White Rabbit

[Smaragdina]

Strong black tea and milk with white pepper, ginger, honey and vanilla, spilled over the crisp scent of clean linen.

Preconceived notions: I’m guessing/hoping this will be sharper and spicier than Dorian’s “cup of milky chai” coziness, which – while lovely – was too simple to really be ‘me.’

In the imp: Huh. Clean, white spiciness – that’s the ginger and black pepper and linen, I think. Lingering tea note? I like this so far.

Wet: Now I can smell the honey. It’s a real pure honey scent, still on the comb. There’s some ginger/white pepper spiking through it, and occasional flashes of clean linen and…is that the tea? It’s too faint for me to be sure.

Dyrdown: This dries to all honey-ginger-cream on me. Which is unfortunate, as I liked the spice and linen and tea notes that peeked out at the start. It fades pretty fast too. I’m going to try this a few times before deciding if it’s “good” or just “meh”...maybe my skin chemistry was just off.

[angelamaria]

In the imp: vanilla, almost minty, and honey-sweet (although I felt it was more "sugary" than "honeyed"). Slightly spicy from the pepper and ginger, and almost foody but not tipping over.

 

Wet on skin: peppery, almost citrusy vanilla. This was the first time I thought that I must amp citrus, whihc is nice since I generally like citruses but sadly it burns a bit fast. Honeyed vanilla and tea, slightly minty. This is quite promising at this stage. This also reminds me of this White Rabbit candy we used to eat back at home, the chewy kind that you can eat the translucent wrapper as well. Ah, memories.

 

Dry: citrusy honeyed vanilla. There is a bit of a kinship with Dorian, but this is a lot more honeyed, sweeter, gentler; a milkier, honeyed dorian, which I am loving. As it ages on my skin, the linen note comes out a bit more, rather like the linen in Antique Lace. However, about two or so hours in, the milk note goes sour on my skin and it gets quite gross.

 

Verdict: sigh, too bad. I did not hope for much with this blend because Alice also went sour on me, but after the wet/early dry phase I was hoping that wasn't going to happen. Oh well! Otherwise, it's such a pretty scent and I'm sure will be well-loved.

[mymymai]

In the Imp (ITI): Hmm, honey, tea, and linen are the first out to meet my nose. It certainly does remind me of afternoon tea outside. On second sniff, I can discern a bit of ginger and white pepper, which gives the scent just a hint of the topsy-turvy nature of the mad tea party.

 

Wet: Hmm, white pepper, Earl Grey tea, vanilla cakes with dashes of honey, and just a pinch of ginger for kick. I’m shocked that the ginger is playing nice, as is the honey. Hopefully it stays that way during the dry down.

 

Dry: Once dry, I smell vanilla, linen, tea, and a bit of honey. It’s not too foody…I like it!

[sunlitgarden]

Not sure if it's the milk note, or the milk/linen combination, but this goes sour on me just like Boo. Which is a real bummer, because I had high hopes for a chai tea-like scent...

[brilliantcat]

Sadly I get creamy, sour tea, with a hint of fruit. Not for me.

[Scorianelle]

I am so jealous of those who received a multitude of scents in this tiny bottle. I ordered White Rabbit hoping specifically for the tea scent and low and behold, yet again I am thwarted!

 

My first sniff was dubious. I'm pretty sure I caught the pepper and ginger with a dash of vanilla to back it up. But on me there is only linen. Linen is all that exists. Clean linen I'll grant you, but still a very starch and uninspiring scent on it's own. Don't get me wrong, I like clean linen as much as the next girl (and can always be caught surreptitiously sniffing the bed sheets once they come out of the wash) and it was certainly one of the notes in the description that drew me to pick this, but... well although I don't mind being wrapped in clean linen I'd really rather smell a bit nicer and more interesting than that.

 

I'll probably keep this imp around because it is a nice scent, if a bit flat, but as for searching for tea cents, well I think I'll try Dorian next.

 

Edit to Add: I showed this to my sister. She took one whiff from the imp and said "It smells like Tea!". I could have cried.

Edited July 8, 2012 by Scorianelle

[Dusk]

Imp: Honey, pepper, tea, and lots of lemon freshness – bit of ginger? Sweet, overall.

 

On: Strongly honeyed black tea, a good bit of lemon, and ginger. Something a bit like anise - or some other spice I can't place, but not much. Very creamy overall, from milk and vanilla, and warmer than I expected. Reminded a bit of sugar cookies. Or maybe vanilla scones - like the mini ones from Starbucks.

 

10 minutes: There’s a bit of tanin from the tea, and bite from the ginger, that stops this from being too feminine, but there is a lot of honey, cream, and vanilla.

