Aeronwen

[Pottersville]

Fig, dark myrrh, amber, redwood, nutmeg, tarragon, black musk, and sweet orange.

Poor Aeronwen ... I could barely smell her! Even after a second application in the afternoon of a hot, muggy day (when even the mildest scents are emboldened), I could barely smell her. What I could smell was lovely, though ... light and dry, as if the herbs and figs were of the dried variety, rather than fresh from the tree.

[Magpie]

I wrote down my first impressions of this several hours ago, just upon sniffing it in the imp:

Gorgeous and subtle, sweet and slightly foody, but vaguely spicy at the same time. Definitely incense, but rich and dark in the background. Can definitely smell the orange, but only very subtly. Like a light incense hanging in the air. Light and fresh.

 

When I smelled it again and tried it on, I wondered if this was the same scent. I, for instance, didn't note how green it was as a scent, but a lovely, almost aquatic green. I don't quite understand where all the 'spicy' and 'incensy' undertones are. This is extremely beautiful, a fresher and more mysterious green scent than any I've smelled (except Destroying Angel, but this smells less like cucumber). I am just puzzled by my first impressions! It doesn't seem to correspond huge amounts to the description either.

 

I tried smelling some coffee beans and now I can kind of smell the spicy/incensy overtones from before, but they're like a whisper or the barest adornment, a diaphonous veil over skin. This scent seems to exhaust my nose really quickly, leaving just 'green'. In short: incredibly lovely, mysterious and baffling. I must devote more time to Aeronwen and see how she turns out.

Edited July 15, 2008 by Magpie

[Mishinka]

This is a lot more floral than I thought it would be in the bottle, but I'm not quite sure where it comes from. There is a bit of sweetness to it, but it's not necessarily citrus. After a little while I can smell the tarragon or the nutmeg a little. On a second sniff I can smell the redwood. But mostly this is just a deep, sweet incense.

 

There's the redwood when I put it on. It's a piny scent, and fresh it drowns out almost everything else. There's a bit of sweet business behind it, so it isn't manly-man cologne pine or just "hooray, it's Christmas!" room freshener pine. I smelled the orange for just a moment, but it's blended into the incense/floral background, which is starting to develop a bit of an herbal bite.

 

It does stay quite herbal and woody as it dries, but there's definitely a floral here I can't quite identify. There's also a definite strong spicy/musky note to it. This is a very busy scent. Very interesting. I don't normally notice this about the scents I've tried, but this scent is just sexy as all hell. I like it a lot.

[tastycactuar]

This is a very woody, herbal, floral scent on me, which I thought was odd, because I was expecting it to be all orangey and delicious. It's very refreshing and clean-smelling, but it's not for me.

[Champagne]

Aeronwen after 2 minutes starts to become figgy with a certain deep edge. She`s elegant and light, more elegant than I actually expected.

I will try to slather it again and get to know her more, but she runs away, it that makes sense.

[nekogrrl]

*sniffs herself, looks at notes, sniffs again*

 

Why am i getting apple from this?

 

*sniffs again*

 

Now it's morphed into a fresh tea scent. With.. I guess fig.

 

Wierd. Don't think it's for me.

[sookster]

straight sniff from bottle is myrrh and the blackest of musks...

 

once applied there is fig and tarragon...this has an almost dark cocoa feel to it....then

a woodsiness that is kind of weird on me....hmmm...

 

i wanted to love this and maybe with age i will...it just seems to get "green" on me and

it does not make a nice combo; zero orange ...

[any_old_actress]

First Sniff: Wood & figs

 

Wearing It: Figs, musk and herbal notes. The fig really stands out on me at first and make the scent fresh, clean and sharp before it starts blending in with the amber. Unfortunately, it fades really fast!

 

Final Verdict: Pretty, but doesn't last on me!

