Verdandi

[fairnymph]

Deep herbs and apple with black amber.

In the bottle: Light-medium yellow oil. Crisp, ripe red apples, a bit of dark, warm powder, woodsy-foresty herbs. Sweet and heavy despite the freshness from the apples and herbs.

Wet: Yummy crisp apple. Again, that apple from Snow/Glass/Apples and Shango. The amber is more distinct; it's richer and more languid, but still has a powdery edge. The herbs take third place, and are a touch mentholic or piney (juniper? sage?) - astringent/sharp.

Dry: Still very fruity and sweet, but the apples have lost most of their crispness. They're more like dried apples, almost, now, and I think the emergence of some sort of spice and/or nut strengthens that impression. The amber is still dark and heavy but has not gone more powdery as it often does on me. Some earthy moss seems to have joined the medicinal green notes.

Later: I detect a weird artificial, plasticky note beneath everything if I sniff closely; it's not something I've ever smelled in a BPAL before. It's maybe a bit rubbery too? There's something a bit smoky and musty here too, in addition to that nutty/spicy note, and I think it's vetiver. The apple has pretty much vanished.

Summary: Incensey, slightly spicy and musty amber that's also a bit sweet and musky (never true powder), light bitter-smoky vetiver, something artificial-nutty-waxy, sharp herbs, and faint partly dried apples. It becomes a much warmer, drier scent over time. Low throw, fades rapidly.

The fake smelling note makes me feel a bit queasy and the overall drydown is just not my style, but I am impressed with how the apple note persists (even if it loses most of its crispness and fades somewhat). That's a first for me with apple which is typically completely evanescent with my chemistry, and likewise I'm pleased that the amber never turns powdery.

I'm glad I tried this even though I won't be hanging onto it. Edited June 19, 2008 by Shollin

[Indigo78]

I love the Norns.

 

Verdandi offers a sweet-tart golden apple straight from the imp. Just picked and in it's perfect moment; an hour more would make it overripe. The amber billows up as my skin warms it.

 

I'm undecided on this scent as a regular-wear choice. The smokiness of the resin as it blends with the apple remind me of potpurri. Is that Cinnamon? Normally that isn't a good thing for me, but it seems to work here. A beautiful combination of notes, but my private associations with apple-scented potpurri are rather maternal...I'll keep the imp & consider a bottle.

 

I wish this blend had a bit more smoke...or leather..or something to ground the fading apple note, Verdandi might layer well with a darker blend.

[Lamia]

This is an unnerving scent for me. Fresh, it reminded me of something unpleasant from my youth, and I couldn't put my finger on it. No idea why.

 

This quickly changed to a sort of light scent, and evolved rapidly and repeatedly, too quickly for me to even take notes. None of it is Bad or icky on my skin, but I don't like it, probably in a knee-jerk response to that first unrecognizable but unwlecome scent memory. I got no apples, no caramel from this. Trade bag.

 

Isn't it amazing how important scent is??

[Honeygirl]

Bottle: Hmm, herbs and apple.

 

Wet: Wow, I really like this. This apple is tart, not really sweet, but it's making my mouth water.

 

Drydown: I don't really get any amber from this, but it's a very interesting combo. I might have to get a bottle of this!

3.5 outta 5

[taramarie]

On me, Verdandi is spiced apple over amber. I was expecting it to be more of a green scent, but this is gorgeous.

[Rovylern]

In the imp: Apples and spice, like fresh spiced cider.

 

Wet: Fresh, juicy apples and spice.

 

Drydown: This has a great throw. It lasts a good while, too, but the apple eventually fades out, leaving the spiciness to dominate. I never got anything herbal from it, just spicy apples with very little morph. I like this very much on my skin, and I think it would make a wonderful room scent. It seems to be a fall scent to me, so I'll tuck this away until the weather starts to cool down again.

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Ripe apple and herbs

 

On Application

Very herbal and appley. The apples are green apples with a tart bite.

 

Dry Down

The amber warms this up as it dries to give a subtle sweet dry quality. Smells like spiced apple (cinnamon with a touch of clove) a lttle further in. Doesn't seem to last long on my skin. 10 minutes in and it is just a faint, soft waxy apple scent.

