Thaleia

[elphaba]

... A vivacious, dazzling, merry scent: honey, ylang ylang, apricot, ciste, blood orange and gardenia with earthy, warm tonka.

The lab is killing me with all these honey/ylang ylang blends I've been trying recently! Thaleia is girly and light, with the honey, ylang ylang, and apricot taking center stage for me. Something about it reminds me of a good salon. It's that sort of clean, happy, relaxing scent. I'm not sure it screams "Comedy!" to me, but it's definitely cheerful and bright. I think I'll be keeping this imp.

[urraca]

It is orange, orange, orange at first blush. Orange lovers will appreciate this, but it isn't what I want to smell like. Then a creaminess emerges under the orange, and it really does give the effect of a creamsicle, a very sophisticated creamsicle. The drydown is somehow very reminscent of Aglaea, kind of a sweet, fruity muskiness, which must be the honey and the tonka, though it does not register as honey to my nose. I don't get any ylang ylang, and it is good to know I can wear some scents with ylang ylang and not hate them. I will enjoy my imp at the very least.

[jewelbug]

Imp: A medium weight fruity floral. I can definitely pick out the orange and apricot, but I suck at identifying florals, so I won’t try.

 

Wet: Orange still there, but much less prominent than in the imp. Instead I’m getting something almost buttery from this. Buttery oranges and florals. The florals are a bit more perfumey than I’d like. We'll see how the dry down is….

 

Dry: The perfumey florals mellow, and the buttery apricot grows. In the early drydown, this has a bit of gritty-ness to it, though I don't know what that is. In the later dry down (1+ hrs), the grittiness gives way to rich smooth tonka, with faint golden apricot. I can also smell a honeyed sweetness once the florals have mellowed later in the wear.

 

Overall: By the end, this is mostly tonka kissed with summertime apricots and honey. Despite the summery fruity sweetness, this really seems a fall appropriate blend, probably due to the rich darkness of the tonka. It's warm and beautiful. Lasted 5ish hours. I'm torn, and can't decide whether to keep this or not. I think I'll hold onto it for a bit longer.

[SeaMonkey]

I'm getting pure apricot. There's a little bit of orange in it, but like any of the other bpal blends with apricot, the apricot is SCREAMING on my skin

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 1/5

Summarised in a word or two: Mi-Go + Lipstick

 

Preconceived notions: On my skin? I'm guessing a yicky mess of ylang ylang and apricot, since those notes both hate me.

 

In the imp: Ylang, apricot, gardenia and blood orange. I'm hoping the latter two save the scent!

 

On skin, wet: ...Huh. I shouldn't like this -- ylang! apricot! -- but I... do. It's sugary, but a little spicy as well (almost gingery, to be specific). Fruity, but not OMGFRUIT! a la Mi-Go. Unfortunately, even in the wet stage, the ylang gets stronger.

 

On skin, dry: Ylang ylang and apricot. Now it does sort of smell like a muted Mi-Go with ylang ylang. I'm not digging it. It's too fruity and plastic on my skin.

 

Conclusion: I'm sure this is fabulous on other people, but on my skin, it's Mi-Go smeared over lipstick (that wet-chalk, almost plastic smell lipstick has? That's what Ylang ylang becomes on me).

[juniperus]

Bottle: sweet, almost candy-sweet. fruit and floral, cloying.

Wet: apricot, gardenia, and something I'm not quite identifying yet. syrupy. by ciste do they mean rockrose - I'm confused.

Dry: the fruit is still dominant, the floral notes harder to catch behind that sweetness, and none of the ylang-ylang or tonka. I am identifying honey in that sweetness, and that usually goes all funky on me so we'll see.

Later: the floral has faded and it's mainly a disappearing apricot and orange with a hint of something else...the ylang ylang, maybe.

[Victory]

When I put this on, I was thinking Thaleia was the muse of dancing and I kept thinking, but this makes me think of laughter, not dancing. So I guess that tells you how apt this scent is to its purpose!

 

Lovely, lovely apricots and cream. I like this very much.

