Love in the Asylum

[carolinachiquita]

A song of love and madness: two roses, tolu balsam and ambergris with vanilla, labdanum, tobacco leaf, carnation and tonka.

This was a very sweet and light rose on me, It reminded me a little of turkish delight - I am really really loving rose blends at the moment and this one is gorgeous. The only downer is that the throw was not very strong and the scent didn't last that long on me which is a shame.

[ancilla_morte]

this is lovely.

a watery yet spicy rose. A LOT like Moon Rose, one of my favorite scents. It is an incredibly fresh watery rose but with slight kicks in the rose's ass from other florals and perhaps a spice?

 

very very romantic. when it is freshly applied, it reminds me of an insane infatuation, because the rose is so strong. but not overpowering, it is just heightened and intoxicating. the drydown is lovely as well, it smells so much like Moon Rose when dry. This is Moon Rose in serious love.

[AngellicMystique]

Roses and Vanilla.

 

Sweet florals with something darker. Sweet with a specter of either the madhouse itself, or the looming mental breakdown. Love and sweetness in darkness and despair.

[girlmadasbirds]

at first, this was ROSE! rose, rose, and more rose. as it dried, i started to notice the vanilla and carnation.

 

i've had it on for about 15-20 minutes now and it's reminding me of Alice. the rose has mellowed a lot and i mainly smell spicy carnation and vanilla.

 

it's a very pretty scent and i'll be adding it to my list of 5mLs to be on the lookout for.

[Alchemy21599]

I had to have this scent simply because of the name!

In the bottle: Roses! Deepened with something, is that the ambergris? Then I get sharp carnation.

Wet: Roses, ambergris.

Dry: Antique rose with damask rose.

 

I love roses, I grow several cultivars and have them around the house all the time, but I've never worn a rose scent. I think that trend will continue. Love in the Asylum is a fantastic name and the art on the bottle is great, but the scent itself is not for me .

[perclexed]

I like the roses in this, but once again I think the carnation did me wrong. It didn't turn quite the same way Maiden did, but it's enough to keep me from loving this scent. There is an undertone of something clean, and fresh, which I think is probably the balsam, and I really wish this worked on me. It's just enough 'off' and soapy that I'll likely trade it away. Bummer!

[Shollin]

First sniff: Rich soft floral with a touch of deep sweetness.

 

Wearing: A vanilla-carnation explosion, backed by muted roses.

[Avery]

Well, I had to try this one for the name. As for rose, this was the loveliest (vanillic) rose I have ever had the pleasure to wear. I am not a floral kind of person, but if I were, this would be a floral that I would love to wear. I did enjoy sampling it, but I always felt as if I were wearing someone else's perfume. OH well!

[LittleGreyKitten]

I am really glad I have a 5ml on the way. The scent is just amazing. It's rose primarily on me, but mixed so thoroughly with other lovely and amazing scents that it isn't too rosey. The carnation doesn't come through much at all on me (not good or bad) and I frankly can't name the notes that do, but I like them. Perchance it's the vanilla that is the other main smell. Anyway, a definite winner.

 

5 out of 5.

[Meg]

In the bottle: Rose, some kind of resin, and herbs... there's a very rich musky scent in here, too.

 

Wet: The herby quality comes out more, too bad I don't know what's what. The rose is all but crushed by the herbs. And something seems to be warming up, probably the amergris and/or the tonka.

 

Drydown: This is more spicy now, more spicy than anything else, really. I can smell hints of vanilla, rose in the background (white rose, I think), and some kind of musky smell... ... I can't put my finger on it. And it's getting very sweet, of course.

 

Overall: I can't really describe this, it has a special feel to it. I can always smell the roses, but they are altered by something else, something rounded and soft, probably the tonka or the ambergris, and some kind of resins that must be the tolu balsam. General result is weird, but I can't explain why - it seems a bit crazy. I'm not a huge fan of it myself, because the altered rose seems weird to me, but it's very evocative.

[jidabug]

Wet: Sweet floral with something darker underneath.

Dry: Rose. Deep, dark, perfumey rose. Bit of baby powder softness, but mostly just the old-fashioned rose. Also seems to have one heck of a throw.

Final: If I liked this kind of rose scent, I would like this one, but I'm not. So this is nice, but not for me.

 

Later: Okay, I spoke too soon. A couple hours later and the rose has mellowed. I can get a bit of the vanilla and carnation coming through now and the whole thing is growing on me. It's the first time I've had a fragrance improve so much after wearing it for a while.

Edited February 7, 2006 by jidabug

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

I must have been mad (as birds) not to get this one to start with... roses + Dylan Thomas = squeeeee!

 

Beautiful, translucent rose topnotes, with something warmer at the heart--woody, spicy notes with a gentle touch of vanilla. Really beautiful and just different enough from my 5-million other rose blends to be special. I love it--winsome and romantic.

