Belladonna

[misfitroxy]

The devil’s herb, which he cultivates with skill and pleasure. According to lore, the spirit of this plant may take the form of a breathtaking, achingly beautiful woman, deadly to behold. This scent is a tribute to such a dark and magnificent plant: a rich green and floral blend, earthy and haunting.

Belladonna is straight up fresh cut herbs in the imp. It makes my nose zing a bit even!

I can pick up something close to rosemary from the start. There is a menthol-esque background too which makes the blend bright. I'm reminded of my grandmother's pantry for some reason. Perhaps because there's a bit of dust (to my nose) in the blend that makes it earthy and aged smelling. Like a well-used spice rack that's been neglected after some time.

I really do appreciate the oil but I'm unsure as to if I'd wear it or not. I can't really imaging wanting to smell this green, but it brings up a whole host of memories for me in the most wonderful way and I find it comforting as such. Plus, it makes me want to aspire to more refined kitchen witchery practices and sets my brain on "bake and brew" mode almost immediately. Enchanting for sure.

[cupide430]

Belladonna

 

Deep and astringent. There's a camphor overtone to this with a bit of a musty and plasticky background. I love the brilliant green color of this oil, but I don't think the scent works on me. As it dries, a pine-y evergreen note slowly emerges which improves the blend though the musty plastic note remains. The pine is trying to overtake the musty plastic, but I'm not sure it will win. Woohoo! The pine wins! Sweet sweet pine has beaten the musty plastic into submission. It has faded down quite a bit but it is a gentle, light pine.

Edited September 20, 2005 by cupide430

[imaginepageant]

In the vial: "This is one evil flower," I thought to myself when I first smelled this. After reading the description, I was amused to see how right I was: Belladonna is the devil's herb. Like the oil itself, this scent is utterly green, very dark, all floral and wood and grass. There's a bite of eucalyptus in the background, giving both a mint and medicinal smell that strangely enough reminds me a bit of Snake Oil. My overall impression of this scent is that it's an evil, corrupted flesh-eating plant.

 

Wet: Pine screams out angrily for a few seconds before the eucalyptus pulls ahead. There's also a very unpleasant body odor going on here; I wonder if it could be because I put Belladonna on my wrist where I had a different blend earlier today. Let me put it on elsewhere... all right. Yes, there's the flash of pine again, and the chilly eucalyptus... and that gross body odor! What the hell!

 

Dry: The scent has softened so much I can hardly smell it anymore! Luckily, that means I can hardly smell that disgusting sweaty odor, either. What I can smell is almost nothing like it was in the imp, sadly. It's still green and floral, but it's no longer evil. It's a mix between Bayou and Snake Oil.

 

An hour later: It's faded even more; it's almost fully gone. There's still the tiniest bit of green woods, and cooling eucalyptus... I think. It's really so faint that I'm half guessing here.

 

Overall: Obviously not a keeper. Between the funky body odor effect and the fact that this doesn't even last an hour, it's safe to say Belladonna is not for me.

[carolinachiquita]

This is weird, I think I like it but I'm not sure, I can't make my mind up on this one. It has a whisper of mint or menthol in it I think.

[kimifox]

It's warmer than I expected.

I opened the vial this morning, took a sniff and thought "Uh-oh, CARDAMON!" (My body does not like cardamon at all.)

Now that I'm wearing it, the cardamon smell has faded to a really light cinnamon. It does smell slightly botanical, yet dusty. If I had to attribute a plant to the greenish smell, I'd say spanish moss.

This may be a good winter scent for me, but it's too warm for me right now. I'll revisit it in January.

[sarada]

I first tried this ages ago but I have never really worn it for long...it smells rather like something I would have liked a long time ago, but not for the fragrance...rather more for the idea of having a bright green oil called Belladonna.

 

I love the idea of this oil and I can easily imagine myself as a teenager with a bottle, anointing myself and arranging candles and crystals on my dressertop altar. It makes me think of drying fresh herbs and smelling them in the sun. But not any specific herbs...more the general scent of fresh, green herbs recently picked and hanging from wooden rafters in our kitchen. There might be something like sage or rosemary in here -- herbs that are used in cooking but might feel equally at home in magic.

