Grand Guignol

[supremegoddessofall]

... Our Grand Guignol perfume is a shot of sweet apricot brandy; just enough to settle your nerves after a ghoulish, gory brush with the macabre.

Smells like bitter cough syrup. Blech. Definitely not keeping this one.

Score: 1 out of 5 Edited September 29, 2007 by Shollin

[kunoichi]

In the vial, this is a strongly scented, boozy scent with a background note of subtle fruity sweetness. On my skin this turns somewhat creamy and less strongly boozy – it’s a nice apricot sweetness that is quite a pleasant fragrance. After a few hours this smells a little sweet, a touch creamy and very softly of apricots. It’s quite nice.

[lookingglass]

Super sweet apricot. The brandy note is not deep and bitter...it makes it kind of fuzzy. Yummy!

[girl_android]

In the imp: apricot, something like liqueur. The apricot isn't sharp, it's fuzzy.

 

Wet on skin: like a recently cut apricot, doused with something alcoholic; not necessarily brandy.

 

Dry: more like dried apricots steeped in something now, so that super strong smell you might get initially from dried apricots has dissolved into the liquid. Something that makes me think mint but not mint - that smell that makes your nose open up a little ? Alcoholic things sometimes do this too, so I guess it's the brandy part of the apricot brandy, hey?

 

I quite like this, it's not something I'd pick for myself, but random things are good sometimes (: If I were to go for something fruity, I tend to veer towards berries rather than stone fruits, but that might be a colour association thing (: This smells golden and fuzzy.

 

ETA - It's nearly 5 hours later (I've just finished baking a double batch of choc chip cookies), and the scent is still around ... the alcoholic part of the scent has gone away, and I'm left with a lovely close-to-the-skin warm apricot scent. It managed to make it through washing up a few times, and I got a few wafts as I wandered from the kitchen to the computer room. It's growing on me, there's nothing that makes me regret having the imp about, that's for sure!

Edited October 10, 2006 by Girl Android

[maijasu]

This is a light, very natural-smelling apricot scent on me. I don't really get the brandy component at all, so it's not really what I was expecting. It's very soothing and soft, but I think I prefer scents with peach in them. Still, this one was really fun to sniff--and I might even try it out on my scent-loving toddler to see if he likes it. It's subtle enough, and non-boozy, so it just might work!

[columbus]

In the bottle this is straight brandy, which is probably why I’ve shied away from trying it for so long (bad memories… * shudder * )

 

Once it’s been on the skin for a little bit, though, I do catch the apricot, and it’s actually the strongest apricot note I’ve gotten from a BPAL blend. However the strong fruity scent doesn’t really last, and pretty soon my chemistry morphs this into something almost unrecognizable. It’s something very earthy and dirty with a side of alcohol; almost like an old crate of dried apricots.

 

Which could be fine if that’s your thing.

[PilotKitten]

Can definitely pick out apricot but it's very faint. After the drydown, it turns to soap on me. < sigh > And this one sounded soooo good too.

[luna65]

Thanks to Gwallahay for the imp.

 

Imp: Boozy cough syrup.

 

Skin: Apricot syrup. The brandy accord retreats but leaves that alcoholic bite to my nose, like when you know something's got liquor in it, even if you don't know what type.

 

Drydown: I really like Beth's apricot note, it's so sweet and true. The booze ends up fading pretty fast on me but the apricot hangs on, and it's got a thicker quality than in Katherina, for example. I think you'd really have to like apricot to enjoy this, which I do, but I believe I'd utilize it more for the purposes of mood than of fragrance.

[Elemcee]

Grand Guignol is round, sweet, tart and boozy.

 

It's definitely something I can imagine being swigged shakily in some old, dark bar.

 

I'm not sure that it's a 'nice' perfume, per se, but I keep do getting the urge to sniff my wrists.

[forspecial_plate]

Eek...my skin really did a number on Grand Guignol....turns it into a latex smell that's not pleasant at all. Occasionally there is a brief flash of apricot, but mosly it's just yucky latex. No way did this work for me. : (

[Iceblink]

That's apricot, all right. I liked Katharina and March Hare, but they're both very sweet, foody apricots. This is more fresh-fruity apricot and a little more wearable. I'll be stashing this away for spring.

[Bagfish]

Wow, this is lovely. It is really very uncomplicated compared to some LEs for example, but Grand Guignol is gorgeous high quality apricot jam on me with a woody undertone. The brandy/alcohol smell is very faint and fades quickly. This is juicy, yummy, sweet and totally unexpectedly good.

 

I can't stop sniffing my wrist. This scent makes me happy

[theblackcloud]

Sweet and intoxicating. A deep boozy apricot that won't leave a hangover... so pass it on!

