My Wise Beauty

[Seajewel]

A simple scent for a quiet memory: white sandalwood and sweet amber.

[Estamets]

Simple, soft, sweet. Does what it says on the tin. The sandalwood is a soft woodsy base note here, not screechy the way sandalwood can be on me sometimes. The amber is gentle and baby-powder-adjacent but stays on the grown up side of things. This smells like resting. 

 

Low throw. Lovely. 

[Seajewel]

This one reminds me strongly of the 2021 Lupercalia perfume Kimi Ga Dai Wa, which was a huge hit. For me, Kimi Ga Dai Wa had a sharp perfumey edge that just wasn’t for me, and that is present here as well, but softened. This is a simple, meditative, “dry” scent, but the sweet amber (also present in Kimi Ga Dai Wa and likely the note that is too sharp for me) is far more prominent than white sandalwood, which is a note I love. At first I was put off by the similarities to Kimi Ga Dai Wa, but as I retest, I find that there’s something I like about it, and now I want to go back and test Kimi Ga Dai Wa again. But for meditative sandalwood scents my go-to would still be last year’s Lilith, Life, the Sculptor, Moulds Unceasingly. 
ETA: I'll note that I actually love the deep drydown of this. It softens even more, loses the perfume-y edge, and seems to slightly sweeten. Lovely. 

Edited October 29, 2021 by Seajewel

[feyofthefellwood]

This has started to blossom now that it has rested a bit. It starts out with an almost lemony, somewhat perfumey tone. As it dries, it mellows and the sandalwood comes out, warm and dry. The combined scents remind me of a steaming cup of oolong tea, lightly sweetened (in other words, it smells really good to me!). This is a really pleasant, focused scent. It's also nice to have a better idea of what the Lab's sweet amber note smells like.

Edited October 29, 2021 by feyofthefellwood

[Jenjin]

A clean, brisk beginning, I'm also getting a citrus twist here. The sandalwood grounds and wafts about with an incense vibe, while the amber gives the whole thing a feminine, perfumed edge. Wonderfully warm and sweet, I could see this as being very grounding and scent calming on those hectic days. I prefer my amber to be deeper and stickier, i'm also getting a chewable vitamin c note that hopefully fades or ages out. Will stash and try this again in a week or two. 

[Missanneshirleyofgg]

Will come back to this one, but it smells like someone started with Kit as a base, and added sugary amber. Its the dry start of Kit, like, the foremost part of the nasal palette on inhalation is this dry brittle scent but at close of inhalation the sweetness winds the scent up for closure, Kit for me represents the best of sandalwood and this is as pretty and fragile as Kit, but something loving and tender warms the whole blend up. I agree with above reviewer that its a comforting blend. 

 

I also compared Kit to The Gray Columns in which they felt like halves of the same whole somehow. Well, here they merged and for me its the very best of both perfumes. 

[frizzlechicken]

Sometimes sandalwood and my skin don’t mix, but this one is lovely. The amber and sandalwood are light, beautiful, warm, comforting, and there’s a slight “smoky” quality about it. Maybe smoke isn’t the right word…but like, a slightly resin-y scent, almost like those little rosin bags you use to powder your hands when bowling. I got a decant of this and will upgrade to a bottle. 

[starbrow]

This sounds like a duet from the notes, but My Wise Beauty ends up being more complicated than the duets usually are. I do get a strong perfume-like quality from it that I didn't get from The Grey Columns (which was so quiet it almost doesn't show up to my nose). The sandalwood is sharp, a little funky, and there is something else in here that is rubbing against my sinuses unpleasantly, as many of the 2021 Liliths are doing. The amber beneath it is sweet and fuzzy, and I'd like it in a different context.

 

Something about this blend isn't sitting well with me, and it's a damn shame. I think it could be beautiful to the right person. I agree that it lands in a similar vein as Kimi, but veers off into the weird white sandalwood land that can sometimes happen with BPAL and became too abrasive for my taste. 