 

Then there comes a very powdery stage that could only be lilac...or perhaps violet. But probably lilac. A pale purple, very powdery flower. The combination is unsettling but I can still see myself as a teenager enjoying it, before I knew which kind of scents I liked to wear as a fragrance. I like the associations that it brings and I think it would be wonderful to wear if you were doing some kind of herbal or green magical works.

 

As a fragrance though it is very very bitter and not the kind of herbal scent that I would want to have around me. It's interesting to smell and I keep a small amount for those associations and images that it brings to mind but it's more of a "thinking" oil than a "wearing" oil if that makes any sense at all!

[Fishwomon]

Belladonna has a lovely green color in the vial. Wet, it's a bracing mix of eucalyptus and pine. The eucalyptus (which has also been described here as camphor) mellows quickly and the pine emerges, then turns sweet, almost like candy. The sweetness fades as the flowers come to the fore. After an hour on my skin Belladonna is a floral with just hints of pine and sweetness and the antiseptic whiff of menthol.

 

I like the pine, but the flowers turn too sweet on me. Not for me.

[Blood onmy hands]

I wanted to love this one... I love the green colour of the actual oil. Sadly, the fragrance doesn't work on me.

First on this smelled like lime zest and menthol. The drydown is very green and slightly dirty. It is reminiscent of how one's hands smell after weeding a garden. Earthy and smeared with wet, green plant pulp. It's definitely more weeds than flowers on me. Not my kind of perfume.

 

ETA for 2016 frimps from the lab. The oil color of this is no longer green. I still get a menthol/crisp eucalyptus from it, but no lime. It smells like running through a bunch of eucalyptus trees and juniper bushes and getting that green, piney sap and cool menthol scent all over yourself and your clothes. In the drydown, it's suddenly smoky, like pine pitch. It's like you grabbed a bunch of green pine and eucalyptus leaves and are roasting them over a fire, and now you smell like the black smoke that's wafting off of the greenery.

Dark, haunting, and I feel like I'd enjoy this more on a man. He would seem very mysterious and outdoorsy.

Edited May 31, 2016 by Little Bird

[Etaven]

In the bottle- Flowery, but with something that just seems deeper... pine, I think. Definitely reminds me of hemlock. I'm not big on flowers, but the pine balances this out a bit.

 

On my skin- the pine gets stronger, which is good, in my case. There's definitely something sweeter coming out, too... it actually reminds me of chocolate for a moment. It's got a bit of a spice to it, like a wild garden that refuses to be tamed. Considering I'm not into flowers, I'm actually really liking this one; there's something different about it that sets it apart from anything overly floral. The pine isn't as noticable, though it's lurking.

 

It's settling into my skin a bit differently than most BPALs do (more incensey), which is also nice.

 

Unexpectedly, this one's a keeper.

[sideviewhotel]

In the bottle it's very.. medicinal and mentholated. Maybe it's pine. I thought we'd get along, but now I'm not so sure because it's getting flowery. Eugh. I'll have to try it again next week, I was just too eager to try it today.

 

Edit as of Nov 9: Ugh. I really don't think Belladonna & I are going to get along here. I have no idea what I'm smelling at this point, but it's familiar and I know I don't like it. Bummer.

Edited November 9, 2005 by sideviewhotel

[aedes]

It's funny, most herbal or piney scents smell the same on me. Just generally green and a little antiseptic.

 

But Belladonna has more going on for me. There was the eucalyptus rush at first, but the florals really come into their own during drydown. Smells like a mild, light purple flower, maybe a well-behaved jasmine? I really picture a light purple woman wearing grean leaves, like in one of jewelbug's hamadryad icons, when I smell this. Fresh and springtime-y. I'm holding on to this one.

[sookster]

deeeeeeply green and foreboding !!

my chemistry positively loves

belladonna!!! slightly eucalyptus but this dissipates into one of

beth's most sensational scents i have ever tried....

 

i am thrilled that i ordered a big bottle of this!!

[k00kaburra]

The liquid is such a pretty soda-bottle green.

In bottle: A bit peppery, very lush and green. There's a heavy loamy note that grounds the blend.

