Top Notes 
Heart Notes 
Base Notes 
09/16/2023
FranZan
3 Reviews
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FranZan
Helpful Review
14
Complex understatement in fragrance form - a work of art
As I'm currently considering converting my sample of Lethe into a full-size (so to speak), I'd like to take a closer look at the fragrance before buying it. I already think it's great - quite exceptionally beautiful in fact. But it's definitely worth a closer look for me (and maybe for you too ;-))
The start is herbaceous and fresh - just as you would expect from the combination of lavender and bergamot. Unusual, beautiful and "real".
After a few minutes, the (light) woody part of the heart note comes into play. Cashmere and cedarwood now make the fragrance soft, gentle and woody. If the fragrance stayed like this, I would probably find it too boring and possibly too masculine.
But I know that patience pays off here. Because, as I already wrote in my statement, after half an hour an incredibly beautiful, complex, profound (but never heavy) unisex fragrance reveals itself, which I find somehow Scandinavian. This association comes from the following points that I associate with Lethe:
- Understatement
- a sense of aesthetics
- Transparency + lightness/airiness in the design
- a certain freshness (which is not necessarily cool) and
- nordic elegance.
Strangely enough, I hardly smell any vanilla in the base. But I can imagine that, together with tonka, it forms the balancing warm part of the overall composition - but without taking center stage.
I think the color of the bottle fits well, but it could just as well be an earthy purple. Not a squeaky, but a lavendery soft purple.
Conclusion: After the first tests, I had to keep sniffing my wrist. I notice how I keep trying to understand the fragrance, to understand what I find so special about it.
I now believe that this special something is the interplay between lavender and tonka, whose lovely sweetness balances the essential oils of the herbaceous fine lavender perfectly.
The result is a fragrance that is fine, clear and somehow liquid and intangible like mercury.
Perhaps some women might find the lavender-herb note too much - even if it is fine and delicate. Therefore for me "only" 8.5 instead of 9. I would have liked to smell more tonka/vanilla.
I have just rediscovered Lethe for the fall.
The start is herbaceous and fresh - just as you would expect from the combination of lavender and bergamot. Unusual, beautiful and "real".
After a few minutes, the (light) woody part of the heart note comes into play. Cashmere and cedarwood now make the fragrance soft, gentle and woody. If the fragrance stayed like this, I would probably find it too boring and possibly too masculine.
But I know that patience pays off here. Because, as I already wrote in my statement, after half an hour an incredibly beautiful, complex, profound (but never heavy) unisex fragrance reveals itself, which I find somehow Scandinavian. This association comes from the following points that I associate with Lethe:
- Understatement
- a sense of aesthetics
- Transparency + lightness/airiness in the design
- a certain freshness (which is not necessarily cool) and
- nordic elegance.
Strangely enough, I hardly smell any vanilla in the base. But I can imagine that, together with tonka, it forms the balancing warm part of the overall composition - but without taking center stage.
I think the color of the bottle fits well, but it could just as well be an earthy purple. Not a squeaky, but a lavendery soft purple.
Conclusion: After the first tests, I had to keep sniffing my wrist. I notice how I keep trying to understand the fragrance, to understand what I find so special about it.
I now believe that this special something is the interplay between lavender and tonka, whose lovely sweetness balances the essential oils of the herbaceous fine lavender perfectly.
The result is a fragrance that is fine, clear and somehow liquid and intangible like mercury.
Perhaps some women might find the lavender-herb note too much - even if it is fine and delicate. Therefore for me "only" 8.5 instead of 9. I would have liked to smell more tonka/vanilla.
I have just rediscovered Lethe for the fall.
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