 

ETA: in fact, I may need to track down a bottle; I've been wanting a rose-vanilla BPAL for ages, ever since I tried DSH Antique Rose (I think?), and this is perfectly it--plus much more complex than any non-BPAL could be.

Edited April 4, 2006 by Laurel the Woodfairy

[Aurelius]

Rose. And sadly, rose overpowers everything else. Why is rose so hit or miss with me? Already swapped with a lovely forumite.

[Eunice]

I am all excited about this one! I got an imp in a surprise pack and could smell the rose straight through the cap. The rose combined with the tobacco leaf is so interesting. The really fit well together. I'm not getting much from the other ingredients but the rose and tobacco leaf really stand out. Love in the Asylum reminds me of this old coffee house in the college town where I lived for many years. I wish I'd had the opportunity to purchase a large bottle before this disappeared!

[kunoichi]

This is a very unusual scent. It's completely and utterly different on my skin than in the vial. I can't really describe what the vial smells like, but it's a mixture of things that give it a scent that isn't floral to my nose. Maybe a bit medicinal, but not really. But it's not an overpowering scent, it's actually more gentle.

 

On me, it changes into something again that's odd, but I think people are right in that it smells of roses. But I didn't pick the roses, because it's again still got other scents mixed in. It's more incense-like, I guess, but that's not quite right as it becomes slightly sweeter on me...

 

...With a whiff of something really strange in it. Something maybe sharper or more medicinal. Maybe it's the labdanum and/or the tobacco leaf. This odd after-scent starts off strong, fades to revealing itself at the very end of a breath of the scent and then disappears or combines with the rest of the scent - I'm not sure which.

 

I think it seems to fit the theme (love in the asylum) very well!!

Edited May 10, 2006 by kunoichi

[edenssixthday]

Love in the Asylum reminds me a lot of Freak Show. It’s smooth and slightly foody, but not too much for those of us who don’t like foody scents. On my skin, it’s predominantly vanilla, tobacco, and tonka. It doesn’t have much throw, and within an hour, the scent has completely faded. It’s not one I’ll be trying again.

[beeboppin]

A kind soul sent my niece a little partial imp of this as a gift, and she passed it on to me. So LOVELY! If this were part of the general catalogue, I would certainly buy a 10ml. It is thick and warm, complex, slightly sweet rose; sophistocated and timeless.

 

I applied only a drop (about half of what I posess), and it tenaciously clung to my wrist for more than 8 hours. This scent begs to be slathered!

 

I'm very happy to have read the reviews, I will now seek out Othello and Tarot: The Empress, since a couple of helpful forumites mentioned that they have some similarity to Love in the Asylum. I do wish it would be rereleased!

[karengypsy]

In the vial: Florals, hint of tobacco.

 

On me: Tobacco, tonka, rose, balsam. I like just about every scent included in this blend, but I don't think I like this blend. The tobacco smells off - it smells sour.

 

Verdict: Off to the sale/swap pile.

 

Rating: 2/5

[strawberry_star]

Holy floral, batman!

 

This went very very gross on me. My skin loves roses and the feelings aren't returned. It just went straight to rose on me and covered up all the pretty notes. Just rose and nothing else. *sigh*

[Ryvre]

In the imp: Rose, a touch of spice, and a bit of something herbal.

 

Wet: Very faint, and chemical-like. It smells kind of like laundry soap. It's probably the carnation- carnation never works on me.

 

Dry: Powdery and chemical like.

[Summerpixy]

As everyone else has said, this is a lovely rose scent with a definate undercurrent of spice. I'm in love with this scent and so glad that I bought a bottle when it was released. It's the kind of scent that you wear for a special someone.

[kuanyin]

Oh, this is lovely. It is roses and roses, but with an oomph of so much more that balances them without being distinguished separately. It is the the marvelous complex scent of an old english rose compared to the in your face scent of a hot house hybrid.

 

My coworker that loves patchouli and hot, dark scents was with me when my bottle came and wanted to try it. At first she liked it, then she didn't. But she told me the next day she woke up with just a touch of a scent of it and loved it. So, it can even convert a non-floral person!

 

:wub2:I love, love, love this.

[sofiaviolet]

All I smell is powdery roses. None of the other notes come through. This is pretty, but I can't really wear powdery roses because they aggravate my allergies. Oh well.

[darkophelia]

Thus far, this has just been rose-scented baby powder on me with enough tobacco to give me a headache. Don't get me wrong--I like the gentle powdery rose scent, but I do not like the allergy-induced headache tobacco leaf causes that leaves me feeling like my head is in a vise. I really, really, really want to like and keep this scent, but that one component doesn't like me, and I want to be able to breathe when I wear it. Which sucks because I like the poem, the name, the label, and the roses they used in this blend.

[sarahj]

Love in the Asylum

 

received in a swap

 

in imp: soapy rose and carnation

 

wet: smells sweeter...vanilla and rose

 

dry: a lovely blend of rose, carnation, and vanilla

 

verdict: this goes on my list of favorites...why, oh why didn't I buy a bottle??