The Apothecary

[Shollin]

Tea leaf with three mosses, green grass, a medley of herbal notes, and a drop of ginger and fig.

First sniff: For some reason I was expecting another dusty scent like Seance. This one is anything but. It’s very round and solid and warm, and there’s a fruitiness or an herbiness to it – nothing musty-old-bookish at all. I like this one a lot out of the bottle and it'll be interesting to see how it does on me. Seems very unisex.

Wearing: A nice unisex clean scent with a hint of soft lemon and possibly herbal tea. It reminded me of a lighter Oberon, which is weird, because there’s none of the wildness Oberon has; it’s much more restrained and tame. Didn’t last very long on my skin – I’ll have to try putting more on next time.

[sedentaryedge]

this scent reminds me of one of my very first serious perfumne purchases: an index cologne of bergamot and lemon tea. this scent is bright, green and citrus-y, very calm and open. there's a grassy herbal note in there that reminds me very much of an herbed grappa, but the base seems to be a cool, placid, slightly spicy bergamot to my nose.

[jj_j]

I love all of the BPAL scents, and my list of favorites is constantly changing because Beth keeps coming up with such wonderful new goodies. The Apothecary, though, has just made it into the illustrious top three, along with Snow White and the Empress.

 

The Apothecary is absolute fruit and herbal purity. It's clear, it's crisp, it's even a bit aquatic - and it does so all without ending up smelling like air freshener. It's not green, and it's not fruity - it's truly a perfect balance. Even as it dries down, neither facet overtakes the other.

 

This may be my perfect comfort scent. There are no caloric identifiers, as in Gluttony, no sexual connotations, as in Snake Oil, and no effort required, as in Old Venice, which requires that I put makeup on to look as lush as I feel. I could fall asleep with nose to wrist smelling Apothecary, and it would perk me up in the morning, too.

 

Perfection, or damn near it.

[antimony]

This is a nice, fresh scent. It didn't really jump out at me, though. As far as fresh, springtime scents go, I still much prefer Embalming Fluid.

 

That, and it faded really quickly on my skin.

[chai_girl]

I'm wondering if my bottle was mislabeled ~grin~. It started out as kind of a strange herbally scent then melded into something I couldn't place...until I went back to read the description. I finally placed the scent as the tea scent...green tea I think. That was all I could smell after an hour. This tends to turn bitter/sharp on me...so I think this one will be going up for swap. It is nice, but with so many others that I truly love, I'll let this one go to make room for more.

 

Lisa

[allamanda]

First sniff when wet, tea and something sweet... nice. Slight dusty incensey feel to it, but warm and sweet as well.

 

As it is drying I'm catching the ginger. This is extremely nice.This is making me think of a sweet shop in a church!! Getting a bit herby now, I think I can smell thyme and maybe a very gentle mint-like smell.

 

Quite similar to Kumiho, but not as crisp. The Apothecary is quieter and slightly sweeter. I personally prefer Kumiho. The Apothecary is lovely, but I adore Kumiho.

[Pandorra]

Initial: MMmm.. Green. Clean. A garden, but not a flower garden. A green garden.

 

During: Hmm…Its murky now. It lost the crispness, and has a messy feel to it now. Bummer. It’s also a little masculine to me. Wow, and it’s fading fast.

 

Final: I'm bummed because I really wanted to like this one. The ingredient list sounds soooo nice. But it faded on me within the hour. I reapplied and the same thing happened. And the beautiful clear crispness disappears on me within 10 minutes and turns to this murky mix with a funny smell. almost like a clear beautiful pool of water that invites you in, but when you step in, your foot brings up all kind of muck and the beautiful pool becomes brown and ininviting and you pull out quickly.

 

And it would be nice on a man if it doesn't get murky on them.

 

Guess its a swap.

Edited March 25, 2004 by Pandorra

[Ishtar]

This is simply lovely in the vial. Fruity and crisp at the same time, very well-balanced.

 

Unfortunately, it doesn't work all that well on me. For the first hour, it is on the herbal and bitter side. Upon drydown, the fig and ginger help sweeten and round the blend, but it is still a bit too masculine for me.

 

This one has medium to good staying power on my skin. It is unfortunate that it doesn't agree better with my chemistry during the early stages, because I like the sweet tea scent it leaves when it starts fading. A very interesting oil anyway, that I might keep for layering.

