absinthetics

A house as old as this one… Becomes, in time, a living thing – it may have timber for bones and windows for eyes and – sitting here — all alone – it can go slowly mad. It starts holding on to things – keeping them alive, when they shouldn’t be – inside its walls – Some of them good, some are bad… and some… Some should never be spoken about again… This atmo spray is dark, old wood that has been wet and cold for a very long time. There is something else to it, a creeping, inky shadow to it that tempers it from smelling like just elements of a building. There is spirit here.

Red musk and red apple with bourbon vanilla, tobacco absolute, Indonesian red patchouli, black clove, and khus. A gorgeous scent that really begins and ends in the notes that are listed. There is not much surprise in what you would imagine this scent to be, and that to me was excellent! The red musk is there, tinged with apple. The vanilla softens and sweetens along with the robust quality of the sweet tobacco. The patchouli is sweet and not overpowering. While the clove gives it just a bit of punch. This is GORGEOUS.

DONNA CON VENTAGLIO Donna Con Ventaglio, Gustav Klimt. A white chypre with bergamot, rose otto, ylang ylang, tonka absolute, lotus root, blood orange, white fig, rock rose, mate, and violet leaf. A deep, dark scent actually, for something with such bright notes. The liquid is blonde but there is a sort of darkness to this scent. Other than that, it smells exactly the way one would expect with the notes listed. The rose is tempered by the violet, fig and blood orange. After it dries a bit, the blood orange really comes out, along with the lotus. This is a dark, citrus scent that is very mature.

Red apple, blackened honey, and opoponax. This is just incredibly gorgeous. The red apple is dark and very apple-y and it's just slathered in honey. It's the deep dark apple of only certain apple pies, with something, I imagine it's the opoponax, that makes it more of a fragrance than something edible.

I can't get enough of this scent. I generally do not like jasmine, but I am an avid foodie and I do like some of the softer jasmine blends. This jasmine note is soft and pretty and the vanilla makes it this creamy sugar that is just the right type for me to handle the jasmine here. I am really glad that I went out on a limb to try this. I'll probably be picking up a few more bottles, I was truly surprised by how great it was.

I do get the impression that this is primarily saffron. It doesn't last all that long on the skin but the saffron note is delightfully complex. I've been looking for a saffron heavy scent for a while and this definitely...well, just wow. I can't wait to age it.

With so few notes I was curious to explore what complexity Beth had mixed in here. And it is surprisingly complex. I love both of these notes, and honestly they both shine. The Chrysanthemum note is like the Tea atmo from a few Halloween's ago I believe.

This scent is gorgeous. The sweet, creamy, spicy assuages my foodie desires...but I love lilac. And the touch of lilac in this is subtle and just utterly beautiful.

A serious, studious scent: fig, night-blooming jasmine, red sandalwood, bourbon vanilla, oak bark, leather accord, and black amber. This scent is soft and sweet. I'm a huge fig fan and it's a great note in this scent. The bourbon vanilla supports it sweetly, as does the black amber. The leather lies in the background for quite a while, but the jasmine is there, lingering during the entire duration of the scent. I'm not a jasmine fan, but this scent makes me want to give it a try and see what I am missing.

Blinding white in the noonday sun: white mint, eucalyptus, glittering elemi, white tea, silver fir, and camphor. Bright! White! Not as shocking as I thought it would be, in fact there's more tea than mint and eucalyptus. I don't get any fir from it, which I like. I don't know what camphor smells like, though.

Vanilla-infused jasmine with honey, Bulgarian rose, white frankincense, and a cascade of lush gardenia blossoms. I get more gardenia blossoms in this than jasmine. There is a hint of rose. The honey is not there for me. This is a light, white floral that sticks around. It is not something to be missed or ignored like some other white florals that are too fragile to enjoy for long. I personally love gardenia, so that vanilla-jasmine makes it a little sweet. I was surprised at how much I liked this considering I do not generally like rose.

