Litha 2006

[Dinerdulcinea]

... Honey mead with honeysuckle, oak wood, ivy leaf, wild thyme, carnation, daisy, vervain, gum arabic, frankincense, yauhtli, and liquid copal.

This is a very nice blend. It dosn't get powdery on me at all, has good throw, and lasts allllll day.

It is very similar on me to Thaleia (honey?) and between the two, I actually prefer Thaleia (which has more fruit on me and less floral). This is just a little more floral than I normally prefer.

I will swap this one off since it is so similar to Thaleia with my chemistry.

Still, for a floral person, this is a really great blend.

[isyche]

Honey mead and herbs, very intoxicating and summery. The warm herbal/incense smoke notes remind me strongly of Hexennacht, and Litha has a similar bonfire-ritual feeling to it, only with the sweet boozy mead and lemon added -- like a daytime bonfire party in bright, hot sunlight. It's quite strong on me as well.

 

I like it but don't love it -- Mabon is still my favorite sabbat oil.

[fairy]

I know this has honey...I got that sweat smell again This one was OK. Didn't hate it, didn't love it. I'll keep the imp. If only my body didn't hate the honey. Once I get a whiff of that it's hard to smell anything else. Although I think I smell flowers...maybe carnations

[Miseraya]

In the imp: Foody. Sweet. Boozy.

 

On the forearm, wet: Honeymead and carnation. Sweetening into something fruity. Sweet in a citrusy sort of way. Getting honeysuckle.

 

On the forearm, dry: Copal trying to take over. Now starting to go floral. Losing the fruit, mead is gone. Getting the heavy powdery incense scent of frankincense now. Fruit trying to make a comeback, fighting with frankincense. This morphs alot. Getting spicier, mead is coming back.

 

Final Analysis: This never settled on me, everytime I smelled it, it was something different. The majority of the time this makes me think it is an autumn scent. This sweet, citrusy notes make me think spring though and the frankincense and copal make me think of summer with drought conditions. I am as indecisive about this scent as it is about what it wants to smell like. It may go up for swap, but for now it goes in the second chance drawer.

[jazlyn]

My first impression of Litha on me was spicy/herbal sweet room fragrance. A little later on I got the honey, but it's sadly faded away. Later still it smells a bit citrusy. For me this isn't too much of a floral scent as it is spicy/herbal/sweet and I actually get fall from this rather than summer... maybe that's because of the oak wood and ivy leaf.

[hologhost]

In the bottle: I don't smell what I would identify as honey, but it is sweet. I also smell citrus and licorice.

 

On me: I also get the same note that says "soda pop" I get from Sundew. Not really getting florals.

 

I like this. I think I'll look for a bottle.

Edited August 27, 2006 by hologhost

[grrrlennyl]

at first: sweet and tart.

on: this smells like a really tart, sugary candy.

half an hour later: still about the same. i'm really surprised by how tart this is. i was expecting something more floral fromt he description.

1.5 hours later: much softer. there's a heavier, almost creamy, sweet note to this now. the tartness is gone.

overall: this was really interesting at first, but my skin turned it into something ordinary.

[sofiaviolet]

This has a yucky note to my nose, like a note in Absinthe but far less pleasant, and it lacks throw. It's really not good on my skin. I blame the honey component.

[Miss Lynx]

This is really nice. At first it seemed very lemony, and I'm not sure what that's from - none of the listed notes would seem to account for it, and only one I'm not familiar with is yauhtli (which turned out to be a type of marigold used in Aztec death ceremonies, when I Googled it).

 

After a while that fades and honey is the dominant note, but there's a very strong incensey base - almost as if you layered O over Cathedral, but more complex than that. The floral notes are thankfully fairly subtle - overall it's more of a honeyed herbal incense.

 

I just might want to track down a bottle of this one...

 

Grade: B+

[steffanina]

Litha-

 

In Bottle: Exactly like mead! Honey and boozy, very pleasant.

 

Wet: A little lemony once it's on.

 

Dry: A little flowery, light-pretty and sweet. Pleasant--it's a little too lemony to be a frequent flyer for me.