[Vaniclion]

I smell lemon, but it must be ginger as this doesn't have any lemon listed in it. It's so fresh and clean! I want sheets that smell like this. Didn't someone else say that about something? Anyway. It's green-yellow swirls, grass and moss and lemony-spice goodness. This is like good soap... but not what I mean when things go soapy. This is just... delicious. Green herby ginger sunshine goodness in a bottle. The darker undertone which comes out on drydown must be the fig, WHICH I LOVE. It certainly adds some of the sweetness. One of my favorites.

[amberbella]

This came as an extra in my most recent order. I never thought of ordering this one, but I must admit that in the bottle this is stunning. On me, it is stunning (especially when I smell it up close) but whatever is wafting up is giving me a headache (damn it!). I'm pissed cause I think this is just the kind of scent I'm looking for for summer.

 

I'm a bit ill so I'm hoping the negative reaction is because of that. Hopefully in a few days it will work better for me.

[isyche]

I adore this - it's the most "me" scent I've found yet and I could wear it all the time. Not too sweet, comfortable and unassuming. I don't get any lemon from it, just a shady deep green tea/moss/fig smell...the combination makes me think of curling up with a book on a mossy stone under a tree. Can't wait for my big bottle to get here.

Edited June 9, 2004 by isyche

[jonobie]

Okay, today I tried The Apothecary. It was one of my extras from my last purchase.

 

Oddly, I don't have a lot to say about it. It's a good, clean scent. Smells ever-so-slightly soapy, in a good way. You know how your hands smell when you've just washed them with some nice, flowery soap? That's what Apothecary smells like.

 

My first impression was that it was a "just okay" scent -- not particularly "me". I think I'm really a spicy scent girl. Anyhow, it's definitely a summery scent -- it's sorta sweet and flowery. Gets slightly heavier after being on me for a while. It does last a long time -- I could still smell it on my wrists when I got home in the evening.

 

My estimation of it was bumped up a great deal when hubs hugged me this morning and did the, "Mmmm, you smell *good*," comment. So this might actually be a big bottle for me after all.

 

 

[Edited to add: Okay, second day on. It's fading faster, but it's really growing on me. My office mate proclaimed it a lovely scent (she has an extremely sensitive nose; I'm not drenching myself in it, honest!), and I decided it was the perfect scent to wear to a big presentation. This will definitely be a big bottle, as soon as I get through all my imps and figure out what else I want.]

 

Cheers,

Jonobie

Edited June 17, 2004 by jonobie

[Tesseljoan]

This starts out as your avarage fresh lemony scent (o, this smells a lot like embalming Fluid/Kumiho/tempest), but there is more fruitiness to it, that makes the scent a bit fuller. It's still going strong after an hour, so no ultra-fast fading on me. Right now, it's less citrussy, but it smells more like a dry bite of fruit.

 

This one is good.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: a very fruity scent. spicy and a bit orange-y to my nose. very interesting.

on: this has an almost lemony edge to it. it's very herbal. it's really different and nice.

1 hour later: now, it's a bit more green, but with the herbal and fruity base still there. it's much lighter, but still nice.

3 hours later: a bit boring, unfortunately.

overall: while this was nice, it just wasn't very interesting after it dried. i'll be swapping this one.

[Alice Aforethought]

First on, there's a slight citrussy edge that smells very like tangerine oil to me. The fruitiness come out later with a fresh green edge, a combination which reminds me, bizarrely, of melons. There is a deeper, smooth, muskiness holding it together. It stays very well, and smells an awful lot better on my lovely than it does on me.

 

Sorry, I'm not keen on this one - it's just not me! (an aversion to melons for anything more than eating!)

[Splendid Molerat]

I received this as a freebie back with my first order, and picked up the 10mL since.

Haven't reviewed it until now, as I find the total fragrance very difficult to describe -- the individual notes don't really define the Apothecary for me.

 

My continuing impression is that this fragrance is what medicine is supposed to smell like in an ideal universe; and now that I'm recovering from a vacation-induced knee injury, this oil does have the beneficial effect of shifting my awareness away from the discomfort.

 

And I'd almost forgotten the days when I was little and feverish, and my mother would bring orange slices dipped in sugar and baking soda.

[TygherRayn]

This one was for Jason. It's not one I thought I'd like at all .. and I know Vanic and he loved it.

 

Well guess what .. I see why now.

 

In the bottle: Green .. no white .. no green. Maybe a light lime green swirled with white. Very crisp ... very sharp. A unisex scent, in my estimation. This should do pretty god with my chemistry .. it sort-of reminds me of Old Shanghai and Embalming Fluid.

