Abyssis Liquides Imaginaires 2022

Big deception, on my skin I get strong incense in a bad way, like an old ashtray forgotten, impossible for me to keep it on my skin I needed to wash it after 10 min because it was literally making my stomach turn.
For it’s defense I’m overdramat, especially with incense and cigarette smell because of personal taste.
But dang this one is tough, and i cannot picture anyone in my entourage that could pull this one

The "FragCom" does my head in sometimes, it really does. If you were blind buying this fragrance you'd come onto the reviews for it and be told in no uncertain terms that it smells of dank caves, fetid seaweed, farts, dead squid, rotten wood, stinky crotch, gasoline and the decomposition of ancient, indescribably evil sea creatures. Seriously.

Now I'm all for the wonder of the subjective way different people experience fragrance differently, but if you're Les Liquides Imaginaires and especially Shymala Maisondieu you must be reading these comments questioning your life choices. I'm not suggesting I have a better nose than these reviewers but it honestly doesn't smell like any of these things. I promise you, it doesn't.

Abyssis is an absolutely gorgeous aquatic fresh fragrance. The petrichorian note is from a very clever use of Calypsone in the head which is somewhere between fresh rain, the ozone after a heavy storm and that fresh watermelon smell. Not fruity watermelon, but the water in the melon if that makes sense. This works very cleverly with some black pepper in the background and the effect is similar to Sailing Day by Maison Margiela (which was my favourite aquatic before I got my nose on this) but not as dense. It is more airy and less sweet as there is no iris or juniper in it.

Abyssis has a crust of salt running through its heart that stops it becoming cliched and I absolutely love the sandalwood in it. If you've ever sailed you know the smell of varnished, cared-for hardwood and it very carefully adds this note with a tiny hint of styrax in the base. It is subtle but it is there if you know it. It washes around on a deep, rich and satisfyingly dark hardwood deck that anchors the whole thing in a very maritime sense. It dries on your skin a little salty. It has that ubiquitousness too: there is no occasion on God's Green Earth or the Deep Blue Sea that this doesnt work for.

Abyssis is, at its heart, a very deep aquatic that captures the sea beautifully. It isn't the literal smell, but the feel. This is what I love about fine perfumery: the ability to create fragrances that evoke a bit of tension. This is a wonderful example of that. What does a fragrance that smells like the sea feel like? Not everything has to evoke crystal clear Tahiti water, powdery sand and being in carefree love. For those who know the sea - and I mean really know it - you know that it can be beautiful but is always moody and deep. It is green, blue, turquoise, black and white and a million shades of grey. It is bitter and salty. It doesn't need to threaten; the threat of its awesome power is implied. Even on its calmest and most serene days it is still vast and it dominates its environment as far as the horizon and beyond. I've been to sea, lived at sea, I work in shipping and the only time I have ever truly known peace is on or by the sea. I understand it, I respect it and I love it deep in my bones. The sea is in me and it always has been. So when I smell Abyssis it speaks to me in certain way. Can a fragrance with the tension and depth of the sea truly feel peaceful? Absolutely yes, for me it is.

I cannot believe I need to apologise for saying this but Abyssis is the best, most atmospheric and ridiculously wearable aquatic I've ever smelt. Bar none. It is absolutely magnificent. If you have even a passing interest in aquatic fragrances you need to get your nose on it and get it drying down on your skin. It has that authenticity you - like me - may have been craving. It isn't cloying sweet and it isn't selling you airbrushed postcard pictures of resorts you've never been to. This is the real deal.

Three Word Summary: The Real Deal

Scent - 10/10
Sillage - 7/10
Drydown - 7/10
Bottle/packaging - 10/10
Performance - 8/10

44/50

Really love the scent itself (mysterious, deep, woodsy, marine) but wish i lasted longer/projected more. I don't detect a lot of pepper upfront, yet there is some "distant spice" to it. Over time I get more of the saltiness but it doesn't err on that BO/sweat side that some report. More like dried sea salt after the beach. Very immersive, dark, slightly masculine, and enticing.

...in some ocean, somewhere in the world. Not sunk like Atlantis, but spat out by Poseidon, who was so disgusted that he regurgitated the rubbish he had for breakfast, and in reverse. This brought forth a lot of junk, vermin, spawn of hell, wicked people, hybrids, monsters, and whatever one can or cannot imagine as scourges of the world. Furthermore, Hades had once again tidied up the underworld and sent him everything that didn’t fit into the hellish bio-bin, and then slammed the hell gate shut. Well, he loved such jokes.
He had scolded and threatened him so many times, saying he would drown hell because the fool kept burning plastic waste.
On the island, the Cyclops Polyphemus (Poseidon’s wayward son) was cooking his mother-in-law in a copper cauldron, no, not in water, but in a chemical broth that environmental offenders still discharge into rivers or the sea. She and her silicone implants burst into funny bubbles.
A werewolf was picking meat scraps from his teeth and swore to bite something younger next time, as the meat smelled very rancid.
Nosferato shuffled by in those rubber shoes and, because they hindered him from flying at night, he threw them into the fire. The smell of burnt rubber wafted over the island. Moreover, he had gotten Botox injections and couldn’t close his eyes during the day anymore.
Charon had brought a load of environmental offenders and hurried back to the River Styx because he couldn’t stand it on the island. The sinners dangled in the wind, and their flesh fermented. Not even the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis wanted to eat it anymore.

Cerberus, the three-headed hellhound, was the only sensible one on board. Poseidon had freed him from his chains, and so he gratefully guarded the island, ensuring that none of this rabble escaped.

Poseidon was fed up with the stench, chemical broth, and clouds of disgust. He drew his trident and hurled the island back underground.

The song came to me after I watched the film 'The Golden Glove'.
I had to smile because it has quite a bit of schmaltz and kitsch in it, even though the aftertaste is very bitter when you consider what the film tells. Sad and shocking at the same time.

It's hard to imagine how it smells in the place of a perpetrator who wants to cover up his deeds with air fresheners, but one thing is for sure - Abyssis would probably fit right in here.

A sultry atmosphere, a strongly penetrating, humid-warm earthy note that hangs thick in the air and coats it with a strange film of schmaltz. Tears that fall into the peculiar swelling - salty, bitter, then again sweet. A very peculiar creation that LI presents here. Over time, the scent becomes a bit "fishy," somewhat rancid. The earth becomes increasingly solid, while the schmaltzy coating remains. It is always alternately sweet and bitter at the same time. In the heart then a surge of animalism, covered by a dusty layer of wood. I perceive a hint of citrus, enclosed in a moldy porcelain vessel. Thus, the scent expels all the spirits of this world. It glides rancid, then at the end appears slightly liquid, again warm, humid, earthy. And then again this strange aftertaste of bittersweet tears, before it dissolves in the sultry air as if it had never existed.

Sillage and longevity are rather poor. The scent itself is very peculiar and unbearable. Art can do a lot: enchant, astonish, and overwhelm. Personally, I see no art here, but rather the creation of evil substances that bring tears to my eyes.