[ladyver]

in bottle: sweet, dirty & woody.

wet on skin: sweet, musky, resiny.

bit later: tarragon and amber I think are amping up - yep, its amber but the sweetness of orange, the musk and the resins are still there, I think I can just spot the nutmeg now too.

later: the fig, and all the other notes lovely balanced - very evocative of the gorgeous image!!!

 

this lasts for ages, with the notes well balanced and playing a sweet resiny herbal spicy musky woody dirty dance -

 

my clothes seem to really absorb this scent too!!!!

[filigree_shadow]

I smell fig and spices at first, and it's not as dark as I thought it would be. I can smell the redwood in it, but it's not a dominant note. It's surprisingly soft on me. Usually fig is quite loud on my skin (which is all right with me because I like it), but I put quite a lot of oil on for this test, and it's still pretty faint.

 

I usually like fig and orange combinations, and I like this one. I'm not sure about the spices, though. They make the scent a little weird for me. I think Aeronwen is all right, but I like some of the other Grindhouse Ladies better.

[jehrichardson]

Bottle:

 

Oh no... I don't like it! Old wet laundry, bitter earth, and caramel flavoring with overtones of mildew. Saccharine green topnotes don't help - this must be the fig and tarragon. Under it all I detect musky wood.

 

(two days later: delicious in the bottle - wondering if some off-aromas gathered during summer shipping? Now, it is warm sweet woods. Delicious!)

 

Freshly Applied:

 

The mildew and bitterness fade quickly. Caramel flavoring smell rapidly morphs into musky woods. This is a strong scent, and as the minutes go by I like it more and more. The musk and myrrh warm up, and the cedary redwood starts appearing. I can't find the nutmeg or orange.

 

After a While:

 

Warm and musky woods with vanilla tones. This is delicious! I keep sniffing my wrist. It smells warm and familiar, consider spiking husband with it. Mmm. Find myself leaning on my own wrist at work and basking in the glow of this scent. Starting to get some apricot tones as it matures.

 

Verdict: Keeper. I love it.

Edited July 31, 2008 by j4r

[hepkitten]

One of the most subtle, yet complex, scents I've ever smelled. It's a bit more soothing than I would have assumed from the name, but it's also darkly alluring. I'll have to sit with this one a while, but I like it a great deal more than I thought I would.

[Rheliwen]

Color me sad. I was so looking forward to this. It's a nice smelling blend, but isn't really what I wanted out of it. It starts off as a salty generic resin/musk. As it dries I get whiffs of the myrrh and orange. Only when it's fading do I get any touch of fig. That's when I think it smells lovely.

[mgrazulis]

In the imp: Fig, myrrh and nutmeg

 

Wet: sweet wet, earthy, sensual fig, resinous golden amber, musk

 

Dry: Mostly fig, myrrh and amber. Very deep, dark, spicy and sensual. The redwood floats about as it dries. The dark myrrh and the black musk give it depth, mystery and ground to the fig. Aeronwen stays very close to the skin. A dark earthy beauty, warm and fascinating. Alluring? Oh, yes!!!! Lasted all day, even though I wanted to lick it! I see a bottle in my near future!!!

 

[Pika]

This strikes me as one of the more "perfumey" BPALs I've smelled recently. But, for this scent, I say that in a good way!

 

It really had a "traditional" scent feel to me, and that always makes me nervous that others will consider it "old lady". I really felt womanly wearing it, however, in an empowered kind of way. Elegant, really.

 

It's a complex scent, very well blended, and I really had a hard time distinguishing the notes without going back to the scent description. All I can say is it has a muted, fruit-y feel, but is very much not "fruity". I think it's the fig and orange, but it's totally grounded by the myrrh and black musk. And the drydown doesn't go overboard on the muskiness. I felt it really came on strong on my skin, and I'll prolly apply less next time.

 

I really like this scent. I totally get the windswept, reserved, elegant vibe from the beautiful artwork, although it's not nearly as dark as I was expecting. I think there could be a bottle in my future for this one, and that's the first of this round of CDs I can say that for!

