Abyssis

Fragrantica 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. There's that ubiquitousness too: there is no occasion on God's Green Earth or the Deep Blue Sea that this doesn't 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, melancholic and salty. It doesn't need to threaten; the threat of its awesome power is implied and it can change temper in a minute. Even on its calmest and most serene days it is incomprehensibly 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. My soul needs it. 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. Maybe you need to truly love the sea to find peace in this fragrance. 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

My heart says I love this more than I do but my brain says this all too familiar. As someone who loves LLI's concept and presentation, Abyssis is instant like. It is what aquatic should be. Deep, dark and murky. It opens with an instant blast of salt and peppery smoke, like an ocean wave crashing over you. It's briny, musky yet oddly fresh, at least when compared to Abyssis's siblings, Tom Ford's Oud Minerale and Zoologist's Squid. Those familiar with these two will find instant familiarity with Abyssis. Yet, I find myself slightly disappointed in the sense that I miss the smokiness of Squid, its inky, deep darkness and its touch of incense making it almost a spiritual experience, which is what I wanted from Abyssis. You also find that odd "concrete" like vibe Oud Minerale has which I love, but I miss the oud and I miss the piquant saltiness. The familiarity with Oud Minerale isn't all that surprising, since they are by the same perfumer, Shyamala Maisondieu. Her signature is very easily found in both. I make Abyssis sound terrible here but actually, those who found Oud Minerale too dark, too austere may find Abyssis more approachable, fresher and musky whereas both Oud Minerale and Squid I would say are very dark and mysterious. So, I can't say I adore it because it's too familiar to my nose yet it's a fantastic true aquatic, far removed from the cute, citrusy designer "aquatics". Edit: After several wears, I switched from like to love, mostly because of the opening. The opening of Abyssis is much fresher, fruitier (guessing it's the calypsone). The drydown gets closer and closer to Oud Minerale. So, I love the first hour or so. Then it's basically Oud Minerale but longevity is much shorter. Still, worth it for the opening. Good stuff!

looooveeee.... so mysterious, which surprised me since this is a quite calypsone forward. i kind of expected it to smell like a watermelon rind or a cucumber, since i almost always get that experience with perfumes with calypsone; i thought it was going to take me away from the deep sea illusion they are trying to sell but it did not. it really does feel like cave-like or deep sea ish. doesnt feel marine in the beachy way that sirenis does. the pepper + ambroxan + wood makes for a wonderful, mysterious, and almost sexy (?) depiction of the ocean, which i think is amazing.

This is how an aquatic perfume should be. After an initial smoky opening the rest is swimming in the sea, exactly how one would imagine the perfect sea perfume to be. Many aquatic perfumes are either fishy or generic. This is pure salty sea air and water, like looking at the horizon while swimming on a sunny day. Minimalist, salty, deep, like sea drops that remain on your body and hair after a swim. The best aquatic perfume. 10/10

One of the best aquatic perfumes that evokes the beauty of the depth of the sea and is very cool and fragrant. If you like this style of perfume, you will love it.

The calypsone note is more than incredible here, unique and comfy summer fragrance

A mbeautiful summer fragrance, long lasting and very good perrformance

This is sex on the beach. It's aquatic, salty, sensual, incredible.

This is what the depths of the ocean smell like—no question. If the Kraken ever popped into a niche boutique and said “Give me something brooding, salty, and majestic,” he’d walk out with Abyssis and a black velvet pouch to match. It doesn’t scream summer. It glowers summer. And yet, it still fits perfectly into those cool, breezy summer nights when you’re dressed well, feeling mysterious, and have absolutely zero interest in impressing anyone. This isn’t a flirt fragrance. It’s a “let me vibe with my people under a flickering patio light” type of deal. There’s a definite Megamare DNA here—but where Megamare is a sea nymph on steroids, Abyssis is her darker, moodier cousin who reads poetry to jellyfish. The ozonic and oceanic notes hit hard, and then the pepper kicks in like a well-timed plot twist—giving it texture and a little bite without ever overwhelming the marine soul of the scent. Longevity? Excellent. Sillage? Stealth bomber mode. It creeps up, leaves a trail, and disappears like a submarine you didn’t know was there. And for a blind buy, I’m actually impressed. No regret. I like the dark, immersive experience it offers—it’s almost meditative. But let’s be honest: this isn’t going to be anyone’s signature scent unless they moonlight as a deep-sea explorer or a mythological sea beast. It’s not a crowd-pleaser, and definitely not a compliment magnet—but that’s kind of the point. Abyssis smells like Poseidon started wearing all-black Armani and stopped caring what Zeus thinks. Not essential. Not forgettable either. Just something cooler people wear when they’re not trying to be cool.

