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Tiresias, the Androgyne

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Dark, moody, and bittersweet: black currant, patchouli, tobacco, cinnamon leaf, caramel, muguet, and red sandalwood.

 

Oh wow this is fantastic!!

It's foody, without being too foody whatsoever. There's caramel here, but not the super sweet buttery kind. It smells organic, like it was caramel made with sugar in the raw, rather than most caramel candies which are made with processed sugars. The patchouli is an amazing counterpart to the caramel. There's also the woody note popping through (sandalwood, or tobacco maybe?) but it's melding perfectly with the patchouli. This is an amazingly earthy scent which can totally be described as either totally feminine or utterly masculine. The cinnamon is not bright and red hot.. it's more of a sweet mild form of cinnamon, which is probably what the cinnamon leaf does. What a fantastic combination! I think that I am going to have to hunt down a whole bottle of this before the CD leaves!

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As a transguy, I always wanted to try it just for the sake of its name ;)

 

In the imp - caramel! And how!

 

On wet - caramelcaramelcaramel. Wee bit of cinnamon but mostly caramel.

 

Drydown - Caramel calmed down somewhat, but only somewhat. There's some patchouli and light whiffs of tobacco and black currant, but for the most part this is sheer caramel and cinnamon and not really my thing. Shame :(

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Tiresias starts with a heavy dose of gently heated really dark (almost burnt) caramel. It slowly becomes more smokey, phasing into caramel-tobacco. It is a very strong, assertive smell and I havent had the guts to wear it out beyond inside the house yet :blush:

 

DH's review of it: smells like cookies.

:sigh: so much for being all smokey and sexy.. guess I have to try a different blend for that..

 

Well, for me personally, I love it.

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Feels sticky, so I bet it will be sweet. Wet, it is cinnamon caramel. I really like this after an hour; it smells a lot like El Dia de los Reyes, but without the chocolate. Warm caramel sweetness, a hint of cinnamon, yet not foodie in the least -- the tobacco is strong enough to keep it from being foodie.

 

I love this and wish I had tried it before I made my order last night. I'd have ordered more for sure.

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Oh ye, this is fabulously sexy. On me it's mostly blackcurrant and patchouli steeped in gooey caramel with a hint of spice from the cinnamon (which thankfully doesn't amp to infinity here) and a smokey, senual background of tobacco and red sandalwood. It's definitely something you'd wear prowling through a hazy nightclub looking for your next object of desire--or at least when you wanted to evoke that feeling.

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Ok the similarity to Red Lantern would not have been apparent, had I not checked new content this morning and realized I never reviewed RL..therefore tested it.

 

Wet: very similar to Red Lantern as stated before. Just woodier, with patchouli and something that smells like clove on me. This could be the cinnamon leaf amping in combination with the caramel and patchouli. Nice earthy foodie scent. I'm a fan.

 

Drydown: much of the currant burns off, but still there. Caramel, sandalwood, patchouli and cinnamon leaf remain. I missed the muguet both rounds (wet and dry) but oh well. This decant is of indeterminate age.

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Wet on skin this is big caramel plus tobacco and cinnamon leaf. And then patchouli and black currant appear… finally sandalwood makes its entrance.

 

Oof LOVE. Dry, Tiresias is amazing. Black currant/tobacco/patchouli/cinnamon/caramel wafts are so deeply, dryly dark. Caramel has calmed down to meld well with the other notes. Now caramel, cinnamon leaf, and tobacco are topnotes while patchouli and sandalwood bring up the rear. Black currant balances the bitter spice with the tiniest hint of dryly-sweet dark purple fruit. The several varieties of sweetness and bitterness meld and balance each other really well.

 

This is exactly what the description says: moody, dark, and sweet-bitter. It’s a provocative reinterpretation of Tiresias, for devotees of the original metamorphically-gendered seer.

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Wow. This starts off butterscotch for me, but that is just a five minute intro, then it's cinnamon, but a sophisticated cinnamon caramel with a bit of fruit and wood? Lovely. It is what a previous poster said, foody without being too foody.

Very livable, like a comfortable velvet sofa. Strong though, but in a good way.

This one lasts and lasts and lasts, the longest of any BPAL I have worn, and in my short time here, that's a lot (helps to have enabling friends). The only thing that came close to this staying power is Agape for me.

I love this. Love. I hope she/he comes back when the Carnival rolls into town again.

