Slowdive

I grew up associating the scent of honey as being sticky, syrupy and throat-scratchingly sweet, which is nothing like this fragrance, so you can just imagine my confusion when I first encountered this scent. The first time I tried this fragrance was a bit of a disappointment. I thought it smelled like an apple and cinnamon scented car freshener, but I still gave it a lot of chance by testing it every now and then. Nearly a year after, I decided to reunite with this fragrance, and accidentally spilled the shit out of almost the entire Luckyscent sample vial of this fragrance on my arm, and from there is when it clicked on me. It took me a long time to figure out the honey in this composition. I still do get a little bit of that apple cinnamon car freshener vibe right at the very beginning which lends off a rubbery, semi-plasticy, alcohol-like feel on the opening, but right after within minutes, the actual fragrance unfolds with a dominant honey note that smells familiar but I don't exactly know which type. Honey has several different variants. I haven't tried all of them, but the honey note in this really does remind me of one of the few ones that I've encountered. What makes this honey fragrance different and harder for me to wrap around is how much of the sticky, cloying sweetness of a honey is cut off, so it doesn't give off an edible gourmand character, yet still maintaining its natural sweetness and subtle syrupy nature. Hues of indistinct dried fruits and sweetened black tea note contributes to the scent profile of the dominant honey note giving it dimension, and a multi-faceted character. Also, somewhere between the opening and the middle of this fragrance if i pay closer attention, i almost thought i picked up something that kinda reminds me of weed. I just thought it's a bit funny to add, but i suspect maybe it's the tobacco note. As this fragrance is marinating on my skin, a powdery note in a Johnson's baby powder way is gradually appearing from the distance as it coats this honey note, which further cuts off the sticky, syrupy nature of honey. Once it approaches its middle stage, the intensity of the honey note gradually softens. The fruitiness form the dried fruits remains a little bit and this baby powder note increases its intensity. This baby powdery note suggests a soft ambery, vanillic tint. The middle stage of this fragrance is my least favorite part though. I find it a bit too bland. Just a bland powdery honey. As this fragrance reaches its final drydown stage hours later, it turns interesting once more. It isn't that unusual of a scent, but i'd describe it as very comforting. The afformentioned baby powdery, ambery vanillic note takes over the entire fragrance with a faint furry musky tint, giving it an old, worn-in feel. This accord reminds me of the drydown of those old school "oriental" fragrances. It also reminds me of a really old unlit candle, which is probably from the beeswax. It also suggests a little bit of a play-doh texture, which is a common thread among classic amber-vanilla fragrances. There is also something in this that reminds me a little bit of a doll's head made out of plastic. Something kids would play with in the 90s or 2000s. The over all tone and texture of this stage is soft, faded and quite dusty, yet again comforting and nostalgic. The drydown of this fragrance is like the every aspect of your childhood bedroom. The old toys, the clean yet slept-in sheets, the baby powder, and this overall faded bygone memory that feels comforting inside. Kinda like the hazy shoegazy sounds of Slowdive (the band). Comforting, nostalgic and romantic.

Hiram Green Slowdive... I have not yet taken this fragrance for a spin. I have just received this as a sample, but have been awestruck by what it is doing on my skin. I am craving to test this out in the elements... Honey dominant scents are very difficult for people because honey on skin no matter whose it is can get a hint pissy. Whether one can handle this pissiness or not is up to the wearer. I’m weird so I enjoy the little hints of animalic sweatiness or maybe urea that is custom of the honey note or honey perfumes. I believe how comfortable you are with the scent determines how your body projects it. If you are nervous or uncomfortable with honey or maybe stressed in your environment the body heats up and your hormones may cause its fruity and floral properties to instead expel urea-like qualities. If you are confident, relaxed and at ease with your environment, your body is cooler and your hormones may allow the honey to project its gourmand or fruit-like properties. The way a natural honey note behaves on your skin also depends on your diet as well. Ahhhh the power of chemistry! Hiram Green Slowdive is my reference honey scent, I have already decided even without a full day’s wearing. It is a perfect balance of naturally pleasant and edible aromas that have me excited to finally be testing this fragrance out. I’ve never smelt a honey scent that was so three dimensional and natural smelling. Naxos, Oajan, Beverly Hill's Exclusive, Pure Havane, have all had auxiliary or abstracted focuses on honey and were not fragrances focused on making the honey smell realistic. This is replacing BHE as the best honey I’ve smelt so far. Slowdive... This is overwhelmingly piquant. Within Slowdive a busy resume of natural sensations that are the components of honey. Minimalist. At first I receive hints of apple crumble or a sweet potato pie - a pie, hot and fresh out of the oven which is bracingly sweet, cakey, with some sourness from baked fruit or sweet starches unlocking the sinuses. Rich chamomile tea comes shortly after the pie. It is light and watery, herbal with warm sugary nuance. Notes of cinnamon, and ripe peaches also arrive within this composition bringing smoothness and domestication to the sweetness anchoring all of these vivid facets of fresh honey together. Hiram Green's Slowdive is alive it is photorealistic, inspiring and beautiful. Well-blended and a very rich high quality composition. I can imagine this scent emanating from a warm syrup pitcher on a table as breakfast is just being served. It will be my pleasure to wear Slowdive to honor the bees and their critical work in keeping our planet and perfumery alive. It will be my pleasure to wear it in whatever temperature wherever I want... 🍯 🍎 10/10

