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phaedrine

Gaueko

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...Blackened sandalwood and misty lavender, with curling wisps of smoky tobacco, nag champa, and labdanum.

I had no idea what this would be like. Lavender scents are always for bedtime though, for me. So I took a chance and just slathered this on before bed, since none of these notes have ever been bad on me.

This is lavender and tobacco on me. Such an interesting combo! I really like it and will likely get a lot of bedtime use out of it.

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The labdanum is heldback on this - this is a scent that floats on me as weird as that sounds, like the misty lavender is literal. I tried this as a bedtime scent, and I do like it, but it's not the perfect lavender or bedtime I am looking for. I think it will go to the swapbox, and I will continue my quest for the perfect lavender.

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In the imp: Sharp, slightly sour tobacco.

 

Wet on my skin: Sharp, slightly sour tobacco and LAVENDER.

 

Dry: This is a lot better dry than when wet, but not quite doing it for me. I normally get along with most of the notes in this, but there's something in it (probably the labdanum and something combining with it) that makes it sour/bitter close to my skin. The throw, however, is an absolutely gorgeous combination of lavender, sandalwood, and tobacco. I really wish it wasn't so weird closer to the skin, because the stuff floating around me in the air really is nice.

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In the imp: dry, herbal lavender

 

Wet: smoky lavender, and pungent amber-like labdanum

 

Dry: a thin core of lavender, with incense and a touch of tobacco, and some warmth from the labdanum. Overall light and smoky

 

Overall: this is a really nice summer incense. Not sure if I need a bottle but will definitely use the imp.

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Lavender leads on my skin, and for a while I don't smell anything else. After a minute I get an earthy background seeping in -- but nothing I can ID yet. While wet, Gaueko is almost single-note lavender on me, with its light purple and green aromatic smells.

As Gaueko dries, I start to smell balsamic resin under the herb. I still need to smell labdanum and nag champa by themselves sometime, but I could see balsam of Peru or some other balsamic thing being an unlisted note in here, too. I also get sandalwood and maybe a little vetiver. But the lavender is still dominant.

I think I get an eensy weensy leaf of tobacco, but it's so quiet and blended with the sandalwood, I'd miss it if it weren't listed. Two hours later I smell it more, but it's still subdued and blended. I like tobacco when it's like this. The lavender is, by now, gone.

I like this -- now at three hours, it's subtle but lovely, quite incensey. I'm not sure that I'd pursue a bottle, mostly because the lavender is kind of harsh while it lasts. But I wonder how it would age.

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Beautiful herbal lavender.

 

I think I need a bottle. I'd love this for bed for sure, or just for a day when I need to relax.

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This is a very nice lavender that is most strongly paired with sandalwood for me. It's soft, gentle, and quite dreamy. This isn't the medicinal lavender I sometime get. It's absolutely peaceful and can see it not so much for sleep, but relaxing meditation. Very happy to have this.

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Lavender! That was the only note I could identify when I applied this. And it's a nice lavender, not one of the screechy ones. Lavender rarely lasts very long on my skin, though, and within 20 minutes or so the other notes were beginning to crowd in. The lavender, sandalwood and tobacco combination could have been dry and sharp but instead is subtle and a little smoky, and the whole lavender/tobacco/woody incense thing is really pretty. Like most oils, this is a skin scent on me and my skin eats it up fairly quickly.

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HOLY. CRAP. THIS. IS. GORGEOUS. Oh man. it's like the smell of a head shop meets TKO. OMG. This is definately going to be a sleep scent for sure. I need this in an Atmo spray! Sandalwood mixed with Nag Champa and lavender! Oh. My. God.

Edited by cassiejaynebunk

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Gaeuko starts off a strong masculine lavender, but, as it dries, the scents softens dramatically, seemingly disappearing for the most part. Yet wait! I get wafts of gentle lavender incense clouds floating about my head. There's a slight scent on my skin, maybe a little lab & tobacco, but the wispy aura around me is great. A trickster scent- can't smell it when I try, fabulous in its own moments.

Used as a sleepy time and a yoga perfume recently, and I enjoyed the effect for both purposes!

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This was one of my first favorite Bpal scents, but then I started branching out. I came back to it a few months later and it had this overwhelming herbal quality that I swear was not there before and I was not a fan of it at all. I guess it must be the lavender? It's just not any type of lavender I'm familiar with? I put it aside again and go back to it on occasion - sometimes the herby-ness is there and sometimes it isn't? It's so strange - I really go back and forth on this one - I love the smokiness and the head-shop vibe without being like literal "dirty hippie," but that herbal note can be pretty off-putting when it decides to come out.

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This is one of my very favourites. I think it has a sort of dark and slow feel to it.

 

Smoky and lavender. Not a sleepy or sharp lavender but a mysterious one. I love most of the notes in this individually and the sum of them is as excellent as expected. It's hard to describe the parts of it individually because they sort of meld into each other very naturally, but I definitely get this great background of nag champa. There's a mild sweetness to it, but it's definitely not one I find unpleasant in any way.

 

This isn't a very detailed review, but I love this one. Great for going out at night.

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Straight, hardcore lavender. A twinge of head pain when

I smell it warns me to wash it off soon. I wish straight lavender and I got along like we used to. This is a potent herbal and I like it.

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In my frimp and during the wet stage, I get primarily lavender with something sharp, dark, and almost medicinal -- possibly the labdanum note, as it's not the sandalwood or tobacco note I'd expect. After a while on, the nag champa amps up and balances out the sharpness I noticed during the wet stage. It does have a bit of a head-shop vibe, so maybe skip this one if that's not your thing, but otherwise it's a dark, rich take on lavender. It's a little heavier than what I'd normally wear, but I agree with other reviewers that this makes a good night/sleep scent, so I'll definitely be holding onto my frimp.