[mazaru]

I think it's the black musk that comes out first for me in this - very dark, earthy, with light figgy/redwood edges. When it dries down, it's a very earthy scent still, with barely a hint of the fig. The spices come in around the edges. Overall it is a little soapy, and much more masculine than I was expecting - which as far as I'm concerned is a good thing. It's sassy. I like that in a smell.

 

ADDED 10/5/09:

 

I think it's the black musk that comes out first for me in this - very dark, earthy, with light figgy/redwood edges. When it dries down, it's a very earthy scent still, with barely a hint of the fig. The spices come in around the edges. Overall it is a little soapy, and much more masculine than I was expecting - which as far as I'm concerned is a good thing. It's sassy. I like that in a smell.

[Little Bird]

Aeronwen is probably my biggest disappointment of the grindhouse, just because I had such high hopes for her and she's only 'okay' on me. She has my favorite artwork of the set, and I love all of the notes in this except for the black musk. I was hoping for delicious fig and sweet orange over a base of resins and amber.

 

The only notes that I can really pick out of this blend at first are the fig and black musk. The black musk gives this a clean, cheap cologne sort of smell, and the fig adds in a dry woodiness with just the barest touch of sweetness. I love bpal's fig notes (Intrigue = LOVE), and I love the fig here, but the black musk doesn't do anything good for me. It has more of a redwood smell and a bit of spice to it in the drydown, but it remains mostly black musk on my skin.

 

Aeronwen is like hints of wonderful smells hiding under black musk, just out of my reach. I might keep my decant and see how this ages, but it's not full bottle worthy for me at the moment.

[edenssixthday]

Aeronwen - This stars out on me as entirely black musk. Soon, however, I can detect a bit of sweetness and at the 10 minute point, it smells mostly of fig, black musk, orange, and there's a hint of redwood. It stays that way and doesn't morph after drydown. It has a nice level of throw and turns out to be a really pretty, unique scent. I don't need a bottle, but I have a couple of imps that I plan to enjoy until they're gone.

[MeiLin]

In the imp: A hit of Fig Newton, right off the top, followed by the orange and then the musk.

 

Wet: The fig first, overshadowed by the myrrh, which I was afraid of; usually myrrh is too bitter on me. It's what ruined Bilquis for me. I can't smell anything over the fig and myrrh.

 

Dry: Now I'm picking up a bitter herbal scent, the tarragon, I think. It's morphing a little sweeter as time goes by. It's so blended I can't tell what I'm smelling now, but overall the effect is not exciting.

 

Hm. This isn't a "do not want," but I won't be putting it on the bottle list. If this had stayed as it was in the imp, fruity and dark, I would've loved it. Ah well.

 

Later: In time the myrrh and tarragon faded and the fig, musk and orange came back, but faintly. It's nicer than the initial drydown, nice enough to keep the imp, but not nice enough for a bottle. It's a lovely perfume, and on the right person would be devastating.

[Lyrical]

In the vial: fig with lots of warm, dark, red-brown notes behind it.

 

Wet on skin: sweet, earthy fig and orange over a woody-herby-spicy background. Predominantly fruity, but in an earthy, woody way! I like it!

 

Dry on skin: woody, orangey fig with resins and spice. Nice! It's not at all like perfume, but more like a much better version of my skin, if that makes any sense!

 

Second test: Not as much fruit this time and I find this to be too dark and resinous for me. But the final dry down is totally gorgeous!

[Nimthiriel]

Initial impression:

A gentle sort of orange, mixed with delicious fig and sweet myrrh. Mmm, so far, so good!

 

First on:

It goes a lot more herbal on me, with a strange background scent – I think it's orange reacting with something else...

 

Dry:

After about half an hour, it's a fruity and sweet blend of fig, myrrh, amber, musk and the slightest touch of orange. It's really growing on me. Warmth and sweetness... It's lovely.