 

Wet: This seems a little 'wetter' than the two I compared it to. Almost minty .. definitely herbal. I want to compare it to an herbal candy I tried at a recent concert .. but it's not quite that either.

 

Wearing: It goes a little lemon-lime on me but that's not a bad thing at all. I rather like lime scents, I've noticed, and so I think this may be an excellent wear .. especially for the remainder of the hot summer, since it's so light and cool.

[Falathwen]

I chose this one because I thought it might suit my husband, but of course we both tried it. It is certainly complex scent and not easily described...so why I chose it as my first review is a mystery.

When wet it is a very crisp green mix, almost sweet...herbs and lime to me. It smells exactly like a room fragrance I once used called “Shell”, so that association made it a little harder to appreciate as a body fragrance. When dry however, it softens to a powdery ginger/green scent - that dry down was delightful and fortunately longer lasting than the original notes.

[AnnetteL]

Oh UGH UGH UGH. I really disliked this - in fact, it was my first BPAL wash-off

 

It smells exactly like this range of hand cream etc. that they put on Air New Zealand planes, called Les Floralies, that I have never liked. I am not sure what the note I dislike is - I always thought of it as generic "aquatic", but that's nowhere to be found in this description. (Now I'm wondering if I have had the wrong idea about aquatic scents for years and am avoiding them unnecessarily!) I know I like tea, ginger and fig, so it's one of the herbals I guess...

[darkitysnark]

I'm getting the same green herbally pleasant soapiness (and misplaced lemon) a lot of folks here are getting. It makes me think of late Spring/early Summer and I think it will make a great neutral scent on me, and a fabulous "nibble me" scent on the Mr.

[malanna]

Woodsy, astringent, medicinal--eeps! The raring medicinal, astringent quality fades slightly, but it's still there. I sniffed this, and thought this smelled really similar to another oil. Aha! It's Capricorn! The imagery I get from Apothecary is a dark, sinister forest, with the full moon overhead. Hmm, there's a note there that's trying valiantly to mellow it out. Is it vetiver?

[dreamwalkblue]

All of the notes here sound like ones that I'd love - tea, ginger, fig, moss, herbs....and yet it quickly turns into dusty, bitter soap on me. I think that I might have to add moss to the list of scents that don't agree with me....which makes me so sad, becuase I love the smell of moss!

[tempete]

Apothecary has slowly grown on me to the point where it has made it into my top ten and I just put in an order for a 5 ml bottle. It is the perfect fresh scent with surprisingly good staying power on me, and as another reviewer pointed out, the fruity and green notes are perfectly balanced. I don't get any lemon at all, which is a good thing because my body chemistry tends to amp that note up.

 

Of all the fresh-smelling tea scents that I have tried, I greatly prefer Apocathery over Embalming Fluid or Old Shanghai.

[JazzieCazzie]

This was one of the lovely generous freebies in my most recent set of two orders ... I wasn't sure when I read the notes whether I'd find something like Embalming Fluid, which TOTALLY doesn't work for me, or whether perhaps the fig and ginger would come to the forefront, making it more like Nemesis, another freebie I never would have thought of ordering but which remarkably and surprisingly jumped onto my Top 5.

 

Sadly, 'tis the former ...

 

BOTTLE: Citrus, sharp, yet to me somehow generic department store scent, which was also what I thought about Embalming Fluid. I'd guessing from other sampling that tea ranks right up there with cherry and fruits in the "notes that don't work for me" list ...

 

Still, I wanted to give it a shot and see if the ginger and fig would come out and play once it was on ... but to be safe I just daubed a bit on my wrists rather than adding the crooks of my arms as well ...

 

WET: Pretty much WYSIWYG with the scent in the bottle.

 

I confess I couldn't get past the first 10 minutes and, like AnnetteL, this was a wash off. Unfortunately I can still smell it ... ah well.

[LiberAmoris]

The Apothecary was a freebie from the lab in my most recent order (thanks, lovelies!). I believe this thread has reached consensus on the herbal, green, mossy, hint-of-lemony aspect of this oil, and I don't disagree. It is definitely a triple-milled herbal French soap smell---totally luxe and ever so clean. I think this would be great if I was coming off of a cold or a flu, because it's so inoffensive and fresh. It makes me feel freshly-showered and pulled together.

 

The fig comes out at the very end for me and the end impression is of a touch of lemon, oakmoss, and fig. It's really nice and I'll enjoy using up the imp.