 

30 minutes: Lemony, lots of honey over everything else. It’s like that’s all blended into one warm, creamy layer, and it’s over a fresh tea base. Maybe a slight linen note, but it’s hard to detect. Or I'm just getting "fresh" and having a hard time narrowing it down.

 

2-3 hours: Very gingery honey. Reminded of amber at this stage. I think the linen’s still hanging around, but it might be the tea. Still creamy sugar cookies/scones, too.

 

Later: Ginger, lots of it. Some pepper, honey, and tea. And the ginger lasts over 12 hours on me... I think that means my skin likes it. Actually, even longer than that. I put this on at 5:30 yesterday evening, and 9:40 this evening, it’s still detectable. With cream and linen, maybe? Notes that I’m pretty unfamiliar with.

 

It’s a cosy sort of blend, and I definitely think of tea parties when I wear it, so I suppose it conveys the inspiration well! I’m not one for foody blends, but this isn’t bad – not overwhelmingly sweet, even with the cookie association. I won’t wear it often – I’m not even sure what season or occasion it would work for - but if I feel like something fun and different from the rest of my stash, it will be nice.

 

Summary: Lots of honey and ginger, dash of vanilla, over tea. Creamy, lemony, warm. Reminds me of sugar cookies and vanilla scones, but less sweet. Very playful.

 

Rating: Hmm... 3.25/5 as a blend, but 2.75/5 for me.

[whitsunweddings]

In the imp: Cirtusy, pepper-y clean-ness.

Wet: Pepper, citrus and the lab's tea note, which is pretty much anise on me.

Dry: This is so faint on me that it's hard to say, but I think I mostly get citrus (so, Earl Grey tea?) but it might actually be the linen note? I get some spices and sweetness too, but overall it's pretty meh.

[Mechanical Death]

Sigh... I had such high hopes for this one. I want to find a nice black tea scent, and unfortunately this is not it. Shame, since there hasn't been any other scent in the Alice collection that I have tried thus far and disliked.

I jumped and got a bottle after reading the reviews and scent notes, I thought it was exactly what I was looking for. In the bottle it smelled wonderful. Crisp and aromatic... however as soon as it touched my skin....

 

AUGH!

 

It turned into soured milk, soap and anise. Yick! I don't even know where those notes are coming from. Where's the ginger? where's the tea?

 

I tried to wait it out and let it dry down but it only seemed to get worse as it dried. I scrubbed it off before it settled out. The initial out right STANK was too much to even consider keeping if it somehow ended up settling into something nice.

 

So far this has been my most horrific BPAL experience. sigh

 

Off to swaps with this one.

[Wren12]

Take my thoughts with a grain of salt, I'm training my nose to pull these scents out. It's fun, but I may not be the best reviewer!

 

From this one, on my skin, I am not catching the black tea, very much, at least I don't think I am. I'm getting a very sharp scent, which I think is the clean linen, with a bite that I believe is the white pepper.

 

The scent feels very 'clean' to me. I've worn it only twice, but I've yet to notice any 'sour milk' notes to it, though my skin might just like it.

 

I'd think of the milk notes as something that would tame down a scent, but for me this is not very tame, but it is very nice.

 

On the dry down I get more of the clean linen happening, which I quite enjoy, but the pepper note comes out more.

 

What I _don'_ get is any honey or vanilla whatsoever, which makes me sad, because I love them and they work well with me, I guess I'm just naturally sweet and my skin ate those notes...

 

I like this scent, its jumpy and befuddled, but adorable just the same.

 

Edit: About 50 minutes after application I am now getting a nice note of honey from this oil, which makes me enjoy it all the more.

 

It also makes me excited for my imp of Dirty, which is in the mail, and sounds like it has all those clean linen notes I'm enjoying in this one.

Edited November 9, 2012 by Wren12

[NuadaVixen]

White Rabbit is a lovely scent (I'm saying lovely with British accent, btw).

 

If I had the talent of making perfumes, I'd die to have the talent to conjure vivid images with scents. This one does that.

 

This perfume is playful in a rigid, snobbish way. I imagine a white rabbit running through water-green hills as fast as the swift of a wand.

 

On the bottle is clean peppermint, fresh-perfumed tea. On my wrists, its "tea" side shows a little more until it (very) quickly fades into a soapy "squeaky clean" scent.

 

It'll never become my signature scent, but I love that I have liquid images in a bottle.

[chicorymist]

In the bottle: smells like tea and buttery flowers. Cool!

 

Wet: ...Licorice? - that's probably the honey/ginger/pepper working together - over flowery linen.

