Liquid Gold is in the Air

[zankoku_zen]

Liquid gold cascading over parched earth: three glittering ambers, golden oud, golden apple, saffron, and orange blossom honey with vanilla husk and gilded cedar.

[niffler]

In the bottle this is a very light translucent gold, all apple and orange blossom with a hint of cedar underneath and a bloom of saffron at the edge. Fresh, airy, very well blended. It reminds me a bit of Sjofn. I can't pick out anything specifically amber or oud.

Much the same wet on my skin. It starts to warm up with amber and honey, but the oud keeps it from being too sweet or powdery. I must say, I tested this on two different days and the first time had an odd stage in the middle where the honey and oud were fighting and vanilla stepped in to put them in a timeout. The honey and oud might not have become friends exactly, but in the second test they refrained from throwing down. Not sure if this was from letting it settle some more or a shift in my (monthly) skin chemistry. Either way, amber and vanilla definitely  sweeten the dry down and it stays harmoniously golden. The end result is beautifully sophisticated. This isn't going to be an everyday scent for me, but I will savor every time I wear it. 

[marared]

This is absolutely beautiful in the bottle and on application: bright, fresh, juicy apple and honey that is not syrupy. I reeeeeally have to inhale to pick up any amber or vanilla husk. No cedar, no oud, not even saffron which is normally a pretty assertive note. Very low throw.

 

After a few minutes, the scent darkens up a bit. The vanilla starts showing up, and I think that must be the oud, because it's still not amber or cedar - but there's also no trace of indoles. Hooray!

 

And then after about twenty minutes? It's gone. My skin ate it all, only the barest hint remains. It's a really gorgeous scent, with very little staying power.

[DiesMali]

In the bottle: Golden delicious apples!

 

Wet on my skin: Golden delicious apples with a little bit of floral honey and a bit of glimmery amber. 

 

Dry: Sjofn and Brisingamen had a glorious apple-amber-honey baby, and this is it. It's a soft, pale gold scent, with just a bit of extra depth from the oudh, cedar, and saffron that I can tell are in there somewhere, under the beautiful apple-amber-honey top notes. It's so well blended that I can't really pick up a sure whiff of anything under the apple-amber-honey, but it's somehow still there, if that makes sense? This is a lovely, lovely scent. Not actually very foodie, despite apple and honey. This is what you might expect a Swedish forest spirit masquerading as a beautiful, golden-haired maiden to smell like, as she steps out of the edge of the forest, just before sunset in the late days of summer, and offers an apple from her basket to a weary traveler who is still a mile away from the village. No trick, and that juicy golden apple somehow boosts the traveler's spirits as the golden late-evening sunshafts warm their skin. 

[Casablanca]

Amber-honeyed golden apples cascading down a sunbeam. 

 

Honeyed apple with amber, saffron, cedar, and a little orange blossom. Golden, and a bit waxy after drydown. 

 

Essentially this is a fable about the color gold. 

[puellacaerulea]

In the decant: APPLES! My skin eats the apples up fast, though -- once it's on, the apples mostly disappear and the oud and amber amp up. It's not heavy, though -- it's a relatively light amber/oud combo, with maybe a bit of the honey detectable, but it's a subtle honey. It is a little indolic, but the oud mostly behaves. So: golden, light, sophisticated, gently sweetened amber and oud.

[torischroeder9]

In the decant: Apples, but apples with a little bit of bite -- jazz, maybe, rather than Granny Smith or golden delicious. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, it's much the same as in the decant, though some of the tartness fades from the apple scent. As it dries down, I also get a touch of amber and light woods, though at this point, I can't be sure whether it's oud or cedar. Given time to develop, what I had initially thought was just a hint of oud stank dials way back, and I'm left with something softly dry and warm, maybe saffron or cedar still. 

 

Later on, the amber and saffron become the stars of the show. There's enough apple and honey to give the scent a bit of sweetness and enough oud to give it deeper grounding, but they all become supporting players. It's quite pretty -- a little outside my wheelhouse, so I don't know that I need more than a decant, but exceedingly well conceived and executed. 

[AirimirOfGondor]

In the bottle, this is light and fresh and golden, kind of apple-y, with a hint of something powdery, and a teensy bit of sharpness.

 

As it dries on my skin, a bit of a greenish note comes out, and I think I smell the saffron a bit more.

It does keep a bit of the sharpness at first, and I do get whiffs of something almost-menthol, or maybe licorice?

 

Once it dries a bit more, I think the oudh doesn't agree with me. 😥 It has a bit of a stanky quality, which I don't like very much.

 

The wet stages are amazing, all autumny golden goodness, but as soon as it dries too much, it's completely different, and all I get is licorice BO. 😭 (and I love to eat licorice candy, but I dislike it as a fragrance note)

[SophieCedar]

Wet, its all golden apples and honey.