On me: After the initial pepper/vetiver note disappates, Belladonna is a sexy, spicy floral. Rather like a carnation, but far greener! It's still based in a pine note, and the earth is still there, but the flowers in this blend really change the nature of the fragrance. As someone else said, a very weedy forest smell.

[AngelFireHeart]

I loved this in the imp, green & woody maybe a hint of eucalyptus?

 

Unfortunately it turned to Washing up Liquid on me, but it's lovely in the imp & a beautiful green colour too

[yeahbutnobut]

Belladonna

 

In the imp: the oil is green! Nice colour…the smell itself is sort of like pine, or an evergreen scent. Maybe camphor, menthol or eucalyptus.

Wet on skin: I think there’s also juniper in this-as well as either pine or fir. It’s a nice, yet sharp and cold, evergreen scent. Good for colds!

Dry: hmm, this is interesting. This really is an almost medicinal evergreen scent, cold and piercing. I’m sure there’s juniper and camphor in this-and pine, and/or fir. It’s a very fresh scent…though I must say that reminds me of winter forests more than deadly nightshade plants.

After a while: the fresh medicinal pine scent has faded but still lingers, but I’m now left with a green scent like crushed dark green leaves, and a hint of moss and possibly patchouli and vetiver. This seems more apt for the poisonous plant fragrance, and yes, now it does bear a slight similarity to Tramp.

After a while it turns to, believe it or not, vetiver. My skin has this uncanny ability to locate and magnify even the tiniest amount of what should be non existent vetiver in a blend, and it has done so here. Not that I mind though. It’s earthy, dirty, dark green and sinister in scent now, like a sunless woodland full of shadows and venomous plants. There’s also a bit of blackened pine resin here as well.

Verdict: this is another one of those ‘chameleon BPAL’ scents that smells so different on everyone. I get none of the sweetness or berries or florals or Snake Oil that other reviewers get…I do get the medicinal scent though. Pine, juniper, eucalyptus, camphor, maybe fir and wintergreen scents, but it’s a piercing (and sinus clearing) blast of sharp, cold, harsh scent at first, reminiscent of winter forests. But then…it changes. It becomes greener and earthier, at one point it smells like Tramp, before changing to dirty dark vetiver with hints of pine sap and evergreen left behind. It’s a very interesting scent, quite sinister in fact, but not something I would wear much.

[lookingglass]

Very green, sharp, and fresh. Definitely not something I can wear as perfume. It is almost like herbs you could garnish with..but then regret.

[niter]

Bottle

Green, fresh, and wet with a sharp, astringent afterthought.

 

Wet

This smells bright and familiar. I definately get that medicinial scent that is oh so familiar...but it is too far past summer for me to pick out which herb exactly. Then, it hits me, especially as the note dominates, eucalyptus! The note is playing with spicy conifer note and I am not sure what to make fo this blend. It is facinating, but not something I think I want to wear.

 

I think I might have to take this off...It is lovely, but I smell like those "evergreen" aerosals my husband begs me to buy every holiday season. I smell like my house right now and it is distracting!

 

Truly a lovely scent, just not for my personal wear!

[LushNatty]

In the bottle: Kind of green and fruity.

Applied: Mentholatum. Which is not a bad thing, because I have loved the smell of that stuff ever since I was a kid, but it’s not necessarily something I want to wear as a perfume. I could easily see using this to help relieve sinus headaches, though—an aromatherapy cure. In fact, I’ll probably experiment with that with this imp.

It’s interesting—when I raise my wrist to my nose, I can even feel the vapor in my eyes, just like Mentholatum. Happy smell. I like it, and I would definitely use this blend for aromatherapy for any “head-clearing” needs (literally or figuratively).

Medium throw, but it doesn’t last long—it’s completely gone in an hour.

On a scale of 1 to 5: 3. Maybe 3.5.

Afterthought: I got a funny mental image of the lovely, deadly beautiful woman with a red, crusty nose from her head cold (that's why she smells like Mentholatum.)

[blu°]

Ha! I got it! Noone's found out so far, I'm so proud of myself right now!!!

 

Whatever, I'll post the translation of the whole of my notes for you:

 

 

"The oil really is green (colour). My first green BPAL!

Smells green as well. I'm wondering what this reminds me of....

