I usually hate the very light/white/green/soapy/floral aquatics and they hate me right back, but wow, this is so different, and it's a little frustrating I don't know why because I can't suss out the notes. I get a lovely pale glassy green from this, maybe a green-blue, lilies, watery tones, but nothing soapy or sharp about it. Usually I can't wear these scents at all, and my skin amps green notes like it's my job, but this is gorgeous, pale, pretty, and very soothing. It reminds me of Lyonesse, Glasgow, Venice, Sea of Glass, and a few other light florals I really like (maybe Muse and Danube?), but there's something special about this one. I can't order a bottle now but it is definitely going high on my "must buy a bottle when not completely broke" list. Maybe there's a faint cucumber note in it? but it's not bitter.....It really is amazing.
Source: Water of Notre Dame
Still searching for my perfect BPAL lavender (my favourite scent) and yeah, this ain't it (I have TKO, but haven't tried it yet, LOVE Erebos - if only it came in oil form!).
Diabolus: A classic Victorian men's cologne: a lavender fougere, with hints of lilac, lime, and citrus musk.
In the imp: Very faint overall, and a very faint lavender smell, muted by some sort-of flowery, clean, fresh, watery smells. This smells very fresh and springlike to me, not villainous, but not that girlish, either. It's sort of neutral.
Wet: Lavender, but again, it's kind of masked by the other notes -- I'm guessing the lime and citrus, because I amp those like crazy. Apparently a fougére is kind of woodsy, or herbal? I'm definitely getting that here, although it's not very green. It doesn't smell much like men's cologne to me, either. Almost soapy, but not quite.
Drydown: I'm not getting the shaving cream feel some other people did, but it's close; there's definitely that sharp, clean, just-washed-your-hands toiletries smell. The lavender is struggling through a bit more, but it's more like lather from soap which contains lavender, or something. It's not one of the high white sharp aquatic/florals that gives me a headache, but this is so not for me.
Verdict: Keeping the frimp (thanks Lab!), but really not for me. It also wore off very quickly.
Husbandly opinion: "It smells nice. Kind of powdery. No, not really sweet. Not flowery, not fruity. I can see how some people might think it would smell like shaving cream or soap."
Source: Villain
In the imp: Mildly flowery citrus. I don't smell any rose or amber.
Wet: WHAM! Citrus. A very strong orange/lemon/grapefruit bright smell on me. I kinda love it, as I love citrus smells, but not something I'd want to put on right before stepping into a crowded elevator.
Drydown: The citrus backs off a couple miles and a pretty, warm sort of creamy floral comes out. Still rather tart, but I like it (then again I used to suck on lemons as a kid. I can't get enough of tart citrus). It stays juicy, not getting either too soapy or powdery. I think I'm getting more jasmine-and-amber, not the rose or orris (whatever orris is). The citrus comes back out every once in a while, like the sun peeking through heavy velvet perfumed drapes (or something).
Verdict: I really like it. It's a very bright cheerful scent, and reminds me of a bowl of oranges in the sunshine scenting my kitchen. Unfortunately the pretty subtle drydown stage -- it does smell a lot like orange blossoms -- fades out on my skin. However, this is a very strong, long-lasting perfume with decent throw. It'd be great for summertime. I have to say that while Venice smells the way I think of Venice -- bright, aquatic, a bit sharp -- this doesn't smell anything like powdered decadant aristocrats. Unless they're sitting in L'Orangerie de Jussieu.
Source: Versailles
2008 version. This might be the scent that finally makes me learn my lesson about green notes. I amp grass and other herbal stuff like it's my job, making perfumes like Two, Five and Seven a disaster on me, but I've had good luck with some BPALs with juniper and cypress in. I love ancient Rome, I love incense and resins, so I took a gamble....
In the bottle: Something sweet but also really sharp. Licorice! Carnations? CLOVES. Flashback to artsy college friends smoking clove cigarettes which always made me cough. I do smell some beautiful dark rich incense buried under the cloves, but this is not a good opening.
Wet: CLOVES. Clovezilla stomping all over the myrrh and frankincense, probably even the myrtle, absolutely everything else. It's not a sharp headache-causing scent, but kind of sweet-yet-tangy, like fresh-picked herbs. I smell like a spice rack.
Drydown: A little bit of dark pretty incense emerges, but it's very faint and mashed into the tracks of CLOVEZILLA. The CLOVES smell finally does settle down a bit (WTF is causing this? the dragon's blood? the myrtle? some combination?) and more incense comes out, sort of, but it's so faint it's hard to tell if that's really happening or wishful thinking.