Edited by stellamaris

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In the vial: What a unique colour! The oil is red like Wrath, but even deeper. The scent is very fascinating. There's some wood and tobacco in the background with caramel on the top as the dominant note. I'm really looking forward to this experience!

 

On my wrist: Woods coated with caramel, some smoke in the air. This is a confusing scent, at times I love it, other times not so much. I have to say I am most impressed with the lab's caramel; it smells very genuine and dosn't give me anything of an artificial vibe. I was doubtful about it, but it really pulled itself through masterfully.

Upon drydown, Tiresias becomes an attractive mix of caramel and tobacco. There's a murky shroud in the background, which I believe to be the sandalwood.

After some time, I'm picking up something chilly that's reminiscent of metal. This scent is very complex and keeps on morphing.

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From Tiresias, I get mostly caramel and smoke. I love caramel, but the smoke is overpowering.

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In the bottle: caramel

 

Immediately after application: Caramel but with hints of patchouli, tobacco, and cinnamon.

 

Warming up: Caramel and tobacco. I like!

 

Fading: Man, the caramel is STILL strong. A little too strong/sweet methinks.

 

Faded: Average throw, average wear.

 

Overall: I would have liked it but the caramel made it way too sweet. It seemed to be fading and letting the other notes come out but then it blasted its way to the forefront again. Clearly caramel is another note I have to watch because it likes to roflstomp everything.

 

Rating: 2.5/5.

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Sniff: Love at first smell!!! A beautiful buttery caramel, with hints of herbs and musk. It's woodsy and delicious without being too sweet or foodie

 

Wet: The caramel deepens and takes on a creamy earthy tone. There's a tad of smoke & exotic spice lurking in the background too.

 

Dry: Much of the same, dark delicious caramel swirled with herbs & spices. This is simply amazing and I will be hoarding my bottle!

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Test #1 Ooh, I like this. I just hope it likes me...

 

Foody and moody and changeable on initial application – caramel and spiced blackcurrant, with a hint of something else. As others have observed, it's foody, but not too foody, in a way that's hard to articulate. Touches of smoke peek through and then settle back to prowling in the background, touches of darkness come and go. To my relief, this sandalwood doesn't want to eat me alive, unlike some.

 

About 15 minutes in, though, the fingertips that got oil on as I applied this frimp to my wrist, and the hair that I wiped them on, all smelled of rancid food. Not quite spoiled milk or off meat, but close to both – erk! :ack:

 

They stayed that way, though not so strongly after ~30 mins (whether that was wiping them off or just time, I don't know)

 

The wrist, however, remained fine all night. Strong, though – didn't seem to bother the people around me, but The Cat could smell it from the other side of the car. He thought it smelled "nice," though he also confirmed the rancid-food smell when sniffing my fingertips up close! Gah!

 

Oddly enough, sniffing my wrist the next morning I could catch the blackcurrant again, and only that – mmm, Ribena.

 

Must try this again, and hope!

 

Test #2 Tried it again since a bottle was on eBay – all of the good, and none of the scary rancid food smell this time. The Cat reiterated that I smelled nice, and confirmed the lack of off-food reek, so I think I'm safe.

 

I ended up with the bottle from eBay, and then picked up a second from the Lab; fortunately, I haven't had the unpleasant rancid odours show up again in the two years I've been wearing it. Perhaps that was cross-contamination or something, affecting only my frimp? Or a rare weirdness of skin chemistry, or something I touched that day? Either way, I'm glad it's staying away, because this has become one of my favourites, and I'd hate to have it spoiled by, well, smelling spoiled!

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This scent is mesmerizing!

 

Tiresias is so hard for me to pin down. In the bottle I get caramel and something smokey. Could the smokiness be the tobacco?

 

Wet: The currants spring up out of hiding yet there is something about the scent that is dark. That's the only way I know to describe it.

 

Dry: The notes blend so well together. The scent is so very evocative. Its dark. brooding, smokey, spicy but there is something soft and sweet just beneath peeking out. Its got nice throw and longevity. Tiresias is now on my top 10 list. :joy:

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I love this scent. It's intoxicating and very sexy. For me, the caramel and black currant predominate, but everything else conspires underneath to make the combination magical--not quite foody yet delicious.

 

A lucky find on eBay -- my reward for buying on spec.

