Aelopile

[Deliciousness]

Glowing amber and citrus, labdanum, verbena, cedar, and oud.

 

In the imp: light incense with undercurrents of citrus and grass/soil? Maybe its the labdanum creating this earthy note? Or the oud?
Wet on skin: The citrus blooms and mixes nicely with the cedar and earthy notes.
Dry on skin: The citrus has burned out and I'm left with this warm woody/incense scent.

Aelopile seems to lean toward a more masculine scent; I would love to try this on my hubby

[Alainn]

I love everything that I've tried so far from Steamworks, and this is no exception. This was a lab-fresh imp, received only days ago.

 

In the imp: Freshly polished furniture

 

Wet on skin: Seriously, freshly polished furniture. Lemon pledge on a newly-carved cedarwood chest. The verbena is very strong, and I think I smell orange in there as well. I love citrus, so I don't really find it off-putting, although others may not appreciate the cleaning-supply smell while fresh.

 

Dry: The amber shows up, the citrus stops shouting, and the cedar recedes into the background, leaving a warm, vaguely lemon-ish woody delicious scent wafting around me. As usual, amber turns sweet and loud on my skin, which I enjoy, and it saves this scent from leaning too masculine for me. I would call it unisex, as it would probably smell wonderful on a man--not my man, since amber = baby powder on him--but some man, somewhere, would probably really enjoy this. It feels like a perfect wear-to-work scent for me: clean, bright, inoffensive, and invigorating, and I have a feeling it will only improve with age, bringing out more amber and less citrus and wearing the woods down to well-loved heirloom furniture rather than their current eau de hamster-cage chips.

 

Throw is moderate, lasting power average. Would I buy a bottle? Definitely yes, at some point.

[hexnut]

Due to the distinctive reverse on the label, I knew I was testing a Steamworks scent; I had ordered two and received one as a frimp. This oil was brown.


In Vitro Deep, slightly sweet, akin to aftershave.

Wet Freshly applied this smelled of citrus up close, but after a minute it was strictly lemon verbena.

Drying The verbena faded after fifteen minutes allowing a mellow sweetness to emerge. It became a lovely vanilla-ish sweetness with some residual brightness of lemon verbena. Not quite an hour after application the scent was a fading vanilla-citrus that was almost cologne but not astringent, and it remained that way as it faded out.


Aelopile didn't thrill me but it was very wearable and I wouldn't mind having a bottle.

[brilliantcat]

In the imp, citrus, citrus, citrus! I definitely get lime, but the rest are eluding me. On me, lemon is strongest giving me that Lemon Pledge feeling. Well this went wrong fast. It literally smells like vomit. It's getting washed off now.

[The_Garnet]

Source: Imp bought from a lovely forumite - thank you!

 

When I first put this on, it smells like lemon (verbena, I'm guessing) and cedar. I love cedar as a scent, but it rarely lasts a long time on me. After a bit (10-30 minutes, ish), this becomes a gorgeous amber and oud scent. "Quiet" is a word that comes to mind for me with the scent, but it's not quite accurate. "Glowing" is appropriate - not glowing like a lightbulb or an LED, but (just like the description) like firelit polished brass. It doesn't smell literally metallic on me, though. It lasts about 8 hours on me, fading to a powdery resiny smell at the end.

 

Verdict - another winner from the Steamworks collection! I buy very, very few bottles, and I'm not sure if this will be one of them. I will use up my imp for sure though, and might buy another.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: The Verbena and Citrus are quite strong with labdanum support helping to create a nuanced effect. The Oud supports the Cedar, which is a grounding counter point to the Verbana and citrus. This is a light, clean smelling perfume, more sunny garden than cleaning product. It is quite lovely, but unfortunately unlikely to go well with my skin chemistry, so no skin test.

[puellacaerulea]

In the imp: Strong citrus notes and something woody/incense-y, like a weirdly pleasant version of Lemon Pledge and polished wood furniture.

Once it's on: The citrus is still there, but my skin really starts amping the wood and incense notes, along with a trace of something powdery (the oud, maybe?).

A few hours later: Mostly just soft wood notes and that powdery note. I wish the citrus hadn't gone away so quickly, but this is still really pleasant.

 

This has a lot of staying power; I could still get a whiff on my wrists 6-7 hours later. Overall, it's a really warm scent that would probably work well on both men and women. Will keep the imp and might consider a bottle once it runs out.

[theredshoes]

I figured the citrus and verbena would stomp on the amber, cedar, labdanum and oud. sigh. Wanted to try it anyway, because I like the Steampunk line.

 

 

In the imp: Citrus and something like tea.

 

Wet: Lemon bathroom cleaner. The cats left the room.

 

Drydown: The citrus has died down a bit and something vaguely amber-wood-resin is in the background, but it's still all about the lemon bathroom cleaner. There's also a faintly sour note -- almost oily, definitely unpleasant.

 

(Husband: "It's definitely changing. Less lemon, less bathroom cleaner.")

 

Verdict: Total miss, sadly. About the only thing this was good for was when one cat chased another into the bedroom, I was able to get the aggressor to turn tail immediately by putting my hand down near the floor. It's good cat repellent, I guess.