Oud Minérale, without the oud and overdose of salt. Same perfumer as well. It’s a bit soapier, cleaner, easier to wear, but styrax is still a main player here, followed by aquatic notes, pepper, and cedar. Squid is thicker, sweeter and cloying compared to this and leans more on the feminine side of the spectrum which I never enjoyed. Abyssis is not a replacement for Oud Minérale, but instead comes from the same dna.

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 but there is some "distant spice" to it. Very immersive scent that is dark, salty(?), masc-leaning, and oddly seductive. The ideal dark marine.

After trying Blanche Bête, which made me sick, I was surprised to find that I love this perfume. It's a mysterious, beautiful scent, like the open ocean, yet not fishy or algae-like at all. Somewhat dark for a marine scent, but very elegant.

Very similar to "Squid". But not "Squid". "Squid" towers over this in every aspect. BUT if you can get it at a good price and have a feeling you would enjoy this type of fragrance, I don't think you will be disappointed.

dark dark dark marine: smells like rotting woods in the bottom of the ocean

Performance is bad. Disappears nearly immediately leaving only a tiny hint of what it was: a vaguely melony fresh watery scent with an undertone of bitterness (probably the incense that people are referring). I sprayed six times and still no good. It has promise as a pleasant fresh marine scent that isn’t too perfume-y. I just wish it were stronger!!! And also it isn’t salty which I expected a marine to be. Squid performs much better and is quite different in my opinion, much saltier, sweeter, and smokier, but it is not fresh. Abyssis smells clean and is barely there, which some people might like since skin scents are in. My partner says it smells like the ocean smell Disney pumps in on the Flight of Passage ride. Yet despite this review, I love this perfume and am planning on getting a full bottle as I haven't found anything else that is so committed to smelling like the open water.

To me this smells like a thermos that I’ve left a milk based drink—with a pinch of sea salt—in too long and I’ve just tried to wash it out with dial soap. At least, it turns this way in the dry down. In the beginning it’s a blast of salt air on a beach. There’s a touch of sweetness that plays around once in a while, as others have said about the melon note, but otherwise I get a metallic sourness that brings back my old thermos memories. As it wore it finally settled into an ocean like scent of sea water, salt and mineral. No sweetness and that strange sour metalicness did fade out. I’m not sure I would buy a full bottle, I’m testing it currently in a sampler, but it’s an interesting scent for sure.

I get a lot of a sea salt smell. A bit of wood and maybe some musk. I sprayed a lot on so that I could give it a good test. I could smell it on me, but it didn't seem that strong. Still one of my kids could smell it just from walking into the room. She said it smelled like sunscreen, but not in a bad way. Overall, this is not bad or unimaginative, but it is not going to come close to being one of my favorites. This is also far from the usual kind of aquatic/blue fragrance that I like. Someone else might like this kind of thing, but I am happy that I only got a travel spray.

- Tobacco, leather, American barbecue sauce, plastic toys - Can smell a little bit of CK Be in here - Doesn't last long

Just like Nasomatto's Sadonaso smells like a sweaty crotch to me, Abyssis smells like Cthulhu's sweaty crotch :D

#26 on my Fragrance Review Journey When it comes to blind buying, you win some, you lose some. I love the thrill of blind buying, and this goes beyond the realm of fragrances. I saw the reviews were not great on this site for this. I did see some favorable reviews in support. In the end, as I've been challenging myself more on the artistic side of niche fragrances, I decided to pull the trigger. I must say that I have never smelled another fragrance that was as realistic as this one. I don't know how they pulled this off, but it literally smells likes the ocean... the good and the not so good of the ocean. The realism and the technical expertise behind it deserve applause. As a scent on my skin, I could not enjoy any of it. I believe I smelled like someone fishing in the Atlantic. The calypsone did not provide the lift I had hoped. It remained fairly linear throughout the dry down. This scent may be absolute heaven to someone else. If you are a blind buyer like me, take heed. Otherwise, please sample before buying.