[Larinessa]

Sweet, subtle, understated. A quiet moment indeed. This blends beautifully between the sandalwood and amber to create a warm, cozy, creamy scent on me. A winner!

[doomsday_disco]

This is mostly about the sweet amber on me, backed by a dry, white sandalwood. The amber in this, while having some sweetness and a bit of a musky quality to it, kind of like the amber in Adventuresome Encounters, is overlaid with something a bit high-pitched and perfume-y and reminds me of the sweet amber in scents like Alleviate the Frenzy and Sweet Amber and Cherry Liqueur Hair Gloss, although I no longer have decants of either around to compare to know for certain. The sandalwood in this does get stronger over time, but never overtakes the amber on me. I never tried Kimi Ga Dai Wa, so I can't say how this compares to that one myself. 

 

I think this is nice, but it's that sparkling, perfume-y quality that hovers over the amber that keeps me from loving it. There are other amber and sandalwood scents I'd be more likely to reach for over this one, so no bottle for me.

[rivetted]

much more plain & simple than i imagined. a very "woodsy" & brown version of sandalwood.

not a stunner for me, but nice.

[Casablanca]

Soft, brownish-gold amber and sandalwood.

 

I can see a strong likeness to Kimi Ga Dai Wa from the Lupers. But, whereas I got a fuzzy brown musk from Kimi Ga, here there's a soft brownish-gold fuzziness that reminds me of a fabric's fuzz rather than animal fur. 

 

This develops an almost dusty smell on my skin as it dries. It's a dry scent, not quite toasted, but leaning a little brownish and dusted.

 

Understated, dry, softly textured, warm, simple but not simplified.

[deadlyves]

My Wise Beauty is exactly what it claims to be. I get more amber than sandalwood, but they're both clearly there. Warm, dry, dusty, comforting, and dark golden.

[zankoku_zen]

Sweet amber and sandalwood. Medium throw and wear length.

[RoseThornAndOak]

I didn't like this at first but now that it's rested ohh man this is good. Woody yet smooth sandalwood, not the weird one that goes creamy sour on me thank goodness, and the almost fruity, ancient mineral type amber. Very similar to Grey Columns but far more throw and longevity. I would almost guess a really nice smooth, deep guiacwood was in this. 

 

Simple but not simplified, yes! That's a good way of putting it. Simple cuts to the chase yet elegant and refined. A safe blend for those trying indies for the first time. 

 

I freakin love this. 

[Little Bird]

I didn't order this because the lab's white sandalwood is one of my least favorite smelling things, but someone sent me a decant and of course it is somehow wonderful on me, lol.  The sweet amber is woody, vanillic, warm and snuggly.  Elegant, creamy and bronzed gold in feel.  It smells like it could be in Nocturne Alchemy's Royal Amber line (my favorite amber oils) and reminds me a bit of their Prince Amber scent (my favorite amber oil overall).  Bpal's white sandalwood turns a blend to strong baby powder on me 99.99% of the time, but this isn't baby powdery on me at all and leans more creamy and warmly woody than dry and powdery.  I should have ordered a bottle 🤨.

[Incognito]

It's been such a wild year for me, that as the time (hopefully) for new Liliths approaches, I realized I had not even got round to testing the one I purchased last year!

 

Wet: Instantly stunning. Nose stuffed deep into my elbow, huffing away happily sort of stunning. Granted, amber and sandalwood are two of my fave notes, and I also gravitate towards these sort of simple two or three notes blends, I had somewhat expected that I would adore this, and I was note wrong. I often find that these simple blends still manage to become "more than the sum of their parts" and this is no exception. It's deep and rich and complex, while also being simple and understated. The white sandalwood note in this gives an almost..spicy? Peppery? I don't know, some sort of vibe that I'm really digging. It's lovely. 

 

Dry: This smells like late summer - warm amber, dry wood - it gives a warm golden sunshine vibe that makes my heart happy. Love this one.