Shadow Witch Orchid

[Juushika]

Orchid tubers have been used extensively by witches in their love philtres, both to promote amorous attention and the attainment of true love, and, conversely, to wither misplaced passions and sever romantic bonds. This perfume is a dusky orchid, subdued and ethereal.

In the vial: Sweeter than I expected, and slightly powdery in its duskiness, but yes, a purple orchid floral.

On me: The same, but bolder, richer, more distinct—scents really do blossom on the skin, no pun intended. Thankfully some of the sweetness fades, but a little too much of it lingers, pushing the orchid towards heady and cloying. There's a bit of dusty duskiness in the scent's purple tone and in the throw, but for the most part this is a heady, fleshy floral, and quite potent too. Throw is moderate to high.

Verdict: With few exceptions, I tend not to like florals. Orchid is usually one of those exceptions, thus my interest in this blend—but it's just too strong for me, too heady, too floral. It's not unpleasant (although I'm not fond of the persistant sweetness), it's just not the scent for me. A drop of it may be decent for layering but in the end, I think I'll pass along my imp. Edited December 17, 2009 by Juushika

[KesHiro]

Frimp in one of my orders.

 

In the vial, wet, drydown, and dry: Lots o' orchid. Lots o' *pretty* orchid. But far too much orchid for me.

 

This went single note on me, with a brief cough syrup appearance during the drydown stage. Not sure where that came from but it vanished within three minutes. If you like orchids, then this is your scent. It's very floral, pretty, and feminine.

 

Sadly, I like more than one note swimming around on my skin, and I'm not big on florals as the main note, so I'm going to have to pass on this one.

[moosue]

Frimped. I do like orchid, but tend to not like floral scents as they give me headaches.

 

In imp: Strong floral with a hint of sweetness

 

On wet: Very strong, somewhat dusty but sweet orchid. Yep, just like it's supposed to.

 

Dry, about an hour later: Oh it's nice. The first hour was awfully strong, but it does have a sweetness that keeps it from being too bad. It's calmed down a lot and is now a sweet orchid. Very pretty. Low throw now.

 

To have any throw on the dry down, you'd need a fair amount on initially, which may kill you with it's strongness until it settles down.

I dabbed only a little on and was fine, but this has headache inducing potential if it was worn in larger quantities. It's not cloying, but "heady" is a word that would describe it well.

I would like to give this one a couple more tries, and will keep the imp.

Thanks lab!

[voorishsign]

Frimp from the lab. The lab frimps epic amounts of Rappaccini oils to me, I wonder if they're trying to send me a message? Anyway. Not sure about this one. Not a floral person. Let's see.

 

In the imp - a light, bareley detectable floral.

 

On wet - a sweet, shady floral.

 

Drydown - the floral blossoms and intensifies. This is very refined, a mature, aloof, classic floral.

 

I think I'm not the person to ask for in-depth floral reviews because I don't much like florals and am rather useless at telling them apart. Basically, it's sweet, dusky, and 'does what it says on the tin', but it's not really for me.

[SophieCedar]

I'm usually quick and precise with my reviews, however this one has me baffled? It's a simple scent, reminiscent of sweet pea and a tropical floral (think Isle of Demons) mixed together. However, there's a breathy veil over it like shroud or morgause. Throw is good, similar to some mad tea party scents with the sweetpea vanilla combo. Like!

[FelicityTwitchell]

 

Wet: berries and musk, a whiff of a a third note I don't recognize

 

Dry: the musk is stronger followed by the orchid? (or so I assume) then just the faintest bit of berries

 

Verdict: This just doesn't suit me very well.

[FathomBelow]

What I was expecting from Shadow Witch Orchid: a very soft, mellow, yet fresh and moist scent just slightly tinged with sweetness. The scent in the imp seemed to support this expectation, but on my skin SWO became a very sophisticated perfumey scent. Nice enough, but a bit too sharp and not what I was looking for. Perfect, however, for impressing people at fancy parties without the expense of actually buying a classical designer perfume.

