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Babylonian musk, vanilla tea, tonka, tobacco, coconut, hyssop, and lilac.

 

Wet: This is more herbal/soapy than I expected. White, clean, and creamy.

Drydown: Mainly hyssop and tonka. A feint whisper of coconut, musk, and vanilla tea too. Slightly sharp. As it dries a glimpse of lilac peeks out, and perhaps a bit more of the vanilla tea too.


Dry: Too much hyssop dagnammit! Hyssop over pale, glossy white notes. There’s a touch of warmth from the vanilla, but it’s mainly a cool and feathery blend. It reminds me of an iridescent swirl of soap floating on top of water. Some of it spilled on the envelope it was sitting on and it actually smells much richer and delicious on there. Darn it, sharpness-enhancing skin chemistry!

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Out of all of those beautiful notes, I smell mostly lilac and vanilla. I do think it's blended well because I can get hints of the other notes, but I seem to be amping the lilac. I wondering if this would be a better nighttime atmo for me.

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In the decant: Herbal musk. A vague baking spice as well.

 

Wet: Herbal muskiness with the addition of a smidge of coconut.

 

Dry: Creamy coconut and lilac a tiny bit of vanilla tea, all under a haze of hyssop and musk. The hyssop is pushing this too herbal for my tastes unfortunately.

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2017 version - quite excited to try this, as all the notes should be total love for me.

 

Wet: Lilac! I wondered what note would come out on top (I had sort of hoped it would be musk) and it's lilac for sure. Gorgeous. Sweet vanilla tea is right there too, and with the musk, it kind of reminds me of a Dorian type blend with the addition of a big dose of lilac. It's lovely! Sugary, musky lilac with a splash of vanilla tea. Quite enthralled by it at the moment, can barely pry my face out of my elbow long enough to type!

 

 

Dry: So pretty! Vanilla tea, musk and lilac (in that order) is what this dries down to. It's slightly feminine, slightly clean, and entirely pretty. I really like it and will get a bottle.

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2017 version.

 

In the bottle: I'm mostly getting lilac, musk, and what I believe must be hyssop, because I recognize the note from Against Idleness and Mischief. It's a musky, herbal floral scent.

 

Wet: It's sweeter on my skin than it was in the bottle, but it also smells cleaner on me. I am getting a lot of lilac, hyssop, and musk. After a bit, the coconut and vanilla tea notes begin to emerge, and the hyssop overtakes the lilac note. I hope the vanilla tea ends up playing more of a role on me during the dry phase, or even the tonka and coconut, because I was hoping this would be a sweeter floral scent.

 

Dry: It remains a musky, herbal floral scent for a while, but after a few hours, it does get sweeter. The coconut is definitely present, and tonka note adds a warmth to the scent, in addition to some sweetness. The tobacco note is also present now, and it, too, is contributing to the sweet warmth as opposed to lending a smoky quality to the scent. I smell more hyssop than lilac, and the musk, while still present, has calmed down.

 

Verdict: I wasn't so sure about this during the wet stage, but the dry stage of the scent has proved to be a lot more to my liking. I'm going to let it age to see if the vanilla tea will end up coming out more, and then re-test it.

 

*edit* I kept sniffing it a few hours after I reviewed this. It just kept getting sweeter and smelled even better on me. :)

Edited by dementia_divine

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Sigh. I think I have to accept that tobacco just really doesn't like my skin. On me this musk and tobacco and nothing else. After a while I can smell something that might be the vanilla tea, but it might just be wishful thinking. Too bad - sounds like it is amazing on the right person.

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I have the 2017 release. I want to review this scent because it's so pretty and I've been wearing it a lot over the past week that I've had it, but it's so well-blended that I have a hard time picking out individual notes to describe them. No one note seems to stand out. All I can say is it's a sweet smooth medium-bodied lovely concoction. When it dries down it smells kind of like a light caramel on me, sort of warm and creamy, maybe more of a dulce-de leche than a hearty caramel... maybe that's the tobacco/tonka/vanilla? It gives me a kind of honey-blonde vibe as far as color sensation. I love it for this very warm Summer's ending/dawn of Autumn weather we've been having.

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I have the 2017 version.