[agirlnamedfury]

In imp: This is not a pleasant scent (to me), but also not repulsive: kind of woodsy, grassy, but also somewhat chemical.

 

Wet on skin: Yeah, still not liking this one (but I had to try!). If anything it has become much more chemical-y, very much furniture polish.

 

Drydown: Quite a bit of lemon coming through, but that's really not helping the cleaner/polish associations.

 

 

Man, I'm really on a roll with the misses in tonight's imp testing session....

[Marla Moreau]

I would rate this as just okay, happy with the imp and will use but am not going to seek out a bottle.

 

In the imp: a very light mellow cedar and citrus (not sweet) in the background, nice enough, just very light. Not that interesting.

 

Wet on skin: basically the same as above, less citrus, skin is doing it's normal thing eating anything remotely citrus

 

Dry down: a nice mellow cedar and sweet wood, light scent, unisex, vague incense as it goes along.... I like it more dry - any hit of citrus is gone, not surprisingly. I like the light cedar scent, but not enough to buy a bottle. Low throw, no amp of anything.

 

Still waiting to try a citrus dominant scent that doesn't instantly disappear on me.

 

EDIT: whoa whoa wait, the verbana is finally coming out and the scent evolved, more verbana and incense now. Smells like a citronella candle, which is something I really like. Then a cross between lemon candy and citronella. Lemon candy close to the skin (exactly like lemondrops), throw is more citronella and woodsy. Stronger now. Probably won't seek out a bottle, but I like it more. Definitely a morpher.

Edited August 8, 2015 by MarlaMoreau

[torikitty]

Wet: Lemon Pledge.

Drydown: The cedar comes out, along with the amber. It seems to have morphed quite a bit on me. It's not my thing, but I can see it working as a great unisex scent. Slight warm and woodsy.

[Soupy Twist]

Pine-Sol and verbena. I guess this is the stuff the maintenance staff uses to clean the steamworks. Yuck.

[freyasfae]

Right on the skin, this is sharp, citrus with cedar lurking in the background with a touch of metallic that makes sense with the description as it emulates the brass, but then the metallic started to amp on me and it got sour, BUT only for the initial beginning of the drydown. As it dried more, the amber started to round it out and add more warmth to the scent. As I got this as a frimp, it's not what I would usually pick because resins are very temperamental with my skin chemistry, but glad I got to try it.

[joopjoop]

Origin - from a forumite, an imp of unknown age

 

Surprisingly nice!

 

When it is wet, it smells a lot like Lemon Pledge furniture polish but on the dry down it becomes a lovely polished wood smell with just a touch of metallic.

 

It is very atmospheric - like an old library. I was hoping that the dry-down to Misatonkic University would be like this.

 

About 3-4 hours later the cedar amps up and up as it is wont to do on me - it still smells nice but I miss that balance between the citrus and the wood. Still I like it

 

I think I would enjoy this most as an atmospheric scent or even on a handkerchief as a way of motivating me to read and study. This is for sure worthy of holding on to the imp.

Edited August 18, 2016 by joopjoop

[LizziesLuck]

I wanted this imp for a friend, because he's said he wants to smell like cedar, and this sounded promising. I am trying it before I give it to him. Is that tacky? Don't care! Lol

 

 

Wet: Woody, citrusy, cologney - we're off to a good start! It's a little bitter though (at least on me).

 

 

Dry: The citrus all burns off, and this dries down to a very musky, sort of salty wood smell. It's very manly, kinda sexy. Who knows how it'll smell on my guy friend, or if he'll like it, but I think it will be much more suited to him than me!

[Elspethdixon]

The oil is a dark orange-ish color, and in the imp it smells like citrus-tinged men's cologne.

 

Wet - alas, once it hits my skin, the citrus amps and takes over, and it's not the pleasant orange-creamsicle-like effect the citrus+amber creates in the wet phase of Titus Andronicus, either. I use an environmentally friendly dish washer detergent called Citraclean (valencia orange scent), and just-applied wet Aelopile is a dead ringer for it.

 

As it starts to dry, the CitraClean effect diminishes slightly, and the throw gets more pleasant as the sweet/warm/dry amber/wood/resin notes start to emerge. Close to my skin, however, it's still an unpleasant sour citrus note with something about it that's almost like a hint of BO.

 

Dry-After an hour or so, the citrus top notes have mostly burned off, and I'm left with a pleasant warm, dry, masculine scent that reminds me a little of No. 93 Engine without the beeswax. I don't like it as much as I do No. 93 Engine, but I like it a heck of a lot more at this point than I did earlier in the drydown.

 

By three hours in, everything had faded to a pleasant warm-and-dry-resin-y skin scent, only detectable when I put my nose right against the skin. I reapplied it at lunch, and this time,with the base notes from the first application still lingering, the unpleasant citrus oil dish detergent phase only lasted about twenty minutes before becoming a pleasant resin-amber with a hint of something tangy an sharp brightening it up. This is probably what it's supposed to smell like on people who's skin doesn't hate citrus notes. (Looking at the notes again, I see that in addition to "citrus" there's also verbena, and that's likely what starts out so utterly awful on me. Orange and lime can be okay on me, but lemon in any form and verbena invariably head straight for horrible cleaning solvent territory.)