Slowdive is one of the best honey-themed perfumes I have tried - with Serge Lutens Fils de Joie perhaps being the only other one that comes close. I'm working my way through my Hiram Green discovery set, and have fallen in love with this brand in general. Combining all-natural ingredients with classical French-style perfumery, Hiram Green's creations are creative marvels as well as being wearable and completely natural. I am a lover of honey, and here it is transposed beautifully into perfume form. Slowdive opens with orange blossom and neroli; sweet, floral and citrus-tinged, paving the way nicely to the honey note at the heart of this scent. There is a slight greenness to the neroli, but this scent is nectar-like, sweet and rich - increasingly so as the honey note develops. Tuberose, while not a dominant note (unusually!), adds a heady floral quality to the honey note - reminiscent of artisan honey that contains floral nuances. The tobacco blossom adds a dry grassiness, providing a nice counterpoint to the sweetness while further placing this scent firmly in nature. The dried fruits, of which I get dried apricot in particular, complement the floral-honey accord beautifully. The amber drydown is resinous and rich, which, alongside the honey and beeswax notes, brings the image of the beehive to life. It fades to become a honeyed amber skin scent. Sillage and longevity are moderate. Unisex in my opinion despite the sweetness, it is an unusual yet wearable daytime scent. Despite the amber base and rich sweetness, it feels most appropriate to me to wear this in spring/summer when bees are in season. Perhaps it is transeasonal. There is a quiet stillness to Slowdive, as @funeralparty below puts it so beautifully, it is like leaning in close to smell a flower. An excellent artistic rendering of honey and the beehive, Slowdive is rich, sweet and sticky, yet nicely balanced by its floral notes. It also manages to be wearable. Excellent. 4.5/5.

“Mellifluous” I've now finally recovered from how much I hated Serge Lutens Miel de Bois! Zoologist Bee and Hiram Green Slowdive are two beautiful honey fragrances. Both are completely realistic, as found in nature, the scent of honey from a jar (with some perfumery magic). I am struggling to decide which one I like better to buy a bottle. I have 5 mL decants of both and truly enjoy them both. #thestruggleisreal Bee is super sweet. Slowdive is sweet but a bit more floral, but still definitely all about honey. I'm probably leaning toward Slowdive but I truly enjoy both honey fragrances immensely. I could lick my arm. Both make me think of fairies and bucolic natural landscapes with all the flora and fauna abounding. These are happy, sweet botanical images flitting through my head. A scented pick-me-up. ((sigh)) So lovely. Painting: Midsummer Eve, 1908, by Robert Hughes I'm 98% sure I'm going to buy the bottle of Slowdive over Bee. It's just slightly more floral and airy while Bee kind of wears me. I would guess that I'll end up layering this with something else, because I likely will tire of smelling like HONEY for much of the day. Now I'll need to try some combinations. It might be nice adding Slowdive to other scents I have that are florals with honey (but only slightly honey), such as Chanel Beige and Champs Elysees or maybe Dolce Gabbana Velvet Ginestra. Or maybe not, it's possible Slowdive is just perfect as is. It is Bee that I would want to layer. If you really love a sweet photo-realistic honey note then you ought to try both Slowdive and Bee. UPDATE: I purchased Slowdive over Bee. I decided Slowdive is MILES better. Slowdive retains it's floracy and light airy quality while Bee gets kind of heavy and woody. 2 amazing (by mistake) layering experiments: Slowdive + Seville a l’Aube, really nice. Also Kenzo Jungle Elephant + Slowdive, delicious omg.