[cranberry]

Initially I smell honey and blood orange. This is a really interesting scent and quite unusual. It’s rather offputting. Normally I find BPAL to be very well blended and I often have a hard time picking out individual notes. Thaleia, on the other hand is a cacophony of notes. There’s something almost herbal in here, dry smelling and arid (I think that’s a combination of the honey and apricot). Wow, there’s apricot there. Maybe that’s what I’m finding offputting, I’m not a fan of apricot scents. As it wears, the scent darkens and deepens at bit. Overall, this is all about honeyed apricots with a lesser amount of honeyed oranges. Personally, I’m glad I got to try this, but this is not a scent for me.

[gwyllgi]

Aside from apricot, this isn't a blend that I can pick notes out of - which is probably just as well, as picking out notes would make me focus on the apricot. This would be bad, as I like apricots nearly as little as I like peaches, which is not at all.

 

Something in this blend - the ylang ylang? the tonka? - keeps this reined in and warm, rather than letting the apricot get the bit in its teeth and bolt. I didn't expect to like this at all, but it's a surprisingly nice fruit blend, sweet without being too sweet.

 

Apricot is still pretty low on my fruit scent list, but the other notes bump this scent up quite a bit. I don't know that I'd want a bottle of it, but I'll certainly be using my imp.

[Katinka]

I was rather "meh" about Thaleia when I first received it from the lab, about 5 months ago. A few components stood out -- apricot, orange, honey -- but the blend as a whole didn't seem very unified. I came close to swapping the imp on several occasions, but a little voice said that it might age well, and lo and behold, IT DID! I was blown away on my latest wearing -- it was as though all the notes had melded, ripened, and strengthened during their little time in seclusion.

 

I'm now seriously contemplating a bottle, as aged Thaleia resembles the offspring of Tiger Lily and Cobra Lily, two of my other fav springtime blends. Yummy!

[Shollin]

First sniff: Seriously bright, sunny, happy citrus yumminess. Juicy, sweet and intensely yellow.

 

Wearing: This is one of the most gorgeous bright fruit scents EVER. It’s pure cheerful sunshine after weeks and weeks of overcast winter skies. And living in Central Washington, I know whereof I speak. Verdict: Ohellyeah.

[indicolite]

Thaleia (not Thalia) is also one of those scents reminding me of Sacred Whore. Thus she is not a comic laughing spirit, she must be, umm... Or else the Sacred Whore has lots of fun in Babylon.

 

Anyhow, I was reticent about the honey, but the apricot and gardenia are duking it out - with that treacherous honey, my nemesis, oversweetening them both.

 

Thaleia is not unpleasant; she is a lot more tolerable than other scents. However, I have a great many choices now, and I fear Thaleia would not be tops among them.

 

She may need a warm and loving home where people enjoy her laughter more.

[Galatea]

In the Imp: Very lightly floral; airy quality. It also seems somewhat lemony.

 

Wet: It smells like candy! Then the sweet candy stops, and it's Gardenia City.

 

Dry: This goes dry really quickly and loses a lot of it's sweet power fast. After only 30 minutes or so it's a rather subdued vanilla-honey, sweet apricot-orange, gardenia boquet. Lovely.

 

Throw: Oh, how I wish the throw was better and lasted longer.

 

Overall: Beautiful and masterfully blended scent, but lacks staying power on me. Which is so so so sad, as I could see this being a top five scent otherwise.

 

[LiberAmoris]

Thaleia is orange-apricot-honey-gardenia on me. It's a heady, lush blend and seems tropical and summery. I can see the connection to laughter, as it's bubbly and almost giddy. I'm using my imp in my oil burner because I love this best as a room scent. I find it makes me feel cheerful and energized!

[septima_pica]

Oh, this is lovely. The orange and apricot go together perfectly, the honey and ylang ylang are incredibly sweet in a good (non-foody) way. I wish that nice brown tonka bass-note came out more, and I don't have any too-great love for gardenia, but this is still a very nice blend. Maybe putting on a slightly larger amount would bring out the tonka more -- it's always another victim of "my favourite notes hide on my skin"-syndrome.

