Cake10

I love this so very much!!! I got La Befana 2007 about a month ago off of BPAL's Etsy shop and I waited a while to review it because there is a lot going on in this one! From the bottle, this does smell a bit edible, but to me, this isn't a straight up 100% gourmand. What jumps out at me immediately from the bottle is the scent of a cold, damp winter forest in the early morning hours when you can really smell the trees. This isn't a green scent, it's more like dried pine needles and wood from the trees on a chilly night in the forest. I smell a faint hint of smoke and something sweet in the background that reads as violet or licorice mixed with something that smells like a very rich caramel. I know there isn't licorice listed in the ingredients, but the violet in this blend has a definite licorice quality instead of a floral one. I don't smell lily in this perfume at any stage. This is a very well blended scent and the note that stands out most and is clearly identifiable to me from the bottle is the cypress, which has a woody quality and a nutty edge. After I put this on my skin, it changes a lot! The nuttiness of the cypress lessens quickly, but I still smell woods and smoke and the sweet caramel/violet note in the background. Then something weird happens, and I have noticed that it happens more noticeably if I'm wearing this scent at that time of the month- A weird canned vegetable soup note comes out and hangs around for a while worrying me that I am going to smell like smokey sweet vegetable soup for the rest of the day. That fades after a bit thankfully and when it does, the scent smells as it did on my skin prior to the weird veggie soup thing, only it is now fainter and has a dusty cinders type quality. For a while, the nutty, caramel-y, smokey, woody, delicious fragrance hangs around and after a few hours, it fades to a pleasant sweet smokey smell. This is a big, deep scent from the bottle, but it doesn't go on strong on my skin, which is interesting because smokey and woody scents tend to be quite strong on me. Pretty soon after application, I have to put my nose to my hand to smell it. But I L-O-V-E this scent so much. It is so well done and very evocative of the story behind it. I love putting it on the tops of my hands to sniff as I'm falling asleep and imagining I'm wandering through the woods to La Befana's house!

On first sniff- It is very light and airy. It smells faintly like an old style classic white floral perfume mixed with Pixie Stix. There's also a hint of something sterile and plasticky, almost an unused diaper/new plastic handbag scent. It's a very clean scent. It smells old fashioned, but at the same time very bright and a touch citrusy. On my skin- The Pixie Stix dissipate. The citrus takes a backseat fairly quickly. The plasticky scent comes forward for a short moment before disappearing. After a few minutes, the sweetness tones down and this becomes baby powder and white bar soap with a hint of powdery white floral and a very faint, powdery lemon scent in the background that continues to fade during wear. Overall- The description of this fragrance took me by complete surprise! When I opened the vile and sniffed for the first time I thought "How fun! Light florals and Pixie Stix!!!" I looked up the description and saw that it was noted as being "sexual and commanding in the extreme". This isn't at all what I'm getting from this. I also don't detect the herbal notes others are mentioning. As it settles on my skin, this scent is cool, calm and clinical. It reminds me a bit of soapy cleaning products (but this isn't a harsh or astringent smell). It brings to mind an image of the white nursing sneakers my mom used to wear and seems like a scent that a demure 50s housewife might have worn. I like it because it makes me feel calm.

I am very perplexed reading these reviews, because my experience with this fragrance is completely different! While I am new to BPAL, I am not new to fragrance in general. I'm wondering, since this is the first Lunacy blend I have tried whether these other reviews are putting this scent in the context of a Lunacy blend, for which, I have no comparison. I bought my bottle new from the lab off of Etsy, so this isn't a review for an aged scent First Impression: When this first arrived, for about a week, when sniffed from the bottle, it was a dead ringer for strawberry amoxicilin. Then, when I put it on, it kept flipping between strawberry amoxicillin, that florist shop lilly smell that smells like stems that have been in water a bit too long, powder and carnation. The florals were very strong and very sharp and this was definitely medicinal on me. No fun, pink, girly, fresh strawberry, doll scent, etc as I see others were getting and as I had hoped for! This was a very grown up, syrupy "womanly" scent with the other notes weaving in and out, something that doesn't suit me. After several hours, it faded to a sweet true honey scent. After A Month: I hung on to this to see what would happen because I really am hoping to get some of what others are describing out of it. Sniffing from the bottle I now get less Amoxicillin and more Aquanet. It has mellowed out, which is great. When I apply it, the Aquanet instantly lifts, woohoo! I am not getting that sharp, bitter, beginning to rot lilly floral coming up front any more. I still don't smell fresh strawberries or the cream others describe but there is a verrrry light hint of that strawberry amoxicillin type strawberry minus the medicine. I know that doesn't make much sense, so let me try to explain. While I see others smelling fresh strawberries and or cream, on me, this doesn't read as distinctly strawberry or cream but rather, I smell a smooth note that smells kind of like a strawberries and cream hard candy. Smooth and mildly artificial strawberries and cream. I wouldn't sniff this and say this is a strawberry or creamy scent. But it has turned out to be a smooth scent. The florals have mercifully taken a back seat to the smooth sweetness, but there is sometimes a slightly bitter edge peeking out. I'm guessing that's the lilly again, but it's much, much less pronounced than it was when I first got the bottle. The over the top, cloying syrupy sweetness has toned down a ton. The powder has toned just slightly. It still fades to a nice honey sweetness after a few hours. Curious to see how this will age further. I'm still not getting playful, dolls, little girl perfume, bowl of fresh strawberries, caramel, cotton candy or bubblegum here. It's more a sweet, mellow floral that eventually turns to sweet honey on me.