Oh beeswax, lovely beeswax from beginning to end. When I first spritzed Slowdive, I smiled a smug and deeply contented kind of smile because it is so wonderful, and because my first blind buy ever was such a ridiculous success :o) This is not a furniture beeswax smell, and it’s not burning candles either, it is actual honeycomb, fresh out of the hive on a buzzing summer's day, still glistening with honey and powdered with pollen, there's a little bit of clean hay around the place too. Have you ever smelled and tasted the pollen granules that you can buy to boost your immune system and well being? Well, I get a load of that in here, not just the creamy sweet, softly clean, fuzzy little animal smell but also the super-fine, granular texture as the rich, tiny golden grains dissolve on your tongue. The more I wear this, the more subtle nuances I notice. The resinous honey gently sticks to the beeswax all the way through and is very much like a delicious heather honey I love from Galicia; thick and semi-crystalized, dark amber, nectarous, dense, herbal aromatic, balmy and rich. There are some heady, creamy white flowers in here too. It took me a few wearings to get on an intimate basis with the warm, deep, floral tobacco note, but I’m there now and I love it. It’s much rounder and more supple than other tobacco notes I’ve smelled, like rubbing fresh and ever so slightly dusty tobacco leaves between your hands leaving stains with a spicy, sweet, brownish green narcotic aroma. Slowdive's dry down is long and lovely, a beautiful pastoral portrait of the perfect summer's day, where nature is friendly and life is always sweet. Nectar of the gods.

Starts of with strong honey. Bright sunny honey . Honey can bouth be dark damp but also bright sunny. this one is the later one . Beeswax and tobacco flowers are the things that meet me first , lingers and makes me abit overwelmed , its strong potent stuff here . Im glad i did not try this around bees he he . feels very natural as all the other Hiram green i have tested so far . Here is also a known Hay note lingering . After a few hours the perfumes develop abit more , I can now smell the dryed fruit and slight florals but also smoke . I can not pick out any stright floral note .this on my skin are under the honey at all time . There is a note in the end here that reminds me of cinnamon buns . Fresh from the oven . very natural and true to the smell of fresh cinnamon bun. The scent feels very warm slightly indolic , sun drenched . like warm skin dripping of honey . very very beautiful . I bet this would work like a charm in autumn and at Christmas time . With the notes of Cinnamon (not listed and probebly just a mix of the other notes ) it feels very appropriet for christmas .. But i do also want to find out how this smells on a summers day . Not sure if it will be to waxy almost melting honeycomb waxy in the strongest heat . It has some resemblanse to Killians back to black. this feels more natural. I will make sure to see how this turns out when it gets warmer .. Did not think i would like this as much as i do .. I was so sure it was the Vivacious that wold work for me . but sadly it did not . Not at all. This is much more to my liking . very strong like

Do not let the other notes confuse you - at least on me, this is purely a honey scent, beginning to end. It really just smells like raw, viscous, warm honey. I would say like fresh honey, that is currently being harvested in a garden after being in the sun all day. There are undertones of white flowers (orange blossom, neroli, tobacco blossom, tuberose), but more in the sense that maybe the bee landed on them and that's what the honey is made out of. I saw other commenters also mention linden blossoms and linden blossom tea - that is more what I mean by this: The scent is more steeped lightly in these florals like a thin tea is, while the honey is really front and center. I don't really smell much resin by itself, but there is that viscous, warm, slightly dark quality to the perfume that I think can be attributed to the resin. Personally, I don't smell dried fruits, but they could be contributing somewhat to the sweetness and complexity. Because even though this perfume is dominated so much by the honey scent, for some reason it does still read quite deep and complex to me. I don't really smell the woody or the citrus notes. The animals notes I am also not getting much, although, as I said the scent is quite deep and heavy. It is rich, and I feel compelled to keep smelling it. When I wear this, I feel somehow light and mysterious at the same time. If you want a photorealistic, delicious, deep honey scent, this is definitely for you. I really really love this, and I will definitely get a full size of this.