 

Lovely as it is, though, I'm not sure this is a scent for me. It's too pretty and young and fruity-flowery-warm, and me in my ratty tie-dye pants with a knife at my hip and peculiar mannerisms just doesn't do it dramatic justice. I think I may, rather than swapping it, save it for a young acquaintance who's more girly than I ever managed to be and could carry it off admirably.

[edenssixthday]

Thaleia - Of the Muses I've tried so far, Thaleia is the loveliest. She is full of light and vivaciousness. She is the scent of an a lazy afternoon spent lounging in the grass under the fruit trees by a New England pond. The apricot is the predominant note on me, and smells sweet and juicy like fresh-squeezed apricot nectar. The honey subtly blends with the brightness of the ylang ylang and blood orange to create a swirl of sprightliness that livens up the apricot even more, while a soft undercurrant of tonka grounds the scent. It's like being on the ground and in the trees all at once. I am too old to believe in faeries -- but if they do exist, I think they may wear this scent. The throw is good, but not in-your-face. Unfortunately, it doesn't last on my skin for very long at all. I may purchase again in the spring. It's more of a light spring/summer scent and in the winter, I prefer darker, heavier, deeper scents.

[mermaidrage]

Thaleia is heavy on me, unfortunately. Heavy and barbie-doll vanilla. Maybe some honey.

 

I'll give it another shot on a day that isn't topping 100 degrees, but something in my skin chemistry doesn't seem to like it. And it's such a pity -- I really wanted to love this.

[Dinerdulcinea]

I totally LOVE this scent.

 

I loved it at all stages. I think we have a keeper!

 

When it finally dried and settled after a bit over an hour (though I liked everything on the way there) I finally got the honey with some nice blood orange.

 

MMMMMMM!!!

 

The other notes never really popped on me except the ylang ylang at the beginning. When I first put the scent on and for about an hour afterwards, it was lots of blood orange (which is great) and ylang ylang.

 

I will want to wear this one when I am in a good mood and feeling girly.

[cindyrella]

Wow, this is sweet and fruity! This might be too sweet for me, again. I think I’m not too fond of Beth’s fruity sweet scents.

The honeyed fruit scent is a bit overwhelming for me, I think the tonka added to the ylang ylang and honey makes this way too sweet for me. I do smell the florals in the background, they are not soapy or anything, and they give this scent a grown up feeling. That’s a plus.

I’m keeping the imp though.

[neuilly]

At first very fruity, and a dash of honey. Unfortunately my skin amps and morphs gardenia so this ended up smelling rather unpleasant. However, I think this would be a fantastic scent for those that can wear gardenia. It's fruity but on the mature side...playful and sunny.

[Ghost_Light]

I liked the way this one begins and ends.

 

In the vial and wet it has a nicely spicy citrus smell just under the surface with more flowery notes rising to the surface....

 

...and then it begins to dry.

 

I could not place exactly what the nasty element was at first, but my friend Paul nailed it. He said I smelled like a cheap candle shop.

 

For a good long period in the middle of wearing this, I smell as though I took a fat, cheap vanilla candle and rubbed it against my skin as hard as I could.

 

Bleh.

[sofiaviolet]

Apricot. I really can't smell any other notes. This is really yummy.

[maijasu]

At first, I smell the sweet honey and have high hopes. Until, that is, the evil gardenia shows up and drowns out any other notes that might possibly be lurking. Sigh.

[sarahj]

Thaleia

 

in imp: sweet honey and orange

 

wet: starting to smell the apricot, gardenia, and tonka...still very sweet

 

dry: pure baby powder

 

verdict: not for me...I will probably swap

[fiddledragon]

Especially before it's had a chance to age, this hits me with a blast of gardenia at first that isn't entirely pleasant, but it's worth it for the drydown. It's bright and citrus-honey without being overly sweet or foody, and happily floral without being generic perfume. This is an innocently sensual blend -- the smell of running naked through a field of flowers and citrus trees. So happy.