Pele

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

... This perfume embodies her gentler, benign aspect as the capricious Goddess of Dance: muguet and Hawaiian white ginger enveloped by warm, damp tropical blooms.

Pele shocked me by being very much a *white* floral, whereas I was expecting something more bold and hothouse. Gentle and pretty; smells like lilies of the valley and powder. I'm not really getting ginger, which is a shame. Luckily, I have Sudha Segara ( ) to fill that niche. Don't think I really need Pele, so off to swap.

[MistressTera]

Fresh From The Imp: Faint, sorta floral.

 

Wet On My Flesh: Definitely florals, with a little bit of dampness.

 

Drying Down: It's getting stronger the longer it's on me (hopefully). Reminding me of bath salts in the tropical flower variety.

 

Hour To Integrate: So much for stronger longer; it's nearly gone now.

 

End Of Day/Final Report: While pretty, it's not really my style. Swap.

[feline.by.design]

Pele was so light at first I had to reapply it to my skin, and even still, she was very faint. The smell I'm getting is light, and reminds me of the scented erasers I used to get back when I was in elementary school.

 

I think I'm in the crowd of reviewers who find Pele too light to truly develop any relationship with the oil. I still get "scented eraser smell" emitting weakly from my spot of skin, which isn't necessarily a bad smell, but just not one I'd care to smell like. I think the actual smell of the imp's outer side smells stronger than the liquid on my skin, which is interesting.

 

I regret I won't be holding onto this one.

 

-doreen

[Cielamara]

My imp of Pele was lurking in Laurel the Woodfairy's swap box until yesterday afternoon. I had wanted to smell it, and so I plucked it out and set it aside to try.

 

In the imp: Shampoo. It smelled SO much like shampoo to my nose I had to giggle at it. Very good shampoo, admittedly--it smelled like this one bottle of shampoo my mother had when I was really young...it took FOREVER for that bottle to be used up. It is not a disagreeable blend at all.

 

Wet: It still smells like that shampoo. I don't mind this at all. It's a gentle, clean scent, without the unfortunate lack of response or lack of enthusiasm I frequently get from the ozone or aquatic types of clean scents. It's soft, it's subtle, it's warm without that rich, vibrant--but HEAVY--blooming effect that most of the other BPAL perfumes that have loved me have done. I don't MIND that musky-spicy-amber-honey blooming thing...but I do need something lighter for summer unless I want to feel ever so slightly sleazy all summer...though that's not always a bad thing either...

 

...Right. I'm rambling. Anyway.

 

Settling: This is sweetening and warming a little. This reminds me of a spring afternoon, one of those afternoons where it's warm enough to where you're wearing a soft fluttering skirt, but not so warm you're sweating. I imagine a girl laying on a bed, bare feet dangling, twirling a bouquet of soft, slightly dewy flowers in her hands as she gazes through the open doors out into a tangle of sunkissed jungle, slightly misty from a recent rain.

 

Drydown: This has a surprising amount of oomph for such a light, delicate scent. I imagine the ginger--which usually loves my skin--is helping keep this one anchored. This blend is simply soft, and delicately sweet--a warmer, sunnier floral than my adored Suspiro. As is the case with O, there is no ONE note that just pulsates from this one. It's just a very soft sweet blend.

 

I had expected to like this one, but I didn't know I'd like it this much. Hmm. I'm definitely going to hoard my imp, and maybe collect a few others...I don't know what I'm going to do about my growing list of I-wanna-bottle-of-thats.

[theseagrows]

ooooh this one is a subtle, warm floral. i normally like dark dusky spicy florals, but from time to time i like a softer one such as pele. i think i smell the pikaki and some sort of added softness, almost gives me an amber feeling, but it's not that strong. this is definitely a summer scent- very delicate and pretty.

Edited April 18, 2006 by theseagrows

[purplegirl]

Pele - BPALese for 'soft gorgeous floral that will become a second-skin scent that will beckon your husband incessantly'

 

This is amazing. Amazing, I tell you!!! I didn't know what to expect but the minute it hit my skin, the scent that wafted up was sooo beautiful. It was gentle, lovely and though the ginger didn't jump out at any point, it was a cozy, amazing-up-close scent. I couldn't smell it anymore, but my husband kept sniffing my neck and he just loved it. I wasn't looking for a floral - I've been on a sweet-foody kick lately - but I think I might have found the perfect floral in Pele

[hachanri]

i am positivly confused o O; everyone here says that theyres is floraly and light and ginger and such....

mine is very clear and watery, not oily at all, and smells EXACTLY like rubbing alcohol. when i put it on my skin, it evaporates IMMEDIATLY, just like rubbing alcohol, and leaves absolutly no scent;.

is mine just a fluke? do they all smell like that;;? please let me know > <; im very confused and saddened but this...