 

Rating (0-5)

4

[livingdead71]

I LOVE apple scents and Verdandi is no exception. I keep smelling myself! I'm not sure what else I'm smelling with the apples...maybe the herbs. Whatever it is, it's warming the apples. This will be a great Autumn scent!

[ouch!]

I'm just getting apples from this from wet to dry..there are no herbs at all *pouts*. It's still really nice and everything. I just wish it was a bit more complex.

I can smell the amber too which is lovely as always, but the apples are what's sticking out the most.

 

There's not much throw either and it fades quite quickly on me.

 

Nice...but wouldn't buy a bottle, there are far nicer blends that contain apple for me.

[Wwindy]

I snarfed up Lamia's unloved imp, and am so glad I did!

 

I've been insisting forever that I can't wear fruit notes, but have lately been proven wrong by the mango in Diwali and the apple in Snow Glass Apples, both of which I adore. So, I went looking for other BPAL apple... and Verdandi is perfect. I love amber, I love apple, and apparently I love whatever the "deep herbs" here are! Darned if I can identify them; all I can pick out is a faint hint of dusty green over the crisp red apple and warm soft amber. The apple smells very natural and realistic. The amber isn't powdery or even particularly prominent -- it's quietly lurking close to the skin, deepening and rounding out the scent.

 

The duration is relatively short in terms of maintaining any significant throw (maybe two or three hours for having anyone besides me be able to smell anything), but I can still catch faint whiffs even after a good six hours and am content with that.

 

This isn't sweet or foody at all on me, just gorgeous and soft and perfect for the end of the summer/beginning of fall. I'm looking forward to wearing it all autumn, actually!

[donnatron]

Imp: Dark, herbal apples. It's not sweet and fresh; it's actually more masculine than I was expecting.

 

Wet: The apples amp up and the amber warms to the skin a bit.

 

Dry: Eh. It smells like apple cores and dried seaweed. It's not as iodine-y as seaweed but it definitely evokes that dark green colour. I stick with my original assertion that it's masculine.

 

Throw: Close to the skin.

 

Overall: I'm glad to have tried it but it's not my bag. If you want a more masculine or gender neutral apple, definitely give this one a try.

[vikitty]

Absolutely delicious. Verdandi is like an herbier version of The Hesperides, but it lasts longer on my skin. I need a bottle of this so I can slather myself in it!

[rayvn1]

Yes! A sister to SGA. Wet - this is yellow apple to SGA's green apple. A little sweeter and less tart.

 

Dry - Oh my! This is becoming really complex. The apple is still there, but it is interacting with those herbs and it's thick and slightly golden amber tinged. This is a kinder and friendlier charater than SGA and I'll be picking up a bottle as soon as I run out of this imp. Wow! Hmmm almost like apple wine (?) now - vaguely alchohlic in a good way.

[sqwook]

Wet: Green.

 

Dry: A sweet amber with a tinge of light apple, nice. I'm surprised that this is "black" amber because it feels like a very light, less deep/resiny amber to me.

 

Comparisons to other scents: The wet phase is a similar feel to the drydown of Yggdrasil but sweeter, light apple..

 

Update: I nearly swapped this, but I find myself reaching for it now - great for fall.

Edited October 27, 2008 by sqwook

[caitilarkin]

In the imp: The tartest apple I have ever smelled, with something sour in the background. The description is unpleasant but the smell was not--it was sophisticated and complex, not foody at all.

 

Wet on skin: The tartness of the apple is being warmed by...something...it doesn't smell like the amber that I'm growing accustomed to...

 

Dry on skin: Glorious drydown, with the amber mellowing the tartness of the apple. This is definitely not at all foody on me. (And I love foodies--but BPAL foodies get all academic and sophisticated on me for some weird reason.) Lasts about 5-6 hours on me.

 

This is delicious. I'll be reaching for it often this fall and winter.

[Iceblink]

Wonderfully tart and fruity--I agree that the apple note in Verdandi is a lot like Shango as I'm definitely reminded of Shango here! The amber makes this complex and deep. Slightly spicy. I like this a lot and it's lovely on a fall day.