[jasmine]

This is strong on the wand, but as soon as it touches my skin, it fades away to almost nothing within seconds. I appplied a bit more out of puzzlement only to have the same thing happen. Grand Guignol is shy on me. That's weird.

 

In addition to being shy, it smells wrong -- a bit overjuicy, like a rotting apricot, except that the rotting apricot is itself artificial. If the muddle coalesces into a fruit scent, I'll be impressed, but what I've got right now is frankly pretty awful.

 

Given a bit of time, Grand Guignol starts to blossom on my skin, and the result is completely unappealing -- a distinctly "off" fruitness. I recognize it's supposed to smell like alcohol, but it doesn't. It just smells like fake fruit.

 

Now it's really coming out on my skin. (This is what I get for a double application.) The waves of fake, slightly earthy fruit surround me. I will suffer for a while and see if it gets better.

 

It doesn't. On my skin chemistry, this is a complete failure. After two hours or so, it starts to fade away again, and good riddance.

[phedre]

In vial: wow. pure apricot.

 

wet: pure apricot fruit.

 

drydown: this doesn't morph at all. It's so purely apricot, with nothing else.

[The_Witching_Hour]

In the imp: cloyingly sweet apricots.

 

Wet on skin: Almost pure apricot. There's a sharp note which may be what others are calling brandy but it isn't a hot, alcoholic smell in my opionion.

 

Drydown: It's almost grassy, with hints of a white floral wafting in ever so randomly. This may be the 'brandy' mixing with my chemistry. The apricot is heavy and certainly dead on, though.

[neuilly]

There's a faint apricot in the background but on me this mostly just smells bitter. I can't identify a note but...everytime I smell it I make a face, definitely not for me.

[isabella]

this smells exactly like a freshly opened package of dried turkish apricots......mmmmmm

[Victoria]

Very sweet apricots, not boozy like i expected. Not a "serious" scent, but something I will wear when feeling playful.

[ariosa]

I received Grand Guignol as a frimp from the lovely roseaeron, and the imp had leaked a bit in transit. And it smelled HEAVENLY! I could not wait to open it up and try it on my skin.

 

Unfortunately, Grand Guignol plays hide and seek with my skin. It almost disappears completely upon first application. I was so, so disappointed! I practically have to hold my wrist directly under my nose to smell the faint, faint apricot. I get no brandy out of this at all. It's just pure, faint fruit.

 

After a time, this warms up, and becomes less faint. And by less faint, I mean I can hold it a centimetre or two from my nose. Very, very disappointing. Still, I'm going to keep the imp at hand and try again! If anything, it would be a nice scent to wear to bed, since it sticks so close to the skin!

[vegasblueblood]

True apricot brandy. It's a rowdy, boozy, fun scent that embodies Grand Guignol. Sometimes I can get overpowered by a boozy note but this is more apricot than booze on me. As it sits on my wrist, it gets softer but still has that joyous, rowdy tavern-ish feel. It's very sweet and delicious, quite feminine.

[modernsaints]

In the imp it was a very sweet, high apricot - delicious, with a touch of what I'm assuming was the booze to it.

 

On me, though, one of those went even higher (like, shattering-crystal high) and became sharp and metallic. Not fun, just lots of screeching (I guess this is the post-brandy hangover?) Ah well, perhaps it's for the best; tiny underage me should not be reeking of booze (:

[ceiswyn]

On the wrist: Apricots. Apricots everywhere. The alcohol behind seems to give it a slight dryness and sharpness, but mmm, oh yes, apricots. Like sun-warmed apricots on the branch on my right wrist, with an alcoholic sharpness and slight spiciness on my left. My friends can attest to how much scents differ between my wrists. It's kind of like two scents for the price of one. Oh, the crosses I have to bear.

 

One hour later: The smell hasn't changed much. A mellower apricot, turning more 'sweet' than specifically 'apricot', on the right wrist, and definite apricot with the spiciness of brandy, though without smelling particularly alcoholic, on the left.

[stardreamer]

Yep, this is apricot, all right! Since I can almost never pick up boozy notes well enough to identify them, I can only say that it's darker than Siren and sweeter than March Hare. It wears true without much change; I touched it up midafternoon, so no good estimate of staying power. All in all, a nice, not-overpowering apricot scent, a definite keeper.

[DifferentDances]

Imp: Mmmm.....yummy. Candied apricot.

Wet on skin: Oh, juicy, candied apricot.

Dry down: Fading fast, but still candied apricot.

Dry: Faintest bit of apricot lingering with an unpleasant bitter/sourness that I'm going to assume is the brandy.

 

My rating: 5/5 itself, 3/5 on my skin. Still, I think I'm going to keep this one.