Night's Pavilion

[edenssixthday]

Not the desperation, desolation and anguish of unrequited love, but the distant, chill and pitiless scent of the object of that doomed desire. White musk, osmanthus, Nile lily and frankincense.

Night’s Pavilion is too dark and incensey for my taste. From first sniff in the vial the frankincense was the dominant note. The lily lends a beautiful floral touch, and the musk grounds the scent. It sticks very close to my skin and has moderate staying power. It’s too masculine for me to wear, although I don’t think I’d want my husband smelling like this either. It’s definitely got a head-shop aroma to it, and I could definitely see someone making an incense out of a scent like this – and incense that’s burned at hippie acid-trip parties. About 30-40 minutes after applying it, I will occasionally get a whiff of something that smells exactly like a greasy Chinese food restaurant. It’s not terrible, but it’s definitely not for me.

[dragonryder]

Perfect combination of musk and frankincense. Not really sweet and not incensy either. Not a light scent, but wears well without overpowering.

[tidesong]

In the Bottle: Sweet, almost fruity, light musk.

 

On Application: Mmm, very light, delicate floral with a fruity edge, and faint touches of musk.

 

On Drydown: This has turned into the "cheap heady floral" commercial perfume that I despise. Major headache.

 

Comments: This had potential on my skin at first, but it's turned unpleasantly dizzying on my skin. I couldn't wait to scrub this off.

 

Verdict: Swappage.

[elfmaiden]

I'm really digging this scent!

 

From the imp I get a green smell laced with frankincense.

 

On my wrist this warms slightly, but not much, and the florals bloom. It creates a lovely layered effect with the front being the florals, but they're tamed by much more serious notes.

 

From the imp I can't say it smell the best, but once it's got a chance to warm up on the skin....it's really hard to resist!

 

4.5/5!!

[The Perfumed Ferret]

This blend reminds me of a still night, filled with pale blooms turning their sweet faces to the full moon, who shines in all of her glory as if to say look at my beautiful children!

 

 

Pale blooms, dusty musk, and a teeny bit of Lily. Sadly this goes powder on me. A truly beautiful blend.

[kunoichi]

In the vial this is a cool, floral blend that reminds me of winter. On my skin, the cool florals are warmed up and made a little spicy by the musk and frankincense. After a couple of hours on my skin this is a soft yet somewhat sweet, warmed up floral blend that is quite pretty and rather soft like petals against the skin.

[mountainwitch]

Oh my. This is wonderful.

 

This one came highly recommended by Moonminx, and now I see why. Night's Pavilion is the fourth Lupercalia fragrance that I've tried; of those four, three are among my favorite oils of all time. This particular blend is clean, just a little sharp at first, with a hint of exotic mystery. White musk usually works for me, and here it turns outright seductive.

 

You know, BPAL just might redeem the entire "Valentine's Day" season for me.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Oh, this is lovely. (And it’s by far my favorite of all the Valentine labels, naughty pictures in black-and-white notwithstanding.) It’s softly, sweetly floral, shadowed but glittering.

 

Wearing: Hmmm. Very, very white-floral, and a little bit soapy. Dang. And yet… after a couple of hours of sweet-soap-flowers, it settles down into a gorgeous calm whiteness. I’ll have to try it again and see if the end result is worth the wet stage…

[Melantha]

A nice floral scent. Delicate, but not faint, if that makes sense. I can *just* pick out the frankincense, but nothing else stands out. Well blended, for me it evokes the evening, after the sun has set, but before night falls completely. I can see wearing this when I want to have a calm, quiet time to myself.

[Meg]

In the bottle: A very herbal scent, I think frankincense and osmanthus. It smells oriental to me.

 

Wet: Frankincense and herbs, rather sharp and bitter. It nearly smells like there's dill in it.

 

Drydown: Lily starts coming out over the dark smokiness of the frankincense. It smells generally very sour, probably from the osmanthus that always does that on me, and from the white musk that seems citrusy to me. At some moments, I get a waft of lily-scented frankincense, which is lovely and airy and ethereal. But up close, this scent is very herby and sour.