Verdict: If you've ever tasted old-time horehound drops, I now smell pretty much like that, except with more cinnamon (which I don't like as a note) and less mint. I am kinda heartbroken here. I might try this in a scent locket or as a room scent to see if the incense comes out more.
Source: Valentine of Rome
Oh dear, I really don't know what happened. I love roses, but couldn't smell them at all in the bottle - just that very sharp wet green vinegary smell a few other unlucky people got. (Which didn't smell at all like grass to me - but a very strong chemical kind of scent, like fake pine.) Wet, still all I got was the sharp grass. Then that started fading out, and I got....soap. A very nice kind of fancy soap, but not really roses. Finally in drydown all I had was soap, but that disappeared very quickly! Especially considering the amount I'd put on. Really no sweetness at all, just sharp green and then sharp soap. I'm baffled. After several hours I did get a little more of a rose scent, but it was quite faint, and sort of light and astringent. It was still more like very nice soap, or very nice bath-powder, rather than flowers. I doubt I'll be buying this again, since those sort of very light sharp astringent scents tend to give me headaches.
Source: Two, Five & Seven
Got this as a frimp from the lab -- which I highly appreciate! but man, I am reminded all over again why these sorts of light/high/white florals don't work on me. From the first brush of the applicator to the drydown hours later, this just smelled like soap -- soapy sandalwood, and not even like perfumed soap, but that just-got-out-of-the-shower soap or commercial shampoo smell. Which is a nice enough smell for about fifteen minutes after you shower, but not at all what I was expecting from the description of musks, lemon, peach, &c. It even has that sort of bitter tang that happens when you get soap in your mouth by accident. :-/ "Floral laundry detergent" or "scented dryer sheets" about sums it up for me too, sadly.
Source: The Zieba Tree
10/12/2012 -- I got to test this at the Seattle store! :-) In the bottle, it's definitely quite pink. On me this turned into a very light, sweet, pretty floral; I didn't get much of the musk, dust, wormwood &c. Got faint after a couple of hours, but it's v pretty, so I ordered a bottle. It was lighter and less cold and sharp than I expected from the description -- maybe like Stoker's Lucy "looking sweeter and lovelier than ever." :-)
ETA 2/24/2013 -- revisiting this after it's been settling a bit. At first it was a little disappointing, because it is indeed a very light almost faint scent with very little throw, but after slathering more on (like I need an excuse to do that -- heh) I was happier with it. In the bottle, and on wet, this is for me a very strong citrus, without much musk or tea (surprising, usually I amp tea). As it dries down, it goes through a very pretty flowery-spicy stage, which I wish lasted longer, and then is a very light sweet musk. As other people said, it would be a nice daytime or everyday scent; it's pretty cheerful! I still really like it, and was trying to figure out why since I usually don't like very pretty sweet vanishing florals. I think it's probably because most of those scents give me a nasty headache, but this one doesn't. The sad thing is it's more like a ghost than a vampire bride.
Source: The Vampire Bride
I grew up in Santa Fe and our neighbour had a huge gorgeous lilac bush -- more like a wall of greenery and flowers -- and there were lilacs all over the city, so they really mean spring and happiness to me. Seattle has lots of lilacs too -- it might be my favourite flower to smell.
IN THE BOTTLE: Ohghod it was v green and sharp. I thought this was maybe another Two, Five, and Seven disaster where I just got blaring green and no florals at all! But, it was a bit more flowery than that (thank God). Even then, this scent had a certain something to it that drew me in.
WET: Still pretty sharp and green, but it settled down right away to a floral. As other people said, this really smells like actual fresh flowers -- not "perfumy" or soapy. There's some delicious note in there -- wood? musk? -- that seemed to be calming the green down. Usually I don't like the sort of high white sharp smells, especially with lots of grass, but this is converting me.
DRYDOWN: The lilac comes out more -- I was impatient for it! This has more staying power than I'd expect from such a light floral, and thankfully after a few hours the greens die way down and the musk comes out more. It's still pretty bright, but not in an unpleasant way. Nowhere near as sweet as actual lilacs, but that might be the green on my skin: for some reason it drowns out EVERYTHING else.
VERDICT: This kind of pretty gentle feminine floral is usually so not my thing, but it's delicate without fading, gentle yet strong, and is really sort of enchanting. It's definitely a wet, green, fresh flowery scent, like taking a walk in the Unicorn's wood after a spring rain. I find it energizing and clean -- it'd be a good morning perfume. Doubt I'll buy a bottle, but my skin usually amps grass LIKE WHOAH, and the sharp-but-delicate floral scents tend to give me headaches, so I'm delighted to find a grassy floral I can actually wear.