Swirled grey and purple in the gloaming: snowdrifts shadowed with opium tar, wild plum, Siamese benzoin, champaca resinoid, muguet, and carnation. The snow in this is dry and dusty. There is no mint note, nor pine. It is a darkish scent, definitely purple. The champaca note is a bit bitter and I don't smell any of the carnation until the dry down. It's a little green and odd as it pops out with the wild plum and opium tar.

Beware… of Crimson Peak. This is the scent of dread, of admonitions from beyond the grave: inky vetiver and black musk with carrot seed, elemi, and frankincense. This scent is a cry in the night. Bright, dark, biting and scary. It feels like walking into a black room, that moment of panic when you realize you can't see a thing, can't even feel for the light switch. The carrot seed and elemi make it leave you with a feeling of sadness after the fright.

White pear, honeyed apple, ambrette seed, star anise, and a drop of clove. I feel like the honeyed apple mutes a bit of the pear in this scent. Along with the ambrette seed doing much of the same. The clove does not pop out till dry down but I imagine that is skin chemestry specific. This scent is more cloying than juicy, the latter of which I expected when looking at the notes.

Heady jasmine drifting through the air, eclipsing the scent of a rapidly-drying bloodstain and the smoke of a snuffed beeswax candle. Jasmine Jasmine Jasmine. It's hard to smell much else. The beeswax may temper the jasmine from being too sharp or biting, but for the most part it is very faint.

Thomas Sharpe’s refuge. Gears and grease and faded oriental rugs. Shelves cluttered with well-loved tools, piled with gears and mechanical wonders. Automata whirr and click from every corner. Machinery made magic; the final manifestation of dissolving hopes and clockwork dreams: sawdust and gear lubricant, metal rods shining in golden afternoon light. In this atmosphere there is more metal than wood. I imagine that the 'wood' part of it tempers the metal so that it is not too sharp. Same with the 'lubricant' note.

A solemn, pale child standing amongst snow-laden tombs as wet flakes descend from a leaden sky. Earth, moss and stone. The snow note here is neither minty nor piney. It is merely cold and almost like the absence of warmth itself.

The spirits are done with your shenanigans and wish to depart: a poof of frankincense, myrrh, Tolu balsam, and rose. A dusty, incensy rose that is not very overpowering. It smells like a spirtualist's shop. I imagine that it is the balsam that really brings these scents together. Don't be afraid of this one if you don't like roses. I'd say this is floraly but mostly incense.

A quiet and orderly concert saloon: sweet rum with two spoonfuls of cream. Absolutely foody delectable. It's a rummier Anti Saloon league. It's gorgeous and foodie without having any baked good quality that sometimes happens with the cream note. It is close to Red Lantern but with something dark in the background. It's almost a chocolatey darkness.

A bracing, invigorating blend of lemon, lime, pink grapefruit, Italian bergamot, and peppermint will replenish your senses, refresh your mind, alleviate stress, and banish exhaustion! This is a zinger of a scent. This is a citrus blend of lemon and mint that is somehow warmed up a little. It's cold and hot at the same time. It is Very bright and if you are half a sleep and take a good whiff of it, it will put you back in the game!

The color of past glories awash in rage and terror: brick-red shimmer flecked with deep bronze. Excellent deep red that is kind of a mohagony brown with flecks of a coppery gold and bright crimson (more red than gold). One coat on this one works well but I did two!

I wanted to review the 2015 version because my mother is Latvian and she told me all about the background of this, and how to say all the words =D I will say the main citrus note for me is the blood orange. It's lovely!

For the 2015 version, it is definitely pink, even a little juicy. The grapefruit is relatively subtle. It's sweet and creamy for a floral. It's rather..yummy!

This is definitely a skin scent, as said above, and the creaminess of it is rather surprising. I guess it's the fig and lotus milk. The vanilla is foody if only because of the cream note. This is a great scent!

That contraption seems to have a mind of its own – the wiring gets affected by the dampness in the house. It connects it to the clay pits, you see – Promise me you’ll be careful when using it – and never, ever, go below this level – the mines are very unstable… Rusting metal, red clay, and dread. This scent is very much the culmination of its notes. There is metal, there is the dusty scent of clay that somehow is dusty and wet at the same time, and then there is a deep somewhat incensy aspect to it that I can't quite place.