Salome, I always wondered how it must’ve felt to have someone (a king!) lust after you so hard that they would do anything you ask, if only you would dance the dance of The Seven Veils….and you, humiliated and vengeful and spurned, ask for the spurner’s head! On a platter. What jumble of conflicting emotions must’ve caused that choice? Did you regret it, once you’d made the demand? Or were you so full of fury and pent-up lust yourself that only the ultimate sacrifice could assuage your boiling blood and heaving bosom and the white-hot fury of a young woman scorned? Musette would love to know.
Well, I don’t know how you felt. But I now know how you smelled when you intoxicated the king. Byredo Parfums Seven Veils is intensely animalistic, with a spicy oriental thread running through a rooty-floral heart (with a hint of dirt and sweat), like molten gold burnouts on a silken burnoose. I smell jasmine, like little silver bells tinkling atop elegant hennaed feet, though there is no jasmine in the notes (perhaps that is the Tiger Orchid?). It’s not full-blown lush, Seven Veils. Instead, it’s the promise of creamy lushness – the hint of hot, female sensuality…just before it explodes into blazing sexuality. Perhaps that’s the orchid, as it opens, fully, slowly revealing its nether parts and the rich scent within.
I have had a hard time with Byredo – I keep wanting to love the line, if for no other reason than my beloved Andy reps the line at Barneys. Hadn’t worked for me yet. But Andy encouraged me to try Seven Veils because of the diaphanous shifts as it flits, then settles, then flits again across your skin (those are my descriptions, btw. Andy wouldn’t be caught nekkid saying something that silly – he said “try it. it changes. a lot”). Earlier up there I called it a spicy oriental but it’s not really – it just gives the impression of a spicy oriental, as seen through a shimmering golden veil. It’s really a luminous, spicy skin scent with a little stabby edge (I’m thinking that’s the pimento berries). I really can imagine Herod’s increasing intoxication, as Salome’s rising scent wafts towards him…and each of the Seven Veils drifts languorously across the marble floor. It’s heady stuff, indeed. I think I’ve finally found the Byredo I can love. Even if I can’t love Salome.
Notes, per the Byredo website:
Top: Carrot, Pimento Berries
Heart: Tahitian Vanilla Flower, Laurier Rose, Glycine, Tiger Orchid
Base: Sandalwood, Vanilla Bean
$220 for 100ml at Barneys, where I spritzed.
btw: Salome of popular legend differs quite a bit from the Salome described by scholars of ancient texts but she’s no angel, no matter how you look at it.
photo: Eartha Kitt as Salome (shake it, shake it)
ps. don’t fret! March will be back soon. She’s still jammin’ on personal business – and it’s all just drudgery, nothing Brutal. But Right Now is challenging, timewise, so I’m pinch-hitting. She’ll be back shortly. She promised!
I bought it! First full bottle that didn’t come from ebay in months (okay I got SL Filles Aigilles last week from Parfum 1 but I got a good deal). I LOVE this one. While the spice is nice, once that dies down this scent is a lovely vanilla/sandalwood. When the lotion comes out, I’ll be getting that as well!
WELL. That is some sultry you got goin’ on today, Miss M.
Haven’t smelled many Byredo scents, just Green (nice, but too much citrus for my personal taste) and Pulp (r u srs?? somebody bottled melted frozen juice bars?). This does sound lovely – silken burnooses, silver bells and Warm Human.
I couldn’t smell Pulp AT ALL! 😮
This one really is different from the other Byredos I’ve tried. I was a bit nervous, with the Lysol Accord and everything – but it didn’t happen! YAY!
xo >-)
Hooray for the Tom Robbins’ “Skinny Legs” love. I was given the book as a gift many years ago and the giver told me she’d read it and it made her think of me. I was never sure if I should be flattered or insulted. lol Great read, though, and very very different.