 

I get a big dose of warm musk right off the bat. There is a bit of lilac underneath, but it's not the main player here by far. I get tobacco when it dries to go with the musk. There might be a bit of coconut as well, but it's mostly a suggestion of it. I think this is a pretty sexy blend, but I also think there are others I'd reach for sooner than this.

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Strong coconut on the first sniff. Classic sunscreen coconut, with the florals and musk contributing to give it a truly 'tropical' feel. As it dries down, it's more vanilla and lilac and less coconut. Not to my taste, but a lovely tropical floral for summertime.

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2017 version. I have high hopes for this blend, because the bottle art makes Ashlultum look like a sexy orc lady.

 

Wet/in imp - light (but fuzzy-warm) almost sunblock-y vanilla-tobacco-coconut-musk. Not very floral. Sweet without going full-blown gourmand.

Freshly Applied - still toasty-sweet sunblock, but now with a hint of fustiness once it hits my skin. Hello, indolic elements in lilac. I otherwise get no hints of floral, but the indole is definitely there. It's fading quickly, though, pretty much gone by five minutes in.
Ten-fifteen minutes in - warm, toasty tobacco-coconut-vanilla. This is very well-blended, with none of the individual notes dominating. I get approximately zero tea, and only the barest hint of something floral, less like lilac and more like the coconut is accompanied by a hint of monoi oil. When I hold my arm out away from my face, I can get just a hint of coconut-lilac, but up close it's all a soft, slightly-grainy (the way tobacco sometimes is) warm scent that makes me think of warm, golden sand. If this is Sargon's warprize-turned-queen, she likes to slather on tobacco-vanilla-monoi oil and sunbathe wholesomely on one of the palace terraces. Possibly on a beach chair, while wearing a giant, floppy sun hat.
Half-hour in - The throw is light and somehow summer-y (sexy orc lady is still wearing a floppy straw sun hat), despite the warm richness of the tonka/tobacco, while putting my nose to my skin gets me gentle, sun-warmed golden tonka with a hint of velvety tobacco. I can't tell how strong it is or how much sillage it has overall because the L'Heure Vert I'm testing on my other arm is drowning it out.
2 hours in - Starting to fade into a soft skin scent by hour two, but still a warm, lazing-in-the-sunlight golden scent. Just a much fainter version.

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Apparently I never reveiewed Ashlultum, even though it's on my list of things I'd love to have more of.  I'm wearing her today because the lilacs are just starting to come into bloom.  The lilac isn't strong in Ashlultum but does persist all the way through.  The coconut and tonka are the main notes on me (but my skin always devours tea notes) with a little chewy warm tobacco.  Not really getting the hyssop.  Anyway, this is lovely and snuggly.  The coconut and vanilla make it vaguely tropical, but the tobacco keeps it out of sunscreen territory.  I don't enjoy wearing flowery scents, but here the lilac -- one of the few florals I really dig -- is the perfect light accent note.  Just lovely. 

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Now it's my turn to be chasing @Lucchesa around the review board, as I was re-testing some tonka blends tonight and realized I had never reviewed Ashlultum - indeed, I had to rescue it from my potential sales/swap pile. I'm glad I did. Even though coconut and I are not speaking to each other right now, and lilac can be a real bully, I strangely love the odd little pairing they making in Ashlultum. They're set against a background of the beautiful fuzzy tonka that I am living for at the moment, and that is the third note that speaks most clearly to me in this blend. It's so interesting to me that it's distinct from the vanilla tea - which I really don't get much of the tea here, other than some softly supporting warmth and spice in the musk and tea - but that the uniquely non-foodie sweet snuggliness of tonka speaks so uniquely here. I love it!

 

I enjoy how Ashlultum is not a suntan-lotion-bomb of a coconut scent. The other notes anchor it, particularly the nicely contrasting bitterness of tobacco and hyssop, though they don't stand out so much as just stand steadfast against the avalanche that could have been coconut/lilac. Somehow, I can't stop huffing my wrist. The tonka really, really saves the coconut! Dang, I am shook. I'm keeping my bottle and going to enjoy it a lot in the summer - and enjoy layering it with darker/bitier scents that could use a touch of sweetness and warmth. 

 

 

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