I agree that an aged bottle of this might be really beautiful -- one might be worth buying for that alone, to see what it turns into in a year or two. If it was just a bit more flowery/sweet I might get a bottle.
Source: The Lilac Wood
Chilly/white/creamy/snow/flower scents usually aren't my thing, but I got this as part of a Yule set last year. 2012 version.
In the bottle: YO peppermint and vanilla. Smells a bit like a milkshake.
Wet: oh my God, the dread Play-Do smell, and I get a whiff of cat pee undertone - husband didn't smell it, though.
Drydown: The Play-Do smell receded, and I got a little bit of fake coconut and pineapple, but then the Play-Do came back again. A really synthetic, doughy, sorta-sweet chemical smell.
Verdict: Total miss.
Source: Snow White
Yeah, this is just about what happened to me, sadly. I was a little heartbroken, because the musk and amber and woods and even the patch note sounded great.
In the bottle: A lot sweeter than I expected, plus a sharp edge.
Wet: A strong, sharp, UNPLEASANT weirdly sweet scent. It is just about like bad department store men's cologne. Total ugh.
Drydown: A couple of hours later, the 'bourbon geranium' (what the heck) dies down some, and the scent becomes sweeter and less sharp. It's still kind of spicy. I like the aged patchouli -- normally a death note I hate -- but it's pretty buried. Ditto the bark and cedar. The benzoin comes out a bit, not much. I think the musk is tamping things down, but there's a definite Old Spice vibe here for me. The longer it's on, the better it gets, except it also gets more faint (not necessarily a bad thing there!).
Verdict: This has been aging since Feb. and the sweet/sharp/spice effect is still there. Not much complexity or depth at all. Maybe in another year or so....I bought all these bottles together as a set, so I don't want to sell it off, but I am going to let this age for a very long while to see if the geranium/spice at least softens.
Source: Sic Erit
This was a really nice surprise for me, because I thought it might be too boozy, but it's a great scent.
In the bottle: honey wine and maybe grape, or cherry. No pom.
Wet: The pom blooms on my skin and overpowers everything else for a few minutes -- I amp pom and love it. The pom mixes really well with the wine. The BPAL pom note often goes too tart on me, but this is a very dark sweet version. On me the pom keeps the sweetness other people mentioned in check and I get some incense, and the balm I think adds a really nice hint of wood. This scent is dark, complex and well-blended. Not flowery, and not that fruity either: it's rich dark red wine with dark berries, maybe mahogany. It glows like a ruby. I know I'm emphasizing the wine but it really doesn't smell that boozy. It's maybe more like the flavour you get in a red wine reduction, very rich.
Drydown: Doesn't really morph at all on me. It gets a little sweeter and more of the incense comes out. It has GREAT throw -- my husband smelled it a few feet away from me outside on a windy day! Lasted a fairly long while, too. It's a great fall/winter scent.
Verdict: I'm just sorry I didn't get two bottles.
Source: She Crushes for Dead Men Deadly Wine
A perfume sacred to the highest of the angelic hosts: calla lily, wisteria, white sandalwood, Damascus rose and frankincense.
Trying out unused frimps from the Lab -- this is several months old, I think.
In the imp: A kind of fresh soapy smell. Yikes?
Wet: WHAM high white florals hit me in the face. This usually causes a headache instanter, but not right now. Maybe the frank and sandalwood are toning down the flowers. Rather pleasant, actually.
Drydown: The wisteria and lily really aren't mixing well. I can't smell rose at all, which is odd because my skin amps it. There's a very weird almost bitter undertone, which might be the sandalwood, because my skin amps that too. The scent isn't not soapy or sharp, but really not what I was expecting. If anything this is a kind of flowery incense, not a floral. (Husband says it smells more flowery to him, less incense, but he also gets the bitter scent.)
Dry: Almost no throw and the bitter note, whatever it is, heats up. Not soapy, but it's biting and unpleasant.
Verdict: Total miss for me. It's a shame that right-out-of-the-imp smell didn't last because I really liked it.
Source: Seraphim
I used to wear this all the time, and I just don't know what happened since my return to the sweet, sweet crack BPAL. I love the description and it smells pretty in the vial, but the INSTANT Rose Cross hits my skin, it turns into sharp, bitter, soapy ugh. Stays that way all through the drydown and hours and hours later. A second opinion was sought, and soon secured.