Drydown is much more complex. I get a bit of that licorice tinge the last poster mentioned, which I believe to be the cedar (think Tombstone-esque) and oudh coming out. Its still a warm amber apple scent but with some herbal and licorice bite at the base. The throw goes to low in drydown. Nice but the whole experience fades quickly.

[astarinel]

Soft juicy golden apples when wet, with a little honey.

 

As it dries, the other notes come out and this becomes gentle sweet apples over cedar, vanilla, and honey. The cedar has almost a spicy edge to it, and it's overall a very golden scent that manages to be almost sunny and ethereal rather than dark and warm.

 

I agree with the reviews that noted that this faded quickly, it went from wet to drydown to where did it go in less than an hour.

[trinitysite]

Oh I thought I was going to love this, and I do not! It's very appley-apples, similar to the apple note in Sjofn. Definitely lighter than I expected, and very sweet. I can't pick out anything specific, but the sweetness is probably the honey and amber. There is definitely something autumnal about it, like Samhain's younger and girlier cousin. Unfortunately, there's also a sour and discordant note - might be cedar, might be oud, might be the honey going all weird on me. It fades quickly. I wanted this to be nice, but there's just something off about it.

[zankoku_zen]

Juicy apple, amber, and golden oudh. The oudh definitely takes that goldenness and brings it down to earth. I can definitely see this as the golden light of autumn, with the wet dirt and fallen leaves smell. Great scent, good throw and wear length.

[Marina Napoli]

Apple soap. Or like a candle maybe. Definitely a little artificial smelling. 

 

I think the Lab's saffron hates my skin. Between this and Rose Quartz Bedroom, I think the saffron is what turns scents into soap on me. Which is a huge bummer

[donkehpoo]

Wet: Sweet apples, honey and amber! (Apple tends to go the potpourri route on my skin, so my fingers are crossed right now...)

 

Dry: The good news is, my skin didn't turn the apples to potpourri! The bad news is my skin more or less ate the entire scent and only left me with a trace of the orange blossom honey.  Which smells a little soapy on me. .. How kind? 😐 

[monocainsheresy]

APPLE, oud, a touch of cedar, and a hint of honey. Much more appley than expected, but I love apple so I don't mind. Not as warm and resinous as I had hoped, and it doesn't stand out compared to other LE apple scents, but I'll definitely hang on to my decant.

[warriortwo]

This scent came so close to perfect. Smells fantastic in the bottle and on the skin--a gorgeous autumn blend of fresh tart apple and wood--but once it's dry, the oudh comes out and gives it a sort of rubbery quality. Bleah.

[tinyvulture]

At first this is all apple. After a few minutes, I get honey and vanilla. So it’s very foody for me. There’s a touch of floral from the orange blossom but it comes and goes. A sweet, pretty, summery scent, I might not need a whole bottle but it’s darn nice.

[sunshinedaisybliss]

this is very pretty, it’s all mostly soft dusky amber and golden apples on me at first. the oud adds a grounding element that stops it being too APPLE, and the vanilla husk lends a soft dry sweetness behind the scenes. I am not getting any cedar (yay, because cedar can be bad pee on me), and the orange blossom honey? That came out after about half an hour, and blended beautifully with the apple.

 

this one doesn’t knock my knickers off, but it is very pretty. 
 

PS - I forgot to mention the saffron.. that’s because I can’t find it 🧐

 

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by sunshinedaisybliss
because saffron.

[starbrow]

Pretty - this might age like a champ - but I don't have the patience to bear with it for five years waiting for the saffron to pop. Gimme that good shit NOW. For now, it is very faint on me, just a whiff of apple, a little sweet (vanilla and honey) and a little dry-musty (cedar?). For sure, I don't get any oud, either good or bad! I almost wish I did, so it would smell like SOMETHING! I love amber, but this is not a noticeably amber blend. Those scared of the honey or the cedar shouldn't be. They are so soft and subtly blended into everything.

 

However, because it is SO apple-dominant, I think you'd have to love apple to love Liquid Gold. This is quite pretty, but the Vetiver Apple Peel trio was such a huge hit on my skin, this one came up lacking in comparison as a keeper in my collection. 

[fairybites]

Amber apples pretty much. Kind of getting a faint grassy note along with this and hints of the vanilla husk and cedar. Pretty soapy as it fades and has a very low throw. Not what I was anticipating, I am enjoying it but I hope aging will soften the apple note a bit. No oud either.

[alyelle]

In the imp: Heavy amber and apple, with little else presenting.

 

Wet: A base of cedar as the top notes of apple settle; a sweet oudh (no baby poop!), honey and saffron capped with musk.

 

Dry: Almost a hint of mandarin at one point, that was weird. Musk-dominant with a wash of apple and a nicely balanced oudh/saffron earthiness, wrapped in clouds of vanilla-cedar. Mild to medium throw, relatively short lifespan. 

 

Stars: ★★★★½ (sucker for apple)