Anathema Device

[Ina Garten Davita]

White sandalwood, blackcurrant, bourbon vanilla, and warm amber.

[Aviatrix]

At first I was convinced there was peach in this, but it is just my nose getting confused by the berries. This is a bright and summery, yet warm and cosy, blackcurrant with amber on me! Sort of in the same family as my signature scent Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, but fresher because of the fruit. Needless to say I love it.

The vanilla is not plasticky or cloying in any way - in fact, it stays solidly in the background for me, and I am only getting the faintest trace of something that could be the sandalwood. The blackcurrant is the main player.

 

The throw is medium, I would say.

[donkehpoo]

Wet: First sniff, this reminds me of sipping a mixed drink while sitting outside in the summer. The blackcurrant and bourbon vanilla(and make no mistake on the "bourbon" vanilla) are both pretty strong here, and the amber is giving an overall warmth to the blend. I like this.

 

Dry: Not much change on the dry down; the blackcurrant seems to have strengthened, but that's the only change to my nose.

 

I really like this! This will be a big bottle upgrade at some point.

[tsentsitivenose]

This perfume is bolder and foodier than I expected.  My skin broadcasts sweetened blackcurrant and bourbon vanilla for the first hour.  After that, sandalwood peeks through but stays very close while the sweetened blackcurrant and bourbon vanilla keep their throw.  

[Little Bird]

I love bpal's black currant, and this is tons of delicious, sweet-yet-sour black currant.  It smells like dark, ripe, sweet berries, bursting with juiciness, and that musky, sour hint that currants have.  It's about 90% currant on my skin and 10% a dry sandalwood and warm amber.  I'm perfectly happy with it  

[zankoku_zen]

This smells like black currant and amber. It's a purple, jammy, sort of blend. With a whiff of vanilla to sweeten it. But yeah, purple currants. Juicy, fresh, delicious. Great throw and wear length.

[doomsday_disco]

Anathema Device features a strong, juicy blackcurrant note that remains the star of the show on me after several hours of wear, with a little dusty sandalwood and warm amber lingering in the background. I get more white sandalwood than amber from this. The vanilla is not a main player on me.

This one is definitely one for the berry fans. I think it's pleasant, but I know it's something I wouldn't reach for, since berry-dominant scents aren't really my thing.

[LizziesLuck]

I've had this for ages and have been avoiding it - every time I open the bottle I smell bubblegum! I hate bubblegum so I kept thinking, why on earth did I buy this?

 

Wet: OK so it only smells weirdly of bubblegum for like, 2 seconds, and then I get that amazing tart-sweet blackcurrant that I love so much, and the amber that I love so much, and hints of amber and sandalwood, all of which I love and which caused me to purchase this (duh!). The blackcurrant in this has this added perfumey edge that is to-die-for! It smells so real. The undercurrent of dry sandalwood-vanilla is lovely. The amber lends just the right sweetness, without taking away from the tartness of the fruit. Gorgeous.

 

Dry: Doesn't morph much, loses a bit of its tartness, but the currant note stays true. I quite like this, and am annoyed with myself for not testing it sooner.

[Casablanca]

Like Aviatrix, I pick up some peach in this -- specifically white peach, such as in Lamia. Hidden ingredients are common and perhaps that's a thing here. I also get something bubblegummy, like Lizzie mentioned.

 

Otherwise, though, this is a potent, jammy black currant blend. On my skin, there's loads of plump dark berries, the white peach-bubblegum, and a dry, grainy sandalwood. Hints of vanilla and amber.

 

I wish this would not do the white peach-bubblegum thing on me. I'll keep looking for the right black currant blend.

 

[Janis]

mmm, this smells just like the blackberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream from a certain roadside restaurant! Fresh bright berry cobbler that eventually fades into a berry jam, sticky with amber and sandalwood. Foodie but not overwhelmingly so.

[VetchVesper]

For me this is all about the black currant, which is interesting b/c it's definitely a juicy, berryish black currant, and that's usually not how the note smells on me.  I'm used to getting a dark huskiness that I enjoy but has never struck me as fruity.  Here, it's fruity.  I'm also getting some nice sandalwood and amber balancing and grounding things.  This is a sensible fruitiness, more fall than summer.  I get a bit of vanilla sweetening things up, but it remains in the background and is not the foody variety.  

 

Check this one out if you're a black currant fan, or like darker fruit blends with a hint of incense.