HUSBAND: It smells like insect repellent -- it smells like a TRUCK of insect repellent. It smells like the WHO going after Dengue fever.
MOI: Not -- not a sacred blend of rose essence and frankincense? Like rose incense?
HUSBAND: NO.
sigh.
Source: Rose Cross
Roman apple festival! I love BPAL apple notes, I love Rome. 2012 version.
In the bottle: Artificial fruit candy. Woe.
Wet: Artifical fruity candy smell with chemical undertones. Woe squared. Husband: "You smell like cherry-orange-lemon Lifesavers in the pack." No berries, juices, blossoms or nuts, either, unless the nuts are causing the chemical smell. I don't get the nail-polish acetone smell, just something really....candied and fake. To me it smells like air freshener.
Drydown: Candy-scented air freshener with a chemical aftertaste. Ack! This also fades very quickly, which might be a good thing for me.
Source: Pomona
I already really wanted to try this, given the name and the concept, and then got a frimp from the Lab with my latest order. Yay!
In the bottle: BAM the apple knocks you on the head, like Newton. No kidding, I couldn't smell anything but apple for a couple of minutes! This really does smell exactly like a crisp ripe juicy sweet apple. Wow. Seemed more red than green to me, but tart. It's absolutely Essence of Apple. That's impressive.
Wet: On my skin this changes almost instantly into something else -- darker, more floral. It also gets a LOT fainter, even though I slathered it on. The apple note stays on top, but the other notes are getting stronger.
Drydown: There was a sort of alternation from sweet apple to the darker, muskier scent. The apple note still smelled great, but I didn't like the "poison" notes, and on me the two didn't really blend -- separate halves of the apple indeed! Then the apple went away completely and I was left with this faint, complex, dark musky scent that weirdly had an undertone of powder. After an hour all I had was the faint powder, and even that faded away -- almost no staying power on me.
Verdict: Loved smelling the APPLE! in the imp, and I liked the switching from apple to poison and back again, but I didn't like the musk or the powder (think that was the opium and oleander). Great idea, great execution, but the final scent is too faint and flowery and goes pouf.
I saw a lot of people comparing this to Hesperides, which is one of my all-time faves -- to me that scent was a lot heavier and sweeter. I'll try this again and see if it lasts longer (and maybe skip sniffing the imp), but it burns out so fast on me I doubt I'll buy it. I might try putting it in a scent locket to see if I can get that great apple note to last (a girl needs an excuse for an $80 scent locket, right?).
Source: Poisoned Apple
Persephone is my girl -- she's sitting on a shelf between her husband Hades and BFF Hecate. ;-) (Yes, I am a mythology geek.)
In the imp: YIKES, that's a very sharp strong chemical scent -- it doesn't even smell like perfume! A little scared here. I don't remember it smelling this way when I first wore it, years ago.
Wet: Thank goodness, as soon as I put it on the rose started coming up and softening the tang. Still kind of sharp and unpleasant.
Drydown: Still tart and wet -- I guess that's what people are calling "juicy" -- but the rose is amping more. It's also fading a bit. This is a little more harsh and faint than I remember -- I'm not getting that really fruity richness. The rose comes out more and more as time goes on, like Persephone returning to Demeter in the springtime. Recently I've been trying some "concept" scents that seem designed to go through various stages -- Wilhelmina Murray, Poisoned Apple -- and I'm really impressed. It's as if this little story gets told on your skin. For me Persephone goes from sharp pomegranate softened by rose, to faint rose with pomegranate tang. Definitely sweet but there's almost something a little melancholy to it.
Hours later: A sweet but tangy juicy delicious smell. It does fade more quickly than I'd like, but that's a good excuse to keep slathering it on. Persephone and I are reunited again!
Source: Persephone
I was disappointed in this because I wanted a big ripe gorgeous peach smell, but it's still a pretty scent.
In the bottle: Sharp chemical artificial florals. Yikes.
Wet: Still pretty sharp, and I get that Herbal Essences note. Thankfully it died down pretty fast, and the scent didn't ever go soapy on me, but the 'shampoo' left a bad aftertaste (aftersmell?). I think this might be the chrysanthemum, which seemed to be softened later by the musk. The tea note was really strong on me at first, but then the peach blossoms started coming out fairly soon. A very light scent, in several senses -- if it were a colour it'd be pale pale pastel yellow.
