It’s All So Damn Beautiful

[Seajewel]

Greasy green-black globs of oakmoss and petroleum smeared with opoponax, charred lavender, and white amber.

[doomsday_disco]

In the bottle and when first applied, I get petroleum-soaked oakmoss mingling with cola-like opoponax. Then the charred lavender joins in -- it's not too charred, more like an amped up version of the smoke in Fir Needle and Smoke, for those that are familiar with that duet. It's more smoke than lavender, though. After a while, the white amber emerges and adds a bit of a dry, perfume-y quality to the scent that I recognize from Pollution and 51. By the end of the day, my skin has decided to runaway with the oakmoss note, which is backed by a now stronger white amber.

 

When my boyfriend sniffed this in the bottle yesterday, he thought he smelled leather. There's no leather here, but it does smell kind of leather-adjacent with the way some of the darker notes swirl together.

 

This is not a lavender-heavy Lilith blend, so if everything sounds good to you here except for the lavender, this scent is worth a try. But you have to like moss, as it is prominent throughout. 

 

I really enjoyed the wet phase of this when it was like a dirty, mossy, petroleum-splashed cola. I began to enjoy it less when the smoke appeared, and I wish it hadn't become mostly oakmoss on me several hours later. But I tested this after only a day of rest, so I'm going to set it aside and see how this one ages. I suspect I may end up having to scent locket this one, though.

[Lucchesa]

It's All So Damn Beautiful didn't quite work on me.  It's overbalanced towards the oakmoss and petroleum on my skin.  The lavender is just a whisper on me, which is not uncommon with lavender for me, but I was hoping for more opoponax and amber, which also barely registered.  It is lovely and unusual in the imp, so like doomsday_disco above I may have to try it in my scent locket. 

[Casablanca]

This is a friend's decant, and not really my style of blend, but it's fun to test.

 

With that disclaimer: This was mostly oily oakmoss and petroleum on me. I got some charred lavender early on, but it faded out quickly, leaving a faint oakmoss garage smell.

 

Long after drydown, opoponax came out and hung on for an hour or so, darker and a little more interesting, but ultimately this one is not for me.

 

[rivetted]

preconceived notions -

i was IMMEDIATELY excited for this one - probably the most excited for this one out of the entire massive Lilith order that i placed. 

 

i love oakmoss. i love opoponax (sweet myrrh!). i love amber. and tbh "greasy green-black" just kinda got me right? all into it.

 

now, upon reveal - 

i imagined this scent being so much heavier! it's actually a lot lighter once i've applied it to my skin. this will likely change with age tho.

 

smoky, charred wood.

overall, more "green" than "black". 

i can sense the "petroleum" / "greasy" notes more as an overall feeling than as a specific smell.

the lavender is (thankfully) not dominant for me - but this does have a peaceful feeling about it, despite how "unpeaceful" some of the descriptors might be.

 

this also actually strongly reminds me of frankincense - i was surprised to re-read the listed notes & see that frankincense wasn't one of them. could be hiding in the blend somewhere, tho.

 

overall decision -

 

i like it! i don't need a backup, but ill be keeping my bottle.

it's a good, interesting scent. 

i'm looking forward to seeing how this ages most, as i'd love for it to become heavier on application.

 

& if it never became heavier after ageing..... i may eventually swap it, but i might just keep it too because its different than a lot of things i own.

[hhelix]

I really like this one. The white amber I think is ambergris or ambroxan, which smells like a high-end designer men's cologne but in a good way. The charred lavender is not too charred, but lends a floral sweetness wafting in and out throughout the life of the scent. I was so curious about the petroleum note -- I imagined it would be more like motor oil, but the note is actually a distinct medicinal petroleum jelly like Vaseline. Fascinating. There is a slightly medicinal menthol note as well, unaccounted for in the notes description, that reads like grandpa's medicine cabinet. I think the oakmoss contributes to the overall masculine-leaning cologne vibe. I could not stop sniffing this throughout the day (I'm sure I looked weird sticking my nose under my shirt all the time) and might need more than a decant. 

[zankoku_zen]

This smells like grease, bandaids, and a whiff of lavender. So... roller derby? Medium throw and wear length.

[fairybites]

Very interesting scent, it smells like laundry a little bit initially? The laundry like scent doesn't last too long once the charred lavender comes out more during dry down along with the grease. I was hoping the grease note was going to be something like the motor oil note from Baby's First Chainsaw, but it ends up just smelling sort of chalky and petroleum jelly. Not horrible, but was a little disappointed.

 

Not a gross scent by any means, but definitely a little weird and unique. Worth trying if the grease and charred lavender doesn't scare you away. Hoping that the grease scent lessens with aging.

[Little Bird]

This reminds me of cleaning out old houses and having to throw away mildewed curtains.  Something about the oakmoss and cool, almost minty-herbal, damp lavender and dirty yet industrial petroleum really reminds me of plasticy, rotting fabric and mold.  The sweetness of the lavender and opoponax comes off as the cloying scent of rot here.  The drydown is a bit more motor-oil-esque, but I had to scrub this one off because it was making me sick to my stomach.