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In bottle: Smoky sandalwood – I really do get a “blackened” sense from it – with a faint note of something floral and soapy in the background.

Wet: Tobacco and sandalwood. I HATE cigar/cigarette smoke, so I was worried about this note, but it’s actually quite nice. It reminds me of a time I went to a cigar store where people were rolling cigars - wooden walls and the dry tobacco leaves, more than smoke.

Dry: super sexy! A warm scent of wood and smoke and skin and musk. I don’t get any lavender at all (which is fine). A fantastic scent for being out at night at a club or sexy event.

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I tried this back in my early BPAL days, and I remember being repulsed by it. I am not sure if I just happened to receive an off imp or if my tastes have changed since then, because I did not have that experience this time.

Gaueko is mostly about the lavender, tobacco, and sweet, syrupy labdanum on me. The sandalwood and nag champa are present, and I was surprised to find that the nag champa did not take over in this scent. It was actually pretty tame for once. The combination of the lavender and tobacco made think of The Magician's Tools from The Fool's Journey, so if you liked that one and want to try something similar from the GC, you should definitely give this a go.

 

This is not a GC that I need a bottle of, but I am glad that I got a chance to retest this darker lavender blend from the GC. :)

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This smells like the the word Bohemian. Like 1970s era Stevie Nicks floating around in a gauzy swirl of sweet hookah smoke and incense. It's calming, sweet, and mysterious. The herbal lavender is keeping the labdanum from turning treacly, and the labdanum/tobacco is keeping the lavender from screeching (after a very screechy wet beginning). Labdanum amps hard on me as syrupy cola -- it threatens to do so here occasionally -- but remains mostly in check because of how well balanced this is.

 

As it dries down it melts into my skin beautifully, and I will occasionally get wafts of this stunning, heady, tanning-oil-and-sand-meets-incense throw that is just luscious. Like a soft-focus '70s summer fantasy somewhere in Malibu. I love that it's very different from the close-up smell. I'm really falling hard for this one.

 

Gaueko might be one of the very few sweet and feminine-leaning blends I will actually wear. It's so evocative, and overall very relaxing and comforting. It's changing my mind about lavender (which I usually find to be kinda boring).

 

I think if I added a touch of patchouli to this, I might time travel. 

Edited by supreme_c0rt

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This is SPECTACULAR :clap: The lovechild of Old Scratch and Smokestack. Burnt sandalwood, smoky lavender, and tobacco. Bitter, woody, and herbal, with the lavender taking off the harsh edge. 

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Oh, Gaueko, we could have been so nice together. In the imp, this is dark, brooding lavender coiled around smoky incense. A hazy, mysterious nighttime scent. Then I introduced it to my skin. Bye, lavender, bye, smoke. Hello weirdly gooey, caramelized note clawing to the top. Is that the tobacco? Or the labdanum? There's an overly-sweet tobacco variety that doesn't agree with my chemistry, but it tends to be more mulchy-damp than this. Gaueko seems to be a GC gem for many, and I can get whiffs of what makes it wonderful on others beneath the note I'm amping. But on me, this is a sickly sweet chemistry clash.

 

I would still say this is worth a try for those looking for a darker take on lavender, because it could have worked so well. For an alternative darkly smoky scent, I would recommend Hellfire or The Scales of Deprivation. Hellfire has a much warmer smokiness, with a dose of mischief in the mystery. The Scales of Deprivation has smoky lavender and is drier, ashen, and complex.

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I loved this one in the imp and on my skin... at first. But it faded away to nothing in less than an hour on me. Darn! While it lasted, it was a lovely smoky/tobacco/warm-spice scent. I didn't get much lavender, if any, but loved the smoke and tobacco notes so much. I just wish it'd had some staying power! My skin chemistry is notoriously uncooperative with many fragrance ingredients. One of the reasons why I love BPAL so much--they offer a wider variety of ingredients so I can actually find something that works on my recalcitrant hide. Unfortunately, Gaueko wasn't one of them. :( Into the trading bag it goes!

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I was worried this would be a smoke bomb, but I don't smell smoke at all. On wet, it's predominantly astringent lavender. As it dries it fades to mostly a dry tobacco backed by labdanum and incense.

Edited by a_bear

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This is a very syrupy, resinous lavender. On the drydown, the lavender kind of vanishes and leaves me with an incensey mish-mash where the notes aren't super discernable. The sweetness mellows out with the drydown, but it becomes a bit bitter for me. Going to probably let it sit for a few months and revisit it. I think the resins will probably do well with some sittin'.

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Incensy clouds of herbal lavender and tobacco. It is quite sweet and a touch smoky. I was worried about the nag champa since that tends to go screechy on me but it is very subdued. I like this, it's a meditative scent.

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I've been hunting for "my" scent for years now, only buying imps and decants. I've gone through three imps of Gaueko and can say its my favorite scent thus far. I won't bother refreshing myself on the notes, just my impression of it at this point. Its all bitter herbs, smoke and incense. Something like lavender, anise and nag champa in fragrant wood smoke. Real God's honest truth incense! I've tried a lot of things that called themselves incensey and they are often smothered by the other notes present for me, especially sweet and floral things, which I don't love. Gaueko also lasts well into day two for me, and has lovely sporadic throw without being overwhelming. 

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First sniff in the bottle is lavender, very calming smell. Very wearable and pleasant. On the skin when it dries down a light incense smell emerges. Not a very strong throw on me and doesn’t last too long but very enjoyable scent  

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