[toomuch]

Nice floral. I would consider it a white floral, but without the oversweetness that most whites are on me. I don't get the dark, shadowiness. It will be a good spring scent for me.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

Lagniappe from the Lab.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

I'm definitely not a floral fan by any stretch of the imagination. I do enjoy lilac (on it's own only, never blended) on the very rare occasion (and I cherish my Blue Lilac single note), but that's about it. Florals give me headaches and clash horribly with my personality. In spite of being a stinky hippie at heart, I'm no flower child. Give me patchouli, incense, dirt and wood and I'm happy.

 

That being said, I love the name of this scent, and I think orchids are gorgeous to look at, so I'm kind of hoping in some far off corner of my mind that this works...or maybe not, since it was just discontinued.

 

First sniff:

 

Definitely floral. I'm horrible at picking out floral notes, so I can't say what this smells like (I don't think of orchids as even having a scent, honestly), but it's heady and very billowy smelling. I know that makes no sense. I imagine this scent as a giant cloud of floral fog. This is a "white" floral to my nose. Very intense, but then floral notes do tend to jump out at my nose.

 

Wet on skin:

 

This reminds me of a cross between rose and honeysuckle, I think. It has the sweetness of honeysuckle with the headiness of rose, but it's grander and more enveloping than either is. This is definitely a floral lovers perfume. It has a strong throw and seems to waft up off my hand and right into my nose, which is unfortunate since I'm already developing a headache and it's barely been open for a minute or two.

 

Dry down:

 

This reminds me a lot of a combination of my mom's honeysuckle and gardenia perfumes now. It's still very much a billowy, heady, floral fog kind of scent with an underlying sweetness to it, like honeysuckle nectar. The kind that has a life of its own and wafts around you. It's mature and womanly, but not matronly at all. It's also definitely not me. At all.

 

The bottom line:

 

I'm sure that if I liked florals (and they liked me), that this could be a real winner. I can tell that it's a beautiful scent, but it's not a beautiful scent for me. I'd rather have the dirt that this flower was planted in and maybe some green grass to go along with it. I have to say I'm relieved that this didn't work for me. I don't need to lose any more scents I love.

[tls81]

A very nice floral scent. All I get here is orchid which I love. It stays the same dry as it does wet on my skin. A bit perfumey.

[yakiguri]

I normally hate flowers unless they're dark and exotic, jasmine being the exception. However Shadow Witch Orchid is beautiful and heady, with a good mix of bright and dark elements to make it interesting and never sharp. I'm reminded of hideously expensive high-end perfume blends I've sniffed at my local Nordies. I've definitely learned here that orchid is a floral I can wear, though the notes kind of remind me of gardenia (which normally goes sour on me). A shame it's DC'd, and I'll have to hunt down a bottle. Love it!

[claudia6913]

I'm sad to see this go. It's one of the few scents my husband complimented without being prompted.

 

That being said, at first this is a wet, in your face, bunch of orchids. They're there and they're not going anywhere. But as it dries, it smooths out into a wonderfully blended potted orchid smell. A little musk/dirt/base scent, a little green, and a lot of orchid. Very nice indeed.

[Marla Moreau]

Received a frimp of this.

 

Usually I don't go for florals/they give me a headache, but I like this better than most.

 

Wet - whoa, fresh orchid... just pure fresh orchid

Drydown - something sour starts to come out and the orchid fades a little, sour like the orchid is dying or something, or has been ground to a pulp

Dry - sour sharp orchid, I can't tell if I like it or not... it's better than the orchid amping. Won't be getting a bottle, though.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: This is actually a sweet, innocent smelling floral. Based on the name I was expecting something a little more sinister, but this floral is bright and happy.

 

 

Dry: Pretty! Sweet, gently orchid. Very nice. It doesn't wow me, but I do like it.