 

ADDED May 11:

 

me again, i got my IMP OF PELE directly from the lab, but it smells JUST like rubbing alcohol, and id like to see if anone else thinks so.

 

PLEASE message me if i could donate this imp to you, im never going to wear it, and im eager to see if anyone else thinks it smells like that ;o;!

[saralaughs]

Pele was almost perfect for me.

 

Wet it is a very lovely, soft non-perfumey floral, which I dig. I loathe anything overly-perfumey floral.

 

On it sinks immediately into my skin and leaves a barely there hint of tropical blooms. Lovely but so light I have to huff my wrist insanely to smell anything.

 

It's a nice, light scent so I'll keep the imp for I want a barely there, clean and light scent.

[BrightRedScream]

In the vial I got ginger, and a little bit of floral...

Not bad - I can't wait to put this on! It smells so different!

 

Sadly, once on my skin, the ginger died and the florals came out and turned to laundry detergent on my skin *sighs*

I didn't get tropical at all..I didn't even get that vibe from this.

 

To me it just smelled like a really light floral laundry detergent...

I wanted to love this one SO badly after reading the reviews - but I guess this just isn't meant to be

 

 

But wait!

After about 15 minutes it turned!

It got...pretty!!!

No more laundry smell! Very light, creamy floral..

Normally I dislike florals - but THIS is SO nice!!

I still don't get that tropical vibe that so many people are describing..but I do see this as a nice light summer scent

 

5ml

[abberlaine]

God, this is good. Sometimes, it smells like I've held my wrist over a hot cup of jasmine tea, and other times, it becomes more honey-ish and smells exactly like it's described: warm, damp white blossoms. I'm concerned about how expensive this could wind up being -- the oil's very thin, and a good wand dip slathered on the wrist fades to a skin scent in five minutes flat. I don't mind that it doesn't have much throw, but I'd have to slather my body with oil to get any effect.

[nerdcraft]

in the bottle: Oh. It's nice. More white floral and springy than I was expecting I think.

 

wet: A pretty, soft floral. It's just nice, though, not fantastically amazingly lovely. Nice.

 

dry: Oooooo. This is better. It melts into my skin and just makes me smell good - not my perfume smelling good, but me. Definitely a skin scent for me. Smells very clean...I can see how this would be a tropical scent. Not a lush, humid tropical at all, but a fresh, clean one. Like you just took a shower and tucked a freshly-cut exotic blossom behind your ear before you head out to the beach. Really light.

 

season: Spring and summer.

office-friendly? Yep. Light and pretty!

 

overall: Hmmm...this was maybe my last experiment in buying general catalog bottles without trying them first. A lovely scent, and I probably would have sprung for a bottle eventually, but not the signature scent I was hoping to find. Still very pretty.

[gwyllgi]

This is an unusual, steamy floral, and I'm surprised by just how much I like it. It's definitely a white floral, but it's a white floral that evokes images of enormous, tropical flowers blooming along a beach. The white ginger makes it so warm that it's impossible not to think of Hawai'i.

 

Given other comments about its being very thin and fleeting, I wasn't expecting this to last at all. About fifteen minutes after I put it on, I keeled over between one sentence and the next and took a long nap (which I felt positively decadent doing, even if I was home from work because I was tending my ill mother, not for a vacation). When I woke up almost two hours later, it was still going so strong that I could smell it from feet away, warm and heady.

 

I love ginger in any form but hadn't had luck with blends including it in the past, so I'm thrilled to finally have found one that works for me. This is going on my ever-increasing list of things I need bottles of.

[PirateMaggie]

I was expecting something hot, lush, and tropical. Instead, I got dish soap. (At least it dried down to Dr Bronner's.)

[joiedecombat]

In the bottle: This is pretty subtle in the imp. I get a whiff of ginger over maybe some floral, but it's hard to form a solid impression.

 

On my skin: Snf? Snf? What I can smell is nice, but it really just kind of vanished.

 

Second try: Oooh. Now that I've gotten a good enough amount on, this is really nice... and teasingly familiar, like I've smelled these flowers someplace. My brain insists it's a place it's putting me in mind of, but damn if I can pin in down.

 

Anyway...! Pele ends up being dewy white flowers and sweet ginger. It's actually putting me vaguely in mind of a lighter, paler alternative to Xiuhtecuhtli if that one's smokiness just isn't your thing. Xiuhtecuhtli is big, bold scarlet and orange and purple tropical flowers with smoke wafting over them; Pele's flowers are still big and lush, but dewy and white, and the ginger is a subtler and sweeter spiciness, becoming more prominent as it dries down. It's really nice.

[astridclaire]

Golden, clean, light florals that actually work on my skin! The ginger is gorgeous and i could've sworn there was plumeria in this even though the description doesn't point it out.

 

Perfect for summer and going to the beach... it exudes this I'm-on-summer-vacation vibe.