 

Overall: It's a very pretty, solemn, quiet blend, simple and bitter and painful, with hints of sweetness. Lily and frankincense work very well together, but the very herby osmanthus really isn't my cup of tea. And in fact, frankincense gives me a sore throat, so this will have to go to swaps.

[kraken]

In the Imp: Very floral with a hint of tea. I don't get many notes past the floral.

 

Initial Wet: Gah! Instant sourness--the type I associate with currant notes going bad on me. And maybe some tea-ness.

 

Initial Dry: The sour currant notes fade and the musk comes out strongly followed by the spice of the franincense and the afternote of tea (osmanthus, I assume). The florals fade to the background and the spice is prominant and nose tickling.

 

Drier Dry: The spiciness dies down to a nice warmth and all the other notes seem to balance out. The floral is subtle and the fruit/currant has settled into a sweetness that compliments the musk.

 

Overall, I like it, but I like other Lupercalia scents more. This one is less warm than the others, probably because of the osmanthus, but not as chilly as I was expecting.

[Eunice]

So much lovely incensy floral. This is like a sweet, bright incense softened by lily. Night's Pavilion reminds me of an updated old lady perfume. Hip but refined.

[nancybridget]

Violet - soft, sweet, and powdery, yet green and leafy.

[azhure]

In the vial: I'm definitely getting mainly the lily here.

 

Wet: Still lily. Hmm, not sure if I like this.

 

Drydown: Ahhh, now the frankincense comes out. Yummy. Probably not worth hanging onto just for the drydown though.

[supremegoddessofall]

Almost pure musk, and something slightly fruity that I think must be the osmanthus. It's going kind of aquatic and sour on my skin.

[fiddledragon]

In the imp: spicer than I'd expected...this is a sort of very light, perfumy spiced-fruit scent. I'm guessing the lilies are particularly spicy, and the osmanthus is adding fruit. The frankincense seems to be in there somewhere, but that doesn't usually come out until the drydown anyway.

 

On me: herbal-fruity with a hint of musk...the spicy is now herbal...while I doubt this is the case, this is sort of what I'd imagine black pepper flowers to smell like. As it dries, it becomes a light peppery-herbal lily scent with a hint of something almost chlorine-like.

 

This is an interesting experience, and probably smells heavenly on someone, but on me the drydown is just kind of unexciting. I'll see if I warm up to it.

[Musamea]

In the imp and wet: A very "wet" and sharp scent… I'm guessing it's the Nile lily? There's something in here that smells exactly like the perfume of a woman I work with, and it makes me keep thinking about her, which is kind of weird.

 

Dry: It's mellowed out a bit, but there's still some lingering sharpness. It's just too strange to wear a scent that I so closely associate with someone else. I'll be passing this one along.

[maijasu]

Night's Pavilion 2007

 

On me, this is a soft floral with herbs and musk. It doesn't turn soapy or powdery, which is nice. It's very pretty, although I don't often wear florals and may not get around to using the whole bottle. I may imp out some and keep some.

[SultryWolf]

This review is for the 2007 version.

in the decant: A light, aquatic herbal.

on: Much the same - a bright herbal, crisp along the lines of House of Mirrors and Nuclear Winter.

[lookingglass]

Sweet and spicy white floral. Kind of like a cross between Ouija and Brides of Dracula.

[edenssixthday]

My review for the 2006 version can be found here.

 

Night's Pavilion 2007 - How does Beth do it? It's got the exact same scent description as last year's blend, yet it smells totally and completely different to me. If it's the same, then my skin chemistry and/or scent preferences have changes dramatically! This year's blend is very soft and light. It's a very light musk and floral scent, with the lightest aquatic touch, which I think is probably the Nile lily as opposed to an actual aquatic note. I barely smell the frankincense in this blend. It's far, far, far beneath the other notes. I hated last year's blend. It was heavy, dark and head-shoppy. This year's is totally and completely different (at least to me!), and quite lovely. It's still not a scent I would find myself wearing often because it's so subtle and wispy, but it's still very nice. And very surprising.

