Sappho

[doomsday_disco]

Deathless Aphrodite of the spangled mind,
child of Zeus, who twists lures, I beg you
do not break with hard pains,

O lady, my heart

 

Translation by Anne Carson

 

The tenth muse: purple fig, sun-warmed thyme, rose resin, orris, olive oil, and myrrh.

[LavenderCoffee]

"O lady, my heart" indeed! she really had me at rose resin, but every single other note enhances and complements it perfectly. not too much of any one thing: touch of fig, sprig of thyme, dab of orris, drop of olive, smudge of myrrh. to the point that it's almost not a rose scent, it's a poem. soft and subtle and lovely.

[tajana]

I primarily get a painterly, blended combo of fruity fig and a fine soft petaled rose and gentle resins. Thyme adds a savory herbal nip for interest and a sun-warmed mediterranean vibe, and on the flip side the orris just makes it smell softly powdered and 'perfumey' in a good way. It doesn't evolve much from the initial application to the dry down and fade out, but that's OK because I agree with the previous review about how soft, subtle, and poetic this perfume is. Sappho is really easy to wear, but if you slow down to sniff it carefully, it's not at all boring. I grabbed an imp of this one, but now I kind of wish I had just blind bought the bottle. 🤣

[Assimbya]

This is gorgeous; I loved it immediately upon first putting it on and I anticipate wanting to wear it a lot over this coming summer. I agree with @LavenderCoffee that it's beautifully balanced between the individual notes, each of which truly shines, though I think it's the olive oil note which is most getting me here, which is golden and skin-warm. The whole evokes the feeling of a long summer walk through the mountains of Greece, the contrast between sun and shade, the wind picking up the scents of wild-growing herbs and figs ripening on their branches. The rose resin and myrrh take it out of the realm of the strictly atmospheric into something more pulled together and elegant, clearly a perfume, while not disrupting the sense of space. I think it's a perfect scent to honor Sappho, and I'd recommend it especially to fans of Like the Very Gods; though they are very different scents, the Hellenic sunlight feeling is of course quite similar. I got an imp with my last order, but this quickly jumped to the top of my list of GCs to buy full bottles of.

[BetteNoire]

Sunwarmed, sensual, really sophisticated but not stuffy, that thyme and rose combination is so damn good and unusual. Orris does not go powdery for a miracle. This one has that breezy expansiveness where the scent seems to have space to it. Big 9 of Pentacles energy.

[roseus]

Soft rosy fig, made rich with myrrh and a woody-green sprinkle of thyme. Sun-warmed, rugged but in a light, feminine sort of way.