[jencallisto]

In the imp: Golden-sweet, with herbs both high and sharp and dark and earthy. The apple is light so far, young and green.

Fresh on the skin: Wow. This is all fresh herbs on me at first, but a nice blend of bitter and sweet. It deepens quickly, growing a warm glowing core and an absolutely lovely apple waft that seems to be a combination of golden delicious and granny smith. If I breathe in too deeply it goes straight to my head, though -- I suspect that might be the amber, blending with the herbs to give it just the thinnest incensey edge at the front.

10 minutes later: This really is quite lovely, tart and gold and sweet, juicy and somehow both soft and sharp, with a kind of practical, no-nonsense side that harkens to "Necessity." Verdandi is beautiful in a light, warm, slightly crisp way that neither bothers to be stately and elegant nor frivolous and flighty. It does have something of a thicker, perfume-y center that I'm not sure how I feel about yet (again, presumably the amber), but we'll see how things develop.

30 minutes later: Hmm. I'm mostly getting apple-flavored sweet potpourri, warm and soft and a little cloying.

40 minutes later: Oh, weird. There's also, at the very edges at the scent -- like, literally in a spatial location apart from the rest of it -- there's a kind of odd scorched herb smell. Not "toasty" or "smoky" or even "burnt" (all things I tend to like), but seriously _scorched_. And maybe a little plasticky? But the center of the it is just as warm and potpourri-like as ever. It's like it's a a little evil underneath the sugar and spice.

1 hour later: Okay, the scorched rubber smell is getting stronger. I've been sneezing and I can feel a headache coming on that was totally nonexistent before. This is... problematic. Half of me just want to wash this off, but the other half wants to see what happens if I let it develop more. Maybe it'll turn into the scent I was hoping for. I miss that tart, juicy first stage.

1.25 hours later: Scorched, rotting apples. Ugh.

1.5 hours later: Well, the central smell has gotten rather nicely soft and sweet, a kind of perfumed apple. I'm still getting a lot of scorch in the halo of air nearby, though.

2 hours: Ah. This has gone a sort of generic soft sweet slightly spicy scent, a little bubblegummy. Nice enough, but it doesn't really balance out the scorch effect, which is still hovering around.

2.5 hours: Oh! That's what it's reminding me of. Smarties, those powdery little tablets -- it even smells, somehow, like the odd texture they have against your teeth, and the way they start with that burst of tart and melt into a delicate sugar-sweet. I kind of like it.

3 hours: Huh. I think the scorched part is almost gone, or at least sublimated. The near-my-wrist smell (basically still Smarties) is quite nice, actually.

4 hours: Okay, the smell is still warm and sweet and close to the wrist, very similar to the Smarties phase, but now it's reminding me of art class -- freshly shaven pencils and plasticky-sweet art supplies. I'm betting this one is gone, gone, gone, and probably was two hours ago, effectively, besides the scorched aura. Hmm, and now that I've noticed the pencil shavings, that seems to be taking over my awareness -- I have an image of blackened herbs in my mind. And, wow, even as I'm smelling it it's rapidly disappearing. Yeah, this is gonnnnnnne.

 

Verdict: I really want to figure out why Verdandi hates me. Maybe it's a commentary on how ineffective I've been recently, especially along the lines of finishing crucial projects. Maybe it has some note that just doesn't work for me -- I haven't tried enough to figure that out yet; I can't wait until I have enough data and I can start cross referencing. I'll probably wait awhile and give it another shot later down the line -- who knows what could change by then! Maybe if I finish this research project...

 

Sadly this gives me no conclusive evidence either way about how I feel about the bpal apple note -- I'm contemplating Samhain 2008, you see. I guess I'll try Shango tomorrow, and observe the apple in that!

[Jennie]

Verdandi - this is the fist BPAL I've ever tried and so the first one to review.

 

It reminded me of something. I'll explain that instead because it's easier and more portraying.

