Telesto

[Aveya]

One of the Oceanids, the Three-Thousand Daughters of Tethys and Oceanus. Draped in a sun-bright peplos of flowing champaca, Bengal oudh, golden vanilla, neroli, and amber cream, she personifies divine blessings.

Whoa no one's reviewed this yet?

Source: Lab blind-buy
Preconceptions: Hoping for creamy earthy sweet amber. Unfamiliar with MOST of these notes so thought this would be a fun scent journey for me.

Bottle: Milky, watery, sweet.
Initial Skin: Reminds me of almond milk. It's surprisingly light. Very gently floral, sweet, faintly nutty, feels very milky & wet.
Drydown: Warmth starts to peak out a few minutes in, amber comes out almost like morning sun on a dew-covered flower. Starts to dry up that overall wet vibe I got and changes the blend from a white-cool scent, to a golden gentle glow. Cozy amber isn't amping like it can on me, vanilla isn't going sour, behaving very well, thank you! Staying gentle in every note - nutty, floral, creamy, gentlest touch of amber, barest hint of vanilla sweetness. Well balanced with each other. Surprisingly more milky than I expected, but beautiful.

Very soft, feminine, gentle. But don't confuse it with delicate. This doesn't evoke anything innocent or girly - this feels very self-possessed womanly. NOT the earthy amber I thought it would be - Champaca was a big question mark in my mind, and I think it ended up helping to steer this blend into a more feminine zone.

Verdict: Dew covered summer flowers being warmed by first light. Medium throw, and has lovely staying power.

[theseagrows]

i sampled this at drag con, so forgive me if my memory is a bit hazy. it starts off with neroli and champaca, i believe. i remember thinking it was citrussy but there was an underlying warmth to it. after walking around the con for a bit it got deeper, more vanilla and amber cream-very pretty, kind of a warm scent with a bit of crispness.

[zankoku_zen]

Champaca, oudh, vanilla, and a whiff of cream. It's a very soft, golden skin musk. The oudh makes it slightly perfumey, and the champaca really grounds it. Medium throw and wear length.

[AraliaShine]

Telesto is a very fluid scent;it drapes and flows, notes blending seamlessly.

It's also very pale and subdued. Ordinarily, amber scents bloom off of my skin

invitingly, leonine with warmth and tawny confidence. This one purrs like a

kitten basking in a sunbeam. The oudh is sweet and gentle, the champaca feels

Warm and a bit fuzzy, and the neroli adds a gleam of gold. The cream brings to

mind cool milk pouring from a moisture-beaded pitcher, while the vanilla adds

depth and anchors it.

 

Very cozy; to me, this smells like contentment.

[torikitty]

I think the first reviewer hit this spot-on. However, the milky sweetness didn't do anything for me. I'm beginning to think I just can't do oudh at all.

[lady_pandora]

This reminds me of Like the Flashing of Light plus oudh. It's got the bitter-but-in-a-refreshing-way citrusiness of LtFoL and the amber softening it, and then the addition of earthy incensey oudh to the mix. It's like a more autumnal version, maybe.

[thecaitycat]

In the bottle

This is hard to describe in the bottle. It's a little sweet, but not candy-like at all. There's a tiny a hint of licorice in it that I like. Neither of these notes is in the description, but Beth is magical like that. The amber cream is making this soft, but not too soft.

 

Wet on skin

At first, almost like honeydew melon in the same way that Harikata (lovelovelovelove) is melon-y on my skin. Within about a minute, the neroli and vanilla start to blossom along with that fruitiness. After another minute or two, this gets a little sweeter and sharper.'

 

Dry on skin after 30 minutes

The champaca and oudh make this less fruity and more complex the longer this remains on my skin.

 

Thoughts

It's difficult to pin down what the dominant note is for this one, because it's ever-morphing. I think it's the amber that holds everything together. This was the first of Saturn's moons for me, and I'm thoroughly enjoying her. Telesto has a medium throw, so after the first hour or so I get a whiff when I move my hands but it's not a constant presence.

[RedPersimmon]

Subtle and golden. I don't get any dirty, earthy oudh here. Dry-down is a clean-ish, nutty and milky amber cream. Makes me feel protected and powerful.

[LizziesLuck]

The golden vanilla and hints of amber cream in this are lovely, but sadly the oudh and very bitter neroli ruin it on my skin. I need to learn my lesson about oudh….