[laochodia]

Light floral. This started smelling like lilies on me, so I scrubbed it off and put on the heaviest scent in my box- O. 10 minutes later, O was GONE and Pele was back as a heavy, lush, sneeze-inducing blend. An interesting and lovely scent, but not for me.

[Ciircee]

This one was a frimp from the Lab (thanks, Lab!).

 

In the imp: White floral and powder.

 

Wet: Mostly ginger, with bit of powder.

 

Dry 10 minutes: This is a very humid scent. The flowers, the powder, the ginger is all there but some how they're all held in this smell that is exactly like humid, summer air.

 

Dry 30 minutes: This scent stays close to the skin and gets softer as time goes by. The ginger fades down so this is a clean (not quite crisp) white, powdery floral. Still that round, hot summer feel to it.

 

Dry 1 hour: My skin eats these lighter scents so it's almost gone on me. It's still a really pretty scent, just very faint.

 

Final notes: This is a really pretty blend and it makes me think of tropical beaches. Perfect for winter days when I want to remember the summer. Not so perfect for days like today, where it's nearing ninety with a nearly matching humidity.

[gloom bear]

Pele is a very nice white floral, on the sharper side and no sweetness to it. Can't explain it, but I don't find it a relaxing floral scent, maybe because of the sharpness. The scent doesn't morph on me after drydown. It smells like the Elariia gardenia body crème that I have. Very excited for Hi'iaka that is on the 2006 prototype list!

Edited July 26, 2006 by gloom & doom bear

[RavenVelith]

In the bottle: .... ::.sniffs.:: ...Helloooo? Is there even any perfumes in here? I can barely smell it! It's so light and kinda sweet and floraly. Awww it's cute. I hug it. ::.hugs the imp.::

 

Wet: Smells like...water...? It reminds me of water. Like what people think water would smell like. I dunno. That's what it reminds me of. And it gives like this..metallic feeling in my mouth. Wtf?

 

Dry: This is so LIGHT! I still can barely smell it! But I can smell a bit of spice...I don't know if I like or not like this one...

 

I think it's too light for my tastes.

[Diana]

Wet: tropical flowers + suntan lotion

 

Drydown: soft, exotic floral bouquet. Still reminds me of suntan lotion, but in my mind that's a good thing. This is so not really me, but I'm finding myself in love with the scent. It becomes a little less "coppertone" and more floral, but the flowers are just so wet and sweet and intoxicating, I can't stop sniffing my arm.

 

It's so pretty! I really want to go to a beach, slather myself with this, dig my toes into the sand, and watch the waves roll in.

[edenssixthday]

Pele - I'm very disappointed with Pele. It's a pretty scent -- soft Hawaiian florals with a touch of Ginger -- but I expected it would smell more like Hawaii than it actually does. Hawaii has a distinct scent -- it's one of my favorite things about the place, and Pele captures none of it for me. It is pretty, but it's incredibly soft and subtle, and unless I'm shoving my wrist in my own or anyone else's faces, none of us can smell it. If it had more throw, was a bit stronger, and didn't fade so quickly, I might wear it more often. As it is, I feel like I'm wasting it when I wear it since I can barely even smell it when I first apply it.

[m13]

I have to second edenssixthday's comments -- I had high hopes for this one (I have a half sleeve tattoo of Pele) but this scent, pretty as it is, didn't conjure up either the power and passion of the volcano goddess or that particular scent of Hawaii for me. And it's also uberlight on me and quick to fade away. I'll pass my imp along to someone who doesn't have predetermined ideas about how Pele should smell. they'll probably love it.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

impsniff: bubble solution. the little plastic containers you dip a wand in and blow the liquid through the hole in the wand and it makes bubbles...

 

on skin, wet: calgon, take me away

 

on skin, dry: this might be muguet, but none like i'm familiar with.... and unless Hawaiian white ginger is a completely different breed from everything i'm familiar with, i'm not getting that, either....and any tropical blooms that are in this are strangely like either lillies or moonflowers, as this is a very innocent, pure white scent.

 

this could be the premature burial, without the casket.

 

very faint, no throw...i need lots more of this and soon.

[imabarbedoll]

IN the imp: delicate white floral.

 

on the skin-amazing, soft and gentle flowers. Like the breeze in Hawaii

 

after 15mins: sadly too soft, no staying power on me. This is so yummy I want it to be stronger, maybe if I use more of it.

 

Anyone wanting to get rid of their bottles of it, I'd be happy to swap.

[Dandelion]

Sweet tropical florals. The ginger blends in with them, giving the flowers a bit more depth. It's very very light, soft, and pretty, not heady at all. A very simple everyday scent. I didn't get any of the dampness other people mentioned, although that may be because I tested this in my air-conditioned house. (The other tropical BPALs I've tried didn't smell their best until I tested them outside in the lovely suffocating heat we've been getting all summer.) I'll have to wear it out a few times and see if it grows on me.

rating: 3/5 (so far...)