

In the bottle, it's evergreen and faint florals. Calming and meditative scent. On me it smells blue-green and herbal.

[LunaGoth]

The complete and utter silence of a snow blanketed, early morning in Winter. That's what comes to mind with this scent. A lovely Winter floral. The remembered smell of my herb garden as it sleeps beneath the snow. Light, clear, inoffensively flowery/herbacious, and frosty without being too chilly. It didn't noticeably last on my skin for more than an hour or two but it's a pretty little scent.

[fizzbangdangcharade]

In the bottle: Very floral, a bit astringent.

Wet: Very floral still, but no longer as strong. It actually reminds me of the old laundry detergent/softener my mother would use.

Drydown: It calms down as it dries. It's much softer; muted would be a good word for it. I immediately think of winter flowers, covered in a light dusting of snow at midnight. Silence is a good name for this one. It invokes the feeling of being utterly alone at night, beneath a full moon and a clear sky. Standing in a meadow and staring at the sky surrounded by the sweet scent of the flowers around you.

Dry: It mellows further, and now I'm reminded of the way freshly laundered sheets smell; hung up on the clothes line in the yard to dry by the sun and the breeze. Cotton, the old scented fabric detergent and softener my mom used when I was a kid, sunlight and fresh air.

 

I'm always iffy on florals, as they can be overpowering/make my throat itch. This one though, used in moderation (it's pretty strong, has a nice throw) is actually soft enough that I can use it and smell like clean laundry instead of a flower garden. Great scent for the winter. Not because it smells like winter, but because it smells like spring. Something you end up pining for in the deep of winter, when it's freezing and dark, and it seems there's no end in sight.

[RavenintheWind]

In the bottle: Woah, lavender! Hint of wood and flowers. Promising.

Wet: Floral, but balanced. Not much wood now, but there is some. I like this stage OK, although this is more floral than I like for a scent I wear often.

Drydown: Gardenia!! Just a hint of something herbal, almost minty--must be the sandalwood. Very cool, moderate to strong throw.

Dry: Still just mostly gardenia with a slight woody base. Was hoping for more lavender and sandalwood over all. My skin just ate it up. I'll be giving this one to a friend who loves gardenia, which give me a headache. Off to scrub...

[ramblingrambler]

Very much a sleep scent; lavender and gardenia, for sure, but very "fluffy," like down blankets. Pretty linear, lending itself to a nice wind-down fragrance.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

at first this was that really medicinal, astringent lavender (the one i don't like - not the one in TKO!)

 

gardenia is strange on me. commercial perfumes that may, or may not, have gardenia in them sometimes amp into an almost single note sweaty gymsock-and-gardenia type awfulness.

and things that do have gardenia in them, it overwhelms.

 

so this ends up sweaty gardenia with a wintergreen-y cedar-y thing. i knew it wouldn't be something that worked on me, but i figured i should try it.

[DiesMali]

In the imp - A big, fat, fluffy gardenia with a lavender crown.

 

Wet on my skin - Gardenia! With a wisp of lavender.

 

Dry - I knew this probably wasn't going to work on me, due to the gardenia, but I wanted to try it anyway. IF I was a white-floral person, I would probably love this, as it's actually quite pretty. It's a big poofy gardenia, but a somewhat melancholy one with silvery-grey wisps of lavender and almost smoky cedar. Alas, even though I actually kinda like it, the gardenia is doing its thing and giving me a headache, so I will be passing this on to someone who will be able to appreciate it more, sans headache.

[lady_pandora]

I dabbed this on as a sleep scent last night--I like to change them up sometimes, because I feel like I stop being able to smell them after a while. Verdict: awesome!

 

I get basically no gardenia; I even forgot it was supposed to have any. This is herbal lavender with woody cedar on me, unisex, a little medicinal, probably not something I'd wear for a night out on the town, but definitely something I'd wear for meditation or sleep or just to calm my nerves. And I slept well and had a pretty neat dream too.

[Tal Shachar]

Yvaine but with cedar! Perhaps a slightly less flowery lavender than in the dearly departed Yvaine (miss u every day, friend), and I think the gardenia's slightly stronger, but the cedar balances out the florals. The drydown exposes more of the pillowy white softness of the gardenia, with the cedar lingering last like the smell of a nice linen closet. I would love this so much as a permanent part of the Somnus collection or a TAL, but alas.

[JazzieCazzie]

IN THE IMP: I actually did not "get" ANY of the listed notes and definitely not the lavender ... if I had not known what the notes were, I would have thought it was some sort of fruit. I got lightly fruit and clean and clear.

 

WET: Still somehow overall "fruity" on me. Can't place the lavender OR the gardenia OR the cedar. I get fruit and a dry, cold air.

 

DRYDOWN: Still that ineffable fruitiness but it's going more herbal ... like a sachet or air freshener but not in a bad fake way ... it's possible, I suppose, that what I'm reading as "fruit" is the rich lush gardenia, and the sachet is the cedar and the fresh clean scent is the lavender.

 

OVERALL: This is really interesting to me. I like all three listed notes but wouldn't have thought to have them together, and on me (take that as a grain of salt) they are interacting nicely but all totally morphing from how they tend to react to me individually.

 

Not a keeper but a very interesting and appealing scent.

[Lucchesa]

Silence is all lavender on me at the beginning, but lavender never lasts long on my skin. It took 10 minutes or so for me to start to perceive the gardenia and cedar, but on the drydown this is a lovely gardenia/cedar blend with just a hint of the dry, herbal sort of lavender. The cedar is gentle, not pencil-shaving-like, and beautiful. Gardenia is always a good note on me, and its creamy sweetness plays well with the foresty cedar. I wish my skin didn't eat up lavender immediately, though...

[cassiejaynebunk]

WHYYYYYYYYY CAN'T I BUY A BOTTLE OF THIS???!! i love the Labs lavender, and this blend is no joke. it's a grown up sleep blend. something i can't wait to put on and snuggle up with. my boyfriend gave me a gift card for my birthday, which happened to fall on black friday, so i made my purchase and got the frimps of Silence and Stillness. so wish i could get this year round.

[VetchVesper]

I've found something with cedar that I can actually wear! This is surprisingly lovely. The cedar is smooth and soft, almost creamy. At first I get it pretty evenly with a very nice lavender and there's a very clean, natural vibe going on, but then gardenia pierces through with it's beautiful white floral creaminess, and it just takes Silence to a new level, and I love it. This reminds me of a cool, clear night with twinkling stars, the kind of night you'd spend out in woods camping. Really a lovely surprise since cedar is usually a death note and lavender is something I'm fairly ambivalent towards.

[cyborgutena]

Going on wet, it's sharp lavender and cedar backed up by the nice floral gardenia. After a while, the gardenia really comes out. It ends up very floral but keeps that sharpness in the background for a while. Very light and white scent.

 

Unfortunately, my partner said the scent reminded him of old ladies at church (probably down to the gardenia).... it wasn't a scent I was going to wear out anyway, luckily. This is strictly a 'sit around and huff with wild abandon' kind of imp.