I’m about to expose my shallow nature and say how much I like the name of this scent. It sounds like a ‘growed-up woman’ kind of scent and from your descriptions it sounds like it smells like one, too. So many of the scents in current fashion not only smell like cotton candy and angel food cake, but have very youthful names to go along with them. “Seven Veils” on the other hand, is not the name of a scent you’d expect to find in a 14 year old’s backpack. Heck, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a Gen Z member who even got the reference.
So definitely count me in on trying this one. I’m already about 65% disposed to like it.
I’d be nervous if my teenager wanted to wear Seven Veils, so I totally get where you’re coming from! There’s a time and a place – and this is definitely not for a non-adult.
xo >-)
Sultry? Warm Human Skin? I’m IN.
You wrote some wonderfully evocative prose there. If I had a Byredo counter anywhere near me, I’d be off to spritz it tonight. It seems really weird that we don’t have one, so I may have to do some sleuthing.
Have to agree, Byredo has not been a great success for me. I very much enjoy the pret-ty Tulipe, but it is very short lived on my skin. Gypsy Water I love on a friend, but on me it is stink water.
If you ever need extra simoleans so finance your ‘fume habit, perhaps you could rent your work out as an ad copy writer. Perfume, food, travel, you could sell luxury goods to me any day :D Be well.
Well, heck! :”> thanks!!! Right now I’m struggling with brochure copy for specialty parts for Wind Farm construction. Can’t use the loverlies that I use on you guys. Those guys would be all >:p
=))
ps. Gypsy Water was a total disaster on me, too.
hope all is going EXTREMELY well in your life! 😉
xo >-)
“…like molten gold burnouts on a silken burnoose.” I also have not found a Byredo yet that I get along with, but now I have to try this one. Your descriptions are dangerous!
Patty’s fault on the description :d she’s got me thinking about Middle Eastern fabrics, with gold and spangly stuff….HER FAULT! [-(
;))
xoxo >-)
“Luminous, spicy skin scent”?? Oh my. That sounds lovely. We’re a bit bare for Barney’s here in Colorado Springs, though (*crosses fingers*) it looks like a new job in DC may be coming my way early in the spring.
Anybody have any favorite scent spots in Government Central? (Other than hopping on the train to NYC?)
Several of our Posse live in the DC area – I’m sure they’ll weigh in here to give you the best spots!
Best wishes for the wonderful new job opportunity!
xo >-)
Thank you!!! I’m excited about it – though I’ll be going from a 3-bedroom house into a tiny apartment. I’m finding that downsizing is actually nice – it feels good to be responsible for less “stuff.”
Good morning. Thanks for this review. Byredo has ranged from meh to it doesn’t work for me or on my skin. But this sounds like something that might work for me. Luckily, my daughter arrives home from college today, so a shared sniff trip to Barney’s is in order! Have a great day.
You, too! Let us know how it works for you!
xo >-)
Damn! Was going to get in on a split of this, but missed out. Sounds right up my alley. And I do remember “Skinny Legs and All.” Robbin’s books are just sort of psychedelic. I re-read “Jitterbug” of course — will search out that one.
I’mo troll the li-berry shelves This Very Afternoon! Ah, the li-berry. Shopping for the Simolean-Challenged. Love it!
;))
xo >-)
Definitely agree on the library- love. My daughters love the library and were so so excited to get their own cards! If I bought all the books I read (much less now with children) or want to read I would have no money at all…..same goes for perfume. But,damn, would I be smart and would I smell gooooood! :d
I am always so grateful for the library – when I have extra money I always give it to them! When I don’t, I still give it to them in the form of overdue fines. :”>
xo >-)
Good morning Posse and Ms Musette, and may I just say, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post! Great descriptive writing. And dangit, you make this perfume sound good. Byredo’s haven’t smelled good to me (looking at you, much loved Gypsy Water) and so I felt I dodged a pricy bullet. It’s that pimento berry that tempts me.
I think that’s what caught me, too. And thanks for the lovely compliment! :”>
xo >-)
Holy moly, you make this sound really tempting! I will definitely have to seek it out. I love the story of Salome – it’s fascinating. There is also an excellent, though…odd, book called ‘ Skinny Legs and All’ by Tom Robbins which is based (loosely) around the Salome story. He also wrote ‘Jitterbug Perfume’ which, among many other things, deals with the meaning of the sense of smell. Robbins’ books are great but very hard to describe- well worth a read though!