 

It gets more sweetly orangy after about an hour, but not in an overwhelming way. It's a really well-balanced fragrance.

Finally:

See, I bought this decant even though I know I dislike orange as a general rule. But I like this. It remains to be seen if I'll keep her in my collection or not, but she's not the catastrophy I feared!

[PurringPulsar]

Aeronwen

 

In the imp: the greenness of fig and tarragon, a bit of orange and a hint of sweetness.

Wet on skin: mmm, herbal tarragon and green fig leaf!

Dry on skin: oh, I like this. It reminds me of Carnal, but much nicer and more complex. The fig is a green leafy kind very similar to Eden. The orange is brief and has all but faded. The tarragon is such an intriguing note, greenly herbal and warm but not too savoury, it’s also a bit spicy. It’s not a dry herb either. Underneath, I smell shadowy black musk and myrrh, no amber just yet but I think I can smell a bit of redwood, which has that ‘fresh timber’ scent to it.

After a while: oh, this gets so much nicer with time. Now the musk, myrrh and amber really come out and blossom. The fig has lost that green sharpness and has mellowed into a smoother brown fig with a hint of something creamy. And the musk is gorgeous, it smells more like white musk or golden musk here, not black musk. It reminds me of something, maybe Antique Lace or even Morocco? Or possibly Inez without as much sweetness or amber? Or maybe the Emathides? I can’t say other than I love this. It reminds me of Eden a bit more as well, but richer and muskier. It’s a fabulous fig-musk. And it gets more and more musky over time, a wonderful warm skin scent which feels clean yet velvety, with a redwood note which now smells more like sandalwood. This then settles into a soft white fig-touched musk rounded by the resins. It reminds me of the Possets scent Figmalion, but this one has added resin and more pronounced musk.

Verdict: I think this may be my new favourite fig scent! at first it starts of very green and earthy, the fig smells sharp and I fear it will be a bit too green and sharp like the fig in Carnal. But then the scent morphs into the most wonderful fig-musk-amber scent ever! Rich and sexy, the fig adds a lighter fruity touch to the dark, sweet resins and deep musk. This is a sexier, darker, naughtier version of Eden. The scent develops a few white musk like nuances at drydown, and the fig note in here is perfect. I love this one and will need a backup before she leaves with the rest of the girls…

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Yes, I need another bottle. this is really unique and wonderful.

If you like this, try: Carnal, Strangler Fig, Eden, Inez

[Schmoozy]

First Sniff: Herbal, figgy, green with a touch of orange.

 

On skin: Green, fig musk, with a touch of wood and sweet orange. I am baffled. I don't think I have smelt anything like this before. The fig has a bit of bite and spice, and I attribute the spice to nutmeg and the bite to the black musk. Amber is subtle in this blend, and so is dark myrrh. In fact I can barely detect them as they blend so well.

 

Drydown: It is still figgy and green. Sweet orange has all but disappeared, but gives Aeronwen her sweetness. It hasn't morphed at all, and remains the same as when I first applied.

 

Final thoughts: I love the green aspect, but there is a bite that leaves me unsettled, and I can't quite put my finger on why I don't love Aeronwen, nor do I hate her.

[theseagrows]

wow what a pretty scent! in the imp, the fig and orange are very prominent. on my skin, the notes are blended so beautifully that it is difficult to pick them out. i definitely smell the fig and musk as the most prominent notes. the nutmeg is (thankfully!) just a hint in the background. this reminds me a bit of lancome's tresor which i used to wear some in high school, except this is subtler, prettier and more complex. i am contemplating a bottle of this one.

[AEris]

This is interesting, and indeed well-blended, but it ends up a bit "off" on me and I can't describe why.

 

It's incensey and fruity and musky and floral and maybe there's just too much going on. Plus, I don't really like fig in perfume, so this probably didn't stand a chance anyhow.

 

Oh well!

 

2.5 out of 5