 

Dry: I'm getting a lot of linen/generic white flowers, topped with a little bit of honey. That's kind of disappointing.

 

Dry, 10-15 min later: the honey has faded, and I'm left with only the strong soapy-smelling linen. Oh well. Maybe on someone else it'll stay truer to the bottle.

 

1/5

 

------------------------------

 

Update: after 4-5 hours the OMGLINEN has died down and left a nice creamy floral tea scent behind, but sadly, I'm not patient enough to wait that long for a nice perfume. Probably giving to mom.

Edited January 5, 2013 by chicorymist

[yakiguri]

The linen is amping waaaaay too much--all I get is soapy dryer sheets.

[Angel Spirit Girl]

This smells like a sprig of thyme or marjoram or an herb like that on me. Disappoint.

[Missy_killer]

To my nose: This is like springtime in an imp. The mental image that I get from this is:

Early "bright" morning in spring. The grass is glowing limegreen in the sunlight and clean linen are hanging out to dry in the soft warm wind. You're standing next to a little cottage where the kitchenwindows are open, and you can smell how someone just poured up hot tea and the scent mixes with the newly ground pepper from the spicerack inside.

 

 

On: Smells just like in the imp. Sunny, bright and with a peppery twist. I can smell something "green" and floral, but I can't put my finger on what exactly it is. It doesn't smell like straight up grass or any other type of floral. Just...Bright green. Under the green I smell some laundry lurking about too.

 

After 15-25 min: Okaaay.. All I smell is clean laundry. That's it, no bright green, no sun, nothing.

How disappointing.

 

Now, I'm not that in to smelling like newly washed linen - but I figured I would let the Rabbit stick around anyway and it's good that I did because it continued morphing.

After another 20-30 min the clean linen was nowhere to be seen, instead there was this sweet honey-scent.

I don't think I've tried any other BPAL with this specific honey, since it's not thick, cloying or toffee-ish. It's bright and sweet, and I want to call it liquid-y.

 

What I didn't get much of was the tea, and I got no milk or vanilla whatsoever.

[JazzieCazzie]

I received this as a frimp awhile back, not sure when. Would not have ordered it because tea and lemon both tend to be rough notes for me, and milk is often a problem too, though I love ginger, honey and pepper.

 

IN THE IMP: Tea and lemon are the two predominant notes, with what I assume is the linen giving them an especially "clean" vibe.

 

Dabbed very tentatively on wrist and after the second dab, the bathroom contractor arrived so I never got to put it in the crook of my arm.

 

WET: Very pungent on the tea and lemon front. Sweetness from, I think, the vanilla rises right behind it.

 

Had to jump in my car and head down to the bathroom/kitchen supply store to buy a missing drain pipe. Used that opportunity -- well, was forced to use that oportunity -- to consider the drydown as it was very strong and it was a closed car.

 

DRYDOWN: The vanilla amped big time as it dried down, mingling with the tea and lemon. Eventually, the ginger and pepper rose but not nearly enough to offset what is, to me, a slightly nauseating scent.

 

OVERALL: I can totally see why people would love this, if they love the smell of tea and lemon. Many people do. But I don't. Which is weird, since I love ICED tea with lemon. But I can't stand HOT tea, nor the smell of HOT tea with lemon. Go figure. It smells exactly like it sets out to smell. It's just something that I have a sort of odd aversion to.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 2. It's not bad. It's just not good FOR ME.

[elinox]

First Sniff: Ginger and a light flower. I might be getting the tea, but that’s probably because I’m expecting it based on the description.

 

Initial Wet Application: Light lemon and then...nothing? Either the notes in this just go poof on my skin, or else it’s just a naturally faint oil, but this is weird as I’m not detecting anything other than my own skin smell.

 

Beginning Dry Down (first 15 minutes) & Dry: There’s definitely a clean note in this,albeit, faint, but it doesn’t make me think ‘linen’. (It could also just as easily be my own natural skin scent since this is so light.) From initial application to full dry down this didn’t change: it’s light and barely even there at all. I think I’m getting a tiny hint of vanilla, but it’s too light to tell for certain.

 

My Reaction: My nose is good, but even I couldn’t really detect anything from this once I applied it which is disappointing as I was hoping for a warm vanilla tea smell. Based on other reviews, I’m disappointed this was too light on me and that I wasn’t getting strong notes like others have described. I’ll give this another try later, but it looks like white rabbits just aren’t my thing. Likely this will go to the swap pile.

 

Rating: 1

[EricthoDesalamander]

I would describe this scent as "pleasant." Its not sexy, naughty, or feminine; but its a pleasing/comforting type of scent.