Slowdive is intoxicating in the quietest, most feminine way. It is soft and radiant, yet undeniably rich and the kind of fragrance that makes you keep lifting your wrist back to your nose without even realizing you’re doing it. All day long! At the heart of Slowdive is honey, and not the abstract, sugary idea of honey that so many perfumes get wrong. This is real honey warm, golden, creamy, and slightly animalic in the most sensual sense. It feels alive. It melts into the skin rather than sitting on top of it, creating a glow instead of a cloud. The honey is wrapped in soft florals and gentle warmth, giving it a creamy, comforting sweetness that feels nurturing and deeply feminine, yet quietly sexual. There’s nothing loud, sharp, or aggressive here. No synthetic buzz. No masculine edge. Instead, it’s the kind of sensuality that feels instinctive and intimate like skin warmed by sun, closeness, touch. Slowdive doesn’t try to seduce the room. It seduces you first. It’s addictive in that personal way the way a lover’s skin smells, or the memory of warmth lingering on fabric. Sweet, but never juvenile. Rich, but never heavy. Sensual without effort. Honey in Slowdive is not playful or edible it’s comforting, creamy, enveloping, and quietly erotic. It feels safe and indulgent at the same time. Feminine without being fragile. Sexy without being performative. Slowdive is honey as intimacy. And it is absolutely irresistible.

Happy to finally be sampling Slowdive, the seemingly most publicized release and my first try of the house of Hiram Green, certainly living up to the hype as a sweet/spicy/fresh/floral honey scent, with the honey/amber accord being dominant but excellently accented by the supporting case of notes, and it feels irresponsible to omit them: neroli, orange flower, tobacco blossom, tuberose, honey, dried fruit, resin. I do not detect tuberose or tobacco blossom per se but there is a general floral quality to it beyond simply the orange blossom and neroli. Its opening is loud, with some of the spiciness especially coming out strong, before drying down to a more agreeable (albeit still strong) blend, still with the honey resin aspect being most prominent but with the dried fruit and spices being complemented by the fresher floral bits. Also, Slowdive certainly has a slight sweet side but overall leans more to the floral and spicy side than more gourmand-leaning amber/honey scents (Zoologist Bee and Rania J. Ambre Loup come to mind, of recent favorites. Its dry down is quite balanced overall, though, and quite lovable. Slowdive is in EDP concentration, priced at $165 for 50ml and sold in the US by Luckyscent, Twisted Lily, and Ave Parfum, though is only currently in stock at Luckyscent. The pricing seems very reasonable given the quality and potency, and I can see why Slowdive seems to have a good reputation. 8 out of 10

This is one of the first scents I tried based on its presence on so many "best of" lists, and I think it's the perfect gateway into what a high quality fragrance can do. I didn't sample Slowdive, Slowdive happened to me. The spicy cinnamon opening woke me up and turned me on like the sudden appearance of an extremely attractive person on a boring day. As the fragrance dried on my skin the notes smoothed out into a long and expansive seduction. I love white florals and they are heaven combined with the dried fruit and beeswax. These bees weren't fed on clover, but on rich fertile blossoms and spicy flowering tobacco, they fed at night when the children were asleep in their beds. To be blunt, this smells like sex to me, like good sex between beautiful people who are good at sex. This smells like the warm summer nights that followed hot summer days in the dry valley town of my youth. This smells like being dizzy with fertility and desire. After a few hours, Slowdive left me tussled and tumbled in a barn, with straw in my hair, not entirely sure how I got there or where my underwear went. I am golden with pollen and probably pregnant. The first time I wore Slowdive I had no idea what to expect and no idea what a fragrance could do. I've known exactly what to expect every time I've worn it since. ;) It is very good to be alive.