Dry: Semi-sweet, pale, and quite faint. This is definitely more a light crisp floral than a heavy sweet fruit. It doesn't give me the headaches that typical light florals often do, but I think this is because it's more like peach tea, or white tea with a trace of peach syrup. Almost no throw, although it did last longer than I thought -- my skin seemed to eat it in about an hour and half, but several hours after that I was still getting faint little whiffs every now and then. Little Bird called it "perfume-sharp" which seems right to me -- not unpleasantly sharp like soap, but not what I wanted.
Verdict: Not a total miss, but not something I'll be wearing all that often, either. Maybe part of the problem is testing it in November -- it's definitely a spring/early summer kind of scent, or early spring.
Corollary: I don't like mums any more as perfume than as actual flowers, ack gag. I'm not that fond of carnations either, and now I'm a little nervous about Flor de Muerto, which sounded intriguing....
Source: Peach Moon
In the imp: YO, cherry cough syrup. But exactly. I am a little terrified.
Wet: Not cherry cough syrup, thank God. Almost immediately musky, on my skin. A little vanilla, not a lot of honey. Husband says it smells "sexy" and "like cherry incense" (WTF). I'm guessing the vanilla + honey is making him think of a darkly sweet cherry, and the amber is the resinous incense-like note. A sweet but definitely not flowery smell, pretty musky and dark on me.
Drydown: I spilled TWO THIRDS of a NEW bottle all over so for a while it was impossible for me to smell the perfume itself! Still musky, a bit sweeter, but more vanilla, less honey. Usually honey works well on me (I love Athens) so not sure what is happening here, unless I'm amping the hell out of the amber. This blended really well, and was a very pretty scent. It didn't seem to morph and I couldn't pick out the individual notes much. Not at all a foody scent, which works for me because I really don't like those much.
Hours later: More musky, maybe a faint powdery scent from the amber, no honey. I don't think the honey ever really came out on me, unless it was very very subtle. Not much throw from the start, but a fair amount of staying power.
The verdict: Definitely a sexy scent. I wouldn't want to wear it on a job interview -- maybe a serious date, or on a sexy afternoon. It's nice, but it doesn't really wow me like Athens or Bathsheba (two all-time favourites). Then again....given the way my husband reacted, maybe I'll replace my spilled bottle! Or, since this is related to Snake Oil, I might try that again (it's been quite a while) to see if I can get that heavier sweeter scent I thought O would be.
Source: O
Review of the 2012 bottle -- I have a decant from (I think) 2009 and really like it.
In the bottle: Slightly sharp but not unpleasant, and wood/balsam rather than flowers or incense. This is a rather thick clear golden oil that's even a little sticky.
Wet: Spicy, faintly floral, woody. I do pick up hints of the rose and lily. I think the spice is caused by frankincense, maybe balsam fir. There's a forest-y smell that isn't green (on me, the BPAL green note turns to ugh), a little like pine or fir. Almost no incense. Not exactly a floral scent, but I'm not really getting any resin either.
Drydown: This fades fast, but lingers. As it dries I get more of the wood and frank, and then the flowers peep out again near the end, before it gets very faint, which happens on me after maybe about six hours. Really doesn't last as long as I expected.
Verdict: I do like this scent -- it's a well-blended rose/spice/wood/forest mix that's very pleasant, and fitting for the winter holidays. It really doesn't remind me of midnight mass, though -- more like Advent Sunday, maybe: quiet but not somber, certain of coming joy, peaceful. I think as this ages the incense comes up, and there isn't as much pine/fir in the older versions.
Source: Midnight Mass
Lightning + stormclouds = ozone and aquatic Death Notes, but Mary Shelley is one of My Girls, I love the GC Absinthe and really like the new Inspiration line, so I decided what the hell.
In the bottle (I know, I know we don't get the perfume for the labels but the Inspiration ones are SO GOOD. Dying for the T-shirt): I smell mostly mint, maybe some wormwood. Thank God it's not sharp. Most BPAL mints drown out every other note on me, so I'm probably amping the faint mint note in this.
Wet: Thought this was disaster when I seemed to smell celery. Husband, when applied to, reassured me multiple times it was not celery. (He thought it was "floral and sweet, kind of nice, not great.") Fortunately the celery? didn't stick around long. I definitely got all the mint, anise, sugar, wormwood, laudanum, absinthe, fennel, &c &c. notes, but faintly. It's really not that strong at all. Thankfully it didn't turn to screaming green on my skin, nor did the ozone note give me a headache. Rather pleasant surprise on both counts.