 

Granted, I'm not overly fond of clean or linen-like scents, but this one worked for me for the simple fact that it didn't turn overly clean or overly fresh - the honey and vanilla kept that from happening.

 

I think of the color of white could be bottled, it would be this. But this isn't a pure white, but a slight off-white; or a very pale cream color.

[Atrous]

Never would have tried White Rabbit if the lab hadn't frimped me. I was afraid I'd end up smelling like fresh linens.

Boy was I wrong.

 

Imp: Mostly honey and ginger

 

Wet: While wet, I don't detect any individual notes just a general lightness. I can already tell this is more of a spring scent. I'm a bit disappointed at this stage because there is really nothing there.

 

Dry: Wow, this one morphs on me. Each note springs to life one after the other as WR dries down. First, black tea then milk, honey, vanilla. After about a half hour a hint of ginger and pepper appear and way in the background fresh linens create a nice base. I'm thankful that all the notes play so well on my skin. The best way I can describe WR is innocent and charming like children having a tea party. Absolutely beautiful!

[lucycat]

White Rabbit is pretty, pleasant, and oh-so-light. On my skin, it's tea, and the combined milk and honey notes that smell exactly like those in Alice. I also get something flowery, though there are no flower notes listed. Perhaps it's the ginger?

 

The oil made my skin sting for a few minutes when first applied. I'm guessing that's from the pepper.

 

After three to four hours, White Rabbit just disappears.

[kajacana]

I want to love this one but it lands somewhere around a 6 out of 10 for me.

 

In the imp: Super light. I can smell the tea and that's about it.

 

Wet on skin: If I could have this phase last a long time, this scent would be perfect for me. I recognize some Dorian-like tea, only without the lemon and with the addition of pepper. It's really soft and nice.

 

Dry on skin: Goes back to being very light, barely there. The nice bite of the pepper and the smoothness of the tea completely disappear, leaving me with a pleasant but unremarkable almost-floral-but-not-quite smell. Bummer.

[sunstone]

Bought this at the final Seattle Will Call. It has become an unexpected favorite of mine.

 

In bottle: A pleasant, mild blend of honey, milk, and an indistinct soft note I assume is linen. Almost flowery. Some days I can detect the tea in this phase, too.

 

On skin: The linen becomes more pronounced. Reminds me of laundry soap. The honey and faint whiff of pepper keep it tolerable. Some days the cream note lingers longer and goes buttery, which is wonderful.

 

Conclusion: Smooth and comforting.

[Beckiemort]

As usual I'm thwarted by the honey in this blend Honey and my skin just don't get along - things with honey smell lovely in the bottle, but then on my skin amp to cloyingly sweet proportions and overwhelm just about any other note in a blend. Due to that fact about my skin chemistry please take this review with a huge grain of salt if honey behaves on your skin.

 

This had the potential to be soooooo lovely on my skin. I love linen scents, tea scents, ginger, pepper and I have no problem with milk or cream scents usually. However, the instant this hits my skin the honey explodes and takes over absolutely everything! Well not everything, I think I can pick up some ginger but really this is a super cloying honey SN on my skin, I may be able to rock it in a scent locket. I will try to remember to update when I test it out.

[Deliciousness]

Strong black tea and milk with white pepper, ginger, honey and vanilla, spilled over the crisp scent of clean linen.

 

In the imp: Freshly brewed tea and linen.

 

Wet on skin: Woah! This is sharp linen and cotton, almost like those wall flower thingies at B&BW. I think I may be getting hints of the white pepper, as this scent seems to have a little bite behind the linen.

 

Drydown: After an hour or so, the linen finally fades a touch and I can actually smell a light floral note, reminiscent of peony, which is very pretty, but no where in the scent description.

 

This is an okay scent, I think I would have loved this blend if I had actually gotten the vanilla, honey and ginger notes. Alas, my skin took linen and amped it to high heaven. This ended with a pretty, but ultimately forgettable soapy floral.

[roseneurosis]

As an Alice in Wonderland fan, I've been wanting this scent for the longest time!I HAD to order a full bottle.

 

In the bottle: Something clean but dark, with a bite of spicy earthiness to it. Perhaps that's the ginger and white pepper lingering behind linen and tea.

 

Wet on skin: I'm getting freshly ground ginger, mixed in a cooling cup of earl grey tea. The linen scent seems to be fighting to come through.

 

Dry on skin: Powdered laundry detergent with a faint bite...perhaps that's the white pepper?

 

Overall, this scent isn't very heavy on my skin. It dries down to something not quite soapy, but clean nonetheless. The ginger and linen are pretty strong in this scent.