 

{rf}

 

Also, layered up with Greed? Amazing.

Edited by radiantfracture

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Decant from the 2016 version. Never tested original one...

 

Sniffing - it is always hard for me to sniff the decants and get an initial impression. Just too tiny of an opening! :) I do get the patchouli and something sweet.

 

On skin - Oh yeah.. this is nice. There is the patch note, but it isn't too "hippie" smelling. It warms up and something sweet appears. Others say caramel, but...I don't know...."could be" that but I also get a light, cinnamon... almost like a cinnamon tea kind of scent along with it.

 

Dry down - This is a nice scent. I don't know what muguet smells like, but maybe that is the odd, but pleasant note I am detecting in this. I always think as anything with currant is a darker, fruit scent. I am not getting that either. This is sexy.. I get mostly a sweet patchouli with cinnamon tea and a whiff of tobacco. Low throw on me, but not sure this one is for me.

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2016 (I've never tested the original)

 

Wet: The caramel dominates briefly, then the patchouli takes over, then the tobacco quickly amps way up and stomps all over everybody. It's a sweet, chewy tobacco, made even sweeter by the caramel, and dirtier by the patch. As it's drying, the notes are balancing out, but it's still those three, I can't pick out the currant or lily. I do get hints of warm sandalwood as it's drying, but surprisingly no cinnamon to speak of.

 

 

Dry: Nothing. For a strong scent, this totally disappears really quickly. It was ok on me while it was drying, but to be honest I wasn't really loving the way the patch and caramel were combining with the Tobacco. Glad to have tried it though!

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2016 version. I'm not sure why I chose decant over blind bottle with this, because I like all of the notes in this and was positive it was going to be a winner.

 

I've tested it twice now, once right when it landed and again a week later. and.....there's something in here that makes me feel weirdly yet profoundly queasy. damnation and sadness! but I gotta respect the power of perfume.

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Wet this is a very sweet caramel :wub3: with a hint of spice, when it dries the tobacco becomes the dominant note. When i was little my dad used to work in the Marlboro factory and every year we were allowed to do a 'factory tour'. The strong tobacco note reminds me of the sweet hay-like smell in the factory, it's nice but a bit too sharp for my liking. Will use the imp but not buy a bottle (bought it a few years ago so it isn't the 2016 one)

Edited by DeadlyNightshade

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2016 Version.

Soft, very sweet but slightly spicy. A great blend and not too much that stands out. A delicious patchouli if that makes sense. Sexy, and dark indeed. Very film noire. I don't think my skin likes to keep it on as it seems to want to discard it asap (BAD SKIN!! B A D) but I'm... actually considering a bottle of this in the future. :wub3:

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Tiresias on me is caramel and woods (which could be teakwood, but I checked the components, and no, it's caramel, sandalwood and patch).  Then it's caramel, woods and tobacco.  Caramel can go off the rails on me, but this is really nice; the woods restrain it, and then it melds right into the sticky tobacco, which I adore.  So it ends up not foodie at all on me.  I'm not getting cinnamon, currant or lily of the valley, but those are the three notes I wasn't particularly interested in here anyway.  After an hour or two it's a skin scent of caramelly, woody tobacco with a slight hint of spice -- delicious.  

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I amp black currant/blackberry like crazy so I had to let this one sit for a bit as it was all black currant cough syrup the first few weeks (barf.) 

 

In bottle: Black currant with spices

Wet on skin: Black currant and a dark burnt sugar note (the caramel kind of comes through at this stage but it's really drowning in the currant) 

Dry on skin: Thankfully, the above stage doesn't last very long and it transforms into a beautiful burnt caramel/patchouli woods/cinnamon scent 

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2016 version
 

On me, this is mostly a duel between patchouli/sandalwood and black current. Patchouli and sandalwood have teamed up to be a sharp floral, which isn't my favorite. Close to the skin, they both smell like a beautiful sparkling woody incense but in the waft it's definitely a sharp, pungent floral. The black currant is very strong and sweet, counterbalancing the sharp patchouli/sandalwood combo a bit. The cinnamon is also there in the background, adding a nice spice to the incensy patchouli/sandalwood. I was hoping for caramel and tobacco, but I don't really smell them at all.

 

I have conflicting feelings about this one because I love how it smells on my skin but I don't like catching whiffs of it. I have a love/hate relationship with patchouli I guess.

Edited by dancingchair

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