[Casablanca]

I love all these notes, except the verbena.

First impression: A heavily citrused amber. Verbena's lemon leads alongside what might be lime and grapefruit; the amber is like softly glowing back-lighting.

Too softly. The problem here is the usual verbena one: its high-pitched lemon whine takes over. I can barely catch the other citrus, the amber, and the warmth of the cedar behind the verbena. This would be much more lovely without it.

 

Three hours later: Soft verbena. Still barely catch anything else behind it.

 

Verbena just won't share the sandbox. Pass.

[roseus]

In the imp: Citrus and amber. Zingy, but with a comforting warmth.

 

Wet: Similar to in the imp, but with a distinct herbal edge from the verbena.

 

Dry: Lost the herbal quality and the citrus has faded and become considerably less zingy. There is a nice warm, woody incense underneath. It has a lot of depth. Don't know if I need a bottle but it is definitely in consideration...

[JTobias]

Very golden, both the blend of the citrus and the amber.

[Coldfire]

Imp: I get a metallic feel but a deep warm gleaming metallic
Wet on Me: getting the amber note before it turns to powder and the cedar
Drying Down: amber and cedar and working together I get gleaming metal ooooh wait! Helloooooo Citrus!!!!
Dry: This is fabulous. This is the rail car from the old Wild Wild West series. warm, rich, glowing, metal. I adore this!!!

[spikyfairy]

Frimp from the Lab; not something I'd have chosen myself due to the citrus.

In imp: Lemon cleaner & wood?
Wet: Lemon cleaner & lemon verbena, with a weird touch of something metallic-grassy. I just don't like citrus, and all the Steamworks works blends seem to have this metallic cologne vibe I do not dig.
Dry: Citrus has mellowed out a bit, now smells more like lemon candy than cleaning products. The sorta aquatic-grassy-metal is more dominant, is part of that the oudh? Not getting much amber, but I think it's tying the whole thing together.
End: Slightly sweet, woody, & grassy. Actually rather lovely.

Decent throw. Not for me, but I think I liked it the best of the Steamworks blends I've tried, which is not bad considering I hate most of the notes!

[lizabelle]

I was so scared this would go amber-bomb on me, but it isn't! Yay! It starts with a rich lemony/herbal opening that almost smells like lemon drop candies. It deepens over time to light verbena and resins over a cedar/oud base. The mix of woods is not one I would have thought of myself, but it turns out cedar and oud are great together--the oud provides some nice depth and keeps the cedar from taking over too much. If I sniff this from a distance the whole thing blends together into a tangy scent something like hot brass, which feels very appropriate. I may have to get a bottle of it.

[gloame]

This is really pretty? And yet it has labdanum? I love amber and ceder so this was bound to at least intrigue me, even if citrus tends to go too wild on me. This dries down to a super soft woody spice, very pleasant, but ultimately doesn't excite me as much as other blends.

Where I'd wear this: To commune with nature in the summer

[urbanruralferal]

Well that turned out badly. I had high hopes for this one, I'm not sure why. Alice Charette wants to try to it too, so I ordered it.

 

In the bottle, I smell a spicy floral. Nice, if different than what I usually reach for.

 

Wet, It is herbal, fresh, green, and I'm getting some citrus. It has a clean smell, like a... wait, like a cleaning product. Uh oh. Good thing the old man is out in the woods...

 

After 15 minutes, The amber is warming it. It is still clean, it is summery, and a little spicy. It is morphing into a nice summer breeze blowing over a garden that has phlox and stock blooming in it. In that respect, it is good on a stormy November day like today.

 

After it had settled in even more, I started getting a tiny bit of powder, which I do sometimes from amber, but not much! And it has a slightly dusty edge to it. I also started getting kinda stressed about this lingering in the air when my man gets in. I can tell he is not going to like this one. So much throw!

So I rush to wash it off, air out my room, put all the new imps in a jar with an airtight lid, change sweaters...

And sure enough, he could still smell it. "whew! I'm going back out to the office," says he.

 

Now I have a headache. It's just the stress, I'm sure. The opposite of relaxing!

 

I bet this is a beloved scent among those who can tolerate the fresh floral notes like this. I was almost convinced, myself. Despite the fact that I will probably never again put this on my skin, I am not going to say I don't like it.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: Resins and citrus! I can smell the amber and verbena the most.

 

Wet: Citrusy resins! The lemon reigns, followed by the golden amber. After a bit, the citrus becomes even stronger, and oudh emerges, making the scent darker.

 

Dry: The citrus is a lot calmer now, but this is still a citrus and woods scent, with the other notes playing more of a role in this stage. The combination of the lemon with the woods smells a little odd on me. I actually preferred the wet phase of the scent because I got more of the amber.

 

Verdict: I think there would have to be some sweet note in this to make me enjoy it more. I liked the amber during the wet phase, but the other woods, combined with the lemon, aren't really my cup of tea. Glad I was able to try it, though!