[Okupsidedown]

Anathema Device

 

In the bottle: Sandalwood and blackcurrant!!!

 

Wet: Blackcurrant and amber with a little sandalwood. 

 

Dry down: Oh, the blackcurrant and sandalwood play beautifully together. Amber has wandered off, but I suspect she'll be back, holding hands with Lady Bourbon Vanilla. We'll see.

 

Dry: I was right! And the blackcurrant has an almost apricot aspect. Fascinating. The sandalwood is vaguely channeling a delicious, rich, mellow patchouli. Amber and bourbon vanilla flit around the edges.

[Lucchesa]

Anathema Device starts out ALL blackcurrant on me.  Fruit, fruit, fruit!!!  Sweet sweet black berry.  If you are a lover of the blackcurrant note, you've probably already tried this, but if not, what are you waiting for?  Eventually, an hour or so in, blackcurrant shares space with the bourbon vanilla, amber, and sandalwood.  It's really quite lovely, though the opening is too fruity on me.  I am very grateful to the generous forumite who gifted this to me!!!

[gothteacup]

I love Good Omens, both the book and show, and this was one of the perfumes I was most interested in trying, Anathema is one of my favorite characters in the book.
 

Straight out of the gate, this is all black current, which is a sweet, but not cloying, dark berry.

Although it’s not listed, I am getting some kind of moss as well, but it doesn’t go too crazy (which moss sometimes does for me).

 

Vanilla and amber come out next, and later, the sandalwood. Seems pretty straightforward at first but I really enjoy the dry down a lot, it’s bright from the black currant but cozy from everything else. I see this being an early fall scent.
 

It’s a welcome change to my usual wheelhouse of perfumes.

[AngelinDecline]

On me this is almost all peach and apricot.

 

Maybe what might be the amber, not getting much sandalwood. I'm getting nothing of the black currant or bourbon vanilla. Both of which tends to work well with me but here it is non existent. I'm very surprised by this. However I adore this scent!

 

Its a light uplifting scent with just a touch of apricot which I find can be a bit sickly sweet and doesn't usually work for me but not with this. But there is definitely peach and apricot in this or this scent is playing some major tricks on me. Doesn't have great throw maybe medium-ish but it is quite a lovely scent. 

Edited June 2, 2021 by AngelinDecline

[biggnerd]

When first applied there's a little hint of black currant and vanilla, it settles into a pale, meditative sandalwood with a hint of sweetness - maybe from the vanilla and blackcurrant? It's mostly a sandalwood scent.

[ghoulnextdoor]

There’s a quote that is used frequently as people’s Twitter bios: “though she be but little, she is fierce!” and I regret to inform you that until just now, I had no idea that is taken from some dialogue in a Midsummer Night’s Dream, but I’m not as well-versed in my Shakespeare as I ought to be and anyway, that’s not my point. Anathema Device smells like a fierce, little creature: a teeny-tiny, big-eyed anime blackcurrant wearing comedically large cyborg boxing gloves. This is a pulpy, juicy beatdown of a berry scent, strengthened by a vaguely metallic backbone, powered by a syrupy amber core.

[crystaltongue]

This is a shockingly juicy, fruity scent, both in the bottle and on the skin. There is warmth and sweetness to it, but there is nothing polite or mellow about it. It has enough throw for me to keep catching it as I work throughout the day, but not enough to disturb anyone else. I have a small decant of this for now, but I think I see a full bottle of it in my future.

[RoseThornAndOak]

This is mostly white sandalwood, with quite a bit of warm vanilla amber glow surrounding, with a present black currant, but it is a soft juiciness. Very glamourous and pretty. Glad to have an imp. 

[windbourne]

I picked up a bottle of this recently and have been letting it mellow on a shelf while I explored the other things I got. I put it on today and now I’m wondering how I slept on this for so long, it’s beautiful! 
 

It’s a softly berried but mostly sweet and woody scent on me. It makes me think of tea chests, summer camp wilderness walks, and metaphysical shops, the kind with books of angelic prophecy and mindfulness; Crowley tarot decks and zodiac posters; multicolored tapers, bells, and the odd athame tucked in a glass cabinet. It gets stronger as time passes, the blackcurrant fading out and the wood and amber ascending. After several hours it becomes a powdery amber with the vaguest whiff of sandalwood. I really enjoy the way this wears, though from previous reviews I suspect there may be some batch variation, so ymmv.