Do you ever have that sensation when you're hearing a song for the first time, by a very good singer, and they hit some particular note and it strikes you just right, and you get goosebumps? this is the feeling i got when i sprayed Slowdive on for the first time. complete with real goosebumps and I don't know if a fragrance has ever done that to me before! Sniffing it from the sprayer I got this heavy intense sweetness, almost reminiscent of tree sap. Thick and syrupy, but still natural. Then I spray it on and it opens up like a gas flame catching alight! foomph. I first noticed the neroli, very apparent to me in the beginning stages, and the thick sap smell gives way to what is a heavy, languid, gorgeous beeswax note, I can't say I've tried any other fragrance that has this particular note playing out in this way, and I love it. I think that's what gave me the goosebumps. Now I'm getting tuberose (but it's not dominant/overpowering) and certainly the dried fruits, like someone poured honey over figs. I'm sniffing this almost obsessively. I'd ordered a sample and wasn't expecting to like it so much. I might be in love. *eta: I bought it! And let me tell you one more thing I like about this brand: They offer 10ml travel sizes at a reasonable price... I SO wish more niche brands would do this!

I first got my Slowdive sample in the middle of the summer and it was...a lot. Very thick and overwhelming. I re-tested on cool autumn skin and now am finding it delectable. Very high quality juice, viscous even. This is so natural and not perfume-y at all, but not so reminiscent of a specific dessert that it feels too edible. I understand why many would get the suggestion of cinnamon, its comparable to baklava in feeling both syrupy and crispy. However this is absolutely not a craft store cinnamon scent. I wouldn't really call Slowdive a tobacco frag either; it's adding just a subtly dirty nuance to rich honey. Secondarily I get the dried fruits, not as sweet as warming, whereas the floral notes are well blended enough that they add dimension but on their own are difficult to recognize. The scent is pretty linear on me but I really don't mind. Moderate sillage and performance; it's distinctive so initially I was a little self-conscious, though after some wear have determined it to not be all that intense. May be FBW. Golden Cattleya by Olympic Orchids is now spring/summer honey go-to (it gets a little screechy in the cold) and this could easily become my fall/winter.

Many fragrances get hyped to the stratosphere. Normally I’d recommend ignoring all that noise, but not this time. The hype is warranted. Slowdive is THAT good—magnificent, even. Upon first spray, I get a strongly spiced, honeyed tea. The steam of a piping hot cup of Earl Grey hits your face. You drizzle honey to sweeten, stirring with a cinnamon stick. As Slowdive dries down, the bells and whistles melt away, and you’re left with pure honey over a hint of dried fruit. It’s sublime. Think of other much-discussed honey scents. Sometimes they can overpower with their richness (e.g., Kilian’s Back to Black) or even become downright suffocating (e.g., MFK’s Absolue Pour le Soir). Slowdive is rich like those scents, but it never “wears you” or becomes too much. There’s a weightless potency to it. Rightly so, many have adopted this as their reference honey scent. I’d concur, but Serge Lutens’ controversial Miel de Bois still holds that title for me. Notably, too, the presentation only adds to the experience. The beautiful, weighty bottle is housed in a slipcased box, and that sprayer! One of the best EVER. A single spray can finely mist an entire arm. I’m in love.

Wow, wow, wow! What a incredible honey fragrance! I purchased 10 different honey-themed samples, and this was my undeniable favorite. It's clear that Green has a deft hand for working with many different perfume components and bringing out the best of what he combines. This perfume is pure honey witchery. It's rich, golden, warm, and slightly animalic. Do yourself a favor and go actually sniff some good orange blossom honey still in the comb, and understand that this is what Green has captured. Just as in real honey, the gentle florals are there if you hunt for them. Dried fruits give this perfume the richness of large quantities of honey and add a bit of depth to the composition. The beeswax note adds to the realism of the perfume experience, and works with the resinous notes to evoke the hive to me. Insane longevity- around 10 hours, and sillage is good, too- about arm's length. This perfume is not for the faint of heart, but instead is a love note to bees and all their hard work. If honey is what you asked for, this perfume delivers the very finest olfactory honey delight.

lemonblue had me at fig newtons, as I have a weird fascination with them. Also, I’m into shoegaze, so why not try this out? I tried Unknown Pleasures because I like Joy Division so screw it. When I tried Slowdive out, I couldn’t help but smile. I remembered a time of feeling young, carefree, and being well acquainted with swisher sweets on golden summer afternoons. I picked up some fruitcake vibes in this too but I don’t have fond memories of Christmas so rolling blunts in my best friends shed is what comes to mind the most. I like that the floral notes in this are breezy and nice with the heaviness of that beeswax/dried fruit/resin. With all the nostalgia, I remembered a quote from Slaughterhouse Five that I read back then and still resonates with me to this day, and even more so with this lovely laid back fragrance. “Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber?" "Yes." Billy, in fact, had a paperweight in his office which was a blob of polished amber with three lady-bugs embedded in it. "Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.”