I always meant to read his stuff – I’m certainly old enough to have had time to – but I never got around to it. :=> I think I will reinvestigate, now that I know what is going on….
xo >-)
“Another Roadside Attraction” was my favorite Robbins book-but you should read ’em all.
Oh, I loved “Skinny Legs and All”! My first Tom Robbins and still the one I like best…. Odd doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Love your description od the perfume, Musette! Now to get hold of a sample
:-?
Just recently re-read Jitterbug Perfume – so good. And Skinny Legs and Al is probably my 2nd favorite Robbins. It is hard to describe – they are fantastical, crude and funny.
It hasn’t impressed me when I smelled it on a blotter last time I went to a store that carries that line but I might try it on the skin now. Thank you for the inpiration, Musette!
Way prettier on the skin, imo. I was not blotter-impressed, either. That synthetic note (Ms)Christian mentioned is evident on paper. Somehow, on skin (at least on my skin) it doesn’t appear, allowing the warmer, animal feel (not ‘animalic’, more, Warm Human) to come through
xo >-)
I haven’t tried many scents with carrot though I did really like that note in Parfums d’Imperfiction Alice in Wonderland. Luminous, spicy and stabbey sounds like a must try.
Knowing a little bit of your scent prefs, I think you might like this.
xo >-)
ps. new pup picture, please. He’s gotta be bigger by now. They grow FAST at this age.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=2529818522875&set=a.2529813882759.122597.1175843912&type=1&theater
does this work?
FYI link is to a picture of my puppy.
Musette I sort of laid awake last night thinking about carrots and perfume. So weird.
That IS weird…:-? I think you need the Beauty Whut Is Iris 39!
xo >-)
Musette, you are probably too young to remember Andy Griffith’s snack commercial where he bit into a Ritz, shook his head in satisfaction and said, “Goooooooood cracker!” Well, I’m here to say GOOOOOOOOOOOD writin’.
Never cared for anything from Byredo; there’s always a disagreeably synthetic note that sneaks in, like a tinge of Lysol. How can I resist sampling this one, though? Well, I can’t!
Thanks for the wonderful review. Today’s my birthday and even though you had no idea, this is like getting a wonderful greeting card out of the blue.
(*)@};- and here at the Posse, we always give a :(|) to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!
(why don’t we have a cake emoticon? :-?)
I hope you have an incredibly wonderful birthday! And sweetie, I remember that commercial (I’m older than dirt, though not as old as Andy, least not yet). I’m glad you enjoyed the post -it was fun to write. Byredo is a toughie for me, too. I get that Lysol thing and was terrified I was going to get it in SV. I think I love it more than I orta simply because that Lysol note is missing! LOL! Oh, dear….that is faint praise, indeed. And that’s wrong – because it really is very lovely on its own merits!
Happy Birthday again! And many many more in health and happiness!
xoxoox >-)
Wishing you the happiest of birthdays!!
Thanks for the greetings, Ann and Musette! :d
Happy birthday!
Thanks for reminding us about this new release. I went to Barney’s on Sunday and asked for a spritz. I adore it! The pimento berry (all spice) reads like clove/carnation and I was reminded of CdG’s Carnation immediately. However, the dry down of CdG remains floral in nature while Seven Veils is a lovely sandalwood/vsnilla. This is on my lemming list and will be my next buy – just waiting for them to get the 50ml.
It really is lovely! I feel quite….sultry..in it! 🙂
xoxo >-)
Mmmm, sounds lovely, despite the gruesome background. I’ll definitely have to try this one as I like several of the Byredos, especially Gypsy Water, Tulipe and Pulp (that one in very small doses). Thanks for the heads-up!
This is a good one to try. For those on whom Byredo doesn’t work (me), it will, hopefully, be a pleasant change! For those who already love Byredo, I hope it’s a Total WIN!
xoxo >-)