 

Overall: Not a frequent flyer, but I might try again.

[supremegoddessofall]

Mostly honey and floral. Good, but nothing stands out.

 

Score: 3 out of 5

[QueenFae]

Oh what a gorgeous and unique one! The honey mead is definitely on top, and it's more on the honey side than the mead side. The sweetness of the honeysuckle is quite strong, and blends beautifully with the honey note. I can smell a little bit of the frankincense, but that in no way turns this into a resinous scent. I would classify this as a strong honey/floral. This is beautiful, and I'm glad I finally got my hands on a bottle.

[ND¢]

Getting a sweet, sharp lemon (verbena) smell above all else, a bit of honey mead underneath. Dries down to a light, more appealing warmth. Need to try this one at a different part of my cycle... it is very pretty.

[fiddledragon]

Wet, and for an hour or so after applying, this a very nice lemony floral -- lots of marigolds and other big yellow sunny flowers. It's more lemony than I'd hoped for, but after an hour or so the honey peeks out more. The mead doesn't go sour on me like it sometimes does in Delphi, and instead is a wonderful heady honey scent. The final drydown is a pollen-y honey that's not so much noonday midsummer but more a midsummer morning flower garden when the dew still hasn't burned off the greass. I was hopeing for something a little less fresh and more warm, but I'm glad I have an imp. :-)

[Voleuse]

Oh, wow. This is a gorgeous tumble of scents, fruit and honey and florals and booziness. I can't distinguish one note from the other, but it's fresh and sweet. Joyful.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Allow me to wax poetic (or at least musical) for a moment:

Golden, golden is her hair

Like the morning sun over fields of corn

Golden, golden flows her love

So sweet and clear and warm.

This scent is the olfactory incarnation of that song. It’s incredibly golden. Smooth, sweet, flowing and enveloping.

 

Wearing: Liquid summer. Warm sunshine and a delicious breeze that keeps it from being too hot.

[Tess]

This is supposed to be a sunny mead scent. I love sunny scents! I certainly hope I love mead scents.

 

In the bottle - Honey, cirtus-y mead. Extremely bright and cheerful and yummy. I can smell some of that copal and a touch of the carnation. This is lovely.

 

Wet - The copal and the vervain really love my skin.

 

Drying - Gah, I LOVE the honey mead note. It really is smooth and sweet, with a hint of fruit to it. The copal is going just a tad powdery or it might be the frankincense. Still, this is how I hope to smell when Litha comes around.

 

Dry (1 hour) - This has settled into quite a simple honey mead. In fact, it's almost all honey! There's nothing else to it, just a mead with more honey than I could ever hope to drink.

 

Overall - Well, it went from light and lovely to, frankly, boring. It IS the first honey note that's really worked with me, but still. I don't really like it enough to keep it around.

[tinyvulture]

this scent is all about summer. the honey mead is just gorgeous. i smell honey, resins, and florals that smell vaguely of licorice and lemon. it’s bright and sunny and calls to mind that time of year when everything is in full bloom.

 

after it dried, i kept hoping the lemon would fade out so i could fully appreciate the honey. i’m not really a fan of citrus scents, but my skin always amps them. that’s what happened here – the lemon stays strong while everything else faded. oh well, i’m used to it by now. i think it will still make a good room scent.

[nikkoblue]

Litha:

 

Bottle: I can smell the honey mead, most definitely, and some unidentifiable herbs and florals.

 

Skin: on wrist, i'm getting a definitely lemony scent under the honey. BPAL's honey is usually horrific on me, but this one is OK....still not my thing, but OK. The florals are balancing the honey and lemon......

 

Drydown: still honey honey honey, with a touch of lemon. I can't identify what's coming out behind it....I don't think it's honeysuckle I'm smelling, but maybee daisy.

 

All in all, my skin turns this into Luden's Lemon Honey Coughdrops without the menthol.....it's actually very pretty, but not on me.

[lightgatherer]

This just smells too strongly of citrus, which is odd given that there aren't any citrus notes listed in it. Most of the wear is a very sharp citrus smell that eventually fades down to the sweet honey wine. Unfortunately, the honey wine phase is short and faint enough that it doesn't justify the long citrus phase.