 

A while ago it was a harvest home, and we sat in a glasshouse on squared bundles of hay in the middle of the night, the stars gazing down at us. It was a very good season for apples, and they had thread apples on threads like garlands across the room. It was rather cold, as it is in autumns, but we got apple flambé and warm apple juice to warm ourselves with. They had also hollowed out apples that they had litted wax candles in, whose dancing lights were reflected in the glass walls. It was cold, so we warmed ourself at our paper cups with warm apple juice, still wearing our gloves. The warmth from the flambé, and the misty steam from the cups, came with the comforting smell of slightly spiced apples.

 

It's something more than just apples and spice, it seems, giving a powdery feeling as of the sugar on the flambated apples. It can also be slightly waxy, or syrupy, like the candles in the hollowed-out apples. As I wandered around I got the wonderful whiff of apples now and then, reminding me of that time; feeling like actual warmth. When I sniffed it too close it smelled a little Yankee Candle-like, though, and almost too powdery. It started out reminding me more of christmas, too, for some reason, which it didn't do at the end of the day (when the smell was still lingering around me, but more like dried christmas/autumn-herbs than tarty apple.)

 

(If you want, send me a message and tell me how good/badly I did my first review. Shorter? Longer?)

[Seadreamer]

Oh, there are my apples! I just adore this! I tried it first in the heat of summer, and then again today in November. It's just perfect. To me, the herbs and amber keep the apple from becoming too sweet and too overpowering. It's a perfect blend, and my only complaint is that I have to reapply it every couple of hours, because it fades on me. Just to be sure, I checked witha co-worker, who replied, "What perfume?" But given how wonderful Verdandi is, I'm certainly willing to put it on repeatedly. This one goes on the "Big Bottle" list.

[blacklacestatic]

In the imp: Sour green apple. Uh -oh. I'm nervous.

 

Wet on skin: Any bit of sour is gone and this turns to fresh, crisp, juicy apple. It's got a very similar feel to Snow, Glass, Apples, but while that felt "cold" this feels still very fresh and green.

 

Drydown: This is a very close relation to SGA. It's not as strong, but it definitely seems to have the same apple, with a sexy edge like SGA has. I can see myself wearing this frequently in the Spring/Summer. It's got a bit of a spicy depth to it too that comes out later in the drydown. Very nice!

 

Way later on: The spice just blossoms on this one. It gets sexier and spicier as time passes. The apple now is more of a background note.

 

Overall: I'm a fan, and I would reccommend this to any SGA or apple fans, or fans of spice.

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Something evergreeny, then strong resin, then delicate apple. Compelling.

 

Wet: Mostly apple at first, then it goes quite herbal. Underneath is strong resin, adding a spicy note that is wonderful. It smells like cut fruit in a forest.

 

Half an hour: Mmm, this is lovely. There's the impression of darkly spiced apple and some lovely herbal contrast.

 

One hour: As before, darkly spiced apple with herbs. It's not as intense now, sticking rather close to my skin than many scents. But I like the way it clings to my skin.

 

Two hours: Gentler than before, but still a nice blend. I'll probably keep this for a while.

 

Three hours: A quicker fade than expected, given the way amber usually behaves on my skin.

[CynicalPink]

Imp: Alcoholic apple. Hmm

 

Wet: More amber standing up to the apple.

 

Drydown: omg must not lick arm...This is the best fall/winter scent ever. Mulled cider! That's it! It smells like the mulled cider we used to get from the cider mill the town over from me.

 

Overall: Must have big bottle. A good throw, a warm golden scent, and a depth that makes it exactly the kind of apple scent I wanted. I liked Poisoned Apple just fine but this has a depth and complexity on top of the apple that PA lacks. It's very rich and a must buy for me

[djsiberia]

wet: smells light & sweet - possibly a bit herbal and dusty.

dry: the apple is coming out a lot more than the amber, though i feel the amber is adding the dusty quality to the mix.

overall, this bites the nose and i was hoping to like it..sadly this isn't for me.

[stillalive]

my first impression of this was that it was very much like grand guglio... and I still think that, but it's a bit earthier on dry-down.

[toomuch]

This is the most apple-y one I've tried so far. Unfortunately, it fades very quickly on me.