The Agony of Loss

[jolarocknrolla]

French lavender, cedar, armoise, white sandalwood, awapuhi, and the smoke of burning love letters.

Wet, it's REALLY citrus, and on it smells like this awapuhi shampoo from Paul Mitchell. I totally love it by the way, it's really clean and kind of a-sexual, the awapuhi is not your typical floral it's totally heavenly! there seem to be a few other things in the background there but i couldn't say what without sneaking a peek at the ingredients list ;p it's nicely complex though and absolutely gorgeous.

[Tulliver]

Having finally given in to the BPAL/BPTP lure long after these blends were withdrawn, I only have a couple of imps from one or two of the blends. This is the one I tried first, and the one I have most of.

 

I love lavender. Absolutely love it. Always have. My dad has a large lavender bush in the garden and, since I was ten years old I've never been able to resist picking some off it every time I pass and crushing it in my fingers. I still do it. Sadly I don't have such constant access to the lavender bush anymore.

 

With this, though, I don't have to worry about that.

 

At least, not at the outset. In the vial and wet on the skin - such beautiful lavender. Absolutely gorgeous. I could easily fall in love with it.

 

Sadly, though, as it dries down it turns to furniture polish on me. I don't know which element of its makeup is making it do that, but there it is.

 

I still like it and, to be honest, I'll still wear it around the house. Just not as much as I'd have liked to.

[joseybird]

I can't imagine how underrated this scent must be.

 

It hadn't even occured to me to seek out Agony of Loss. The notes, while pleasent-looking did not grab me with the same wild desire Ecstasy of Passion did. Still, it intrigued me, and when I saw it up for a great price on the forum, I went for it.

 

I am SO GLAD I did!

 

In a way, this is the "cool" to Passion's "warm." While Passion smells like, fresh, sun-warmed skin, Loss smells like a soft breeze against long-cooled sheets. The lavender is increadibly wearable, melding perfectly with the wood, with the citrus lending an unexpected and lightly juicy freshness to the composition. The smoke pervades the entirety, but so softly that one might not even guess the note was smoke without looking at the notes.

 

An absolute treasure, and completely unique

[suileach]

Looking at the notes, you don't think 'agony', but the oil as a whole has a bitter, lovelorn air to it. Dried up tears and burned love letters, indeed. Harsh with ozone and dusty keepsakes that bear a touch of an old love's perfume.

 

It grows sweeter and fruitier over time, becoming somewhat like an angry version of Hungry Ghost Moon; then the lavender appears, rounding out the scent and bringing a new softness to it. It's a gentle, soothing lavender - the grogginess of too many tears sets in, and sleep comes to ease the pain.

[filigree_shadow]

Well, this is unexpected. It smells fruity. Rather like a citrus fruit. I thought armoise was supposed to smell a like a camphory wormwood, but I don't smell any of that in this. Awapuhi is like a ginger, right? I guess I can smell a little bit of something that smells gingery in this, but not too much.

 

I'm just really surprised because I thought this would smell like herby cedar and I didn't think I'd like it at all. Instead it smells fruity and rather bright. It smells fresh and kind of tropical. I think it's the armoise that I'm smelling when it's dry because it seems sweet and a little tart.

 

Not at all what I thought it would smell like, and I like it more than I thought I would!

[zankoku_zen]

This one is citrus fruity, and I love the awapuhi note in this. However, the 'burnt letters' is very, very forefront and center, bringing a bitter edge to the citrus fruity floralness that I love. Boo.

[Invidiana]

First of all, the howling goblin on the label just makes me laugh, because you'd think goblins had the power to break others' hearts rather than suffer from one themselves, oh the irony I love the combination lavender and sensual woods with the smoke in this! Forget agony, it's really more like the intoxication of sitting in front of a crackling fire during a February thunderstrom with gorgeous polished bookcases brimming with books and a bowl fo lavender potpourri on the coffee table. I keep sniffing it to unravel the delicious mystery

 

 

[crebbsgirl]

Somebody recommended this in a thread as a smoky lavender, so immediately I had to hunt it down. And YES!! Smoky lavender!! It's not an astringent lavender on my skin, but a smooth smoky version that is downright sexy. The citrus only really comes out in the initial wet stages, and becomes an indistinct sweet vibe as this blend dries. The cedar and smoke come out and WOW. Just, YUM!

[JazzieCazzie]

Picked up a bottle of this in a swap (it wasn't on my wish list but the swapping partner really wanted something I had and so of the bottles she had available, this was the only one that looked even remotely up my alley and I was willing to give it a shot), and then was also frimped an imp of it the same week ... what are the odds?

 

IN THE IMP: Clean. I don't really get the lavender or the cedar on first sniff which is a shame since they were the main notes that intrigued me.

 

Dabbed on one wrist.

 

WET: This is odd. It's definitely fruity, which I don't tend to like, but also there's something really creamy in it which I really don't like ... I don't know if it's one of the notes I am unfamiliar with (awapuhi?) but it's how I sometimes associate ambergris (which has ruined more than one otherwise promising blend for me over the years).

 

DRYDOWN: It's just okay. There's really nothing about it that stands out for me. Whoever said it smelled like shampoo came close to my reaction. I don't get any lavender or cedar, just a clean generic perfume.

 

OVERALL: Definitely not me, but that is part of the wonder and awe of swapping. You give up something that isn't "you" and maybe you get something that is, or maybe you get something that you also swap but either way you discover new scents and become more and more attuned to what works for you. So it's a learning experience that goes into the swap pile.

 

On a scale of 1-5, about a 2.

[doomsday_disco]

This goes on as lavender and cedar. Then, the smoke from the burning letters emerges. It's not acrid, but it does tickle my nose a bit. And then I get some note that ends up brightening the scent, which I think is probably the awapuhi (ginger). It stays that way for a while, but fades to a soft, powdery cedar and white sandalwood by the end of the day with just a bit of smoke and a much lighter ginger.

 

I'm torn on this one. The lavender and cedar combo are nice, but I'm iffy on the smoke from the burned letter note. I'll have to try this one again in a few weeks.

[elinox]

First Sniff: Champagne bubbles and lily.

Initial Wet Application: A light, summery flower. This is going to fade into nothingness. It does smell like lavender, but it’s gentle and not as perfumey as some lavenders I’ve had.

Dry Down (first 15 minutes): This reminds me of spring blooms. It’s bubbly and happy. 

My Reaction: This was light, but didn’t fade completely, which was surprising. It also didn’t change much from first sniff to dry down. It somehow reminds me of teaberry or bubblegum: effervescent and cheerful. Unfortunately, that’s the opposite of what it’s called!

Rating: 3