[LadyCrow]

In imp: Sweet, sweet, sweet!

 

On skin: This is like the most glorious fruit candy you ever had in your life. I don't mean that in any disparaging way. The initial combination of notes is utterly beautiful.

 

Drydown: Once the honey mead comes out for me, this stays consistently very sweet for me, with an incense base. The throw isn't overwhelming, but close to the skin, the scent is quite powerful. Probably not something I'd put into an everyday rotation, but something I'd wear to dress up. It's not making me personally crave a bottle -- a bit too floral for that -- but it's a lovely and well-assembled scent.

 

I must admit that the name amuses the hell out of me. An essential part of piercing aftercare is that, in between twice-daily cleansings, you apply the LITHA method -- Leave It The Hell Alone, i.e. no twiddling the jewelry with your germy hands all day. If you put on a pretty dress and scent yourself with some Litha, I predict that people will not leave you the hell alone; they will approach you and tell you that you smell good! If you want to be left the hell alone, try Brimstone.

[Cariad]

Litha smells slightly different every time I try it, but it always smells like summer. I grew up in the West Wales countryside, and this blend really does smell like a warm, sunny afternoon in a Welsh meadow, at just that point in the year when all of the grass seeds and the wild flowers are out.

At first, the honey and the greenery in the bottle reminded me of a less fruity Hetairae - no bad thing imo The first time I tried it on my skin, the verbena came singing to the front with a lovely, fresh lemony smell. On the whole, though, it's the mead which really stands out - slightly mellower than the usual BPAL honey note, blending so beautifully with the other notes that all I'm left with is the glorious impression of those summer meadows. Like most of the other seasonal blends I've tried, I probably wouldn't wear it as a year-round perfume, but it's just perfect for this time of year.

[alicia_stardust]

When I first tried this, I very much liked it. Each time I wear it I love it even more. Now, a year later, I am more and more convinced that this is a true work of art.

 

In the bottle: honey mead and honeysuckle.

 

On my skin: the honeysuckle really comes up to the top, and I get a definite sense of the copal because I became very acquainted with that resin when I learned to make incense. It is one of my favorites. After about 20 minutes of drydown I can smell a bit of spiciness from the carnation. At this point there's a slight, bright touch of lemon but it's very subtle on my skin. This wears well, it gets me lots of compliments, and it's perfect for this time of year.

 

Other thoughts: This is an amazing rendition of the summer solstice. It brings to mind the early peak of summer, sunshine days, cool breezes, playful fairies, and carefree times. LOVE this.

[stellans]

Imp/Bottle: Oh, lovely! I smell honey (a wee bit fermented -- the mead!) and florals, bright shiny florals, perfect for MidSummer Day!

 

First Applied: Hmm. What was not apparent in the bottle, has really come out when applied: the verbena is screaming all over my wrist! Lemon, as mentioned in previous reviews, really amps up on me to usually unbearable leves. However, this isn't 'true' lemon, but lemon verbena, and it's not quite as bad. Yet. I'll give it more time, since it isn't causing a pounding headache. Yet.

 

Dry Down: Whew! The lemon died down to a dull roar, and let the honey/florals back out to play. This is definitely a summer blend, full of sunny promise and languid slow warm hot days. Since the verbena was kind enough to back off, I'm keeping this bottle and wearing it again during the summer, but because I have to wait for drying to really enjoy this blend, I won't give more than 3 stars. Darn that lemon! I also wish the honeysuckle were more prominent, as that is a well-beloved scent which evokes very fond summer memories. Again, darn that lemon!

 

Final Verdict: 3 out of 5 stars.

Edited May 2, 2008 by stellans

[Hayet]

Oh, WOW. Honey and I don't normally get along, but after I fell in love with Honey Moon I thought I'd give this a try. It immediately jumped into my top ten. I think I might actually like it better than Honey Moon- it's all fruity sweetness and light, with none of the pencil-box qualities I get from honey moon. As it dries down it keeps morphing: fruit...honey....florals...carnation...florals...sweet....This is definitely the summer solstice in a bottle. Yum!