Drydown: On me it sweetens up and gets rather faint, and more mint comes out. It's a cool smell, not sharp at all, more a soft floral with faint mint, and would be a good summer perfume. Pretty, but fades fairly fast. It does smell more like a cologne than a perfume, but it's not sharp. I do like it. I agree with everyone else that after drydown there isn't much absinthe, so if you get it for that, you might be disappointed.
Verdict: Don't know if it would be bottle-worthy for other people, but I like finding a mint/green scent I can actually wear. I was expecting more absinthe and 'Victorian oriental' notes, but it's rare for me to find an ozone/aquatic or green or mint scent I can even tolerate, so I'm actually sort of pleased with it.
Source: Mary Shelley
In the imp: Ginger, verbena, citrus, faint grass. Very pretty.
Wet: A faintly fruity? smell, then -- ginger and lemon, ginger and lemon, and then LEMON LEMON LEMON. Slightly mixed with ginger.
Drydown: Amber came out slightly, in a vanilla way. Still LEMON. I now smell exactly like one of those awful Starbuck's fake lemon pound cakes with the gross white icing.
Hours later: Ginger came up a bit more, so did the grass, but it was still ONE LEMON TO RULE THEM ALL AND IN THE CITRUS BIND THEM (just finished traditional Yule LOTR rewatch). This also disappeared on me really fast -- in less than an hour.
Pretty disappointed in this one, since I love the description and waited ages to try it, but between the Godzillemon and the vanishing act, it's awful. I might wait and try this again later, but I'm not optimistic.
Source: Mag Mell
Frimp from the lab. I absolutely love Midsummer Night's Dream and have always wanted to try this. Unfortunately, it was rather disastrous.
In the imp: Faint sweet floral with a harsh chemical undertone.
Wet: YO, something went terribly wrong immediately. I don't know if it was the green note (?) or the pansy or the carnation (which hates me) or what, but I got almost no floral and a kind of awful wet swampy chemical smell. Husband said it was like bathroom air freshener from the eighties! Thankfully it didn't cause a headache, but this is really unpleasant.
Drydown: After a while it seems to get a little sweeter, but that awful chemical note remains, and I can't tell whether the perfume is sweetening or just fading. Weirdly, it also wears off very quickly but the nasty note hangs on and on and is really difficult to wash off. It smells something like floral hairspray.
Verdict: NO NO NO NO NO cat. Like someone else said, I wish I knew what notes were in this so I could avoid them forever, because something in this really doesn't go with my skin. I think it's probably a green note, beause those really really don't work on me, but usually they don't smell like some kind of awful spray.
Source: Love-In-Idleness
In the imp: Very very sweet, and slightly chemical. A little more "perfumy" than most BPALs, to me.
Wet: Immediately less sweet and less strong -- there was a slight soapy edge at first, which had me worried, but this fades into a quiet, simple, quite pretty scent. It might be good for someone who's not sure if they like rose scents, or a delicate office scent for a woman. I don't get any dust, blackness, wickedness, or boldness at all, sadly. There does seem to be a note which is suppressing the rose a little bit and keeping it from going either powdery or soapy, which is nice, but I can't tell what it is.
Drydown: This doesn't change on me much, except it continues getting ever fainter. Someone said "translucent" earlier and that sounds right -- it's more essence of rose, or preserved rose, rather than a strong fresh flowery smell.
Dry: My skin ate this pretty fast, so almost no throw, but it had good staying power for such a delicate femme scent. I'll keep the imp, and maybe get another one, but I'm not that interested in a bottle, mainly because on me it is pretty much just one note and it fades very quickly.
The verdict: I agree this is maybe more English countryside than London, unless it's a shady little corner of Queen Mary's Rose Garden. Sweet, quiet, maybe easily overlooked -- this is more of an Anne than an Emily or Charlotte perfume, Cassandra rather than Jane. -- Actually now that I think on it this is really kind of a Jane Bennet scent. Sweet, steady, classy, delicate. It's sort of a young pretty perfume, rather "girly" -- which isn't bad, just really, really not my thing. I tend to prefer the more complex "storytelling" BPALs too, and this is definitely not one of those. It's maybe the closest I've seen BPAL come to a more simple "regular" perfume. Which isn't to say it's bad at all, it's very sweet and pretty. I wouldn't include it in a BPAL starter imp pack, but I might suggest it to someone who's put off by the stronger scents and more elaborate descriptions. I also might put it in a BPAL rose imp pack as a contrast with the more complex and strong rose blends, some of which do turn to powder or soap.
Source: London