[yeahbutnobut]

Night’s Pavilion 07

 

In the imp: this smells different from last year’s…this is a beautiful watery floral scent, with a hint of spice to it.

Wet on skin: oh, this is beautiful, beautiful stuff. Soft, delicate waterlilies.

Dry: wow, just wow. This is very different from last year’s, which was heavy on the osmanthus, musk and frankincense, this one’s all about the Nile Lily. I say that with certainty because this smells very similar to a very special oil I have-Egyptian blue lotus absolute, which apparently is also called ‘Nile Lily’. Expensive, rare, and hard to find, mine is diluted (and cheaper than the pure oil) so the scent of my oil is much fainter but this smells very similar to my absolute. The scent of that oil is a clear blue fresh floral, very hard to describe but it is similar to hyacinth and slightly smoky/spicy too, but overall it gives the impression of blueness and water without being typically aquatic. I do detect hints of osmanthus underneath which does seem to strengthen with time, maybe a little musk, but lily rules this scent…and I love it.

After a while: eventually the osmanthus amps a bit, as this note tends to do, competing with the delicate lily as to which floral will be dominant…right now they seem to be on equal terms. Now the scent does resemble the 06 version, only with a little less frankincense and musk, and with a fruitier osmanthus note like the one in Ouija. But this scent is all about moonlit, dew covered flowers. The drydown is a graceful dance of lily and osmanthus, each note taking its turn to shine and both merging at times, and the white musk providing a soft, cool and smooth background for these ethereal blooms.

Verdict: I was a big fan of NP last year, and this version may be even better than last year’s. There seems to be more of that beautiful lily note in here, that unique and rare waterlily scent which smells like the diluted Egyptian lotus absolute I have. The osmanthus also seems a little softer but comes out more at the end, it’s tangy, wet, almost fruity scent cooperating nicely with the lily. There’s less musk and frankincense but they do support the floral notes. This is a very elegant, cool, serene scent, like last year’s it is a very blue scent, of moonlight on dewy flowers and starry nights, it’s a ‘flowers of the night’ scent but it’s not heady or heavy, this is light, ethereal and enchanting. Very poetic and wistful, glittering and dreamlike, this is a favourite in my collection of ‘night’ scents.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Definitely. I got bottle of this version because I love this elusive lily note.

If you like this, try: Dark Delicacies, Evening Star, Kindly Moon, Ouija, Nuit, Itaso Kansei, Black Moon

[Carmencita]

Not sure which version this is. Do both bottles look the same? Mine had no year printed on the label and deep blue and black swirly designs.

 

In the Bottle: Ewww, pickle juice. And not nice fresh pickle juice. Old rank pickle juice. Maybe the 'miso broth' smell that some people were getting in earlier reviews? I almost didn't try it but remembered my 180 experience with my BELOVED Nephilim, so I gave it a shot.

 

On my skin: Old violets and pickle juice.

 

 

Later: Softens to something a little more sugary and powdery, but still a stark pickle-like musk. If that's possible.

 

Swappppppingggg!

[hackess]

Wet: A wet scent, with sharp green undertones, almost like limes.

Dry: LOTS of waterlily. Oh my yes. I could've liked it if the greenness stuck around, but this is too floral. It's not soapy like most florals, but it's just too heady for my tastes.

[Jilara]

A friend described this as "sitting on the porch at night, in the Deep South." Oh yes, very definitely.

 

Wet, I'm getting something sweet and almost honeysuckle, but a note of greenness. But there's a resinous quality in the background, like old wood. That's the porch.

 

As it dries down, it's all the scents of a night in a Southern climate, with sweet florals and a greenish note of wet vegetation, but with a backing of something vaguely like old pine planks giving an oddly familiar and comforting note. I actually was expecting something heavier and tending to be cloying, so this was a pleasant surprise, actually lighter and oddly comforting. I like this scent.