thick intoxicating honey and beeswax, dried fruit, with a slightly bitter opening. beeswax straight from the beehive. suuuper photorealistic. these are some spoiled bees, not some generic mass produced honey in a jar. the more subdued part of me thinks this might be better if it was a little "lighter" but slowdive grew on me and I think the heavy, viscous feeling of it is what makes it SO special. so heavenly and lush, I am not a fan of "sweet" scents or gourmands, but this makes me want to break away from what I'm used to, just beacuse it's so dang good. the sweetness in it comes from the photorealistic honey note, and that alone, so it doesn't feel artificially sweet and nauseating/cloying the way some sweet scents do. full bottle worthy for me, and I plan to get one come closer to fall/winter as it's a very comforting scent to me, and also I work with bees in the summer and honestly I don't know how they'd react (lol). even if this scent is "not for you" I think anyone could appreciate how well it's crafted.

I ordered the Hiram Green Sampler and the one I ended up buying was Slowdive, with Arbolé as my second favorite. To me, in order of strength, it smells like beeswax, honey, dried apricots, several different white flowers including orange blossom, and amber. The scent does seem to change over time and the floral scents decrease while the beeswax and amber scents stay there. People clearly have subjective taste, but this is very smooth and relaxing to me and I can't see many people being put off by it. Seems unisex. It smells like eating a great aromatic dessert in a sunny flower garden, although the sweetness is not too strong. This is a natural perfume, and after using it for a while I've started to notice that many other perfumes have a distinct synthetic smell to them that is a bit overpowering, especially when you are aware that those synthetic scents can come from endocrine disrupting chemicals or other harmful compounds that are probably not as regulated as they should be.

Absolutely delectable. Honey, leafy greens, and jammy white floral-- if white florals can be jammy. Slightly spicy and citric, as well. Tyger Tyger wishes it was this classy, and Ellis Brooklyn Bee lacks its subtlety. Of course, you can’t have “honey” without “sweet”, but to me Slowdive does it just right by blending in the pollen, grass, wax and petals in along with the nectar... it feels rich, fertile almost. There’s also a dry, powdery woodiness reminiscent of cocoa powder, and a lot less vanilla than I expected. The honey accord feels convincingly natural, exactly like the smell in the air when I heat a jar of honey to melt the crystallized bits at the bottom. Slowdive is still very gourmand for me, as this wears like a heavy syrup, but I also love the strength of this one-spray wonder. This would go very far, and it’s one of the better sweet perfumes to catch a fading whiff of in the air as someone passes by.

This is really beautiful...and expensive. At least for right now, it's a little bit out of my budget. However, I realized after this dried down about 15 minutes after I applied it, it smells almost exactly like Kyse Miele. I have a sample of that one and a sample of Slowdive and I have to be honest...I like Kyse's better. It's richer and thicker and it has more body to it. That's a great thing for me because I can grab a 2 oz for around $75 and I know there are YouTubers that have a coupon code for a 20% off. 😁 I'll stick with Kyse's honey for now. But I REALLY want to get my hands on Moon Bloom. I'm on a quest for a niche tropical type, bubblegum tuberose/waxy gardenia/coconut scent. And I really want to try Moon Bloom, Fracas, Petit Fracas, Micallef Gardenia, Isabey (all of them, they all look amazing), Songes, I have a whole list running. 😁

I received a nice size sample of this in a swap that I just did and oh my goodness this has to be the most delicious realistic honey perfume I've ever smelled! I'm so excited about this! It's been awhile since I've smelled anything that made me feel so excited and it's something new like nothing I've ever smelled before in a perfume! I'm so impressed! If you've ever tried COX Honey this is exactly what slowdive smells like! Super rich, thick, dense, syrupy, smoky, sticky, waxy honey ever! In the opening I smell some dried fruit with the Smoky honey and as it dries down the dried fruit starts to fade a little bit and it seems like the honey note gets even more intense on my skin! I don't really get any floral this smells exactly like real unfiltered honey! The sillage is incredible! Longevity is insane! I'm obsessed!