 

Eucalyptus, yes, but not in first row. Juniper berry might well be. Some sort of evergreen, too. But then there's something more even, something shiny and rounded.

 

The scent turns a bit fizzy on my skin, not having been like that first. Must be due to eucalyptus or juniper or both. Underneath that a flower. Already sniffing from the bottle I got that flower. Probably a white one. Maybe a wood flower.

 

Hmmm. Melissa/Lemon balm? Or am I influenced by the comparisons drawn to Lush's Tramp shower gel?

 

Something sweet, so, given my experience with pine, maybe there's pine in this, too? There's a texture like marzibain/almonds around that sweet smell. May well be pine.

 

Ha! Waldmeister!!! Now I got it. That's what the green colour stems from for sure. Waldmeistersirup! That was the memory, I couldn't trace. It's woodruff in English.

This is such a strong childhood memory. I used to love woodruff ice cream and woodruff sirup drinks. That lovely green colour of both!!

 

As to those who don't know what woodruff smells like: It's a very youthful green scent to me. This is what great part of the sweetness in Belladonna probably comes from. It's an even/smooth and shiny scent. Like a drop of green sweet water would smell like. It's still a tiny bit fizzy, though. Very tiny bit. Rather rounded than fizzy really.

 

Back to Belladonna: I did at no point of time wearing it find this in the least harsh or sharp. It has a slightly bitter feel to it, but rather a vibe than a real bitterness in scent.

 

Now, after maybe 1 and a half hour it still smells fresh and green and rounded. I get pine and a faint woodruff still.

Edited December 21, 2005 by blu°

[theseagrows]

in belladonna i can smell a soft grassy scent with a sharper more herbal scent in the background. unfortunately my skin eats it right up within 20 minutes. an interesting scent if you like herbal scents.

[GemmaCat]

This was not what I expected, but in a good way!

 

In the bottle this smells rich and mossy with a touch of wood-smoke. On my skin it transforms into the most beautiful smokey fragrance, reminding me of warm herbal incense. I can just about detect a trace of eucalyptus, and maybe. . lavender?

 

Either way, this was a very pleasant surprise, and is a truly beautiful scent! I'm in love.

[brownbear]

first impression: greeeeeeeen with teeth

After it dries for a while it mellow out. It's still very green and has a bit of a dirt type note to it. Not really my style, but it's interesting.

[Heretic]

Oh, I'm so excited to try this. I ordered a 5 ml bottle from the description alone and bought an imp from pensive to tide me over.

 

In the vial: Green. By scent, by sight.

 

On my wrist, wet: Vick's Vapo-rub and that's it. Even sick, I don't like the smell of Vick's, so I'm not enjoying this at all. The Vapo-rub smell begins to fade pretty quickly, but not nearly quickly enough. I find I'm altering my movements because I don't want to touch my wrist on my clothes or anything I may have to smell later.

 

20 minutes later: Faded Vick's Vapo-rub. No floral, no earth, just faded medicinal ick.

 

An hour later: Is that all there is? A medicinal assault that just fades into the ghost of Vapo-rub past? Get it off me! This was a huge disappointment, but someone will want that 5 ml when I get it in the mail.

 

ETA: Several hours later, the Vapo-rub smell is gone, leaving a rather pleasant herbal and vaguely floral scent. It's very subtle, though, and I'm not sure the payoff is worth the Vapo-rubness of the whole experience. I'll try it again sometime and see if it wears differently.

Edited January 23, 2006 by Heretic

[loves_requiem]

awww. i was hoping this would like me, becasue my daughters middle name is going to be Belladonna...

 

Anyways....unfortunately all I got was Vapo-rub and a headache...not he nasal clearing vapo-rub...just heavily medicinal.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Sharp herb

 

On Skin: This clears up your sinuses quickly. Very sharp and medicinal. There is also a nice rich spicy note that really deepens the scent overall. Almost a little woody or resiny. I smell pine or something that reminds me a bit of Christmas. Not strictly a “planty” scent. I like that it has more levels and really catches my attention. It is still very minty and medicinal though and not something I would wear as a scent. I do like it to use as aromatherapy though since it does give a quick jolt of energy and awakeness.